text:
Shrewsbury School

Shrewsbury School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury.

Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsbury School is one of the seven public schools subject to the Public Schools Act 1868 and one of the nine schools reviewed by the Clarendon Commission between 1861 and 1864.

It was originally a boarding school for boys, girls have been admitted into the Sixth Form since 2008 and the school has been co-educational since 2015. As of Michaelmas Term 2023, the school has 842 pupils: 522 boys and 320 girls. There are seven boys' houses and five girls' houses.

The present site, to which the school moved in 1882, is on the south bank of the River Severn.

Circumstances of the foundation
Since Saxon times the Collegiate Churches of were providing education in the town, complemented by the foundation of Shrewsbury Abbey in the 11th century.
 * St Chad (traditionally founded in Shrewsbury when it was known as Pengwern, either by the royal family of the Kingdom of Powys in the 6th century; or by Offa, king of Mercia in the 8th century, ) and
 * St Mary (established by King Edgar in the 10th century)

These were all broken up in the Reformation,  although there is a mention of a grammar school at Shrewsbury in a court case of 1439.

Shrewsbury School was founded in response to those interruptions to the town's ancient traditions in education in the Reformation: the disruption caused significant local ill feeling, and by 1542, townspeople were beginning to petition Henry VIII for remedy. They devised a scheme hoping to use the proceeds from the dissolution of Shrewsbury Abbey for a renewed provision of education. They were not immediately successful. The statesman Sir Rowland Hill (who published the Geneva Bible and is reputed to be the inspiration for the hero of Shakespeare's As You Like It of the same name, had the grant of certain of the abbey's holdings) was involved in the founding petitions.

Also involved in the founding petitions was Reginald Corbet (who married Hill's heiress, Alice Gratewood), a justice of the peace for Shropshire and commissioner for chantries in the county, who was paid ten shillings in 1548 "for a supplication exhibited to the Lord Chancellor to obtain a free school." Significantly, there was also a receipt of 20 pence to bribe the Lord Chancellor's servant to win his ear.

Foundation and early years

Shrewsbury School was founded by charter granted by King Edward VI on 10 February 1552.

The school began operation in a house and land purchased from John Proude in 1551, together with three rented half-timbered buildings, which included Riggs Hall, built in 1450. These are now the only remaining part of the original buildings occupied by the institution. Archaeological excavations of the sites of these first buildings in 1978 revealed finds going back to the Saxon period, along with relics of the school, now in the town collections.

The early curriculum was based on Continental Calvinism under its foundational headmaster, Thomas Ashton (appointed 1562). Prior to his appointment a special license had been obtained from Mathew Parker, Elizabeth I's first Archbishop of Canterbury, on the grounds that that Ashton not being available would damage the progress of the school's foundation. Ashton was a contemporary of Roger Ascham at St John's, Cambridge: Ascham was a writer on theories of education and served in the administrations of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, having earlier acted as Elizabeth's tutor in Greek and Latin between 1548 and 1550.

Early pupils were taught the catechism of Calvin. The school attracted large numbers of pupils from Protestant families in Shropshire, North Wales and beyond, with 266 boys on its roll at the end of 1562.

Early pupils lodged with local families. For example, Sir Philip Sidney (who had a well-known correspondence with his father about his schooling)  lodged in the castle ward with George Leigh, who had been Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury. In this period Elizabeth I's favourite Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester also visited the school to see his nephew Thomas Sidney and attended a service at St Mary's Church.

Sidney attended the school along with his lifelong friend Fulke Greville (later Lord Brooke), The literary output of these school-day associations became significant: in 1579 Francis Bacon joined their circle, which also included Mary Sidney (Philip's brother, by then Countess of Pembroke).

Having achieved a reputation for excellence under Ashton, in 1571 the school was augmented by Elizabeth I. By 1581, the school had 360 pupils and was described by William Camden in 1582 as "the best filled [school] in all England"; the population of the town grew by about 5% when the boarders returned during term time during this period. In 1585 the schoolboys stood in battle array with bows and arrows by the castle gates when the Earl of Essex entered the town.

Ashton resigned his headmastership in 1568. From 1571, Ashton was in the service of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, was involved in the education of his son the 2nd Earl, and was employed in confidential communications with Queen Elizabeth I and the Privy Council.

Ashton returned to Shrewsbury in 1578 where he had been ordered by an Indenture of Elizabeth I to set out the ordinances governing the school, which were in force until 1798. Under these regulations, the borough bailiffs (mayors after 1638) had the power to appoint masters, with Ashton's old St John's College, Cambridge having an academic veto. Shrewsbury has retained links with the college, with the continued appointment of Johnian academics to the Governing Body, and the historic awarding of "closed" Shrewsbury Exhibitions.

Scholars from the school were from time to time employed by the local community to draw and witness bonds for illiterate tradesmen in this period; for instance Richard Langley (whose father, a prosperous tailor, had purchased the Shrewsbury Abbey site after the dissolution), could remember being asked by a cooper in 1556 to witness a bond "at what time he was a scholar in the free school of Shrewsbury" aged about fifteen.

1600s
In 1608 the town and the school were in fierce dispute about who should be appointed second master. The headmaster, John Meighen, wished to promote the third master, Ralph Gittins; the town wished to appoint Simon Moston on the recommendation of St John's College, whose fellows had a say in the appointment of new masters. When the town's bailiffs came to install their preferred candidate on 31 August 1608, the building had already been occupied by about 60 women from the town (including three spinsters, two widows, the wives of mercers, tailors, weavers, butchers, shoemakers, tanners, glovers, carpenters and coopers) taking the headmaster's side and preferring Gittins on the basis that only the son of a burgess could serve as second master. Jamming the school benches against the doors, they barricaded themselves in the school until the following Saturday, passing a "great hammer" between themselves which had been used to gain entry to the school. The authorities sought to read the Statute on Rebellion, but the women made such a noise nobody could hear it. The incident provoked a mass of litigation in the courts of Chancery and Star Chamber in Westminster.

A house (today called Stone Grange) was also built for the school in 1617 in the nearby village of Grinshill as a retreat in times of plague.

The stone buildings on Castle Gates, including a chapel, dormitories, library and classrooms were completed by 1630, with the Ashton's successor, John Meighen, founding a chained library in 1606, though the library had begun making acquisitions by 1596, with a terrestrial globe by the first English globe maker Emery Molineux being its first acquisition. The book cases (with the books chained to them) in the library projected from the walls between the windows on both sides of the room forming alcoves for study: an arrangement that may still be seen in the Duke Humphrey's Library—the completion of this room was celebrated by the masters and Bailiffs on 1 October 1612 by taking cake and wine in the new space.

Civil War
Shrewsbury was occupied on behalf of the King during the Civil War, who briefly made the town his capital from September 1642. A council of war was appointed for the whole district, of which Lord Capel was president. This council held its meetings in the school library, and some of the school's books were damaged during this time.

A contentious "Royal Loan" was made to Charles I around September 1642 of £600 (around 75% of the money in the school exchequer at the time); a further £47 was lent to the corporation of the town. The loan was acknowledged under seal by the king in the following terms: Charles Rex

Trusty and well beloved we greet you well. Whereas ye have, out of your good affection to our present service and towards the supply of our extraordinary occasions, lent unto us the sum of £600, being a stock belonging to your school founded by our royal predecessor King Edward the Sixth, in this our Town of Shrewsbury. We do hereby promise that we shall cause the same to be truly repaid unto you whensoever ye shall demand the same, and shall always remember the loan of it as a very acceptable service unto us. Given under our Signet at our Court at Shrewsbury this nth of October, 1642.

To our trusty and well beloved Richard Gibbons, late Mayor of our Town of Shrewsbury, and Thomas Chaloner, Schoolmaster of our Free School there. This was considered a misappropriation of the school's funds. This was litigated in the Court of Chancery and before the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal by the corporation of the town after the end of the civil war. The record of the royal loan in the school register at the time of the November audit of 1642, was torn out by the time this was before the courts. The taken funds were never recovered.

During the Commonwealth period following the execution of Charles I, Richard Baxter suggested the establishment of a university to serve Wales at Shrewsbury, utilising the school's premises, but due to lack of financial provision it came to nothing. Had that scheme come to fruition the town of Shrewsbury would have the third oldest university in England behind Oxford and Cambridge.

Restoration and 1700s

The history of the school between 1664 and 1798 is not easily available, as the registers and papers between these periods have been lost for many years. Nevertheless, diplomat Richard Hill, Baron Digby Governor of King's County in Ireland, Robert Price, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, poet and politician Arthur Maynwaring and Thomas Bowers, Bishop of Chichester, attended the school at this time.

Celia Fiennes visited the school in 1698 and recorded the school as follows: "Here are three free schooles together, built of free stone, 3 Large roomes to teach the Children, wth severall masters. Ye first has 150£ a year ye second 100 ye third 50£ a year and teach Children from reading English till fit for ye University, and its free for Children not only of ye town but for all over England if they Exceed not ye numbers... ".

In the early eighteenth century, Daniel Defoe also visited the school, noting: "Here is a good Free-school, the most considerable in this Part of England; founded by King Edward VI and endowed by Queen Elizabeth, with a very sufficient Maintenance for a Chief or Headmaster, and three Under-masters or Ushers. The Buildings, which are of Stone, are very spacious, particularly the Library, which has a great many Books in it. The School-masters have also very handsome Houses to dwell in; for that the Whole has the Face of a College."

A wing was added to the buildings on the original site during the Georgian period, connected to Rigg's Hall and spanning the old town wall. Although this building was listed at grade two it was demolished around 100 years after the school had vacated the building when Shropshire County Council, who operated the buildings as a public library were engaged in major restorations works in the 1980s because the structure was by then unsound.

In 1798, a specific Act of Parliament, The Shrewsbury School Act, was passed for the better government of the school. The act contains an oath to be taken by the governors, and confirmed Lord Chancellor as visitor (as for all Royal foundations).

This statutory scheme was later amended by the Court of Chancery, in 1853.

1800s
The school had just three headmasters during the 19th century.

Samuel Butler was appointed headmaster in 1798. Writing at this time he observed: "This school was once the Eton or the Westminster of Wales and all Shropshire", and under his leadership the school's reputation, which had receded from the Civil War, again grew. In 1839 an incident known as the "Boiled Beef Row" took place, where the boys walked out of the school in protest at the food, and the praepostors were all removed from office. In this period (1818–1825) Charles Darwin attended the school.

