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Charles Coughlin

Charles Edward Coughlin (October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based in the United States near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the Little Flower. Dubbed "The Radio Priest" and considered a leading demagogue, he was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience. During the 1930s, when the U.S. population was about 120 million, an estimated 30 million listeners tuned to his weekly broadcasts.

Coughlin was born in Ontario to working-class Irish Catholic parents. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1916, and in 1923 he was assigned to the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan. Coughlin began broadcasting his sermons during a time of increasing anti-Catholic sentiment across the globe. As his broadcasts became more political, he became increasingly popular.

Initially, Coughlin was a vocal supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal; he later fell out with Roosevelt, accusing him of being too friendly to bankers. In 1934, he established a political organization called the National Union for Social Justice. Its platform called for monetary reforms, nationalization of major industries and railroads, and protection of labor rights. The membership ran into the millions but was not well organized locally.

After making attacks on Jewish bankers, Coughlin began to use his radio program to broadcast antisemitic commentary. In the late 1930s, he supported some of the policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The broadcasts have been described as "a variation of the Fascist agenda applied to American culture". His chief topics were political and economic rather than religious, using the slogan "Social Justice". After the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, the Roosevelt administration forced the cancellation of his radio program and forbade distribution by mail of his newspaper Social Justice. Coughlin largely vanished from the public arena, working as a parish pastor until retiring in 1966. He died in 1979 at the age of 88.

Early life and work
Coughlin was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the only child of Irish Catholic parents, Amelia (née Mahoney) and Thomas Coughlin. Born in a working-class neighborhood, his modest home was situated between a Catholic cathedral and convent. His mother, who had regretted not becoming a nun, was the dominant figure in the household and instilled a deep sense of religion in the young Coughlin.

After his basic education, Coughlin attended the University of Toronto, enrolling in St. Michael's College, run by the Congregation of St. Basil, and graduating in 1911. After graduation, Coughlin entered the Basilian Fathers. He prepared for holy orders at St. Basil's Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in Toronto in 1916. He was assigned to teach at Assumption College, also operated by the Basilians, in Windsor, Ontario.

In 1923, a reorganization of Coughlin's religious order resulted in his departure. The Holy See required the Basilians to change the congregational structure from a society of common life patterned after the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice to a more monastic life. They had to take the traditional three religious vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Coughlin could not accept this.

Leaving the congregation, Coughlin moved across the Detroit River to the United States, settling in the booming industrial city of Detroit, Michigan, where the automotive industry was expanding rapidly. He was incardinated (or formally enrolled) by the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1923. After being transferred several times to different parishes, in 1926 he was assigned to the newly founded Shrine of the Little Flower, a congregation of some 25 Catholic families among the largely Protestant suburban community of Royal Oak, Michigan. His powerful preaching soon expanded the parish congregation.

Radio broadcaster
In 1926, disturbed by Ku Klux Klan-orchestrated cross burnings on his church grounds and aware that he was unable to pay back the diocesan loan which had paid for his church, Coughlin began broadcasting his Sunday sermons from local radio station WJR. Coughlin's weekly hour-long radio program denounced the KKK, appealing to his Catholic audience.

When WJR was acquired by Goodwill Stations in 1929, owner George A. Richards encouraged Coughlin to focus on politics instead of religious topics. Becoming increasingly vehement, the broadcasts attacked the banking system and Jews. Coughlin's program was picked up by CBS in 1930 for national broadcast. The tower from which he would broadcast his radio sermons was completed in 1931.

Stances
In January 1930, Coughlin began a series of attacks against socialism and Soviet Communism, which were both strongly opposed by the Catholic Church. He criticized capitalists in America whose greed had made communist ideologies attractive. He warned, "Let not the workingman be able to say that he is driven into the ranks of socialism by the inordinate and grasping greed of the manufacturer."

In 1931, the CBS radio network dropped Coughlin's program when he refused to accept network demands to review his scripts prior to broadcast, and several affiliates objected to the views of Coughlin. With backing by Richards, Coughlin established his own independently financed radio network for the Golden Hour of the Shrine of the Little Flower, with flagship WJR and WGAR in Cleveland as core stations; WGAR was established by Richards under the Goodwill Stations banner several months earlier. With Coughlin paying for the airtime on a contractual basis, the number of affiliates increased to 25 stations in August 1932 and to a peak of 58 affiliates in 1938. Regional networks like the Yankee Network, the Quaker State Network, the Mohawk Network and the Colonial Network also carried the program. It became the largest independently run radio network of its type in the United States.

Throughout the 1930s, Coughlin's views changed. Eventually he was "openly antidemocratic", according to Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, "calling for the abolition of political parties and questioning the value of elections". His views were seen as mirroring those of Richards himself, who had held reactionary conservative beliefs. Leo Fitzpatrick, who had given Coughlin his initial airtime over WJR in 1926 and was retained as a part-owner when Richards purchased the station, continued to serve as a confidant and advisor to Coughlin.

Coughlin was critical of Prohibitionism, which he claimed was the work of "fanatics".

Support for FDR
Against the deepening crisis of the Great Depression, Coughlin strongly endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1932 Presidential election. He was an early supporter of Roosevelt's New Deal reforms and coined the phrase "Roosevelt or Ruin", which entered common usage during the early days of the first FDR administration. Another phrase he became known for was "The New Deal is Christ's Deal". In January 1934, Coughlin testified before Congress in support of FDR's agenda, saying, "If Congress fails to back up the President in his monetary program, I predict a revolution in this country which will make the French Revolution look silly!" He also said to the Congressional hearing, "God is directing President Roosevelt."

Opposition to FDR
Though he received them politely, President Roosevelt had little interest in enacting Coughlin's economic proposals. Coughlin's support for Roosevelt and his New Deal faded in 1934 when Coughlin founded the National Union for Social Justice (NUSJ), a nationalistic workers' rights organization. Its leaders grew impatient with what they considered the President's unconstitutional and pseudo-capitalistic monetary policies. Coughlin preached increasingly about the negative influence of "money changers" and "permitting a group of private citizens to create money" at the expense of the general welfare. He spoke of the need for monetary reform based on "free silver". Coughlin claimed that the Great Depression in the United States was a "cash famine" and proposed monetary reforms, including the nationalization of the Federal Reserve System, as the solution. Coughlin was also upset by Roosevelt's recognition of the Soviet Union.

According to a 2021 study in the American Economic Review, Coughlin's broadcasts reduced Roosevelt's vote shares in the 1936 election.

Economic policies
Coughlin urged Roosevelt to use silver to increase the money supply and also reorganize the financial system. These and other such ideas did not find a receptive audience. However, investment in silver was increased for a limited period following the Silver Purchase Act of 1934, which resulted in U.S. silver mines being nationalized between 1934 and 1943 through stamp taxes.

Among NUSJ's articles of faith were work and income guarantees, nationalizing vital industry, wealth redistribution through taxation of the wealthy, federal protection of workers' unions, and limiting property rights in favor of government control of the country's assets for public good.

Illustrative of Coughlin's disdain for free-market capitalism is his statement:

"We maintain the principle that there can be no lasting prosperity if free competition exists in industry. Therefore, it is the business of government not only to legislate for a minimum annual wage and maximum working schedule to be observed by industry, but also so to curtail individualism that, if necessary, factories shall be licensed and their output shall be limited."

Money supply should be controlled by Congress
In the 1930s, Coughlin called on Congress to take back control of the money supply, as it is given authority under Article I, Section 8, in the Enumerated Powers, to coin money and regulate the value thereof.

Radio audience
By 1934, Coughlin was perhaps the most prominent Catholic speaker on political and financial issues with a radio audience that reached tens of millions of people every week. Alan Brinkley wrote that "by 1934, he was receiving more than 10,000 letters every day" and that "his clerical staff at times numbered more than a hundred." He foreshadowed modern talk radio and televangelism. However, the University of Detroit Mercy claims that Coughlin's peak audience was in 1932. It is estimated that at his peak, one-third of the nation listened to his broadcasts. In 1933, The Literary Digest wrote, "Perhaps no man has stirred the country and cut as deep between the old order and the new as Father Charles E. Coughlin." At its peak in the early-to-mid 1930s, Coughlin's radio show was phenomenally popular. His office received up to 80,000 letters per week from listeners. Author Sheldon Marcus said that the size of Coughlin's radio audience "is impossible to determine, but estimates range up to 30 million each week". He expressed an isolationist, and conspiratorial, viewpoint that resonated with many listeners.

In 1934, when Coughlin began criticizing the New Deal, Roosevelt sent Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Frank Murphy, both prominent Irish Catholics, to try to influence him. Kennedy was reported to be a friend of Coughlin's. Coughlin periodically visited Roosevelt while accompanied by Kennedy. In an August 16, 1936, Boston Post article, Coughlin referred to Kennedy as the "shining star among the dim 'knights' in the [Roosevelt] Administration". Increasingly opposed to Roosevelt, Coughlin began denouncing the President as a tool of Wall Street; Coughlin opposed the New Deal with growing vehemence, his radio talks attacked Roosevelt and capitalists and alleged existence of Jewish conspirators. Another nationally known priest, John A. Ryan, initially supported Coughlin but opposed him after Coughlin turned on Roosevelt. Joseph Kennedy, who strongly supported the New Deal, warned as early as 1933 that Coughlin was "becoming a very dangerous proposition" as an opponent of Roosevelt's and "an out and out demagogue". Kennedy worked with Roosevelt, Bishop Francis Spellman and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) in a partly successful effort to get the Vatican to silence Coughlin in 1936. Coughlin ended his radio broadcasts, but continued to publish Social Justice. In 1940 and 1941, reversing his own views, Kennedy attacked the isolationism of Coughlin.

