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Leslie Phillips

Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. He appeared in the Carry On and Doctor in the House film series as well as the long-running BBC radio comedy series The Navy Lark. In his later career, Phillips took on dramatic parts including a BAFTA-nominated role alongside Peter O'Toole in Venus (2006). He provided the voice of the Sorting Hat in three of the Harry Potter films.

Early life
Leslie Samuel Phillips was born in Tottenham on 20 April 1924, the third child of Cecelia Margaret (née Newlove) and Frederick Samuel Phillips, who worked at Glover and Main, manufacturers of cookers in Edmonton. Phillips described his street as "beyond the sonic reach of the Bow Bells but within the general footprint of cockneydom." In 1931, the family moved to Chingford, where Phillips attended Larkswood Primary School. Consequently, Phillips has described himself as both a cockney and an Essex boy. In 1935, his father died at 44, having suffered from a weak heart and oedema brought on by the "filthy, sulphurous" air of the factory.

After his father's death, Phillips was sent to the Italia Conti Academy at his mother's insistence. There, he attended drama, dance and notably elocution to lose his cockney accent; at the time, a regional accent was considered an impediment to an aspiring actor. Phillips took time to refine his Received Pronunciation accent, and later declared that "the biggest elocution lessons came from mixing with people who sounded right, people in theatrical circles and in the officers' mess during the war." He left school at 14 in 1938.

Early work
Phillips made his stage debut in 1937 as a wolf in Peter Pan alongside Anna Neagle at the London Palladium. In the 1938–39 season, he was promoted to the role of John Napoleon Darling, alongside Jean Forbes-Robertson as Peter and Seymour Hicks as Captain Hook. Acting allowed Phillips to earn extra money for his family, who had struggled financially after his father's death.

Phillips made his first film appearance in the 1938 musical comedy Lassie from Lancashire. He made further uncredited appearances in Climbing High (1938) and The Mikado (1939), among the earliest films made at Pinewood Studios. Upon the 70th anniversary of the studios in 2006, Phillips considered himself one of the earliest actors to have worked there still alive and working. A minor part in Ealing Studios' The Proud Valley (1940) afforded Phillips the chance to work alongside Paul Robeson, whom he greatly admired.

In the early years of the Second World War, Phillips worked in the West End for Binkie Beaumont and H. M. Tennent. The shows were frequently interrupted by air-raid sirens and Phillips later recalled that "audiences would evaporate and head for cellars or Underground stations". Called up to the British Army in 1942, Phillips rose to the rank of lance-bombardier in the Royal Artillery. Due to his acquired upper class accent, Phillips was selected for officer training at Catterick and duly commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1943. He was transferred to the Durham Light Infantry in 1944 but was later declared unfit for service just before D-Day after being diagnosed with a neurological condition that caused partial paralysis. He was initially sent to a psychiatric hospital in error before moving to the correct facility for treatment.

Demobbed as a lieutenant in December 1944, Phillips's acting career initially took in "the murkiest rat-infested old playhouses and music halls in the north of England". He resumed his career as a film player, making uncredited appearances in Anna Karenina and Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes (both 1948). His first lead role in a television serial was in the sitcom My Wife Jacqueline (1952).

His big break in the films was in the Gene Kelly musical Les Girls (1957). Although the film was a critical success, he decided against a move to Hollywood, in part as he considered himself primarily a theatre actor and did not want to become "the poor man's David Niven". He began appearing in character roles in British comedy films including Brothers in Law and The Smallest Show on Earth (both 1957). In 1959, Phillips was cast in a minor role as Jack Bell in Carry On Nurse, the second in the Carry On film series. The character's exclamation of "Ding dong" in the film became a popular catchphrase for Phillips. He became strongly associated with smooth-talking, libidinous roles, and his catchphrases "Ding dong", "I say" and "Hello" entered common usage in the United Kingdom. Phillips cemented his image in two further Carry On films, Carry On Teacher (1959) and Carry On Constable (1960) before telling producer Peter Rogers that he did not wish to appear in any more. Carry On director Gerald Thomas cast Phillips in several other comedy films; Please Turn Over (1959) features Phillips as Dr. Henry Manners, a respectable family doctor portrayed as a philanderer in a book written by 17-year-old Jo Halliday (Julia Lockwood), while he plays father David Robinson opposite Geraldine McEwan in No Kidding (1960).

Between 1959 and 1977, Phillips became familiar on radio, as Sub-Lieutenant Phillips in the comedy The Navy Lark alongside Jon Pertwee and Ronnie Barker. He also appeared in the film version of The Navy Lark (1959), the only cast member of the radio series to do so.

In 1960, Phillips was cast in Doctor in Love, the fourth film in the Doctor comedy series and the first without Dirk Bogarde. He appeared in two further installments, Doctor in Clover (1966) and Doctor in Trouble (1970). Phillips appeared in several comedy films directed by Ken Annakin, often cast alongside his Doctor co-star James Robertson Justice, including Very Important Person (1961), Raising the Wind (1961) and Crooks Anonymous (1962). In 1962, Phillips and Justice starred with Stanley Baxter in Annakin's The Fast Lady, one of Britain's biggest box office hits of the year. A loose sequel, Father Came Too!, followed in 1964.

During the 1960s, Phillips appeared on television in two plays penned by the comedy writing team Galton and Simpson; "Impasse", broadcast as part of Comedy Playhouse in 1963, and "The Suit", a 1969 episode of The Galton & Simpson Comedy. The latter was developed into a full series four years later, Casanova '73, starring Phillips as compulsive philanderer Henry Newhouse. The programme was poorly received and attracted criticism from Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association for its risque content.

Later work
By the early 1980s, Phillips considered his suave and lecherous roles to be "a bit of a rut" and looked to branch out into dramatic roles. A relatively minor part in Out of Africa (1985) facilitated a larger role in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). To play an emaciated prisoner of war in the film, Phillips lost more than two stone. He became busy as a character actor in both stage and television productions including Scandal (1989) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). In 1992, he returned to the Carry On series in the poorly-received Carry On Columbus. Phillips also provided the voice for the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films, appearing in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) and the final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).

Phillips appeared in British television sitcoms including Honey for Tea with Felicity Kendal and appeared in guest roles in popular series such as The Bill, Holby City and Midsomer Murders. In 2006, he played veteran actor Ian alongside Peter O'Toole in Hanif Kureishi's film Venus. For this role, he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in 2007. Phillips's autobiography, Hello, was published by Orion in 2006.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1998 Birthday Honours and was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

In 2012, Phillips voiced the audiobook edition of the legal thriller Chequered Justice, by John Bartlett (ISBN 9780956910486).

Phillips, in conjunction with Jules Williams and Back Door Productions, co-produced the Sky Arts series Living The Life which ran for three series, ending in 2013.

He continued to act until 2012 and continued to make television appearances until 2015 when he was interviewed on the BBC One programme VE Day: Remembering Victory.

Personal life, illness and death
Phillips married his first wife, actress Penelope Bartley (1925–1981), on 30 May 1948. The couple had four children. In 1962, Phillips began a relationship with actress Caroline Mortimer, daughter of writer Penelope Mortimer and stepdaughter of John Mortimer, who was an understudy in a stage play in which Phillips starred. Phillips and Bartley separated at that point and were divorced in 1965.

After his relationship with Mortimer ended, Phillips embarked on a relationship with Australian actress Vicki Luke, with whom he lived for approximately three years.

Phillips moved in with actress Angela Scoular in 1977, at which time she was pregnant by another actor. He raised her son as his own. While on tour in Australia in 1981, he was notified that Bartley had died in a fire. Phillips chose to continue in the production and did not attend her funeral. He later acknowledged that his family had never forgiven him for this decision.

Phillips married Scoular in 1982. In 1992 Scoular, who suffered from bipolar disorder, attempted suicide but was not sectioned. Scoular died on 11 April 2011 after drinking a corrosive drain cleaner and suffering unsurvivable 40% burns to her throat, body and dietary tract. She had suffered from bowel cancer and although was later declared cancer-free, she became anxious that the cancer had returned. Phillips was too ill to attend the inquest into Scoular's death three months later. The coroner ruled that Scoular's death was not suicide, but rather that she had "killed herself while the balance of her mind was disturbed".

Phillips received the Freedom of the City of London on 16 November 2010. Phillips was a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur, and made an appearance as part of the half-time entertainment during the team's home match against Swansea City on 1 April 2012.