Butler was succeeded by his pupil Benjamin Hall Kennedy (of Latin Primer fame) in 1836, who in turn gave way to Henry Whitehead Moss in 1866.

The school's original Castle Gates premises had little in way of provision for games. Under Dr Butler, there were two fives courts and playgrounds in front of and behind the buildings, but after the arrival of Dr Kennedy football was permitted, for which the school acquired a ground in Coton Hill (north of Castle Gates).

Under Butler and Kennedy, Shrewsbury was one of three provincial schools among the nine studied by the Clarendon Commission of 1861–64 (the schools considered being Eton, Charterhouse, Harrow, Rugby, Westminster, and Winchester, and two day schools: St Paul's and Merchant Taylors). Shrewsbury went on to be included in the Public Schools Act 1868, which ultimately related only to the boarding schools.

The school continued in the 1600s buildings on its original site, until it was relocated in 1882, when Moss moved the school from its original town centre location to a new site of 150 acre in Kingsland (an area of land which at one time belonged to the Crown and granted to the Corporation at "a rather remote period, the exact date of which appears not to be known", but apparently before 1180 ), on the south bank of the River Severn overlooking the town. A legacy of this move can be seen in the school premises being referred to as "The Site".

In the later Renaissance, this land had been devoted to elaborate performances, with grand arbours being built by the guilds. Some of the arbours survive, such as the for the Shoemakers (now in the Quarry Park).

The school was relocated in the current Main School Building which dates from 1765 and had at different times housed a foundling hospital and the Shrewsbury workhouse, before translating to this current use. In order to meet this new purpose, it was remodelled by Sir Arthur Blomfield (whose other educational commissions include Marlborough College and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford).

At this time, the original premises were converted to a public Free Library and Museum by the Shrewsbury Borough Council, opening in their new role in 1885; over the course of the 20th century the library purpose gradually took over the whole building, to which major restoration was done in 1983.

Blomfield also designed School House, to the east of the Main School building which was constructed during the 1880s. The new Riggs Hall (which had existed from Tudor buildings at the old site ) was also built at this time, as was Churchill's Hall and Moser's Hall: these buildings are the work of William White.

A gothic chapel was built for the school (also by Blomfield) in 1887, though it has been noted that "Christian religion played only a very small part in the life of the Public Schools... [and] at Shrewsbury the Governors refused to allow Butler to address the school at a service" prior to this increased focus in the Victorian period. Its south and east windows in the chapel are by Kempe, employing medieval narrative style for lives of saints, scenes from the history of the school.

Other buildings have since grown up around the edge of the site, with sports pitches in the centre, with diverse buildings being added to the new site over the last 130 years.

1900s

The main school building suffered a major fire in 1905. Moss was succeeded in 1908 by Cyril Alington, then Master in College at Eton. Alington, though a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, was a sportsman, evidenced by the 1914 appointment as his secretary of Neville Cardus, the future cricket journalist who had joined the school in 1912 as the school's assistant cricket professional.

At the time of his appointment as Headmaster, Alington was younger than any of the masters on the staff, so to bring in new blood into the teaching staff, he recruited several former Collegers from Eton, most notably The Rev. Ronald Knox. Alington wrote the school song and commissioned its flag (a banner of arms of its coat of arms), and he was an energetic builder; the school Alington Hall (assembly hall) is named after him. In December 1914 he wrote a poem, "To the School at War", which was published in The Times. After leaving Shrewsbury, Alington went on to serve as Chaplain to the King to King George V from 1921 until 1933, and then Dean of Durham, from 1933 to 1951. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine on 29 June 1931. "An accomplished classicist, a witty writer especially of light verse, and a priest of orthodox convictions ..."

During the Edwardian period Oldham's Hall was built (1911).

First World War and afterwards

The First World War saw 321 former members of the school die serving their country. A war memorial was added to the school in 1923 for these fallen. This memorial was added to after the Second World War to include the 135 members of the school who fell in that conflict. The monument includes a statue of Sir Phillip Sidney, the Elizabeth soldier, poet and courtier (who himself was an alumnus of the school and died of wounds sustained at the Battle of Zutphen in 1586), and faces the Main School building down an avenue of linden trees, known as 'central'.

The current library building was added in 1916.

Mountaineer Andrew Irvine, who, with George Mallory may have reached the summit of Mount Everest in the 1924 British Everest Expedition attended Shrewsbury during the First World War. During the 1920s the Georgian villa houses at Severn Hill and Ridgemount were acquired by the school and adapted into boarding houses. Severn Hill, the linear decedent of the house of which Irvine was captain, holds his ice axe from the expedition, discovered in 1933 by Wyn Harris.

Post Second World War
Between 1944 and 1950 John Wolfenden (later Lord Wolfenden) was headmaster; he left Shrewsbury to become Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading. He was appointed to various public body chairmanships by the Privy Council, and also went on to be director of the British Museum. His name is closely associated with the 1957 Wolfenden Report, which he chaired.

In 1952, the school was 400 years old. It received a royal visit to mark the occasion, and presented the town with a new cross for the historic site of the town's high cross (which had been removed in 1705) at the termination of the market street which was a starting point for civic and religious processions in the medieval town and a significant location (the place of execution of Earl of Worcester and others after the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, and of Dafydd III, last native Prince of Wales in 1283).

The future Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Michael Heseltine attended the school immediately after the Second World War on a scholarship. A number of the founders and writers of the satirical magazine Private Eye attended the school in the 1950s. Willy Rushton was also at the school at this time. The comedian, actor, writer and television presenter Michael Palin of Monty Python's Flying Circus attended the school shortly afterwards and a scholarship is now available named for him.

Between 1963 and 1975 Donald Wright served as headmaster. The Times has called Wright a "great reforming headmaster". While there, working with the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, Wright took a leading role in the building of a new Shrewsbury House, the school's mission in Liverpool, which was opened in 1974 by Princess Anne. He secured many leading churchmen to come to preach in the school chapel, including Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury. After retiring as a headmaster in 1975, Wright became the Archbishop of Canterbury's Patronage Secretary, chaired the William Temple Foundation, and served as Secretary to the Crown Appointments Commission.

In the 1960s, Kingsland House, another 19th century gentleman's residence was acquired by the school and adapted for use for central catering for all pupils (previously food had been arranged in houses). A new science building was also added in the 1960s.

Sir Eric Anderson served as headmaster between 1975 and 1980. He went on to be Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Provost of Eton, among other roles.

In 1988, another Georgian villa house, the Grove, was bought and adapted for use as boarding house. In 1996 a new IT building, the Craig Building, was added.

2000s
Since the turn of the millennium, the school's site has seen investment, beginning with the addition of a statue of alumnus Charles Darwin being added to the site to mark the millennial, which was unveiled by Sir David Attenborough.

A new music school, The Maidment Building, was opened by King Charles III (when Prince of Wales) in 2001.

Girls were admitted to the school for the first time into the sixth-form in 2008, and the school became fully coeducational in 2015.

Two new boarding houses have been built, one named after Mary Sidney (completed 2006), and one after Emma Darwin (completed 2011).

Further additions to the site have been made: an indoor cricket centre (2006) and a new swimming pool (2007); the rowing facilities were extended with a new Yale Boat house, which was opened by Olympian Matt Langridge in 2012; A new Computing and Design faculty building, "the Chatri Design Centre" was established in 2017, re-purposing and redeveloping a former humanities building; and in 2015 a new building, Hodgeson Hall, was built to house the humanities departments.

The addition of a new theatre was opened in 2022.

In 2023 a new boarding house was opened, named to honour Elizabeth II.

Sports
The main sport in the Michaelmas (autumn) term is football, in the Lent term fives and rugby, and in summer cricket. Rowing takes place in all three terms. The kit of many of the sports teams shows a cross pattée from the crown in the school's coat of arms, which is a practice that has been in place for at least 150 years. During much of the twentieth century, this cross was used solely by the school's boatclub.

Admission of girls in 2015 has seen the introduction of hockey and netball, with cricket and tennis played during the summer term.

The present school buildings in Kingsland are arranged around the sports fields which have nine grass football pitches, two Hockey Astroturf and a 4G artificial football pitch (completed in 2023); almost all boys play football in the Michaelmas term, with girls playing football in the Lent term.

Football
Football, as a formal game, was incubated at the public schools of the nineteenth century and Shrewsbury had a key role in the game's development. Salopians were prominent in the early history of the organised game at Cambridge University, according to Adrian Harvey "Salopians formed a club of their own in the late 1830s/early 1840s but that was presumably absorbed by the Cambridge University Football Club that they were so influential in creating in 1846". The school has an 1856 copy of the Cambridge rules of football, predating the 1863 rules of the FA.

In these early years, each of the schools had their own versions of the game, and by the 1830s the version played at Shrewsbury had become known as "douling", taking this name from the Greek word for slave: the goal had no cross bar, favoured dribbling, and was being formally supported by the school's authorities to the extent it was compulsory. While, at the beginning of the 18th century, however, the school authorities deemed football "only fit for butchers boys", an attitude common at the other public schools, by the 1840s, all boarders were required to play Douling three times a week unless they were excused on medical grounds.

From 1853, the national press was publishing reports of football at the school, although at this time matches were predominantly between the various Houses. The school's first captain of football was appointed in 1854, and a school team was formed in the early 1860s for external mataches. Also by the 1860s football was sufficiently well-established for all Houses to field 1st and 2nd XI sides across all age groups.

The Arthur Dunn Challenge Cup (annual football cup competition played between the Old Boys of public schools started in 1903) was contested by Shrewsbury and Charterhouse in the first ever final, and shared by the two institutions following two draws, with two Morgan-Owen brothers choosing instead to turn out for Shrewsbury, instead of playing internationally in a Wales vs. Ireland game for which they had been selected. Shrewsbury has won the Arthur Dunn Challenge Cup a total of 11 times, including the Centenary Cup Final in 2003, a replay of the first final in 1903. A club of Old Salopians attending the University of Cambridge, who had started playing association football in 1874, entered the FA Cup in 1875-76, but scratched when drawn away to Oxford University.

Shrewsbury has won the Independent Schools Football Association Boodles ISFA Cup twice: in 2000 and 2010.

In 2024, Shrewsbury School were crowned English Schools Football Association (ESFA) National Champions.

