text:
Test card

A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off).

Used since the earliest TV broadcasts, test cards were originally physical cards at which a television camera was pointed, allowing for simple adjustments of picture quality. Such cards are still often used for calibration, alignment, and matching of cameras and camcorders. From the 1950s, test card images were built into monoscope tubes which freed up the use of TV cameras which would otherwise have to be rotated to continuously broadcast physical test cards during downtime hours.

Electronically generated test patterns, used for calibrating or troubleshooting the downstream signal path, were introduced in the late-1960s, and became commonly used from the 1970s and 80s. These are generated by test signal generators, which do not depend on the correct configuration (and presence) of a camera, and can also test for additional parameters such as correct color decoding, sync, frames per second, and frequency response. These patterns are specially tailored to be used in conjunction with devices such as a vectorscope, allowing precise adjustments of image equipment.

The audio broadcast while test cards are shown is typically a sine wave tone, radio (if associated or affiliated with the television channel) or music (usually instrumental, though some also broadcast with jazz or popular music).

Digitally generated cards came later, associated with digital television, and add a few features specific of digital signals, like checking for error correction, chroma subsampling, aspect ratio signaling, surround sound, etc. More recently, the use of test cards has also expanded beyond television to other digital displays such as large LED walls and video projectors.

Technical details
Test cards typically contain a set of patterns to enable television cameras and receivers to be adjusted to show the picture correctly (see SMPTE color bars). Most modern test cards include a set of calibrated color bars which will produce a characteristic pattern of "dot landings" on a vectorscope, allowing chroma and tint to be precisely adjusted between generations of videotape or network feeds. SMPTE bars—and several other test cards—include analog black (a flat waveform at 7.5 IRE, or the NTSC setup level), full white (100 IRE), and a "sub-black", or "blacker-than-black" (at 0 IRE), which represents the lowest low-frequency transmission voltage permissible in NTSC broadcasts (though the negative excursions of the colorburst signal may go below 0 IRE). Between the color bars and proper adjustment of brightness and contrast controls to the limits of perception of the first sub-black bar, an analog receiver (or other equipment such as VTRs) can be adjusted to provide impressive fidelity.

Test cards have also been used to determine actual coverage contours for new television broadcasting antennas and/or networks. In preparation for the new commercial ITV service in the 1950s, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) tasked Belling & Lee, an Enfield-based British electronics company best known for inventing the Belling-Lee connector just over three decades earlier, with designing a series of Pilot Test Transmission test cards and slides intended for potential viewers and DX-enthusiasts to test the ITA's new Band III VHF transmitter network that was designed with the assistance of the General Post Office (GPO), then the UK's government-run PTT agency. These test cards, some featuring the G9AED call sign assigned by the GPO for said transmissions, featured a squiggly line in a circle in the middle of the test card with an on-screen line gauge indicated in miles which was used as a guide to reveal the distance between the receiver, the (temporary) transmitter and a replicating landscape feature causing ghosting. Said test cards were mainly transmitted from temporary mobile transmitters attached to caravan trailers based at the predicted locations of the ITA's eventual main transmitters, such as Croydon, Lichfield, Emley Moor and Winter Hill. Almost a decade later, the BBC started using a modified SMPTE monochrome test card radiating from the Crystal Palace transmitter to test its new UHF network which it eventually launched as BBC Two in 1964.

Test cards are also used in the broader context of video displays for concerts and live events. There are a variety of different test patterns, each testing a specific technical parameter: gradient monotone bars for testing brightness and color; a crosshatch pattern for aspect ratio, alignment, focus, and convergence; and a single-pixel border for over-scanning and dimensions.

History

Test cards are as old as TV broadcasts, with documented use by the BBC in the United Kingdom in its early 30-line mechanical Baird transmissions from 1934 and later on as simplified "tuning signals" shown before startup as well as in Occupied France during World War II. They evolved to include gratings for resolution testing, grids to assist with picture geometry adjustments, and grayscale for brightness and contrast adjustments. For example, all these elements can be seen in a Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française 819-line test card introduced in 1953.

In North America, most test cards such as the famous Indian-head test pattern of the 1950s and 1960s have long since been relegated to history. The SMPTE color bars occasionally turn up, but with most North American broadcasters now following a 24-hour schedule, these too have become a rare sight.

With the introduction of color TV, electronically generated test cards were introduced. They are named after their generating equipment (ex: Grundig VG1000, Philips PM5544, Telefunken FuBK, etc.), TV station (ex: BBC test card) or organization (ex: SMPTE color bars, EBU colour bars).

In developed countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the financial imperatives of commercial television broadcasting mean that air-time is now typically filled with programmes and commercials (such as infomercials) 24 hours a day, and non-commercial broadcasters have to match this.

A late test card design, introduced in 2005 and fully adapted for HD, SD, 16:9 and 4:3 broadcasts, is defined on ITU-R Rec. BT.1729. It offers markings specificity design to test format conversions, chroma sampling, etc.

Formerly a common sight, test cards are now only rarely seen outside of television studios, post-production, and distribution facilities. In particular, they are no longer intended to assist viewers in calibration of television sets. Several factors have led to their demise for this purpose:
 * Modern microcontroller-controlled analogue televisions rarely if ever need adjustment, so test cards are much less important than previously. Likewise, modern cameras and camcorders seldom need adjustment for technical accuracy, though they are often adjusted to compensate for scene light levels, and for various artistic effects.
 * Use of digital interconnect standards, such as CCIR 601 and SMPTE 292M, which operate without the non-linearities and other issues inherent to analog broadcasting, do not introduce color shifts or brightness changes; thus the requirement to detect and compensate for them using this reference signal has been virtually eliminated. (Compare with the obsolescence of stroboscopes as used to adjust the speed of record players.) On the other hand, digital test signal generators do include test signals which are intended to stress the digital interface, and many sophisticated generators allow the insertion of jitter, bit errors, and other pathological conditions that can cause a digital interface to fail.
 * Likewise, use of digital broadcasting standards, such as DVB and ATSC, eliminates the issues introduced by modulation and demodulation of analog signals.
 * Test cards including large circles were used to confirm the linearity of the set's deflection systems. As solid-state components replaced vacuum tubes in receiver deflection circuits, linearity adjustments were less frequently required (few newer sets have user-adjustable "VERT SIZE" and "VERT LIN" controls, for example). In LCD and other deflectionless displays, the linearity is a function of the display panel's manufacturing quality; for the display to work, the tolerances will already be far tighter than human perception.

For custom-designed video installations, such as LED displays in buildings or at live events, some test images are custom-made to fit the specific size and shape of the setup in question. These custom test images can also be an opportunity for the technicians to hide inside jokes for the crew to see while installing equipment for a show.

Monoscope
Rather than physical test cards, which had to be televised using a camera, television stations often used a special purpose camera tube which had the test pattern painted on the inside screen of the tube. Each tube was only capable of generating the one test image, hence it was called a monoscope.

Monoscopes were similar in construction to an ordinary cathode ray tube (CRT), only instead of displaying an image on its screen it scanned a built-in image. The monoscope contained a formed metal target in place of the phosphor coating at its "screen" end and as the electron beam scanned the target, rather than displaying an image, a varying electrical signal was produced generating a video signal from the etched pattern. Monoscope tubes had the advantage over test cards that a full TV camera was not needed, and the image was always properly framed and in focus. They fell out of use after the 1960s as they were not able to produce color images.

Other uses
A lesser-known kind of test pattern is used for the calibration of photocopiers. Photocopier test patterns are physical sheets that are photocopied, with the difference in the resulting photocopy revealing any tell-tale deviations or defects in the machine's ability to copy.