On 20 December 2013, at the age of 89, Phillips married his third wife, Zara Carr.

Phillips suffered two strokes six months apart at the age of 90. After a long illness, he died in his sleep at home in London on 7 November 2022, aged 98.

Selected radio

 * The Navy Lark (1959–1977)
 * Three Men in a Boat (1962)
 * The TV Lark (1963)

Other voice work

 * Voice of Gex in the European release of Gex: Enter the Gecko
 * Voice of cat in Iams advertising
 * Voice of the captain of the Virgin Atlantic safety video (1996–2004)
 * English voice of the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

title: Leslie Phillips


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Radiography

Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical ("diagnostic" radiography and "therapeutic") and industrial radiography. Similar techniques are used in airport security, (where "body scanners" generally use backscatter X-ray). To create an image in conventional radiography, a beam of X-rays is produced by an X-ray generator and it is projected towards the object. A certain amount of the X-rays or other radiation are absorbed by the object, dependent on the object's density and structural composition. The X-rays that pass through the object are captured behind the object by a detector (either photographic film or a digital detector). The generation of flat two-dimensional images by this technique is called projectional radiography. In computed tomography (CT scanning), an X-ray source and its associated detectors rotate around the subject, which itself moves through the conical X-ray beam produced. Any given point within the subject is crossed from many directions by many different beams at different times. Information regarding the attenuation of these beams is collated and subjected to computation to generate two-dimensional images on three planes (axial, coronal, and sagittal) which can be further processed to produce a three-dimensional image.

Medical uses
Since the body is made up of various substances with differing densities, ionising and non-ionising radiation can be used to reveal the internal structure of the body on an image receptor by highlighting these differences using attenuation, or in the case of ionising radiation, the absorption of X-ray photons by the denser substances (like calcium-rich bones). The discipline involving the study of anatomy through the use of radiographic images is known as radiographic anatomy. Medical radiography acquisition is generally carried out by radiographers, while image analysis is generally done by radiologists. Some radiographers also specialise in image interpretation. Medical radiography includes a range of modalities producing many different types of image, each of which has a different clinical application.

Projectional radiography

The creation of images by exposing an object to X-rays or other high-energy forms of electromagnetic radiation and capturing the resulting remnant beam (or "shadow") as a latent image is known as "projection radiography". The "shadow" may be converted to light using a fluorescent screen, which is then captured on photographic film, it may be captured by a phosphor screen to be "read" later by a laser (CR), or it may directly activate a matrix of solid-state detectors (DR—similar to a very large version of a CCD in a digital camera). Bone and some organs (such as lungs) especially lend themselves to projection radiography. It is a relatively low-cost investigation with a high diagnostic yield. The difference between soft and hard body parts stems mostly from the fact that carbon has a very low X-ray cross section compared to calcium.

Computed tomography

Computed tomography or CT scan (previously known as CAT scan, the "A" standing for "axial") uses ionizing radiation (x-ray radiation) in conjunction with a computer to create images of both soft and hard tissues. These images look as though the patient was sliced like bread (thus, "tomography" – "tomo" means "slice"). Though CT uses a higher amount of ionizing x-radiation than diagnostic x-rays (both utilising X-ray radiation), with advances in technology, levels of CT radiation dose and scan times have reduced. CT exams are generally short, most lasting only as long as a breath-hold, Contrast agents are also often used, depending on the tissues needing to be seen. Radiographers perform these examinations, sometimes in conjunction with a radiologist (for instance, when a radiologist performs a CT-guided biopsy).

Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry
DEXA, or bone densitometry, is used primarily for osteoporosis tests. It is not projection radiography, as the X-rays are emitted in two narrow beams that are scanned across the patient, 90 degrees from each other. Usually the hip (head of the femur), lower back (lumbar spine), or heel (calcaneum) are imaged, and the bone density (amount of calcium) is determined and given a number (a T-score). It is not used for bone imaging, as the image quality is not good enough to make an accurate diagnostic image for fractures, inflammation, etc. It can also be used to measure total body fat, though this is not common. The radiation dose received from DEXA scans is very low, much lower than projection radiography examinations.

Fluoroscopy
Fluoroscopy is a term invented by Thomas Edison during his early X-ray studies. The name refers to the fluorescence he saw while looking at a glowing plate bombarded with X-rays.

The technique provides moving projection radiographs. Fluoroscopy is mainly performed to view movement (of tissue or a contrast agent), or to guide a medical intervention, such as angioplasty, pacemaker insertion, or joint repair/replacement. The last can often be carried out in the operating theatre, using a portable fluoroscopy machine called a C-arm. It can move around the surgery table and make digital images for the surgeon. Biplanar Fluoroscopy works the same as single plane fluoroscopy except displaying two planes at the same time. The ability to work in two planes is important for orthopedic and spinal surgery and can reduce operating times by eliminating re-positioning.

Angiography

Angiography is the use of fluoroscopy to view the cardiovascular system. An iodine-based contrast is injected into the bloodstream and watched as it travels around. Since liquid blood and the vessels are not very dense, a contrast with high density (like the large iodine atoms) is used to view the vessels under X-ray. Angiography is used to find aneurysms, leaks, blockages (thromboses), new vessel growth, and placement of catheters and stents. Balloon angioplasty is often done with angiography.

Contrast radiography
Contrast radiography uses a radiocontrast agent, a type of contrast medium, to make the structures of interest stand out visually from their background. Contrast agents are required in conventional angiography, and can be used in both projectional radiography and computed tomography (called contrast CT).

Other medical imaging
Although not technically radiographic techniques due to not using X-rays, imaging modalities such as PET and MRI are sometimes grouped in radiography because the radiology department of hospitals handle all forms of imaging. Treatment using radiation is known as radiotherapy.

Industrial radiography
Industrial radiography is a method of non-destructive testing where many types of manufactured components can be examined to verify the internal structure and integrity of the specimen. Industrial Radiography can be performed utilizing either X-rays or gamma rays. Both are forms of electromagnetic radiation. The difference between various forms of electromagnetic energy is related to the wavelength. X and gamma rays have the shortest wavelength and this property leads to the ability to penetrate, travel through, and exit various materials such as carbon steel and other metals. Specific methods include industrial computed tomography.

Image quality
Image quality will depend on resolution and density. Resolution is the ability an image to show closely spaced structure in the object as separate entities in the image while density is the blackening power of the image. Sharpness of a radiographic image is strongly determined by the size of the X-ray source. This is determined by the area of the electron beam hitting the anode. A large photon source results in more blurring in the final image and is worsened by an increase in image formation distance. This blurring can be measured as a contribution to the modulation transfer function of the imaging system.

Radiation dose
The dosage of radiation applied in radiography varies by procedure. For example, the effective dosage of a chest x-ray is 0.1 mSv, while an abdominal CT is 10 mSv. The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) have stated that the "risks of medical imaging at patient doses below 50 mSv for single procedures or 100 mSv for multiple procedures over short time periods are too low to be detectable and may be nonexistent." Other scientific bodies sharing this conclusion include the International Organization of Medical Physicists, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Nonetheless, radiological organizations, including the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR), as well as multiple government agencies, indicate safety standards to ensure that radiation dosage is as low as possible.

Shielding
Lead is the most common shield against X-rays because of its high density (11,340 kg/m3), stopping power, ease of installation and low cost. The maximum range of a high-energy photon such as an X-ray in matter is infinite; at every point in the matter traversed by the photon, there is a probability of interaction. Thus there is a very small probability of no interaction over very large distances. The shielding of photon beam is therefore exponential (with an attenuation length being close to the radiation length of the material); doubling the thickness of shielding will square the shielding effect.

Table in this section shows the recommended thickness of lead shielding in function of X-ray energy, from the Recommendations by the Second International Congress of Radiology.

Campaigns
In response to increased concern by the public over radiation doses and the ongoing progress of best practices, The Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging was formed within the Society for Pediatric Radiology. In concert with the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, the American College of Radiology, and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the Society for Pediatric Radiology developed and launched the Image Gently campaign which is designed to maintain high quality imaging studies while using the lowest doses and best radiation safety practices available on pediatric patients. This initiative has been endorsed and applied by a growing list of various professional medical organizations around the world and has received support and assistance from companies that manufacture equipment used in radiology.