Rowing
The Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club (RSSBC) is one of the oldest school rowing clubs, having begun as an unofficial sport frowned upon by the authorities, in the late 18th or early 19th century and the first official event being known to have happened in 1839, complete with military bands. The boat club was finally officially constituted in 1866.

Since the boat club began rowing at Henley Royal Regatta in 1912, they have won 14 times. Shrewsbury is only seconded in victories at Henley to Eton, having won specifically:

 * Elsenham Cup: 1919
 * Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup: 1955, 1957, 1960, 1961, 2007
 * Ladies’ Challenge Plate Winner: 1932
 * Special Race for Schools/Fawley Challenge Cup: 1975,1976, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985

Shrewsbury is one of only two public schools to have bumps races, the other being Eton, between the houses. They are rowed over four evenings at the end of term in July. There are usually three boats entered per house. On the fourth evening there are prizes for the leaders of the chart and the Leadbitter Cup for the boat which has made the most bumps over the four nights. The event is marshalled by senior rowers and rowing prefects, usually masters. The crew training is mainly pupil driven, though in preparation for Henley the school's First VIII rowers often do not take part, and therefore the boats are composed of other rowers and some non-rowers. Previously, races were run every day until there were no more bumps (i.e. until they were nominally in speed order). This historical set-up could lead to weeks of racing and it was therefore abandoned in favour of a four-day version more than 100 years ago. Otherwise, it is only Oxford and Cambridge that continue to have bumps. Shrewsbury and Eton both race bumps in fours whilst Oxford and Cambridge race in eights.

The town's rowing club, Pengwern Boat Club, has close historical links to the School's rowing activities, and for a time they jointly rented a boat house at the site of the current Pengwern club house.

A former captain of the boat club, John Lander, is the only Olympic gold medallist to have been killed in action in World War 2. GB Olympic silver medalist Rebecca Romero, and Paralympian Becca Chin both recently been appointed to coach within the club.

Running
The Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt (RSSH or "the Hunt") is the oldest cross-country club in the world, with written records (the Hound Books) going back to 1831 and evidence that it was established by 1819. The sport of "the Hunt" or "the Hounds", now known as a Paper Chase, was formalised at the school around 1800. Two runners (the "foxes") made a trail with paper shreds and after a set time they would be pursued by the other runners (the "hounds"). The club officers are the Huntsman and Senior and Junior Whips. The hounds start most races paired into "couples" as in real fox hunting; the winner of a race is said to "kill". Certain of the races are started by the Huntsman, carrying a 200-year-old bugle and a ceremonial whip, dressed in scarlet shirt and a black velvet cap shouting:

"All hounds who wish to run, run hard, run well, and may the devil take the hindmost"

before lounging the bugle: and this has been done for nearly 200 years.

In his 1903 semi-autobiographical novel The Way of All Flesh, Old Salopian Samuel Butler describes a school based on Shrewsbury where the main protagonist's favourite recreation is running with "the Hounds" so "a run of six or seven miles across country was no more than he was used to". The first definite record of the Annual Steeplechase is in 1834, making it the oldest cross-country race of the modern era.

The main inter-house cross-country races are still called the Junior and Senior Paperchase, although no paper is dropped and urban development means the historical course can no longer be followed. Every October the whole school participates in a 3.5-mile run called "The Tucks", originally intended to prevent pupils attending a local horse race. It is now run at Attingham Park.

The school also lays claim to the oldest track and field meeting still in existence, which originated in the Second Spring Meeting first documented in 1840. This featured a series of mock horse races including the Derby Stakes, the Hurdle Race, the Trial Stakes and a programme of throwing and jumping events, with runners being entered by "owners" and named as though they were horses.

Cricket

Cricket was being played at Shrewsbury at least as long ago as the 1860s. A reference was made to an effort to set up a game with Westminster School in 1866 (declined by Westminster) in a House of Commons debate by Jim Prior in 1961. Neville Cardus was the school's cricket professional in the early twentieth century.

Boys' 1st XI season focuses on the Silk Trophy, which competed for by Shrewsbury, Eton, Oundle and an overseas touring side at the end of each summer term.

The school competes in the HMC Twenty20 having made the finals day each year since 2010, winning the competition in 2011 and 2013. The school won the Lord's Taverners Trophy in 2005.

Old Salopians who have played county cricket include James Taylor, Scott Ellis, Nick Pocock, The Hon. Tim Lamb, Ian Hutchinson., Ed Barnard, Steve Leach, Ed Pollock, Dion Holden, Dave Lloyd, George Garrett and Issy Wong.

Eton Fives
Eton Fives is major sport within the school and it has 14 Fives courts. At the end of the Lent Term the school competes in the Marsh Insurance National Schools Eton Fives Championships, which are held in rotation at Shrewsbury. Highgate and Eton.

A world record was set for the longest ever game of fives (at 39 hours of playing) was set in 1989 at the school, this was eclipsed by Uppingham School in 2019.

Minor sports
Minor sports include: shooting, fencing, basketball, golf, equestrian, badminton, swimming, hockey, rugby and squash.

Early flowerings of English drama in the Tudor period

Prior to the Reformation the site of the school as Kingsland was a focus of pageantry and performance.

By the early modern period that cultural practice had developed to the extent that multiple arbours were built over the territory.

Under Thomas Ashton drama flourished. He made it a rule that, boys in the senior form had, every school day, to "declaim and play one Act of Comedy" before breaking from school, and the school put on frequent public Whitsuntide and mystery plays concerned with moral romance, scripture, and history. In 1565, for instance, Julian the Apostle and another unnamed performance of Ashton's were performed before a large audience, which "listened with admiration and devotion". Queen Elizabeth I, on a journey to the West Midlands in 1565 intended to visit Shrewsbury to see one of these performances, but "her Majesty not having proper information mistook the time and when she came to Coventry, hearing it was over, returned to London". The Quarry park in the town had long been a place for sort and cultural activity in the old town, and this was the site of many of these plays, and a bank there cut in the form of an amphitheatre was established near the rope walk. Such plays were, according to Thomas Warton, probably the first fruits of the English theater.

On several occasions the school put on pageants for the visiting Council of the Marches, as in 1581 when the Lord President, Sir Henry Sidney, leaving the town by barge, was greeted by several scholars on an island down stream of the castle dressed as green nymphs with willow branches tied to their heads reciting verses across the water: And will your honour needs depart, and must it needs be so.

Would God we could like fishes swim, that we might with thee go. The Lord President was brought close to tears.

Originating ballet and pantomime
John Weaver, the father of English ballet, and the originator of pantomime, was the master at the school in the 1600s. He was responsible for the codification of dance.

He documented courtly dances which were a feature of courtly ritual in the Tudor and Steward period, and were a sincere instrument of statecraft to the holders of public office in those times. In 2023 the school hosted the inaugural "John Weaver Festival of Dance", which included competitive performance of the art, along with an exhibition, which displayed Weavers own papers and material from Soulton Hall relating to its historic dancing pavement.

Orchestras, ensembles and choirs
The school has the following orchestras ensembles and choirs:

 * The Symphony Orchestra;
 * The Wind Orchestra;
 * Big Band;
 * Concert Band;
 * The Pepys Brass Quintet (one of two brass quintets run for the best senior brass players in the school);
 * Brass Ensemble
 * String Ensemble
 * The Chamber Choir
 * The Chapel Choir
 * The Community Choir (includes local members who are not part of the school)
 * Jazz Band
 * String quartets
 * Junior and Senior string ensembles
 * Clarinet and sax groups
 * Tuba and horn quartets

Musicals
Every other year (and sometimes more often), Shrewsbury puts on its own homegrown school musical which is taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These have included:

 * Rebecca the Drowned Bride
 * What You Will
 * Bubble
 * Jekyll!
 * Gatsby: A New Musical

Performances

High-profile musicians and performers also visit the school with such visitors including:

 * Jacques Loussier
 * The Swingles
 * Cristina Ortiz
 * Tenebrae Choir
 * Joe Stilgoe
 * Jason Rebello
 * Jenny Agutter
 * Voces8
 * Peter Donohoe

Philomath and Polymath
The original buildings, and the present school library both have carved stone figures on the buildings. They represent, on the left φιλομαθης Philomathes [he who loves learning] (a character first penned by King James I in philosophical dialogue known as Daemonologie) and on the right πολυμαθης Polymathes [he who has much learning]. The first figure has taken his hat off to settle to learning; the second figure is about to place his hat back on having attended to his studies.

The original carvings are from 1630 and are accompanied by a table which says: MDCXXX [1630]

ΔΙΔΑΣΚΑΛΕΙΟΝ

ΕΑΝ ΗΣ ΕΣΗ This is based on a quotation from Isocrates, "εαν ης φιλομαθης, εσει πολυμαθης", which means "If you are studious (loving learning), you will be(come) learned; Διδασκαλειον means 'school'".

Although the school left the premises by the castle in 1882, it retained, significantly, the ownership of these statutes which remain in the renaissance building.

Houses

The School, as of Michaelmas Term 2023, has 842 pupils.

There are seven boys' houses, five girls' houses, each with its own housemaster or housemistress, tutor team and matron. Each house also has its own colours.

The houses and their colours are: A single house will hold around 70 pupils, School House slightly more. Having about 80 pupils, School House used to be divided into Doctors (black and white) and Headroom (magenta and white) for most sporting purposes, whilst being one house in other respects, but this distinction was abolished in around 2000.

There are many inter-house competitions: in football, for instance, each house competes in four different leagues (two senior, two junior) and three knock-out competitions (two senior, one junior).

School song
The school has its own song, "Carmen Salopiense", written in 1916 by Cyril Alington who was Headmaster at the time.

Masque
To celebrate the 400-year anniversary of the school's foundation, in 1952, a masque was written which set out the history, great figures, and values of the school.

Music was by John Ranald Stainer, OBE, FRCM, FRCO, Hon RAM, and the script was written by Paul Dehn OS (best known for the screenplays for Goldfinger, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the Planet of the Apes sequels and Murder on the Orient Express).

