text:
Team roping

Team roping also known as heading and heeling is a rodeo event that features a steer (typically a Corriente) and two mounted riders. The first roper is referred to as the "header", the person who ropes the front of the steer, usually around the horns, but it is also legal for the rope to go around the neck, or go around one horn and the nose resulting in what they call a "half head". Once the steer is caught by one of the three legal head catches, the header must dally (wrap the rope around the rubber covered saddle horn) and use his horse to turn the steer to the left.

The second roper is the "heeler", who ropes the steer by its hind feet after the "header" has turned the steer, with a five-second penalty assessed to the end time if only one leg is caught. Team roping is the only rodeo event where men and women compete equally together in professionally sanctioned competition, in both single-gender or mixed-gender teams.

Origins
Cowboys originally developed this technique on working ranches when it was necessary to capture and restrain a full-grown animal that was too large to handle by a single man. Over the years, as the sport has grown, a numbering system was added to rate each ropers individual talent level. The numbers go from one to ten (1-10) for headers and one to ten (1-10) for heelers. Using these numbers, a handicap system (the subtraction of time) has been developed to even the competition. Today there are tens of thousands of amateur ropers who compete for millions of dollars in prize money.

Equipment
There is specialized equipment used by team ropers:

 * Rope - made of synthetic fibers, used to rope the steer, there are two kinds of ropes, one for the header (the person who ropes the head) and one for the heeler (the person who ropes the legs). The header's rope is usually 30 to 32 feet in length and is a lot softer (softer means the rope has more elasticity and flexibility). The heeler's rope is usually 35 or 36 feet in length and is a lot stiffer (meaning it contains less flexibility and is more rigid to catch the feet).
 * Horn wraps - protective wraps that go around the horns of the steer to prevent rope burns and reduce the risk of a horn breaking when roped.
 * Roping gloves - worn to prevent rope burns on the hands of the riders.
 * Western saddle - Roping saddles have a particularly strong design with double rigging and other specialized features, including a rubber wrap around the saddle horn to keep the dally from slipping, and usually a wooden rawhide-covered saddle tree or a reinforced fiberglass tree.
 * Bell boots and splint boots are placed on the horses' legs for protection.

Modern event
Steers used for roping are moved from a holding corral through a series of narrow alleyways that lead to the roping arena. The alleyways allow the steers to be lined up in single file. Then, one at a time, a steer is moved into a chute with spring-loaded doors in front and a solid gate behind, so that only one animal is released at a time. On each side of the chute is an area called the box that is big enough to hold a horse and rider. The header is on one side (usually the left, for a right-handed header) whose job is to rope the steer around the horns, then turn the steer so its hind legs can be roped by the "heeler", who starts from the box on the other side of the chute. A taut rope, called the barrier, runs in front of the header's box and is fastened to an easily released rope on the neck of the steer of a designated length, used to ensure that the steer gets a head start. An electronic barrier, consisting of an electric eye connected to a timing device, is sometimes used in place of the barrier rope.

When the header is ready, he or she calls for the steer and an assistant pulls a lever, opening the chute doors. The freed steer breaks out running. When the steer reaches the end of the rope, the barrier releases. The header must rope the steer with one of three legal catches: a clean horn catch around both horns, a neck catch around the neck or a half-head catch around the neck and one horn. The header then takes a dally, a couple of wraps of the rope around the horn of the saddle. Some ropers have lost fingers in this event. Once the header has made the dally, the rider turns the horse, usually to the left, and the steer will follow, still running.

The heeler waits until the header has turned the steer. When he or she has a clear throw, the heeler throws a loop of rope under the running steer's hind legs and catches them. As soon as the heeler also dallies tight, the header turns his or her horse to directly face the steer and heeler. Both horses back up slightly to stretch out the steer's hind legs, immobilizing the animal. As soon as the steer is stretched out, an official waves a flag and the time is taken. The steer is released and trots off. There is a 5-second penalty for roping only one hind leg and a 10-second penalty for breaking the barrier if both occur on the same run then the penalties are added together for a total of 15 seconds added.

A successful professional-level team takes between 4 and 8 seconds to stretch the steer, depending on the length of the arena. At lower levels, a team may take longer, particularly if the heeler misses the first throw and has to try again. At higher levels, the header and the heeler are allowed only one throw each, if either misses, the team gets no score.

In some round-robin format competitions the header and heeler are awarded points for each catch instead of timing the run. This puts emphasis on consistency rather than speed. These types of competitions are often more attractive to newer ropers where they can focus on catching rather than having a fast run.

Rules
There are various organizations that sanction team roping events at local, regional and national levels. Some of the rules common to most groups include:
 * Both riders must start from inside the box
 * If the barrier is broken there is a 10-second or 5-second penalty depending on organization
 * If the Heeler catches only one leg there is a 5-second penalty
 * The Heeler cannot throw unless the head of the steer is turned.
 * The header has three possible legal catches:
 * 1) Both horns
 * 2) One horn and the nose (half-head)
 * 3) The neck
 * Any other head catch is considered illegal.

Ropes

A modern rope is usually made of a blend of nylon and poly fibers, though some classic styles are still made of rawhide. Most synthetic ropes are generally quite stiff at the time of purchase, but come in various grades. For beginners, headers start with an extra soft (xs) or an extra, extra soft (xxs) rope. Heelers usually also start with a harder rope. Ropes come in a number of different variations of stiffness. from softest to stiffest there is the extra extra soft (xxs), extra soft (xs), soft (s), medium soft (ms), medium (m), hard medium (hm), and medium hard (mh).

Technique
Headers swing their loops overhead in a smooth, flat motion, aim for the back of the steer's head and release the loop. When the roper releases, he or she is to stop the hand open, flat, and palm down at the point where the loop is thrown. Heelers use a different technique, a right-handed heeler will twirl the loop on the left side of the rider's body, always keeping the tip of the loop on the left side so that when the loop is thrown, it will go under the steer. Heeling is all about timing; the tip of the loop has to be at its lowest point as the steer's legs are coming forward. The lay of the loop is also very important; it should stand up against the steer's legs with the bottom loop on the ground so the steer will jump right into it.

title: Team roping


text:
Wolf children

Wolf children (Wolfskinder, vilko vaikai ) or Little Germans (vokietukai) were German and Prussian Lithuanian street children that existed in East Prussia at the end of World War II. Wolf children were mostly orphans left behind in the Evacuation of East Prussia and Red Army invasion in early 1945, with many living homeless in the forests of East Prussia or adopted by Lithuanian families.

Evacuation of East Prussia
By the end of 1944, as World War II had irreparably turned against Nazi Germany, civilians were forbidden from evacuating the eastern territory of East Prussia even as the inevitable invasion of the Red Army came closer. The Gauleiter of East Prussia, Erich Koch, gave orders that fleeing was illegal and punishable ("strenges Fluchtverbot" – flight strictly forbidden), but as the Red Army approached Königsberg many Germans prepared to evacuate anyway. In January 1945, the Evacuation of East Prussia began at the last moment and flight from the territory was allowed.

The Red Army's East Prussian Offensive prompted millions of German men, women, and children to flee; however, many adults were killed or wounded during bombing raids or during harsh winters without any food or shelter. Thousands of orphaned children were left behind and fled into the surrounding forest, forced to fend for themselves and facing harsh reprisals if caught by Soviet soldiers. Condemned to live through "begging, drudging, stealing", older children often tried to keep their siblings together, and survival—searching for food and shelter—became their number-one priority.

Lithuanian aid
Many German children went on food-scrounging trips into neighboring Lithuania, where they were adopted by rural Lithuanian farmers who called them vokietukai (little Germans) and often gave them food and shelter free of charge. Most of these children made trips back and forth many times to get food for their sick mothers or siblings, travelling along railroad tracks, sometimes catching rides on top of or in between railroad cars, jumping off before reaching Soviet control stations. After the 1990s, the children were branded "wolf children" because of their wolf-like wandering through the forests. Lithuanian farmers who sold their products in the townships of East Prussia in 1946 looked for children and young people to support them in their daily work, and thus many children streamed regularly to the eastern Baltic region to receive food in exchange for products or their labor. They adopted some of the younger ones, and some of the children remained on the Lithuanian farms permanently, but exact statistics are not available. According to rough estimates, 45,000 German children and young people stayed in Lithuania in 1948.

Lithuanians who assisted the German children had to hide their efforts from the Soviet authorities, risking severe punishment if detected, with many German children's names changed, and only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 could they reveal their true identities.

