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Spencer Williams

Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs "Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "I've Found a New Baby", "Everybody Loves My Baby", "Tishomingo Blues", and many others.

Biography
Spencer Williams was born in Vidalia, Louisiana, United States. He was reportedly educated at St. Charles University in New Orleans, though no such school is known to have existed (there was, however, a St. Charles University a few hours west in Grand Couteau).

Williams was performing in Chicago by 1907, and moved to New York City about 1916. After arriving in New York, he co-wrote with Anton Lada of the Louisiana Five several songs. One of them was "Basin Street Blues", which became one of his most popular songs and is still recorded by musicians to this day.

Williams toured Europe with bands from 1925 to 1928; during this time he wrote for Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Williams then returned to New York for a few years. At the end of the 1920s, Williams was tried but then acquitted on a charge of murder. In 1932, he moved to Europe, spending many years in London before moving to Stockholm in 1951. Williams was married to Pat Castleton (a stage name of Agnes Bage). They had two daughters together called Della and Lindy.

His hit songs include "Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "Mahogany Hall Stomp", "I've Found a New Baby", "Everybody Loves My Baby", "Shimmy-Sha-Wobble", "Boodle Am Shake", "Tishomingo Blues", "Fireworks", "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll", "Arkansas Blues", plus the dirty blues standard "Georgia Grind",   "Paradise Blues", "When Lights Are Low", and "My Man o' War".

Williams returned to New York in 1957, before his death in Flushing, Queens, on July 14, 1965.

Williams was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

title: Spencer Williams


text:
Levi Eshkol

Levi Eshkol (לוי אשכול ; 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik (לוי יצחק שקולניק), was an Israeli statesman who served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. A founder of the Israeli Labor Party, he served in numerous senior roles, including Minister of Defense (1963–1967) and Minister of Finance (1952–1963).

Eshkol was first appointed as prime minister following the resignation of David Ben-Gurion. He then led the party in the elections to the Sixth Knesset (1965) and won, remaining in office for six consecutive years. Shortly after taking office, Eshkol made several significant changes, among them the annulment of military rule over Israeli Arabs and a successful journey to the United States, being the first Israeli leader to be formally invited to the White House. His relations with American President Lyndon B. Johnson greatly affected Israel–United States relations and later on the Six-Day War.

Eshkol was active in the Zionist movement from a young age, immigrating to Ottoman Palestine in 1914 and working in agriculture. He was among the founders of the major institutions of the Yishuv, most importantly the Histadrut and Haganah. Eshkol was treasurer of The Young Worker political party and treasurer of the Agricultural Center. In 1929, he was elected as chairman of the settlement committee within the Zionist Congress, taking a leading role in enabling conditions for new construction. In 1937, Eshkol founded Mekorot water company and was its director until 1951. Simultaneously, he held positions at the Haganah, at Workers' Party and as chairman of Tel Aviv Workers' Council. In 1948–1949, Eshkol was Director General of the Ministry of Defense and from 1948 to 1963, he was chairman of the Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency. Elected to the Second Knesset in 1951, he was soon thereafter appointed to key government roles.

Eshkol led the Israeli government during and after the Six-Day War and was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.

Early years
Levi Eshkol (Shkolnik) was born in the shtetl of Oratov, Lipovetsky Uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (now Orativ, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine). Both his parents were Jewish, although his mother Dvora (born as Dvora Krasnyanskaya) came from a Hasidic background, whereas his father Joseph Shkolnik came from a family of Mitnagdim. Both families were business-oriented and were owners of agricultural businesses including flour mills, industrial plants and forestry associated businesses.

Eshkol received a traditional Jewish education from the age of four and began Talmud studies at the age of seven. In addition to his Heder studies, Eshkol was taught by private tutors in general education. In 1911 he was accepted for studies at the Jewish gymnasium in Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania) and left his hometown and his family.

In Vilna, Eshkol joined the students' association Zeiri Zion (Youth of Zion) and began his connections with the Zionist movement. He was elected to the local executive committee and, in 1913, joined Hapoel Hatzair following his meeting with party leader Joseph Shprinzak.

Public activity 1914–37
In 1914, he left for Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He first settled in Petach Tikva and worked in the setting of irrigation tunnels at the local orchards. In later years he would be recalled as an excelling worker during this period of time. Eshkol also quickly became publicly active and was elected as a member of the local workers' union. However he soon thereafter left Petach Tikva, joining a small group that was set to settle the area of Atarot (Kalandia).

At the outbreak of World War I, fearing local hostility, his group settled briefly in Kfar Uria, Rishon LeZion and returning to Petach Tikva. In 1915–17 he was a leading member of the Judea Workers' Union. In 1918, he volunteered with the Jewish Legion and served in it until the summer of 1920.

In September 1920 Eshkol was among the 25 founders of Kibbutz Degania Bet, making it his permanent residence. However, his public activity had grown and he was often sent on various missions. In 1920, he was among the founders of Histadrut. He was also one of the founders of the Haganah. He was a member of the Haganah's first national high command (1920–21). As a delegate of Histadrut, he was an international representative in various gatherings and was tasked with organization of the "Agriculture Workers' Union". In 1929 he was a delegate for the first time to the Zionist Congress and was elected to the Zionist Executive, which made him an acting member of the executive in the newly formed Jewish Agency.

Between 1933 and 1934, Eshkol was working in Berlin on behalf of the Zionist Organization and HeHalutz youth movement. During this time he negotiated with the German authorities over what became known as the Haavara Agreement. Upon his return to Palestine in 1934, he was appointed director of Nir company, which provided funds to new agricultural settlements.

Director of Mekorot
Eshkol lobbied for a national water company from circa 1930, presenting budget plans before the World Zionist Organization in 1933 and 1935. The formation of Mekorot water company was made possible in February 1937 under joint management of the Jewish Agency, Histadrut and the Jewish National Fund. Eshkol served as its director until 1951, overseeing its expansion in 1938 from agricultural territories to residential areas and the construction of the first water lines to the southern Negev area as early as 1941. By 1947, more than 200 kilometers of water lines were active.

Political and military activity 1940–49
Eshkol returned to serve in the Haganah high command from 1940 to 1948 and was in charge of the organization's treasury. He engaged in arms acquisition for the Haganah prior to and during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Between 1942 and 1944, Eshkol served as Secretary General of Mapai.

During the Second World War Eshkol advocated for Jewish enrollment to the British military. However, he confirmed with the Yishuv's leadership and later joined the ideology asserting differentiation between the global front and the local front, fighting against the British Mandate. In 1945–46 Eshkol was representative of Haganah in the leadership of the Jewish Resistance Movement.

In 1944 he was appointed as the Secretary General of Tel Aviv Workers' Council, remaining in this position until 1948.

In 1947 Eshkol was appointed as a member of the two major defense forums: The Negev Committee that oversaw the administration of the Negev prior to the declaration of independence of Israel, as well as the general Defense Committee of the Yishuv's leadership. Later that year, he was appointed by David Ben-Gurion to head the national recruitment center, which laid foundations to the formation of Israel Defense Forces upon independence of the State of Israel, in May 1948, at which point Eshkol was appointed Director-General of the Ministry of Defense, serving from May 1948 to January 1949.