Coughlin proclaimed in 1935: "I have dedicated my life to fight against the heinous rottenness of modern capitalism because it robs the laborer of this world's goods. But blow for blow I shall strike against Communism, because it robs us of the next world's happiness." He accused Roosevelt of "leaning toward international socialism on the Spanish question" (referring to the Spanish Civil War). Coughlin's NUSJ gained a strong following among nativists and opponents of the Federal Reserve, especially in the Midwest. Michael Kazin has written that Coughlinites saw Wall Street and Communism as twin faces of a secular Satan. They believed that they were defending those people who were joined more by piety, economic frustration, and a common dread of powerful, modernizing enemies than through any class identity.

The priest supported populist Huey Long as governor of Louisiana until Long was assassinated in 1935. At a campaign rally for the NUSJ at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on May 11, 1936, Coughlin predicted the organization would "take half of Ohio" in the upcoming primary election, citing multiple congressional candidates that had the NUSJ's backing.

Coughlin teamed up with Francis Townsend and Long associate Gerald L. K. Smith in support of William Lemke's Union Party 1936 campaign for president. Coughlin presided over two additional high-profile events in Cleveland during the summer of 1936: the Townsend Convention held at Cleveland Public Hall during mid-July and the Union party convention at Municipal Stadium on August 16; at the latter, Coughlin fainted near the end of his speech. One of Coughlin's campaign slogans was "Less care for internationalism and more concern for national prosperity", which appealed to the 1930s U.S. isolationists and especially to Irish Catholics.

Lemke's candidacy was a failure, with Coughlin taking a brief two-month hiatus after the election. Coughlin had promised to convince nine million people to vote for Lemke, but only one million did. FDR, who Coughlin strongly opposed, won by a landslide.

Antisemitism
Jewish television producer Norman Lear recounts in his autobiography how his discovery of Father Coughlin's radio broadcasts at the age of 9 disturbed him deeply and made him aware of the alarming and widespread antisemitism in American society. After the 1936 election, Coughlin expressed overt sympathy for the fascist governments of Hitler and Mussolini as an antidote to Communism. He believed Jewish bankers were behind the Russian Revolution, backing the Jewish Bolshevism conspiracy theory.

At this time, Coughlin also began to support a far-right organization called the Christian Front, which claimed that he was an inspiration. He urged the formation of a national Christian movement to violently rebel against the U.S. government, and personally selected John F. Cassidy to lead it. After the Front's New York City unit was raided by the FBI in January 1940 for plotting to overthrow the government, it was revealed Coughlin had never officially been a member.

Coughlin promoted his controversial beliefs by means of his radio broadcasts and his weekly rotogravure magazine Social Justice, which began publication in March 1936. During the last half of 1938, Social Justice reprinted weekly installments of the fraudulent, antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Despite this, Coughlin denied on various occasions that he was antisemitic, yet he received indirect funding from Nazi Germany during this period. A New York Times report from Berlin identified Coughlin as "the German hero in America for the moment" with his sympathetic statements towards Nazism as "a defensive front against Bolshevism". In February 1939, when the American Nazi organization the German American Bund held a large rally in New York City, Coughlin immediately distanced himself from the organization, and in his weekly radio address he said: "Nothing can be gained by linking ourselves with any organization which is engaged in agitating racial animosities or propagating racial hatreds. Organizations which stand upon such platforms are immoral and their policies are only negative."

On November 20, 1938, two weeks after Kristallnacht (the Nazi attack on German and Austrian Jews, their synagogues, and businesses), Coughlin, referring to the millions of Christians who had been killed by the Communists in Russia, said, "Jewish persecution only followed after Christians first were persecuted." After this speech, three radio stations—WMCA in New York City, WIND in Gary, Indiana, and WJJD in Chicago—dropped the program the following week on grounds of inciting racial prejudice, with Coughlin accusing them of being under "Jewish ownership". WMCA made their displeasure immediately known, with their booth announcer saying on-air after his November 20 speech, "Unfortunately, Father Coughlin has uttered many misstatements of fact". Station president Donald Flamm viewed an advance copy of the sermon and pressured Coughlin to edit it twice but did not see the final text, which he said "was calculated to stir up religious and racial hatred and dissension in this country". When WIND and WJJD also requested an advance copy of Coughlin's next sermon for prior review and approval, his refusal prompted them to drop the program. On December 18, 1938, thousands of Coughlin's followers picketed WMCA's studios in protest, with some protesters yelling antisemitic statements, such as "Send Jews back where they came from in leaky boats!" and "Wait until Hitler comes over here!" The protests continued for 38 weeks. Coughlin was present at some of the protests.

Backlash
While members of the Catholic hierarchy did not approve of Coughlin, only Coughlin's superior—Bishop Michael Gallagher of Detroit—had the canonical authority to curb him, and Gallagher supported the "Radio Priest". Owing to Gallagher's autonomy and the prospect of the Coughlin problem leading to a schism, the Catholic leadership took no action. Gallagher died in January 1937. In 1938, Cardinal George Mundelein, archbishop of Chicago, issued a formal condemnation of Coughlin: "[Coughlin was] not authorized to speak for the Catholic Church, nor does he represent the doctrine or sentiments of the Church."

Coughlin increasingly attacked the president's policies. The administration decided that, although the First Amendment protected free speech, it did not necessarily apply to broadcasting because the radio spectrum was a "limited national resource" and as a result was regulated as a publicly owned commons. The authorities imposed new regulations and restrictions for the specific purpose of forcing Coughlin off the air. For the first time, the authorities required regular radio broadcasters to seek operating permits.

When Coughlin's permit was denied, he was temporarily silenced. Coughlin worked around the new restrictions by purchasing air time and playing his speeches via transcription. However, having to buy the weekly air time on individual stations severely reduced his reach and also strained his financial resources. Meanwhile, Bishop Gallagher died and was replaced by a prelate, Edward Aloysius Mooney, who was less sympathetic to Coughlin than Bishop Gallagher had been. In 1939, the Institute for Propaganda Analysis used Coughlin's radio talks to illustrate propaganda methods in their book The Fine Art of Propaganda, which was intended to show propaganda's effects against democracy.

After the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, Coughlin made an on-air appeal for listeners to travel to Washington as "an army of peace" to stop the repeal of the Neutrality Acts, a neutrality-oriented arms embargo law, leading opponents to accuse Coughlin of stoking incitement bordering on civil war. This resulted in an intervention to finally remove Coughlin from the air, not by a federal agency but by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the industry's lobby group. The NAB formed a self-regulating Code Committee that imposed limits on the sale of air time to people deemed to be controversial. Ratified on October 1, 1939, the code required manuscripts for programs to be submitted in advance and effectively prohibited on-air editorials or the discussion of controversial subjects, including non-interventionism, with the threat of license revocation for radio stations that failed to comply. This code was drafted specifically as a response to Coughlin and his program. WJR, WGAR and the Yankee Network threatened to quit their memberships in the NAB over the code, but acquiesced and adopted it, with the majority of affiliate contracts running out at the end of October. In the September 23, 1940, issue of Social Justice, Coughlin announced that he had been forced off the air "by those who control circumstances beyond my reach".

Newspaper shutdown and end of political activities
Coughlin said that, although the government had assumed the right to regulate any on-air broadcasts, the First Amendment still guaranteed and protected freedom of the written press. He could still print his editorials without censorship in his own newspaper Social Justice. After the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. declaration of war in December 1941, anti-interventionist movements (such as the America First Committee) rapidly lost support. Isolationists such as Coughlin acquired a reputation for sympathizing with the enemy. The Roosevelt Administration stepped in again. On April 14, 1942, U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle wrote a letter to the Postmaster General, Frank Walker, in which he suggested that the second-class mailing privilege of Social Justice be revoked, in order to make it impossible for Coughlin to deliver the papers to its readers.

Under the Espionage Act of 1917, the mailing permit for Social Justice was temporarily suspended on April 14, confining distribution to the Boston area, where it was distributed by private delivery trucks. Walker scheduled a hearing on permanent suspension for April 29, which was postponed until May 4.

Meanwhile, Biddle was also exploring the possibility of bringing an indictment against Coughlin for sedition as a possible "last resort". Hoping to avoid such a potentially sensational and divisive sedition trial, Biddle arranged to end the publication of Social Justice by meeting with banker Leo Crowley, a Roosevelt appointee and friend of Bishop Mooney. Crowley relayed Biddle's message to Bishop Mooney that the government was willing to "deal with Coughlin in a restrained manner if he [Mooney] would order Coughlin to cease his public activities". Consequently, on May 1, Bishop Mooney ordered that Coughlin should stop his political activities and confine himself to his duties as a parish priest, warning him that his priestly faculties could potentially be removed if he refused to comply with the order. Coughlin complied with the order and was allowed to remain the pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower. The pending hearing before the Postmaster General, which had been scheduled to take place three days later, was canceled.

Later life

Although he had been forced to end his public career in 1942, Coughlin served as a parish pastor until his retirement in 1966. On May 30, 1951, he attended the funeral of George A. Richards, who died following a long legal fight to keep his broadcast licenses amid accusations of antisemitism and using the stations to further his political interests.

Coughlin died in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 1979 at the age of 88. Church officials stated that he had been bedridden for several weeks. He was buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan.