Following upon the success of the Image Gently campaign, the American College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists have launched a similar campaign to address this issue in the adult population called Image Wisely. The World Health Organization and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations have also been working in this area and have ongoing projects designed to broaden best practices and lower patient radiation dose.

Provider payment
Contrary to advice that emphasises only conducting radiographs when in the patient's interest, recent evidence suggests that they are used more frequently when dentists are paid under fee-for-service.

Grid
An anti-scatter grid may be placed between the patient and the detector to reduce the quantity of scattered x-rays that reach the detector. This improves the contrast resolution of the image, but also increases radiation exposure for the patient.

Detectors
Detectors can be divided into two major categories: imaging detectors (such as photographic plates and X-ray film (photographic film), now mostly replaced by various digitizing devices like image plates or flat panel detectors) and dose measurement devices (such as ionization chambers, Geiger counters, and dosimeters used to measure the local radiation exposure, dose, and/or dose rate, for example, for verifying that radiation protection equipment and procedures are effective on an ongoing basis).

Side markers
A radiopaque anatomical side marker is added to each image. For example, if the patient has their right hand x-rayed, the radiographer includes a radiopaque "R" marker within the field of the x-ray beam as an indicator of which hand has been imaged. If a physical marker is not included, the radiographer may add the correct side marker later as part of digital post-processing.

Image intensifiers and array detectors
As an alternative to X-ray detectors, image intensifiers are analog devices that readily convert the acquired X-ray image into one visible on a video screen. This device is made of a vacuum tube with a wide input surface coated on the inside with caesium iodide (CsI). When hit by X-rays material phosphors which causes the photocathode adjacent to it to emit electrons. These electrons are then focused using electron lenses inside the intensifier to an output screen coated with phosphorescent materials. The image from the output can then be recorded via a camera and displayed.

Digital devices known as array detectors are becoming more common in fluoroscopy. These devices are made of discrete pixelated detectors known as thin-film transistors (TFT) which can either work indirectly by using photo detectors that detect light emitted from a scintillator material such as CsI, or directly by capturing the electrons produced when the X-rays hit the detector. Direct detectors do not tend to experience the blurring or spreading effect caused by phosphorescent scintillators or by film screens since the detectors are activated directly by X-ray photons.

Dual-energy
Dual-energy radiography is where images are acquired using two separate tube voltages. This is the standard method for bone densitometry. It is also used in CT pulmonary angiography to decrease the required dose of iodinated contrast.

History

Radiography's origins and fluoroscopy's origins can both be traced to 8 November 1895, when German physics professor Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray and noted that, while it could pass through human tissue, it could not pass through bone or metal. Röntgen referred to the radiation as "X", to indicate that it was an unknown type of radiation. He received the first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.

There are conflicting accounts of his discovery because Röntgen had his lab notes burned after his death, but this is a likely reconstruction by his biographers: Röntgen was investigating cathode rays using a fluorescent screen painted with barium platinocyanide and a Crookes tube which he had wrapped in black cardboard to shield its fluorescent glow. He noticed a faint green glow from the screen, about 1 metre away. Röntgen realized some invisible rays coming from the tube were passing through the cardboard to make the screen glow: they were passing through an opaque object to affect the film behind it.

Röntgen discovered X-rays' medical use when he made a picture of his wife's hand on a photographic plate formed due to X-rays. The photograph of his wife's hand was the first ever photograph of a human body part using X-rays. When she saw the picture, she said, "I have seen my death."

The first use of X-rays under clinical conditions was by John Hall-Edwards in Birmingham, England, on 11 January 1896, when he radiographed a needle stuck in the hand of an associate. On 14 February 1896, Hall-Edwards also became the first to use X-rays in a surgical operation.

The United States saw its first medical X-ray obtained using a discharge tube of Ivan Pulyui's design. In January 1896, on reading of Röntgen's discovery, Frank Austin of Dartmouth College tested all of the discharge tubes in the physics laboratory and found that only the Pulyui tube produced X-rays. This was a result of Pulyui's inclusion of an oblique "target" of mica, used for holding samples of fluorescent material, within the tube. On 3 February 1896 Gilman Frost, professor of medicine at the college, and his brother Edwin Frost, professor of physics, exposed the wrist of Eddie McCarthy, whom Gilman had treated some weeks earlier for a fracture, to the X-rays and collected the resulting image of the broken bone on gelatin photographic plates obtained from Howard Langill, a local photographer also interested in Röntgen's work.

X-rays were put to diagnostic use very early; for example, Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton opened a radiographic laboratory in the United Kingdom in 1896, before the dangers of ionizing radiation were discovered. Indeed, Marie Curie pushed for radiography to be used to treat wounded soldiers in World War I. Initially, many kinds of staff conducted radiography in hospitals, including physicists, photographers, physicians, nurses, and engineers. The medical speciality of radiology grew up over many years around the new technology. When new diagnostic tests were developed, it was natural for the radiographers to be trained in and to adopt this new technology. Radiographers now perform fluoroscopy, computed tomography, mammography, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and magnetic resonance imaging as well. Although a nonspecialist dictionary might define radiography quite narrowly as "taking X-ray images", this has long been only part of the work of "X-ray departments", radiographers, and radiologists. Initially, radiographs were known as roentgenograms, while skiagrapher (from the Ancient Greek words for "shadow" and "writer") was used until about 1918 to mean radiographer. The Japanese term for the radiograph,, shares its etymology with the original English term.

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

title: Radiography


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Tamanuiterā

In Māori mythology, Tama-nui-te-rā (Tamanuiterā) is the personification of the Sun.

Etymology
In the Māori language, Tama-nui-te-rā means "Great Son of the Sun". The Māori word for "sun" or "day" is rā, deriving from Proto-Polynesian *laqaa.

Legends
According to the Māori mythology the sun once moved across the sky so quickly there was not enough time in the day for people to complete tasks. The demigod Māui, along with his brothers, travelled to where Tama-nui-te-rā rose from the underworld and laid ropes to catch him, then beat him to make him travel more slowly across the sky. The rays of the sun are said to be remnants of the ropes which slow the suns journey across the sky.

Family
In some legends Tama-nui-te-rā is the husband of Ārohirohi, goddess of mirages. In other legends, Tama-nui-te-rā had two wives, the Summer maid, Hineraumati, and the Winter maid, Hinetakurua. During the year he would divide his time between his two wives, this marked the changing of the seasons and the changing position of the sun in the sky. In winter, the sun rising in the north-eastern sky marked Tama-nui-te-rā residence with Hinetakurua. After the winter solstice the sun's changing position to the south-eastern sky was described as Tama-nui-te-rā returning to Hineraumati.

The child of Tama-nui-te-rā and Hineraumati, Tane-rore, is credited with the origin of dance.

Another son of Tama-nui-te-ra is Auahitūroa, god of comets and fires, and grandchildren of Tama-nui-te-rā are Ngā Mānawa.

title: Tamanuiterā


text:
Huna (New Age)

Huna (Hawaiian for "secret") is the word adopted by the non-Hawaiian New Age author Max Freedom Long (1890–1971) in 1936 to describe his theory of metaphysics. Long cited what he believed to be the spiritual practices of the ancient Hawaiian kahunas (priests) as inspiration; however, contemporary scholars consider the system to be his invention designed through a mixture of a variety of spiritual practices from various cultures, with roots in New Thought and Theosophy, rather than in traditional Hawaiian beliefs.

History
Max Freedom Long, who was not Hawaiian, went to Hawaii in 1917 to work as an elementary school teacher. He became interested in the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient kahunas and modern practitioners of traditional, indigenous Hawaiian religion, but none of the ceremonial people talked to him so he was unable to penetrate to the inner workings of this religion. He left Hawaii in 1931, convinced that he would never learn these secrets. In 1934, he woke with a revelation that the secrets were encoded into the Hawaiian language itself. He called the religious system he developed from this revelation 'Huna' (the Hawaiian word for secret), and wrote his first book in 1936 to chronicle his beliefs. There are no accepted Hawaiian sources that refer to the word 'Huna' as a tradition of esoteric learning.

In 1945 Long founded Huna Research. In 1953, he published The Secret Science at Work as a Huna textbook, and in 1965 The Huna Codes in Religions, examining parallels between his invented system and religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.

