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David Niven

James David Graham Niven (1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983 ) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. He received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Born in central London to an upper-middle-class family, Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe School before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Upon developing an interest in acting, he found a role as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride (1932). Bored with the peacetime army, he resigned his commission in 1933, relocated to New York, then travelled to Hollywood. There, he hired an agent and had several small parts in films through 1935, including a non-speaking role in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). This helped him gain a contract with Samuel Goldwyn.

Parts, initially small, in major motion pictures followed, including Dodsworth (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). By 1938, he was starring as a leading man in films such as Wuthering Heights (1939). Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Niven returned to Britain and rejoined the army, being recommissioned as a lieutenant. In 1942, he co-starred in the morale-building film about the development of the renowned Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane, The First of the Few (1942).

He went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Separate Tables (1958). Other notable films during this time period include A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Enchantment (1948), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Moon Is Blue (1953), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), My Man Godfrey (1957), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Murder by Death (1976), and Death on the Nile (1978). He also earned acclaim and notoriety playing Sir Charles Lytton in The Pink Panther (1963) and James Bond in Casino Royale (1967).

Early life and family
James David Graham Niven was born on 1 March 1910 at Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, London, to William Edward Graham Niven (1878–1915) and his wife, Henrietta Julia (née Degacher) Niven (1878–1932). He was named David after his birth on St David's Day. Niven later claimed he was born in Kirriemuir, in the Scottish county of Angus in 1909, but his birth certificate disproves this. He had two older sisters and a brother: Margaret Joyce Niven (1900–1981), Henry Degacher Niven (1902–1953), and the sculptor Grizel Rosemary Graham (1906–2007), who created the bronze sculpture Bessie that is presented to the annual winners of the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Niven's father, William Niven, was of Scottish descent; he was killed in the First World War serving with the Berkshire Yeomanry during the Gallipoli campaign on 21 August 1915. He is buried in Green Hill Cemetery, Turkey, in the Special Memorial Section in Plot F. 10. Niven's paternal great-grandfather and namesake, David Graham Niven, (1811–1884) was from St Martins, a village in Perthshire. A physician, he married in Worcestershire, and lived in Pershore.

Niven's mother, Henriette, was born in Brecon, Wales. Her father was Captain (brevet Major) William Degacher (1841–1879) of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, who was killed at the Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Although born William Hitchcock, in 1874, he and his older brother Lieutenant Colonel Henry Degacher (1835–1902), both followed their father, Walter Henry Hitchcock, in taking their mother's maiden name of Degacher. Henriette's mother was Julia Caroline Smith, the daughter of Lieutenant General James Webber Smith CB.

After her husband's death in Turkey in 1915, Henrietta Niven remarried in London in 1917 to Conservative politician Sir Thomas Comyn-Platt (1869–1961). The family moved to Rose Cottage in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight after selling their London home. In his 1971 biography, The Moon's a Balloon, Niven wrote fondly of his childhood home: "It became necessary for the house in London to be sold and our permanent address was now as advertised — a cottage which had a reputation for unreliability. When the East wind blew, the front door got stuck and when the West wind blew, the back door could not be opened – only the combined weight of the family seemed to keep it anchored to the ground. I adored it and was happier there than I had ever been, especially because, with a rare flash of genius, my mother decided that during the holidays she would be alone with her children. Uncle Tommy was barred – I don't know where he went – to the Carlton Club I suppose." Literary editor and biographer, Graham Lord, wrote in Niv: The Authorised Biography of David Niven, that Comyn-Platt and Niven's mother may have been in an affair well before her husband's death in 1915 and that Comyn-Platt was actually Niven's biological father, a supposition that had some support among Niven's siblings. In a review of Lord's book, Hugh Massingberd from The Spectator stated photographic evidence did show a strong physical resemblance between Niven and Comyn-Platt that "would appear to confirm these theories, though photographs can often be misleading." Niven is said to have revealed that he knew Comyn-Platt was his real father a year before his own death in 1983.

After his mother remarried, Niven's stepfather had him sent away to boarding school. In The Moon's a Balloon, Niven described the bullying, isolation, and abuse he endured as a six-year-old. He said that older pupils would regularly assault younger boys, while the schoolmasters were not much better. Niven wrote of one sadistic teacher:

"Mr Croome, when he tired of pulling ears halfway out of our heads (I still have one that sticks out almost at right-angles thanks to this son of a bitch) and delivering, for the smallest mistake in Latin declension, backhanded slaps that knocked one off one's bench, delighted in saying, 'Show me the hand that wrote this' — then bringing down the sharp edge of a heavy ruler across the offending wrist."

Years later, after joining the British Army, a vengeful Niven decided to return to the boarding school to pay a call on Mr Croome but he found the place abandoned and empty. While attending school – as was customary for the time – Niven received many instances of corporal punishment owing to his inclination for pranks. It was this behaviour that finally led to his expulsion from his next school, Heatherdown Preparatory School, at the age of 10½. This ended his chances for Eton College, a significant blow to his family. After failing to pass the naval entrance exam because of his difficulty with maths, Niven attended Stowe School, a newly created public school led by headmaster J. F. Roxburgh, who was unlike any of Niven's previous headmasters. Thoughtful and kind, he addressed the boys by their first names, allowed them bicycles, and encouraged and nurtured their personal interests. Niven later wrote, "How he did this, I shall never know, but he made every single boy at that school feel that what he said and what he did were of real importance to the headmaster."

In 1928, an 18-year-old Niven had sex with 15-year-old Margaret Whigham (the future socialite and Duchess of Argyll) while she was on holiday in Bembridge. To the fury of her father, Niven got Whigham pregnant. She was rushed into a London nursing home for a secret abortion. "All hell broke loose," remembered Elizabeth Duckworth, the family cook. Whigham adored Niven until the day he died. She was among the VIP guests at his London memorial service.

Military service
In 1928, Niven attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He graduated in 1930 with a commission as a second lieutenant in the British Army.

He did well at Sandhurst, which gave him the "officer and gentleman" bearing that was his trademark. He requested assignment to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders or the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), then jokingly wrote on the form, as his third choice, "anything but the Highland Light Infantry" (because that regiment wore tartan trews rather than the kilt). He was assigned to the HLI, with which he served for two years in Malta and then for a few months in Dover. In Malta, he became friends with the maverick Mike Trubshawe, and served under Roy Urquhart, future commander of the British 1st Airborne Division. On 21 October 1956, in an episode of the game show What's My Line?, Niven, as a member of the celebrity panel, was reacquainted with one of his former enlisted men. Alexander McGeachin was a guest and when his turn in the questioning came up, Niven asked, "Were you in a famous British regiment on Malta?" After McGeachin affirmed that he was, Niven quipped, "Did you have the misfortune to have me as your officer?" At that point, Niven had a brief but pleasant reunion.

Niven grew tired of the peacetime army. Though promoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1933, he saw no opportunity for further advancement. His ultimate decision to resign came after a lengthy lecture on machine guns, which was interfering with his plans for dinner with a particularly attractive young lady. At the end of the lecture, the speaker (a major general) asked if there were any questions. Showing the typical rebelliousness of his early years, Niven asked, "Could you tell me the time, sir? I have to catch a train."

After being placed under close-arrest for this act of insubordination, Niven finished a bottle of whisky with the officer who was guarding him: Rhoddy Rose (later Colonel R. L. C. Rose, DSO, MC). With Rose's assistance, Niven was allowed to escape from a first-floor window. He then headed for the United States. While crossing the Atlantic, Niven resigned his commission by telegram on 6 September 1933. In New York City, Niven began a brief and unsuccessful career in whisky sales, followed by a stint in horse rodeo promotion in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After detours to Bermuda and Cuba, he arrived in Hollywood in 1934.

1935–1938: Early roles
When Niven presented himself at Central Casting, he learned that he needed a work permit to reside and work in the United States. As this required leaving the US, he went to Mexico, where he worked as a "gun-man", cleaning and polishing the rifles of visiting American hunters. He received his resident alien visa from the American consulate when his birth certificate arrived from Britain. He returned to the US and was accepted by Central Casting as "Anglo-Saxon Type No. 2,008." Among the initial films in which he can be seen are Barbary Coast (1935) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). He secured a small role in A Feather in Her Hat (1935) at Columbia before returning to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a bit role, billed as David Nivens, in Rose Marie (1936).

Niven's role in Mutiny on the Bounty brought him to the attention of independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who signed him to a contract and established his career. For Goldwyn, Niven again had a small role in Splendor (1935). He was lent to MGM for a minor part in Rose Marie (1936), then a larger one in Palm Springs (1936) at Paramount. His first sizeable role for Goldwyn came in Dodsworth (1936), playing a man who flirts with Ruth Chatterton. In that same year he was again loaned out, to 20th Century Fox to play Bertie Wooster in Thank You, Jeeves! (1936), before finally landing a sizeable role as a soldier in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) at Warners, an Imperial adventure film starring his housemate at the time, Errol Flynn. Niven was fourth billed in Beloved Enemy (1936) for Goldwyn, supporting Merle Oberon with whom he became romantically involved. Universal used him in We Have Our Moments (1937) and he had another good supporting role in David O. Selznick's The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).