Rise to national political career
During the time of mass immigration to the State of Israel (1949–1950), Eshkol headed the Settlement Department in the Jewish Agency, where he first proposed the idea of settling a good number of these immigrants upon newly founded agricultural farms, in order to solve their housing dilemma. He is noted as saying, "We didn't know exactly what to do with these Jews. Then we interjected from the counsels of our heart, and from the experience that we had amassed thus far, and said: A desolate country, a desolate people; these two things must cause one another to blossom. From this, the idea was born to launch an extensive agricultural settlement operation and absorb a large part of the immigrants." Eshkol was elected to the Knesset in 1951 as a member of Workers' Party party. He served as Minister of Agriculture until 1952.

In the 1959 legislative election, Eshkol coordinated Mapai's national campaign with the local party branches. He was also appointed as chairman of the party's committee on social affairs. As internal party tension was growing due to the Lavon Affair, Eshkol was asked to serve as an arbitrator.

In 1961, Ben-Gurion asked to retire as prime minister and recommended Eshkol as his successor. However, Mapai made Ben-Gurion stay. Ben-Gurion continued to lead Workers' Party in the 1961 legislative election but struggled to form a coalition and relied on Eshkol's negotiations with rival parties.

Minister of Finance
Following the death of Eliezer Kaplan he was appointed Finance Minister and held that position for the following 12 years. During these years, he helped form the ministry of finance, establishing the Budgets Directorate and other bodies. In 1954 he completed legislation for the establishment of the Bank of Israel.

Eshkol oversaw the implementation of Kaplan's 1952 economic plan, as well as realizing the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, which was towards its final stages of negotiation and signed in September 1952.

In 1957 he began talks with the European Economic Community towards integration of Israel in its market, ultimately achieved in 1964 with the signing of the first commercial agreement between the two entities.

In 1962 Eshkol introduced a new economic plan.

Party chairmanship
During his term as finance minister, Eshkol established himself as a prominent figure in Mapai's leadership, and was designated by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion as his successor.

When Ben-Gurion resigned in June 1963, Eshkol was elected party chairman with a broad consensus and was subsequently appointed prime minister. However, his relationship with Ben-Gurion soon turned acrimonious over the latter's insistence on investigating the Lavon Affair, an Israeli covert operation in Egypt, which had gone wrong a decade earlier. Ben-Gurion was unsuccessful in challenging Eshkol's leadership in the 1965 Workers' Party leadership election and split from Workers' Party with a few of his young protégés to form Workers List in June 1965. In the meantime, Mapai merged with Ahdut HaAvoda to form the Alignment with Eshkol as its head. Rafi was defeated by the Alignment in the elections held in November 1965, establishing Eshkol as the country's indisputable leader. Yet Ben-Gurion, drawing on his influence as Israel's founding father, continued to undermine Eshkol's authority throughout his term as prime minister, portraying him as a spineless politician incapable of addressing Israel's security predicament.

As party chairman, Eshkol formed the basis for the Alignment in 1964, the formation of the unified Israel Labor Party in 1968 and the joining of forces with Mapam to create the second alignment in 1969.

Prime minister
Eshkol formed Israel's twelfth government in 1963. His first term in office saw continuous economic growth, epitomized by the opening of the National Water Carrier system in 1964. He and Finance Minister Pinchas Sapir's subsequent "soft landing" of the overheated economy by means of recessive policies precipitated a drastic slump in economic activity. Israel's centralized planned economy lacked the mechanisms to self-regulate the slowdown, which reached levels higher than expected. Eshkol faced growing domestic unrest as unemployment reached 12% in 1966, yet the recession eventually served in healing fundamental economic deficiencies and helped fuel the ensuing recovery of 1967–1973.

Upon being elected into office, Levi Eshkol fulfilled Ze'ev Jabotinsky's wish and brought his body and that of his wife to Israel where they were buried in Mount Herzl Cemetery.

Foreign relations
During his first months as premier, Eshkol was engaged in a now-declassified diplomatic standoff with the United States that had begun in 1960 under Ben-Gurion. Eshkol worked to improve Israel's foreign relations by establishing diplomatic relations with West Germany in 1965, as well as cultural ties with the Soviet Union, which also allowed some Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister invited on an official state visit to the United States in May 1964.

With Johnson's administration also represented in this case by national security aide Robert W. Komer and others, Eshkol signed what became known as the Eshkol-Comer (sic) memorandum of understanding (MOU) about Israeli nuclear capabilities. The 10 March 1965 MOU, which has been variously interpreted since, stated, 'Israel would not be the first country to "introduce" nuclear weapons to the Middle East'.

Six-Day War
The special relationship he developed with Johnson would prove pivotal in securing US political and military support for Israel during the "Waiting period" before the Six-Day War of June 1967.

According to Michael Oren, Eshkol's intransigence in the face of military pressure to launch an Israeli attack is considered to have been instrumental in increasing Israel's strategic advantage and obtaining international legitimacy, but at the time, he was perceived as hesitant, an image cemented after a stuttered radio speech on 28 May. Egyptian President Nasser's ever-increasing provocations created diplomatic support for Israel. Eshkol eventually established a National Unity Government, together with Menachem Begin's Herut party, and conceded the Defense portfolio to Moshe Dayan.

Death and funeral
In the year following the war, Eshkol's health gradually declined, although he remained in power. He suffered a heart attack on 3 February 1969 from which he recovered and gradually returned to his work, maintaining meetings from the Prime Minister's official residence. In the early morning of 26 February he suffered a fatal heart attack. At his side were his wife and three physicians, including Moshe Rachmilewitz. He died in office, at the age of 73.

Eshkol was laid to rest on 28 February at Mount Herzl and was the first prime minister interred at the Great Leaders of the Nation Plot. He was the first of either presidents and prime ministers of Israel to be buried at the plot, preceded only by Eliezer Kaplan and Joseph Sprinzak.

Eshkol expressed his wishes to be buried at his Kibbutz, Deganya Bet. However, upon his passing a government meeting was convened in which the ministers expressed their support in his burial in Jerusalem. This decision was not only symbolic in its nature (following the Six-Day War), but also supported by the winter season and difficulty of performing a state funeral at the Jordan Valley as well as the War of Attrition and possible security risk at shelling aimed towards the Deganya Bet region. The government's offer was approved later that day by the Eshkol family. A second government meeting that day declared two days of national mourning, until after the state funeral. Flags across the country were brought to half mast.

Eshkol's body remained at the Prime Minister's residence in a symbolic lie in state, with an honor guard of the Israeli Police. On 27 February at 6:00, he was moved to the Knesset plaza, open to the public passing before the casket. An official state ceremony attended by dignitaries and international delegates was held in the Knesset plaza on 28 February, prior to the funeral procession to Mount Herzl.

Personal life
Eshkol married three times and had four daughters:
 * From his first marriage to Rivka Maharshak (1892-1950), he had a daughter, Noa (1924–2007). They were divorced in 1927.
 * Eshkol married his second wife Elisheva Kaplan in 1930, with whom he had three daughters: Dvora Rafaeli (1930–2001), Tama Shochat and Ofra Nevo. His wife Elisheva died in 1959.
 * In 1964 he married Miriam, a librarian at the Library of the Knesset and 35 years his junior, who died in 2016.

His eldest daughter Noa did not wed. From his second marriage Eshkol had eight grandchildren. His daughter Dvora married Eliezer Rafaeli and was the mother of three sons, including Prof. Sheizaf Rafaeli. His daughter Tama married Avraham Shochat, who succeeded him as minister of finance (1992–1996, 1999–2001), and had three children. His youngest daughter Ofra married Prof. Baruch Nevo and had two sons, including author Eshkol Nevo who was named after him.

