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Lombok Strait

The Lombok Strait (Selat Lombok), is a strait of the Bali Sea connecting to the Indian Ocean, and is located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side.

Its narrowest point is at its southern opening, with a width of about 20 km between the islands of Lombok and Nusa Penida, in the middle of the strait. At the northern opening, it is 40 km across. Its total length is about 60 km. As it is minimum 250 m deep — much deeper than the Strait of Malacca — ships that draw too much water to pass through the Malacca Strait (so-called "post Malaccamax" vessels) often use the Lombok Strait, instead.

The Lombok Strait is notable as one of the main passages for the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) that exchanges water between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

It is also part of the biogeographical boundary between the fauna of the Indomalayan realm and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The boundary is known as the Wallace Line, for Alfred Russel Wallace, who first remarked upon the striking difference between animals of Indomalaya and those of Australasia, and how abrupt the boundary was between the two biomes.

Biologists believe it was the depth of the Lombok Strait itself that kept the animals on either side isolated from one another. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, the islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra were all connected to one another and to the mainland of Asia. They shared the Asian fauna. The Lombok Strait's deep water kept Lombok and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated from the Asian mainland. These islands were, instead, colonised by Australasian fauna.

Marine biodiversity
The Lombok Strait is abundant of flora and fauna species which have been well explored through Bali’s diving tourism. As the Lombok Strait connects the Bali Sea to the Indian Ocean, the abundance of flora and fauna is due to its location between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, where the strait acts as a passage for currents. Accompanied by its flora and fauna is its marine habitats which vary in water temperature, its presence of volcanic and limestone sediments, local freshwater inflow between creeks, sandy reef slopes, and strong currents. According to the results obtained from a coral reef expedition conducted by the National Museum of Natural History-Naturalis Leiden, in partnership with the Research and Development Centre for Oceanology of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (PPPO-LIPI), Jakarta, and the WWF Indonesia-Wallacea Bioregion, Bali in April 2001, the coral reef fauna of the Lombok Strait was one of the most diverse and richest in the world. The diversity of its marine biogeography includes the following groups: stony corals (Scleractinia and hydrocorals), soft corals (Octocorallia), sponges (Porifera), forams (Foramanifera), shrimps (Decapoda), snails (Gastropoda), and fishes.

The Lombok Strait is part of the biogeographical boundary between the fauna of the Indomalayan realm and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The boundary is known as the Wallace Line, for Alfred Russel Wallace, who first remarked upon the striking difference between animals of Indomalaya and those of Australasia, and how abrupt the boundary was between the two biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, the islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra were all connected to one another and to the mainland of Asia. They shared the Asian fauna. The Lombok Strait's deep water kept Lombok and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated from the Asian mainland. These islands were instead, colonised by Australasian fauna.

The ocean surrounding the Indonesian archipelago is inhabited by 30 marine mammals. The diverse range of mammals include rare and endangered whales and dolphins. The endangered status of marine mammals in Indonesian waters is a consequence of the extreme fisheries activities undertaken along the strait waters, such as coastal net-entanglements and reef bombing. The statistics of fisheries activities along Indonesian waters was that an annual catch of more than 4.5 million tonnes occurred in 2006 and the catches between 1996-1997 included 1424 manta rays, 18 whale sharks, 312 other shark species, 4 minke whales, 326 dolphins, 577 pilot whales, 789 marlin, 84 turtles, and 9 dugongs. The Lombok Strait is abundantly inhabited by the longnosed spinner dolphin (S. longirostris) and is commonly inhabited by the pantropical spotted dolphin (S. attenuata), bottlenose dolphin (T. truncatus), and the Southeast Asian spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris roseiventris). The habitat of these cetacean species consist of large rivers, mangroves, and coastal environments.

Marine bacterial isolates are formed as a result of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. According to a cruise investigation of the Indian Ocean and Lombok Strait conducted by the Institute for Marine Research and Observation, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (BPOL-KKP), the bacteria present in the marine environment of Indonesia consisted of: Aeromonas sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., B. megaterium and Corynebacterium sp., through the enumeration and isolation of oil-degrading bacteria. Five distinct hydrocarbonoclastic marine bacterial species and two species from the Bacillus genera family, are bacterial strains that have been identified in the Lombok Strait. These bacterial strains have the potential to remediate the marine environment. The bacterial strains existing in Indonesian waters, including the Indian Ocean and the Lombok Strait, degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This is because majority of the world’s crude oil are traded along the route of the Lombok Strait. The cultivable marine hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria identified in the Lombok Strait specifically have six morphologies: LS-3, LS-13, LS-14, LS-15, LS-16, and LS-20. These colonies are discovered to have smooth and rippled surfaces and are of convex and raised elevation. They are found to be of various colours: yellow, opaque, white, and purple. Callidiopini species are identified to have been found on the islands of Bali and Lombok, which are divided by the Lombok Strait. One species of the Callidiopine fauna, Diatomocephala larvata (Ceresium larvatum) is unique to the Lombok Strait.

Oceanic features
The Lombok Strait is notable as one of the main passages for the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) that exchanges water between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The formation of the Lombok Strait is influenced by oceanic tidal mixing, heat content of the water masses, and seasonal changes. As the Lombok Strait is situated between Bali and Lombok, it is an exit way for the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) which connects the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. As a result of this, oceanic tidal mixing occurs. Oceanic tidal mixing occurs in shallow seas and near-coastal areas. Tidal mixing can induce an oscillation in sea surface temperatures (SST) during the near-fortnightly spring-neap period. Tidal mixing in the waters of the Indonesian archipelago is particularly intense due to the rough topography in the Lifamatola, Manipa, Ombai, and Lombok Straits, and the Sibutu Island chains. The Lombok Strait is a strong tidal mixing hotspot. This is because numerical simulations have shown that there is a large conversion of semidiurnal M2 barotropic to baroclinic internal tides surrounding the Nusa Penida Sill (NPS).

The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) affects the climate of the region as it regulates the position of hot pools in the Indian Ocean. Climate change occurs as the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) contributes to the contained heat content in the strait and its sea surface temperatures (SST). The location of the strait causes the heat content of the water masses to be influenced by the monsoon season in Asia, and El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) which are climate phenomena. Moreover, the monsoon season from December to May causes precipitation to occur and fresh water to form at the Java Sea, which in turn, influences the salinity of the Lombok Strait. This makes the Lombok Strait distinct from other bodies of water along the Lesser Sunda Islands chain. The ocean heat content of the Lombok Strait is determined by ocean-atmosphere interactions. This is crucial to climate change because heat is mostly absorbed by the oceans, which cover 70% of the earth’s surface. An increase in ocean heat content accompanied by the melting of ice caps, leads to an increase in sea levels, which ultimately results to a disruption in ecosystems and the lifestyles of human life. The fortnightly cycles of the ocean’s sea surface temperatures (SST) and Bali’s atmosphere have a peak seasonal cycle, which takes place during boreal summer.

The monsoon season also determines the wave properties of the Lombok Strait. The arc-like internal wave and the irregular internal wave are wave patterns which occur as a result of seasonal influences. The tide flow is controlled through Nusa Penida Sill (NPS), reaching 350 m in depth. The Lombok Strait features strong semi-diurnal tides of ~90 m in amplitude with a distance of 30 km from the Nusa Penida Sill (NPS). The flow of the strait waters also makes it distinctive as it consists of a layered structure: the upper layer has a permanent southward flow and the lower layer has a reversing southward-northward flow.

Maritime issues
As the Lombok Strait borders Indonesia, it is affected by maritime issues related to international trade. The UN Secretary General has identified seven threats to maritime security in the Report on Oceans and the Law of the Sea 2008, which are: terrorist acts against shipping, offshore installations and other maritime interests, illicit trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, illicit trafficking in drugs, human trafficking, IUU fishing, and unlawful damage to the marine environment. Issues particularly affecting the Lombok Strait include: piracy, illegal fishing, human trafficking, smuggling of goods, armed robberies and terrorism. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) reports that Indonesia had the highest incidents of piracy and armed robbery offshore. Maritime threats experienced by Indonesian waters is due to increasing economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, making Asia the most vulnerable place in the world in terms of security. As it is minimum 250 m (820 feet) deep — much deeper than the Strait of Malacca — ships that draw too much water to pass through the Malacca Strait (so-called "post Malaccamax" vessels) often use the Lombok Strait, instead. The Lombok Strait is proposed to become an alternative route for Chinese trading vessels passing the Malacca Strait. Indonesian waters also host four of the world’s nine choke points. These four choke points are used for national and international shipping routes. Indonesia as an archipelago, is responsible for maintaining security in the international shipping routes of the Archipelagic Sea Lanes (ASL), as stated by the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Due to the maritime issues experienced along the Lombok Strait, there is a need for Indonesia to establish management strategies. The strategies Indonesia has put in place to deal with maritime issues involves a policy established by President Joko Widodo, known as the Global Maritime Fulcrum. The policy is based on five pillars: redeveloping Indonesia’s maritime culture, building the maritime industry, prioritising fisheries, increasing shipping and port networks, improving maritime diplomacy and its defence forces. Improving defence forces at sea involves an emphasis in using the Indonesian navy to increase maritime security. Another strategy put in place by the Indonesian Government are designating areas called Marine Protective Areas (MPAs). As part of the internal policy in 2019, the Lombok Strait was announced to have been intended to be established as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA). It has not been officially submitted to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Alongside implementing Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) as a maritime strategy for the Lombok Strait, is the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which is a traffic management route system. The Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) supports Indonesia being recognised as an archipelagic state under the 1982 UNCLOS, as it aligns with Article 53 (6), which states the country’s right to improve navigation safety within the area of the Islands Sea Channel.