References in popular culture

 * Sax Rohmer's novel President Fu Manchu (1936) features a character based on Coughlin named Dom Patrick Donegal, a Catholic priest and radio host who is the only person who knows that a criminal mastermind is manipulating a U.S. presidential race.
 * In his song Lindbergh, Woody Guthrie references Coughlin, stating "yonder comes Father Coughlin wearing the silver chain, cash in his stomach and Hitler on the brain."
 * Coughlin served as the inspiration for Bishop Prang in Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here. Prang endorses Huey Long-parody Buzz Windrip, who defeats President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 U.S. Presidential election and sets up a fascist government.
 * Coughlin served as the inspiration for influential anti-semitic radio priest Father Crighton in Arthur Miller's 1945 novel Focus. The novel was later adapted into a movie in 2001, which also maintained the Father Crighton character.
 * Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove briefly features Coughlin as an outspoken critic of President Steele, an alternate universe Joseph Stalin. Steele silences Coughlin by accusing him of spying for the Nazis and has him sentenced to death. Ironically, Coughlin's defense attorney in the trial is Jewish.
 * Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) attacked Coughlin in a series of 1942 political cartoons.
 * The producers of the HBO television series Carnivàle (2003–2005) have said that Coughlin was a historical reference for the character of Brother Justin Crowe.
 * Philip Roth's novel The Plot Against America (2004) mentions Coughlin and his anti-Semitic radio addresses of the 1930s in several passages, and also portrays him as helping Charles Lindbergh form a pro-fascist United States government.
 * In the M*A*S*H episode "The Bus" (S4E6), Frank Burns discusses meeting his first love during a high school debate as to whether Father Coughlin should be president.
 * In her podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow describes Father Coughlin's radio show and publications at length, mainly in the context of his support of the Christian Front during the failed attempt to convict them for their plans of a violent coup to overthrow the federal government.

title: Charles Coughlin


text:
ProRail

ProRail is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure (not the metro or tram), the allocation of rail capacity, and controlling rail traffic. Prorail is a part of NS Railinfratrust, the Dutch railway infrastructure owner.

Its Utrecht headquarters is in the former offices of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (known as De Inktpot, "The Inkwell"), the largest brick building in the Netherlands. The building currently features a "UFO" on its facade resulting from an art program in 2000.

History
The creation of ProRail can be traced back to policies of the Dutch government implemented during the 1990s; it was decided that rail operations should be reorganised, and that the private sector should have a greater involvement in their operations, in order to improve operations. In 1998, the first outsourced small-scale maintenance operations took place. Despite this direction, government ownership of the national railway infrastructure operator has been retained. Instead, ProRail was established on 1 January 2003 when three separate organisations responsible for rail infrastructure in the Netherlands were merged. Upon its creation, ProRail became responsible for the total cost of ownership and the long-term availability of the rail infrastructure, as well as to avoid operational safety being compromised.

One early reform of the organisation, implemented for the 2007–2011 timeframe, was for all contracts to be publicly tender based on performance and process specifications. This was intended to facilitate effective competition to be awarded contract work while retaining the public service orientation sought by the government. Key functions, such as track inspection, had transitioned to the private sector by 2006. Jan Swier, ProRails Strategic Advisor for Maintenance and Renewals, noted that there were initial concerns over this safety-critical work being performed externally, yet the work has been effectively performed, aiding by the introduction of sophisticated track inspection machinery. All track is inspected twice per month while busy main lines can be inspected as often as once per week. Trackwork, such as grinding, was largely outsourced; working practices also changed, moving from corrective grinding to preventive grinding to both ease and lower the cost of the work. The implementation of real time asset monitoring was also pursued, by 2006, approximately 1,000 switches in The Netherlands had been equipped with remote condition monitoring equipment.

In the late 2000s, in response to repeated year-on-year rises in both passenger and freight traffic on the network, ProRail developed a new 'Triple A' strategy to deliver a 50 percent increase in capacity, to be achieved via the adoption of smarter planning, the reorganisation of train services, and new construction works. In late 2008, the Ministry of Transport allocated €4.5 billion for a multi-year investment to introduce the Triple A strategy along several key railway corridors. During the early 2010s, ProRail trialed high-frequency twin-track operations as a means of expanding capacity.

Throughout the 2010s, ProRail has increasing the use of digital working practices and technologies throughout its operations; amongst other changes, various paper forms have been replaced with digital counterparts delivered via mobile devices. Trials of technology for various purposes, such as digital visual indicators of train occupancy, have been carried out. Continuous weather monitoring now routinely informs operations so that services can be reshaped where appropriate to minimise the impact of bad weather even prior to its arrival. The organisation has also made use of digital twins of key pieces of infrastructure to improve maintenance operations. In 2021, the ProRail Monitoring Platform (PMP) was revealed, which monitors the majority of infrastructure assets overseen by the organisation and it intended to enable the transition from condition-based monitoring to performing predictive maintenance, facilitating more efficient use of resources.

In 2014, the organisation released a report on various scenarios for rolling out the next generation European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) across the Netherlands. The Dutch government directed that digital railway signaling be rolled out nationwide; ProRail and NS have partnered to implement ERTMS and will initially focus upon retrofitting rolling stock for level 2 operations. During March 2022, ProRail announced that the French company Thales Group had been selected to provide signaling apparatus, referred to as the Central Safety System (CSS), in support of the ERTMS rollout. In September of that year, the multinational engineering firm Arcadis were contracted to provide engineering services for the rollout.

During June 2022, ProRail appealed to the Dutch government to subsidise train operators of both passenger and freight services, noting that its charges has to comply with the European rules for consumer compensation, yet the sector would suffer due to double digit price rises. In January 2023, figures released for 2022 showed that rail users had been subject to some of the worst performance statistics recorded in recent years in terms of delays and cancellations, which was in part attributable to strikes. That same month, RailGood, an employers’ organisation representing the rail freight industry, publicly claimed that ProRail was letting down rail freight operators; specific complaints included increased infrastructure charges for 2023, which RailGood referred to "excessive", as well as allegations of mismanagement of the railway infrastructure.

Railinfrabeheer
Railinfrabeheer (Rail Infrastructure Management, RIB) takes care of the infrastructure. This does not include most sidings on private property, these were sold off to Strukton Rail Short Line BV in 2015. Maintenance is carried out by several contractors, including VolkerRail, Strukton and ASSET Rail. Part of this division is the Incidentenbestrijding (Incident Response Unit) which manages various incidents on the network, like breakdowns, collisions or derailments.

Timetable management
The capacity the whole railway network is controlled by ProRail. Every year on the second Sunday of December the new timetable for the following year goes into effect. Planning this new timetable is done years in advance. In the planning stage all users can state the train services they wish to operate in this year.

Companies using the ProRail network are:
 * Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), using most of the network for long-distance intercity-services and local trains along the same lines. This network is commonly known as hoofdrailnet (main rail network).
 * NMBS/SNCB, Thalys, Eurostar and DB, which operate various international services to neighbouring countries (including local trains to those countries).
 * Connexxion (including Breng), Qbuzz, Arriva and Keolis on the other contracted lines. Arriva is the biggest in this respect, with train running in the north, east and south of the country.
 * Cargo operators including DB Cargo, Rotterdam Rail Feeding, CapTrain, Rail Force One and Lineas. Most other cargo operators plan their trains shortly before departure, and thus are managed by Traffic Control.
 * RailExperts, Train Charter Services and many cargo operators use the network for charters, ad-hoc trains or empty movements. These are mostly planned at short notice, using empty pathing provided in the timetable.

Railverkeersleiding
Railverkeersleiding (Traffic Control) is responsible for managing current operations on the network. Traffic Control is the section which operates signals and communicates with drivers. Short-term planning, less than 52 hours before the day of the train service, is also part of this division. All companies use this facility to compensate for unplanned events.

Funding
Funding for ProRail is primarily provided via a government subsidy, on top of which fees are charged to the various railway operators (called infraheffing). The government subsidy totalled around €2.5 billion from 2014–2017, and the infraheffing totalled approximately €200 million in 2006, the remaining income was listed as 'other'. The fee that the public transport operators initially had to pay for this is lower than the cost, but has been progressively increased over time. In 2003, it was €0.64 per train km and €0.54 to €2.16 for stopping at a station.

Performance oriented maintenance
Railways in the Netherlands are not maintained by ProRail itself. Instead, it is subcontracted to recognised maintenance contractors. This model has been contrasted with that of the privately owned British rail infrastructure owner RailTrack, although ProRail has stated that it has intentionally made efforts to learn from the shortcomings of Railtrack, which had collapsed prior to ProRail's creation. The Dutch railway network is subdivided into 21 areas. For each area, all of the regular maintenance is contracted as one package, which is won by the contractor that submits the best offer. The contractor receives a fixed sum per month, and is fined in case of failure to meet the required performance. Contractors are incentivised to minimise cost, while ensuring good performance of the assets. This is called prestatiegericht onderhoud (performance oriented maintenance).

As of 2019, the recognised maintenance contractors are:
 * ASSET Rail (a joint venture by Arcadis and Dura Vermeer)
 * BAM Infra Rail
 * Strukton Rail
 * VolkerRail

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

title: ProRail


text:
Håkan Lans

Anders Håkan Lans (born 2 November 1947 in Enskede) is a Swedish inventor. He holds two patents:
 * a memory controller for a framebuffer: "Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display". Framebuffer with memory controllers had been in common use for years at the time of this 1979 patent filing.
 * a calligraphic display "Arrangement for producing a pattern on a light-sensitive surface"

STDMA
Håkan Lans is the designer of a tracking system which makes use of a Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA) datalink. The STDMA datalink is currently in use in Automatic Identification System (AIS). AIS is a short range coastal tracking system which is mandatory aboard international voyaging ships with gross tonnage (GT) of 300 or more tons, and all passenger ships regardless of size.

STDMA is also in use as one of the three physical layer models proposed for Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), a cooperative surveillance technique for air traffic control which is in the process of implementation.

Lans has his own company, GP&C Systems International AB, which is focused on marketing STDMA.