Eshkol had three siblings. His brother Ben-Zion Shkolnik was a refusenik who made aliyah in 1964. Two other brothers, Lippa and Emanuel, remained in the Soviet Union. Emanuel Shkolnik was killed during combat in the Second World War while serving in the Red Army.

Honors
Eshkol was given honorary citizenships of towns and cities in Israel and abroad: Philadelphia (1964), Chicago (1964), El Paso (1964), Tirat Carmel (1965), Kiryat Gat (1965), Nazareth Ilit (1965), Beer Sheva (1965), Beit Shean (1965), Afula (1965), Dimona (1967), Ashdod (1968), Jerusalem (1968), Petach Tikva (1968)

He was awarded with honorary doctorates by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1964), Roosevelt University (1964), Yeshiva University (1964), University of Liberia (1966) and Hebrew Union College (1968).

Commemoration
Since 1970, Yad Levi Eshkol is the official organization commemorating prime minister Eshkol. It holds educational activities in his memory, maintains his papers and personal archive, supports academic research relating to Eshkol and, since 2016, operates the historical building in Jerusalem that served as the former prime minister's residence and now houses a visitors' center in memory of Eshkol.

Numerous national sites have been named after him:
 * Eshkol Regional Council in the north-western Negev.
 * Eshkol National Park near Beersheba.
 * Eshkol Power Station.
 * Eshkol Water Filtration Plant, the central water filtration facility of the National Water Carrier.

Streets and neighborhoods have been named in his honor, among them the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood in Jerusalem. Several schools are also named after him, including HaKfar HaYarok. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem named the Agriculture Faculty in Levi Eshkol's name, as well as established a research institute in his name in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Israel issued in 1970 a postage stamp with a portrait of Eshkol. In 1984 his image was chosen for the five-thousand old Israeli shekel bill, replaced in 1985 by the five new Israeli shekel bill. Since 1990, his image is found on a limited, yet circulated, minting of the five new Israeli shekel coin that replaced the bill.

In English

 * Aronson, Shlomo. "Leadership, preventive war and territorial expansion: David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol." Israel Affairs 18.4 (2012): 526–545.
 * Aronson, Shlomo. "David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol and the Struggle over Dimona: A Prologue to the Six-Day War and its (Un) Anticipated Results." Israel Affairs 15.2 (2009): 114–134.
 * Goldstein, Yossi. "Israel's prime ministers and the Arabs: Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin." Israel affairs 17.02 (2011): 177–193.
 * Goldstein, Yossi. "Israel's prime ministers and the Arabs: Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin." Israel affairs 17.02 (2011): 177–193.
 * Goldstein, Yossi. "Israel's prime ministers and the Arabs: Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin." Israel affairs 17.02 (2011): 177–193.

In Hebrew

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

title: Levi Eshkol


text:
User talk:Jim Avery

I really haven't much of a clue yet, but I will look at this page from time to time so if you want to say "hello" or offer some help, advice or sympathy please do! I'm thinking of writing a page about my home town (Westbury), but will have to take the brave step of editing the Wiltshire page to include the town.

 * Welcome to Wikipedia, Jim! I hope you enjoy contributing to Wikipedia and decide to stay.  You are encouraged to be bold in editing pages, so feel free to go right ahead and make your edits.  If you have any questions, you can ask another volunteer at the village pump.  Enchanter

 * Many thanks Tim. I will spend some time reading the blurb, but for now I just couldn't resist adding an entry for Trowbridge, and very small it is too!

title: User talk:Jim Avery


text:
User:CatherineMunro

''“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”''

– Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales

Who am I?
she thinks not, therefore she is not.

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My sig:
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Duran Duran

 * [[Image:LinkFA-star.png]] Duran Duran (Featured article discussion, Dec. 2004)
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The many faces of John Taylor

John Taylor: John Taylor (poet), John Taylor (1704-1766), Johnnie Taylor, John Taylor of Caroline, John Taylor (1770-1832), John Whittaker Taylor, John Taylor (1808-1887), John Henry Taylor, John Taylor (American football player), John Mark Taylor, John Taylor (Velocette), Jack Taylor, and still in progress: John Taylor (jazz), John David Taylor, John Taylor (1480-1534), John Taylor (1503-1554), John Taylor (1694-1761), John Taylor (1752-1833), John E. Taylor, John Taylor (Taylor Ham), John Tayler,

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Created articles
Other articles I created or contributed to significantly:
 * Gamemaster, Miniature figure painting, Role-playing, Dungeon Master, Dungeon magazine, Universal Studios, Clive Davis, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tina Turner, Willow (film), Alexandria, The Brocken; several Arachnids: Ricinulei, Palpigradi, Uropygid, Whip scorpion, Opiliones, Schizomid, Amblypygid, Pseudoscorpion; Daddy longlegs, Vickers machine gun, Théophile-Jules Pelouze, Ascanio Sobrero, Benny Urquidez, List of duplicating processes, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China, Gao Lishi, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Handsworth riots, Artificial life, List of species described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Brea, California, Holly Knight, OpenID, Forensic anthropology, Thromboelastography, Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, Congo (disambiguation), Bootleg recording, Ishango bone, Coyote (mythology)...

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 * User:CatherineMunro/monobook.css
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WikiProject Clans of Scotland - Diamond Bar, California, Alex Sadkin, Kajagoogoo, entries on List of duplicating processes

MediaWiki talk:Monobook.css, MediaWiki talk:Standard.css, MediaWiki talk:Cologneblue.css, MediaWiki talk:Nostalgia.css.

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title: User:CatherineMunro


text:
Talk:Baha Men

How can you be formed in October 1988 *and* January 1989? Impressive! --AW
 * Actually, compared to this anonymous user's other edits, this is amazingly coherent. I can only assume English is not his first language, and that's he's totally incapable of learning from seeing others fix identical errors over and over and over again.  I'll see if I can find some clarification. Tokerboy
 * Apparently neither is true, as their first album came out in 1979. I'm gonna have to start watching this guy even more closely. Tokerboy

 * And anonymous (Michael?) still claims it was 1978. Here is the proof it was 1979: http://www.bahamasgateway.com/bahamen.htm. andy 21:25 12 Jun 2003 (UTC)

There is some confusion about the date of their debut album. The site http://www.bahamen.com, which seems to be their official site, gives 1992 as the date for Junkanoo on the page http://www.bahamen.com/discography.html. This ties in with the rest of their discography, which shows a new album every year or two, and to me, makes more sense than a debut album in 1979, followed by a 15 year hiatus before the next string of albums. I've corrected the dates accordingly, and added an album to the discography. Sschlimgen 20:13, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

These guys have been around since the 70's! I'm watching Vh1's One Hit Wonders and they just said it. Someone fix this please.