Grants and prizes

The school awards a number of prizes, some of which have been running for many years; among these are:

 * The Sidney Gold Medal, established 1838, is the top award Shrewsbury offers. It originally came with a purse of 50 sovereigns and was awarded to the top classicist going on to Oxbridge. The Trustees commissioned Sir Edward Thomason to cut the original die, and the image was based on a miniature painted by George Perfect Harding and owned by Dr Kennedy, now in the School collection. The medal was discontinued in 1855 when the stocks were exhausted, but was revived again in 1899. In 1980 the Salopian Club decided that the Medal should be open to all disciplines and not purely the Classics. Since that time the majority of recipients have excelled in the sciences.
 * The Arand Haggar Prize, established 1890, original known as "The Mathematics Prize", an almost unbroken run of the annual competition paper stretches back to 1890, making it one of the longest continually-run mathematics competitions in the country.
 * The Bentley Elocution Prize, established 1867: candidates are required recite well a poem of at least sonnet length, introduced by Thomas Bentley, whose career at the School spanned more than 50 years. Past winners include Sir Michael Palin.
 * Richard Hillary Essay Prize, established 2013, based on the single-word essay formula used for admission at All Souls College, Oxford.
 * The Miles Clark Travel Award, established 1994, recipients of this award have, for instance, cycled around the world for over four years, cycled back to the UK from Siberia, and cycled by tandem from the north coast of Canada to Tierra del Fuego – a number of accounts of these travels have been published.

Coat of arms and flag
The Arms of the school are those of King Edward VI being The Arms of England (three lions passant) quartered with those of France (fleur-de-lys).

As a banner of arms, this is also used as the school's flag.

Royal visits
The following royal visits have been made to Shrewsbury School:

 * The Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria visited the school on 1 November 1832; they were guests of Lord Liverpool at Pitchford Hall for the visit.
 * Princess Louise, visited the school for coffee on 19 January 1898.
 * HRH the Duke of Teck (later Marquess of Cambridge) on 11 May 1911
 * George V visited the town of Shrewsbury in 1914, and laid a foundation at the school for a new library by electrical switch from the town's square.
 * The future Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales, visited in 1932 to celebrate the Jubilee of the school's move to the Kingsland site.
 * Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited the school to celebrate its 400-year anniversary of foundation in 1952.
 * The Princess Royal opened the new Shrewsbury School Club, called the Shewsy, in Everton in 1974.
 * Princess Margaret, in 1984, while officially visiting a new library in the town, lunched at the school and had a look at the new Art school.
 * The Queen Mother came to Kingsland Hall during the headmastership of Donald Wright in the 1990s.
 * King Charles III when Prince of Wales opened the new music school in 2001.

Praepostors
The schools' prefects are known as præpostors. The word originally referred to a monastic prior and is late Latin of the Middle Ages, derived from classical Latin praepositus, "placed before".The use of praepostor in the context of a school is derived from the practice of using older boys to lead or control the younger boys. Privileges associated with the office are a particular tie showing the school's arms and the right to cycle a bike to lessons. Defining the role in 1821, Dr Butler wrote:"'A præpostor is one of the first eight boys to whom the master delegates a certain share of authority, in whom he reposes confidence, and whose business it is to keep the boys in order, to prevent all kinds of mischief and impropriety...'"

Awards
House and school ties and scarfs are awarded achievements in co-curricular activities.

Scholarships, exhibitions and bursary support

The school currently awards around £4 million in fee remissions. Various measures of financial assistance are available to students associated with need and with ability, as set out below:

Academic scholarships

 * Four Butler Scholarships (up to 30% of fees)
 * Six Kennedy and Moss Scholarships (up to 20% of fees)
 * Seven Alington Scholarships (at least £2,000 per year)

Art scholarships
Art scholarships are awarded annually, most of which carry a fee remission of 10%, and larger awards are sometimes made.

Music scholarships
Music scholarships are awarded each year, worth up to 30% of the fees and the scholars receive free music tuition on two instruments.

All-Rounder Scholarships
A small number of Sir Michael Palin All-Rounder Scholarships are awarded each year.

Other scholarships and bursaries
Scholarship awards are also made for drama, sport, and design and technology, and sixth-form scholarships are also available. Bursary support grants are also available.

Ancient library
The school has an ancient library, containing various significant antiquarian books and other items.

The collection includes:

 * Charles Darwin's school atlas, along with books, manuscripts and letters
 * Newton's Principia, acquired on publication in 1687
 * Some forty medieval manuscripts, including a fine twelfth-century Gradual from Haughmond Abbey near Shrewsbury, and the Lichfield Processional with its unique liturgical English plays of circa 1430 and polyphonic music
 * A death mask of Oliver Cromwell
 * A first edition of the King James Bible
 * 1534 Tyndale Bible
 * A French Geneva Bible

Art collection
The Moser Gallery, within the library buildings, contains part of the school's collection of paintings.

This includes work by J. M. W Turner, important nineteenth-century watercolours, and work by alumnus Kyffin Williams.

Visiting speakers
Past guest speakers hosted at the school include:

 * Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
 * AC Grayling
 * Hilaire Belloc
 * Donald Coggan when Archbishop of Canterbury
 * Lord Hague
 * Lord Heseltine
 * Lord Hennessy
 * Lord Hutton
 * Lord Hurd
 * Oleg Gordievsky
 * Omar Beckles
 * Sir Colin McColl
 * Aidan Hartley.
 * Will Gompertz

Societies
There are dozens of organisations known as 'societies', in many of which pupils come together to discuss a particular topic or to listen to a lecture, presided over by a senior pupil, and often including a guest speaker, they are largely run by the students.

Those in existence at present include:

 * Archery
 * Art & Photography
 * Bastille Society (history)
 * Beekeeping
 * Canoe and Kayak Club
 * Chinese
 * Christian Forum
 * Coding
 * Comedy
 * Cooking
 * Craft and Textiles Club
 * Creative Writing Society
 * Darwin Society (Science)
 * Debating Society
 * Drama
 * French
 * Heseltine Society
 * Junior History Society
 * Maths Club
 * Mindfulness
 * Model Railway Society
 * Model United Nations
 * Paired Reading Society (students visit a local primary school, where they work with younger children on a one-to-one basis in order to help develop their reading skills).
 * Pilates
 * Quizzing
 * Reading
 * Royal Shrewsbury School Shooting Club
 * Sidney Society (literature)
 * Spanish Society
 * STEM
 * Technical Theatre

There is also a Combined Cadet Force.

Headmasters
• 2018– : Leo Winkley

• 2010–18: Mark Turner

• 2001–10: Jeremy W. R. Goulding

• 1988–2001: Ted Maidment

• 1981–88: Simon J. B. Langdale

• 1975–80: Sir Eric Anderson

• 1963–75: A. R. D. Wright

• 1950–63: John "Jock" Magnus Peterson

• 1944–50: John Wolfenden, Baron Wolfenden

• 1932–44: Henry Harrison Hardy (father of the actor Robert Hardy)

• 1917–32: Harold A. P. Sawyer

• 1908–17: Dr Cyril Argentine Alington

• 1866–1908: Revd. Henry Whitehead Moss

• 1836–65: Revd. Benjamin Hall Kennedy

• 1798–1836: Dr Samuel Butler (afterwards Bishop of Lichfield)

• 1771–98: Revd. J. Atcherley

• 1754–70: Charles Newling

• 1735–54: Leonard Hotchkiss

• 1727–35: Robert Phillips

• 1723–27: Revd. H. Owen

• 1687–1723: Revd. R. Lloyd

• ?1646–87: Revd. A. Taylor

• 1645–62: Thomas Pigott (deprived under Act of Uniformity)

• 1637–45: Revd. Thomas Chaloner (expelled by Parliamentarians, died 1664)

• 1583–1635: John Meighen

• 1571–83: T. Lawrence

• 1561–71: Thomas Ashton

• 1552-? John Eyton

• 1552-? Sir Morys

Notable masters

 * Nick Bevan, housemaster, rowing coach, later headmaster of Shiplake College
 * Anthony Chenevix-Trench, housemaster of School House, later headmaster of Bradfield College, Eton College and Fettes College
 * Sir William Gladstone, 7th Baronet, teacher and officer
 * Michael Hoban, assistant master, classics teacher, later headmaster of Bradfield College, St Edmund's School, Canterbury and Harrow School
 * The Reverend Monsignor Ronald Knox, English Catholic priest, theologian, author and broadcaster
 * Frank McEachran, model for the character of the schoolmaster Hector in Alan Bennett's The History Boys
 * David Profumo, 6th Baron Profumo, teacher and novelist

Affiliate schools

Shrewsbury has the following affiliate schools:

 * Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, opened 2003 with 1,736 students
 * Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, City Campus, established in 2018, a feeder school for Riverside campus
 * Shrewsbury International School, Hong Kong, opened 2018
 * Packwood Haugh School, a Shropshire Preparatory School which united with Shrewsbury School in 2019

Fees and admission
Pupils are admitted at the age of 13 by selective examination, and for approximately ten per cent of the pupils, English is a second or additional language. The fees at Shrewsbury are up to £15,194 a term for UK boarding students and up to £16,004 a term for international boarding students, with three terms per academic year in 2023/24.

Old Salopians
Former pupils are referred to as Old Salopians (from the old name for Shropshire).