"Most of them became orphans by war and flight in the stage of child or baby. They had to care for themselves and find out how to survive. Many reached Lithuania, where they worked at farms to gain their living. Most had no chance for school education. A larger part never got lessons to write or read. In many cases, the children got new Lithuanian first and family names and became Lithuanians. There was no choice, as it was forbidden for them to opt as Germans."

Soviet rehoming
Soviet authorities sent some children who could be identified as German orphans in the former East Prussia to stay in orphanages administered by Soviet military officers but staffed mostly with some of the remaining Germans. In late 1947, 4,700 German orphans were officially registered in Kaliningrad. Orphans were also adopted by Russian families in the Soviet Union, though documents about these adoptions are not open to the public. In 1948, the children's village of Pinnow, then called Kinderdorf Kyritz, was opened. Orphans who managed to live with Lithuanian farmers remained there mostly undetected.

Expulsion to Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany
In 1946, the Soviets began emptying Samland (or Sambia Peninsula) of Germans. In October 1947, the Soviets decided to resettle 30,000 Germans from Kaliningrad Oblast in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany by train. In 1947, the Soviet Union sent trainloads of orphans to the Occupation Zone; these train rides took four to seven days, partly without food or toilet facilities and some children did not survive. On 15 February 1948, the Ministerial Council of the USSR decided to resettle all Germans in the former East Prussia, declaring them illegal residents in their own homeland. According to Soviet sources, 102,125 people were resettled in 1947 and 1948. Of those, only 99,481 arrived, though sources of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) attributed this to "perhaps a Soviet calculation error." In May 1951, another 3,000 East Prussian Umsiedler Germans came to East Germany. Some orphans managed to flee from East Germany to West Germany where they had better living conditions. At that time, some of the young orphans had no knowledge of their identity, information in search files was vague, and the occupational development difficult.

Survivors
None of the events of the Wolf children were reported in the press and they only became known to the public from 1990 after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The official position of the Soviet and Polish governments at the time was that there were no Germans in these areas, and this had been their official position as early as the Potsdam Agreement in August 1945. Historian Ruth Leiserowitz, who lived in Lithuania, researched and published books about the Wolfkinder of East Prussia under her maiden name, Ruth Kibelka, and her married name. Some historical records given by children from East Prussia survived, describing how their families were overtaken by advancing Soviet forces as they tried to flee. They were sent back to their old homes in East Prussia, found them destroyed, were expelled from their homes, and then some died from starvation, cold, and typhoid fever. The orphans had to find a way of surviving and became Wolf children. Another five orphans, born in the years 1930-1939, told Leiserowitz how they managed to survive and were transferred to a children's home in East Germany.

In an obituary notice for an East Prussian woman, born in 1939 and deceased in 2009, it was revealed that she had lived as a Wolf child under terrible conditions as an orphan without home and shelter in East Prussia and Lithuania.

The story of one survivor can be read in ABANDONED AND FORGOTTEN: An Orphan Girl's Tale of Survival in World War II by Evelyne Tannehill, in which Evelyne and her family fell victim to the Soviets who invaded her parents' farm by the Baltic Sea in East Prussia. Her family was separated; only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was she able to return to East Prussia to revisit her childhood homeland.

Another outstanding story is that of Liesabeth Otto, born in 1937, who, after her mother had died from starvation, went with her brothers and sisters to her homeplace Wehlau, where she managed to survive until 1953 by working and begging. In 1953, she was sent to a detention camp for children because she was caught stealing food and clothes. After an odyssey through many detention camps, later on looking for work in the Soviet Union, she located her father and brother in West Germany in the 1970s.

Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described his experiences in Prussia as a Soviet soldier, in his poem Prussian Nights.

Fate
Several hundred Wolf children were discovered in Lithuania after the separation from Russia. In 2010, almost 100 still lived there. From the beginning of the 1990s on, Wolf children have fought for their German citizenship. They have their own association. The Federal Office of Administration within the German Federal Ministry of the Interior long held that persons who left Königsberg territory after World War II had renounced their German citizenship.

From January 1, 2008, on, compensation is granted by Lithuanian law for those persons who suffered on account of World War II and the Soviet occupation. Consequently, Wolf children get a small additional pension. In German laws, the Wolf children are not mentioned. From private sponsors they get a small quarterly stipend, organized by Wolfgang Freiherr von Stetten.

Today, some Wolf children aim to learn the fate of their relatives, obtain German citizenship, reunite with their families, leave the country for Germany, and remain faithful to German culture.

Association
The association Edelweiß-Wolfskinder is headquartered in Vilnius. Another location is in Klaipeda. It gets support from German donors. The members can meet and exchange views and stories. The members are old and weak and rarely can speak the German language. Aid for the German minority in the Baltic states expired in 2008.

Search for relatives
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, people could once again travel to research or reclaim their identities as Germans.

The German Red Cross helps to identify and locate family members who lost contact with one another, such as the Wolf children, during the turmoil in East Prussia. "It was only the politics of Gorbachev which allowed the opening of the Russian archives. Since the 1990s, the fates of about 200,000 additional missing persons have been clarified. More information about the fates of Germans who were taken prisoners and died still remain in unopened archives in Eastern and South-eastern Europe.

In memory
Valdas Adamkus, then President of Lithuania, stated that an exhibition will be opened in Bad Iburg which will be named "The Lost History of East Prussia: Wolf Children and Their Fate".

Five kilometers north of Tilsit on the crossroad of A 216 Tauroggen-Tilsit with A 226 from Heydekrug there is a memorial for Wolf children ("Wolfskinder-Denkmal"). The goal of the memorial is to publicize the fate of all human beings who were killed or died from starvation in East Prussia in the years 1944-1947, and to remember the orphan children left behind. Another memorial, the House of Wolf children, will be created with a permanent exhibition to remember Wolf children in Mikytai/Mikieten at the crossroad Sovetsk/Tilsit. This memorial will be organized by historians of the Verein Wolfkinder.Geschichtsverein e. V. in Berlin.

"The aid by Lithuanian people for the hungry East Prussians was invaluable. Every historical record brings new facts and insights. Mentioning this time and these circumstances will always cause thankful thoughts for the Lithuanian people of that time."Former German President Christian Wulff was visited on May 10, 2011, by a group of Wolf children from Lithuania. The leader of the parliamentary group within CDU/CSU for expelled, relocated and German minorities, Klaus Brähmig, believes that research on Wolf children should be intensified:

"The president gives an important sign of solidarity by meeting Wolf children, whose fate is not well known in Germany. It is encouraging that politics and the media report more and more on these orphans, of whom many up to now are not aware of their German descent. The union goes on requiring, that scientific research ought to be intensified and matters of Wolf children dealt within the Bundesvertriebenenstiftung."

In popular culture

 * Wolfskinder. Documentary film, about 120 min., Eberhard Fechner (Regie), Germany 1990, ISBN 3-939504-09-2.
 * Irgendwo gebettelt, irgendwo geklaut… Ein Wolfskind auf Spurensuche Report, 30 min., Ingeborg Jacobs (Regie), Hartmut Seifert (camera), first shown on May 5, 1994.
 * Die eiserne Maria. Documentary film, 60 min., Ingeborg Jacobs (Regie), Hartmut Seifert (camera), first shown on March 13, 2002.
 * Die Kinder der Flucht. Part 2 Wolfskinder. first shown on December 1, 2009. Directed by Guido Knopp. Regie Hans-Christoph Blumenberg. 2006.
 * Vilko vaikai, a novel by Eugenijus Remigijus Baltrušaitis
 * Wolf Children (2013 film), a 2013 German film filmed in Lithuania
 * Wolfskinder the second part of the 2006 docudrama Die Kinder der Flucht
 * Ruth Leiserowitz
 * Wolfskinder: Grenzgänger an der Memel (Wolf children: Commuters at Memel); 1996; ISBN 3-86163-064-8
 * Vilko Vaikai – kelias per Nemuną (Wolf children: across the Neman); 2000; ISBN 9955-00-014-7
 * Von Ostpreußen nach Kyritz: Wolfskinder auf dem Weg nach Brandenburg (From East Prussia to Kyritz: Wolf children on the way to Brandenburg); 2003; ISBN 3-932502-33-7