Max Long
Long believed he had discovered an ancient Truth, not just about Hawaiian spirituality but linking back to India and ancient Egypt. He believed Hawaiians were a lost tribe of Berbers, and wrote that spiritual adepts migrated to Hawai‘i from Egypt, passing on to the priests of India some of their basic beliefs. Long also linked Huna to Theosophy and New Thought movements of the time, writing that Christian Scientists understood positive thinking better than any group he knew, and encouraged his readers to subscribe to Unity Church’s magazine, Daily Word.

Huna emphasizes practical living and harmony with three levels of consciousness or selves, a low, middle, and higher self, which were supposedly recognized by ancient kahunas. Long called these selves the unihipili (subconscious, inner, emotional, intuitive), uhane (waking consciousness, rational) and aumakua (super-conscious, connection with the divine). These are not the Hawaiian meanings of these words,   which are traditionally defined as "the spirit of a dead person", "spirit" or "dirge", and "family or personal gods" respectively.

In addition, Long redefined the Hawaiian concept of mana, (privileged as a divine power in traditional Hawaiian belief), and presented it instead as a vitalizing life force, which can, with knowledge of the three selves, be used in a manner of "personal empowerment" to heal body and mind and achieve life goals.

Later teachers
Subsequent Huna teachers have placed the movement firmly in the New Age, with Serge King claiming that Huna came originally from aliens from the Pleiades who were remnants of the mythical advanced civilizations of Mu or Lemuria, and Pila Chiles associating the islands with the New Age versions/interpretations of chakras, vortexes and ley lines.

According to critics, Serge King misappropriated and attempted to redefine three Hawaiian language words for his idea of "the three selves": "Ku," "Lono," and "Kane". However, the meanings he gives these words are not the meanings of the words in Hawaiian, which are in fact the names of three deities in the traditional Hawaiian religion, who respectively presided over war, fertility, and creation.

King listed seven principles of Huna, which are given in the table below. Native speakers, scholars and dictionaries concur that the meanings King gives for these words do not reflect their usage in the Hawaiian language, nor any traditional Hawaiian beliefs. King also calls what he does "shamanism" and cites "West African shamanism" as an influence.

Reaction
Max Freedom Long wrote that he obtained many of his case studies and his ideas about what to look for in kahuna magic from the Director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, William Brigham. According to an article in the peer-reviewed Hawaiian Journal of History, there is no credible evidence that the two men met (citation requested). Even if they did, Brigham was not an expert on kahunas and did not document in his own writings any of the incidents Long ascribed to him, including walking on hot lava. In his letters and manuscripts, Brigham stated that Hawaiians were "an inferior race," and implied they were lazy. He referred to Queen Liliʻuokalani as a "she devil," "squaw," and "nigger."

Native Hawaiian scholar Charles Kenn, recognized in the Hawaiian community as a kahuna and expert in Hawaiian history and traditions, was friendly with Max Freedom Long but said, "While this Huna study is an interesting study, … it is not, and never was Hawaiian."

Pali Jae Lee, a research librarian at the Bishop Museum, and author of the classic book, Tales From the Night Rainbow, conducted extensive research on Max Freedom Long and Huna. She concluded, based on her interviews with Hawaiian elders, "Huna is not Hawaiian." Lee cites Theodore Kelsey, a Living Treasure of Hawai'i renowned for his work as a Hawaiian translator who wrote a letter to Long in 1936 (now in the Hawai'i State Archives) criticizing his use of the terms "unihipili" and "aumakua."

Author Nancy Kahalewai, a teacher of lomilomi massage, wrote that "traditional lomilomi practitioners do not teach this philosophy. In fact, most insist that it is not from the native Hawaiian culture at all."

Wells College Professor Lisa Kahaleole Hall, Ph.D., a Native Hawaiian, wrote in a peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Hawai'i that Huna "bears absolutely no resemblance to any Hawaiian worldview or spiritual practice" and calls it part of the "New Age spiritual industry."

Mikael Rothstein, an associate professor of religious history at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, is the author of several books on religious history and new religious movements. He wrote about Huna in a peer-reviewed anthology: "Rather than integrating Hawaiian religion, however, New Agers seem to carry out a radical reinterpretation of this tradition, or simply invent traditions that were never Hawaiian. ... New Age representations redefine Hawaiian concepts in order to align them to basic New Age trends." Rothstein also gathered opinions and analysis of Huna by native Hawaiians: "According to leading figures on the native-political scene in Hawaii, this kind of New Age representation amounts to straightforward exploitation. People often feel that non-Hawaiians are violating native intellectual property rights and that the out-of-context use of Hawaii’s religious legacy cripples the values that are imbedded in concepts such as kahuna, hula, Lomi Lomi, etc. The very idea that anyone could join a workshop and develop kahuna skills within a few weeks, for instance, is considered ridiculous as the traditional kahuna’s knowledge depends on a way of life rather than learning. ... By importing Hawaiian ethnicity and revivifying what is perceived to be Hawaii’s religious legacy, New Agers from Europe and the United States...do not need the Hawaiians themselves. They need a myth about them, and so they create it..."

Chai writes that Huna books are "examples of cultural appropriation."

According to the standard Pukui and Elbert Hawaiian dictionary, 'unihipili are the spirits of deceased persons, 'uhane is a soul, spirit or ghost, and 'aumakua are family or personal gods, deified ancestors who might assume the shape of animals. Kū, Lono and Kāne are Hawaiian gods.

In the Hawaiian language, the term kahuna is used for any expert. Kahuna include experts in diagnosing illness, herbal medicine, canoe building, temple building, wood carving, star-gazing, agriculture, and others.

Organizations
Huna Research Inc was founded by Long in 1945. On his death in 1971, he was succeeded as its head by Dr. E Otha Wingo (in accordance with a request by Long), and moved its headquarters to Missouri, where Wingo was a professor. It has fellowships in Canada, Australia, England, Germany and Switzerland, in addition to the United States.

Huna International was formed as a religious order in 1973 by King. It has three branches: Aloha International, Voices of the Earth and Finding Each Other International.

title: Huna (New Age)


text:
Aumakua

In Hawaiian mythology, an ʻaumakua (often spelled aumakua, plural, 'aumākua) is a personal or family god that originated as a deified ancestor, and which takes on physical forms such as spirit vehicles. An 'aumakua may manifest as a shark, owl, bird, octopus, or inanimate objects such as plants or rocks. The word ʻaumakua means ancestor gods and is derived from the Hawaiian words au which means period of time or era, and makua meaning parent, parent generation, or ancestor. Hawaiians believed that deceased family members would transform into ʻaumakua and watch over their descendants with a loving concern for them while also being the judge and jury of their actions.

ʻAumakua were believed to watch over their families and hear their words, give them strength and guidance, warn them of misfortune or danger, give punishments to wrong-doers while also rewarding worthy people with prosperity in the after life, and pass on prayers from the living to the akua (gods).

Hawaiian-born actor Jason Momoa has a halfsleeve tattoo on his left forearm that is a tribute to his family god, or aumakua, which is a shark. Some families had many ʻaumākua. Mary Kawena Pukui's family had at least fifty known ʻaumākua.

Roles of ʻAumākua
ʻAumakua could give warnings of coming misfortune or danger, punishments, and guidance to their respective ʻohana (families). ʻAumakua relayed these messages to family members through hōʻike a ka pō (revelation in the night, dreams), visions, or physical manifestations. Hawaiians also believed that “just the nagging feeling that something is wrong” was a message sent from their ʻaumakua.

ʻAumakua were also protectors of their families. An example of this comes from the Puna district on Hawaiʻi island which was shared with anthropologist Martha Beckwith: “...this one family… had a supernatural helper or aumakua who appeared in the form of a particular shark. When any of the family go fishing, the shark appears. The aumakua obeys the voice of man. Name the fish you want and it will bring it. This family can never be drowned. If there is a storm and the boat capsizes, the shark appears and the men ride on its back.”

As protectors, ʻaumakua could also give mental or physical strength to ʻohana members who were in need of help but could not help themselves, primarily the keiki (children), the sick, and the elderly.

ʻAumakua could also bring punishment to families who offended or displeased them. These offenses included behavior like greed, dishonesty, and theft, breaking ʻai kapu, bathing in pools that were kapu (taboo), and eating the physical form of ones ʻaumakua. Punishments were often illnesses in the form of “diagnostic clues”, so a thief would develop a swollen hand or a sore foot would trouble a trespasser until they made restitution.