1938–1939: Leading man
Fox Studios gave him the lead in a B picture, Dinner at the Ritz (1938) and he again had a supporting role in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) directed by Ernst Lubitsch at Paramount. Niven was one of the four heroes in John Ford's Four Men and a Prayer (1938), also with Fox. He remained with Fox to play the part of a fake love interest in Three Blind Mice (1938). Niven joined what became known as the Hollywood Raj, a group of British actors in Hollywood which included Rex Harrison, Boris Karloff, Stan Laurel, Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, Leslie Howard, and C. Aubrey Smith. According to his autobiography, Errol Flynn and he were firm friends and rented Rosalind Russell's house at 601 North Linden Drive as a bachelor pad.

Niven graduated to star parts in "A" films with The Dawn Patrol (1938) remake at Warners; although he was billed below Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, it was a leading role and the film did excellent business. Niven was reluctant to take a supporting part in Wuthering Heights (1939) for Goldwyn, but eventually relented and the film was a big success. RKO borrowed him to play Ginger Rogers' leading man in the romantic comedy Bachelor Mother (1939), which was another big hit. Goldwyn used him to support Gary Cooper in the adventure tale The Real Glory (1939), and Walter Wanger cast him opposite Loretta Young in Eternally Yours (1939). Finally, Goldwyn granted Niven a lead part, the title role as the eponymous gentleman safe-cracker in Raffles (1939).

1939–1945: Second World War
The day after Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Niven returned home and rejoined the British Army. He was alone among British stars in Hollywood in doing so; the British Embassy advised most actors to stay.

Niven was recommissioned as a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) on 25 February 1940, and was assigned to a motor training battalion. He wanted something more exciting, however, and transferred to the Commandos. He was assigned to a training base at Inverailort House in the Western Highlands. Niven later claimed credit for bringing future Major General Sir Robert Laycock to the Commandos. Niven commanded "A" Squadron GHQ Liaison Regiment, better known as "Phantom". He was promoted to war-substantive captain on 18 August 1941.

Niven also worked with the Army Film and Photographic Unit. His work included a small part in the deception operation that used minor actor M. E. Clifton James to impersonate General Sir Bernard Montgomery. During his work with the AFPU, Peter Ustinov, one of the script-writers, had to pose as Niven's batman. Niven explained in his autobiography that there was no military way that he, a lieutenant-colonel, and Ustinov, who was only a private, could associate, other than as an officer and his subordinate, hence their strange "act". In 1978, Niven and Ustinov would star together in a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

He acted in two wartime films not formally associated with the AFPU, but both made with a firm view to winning support for the British war effort, especially in the United States. These were The First of the Few (1942), directed by Leslie Howard, and The Way Ahead (1944), directed by Carol Reed. Ustinov also played a large supporting role as a Frenchman in The Way Ahead.

Niven was also given a significant if largely unheralded role in the creation of SHAEF's military radio efforts conceived to provide entertainment to American, British and Canadian forces in England and Europe. In 1944 he worked extensively with the BBC and SHAEF to expand these broadcast efforts. He also worked extensively with Major Glenn Miller, whose Army Air Force big band, formed in the US, was performing and broadcasting for troops in England. Niven played a role in the operation to move the Miller band to France prior to Miller's December 1944 disappearance while flying over the English Channel.

On 14 March 1944, Niven was promoted war-substantive major (temporary lieutenant-colonel). He took part in the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, although he was sent to France several days after D-Day. He served in "Phantom", a secret reconnaissance and signals unit which located and reported enemy positions, and kept rear commanders informed on changing battle lines. Niven was posted at one time to Chilham in Kent.

Niven had particular scorn for those newspaper columnists covering the war who typed out self-glorifying and excessively florid prose about their meagre wartime experiences. Niven stated, "Anyone who says a bullet sings past, hums past, flies, pings, or whines past, has never heard one – they go crack!" He gave a few details of his war experience in his autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon: his private conversations with Winston Churchill, the bombing of London, and what it was like entering Germany with the occupation forces. Niven first met Churchill at a dinner party in February 1940. Churchill singled him out from the crowd and stated, "Young man, you did a fine thing to give up your film career to fight for your country. Mark you, had you not done so – it would have been despicable."

A few stories have surfaced. About to lead his men into action, Niven eased their nervousness by telling them, "Look, you chaps only have to do this once. But I'll have to do it all over again in Hollywood with Errol Flynn!" Asked by suspicious American sentries during the Battle of the Bulge who had won the World Series in 1943, he answered, "Haven't the foggiest idea, but I did co-star with Ginger Rogers in Bachelor Mother!"

Niven ended the war as a lieutenant-colonel. On his return to Hollywood after the war, he received the Legion of Merit, an American military decoration. It honoured Niven's work in setting up the BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, a radio news and entertainment station for the Allied forces.

1946–1950: Postwar career
Niven resumed his career while still in England, playing the lead in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), from the team of Powell and Pressburger. The film was critically acclaimed, popular in England and was selected as the first Royal Film Performance. Niven returned to Hollywood and encountered tragedy when his first wife died after falling down a flight of stairs at a party. Goldwyn lent him to play Aaron Burr in Magnificent Doll (1946) opposite Ginger Rogers, then to Paramount for The Perfect Marriage (1947) with Loretta Young and Enterprise Productions for The Other Love (1947). For Goldwyn he supported Cary Grant and Young in The Bishop's Wife (1947). He returned to England when Goldwyn lent him to Alexander Korda to play the title role in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), a notorious box office flop. Back in Hollywood Niven was in Goldwyn's Enchantment (1948) with Teresa Wright. At Warner Bros he was in a comedy A Kiss in the Dark (1948) with Jane Wyman, then he appeared opposite Shirley Temple in the comedy A Kiss for Corliss (1949). None of these films was successful at the box office and Niven's career was struggling.

He returned to Britain to play the title role in The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) from Powell and Pressberger, which was to have been financed by Korda and Goldwyn. Goldwyn pulled out and the film did not appear in the US for three years. Niven had a long, complex relationship with Goldwyn, who gave him his first start, but the dispute over The Elusive Pimpernel and Niven's demands for more money led to a long estrangement between the two in the 1950s.

1951–1964: Renewed acclaim
Niven struggled for a while to recapture his former position. He supported Mario Lanza in a musical at MGM, The Toast of New Orleans (1950). He then went to England and appeared in a musical with Vera-Ellen, Happy Go Lovely (1951); it was little seen in the US but was a big hit in Britain. He had a support role in MGM's Soldiers Three (1951) similar to those early in his career. Niven had a far better part in the British war film Appointment with Venus (1952), which was popular in England. The Lady Says No (1952) was a poorly received American comedy at the time. Niven decided to try Broadway, appearing opposite Gloria Swanson in Nina (1951–52). The play ran for only 45 performances but it was seen by Otto Preminger, who decided to cast Niven in the film version of the play The Moon Is Blue (1953). As preparation Preminger, who had directed the play in New York, insisted that Niven appear on stage in the West Coast run. The Moon Is Blue, a sex comedy, became notorious when it was released without a Production Code Seal of Approval; it was a big hit and Niven won a Golden Globe Award for his role. Niven's next few films were made in England: The Love Lottery (1954), a comedy; Carrington V.C. (1954), a drama that earned Niven a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor; Happy Ever After (1954), a comedy with Yvonne de Carlo, which was hugely popular in Britain. In Hollywood, he had a thankless role as the villain in an MGM swashbuckler The King's Thief (1955). He had a better part in The Birds and the Bees (1956), portraying a conman in a remake of The Lady Eve (1941), in which Niven played a third-billed supporting role under American television comedian George Gobel and leading lady Mitzi Gaynor. Niven also appeared in the British romantic comedy The Silken Affair (1956) with Geneviève Page the same year.

Niven's professional fortunes were completely restored when cast as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), a huge hit at the box office. It also won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He followed it with Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957); The Little Hut (1957), from the writer of The Moon is Blue and a success at the box office; My Man Godfrey (1957), a screwball comedy; and Bonjour Tristesse (1958), for Preminger. Niven worked in television. He appeared several times on various short-drama shows and was one of the "four stars" of the dramatic anthology series Four Star Playhouse, appearing in 33 episodes. The show was produced by Four Star Television, which was co-owned and founded by Niven, Ida Lupino, Dick Powell and Charles Boyer. The show ended in 1955, but Four Star TV became a highly successful TV production company.