Literature

 * Christel Brandenburg: Ruined by the Reich: Memoire of an East Prussian Family, 1916-1945. McFarland and Co Inc. 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1615-7
 * Evelyne Tannehill: ABANDONED AND FORGOTTEN: An Orphan Girl's Tale of Survival in World War II. Wheatmark 2007. ISBN 978-1-58736-693-2
 * ---Documentation for a student project, no blog---. Stian Eisenträger: The Wolfskinder Project. The forgotten War Orphans - Hitler's Last Victims?
 * Matthias Pankau: ‘I Thought There Was No German Anymore‘’. In: The Atlantic Times. A Monthly Newspaper from Germany, May 2009
 * Ruth Kibelka: Wolfskinder. Grenzgänger an der Memel. (title translated to English: Wolf children - Passing the border at river Memel.) 4. Auflage. Basisdruck, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86163-064-8
 * Ruth Leiserowitz: Von Ostpreußen nach Kyritz – Wolfskinder auf dem Weg nach Brandenburg. (title translated to English: From East Prussia to the city of Kyritz - Wolf children on their way to Brandenburg.) Potsdam 2003, ISBN 3-932502-33-7. Im Internet abrufbar unter Wolfskinder aus Ostpreußen.
 * Ingeborg Jacobs: Wolfskind. Die unglaubliche Lebensgeschichte des ostpreußischen Wolfskindes Liesabeth Otto. Propyläen, Berlin 2010, ISBN 3-549-07371-2
 * Keine Hilfe für deutsche "Wolfskinder". (title translated to English: No help for German "wolf children") In: Der Spiegel. Hamburg 2007, Nr. 7, p 21,
 * Hans-Joachim Kroschewsky: "Königsberg/Ostpreußen - Wir wollen nur leben - Familiendrama von Flucht und Vertreibung 1944 bis 1948." (title translated: We want to live - Dramatic family story of flight and expulsion 1944 to 1948). Wagner-Verlag. (Father had to stay and was member of Wehrmacht, grand parents resettled in 1947, mother relocated in USSR, alone until March 1948, resettled to the west).
 * „Keine Sprache, keine Heimat“. (title translated to English language: No mother tongue - no home). In: Der Spiegel 3/1996, S. 62-68
 * Ursula Dorn: Ich war ein Wolfskind aus Königsberg. (title translated to English language: I was a Wolf child from Koenigsberg). Biographischer Roman. Edition riedenburg. Salzburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-902647-09-2
 * „Keine Sprache, keine Heimat“. (title translated to English language: No mother tongue - no home). In: Der Spiegel 3/1996, S. 62-68
 * Ursula Dorn: Ich war ein Wolfskind aus Königsberg. (title translated to English language: I was a Wolf child from Koenigsberg). Biographischer Roman. Edition riedenburg. Salzburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-902647-09-2

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

title: Wolf children


text:
Talk:Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Age at death / limitations of sidebar
The right-hand information block suggested that, having died the same day, they died at the same age in spite of having different birth years. Reviewing the code, it appears this was an auto-calculated field which does not allow the flexibility of reporting two death ages at a unique time for non-unique birthdates. To clarify for other readers, I changed the code from | date_of_death = June 19, 1953 (both) to | date_of_death = June 19, 1953 (Julius), and aged 37 (Ethel) which I believe removes the ambiguity. There is still some minor formatting inconsistency as the sidebar places the initial age in parenthesis, but this was the best I could do with the automated process. At least now they are not reported dead at the same age.

Change "Later developments" section to use chronological order
I think it will benefit our readers if we untangle this section. New sources of information emerged at specific dates, which we can use: The Rosenberg children and their campaign for the exoneration of Ethel Rosenberg belong in a different section. I am going to try to sort this out. HouseOfChange (talk) 18:52, 15 November 2020 (UTC)
 * 1995 publication of Venona decryptions (material that was available to the FBI but not made public during the trial)
 * 2001 David Greenglass later statements
 * 2008 release of grand jury testimony
 * 2008 Morton Sobell later statements
 * 2009 Vassiliev notebooks published online
 * 1995 Venona descriptions:

"...For example, a 1944 cable (which gives the name of Ruth Greenglass in clear text) says that Ruth's brother David is being recruited as a spy by his sister (that is, Ethel Rosenberg) and her husband..." But Mr. David Greenglass wasn’t the brother of Mrs. Ruth Greenglass. He was her spouse! This phrase must be written so:

For example, a 1944 cable (which gives the name of Ruth Greenglass in clear text) says that Ruth's spouse David is being recruited as a spy by his sister (that is, Ethel Rosenberg) and her husband. --Анатолий Глезер (talk) 07:21, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

Clarification about Ethel
The previous version of this article claimed at the start that both Julius and Ethel spied for the Soviets and provided info to them. But all of the article’s sources that I looked at said that Ethel was involved in recruiting but not in providing info to the Soviets. So that opening paragraph seemed to me to be factually incorrect (according to the article’s sources), so I changed it. My change may not have been the best way to address this issue, I don’t know; but if someone ends up reverting my change, then please make other changes to make the article match what it says in the sources. (Or else provide a source for the specific claim that Ethel passed info to the Soviets.) — Elysdir (talk) 00:33, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Julius and Ethel Rosenberg


text:
Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)

Fleetwood Mac is the tenth studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 11 July 1975 in the United States and on 1 August 1975 in the United Kingdom by Reprise Records. It is the band's second eponymous album after their 1968 debut album and is sometimes referred to by fans as the White Album. It is the first Fleetwood Mac album with Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as a vocalist, after Bob Welch departed the band in late 1974. It is also the band's last album to be released on the Reprise label until 1997's The Dance; the band's subsequent albums until then were released through Warner Bros. Records, Reprise's parent company.

The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart on 4 September 1976, 58 weeks after entering the chart, and spawned three top-twenty singles: "Over My Head", "Rhiannon", and "Say You Love Me", the last two falling just short of the top ten, both at number 11. It has been certified 7x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over seven million copies in the United States. Peaking at number 23 on the UK Albums Chart, it was the start of a run of hugely successful albums for the band in Britain, with six number ones, Fleetwood Mac being followed by Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Mirage (1982),  Tango in the Night (1987), and Behind the Mask (1990).

Background
In 1974, Fleetwood Mac relocated from England to California to manage the band's affairs better. In California, they recorded an album, Heroes Are Hard to Find, and set out on tour. Shortly after finishing the tour, Bob Welch (guitarist, singer, and composer) left the band, ending Fleetwood Mac's ninth lineup in eight years, to form the band Paris.

Prior to Welch's departure, Mick Fleetwood met with producer Keith Olsen at Sound City Studios to listen to some demos. There, Olsen played Fleetwood an album he had recently engineered, titled Buckingham Nicks. Fleetwood particularly enjoyed the guitar solo on the song "Frozen Love", and decided to hire both Olsen and the guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham. However, Buckingham would not accept Fleetwood's offer unless he agreed to also hire Buckingham's musical and romantic partner, Stevie Nicks, even though they were close to breaking up. After an informal interview at a Mexican restaurant, Mick Fleetwood invited both Buckingham and Nicks to join the band, and this tenth lineup of the band proved to be its most successful. Within three months, the band had recorded the album Fleetwood Mac.

During the recording sessions, bassist John McVie clashed with Buckingham over creative decisions made in the studio, particularly over some of the album's bass parts. McVie reminded Buckingham that "The band you're in is Fleetwood Mac. I'm the Mac. And I play the bass." Buckingham told Billboard that Christine McVie was more receptive to Buckingham's creative input. "'It was so clear that right away that Christine and I had this thing. She was just really looking for direction. She was open to me taking liberties with her songs. So early on, that was probably the first thing that hit me about being in Fleetwood Mac was being extremely aware that I had something to contribute to Christine’s songs as a producer and possibly as a co-writer.'"

Many of the songs on Fleetwood Mac were written before Buckingham and Nicks joined the band. "Rhiannon", "I'm So Afraid", and "Monday Morning" were written and performed live by the duo and were initially slated to appear on a second Buckingham Nicks album. "Crystal" was recycled from the first Buckingham Nicks album, but with a different arrangement. Fleetwood praised these songs as "show stoppers, even as rough sketches recorded on Lindsey's four-track.

Like all of the band's studio albums, the front cover photo of Fleetwood Mac does not show the whole band, including, in this case, only drummer Mick Fleetwood (standing) and bass guitarist John McVie (kneeling).

Release and reception
Fleetwood Mac was released on 11 July 1975. Though the band experienced only modest success immediately after the release, they were determined to promote their new album, and after touring for several months, they started to see the results of their hard work. In an interview with Uncut, Stevie Nicks said of the album: "We just played everywhere and we sold that record. We kicked that album in the ass." 15 months after its release, Fleetwood Mac reached the top of the US charts.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 182 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revised list.

Singles
All of the singles that derived from Fleetwood Mac used mixes of the songs different from those used on the album (and occasionally different takes, as in the case of "Over My Head"). A "single mix" was also created for "Blue Letter", and this mix was only available as the B-side of the "Warm Ways" single from 1975 until it was included as a bonus track on the 2004 re-issue of the album (along with an instrumental called "Jam #2" and the single versions of "Say You Love Me", "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)", and "Over My Head").