Contribution to the economy
The Lombok Strait contributes to the economy of Indonesia and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries as it serves as a trading route alongside the Strait of Malacca, and as the island of Lombok transforms into a hub of tourism. According to Rizal Ramli, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Natural Resources in Indonesia, the Lombok Strait is proposed to become an alternative shipping route in place of the Malacca Strait. This is because the “Strait of Malacca has become narrow and shallower, and shipping traffic has become busy each year, which would increase the risk of vessel collisions.” With businesses supporting this shift, this would result in Indonesia becoming one of the world’s biggest bunkering ports alongside Singapore.

As the Malacca Strait would no longer be able to cope with shipping traffic by the next 10–20 years, the Indonesian Government encourages voyages to pass through the Lombok Strait instead. As a result of increased shipping activity, the issue of maritime threats and marine pollution are introduced. In response to these arising maritime issues, the Indonesian Government has proposed to establish Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) in its internal policy. Establishing the Lombok Strait as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) contributes to the growth of the tuna fishing industry. This is due to the location of the Lombok Strait, as it is situated within the triangle of coral reefs (CT) area. The rich marine biodiversity of the Coral Triangle (CT) area is an essential tuna breeding ground for the outsourcing of the world’s tuna fishing industry. The growth of the tuna fishing industry in turn, contributes to the economy as it provides food security and income for residents along the coastline of Coral Triangle (CT) areas, and because the tuna breeding sites are foundational sources for tuna fishing companies who are producing tuna for consumers around the world. Healthy marine resources such as tuna breeding grounds further contribute to the growth of the tourism industry, as a result of establishing the Lombok Strait as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA).

title: Lombok Strait


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Talk:Zulu War

All articles on Wikipedia should be from a neutral point of view. This article needs to be merged with Anglo-Zulu War. Mintguy

I find it hard to believe the Frere incited conflict to get access to gold and diamond resources. These are not present in any quantity in Zululand. The nearest diamond mine is in Lesotho and the nearest gold mine is in the Transvaal.

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

title: Talk:Zulu War


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VoiceXML

VoiceXML (VXML) is a digital document standard for specifying interactive media and voice dialogs between humans and computers. It is used for developing audio and voice response applications, such as banking systems and automated customer service portals. VoiceXML applications are developed and deployed in a manner analogous to how a web browser interprets and visually renders the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) it receives from a web server. VoiceXML documents are interpreted by a voice browser and in common deployment architectures, users interact with voice browsers via the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The VoiceXML document format is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML). It is a standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Usage
VoiceXML applications are commonly used in many industries and segments of commerce. These applications include order inquiry, package tracking, driving directions, emergency notification, wake-up, flight tracking, voice access to email, customer relationship management, prescription refilling, audio news magazines, voice dialing, real-estate information and national directory assistance applications.

VoiceXML has tags that instruct the voice browser to provide speech synthesis, automatic speech recognition, dialog management, and audio playback. The following is an example of a VoiceXML document:

When interpreted by a VoiceXML interpreter this will output "Hello world" with synthesized speech.

Typically, HTTP is used as the transport protocol for fetching VoiceXML pages. Some applications may use static VoiceXML pages, while others rely on dynamic VoiceXML page generation using an application server like Tomcat, Weblogic, IIS, or WebSphere.

Historically, VoiceXML platform vendors have implemented the standard in different ways, and added proprietary features. But the VoiceXML 2.0 standard, adopted as a W3C Recommendation on 16 March 2004, clarified most areas of difference. The VoiceXML Forum, an industry group promoting the use of the standard, provides a conformance testing process that certifies vendors' implementations as conformant.

History
AT&T Corporation, IBM, Lucent, and Motorola formed the VoiceXML Forum in March 1999, in order to develop a standard markup language for specifying voice dialogs. By September 1999 the Forum released VoiceXML 0.9 for member comment, and in March 2000 they published VoiceXML 1.0. Soon afterwards, the Forum turned over the control of the standard to the W3C. The W3C produced several intermediate versions of VoiceXML 2.0, which reached the final "Recommendation" stage in March 2004.

VoiceXML 2.1 added a relatively small set of additional features to VoiceXML 2.0, based on feedback from implementations of the 2.0 standard. It is backward compatible with VoiceXML 2.0 and reached W3C Recommendation status in June 2007.

Future versions of the standard
VoiceXML 3.0 was slated to be the next major release of VoiceXML, with new major features. However, with the disbanding of the VoiceXML Forum in May 2022, the development of the new standard was scrapped.

Implementations
As of December 2022, there are few VoiceXML 2.0/2.1 platform implementations being offered.
 * Alvaria
 * Avaya (Avaya Experience Portal)
 * OpenVXI
 * Cisco
 * Genesys_(company)
 * Nuance_Communications
 * Phonologies
 * Plum Voice
 * Telesoft Technologies

Related standards
The W3C's Speech Interface Framework also defines these other standards closely associated with VoiceXML.

SRGS and SISR
The Speech Recognition Grammar Specification (SRGS) is used to tell the speech recognizer what sentence patterns it should expect to hear: these patterns are called grammars. Once the speech recognizer determines the most likely sentence it heard, it needs to extract the semantic meaning from that sentence and return it to the VoiceXML interpreter. This semantic interpretation is specified via the Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR) standard. SISR is used inside SRGS to specify the semantic results associated with the grammars, i.e., the set of ECMAScript assignments that create the semantic structure returned by the speech recognizer.

SSML
The Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) is used to decorate textual prompts with information on how best to render them in synthetic speech, for example which speech synthesizer voice to use or when to speak louder or softer.

PLS
The Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) is used to define how words are pronounced. The generated pronunciation information is meant to be used by both speech recognizers and speech synthesizers in voice browsing applications.

CCXML
The Call Control eXtensible Markup Language (CCXML) is a complementary W3C standard. A CCXML interpreter is used on some VoiceXML platforms to handle the initial call setup between the caller and the voice browser, and to provide telephony services like call transfer and disconnect to the voice browser. CCXML can also be used in non-VoiceXML contexts.

MSML, MSCML, MediaCTRL
In media server applications, it is often necessary for several call legs to interact with each other, for example in a multi-party conference. Some deficiencies were identified in VoiceXML for this application and so companies designed specific scripting languages to deal with this environment. The Media Server Markup Language (MSML) was Convedia's solution, and Media Server Control Markup Language (MSCML) was Snowshore's solution. Snowshore is now owned by Dialogic and Convedia is now owned by Radisys. These languages also contain 'hooks' so that external scripts (like VoiceXML) can run on call legs where IVR functionality is required.

There was an IETF working group called mediactrl ("media control") that was working on a successor for these scripting systems, which it is hoped will progress to an open and widely adopted standard. The mediactrl working group concluded in 2013.

title: VoiceXML


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Karimata Strait

The Karimata Strait (alternatively, Carimata or Caramata; Selat Karimata) is a wide strait that connects the South China Sea to the Java Sea, separating the Indonesian islands of Belitung to the west and Borneo (Kalimantan) to the east. It is the widest strait between the South China Sea and the Java Sea (other straits include the Bangka and Gaspar straits), but its numerous islands and reefs reduce its navigability. Its weather and current is influenced by the annual southeast and northwest monsoon.

It was used as an invasion route by the British fleet in the 1811 Invasion of Java in the Dutch East Indies. More recently, it was the site of the crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, and the location of the 2016 edition of Sail Indonesia (dubbed "Sail Karimata Strait").

Geography
The strait is about 128 mi wide from the east coast of Belitung (also known as Billiton) to the west coast of Borneo (Kalimantan). The much narrower Gaspar Strait separates Belitung from Bangka Island to the west. Bangka lies close to the east coast of Sumatra, separated from it by the Bangka Strait. To the east of Belitung lie reefs and a group of islets known as the Montaran Islands, extending up to 40 nmi from Belitung's northeastern coast. The Karimata Islands lie in the eastern part of the Karimata Strait, northeast of Belitung, southwest of Maja Island, and off-shore from the west coast of Borneo. The presence of these islands and reefs reduce the width of the main navigable channel to about 45 nmi. Outside this main fairway, there are multiple navigable channels to the east of Karimata Islands or between the islands.

The Rivers Kapuas, Kendawangan, Pawan, and Sambas (in Borneo), as well as the Rivers Barumun and Musi (in Sumatra) empty to the strait.

Climate
The southeast monsoon prevails in the strait from about the end of May, which comes with strong southeast or south-southeast wind, a dry weather, and mist that can obscure visibility. The northwest monsoon comes from the beginning of October, characterized by thunderstorms, rain and squalls alternating with calm days with fair weather. The biggest rainfall occur from November to February. From February, the weather becomes unpredictable because of the changing monsoon, before settling again around the end of May.

Currents and water transport
The current strength of the strait vary depending on the monsoon wind. At the peak of either monsoon, the current can run up to 3 nmi/h When the monsoon is light, "there is little or no current" and the direction may be subject to the tidal stream.

The strait's currents run between the South China Sea to its north and the Java Sea to its south. Since it is relatively shallow, with the depth of 50 m or less, the volume transported by the current is relatively small. A 2007–2008 study by a group of Indonesian and Chinese researchers found that the transport volume averaged 500,000 m3/second (or 0.5 Sv) with a net southward direction (i.e. to the Java Sea). During the northern hemisphere winter, roughly during the northwest monsoon, water flowed southward averaging 2.7 Sv. The flow was reversed during the northern hemisphere summer, roughly during the southwest monsoon, with an average transport of 1.2 Sv.

History
It was known to British sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries as the Caramata Passage. The strait was used as a route by the British fleet for its Invasion of Java (1811), sailing from the British base in Malacca to the island of Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Initially, the British were unsure of the strait's practicability, and hesitated between taking it or a northeast passage around the north of Borneo and through Makassar Strait. A report by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then a British officer in Malacca, recommended taking the Karimata route, which he considered "less dangerous than tedious" than the northeast passage during that time of year. Raffles estimated that this journey would take the British fleet between a month and six weeks for "the fleet sailing in divisions". The British Governor-General of India The Lord Minto decided to take Raffles's suggestion over the objection of some naval officers. The fleet, numbering about 100 vessels and transporting about 11,000 troops, departed Malacca between 11 and 18 June 1811, and reached the coast of Java on 30 July after a smooth journey, exactly six weeks after Minto and Raffles' departure.