Legal disputes
Concerning the patent on the framebuffer controller, in 1997 Lans as an individual sued several companies, including Compaq, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard, for not paying royalties, and allegedly infringing on his patent. The defendants counterclaimed that the patent was assigned to Uniboard AB, a company wholly owned by Lans. The judge ruled that this was the case and thus Lans lost the case. This has led to a dispute between Lans and his attorneys, who Lans has sued for misconduct. This suit was settled in April 2012. An allegation was presented on Swedish National Television that an attorney's conduct was due to alleged connections with The Pentagon, in order to stop Lans' progress on his STDMA patent.

Another debate is regarding STDMA. There was a patent application for the system, but a US patent ex-parte reexamination certificate was issued in 2010 canceling all claims.

title: Håkan Lans


text:
Trillian (character)

Tricia Marie McMillan, also known as Trillian Astra, is a fictional character from Douglas Adams' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. She is most commonly referred to simply as "Trillian", a modification of her birth name, which she adopted because it sounded more "space-like". According to the movie version, her middle name is Marie. Physically, she is described as "a slim, darkish humanoid, with long waves of black hair, a full mouth, an odd little knob of a nose and ridiculously brown eyes," looking "vaguely Arabic."

Biography
Tricia McMillan is a mathematician and astrophysicist whom Arthur Dent attempted to talk to at a party in Islington. She and Arthur next meet six months later on the spaceship Heart of Gold, shortly after the Earth has been destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. The trilogy later reveals that Trillian eventually left the party with Zaphod Beeblebrox, who, according to the Quintessential Phase, is directly responsible for her nickname.

In the radio series, she is carried off and forcibly married to the President of the Algolian Chapter of the Galactic Rotary Club and consequently does not appear in the second radio series at all. The later radio series (the Tertiary Phase and beyond) reveal this (probably) occurred only in the artificial universe within the Guide offices. In the books, which the third, fourth and fifth series follow, she saves the universe from the Krikketeers and later becomes a Sub-Etha Radio reporter under the name Trillian Astra.

Some drafts of the movie's screenplay, and Robbie Stamp's "making of" book covering the movie, state that Trillian was to be revealed as half-human, an acknowledged divergence from Douglas Adams' original storyline. This would have been done in order to underline the loneliness of Arthur Dent, the only 100% Homo sapiens remaining in the universe, after Earth's demolition. This idea was scrapped after the "making of" book was written, and the scene revealing Trillian's heritage (by the mice, to Arthur, on the Earth Mark II) was re-written. An interview with actress Zooey Deschanel, included on the DVD version, has her mention that Trillian is half-human, suggesting the interview was recorded prior to the change of plan.

Relationships
In the novels and radio series, Trillian does not have a romantic relationship with Arthur (although when Arthur starts seeing Fenchurch, Ford Prefect asks him what happened to Trillian). In the fifth book, Trillian is revealed as the mother of Random Dent. It is unclear for how long (if ever) Trillian had a relationship with Zaphod. They seem to travel away from each other after the third book, although in the fourth one Arthur states Trillian is with Zaphod, and in the fifth Trillian implies that she hadn't had a child with Zaphod simply because they're different species. In the sixth novel, And Another Thing..., she pursues a relationship with Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged; she accuses Arthur of carrying a torch for her as well.

The 2005 film puts a different spin on the character. The main emotional arc of the movie is a love triangle between Trillian, Zaphod, and Arthur. Trillian is initially attracted to Arthur when she meets him on Earth, but she's disappointed by his apparent lack of spontaneity. During their travels, Trillian discovers that Zaphod may be the more superficially exciting choice, but Arthur is the man who truly cares about her, Arthur commenting when he is about to have his head cut open by the mice that his feelings for Trillian are the only thing that he ever had questions about where the answer made him happy. The film concludes with Arthur and Trillian sharing a brief kiss as they prepare to return to the Heart of Gold with Ford and Zaphod as Slartibartfast plans to restart Earth, Arthur concluding that he is ready to move on from the planet now that there is a world to come back to.

Portrayals
Trillian was played on radio by Susan Sheridan, on television by Sandra Dickinson (who also reprised an alternate-universe version of the role in the fifth and sixth radio series, playing both original and alternate-universe versions in the latter), on the Original Records LP version by Cindy Oswin, and in the 2005 film by Zooey Deschanel. In The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, she is portrayed by Tali, a model.

In the original radio series, she is portrayed with an English accent – in both the TV series and movie she is played as an American. The "Quintessential Phase" of the radio series features Sandra Dickinson in the role of the alternate version of Tricia McMillan as a "blonder and more American" Trillian – the radio series indicates that the character is otherwise identical to the first Trillian and was born in the United Kingdom. In the book Mostly Harmless, it is said that both the alternate Tricia McMillan and Trillian have an English accent. In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel, she is described as follows: "She was slim, darkish, humanoid, with long waves of black hair, a full mouth, an odd little knob of a nose and ridiculously brown eyes. With her red head scarf knotted in that particular way and her long flowing silky brown dress, she looked vaguely Arabic." She has consistently not been portrayed as such in the television and film adaptions, although the film adaptation Trillian is closer to her appearance in the books than it was in the television series.

Appearances
Trillian comes closest of all female characters to appearing in the entire "Hitchhiker's" saga.

Novels

 * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 * The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
 * Life, the Universe and Everything
 * So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (mentioned only)
 * Mostly Harmless (also alternate Tricia McMillan)
 * And Another Thing... (also Alternate Tricia McMillan)

Radio
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' radio series

Featuring Susan Sheridan as Trillian:
 * Primary Phase: "Fit the Second", "Fit the Third", "Fit the Fourth", "Fit the Fifth", "Fit the Sixth"
 * Tertiary Phase: "Fit the Thirteenth", "Fit the Sixteenth", "Fit the Seventeenth", "Fit the Eighteenth"
 * Quintessential Phase: "Fit the Twenty-Third", "Fit the Twenty-Fifth", "Fit the Twenty-Sixth"

Featuring Sandra Dickinson as the alternate character Tricia McMillan:
 * Quintessential Phase: "Fit the Twenty-Fourth", "Fit the Twenty-Fifth", "Fit the Twenty-Sixth"

Featuring Sandra Dickinson as Trillian and Tricia McMillan:
 * "The Hexagonal Phase"

LP
Featuring Cindy Oswin as Trillian
 * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 * The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Television
Featuring Sandra Dickinson as Trillian
 * Episode 2
 * Episode 3
 * Episode 4
 * Episode 5
 * Episode 6

Computer game

 * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Film
Featuring Zooey Deschanel as Trillian
 * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

title: Trillian (character)


text:
Talk:Aphra Behn

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 August 2021 and 1 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jacksharpe54.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:31, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

An Addition
Aphra Behn was a very important woman in history, something I hope won't get lost in this article. Her novel Oroonoko has been rightly called one of the first anti-slavery works. It's available online and should be read. She was definitely countering a prejudice against Oroonoko's race. Her play The Rover has liveliness and depth. Readers would be interested in what was written of her at Westminster, and it's an honor, one she deserved, that she's there: "She was Mistress of all the pleasing Arts of conversation, but us'd 'em not to any but those who love Plaindealing." That "plaindealing" or honesty should be respected very much now. My source is the Duffy biography, which I value. Nov. 20, 2005 21:20, 20 November 2005 (UTC) amphimacer
 * Hi, Do please click on this link to Oroonoko, it's a Featured article (=identified as one of Wikipedia's best), written by one of our 18th-century specialists (User:Geogre), and much superior to the Aphra Behn article. Best wishes, Bishonen | talk 22:20, 20 November 2005 (UTC).

 * Thank you Bishonen! amphimacer 21:54, 21 November 2005 (UTC) P.S. I'm glad that Geogre will be doing the Wikipedia article on Aphra Behn, and I want to add that I have an article which perhaps can be useful. It was originally given as part of public seminar on the subject of love, and in one section I write about what I see as valuable for women today in The Rover, letters of Aphra Behn, and Oroonoko (my source for the letters and certain facts is Maureen Duffy's biography). It's published at []. Amphimacer 18:18, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I apologize. I've been so tardy in working on this article as to be unforgiveable.  Basically, Behn is one of the most difficult authors to reconstruct.  So little is known (especially since Duffy) and so many have an interest in molding her into contemporary clothing that we have our own desires as much as the obscurity of time to battle.  I would welcome anything from any quarter to make this present article better.  I should go ahead and state my own predilections for writing about Behn:  I'm one of those political readers.  I see every author of the Restoration and Augustan period as engaging in a rather high stakes bit of cultural warfare.  After all, the presses were new, the forms of literature were new, the audiences were new, and no one had been convinced that a novel was "only a novel" and that it wouldn't change the world.  Meanwhile, ideas were imbued with such power over lives that there were no innocent words in print.  Therefore, I'm apt to read Behn the way Todd does: as a partisan.  Calling her a Tory is technically accurate but somewhat misleading.  She was not reactionary but activist.  She was not in opposition to emergent capitalism but activist for a sort of idealism that we today find alien.  At least her public face was: the private woman has remained private after three centuries.  Geogre 04:03, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

 * Dear Geogre, I'm with you politically. If I read you correctly. Aphra Behn was for the monarchy and not against what we call capitalism; that's a hard subject for people to see accurately then or now, and I could say a lot which I won't. Then there is Behn's actual work and I hope I endeavor to know her through it--which is the real test of the scholar. I'm interested in what you say about an "idealism that we today find alien." As I looked at Oroonoko in particular, I saw a very courageous mind at work--at the end Behn describes Oroonoko being tortured, and it's unbearable, unflinching in honesty and I think this part could stand up to any cutting-edge or dark work of our time. But Behn's purpose is important, she's describing the ugliness of the torture so we'll feel it, and see Oroonoko's courage and nobility through it--he didn't give his torturers the satisfaction they wanted of seeing him break down. I want to read her last play 'The Widow Ranter'--I began it once in the library--and would like to see it performed. It's about one of the earliest revolts here, in the 'New World.' I read it was staged after she died and very badly, and I'm hoping its better than its reputation! Well, Wikipedia and you are encouraging me to continue my study of Aphra Behn, one of the most interesting people ever! Amphimacer 21:13, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