There are also test patterns kits and software developed specifically for many consumer electronics. The B&K Television Analyst was developed in the 1960s for testing monochrome TV sets in the NTSC standard and was later modified for European and Australian PAL standards. Among other uses, it consisted of a flying spot scanner on which a test pattern printed on a cellulose acetate slide was shown.

When CRT monitors were still commonly used on personal computers, specific test patterns were created for proper calibration of such monitors in the cases whereby multimedia images could not be shown properly on said monitors. Some VCD and DVD lens cleaner discs, such as the Kyowa Sonic lens cleaning kits from 1997–2001, also included test patterns as well.

More recent examples include the THX Optimizer which can be accessed in the setup menu in almost every THX-certified DVD, as well as well as the "HDR sRGB Graphics Test (400 nits)" and "Test Patterns" series available on Netflix meant to test out streaming bandwidth on Internet-enabled devices, especially on widescreen smart HDR TVs, 4K and 8K displays and also used to sync audio and video feeds, which can be affected, among other factors, by Bluetooth and Internet latency.

Test patterns are also used to calibrate CCTV cameras and monitors, as well as medical imaging displays and equipment for telemedicine and diagnostic purposes, such as the SMPTE RP-133 medical diagnostic imaging test pattern specification for medical and surgical displays, created around 1983 –86; as well as a later derivative called the TG18-QC test pattern created by the AAPM in 2001. Test patterns to calibrate X-ray machines, in particular those manufactured by Leeds Test Objects in England, also exist as well.

In numismatics
Television has had such an impact in today's life that it has been the main motif for numerous collectors' coins and medals. One of the most recent examples is The 50 Years of Television commemorative coin minted on 9 March 2005, in Austria. The obverse of the coin shows the centre portion of the Telefunken T05 test card, while the reverse shows several milestones in the history of television.

In popular culture
The Philips Pattern is widely recognised as one of the iconic popular culture symbols of the 1980s and 1990s. Numerous novelty and collectible items has been patterned after the famous test card, including wall clocks, bedsheets, wristwatches, and clothing.

The BBC Test Card F features throughout 2006-07 TV sci-fi detective series Life on Mars.

Test card music
In Britain, music rather than radio sound was usually played with the test card. The music played by the BBC, and afterwards ITV, was library music, which was licensed on more favourable terms for frequent use than commercially available alternatives. Later, Channel 4 used UK library LPs from publishers like KPM, Joseph Weinberger and Ready Music.

Until September 1955, the BBC used live playing 78 RPM commercial records as an audio background to the test cards. After that date, they switched to using recorded music on tape. The following year, the BBC began to build up its own library of specially produced music for the half hour tapes – initially three tunes in similar style, followed by an identification sign (the three notes B-B-C played on celesta). ITV (which began its first trade transmissions in 1957) continued to use commercially available recordings until the late 1960s, when it also began to make specially produced tapes.

For rights reasons, much of the music was recorded by light music orchestras in France and Germany, though sometimes by British musicians, or top international session players using pseudonyms, such as The Oscar Brandenburg Orchestra (an amalgamation of Neil Richardson, Alan Moorhouse and Johnny Pearson) or the Stuttgart Studio Orchestra. Other composers and bandleaders commissioned for this type of work included Gordon Langford, Ernest Tomlinson. Roger Roger, Heinz Kiessling, Werner Tautz, Frank Chacksfield and Syd Dale.

During the 1980s, the test card was gradually seen less and less - it was pushed out first by Teletext pages, then extended programme hours. The same tapes were used to accompany both the test card and Ceefax on BBC channels, but some fans argue that new tapes introduced after Ceefax became the norm in 1983 were less musically interesting.

List of TV test cards

 * BBC Tuning Signals and Test Cards A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, W, X (1934–2006, Mechanical 30- and 240-lines, Monochrome, PAL, SDTV, HDTV, 405- and 625-lines)
 * RCA Victor monochrome test pattern (with RCA logos and Nipper the dog illustrations at corners; c. 1933/34 –1937, 343-lines)
 * RCA/NBC monochrome test patterns #1 and #2 (1938 –39, 441-lines)
 * RCA Indian-head test pattern (1939, 525-lines)
 * ABC/CBS/Crosley-Avco/DuMont/NBC monochrome "bullseye" test patterns (c. 1939–47, 525-lines)
 * RMA 1946 resolution chart (1946, 525- and 625-lines)
 * Marconi Resolution Chart No. 1    /English Electric Valve Company Test Chart (c. 1947/c. 1970, 525- and 625-lines)
 * ТИТ-0249, ИТ-72 and таблица 0286 monochrome test cards (1949, c. 1975–78, c. 1990–92, used in Soviet Union and Russia)
 * DuMont Industrial Color Television test pattern (1950, experimentally shown on KE2XDR)
 * DFF (Deutscher Fernsehfunk) monochrome (Q1/QI1, Test nr. 04, modified EBU monochrome) and colour (modified HTV TR.0782) test patterns (1952–1991, SECAM, used in East Germany)
 * Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française "Marly Horses" test card (1953, 819-lines)
 * ТИТ-0154 colour test card (1954, abandoned prototype Soviet Union NIIR/SECAM IV system)
 * ITA/GPO/Belling & Lee G9AED Pilot Test Transmission test cards (1955–56, 405-lines)
 * Associated-Rediffusion–Marconi "diamond" monochrome test card versions 1, 2 and 3  (1955–1958, 625-lines; Version 1 also used by RTV in British Hong Kong, TVM in Crown Colony of Malta and WNTV in the western part of Colonial Nigeria )
 * EIA 1956 resolution chart (1956, 525- and 625-lines)
 * Chequerboard optical and electronic "tea towel" test cards (1950s/60s, monochrome, 625-lines, used in varying forms in West Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Soviet Union, Portugal and Spain)
 * SMPTE optical monochrome test card (1950s?, 525-lines; 1962–1964, 625-lines)
 * Philips PM 5522, 5534, PM 5538, PM 5540, PM 5543, PM 5544, PM 5552, PM 5634, PM 5644 (1960s, 525- and 625-lines, PAL, PALplus, SECAM, NTSC), see Philips circle pattern
 * Telefunken T 05 (early-1960s, 625-lines)
 * EBU electronic monochrome test pattern (1960s?, 625-lines)
 * CBS/NBC color "bullseye" test patterns (c. 1964/65–early-1990s, NTSC)
 * Telefunken FuBK (late-1960s, PAL)
 * UEIT - Universal Electronic Test Chart (1970, SECAM)
 * HTV TR.0782 test card (1970s, SECAM, used in Hungary, Poland, East Germany and Romania)
 * EZO test card (1971, PAL, used in Czechoslovakia and Estonian SSR )
 * BNT electronic test card (1972, SECAM, used in Bulgaria)
 * TVE colour test card (1975, PAL)
 * SMPTE color bars (1977, NTSC, HDTV, SDTV)
 * EBU colour bars
 * Electronic Test Pattern 1 (1979, PAL)
 * Grundig VG 1001 (1980, PAL)
 * Toolcraft-Goodwood colour test card (c. 1980s–2000s?, PAL, used on various Australian commercial TV stations)
 * KCTV colour test cards (1970s?, mid-1990s, 2017, SECAM then PAL, used in North Korea)
 * Snell & Wilcox SW2 (1990s, TPG20/21 Test Pattern Generators) and SW4 "Zone Plate" (2000s, NTSC, PAL, SDTV)
 * GY/T 254-2011 test card (2011, HDTV, DTMB, used in Mainland China)

title: Test card


text:
Bennington, Vermont (disambiguation)

Bennington, Vermont is a town in Southeastern Vermont. It is the sixth-largest municipality in the state.