Niven is the only person to win an Academy Award at the ceremony he was hosting. He won the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Major Pollock in Separate Tables, his only nomination for an Oscar. Appearing on-screen for only 23 minutes in the film, this is the briefest performance ever to win a Best Actor Oscar. He was also a co-host of the 30th, 31st, and 46th Academy Awards ceremonies. After Niven had won the Academy Award, Goldwyn called with an invitation to his home. In Goldwyn's drawing-room, Niven noticed a picture of himself in uniform which he had sent to Goldwyn from Britain during the Second World War. In happier times with Goldwyn, he had observed this same picture sitting on Goldwyn's piano. Now years later, the picture was still in exactly the same spot. As he was looking at the picture, Goldwyn's wife Frances said, "Sam never took it down." With an Academy Award to his credit, Niven's career continued to thrive. In 1959, he became the host of his own TV drama series, The David Niven Show, which ran for 13 episodes that summer. He played the lead in some comedies: Ask Any Girl (1959), with Shirley MacLaine; Happy Anniversary (1959) with Mitzi Gaynor; and Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) with Doris Day, a big hit.

Even more popular was the action film The Guns of Navarone (1961) with Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn. This role led to him being cast in further war and/or action films: The Captive City (1962); The Best of Enemies (1962); Guns of Darkness (1962); 55 Days at Peking (1963) with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner. Niven returned to comedy with The Pink Panther (1963) also starring Peter Sellers, another huge success at the box office. Less so was the comedy Bedtime Story (1964) with Marlon Brando. In 1964, Charles Boyer, Gig Young and top-billed Niven appeared in the Four Star series The Rogues. Niven played Alexander 'Alec' Fleming, one of a family of retired con-artists who now fleece villains in the interests of justice. This was his only recurring role on television, and the series was originally set up to more or less revolve between the three leads in various combinations (one-lead, two-lead and three-lead episodes), although the least otherwise busy Gig Young wound up carrying most of the series. The Rogues ran for only one season, but won a Golden Globe award.

1965–1982: Later films
In 1965, he made two films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: the Peter Ustinov-directed Lady L, supporting Paul Newman and Sophia Loren, and Where the Spies Are, as a doctor-turned-secret agent – MGM hoped it would lead to a series, but this did not happen. After the horror film Eye of the Devil (1966), Niven appeared as James Bond in Casino Royale (1967), and is, with the exception of Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again, the only other man to ever portray Bond in a non-Eon Productions film. Niven had been Bond creator Ian Fleming's first choice to play Bond in Dr. No. Casino Royale co-producer Charles K. Feldman said later that Fleming had written the book with Niven in mind, and therefore had sent a copy to Niven. Niven was the only actor who played James Bond mentioned by name in the text of a Fleming novel. In chapter 14 of You Only Live Twice, the pearl diver Kissy Suzuki refers to Niven as "the only man she liked in Hollywood", and the only person who "treated her honourably" there.

Niven made some popular comedies, Prudence and the Pill (1968) and The Impossible Years (1968). Less widely seen was The Extraordinary Seaman (1969). The Brain (1969), a French comedy with Bourvil and Jean-Paul Belmondo, was the most popular film at the French box office in 1969 but was not widely seen in English-speaking countries. He did a war drama Before Winter Comes (1969) then returned to comedy in The Statue (1971). Niven was in demand throughout the last decade of his life: King, Queen, Knave (1972); Vampira (1974); Paper Tiger (1975); No Deposit, No Return (1976), a Disney comedy; Candleshoe (1977), one of several stars in a popular comedy; Murder By Death (1976), Death on the Nile (1978), one of many stars and another hit; A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979); Escape to Athena (1979), produced by his son; Rough Cut (1980), supporting Burt Reynolds; and The Sea Wolves (1980), a wartime adventure film.

In 1974, while Niven was co-hosting the 46th Annual Oscars ceremony, a naked man (Robert Opel) appeared behind him, "streaking" across the stage. In what instantly became a live-TV classic moment, Niven responded "Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?". That same year, he hosted David Niven's World for London Weekend Television, which profiled contemporary adventurers such as hang gliders, motorcyclists, and mountain climbers: it ran for 21 episodes. In 1975, he narrated The Remarkable Rocket, a short animation based on a story by Oscar Wilde. Niven's last sizeable film part was in Better Late Than Never (1983). In July 1982, Blake Edwards brought Niven back for cameo appearances in two final "Pink Panther" films (Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther), reprising his role as Sir Charles Lytton. By this time, Niven was having serious health problems. When the raw footage was reviewed, his voice was inaudible, and his lines had to be dubbed by Rich Little. Niven only learned of it from a newspaper report. This was his last film appearance.

Writing
Niven wrote four books. The first, Round the Rugged Rocks (published simultaneously in the US under the title Once Over Lightly), was a novel that appeared in 1951 and was forgotten almost at once. The plot was plainly autobiographical (although not recognised as such at the time of publication), involving a young soldier, John Hamilton, who leaves the British Army, becomes a liquor salesman in New York, is involved in indoor horse racing, goes to Hollywood, becomes a deckhand on a fishing boat, and finally ends up as a highly successful film star.

In 1971, he published his autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon, which was well received, selling over five million copies. He followed this with Bring On the Empty Horses in 1975, a collection of entertaining reminiscences from the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. As more of a raconteur rather than an accurate memoirist, it seems that Niven recounted many incidents from a first-person perspective that actually happened to other people, among them Cary Grant. This liberal borrowing and embroidering of his personal history was also said to be the reason why he persistently refused to appear on This Is Your Life. Niven's penchant for exaggeration and embroidery is particularly apparent when comparing his written descriptions of his early film appearances (especially Barbary Coast and A Feather in her Hat), and his Oscar acceptance speech, with the actual filmed evidence. In all three examples, the reality is significantly different from Niven's heavily fictionalised accounts as presented in The Moon's a Balloon and related in various chat show appearances.

In 1981 Niven published a second and much more successful novel, Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly, which was set during and after the Second World War, and which drew on his experiences during the war and in Hollywood. He was working on a third novel at the time of his death.

Personal life
While on leave in 1940, Niven met Primula "Primmie" Susan Rollo (18 February 1918 – 21 May 1946), the daughter of London lawyer William H.C. Rollo. After a whirlwind romance, they married on 16 September 1940. A son, David Jr., was born in December 1942 and a second son, James Graham Niven, on 6 November 1945. Primmie died at the age of 28, only six weeks after the family moved to the US. She fractured her skull in a fall in the Beverly Hills, California home of Tyrone Power, while playing a game of sardines. She had walked through a door believing it to be a closet, but instead, it led to a stone staircase to the basement.

In 1948, Niven met and married Hjördis Paulina Tersmeden (née Genberg, 1919–1997), a divorced Swedish fashion model. He recounted their meeting: "I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life – tall, slim, auburn hair, up-tilted nose, lovely mouth and the most enormous grey eyes I had ever seen. It really happened the way it does when written by the worst lady novelists ... I goggled. I had difficulty swallowing and had champagne in my knees."

According to friends, the relationship between Niven and Hjördis was turbulent.

In 1960, Niven bought a chalet in Château-d'Œx near Gstaad in Switzerland for financial reasons, living near expatriate friends that included Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov, and Noël Coward. It is believed by some that Niven's choice to become a tax exile may have been one reason why he never received a British honour. However, Kerr, Ustinov, and Coward were all honoured. A 2009 biography of Niven contained assertions that he had an affair with Princess Margaret, who was 20 years his junior. He also became close friends with William F. Buckley and his wife Pat; Buckley wrote a memorial tribute to him in Miles Gone By (2004).

Niven divided his time in the 1960s and 1970s between his chalet in Château-d'Œx and Cap Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur in the south of France.

Death and legacy
In 1980 Niven began experiencing fatigue, muscle weakness and a warble in his voice. His 1981 interviews on the talk shows of Michael Parkinson and Merv Griffin alarmed family and friends; viewers wondered if Niven had either been drinking or suffered a stroke. He blamed his slightly slurred voice on the shooting schedule of the film he had been making, Better Late Than Never. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) later that year. His final appearance in Hollywood was hosting the 1981 American Film Institute tribute to Fred Astaire.

In February 1983, using a false name to avoid publicity, Niven was hospitalised for ten days, ostensibly for a digestive problem. Afterwards, he returned to his chalet at Château-d'Œx. Though his condition continued to worsen he refused to return to the hospital, a decision supported by his family. He died at his chalet on 29 July 1983, aged 73. Niven was buried on 2 August in the local cemetery of Château-d'Œx.

A Thanksgiving service for Niven was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 27 October 1983. The congregation of 1,200 included Prince Michael of Kent, Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, Sir John Mills, Sir Richard Attenborough, Trevor Howard, David Frost, Joanna Lumley, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Laurence Olivier. Biographer Graham Lord wrote, "the biggest wreath, worthy of a Mafia Godfather's funeral, was delivered from the porters at London's Heathrow Airport, along with a card that read: 'To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king.