A 1915 publication by the United States Hydrographic Office commented that despite being much wider, the strait did not have as much traffic as the parallel Bangka or Gaspar Straits. The publication said that the advantage of its breadth was often outweighed by the danger posed by shoals in the strait, as well as its more irregular currents.

Recent events
On 28 December 2014 Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the strait, after losing contact over the Java Sea while en route to Singapore from Surabaya, East Java. All 162 passengers and crew aboard the plane perished, however, only 116 were physically recovered by the time search-and-rescue operations concluded in March 2015.

Sail Indonesia (2016), also dubbed "Sail Karimata Strait 2016", was a sailboat competition held within the strait. Four Indonesian provinces—on both sides of the strait (West Kalimantan, Jambi, Bangka Belitung and the Riau Islands, respectively)—hosted the race, with the peak event having taken place on 15 October on Datuk Island, North Kayong Regency, West Kalimantan.

title: Karimata Strait


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Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Ashby-de-la-Zouch, also spelled Ashby de la Zouch, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire borders. Its population at the 2021 census was 16,491. Ashby de la Zouch Castle was an important fort in the 15th to 17th centuries. During the 19th century, the town's main industries were ribbon manufacturing, coal mining, and brickmaking.

The civil parish includes the hamlets of Shellbrook to the west and Boundary to the north-west. Swadlincote, Burton upon Trent, Melbourne and Coalville are within 10 mi, with Derby 12 mi due north. It lies at the heart of the National Forest, 24 mi south of the Peak District National Park, on the A42 between Tamworth and Nottingham.

History
The town was known as Ashby in 1086. This is a word of Anglo-Danish origin, meaning "Ash-tree farm" or "Ash-tree settlement". The Norman French name extension dates from the years after the Norman conquest of England, when Ashby became a possession of the La Zouche family during the reign of Henry III.

Ashby de la Zouch Castle was built in the 12th century. The town and castle came into the possession of the Hastings family in 1464 and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings enhanced its fortifications from 1473. In the English Civil War, the town was one of the Cavaliers' chief garrisons under the control of Colonel Henry Hastings, 1st Baron Loughborough and commander of the North Midlands Army. When the town fell after a long siege in March 1646, it was counted a great relief to the surrounding towns and villages.

Many of the buildings in Market Street, the town's main thoroughfare, are timber framed. Most of this structure is hidden by later brick facades. The Bull's Head public house retains its original Elizabethan half-timbering, although most of this was plastered over some years ago and can no longer be seen from the street. A short distance further down Market Street is a shop, currently occupied as a LOROS Charity Shop, which retains its original Elizabethan timbers in full street view. Regency buildings are also standing in this street. Bath Street has a row of Classical-style houses called Rawdon Terrace, dating from the time of the 1820s, when the town was a spa destination.

Churches
St Helen's Church is Ashby's original Anglican parish church. It is a late 15th-century Perpendicular Gothic building. The outer aisles were designed by J. P. St. Aubyn and added in 1878. St. Helen's contains notable memorials to various members of the Hastings family and other notables. It also holds a rare 300-year-old finger pillory.

Holy Trinity Church is a Gothic Revival building designed by H. I. Stevens in the Early English Gothic style and built in 1838–40. It has galleries supported by iron columns. The chancel was added in 1866 and the ironwork chancel screen in 1891.

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was designed by F. A. Walters and built in 1908–15 at the expense of the 15th Duke of Norfolk. It is neo-Norman, with three apses and a tower at the southeast corner.

The Congregational Church was built in 1825 in a neoclassical style with Tuscan columns. There is also a Christadelphian meeting hall in the town.

Ivanhoe Baths
The Ivanhoe Baths was an 1822 Neo-Grecian building with a Doric façade 200 ft long. Unused, it was derelict by 1960, and was demolished in 1962. Mineworkers discovered a copious saline spring when working coal at Moira Colliery, 3 mi west of the town, in 1805. Here developers built the Moira Baths, with a large hotel nearby for travellers. After a few years, however, it was decided to convey the water to Ashby, where the Ivanhoe Baths were built. The Royal Hotel, originally called the Hastings Hotel, was built in 1826 to accommodate visitors to the growing spa. It has a Doric porte-cochère and additional Doric columns in its hall inside. The hotel closed in February 2018.

Water tower
The Grade II-listed, 19th-century water tower, located in the town's cemetery on Moira Road, has been converted into a dwelling. The conversion was controversial since it involved a number of modern additions to the building.

Loudoun Monument
In 1879, Baron Donington, the widowed husband of Edith Rawdon-Hastings, 10th Countess of Loudoun, had the Loudoun monument erected to her memory in Ashby. The octagonal monument by Sir George Gilbert Scott is based on the Eleanor cross es and is a Listed building. It is located at the junction of Bath and South Streets, opposite the Roman Catholic church.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Town Hall
Ashby-de-la-Zouch Town Hall, which was built at the same time as the market hall to its rear, dates to 1857.

Education
The town has two secondary schools:

 * Ashby School, previously Ashby Grammar School, is for 11–18-year-olds. It was founded in 1567. The town formerly had two other endowed boys' schools founded in the 18th century.

 * Ivanhoe School, previously Ivanhoe College, is for 11 to 16-year-olds. It was founded in 1954. It is named after the historical novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, which he set in the area of the castle. In Scott's novel the town hosts an important archery competition held by Prince John, in which Robin Hood competes and wins.

Manor House School was an independent day school in the centre of Ashby for boys and girls aged four to 16. The school was located between St Helen's Church and the ruins of Ashby's historic castle. Pupils travelled to the school from a wide area. The school entered into administration on 13 December 2018.

Business
In the 19th century, Ashby's main industry was leather working. There was also a cotton textile factory and a glue factory. Ashby was surrounded by coalmines but was never a coalmining town itself. By far the largest employer in the town today is United Biscuits, providing about 2,000 jobs at its distribution centre, which stores its products and transports them nationwide, and its KP Snacks factory in Smisby Road. The firm formerly had a larger presence in Ashby. McVitie's biscuit factory on Smisby Road closed in 2004 with the loss of 900 jobs.

Other employers in Ashby include Tesco, Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services, Timeline Communications, Eduteq Limited and TAC UK Ltd, a firm of energy consultants. Standard Soap Ltd, a significant industrial employer within Ashby-de-la-Zouch since 1928, closed in early 2012, resulting in the loss of 155 jobs. The town has a concentration of high-tech employers. The video game software house Ultimate Play the Game was based in Ashby. Now called Rare, it has moved to Manor Park near Twycross.

Recreation
Ashby United Community Football Club is a community club for juniors and seniors of all ages. They play across multiple divisions across all of their Junior and Senior teams and are seen as leading the way in community inclusion when it comes to football and sports in the town.

Willesley Park Golf Course is set in rolling countryside, partly in parkland and partly on heathland, covering 230 acres of gentle undulating countryside. The course was opened for play in April 1921. The first hole is played along an avenue of lime trees which once flanked the old coach road from the old Norman castle in the town to the now demolished Willesley Hall.

Ashby Hastings Cricket Club was founded before 1831. Its ground, the Bath Grounds in the centre of Ashby, hosts Leicestershire CCC 2nd XI matches each year. The club runs three Saturday League sides, all of which play in the Everard's Leicestershire County Cricket League. The 1st XI play in the Premier Division, the highest level of club cricket available in Leicestershire, the 2nd XI play in Division 4 and the 3rd XI play in Division 8. The club also run a Midweek XI who play in the Premier Division of the Loughborough Cricket Association League and a Sunday XI who play friendly cricket. The club's Junior Section includes sides at Under 15, Under 13, Under 11 and Under 10 age groups. A second club, Ashby Town Cricket Club was formed in 1945.

Ashby RFC has its grounds in Nottingham Road. It plays in the League Midland 3 East (North). It also has mini and junior sections for girls and boys from age four, as well as seniors and seconds side and an O2 Touch team for players of all ages and both genders.

The town also has a bridge club (Ashby Bridge Club), and a hockey club (Ashby Hockey Club)

A greyhound racing track was opened on 3 April 1931. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. Racing was held on Tuesday and Saturday evenings and distances included 200, 350, 550 and 525 yards. The date of closure is thought to be around 1935.

Ivanhoe Runners, established in 1985 as a road, cross-country and social running club is a thriving and well respected running club based in Ashby de la Zouch. The club organises the annual Ashby 20 mile road race event, usually held five weeks ahead of the London Marathon. The perfect final pre-marathon race preparation or a challenging goal in itself. Set on a testing undulating route the race, organised for runners by runners is well established on the athletics calendar and sells out quickly. For many years the race has been sponsored by ALDI, and uniquely rewards finishers with a famous Ashby 20 hoody instead of a medal along with a well earned cheese cob. As recognition for the race’s outstanding organisation, with well stocked water stations and incredibly enthusiast marshals the race has received the highest Gold BARR grading annually since 2006. In 2017 the Ashby 20 was awarded the Bill Reynolds award for excellence recognising its excellent organisation, medical and emergency provision and community links. Each year,vthe race is supported by a number of local organisations such as Leicestershire Search and Rescue, Ashby Endurance Explorer Scouts, the Rotary Club of Ashby Castle, Ashby Town Council, North West Leicestershire District Council, Derby Runner, Conkers parkrun and Heartwize Runners.

Transport
The town was to be served by Ashby Canal from 1804 but the canal never reached Ashby, as it was constructed only to the village of Moira. The town was served by the Leicester–Burton upon Trent line of the Midland Railway and had its own station. After the canal was abandoned in stages between 1944 and 1966, British Railways withdrew the passenger service and closed Ashby de la Zouch railway station in September 1964. The railway remains open for freight. There were also connections to both the Melbourne Line and Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway connecting the town with the towns of Melbourne, Market Bosworth, Hinckley and Nuneaton as well as the city of Derby, but these lines closed between the 1950s and 1980s. Both of the lines now form footpaths with some of the old stations still present but others demolished.