In the US, the album spawned three top twenty singles: "Over My Head", "Rhiannon", and "Say You Love Me", the last two falling just short of the top ten, both at number 11. A version of "Landslide" taken from the live reunion album The Dance was released as a single in the US in 1998 and reached number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the UK, the album's first single was "Warm Ways", which was not released as a single in the US. Initially, the album generated limited interest in the UK, and the first three singles released by the new lineup failed to enter the UK Singles Chart, while "Say You Love Me" reached number 40. Following the massive success of Rumours two years later, however, interest in the band reignited, Fleetwood Mac was re-released in 1978, and a reissue of "Rhiannon" peaked at number 46.

Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 183 on the US Billboard 200 chart dated 2 August 1975. It eventually reached its peak at number one on the chart dated 4 September 1976, which was 57 weeks after it had entered the chart. On 11 September 2018, the album was certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over seven million copies in the United States.

In the UK, the album initially did not enter the charts and made its debut at number 49 on the UK Albums Chart dated 6 November 1976, well over a year after the album's release. It peaked at number 23 its second week on the chart. On 5 July 1978, the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of over 100,000 copies in the UK.

Personnel
Fleetwood Mac
 * Lindsey Buckingham – electric, acoustic, and resonator guitar, banjo, vocals
 * Stevie Nicks – vocals
 * Christine McVie – keyboards, synthesizer, vocals
 * John McVie – bass guitar
 * Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

Additional personnel
 * Waddy Wachtel – rhythm guitar on "Sugar Daddy"

Production
 * Fleetwood Mac & Keith Olsen – producers
 * Keith Olsen – engineer
 * David Devore – engineer
 * Herbert W. Worthington III – photography

title: Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)


text:
Leaving Certificate (Ireland)

The Leaving Certificate Examination (Scrúdú na hArdteistiméireachta), commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert or (informally) the Leaving (Ardteist), is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system and the university matriculation examination in Ireland. It takes a minimum of two years' preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior Cycle examination. These years are referred to collectively as "The Senior Cycle". Most students taking the examination are aged 16–19; in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam. The Examination is overseen by the State Examinations Commission. The Leaving Certificate Examinations are taken annually by approximately 60,000 students.

In 2018, the Department of Education alongside the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment confirmed that the senior cycle is under review with Politics and Society, Physical Education, and Computer Science the first of the new subjects to be part of the reforms. Core subjects such as Irish, English, Mathematics, and European languages will be changed in due course.

Programmes
There are three distinct programmes that can be followed. While the outcomes of each programme are quite distinct, each is intended to reinforce the principles of secondary education – to prepare the student for education, society and work.

Established Leaving Certificate
The Established Leaving Certificate, introduced in 1924, is the most common programme taken. A minimum of six subjects are examined, including compulsory Irish. Exemption from the mandatory study of the Irish language is described in Circular M10/94 (Department of Education, Ireland, 1994) and the exemption can be acquired because of time spent living abroad or a learning disability such as dyslexia. Most students take seven subjects.

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme
The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, introduced as a more practical "hands-on" complement to the conventional Leaving Certificate, is similar to the established programme.

Leaving Certificate Applied
The Leaving Certificate Applied, another variant of the traditional Leaving Certificate, is taken to prepare the student for adult and working life.

Leaving Certificate
Each subject is examined at one of three levels, Higher Level (informally called Honours), Ordinary Level (informally Pass), or Foundation Level. Foundation Level may only be taken in two subjects: Irish and Mathematics. All other subjects may be taken at either Ordinary or Higher Level. At each level, a percentage is assigned and translated to eight possible grades. These are usually written H1-H8, O1-O8 and F1-F8.

There have been proposals to impose a normal distribution on Leaving Certificate Examination scores, however, this ignores quantification problems and issues such as an A in one subject like Mathematics reflects greater attainment than an A in another subject.

Admission to universities and colleges is by a points system, run by the Central Applications Office (CAO). The points allocations shown in the accompanying table have been collectively agreed by the third-level institutions involved in the CAO scheme, and relativities that they imply have no official standing in the eyes of the State Examinations Commission or the Department of Education. The points awarded for a given percentage range are given in the table. Note that points for foundation level are only awarded for Mathematics, and only then by some institutions. A bonus for higher level Mathematics is part of the currently agreed system.

Mathematics bonus points Since 2012, a pass (minimum H6, originally D3) in higher level Mathematics is awarded 25 bonus points, making it possible to earn 125 points in this subject. Twenty-five bonus points are awarded for higher level Mathematics for H6 grades and above. For example, if an applicant receives an H6 grade, an additional 25 points will be added to the 46 points already awarded, i.e. higher level Mathematics now carries a score of 71 points. This also means that, provided they pass, the minimum number of points a student can receive is 71, which is 15 points greater than an O1 at Ordinary Level.

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme
The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme allows students to take link modules, which have their own grading scheme and associated CAO points.

Predicted grades
In 2020, the Leaving Certificate was cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This marked the first official cancellation in its existence. Leaving Certificate students were then given the choice of having teachers predict their own students' grades, which would then be nationally standardised. If students were not happy with their predicted grades, however, they could appeal their results and choose to sit a traditional exam in November 2020. The results would not be available in time for the 2020 academic year. In 2021, for each subject, candidates were given a choice to sit the Leaving Certificate examinations, take an Accredited Grade or opt for the better of the two. The examinations were extended over a 15-day period, instead of the usual 13 day period. The Accredited Grades are based on school-estimated marks and a standardisation process.

Subjects available
The subjects listed below are available to Leaving Certificate students, though most schools only offer a limited number. The subjects are in five groups, with most subjects belonging to one group.

Language group
L1, Mandatory languages
 * English (mandatory with exceptions)

L2, Native, Modern and Classical languages
 * Gaeilge (Irish language) (required by some universities for matriculation, mandatory with exceptions)
 * Ancient Greek†
 * Arabic
 * French
 * German
 * Hebrew
 * Italian
 * Japanese
 * Latin†
 * Russian
 * Spanish
 * Portuguese
 * Mandarin Chinese
 * Polish
 * Lithuanian
 * Classical Studies†

Taking a third, foreign language is mandatory in some secondary schools due to most courses in the National University of Ireland (NUI) universities (University of Galway, University College Cork, Maynooth University) requiring a foreign language as an entry requirement, usually excluding engineering and computer science related courses.

Non-curricular languages

The following languages can only be taken if the student is from a member state of the European Union, speaks the language in which they opt to be examined in as a mother tongue, has followed a programme of study leading to the Leaving Certificate and is taking Leaving Certificate English. Another condition is that candidate may undertake examination in one non-curricular language subject only.
 * Bulgarian
 * Croatian
 * Czech
 * Danish
 * Dutch
 * Estonian
 * Finnish
 * Greek
 * Hungarian
 * Latvian
 * Maltese
 * Romanian
 * Slovak
 * Slovene
 * Swedish

Science group
Mathematics
 * Mathematics (mandatory with exceptions)
 * Applied Mathematics

Laboratory sciences
 * Physics†
 * Chemistry†
 * Biology
 * Physics and Chemistry (combined)† (also in Applied Science group)

Business studies group

 * Accounting (formerly ‘Accountancy’)
 * Business (formerly 'Business Organisation')
 * Economics†

Up to 2020, it was possible to study Agricultural Economics as a subject, but it was discontinued after revisions to the Agricultural Science and Economics courses.

Applied science group

 * Agricultural Science
 * Construction Studies
 * Engineering
 * Home Economics - Scientific and Social (also in Social Studies group)
 * Physics and Chemistry (combined)† (also in Science group)
 * Design and Communication Graphics (formerly 'Technical Drawing')
 * Technology
 * Computer Science
 * Physical Education

Physical Education (P.E.) was made an official Leaving Certificate subject as of 11 November 2017. Students can now receive grades for sport, dance and other activities. It was first implemented in September 2018 for incoming Fifth Year students and was first examined in 2020.

Computer Science was introduced from September 2018 at 40 secondary schools. From September 2020 it was available to all schools in Ireland.