Contemporary Old Salopians

 * 1930s
 * Sir William Adams (born 1932), ambassador to Tunisia 1984–87 and Egypt 1987–92
 * Christopher Booker (1937–2019), journalist, founder of Private Eye
 * Peter Brown (born 1935), historian of Late Antiquity and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
 * Paul Foot (1937–2004), journalist
 * Michael Heseltine, Baron Heseltine (born 1933), politician and Deputy Prime Minister
 * Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton (born 1931), Law Lord, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and Chairman of Hutton Inquiry
 * Christopher Gill (born 1936), politician
 * Richard Ingrams (born 1937), journalist, founder of Private Eye
 * Sir Colin Hugh Verel McColl (born 1932), head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)
 * Julian Orchard (1930–1979), actor
 * Air Marshal Sir Michael Simmons (born 1937), Royal Air Force Officer, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff
 * John Peel (1939–2004), broadcaster

 * 1940s
 * Richard Best, Baron Best (born 1945), politician
 * Piers Brendon (born 1940), writer
 * Major General Sir Robert John Swan Corbett (born 1940), Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin 1987–90
 * Athel Cornish-Bowden (born 1943), biochemist
 * Sir Peter Davis (born 1941), businessman and chairman of Sainsbury's
 * Martin Ferguson Smith (born 1941), scholar, writer and Classics and Ancient History professor at Durham
 * Edward Foljambe, 5th Earl of Liverpool (born 1944), Conservative politician and peer
 * Robin Hodgson, Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (born 1942), politician and life peer
 * Stephen Jessel (born 1942), BBC correspondent
 * David Lamb, 3rd Baron Rochester (born 1944), nobleman
 * David Lovell Burbidge (born 1943), High Sheriff of the West Midlands County 1990–91
 * Christopher MacLehose (born 1940), publisher
 * Terry Milewski (born 1949), journalist
 * Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (born 1940), ex-chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and Chairman of the UN Global Compact committee
 * Nick Owen (born 1947), TV presenter
 * Sir Michael Palin (born 1943), actor and TV presenter
 * Richard Passingham (born 1943), neurologist
 * Sir Nicholas Penny (born 1949), art historian, Director of the National Gallery
 * Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow (born 1942), Astronomer Royal, erstwhile Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, ex-President of Royal Society
 * Clyde Sanger (born 1928), journalist and author, first Africa correspondent for The Guardian
 * Sir John Stuttard (born 1945), Alderman and Lord Mayor of the City of London 2006–07
 * Sir Francis John Badcock Sykes, 10th Baronet (born 1942), businessman
 * Thomas Townley Macan (born 1946), Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the British Virgin Islands
 * Sir Roderic Victor Llewellyn, 5th Baronet (born 1947), author
 * Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Wallace (1943–2016), Commandant Royal College of Defence Studies
 * Selby Whittingham (born 1941), art expert
 * Sir James William Vernon, 5th Baronet (born 1949), landowner and accountant
 * Sir Stephen Wright (born 1946), diplomat, Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ambassador to Spain

 * 1950s
 * Christopher Beazley (born 1952), Member of the European Parliament 1984–2009
 * Bruce Clark (born 1958), author and International Security Editor of The Times
 * Stephen Glover (born 1952), journalist and columnist
 * Timothy Edward Lamb (born 1959), cricketer and sports administrator
 * Sir John Auld Mactaggart, 4th Baronet (born 1951), entrepreneur and philanthropist
 * Jonathan Peter Marland, Baron Marland (born 1956), Treasurer of the Conservative Party
 * Sir Andrew McFarlane (born 1954), Lord Justice of Appeal in England and Wales
 * Sir Philip Montgomery Campbell  (born 1951), astrophysicist and editor-in-chief of Nature
 * Michael Proctor (born 1950), academic and Provost of King's College, Cambridge
 * Nicholas Rankin (born 1950), writer and broadcaster
 * Johnathan Ryle (born 1952), writer, anthropologist and professor at Bard College
 * Desmond Shawe-Taylor (born 1955), art historian, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures
 * Jonathon Shawe-Taylor (born 1953), Director of the Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning at University College, London

 * 1960s
 * Simon Baynes (born 1960), politician
 * Andrew Berry (born 1963), biologist and lecturer of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard
 * Tim Booth (born 1960), musician
 * Charles A. Foster (born 1962), writer, veterinarian, barrister and Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford
 * Nick Hancock (born 1962), actor and TV presenter
 * John Humphrey Arnott Pakington, 7th Baron Hampton (born 1964), landowner and photographer
 * Vice Admiral Sir Clive Johnstone (born 1961), Royal Navy officer and former Commander of the Allied Maritime Command
 * Jonathan Legard (born 1961), journalist and broadcaster
 * Jonathan Lord (born 1962), politician
 * Twm Morys (born 1961), poet and musician.
 * Mark Oakley (born 1968), Canon Chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral and Dean of St John's College, Cambridge
 * Angus Pollock (born 1962), cricketer for Cambridge University Cricket Club
 * Simon Shackleton (born 1968), DJ, musician
 * James St Clair Wade (born 1962), architect
 * Martin Wainwright (born 1960), journalist and author

 * 1970s
 * Charles Robertson-Adams (born 1976), athlete
 * Christopher Hope (born 1972), journalist, political editor of The Daily Telegraph
 * Alastair Humphreys (born 1976), adventurer and author

 * 1980s
 * Omar ‘Ali Bolkiah (born 1986), Crown Prince of the Sultanate of Brunei
 * Alexander Orlando Bridgeman, Viscount Newport (born 1980), businessman and landowner
 * Freddie Fisher (born 1985), actor
 * Richard Goulding (born 1980), actor
 * Anthony Mangnall (born 1989), MP for Totnes
 * Ian Massey (born 1985), cricketer, Cambridge MCCU and Herefordshire
 * Joshua Sasse (born 1987), actor
 * Will Tudor (born 1987), actor

 * 1990s
 * Ed Barnard (born 1995), Warwickshire cricketer
 * Joe Leach (born 1990), Worcestershire cricketer
 * David Lloyd (born 1992), Glamorgan cricketer
 * Claas Mertens (born 1992), German rower
 * Ed Pollock (born 1995), Worcestershire cricketer
 * Ruaidhri Smith (born 1994), Glamorgan and Scotland cricketer
 * James Taylor (born 1990), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and England cricketer

 * 2000s
 * Issy Wong (born 2002), Warwickshire, Central Sparks, Birmingham Phoenix, Mumbai Indians and England cricketer

Victoria Cross holders
Two Old Salopians received the Victoria Cross, both in the First World War, 1914–18.
 * Thomas Tannatt Pryce
 * Harold Ackroyd

Old Salopian activities
The "Old Salopian Club", now known as the Salopian Club, was founded in 1886. A number of reunions, clubs and activities are arranged by the club. The post nominals OS are used to denote Old Salopians.

Sports
Former members of the school have various sporting clubs:

 * Rowing is arranged by the "Sabrina Club", which fields crews, including for Henley Royal Regatta as well as supporting the school crews at various events
 * Cricket is arranged by the "Saracens"
 * Old Salopian golf, yachting, fives cross country, tennis, football, squash and basketball are also provided for.

Careers, arts and activities
Arrangements for cultural engagement of former members if the school, for instance concerts and plays and art exhibitions are also put on, and there is a programme around careers.

Shrewsbury House
A mission in Everton, Liverpool, called "Shrewsbury House" was established in 1903. It is less formally known as "the Shrewsy" and is a youth and community centre associated with St Peter's Church Everton. Michael Heseltine was first introduced to social issues in Liverpool which the took up in the 1980s at this mission.

Medic Malawi
The charity Medic Malawi, which includes a hospital, two orphanages and The Shrewsbury School Eye Clinic has an ongoing relationships and support from the school community.

Other activities
During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 the school donated over 1,600 items of personal protective equipment to the NHS, including face shields it had 3D printed in its technology labs. It also opened up rooms in its boarding houses for the use of NHS staff.

Steam locomotive
One of the Southern Railway, Class V, Schools Class 4-4-0 locomotives designed by Maunsell and built at Eastleigh and was named "Shrewsbury". Its SR number was 921 and its BR number was 30921. It entered service in 1934 and it was withdrawn in 1962 from use on railways. A name plate (one of two) is preserved in the Admissions Offices/Registry of the school.

Farm house
The school maintains a farmhouse at Talargerwyn in Snowdonia. This is used for outward-bound type activities and research trips.

Foundation
In 1965 the school established "The Foundation", which is one of the oldest school development offices in the country.

Controversy
In September 2005, the school was one of fifty independent schools operating independent school fee-fixing, in breach of the Competition Act, 1998. All of the schools involved were ordered to abandon this practice, pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 each and to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information had been shared.

General sources

 * Carr, A. M., and T. Fullman (1983). Shrewsbury Library: Its History and Restoration. Shropshire Libraries.
 * Stewart, Alan (2000). Philip Sidney: A Double Life. Chatto and Windus. ISBN 0-7011-6859-5.

title: Shrewsbury School


text:
Afghan afghani

The afghani (sign: ؋ or Af (plural: Afs) code: AFN; افغانۍ; ) is the official currency of Afghanistan since the 1920s. It is nominally subdivided into 100 puls (پول), although there are no pul coins in circulation these days. Printed in Poland, the afghani currency is managed solely by the nation's central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB).

The afghani was introduced in 1923 but is still informally referred to as a rupee by some in conversation and transactions, a legacy of its predecessing Afghan rupee currency. Its exchange rate is around 70 afghanis for 1 United States dollar (as of November 2023).

First Afghani (1923–2002)
The original afghani (ISO 4217 code: AFA) was introduced in 1923 during the era of King Amanullah Khan, replacing the Afghan rupee that was used since 1891. In addition to being subdivided into 100 puls, 20 afghanis were equal to one amani. The rate of conversion from the rupee is sometimes quoted as 1 afghani = 1 rupee 6 paisas, based on the silver contents of the last rupee coins and the first afghani coins. The afghani initially contained 9 grams of silver. Alongside the new currency, the various units of weight used in Afghanistan were replaced by a single metric system.

Except during World War I, Afghanistan's foreign exchange rate has been freely determined by market forces. However, for some periods, a dual exchange rate regime existed in Afghanistan: an official exchange rate which was fixed by the major banks in the country, and a free market exchange rate which was determined by the supply and demand forces in Kabul's money bazaar called Saraye Shahzada. For example, in order to avoid the seasonal fluctuations in the exchange rate, a fixed exchange rate was adopted in 1935 by the Bank-e-Millie (National Bank), which was then responsible for the country's exchange rate system and official reserves. Bank-e-Millie agreed to exchange afghani at Afs. 4 against 1 Indian rupee in 1935. After the establishment of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) as the central bank of Afghanistan, such a preferential official fixed exchange rate continued to be practiced. Although DAB tried to keep its official rate close to the Sarai Shahzada exchange rate, the gap between the official and free-market exchange rates widened in the 1980s and during the civil war thereafter.

The afghani traded at Afs. 67 to one US dollar in 1973. After the start of a civil war in 1992, the same US dollar bought Afs. 16,000. Banknotes from the period of Zahir Shah's monarchy ceased to be legal tender by 1991. After the creation of a dysfunctional government and the start of the civil war, different warlords and factions, foreign powers and forgers each made their own afghani banknotes to support themselves financially, with no regard to standardization or honoring serial numbers.