In the 1990s, BR planned to restore passenger services between Leicester and Burton as the second phase of its Ivanhoe Line project. However, after the privatisation of British Rail in 1995, this phase of the project was shelved. In 2009 the Association of Train Operating Companies published a £49-million proposal to restore passenger services to the line, which would include reopening a station at Ashby.

The nearest railway station is Burton-on-Trent, 8 mi away. The fastest train to London in the mornings and evenings is from Tamworth (12 miles from Ashby) to Euston at 1hr 2mins average non-stop at peak hours.

The A50 Leicester to Stoke-on-Trent road and the A453 Birmingham to Nottingham road used to pass through the town centre. The heavy traffic, which previously travelled through the town, has been greatly relieved by the A42 and A511 bypasses, which replace the A453 and A50, respectively.

Bus routes provide an hourly direct service to Burton-upon-Trent, Coalville, East Midlands Airport, Leicester and Swadlincote (Diamond East Midlands 9 and 19, and Arriva Midlands 29, 29A and X29). The National Express coach network is available in Leicester, which has a daily direct service to London.

East Midlands Airport is 9 mi north-east of Ashby. It provides flights to and from other parts of the UK and Europe. For International travellers, Birmingham Airport is 26 miles away (c. 30 mins) and provides international flights.

Media
Television signals can only be received from the Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter which broadcast programmes from Birmingham. However, BBC East Midlands and ITV Central are also received through cable and satellite television such as Freesat and Sky.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Leicester, Smooth East Midlands, Capital Midlands, Gem, Greatest Hits Radio Midlands, and Hermitage FM, a community based station.

Local newspapers are Ashby Nub News and Leicester Mercury.

Culture
Every May, Ashby holds an arts festival sponsored by the district council. This features local artists, musicians, songwriters, poets, performers, and story tellers. The multiple sites around the town host exhibitions, musical performances, workshops and talks, and the town centre is decorated with flags and an outdoor gallery.

Ashby Statutes, a travelling funfair, is held every September. Instituted by Royal Statute, it was originally a hiring fair, where domestic servants and farmworkers would be hired for the year. During the fair in the 21st century, Market Street, the main road through the town (the former A50 trunk road), is closed for nearly a week. The traffic is diverted along narrower roads either side of Market Street. Locals call this event "The Statutes".

A song "Ashby de la Zouch (Castle Abbey)", written by Al Hoffman, Milton Drake and Jerry Livingston, was recorded by the Merry Macs in 1946 on Decca No. 18811. It includes the lines "If you wanna smooch and be happy as a pooch, go to Ashby de la Zouch by the sea." (Ashby-de-la-Zouch is close to the centre of England, almost as far from the sea as is possible.) In April 1946 the American jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus recorded a tune called "Ashby de la Zouch" with his band. The title or choice of song could have been an acknowledgement of guitarist Irving Ashby, who took part in the recording. Ashby-de-la-Zouch is twinned with Pithiviers in north-central France.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch is mentioned in Ivanhoe, the novel by Sir Walter Scott set in 1194, as "the lists at Ashby" and as “the lists at Ashby-de-la-Zouch”, suggesting that jousting may once have taken place in the town (lists being the barriers through which the respective steeds charge during a joust). The same phrase is used in the original computer game Defender of the Crown, which apparently drew inspiration from Scott's novel.

Notable people

 * Robin Beanland (born 1968), video game music composer, musician and Ivor Novello Award winner.
 * Mark Chadbourn (born 1960), author and screenwriter, was born in Ashby de la Zouch Cottage Hospital and still lives in the area.
 * Frederick Bailey Deeming (1853–1892), serial killer and Jack The Ripper suspect
 * Anthony Gilby (c. 1510–1585), Puritan sage
 * James Green (born 1944), crime and non-fiction author, lived in the area in the 1970s and 1980s.
 * Joseph Hall (1574–1656), satirist and bishop, was born in Ashby de la Zouch.
 * Frank Abney Hastings (1794–1828), British naval officer and Philhellene
 * Annie Haynes (1864–1929), mystery author
 * Russell Hoult (born 1972), footballer, was born in Ashby and still lives locally (at Coleorton).
 * Lara Jones (1975–2010), children's author, was born in Ashby.
 * Grant Kirkhope (born 1962), video game music composer and musician
 * Niall Mackenzie (born 1961), Grand Prix motorcycle racer, is now retired in Ashby.
 * James Martin (1933–2013), an IT consultant and author, was born in Ashby de la Zouch.
 * Dolly Shepherd (1887–1983), aviator, made her return to parachuting from balloons in a display at Ashby, after recovering from a near-fatal accident.
 * Tim and Chris Stamper (living), brothers who were video game programmers, were known for founding the Ultimate Play the Game and Rareware companies.
 * Paul Taylor (born 1964), England cricketer, was born in the town.
 * Bernard Vann (1887–1918), taught at Ashby School, before entering the priesthood and then winning a VC, an MC and a Croix de Guerre as an army officer in the First World War.
 * Roger Williamson (1948–1973), Formula One driver, born in Ashby de la Zouch.
 * Alastair Yates (1952–2018), former presenter on BBC News and BBC World News, went to Manor House School, Ashby; his farming family still live in the town.
 * Young Knives, band formed in Ashby
 * Michael Wakelam (1955–2020), molecular biologist, director of the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England.

In popular culture

 * Adrian Mole, a fictional diarist created by writer Sue Townsend, was from Leicester and moved to Ashby de la Zouch during his lifetime.
 * Harry Flashman, Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE is a fictional character created by Thomas Hughes (1822–1896) in the semi-autobiographical Tom Brown's School Days (1857) and later developed by George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008). Sir Harry, after his inglorious career, retired to his country home, Gandamack Lodge, in Ashby, there to write his memoirs, known to the public as The Flashman Papers.
 * Ashby de la Zouch is often mentioned by Guz Khan in his show Man Like Mobeen, where some characters who "go on holiday to Ashby de la Zouch" mistakenly say it is in Spain rather than Leicestershire.
 * The protagonist of the 1994 video game Universe is from Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
 * This town is where the tournament for knights and archers described in Chapters VII to XIV of the novel Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott, was held. Both King Richard and Locksley showed their prowess before John, brother of Richard. The novel was set in 1194.

Location
Neighbouring communities include Lount, Normanton le Heath, Smisby, Packington, Donisthorpe, Oakthorpe, Moira, Measham and Coleorton.

title: Ashby-de-la-Zouch


text:
Breedon on the Hill

Breedon on the Hill is a village and civil parish about 5 mi north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in North West Leicestershire, England. The parish adjoins the Derbyshire county boundary and the village is only about 2 mi south of the Derbyshire town of Melbourne. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population (including Isley and Wilson) of 958 people in 404 households. The parish includes the hamlets of Tonge 1 mi east of the village and Wilson 1.3 mi north of the village on the county boundary. The population at the 2011 census (including Isley cum Langley and Langley Priory) was 1,029 in 450 households.

Geography
Breedon is notable for its Carboniferous limestone hill that rises 122 m above sea level in a generally low-lying landscape and affords distant views across several counties. A large portion of the hill has been cut away by an active quarry now operated by the Breedon Group. This currently produces limestone and gravel. It has also produced sand.

On top of the hill is The Bulwarks Iron Age hill fort, within which is Breedon's historic Church of England parish church. A recent survey found considerable evidence of occupation within the southern part of the hillfort enclosure.

Breedon is 3 mi from East Midlands Airport and 5 mi from the junction of the A42 road and M1 motorway. The village is 3 mi from the River Trent, and 2 mi from Donington Park motor circuit.

History
Excavation of The Bulwarks in 1946 identified occupation between about the 1st century BC and about 1st century AD.

The toponym is derived from the Celtic word bre for hill and the Old English word dun for hill. Hence in its current form the name combines three forms of the word hill. Briudun, an early spelling, has been traced from AD 731.

Medieval hagiography manuscripts record four saints buried in Breedon on the Hill. They are Friduricus, donor of the Mercian royal monastery built in Breedon during the seventh century, King Eardwulf of Northumbria, and relatively unknown Anglo-Saxon Saints Beonna of Breedon and Cotta of Breedon.

Breedon has a circular stone-built village lock-up. It is 18th-century and similar to the one in the nearby Worthington. It was used for detaining local drunks or lost cattle.

Breedon Hall is an historic building which was the ancestral home of the Curzon family.

In 1874, a branch of the Midland Railway was built through the eastern part of the parish and Tonge and Breedon railway station was built at Tonge. In 1980 British Rail closed the line and later the track was dismantled. The trackbed through the parish is now part of National Cycle Route 6.

Breedon Priory Church
The Priory Church of St Mary and St Hardulph was originally a monastery founded in about AD 676 on the site of The Bulwarks, an Iron Age hill fort. It was re-founded as an Augustinian priory early in the 12th century. Before becoming a monastery it was a hermitage.

In 1498 members of the visiting Battenberg family took mass at the church on a number of occasions.

What remains of the priory church includes a large number of Anglo-Saxon sculptures, an ornate family box pew and notable Renaissance church monuments.

Amenities
Breedon has two pubs: the Holly Bush and the Three Horseshoes. There was a third pub, The Lime Kiln, but this is now a private home.

The village has a small primary school and a post office. It did have a butcher's shop, but that closed in 2017. The school, St Hardulph's Church of England Primary School, was built in 1962 and also housed community facilities. Relations between the school, Leicestershire County Council and the local community association subsequently broke down and the community association was unsuccessful in a high court application arguing that they had the right to use the facilities on the grounds that the community had contributed some of the funding for the construction of the building.

Breedon has a football club, Breedon F.C.

title: Breedon on the Hill


text:
Talk:Guy Fawkes

Catholic Martyr?
Sorry, I’m new to this.