Social studies group

 * Art
 * Geography
 * History
 * Home Economics - Scientific and Social (also in Applied Science group)
 * Music
 * Politics and Society
 * Religious Education

Section footnotes
†Subject exclusions – candidates may not take any of the following subject combinations:
 * Agricultural Economics and Economics
 * Classical Studies and Ancient Greek
 * Classical Studies and Latin
 * Physics and Chemistry (combined) and either Physics (alone) or Chemistry (alone)

The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) is an additional Link Module which may be taken along with the other optional subjects. Students wishing to sit the LCVP Link Modules Exam must meet certain requirements. They must take an extra language subject and must have one or more of the following subject combinations:

1. Engineering and Business or Accounting or Economics
 * Specialist groupings
 * 1) Construction Studies or Engineering or Technical Drawing (any two)
 * 2) Physics and Construction Studies or Engineering
 * 3) Agricultural Science and Construction Studies or Engineering
 * 4) Agricultural Science and Chemistry or Physics or Physics and Chemistry (combined subject)
 * 5) Home Economics and Agricultural Science or Biology
 * 6) Home Economics and Art
 * 7) Accounting or Business or Economics (any two)
 * 8) Physics and Chemistry
 * 9) Biology and Agricultural Science
 * 10) Biology and Chemistry or Physics or Physics and Chemistry (combined)
 * Services groupings

2. Construction Studies and Business or Accounting or Economics

3. Home Economics and Business or Accounting or Economics

4. Agricultural Science and Business or Accounting or Economics

5. Art and Business or Accounting or Economics

6. Music and Business or Accounting or Economics

Exam format
Subjects are examined through a number of methods. These include at least one written paper (English, Mathematics, Irish and some of the optional courses contain two written papers).

Language courses examine the student's writing, conversation and listening skills. The spoken section of the exams ('oral') takes place some months before the written exams, and the listening ('aurals') takes place in the same weeks as the written.

A number of subjects in the sciences and arts include the keeping of records or creation of a physical object or project. This work is designed to provide tangible proof of the students' abilities. However, not every book or project is examined, with inspectors being sent to a small few, randomly selected schools each year, or simply examining a small selection of projects from each class to check the standard. Some subjects such as Art and Technology involve a practical exam which is supervised by an external examiner. In the academic year of the written exam, all practical science subjects are partially examined by student assignments which involve less focus on traditional exam formats and getting students to put the theory they have learned into practice, typically through a project which involves the creation of unique artifacts.

Variants
Each subject's paper at Leaving Certificate level may have as few as two variants, or as many as six. They are divided by level: Higher and Ordinary, and in the case of Irish and Mathematics, Foundation. Each subject level-variant will also have provisions for both English and Irish speakers, with the exception of English and Irish themselves (which are printed exclusively in the relevant language). Certain subjects are printed in a combined English/Irish format, such as French or German. This leaves such subjects with only two versions: a bilingual Higher, and a bilingual Ordinary. However, Mathematics, in contrast, has a total of six: three levels: Higher, Ordinary and Foundation, each with both English and Irish versions.

Higher Level papers are printed on pink paper, while Ordinary Level papers are printed on powder blue paper. In the case of certain subjects, such as Geography, full-colour photographs need to be printed and as such, all pages but the cover are white.

1957
In 1957, papers in Latin, English and Mathematics became available to some students before the exams. Supplemental examinations were held later in June.

1969
On 12 June 1969, exam papers were stolen in a break-in to a Dublin secondary school. Examination papers, including English, Mathematics and Physics were circulated among students. The repeat examinations for English and Mathematics paper 2 were rescheduled for 27 June 1969 and 28 June 1969 respectively.

2009
On the first day of examinations on 3 June 2009, the second paper of the Leaving Certificate English examination (initially scheduled for 4 June) was accidentally distributed instead of Paper 1 at an examination centre in St. Oliver's Community College in Drogheda. It was confirmed that a number of candidates had seen the paper before the mistake was acted upon. The invigilator had failed to report the incident straight away and was immediately suspended. A State Examinations Commission (SEC) official had visited the examination centre on the day in question as part of a routine inspection, and no report was made by the invigilator to the official. Owing to the time at which the SEC was informed, it was unable to distribute the contingency paper in time for the following morning. Details of the leaked paper had already circulated onto many online message boards and social networking sites, many hours after the incident had taken place. The exam was rescheduled for Saturday 6 June, from 09:30 to 12:50. About 10 Jewish students, who could not sit the exam at the rescheduled time because it conflicted with Shabbat, were sent to an Orthodox household in Dublin, where they were sequestered from all electronic media (as is normal for Shabbat) and kept under supervision until they sat the exam on Sunday morning.

Qualification for domestic universities
Matriculation is administered by the Central Applications Office (CAO) following requirements laid down by the universities. Applicants must present English and Mathematics, while certain universities also require Irish and/or a foreign language. Some courses require specific subjects to be taken at secondary level. For example, veterinary medicine applicants must present with a minimum grade of H5 in Chemistry at higher level. Most commonly, engineering and science programmes require Mathematics and/or a physical science. Other courses, such as Medicine, have similar matriculation requirements. From 2012 onwards, the greatest CAO points that can be achieved in the Leaving Certificate is 625 points, equivalent to six Higher Level H1s and 25 bonus points for passing (scoring an H6 or higher) Higher-Level Mathematics. Every year, approximately 150 students score the maximum grade with 10–20 students receiving seven H1s or more.

Generally, students are required to have pass grades in English, Mathematics, Irish and/or a foreign language to gain entry to university. The concept of failing the Leaving Certificate is not applied. When demand exceeds supply for a university course (the norm), the CAO will award a candidate's points based on their Leaving Certificate performance in six subjects. The majority of candidates take six to eight subjects, including English, Mathematics and Irish (exemptions available) and usually a foreign language, with the points from their six highest-scoring subjects being considered. Once base criteria have been met, course places are offered to the applicants with the highest points.

Subjects taken at foundation level are rarely counted for matriculation to university.

Some universities require a foreign language and Irish. Exemptions are available for learning difficulties, birth outside Ireland, not having taken Irish before the age of eleven years, and studying abroad for a period of at least two years after the age of eleven.

After 2017
The Department of Education introduced a new Leaving Certificate grading scale in 2017. The new scale has eight grades, the highest being a Grade 1, the lowest being a Grade 8. The highest seven grades 1-7 divide the marks range 100% to 30% into seven equal grade bands 10% wide, with a grade 8 being awarded for percentage marks of less than 30%. The grades at Higher Level and Ordinary Level are distinguished by prefixing the grade with H or O respectively, giving H1-H8 at higher level, and O1-O8 at ordinary level. This new 8-point grading scale replaces the former 14-point scale at both Higher and Ordinary levels. Previously, the majority of students receiving a given grade were within three percentage marks of a higher grade, and five extra points, creating pressure towards rote learning and using the marking scheme to gain those few additional marks. The new broader grade bands eases the pressure on students to achieve marginal gains in examinations and encourage more substantial engagement with each subject. The new grading system also allows for greater flexibility, variety, and innovation in Leaving Certificate assessments. The broader objective is to allow for an enhanced learner experience in senior cycle, with a greater focus on the achievement of broader learning objectives. The new eight-point scale moves the Leaving Certificate closer to school leaving examinations in other countries, such as Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Finland, and to the International Baccalaureate.

Historical CAO points system
From 1992 to 2016, subdivided A, B, C, D, E, F and NG grades were awarded at the Leaving Certificate. A common points system was used by the CAO using six subjects. From 2012, 25 bonus points were given for higher-level Mathematics at D grades and above. Before, the University of Limerick awarded up to 40 bonus points for Mathematics (Higher Level) in an increasing scale of points starting at five bonus points for a C3 continuing up to 40 for an A1 grade. This was an attempt to correct the decline in demand for scientific subjects. In 2009, 16.2% of students attempted the higher level Mathematics paper.

Before 1992, the Leaving Certificate awarded A, B, C, D, E, F and NG grades without subdivisions, providing broader grade bands similar to those introduced in 2017. While there was a common application system from the 1970s, the method of calculating points varied from institution to institution and even type of qualification, up to 1991. The number of subjects considered for points and Mathematics bonuses were not consistent. For example, in some cases bonus points for Mathematics only applied for particular courses (e.g. Dublin Institute of Technology applied bonus points for engineering only).

University outside of Ireland
Some Irish students go to university in the United Kingdom, particularly in Northern Ireland and larger British cities.

In recognition of this, the Established Leaving Certificate underwent a process with the British Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) to gain entry to the UCAS Tariff for direct entry to United Kingdom universities. This introduced the examination directly onto the Tariff, allowing it to be compared more easily with other qualifications on the Tariff. After comparing syllabi of the Irish Leaving Certificate and British GCE A-Levels, it was decided that a Leaving Certificate (higher) subject will be worth two-thirds of an A-level (UK, except Scotland). This is because Leaving Certificate students undertake several more subjects (often a total of six to eight) than a typical A level student, but as a result study them in a more narrow fashion.