The links to Leroy Butler and Patrick Carey send you to the pages for a different Leroy Butler and Patrick Carey. Someone either remove the links or make them redirect to the right person. --173.69.176.24 (talk) 17:29, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Other Baha Men?
Just got done watching My Father the Hero, and it listed in the credits two Baha Men I am not seeing listed on here: Fred Ferguson and Herschel Small. Any insight into this? -- Somarinoa (talk) 14:42, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Image?
Would anyone happen to know who, from left to right, is in that main image? Thank you, 114.77.180.7 (talk) 05:42, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Please! 114.77.180.7 (talk) 07:24, 1 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia never answers questions... 60.231.72.107 (talk) 13:16, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

My Sweet Lord
I can't find the recording anywhere, leading me to believe someone is trolling this page and My Sweet Lord's page. Is there any evidence of them having made this cover? 128.12.210.140 (talk) 23:08, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just modified 10 one external links on Baha Men. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101219135124/http://popentertainment.com/BahaMen.htm to http://www.popentertainment.com/bahamen.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121017075705/http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s to http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120930061100/http://www.charts.org.nz/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s to http://www.charts.org.nz/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120320090012/http://www.hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s to http://www.hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121212031539/http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s to http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Baha+Men&cat=s
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110818053721/http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=9334 to http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=9334
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Rik Carey listed twice as a member?
In the member list Patrick "Rik" Carey is listed, as well as Patrick Carey, and I think they are the same person. 2603:8000:F700:788:78DE:9E:4CAE:36D1 (talk) 03:19, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Baha Men


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Anthracite

Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highest ranking of coals.

The Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania in the United States has the largest known deposits of anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons. China accounts for the majority of global production; other producers include Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Total production in 2020 was 615 million tons.

Anthracite is the most metamorphosed type of coal, but still represents low-grade metamorphism, in which the carbon content is between 86% and 97%. The term is applied to those varieties of coal which do not give off tarry or other hydrocarbon vapours when heated below their point of ignition. Anthracite is difficult to ignite, and burns with a short, blue, and smokeless flame.

Anthracite is categorized into several grades. Standard grade is used predominantly in power generation, and high grade (HG) and ultra high grade (UHG), are used predominantly in the metallurgy sector. Anthracite accounts for about 1% of global coal reserves, and is mined in only a few countries around the world.

Names
Anthracite derives from the Greek anthrakítēs (ἀνθρακίτης), literally "coal-like". Other terms which refer to anthracite are black coal, hard coal, stone coal, dark coal, coffee coal, blind coal (in Scotland), Kilkenny coal (in Ireland), crow coal or craw coal, and black diamond. "Blue Coal" is the term for a once-popular and trademarked brand of anthracite, mined by the Glen Alden Coal Company in Pennsylvania, and sprayed with a blue dye at the mine before shipping to its Northeastern U.S. markets to distinguish it from its competitors.

Culm has different meanings in British and American English. In British English, culm is the imperfect anthracite, located predominantly north Devon and Cornwall, which was used as a pigment. The term is also used to refer to some carboniferous rock strata found in both Britain and in the Rhenish hill countries, also known as the Culm Measures. In Britain, it may also refer to coal exported from Britain during the 19th century. In American English, "culm" refers to the waste or slack from anthracite mining, mostly dust and small pieces not suitable for use in home furnaces.

Properties

Anthracite is similar in appearance to the mineraloid jet and is sometimes used as a jet imitation.

Anthracite differs from ordinary bituminous coal by its greater hardness (2.75–3 on the Mohs scale), its higher relative density of 1.3–1.4, and luster, which is often semi-metallic with a mildly green reflection. It contains a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter. It is also free from included soft or fibrous notches and does not soil the fingers when rubbed. Anthracitization is the transformation of bituminous coal into anthracite.

The moisture content of fresh-mined anthracite generally is less than 15 percent. The heat content of anthracite ranges from 26 to 33 MJ/kg (22 to 28 million Btu/short ton) on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. The heat content of anthracite coal consumed in the United States averages 29 MJ/kg (25 million Btu/ton), on the as-received basis, containing both inherent moisture and mineral matter.

Since the 1980s, anthracite refuse or mine waste has been used for coal power generation in a form of recycling. The practice known as reclamation is being applied to culm piles antedating laws requiring mine owners to restore lands to their approximate original condition.

Chemically, anthracite may be considered as a transition stage between ordinary bituminous coal and graphite, produced by the more or less complete elimination of the volatile constituents of the former, and it is found most abundantly in areas that have been subjected to considerable stresses and pressures, such as the flanks of great mountain ranges. Anthracite is associated with strongly deformed sedimentary rocks that were subjected to higher pressures and temperatures (but short of metamorphic conditions) just as bituminous coal is generally associated with less deformed or flat-lying sedimentary rocks. The compressed layers of anthracite that are deep mined in the folded Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachian Mountains of the Coal Region of East-central Pennsylvania are extensions of the same layers of bituminous coal that are mined on the generally flat lying and undeformed sedimentary rocks further west on the Allegheny Plateau of Kentucky and West Virginia, Eastern Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania.

In the same way the anthracite region of South Wales is confined to the contorted portion west of Swansea and Llanelli, the central and eastern portions producing steam coal, coking coal and domestic house coals.

Anthracite shows some alteration by the development of secondary divisional planes and fissures so that the original stratification lines are not always easily seen. The thermal conductivity is also higher; a lump of anthracite feels perceptibly colder when held in the warm hand than a similar lump of bituminous coal at the same temperature.

Anthracite has a history of use in blast furnaces for iron smelting; however, it lacked the pore space of metallurgical coke, which eventually replaced anthracite.

History of mining and use
In southwest Wales, anthracite has been burned as a domestic fuel since at least medieval times, when it was mined near Saundersfoot. More recently, large-scale mining of anthracite took place across the western part of the South Wales Coalfield until the late 20th century.

In the United States, anthracite coal history began in 1790 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, with the discovery of coal made by the hunter Necho Allen in what is now known as the Coal Region. Legend has it that Allen fell asleep at the base of Broad Mountain and woke to the sight of a large fire because his campfire had ignited an outcrop of anthracite coal. By 1795, an anthracite-fired iron furnace had been built on the Schuylkill River.

Anthracite was first experimentally burned as a residential heating fuel in the US on 11 February 1808, by Judge Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on an open grate in a fireplace. Anthracite differs from wood in that it needs a draft from the bottom, and Judge Fell proved with his grate design that it was a viable heating fuel. In spring 1808, John and Abijah Smith shipped the first commercially mined load of anthracite down the Susquehanna River from Plymouth, Pennsylvania, marking the birth of commercial anthracite mining in the United States. From that first mine, production rose to an all-time high of over 100 million tons in 1917.

The difficulty of igniting anthracite inhibited its early use, especially in blast furnaces for smelting iron. The development of the hot blast in 1828, which used waste heat to preheat combustion air, anthracite became a preferred fuel, accounting for 45% of US pig iron production within 15 years. Anthracite iron smelting was later displaced by coke.

From the late 19th century until the 1950s, anthracite was the most popular fuel for heating homes and other buildings in the northern US, until it was supplanted by oil-burning systems, and more recently natural gas systems. Many large public buildings, such as schools, were heated with anthracite-burning furnaces through the 1980s.

During the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners used anthracite as a smokeless fuel for their boilers to avoid revealing their position to the blockaders.

The invention of the Wootten firebox enabled locomotives to directly burn anthracite efficiently, particularly waste culm. In the early 20th century US, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad started using only the more expensive anthracite coal in its passenger locomotives, dubbed themselves "The Road of Anthracite", and advertised widely that travelers on their line could make railway journeys without getting their clothing stained with soot. The advertisements featured a white-clad woman named Phoebe Snow and poems containing lines like "My gown stays white / From morn till night / Upon the road of Anthracite". Similarly, the Great Western Railway in the UK was able to use its access to anthracite (it dominated the anthracite region) to earn a reputation for efficiency and cleanliness unmatched by other UK companies.