Wow I cant belive how amazing her life was. It may seem a little wiered but she is now one of my biggest role models! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.71.35.233 (talk) 00:28, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Factual dispute
No one owns words on Wikipedia, so I don't want to act like I have a monopoly on Behn truth, but this article is not only inaccurate, but it keeps getting worse rather than better. I do plan to do a complete rewrite as soon as I finish the 2000 rev. of Janet Todd's The Secret Life of Aphra Behn, which is the most recent scholarly biography of her. However, vast tracts of the present article disagrees not only with Todd, but also with Maureen Duffy, whose Passionate Shepherdess was the first truly scholarly biography of Behn's in the 20th c. Instead of trying to give a miniature version of the article as I will rewrite it, I will establish the facts we do know and the untruths that have been exposed so far. There are many more facts to come, with citations, but this should be enough to explain why there is a Disputed tag on the article as it stands. Geogre 03:26, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) Aphra Behn was probably born to a man named Bartholomew Johnson in Wye, probably in 1640, with a probable sister named Frances and brother named George. Her mother was a distant relation of the Sidneys.  Her father was of no family.
 * 2) Behn probably worked as a copyist.
 * 3) Behn almost surely performed spy-work long before the 2nd Dutch War. It is most likely that she was a go-between courier for the Royalist court in exile.
 * 4) She travelled to Suriname in 1663-4, most likely. She might have been there as a mistress, but that's very unlikely.  She might have been there as a woman seeking a husband, but that's terribly unlikely.  What's most likely is that she was paired with another lady as a travelling companion.  There is no historical figure who is "deputy governor" of Suriname except William Byam.  There is no father, no sugar daddy, no one who can fill that role.
 * 5) There is no historical Oroonoko. Scholars have searched night and day for hundreds of years for a likely African.  The name is an adaptation of "Oroondates," a Romance hero from novels Behn read, and an obvious homophone/allegory for the river Orinoco itself.
 * 6) There was no slave rising to match what is described in the novel Oroonoko. For more detailed proof and disproof, see Oroonoko, a featured article.
 * 7) After her time in Suriname, she is married, whether in Suriname or on ship home. The likely Behn is a Johan Behn of Frankfurt, who was probably a slave trader and a Dutch go-between trader (a literal middleman).  He likely died during the plague year of 1665-6.
 * 8) She was sent to Holland to recruit a double agent. One William Scot was a Puritan who had betrayed Suriname, and Behn was sent to recruit him to betray the Dutch.  She was partially successful, but not very.
 * 9) Behn went to live near the Temple Bar, where she met a great many playwrights.
 * 10) She appeared to get no pay at all from Charles II. However, she did get her plays read and put on.  This, in fact, might have been payment-in-kind, which was common with Charles II.
 * 11) Her poetry is not indecent. In fact, it was very fine, and it is the basis of her fame in the 18th century -- with admirers including Burns, Blake, and later Wordsworth and Coleridge.  It would be the basis of her reputation for the generation after her life.
 * 12) Her drama was very popular. Only Dryden's plays were staged more often in the 1670's.
 * 13) She wrote another novel before Oroonoko, so it's not the first novel or the first novel by a woman in English.
 * 14) She was not the first female professional author in English. She was the first professional woman dramatist, yes, and the first female professional poet and novelist, but women had earlier made their livings by writing cook books.

Original version of the article
Aphra Behn (1640 ? – 1689)

Aphra Behn was the first English woman, who earned her living by writing. Furthermore, she set the beginning of woman novelists. She was very conscious of her different position as a woman writer. Besides she was known for her free comments on religion, science, philosophy and her aversion to hypocrisy in society.

Because of these facts she earned a great deal of praise by a number of woman writers. For instance, Virginia Woolf wrote about Aphra Behn “All woman together ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

She was an excellent play writer. And her first play The Forced Marriage, exposes the bondage of matches arranged for money and status. But when writing for the stage became less profitable, she focused on prose fiction, short tales, prologues, complimentary verses, compilations and she also worked as a translator.

Her best remembered work is Oroonoko (or the History of the Royal Slave). Oroonoko is based on her visit to Surinam. Aphra Behn claims that she is relating to a true history. The main plot is about a love story (Oroonoko, Imoinda) combined with the particular issue of slavery.But as well as the history of Aphra Behn’s own life contains mysteries, also her work Oroonoko provides some difficulties to lay down the type of writing. Even if she claims that her story Oroonoko is a true story, it can not be classified as fact or fiction, realism or romance. Oroonoko is seen as a novel at the end of the 18th century. But even though it can not be defined as a novel, because it does not have the features for a novel in the 18th century. Oroonoko is a memoir (she claims that she is an eyewitness to the story), a travel narrative, and the biography of the main character in the story Oroonoko (a black prince and finally a "royal slave"; Behn sees Oroonoko as a hero and stresses the honor of black men). Aphra Behn’s story Oroonoko helped to teach people, to feel for victims, who were involved in the inhuman commerce of slave trades.

As already mentioned, much of Aphra Behn’s life remains a mystery. So that it is difficult to reconstruct her past. She was probably from East Kent. Regrettably she has not left any record of her date and place of birth, family name or how she grew up. References to nuns and convents give reasons to believe that she was raised as a Catholic. Furthermore particular details in her work Oroonoko show that she probably was in a sugar colony of Surinam in 1664. In London she often took part on public debates and pointed out satire against the Whigs. Aphra Behn was a woman, who spoke out loud, what she had in her mind. For this reason Behn was arrested for abusive reflections on the King’s son (the Whig duke of Monmouth). Aphra Behn passed away in the year 1689, but her fabulous works have honorably still remained in our society.

written by:Mosnik Kerstin

What a heck?
Met Oroonoko? What? There is no evidence whatsoever that she met a real person by the name of Oroonoko. Scholars have investigated this ad nauseum, and no one has a clue. She says that she met him, but Daniel Defoe claims to have Robinson Crusoe's works at hand. It's a fiction. Furthermore, she didn't idealize the figure "a little." She idealized him entirely. Why? Well, because race was pretty unimportant for her. Black Africans were like Moors or Turks for the 17th c. English: exotic. You could tell any tale you wanted in such a backdrop, and it's my opinion, anyway, that the tale Behn wants to tell is the regicide of Charles I. Remember her patron (possible lover). Remember how hot the debate about monarchy was in the 1670's, with the suspicious James II nearing the throne. Anyway, the article as written seems naive. Passionate Shepherdess is out there, but I've never read it. Anyone interested in Behn would do well to read Duffy. Geogre 20:40, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm not an expert on Aphra Benn so I don't feel I should edit this article. However, I do know that not only is the meeting with Oroonoko highly questionable but her whole visit to Suriname is also. The same can be said for much of her life, including being a diplomat. A meeting between an author and the title character of their works was a popular conceit during the period, it is used, amongst others, by the aforementioned Daniel Defoe, and Samuel Richardson with Pamela.

 * After Behn's death her life was much romanticised and reproduced in largely fictitious biographies, which were based largely on the fictitious "authobiographical" elements within her work, such as "The History of the Life and Memoirs of Mrs. Behn, Written by one of the Fair Sex" which was published by Charles Gildon. Unfortunatly these tales, which at best were only half-truths, went almost unquestioned for over 200 years and they passed into "fact". Professor Ernest Bernbaum was a key figure in highlighting the improbabilities in Behn's life. Rje 23:38, Jan 20, 2005 (UTC)