Increasingly, Irish students are making use of universities situated within the European Union such as the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, Italy and Poland. Many universities in central and eastern Europe provide courses in English to attract students from Ireland and other countries. A small number of students apply to attend universities outside of Europe, including the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Dates
The exams usually begin on the first Wednesday in June, traditionally commencing with English Paper One, followed by Paper Two on Thursday afternoon. The exams typically last two and a half weeks, but may last longer for students taking exams in uncommon subjects, such as non-curricular languages. Exams were cancelled or postponed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exam timetable was reorganised in 2008 to reduce the intensity of the exam period. Particular changes included the moving of English Paper Two to Thursday afternoon, as opposed to its usual time of Wednesday afternoon after English Paper One, to reduce the amount of writing candidates were required to do at the beginning of the exams.

A superstition currently exists in Ireland that the weather across the country noticeably improves the moment the exams begin.

2020
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, then Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, announced on 10 April 2020 that the exams would be postponed and begin on 29 July to early August. This announcement faced backlash as a poll found 71% of parents were against the solution and wanted an alternative. A campaign was set up with the aim of replacing the Leaving Cert with predicted grades, with a petition on CancelTheLC.com receiving 20,000 signatures. Political pressure also occurred as the Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin parties were critical of the solution and urged the Leaving Certificate exams to be cancelled.

On 8 May 2020, it was announced that the exams would not go ahead in the summer based on medical evidence stating that it would not be safe to do so. All students were to be offered the option to accept calculated grades instead of sitting postponed exams that would go on at a later date when it would be safe to run exams. This faced controversy: in particular, a step involving "school profiling" became a topic of debate in government. Concerns about parental efforts to influence grades given by teachers, or fears that they would sue teachers for giving bad grades, were also raised. Teachers were also expected to announce any conflict of interest they may have in grading their students.

On 21 May 2020, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland instructed its members to not follow the new calculated guidelines unless they were given greater legal protection, but this issue was resolved the following day. Students were asked to register for calculated grades, and over 98% of them did so.

For students who wanted to take the examinations, the Leaving Certificate was run from 16 November–11 December 2020 in the evenings and at weekends.

2021
In 2021, the Leaving Certificate was also changed. The calculated grades methodology was revised and now known as Accredited Grades.

The Education (Leaving Certificate 2021) (Accredited Grades) Act 2021 was brought to Dáil Éireann by Minister for Education Norma Foley and signed by the President on 25 May 2021. It created the grounds for the State Examinations Commission to conduct the Accredited Grades process (as opposed to the Department of Education and Skills in 2020) and laid out provisions to protect the integrity of the Accredited Grades process. Interference such as contacting teachers, principals, or tutors in any manner that could influence their judgement could be punished by the State Examinations Commission withholding any or all of the Accredited Grades of a student.

New consultants, Educational Testing Services, a US-based non-profit organisation were contracted to build the process. The model was similar to the calculated grades model of 2020 but with code improvements.

Students were offered the choice of Accredited Grades, the option to sit the Leaving Cert in June of that year, or both options. Unlike in 2020, students were also given the choice to select which of the three options they desired for each subject they would take in the Leaving Certificate. Ireland is believed to be the only country that had such a system in 2021. In the case where a grade for a subject was produced from both the written examination or an Accredited Grade, the system would award a student the higher of the two grades, regardless of any other factors. Students made their decisions on which subjects for the Leaving Cert they wished to present for, and which manner of grades they wanted on the Candidate Self-Service Portal (CSSP) website. It was later revealed that the SEC would generate Accredited Grades for all students where possible, even if they chose not to participate in the Accredited Grades process.

Participation of the written examinations were lower than in years previous to 2020. 5,087 students opted to not do any written examinations. However, there were no penalties to opting into doing the written examination in a subject (along with the Accredited Grade), and not showing up to the examination. Only 60% of written papers that were opted into were actually done by students. This led to an excess of exam scripts after the examinations.

Grade inflation became a problem. The Central Applications Office (CAO) expressed concern about the continued value of Leaving Certificates.

International usage
Only one school outside Ireland offers the Leaving Certificate exam to their students. Since 1997, students at the ISM international school in Tripoli, Libya take the Leaving Cert with Arabic being substituted for Irish and Libyan history for Irish history.

title: Leaving Certificate (Ireland)


text:
Little Brother Montgomery

Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer.

Largely self-taught, Montgomery was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was also versatile, working in jazz bands, including larger ensembles that used written arrangements. He did not read music but learned band routines by ear.

Career
Montgomery was born in Kentwood, Louisiana, United States, a sawmill town near the Mississippi border, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, where he spent much of his childhood. Both his parents were of African-American and Creek Indian ancestry. As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, and the nickname stuck. He started playing piano at the age of four, and by age 11 he left home for four years and played at barrelhouses in Louisiana. His main musical influence was Jelly Roll Morton, who used to visit the Montgomery household.

Early in his career he performed at African-American lumber and turpentine camps in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. He then played with the bands of Clarence Desdunes and Buddy Petit. He lived in Chicago from 1928 to 1931, regularly playing at rent parties, and Chicago was where he made his first recordings. From 1931 through 1938, he led a jazz ensemble, the Southland Troubadours, in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1941, Montgomery moved back to Chicago, which would be his home for the rest of his life, and went on tours to other cities in the United States and Europe. He toured briefly with Otis Rush in 1956. In the late 1950s he was discovered by a wider white audience. His fame grew in the 1960s, and he continued to make many recordings, some of them on his own record label, FM Records, which he formed in 1969 (FM stood for Floberg Montgomery, Floberg being the maiden name of his wife).

Montgomery toured Europe several times in the 1960s and recorded some of his albums there. He appeared at many blues and folk festivals during the following decade and was considered a living legend, a link to the early days of blues in New Orleans.

Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues". His instrumental "Crescent City Blues" served as the basis for a song of the same name by Gordon Jenkins, which in turn was adapted by Johnny Cash as "Folsom Prison Blues."

In 1968, Montgomery contributed to two albums by Spanky and Our Gang, Like to Get to Know You and Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme or Reason.

Montgomery died on September 6, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, and was interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery.

In 2013, Montgomery was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

The R&B musician and producer Paul Gayten was Montgomery's nephew.

title: Little Brother Montgomery


text:
Nadezhda Alliluyeva

Nadezhda Sergeyevna Alliluyeva (Надежда Сергеевна Аллилуева; 22 September 1901 – 9 November 1932) was the second wife of Joseph Stalin. She was born in Baku to a friend of Stalin, a fellow revolutionary, and was raised in Saint Petersburg. Having known Stalin from a young age, she married him when she was 17, and they had two children. Alliluyeva worked as a secretary for Bolshevik leaders, including Vladimir Lenin and Stalin, before enrolling at the Industrial Academy in Moscow to study synthetic fibres and become an engineer. She had health issues, which had an adverse impact on her relationship with Stalin. She also suspected he was unfaithful, which led to frequent arguments with him. On several occasions, Alliluyeva reportedly contemplated leaving Stalin, and after an argument, she fatally shot herself early in the morning of 7 November 1932.

Background
Alliluyeva's father, Sergei Alliluyev (1866–1945), was from a peasant family in Voronezh Oblast (modern southwest Russia). He moved to the Caucasus, where he worked as an electrician for the rail depot and first became familiar with working conditions in the Russian Empire. Sergei's grandmother was Romani, a fact to which his granddaughter, Svetlana, attributed the "southern, somewhat exotic features" and "black eyes" that characterized the Alliluyevs. Sergei joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1898, and became an active member in workers' study circles; it was through these meetings he met Mikhail Kalinin, one of the chief organizers of the party in the Caucasus. Sergei had been arrested and exiled to Siberia, but by 1902 he had returned to the Caucasus. In 1904, he met Ioseb Jughashvili (later known as Joseph Stalin) while helping to move a printing machine from Baku to Tiflis. Her godfather was Avel Yenukidze who was a Georgian "Old Bolshevik" and associate of Stalin.

Alliluyeva's mother, Olga Fedotenko (1877–1951), was the youngest of nine children of Evgeni Fedotenko and Magdalena Eicholz. Alliluyeva's daughter Svetlana wrote in her memoir that Evgeni had Ukrainian ancestry on his father's side, his mother was Georgian, and he grew up speaking Georgian at home. Magdalena came from a family of German settlers, and spoke German and Georgian at home. Olga's father initially wanted her to marry one of his friend's sons, but she refused to accept the arrangements and left home at 14 to live with Sergei, joining him in Tiflis.