The assertion that Guy Fawkes is viewed as a martyr etc “especially amongst a minority of Catholics in the United Kingdom” is absurd and unsupported by the source linked to. Some Catholics may feel a discomfort about the history of it all, but there is no difference in attitude towards him by Catholics or others. All that V for Vendetta mask stuff has nothing but nothing to do with Catholicism, and suggesting otherwise is divisive. Jimquk (talk) 07:50, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

Middlesex or London?
When Guy Fawkes died, it 2 centuries before London started growing; there were no police districts nor postal districts to refer Westminster as London that time. Westminster was a parish in 1605, so it is more like Guy Fawkes being dead at Westminster, Middlesex. LDas12345 (talk) 19:22, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 April 2024
Please change "King James I" to "King James VI and I". The reliable source is the Wikipedia page linked to by the current text. 2A00:23C5:DAB0:9501:F6B5:CD12:249A:9D30 (talk) 08:20, 5 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Drowssap  SMM  01:03, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Guy Fawkes


text:
Wetsuit

A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on water. Its purpose is to provide thermal insulation and protection from abrasion, ultraviolet exposure, and stings from marine organisms. It also contributes extra buoyancy. The insulation properties of neoprene foam depend mainly on bubbles of gas enclosed within the material, which reduce its ability to conduct heat. The bubbles also give the wetsuit a low density, providing buoyancy in water.

Hugh Bradner, a University of California, Berkeley physicist, invented the modern wetsuit in 1952. Wetsuits became available in the mid-1950s and evolved as the relatively fragile foamed neoprene was first backed, and later sandwiched, with thin sheets of tougher material such as nylon or later spandex (also known as lycra). Improvements in the way joints in the wetsuit were made by gluing, taping and blindstitching, helped the suit to remain waterproof and reduce flushing, the replacement of water trapped between suit and body by cold water from the outside. Further improvements in the seals at the neck, wrists, ankles and zippers produced a suit known as a "semi-dry".

Different types of wetsuit are made for different uses and for different temperatures. Suits range from a thin 2 mm or less "shortie", covering just the torso, upper arm, and thighs, to thick 8 mm semi-dry suit covering the torso, arms, and legs, usually complemented by neoprene boots, gloves and hood.

The difference between a wetsuit and a dry suit is that a wetsuit allows water to enter the suit, though good fit limits water circulation inside the suit, and between the inside and outside of the suit, while dry suits are designed to prevent water from entering, thus keeping the undergarments dry and preserving their insulating effectiveness. Wetsuits can give adequate protection in warm to moderately cold waters. Dry suits are typically more expensive and more complex to use, but can be used where protection from lower temperatures or contaminated water is needed.

Uses
The primary function of a wetsuit is thermal insulation to keep the wearer warm in conditions where they would otherwise lose body heat rapidly due to heat transfer by relatively large quantities of water. Secondary, and incidental, functions are buoyancy and protection from some environmental hazards such as abrasion, sunburn, and to a lesser extent, wind chill. Wetsuits are used for thermal insulation for activities where the user is likely to be immersed in water, or frequently doused with heavy spray, often approaching from near-horizontal directions, where normal wet-weather clothing is unlikely to keep the water out. Activities include underwater diving, sailing, sea rescue operations, surfing, river rafting, whitewater kayaking and in some circumstances, endurance swimming.

Insulation
Still water (without currents or convection) conducts heat away from the body by pure thermal diffusion, approximately 20 to 25 times more efficiently than still air. Water has a thermal conductivity of 0.58 Wm−1K−1 while still air has a thermal conductivity of 0.024 Wm−1K−1, so an unprotected person can succumb to hypothermia even in warmish water on a warm day. Wetsuits are made of closed-cell foam neoprene, a synthetic rubber that contains small bubbles of nitrogen gas when made for use as wetsuit material (neoprene is also manufactured without foaming for many other applications where insulating qualities are not important). Nitrogen, like most gases, has very low thermal conductivity compared to water or to solids, and the small and enclosed nature of the gas bubbles minimizes heat transport through the gas by convection in the same way that cloth fabrics or feathers insulate by reducing convection of enclosed air spaces. The result is that the gas-filled cavities restrict heat transfer to mostly conduction, which is partly through bubbles of entrapped gas, thereby greatly reducing heat transfer from the body (or from the layer of warmed water trapped between the body and the wetsuit) to the colder water surrounding the wetsuit.

Uncompressed foam neoprene has a typical thermal conductivity in the region of 0.054 Wm−1K−1, which produces about twice the heat loss of still air, or one-tenth the loss of water. However at a depth of about 15 m of water, the thickness of the neoprene will be halved and its conductivity will be increased by about 50%, allowing heat to be lost at three times the rate at the surface. Repeated compression and decompression of the neoprene foam will eventually lead to loss of volume, insulation, buoyancy and flexibility.

A wetsuit must have a snug fit to work efficiently when immersed; too loose a fit, particularly at the openings (wrists, ankles, neck and overlaps) will allow cold water from the outside to enter when the wearer moves. Flexible seals at the suit cuffs aid in preventing heat loss in this fashion. The elasticity of the foamed neoprene and surface textiles allow enough stretch for many people to effectively wear off-the-shelf sizes, but others have to have their suits custom fitted to get a good fit that is not too tight for comfort and safety. Places where the suit bridges a hollow tend to change volume when the wearer bends that part of the body, and the change in volume of the space under the suit works as a pump to push warm water out of the suit and suck cold water in on the opposite movement.

Buoyancy
Foamed neoprene is very buoyant, helping swimmers to stay afloat, and for this reason divers need to carry extra weight based on the volume of their suit to achieve neutral buoyancy near the surface. Buoyancy is reduced by compression, and is proportional to depth and the amount of gas in the bubbles, and scuba divers can correct this by inflating the buoyancy compensator. Breathhold divers do not have this option and have the handicap of reduced buoyancy at depth due to lung gas compression in addition to suit volume loss. The suit also loses thermal protection as the bubbles in the neoprene are compressed at depth.

Measurements of volume change of neoprene foam used for wetsuits under hydrostatic compression shows that about 30% of the volume, and therefore 30% of surface buoyancy, is lost in about the first 10 m, another 30% by about 60 m, and the volume appears to stabilise at about 65% loss by about 100 m. The total buoyancy loss of a wetsuit is proportional to the initial uncompressed volume. An average person has a surface area of about 2 m2, so the uncompressed volume of a full one piece 6 mm thick wetsuit will be in the order of 1.75 x 0.006 = 0.0105 m3, or roughly 10 litres. The mass will depend on the specific formulation of the foam, but will probably be in the order of 4 kg, for a net buoyancy of about 6 kg at the surface. Depending on the overall buoyancy of the diver, this will generally require 6 kg of additional weight to bring the diver to neutral buoyancy to allow reasonably easy descent The volume lost at 10 m is about 3 litres, or 3 kg of buoyancy, rising to about 6 kg buoyancy lost at about 60 m. This could nearly double for a large person wearing a farmer-john and jacket for cold water. This loss of buoyancy must be balanced by inflating the buoyancy compensator to maintain neutral buoyancy at depth.

There is also a buoyancy loss due to gas loss from the bubbles over time, and the neoprene also loses flexibility with time, and tends to stiffen and shrink. This tendency is exacerbated by frequent use, deep dives, and exposure to sunlight. The "compressed neoprene" and "crushed neoprene" used for hot water suits and dry suits, is permanently reduced in volume by intentional hydrostatic compression during the manufacturing process, specifically to reduce buoyancy change with depth, at the cost of reducing insulation.

Origins

In 1952, UC Berkeley and subsequent UC San Diego SIO physicist Hugh Bradner, who is considered to be the original inventor and "father of the modern wetsuit," had the insight that a thin layer of trapped water could be tolerated between the suit fabric and the skin, so long as sufficient insulation was present in the fabric of the suit. In this case, the water would quickly reach skin temperature and gas bubbles in the fabric would continue to act as the thermal insulation to keep it that way. In the popular mind, the layer of water between skin and suit has been credited with providing the insulation, but Bradner clearly understood that the suit did not need to be wet because it was not the water that provided the insulation but rather the gas in the suit fabric. He initially sent his ideas to Lauriston C. "Larry" Marshall who was involved in a U.S. Navy/National Research Council Panel on Underwater Swimmers. However, it was Willard Bascom, an engineer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, who suggested foamed neoprene as a feasible material to Bradner.

Bradner and Bascom were not overly interested in profiting from their design and were unable to successfully market a version to the public. They attempted to patent their neoprene wetsuit design, but their application was rejected because the design was viewed as too similar to a flight suit. The United States Navy also turned down Bradner's and Bascom's offer to supply its swimmers and frogmen with the new wetsuits due to concerns that the gas in the neoprene component of the suits might make it easier for naval divers to be detected by underwater sonar. The first written documentation of Bradner's invention was in a letter to Marshall, dated June 21, 1951.

Jack O'Neill started using closed-cell neoprene foam which he claimed was shown to him by his bodysurfing friend, Harry Hind, who knew of it as an insulating material in his laboratory work. After experimenting with the material and finding it superior to other insulating foams, O'Neill founded the successful wetsuit manufacturing company called O'Neill in a San Francisco garage in 1952, later relocating to Santa Cruz, California in 1959 with the motto "It's Always Summer on the Inside". Bob and Bill Meistrell, from Manhattan Beach, California, also started experimenting with neoprene around 1953. They started a company which would later be named Body Glove. Neoprene was not the only material used in early wetsuits, particularly in Europe and Australia. The Pêche-Sport "isothermic" suit  invented by Georges Beuchat in 1953 and the UK-made Siebe Gorman Swimsuit were both made out of sponge rubber. The Heinke Dolphin Suit of the same period, also made in England, came in a green male and a white female version, both manufactured from natural rubber lined with stockinet. As early as July 1951, underwater hunters in Australia were experimenting with a natural rubber wetsuit "of a 'wrap on' variety, which does not set out to be 100% waterproof (but it is claimed that) the leakage of water through it is so slow that body warmth under it is maintained for hours." By May 1953, the Bondi underwater equipment manufacturer Undersee Products was already distributing this singlet-like design commercially to Australian sporting goods stores, where it was described thus: "Made from heavy sheet rubber, the Sealskin suit is most effective when worn over a football jersey. When jersey becomes wet, rubber holds it firmly against body and thus warmth is generated. Water circulation automatically stops and body warmth builds up in moisture-laden jersey. The Seaskin suit provides both underwater insulation and above-water wind protection".