In 1985, Niven was included in a series of British postage stamps, along with Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Charles Chaplin, Peter Sellers and Vivien Leigh, to commemorate "British Film Year". Niven's appearance was used as inspiration for that of Commander Norman in the Thunderbirds franchise, as well as DC Comics villain Sinestro.

Niven's Bonjour Tristesse co-star, Mylène Demongeot, declared about him, in a 2015 filmed interview: "He was like a Lord, he was part of those great actors who were extraordinary like Dirk Bogarde, individuals with lots of class, elegance and humour. I only saw David get angry once. Preminger had discharged him for the day but eventually asked to get him. I said, sir, you had discharged him, he left for Deauville to gamble at the casino. So we rented a helicopter so they immediately went and grabbed him. Two hours later, he was back, full of rage. There I saw David lose his British phlegm, his politeness and class. It was royal. [Laughs]."

title: David Niven


text:
The Rubettes

The Rubettes are an English pop/glam rock band put together in 1974 after the release of "Sugar Baby Love", a recording assembled of studio session musicians in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor Records, and his co-songwriter, Tony Waddington after their doo-wop and 1950s American pop-influenced songs had been rejected by a number of existing acts. Waddington paired the group with manager John Morris, the husband of singer Clodagh Rodgers and under his guidance, the band duly emerged at the tail end of the glam rock movement, wearing trademark white suits and cloth caps on stage. Their first release, "Sugar Baby Love" was an instant hit remaining at number one in the United Kingdom for four weeks in May 1974, while reaching number 37 on the US chart that August, and remains their best-known record. Subsequent releases were to be less successful, but the band continued to tour well into the 2000s with two line-ups in existence.

Classic era (1974–1980)
The Rubettes' first and biggest hit was "Sugar Baby Love" (1974) which was a number one in the United Kingdom, going on to sell around 500,000 copies in the UK and three million copies globally. With three more songs, "Sugar Baby Love" was recorded for Polydor in October 1973 at Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park, London, by a group of session musicians featuring the distinctive falsetto and lead vocals of Paul Da Vinci (born: Paul Leonard Prewer). However, Da Vinci did not join the others to become a member of the band put together by John Richardson, and instead pursued solo work, having signed a contract with Penny Farthing Records. "Sugar Baby Love" was their only UK No. 1 and sole US Top 40 entry.

For public appearances to promote the song, initially on Top of the Pops, Alan Williams took on the role of lead singer, being the only one of the original session singers able to duplicate Da Vinci's falsetto vocals. The Rubettes then comprised Williams, Richardson, and Pete Arnesen (all three of whom had participated in the original recording) together with Tony Thorpe, Mick Clarke, and Bill Hurd. In performance, the group wore distinctive white suits and white caps which, according to Williams, "were a practical addition to the ensemble.. [as] we all had long hair, which didn't suit the image we'd gone for.. We compromised by having our hair pinned up inside the caps...".

Williams sang lead on later recordings, and the Rubettes went on to have a number of other top ten hits across Europe during the mid-1970s, such as "Tonight", "Juke Box Jive" and "I Can Do It", mostly written by the Bickerton–Waddington songwriting team. The Rubettes' success encouraged Bickerton and Waddington to set up State Records, so that ten months after the release of "Sugar Baby Love", the fourth Rubettes single "I Can Do It" was on State (catalogue reference STAT 1). In November 1974, NME music magazine reported that The Rubettes, The Glitter Band and Mud were among the UK bands who had roles in a new film titled Never Too Young to Rock.

In 1976 the band abandoned glam nostalgia to enter more serious territory. "Under One Roof" (1976) sung by John Richardson was a portrayal of a gay man disowned and later murdered by his father; along with Rod Stewart's "The Killing of Georgie" (1976), it was one of the few songs that tackled the topic of homophobia. Their most successful self-composed hit was the country rock styled ballad "Baby I Know" (1977) sung by Tony Thorpe, which reached number 10 in the UK and Germany in 1977. During this period the band continued to cater for the much bigger European market by continuing to release more commercial pop singles all featuring lead vocals by Alan Williams such as "Julia" (1976), "Allez Oop" (1976), and "Ooh La La" (1977). The band became a quintet in early 1975 with the departure of Arnesen, and later became a quartet in mid-1976 when Hurd departed the band; to this day the original band has never expanded its line-up beyond four members. Whilst the band continued as a four-piece; Hurd joined Suzi Quatro's band, touring and playing on a number of worldwide hits, which included the Top 20 success "She's in Love with You" in 1979, before re-joining the Rubettes in 1982.

In another attempt to get away from the 'doo-wop' glam image, Thorpe insisted that the trademark vocal harmonies were left off of his composition, "You're the Reason Why". Gerry Shury and the band out-voted him. The version with no vocal backing has been available as a bootleg recording in certain parts of Europe. In 1979, Thorpe and the band separated over musical differences. Thorpe can be heard on lead vocals on the last Still Unwinding track, "Does It Gotta Be Rock 'N' Roll". His guitar parts and backing vocals remained. After Thorpe's departure, the group's success began to dwindle. The band replaced Thorpe with Bob Benham, but he departed shortly thereafter and the band dissolved in 1980.

Reformation (1982–1999)
The band reformed in 1982, with a line-up consisting of Williams, Clark, Hurd, and drummer Alex Bines to exploit the German market for 1970s nostalgia. This line-up remained relatively stable until 1999, with the only line-up changes being the departure of Clark in 1987, to be replaced first by Steve Kinch and then by Trevor Holliday, before he returned to the fold in 1993.

Separate projects (2000–present)
John Richardson, under the name Jayadev, has recorded as a session percussionist, and played on Tight Fit's version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

In 2000, Williams and Hurd both formed their own versions of the Rubettes, which at the time both also included two members of the Rubettes in each group (Clarke and Richardson in Williams', Da Vinci and Bines in Hurd's). Due to legal issues, both versions of the band have to specify that their version is only led by them, by having the phrase "featuring __" after "The Rubettes".

In March 2012, Thorpe digitally released the No Hits, No Jazz Collection and performed at Darwen Library Theatre with a live eight-piece band for his '50th Anniversary 1-Gig-Tour'. It featured session musicians Iain Reddy, Liam Barber, Justin Randall and Greg Harper. "You're the Reason Why" was played.

Legal issues
In 2002, the group hit the headlines once more when, following an acrimonious split and legal action, the Rubettes became the latest in a long line of bands (including the Beach Boys and Spandau Ballet) to end up in the courts in a dispute over ownership of the band's name. The court ruled that both Williams and Hurd could tour as the Rubettes, as long as it was clear which member was fronting the band.

All was well until 2005 when Williams and Hurd were back in court following an appearance by Hurd's band on the German television station ZDF, with Williams claiming Hurd had breached the terms of the original agreement. On 2 February 2006, a High Court judge found that Hurd and Williams had both been guilty of breaching the 2002 agreement. Costs of the trial were, however, awarded to Williams in view of the severity of Hurd's breaches. Hurd appealed against this decision, but on 3 November 2006, the Appeal Court in London ruled against him, awarding the costs of the appeal to Williams. Hurd has since gone bankrupt.

2022 High Court ownership ruling
In July 2022 Alan Williams and his company won a High Court trial for the ownership of The Rubettes name, against Clarke, Richardson and Etherington. Sitting in the High Court in London, Judge Pat Treacy ruled for Williams and said: "The defendants' conduct amounts to a misrepresentation sufficient to engage the tort of passing off. The claimants have succeeded."

The Rubettes (1973-1980, 1982-1999)
Former

 * Alan Williams (born Alan James Williams, 22 December 1948, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire ) – guitars, vocals (1973–1980, 1982–1999)
 * Pete Arnesen (born Hans Peter Arnesen, 25 August 1945, Salzburg, Austria) – keyboards (1973–1974)
 * Tony Thorpe (born Anthony John Thorpe, 20 July 1945, St Bartholomew Hospital, Smithfield, London ) – guitars, vocals (1974–1979)
 * Mick Clarke (born Michael William Clarke, 10 August 1946, Grimsby, Lincolnshire) – bass, vocals (1973–1980, 1982–1987, 1993–1999)
 * Bill Hurd (born William Frederick George Hurd, 11 August 1947, East Ham, East London) – keyboards, vocals (1974–1976, 1982–1999)
 * John Richardson (born John George Richardson, 3 May 1947, South Ockendon, Essex) – drums, vocals (1973–1980)
 * Bob Benham – guitars, vocals (1979)
 * Alex Bines – drums, vocals (1982–1999)
 * Steve Kinch – bass, vocals (1987–1991)
 * Trevor Holliday – bass, vocals (1991–1993)

Timeline

The Rubettes featuring Alan Williams (2000-present)
In 2000, Williams formed his version of the band along with Clarke, Richardson, and ex-Kinks keyboardist Mark Haley.