ʻAumakua also acted as judge and jury after a person's death. They had the power to punish or reward the personʻs spirit depending on whether or not that person lived a righteous life, or even send the spirit back to the body if it left the body prematurely in “apparent deaths”.

Physical forms
ʻAumākua could appear as: ʻAumakua were able to take on Kino lau (many bodies, many forms) which means that they could change back and forth from “invisible people '' (poʻe or ka pō), animals, plants, and minerals. ʻAumakua as animals could also inhabit plants that had similar characteristics or visual resemblance to that animal. For example, ʻaumakua as mackerel (ʻōpelu) were also associated with the lobelia plant (also called ʻōpleu) whose leaves are a similar shape and color as the fish.
 * ʻalalā - crow
 * manō - shark
 * pueo - a species of short-eared owl
 * heʻe - octopus
 * mea kanu - plant
 * pōhaku - rock
 * mo'o - lizard
 * Moa wahine - Mud hen
 * Puhi - Eel
 * ʻIole liʻiliʻi - Small field mice
 * Peʻelua - Caterpillars

In popular culture

 * The 2016 Nintendo video games Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, which are set in a fictional archipelago inspired by the real-world location of Hawaii, make reference to various aspects of Hawaiian culture, including the 'aumakua. Tapu Koko is called the guardian deity of Melemele Island and has a mask-like shell that looks like a stylized rooster head.
 * In the 2016 Disney animated film Moana, the concept of the 'aumakua is an inspiration for Tala's transformation into a manta ray; the Aumakua is referenced by name in pre-production artwork.
 * In "Ka laina ma ke one" ("Line in the Sand"), a seventh season episode of the U.S. television series Hawaii Five-O, Kono Kalakaua mentions that her family's aumakua is the manō, which motivates her to protect them.

title: Aumakua


text:
Year Without a Summer

The year 1816 AD is known as the Year Without a Summer because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4 - 0.7 C-change. Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest of any on record between 1766 and 2000, resulting in crop failures and major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere.

Evidence suggests that the anomaly was predominantly a volcanic winter event caused by the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in April in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). This eruption was the largest in at least 1,300 years (after the hypothesized eruption causing the volcanic winter of 536); its effect on the climate may have been exacerbated by the 1814 eruption of Mayon in the Philippines. The significant amount of volcanic ash and gases released into the atmosphere blocked sunlight, leading to global cooling.

Countries such as Great Britain, Ireland, and France experienced significant hardship, with food riots and famine becoming common. The situation was exacerbated by the fact Europe was still recovering from the Napoleonic Wars, adding to the socio-economic stress.

North America also faced extreme weather conditions. In the eastern United States, a persistent "dry fog" dimmed the sunlight, causing unusual cold and frost throughout the summer months. Crops failed in regions like New England, leading to food shortages and economic distress. These conditions forced many families to leave their homes in search of better farming opportunities, contributing to the westward expansion.

Description
The Year Without a Summer was an agricultural disaster; historian John D. Post called it "the last great subsistence crisis in the Western world". The climatic aberrations of 1816 had their greatest effect on New England, Atlantic Canada, and Western Europe.

The main cause of the Year Without a Summer is generally held to be a volcanic winter created by the April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa. The eruption had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) ranking of 7, and ejected at least 37 km3 of dense-rock equivalent material into the atmosphere. It remains the most recent confirmed VEI-7 eruption to date.

Other large volcanic eruptions (of at least VEI-4) around this time include:

 * The 1808 mystery eruption in the southwestern Pacific Ocean
 * 1812, La Soufrière on Saint Vincent in the Caribbean
 * 1812, Awu in the Sangihe Islands, Dutch East Indies
 * 1813, Suwanosejima in the Ryukyu Islands
 * 1814, Mayon in the Philippines

These eruptions had built up a substantial amount of atmospheric dust, and thus temperatures fell worldwide as the airborne material blocked sunlight in the stratosphere. According to a 2012 analysis by Berkeley Earth, the 1815 Tambora eruption caused a temporary drop in the Earth's average land temperature of about one degree Celsius; smaller temperature drops were recorded from the 1812–1814 eruptions.

The Earth had already been in a centuries-long period of cooling that began in the 14th century. Known today as the Little Ice Age, it had already caused considerable agricultural distress in Europe. The eruption of Tambora occurred near the end of the Little Ice Age, exacerbating the background global cooling of the period.

This period also occurred during the Dalton Minimum, a period of relatively low solar activity from 1790 to 1830. May 1816 had the lowest Wolf number (0.1) to date since records on solar activity began. It is not yet known, however, if and how changes in solar activity affect Earth's climate, and this correlation does not prove that lower solar activity produces global cooling.

Africa
No direct evidence for conditions in the Sahel region have been found, though conditions from surrounding areas have implied above-normal rainfall. Below the Sahel, the coastal regions of West Africa likely experienced below-normal levels of precipitation. Severe storms affected the South African coast during the Southern Hemisphere winter. On July 29–30, 1816, a violent storm occurred near Cape Town, which brought forceful northerly winds and hail and caused severe damage to shipping.

Asia
The monsoon season in China was disrupted, resulting in overwhelming floods in the Yangtze Valley. Fort Shuangcheng reported fields disrupted by frost and conscripts deserting as a result. Summer snowfall or otherwise mixed precipitation was reported in various locations in Jiangxi and Anhui. In Taiwan, snow was reported in Hsinchu and Miaoli, and frost was reported in Changhua. A large-scale famine in Yunnan helped reverse the fortunes of the ruling Qing dynasty.

In India, the delayed summer monsoon caused late torrential rains that aggravated the spread of cholera from a region near the Ganges in Bengal to as far as Moscow. In Bengal, abnormal cold and snow was reported in the winter monsoon.

In Japan, which was still cautious after the cold-weather-related Great Tenmei famine of 1782–1788, cold damaged crops, but no crop failures were reported and there was no adverse effect on population.

Europe
As a result of the series of volcanic eruptions in the 1810s, crops had been poor for several years; the final blow came in 1815 with the eruption of Tambora. Europe, still recuperating from the Napoleonic Wars, suffered from widespread food shortages, resulting in its worst famine of the century. Low temperatures and heavy rains resulted in failed harvests in Great Britain and Ireland. Famine was prevalent in north and southwest Ireland, following the failure of wheat, oat, and potato harvests. Food prices rose sharply throughout Europe. With the cause of the problems unknown, hungry people demonstrated in front of grain markets and bakeries. Food riots took place in many European cities. Though riots were common during times of hunger, the food riots of 1816 and 1817 were the most violent period on the continent since the French Revolution.

Between 1816 and 1819, major typhus epidemics occurred in parts of Europe, including Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, and Scotland, precipitated by the famine. More than 65,000 people died as the disease spread out of Ireland.

The long-running Central England temperature record reported the eleventh coldest year on record since 1659, as well as the third coldest summer and the coldest July on record. Widespread flooding of Europe's major rivers is attributed to the event, as is frost in August. Hungary experienced snowfall colored brown by volcanic ash; in northern Italy, red snow fell throughout the year.

In western Switzerland, the summers of 1816 and 1817 were so cold that an ice dam formed below a tongue of the Giétro Glacier in the Val de Bagnes, creating a lake. Despite engineer Ignaz Venetz's efforts to drain the growing lake, the ice dam collapsed catastrophically in June 1818, killing forty people in the resulting flood.

North America
In the spring and summer of 1816, a persistent "dry fog" was observed in parts of the eastern United States. The fog reddened and dimmed sunlight such that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Neither wind nor rainfall dispersed the "fog", retrospectively characterized by Clive Oppenheimer as a "stratospheric sulfate aerosol veil".

The weather was not in itself a hardship for those accustomed to long winters. Hardship came from the weather's effect on crops and thus on the supply of food and firewood. The consequences were felt most strongly at higher elevations, where farming was already difficult even in good years. In May 1816, frost killed off most crops in the higher elevations of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and upstate New York. On June 6, snow fell in Albany, New York, and Dennysville, Maine. In Cape May, New Jersey, frost was reported five nights in a row in late June, causing extensive crop damage. Though fruit and vegetable crops survived in New England, corn was reported to have ripened so poorly that no more than a quarter of it was usable for food, and much of it was moldy and not even fit for animal feed. The crop failures in New England, Canada, and parts of Europe caused food prices to rise sharply. In Canada, Quebec ran out of bread and milk, and Nova Scotians found themselves boiling foraged herbs for sustenance.