Development of suit design
Initially, wetsuits were crafted solely from foam-rubber or neoprene sheets devoid of any supporting material. Such suits demanded cautious handling during wear due to the inherent fragility and stickiness of foam-rubber against the skin. Excessive stretching and pulling often resulted in tearing these suits apart. To mitigate this issue, divers resorted to generously applying talc powder to both the suit and their body to facilitate smoother sliding of the rubber material.

Backing materials first arrived in the form of nylon knit cloth applied to one side of the neoprene. This allowed a swimmer to pull on the suit relatively easily since the nylon took most of the stress of pulling on the suit, and there was less friction between the nylon and skin, but the suit still had the bare foam exposed on the outside and the nylon was relatively stiff, limiting flexibility. A small strip of neoprene reversed with the rubber against the skin could help provide a sealing surface to keep water out around the neck, wrists, and ankles.

In 1960, the British Dunlop Sports Company brought out its yellow Aquafort neoprene wetsuit, whose high visibility was intended to improve diver safety. However, the line was discontinued after a short while and wetsuits reverted to their black uniformity. The colorful wetsuits seen more recently first arrived in the 1970s when double-backed neoprene was developed. In this material the foam-rubber is sandwiched between two protective fabric outer layers, greatly increasing the tear-resistance. An external layer also meant that decorative colors, logos, and patterns could be made with panels and strips sewn into various shapes. This change from bare flat black rubber to full color took off in the 1980s with brilliant fluorescent colors common on many suits.

Improvements in suit assembly
The first suits used traditional sewing methods to simply overlap two strips of rubber and sew them together. In a rubber wetsuit this does not work well for a number of reasons, the main one being that punching holes straight through both layers of foam for the thread opens up passages for water to flow in and out of the suit. The second problem is that the stretching of the foam tended to enlarge the needle holes when the suit was worn. This meant that a wetsuit could be very cold all along the seams of the suit. And although the sewn edge did hold the two pieces together, it could also act as a perforated tear edge, making the suit easier to tear along the seams when putting it on and taking it off.

When nylon-backed neoprene appeared, the problem of the needle weakening the foam was solved, but still the needle holes leaked water along the seams.

Seam taping
To deal with all these early sewing problems, taping of seams was developed. The tape is a strong nylon cloth with a very thin but solid waterproof rubber backing. The tape is applied across the seam and bonded either with a chemical solvent or with a hot rolling heat-sealer to melt the tape into the neoprene.

With this technology, the suit could be sewn and then taped, and the tape would cover the sewing holes as well as providing some extra strength to prevent tearing along the needle holes.

When colorful double-backed designer suits started appearing, taping moved primarily to the inside of the suit because the tape was usually very wide, jagged, black, and ugly, and was hidden within the suit and out of sight.

Many 1960s and 1970s wetsuits were black with visible yellow seam taping. The yellow made the divers more easily seen in dark low-visibility water. To avoid this problem O'Neill fabricators developed a seam-tape which combined a thin nylon layer with a polyester hemming tape. Applied over the interior of the glued & sewn seam, then anneal bonded with a hand held teflon heating iron produced a seam that was both securely sealed and much stronger.

Seam gluing
Another alternative to sewing was to glue the edges of the suit together. This created a smooth, flat surface that did not necessarily need taping, but, raw foam glued to foam is not a strong bond and still prone to tearing.

Most early wetsuits were fabricated completely by hand, which could lead to sizing errors in the cutting of the foam sheeting. If the cut edges did not align correctly or the gluing was not done well, there might still be water leakage along the seam.

Initially, suits could be found as being sewn only, glued only, taped only, then also sewn and taped, or glued and taped, or perhaps all three.

Blindstitching
Sometime after nylon-backed neoprene appeared, the blind stitch method was developed. A blindstitch sewing machine uses a curved needle, which does not go all the way through the neoprene but just shallowly dips in behind the fabric backing, crosses the glue line, and emerges from the surface on the same side of the neoprene. This is similar to the overlock stitching used for teeshirts and other garments made from knitted fabrics.

The curved needle allows the fabric backing to be sewn together without punching a hole completely through the neoprene, and thereby eliminating the water-leakage holes along the seam. Blindstitch seams also lay flat, butting up the edge of one sheet against another, allowing the material to lay flatter and closer to the skin. For these reasons blindstitching rapidly became the primary method of sewing wetsuits together, with other stitching methods now used mainly for decorative or stylistic purposes.

Further advances in suit design
Highly elastic fabrics such as spandex (also known as lycra) have mostly replaced plain nylon backing, since the nylon knit fabric cannot be stretched as much as when elasticised with lycra fibres. Incorporating lycra into the backing permits a larger amount of stretching that does not damage the suit, and allowed suits to be stretched more to fit while remaining acceptably comfortable, making the tailoring less critical.

After the development of double-backed neoprene, singled-backed neoprene still has its uses. A narrow edge strip of smooth surfaced single-backed neoprene wrapped around the leg, neck, and wrist openings of the suit creates a more effective seal against the skin than the knit fabric backing, that reduces the flushing of water in and out of the suit at these places as the person moves. Since the strip is narrow, it does not drag on the skin of the wearer much and the lining makes the suit easy to put on and remove. The strip can also be fitted with the smooth side out and folded under to form a seal with a small length of smooth surface against the skin and slightly greater contact pressure. This type of seal can also be used on neoprene dry suits as it is sufficiently watertight when properly designed.

In the early 1970s Gul Wetsuits pioneered the one-piece wetsuit named the 'steamer' because of the visible condensed water vapour given off from the suit when taken off, allowing heat and water held inside to escape. One-piece wetsuits are still sometimes referred to as 'steamers'.

As wetsuit manufacturers continued to develop suit designs, they found ways that the materials could be further optimized and customized. The O'Neill "Animal Skin" created in 1974 by then Director of Marketing, E.J. Armstrong,  was one of the first designs combining a turtle-neck based on the popular Sealsuit  with a flexible lightweight YKK horizontal zipper across the back shoulders similar in concept to the inflatable watertight Supersuit (developed by Jack O'Neill in the late 1960s). The "Animal Skin" eventually evolved molded rubber patterns bonded onto the exterior of the neoprene sheeting (a technique E.J. Armstrong developed for application of the moulded raised rubber Supersuit logo to replace the standard flat decals). This has been carried on as stylized reinforcing pads of rubber on the knees and elbows to protect the suit from wear, and allows logos to be directly bonded onto raw sheet rubber. Additionally, the "Animal Skin's" looser fit allowed for the use of a supplemental vest in extreme conditions.

More recently, manufacturers have experimented by combining various materials with neoprene for additional warmth or flexibility of their suits. These include, but are not limited to, spandex, and wool.

Precision computer-controlled cutting and assembly methods, such as water-jet cutting, have allowed ever greater levels of seam precision, permitting designers to use many small individual strips of different colors while still keeping the suit free of bulging and ripples from improper cutting and misaligned sewing. Further innovations in CAD (Computer Aided Design) technology allow precision cutting for custom-fit wetsuits.

Return of single-backed neoprene
As wetsuits continued to evolve, their use was explored in other sports such as open-water swimming and triathlons. Although double-backed neoprene is strong, the cloth surface is relatively rough and creates a large amount of drag in the water, slowing down the swimmer. A single-backed suit has a smoother exterior surface which causes less drag. With the advances of elastic Lycra backings and blindstitching, single-backed neoprene suits could be made that outperformed the early versions from the 1970s. Other developments in single-backed wetsuits include the suits designed for free-diving and spearfishing. Single lined neoprene is more flexible than double lined. To achieve flexibility and low bulk for a given warmth of suit, they are unlined inside, and the slightly porous raw surface of the neoprene adheres closely to the skin and reduces flushing of the suit. The lined outer surface may be printed with camouflage patterns for spearfishing and is more resistant to damage while in use.

Some triathlon wetsuits go further, and use rubber-molding and texturing methods to roughen up the surface of the suit on the forearms, to increase drag and help pull the swimmer forwards through the water. Extremely thin 1 mm neoprene is also often used in the under-arm area, to decrease stretch resistance and reduce strain on the swimmer when they extend their arms out over their head.

Wetsuits used for caving are often single-backed with a textured surface known as "sharkskin" which is a thin layer where the neoprene is less expanded. This makes it more abrasion resistant for squeezing between rocks and doesn't get torn in the way that fabric does.

Another reason to eliminate the external textile backing is to reduce water retention which can increase evaporative cooling and wind chill in suits used mainly out of the water.

Configurations
Various configurations of wetsuit are available, with varied amounts of body coverage. Most can be worn alone or in combinations to suit the conditions:
 * A sleeveless vest, covering only the torso, provides minimal coverage. Some include an attached hood. These are not usually intended to be worn alone, but as an extra layer over or under a longer wetsuit.
 * A hooded tunic, covering the torso and head, with short legs and either short or no sleeves, is generally intended to be worn over a full suit, and has a zip closure. It may be fitted with pockets for transporting accessories.
 * A jacket covers the torso and arms, with little to no coverage for the legs. Some jackets have short legs like a shorty, others feature leg holes similar to a woman's swimsuit. A third style, the beavertail or bodysuit, has a flap which passes through the crotch and attaches at the front with clips, toggles or velcro fasteners. It is worn with (over) or without a long john or trousers. A jacket may include an integral hood, and may have a full or partial front zipper.
 * A spring suit covers the torso and has short or long sleeves and short legs.
 * Trousers cover the lower torso and legs.
 * A short john, shorty covers the torso and legs to the knee only; does not have sleeves and is a short legged version of the long john.
 * A long john, johnny, johnny suit, or farmer john/jane (depending on the gender the suit is designed for) covers the torso and legs only; it resembles a bib overall, hence the nickname.
 * A full suit or steamer covers the torso and the full length of the arms and legs. Some versions come with sleeves the length of a standard t-shirt and known as a short-sleeved steamer.