Bennington, Vermont may also refer to several places:
 * Old Bennington, Vermont, a historic village located within the town of Bennington
 * Bennington County, Vermont, a county in Southeastern Vermont
 * North Bennington, Vermont, a village located within the town of Bennington
 * Bennington (CDP), Vermont, the census-designated place that makes up downtown Bennington

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

title: Bennington, Vermont (disambiguation)


text:
618 BC

The year 618 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 136 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 618 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

 * King Qing of Zhou succeeds his father King Xiang of Zhou as ruler of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty.

Deaths

 * Duke Gong of Cao, ruler of the state of Cao

title: 618 BC


text:
651 BC

The year 651 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 103 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 651 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Middle East

 * King Ashurbanipal defeats the Babylonian army of his half brother Shamash-shum-ukin and surrounds the fortified city of Babylon. Beginning a 3-year siege during which the Assyrians will defeat Shamash-shum-ukin's allies.
 * King Teispes of Anshan (Persia) sends help to Shamash-shum-ukin but his heirs will later be obliged to accept Assyrian overlordship.

Asia

 * The Li Ji Unrest ends, resulting in the deaths of Li Ji, Xian, Xiqi and Zhuozi. After the revolt Duke Hui of Jin becomes ruler of the State of Jin.
 * Zhou Xiang Wang becomes king of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

Deaths

 * Li Ji, concubine and wife of Xian
 * Xian, ruler of the State of Jin
 * Xiqi, ruler of the State of Jin
 * Zhuozi, ruler of the State of Jin

title: 651 BC


text:
Franz Bäke

Franz Bäke (28 February 1898 – 12 December 1978) was a German officer and tank commander during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords of Nazi Germany. In post-war popular culture, Bäke was memorialised in the historical fiction series Panzer Aces by German author Franz Kurowski.

Early career and World War I
Born in 1898, Bäke volunteered for the German Army in May 1915 and was posted to an infantry regiment. Fighting on the Western Front, Bäke earned the Iron Cross 2nd Class in 1916. Bäke was discharged from military service in January 1919. From 1919 to 1921, Bäke served in the Freikorps Epp, a right-wing paramilitary unit named after Franz Ritter von Epp. In parallel, he studied medicine and dentistry and attained degree of Doctor of Medical Dentistry in 1923.

On 1 March 1933, Bäke joined the SA; his final rank within the SA was SA-Standartenführer as of August 1944. Bäke established his own dentistry practice in Hagen. In 1937 he was accepted into the reserves and was posted to a reconnaissance unit. In 1938, he was mobilized for full-time service as an officer and took part in the occupation of Czechoslovakia.

World War II
Bäke's unit took part in the invasion of Poland as part of the 1st Light Division, which was redesignated 6th Panzer Division in October 1939. With this unit, Bäke took part in the Battle of France and Operation Barbarossa. Following the encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, the division took part in the abortive attempt to relieve the 6th Army in Operation Winter Storm in December 1942 and then retreated to Kharkiv. In January 1943, Bäke was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. During the Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel) in July 1943, Bäke's unit fought near Belgorod, retreating to the Dniepr afterwards. For his actions during Operation Citadel, Bäke was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross.

On 1 November 1943, Bäke was appointed as a regimental commander. In December 1943, he was ordered to form an ad hoc reinforced tank regiment named Heavy Panzer Regiment Bäke. The regiment consisted of 46 Panther and 34 Tiger I tanks, supported by self-propelled artillery and a mechanized engineer battalion. In January 1944, Bäke commanded his regiment during the battles for the Balabonovka pocket. Bäke single-handedly destroyed three Soviet tanks during the battle with infantry weapons at close range, for which he received three Tank Destruction Badges. Next, the regiment was part of a relief effort in support of Group Stemmermann, encircled in the Cherkassy Pocket. For his actions during these battles, Bäke received the Swords to the Knight's Cross on 21 February 1944. In March, the regiment fought in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket.

In May 1944, Bäke was promoted to Oberst and later appointed commander of Panzer Brigade Feldherrnhalle. Bäke's unit attacked the U.S. 90th Infantry Division near Aumetz on the night of 7–8 September 1944. Bäke's command found itself poorly deployed and under sustained counter-attack from American infantry. By the evening of 8 September, Bäke had lost thirty tanks, sixty half-tracks, and nearly a hundred other vehicles in the lopsided battle. His infantry losses were also heavy, with the unit reporting to OB West that it had only nine armored vehicles and that unit strength was down to 25 per cent of the authorized establishment.

On 28 February 1945, Bäke transferred from reserve to active duty. On 10 March he was appointed commander of Panzer Division Feldherrnhalle 2, formally the 13th Panzer Division, and sent to Hungary. Bäke's division fought as part of the Panzer Corps Feldherrnhalle during the retreat through Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On 20 April, Bäke was promoted to Generalmajor and officially given command of the division. On 8 May 1945 he surrendered to American forces. Bäke was interned for two years; he was released in 1947. He returned to Hagen and resumed his dental practice. He died in 1978.

In popular culture
Bäke is one of many highly decorated tank commanders popularised by the German author Franz Kurowski in his historical fiction book series Panzer Aces, along with Kurt Knispel and Michael Wittmann. According to historians Ronald Smelser and Edward Davies, Kurowski is a "guru" among those who romanticise the German war effort on the Eastern Front. Smelser and Davies define gurus as "authors, [who] have picked up and disseminated the myths of the Wehrmacht in a wide variety of popular publications that romanticize the German struggle in Russia".

In Kurowski's retelling of the operation to relieve the Cherkassy Pocket, Bäke is able to establish a corridor to the trapped German forces, after fighting unit after unit of the Red Army. Kurowski writes: "when the Soviets launched their expected attack, they were wiped out by the exhausted Panzer soldiers". In another of Kurowski's accounts, while attempting to relieve the 6th Army encircled in Stalingrad, Bäke destroys 32 enemy tanks in a single engagement.

The historian Sönke Neitzel questions the number of "tank kills" attributed to various tank commanders. According to Neitzel, number of successes by highly decorated soldiers should be read with caution as it is rarely possible to determine reliably in the heat of the battle how many tanks were destroyed and by whom. Military historian Steven Zaloga uses the term "tank ace" in quotation marks in his 2015 work Armored Champion: The Top Tanks of World War II. Zaloga points out that most of the supposed panzer aces operated the Tiger I heavy tank on the Eastern Front; having advantages both in firepower and in armor, Tiger I was "nearly invulnerable in a frontal engagement" against any of the Soviet tanks of that time. A crew operating a Tiger could thus engage its opponents from a safe distance.

Zaloga also discusses the "romantic nonsense" of the popular perception of a tank versus tank engagement as an "armoured joust" – two opponents facing each other, – with the "more valiant or better-armed [one] the eventual victor". Most of the successful tank commanders were indeed "bushwahackers", having a battlefield advantage rather than a technical one. Zaloga concludes: "Most of the 'tank aces' of World War II were simply lucky enough to have an invulnerable tank with a powerful gun". (quotations marks in the original).