Internal combustion motors driven by the so-called "mixed", "poor", "semi-water" or "Dowson gas" produced by the gasification of anthracite with air (and a small proportion of steam) were at one time the most economical method of obtaining power, requiring only 1 lb/hph, or less. Large quantities of anthracite for power purposes were formerly exported from South Wales to France, Switzerland and parts of Germany. , widespread commercial anthracite mining in Wales has now ceased, although a few large open cast sites remain, along with some relatively small drift mining operations.

Anthracite today
Anthracite generally costs two to six times as much as regular coal. In June 2008, the wholesale cost of anthracite was US$150/short ton, falling to $107/ton in 2021; it makes up 1% of U.S. coal production.

The principal use of anthracite today is for a domestic fuel in either hand-fired stoves or automatic stoker furnaces. It delivers high energy per its weight and burns cleanly with little soot, making it ideal for this purpose. Its high value makes it prohibitively expensive for power plant use. Other uses include the fine particles used as filter media, and as an ingredient in charcoal briquettes. Anthracite was an authorised fuel in terms of the United Kingdom's Clean Air Act 1993, meaning that it could be used within a designated Smoke Control Area such as the central London boroughs.

Mining
China today mines by far the largest share of global anthracite production, accounting for more than three-quarters of global output. Most Chinese production is of standard-grade anthracite, which is used in power generation. Increased demand in China has made that country into a net importer of the fuel, mostly from Vietnam, another major producer of anthracite for power generation, although increasing domestic consumption in Vietnam means that exports may be scaled back.

Current U.S. anthracite production averages around five million tons per year. Of that, about 1.8 million tons were mined in the state of Pennsylvania. Mining of anthracite coal continues to this day in eastern Pennsylvania, and contributes up to 1% to the gross state product. More than 2,000 people were employed in the mining of anthracite coal in 1995. Most of the mining as of that date involved reclaiming coal from slag heaps (waste piles from past coal mining) at nearby closed mines. Some underground anthracite coal is also being mined.

Countries producing HG and UHG anthracite include Russia and South Africa. HG and UHG anthracite are used as a coke or coal substitute in various metallurgical coal applications (sintering, PCI, direct BF charge, pelletizing). It plays an important role in cost reduction in the steel making process and is also used in production of ferroalloys, silicomanganese, calcium carbide and silicon carbide. South Africa exports lower-quality, higher-ash anthracite to Brazil to be used in steel-making.

Sizing and grading
Anthracite is processed into different sizes by what is commonly referred to as a breaker. The large coal is raised from the mine and passed through breakers with toothed rolls to reduce the lumps to smaller pieces. The smaller pieces are separated into different sizes by a system of graduated sieves, placed in descending order. Sizing is necessary for different types of stoves and furnaces.

Anthracite is classified into three grades, depending on its carbon content. Standard grade is used as a domestic fuel and in industrial power-generation. The rarer higher grades of anthracite are purer – i.e., they have a higher carbon content – and are used in steel-making and other segments of the metallurgical industries. Technical characteristics of the various grades of anthracite are as follows:

Anthracite is divided by size mainly into applications that need lumps (typically larger than 10 mm) – various industrial processes where it replaces metallurgical coke, and domestic fuel – and those that need fines (less than 10 mm), such as sintering and pelletising.

The common American classification by size is as follows:

Lump, steamboat, egg and stove coals, the latter in two or three sizes, all three being above $1 1/2$ in (38 mm) size on round-hole screens.

High grade
High grade (HG) and ultra high grade (UHG) anthracite are the highest grades of anthracite coal. They are the purest forms of coal, having the highest degree of coalification, the highest carbon count and energy content and the fewest impurities (moisture, ash and volatiles).

High grade and ultra high grade anthracite are harder than standard grade anthracite, and have a higher relative density. An example of a chemical formula for high-grade anthracite would be C240H90O4NS, representing 94% carbon. UHG anthracite typically has a minimum carbon content of 95%.

They also differ in usage from standard grade anthracite (used mainly for power generation), being employed mainly in metallurgy as a cost-efficient substitute for coke in processes such as sintering and pelletising, as well as pulverised coal injection (PCI) and direct injection into blast furnaces. They can also be used in water purification and domestically as a smokeless fuel.

HG and UHG anthracite account for a small percentage of the total anthracite market. The major producing countries are Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, South Africa and the US.

The primary sizes used in the United States for domestic heating are Chestnut, Pea, Buckwheat and Rice, with Chestnut and Rice being the most popular. Chestnut and Pea are used in hand fired furnaces while the smaller Rice and Buckwheat are used in automatic stoker furnaces. Rice is currently the most sought-after size due to the ease of use and popularity of that type of furnace.

In South Wales, a less elaborate classification is adopted, but great care is exercised in hand-picking and cleaning the coal from particles of pyrites in the higher qualities known as best malting coals, which are used for kiln-drying malt.

Anthracite dust can be made into briquettes and is sold in the United Kingdom under trade names such as Phurnacite, Ancit and Taybrite.

Semianthracite
On the opposite end from high-grade anthracite coal, semianthracite coal is defined as a coal which is intermediate between anthracite coal and bituminous coal, and particularly a coal which approaches anthracite in nonvolatile character.

Underground fires
Historically, from time to time, underground seams of coal have caught fire, often from careless or unfortunate mining activities. The pocket of ignited coal is fed oxygen by vent paths that have not yet been discovered. These can smolder for years. Commonly, exhaust vents in populated areas are soon sensed and are sealed while vents in uninhabited areas remain undiscovered. Occasionally, vents are discovered via fumes sensed by passers-by, often in forested areas. Attempts to extinguish those remaining have at times been futile, and several such combustion areas exist today. The existence of an underground combustion site can sometimes be identified in the winter where fallen snow is seen to be melted by the warmth conducted from below. Proposals for harnessing this heat as geothermal energy have not been successful.

A vein of anthracite that caught fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, in 1962 has been burning ever since, turning the once-thriving borough into a ghost town.

Major reserves
Geologically, the largest most concentrated anthracite deposit in the world is found in the Lackawanna Coal Mine in northeastern Pennsylvania, United States in and around Scranton, Pennsylvania. Locally called the Coal Region, the deposit contains 480 sqmi of coal-bearing rock which originally held 22.8 billion short tons (20.68 billion tonnes) of anthracite. The geographic region is roughly 100 miles (161 km) in length and 30 miles (48 km) in width. Because of historical mining and development of the lands overlying the coal, it is estimated that 7 billion short tons (6.3 billion tonnes) of minable reserves remain. Other areas of the United States also contain several smaller deposits of anthracite, such as those historically mined in Crested Butte, Colorado.

Among current producers, Russia, China, Poland, and Ukraine have the largest estimated recoverable reserves of anthracite. Other countries with substantial reserves include Vietnam and North Korea.

The Groundhog Anthracite Deposit in British Columbia, Canada, is the world's largest previously undeveloped anthracite deposit. It is owned by the Australian publicly-traded company Atrum Coal and has 1.57 billion tonnes of high grade anthracite.

Anthracites of newer Tertiary or Cretaceous age are found in the Crowsnest Pass part of the Rocky Mountains in Canada and at various places in the Andes in Peru.

title: Anthracite


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Talk:Spencer Williams

Untitled
Possibly this should be made into a disambiguation page, refering to Spencer Williams (composer) and Spencer Williams (actor)? -- Infrogmation

title: Talk:Spencer Williams


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Trowbridge

Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies 8 mi south-east of Bath, 31 mi south-west of Swindon and 20 mi south-east of Bristol. The parish had a population of 37,169 in 2021.