On 21 September 2014, as part of the Rubettes' 40th anniversary, it was announced that Alan Williams, John Richardson, and Mick Clarke would return to the Olympia in Paris, the same venue at which the Rubettes made their first appearance in France in 1974 when "Sugar Baby Love" topped the French and European charts.

The band broke up in February 2019. A new Rubettes was formed with the original members John Richardson, Mick Clarke, and Steve Etherington (producer/arranger since 1995).

Current members

 * Alan Williams – guitars, vocals (2000–present)
 * Glyn Davies (born 1959, Wednesbury, Staffordshire) –  guitar, vocals (2019–present)
 * Spencer Lingwood – drums, vocals (2019–present)
 * Lawrence Haley – bass, vocals (2019–present)

Former members

Members of the original Rubettes are in Bold
 * John Richardson – drums, vocals (2000–2019)
 * Mick Clarke – bass, vocals (2000–2019)
 * Steve Etherington – keyboards, guitars, vocals (2015–2019)
 * Mark Haley – keyboards, guitars, vocals (2000–2015)

Timeline

The Rubettes featuring Bill Hurd (2000-present)
Following the dissolution of the original band; Hurd formed his version of the group with longtime drummer Alex Bines, vocalist Paul Da Vinci (who had performed lead vocal on "Sugar Baby Love"), bassist Billy Hill, and guitarist Rufus Rufell. Da Vinci departed the band in 2006 and was replaced by George Bird, and guitarist Rufell leaving in 2009 and replaced by Ian Pearce.

In June 2009, Bill Hurd's Rubettes played at the East Kilbride ArtBurst Festival.

In 2010, Bill Hurd's Rubettes covered the 1997 Thorpe composition "Where the Angels Fear to Tread" on their album 21st Century Rock 'n' Roll on Angel Air Records.

2013 saw the beginning of the most turbulent period in the band's history, as line-up instability was common for the next two years. First Bines, Hill, and Pearce all left the band to be replaced by Paul Callaby (drums), Ray Frost (guitars), and John Sorrell (bass) respectively; leaving Hurd as the last remaining 'founding member' of his version of the group left in the band. Late 2013 saw Bird depart the band to be replaced by Yvan Silva. By mid-2013 the band underwent a major personnel upheaval again, as everyone other than Hurd departed the band.

The line-up then solidified with the arrival of vocalist Ken Butler, drummer Martin Clapson, and guitarist Dave Harding; with Mike Steed joining them on bass (on loan from The Marmalade) for a few months. The band line up has remained fairly settled since 2014 with the only changes following the death of Ken Butler in 2018 saw the appointment of John Summerton (ex Flintlock) on guitar and vocals, and the arrival of drummer Damian Fisher.

Current

 * Bill Hurd – keyboards, vocals (2000–present)
 * Damian Fisher – drums, vocals (2017-2018, 2020–present)
 * Dave Harding – guitar, vocals (2014–present)
 * Chris Staines – bass, vocals (2015-2017, 2019–present)

Former

Members of the original Rubettes are in Bold
 * Alex Bines – drums, vocals (2000–2013)
 * Rufus Ruffell – guitars, vocals (2000–2009)
 * Ian Pearce – guitars, vocals (2009–2013)
 * Paul Da Vinci – vocals (2000–2006)
 * George Bird – vocals (2006–2013)
 * Paul Callaby – drums, vocals (2013–2014)
 * Ray Frost – guitars, vocals (2013–2014)
 * John Sorrell – bass, vocals (2013–2014)
 * Yvan Silva – guitars, vocals (2013–2014)
 * Mike Steed – bass, vocals (2014)
 * Billy Hill - bass, vocals (2000-2013, 2017-2020)
 * Martin Clapson – drums, vocals (2015-2017, 2018-2020)
 * Kenny Butler – guitars, vocals – (2014-2018)
 * John Summerton – guitar, vocals (2018–2021?)

Timeline

The Rubettes featuring John, Mick, & Steve (2019-present)
In February 2019, founding members of "The Rubettes featuring Alan Williams" John Richardson, Mick Clarke, and Steve Etherington (who with the exception of Etherington are original members of the band) decided to break away from Alan Williams, and formed the Rubettes featuring John, Mick, and Steve. In 2020, the trio recorded, produced, and released their album "Glamnezia". They are currently the only version of the Rubettes to have released a full-length studio album. Members of the original Rubettes are in Bold
 * John Richardson – drums, vocals
 * Mick Clarke – bass, vocals
 * Steve Etherington – keyboards, guitars, vocals

Studio albums

 * Other Albums
 * On Tour (October 2008) [Studio Album/Compilation + Bonus Tracks] CLCD002
 * La Legende Continue (July 2016) [Studio Album/Compilation + Bonus Tracks] CLCD003

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

title: The Rubettes


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Talk:Blue screen of death

Details or doublespeak?
@Schm1dtxbox, your edit summary reads: "Restored detail from my prior edit ..." No, you didn't. You restored some doublespeak and poor grammar. Changing "and" to "/" is bad enough, but the following is pure nonsense: "Starting with build 1607 of Windows 10" No, the change occurred in Windows 10 version 1607, whose major build number is 14393.

"boot framebuffer resolution, over top of the active resolution" What are you trying to pull? Impress us with your ability to invoke pointless jargon? Waysidesc (talk) 14:51, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I changed out the "and" in order to note that the 2 Windows variants could be referred to interchangeably in this case, and to avoid repetition with what followed regarding how these Windows versions are not the only ones that render in that fashion, as I preferred not having "and" repeat twice.
 * The versioning issue you mentioned is a fair point, as I did use the wrong term there, although I doubt it makes that segment 'nonsense' as you describe. Schm1dtxbox (talk) 23:34, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Kindly don't tamper with my message. Waysidesc (talk) 09:21, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

 * Regarding the 'jargon', I personally disagree to an extent, as I'd argue it more accurately describes how the BSOD renders with regards to varying boot-time and in-OS resolutions, as the BSOD doesn't scale it's contents at all when dealing with a higher in-OS resolution, which is why I used that description. The wording isn't great though, I agree, but I doubt there's any other way to describe it well, so you're free to view that how you wish.
 * I won't revert the changes again though since I'd rather not lead to any edit wars, just wanted to explain my view on this. Schm1dtxbox (talk) 23:21, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

Add a list of Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 error codes
Can you add those error codes please? I wanted to know them. Thanks! Cdmxm8807i8x (talk) 00:36, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:37, 12 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Windows NT 3.51 BSOD ita.png

≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≤≥≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠] 103.238.107.67 (talk) 10:30, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Blue screen of death


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Talk:Lie group

Too technical?
I see there is a "technical" tag. In my opinion, this article is no more technical than many other math articles and is appropriate for the subject at hand. I am inclined to remove the tag. Or at least I would need a bit of specific information about which part the user feels is overly technical before I could attempt to address the issue. The level seems similar to many introductory textbooks on the subject. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mathphysman (talk • contribs) 12:29, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Right. Are there any plausible readers who would want to learn about Lie groups and who would nevertheless find this article too technical? What are the examples of not-too-technical articles on comparably advanced mathematics? Sylvain Ribault (talk) 21:40, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm not going to answer your second question since I don't know the answer, but as for your first question, many physics students will definitely find this article too technical (while trying to learn quantum field theory on their own). It's not quite that any information is missing for them to understand the article, but rather that they will have absolutely no idea what this is talking about until the exponential map is mentioned and they finally notice how matrix groups are Lie groups. At the same time, this article is linked to in a lot of articles on QFT. Qwyxivi (talk) 03:42, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

 * My sense is that expecting to learn about Lie groups from a QFT study is completely wrong-minded: most physicists learn their su(2) through quantum angular momentum in QM, and generalize to su(3) from a low-level particle physics course. Then they are ready for QFT and the standard model. Personally, whenever I teach this, I spend the first week on remedial group theory, and supplement teaching by reviews and popular physics Lie group books. Physicists are preternatural in learning things by example, monkey-see, monkey-do (I am serious). The idea of coming here for tutorial help is exotic, no? I think the article level is just right. Other WP pages work out the applications that are likely sought. Cuzkatzimhut (talk) 20:45, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

 * Perhaps including a reference to classical groups in the lede could direct a reader with not enough background to a topic more useful for them? For example the first paragraph could end with something like "An important and fundamental class of Lie groups is given by classical groups such as orthogonal, unitary, symplectic and special linear groups." jraimbau (talk) 08:44, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

 * Section 2.3 already does that. Cuzkatzimhut (talk) 14:53, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

 * Yes, but the point would be to put that information up front. jraimbau (talk) 11:03, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

 * QFT pages are not the only pages that link here. Better examples of pages that link here are Fields Medal and Mathematics. A person with absolutely no knowledge of mathematics is likely to stumble across this page from one of those pages, and will immediate be caught off-guard by the following jargon in the first sentence: "Group", "Differentiable", "Manifold", "Operation". Maybe it is reasonable to expect them to click through to learn what a group is (even then, requiring someone to click through even once just to understand the intro isn't ideal), but I would not expect them to learn what all four of these words mean, just to be able to read the introduction. - Ramzuiv (talk) 05:20, 10 December 2019 (UTC)

 * I rewrote the lede to minimize the jargon. After that, the next 4-5 paragraphs seem plain enough that ordinary college students should be able to parse their way through them. 67.198.37.16 (talk) 04:17, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Problems with lede
In the first paragraph, a group whose elements are organized continuously and smoothly, as opposed to discrete groups, where the elements are separated is at best seriously misleading and is certainly confusing; it's a long way from organized to group operations, and there is no dichotomy: one can trivially construct a differentiable manifold with discontinuous group operations.