Awards
The 1st Army and 19th Army nominated Bäke for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds for his leadership of 106. Panzer-Brigade. The nomination was rejected by Heinrich Himmler in his role as commander-in-chief Army Group Oberrhein.
 * Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class (15 July 1916)
 * Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
 * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (26 September 1939)
 * Iron Cross (1939) 1st Class (1 June 1940)
 * Panzer Badge in Silver: four awards up to 4th Grade; in Special Grade (100)
 * 3 Tank Destruction Badges for Individual Combatants (17 July 1943)
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
 * Knight's Cross on 11 January 1943 as Major of the Reserves and commander of the II./Panzer-Regiment 11
 * Oak Leaves on 1 August 1943 as Major of the Reserves and commander of the II./Panzer-Regiment 11
 * Swords on 21 February 1944 as Oberstleutnant of the Reserves and commander of Panzer-Regiment 11

title: Franz Bäke


text:
676 BC

The year 676 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 78 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 676 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Greece

 * Kallisthenes of Laconia wins the stadion race at the 26th Olympic Games.

Middle East

 * The Elamite king Urtaku comes to power; during his reign relations between Elam and Babylonia worsen.

China

 * Zhou hui wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

title: 676 BC


text:
Imperial cult

An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejorative sense. The cult may be one of personality in the case of a newly arisen Euhemerus figure, or one of national identity (e.g., Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh or Empire of Japan) or supranational identity in the case of a multinational state (e.g., Imperial China, Roman Empire). A divine king is a monarch who is held in a special religious significance by his subjects, and serves as both head of state and a deity or head religious figure. This system of government combines theocracy with an absolute monarchy.

Ancient Egypt
The Ancient Egyptian pharaohs were, throughout ancient Egyptian history, believed to be incarnations of the deity Horus; thereby derived by being the son of Osiris, the afterlife deity, and Isis, goddess of marriage.

The Ptolemaic dynasty based its own legitimacy in the eyes of its Greek subjects on their association with, and incorporation into, the imperial cult of Alexander the Great.

Imperial China
In Imperial China, the Emperor was considered the Son of Heaven. The scion and representative of heaven on earth, he was the ruler of all under heaven, the bearer of the Mandate of Heaven, his commands considered sacred edicts. A number of legendary figures preceding the proper imperial era of China also hold the honorific title of emperor, such as the Yellow Emperor and the Jade Emperor.

Ancient Rome

Even before the rise of the Caesars, there are traces of a "regal spirituality" in Roman society. In earliest Roman times the King was a spiritual and patrician figure and ranked higher than the flamines (priestly order), while later on in history only a shadow of the primordial condition was left with the sacrificial rex sacrorum linked closely to the plebeian orders.

King Numitor corresponds to the regal-sacred principle in early Roman history. Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, was heroized into Quirinus, the "undefeated god", with whom the later emperors identified and of whom they considered themselves incarnations.

Varro spoke of the initiatory mystery and power of Roman regality (adytum et initia regis), inaccessible to the exoteric communality.

In Plutarch's Phyrro, 19.5, the Greek ambassador declared amid the Roman Senate he felt instead like being in the midst of "a whole assembly of Kings".

As the Roman Empire developed, the Imperial cult gradually developed more formally and constituted the worship of the Roman Emperor as a god. This practice began at the start of the Empire under Augustus, and became a prominent element of Roman religion.

The cult spread over the whole Empire within a few decades, more strongly in the east than in the west. Emperor Diocletian further reinforced it when he demanded the proskynesis and adopted the adjective sacrum for all things pertaining to the imperial person.

The deification of emperors was gradually abandoned after the Emperor Constantine I started supporting Christianity. However, the concept of the imperial person as "sacred" carried over, in a Christianized form, into the Byzantine Empire.

Ancient and Imperial Japan
In ancient Japan, it was customary for every clan to claim descendance from gods (ujigami) and the Imperial Family tended to define their ancestor as the dominant or most important kami of the time. Later in history, this was considered common practice by noble families, and the head members of the family, including that of the Imperial Family, were not seen to be divine. Rather than establish sovereignty by the manner of claimed godhood over the nation however, the Emperor and the Imperial Family stood as the bond between the heavens and the Earth by claims of descending from the Goddess Amaterasu, instead dealing in affairs related with the gods than any major secular political event, with few cases scattered about history. It was not until the Meiji period and the establishment of the Empire, that the Emperor began to be venerated along with a growing sense of nationalism. In the 16th, 19th, and 20th centuries, Japanese nationalist philosophers paid special attention to the emperor and believed devotion to him and other political causes that furthered the Japanese state was "the greatest virtue". However, in the 14th century, most religious figures and philosophers in Japan thought that excessive veneration of the state and the emperor would consign one to hell.
 * Arahitogami – the concept of a god who is a human being applied to the Emperor Shōwa (Emperor Hirohito as he was known in the Western World), until the end of World War II.
 * Ningen-sengen – the declaration with which the Emperor Shōwa, on New Year's Day 1946, (formally) declined claims of divinity, keeping with traditional family values as expressed in the Shinto religion.

Ancient Southeast Asia
Devaraja is the Hindu-Buddhist cult of deified royalty in Southeast Asia. It is simply described as Southeast Asian concept of divine king. The concept viewed the monarch (king) as the living god, the incarnation of the supreme god, often attributed to Shiva or Vishnu, on Earth. The concept is closely related to Indian concept of Chakravartin (wheel turning monarch). In politics, it is viewed as the divine justification of a king's rule. The concept gained its elaborate manifestations in ancient Java and Cambodia, where monuments such as Prambanan and Angkor Wat were erected to celebrate the king's divine rule on earth.

In the Mataram kingdom, it was customary to erect a candi (temple) to honor the soul of a deceased king. The image inside the garbhagriha (innermost sanctum) of the temple often portrayed the king as a god, since the soul was thought to be united with the god referred to, in svargaloka (heaven). It is suggested that the cult was the fusion of Hinduism with native Austronesian ancestor worship. In Java, the tradition of the divine king extended to the Kediri, Singhasari and Majapahit kingdoms in the 15th century. The tradition of public reverence to the King of Cambodia and King of Thailand is the continuation of this ancient devaraja cult.

Examples of divine kings in history
Some examples of historic leaders who are often considered divine kings are:
 * Africa
 * Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.
 * Shilluk Kingdom was ruled by a divine monarchy.
 * Ghanas (Kings) of the Empire of Ghana.
 * Asia
 * God Worshipping Society leader Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping Rebellion, claimed to be Christ's younger brother, and attempted to establish rule as a divine king.
 * Korean Buddhist monk Gung-ye, King of Taebong.
 * The Japanese emperors up to the end of World War II.
 * Javanese Kings during Hindu-Buddhist era (4th–15th centuries AD) such as Sailendra dynasty, Kediri, Singhasari and Majapahit.
 * Kings of Khmer Empire, Cambodia
 * Srivijaya kings
 * Americas
 * Kings of the Maya city-states of the Classical period
 * Sapa Incas in pre-Hispanic South America; considered descendants of the sun god Inti.
 * Oceania
 * Kings or Akua Alii of the Hawaiian Islands before 1839
 * Europe
 * Many Roman emperors were declared gods by the Roman Senate (generally after their death; see Roman imperial cult).

Fictional examples

 * In Warhammer 40,000, the Emperor of Mankind, immortal and perpetual ruler of the Imperium of Man, is worshiped as the deity of the state religion, although he waged a fierce campaign of strict state atheism until the Horus Heresy when the Emperor successfully defeated his fallen son, Horus Lupercal, but was mortally wounded and forced to be interned within the Golden Throne in order to survive.

title: Imperial cult


text:
677 BC

The year 677 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 77 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 677 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Deaths

 * King Xi of Zhou, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

title: 677 BC


text:
Maidstone

Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 mi east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, which is known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age. The town, part of the borough of Maidstone, had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since World War II, the town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards light industry and services.