Some suits are arranged in two parts; the jacket and long johns can be worn separately in mild conditions or worn together to provide two layers of insulation around the torso in cold conditions. Typically, two-piece cold water wetsuits have 10 to 14 mm combined thickness of neoprene over the torso and 5 to 7 mm single thickness over the limbs.

Thickness
Wetsuits are available in different thicknesses depending on the conditions for which they are intended. The thicker the suit, the warmer it will keep the wearer, but the more it will restrict movement. Because wetsuits offer significant protection from jellyfish, coral, sunburn and other hazards, many divers opt to wear a thin suit which provides minimal insulation (often called a "bodysuit") even when the water is warm enough to comfortably forego insulating garments. A thick suit will restrict mobility, and as the thickness is increased the suit may become impractical, depending on the application. This is one reason why dry suits may be preferable for some applications. A wetsuit is normally specified in terms of its thickness and style. For instance, a wetsuit with a torso thickness of 5 mm and a limb thickness of 3 mm will be described as a "5/3". With new technologies the neoprene is getting more flexible. Modern 4/3 wetsuits, for instance, may feel as flexible as a 3/2 of only a few years ago. Some suits have extra layers added for key areas such as the lower back. Improved flexibility may come at the cost of greater compressibility, which reduces insulation at depth, but this is only important for diving.

Surface finish
Foam neoprene used for wetsuits is always closed cell, in that the gas bubbles are mostly not connected to each other inside the neoprene. This is necessary to prevent water absorption, and the gas bubbles do most of the insulation. Thick sheets of neoprene are foamed inside a mould, and the surfaces in contact with the mould take on the inverse texture of the mould surfaces. In the early days of wetsuits this was often a diamond pattern or similar, but can also be slick and smooth for low drag and quick drying. The cut surfaces of the foam have a slightly porous mat finish as the cutting process passes through a large number of bubbles, leaving what is called an open cell surface finish, but the bulk of the foam remains closed cell. The open cell finish is the most stretchy and the least tear resistant. It is relatively form fitting and comfortable on the skin, but the porosity encourages bacterial growth if not well washed after use, and the foam surface does not slide freely against skin unless lubricated.

The cut surfaces are usually bonded to a nylon knit fabric, which provides much greater tear resistance, at the expense of some loss of flexibility. This fabric can be bonded to one or both surfaces in various combinations of weight and colour, and can be thin and relatively smooth and fragile, or thicker and stronger and less stretchy. Fabric lined on one side only is more flexible than double lined.

A specialized kind of wetsuit, with a very smooth (and somewhat delicate) outer surface known as smoothskin, which is the original outer surface of the foamed neoprene block from which the sheets are cut, is used for long-distance swimming, triathlon, competitive apnoea, and bluewater spearfishing. These are designed to maximize the mobility of the limbs while providing both warmth and buoyancy, but the surface is delicate and easily damaged. The slick surface also dries quickly and is least affected by wind chill when out of the water.

Both smoothskin and fabric lined surfaces can be printed to produce colour patterns such as camouflage designs, which may give spearfishermen and combat divers an advantage.

Closures
Zippers are often used for closure or for providing a close fit at the wrists and ankles while remaining relatively easy to put on and remove, but they also provide leakage points for water A backing flap reduces leakage but can get caught in the zipper while closing. Jackets may have a full or partial front zipper, or none at all. Full body suits may have a vertical back zipper, a cross-shoulder zipper or a vertical front zipper. Each of these arrangements has some advantages and some disadvantages:
 * The vertical front zipper is easy to operate, but the suit may be difficult to remove from the shoulders without assistance, and the zip is uncomfortable for lying on a surfboard. It is relatively inflexible and placed over a part of the body where a lot of flexibility is desirable. The top of the closure will leak to some extent. The top end of the zip may be easily opened for comfort when the wearer is warm, but the zip may also press into the throat, which can be uncomfortable.
 * Cross shoulder zipper can be made relatively watertight as it has no free ends, and is therefore used in semi-dry wetsuits. It is difficult to operate for the wearer and relatively highly stressed at the shoulders due to arm movement. The zip is also relatively vulnerable to damage from diving harnesses.
 * Cross chest zipper has similar advantages to cross shoulder, but is easy for the wearer to reach and operate. The zipper is subjected to sharper bends at the shoulders than other arrangements.
 * Vertical back zippers are possibly the most common arrangement as they can be operated with a lanyard. They are relatively comfortable for most applications, the suit is easy to remove, and they place the zipper directly over the spine, which though flexible in bending, does not change much in length. The top of the closure will leak to some extent.

Sizing and fit
Wetsuits that fit too tightly can cause difficulty breathing or even acute cardiac failure, and a loose fit allows considerable flushing which reduces effectiveness of insulation, so a proper fit is important. The quality of fit is most important for diving as this is where the thickest suits are used and the heat loss is potentially greatest. A diving wetsuit should touch the skin over as much of the body that it covers as comfortably possible, both when the wearer is relaxed and when exercising. This is difficult to achieve and the details of style and cut can affect the quality of fit. Gaps where the suit does not touch the skin will vary in volume as the diver moves and this is a major cause of flushing.

Wetsuits are made in several standard adult sizes and for children. Custom fitted suits are produced by many manufacturers to provide a better fit for people for whom a well fitting off-the shelf suit is not available.

Semi-dry suits
Semi-dry suits are effectively a wetsuit with improved seals at wrist, neck and ankles and also usually featuring a watertight zipper. Together, these features greatly reduce the amount of water moving through the suit as the wearer moves in the water. The wearer gets wet in a semi-dry suit but the water that enters is soon warmed up and is not "flushed" out by colder water entering from the outside environment, so the wearer remains warm longer. The trapped layer of water does not add significantly to the suit's insulating ability. Any residual water circulation past the seals still causes heat loss, but this loss is minimised due to the more effective seals. Though more expensive and more difficult to take on and off than a wetsuit (in most cases, a helper will be needed to close the dry-zip, which is usually located across the shoulders), semi-dry suits are cheaper and simpler than dry suits, and in the case of scuba diving, require no additional skills to use. They are usually made from thick neoprene (typically 6 mm or more), which provides good thermal protection at shallow depth, but lose buoyancy and thermal protection as the gas bubbles in the Neoprene compress at depth, like a normal wetsuit. Early suits marketed as "Semi-dry" suits came come in various configurations including a one-piece full-body suit or two pieces, made of 'long johns' and a separate 'jacket'. Almost all modern semi-dry suits are one piece suits, with the zipper usually being across the shoulders on the back, but other arrangements have been used. Semi-dry suits do not usually incorporate boots, and most models do not include a hood, (as creating a good seal around the face is difficult) so a separate pair of wetsuit boots, hood and gloves are worn, as needed. They are most suitable for use where the water temperature is between 10 and 20 C.

Heated suits
Electrically heated wetsuits are also available on the market. These suits have special heating panels integrated in the back of the wetsuit. The power for heating comes from batteries also integrated into the wetsuit. More versatile is the heated neoprene vest that works in the same way as the heated wetsuit but can be worn under any type of wetsuit.

Wetsuits heated by a flow of hot water piped from the surface are standard equipment for commercial diving in cold water, particularly where the heat loss from the diver is increased by use of helium based breathing gases. Hot water suits are a loose fit as there is a constant supply of heated water piped into the suit which must escape to allow even flow distribution. Flushing with cold water is prevented by the constant outflow of heating water.

Accessories

Usually a wetsuit has no covering for the feet, hands or head, and the diver must wear separate neoprene boots, gloves and hood for additional insulation and environmental protection. Other accessories to the basic suit include pockets for holding small items and equipment, and knee-pads, to protect the knee area from abrasion and tearing, usually used by working divers. Suits may have abrasion protection pads in other areas depending on the application.

Hoods
Using hoods: in the thermal balance of the human body, the heat loss over the head is at least 20% of the whole balance. Thus, for the sake of thermal protection of the diver, wearing a well-fitting hood is useful, even at fairly moderate water temperatures. Hoods have been reported to cause claustrophobia in a minority of users, sometimes due to poor fit. The hood should not fit too tightly round the neck. Flushing in the neck area can be reduced by using a hood attached to the top part of the suit, or by having sufficient overlap between the hood and the top part of the suit to constrain flow between the two parts. This can be achieved by tucking a circular flap at the base of the neck of the hood under the top of the suit before closing the zip, or by having a high neck on the suit.

Boots
Wetsuit boots are worn for various purposes, and may be worn with or without a wetsuit.

Thermal protection
In many water sports such as scuba diving, surfing, kayaking, windsurfing, sailing and even fishing, bootees may be worn to keep the feet warm in the same way that a wetsuit would. Insulation is proportional to thickness and thus to how cold the water which the user can tolerate; it may be above or below the standard of 5–6 mm of neoprene. In warmer climates where the thermal qualities of the bootee are not so important, a bootee with a thickness of 2–3.5 mm is common. The leg of the bootee may have a zipper down one side or may be tightened with a velcro strap. Where boots are worn with a wetsuit they are usually tucked under the leg of the suit for streamlining, to help hold the zip closed, and to keep foreign objects out.

Foot protection
A bootee usually has a reinforced sole for walking. Typically, this is a solid rubber compound that is thicker and tougher than the neoprene used for the upper part of the bootee but is still flexible. The reinforced sole provides the wearer with some protection and grip when walking across shingle, coral and other rough surfaces.