The second paragraph is better, but needs to mention the smoothness of the group operations and to note that not all topological groups are Lie Groups.

As a side note, I like the suggestion to mention the classical groups in the lede. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 13:42, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

 * I rewrote the lede. I forgot to mention classical groups, I will do that now. 67.198.37.16 (talk) 04:15, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Wrong link?
From Problem simplication.... 1.46.131.75 (talk) 11:56, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Projective groups
In #Additional examples, The projective group is confusing. There are distinct types of projective groups, general (full) and special. $$\mathrm{PSL}(3,R) \cong \mathrm{SL}(3,\mathbb{R})$$ preserves orientation while $$\mathrm{GSL}(3,R)$$ does not. --Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 10:14, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
 * As written it was pretty useless so i removed it. However it points to a deficiency of the current version of the article, that there the Lie groups ocurring as symmetry groups of differential equations are not mentioned outside of the history section and (not very clearly) the section on representations. This is treated in some detail in the page Lie point symmetry but there should probably be a short paragraph on that here as well; for the time being i added a "see also". jraimbau (talk) 13:33, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

The first example ought to be the circle group
Yes, I believe that this article is too technical for readers interested in this subject, because it doesn't begin with the most obvious starting point for Lie groups: the circle group.

I do not believe there is ever any reason to introduce anyone to Lie groups without beginning with the circle group.

title: Talk:Lie group


text:
Senufo languages

The Senufo or Senufic languages (Senoufo in French) comprise around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west of Ghana. The Senufo languages constitute their own branch of the Atlantic–Congo sub-family of the Niger–Congo languages. Anne Garber estimates the total number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various population estimates, counts 2.7 million. The Senufo languages are bounded to the west by Mande languages, to the south by Kwa languages, and to the north and east by Central Gur languages.

The Senufo languages are like the Gur languages in that they have a suffixal noun class system and that verbs are marked for aspect. Most Gur languages to the north of Senufo have a two tone downstep system, but the tonal system of the Senufo languages is mostly analysed as a three level tone system (High, Mid, Low).

The Senufo languages have been influenced by the neighbouring Mande languages in numerous ways. Many words have been borrowed from the Mande languages Bambara and Jula. Carlson notes that "it is probable that several grammatical constructions are calques on the corresponding Bambara constructions". Like Mande languages, the Senufo languages have a subject–object–verb (SOV) constituent order, rather than the subject–verb–object (SVO) order which is more common in Gur and in Niger–Congo as a whole.

Classification
Delafosse was the first linguist to write on the Senufo languages. He noted that the Senufo were often confused with the Mande, partly because use of Mande languages by the Senufo was widespread:
 * [L]a langue mandé s'est répandue parmi eux, des alliances nombreuses ont eu lieu... C'est là l'origine de la confusion que l'on a faite souvent entre Mandé et Sénoufo ... alors que, au triple point de vue ethnographique, antropologique et linguistique, la différence est profonde entre ces deux familles.

In the influential classifications of Westermann and Bendor-Samuel, the Senufo languages were classified as Gur languages. In 1975, this classification was called into doubt by Gabriel Manessy. In 1989, John Naden, in his overview of the Gur family, stated that ‘[t]he remaining languages, especially Senufo, may well be no more closely related to Central Gur than to Guang or Togo Remnant, or than these to Central Gur or Volta-Comoe’.

Subclassification
Early Senufo classifications were mainly geographically motivated, dividing the Senufo languages into Northern, Central, and Southern Senufo. In subsequent years, this terminology was adopted by several linguists working on Senufo languages. Mensah (1983) and Mills (1984) avoided this geographical terms but used mainly the same grouping. SIL International in its Ethnologue subdivides the Senufo languages in six groups. Combining the two classifications results in the grouping below.

Northern Senufo Central Senufo Southern Senufo
 * Suppire–Mamara languages
 * Mamara (Minyanka, Mianka) (740,000 speakers)
 * Nanerigé (Nanergé) (50,000 speakers)
 * Sucite (Sicite, Sìcìté) (38,000 speakers)
 * Supyire (Suppire, Shempire, Syempire) (spoken in Mali) (460,000 speakers)
 * Karaboro languages
 * Eastern Karaboro (Kar) (40,000 speakers)
 * Western Karaboro (Syer-Tenyer) (30,000 speakers)
 * Senari languages
 * Cebaara (Tyebaala) (860,000 speakers)
 * Senara (spoken in Côte d'Ivoire) (210,000 speakers)
 * Nyarafolo (60,000 speakers)
 * Kpalaga (Palaka) (spoken in Côte d'Ivoire) (8,000 speakers)
 * Tagwana–Djimini languages
 * Djimini (Dyimini) (spoken in Côte d'Ivoire) (96,000 speakers)
 * Tagwana (Tagouna) (140,000 speakers)
 * Nafaanra (Nafaara) (61,000 speakers)

title: Senufo languages


text:
Gur languages

The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur or Mabia, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in most areas of Burkina Faso, and in south-central Mali, northeastern Ivory Coast, the northern halves of Ghana and Togo, northwestern Benin, and southwestern Niger. A few Gur languages are spoken in Nigeria. Additionally, a single Gur language, Baatonum, is spoken in Benin and in the extreme northwest of Nigeria. Three other single Gur languages, the Tusya, Vyemo and Tiefo languages, are spoken in Burkina Faso. Another unclassified Gur language, Miyobe, is spoken in Benin and Togo. In addition, Kulango, Loma and Lorhon, are spoken in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. Additionally, a few Mossi speakers are in Senegal, and speakers of the Dagaare language are also found in Cameroon. The Samu languages of Burkina Faso are Gur languages.

Typological features
Like most Niger–Congo languages, the ancestor of Gur languages probably had a noun class system; many of today's languages have reduced this to a system of nominal genders or declensions or no longer have a class system. A common property of Gur languages is the verbal aspect marking. Almost all Gur languages are tonal, with Koromfé being a notable exception. The tonal systems of Gur languages are rather divergent. Most Gur languages have been described as following the model of a two tone downstep system, but the languages of Oti-Volta branch and some others have three phonemic tones.

History of study
Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle first mentions twelve Gur languages in his 1854 Polyglotta Africana, which represent ten languages in modern classification. Notably, he correctly identified these languages as being related to one another; his 'North-Eastern High Sudan' corresponds to Gur in modern classification.

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The Gur family was previously called Voltaic, following the French name (langues) Voltaïques (named after the Volta River). It was once considered to be more extensive than it is often regarded today, including the Senufo languages and a number of small language isolates. The inclusion of Senufo within Gur has been rejected by many linguists, including Tony Naden. Williamson and Blench place Senufo as a separate branch of Atlantic–Congo, while other non-Central Gur languages are placed somewhat closer as separate branches within the Savannas continuum.

Kleinewillinghöfer (2014) notes that the closest relatives of Gur appear to be several branches of the obsolete Adamawa family, since many "Adamawa" languages in fact share more similarities with various (Central) Gur languages than with other Adamawa languages. He proposes that early Gur-Adamawa speakers had cultivated guinea corn and millet in a wooded savanna environment.

Classification
The regions on the map denote regional distribution of the Central Gur languages. The tree-diagram below denotes the relations between these languages and their closest relatives:

 * ? Greater Gur (or Gur–Adamawa)
 * Central Gur (or Mabia)
 * Northern Gur
 * (1.) Oti–Volta (28 languages, including Mooré, Mamprusi, Dagbani, and Gurma)
 * (2.) Bwa (or Bwamu, Bomu, Bobo-Wule)
 * (3.) Koromfé (or Koromfe)
 * Southern Gur
 * (4.) East Mabia
 * Gurunsi (or Grũsi) (20 languages, including Kabiye)
 * (5.) Kirma–Lobi
 * Kirma–Tyurama (Cerma, Turka)
 * Lobi–Dyan (Lobi, Dyan)
 * (6.) Doghose–Gan (Dogosé, Kaansa, Khisa)
 * (7.) ? Dogoso–Khe (Dogoso, Khe)
 * ? Waja–Kam
 * ? Leko–Nimbari
 * ? (possibly other putative Adamawa languages)
 * ? Leko–Nimbari
 * ? (possibly other putative Adamawa languages)

The position of Dogoso–Khe in Southern Gur is not clear; it is not closely related to other members of the branch.