In December 1996, shortly after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan's institutions, Ehsanullah Ehsan, the chairman of the Taliban's Central Bank, declared most afghani notes in circulation to be worthless (approximately 100 trillion Afghani) and cancelled the contract with the Russian firm that had been printing the currency since 1992. Ehsan accused the firm of sending new shipments of afghani notes to ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani in northern Takhar province. The exchange rate at the time of Ehsan's announcement was Afs. 21,000 to one US dollar. It was then devalued to Afs. 43,000 to the dollar. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who militarily controlled Jowzjan Province and nearby Uzbek villages, also printed his own money for a short time.

During late 2001 and early 2002, the currency became highly destabilized. The afghani traded at Afs. 73,000 per US$1 in September 2001, steeply soaring to Afs. 23,000 after the Taliban was replaced by a new government under Hamid Karzai in December 2001, before plunging again to Afs. 36,000 in January 2002. Around seven different versions of the currency were in circulation by that time. A former governor said at the time that maybe "trillions" of banknotes are in circulation as a result.

Second Afghani (2002–present)
In 2002, the afghani was redenominated, and it received a new ISO 4217 code AFN. No subdivisions were issued. It replaced the previous afghani at two distinct rates: issues of the government of former President Rabbani (de jure 1992–2001) were replaced at a rate of 1,000 to the new afghani, while the issues of Dostum (1992–1997 in northern Afghanistan) were replaced at a rate of 2,000 to the new afghani. It was created in an effort to stabilize the economy and stop the rapid inflation. The notes were printed in Germany.

The new currency was announced by President Karzai on 4 September 2002, and was introduced to the market on October 8, 2002. This monetary reform was well received by the public as it was a sign of security and stability, especially the country's rebuilding effort. People also no longer had to carry many bags of money for ordinary things. It was the first time in many years that a sole currency was under the control of the central bank instead of warlords. Most old banknotes were destroyed by the end of 2002.

Da Afghanistan Bank has adopted a floating exchange rate regime and has let the exchange rate be determined freely by market forces. The new afghani was valued at Afs. 43 to one US dollar.

After depreciating during the last quarter of 2003/04, the afghani appreciated steadily, gaining 8 per cent against the US dollar between March 2004 and July 2004. This appreciation, at a time of increasing inflation, appears to reflect a greater willingness by the population to use the afghani as a medium of exchange and as a store of value. This trend appears to be attributable to the relative stability of the exchange rate since the introduction of the new currency, administrative measures aimed at promoting its use, such as the requirement that shopkeepers must price goods in afghani. Donors are increasingly making payments in afghanis instead of US dollars and this appears to be widely accepted. By 2009, the afghani was valued at Afs. 45 per one US dollar. In 2019, the afghani reached Afs. 75 to the US dollar.

After the 2021 re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the nation's foreign assets were frozen. IMF blocked the release of $450 million in August. Subsequently, the value of the afghani fell. The Islamic Emirate has banned all foreign currencies to encourage use of the afghani as national tender. In the third quarter of 2023, the Afghani rose to be the best performing currency in the world, climbing over 9% against the US dollar.

Coinage
In 1952, aluminium 25 pul and nickel-clad steel 50 pul were introduced, followed by aluminium Afs. 2 and Afs. 5 in 1958. In 1961 nickel-clad steel Af. 1, Afs. 2 and Afs. 5 were minted; the Af. 1 and Afs. 2 coins show years of SH 1340 and the Afs. 5 coin shows the year AH 1381.

On 11 April 2005, coins were introduced in denominations of Af. 1, Afs. 2 and Afs. 5.

Banknotes

Between 1925 and 1928, Treasury notes were introduced in denominations of Afs. 5, Afs. 10 and Afs. 50. In 1936, Afs. 2, Afs. 20 and Afs. 100 notes were added. The Bank of Afghanistan (Da Afghanistan Bank) took over paper money production in 1939, issuing notes for Afs. 2, Afs. 5, Afs. 10, Afs. 20, Afs. 50, Afs. 100, Afs. 500 and Afs. 1,000. The Afs. 2 and Afs. 5 notes were replaced by coins in 1958. In 1993, Afs. 5,000 and Afs. 10,000 notes were introduced.

"A 'pothole cave' or 'mouth of a shaft' (or Pit cave) is said to be visible on the Afs. 10,000 banknote from 1993 as a limited dark area in the hillside above the ancient 'pol' or gateway at the ruins near Lashkar Gah. This is possibly the entrance to one of the man-made undergrounds at Qala-e-Bost."

On 7 October 2002, banknotes were introduced in denominations of Af. 1, Afs. 2, Afs. 5, Afs. 10, Afs. 20, Afs. 50, Afs. 100, Afs. 500, and Afs. 1,000. The Af. 1, Afs. 2 and Afs. 5 notes were replaced by coins in 2005. In 2004 and 2008, the security features on several denominations were improved. In 2014 a new Afs. 1,000 note was introduced to prevent counterfeit notes.

Exchange rate
The Afghani exchange rate vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar since 1950 has been shown in the following table:

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

title: Afghan afghani


text:
Talk:National anthem of Austria

Untitled
Is this the national anthem of Austria? If so, wouldn't it be nice to say so? If not, do we want to post lyrics here? -- Zoe

As far as I can tell, the first and second sentences of the third stanza need a bit of switching. Here goes my second-year German skills. John Sheu 01:09, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

You are right: 1st verse 4th line should read: Heimat großer Töchter und Söhne - see German Wikipedia article and also here: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Dokumentnummer=NOR40134282 86.59.94.16 (talk) 08:24, 12 April 2016 (UTC) Andreas

Who keeps removing the parody lyrics?
Those lyrics came from the German page.69.118.97.26 01:43, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I wonder why it shouldn't be removed. Marcos 1989 09:02, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

The story of the parody is interesting, therefore encyclopaedic, but it should be sourced. "It is said that..." is known as weasel words. Scolaire 10:59, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

In fact there is a reference for the parody: Fepolinski und Waschlapski auf dem berstenden Stern. Bericht einer unruhigen Jugend. Ibera & Molden, Wien 1997, ISBN 3-900436-42-8. Its the autobiography of Fritz Molden's youth. (I just didn't know how to insert a reference in an article) --Eddie2 (talk) 06:45, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Other translations
Is there a good reason for these? or should we have just the English and German? Rich Farmbrough, 08:25, 28 March 2011 (UTC).

 * Languages of the former Austria-Hungary? But I also question their use here; that's what interwiki links are for. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 10:55, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

 * I agree. There are no official versions apart from the German one. Move other languages to the appropriate language wikis. --IGreil (talk) 13:53, 6 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Slovenian is an official language in Carinthia or parts of it. So, there might be an official Slovenian version, but I'm not sure. --2001:A60:153B:D901:C43D:9C40:44D8:28A8 (talk) 22:32, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Copyright
Any reason to think these lyrics aren't in copyright? Rich Farmbrough, 08:25, 28 March 2011 (UTC).

 * Copyright on the text of a national anthem? It's never been raised at the German page. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 10:55, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Translation of name / first line
This article uses 2 different translations for "Land der Berge, Land am Strome". In the first paragraph "Land of the mountains, land on the river", in the lyrics section "Land of mountains, land by the stream". "Strom" literally translates as current, implying a strong and powerful flow of water. "Stream" is definately wrong, as in English that means something less than a river. "Land of mighty rivers" is my personal suggestion, but I am not a certified translator. Is there any official translation that can be referenced? TiffaF (talk) 17:41, 23 November 2012 (UTC) "Land by the river" would be my preferred translation. The German original uses singular and the river that is meant here is a specific one, namely the Danube. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.109.4.35 (talk) 19:48, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

 * I've changed the translation to "land by the river" since it refers to the vicinity of the land/country to the river Danube. "On the river" would suggest that the country is somehow floating on top of the waters which of course is nonsense... Schmutzman (talk) 12:55, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

Requested move 7 June 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (non-admin closure) —  Newslinger  talk   05:21, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Land der Berge, Land am Strome → National anthem of Austria – According to German Wikipedia, the official title is simply "National Anthem of the Republic of Austria". – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 02:49, 7 June 2019 (UTC) --Relisting. DannyS712 (talk) 05:13, 14 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Support, trusting German Wikipedians to know the name of a Germanic anthem. bd2412  T 03:40, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

title: Talk:National anthem of Austria


text:
Modern English

Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, which began in the late 14th century and was completed by the 17th century.

With some differences in vocabulary, texts which date from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered Modern English texts, or more specifically, they are referred to as texts which were written in Early Modern English or they are referred to as texts which were written in Elizabethan English. Through colonization, English was adopted in many regions of the world by the British Empire, such as Anglo-America, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Modern English has many dialects spoken in many countries throughout the world, sometimes collectively referred to as the English-speaking world. These dialects include (but are not limited to) American, Australian, British (containing Anglo-English, Scottish English and Welsh English), Canadian, New Zealand, Caribbean, Hiberno-English (including Ulster English), Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, Nigerian, Philippine, Singaporean, and South African English.

According to the Ethnologue, there are almost one billion speakers of English as a first or second language. English is spoken as a first or a second language in many countries, with most native speakers being in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland. It "has more non-native speakers than any other language, is more widely dispersed around the world and is used for more purposes than any other language". Its large number of speakers, plus its worldwide presence, have made English a common language (lingua franca) "of the airlines, of the sea and shipping, of computer technology, of science and indeed of (global) communication generally".

Development
Modern English evolved from Early Modern English which was used from the beginning of the Tudor period until the Interregnum and Stuart Restoration in England. By the late 18th century, the British Empire had facilitated the spread of Modern English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. Modern English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English was adopted in North America, India, parts of Africa, Australia, and many other regions. In the post-colonial period, some newly created nations that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using Modern English as the official language to avoid the political difficulties inherent in promoting one indigenous language above another.

Outline of changes
The following is an outline of the major changes in Modern English compared to its previous form (Middle English), and also some major changes in English over the course of the 20th century. Note, however, that these are generalizations, and some of these may not be true for specific dialects:

Morphology

 * "like", "same as", and "immediately" are used as conjunctions.
 * "The" becomes optional before certain combinations of noun phrases and proper names.

Pronouns

 * Loss of distinction in most dialects between "whom" and "who" in favour of the latter.
 * The elevation of singular they to some formal registers.
 * Placement of frequency adverbs before auxiliary verbs.

Verbs

 * Regularisation of some English irregular verbs
 * Revival of the present ("mandative") English subjunctive
 * "Will" preferred to "shall" to mark the future tense in the first person
 * Do-support for the verb "have"
 * Increase in multi-word verbs
 * Development of auxiliary verbs "wanna", "gonna", "gotta" in informal discourse.
 * Usage of English progressive verbs in certain present perfect and past perfect forms.