Long a market town, the Kennet and Avon canal to the north of Trowbridge played an instrumental part in the town's development, as it allowed coal to be transported from the Somerset Coalfield; this marked the advent of steam-powered manufacturing in woollen cloth mills. The town was the foremost centre of woollen cloth production in south west England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, by which time it held the nickname "The Manchester of the West".

The parish encompasses the settlements of Longfield, Lower Studley, Upper Studley, Studley Green and Trowle Common.

Toponymy
The origin of the name Trowbridge is uncertain; one source claims derivation from treow-brycg, meaning "Tree Bridge", referring to the first bridge over the Biss, while another states the true meaning is the bridge by Trowle, the name of a hamlet and a common to the west of the town. On John Speed's map of Wiltshire (1611), the name is spelt Trubridge.

Early history
In the 10th century, written records and architectural ruins begin marking Trowbridge's existence as a village. In the 1086 Domesday Book the village of Straburg, as Trowbridge was then known, was recorded as having 24 households, well endowed with land, particularly arable ploughlands, and rendering 8 pounds sterling to its feudal lord a year. Its feudal lord was an Anglo-Saxon named Brictric, who was the largest landowner in Wiltshire.

Castle
The first mention of Trowbridge Castle was in 1139 when it was besieged. It was no longer in military use by the 14th century and by the 16th only ruins remained. The castle is thought to have been a motte-and-bailey castle, and its influence can still be seen in the town today. Fore Street follows the path of the castle ditch, and town has a Castle Street and the Castle Place Shopping Centre.

It is likely the Castle was built by Humphrey I de Bohun; his family dominated the town for over a hundred years.

The most notable member of the family was Henry de Bohun, born around 1176, who became lord of the manor when he was about 15 years of age. It was he who really began to shape the medieval town. In 1200 he obtained a market charter, arguably the earliest for a town in Wiltshire, and one of the earliest in England. His officials were to lay out burgage plots for traders, artisans, and shopkeepers. The outline of these plots can still be seen today in the footprints of some of the present shops in Fore Street.

Within Trowbridge Castle was a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon church. Henry de Bohun turned this to secular use and instead had a new church built outside the Castle; this was the first St James's Church. In the base of the tower of the present day church, below the subsequently added spire, can be seen the Romanesque architecture of the period.

In 1200 Henry de Bohun was created Earl of Hereford by King John. Like other barons, Henry was later threatened by King John and his caput of Trowbridge was taken from him. Henry then joined with the other barons to oppose John's arbitrary rule and forced him to seal Magna Carta (the Great Charter) at Runnymede; and was elected as one of the 25 enforcers of the charter. Some years after Runnymede, Henry regained control of Trowbridge.

Woollen cloth industry
Trowbridge developed as a centre for woollen cloth production from the 14th century. Thus before the start of the Tudor period, the towns of south-west Wiltshire stood out from the rest of the county with all the signs of increasing wealth and prosperity during the period of trade recovery led by exports begun under Yorkist Edward IV and, still more, during expansion under Henry VII, when England's annual woollen exports increased from some 60,000 to some 80,000 cloths of assize.

During the 17th century the production of woollen cloth became increasingly industrialised. However, mechanisation was resisted by workers in traditional trades; there were riots in 1785 and 1792, and again in the era of Luddism (1811–1816) owing to the introduction of the flying shuttle. Thomas Helliker, a shearman's apprentice, became one of the martyrs of the Industrial Revolution in 1803 when he was hanged at Fisherton Jail, Salisbury. Nevertheless, at one point in 1820, Trowbridge's scale of production was such it was described as the "Manchester of the West". It had over 20 woollen cloth producing factories, making it comparable to northern industrial towns such as Rochdale.

The woollen cloth industry declined in the late 19th century with the advent of ring-spinning, and this decline continued throughout the 20th century, although Trowbridge's West of England cloth maintained a reputation for excellent quality until the end. The last mill, Salter's Home Mill, closed in 1982 and is now the home of Boswell's Café and Trowbridge Museum and Art Gallery, integrated into the Shires Shopping Centre. The museum portrays the history of woollen cloth production in the town; the displays include a rare Spinning Jenny, one of only five remaining worldwide. There are also working looms on display. Clark's Mill is now home to offices; straddling the nearby River Biss is the "Handle House", formerly used for drying and storage of teazles used to raise the nap of cloth. This is one of very few such buildings still known to exist in the United Kingdom.

1800s to present
In its place a bedding industry developed, initially using wool cast off from the mills; the company now known as Airsprung Furniture Group was started in the town in the 1870s. Food production also developed in the town when Abraham Bowyer started his business in 1805 which eventually, as Pork Farms Bowyers, became one of the largest employers in the town until closure in April 2008 when production moved to the Shaftesbury and Nottingham factories.

The town became the county town of Wiltshire in 1889 when Wiltshire County Council was formed and sought a place which representatives from Swindon and Salisbury, among others, could reach and return home from in one day. Trowbridge fulfilled this criterion by virtue of its railway connections and thus was chosen as the county town, further reinforced by the construction of the county hall in 1939.

The brewing company Ushers of Trowbridge opened in 1824, and developed the brewery in the town. This was finally shut in 2000 following several changes of ownership and its equipment was sold to North Korea, where it forms the core of the Taedonggang brewery, just outside Pyongyang.

Food production continues in the town through companies such as frozen food processor Apetito. The largest employers are Wiltshire Council and Apetito.

21st-century redevelopment
Since 2002, there have been plans in place to redevelop significant town centre sites. Trowbridge Community Area Future (TCAF) produced a Community Area Plan in 2004, to guide future development.

In the early 1990s the supermarket chain Tesco moved from St Stephen's Place to a site adjoining the A361 on County Way, and their former site remained dormant for a decade. The building was demolished but a pile of rubble, nicknamed 'Mount Crushmore' by local media, remained. Legal & General acquired the land and construction of St Stephen's Place Leisure Park began in 2012. A seven-screen Odeon cinema and Nando's restaurant opened in October 2013. A Premier Inn and food outlets including Frankie and Benny's and Prezzo followed in 2014.

The former Usher's brewery site has also undergone redevelopment over a number of years, with Newland Homes building town centre flats incorporating the frontage of the Usher's building.

In April 2009, building work started on one of the town's biggest brownfield sites, the former Usher's bottling plant. This was developed into a Sainsbury's supermarket, a public square and housing.

Architecture
There is much of architectural interest in Trowbridge, including many of the old buildings associated with the textile industry, and the Newtown conservation area, a protected zone of mostly Victorian houses. The town has six Grade I listed buildings, namely St James's Church, Lovemead House on Roundstone Street, and numbers 46, 64, 68 and 70 Fore Street. The latter is referred to more commonly as Parade House.

Trowbridge Town Hall is in Market Street, opposite the entrance to the now-pedestrianised Fore Street. This three-storey building with an Italianate clock-tower was presented to the residents of the town by a local mill-oner, Sir William Roger Brown, in 1889 to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. The building was the seat of local government until 1974 and subsequently accommodated the magistrates' courts until 2003. More recently it has been used for exhibitions and community events.