Good heavens! Gildon? I had no idea that Gildon was a source. (I'm currently (and eternally) working on The Dunciad, where Gildon shows up as a typical Dunce in Book II of both the 1727 and 1742 versions.) N.b. the salacious romanticizing of Behn starts after Giles Jacob begins producing penny biographies of "late writers." He stumbled into a lucrative market, and many flowed like silt into the gap he opened. In fact, Jacob's biographies were farmed out to hired pens, and no one investigated the authors they wrote about. (Jacob prompted John Arbuthnot to say "biography is one of the new terrors of death.") All of this is 1720's.  The era is important:  practically any biographical source from that decade is suspect to start, for two reasons. The first is the hack bio that was going on then. The other, though, is what had happened to Behn's reputation. In the 1680's to 1700, she was "Astrea," the glorious woman writer. The tenor of the times changed considerably in the later Williamite era, and sexual and gender freedoms chilled a bit. By the 1720's, Pope is calling her licentious. So, if she's no longer remembered as the glorious female wit, but instead as the potty-mouth girl, any biography produced in that decade (and the next) will be all about what a shocking female rake she was -- she becomes Rochester in drag. My fear is that the folks in the Behn Society now are as apt to inflate her again. She is still the victim of political grave robbing. Now, all her works are about women and women's issues and psychosexual tensions. Well, ok, maybe, but seems to me that she had a lot that was terrifically clear to contemporaries that was just plain political. She was a political radical. There's pretty much no doubt. Her lack of support from the Mary court, if not the reception of her plays, had to do with the fact that London was a city of perhaps 100,000 people, the theater-going public was small, and people knew the playwright's politics. Politics could make a hit of a fair or poor work. Sex could push or kill a novel. (No one talks about Love Letters Between a Nobleman and his Sister.) It's because of the heavy scrum over Behn's corpse that I, at least, have stayed away from the details of her story. There's no way to win, in academe, in trying to write a restrained version. Geogre 13:23, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * I believe Janet Todd is unchallenged today as the greatest scholarly authority on Aphra Behn. She has edited the current standard edition of Behn's work, and her biography The Secret Life of Aphra Behn (1996) has superseded earlier work. (Gildon? Charles Gildon? Oh, help. You are of course so right, Geogre. Gildon and Curll and the other Grub Street hacks as "sources" are a complete joke, or one that would be funny if they weren't still misleading people. Thanks for explaining the 18th century context so clearly.) --Bishonen | Talk 14:12, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Aha. I've been away from the ivy covered towers too long, sadly. I'm sure you're right that Janet Todd is the authority: a new authority has been needed for quite some time (Duffy is 1960's, I think), and anyone capable of calm, scholarly, and restrained biography is going to be my hero. I'll see if I can get my hands on her The Secret Life of Aphra Behn. I still scratch my head and chin over the original version of this article. Who could have known enough but nothing and written it? I wonder if it was ported over from one of the public domain (19th c.) reference works? The EB would be more verbose. Geogre 13:43, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Promises, promises
I'm reading Janet Todd's 2000 The Secret Life of Aphra Behn now. First, Duffy is valuable: she did some of the hardcore scholarship (finding Effrey Johnson (aka Aphry/Aphra Johnson), finding Bartholomew Johnson (father), and Elizabeth Denham Johnson (mother)). I'm taking notes & promise to whip the article into Featured Article shape as soon as I am done. I'll also, of course, read Vita Sackville-West's stuff and skim other biographies of recent vintage to see what I can see. Geogre 02:05, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'd read Ms. Todd biography on Aphra Behn a year or two ago, while working on a generational project. I should tell you that it's a good read, and that it should help to get the article on Mrs. Behn to be place at a better standard than it is at the present moment. Leoni2 13:15, 3 Feb 2006
 * I've been reading it, and I got all her material on Oroonoko out for my work on Oroonoko. My problem is the agonizing pace of making a note on every significant fact and then, later, having to cut down all the facts to make it digestible.  Geogre 19:41, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, if you look at most scholarly books, they are all heavily footnoted. True, it does slow down the reading, but it is helpfull in your own studies by telling you where the author had gotten his or her information, which you, if you want, can check out on you on own to check on the validity of the author's statement, and if the author is throwing you a bunch of pure bull, you can say why. But I hope that reading Ms. Todd's book is helping you. Leoni2 17:43, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Venezuela/Suriname?
I know the border of Venezuela once extended into Guyana (British Guiana) -- but I don't think it ever reached as far east as Suriname (Dutch Guiana).

Heaven forefend
Sheesh. She met Oroonoko, eh? Really? That's astonishing! Of what extraction was he? What historical figure is he based upon? Being naive is no longer acceptable when writing about Aphra Behn, folks, and this article gets worse, rather than better, with time. I'm going to have to raze a lot of what's here when I rewrite, and I just think I'll give notice now that, if you don't have citations to prove what you say, don't say it. If you do have citations, provide them. Aphra Behn was probably only in Suriname (the Surinam river, see Suriname) for a year or so, with half a year in transit both ways. This suggests a mission, not a home. Geogre 21:35, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

Mentions in literature
I am no expert whatsoever on Aphra Behn, but I happen to know that she is mentioned in "Desolation Island" one of Patrick O'Brian's "Jack Aubrey" novels, on page 44. SHe is mentioned by Maturin's friend, Sir Joseph, and all Maturin can recall of her is as a "lewd woman, who wrote plays in the last age" whereupon Sir Jospeph reveals her role as a spy.
 * Indeed, O'Brien is winking with that reference. Her plays weren't very much denounced for obscenity (depends on the critic) as much as her poetry was.  Her poetry, for example, deals fairly frankly with loss of maidenhead, impotence, and premature ejaculation, whereas her plays just have a few unmarried couplings (something common to Restoration comedy in general).  In the Napoleonic age, though, when O'Brien sets his novels, she would have been scandalum magnatum.  William Blake regarded her as a guilty pleasure, and so did Byron, but the people of that age who might have defended her would have been offended by her politics.  They were doing things she never did, but they didn't like kings, where Behn was 100% royalist, doggedly royalist.  Geogre 22:38, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

 * You probably know, but I think it appropriate that the article (when re-written) include a note that in A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf discusses her influence most postively. That's what brought me here to find out more. [Unsigned comment by User:Jwy on December 29, 2005.]
 * I entirely agree with Jwy. Woolf's discussion was important in rekindling 20th-century interest in Behn; it's where I first saw her name, too. Bishonen | talk 16:27, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
 * You guys are right, of course, and this only makes me feel guiltier about not finishing the biography and getting to it. In fact, Woolf is not only the reason for some renewal of interest, but these days people see her as setting things in a very bad course.  There is some argument that scholars never forgot her, that before Woolf the dusty pedants knew and read her, and that she had no real impact on the rehabilitation of her career among scholars.  There's some truth in that.  At the same time, she was responsible for a massive (well, given the scale of these things) influx of interest and a dogged refusal to let her drop.  Woolf clearly romanticized Behn, and she ends up rejecting Behn as a sell-out (whereas her friend Sacheverell wouldn't), but she was a high profile mention, no doubt about it.  I do intend to mention the pro- and con- of Woolf's discussion, though I have to take care not to repeat Janet Todd's argument too much.  Geogre 17:48, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Opera Libretto
I was doing some work on John Blow's Venus and Adonis (opera) and found this interesting tidbit in New Grove -
 * "though there is no record of the venue and the identity of the librettist remains unknown; the suggestion that, because of its feminist overtones, the poem might have been written by Aphra Behn, with whom Blow later collaborated on a play (The Lucky Chance), is intriguing but unproven."

I don't have any access to information about Aphra Behn, I'm just wondering if those who know more about her think it warrants inclusion. Makemi 18:00, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

DISCUSSION OF WICKPEDIA ON SCHOLARLY LISTSERVE
I am a member of a scholarly Listserve which discusses the Restoration and eighteenth century, and we've been discussing the "value" of Wickpedia as a scholarly source. I have sent them a reference to this article as an example of what serves as scholarship here. I feel sure that Janet Todd would be extremely dismayed to see her "Secret Life" described as a scholarly biography. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.63.13.42 (talk • contribs).

 * Oh, how wonderful. Since I was last a member of C18-L, one must suppose that poles have been liberally distributed for backsides, if you believe that this article is either "what passes for scholarship" at "Wickipedia" (sic) or that your announcement is going to do anything except testify to your own vacuity.  Given the fact that the talk page contains liberal complaints that the article is not up to snuff, it will be fascinating to see what a powerful example it will be.  Further, if Ms. Todd is of the belief that her biography is unscholarly, then she shall have to do some explaining to the TLS among others.  Finally, if your comment is indicative of the tone deafness, ignorance, and blindness now typical of the listserver, I can only rejoice in having gone on to do something useful instead of posting there.  If you wish to see something more scholarly pertaining to the 18th century, you should look at one of our other articles.  Oh, and it would be generous of you to have the courage of your convictions and indicate your authorship (I recall C18-L being real name only, but perhaps that has changed, too).  You can "sign" by simply typing four tildes in a row.  Then we can see where your IP resolves.  I'm sure that it will show some place truly impressive, like Comcast Cable.  I know that the decision to cavil or to help is agonizing, but some of us choose the more difficult course.  Geogre 21:45, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Another C18-L reflection by Linda Payne:

I have not seen every contribution to this thread [Re: "Wikipedia is our friend" [OT]], but if it hasn't been brought up before, you might all enjoy looking at the "Aphra Behn" entry. I was particularly interested in her acquaintance with Oroonoko, marriage to slave trader Johan Behn (under "discussion," in the "addition" section)  and her bisexuality which featured stronger feelings for women and men. Looking at the sources, we see first that Janet Todd's Secret Life is cited as a biography, and in the "addiiton" section both Todd's "Secret" work and Duffy's "Passionate Shepherdess" are cited as scholarly biographies. Interestingly enough, Goreau's work is not cited as all. It's been a while since I've read these works, but my recollection is of Goreau's being the least speculative, and the most scholarly in terms of delineating what was known and what it may have implied.

http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0607&L=C18-L&P=R72084&I=-3

 * Well, one of them could well rewrite the article. That would be a good thing.  Again, though, this article is a disgrace and has been a disgrace for years.  The scholarly editors of Wikipedia pretty much haven't touched it (including me).  I keep meaning to, but I don't want to get into anything where the silly people of the Behn Society live.  The citation is due to a single fact at the outset that was lifted from the better Oroonoko article.  The only thing that I, for example, have done with this article is cut its original, even more deluded, text.  It used to be lifted from the accounts based on the bizarre Charles Gildon.  Further, Duffy and Todd are, in my opinion, scholarly biographies, although both contain speculation and both make assumptions.  Duffy is the one who did the leg work to demonstrate the likeliness of her being Aphra Johnson, and Todd unearthed all that stuff about what exactly Behn was doing in her spying years.  All the same, there is only one thing that a C18-L reader can do: either help the article or learn to read the talk pages, where they will see complaint after complaint about this article and our being too short-handed to get the work done.  Finally, they can realize that Wikipedia is wonderful, and it is awful, depending on the article: it is both, and it would be great if some of my fellow scholars got off of their dusty cushions and started helping.  Threatening is of no use.  Geogre 11:20, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

 * agree. (And you know that I will not forget the Gould edition...) Enjoy the marvellous summer. --Olaf Simons 08:29, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Still needs to be cleaned up
This article still needs a lot of work. Quotations like the following, for example: "She has since become a favourite among sexually liberated women, many of bisexual or lesbian orientation, who proclaim her as one of their most positive influences. [9]" (131.111.243.37 11:37, 2 March 2007 (UTC))
 * It doesn't just need clean up. It needs scourging.  I don't think any of our 18th century editors are working on the article.  For myself, I don't because of the amount of silliness aimed at Mrs. Behn by published critics, and I don't want to get into it.  Anyone else with training and access to a good library who wants to take it on would be doing a serious mitzveh.  Geogre 11:51, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
 * It needs more than just a a little bit of clean up; the article is filled with opinions is scant of citations and has some plain wrong facts. If I was not so busy at the moment I would rewrite the entire thing; I might be able to work on it in a couple months.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.81.224.128 (talk) 03:26, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