Sarah Snell Bryant, of Cummington, Massachusetts, wrote in her diary: "Weather backward." At the Church Family of Shakers near New Lebanon, New York, Nicholas Bennet wrote in May 1816 that "all was froze" and the hills were "barren like winter". Temperatures fell below freezing almost every day in May. The ground froze on June 9; on June 12, the Shakers had to replant crops destroyed by the cold. On July 7, it was so cold that all of their crops had stopped growing. Salem, Massachusetts physician Edward Holyoke—a weather observer and amateur astronomer—while in Franconia, New Hampshire, wrote on June 7, "exceedingly cold. Ground frozen hard, and squalls of snow through the day. Icicles 12 inches long in the shade of noon day." After a lull, by August 17, Holyoke noted an abrupt change from summer to winter by August 21, when a meager bean and corn crop were killed. "The fields," he wrote, "were as empty and white as October." The Berkshires saw frost again on August 23, as did much of New England and upstate New York.

Massachusetts historian William G. Atkins summed up the disaster:

"Severe frosts occurred every month; June 7th and 8th snow fell, and it was so cold that crops were cut down, even freezing the roots ... In the early Autumn when corn was in the milk [the endosperm inside the kernel was still liquid] it was so thoroughly frozen that it never ripened and was scarcely worth harvesting. Breadstuffs were scarce and prices high and the poorer class of people were often in straits for want of food. It must be remembered that the granaries of the great west had not then been opened to us by railroad communication, and people were obliged to rely upon their own resources or upon others in their immediate locality."

In July and August, lake and river ice was observed as far south as northwestern Pennsylvania. Frost was reported in Virginia on August 20 and 21. Rapid, dramatic temperature swings were common, with temperatures sometimes reverting from normal or above-normal summer temperatures as high as 95 F to near-freezing within hours. Thomas Jefferson, by then retired from politics to his estate at Monticello, sustained crop failures that sent him further into debt. On September 13, a Virginia newspaper reported that corn crops would be one half to two-thirds short and lamented that "the cold as well as the drought has nipt the buds of hope". A Norfolk, Virginia, newspaper reported:

"It is now the middle of July, and we have not yet had what could properly be called summer. Easterly winds have prevailed for nearly three months past ... the sun during that time has generally been obscured and the sky overcast with clouds; the air has been damp and uncomfortable, and frequently so chilling as to render the fireside a desirable retreat."

Regional farmers succeeded in bringing some crops to maturity, but corn and other grain prices rose dramatically. The price of oats, for example, rose from 12¢ per bushel in 1815 to 92¢ per bushel in 1816. Crop failures were aggravated by inadequate transportation infrastructure; with few roads or navigable inland waterways and no railroads, it was prohibitively expensive to import food in most of the country.

Maryland experienced brown, bluish, and yellow snowfall in April and May, colored by volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

South America
A newspaper account of northeastern Brazil was published in the United Kingdom:"By an arrival at Liverpool we have received accounts from Pernambuco of the 8th of Feb. [1817], which state that a most uncommon drought has been experienced in the tropical regions of the Brazils, or that part of the country between Pernambuco and Rio Janiero. By this circumstance all the streams had been dried up, the cattle were dying or dead, and all the population emigrating to the borders of the great rivers in search of water. The greatest distress prevailed, provisions were wanting, and the mills completely at a stand. They have no windmills, so that no corn could be ground. Vessels have been sent from Pernambuco to the United States to fetch flour, and what had tended to increase this distress was the interruption of the coasting trade through the dread of war with Buenos Ayres."

Societal effects
High levels of tephra in the atmosphere caused a haze to hang over the sky for several years after the eruption, and created rich red hues in sunsets. Paintings during the years before and after seem to confirm that these striking reds were not present before Mount Tambora's eruption, and depict moodier, darker scenes, even in the light of both the sun and the moon. Caspar David Friedrich's The Monk by the Sea (ca. 1808–1810) and Two Men by the Sea (1817) indicate this shift of mood.

A 2007 study analyzing paintings created between the years 1500 and 1900 around the times of notable volcanic events found a correlation between volcanic activity and the amount of red used in the painting. High levels of tephra in the atmosphere led to spectacular sunsets during this period, as depicted in the paintings of J. M. W. Turner, and may have given rise to the yellow tinge predominant in his paintings such as Chichester Canal (1828). Similar phenomena were observed after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, and on the West Coast of the United States following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo.

The lack of oats to feed horses may have inspired the German inventor Karl Drais to research new ways of horseless transportation, which led to the invention of the draisine and velocipede, a precursor of the bicycle.

The crop failures of the "Year without a Summer" may have shaped the settlement of the Midwestern United States, as many thousands of people left New England for western New York and the Northwest Territory in search of a more hospitable climate, richer soil, and better growing conditions. Indiana became a state in December 1816, and Illinois did two years later. British historian Lawrence Goldman has suggested that migration into the burned-over district of upstate New York was responsible for centering the abolitionist movement in that region.

According to historian L. D. Stillwell, Vermont alone experienced a decrease in population of between 10,000 and 15,000 in 1816 and 1817, erasing seven previous years of population growth. Among those who left Vermont were the family of Joseph Smith, who moved from Norwich, Vermont, to Palmyra, New York. This move precipitated the series of events that culminated in Smith founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In June 1816, "incessant rainfall" during the "wet, ungenial summer" forced Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and their friends to stay indoors at Villa Diodati for much of their Swiss holiday. Inspired by a collection of German ghost stories that they had read, Lord Byron proposed a contest to see who could write the scariest story, leading Shelley to write Frankenstein and Lord Byron to write "A Fragment", which Polidori later used as inspiration for The Vampyre – a precursor to Dracula. These days inside Villa Diodati, remembered fondly by Mary Shelley, were occupied by opium use and intellectual conversations. After listening intently to one of these conversations, she awoke with the image of Victor Frankenstein kneeling over his monstrous creation, and thus was inspired to write Frankenstein. Lord Byron was inspired to write the poem "Darkness" by a single day when "the fowls all went to roost at noon and candles had to be lit as at midnight". The imagery in the poem is starkly similar to the conditions of the Year Without a Summer:

I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day

Justus von Liebig, a chemist who had experienced the famine as a child in Darmstadt, later studied plant nutrition and introduced mineral fertilizers.

Comparable events

 * Toba catastrophe
 * The 1628–1626 BC climate disturbances, usually attributed to the Minoan eruption of Santorini
 * The Hekla 3 eruption of about 1200 BC, contemporary with the historical Bronze Age collapse
 * The Hatepe eruption (sometimes referred to as the Taupō eruption), around AD 180
 * The winter of 536 has been linked to the effects of a volcanic eruption, possibly at Krakatoa, or of Ilopango in El Salvador
 * The Heaven Lake eruption of Paektu Mountain between modern-day North Korea and the People's Republic of China, in 969 (± 20 years), is thought to have had a role in the downfall of Balhae
 * The 1257 Samalas eruption of Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok in 1257
 * The 1452/1453 mystery eruption has been implicated in events surrounding the Fall of Constantinople in 1453
 * An eruption of Huaynaputina, in Peru, caused 1601 to be the coldest year in the Northern Hemisphere for six centuries (see Russian famine of 1601–1603); 1601 consisted of a bitterly cold winter, a cold, frosty, nonexistent spring, and a cool, cloudy, wet summer
 * An eruption of Laki, in Iceland, was responsible for up to hundreds of thousands of fatalities throughout the Northern Hemisphere (over 25,000 in England alone), and one of the coldest winters ever recorded in North America, 1783–1784; long-term consequences included poverty and famine that may have contributed to the French Revolution in 1789.
 * The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa caused average Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures to fall by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F). One of the wettest rainy seasons in recorded history followed in California during 1883–1884.
 * The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 led to odd weather patterns and temporary cooling in the United States, particularly in the Midwest and parts of the Northeast. Every month in 1992 except for January and February was colder than normal. More rain than normal fell across the West Coast of the United States, particularly California, during the 1991–1992 and 1992–1993 rainy seasons. The American Midwest experienced more rain and major flooding during the spring and summer of 1993. This may also have contributed to the historic "Storm of the Century" on the Atlantic Coast in March that same year.

title: Year Without a Summer


text:
Camden Town

Camden Town, often shortened to Camden, is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around 4.1 km north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.