Toponymy
Saxon charters dating back to c. 975 show the first recorded instances of the town's name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane, possibly meaning stone of the maidens or stone of the people. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which gatherings took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book of 1086, with possible variation Mayndenstan in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks.

History
Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, and the Romans have left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Today's suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times.

Maidstone played a key role during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The rebel priest, John Ball, had been imprisoned there and was freed by Kentish rebels under the command of Wat Tyler, who is reputed to have been a resident of the town.

Maidstone's charter as a town was granted in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river (in heraldic terms: Or, a fess wavy Azure between three roundels Gules, on a chief Gules a leopard passant gardant Or). Recently to these arms were added the head of a white horse (representing Invicta, the motto of the county of Kent), a golden lion and an iguanodon. The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of that dinosaur, now in the Natural History Museum in London. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604.

During the English Civil War, the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. Andrew Broughton, who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 (and also Clerk to the High Court of Justice) was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Broughton as 'Mayor and Regicide'.

Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper (Whatman paper) at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in the history of printing.

A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment.

Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819.

In 1897-1898 the Maidstone typhoid epidemic killed at least 132 people, and was the largest typhoid epidemic at the time. Hundreds of nurses from around the country volunteered to care for the patients, and several nurses were sent by Eva Luckes, matron of The London Hospital, including Edith Cavell.

Modern history
Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements (see Geography below).

The county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare and Hounds, was damaged by a bomb during an IRA campaign in England.

Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street. It is just to the north of Oakwood Hospital (originally the Kent County Asylum), which closed in the mid-1990s.

Residents are employed in the retail, administrative or service sectors; there are industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commute to other towns, including to London.

Members of Parliament
The town is divided between the constituencies of Maidstone and the Weald and Faversham and Mid Kent. Before 1997 Maidstone was in the county constituency of Maidstone. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and the Weald is Conservative Helen Grant. Previous MPs include Ann Widdecombe, Sir John Wells, Sir Alfred Bossom and Benjamin Disraeli. Since 2015 the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been Conservative Helen Whately. Prior to the 2015 election, the MP was Conservative Sir Hugh Robertson.

Local government
Kent County Council is responsible for social services, education, maintenance of and new infrastructure, fire services and minerals. It is elected every four years: Maidstone elects nine representatives, and villages are in the four rural wards.

The town is the main town of Maidstone borough, which includes the surrounding rural areas except to the north-west. The town is divided into the 12 local government wards of Allington, Bridge, Downswood and Otham, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Park Wood, Shepway North, Shepway South, South, and North. These wards have 30 of the 55 seats on Borough Council.

Maidstone Borough Council is responsible for services such as recreation, refuse collection, most planning decisions and social housing.

Geography
The town is six miles downstream from where the River Medway, having flowed in a generally west–east direction, is joined by the Rivers Teise and Beult at Yalding and changes its course to a northerly one. It cuts through the ridge formed by the greensand, so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills, the easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and higher, is Penenden Heath.

The River Len joins the Medway at Maidstone. Though a short river, it provided the water to drive numerous watermills. The Loose Stream, which rises at Langley and joins at Tovil, once powered over 30 mills. Mill ponds on these rivers are a prominent feature of the landscape.

Roads connecting to Sevenoaks and Ashford (the A20); the Medway Towns and Hastings (A229); Tonbridge (A26) and Tenterden (A274). All these roads were served by the Turnpike trusts in the 18th/19th centuries.

The two railway routes are not principal ones, in spite of Maidstone being the county town, due to an accident of history. There are two principal stations: Maidstone East, the more northerly of the two, on the secondary line from London to Ashford, and Maidstone West on the Medway Valley Line.

Maidstone has continued to grow. In doing so it has incorporated hitherto separate settlements, villages and hamlets within its boundaries. These include Allington, Barming, Bearsted, Penenden Heath, Sandling, Tovil and Weavering Street. Housing estates include Grove Green, Harbourland, Ringlestone, Roseacre, Shepway, Senacre and Vinters Park.

Maidstone was at one time a centre of industry, brewing and paper making being among the most important. Nowadays smaller industrial units encircle the town. The site of Fremlin's Brewery, once the largest in Kent, is now Fremlin Walk shopping centre. The pedestrianised areas of the High Street and King Street run up from the river crossing at Lockmeadow; Week Street and Gabriel's Hill bisect this route.

Climate
Kent experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office weather station for which online records are available is at East Malling, about three miles west of Maidstone.

East Malling's highest temperature of 37.4 C was recorded in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded is -17.8 C during January 1947 and 1972. East Malling also holds the record for the mildest January day in South East England, 17.4 C, also set in 2003. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was -10.7 C on 20 December 2010. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate).

Demography
In the 2001 UK census, Maidstone town wards had a population of 75,070, a density of 28 residents per hectare. The town had 31,142 households, of which 38% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 10% were cohabiting couples, and 9% were single-parent families. 14% of households had someone living alone of pensionable age.

The ethnicity was 96.6% white, 0.9% mixed race, 0.3% Chinese, 1.5% other Asian, 0.4% Black and 0.3% other. The place of birth was 94.1% United Kingdom (91.4% England), 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 0.6% Germany, 1.3% other European countries, 1.7% Asia, 0.9% Africa and 0.8% elsewhere.

Religion was 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion.

Industry
Until 1998, the Sharps toffee factory (later part of Cadbury Trebor Basset), was in central Maidstone and provided a significant source of employment.

Loudspeaker manufacturer KEF was founded in 1961 on the premises of the metal-working operation Kent Engineering & Foundry (hence KEF). KEF still occupies the same river-bank site. In the late 1990s KEF manufactured a loudspeaker called "the Maidstone".

The town centre has the largest office centre in the county and the area is a base for the paper and packaging industry. Many high-technology firms have set up in surrounding business parks.

Southern Water and Mid Kent Water operate the Maidstone water system.

Maidstone Borough Corporation began construction of Maidstone power station at Fairmeadow in 1900 and supplied electricity from 1901, firstly for street lighting then other uses. Upon nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948 ownership of the station passed to the British Electricity Authority and then to the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1966 the power station had a generating capacity of 13.125 MW and delivered 6,921 MWh of electricity. The CEGB later closed the station and it was demolished in 1973.

Shopping
The town is ranked in the top five shopping centres in the south-east of England for shopping yields and, with more than one million square feet of retail floor space, in the top 50 in the UK. Much of this space is located in the two main shopping centres in the town, the 535000 sqft The Mall Maidstone (previously known as The Chequers Centre) and the 32500 m2 Fremlin Walk which opened in 2005.

Other recent developments include the riverside Lockmeadow Centre, with a multiplex cinema, restaurants, nightclubs (now a trampoline park), and the town's market square. The leisure industry is a key contributor with the night-time economy worth £75m per annum.

Employment
In the 2001 UK census, 45.2% of residents aged 16–74 were employed full-time, 12.7% part-time, 7.6% self-employed and 2.5% unemployed, while 2.3% were students with jobs, 3.0% without jobs, 12.9% retired, 6.6% looking after home or family, 3.8% permanently sick or disabled and 3.2% economically inactive for other reasons. These figures were roughly in line with the national average.

Employment, by industry, was 19% retail; 13% real estate; 11% manufacturing; 9% construction; 7% transport and communications; 10% health and social work; 8% public administration; 7% education; 5% finance; 4% hotels and restaurants; 1% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 5% other. Compared to national figures, Maidstone had a high percentage of workers in construction and public administration, and a low percentage in agriculture.

According to the Office for National Statistics estimates, the average gross income of households between April 2001 and March 2002 was £595 per week (£31,000 per year).