For scuba diving
For scuba diving the sole of the bootee should not be so thick that the diver cannot get a fin on over it. Divers wearing bootees use fins with a foot pocket larger than needed with bare feet. Divers in warm water who do not wear a diving suit sometimes wear bootees so they can wear bigger fins. Diving bootees are typically intended for wear with open-heeled fins, held on by a strap, and usually do not fit into full-footed fins. Neoprene socks may be used with full-footed fins, either to prevent chafing and blisters, or for warmth.. Suit compression with depth also affects fin fit, as thicker neoprene compresses more with depth, and needs more stretch from the fin strap to compensate.

For surfing
For surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing and similar sports, bootees are typically worn where the weather is so cold that the surfer would lose some degree of functionality in the feet. The bootee should not restrict the ability of a surfer to grip the board with the toes in the desired manner. Split-toe bootees allow for some improvement in this functionality. Reef walkers are small bootees that are only as high as the ankle and generally only 2 to 3.5mm thick. They are designed to allow surfers to get out to waves that break at coral reefs or at rocky beaches.

For kayaking
Several styles of wetsuit boots are commonly used for kayaking. Short-cut boots are frequently used in warmer conditions where the boots help give grip and foot protection while launching and portaging. In cold conditions longer wetsuit boots may be used with a drysuit where they are worn over the rubber drysuit socks.

Gloves
Wetsuit gloves are worn to keep the hands warm and to protect the skin while working. They are available in a range of thicknesses. Thicker gloves reduce manual dexterity and limit feel. Wetsuit gloves are also commonly worn with dry suits. Some divers cut the fingertips of the gloves off on the fingers most used for delicate work like operating the controls on a camera housing. If this is done, the fingertips are exposed to cold and possible injury, so thin work-gloves may be worn under the insulating gloves.

For cold water use, thicker mittens with a single space for the middle, ring and fifth fingers are available and can provide more warmth at the cost of reducing dexterity.

title: Wetsuit


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Brinsley Schwarz

Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge. They were later augmented by Ian Gomm on guitar and vocals.

Formation
Brinsley Schwarz (guitar, piano, vocals) originally met Nick Lowe at Woodbridge School where they played in school bands with Barry Landeman (keyboards, vocals) and Phil Hall (guitar). In 1964, whilst still at school, they toured RAF bases in Germany as "Sounds 4+1". On leaving school, Schwarz formed "Three's A Crowd" with Pete Whale (drums) and Dave Cottam (bass). Landeman joined in 1967 and they renamed themselves "Kippington Lodge". Their first two singles, produced by Mark Wirtz, in a close-harmony pop style, both flopped. Cottam left, and Schwarz invited Lowe to join. Landeman then left to join Vanity Fare, Bob Andrews joined on keyboards, and finally, Whale was replaced by Billy Rankin on drums. Although the next three singles also failed, they had a residency as support band at The Marquee. The band's style was changing from pop into "a folk-rock band with psychedelic pretentions". In 1969 they renamed the band after their guitarist, and performed their new music under this name, whilst continuing to play pop as Kippington Lodge. One of the band's first managers, John Schofield, was at the time the lover of Hattie Jacques (who would occasionally make bacon sandwiches for the band members when they visited Schofield's home). In the early part of their career the band shared a communal home in a large old house in Beaconsfield and these premises were used as a rehearsal space by The Band, who came to the UK as part of the Warner Brothers tour. The Band borrowed Brinsley Schwarz's instruments to rehearse.

Publicity campaign
Brinsley Schwarz signed a contract with manager Dave Robinson, of Famepushers, who devised a plan to earn the band extensive publicity. They were to open for Van Morrison and Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Fillmore East in New York City, on 3 and 4 April 1970. Robinson would fly a plane full of British journalists to the show, so they could review it, along with the winners of a Melody Maker competition, arranged in order to get pre-publicity. Though the band had planned on leaving a few days early, so they could rehearse, visa problems prevented this, so they went to Canada and entered the US in a light aircraft. They arrived in New York shortly before they were due on stage, and had to use hired equipment with which they were unfamiliar. The journalists were due the following day, but their plane was delayed for four hours, so they had free use of the bar, and eventually arrived at the show either drunk or hung over. The show did not go over well, and the band received a flood of negative reviews over the following weeks, including bad reviews of their first album, Brinsley Schwarz, which was released shortly after their return to the United Kingdom. This incident became known as the Brinsley Schwarz Hype.

Casey Kasem's version of this story, in a September 1979 episode of American Top Forty, implied that the presence of the critics was a surprise to the band.

Pub-rock
Later in 1970, Brinsley Schwarz released their second album, Despite It All, which had a definite country sound to it. They were heavily influenced by Eggs over Easy, who they first saw perform at 'The Tally Ho' in Kentish Town, and admired their laid-back style and extensive repertoire. In 1971, guitarist Ian Gomm joined the band, and they recorded their third album Silver Pistol. In response to "the hype", they became anti-commercial and spent much of 1971 rehearsing, although they toured on the 'Downhome Rhythm Kings' package with Help Yourself and Ernie Graham (ex Eire Apparent), who were all managed by Dave Robinson. This led to them backing Ernie Graham on his eponymous solo album.

Brinsley Schwarz played at the second Glastonbury Festival (1971), and one track, "Love Song", appeared on the subsequent Glastonbury Fayre album. Their solid live performances soon garnered the band a large fanbase in London, and, along with bands like Eggs over Easy, Brinsley Schwarz were soon dubbed "pub rock" by rock journalists. They sounded rather like The Band, with Schwarz's guitar work influenced greatly by Robbie Robertson's. In February 1972, they supported Hawkwind and Man at the Greasy Truckers Party, which was issued as a double album, and brought critical acclaim. Unfortunately, for a band known for its live performances, this was their only live album.

1972's ironic take on country-rock, Nervous on the Road, also received excellent reviews. It did not reach the charts, but earned them a slot opening for Paul McCartney's Wings 1973 UK Tour. The same year, they also acted as Frankie Miller's band for his debut album Once in a Blue Moon. Their fifth studio album Please Don't Ever Change, issued in 1973, was less well received by the critics, and achieved poor sales. However during this time they made successful appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test with Lowe on guitar and vocals, Gomm on bass and Schwarz on piano alongside Andrews on keyboard and recorded sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. In 1974, they arranged for Dave Edmunds to produce their sixth album The New Favourites of... Brinsley Schwarz, which was more polished, and again received good reviews. This association also led to their touring as Dave Edmunds' backing band, appearing on the live tracks of his Subtle as a Flying Mallet album. In addition to the albums, Brinsley Schwarz also issued a series of singles under their own name, and various pseudonyms, such as "The Hitters", "The Knees", "Limelight" and "The Brinsleys" but these all failed. They recorded a final album, It's All Over Now, in 1974 but this was not released at the time. They finally disbanded in March 1975.

Subsequent careers
Brinsley Schwarz and Bob Andrews joined Graham Parker & the Rumour, which functioned as a unit through 1981. Later Andrews moved to New Orleans. Schwarz, meanwhile, continued playing as a sideman for various artists through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Schwarz joined a reunited Ducks Deluxe in 2009, then both Schwarz and Andrews joined a reunited Rumour in 2012.

Billy Rankin joined Terraplane and then Big Jim Sullivan's Tiger. He retired from the music industry in 1977, though he was persuaded to play with a reunited Ducks Deluxe for their 30th anniversary reunion show in 2007.

Nick Lowe and Ian Gomm both began solo careers, achieving moderate mainstream success. Lowe's 1978 album Jesus of Cool received considerable critical acclaim and reached number 22 in the UK Albums Chart. It included the track "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass", which reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. The album also included Bob Andrews on keyboard and Dave Edmunds on guitar. Lowe also co-wrote Dr. Feelgood's top ten hit "Milk and Alcohol", which reached number 9 in 1979. Lowe's 1979 single and biggest worldwide hit "Cruel to Be Kind" was co-written with Gomm and originally recorded by Brinsley Schwarz for their unreleased final album. This version was included on the 2008 30th anniversary edition of the Jesus of Cool album. In 1979, Gomm had a hit with "Hold On", which reached number 18 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The original version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", which was written by Lowe and was later covered by Elvis Costello, was released by the band in 1974 on their album The New Favourites of... Brinsley Schwarz. Costello knew of the song as both a fan and part-time roadie for the band, which is where he and Lowe first met. Another rendition was featured on the multi-million-selling film soundtrack The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album, performed by Curtis Stigers. Bill Murray's character sang the song at a party in Sofia Coppola's film Lost in Translation.

Studio albums

 * Brinsley Schwarz (April 1970)
 * Despite It All (December 1970)
 * Silver Pistol (February 1972)
 * Nervous on the Road (September 1972)
 * Please Don't Ever Change (October 1973)
 * The New Favourites of... Brinsley Schwarz (July 1974)

Singles

 * (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (1974)

Archive release

 * It's All Over Now (recorded 1974, officially released 2017)

Compilations

 * Original Golden Greats (1974) (includes two live tracks and two studio tracks not included on other albums)  (LP)
 * 15 Thoughts of Brinsley Schwarz (1978) (includes two singles not included on other albums) (LP)
 * Surrender to the Rhythm (1991) (CD)
 * Nervous On The Road/The New Favourites Of... Brinsley Schwarz (1995) (CD)
 * Hen's Teeth (singles) (1998)
 * Rarities (July 2000)
 * What IS So Funny About Peace Love & Understanding? (BBC recordings) (2001)
 * Cruel to Be Kind (BBC recordings) (2004)
 * Last Orders! (2021) (early recordings for radio and television, outtakes, rehearsals, and home recordings)
 * Thinking Back : The Anthology 1970-1975 (2023) box set including all seven studio albums with bonus tracks (non-album singles, live recordings, previously unreleased outtakes)

Various artists albums

 * Glastonbury Fayre (April 1972)
 * Greasy Truckers Party (April 1972)

As a backing band

 * Ernie Graham (1971) – Ernie Graham's only solo album
 * Once in a Blue Moon (1973) – Frankie Miller's debut album
 * Subtle as a Flying Mallet (1975) – Dave Edmunds, only the live tracks

title: Brinsley Schwarz