Laid out as a residential district from 1791 and originally part of the manor of Kentish Town and the parish of St Pancras, Camden Town became an important location during the early development of the railways, which reinforced its position on the London canal network. The area's industrial economic base has been replaced by service industries such as retail, tourism and entertainment. The area now hosts street markets and music venues associated with alternative culture.

Toponymy
Camden Town is named after Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. His earldom was styled after his estate, Camden Place near Chislehurst in Kent (now in the London Borough of Bromley), formerly owned by historian William Camden. The name, which appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1822, was later applied to the early-20th-century Camden Town Group of artists and the London Borough of Camden, created in 1965.

Urban development
The emergence of the industrial revolution in the 19th century meant Camden was the North Western Railway's terminal stop in 1837. It was where goods were transported off the tracks and onto the roads of London by 250 000 workhorses. The whole area was adapted to a transportation function: the Roundhouse (1846), Camden Lock and the Stables were examples of this.

Camden Town stands on land that was once the manor of Kentish Town. Sir Charles Pratt, a radical 18th-century lawyer and politician, acquired the manor through marriage. In 1791, he started granting leases for houses to be built in the manor. In 1816, the Regent's Canal was built through the area. Up to at least the mid-20th century, Camden Town was considered an "unfashionable" locality. The Camden Markets, which started in 1973 and have grown since then, attract many visitors. A 1993 bomb blast injured 18 people on Camden High Street. On 9 February 2008, Camden Canal market suffered a major fire, but there were no injuries. It later reopened as Camden Lock Village, until closed in 2015 for redevelopment.

Governance
Camden Town was contained within the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras between 1900 and 1965, when it became part of the new London Borough of Camden, of which it is the namesake and administrative centre.

Political constituencies
Camden Town is contained in the following political constituencies for different purposes, listed with some incumbents :
 * Camden London Borough Council: London Borough of Camden. 55 councillors, Labour control
 * The Camden Town ward, created in 2020, returns two borough councillors.
 * UK Parliament: Holborn and St Pancras. Keir Starmer, Labour Party
 * London Assembly: Barnet and Camden. Anne Clarke, Labour Party

Geography
Camden Town is on relatively flat ground at 100 ft above sea level, 2.5 mi north-northwest of Charing Cross. To the north are the hills of Hampstead and Highgate; to the west is Primrose Hill. The culverted, subterranean River Fleet flows from its source on Hampstead Heath through Camden Town south to the River Thames. The Regent's Canal runs through the north of Camden Town.

Economy
At the end of the 20th century, entertainment-related businesses began moving into the area, and a Holiday Inn was built abutting the canal. A number of retail and food chain outlets replaced independent shops, driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants with a variety of culinary traditions thrived, many of them near the markets, on Camden High Street and its side streets, Parkway, Chalk Farm Road, and Bayham Street. The plan to redevelop the historic Stables Market led to a steel and glass extension, built on the edges of the site in 2006, and increased the market's capacity.

Camden street markets
Camden is well known for its markets. These date from 1974 or later, except for Inverness Street market, for over a century a small food market serving the local community, though by 2013 all foodstuff and produce stalls had gone and only touristy stalls remained. Camden Lock Market proper started in a former timber yard in 1973, and is now surrounded by five more markets: Buck Street market, Stables market, Camden Lock Village, and an indoor market in the Electric Ballroom. The markets are a major tourist attraction at weekends, selling goods of all types, including fashion, lifestyle, books, food, junk/antiques and more bizarre items; they and the surrounding shops are popular with young people, in particular, those searching for "alternative" clothing. While originally open on Sundays only, market activity later extended throughout the week, though concentrating on weekends.

Performance venues

 * Electric Ballroom
 * The Dublin Castle
 * Dingwalls
 * The Jazz Cafe
 * Koko (music venue)
 * Roundhouse (venue)

London Underground
Camden Town tube station is near the markets and other attractions. and tube stations are also within walking distance. Camden Town station is a key interchange station for the Northern line, both northbound (towards Edgware or High Barnet) and southbound (via Bank or Charing Cross).

When the station was designed in 1907 the line, and the station, had to pass exactly below the narrow streets to avoid having to pay landowners for access. The platforms of the station are consequently very narrow, and the station has one platform directly above another. There is an air raid shelter under the station used during the Second World War; many stations were used air raid shelters, but few had dedicated shelters.

After the area increased in popularity with the introduction of the markets the narrow platforms became dangerously overcrowded, particularly on Sunday afternoons. London Underground made many proposals to upgrade the station. In 2004 a proposal requiring the compulsory purchase and demolition of 'the Triangle'—land bordered by Kentish Town Road, Buck Street and Camden High Street—was rejected by Camden Council after opposition from local people; of 229 letters, only two supported the scheme. It was later planned to redevelop the station entirely between 2020 and 2024/5, with less demolition than proposed previously, but the redevelopment was postponed in December 2018 by TfL "until we have the funds we need"; no work had been announced.

Early in the 21st century the station closed to outbound passengers on Sunday afternoons due to the danger due to overcrowding of the narrow platforms during busy market hours. Mornington Crescent, Chalk Farm, and Kentish Town stations, within walking distance, remained open. The restriction was extended temporarily due to escalator renovation, and removed due to reduced traffic during the peak of the covid pandemic from 2020, but the Sunday afternoon closure continues, and outbound access is via a long spiral staircase instead of an escalator at other busy times when many market visitors arrive.

Rail
Camden Road is a London Overground station at the corner of Royal College Street and Camden Road, on the line from Richmond in the West to Stratford station in the East. The nearest National Rail station is station on the Thameslink route on the Midland Main Line. St Pancras International, Euston, and King's Cross terminals are within 20 minutes' walk of Camden Town.

Bus routes
The area is a major hub for London Buses. The following routes serve Camden Town: 24 (24 hour), 27, 29, 31, 46, 88 (24 hour), 134 (24 hour), 168, 214 (24 hour), 253, 274 and Night Bus Routes N5, N20, N27, N28, N29, N31, N253 and N279.

Roads
Parts of the A503 (Camden Road) and A400 (Camden High Street and Camden Street) are designated as red routes on which vehicles may not stop for any reason, managed by Transport for London (TfL) rather than the borough. Black taxis ply for hire in the area and there are minicab offices.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, from about March 2020 roadworks were carried out to make many side roads more suitable for cycling and reduce vehicle traffic. This led to traffic jams described as "gridlock", and opposition.

Cycling
Transport for London and Camden Council both provide and maintain cycling infrastructure in Camden Town. Segregated cycle tracks run alongside Royal College Street to the east of Camden Town, past Camden Road railway station. Cycling provision changes from time to time—in particular, cycling provisions were added during the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020. Current provision information (open and proposed cycle routes, Santander Cycles docking stations) is on the TfL Web site. The CycleStreets mobile app finds suitable routes throughout the UK, including Camden Town.

The Regent's Canal towpath is a shared-use pedestrian and cycle path maintained by the Canal and River Trust. The towpath links Camden Town to Angel and King's Cross to the east, and Regent's Park and Maida Vale in the west.

The London-wide Santander Cycles cycle hire scheme operates in Camden Town. There are several docking stations, some near rail and Tube stations.

Cycle counters on Royal College Street to the north of Camden Road railway station recorded over 375,000 journeys between August 2017 and July 2018.

Regent's Canal

Regent's Canal runs through the north end of Camden Town. Canal boat trips along the canal from Camden Lock are popular, particularly in summer. Many of the handrails by the bridges show deep marks worn by the towropes by which horses pulled canal barges until the 1950s, and it is still possible to see ramps on the canal bank designed to assist horses that fell in the canal after being startled by the noise of a train. Camden Lock is a regularly used traditional manually operated double canal lock operating between widely separated levels. A large complex of weekend street markets operates around the Lock. The towpath is a pedestrian and cycle route which runs continuously from Little Venice through Camden Lock to the Islington Tunnel. A regular waterbus service operates along the Regent's Canal from Camden Lock. Boats depart every hour during the summer, heading westward around Regent's Park, calling at London Zoo and on towards Maida Vale. Sightseeing narrow-boat trips run from Camden Lock to Little Venice.