Phonology
Up until the American–British split (1600–1725), some major phonological changes in English included:
 * Initial cluster reductions, like of /ɡn, kn/ into /n/: making homophones of gnat and nat, and not and knot.
 * The meet–meat merger in most dialects: making the words "meat", "threat" and "great" have three different vowels, although all three words once rhymed.
 * The foot–strut split: so that "cut" and "put", and "pudding" and "budding" no longer rhyme; and "putt" and "put" are no longer homophones.
 * The lot–cloth split: the vowel in words like "cloth" and "off" is pronounced with the vowel in "thought", as opposed to the vowel used in "lot".

After the American-British split, further changes to English phonology included:
 * Non-rhotic (/ɹ/-dropping) accents develop in the English of England, Australasia, and South Africa.
 * Happy-tensing: final lax [ɪ] becomes tense [i] in words like "happy". Absent from some dialects.
 * Yod-dropping: the elision of /j/ in certain consonant clusters, like those found in "chute", "rude", "blue", "chews", and "Zeus".
 * Wine–whine merger from the reduction of /ʍ/ to /w/ in all national standard varieties of English, except Scottish and Irish.
 * In North American and Australasian English, /t, d/ are reduced to an alveolar tap between vowels, realised as [t̬] or [ɾ]
 * Cot–caught merger the merger of /ɔ/ and /ɑ/ to /ɑ/ in some dialects of General American.

Syntax

 * disuse of the T–V distinction (thou, ye). Contemporary Modern English usually retains only the formal second-person personal pronoun, "you" (ye), used in both formal and informal contexts.
 * use of auxiliary verbs becomes mandatory in interrogative sentences.
 * "less", rather than "fewer", is used for countable nouns.
 * For English comparisons, syntactic comparison (more) is preferred to analytic comparison (-er).
 * Usage of the Saxon genitive ('s) has extended beyond human referents.

Alphabet
Changes in alphabet and spelling were heavily influenced by the advent of printing and continental printing practices. Consequently, Modern English came to use a purely Latin alphabet of 26 letters.
 * The letter thorn (þ), which began to be replaced by th as early as Middle English, finally fell into disuse. In Early Modern English printing, thorn was represented with the Latin y, which appeared similar to thorn in blackletter typeface (𝖞) . The last vestige of the letter was in ligatures of thorn, ye (thee), yt (that), yu (thou), which were still seen occasionally in the King James Bible of 1611 and in Shakespeare's folios.
 * The letters i and j, previously written as a single letter, began to be distinguished; likewise for u and v. This was a common development of the Latin alphabet during this period.

title: Modern English


text:
Talk:Dragon Book

No no no. Dragon book for computer science should be this book. But to other fields, there is another book. -- Taku 01:26 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

We don't use nickname for the title of article in the first place. What kind of encyclopedia has an entry with dragon book, which is just a compiler book. It is not recognizable for general audience. -- Taku 01:34 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

 * You're right about the nickname thing; I see you've made a separate entry for the compiler book. It should be mentioned and linked on this page, however, because it is widely known in the CS field as the Dragon Book, because of the cover illustration, just like Programming Perl is known as the "camel book". Under your definition of "dragon book", this would be one for compilers. For CS in general it would probably by Donald Knuth's books on The Art of Computer Programming. -- Merphant 01:43 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)
 * Do we have a page listing the 'named' books that are mentioned so often in CS? — B.Bryant 07:22, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

In Japanese the term, "dragon book", may refer to the foremost book in the field but it doesn't have that meaning in English -- and this *is* the English Wikipedia. -- Derek Ross

Yes, dragon book is a jargon but I believed that usage came from Japanese word, dragon book. Or no? Maybe we should simply redirect to compiler book until someone including me found other usage of dragon book in English. -- Taku 02:45 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

By the way, should we mention about usage of Dragon book in Japan? Because I found in The Americas:

 * Most Spanish language references consider there to be no separation between North America and South America but only one continent America. However, many Spanish speakers consider America del norte and America del sur to be separate continents. The use of America to refer to the New World as a whole is also sometimes used in English, such as in the common phrase "Columbus discovered America".

While we don't want a Japanese dictionary here, but if we will cover usage in non-English language, we probably need to mention about dragon book. -- Taku 02:51 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

I was interested to discover that the phrase had that meaning in Japanese, so I'm happy to see it in the article as it is an interesting fact. I just want people to be clear that the compiler book got the name because of the (evil) Dragon of Compiler Complexity drawn on its front cover, as Merphant said above -- Derek Ross

I understand. In Japanese, the must-read or classic definitive books are usually called dragon book, so I thought that compiler book is called in that reason. Or is that possible the designer of cover of the book konws that and applied it? Anyway, I couldn't find out any dragon book other than the compiler one so I think redirect is fine -- Taku 03:07 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC).

It's possible but I think it more likely that the designer was thinking of the old European legend of St George slaying the Dragon. Take a close look at the words written on various parts of the dragon and on the knight's arrmour and weapons (in the English edition anyway). They make it clear that this will soon be an ex-dragon -- Derek Ross

Purple Dragon
If confirmed, the speculation on the dragon and colour are over; see Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools --Mike Van Emmerik 23:13, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Dragon Book


text:
Silane

Silane (Silicane) is an inorganic compound with chemical formula SiH4. It is a colorless, pyrophoric, toxic gas with a sharp, repulsive, pungent smell, somewhat similar to that of acetic acid. Silane is of practical interest as a precursor to elemental silicon. Silane with alkyl groups are effective water repellents for mineral surfaces such as concrete and masonry. Silanes with both organic and inorganic attachments are used as coupling agents. They are commonly used to apply coatings to surfaces or as an adhesion promoter.

Commercial-scale routes
Silane can be produced by several routes. Typically, it arises from the reaction of hydrogen chloride with magnesium silicide:

It is also prepared from metallurgical-grade silicon in a two-step process. First, silicon is treated with hydrogen chloride at about 300 °C to produce trichlorosilane, HSiCl3, along with hydrogen gas, according to the chemical equation

The trichlorosilane is then converted to a mixture of silane and silicon tetrachloride:

This redistribution reaction requires a catalyst.

The most commonly used catalysts for this process are metal halides, particularly aluminium chloride. This is referred to as a redistribution reaction, which is a double displacement involving the same central element. It may also be thought of as a disproportionation reaction, even though there is no change in the oxidation number for silicon (Si has a nominal oxidation number IV in all three species). However, the utility of the oxidation number concept for a covalent molecule, even a polar covalent molecule, is ambiguous. The silicon atom could be rationalized as having the highest formal oxidation state and partial positive charge in SiCl4 and the lowest formal oxidation state in SiH4, since Cl is far more electronegative than is H.

An alternative industrial process for the preparation of very high-purity silane, suitable for use in the production of semiconductor-grade silicon, starts with metallurgical-grade silicon, hydrogen, and silicon tetrachloride and involves a complex series of redistribution reactions (producing byproducts that are recycled in the process) and distillations. The reactions are summarized below:

The silane produced by this route can be thermally decomposed to produce high-purity silicon and hydrogen in a single pass.

Still other industrial routes to silane involve reduction of silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4) with sodium hydride (NaH) or reduction of SiCl4 with lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH4).

Another commercial production of silane involves reduction of silicon dioxide (SiO2) under Al and H2 gas in a mixture of NaCl and aluminum chloride (AlCl3) at high pressures:

Laboratory-scale routes
In 1857, the German chemists Heinrich Buff and Friedrich Woehler discovered silane among the products formed by the action of hydrochloric acid on aluminum silicide, which they had previously prepared. They called the compound siliciuretted hydrogen.

For classroom demonstrations, silane can be produced by heating sand with magnesium powder to produce magnesium silicide (Mg2Si), then pouring the mixture into hydrochloric acid. The magnesium silicide reacts with the acid to produce silane gas, which burns on contact with air and produces tiny explosions. This may be classified as a heterogeneous acid–base chemical reaction, since the isolated Si(4-) ion in the Mg2Si antifluorite structure can serve as a Brønsted–Lowry base capable of accepting four protons. It can be written as

In general, the alkaline-earth metals form silicides with the following stoichiometries: M^{II}2Si, M^{II}Si, and M^{II}Si2. In all cases, these substances react with Brønsted–Lowry acids to produce some type of hydride of silicon that is dependent on the Si anion connectivity in the silicide. The possible products include SiH4 and/or higher molecules in the homologous series Si_{n}H_{2n+2}, a polymeric silicon hydride, or a silicic acid. Hence, M^{II}Si with their zigzag chains of Si(2-) anions (containing two lone pairs of electrons on each Si anion that can accept protons) yield the polymeric hydride (SiH2)_{x}.

Yet another small-scale route for the production of silane is from the action of sodium amalgam on dichlorosilane, SiH2Cl2, to yield monosilane along with some yellow polymerized silicon hydride (SiH)_{x}.

Properties
Silane is the silicon analogue of methane. All four Si\sH bonds are equal and their length is 147.98 pm. Because of the greater electronegativity of hydrogen in comparison to silicon, this Si–H bond polarity is the opposite of that in the C–H bonds of methane. One consequence of this reversed polarity is the greater tendency of silane to form complexes with transition metals. A second consequence is that silane is pyrophoric — it undergoes spontaneous combustion in air, without the need for external ignition. However, the difficulties in explaining the available (often contradictory) combustion data are ascribed to the fact that silane itself is stable and that the natural formation of larger silanes during production, as well as the sensitivity of combustion to impurities such as moisture and to the catalytic effects of container surfaces causes its pyrophoricity. Above 420 °C, silane decomposes into silicon and hydrogen; it can therefore be used in the chemical vapor deposition of silicon.

The Si–H bond strength is around 384 kJ/mol, which is about 20% weaker than the H–H bond in H2. Consequently, compounds containing Si–H bonds are much more reactive than is H2. The strength of the Si–H bond is modestly affected by other substituents: the Si–H bond strengths are: SiHF3 419 kJ/mol, SiHCl3 382 kJ/mol, and SiHMe3 398 kJ/mol.