Bodomo (2017)
Bodomo (2017) refers to the entire Central Gur group as Mabia. The term Mabia is a portmanteau of the two lexical innovations ma- 'mother' + bia 'child'.

The following is a classification of the Mabia (or Central Gur) languages from Bodomo (2017), as cited in Bodomo (2020). Bodomo divides Mabia into three primary branches, namely West, East, and Central.

 * Mabia
 * East (or Gurunsi, Grũsi)
 * Kasem
 * Sisaala
 * Kabiye
 * West (or Gurma)
 * Bassari
 * Konkomba
 * Moba
 * Central
 * Dagaare
 * Dagaare
 * Wali
 * Birifor
 * Safaliba
 * North
 * Moore
 * Mid-Central
 * Mabiene
 * Frafra (Nankanè)
 * Nabit
 * South
 * Dagbani
 * Mampruli
 * Nanuni (a dialect of Dagbani)
 * Kusaal
 * Kusaal (Kusasi)
 * Talni
 * Buli–Konni
 * Buli
 * Konni
 * Hanga–Kamara
 * Hanga
 * Kamara

The term Mabia, instead of Gur, is also used by Naden (2021).

Naden (2021) lists the languages of the Southern/Eastern Mabia group as Dagbani, Hanga, Kantoosi, Kamara, Kusaal (Kusasi), Mampruli (Mamprusi), Nabit, Nanun/Nanuni (also considered a dialect of Dagbani), and Talni.

Comparative vocabulary
Sample basic vocabulary of Gur languages:

Note: In table cells with slashes, the singular form is given before the slash, while the plural form follows the slash.

Numerals
Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

title: Gur languages


text:
USS Vincennes

USS Vincennes may refer to:

 * USS Vincennes (1826), was an 18-gun sloop-of-war commissioned in 1826 and sold in 1867
 * USS Vincennes (CA-44), was a New Orleans-class cruiser commissioned in 1937 and lost in the Battle of Savo Island in 1942
 * USS Vincennes (CL-64) was a Cleveland-class cruiser commissioned in 1944 and decommissioned in 1946
 * USS Vincennes (CG-49) was a Ticonderoga-class cruiser commissioned in 1985 and decommissioned in 2005 primarily known for the shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988 which killed all 290 on board.

title: USS Vincennes


text:
Kruskal's algorithm

Kruskal's algorithm finds a minimum spanning forest of an undirected edge-weighted graph. If the graph is connected, it finds a minimum spanning tree. It is a greedy algorithm that in each step adds to the forest the lowest-weight edge that will not form a cycle. The key steps of the algorithm are sorting and the use of a disjoint-set data structure to detect cycles. Its running time is dominated by the time to sort all of the graph edges by their weight.

A minimum spanning tree of a connected weighted graph is a connected subgraph, without cycles, for which the sum of the weights of all the edges in the subgraph is minimal. For a disconnected graph, a minimum spanning forest is composed of a minimum spanning tree for each connected component.

This algorithm was first published by Joseph Kruskal in 1956, and was rediscovered soon afterward by. Other algorithms for this problem include Prim's algorithm, Borůvka's algorithm, and the reverse-delete algorithm.

Algorithm
The algorithm performs the following steps:
 * Create a forest (a set of trees) initially consisting of a separate single-vertex tree for each vertex in the input graph.
 * Sort the graph edges by weight.
 * Loop through the edges of the graph, in ascending sorted order by their weight. For each edge:
 * Test whether adding the edge to the current forest would create a cycle.
 * If not, add the edge to the forest, combining two trees into a single tree.

At the termination of the algorithm, the forest forms a minimum spanning forest of the graph. If the graph is connected, the forest has a single component and forms a minimum spanning tree.

Pseudocode
The following code is implemented with a disjoint-set data structure. It represents the forest F as a set of undirected edges, and uses the disjoint-set data structure to efficiently determine whether two vertices are part of the same tree.

algorithm Kruskal(G) is F:= ∅ for each v in G.V do MAKE-SET(v) for each {u, v} in G.E ordered by weight({u, v}), increasing do if FIND-SET(u) ≠ FIND-SET(v) then F := F ∪ { {u, v} } UNION(FIND-SET(u), FIND-SET(v)) return F

Complexity
For a graph with $E$ edges and $V$ vertices, Kruskal's algorithm can be shown to run in time $O(E log E)$ time, with simple data structures. Here, $O$ expresses the time in big O notation, and $log$ is a logarithm to any base (since inside $O$-notation logarithms to all bases are equivalent, because they are the same up to a constant factor). This time bound is often written instead as $O(E log V)$, which is equivalent for graphs with no isolated vertices, because for these graphs $V/2 ≤ E < V^{2}$ and the logarithms of $V$ and $E$ are again within a constant factor of each other.

To achieve this bound, first sort the edges by weight using a comparison sort in $O(E log E)$ time. Once sorted, it is possible to loop through the edges in sorted order in constant time per edge. Next, use a disjoint-set data structure, with a set of vertices for each component, to keep track of which vertices are in which components. Creating this structure, with a separate set for each vertex, takes $V$ operations and $O(V)$ time. The final iteration through all edges performs two find operations and possibly one union operation per edge. These operations take amortized time $O(α(V))$ time per operation, giving worst-case total time $O(E α(V))$ for this loop, where $α$ is the extremely slowly growing inverse Ackermann function. This part of the time bound is much smaller than the time for the sorting step, so the total time for the algorithm can be simplified to the time for the sorting step.

In cases where the edges are already sorted, or where they have small enough integer weight to allow integer sorting algorithms such as counting sort or radix sort to sort them in linear time, the disjoint set operations are the slowest remaining part of the algorithm and the total time is $O(E α(V''))$.

Proof of correctness
The proof consists of two parts. First, it is proved that the algorithm produces a spanning tree. Second, it is proved that the constructed spanning tree is of minimal weight.

Spanning tree
Let $$G$$ be a connected, weighted graph and let $$Y$$ be the subgraph of $$G$$ produced by the algorithm. $$Y$$ cannot have a cycle, as by definition an edge is not added if it results in a cycle. $$Y$$ cannot be disconnected, since the first encountered edge that joins two components of $$Y$$ would have been added by the algorithm. Thus, $$Y$$ is a spanning tree of $$G$$.

Minimality
We show that the following proposition P is true by induction: If F is the set of edges chosen at any stage of the algorithm, then there is some minimum spanning tree that contains F and none of the edges rejected by the algorithm.
 * Clearly P is true at the beginning, when F is empty: any minimum spanning tree will do, and there exists one because a weighted connected graph always has a minimum spanning tree.
 * Now assume P is true for some non-final edge set F and let T be a minimum spanning tree that contains F.
 * If the next chosen edge e is also in T, then P is true for F + e.
 * Otherwise, if e is not in T then T + e has a cycle C. The cycle C contains edges which do not belong to F + e, since e does not form a cycle when added to F but does in T.  Let f be an edge which is in C but not in F + e.  Note that f also belongs to T, since f belongs to T + e but not F + e. By  P, f has not been considered by the algorithm. f must therefore have a weight at least as large as e. Then T − f + e is a tree, and it has the same or less weight as T. However since T is a minimum spanning tree then T − f + e has the same weight as T, otherwise we get a contradiction and T would not be a minimum spanning tree. So T − f + e is a minimum spanning tree containing F + e and again P holds.
 * Therefore, by the principle of induction, P holds when F has become a spanning tree, which is only possible if F is a minimum spanning tree itself.

Parallel algorithm
Kruskal's algorithm is inherently sequential and hard to parallelize. It is, however, possible to perform the initial sorting of the edges in parallel or, alternatively, to use a parallel implementation of a binary heap to extract the minimum-weight edge in every iteration. As parallel sorting is possible in time $$O(n)$$ on $$O(\log n)$$ processors, the runtime of Kruskal's algorithm can be reduced to O(E α(V)), where α again is the inverse of the single-valued Ackermann function.

A variant of Kruskal's algorithm, named Filter-Kruskal, has been described by Osipov et al. and is better suited for parallelization. The basic idea behind Filter-Kruskal is to partition the edges in a similar way to quicksort and filter out edges that connect vertices of the same tree to reduce the cost of sorting. The following pseudocode demonstrates this. function filter_kruskal(G) is if |G.E| < kruskal_threshold: return kruskal(G) pivot = choose_random(G.E)    E$≤$, E$>$ = partition(G.E, pivot) A = filter_kruskal(E$≤$) E$>$ = filter(E$>$) A = A ∪ filter_kruskal(E$>$) return A function partition(E, pivot) is E$≤$ = ∅, E$>$ = ∅ foreach (u, v) in E do if weight(u, v) ≤ pivot then E$≤$ = E$≤$ ∪ {(u, v)} else E$>$ = E$>$ ∪ {(u, v)} return E$≤$, E$>$ function filter(E) is E$f$ = ∅ foreach (u, v) in E do if find_set(u) ≠ find_set(v) then E$f$ = E$f$ ∪ {(u, v)} return E$f$

Filter-Kruskal lends itself better to parallelization as sorting, filtering, and partitioning can easily be performed in parallel by distributing the edges between the processors.