Youth

Nadezhda Alliluyeva, born in Baku on 22 September 1901, was the youngest of four children, following Anna, Fyodor, and Pavel. The family moved to Moscow in 1904, but had returned to Baku by 1906. In 1907, to avoid arrest, Sergei moved the family to Saint Petersburg, where they would remain. The family would often help hide members of the Bolsheviks, a Russian revolutionary group, at their home, including Stalin. Sergei Aliluyev worked at an electricity station, and by 1911 was named head of a sector there, allowing the family to afford a comfortable lifestyle.

Exposed to revolutionary activity throughout her youth, Alliluyeva first became a supporter of the Bolsheviks while in school. Her family frequently hosted party members at their home, including hiding Vladimir Lenin during the July Days of 1917, which further strengthened Alliluyeva's views. After Lenin escaped Russia in August 1917, Stalin arrived. He had known Alliluyeva since she was a child, reportedly having saved her from drowning when they were both in Baku. It had been many years since they had last seen each other, and over the rest of the summer they became close. The couple married in February or March 1919. Stalin was a 40-year-old widower and father of one son (Yakov), born in 1907 to Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze, who died of typhus later that year. There was no ceremony for the marriage, as Bolsheviks frowned upon religious customs.

Professional life
The Bolsheviks took power in Russia in November 1917 (O.S. October 1917), which led to the Russian Civil War. In 1918, Alliluyeva and Stalin moved to Moscow, joining other Bolshevik leaders as the capital was transferred there from Petrograd. They took up residence in the Amusement Palace of the Kremlin, occupying separate rooms. Stalin made Alliluyeva a secretary at the People's Commissariat for Nationalities, where he served as the head, and in May brought her and her brother Fyodor with him to Tsaritsyn, where the Bolsheviks were fighting the White Army as part of the Russian Civil War. Alliluyeva did not stay long there and returned to Moscow, though Stalin's involvement in the Civil War meant he was rarely at home. By 1921 the Civil War had ended, and in 1922 the Soviet Union was established, Lenin taking the leading role.

Not wanting to be dependent on Stalin, Alliluyeva transferred positions and joined Lenin's secretariat. This allegedly annoyed Stalin, who wanted his wife to quit her job and remain at home. Alliluyeva was comfortable working for Lenin and his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya, also a Bolshevik functionary, as they were more lenient about her work than Stalin: for example, Lenin knew that Alliluyeva had left school at a young age and consequently forgave her for spelling errors.

In 1921, a few months after the birth of their first child, Vasily, Alliluyeva was expelled from the Bolshevik Party; according to historian Oleg Khlevniuk she had trouble managing family life, professional work, and party work, and was considered "ballast with no interest in the life of the party whatsoever". Although she was admitted back through the intercession of top party officials, including Lenin, her full status was not restored until 1924. Alliluyeva was concerned that if she did not work outside the home, she would not be taken seriously. She also desired to be qualified for any role she took up. After working in Lenin's office, Alliluyeva transferred to briefly work for Sergo Ordzhonikidze, a close friend of Stalin's and a fellow senior Bolshevik, and then on to the International Agrarian Institute in the Department of Agitation and Propaganda as an assistant.

Lenin died in 1924 and was ultimately succeeded as leader of the Soviet Union by Stalin. Tired of her work and not happy in her role as the "First Lady", Alliluyeva looked for something else to do with herself. Interested in education and wanting to be more involved with the party, in 1929 she enrolled in the Industrial Academy to study engineering and synthetic fibres, which was a new technology at the time, and became more active in local party meetings. As was the custom of the time, Alliluyeva registered using her maiden name, which also allowed her to keep a low profile; it is unclear if her associates knew who she was, though it is likely that at least the local party boss, Nikita Khrushchev, knew of her. Alliluyeva frequently took the tram from the Kremlin to the academy, joined by Dora Khazan, the wife of Andrey Andreyev, a leading Bolshevik and associate of Stalin. At the academy, Alliluyeva interacted with students from across the Soviet Union. Some have speculated that Alliluyeva learned of the issues the population was facing as a result of the collectivization of agriculture, including the famine in Ukraine, and argued with Stalin about this. Khlevniuk concludes that "there is absolutely no hard evidence that [Alliluyeva] objected to her husband's policies   ... Her letters give the impression that she, like the rest of the Bolshevik elite, was completely isolated from the suffering of tens of millions outside the Kremlin walls."

Family life
Alliluyeva had her first child, Vasily, in 1921. Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore noted that she walked to the hospital to give birth in a show of "Bolshevik austerity". A second child, daughter Svetlana, was born in 1926. In 1921, the family also took in Stalin's first son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, who had been living in Tiflis with Svandize's relatives. Alliluyeva was only six years older than her step-son, Dzhugashvili, with whom she developed a friendly relationship. Around the same time the family also took in Artyom Sergeyev, the son of Fyodor Sergeyev, a close friend of Stalin. Fyodor died four months after the birth of Artyom in an accident, and though his mother was still alive, the boy was raised in the Stalin household.

Interested in pursuing a professional career, Alliluyeva did not spend much time with her children, and instead hired a nanny, Alexandra Bychokova, to watch the children. When Alliluyeva dealt with her children, though, she was quite strict: Svetlana would later recall that the only letter she received from her mother scolded her for "being terribly naughty", despite Svetlana's being only four or five at the time. She would also recall that the only person Stalin feared was Alliluyeva. Even so, Alliluyeva wanted to ensure the children received a good education.

During the week, the family would stay in their Kremlin apartment, where Alliluyeva maintained a simple lifestyle and controlled the family's expenses. On weekends, they would often go to their dacha on the outskirts of Moscow. Alliluyeva's siblings and their families lived nearby, and they would all frequently get together on these occasions. In the summer, Stalin would holiday along the coast of the Black Sea, near Sochi or in Abkhazia, and was frequently joined by Alliluyeva, though by 1929 she would spend only a few days there before returning to Moscow for her studies. Though apart, the two of them would frequently write letters to each other.

According to her close friend, Polina Zhemchuzhina, the marriage was strained, and the two argued frequently. Stalin believed that Alliluyeva's mother was schizophrenic. Karl Pauker, then head of Stalin's personal security, was an unwilling witness of their quarrels. "She is like a flint," Pauker said of Alliluyeva, "[Stalin] is very rough with her, but even he is afraid of her sometimes. Especially when the smile disappears from her face." She suspected Stalin was unfaithful with other women, though according to Boris Bazhanov, Stalin's one-time secretary, "women didn't interest [Stalin]. His own woman was enough for him, and he paid scant attention to her."

Along with her husband's alleged neglect, Alliluyeva's last years were darkened by ill health. She was suffering from "terrible depressions", headaches, and early menopause; her daughter later claimed that Alliluyeva had "feminine problems" because of a "couple of abortions which were never attended to". On several occasions, Alliluyeva reportedly considered leaving Stalin and taking the children with her, and in 1926 she left for a short time, moving to Leningrad. Stalin called her back, and she returned to stay with him. Her nephew Alexander Alliluyev would later claim that shortly before her death Alliluyeva was again planning to leave Stalin, but there is no evidence to confirm this assertion.

November 1932

In November 1932, Alliluyeva was only a few weeks away from finishing her course at the academy. Alongside her compatriots, she marched in the 7 November parade commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the October Revolution, while Stalin and the children watched her from the top of Lenin's Mausoleum on Red Square. After the parade finished, Alliluyeva complained of a headache, so the children went to their dacha outside the city while she returned to their residence in the Kremlin. The next evening both Alliluyeva and Stalin attended a dinner hosted at the Kremlin apartment of Kliment Voroshilov, a close friend of Stalin's and a member of the Politburo, to commemorate the Revolution. Though she preferred to dress modestly in a style more in line with the Bolshevik ideology, Alliluyeva dressed up for the occasion. There was much drinking during the dinner, which had several high-ranking Bolsheviks and their spouses in attendance, and Alliluyeva and Stalin began to argue, which was not an unusual occurrence at these gatherings. It has been suggested that Stalin was also flirting with Galina Yegorova, the young wife of Alexander Yegorov, and there was recent discussion that he had been with a hairdresser who worked in the Kremlin.

Things became even worse between the two, and Montefiore suggested that when Stalin "toasted the destruction of the Enemies of the State", he saw Alliluyeva did not raise her glass as well and became annoyed. Stalin supposedly threw something at her (listed variously as an orange peel, cigarette butt, or piece of bread) to get her attention, before finally calling out to her, which only further maddened Alliluyeva, who abruptly left the dinner and went outside; Zhemchuzhina followed after her to ensure someone else was there with her. The two women walked outside within the Kremlin Wall, discussing the events of the night, agreeing that Stalin was drunk, and talking about Alliluyeva's issues with Stalin's supposed affairs. The two parted ways and Alliluyeva returned to her residence.