'"The tag is judgmental, personal, and therefore subject to the next person saying, "No, it isn't."'
Then you better delete it from the 1000+ articles it's tagged to. For the record, Wikipedia:Citing sources recommends "Any style or system is acceptable on Wikipedia so long as articles are internally consistent." So much for personal, it's an explicit Wikipedia style guide recommendaton. And this article is NOT internally consistent, using footnotes AND Harvard referencing in both the ==Early life== and ==Status among other writers throughout history== sections (and the Harvard refs aren't even consistent throughout). C'mon, go! (talk) 22:53, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh, dear! An official recommendation?  Wow.  Well, everyone had better snap to it and get obedient, then.  Where would we be without the effort to have every article look exactly like every other one?  That would be anarchy!  We need to get rid of the idea that anyone can edit here.  Only the obedient should edit.  The rest should have tags put up on their articles marking them as the horrid output of the common rabble who have not learned to comply yet.  Geogre (talk) 19:11, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Pope and Behn
Sure Pope was a precocious child, but considering that hewa s (at most) a year old when Behn died, I think the statement that he was a major critic of hers needs to be better qualified. Specifically, it should say in what works he criticized her, and it should be made clearer that these criticisms took place after her death. (138.16.72.11 (talk) 10:33, 4 April 2008 (UTC))
 * Could you specify where it's said? I still refuse to have anything to do with editing this article, but Pope was a critic of hers, after she was quite dead.  In fact, Pope is important in the beginning of the dismissal of her.  There is evidence that Behn was enjoyed as late as Blake, and she was really done in by the 19th c. critics more than the Augustans, but Pope's important as the first major voice to make the "dirty girl" charge and have it stick.  Please go ahead and make the change, if you see where it should be done; you needn't wait for anyone else.  Geogre (talk) 19:09, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Substandard
Despite the observations above made over a period of five years that this article is not up to standard, it is still an embarrassment. It reads like a mass up of undergraduate work - some useful stealing and a lot of original idiocy. Tsinfandel (talk) 10:45, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

 * Yes, agreed... I've tried to give it a larger overhaul though now it needs some smoothing out and there are still a number of issues remaining. MichelCastagne (talk) 22:42, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

Deletion of "Bibliography" section
I went ahead and axed the "Bibliography" section, which was entirely opinion-based, poorly-written, disconnected to the point of incoherence, and not about bibliography at all. I'm only a novice editor, but I think having a blank space is probably better than a string of gibberish?

24.215.233.193 (talk) 02:46, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Deletion of unencyclopaedic content
I just axed the entire undergraduate essay that was obviously copy and pasted onto this article. Sample sentence: "The attention shifts from male to female, from penis to vagina." The rest was equally poorly-written, though I'm sure the writer got a passing grade in the Early Modern Lit course for which it was composed.

Behn's birth
The article as it stands claims that Behn was born July 10, 1640, in Wye, but baptized in December. This is incorrect; it bizarrely confuses and muddles two different and mutually incompatible scholarly identifications of Behn's origins. To sort it out briefly, several decades ago scholars discovered a baptismal (not birth) record of a girl named Afara Amis in Wye dated 7/10/1640 that was for a while considered to be the true Behn. Later, however, a baptism record dated December 14, 1640, in Hambledon for "Eaffry Johnson" was discovered that is now, by scholarly consensus, considered the real Behn, since the details match up better with Anne Finch's statements (maiden name Johnson, father was a barber, etc.). See, for example, Janet Todd's biography The Secret Life of Aphra Behn. I'm going to make the changes that seem to be required. 108.249.88.145 (talk) 20:06, 7 May 2012 (UTC)
 * ...*On a somewhat related topic, I guess and by the way, putting "?" next to 1640 when it's known that she was baptised in 1640 seems to suggest a probably undeserved amount/level of doubt (there's always some doubt with empirical evidence (especially, philosophically speaking, when it's passed through many hands twixt source and reader, but away that tangent)... the question is the acceptable level before it reaches that "?" level of general dubiety :) ) Usually baptism occurred within a month of birth, no? So it wouldn't be the year that was doubtful, though the month and day might be (so the ? should be moved, just suggesting...) 2604:6000:B484:AF00:AD43:E6A7:103B:1B1C (talk) 04:20, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks IP. I've changed the article to reflect this. PS. Having an account (they're free! ;D) makes it easier to discuss, and lets other editors notify you when they reply. --Xover (talk) 07:25, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Recent edit
Having read the comments here on the talk page, I flinch at the basicness of my edits to the article, but it seemed in little better shape in April 2013 than it was in July 2006. It was mostly uncited with seemingly strong POV. I have added references and tried at least to get some coherence to the narrative of her life. No doubt, as Geogre says, it would be best to start again using the biographies. A significant section of the article would, it seems, have to be given to the historiography of source texts and researchers - which biographers and scholars say what, where they vary, where they agree, how evidence was discovered. It would great to bring Behn to GA or FA, with scholarly rigour, as she, no doubt, deserves. I hope the current version of the article is a temporary stop gap. Span (talk) 02:26, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

 * I have added more, with some cites from The Secret Life of Aphra Behn by Todd. I have not come across plaudits from Burns, Blake Wordsworth and Coleridge as mentioned above. Their perspectives would be good to add. In regard to Behn's birth (discussed above) there are any number of theories (and little evidence). I have added an assortment of strong sources and their cites so that readers can investigate each further. Span (talk) 00:16, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Over-reliance on Todd? / same-sex desire between men
While I think Todd's biography of Behn is the most reliable source for information about Behn's life, I think this entry relies too heavily on her scholarship—especially when it comes to the discussion of Oroonoko. Other scholars do see the text as "progressive" in its treatment of gender and race and in its possible critique of at least some dimensions of the slave trade. Perhaps the paragraph on Behn's "anti-progressive" views as they surface in Oroonoko should take into account other scholarly views on this matter?

Also, while I am intrigued by the claim that "male to male love" appears in Behn's writing (which I've altered to "same-sex love between men," as I think it is less clunky), I would like to see an example or a citation. I've not read everything she wrote; perhaps this is a reference to Love-Letters Between a Noble-Man and His Sister, which, alas, I haven't yet read, but I can't be sure. — Preceding unsigned comment added by CaptWhiffle (talk • contribs) 01:12, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

 * There are many other sources given in the article. Todd's critique of Oroonoko is clearly stated as hers, not a general interpretation. Other critiques would be great to add. Regarding same-sex love, the source given goes into some detail, though doesn't give poetic examples. Span (talk) 01:35, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

New Attention to the Behn page
I have read through the Talk on this page ranging over nearly a decade, and since 1) the page is still in sad shape and 2) it doesn't seem to getting any attention at the moment, I'd like to propose an overhaul. There is much solid work on Behn that can offer a Wikipedia reader useful information on her writings and their reception over the years. The biography seems to have become a quagmire. I wish to rewrite the general introduction to the article to emphasize her major status as a British author and remove extraneous items such as being called a member of the triumverate of wit. In the upcoming weeks, I will then be using the reliable bibliography by Mary Ann O'Donnell (2nd edition 2004) and the expert write up on Behn in Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. If anyone would like to help me plan out a way to revise the whole article, I am very happy to learn from and with you. LLRungegordon (talk) 19:59, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I revised the introduction to be more general and indicate Behn's significance. I am having difficulty with the references.  Using visual editor, I thought the references would be assigned to the reference section, but they are appearing below the text that I edited.  How do I fix this < >? LLRungegordon (talk) 16:20, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I am going to add some support citations for the general opening, and then begin to add information on the textual history and literary production, using the ODNB article on Behn, the information from Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the End, and Aphra Behn: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Sources by Mary Ann O'Donnell (second edition 2004)LLRungegordon (talk) 22:41, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
 * By all means, be wp:BOLD and edit. Don't worry too much about the mechanics of citations, just so long as you make it clear what source supports a statement, others can tidy up the cite formats. In general, we avoid using primary sources, except where reliable secondary sources have shown them to have particularl significance. LeadSongDog come howl!  15:32, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

William Scot - Is there an error with the link; Also play about Behn ("Or," by Liz Duffy Adams
The article notes Behn's mission to establish intimacy with William Scot. The link to the wikipedia article on Scot lists him as dying in the 1243, centuries before Behn. Is there an error?

Also, there is a witty play about Aphra Behn by Liz Duffy Adams entitled "Or," that may be worth citing. A description of the play is at http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=4203

Cmalumphy (talk) 13:47, 20 September 2015 (UTC)cmalumphy 9/20/2015

Comment on previous discussions

 * 1) metoo MinorProphet (talk) 01:10, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

Questionable categories
Are these categories appropriate? LGBT writers from England, LGBT dramatists and playwrights, LGBT poets, 17th-century women scientists, and 17th-century LGBT people

I don't see anything in the article to support her being LGBT (versus being of interest in LGBT studies), nor was she a scientist (despite translating some science books). If there are no objections, I suggest these should be removed. Fences &  Windows  19:28, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

 * I removed the LGBT categories, as they suggest that Behn herself was LGBT.--Peabodybore (talk) 08:45, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Minor stylistic/grammar/syntax/language changes
Under Published Works in the first line, changed 'reputably' to 'reputedly' and made plural 'Englishwomen' the singular 'Englishwoman'.