Finally, other variants of a parallel implementation of Kruskal's algorithm have been explored. Examples include a scheme that uses helper threads to remove edges that are definitely not part of the MST in the background, and a variant which runs the sequential algorithm on p subgraphs, then merges those subgraphs until only one, the final MST, remains.

title: Kruskal's algorithm


text:
Ford–Fulkerson algorithm

The Ford–Fulkerson method or Ford–Fulkerson algorithm (FFA) is a greedy algorithm that computes the maximum flow in a flow network. It is sometimes called a "method" instead of an "algorithm" as the approach to finding augmenting paths in a residual graph is not fully specified or it is specified in several implementations with different running times. It was published in 1956 by L. R. Ford Jr. and D. R. Fulkerson. The name "Ford–Fulkerson" is often also used for the Edmonds–Karp algorithm, which is a fully defined implementation of the Ford–Fulkerson method.

The idea behind the algorithm is as follows: as long as there is a path from the source (start node) to the sink (end node), with available capacity on all edges in the path, we send flow along one of the paths. Then we find another path, and so on. A path with available capacity is called an augmenting path.

Algorithm
Let $$G(V,E)$$ be a graph, and for each edge from $u$ to $v$, let $$c(u,v)$$ be the capacity and $$f(u,v)$$ be the flow. We want to find the maximum flow from the source $s$ to the sink $t$. After every step in the algorithm the following is maintained:

 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rh | Capacity constraints ! Rh | Skew symmetry ! Rh | Flow conservation ! Rh | Value(f)
 * $$\forall (u, v) \in E: \ f(u,v) \le c(u,v)$$ || The flow along an edge cannot exceed its capacity.
 * $$\forall (u, v) \in E: \ f(u,v) = - f(v,u)$$ || The net flow from $u$ to $v$ must be the opposite of the net flow from $v$ to $u$ (see example).
 * || The net flow to a node is zero, except for the source, which "produces" flow, and the sink, which "consumes" flow.
 * $$\sum_{(s,u) \in E} f(s, u) = \sum_{(v,t) \in E} f(v, t)$$ || The flow leaving from $s$ must be equal to the flow arriving at $t$.
 * }
 * }

This means that the flow through the network is a legal flow after each round in the algorithm. We define the residual network $$G_f(V,E_f)$$ to be the network with capacity $$c_f(u,v) = c(u,v) - f(u,v)$$ and no flow. Notice that it can happen that a flow from $v$ to $u$ is allowed in the residual network, though disallowed in the original network: if $$f(u,v)>0$$ and $$c(v,u)=0$$ then $$c_f(v,u)=c(v,u)-f(v,u)=f(u,v)>0$$.

 * Inputs Given a Network $$G = (V,E)$$ with flow capacity $c$, a source node $s$, and a sink node $t$
 * Output Compute a flow $f$ from $s$ to $t$ of maximum value
 * $$f(u,v) \leftarrow 0$$ for all edges $$(u,v)$$
 * While there is a path $p$ from $s$ to $t$ in $$G_f$$, such that $$c_f(u,v) > 0$$ for all edges $$(u,v) \in p$$:
 * Find $$c_f(p) = \min\{c_f(u,v) : (u,v) \in p\}$$
 * For each edge $$(u,v) \in p$$
 * $$f(u,v) \leftarrow f(u,v) + c_f(p)$$ (Send flow along the path)
 * $$f(v,u) \leftarrow f(v,u) - c_f(p)$$ (The flow might be "returned" later)

The path in step 2 can be found with, for example, breadth-first search (BFS) or depth-first search in $$G_f(V,E_f)$$. The former is known as the Edmonds–Karp algorithm.

When no more paths in step 2 can be found, $s$ will not be able to reach $t$ in the residual network. If $S$ is the set of nodes reachable by $s$ in the residual network, then the total capacity in the original network of edges from $S$ to the remainder of $V$ is on the one hand equal to the total flow we found from $s$ to $t$, and on the other hand serves as an upper bound for all such flows. This proves that the flow we found is maximal. See also Max-flow Min-cut theorem.

If the graph $$G(V,E)$$ has multiple sources and sinks, we act as follows: Suppose that $$T=\{t\mid t \text{ is a sink}\}$$ and $$S=\{s\mid s \text{ is a source}\}$$. Add a new source $$ s^*$$ with an edge $$(s^*,s)$$ from $$s^* $$ to every node $$ s\in S $$, with capacity $$c(s^*,s)=d_s=\sum_{(s,u)\in E}c(s,u)$$. And add a new sink $$ t^*$$ with an edge $$(t, t^*)$$ from every node $$ t\in T $$ to $$t^* $$, with capacity $$c(t, t^*)=d_t=\sum_{(v,t)\in E}c(v,t)$$. Then apply the Ford–Fulkerson algorithm.

Also, if a node $u$ has capacity constraint $$d_u$$, we replace this node with two nodes $$u_{\mathrm{in}},u_{\mathrm{out}}$$, and an edge $$ (u_{\mathrm{in}},u_{\mathrm{out}}) $$, with capacity $$c(u_{\mathrm{in}},u_{\mathrm{out}})=d_u$$. Then apply the Ford–Fulkerson algorithm.

Complexity
By adding the flow augmenting path to the flow already established in the graph, the maximum flow will be reached when no more flow augmenting paths can be found in the graph. However, there is no certainty that this situation will ever be reached, so the best that can be guaranteed is that the answer will be correct if the algorithm terminates. In the case that the algorithm runs forever, the flow might not even converge towards the maximum flow. However, this situation only occurs with irrational flow values. When the capacities are integers, the runtime of Ford–Fulkerson is bounded by $$O(E f)$$ (see big O notation), where $$E$$ is the number of edges in the graph and $$f$$ is the maximum flow in the graph. This is because each augmenting path can be found in $$O(E)$$ time and increases the flow by an integer amount of at least $$1$$, with the upper bound $$f$$.

A variation of the Ford–Fulkerson algorithm with guaranteed termination and a runtime independent of the maximum flow value is the Edmonds–Karp algorithm, which runs in $$O(VE^2)$$ time.

Integer flow example
The following example shows the first steps of Ford–Fulkerson in a flow network with 4 nodes, source $$A$$ and sink $$D$$. This example shows the worst-case behaviour of the algorithm. In each step, only a flow of $$1$$ is sent across the network. If breadth-first-search were used instead, only two steps would be needed.

Non-terminating example

Consider the flow network shown on the right, with source $$s$$, sink $$t$$, capacities of edges $$e_1$$, $$e_2$$ and $$e_3$$ respectively $$1$$, $$r=(\sqrt{5}-1)/2$$ and $$1$$ and the capacity of all other edges some integer $$M \ge 2$$. The constant $$r$$ was chosen so, that $$r^2 = 1 - r$$. We use augmenting paths according to the following table, where $$p_1 = \{ s, v_4, v_3, v_2, v_1, t \}$$, $$p_2 = \{ s, v_2, v_3, v_4, t \}$$ and $$p_3 = \{ s, v_1, v_2, v_3, t \}$$.

Note that after step 1 as well as after step 5, the residual capacities of edges $$e_1$$, $$e_2$$ and $$e_3$$ are in the form $$r^n$$, $$r^{n+1}$$ and $$0$$, respectively, for some $$n \in \mathbb{N}$$. This means that we can use augmenting paths $$p_1$$, $$p_2$$, $$p_1$$ and $$p_3$$ infinitely many times and residual capacities of these edges will always be in the same form. Total flow in the network after step 5 is $$1 + 2(r^1 + r^2)$$. If we continue to use augmenting paths as above, the total flow converges to $$\textstyle 1 + 2\sum_{i=1}^\infty r^i = 3 + 2r$$. However, note that there is a flow of value $$2M + 1$$, by sending $$M$$ units of flow along $$sv_1t$$, 1 unit of flow along $$sv_2v_3t$$, and $$M$$ units of flow along $$sv_4t$$. Therefore, the algorithm never terminates and the flow does not even converge to the maximum flow.

Another non-terminating example based on the Euclidean algorithm is given by, where they also show that the worst case running-time of the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm on a network $$G(V,E)$$ in ordinal numbers is $$ \omega^{\Theta(|E|)}$$.

title: Ford–Fulkerson algorithm