Governance
The Town Council is the first tier of local government and is composed of 21 councillors. County Hall in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, is the administrative centre for Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority created in April 2009 which replaced both West Wiltshire District Council and the former Wiltshire County Council, also headquartered at County Hall since 1940. Trowbridge civil parish is divided into seven electoral divisions, each electing one member of Wiltshire Council.

Trowbridge is within the South West Wiltshire parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by Andrew Murrison (Conservative) since its formation in 2010.

Geography
The River Biss enters Trowbridge from the southeast, where it flows through Biss Meadows, managed as a country park. In the north of the town it is joined by the Lambrok Stream, then continues north to join the River Avon near Staverton.

Northwest of the town, part of the Avon Green Belt prevents expansion towards Bradford-on-Avon. To the north and northwest, housing areas in Staverton and Hilperton parishes are contiguous with Trowbridge's urban area; however, to the south and southeast, the villages of Southwick, North Bradley, Yarnbrook and West Ashton maintain their separate identities.

Demography
The first official census of 1801 showed Trowbridge having 5,799 inhabitants, which rose sharply to 9,545 in 1821. The population rose by less than 50% in the 130 years to 1951, compared to a considerably larger increase in the population of the country as a whole. From 1951 to 2011, the population increased by 133%. Coinciding with this increase, a considerable conversion of arable fields and some riverside meadows to residential estates took place.

According to the census in 2011, the ethnic breakdown of the population of Trowbridge parish was: White 94.8%, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups 1.9%, Asian/Asian British 1.5%, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 1.1%, Other ethnic group 0.8%. The population of the built-up area, which includes Staverton and Hilperton parishes, was 39,409 in 2011 and was estimated to have grown to 43,719 by mid-2020.

In 2018 the Office for National Statistics estimated the population of the larger "community area" at 45,822, making Trowbridge the most populous area in Wiltshire (excluding Swindon), with Chippenham close behind in second place and Salisbury third. At the 2021 Census, the population of the "built-up area" – consisting of Trowbridge, Staverton and Hilperton parishes – was 43,744.

Transport
Trowbridge railway station was opened in 1848 on the Westbury–Bradford-on-Avon section of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway. Today this line forms part of both the Wessex Main Line (Bristol–Westbury–Southampton) and the Heart of Wessex Line (Bristol–Westbury–Weymouth), while the original route to Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon is used by the TransWilts service. Other services from Trowbridge join the Great Western Main Line at Bath and Chippenham, or join the Reading to Taunton line at Westbury.

Trowbridge is about 18 mi from junction 17 of the M4 motorway at Chippenham. The A361 runs through the town, connecting it to Swindon to the north-east and Barnstaple to the south-west, while the north–south A350 primary route to Poole passes close to the town.

The nearest airport is Bristol Airport, which is 30 mi west.

Education
Primary schools in the town include Bellefield Primary School, The Grove Primary School, Holbrook Primary School, Oasis Academy Longmeadow, Paxcroft Primary School, The Mead Community Primary School, Newtown Primary School, Castle Mead School, St John's Catholic Primary School, Studley Green Primary School and Walwayne Court Primary School. Children may also attend schools in adjacent parishes including North Bradley CE Primary School, Hilperton CE Primary School and Staverton CE Primary School.

Secondary schools in Trowbridge are the Clarendon Academy, the John of Gaunt School and St Augustine's Catholic College. All of the secondary schools also operate their own sixth forms. Larkrise School is a special school for children aged 3 to 19.

Wiltshire College has one of its four campuses in Trowbridge offering a range of vocational courses for school-leavers.

Healthcare
Trowbridge Cottage Hospital, now Trowbridge Community Hospital was opened in 1870.

Shopping and entertainment
The town centre is compact, and the focus for shops is the ancient Fore Street; the more modern Shires, Shires Gateway and Castle Place shopping centres provide a variety of outlets.

The civic centre, opened in 2011 and next to the town's central park, is a conference and entertainment venue and is home to the town's information centre as well as Trowbridge Town Council. A nearby leisure development includes an Odeon cinema and several food vendors (Wagamama, Nando's etc.).

The former Town Hall, a large Victorian building, is a performance and exhibition venue and is also used by community groups. At Wiltshire College the Arc Theatre is used by students and local groups. There is a concert hall at Wiltshire Music Centre in neighbouring Bradford-on-Avon.

Trowbridge is part of the historic West Country Carnival circuit, and has also given its name to the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival. The festival was held in the old stablehouse of the Lamb Inn public house on Mortimer Street in Trowbridge, and was founded by Alan Briars and Dave Newman. Currently the event, renamed Trowbridge Festival, takes place at Stowford Manor Farm between Wingfield near Trowbridge and Farleigh Hungerford in Somerset.

Notable people
Methodism was introduced to the town by local evangelist Joanna Turner in the 18th century. Trowbridge was the birthplace of Sir Isaac Pitman in 1813, developer of the Pitman system of shorthand writing, who has several memorial plaques. Matthew Hutton (later archbishop of Canterbury) was the town's rector from 1726 to 1730. The poet George Crabbe held the same position from 1814 until his death in 1832.

Mary Mortimer, born in Trowbridge in 1816, became an American educator. Sir William Cook, born in Trowbridge in 1905, was involved with the development of the British nuclear bomb at Aldermaston in the 1950s, becoming the establishment's deputy director.

Sir William Roger Brown (1831–1902), a Trowbridge mill-owner, employed more than a thousand people and donated a school, almshouses, and the Trowbridge Town Hall to the town.

David Stratton, the film critic was born in Trowbridge in 1939. He founded the Melksham and District Film Society before emigrating to Australia in 1963, where he ran the Sydney Film Festival for 17 years, as well as presenting the film review shows The Movie Show on SBS and At The Movies on the ABC.

Nick Blackwell, professional boxer and former British middleweight champion, is from Trowbridge, as are footballer Nathan Dyer (who played for Leicester City in the 2015-16 season when they won the Premier League), disgraced snooker player Stephen Lee, and Daniel Talbot, winner of the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in a time of 37.47sec – the third fastest time in history.

The Oliver Twins, who created the Dizzy series of games amongst others, and in 1990 founded Interactive Studios (later Blitz Games), grew up in Trowbridge. A building at the Clarendon Academy is named after the brothers.

Dick Lucas, founding member and main vocalist of punk rock band Subhumans was born in Trowbridge.

Tom Gale, high jumper who represented Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; went to school in Trowbridge.

Sport and leisure
The town has a non-league football club, Trowbridge Town F.C., who play at Woodmarsh to the south of the town, near North Bradley.

Trowbridge Cricket Club play at Trowbridge Cricket Club Ground which is also used by Wiltshire County. The town's 1st XI play in the Wiltshire division of the West of England Premier League.

Trowbridge Rugby Football Club, whose ground is at Hilperton to the northeast of the town, play in Southern Counties South.

Trowbridge Sports Centre, on the same site as The Clarendon Academy, has the town's only indoor swimming pool.

A greyhound racing track was opened around the Frome Road ground used by Trowbridge Town F.C. from 3 July 1976 until July 1979. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. A series of meetings were also held during 1953.

Town twinning
Trowbridge is twinned with four towns: Oujda, the area of Morocco where most of the town's immigrant population originate, since 2006; Leer in Germany, since 1989; Charenton-le-Pont in France since 1996; and Elbląg in Poland, as part of West Wiltshire district twinning, since 2000. The town was the first in England to twin with an Arab Muslim country.

title: Trowbridge


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Talk:West Coast Mainline

Shouldn't this be "West coast main line"?