Education
The town is served by 15 secondary schools, 23 primary schools, and two special schools. Non-selective secondary schools include Cornwallis Academy, The Maplesden Noakes School, New Line Learning Academy, St Augustine Academy, St. Simon Stock School and Valley Park School. Grammar schools serving the town include Maidstone Grammar School, Invicta Grammar School, Maidstone Grammar School for Girls and Oakwood Park Grammar School.

Alumni of the oldest school, Maidstone Grammar School (founded 1549), include James Burke, television presenter, and Lord Beeching, of the British railway cuts of the 1960s. William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies was once a teacher at the school.

The University for the Creative Arts (formerly Kent Institute of Art & Design) at which Turner Prize nominated artist Tracey Emin, fashion designer Karen Millen and television personality and artist Tony Hart studied, has a campus at the Maidstone TV Studios.

In the 2001 census, 15.7% of residents aged 16–74 had a higher education qualification or equivalent, below the national average of 19.9%. 27.5% had no academic qualifications, compared to the national figure of 28.9%.

Religion
In 2001, religions were 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, while 7.7% did not state their religion.

All Saints' Church in the town centre was the collegiate church of the College of All Saints built in 1395 next to the Archbishop's Palace. It contains a monument to Sir Jacob Astley, the Royalist Civil War soldier and a memorial to Lawrence Washington, great-uncle of George Washington's great-great-grandfather, that includes the stars and stripes in the family coat of arms The college, the church, the palace and the palace's tithe barn are all Grade I listed buildings.

Jubilee Church is an independent Maidstone-based Christian church which forms partnerships not only in Kent, but in Canada and Ukraine. In Ukraine it has held events with Ockert Potgieter of the Light of the World Church.

Twinning
A Twinning Association Committee meets every month. It organises annual trips to the Jeanne Hachette Festival in Beauvais. An annual sporting weekend is also held, with Maidstone and Beauvais taking it in turns to host the event.
 * Maidstone is twinned with Beauvais in Picardy, France.

Radio
The BBC Local Radio station which broadcast to the town is BBC Radio Kent on 96.7 FM.

There are several radio stations based in the town, or which broadcast to it. KMFM Maidstone, formerly CTR 105.6, is the local commercial station. It used to broadcast from studios on Mill Street, however now broadcasts from the studios of sister station KMFM Medway in Strood.

Maidstone Radio, which broadcast from the Maidstone Community Support Centre, has recently started broadcasting in December 2019 and is listed as a community radio station. The station currently airs online and on smart speaker devices.

Hospital Radio Maidstone, which broadcasts from Maidstone Hospital, started broadcasting in 1963.

Invicta FM (now Heart South), use to broadcast from Canterbury but had a second studio in Earl Street.

Television
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Bluebell Hill TV transmitter on the crest of the North Downs which is situated north of the town.

The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the UK's largest independent television studio complex. It is based at Vinters Park on New Cut Road. The studio complex first opened in late 1982, providing broadcasting and production output for Television South (TVS). The site was also used as a regional office and a news gathering hub, broadcasting the South East daily edition of Coast to Coast. TVS continued to use Maidstone until the end of their franchise, which they lost in 1991.

The studio complex is now home to two studios. Studio One, with 12,000 sqft space, is the flagship studio and has seen many national TV programmes such as Supermarket Sweep, Take Me Out and Catchphrase.

Newspapers
The town is served by the local newspaper, Kent Messenger which publishes on Fridays.

Theatre
Theatres include the Hazlitt Theatre; RiverStage; The Exchange Studio (previously the ‘‘Corn Exchange’’); and the Hermitage Millennium Amphitheatre.

Literature
Maidstone is mentioned several times in Ian Fleming's 1955 James Bond novel, Moonraker. Villain Hugo Drax passes through King Street and Gabriels Hill and later stops at the Thomas Wyatt Hotel.

Writer Jack London recounts his visit to Maidstone in his 1903 book The People of the Abyss. Whilst living in the slums of London in the summer of 1902, he heads to Maidstone in search of hop-picking work up the London Road. He finds lodgings with a "Sea Wife" living in the poor quarter of Maidstone, and persuades her and her husband to let him stay in their front room.

Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery
Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery is located in the town centre, near to the Fremlin Walk shopping centre. Operated by Maidstone Borough Council, the museum is open seven days a week, with free admission. The Museum & Art Gallery has a large collection of over 600,000 objects, including collections about ancient Egyptians; archaeology; costume; ethnography; biology; fine and decorative art; geology; Japanese decorative arts and prints; and local history. It also hosts temporary exhibitions.

The core of the museum is located within the former Chillington Manor, an Elizabethan manor house completed in 1577. New wings were added to the building in the 19th century. A striking gold-coloured extension was added in 2012 which has extended the display space by 40% but the modern design has divided opinion.

Kent Life
Kent Life, formerly the Museum of Kent Life, is an open-air rural life museum at Sandling, near Allington Locks, on the east bank of the River Medway. The museum includes a collection of historic buildings including a chapel, village hall and old houses. It also includes displays on agriculture, including a farm yard and farm animals.

Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages
The Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages is located in a Grade I Listed tithe barn near the Archbishop's Palace. The museum was established by Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, a former mayor of Maidstone, who amassed a large collection of horse-drawn vehicles.

Martian crater
Following the NASA tradition of naming craters on Mars after small towns, the Maidstone crater was added to the list of Martian geographical features in 1976.

Football
Maidstone United was formed in 1897. The club gained promotion to the Football League in 1989, from non-league football. The club could not bring its London Road Ground up to Football League standards so it ground-shared at Dartford's Watling Street stadium and played its games there. It went bankrupt in 1992. A new club was formed and made its way from the Kent County League Division 4 to the Isthmian (Ryman) Premier Division, in 2014 being in the Ryman Premier Division. The club moved into the new Gallagher Stadium at James Whatman Way in summer 2012. Maidstone United currently play in the National League South, the second highest non-league division and the sixth tier of English football. In 2024, Maidstone beat Championship team Ipswich in the 4th round of the FA cup, being the lowest league team to make it to the 5th round of the FA cup since 1977.

Hockey
Maidstone Hockey Club is one of the oldest hockey clubs in the country, founded in 1878. For the 2011–12 season, the Ladies' 1st XI play in the National League East Conference, having won the East Premier League the previous season, and the Men's 1st XI play in the South Hockey League 1st XI Premier League Division 2. The Men's and Women's 1st squad were both represented in the Indoor England Hockey League Division 2, with the Men having previously won the Division 2 title in 2008–09. The club has seven men's and four women's sides playing in national, regional and county leagues.

Rugby union
Maidstone Rugby Football Club is one of the older rugby clubs in England, having been founded in 1880. The club runs 6 senior men's sides and a junior section. In the 2014–15 season they were unbeaten and won the National RFU Intermediate Cup at Twickenham Stadium.

Cricket
Kent County Cricket Club used Mote Park as a regular out-ground for some 150 years until 2005. Mote Park is the town's largest park and includes a number of recreational and sport facilities. The Lashings World XI exhibition cricket team is based in Maidstone and has included a number of high-profile professional cricketers.

Other sports
Maidstone Sailing Club sails on Mote Park lake. Maidstone also has a rowing club, a martial arts school, a tennis club, an athletics club, an American football team and a basketball club.

A baseball team, the Kent Mariners, is based in the town, playing in the BBF AA South division.