The sense of the sentence and the rest of the article clearly suggests that the text needs to indicate that Behn is believed to have been/widely considered to have been/tentatively recorded as, the first English woman to earn a living as writer ['reputedly' or by reputation] rather than that she did so and this enhanced her reputation or was considered to be conformist to social norms ['reputably'] as the text indicates she was more controversial than that. I take this to be a minor correction in usage/word choice.

Singular "Englishwoman" matches the rest of the sentence as written. Depending on what if anything we know about other potentially paid female writers of this period, an alternative would be "among the first Englishwomen" using the plural.

Request any future editors making changes of this type to this article to use this section. This talk page already has a lot of section headings.Random noter (talk) 21:59, 16 August 2018 (UTC)

Offspring
Did Aphra Behn have any children? If not, how did she avoid having any, if she was a libertine, and later married? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 02:04, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Aphra Behn


text:
Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva (Léman, lac Léman , rarely lac de Genève ; Lago Lemano; Genfersee ; Lai da Genevra) is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent (345.31 km2) of the lake belongs to Switzerland (the cantons of Vaud, Geneva and Valais) and forty percent (234.71 km2) to France (the department of Haute-Savoie).

Name
While the exact origins of the name are unknown, the name Lacus Lemanus was in use during the time of Julius Caesar. Lemannus comes from Ancient Greek Liménos Límnē (Λιμένος Λίμνη) meaning "port's lake". It became Lacus Lausonius, although this name was also used for a town or district on the lake, Lacus Losanetes, and then the Lac de Lausanne in the Middle Ages. Following the rise of Geneva it became Lac de Genève (translated into English as Lake Geneva), but Le Léman was the common name on all local maps and is the customary name in the French language. In contemporary English, the name Lake Geneva has become predominant.

Geography
Lake Geneva is divided into three parts because of its different types of formation (sedimentation, tectonic folding, glacial erosion):
 * 1) Haut Lac (Upper Lake), the eastern part from the Rhône estuary to the line of Meillerie–Rivaz
 * 2) Grand Lac (Large Lake), the largest and deepest basin with the lake's largest width
 * 3) Petit Lac (Small Lake), the most south-west, narrower, and less-deep part from Yvoire–Promenthoux next Prangins to the exit in Geneva

According to the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Swisstopo, Lac de Genève designates that part of the Petit Lac which lies within the cantonal borders of Geneva (excluding the cantonal exclave Céligny), so about from Versoix–Hermance to the Rhône outflow in Geneva.

The Chablais Alps border is its southern shore, and the western Bernese Alps lie over its eastern side. The high summits of Grand Combin and Mont Blanc are visible from some places.

The lake lies on the course of the Rhône. The river has its source at the Rhône Glacier near the Grimsel Pass to the east of the lake and flows down through the canton of Valais, entering the lake between Villeneuve and Le Bouveret, before flowing slowly towards its egress at Geneva. Other tributaries are La Dranse, L'Aubonne, La Morges, La Venoge, La Vuachère, and La Veveyse.

Lake Geneva is the largest body of water in Switzerland, and greatly exceeds in size all others that are connected with the main valleys of the Alps. It is in the shape of a crescent, with the horns pointing south, the northern shore being 95 km and the southern shore 72 km in length. The crescent form was more regular in a recent geological period, when the lake extended to Bex, about 18 km south of Villeneuve. The detritus of the Rhône has filled up this portion of the bed of the lake, and it appears that within the historical period, the waters extended about 2 km beyond the present eastern margin of the lake. The greatest depth of the lake, in the broad portion between Évian-les-Bains and Lausanne, where it is just 13 km in width, has been measured as 310 m, putting the bottom of the lake at 62 m above sea level. The lake's surface is the lowest point of the cantons of Valais and Vaud. The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin is Monte Rosa at 4,634 metres above sea level.

The beauty of the shores of the lake and of the sites of many of the places near its banks has long been celebrated. However, it is only from the eastern end of the lake, between Vevey and Villeneuve, that the scenery assumes an Alpine character. On the south side, the mountains of Savoy and Valais are for the most part rugged and sombre, while those of the northern shore fall in gentle vine-covered slopes, thickly set with villages and castles.

The snowy peaks of the Mont Blanc Massif are shut out from the western end of the lake by the Voirons mountain, and from its eastern end by the bolder summits of the Grammont, Cornettes de Bise, and Dent d'Oche, but are seen from Geneva, and between Nyon and Morges. From Vevey to Bex, where the lake originally extended, the shores are enclosed by comparatively high and bold mountains, and the vista terminates in the grand portal of the defile of St. Maurice, cleft to a depth of nearly 2700 m between the opposite peaks of the Dents du Midi and the Dent de Morcles.

The shore between Nyon and Lausanne is called La Côte because it is flatter. Between Lausanne and Vevey it is called Lavaux and is famous for its hilly vineyards.

The average surface elevation of 372 m above sea level is controlled by the Seujet Dam in Geneva.

Climate
Due to climate change, the average temperature of deep water (more than 300 m deep) increased from 4.4 C in 1963 to 5.5 C in 2016 (an increase of 1.1 C-change in 53 years), while the average temperature of surface water (5 m deep) increased from 10.9 C in 1970 to 12.9 C in 2016 (up 2 C-change in 46 years).

Bise
Lake Geneva (and particularly the lakeside parts of the city of Geneva) can be affected by the cold Bise, a northeasterly wind. This can lead to severe icing in winter. The strength of the Bise wind can be determined by the difference in air pressure between Geneva and Güttingen in canton of Thurgau. The Bise arises when the air pressure in Güttingen is higher than in Geneva.

Environment

In 563, according to the writings of Gregory of Tours and Marius Aventicensis, a tsunami wave swept along the lake, destroying the fort of Tauredunum and other settlements, and causing numerous deaths in Geneva. Simulations indicate that this Tauredunum event was most likely caused by a massive landslide near the Rhône delta, which caused a wave 8 m high to reach Geneva within 70 minutes. In 888, the town was part of the new Kingdom of Burgundy, and, with it, was absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire in 1033.

In the late 1960s, pollution made it dangerous to swim at some beaches of the lake; indeed, visibility underwater was near zero. By the 1980s, intense environmental pollution (eutrophication) had almost wiped out all the fish. Endemic whitefish species Coregonus fera was last recorded in the lake in 1920 and is now extinct. Although the name fera is still used for the only coregonid present in the lake, this is not the original species but the introduced C. palaea. Today, pollution levels have been dramatically cut back, and it is again considered safe to swim in the lake. Major leisure activities practiced include sailing, wind surfing, boating (including water skiing and wake-boarding), rowing, scuba diving, and bathing.

A total of four submarines have plied the depths of Lake Geneva. In 1964, Jacques Piccard launched a tourist-oriented submarine, the Auguste Piccard (named for his explorer father), for the Swiss National Exhibition, meant to honor the Expo 64 theme of accomplishments by Swiss engineers and industry. After operating through to 1965 in Lake Geneva, Piccard used the vessel for scientific exploration in other parts of the world. Piccard later built the F.-A. Forel, launched in Lake Geneva in 1978 and used primarily for scientific research until it was retired in 2005. In 2011, in a collaborative operation led by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, two Mir submersibles were used for ten weeks to conduct extensive scientific research in Lake Geneva.

On a scientific footnote, in 1827, Lake Geneva was the site for the first measurement of the speed of sound in (fresh) water. French mathematician Jacques Charles François Sturm and Swiss physicist Daniel Collodon used two moored boats, separated by a measured distance, as the transmitting and receiving platforms for the sounds of exploding gunpowder. The loud airborne sound coupled into the lake, establishing a loud underwater sound that could be measured at a distance. The flash of the exploding gunpowder provided the visual starting cue for the timepiece, and the underwater explosion sound striking a bell provided the finish cue.

The lake is rich in wildlife, especially birds: both the common buzzard and the red kite breed here in considerable numbers.

Sport events
Yacht racing is a popular sport, and high-performance catamarans have been developed specifically for the lake. The design of the Alinghi 5, the defender of the 2010 America's Cup, was influenced by those racing catamarans. The best-known event, the | Bol d'Or (not to be confused with other events having the same name) runs from Geneva to the end of the lake and back.

The Tour du Lac rowing event also takes place on Lake Geneva. Competitors row once around the entire lake, making this 160 km event the longest non-stop rowing regatta in the world.

Several competitions for swimmers are organised yearly, including the crossing of the lake from Lausanne to Evian (13km), from Chillon Castle to Geneva (70km), from Montreux to Clarens (1.8 km), in Geneva (1.8 km), all in summer, and the Coupe de Noël, 125m in Geneva in December.

Notable residents
Edmund Ludlow, famous as one who had signed the death warrant of English King Charles I, was granted on 16 April 1662 protection in and continued to live at Vevey until his death in 1692. Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron holidayed by the lake and wrote ghost stories, one of which became the basis for the novel Frankenstein. The Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) was stabbed to death on the quayside in Geneva in September 1898. Vladimir Lenin rented a little "chalet" at the French bank, near Geneva. Actor Charlie Chaplin spent his final years and died in Vevey (there is a memorial statue of him along the promenade; his home at Corsier-sur-Vevey is now a museum of his life and career). Actors Noël Coward, James Mason, Sir Peter Ustinov, Richard Burton, and Audrey Hepburn all lived in villages on the shores of or in view of the lake. David Bowie moved to a chalet to the north of Lake Geneva in 1976, which inspired him to take up painting and informed the first stages of the "Berlin Trilogy". Pop singer Phil Collins lives in a home overlooking the lake. Rock band Queen owned and operated Mountain Recording Studios (which is still in use today) in Montreux, and a statue of lead singer Freddie Mercury, who also owned a second home in Montreux, stands on the northern shore of the lake. Writer Vladimir Nabokov also took residence in Montreux, where he died in 1977. Former Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher lives with his family in a home overlooking the lake.

title: Lake Geneva