Yes, I agree. Conventionally it's always two words. Arwel 23:10 Feb 22, 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:West Coast Mainline


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Isaac Butt

Isaac Butt (6 September 1813 – 5 May 1879) was an Irish barrister, editor, politician, Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, economist and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations. He was a leader in the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870, and the Home Rule League in 1873. Colin W. Reid argues that Home Rule was the mechanism Butt proposed to bind Ireland to Great Britain. It would end the ambiguities of the Act of Union of 1800. He portrayed a federalised United Kingdom, which would have weakened Irish exceptionalism within a broader British context. Butt was representative of a constructive national unionism. As an economist, he made significant contributions regarding the potential resource mobilisation and distribution aspects of protection, and analysed deficiencies in the Irish economy such as sparse employment, low productivity, and misallocation of land. He dissented from the established Ricardian theories and favoured some welfare state concepts. As editor he made the Dublin University Magazine a leading Irish journal of politics and literature.

Early life
Butt was born in 1813 in Glenfin, a district bordering the Finn Valley in County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Glenfin is a short distance west of Ballybofey, a town in East Donegal. He was born into an Ulster Protestant family, being the son of a Church of Ireland rector, and was descended from the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell, through the Ramsays. Butt received his secondary school education at The Royal School in Raphoe in the Laggan district of East Donegal, and at Midleton College in County Cork, before going to Trinity College Dublin (TCD), at the age of fifteen, where he was elected a Scholar, and president of the (extern) College Historical Society. Whilst there he co-founded the Dublin University Magazine and edited it for four years. For much of his life he was a member of the Irish Conservative Party, and he founded the conservative Ulster Times newspaper. He became Whately Professor of Political Economy at Trinity in 1836 and held that position until 1841.

Legal career
After being called to the bar in 1838, Butt quickly established a name for himself as a brilliant barrister. He was known for his opposition to the Irish nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell's campaign for the repeal of the Act of Union. He also lectured at Trinity College, Dublin, in political economy. His experiences during the Great Famine led him to move from being an Irish unionist and an Orangeman to supporting a federal political system for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that would give Ireland a greater degree of self-rule. This led to his involvement in Irish nationalist politics and the foundation of the Home Rule League. Butt was instrumental in fostering links between constitutional and revolutionary nationalism through his representation of members of the Fenians Society in court.

Political career
He began his career as a Tory politician on Dublin Corporation. He was Member of Parliament for Youghal from 1852 to 1865, and for Limerick from 1871 to 1879 (at the 1852 general election he had also been elected for the English constituency of Harwich, but chose to sit for Youghal).

The failed Fenian Rising in 1867 strengthened Butt's belief that a federal system was the only way to break the dreary cycle of inefficient administration punctuated by incompetent uprisings. Having defended the leaders of the Fenian revolt, Butt then from June 1869 became president of the Amnesty Association formed to secure the release of imprisoned Fenians, supported actively amongst others by P. F. Johnson.

In 1870 Butt then founded the Irish Home Government Association. This was in no sense a revolutionary organisation. It was designed to mobilise public opinion behind the demand for an Irish parliament, with, as he put it, "full control over our domestic affairs". He believed that Home Rule would promote friendship between Ireland and her neighbour to the east.

In November 1873 Butt replaced the Association with a new body, the Home Rule League, which he regarded as a pressure-group, rather than a political party. In the general election the following year, 60 of its members were elected, forming then in 1874 the Irish Parliamentary Party. However, most of those elected were men of property who were closer to the Liberal cause. In the meantime Charles Stewart Parnell had joined the League, with more radical ideas than most of the incumbent Home Rulers, and was elected to Parliament in a by-election in County Meath in 1875.

Butt had failed to win substantial concessions at Westminster on the things that mattered to most Irish people: an amnesty for the Fenians of 1867, fixity of tenure for tenant-farmers and Home Rule. Although they worked to get Home Rulers elected, many Fenians along with tenant farmers were dissatisfied with Butt's gentlemanly approach to have bills enacted, although they did not openly attack him, as his defence of the Fenian prisoners in 1867 still stood in his favour. However, soon a Belfast Home Ruler, Joseph Gillis Biggar (then a senior member of the IRB), began making extensive use of the ungentlemanly tactic of "obstructionism" to prevent bills being passed by the house.

Declined influence
When Parnell entered Parliament he took his cue from John O'Connor Power and Joseph Biggar and allied himself with those Irish members who would support him in his obstructionist campaign. MPs at that time could stand up and talk for as long as they wished on any subject. This caused havoc in Parliament. In one case they talked for 45 hours non-stop, stopping any important bills from being passed. Butt, ageing, and in failing health, could not keep up with this tactic and considered it counter-productive. In July 1877 Butt threatened to resign from the party if obstruction continued, and a gulf developed between himself and Parnell, who was growing steadily in the estimation of both the Fenians and the Home Rulers.

The climax came in December 1878, when Parliament was recalled to discuss the war in Afghanistan. Butt considered this discussion too important to the British Empire to be interrupted by obstructionism and publicly warned the Irish members to refrain from this tactic. He was fiercely denounced by the young Nationalist John Dillon, who continued his attacks with considerable support from other Home Rulers at a meeting of the Home Rule League in February 1879. Although he defended himself with dignity, Butt, and all and sundry, knew that his role in the party was at an end. Barry O'Brien, in his biography of Parnell, interviews 'X' who relates: 'It was very painful. I was very fond of Butt. He was himself the kindest-hearted man in the world, and here was I going to do the unkindest thing to him.'

Butt, who had been suffering from bronchitis, had a stroke the following May and died within a week. He was replaced by William Shaw, who in turn was replaced by Charles Stewart Parnell in 1880.

Personal life
Butt amassed debts and pursued romances. It was said that at meetings he was occasionally heckled by women with whom he had fathered children. He was also involved in a financial scandal when it was revealed that he had taken money from several Indian princes to represent their interests in parliament.

He died on 5 May 1879 in Clonskeagh in Dublin. His remains were brought by train, via Strabane, to Stranorlar in the east of County Donegal, where he is buried in a corner of the Church of Ireland cemetery beneath a tree by which he used to sit and dream as a boy.

Despite his chaotic lifestyle and political limitations, Butt was capable of inspiring deep personal loyalty. Some of his friends, such as John Butler Yeats (father of the poet W. B. Yeats) and the future Catholic Bishop of Limerick, Edward Thomas O'Dwyer, retained a lasting hostility towards Parnell for his role in Butt's downfall.

In May 2010 the Church of Ireland (Anglican) parishes of Stranorlar, Meenglass and Kilteevogue instigated an annual memorial Service and Lecture in Butt's honour, inviting members of the professions of law, politics and journalism to reflect aspects of his life. Speakers have included Dr. Joe Mulholland, Senator David Norris, Dr. Chris McGimpsey and Prof. Brian Walker. His grave has been restored and the memorial now includes a wreath.

In literature

 * The novel Hogan MP by May Laffan Hartley features a hostile portrait of Butt as "Mr. Rebutter". The eponymous protagonist, John O'Rooney Hogan, shares some traits and background of John O'Connor Power.
 * Butt briefly appears in Harry Harrison's alternate history novels Stars and Stripes trilogy.

title: Isaac Butt


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User:FightingCock

See Cockfight

title: User:FightingCock