Notable people

 * Dan Abnett (born 1965), author
 * William Alexander (1767–1816), painter
 * Edward Balston (1817–1891), head master of Eton College
 * Angela Barnes (born 1976), actress and comedian, grew up in Maidstone.
 * Robert Blatchford (1851–1943), socialist campaigner, journalist and author
 * Daniel Blythe (born 1969), author
 * Julius Brenchley (1816–1873), explorer
 * Chris Broad (born 1990), YouTuber, filmmaker and podcast host
 * Georgina Campbell (born 1992), actress
 * Michael Chaplin (born 1943), artist and author
 * Graham Chapman (1941–1989), actor
 * Bill Cockcroft (living), former Chief Scout Commissioner of England
 * Mackenzie Crook (born 1971), actor
 * Thomas Culpeper (c. 1514 – 1541), purported lover of Queen Catherine Howard
 * David Edwards (born 1962), journalist
 * Jesse Ellis (1846–1916), engineer and pioneer of steam wagons
 * Ernest Elmore (1901–1957), novelist
 * Robert Fisk (1946–2020), journalist and author
 * Guy Fletcher (born 1960), musician
 * Samantha Giles (born 1971), actress
 * Albert Goodwin (1845–1932), artist
 * Tamsin Greig (born 1966), actress
 * Alexander Henry Green (1832–1896), geologist
 * William Grocyn (c. 1446 – 1519), theologian
 * Christopher Newman Hall (1816–1902), priest and anti-slavery campaigner
 * Tony Hart (1925–2009), artist and TV presenter
 * William Hazlitt (1778–1830), essayist and critic
 * Edmund Walker Head (1805–1868), colonial administrator
 * Noel Howlett (1902–1984), actor
 * John Jenkins (1592–1678), composer
 * Bill Lewis (born 1953), artist, poet and mythographer
 * Malcolm MacDonald (1901–1981), diplomat and politician
 * Carol McGiffin (born 1960), broadcaster
 * John Monckton (1832–1902), lawyer, Town Clerk of London 1873–1902
 * Nicky Moore (born 1947), rock and blues musician
 * Frederic J. Mouat (1816–1897), surgeon
 * Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham (1762–1823), philanthropist and abolitionist
 * John Orrell (1934–2003), theatre historian and professor
 * Anthony Pawson (1952–2013), microbiologist
 * Mike Ratledge (born 1943), musician
 * William Shipley (1715–1803), founder of the Royal Society of Arts
 * James Smith (1871–1946), recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * Ralph Steadman (born 1936), illustrator
 * Simon Stock (13th c.), monk and saint
 * Tallulah, (1948 – 28 March 2008), DJ
 * George Tolhurst (1927–1977), composer
 * Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake (1881–1964), twelve times mayor of Maidstone and owner of Maidstone Zoo
 * Shaun Williamson (born 1965), actor
 * Peter Wolfe (born 1968), musician
 * William Woollett (1735–1785), engraver
 * Nan Youngman (1906–1995), painter
 * John Watkins (1834–1902), Mormon pioneer and Utah architect
 * James Whatman (1702–1759), paper maker and mill owner
 * Susanna Whatman (1753–1814), daughter-in-law of James Whatman (senior) and mistress of Turkey Court
 * Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), poet and politician

Sports

 * Jon Harley (born 1979), association footballer
 * Doug Loft (born 1986), footballer
 * Natalie O'Connor (born 1982), British international trampoline athlete
 * Joe Pigott (born 1993), footballer
 * Alessia Russo (born 1999), footballer
 * Andy Townsend (born 1963), footballer
 * Scott Wagstaff (born 1990), footballer

title: Maidstone


text:
681 BC

The year 681 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 73 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 681 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Middle East

 * King Sennacherib of Assyria is assassinated by one or two of his sons in the temple of the god Ninurta at Kalhu (Northern Mesopotamia) after a 24-year reign in which he defeated the Babylonians, made Nineveh (modern Iraq) a showplace, and diverted the waters of the Tigris River into a huge aqueduct to supply the city with irrigation.
 * Sennacherib's second wife, Naqi'a (Zakitu), uses her wiles and influences to have the imperial council appoint her son Esarhaddon as her husband's successor in preference to the young man's two older brothers, who flee to Urartu (Armenia). Esarhaddon, unlike his father, is friendly toward Babylon and orders her reconstruction.

Asia

 * Xi of Zhou becomes king of the Zhou Dynasty (China).

Deaths

 * Sennacherib, king of Assyria

title: 681 BC


text:
Talk:Franz Bäke

Untitled
Why is this person of interest? Did he do something noteworthy during his military career? Before? After? Vicki Rosenzweig

Yes Susan Mason

Slipshod recherche!
What "IR3" in Cologne ? What "IR11" at all ? Was he promoted from "Gefreiter" to "Vizefeldwebel?"!!?

It seems, you have no idea. If you think, Baeke is noteworthy, one should expect a better recherched article about this person. Greetings, Werner

Panzer Brigade 106
"In battles against General George Patton's US Third Army, Bäke's brigade fought with spirit, halting several attacks and destroying many American tanks." In what alternate reality did this happen? Panzer Brigades first and only really known action against Third Army was the attack against the 90th Division and was an utter debacle with the unit losing upwards of 75% of its tanks and infantry in a single day. Although it was rebuilt and continued to serve, it basically disappears from history for the rest of the war in the west. Even Panzer Aces, which has 70 page chapter on him, devote a pitiful 3 paragraphs (half a page) to his time in France (also doesn't even mention the debacle with the 90th Division attack).

I'm not sure where these multiple attacks by 3rd Army which were halted with many US tanks destroyed by 106 occurred or when.Wokelly (talk) 03:46, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Doesn't help with Bäke's time with the unit, but the 106th later went to the Nineteenth Army in Alsace and only played minor roles there. Bäke, meanwhile, had apparently big moved away from the Western Front to other roles.  Rolf Stoves' Die gepanzerten und motorisierten deutschen Grossverbände 1935 - 1945 on p. 322 mentions the "destruction" of a U.S. tank battalion by the 106th Brigade sometime between 7 and 11 September 1944 (according to other sources, this apparently occurred on 9 September) around the area between Oberkorn and Dippach, Luxembourg.  Stoves states 26 U.S. tanks and 8 armored cars were destroyed in this battle. My guess is that this is what the Bäke article is mentioning. I'd have to look at other sources to see if I can find any confirmation of Stoves' statement, the location of the battle points to either the 90th Division to the south or the 5th Armored Division to the north. This page shows the situation map of 12 September 1944. W. B. Wilson (talk) 12:21, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
 * This page includes commentary by Steve Zaloga about the battle the Germans claim to have fought near Oberkorn-Dippach. W. B. Wilson (talk) 12:42, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
 * I went over the AAR of the 712th Tank Battalion (too far to the SW on 9 September) and the history of the 5th Armored Division. No losses of this kind mentioned by these documents or in the U.S. official history volumes "The Lorraine Campaign" and "The Siegfried Line Campaign". In fact, all tank losses of the 5th AD for the entire month of September are less than what the Germans claimed. Maybe the Germans fought a tank destroyer unit, but I think it more likely that the German claims were exaggerated in their AAR, and that subsequent looks by historians of the 106th Panzer Brigade uncritically accepted these claims and that is why these claims are seen in some books and also here at Wikipedia. W. B. Wilson (talk) 13:36, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the info. Only thing I was able to find was this thread: http://www.ww2f.com/topic/21835-franz-b%C3%A4ke/page-2. Good stuff from a guy in Luxembourg half way down, but not exactly material you can cite here on Wiki. Wokelly (talk) 16:57, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

 * Thanks for mentioning that thread. I thought I had looked at this action at some point before, but forgot it at some point in the last four years. Yes, Caranorn was a good man to correspond with. W. B. Wilson (talk) 17:52, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Franz Bäke


text:
682 BC

The year 682 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 72 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 682 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Middle East