Notable places

 * The Roundhouse is a former locomotive roundhouse constructed in 1847 for the London and North Western Railway. It later had various uses, including a corn and potato store, Gilbey's gin warehouse, and eventually became derelict until it was converted to a theatre, arts centre and music venue in 1966, later closed, and reopened in 2006 as a theatre and music venue.
 * Camden Catacombs (see also Catacombs of London), not true catacombs but an underground area largely underneath the Camden markets, originally used as stables for horses and pit ponies used to shunt railway wagons. Not open to visitors due to danger of flooding.
 * St Pancras Old Church
 * Our Lady of Hal, Catholic church for the area
 * The Camden Eye at 2 Kentish Town Road, was formerly known and as the Old Mother Red Cap, the Red Cap and Halfway House. It was also used as a prison.
 * St Michael's Church, Camden Town
 * Greater London House, formerly the Carreras Cigarette Factory and now offices housing several companies, a striking Art Deco Egyptian Revival building dating from 1926 to 1928, stands at Mornington Crescent and is distinguished by a pair of 8.5 ft-high bronze statues of the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet.
 * The Jewish Museum London, until closed in 2023.
 * The Royal Veterinary College on Royal College Street. Founded in 1791, the oldest and largest veterinary school in the UK.
 * Arlington House, originally one of the Rowton Houses providing low-cost overnight accommodation, now housing a conference centre but still providing low-cost rooms and flats.
 * The unusual Sainsbury's supermarket and flats on Camden Road were designed in a high-tech style by Nicholas Grimshaw and built on the site of the former large ABC Bakery.
 * The Hawley Arms is a pub and music venue which became well known in the 90s as a hub for the indie and alternative music scene in London. It was Amy Winehouse's favourite pub, and she was rumoured to get behind the bar to pull pints and serve drinks.

Camden Highline
A new park and walkway utilising the former railway alignment between Camden Town and Kings Cross was given planning permission in January 2023.

Notable people

 * B. R. Ambedkar (social reformer, jurist and LSE graduate) lived at 10, King Henry Road, Camden Town, now known as Ambedkar House, in 1921 and 1922.
 * Beryl Bainbridge lived in Albert Street from the 1960s until her death in 2010.
 * Playwright Alan Bennett lived in Gloucester Crescent for many years. Margaret Fairchild (aka Miss Shepherd) lived in a van on his driveway.
 * Charles Dickens's second London home was in Bayham Street in 1822. He later moved to 112 Little College Street (now College Place), where he boarded with Elizabeth Roylance, a family friend, whom Dickens later immortalised as "Mrs. Pipchin" in Dombey and Son.
 * Actor and singer Anthony Head was born in Camden Town.
 * Physicist, mathematician, and engineer Oliver Heaviside was born in Camden Town.
 * Author and journalist Bernard Levin grew up in Camden Town's Plender Street.
 * Richard Ryan lived in Camden Town from 1819 until his death in 1849.
 * Boxer Tom Sayers lived in Camden, and died at No. 257 Camden High Street in 1865. The house now has a plaque.
 * Bandleader Pasquale Troise lived at Rochester Terrace in the 1930s.
 * Painter Walter Sickert lived and worked as part of the Camden Town Group in Mornington Crescent. In 1908 he painted a group of four paintings collectively titled The Camden Town Murder, in reference to the notorious Camden Town Murder case of 1907.
 * Poet Dylan Thomas owned a house at 54 Delancey Street from 1951 until his death in 1953. There is a plaque on the house today.
 * Singer Amy Winehouse lived in Camden Town for many years. First buying a flat at 2 Jeffrey's Place in 2003 and then at 25 Prowse Place in 2008. In 2010, she moved to 30 Camden Square where she was found dead in July 2011. Winehouse was strongly associated with Camden Town. Since her death she has been entitled as "The Queen of Camden" and a bronze statue of her was placed in Stables Market on what would have been her 31st birthday, 14 September 2014.
 * Hip-hop trio N-Dubz are from and grew up in the area.
 * Music Band Madness are from and grew up in Camden Town and surrounding areas.
 * Actor Daniel Kaluuya was raised on a council estate in Camden Town.
 * Singer Eliza Doolittle grew up in the area.
 * Jazz Musician Nubya Garcia was born and grew up Camden Town.
 * Actor Freddie Highmore was born in Camden Town in 1992.
 * Dancer and actress Donna King teaches at her studio in Camden Town.
 * Actress and dancer Louisa Lytton was born & raised in Camden Town.
 * Journalist and novelist Sean Thomas lives in Camden.
 * Songwriter and singer Dua Lipa grew up in Camden, until she moved to Kosovo.
 * Ashley Keane, former professional footballer for Torquay United F.C., was born in Camden in 1981.
 * Drag queen Lady Camden was born in Camden before moving to California in 2020.
 * Love Island Series 10 Runner up and business owner, Whitney Adebayo was born and raised in Camden Town.
 * Comedian Roisin Conaty was born and grew up in a Camden council house.

National
To the north of Camden Town station and running along the canal is a modern pop art complex designed by Terry Farrell as the studios of the former TV-am, now used by MTV but retaining TV-am's eggcup sculptures along the roof line. Associated Press Television News has its head office in a former gin warehouse near Camden Lock called "The Interchange".

Local
The Camden New Journal is a free, independent weekly newspaper that covers the London Borough of Camden.

Camden tv, Web site with short films about Camden.

In literature

 * Author Charles Dickens, a onetime resident of Camden Town, placed various characters and places in his stories there as well: Bob Cratchit's family in A Christmas Carol (1843); the Micawbers in David Copperfield (1850); and in Dombey and Son (1846–1848), a description of the building of the London and Birmingham Railway, includes a trip through Camden Town.
 * E. Nesbit's 1904 children's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet is set at 18 Camden Terrace, Camden Town.
 * John Betjeman's poem "Business Girls" is set in Camden Town.
 * The climax of John le Carré's 1974 spy novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy occurs in a safe house at 5 Lock Gardens in Camden Town, a fictitious address modelled after real-life St. Mark's Crescent.

In film and television

 * The 1986 cult comedy film Withnail and I is set in Camden Town in 1969.
 * The 1989 comedy film The Tall Guy stars Jeff Goldblum as the titular protagonist, who we frequently see bicycling to his flat set in Camden Town.
 * The 2008 Mike Leigh film Happy-Go-Lucky largely takes place in Camden Town.
 * The 2015 film The Lady in the Van tells the story of a homeless woman who parked her van in Alan Bennett's Camden driveway (in Gloucester Crescent) and lived there for 15 years.
 * The 2015 film Amy, the documentary based on Amy Winehouse's life and death features footage and exclusive images of Winehouse in Camden during her life.
 * The 2018 film Been So Long is set in Camden Town.
 * The 2019 Disney animated series 101 Dalmatian Street is set in Camden Town.
 * The second season of Peaky Blinders (2 October 2014) refers to Camden Town Gangs.
 * The 2023 film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse features the character Hobie Brown / Spider-Punk who is from Camden Town

In music

 * The song "You Just Can't Win" by Them from the album The Angry Young Them references Camden Town (1965)
 * The song "Camden Town" by Suggs (1995)
 * The song "Come back to Camden" by Morrissey from the album You Are the Quarry (2004)
 * The song "Johnny Come Lately" by Steve Earle from the album Copperhead Road, 1988
 * The song "Guided Tour of Camden" by Charlie Sloth, 2007
 * The song "Ladykillers" by Lush, 1996
 * The song "Fame and Fortune" By The Libertines from the album Anthems for Doomed Youth
 * The song "How Did It Come to This" by Take That from the album The Circus makes a small reference to Camden Town
 * The song "So Close" by Matthew Good from the album Arrows of Desire mentions Camden High Street
 * The song "Sorted for E's & Wizz" by Pulp from the album Different Class mentions Camden Town
 * The song "One Better Day" by Madness refers to Arlington House, a hostel for the homeless in Camden Town
 * The song "London Boy" by Taylor Swift refers to her enjoyment of "walking Camden Market in the afternoon"
 * The song "Five Get Over Excited" by The Housemartins from the album The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death, 1987
 * The song "London Belongs To Me" by Saint Etienne from the album Foxbase Alpha references Camden Town (1991)
 * The song "London" by Mokita references Camden Town (2018)

In games

 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), a mission named "Clean House" is set in Camden Town.

title: Camden Town