Applications
While diverse applications exist for organosilanes, silane itself has one dominant application, as a precursor to elemental silicon, particularly in the semiconductor industry. The higher silanes, such as di- and trisilane, are only of academic interest. About 300 metric tons per year of silane were consumed in the late 1990s. Low-cost solar photovoltaic module manufacturing has led to substantial consumption of silane for depositing (PECVD) hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) on glass and other substrates like metal and plastic. The PECVD process is relatively inefficient at materials utilization with approximately 85% of the silane being wasted. To reduce that waste and the ecological footprint of a-Si:H-based solar cells further several recycling efforts have been developed.

Safety and precautions
A number of fatal industrial accidents produced by combustion and detonation of leaked silane in air have been reported.

Due to weak bonds and hydrogen, silane is a pyrophoric gas (capable of autoignition at temperatures below 54 °C).
 * $$\Delta H = -1517 \text{ kJ/mol } = -47.23 \text{ kJ/g}$$

For lean mixtures a two-stage reaction process has been proposed, which consists of a silane consumption process and a hydrogen oxidation process. The heat of SiO2(s) condensation increases the burning velocity due to thermal feedback.

Diluted silane mixtures with inert gases such as nitrogen or argon are even more likely to ignite when leaked into open air, compared to pure silane: even a 1% mixture of silane in pure nitrogen easily ignites when exposed to air.

In Japan, in order to reduce the danger of silane for amorphous silicon solar cell manufacturing, several companies began to dilute silane with hydrogen gas. This resulted in a symbiotic benefit of making more stable solar photovoltaic cells as it reduced the Staebler–Wronski effect.

Unlike methane, silane is fairly toxic: the lethal concentration in air for rats (LC50) is 0.96% (9,600 ppm) over a 4-hour exposure. In addition, contact with eyes may form silicic acid with resultant irritation.

In regards to occupational exposure of silane to workers, the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has set a recommended exposure limit of 5 ppm (7 mg/m3) over an eight-hour time-weighted average.

title: Silane


text:
Talk:National anthem of Afghanistan/Archive 1

Unsorted comments
What country are we talking about? And could we format this a bit if we're going to keep it? -- Zoe

I believe there is no real "title" to the anthem of Afghanistan. From what I've learnt, "Sououd-e-Melli" simply means "National Anthem". Anyway, the lyrics presented here is already out of use. A new anthem has been adopted since the interim government took over and the authorities may change it again in the recent future. Situation is till rather volatile. -- Pilotjj1

I added in a link to a page about the anthem at the MRRD website. You can listen to the anthem there. Inkan1969 08:34, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

LIDICITY?
LIDICITY? What is Lidicity supposed to be? I don't understand what those midi files are. Inkan1969 08:34, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

 * There has been no explanation of LIDICITY so far. The one who posted those links was anonymous.  I think then I can delete the LIDICITY section.Inkan1969 17:36, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Who added those Lidicity links again? The person adding them was anonymous.  This anonymous person still did not explain what those links mean.  Further, this person wrote the links as "impudent".  What that meant as an insult to me for deleting the old links?  Whomever added those links, please explain yourself.  Is this a case of vandalism? Inkan1969 15:11, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * There is still no explanation. So I'm taking the links off. Inkan1969 18:24, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Title
I googled "Soroud-e-Melli" and I only found Wikipedia links and Wikipedia mirrors, so I guess that means the national anthem doesn't have a title. But since Soroud-e-Melli does mean National anthem in Persian/?Pashto, it would be an appropriate title. But the title of the article is "Sououd-e-Melli" which isn't right, and I think it should be moved to Soroud-e-Melli (which is now a redirect to this article). Mar de Sin  Speak up!  16:45, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
 * The only title that I know of is "The National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan." Also, I think the anthem has changed, again, since I got a CD in the mail that is the "current anthem," which was writte by Abdul Bari Jahani and the music created by Babrak Wassa. User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 05:49, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Zscout, are the lyrics posted here the lyrics written by Abdul Bari Jahani?  The lyrics are definitely the lyrics of the anthem that is at the mrrd website link.   I went to places like nationalanthems.us and they seemed to think that these are Jahani's lyrics?  Who's Suliman Masood Watanyar?  You said you have the CD.  Is the song on the CD different from the song at the mrrd link?  I mean the link's MP3 file, not the written lyrics which like I said are wrong. Inkan1969 20:58, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Also, Zscout, I restored the mrrd website link. The link is not 404.  I just went there and it worked fine.  Try http://www.mrrd.gov.af/Afghanistan%20National%20Anthem/National%20Anthem.htm if you can't get the link to work.Inkan1969 21:19, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I also am a member of nationalanthems.us (check me under the name zscout370 there); and I decided to take up on the offer and paid 15 USD for the anthem CD. I can confirm that the mp3 file that is on the website of the MRRD is the same as on my CD (Track 4). But with the CD, few information was given in English and a lot of it was printed in Arabic (which I cannot read). As for who is Watanyar, I have done some research and nothing comes up, so I will remove his name from the article. User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 03:56, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The link to the CD is at . Honestly, it is a pretty good CD, well made, well worth the money spent on it. User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 03:58, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Ah, good, so the mp3 file really is the new National Anthem. The transliteration in the Wiki entry definitely matches the mp3 file.  These must be Jahani's lyrics. Inkan1969 17:46, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Is the Arabic language text correct? User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 01:26, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't know, but I'm sure that's not Arabic, that's Pashto language. The Anthem was written in Pashto, and Pashto is one of many languages written in Arabic Script.  The writing on your CD is likely Pashto or Dari as well. Inkan1969 19:44, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Ok, then it is Pashto. But from what I seen so far, the lyrics have not been printed in the booklet, though most of it was based on the anthem creation, history and a piece about the Rhapsody Afghanica. User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 01:34, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

MERGE WITH "SOROUDI MILLI"?
In the National Anthem link at the Afghanistan page someone replaced this page with this Soroudi Milli page, which has a differently spelled name. But the pages pretty much are exactly the same.

What should the procedure be then? Should there be a merger between the two pages? Or should the Sououd-e-Melli page be deleted?( I would hate for this talk page to disappear. ) Which romanization is correct? Actually, since the lyrics are in Pashto, shouldn't the title be in Pashto as well? Inkan1969 00:52, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I will make the second page into a redirect to here. User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 03:27, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

 * The correct Pashto name for afghanistan national anthem is Milli Tharana (pashto for "National Anthem"). Surudi Milli is Tajikistan national anthem. there are few aggressive persianized tajik nationalistic editors on afghanistan article trying to totally change afghanistan's image and trying to make it a totally persian country. watch for them and their edits because they don't believe in anything else but persianity.-Mizorr

 * Afghanistan is a nation with several languages. None should be favored. With this in mind, and if the anthem indeed has no official title, the Wikipedia article's title should be National anthem of Afghanistan. Badagnani 06:16, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Afghanistan is a nation with several languages makes no sense here as this is the case with almost every nation on the planet. For example the united states is a nation with english and spanish languages does that mean the US anthem should be written in spanish with spanish title? anyway according to the Constitution of Afghanistan Pashto is the first official language and Dari is the second official language followed by the remaining languages as the third official languages of the country. prior to 2004, pashto was "the only" official language of Afghanistan and that was like that a very long time. they were gonna leave pashto as "the only" official language of the country when they were preparing the new constitution of the country but many dari speakers were complaining and their leaders refused to sign the constitution if dari was not also made into the status of an offical language. so finally it was agreed that pashto would remain as the "first official language" of the country and that dari would be recognized as the "second official language". by explaining all this, it means that there is no chance for pashto to ever come down from being the first official language but the dari may come back down in the future because of the sensitivity. this is part of the reason why the country is still not coming to a peace. most of the rebels fighting against the government of afghanistan now are pashto speakers because they feel like being left out. This national anthem of afghanistan specifically mentions that "it shall be in pashto language" which means it must have pashto lyrics pashto text and pashto title unless you like to create confusion. if you people don't show respect for pashto speakers then believe me your country USA and Europe will come to the worst times you have ever seen in history because messing with someone's ethnic, culture, pride, etc, is asking for trouble. I came to fix these mistakes. many taliban in pakistan and afghanistan do have access to internet and when they see false information here on afghanistan they go and kill US army. if these taliban look at wikipedia and see pashto being replaced with dari they will make more plans. this article "Souodi melli" or "soroud-e melli", etc., was originally written in 2003 when the country did not have a recognized government or constitution. the afghan constitution was finalized on january 5 2004 and made law. the new national anthem replaced the older one last year in 2006. the word "Tharana" or "Tarana" means ANTHEM in Pashto language (check Pakistan's national anthem to be sure), the word "Milli" means "national" in pashto language and when you combine the two it means National Anthem. knowing that the Afghan National Anthem is in pashto language, why would somebody refuse to give it a pashto title but rather give it a dari title? are you anti-pashto speakers? the major ethnic group in afghanistan is pashtuns who are speakers of the pashto language, so why would they not be allowed to make a national anthem for their country with the title in their own language? I ask that this older version of this article be completely deleted and we just use the new one I created.-Mizorr

 * Milli Tharana (Pashto for "National Anthem") is the national anthem of Afghanistan. It was adopted and officially announced in May 2006. According to article twenty (20) of the Constitution of Afghanistan, the national anthem of Afghanistan must only be in Pashto language.

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - Article Twenty - "The national anthem of Afghanistan shall be in Pashto with the mention of “God is Great” as well as the names of the tribes of Afghanistan". The lyrics were written by Abdul Bari Jahani and the music was written by Babrak Wassa.

Transliteration

 * Daa watan afghanistan do
 * Daa ezzat de har afghan di
 * kor de soli kor de tori
 * har bachi ye qahraman di
 * daa watan di tolo kor di
 * de balocho, de uzbako
 * de pashtoon aw hazarwoo
 * de turkmano de tajeko
 * worsara arab, gojar di
 * pamirian, noristanian
 * barahawi di, qizilbash di
 * ham aimaq, pashaiyean
 * daa hiwad ba til zaligi
 * laka limar pa eshna aasman
 * pa sina ki de asia
 * laka zera wi jawidan
 * noom de haq mo di rahbar
 * wayoo Allah o Akbar, wayoo Allah o Akbar

What's up with persian
Why is the national anthem of Afghanistan changed to Persian when the constitution says it shall be in Pashto language? you don't respect the law? I say that's very ignorant isn't it.-Mizorr 14:24, 9 May 2007 (UTC)