 * Urtaki succeeds Shilnak-Inshushinak as the king of Elam.
 * This is the last year of the reign of Sennacherib, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Deaths

 * Zhou zhuang wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

title: 682 BC


text:
Invicta

Invicta (Latin for "unvanquished") may refer to:

Companies

 * Invicta (company), an Italian outdoor equipment manufacturer
 * Invicta Bus Services, a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia
 * Invicta International Airlines, a UK charter airline from 1965 to 1982
 * Invicta Watch Group, a Florida-based watch company
 * Invicta Plastics, a British plastic business; holder of the rights to Mastermind

Places

 * Porto, also known as the cidade invicta (unvanquished city)
 * Invicta Park Barracks, a military installation in Maidstone, Kent
 * Invicta Grammar School, academy in Maidstone, Kent, England

Music

 * Invicta (Hit the Lights album), 2012
 * Invicta (The Enid album), 2012
 * Radio Invicta (London), a 1970s/1980s pirate radio station in London
 * Radio 390 (formerly Invicta), a 1960s offshore radio station
 * Invicta Radio (now Heart Kent), a licensed radio station in Kent

Transportation

 * Invicta (car), a British make of car
 * Buick Invicta, a car made by American manufacturer Buick from 1959 to 1963, and 2008 concept car
 * Invicta (locomotive), an early steam locomotive
 * SS Invicta, a number of ships with this name
 * Invicta (sailboat), a fibreglass hulled sailboat

Related to the English county of Kent

 * Invicta (motto), motto of the county of Kent, England
 * White horse of Kent, also known as Invicta, the prancing horse symbol
 * List of organisations in Kent named Invicta

Sports

 * Invicta Ground, a former football stadium in Plumstead, England, closed ca. 1894
 * Invicta Fighting Championships, an American mixed martial arts organization focused on female fighters
 * Kent Invicta, a defunct rugby team
 * Maidstone Invicta, founding name of Maidstone United Football Club
 * Folkestone Invicta, a football club based in Folkestone, Kent

title: Invicta


text:
696 BC

The year 696 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 58 Ab urbe condita . The denomination 696 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Europe

 * Cimmerian forces begin a conquest of Phrygia (modern Turkey), having failed in their efforts to defeat the Assyrians and moved into Anatolia.
 * Possible migration of the Armenians (approximate date).
 * Pantacles of Athens wins the stadion race at the 21st Olympic Games.

Asia

 * Zhou Zhuang Wang becomes king of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

title: 696 BC


text:
Arteriosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis, literally meaning "hardening of the arteries", is an umbrella term for a vascular disorder characterized by abnormal thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries; this process gradually restricts the blood flow to one's organs and tissues and can lead to severe health risks brought on by atherosclerosis, which is a specific form of arteriosclerosis caused by the buildup of fatty plaques, cholesterol, and some other substances in and on the artery walls (it can be brought on by smoking, a bad diet, or many genetic factors).

Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke, with multiple genetic and environmental contributions. Genetic-epidemiologic studies have identified a long list of genetic and non-genetic risk factors for CAD. However, such studies indicate that family history is the most significant independent risk factor.

Signs and symptoms
The signs and symptoms of arteriosclerosis depend on the vessel affected by the disease. If affecting cerebral or ophthalmic vessels, as in cerebrovascular accidents or transient ischemic attacks, signs and symptoms may include sudden weakness, facial or lower limb numbness, confusion, difficulty understanding speech, and problems seeing. If affecting coronary vessels, as in coronary artery disease (including acute myocardial ischemia or a "heart attack"), signs and symptoms may include chest pain.

Pathophysiology
The lesions of arteriosclerosis begin as the intima (innermost layer of blood vessel wall) of the arterial wall start to fill up with the deposition of cellular wastes. As these start to mature, they can take different forms of arteriosclerosis. All are linked through common features such as the stiffening of arterial vessels, thickening of arterial walls and degenerative nature of the disease.
 * Arteriolosclerosis, unlike atherosclerosis, is a sclerosis that only affects small arteries and arterioles, which carry nutrients and blood to the cells.
 * Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of arteries from a buildup of plaque, usually made up of cholesterol, fatty substances, cellular waste products, calcium, and fibrin, inside the arteries. This affects large and medium-sized arteries; however, its positioning varies person to person.
 * Monckeberg's arteriosclerosis or medial calcific sclerosis is seen mostly in the elderly, commonly in arteries of the extremities.
 * Hyperplastic: Hyperplastic arteriosclerosis refers to the type of arteriosclerosis that affects large and medium-sized arteries.
 * Hyaline type: Hyaline arteriosclerosis, also referred to as arterial hyalinosis and arteriolar hyalinosis, refers to lesions that are caused by the deposition of homogenous hyaline in the small arteries and arterioles.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of an individual suspected of having arteriosclerosis can be based on a physical exam, blood test, EKG and the results of these tests (among other exams).

Treatment
Treatment is often in the form of preventive measures of prophylaxis. Medical therapy is often prescribed to help prevent arteriosclerosis for underlying conditions, such as medications for the treatment of high cholesterol (e.g., statins, cholesterol absorption inhibitors), medications to treat high blood pressure (e.g., ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers), and antiplatelet medications. Lifestyle changes are also advised, such as increasing exercise, stopping smoking, and moderating alcohol intake. There are a variety of types of surgery:
 * Angioplasty and stent placement: A catheter is first inserted into the blocked or narrowed part of the artery, followed by a second one with a deflated balloon that is passed through the catheter into the narrowed area. The balloon is then inflated, pushing the deposits back against the arterial walls, and then a mesh tube is usually left behind to prevent the artery from retightening.
 * Coronary artery bypass surgery: This surgery creates a new pathway for blood to flow to the heart. The surgeon attaches a healthy piece of vein to the coronary artery, just above and below the blockage to allow bypass.
 * Endarterectomy: This is the general procedure for the surgical removal of plaque from the artery that has become narrowed or blocked.
 * Thrombolytic therapy: This is a treatment used to break up masses of plaque inside the arteries via intravenous clot-dissolving medicine.

Epidemiology
In 2008, the US had an estimate of 16 million atherosclerotic heart disease and 5.8 million strokes. Cardiovascular diseases that were caused by arteriosclerosis also caused almost 812,000 deaths in 2008, more than any other cause, including cancer. About 1.2 million Americans are predicted to have a heart attack each year.

History
The diagnostics and clinical implications of this disease were not recognized until the 20th century. Many cases have been observed and recorded, and Jean Lobstein coined the term arteriosclerosis while he was analyzing the composition of calcified arterial lesions.

The name "arteriosclerosis" is derived the Greek words ἀρτηρία (artēría, artery) and σκληρωτικός (sklērōtikós, hardened).

title: Arteriosclerosis


text:
Cathedral Square

Cathedral Square may refer to:

 * Cathedral Square at St John's Cathedral (Brisbane) Australia
 * Cathedral Square, Christchurch, New Zealand
 * Cathedral Square, Gibraltar
 * Cathedral Square, Glasgow, Scotland
 * Cathedral Square, Letterkenny, Ireland
 * Cathedral Square, Moscow, Russia
 * Cathedral Square Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
 * Cathedral Square, Mobile, Alabama, United States
 * Cathedral Square, Perth, Australia
 * Cathedral Square, Vilnius, Lithuania
 * Praça da Sé, São Paulo, Brazil
 * Cathedral Square station, a light rail station on Sacramento, California, United States

title: Cathedral Square