Events after that are not clear, but some time early in the morning of 9 November, Alliluyeva, alone in her room, shot herself in the heart, killing herself instantly. Alliluyeva used a small Mauser pistol only recently given to her by her brother Pavel Alliluyev, who brought it as a gift from his time in Berlin. She had asked him to do so, noting that it could be dangerous alone in the Kremlin at times, and she wanted protection.

Funeral and burial

Stalin and the other leaders decided it would not be appropriate to say Alliluyeva had killed herself, so when her death was announced the next day, the cause of death was given as appendicitis. The children were not told the true nature of her death. To help keep the true nature of Alliluyeva's death from being released, staff who worked in the Kremlin at the time were either dismissed or arrested, though efforts to suppress this information continued for several years afterwards. Accounts of contemporaries and Stalin's letters indicate that he was much disturbed by the event.

Pravda, the official party newspaper, announced Alliluyeva's death in its 10 November edition. This came as a surprise to many in the Soviet Union, as it also was the first public acknowledgement that Stalin had been married. Her body, in an open casket, was placed in an upper floor of the GUM department store, opposite Red Square and the Kremlin. Government and party officials came to visit, but the public was not allowed. The funeral was held on 12 November, with both Stalin and Vasily attending. Stalin took part in the procession to the cemetery afterwards, which involved a 6 km march from GUM to the Novodevichy Cemetery, though it is not clear if he walked the entire route. In her memoirs, Svetlana claimed that Stalin never again visited the grave.

Aftermath
Alliluyeva's death had a profound impact on her children and family. Her daughter Svetlana only found out her mother had killed herself when reading an English journal article in 1942. The revelation came as a shock to her, and profoundly altered her relationship with Stalin, who had maintained the lie for a decade. She remained distant from Stalin until his death and took up her mother's maiden name in 1957 to further distance herself from him. She ultimately defected from the Soviet Union in 1967 and died in the United States in 2011.

Her son Vasily was also greatly affected: although Alliluyeva had not played a major role in raising her children, she still showed interest in their well-being. After her death, Stalin doted upon Svetlana but virtually ignored Vasily, who began to drink from a young age and ultimately died of alcohol-related issues in 1962.

Alliluyeva's father, Sergei, became very withdrawn after her death. He wrote memoirs which were published in 1946 after heavy editing. He died of stomach cancer in 1945. Alliluyeva's mother, Olga, lived until 1951, dying of a heart attack. Several of Alliluyeva's relatives were arrested and imprisoned in 1940, including her sister Anna, and Anna's husband, Stanislav Redens, who was shot in January that year.

title: Nadezhda Alliluyeva


text:
User:Jbailey

I'm Jeff Bailey - My interests with Wikipedia are religion and music. I have been a Unitarian Universalist since 1991, and have played flute, drums, an d various other instruments since 1978. I'm also involved with Debian, the Hurd, and some other GNU projects.

I have also been a vegetarian since 1991, and a vegan since 2001.

I was a co-webmaster for the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists until autumn 2003.

title: User:Jbailey


text:
Sergei Bondarchuk

Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk ГСТ HaCCP (25 September 1920 – 20 October 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor and filmmaker of Ukrainian origin, who was one of the leading figures of Russian cinema in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He is known for his sweeping period dramas, including War and Peace (1965–67), his internationally acclaimed four-part film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel, and for Waterloo (1970) a Napoleonic War epic.

Bondarchuk's work won him numerous international accolades. War and Peace won Bondarchuk, who both directed and acted in the leading role of Pierre Bezukhov, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1968), and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968. He was made both a Hero of Socialist Labour and a People's Artist of the USSR.

Early life and education
Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk was born in the village of Bilozerka (now in Kherson Raion, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine) on September 25, 1920, in the family of Orthodox Christian peasants Fyodor Petrovich and Tatyana Vasilievna (nee Tokarenko). His paternal grandfather, Pyotr Konstantinovich Bondarchuk, was ethnically Bulgarian, the grandmother, Matryona Fyodorovna Sirvulya, was Serbian. At the time of childbirth, his father was serving in the Red Army. His mother, being a deeply religious person, named her son in honor of Sergius of Radonezh and baptized him in the Annunciation Monastery near Kherson.

Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an actor was onstage of the Taganrog Theatre in 1937. He continued studies at the Rostov College of Arts (1938–1942).

After his studies, he was conscripted into the Red Army during World War II against Nazi Germany. Bondarchuk took part in the initial stage of the Battle of the Caucasus, then was reorganized into the Don Front. From October 19 to December 8, 1942, he fought at Stalingrad, took part in Operation Uranus. He was decorated for his courage in battles and was discharged with honors in 1946.

Film career
In 1948, Bondarchuk made his film debut in The Young Guard directed by Sergei Gerasimov. In 1952, he was awarded the Stalin Prize for the leading role in the film Taras Shevchenko; that same year, at the age of 32, he became the youngest Soviet actor ever to receive the top dignity of People's Artist of the USSR. In 1955, he starred with his future wife Irina Skobtseva in Othello. In 1959, he made his directorial debut with Fate of a Man, based on Mikhail Sholokhov's short story of the same name. The film was internationally acclaimed upon its release.

Bondarchuk earned international fame with his epic production of Tolstoy's War and Peace, which on original release totaled more than seven hours of cinema, took six years to complete and won Bondarchuk, who both directed and acted the role of Pierre Bezukhov, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968. The year after his victory, in 1969, he starred as Martin with Yul Brynner and Orson Welles in the Yugoslav epic Battle of Neretva, directed by Veljko Bulajic.

His first English-language film was 1970's Waterloo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis. In Europe, the critics called it remarkable for the epic battle scenes and details in capturing the Napoleonic era. However, it failed at the box office. To prevent running into hurdles with the Soviet government, he joined the Communist Party in 1970. A year later, he was appointed president of the Union of Cinematographers, while he continued his directing career, steering toward political films, directing Boris Godunov before being dismissed from the semi-governmental post in 1986.

In 1973, he was the president of the Jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.

In 1975, he directed They Fought for Their Country, which was entered into the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. In 1982 came Red Bells, based on John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World (which serves as the film's alternative title). His 1986 film Boris Godunov was also screened at Cannes that year.

Bondarchuk's last feature film, and his second in English, was an epic TV version of Sholokhov's And Quiet Flows the Don, starring Rupert Everett. It was filmed in 1992–1993 but premiered on Channel One only in November 2006, as there were disputes concerning the Italian studio that was co-producing over unfavorable clauses in his contract, which left the tapes locked in a bank vault. After his death, the film remained locked for several years until it was recovered and released in 2006.

In 1995, he was posthumously awarded an honorable diploma for contribution to cinema at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival.

Personal life
He first married Inna Makarova, mother to his oldest daughter, Natalya Bondarchuk (born 1950). Natalya is remembered for her role in Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film Solaris.

He met his second wife Irina Skobtseva when both were appearing in Othello, and they married in 1959. They had two children, actress Yelena Bondarchuk (1962–2009) and a son Fyodor (born 1967), (who starred with him in Boris Godunov), a popular Russian film actor and director best known for his box-office hit The 9th Company (2005).

Death
Bondarchuk died on October 20, 1994, at the age of 74 in Moscow from myocardial infarction. Before his death, he was confessed and given communion by Hieromonk Tikhon (Shevkunov). He is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow. In June 2007, his wife Irina Skobtseva unveiled a bronze statue of Bondarchuk in his native Yeysk.

Honours and awards

 * Stalin Prize, 1st class (1952) – for the main role in the film Taras Shevchenko and the role of Sergei Tutarinov in Knight of the Golden Star (1950)
 * Lenin Prize (1960) – for the film The Destiny of Man (1959)
 * Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1968) – for the film War and Peace
 * Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1968) – for the film War and Peace
 * Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR (1977) – for the film They Fought for Their Country
 * Hero of Socialist Labour (1980)
 * Shevchenko National Prize (1982) – for his performance as Cardinal Montanelli in the film The Gadfly (1980)
 * USSR State Prize (1984) – for the film Red Bells
 * Order of Lenin, twice
 * Order of the October Revolution
 * Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour
 * Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1951)
 * People's Artist of the USSR (1952)

Filmography

 * Writer
 * Battle of Sutjeska (1973)

title: Sergei Bondarchuk