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Scary Movie

Scary Movie is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both also star), alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, and Dave Sheridan, it follows a group of teenagers who accidentally hit a man with their car, dump his body in a lake, and swear to secrecy. A year later, someone wearing a Ghostface mask and robe begins hunting them one by one.

The film is a parody of multiple genres including the horror, slasher, and mystery film genres. Several 1990s films and TV shows are also spoofed, and the script primarily follows the plot of the slasher films Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Some films and TV shows like Halloween, The Shining, Friday the 13th, The Usual Suspects, The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were also parodied in some scenes.

Dimension Films released Scary Movie in the United States on July 7, 2000. The film grossed $278 million worldwide on a $19 million budget. The film is the first installment in the Scary Movie film series, as well as being the highest-grossing film in the series. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with the film's humor dividing critics. It later spawned four sequels, starting with 2001's Scary Movie 2.

Plot
On Halloween night, Drew Decker receives a threatening phone call while home alone. Chased outside by somebody dressed as Ghostface, she is stripped to her bra and panties before being stabbed in the breast, removing one of her silicone implants. A vehicle driven by her father, who is distracted by receiving fellatio, hits her, and she looks at her murderer just before she is fatally stabbed.

Cindy Campbell meets up with her boyfriend Bobby Prinze and her friends, Brenda Meeks, Ray Wilkins, Greg Phillippe, Buffy Gilmore, and Brenda's stoner brother Shorty. News teams, including hack reporter Gail Hailstorm, converge on the school because of Drew's murder. Gail seduces Buffy's intellectually disabled brother, Special Officer Doofy, to elicit information from him.

While in class, Cindy notices the killer watching her from outside before receiving an ominous note and realizes Drew was murdered exactly one year after she and her friends accidentally killed a man. After football practice, Greg finds a photo of his small penis on his locker saying "I KNOW" on it. Believing Ray took it, he nearly fights him.

Cindy tells her friends about the note, attempting to convince them to tell the police, but Greg beats her instead, fearing imprisonment for the murder of the previous year. At Buffy's beauty pageant that evening, the killer murders Greg in plain view, while the audience mistakes her pleas for help as part of her dramatic reading. Buffy eventually wins the pageant and forgets Greg.

The killer attacks Cindy while home alone but retreats when she contacts the police. Bobby arrives and is arrested after a cellphone, knife, and gloves fall out of his pocket. As Cindy spends the night at Buffy and Doofy's, she receives a call from the killer.

The following day, Bobby is released from jail. Buffy is beheaded by the killer with a cleaver. That night, Gail and her cameraman Kenny go to a makeout spot to get a murder on camera. After they film the killer murdering teenager Heather, he chases them into the woods and murders Kenny. Gail later gives a snot-filled apology to Kenny's family, a parody of a scene from The Blair Witch Project.

Later that night, Ray and Brenda go to the movies to see Shakespeare in Love, where he is stabbed through his ear in a bathroom stall through a glory hole. The killer chases Brenda, but angry movie patrons, weary of her talking during the film and her obnoxious behavior, stab her to death to silence her, as revenge for spoiling several films.

Meanwhile, Cindy has a house party, hoping for safety in numbers. One of her friends, Tina, is killed while getting beer from the garage. During the party, Cindy and Bobby go upstairs and have sex. The killer gets stoned with Shorty and his friends in the basement, but kills all but Shorty. After the pair has sex, the killer stabs Bobby and disappears. Cindy gets a gun from a drawer and Bobby follows. Shorty comes up from the basement warning about the killer, but Bobby shoots him. Ray arrives on the scene, still alive.

Bobby and Ray confront Cindy in the kitchen, announcing they will only kill her and her father, and that they are merely copying the real killer. Bobby admits to being gay, while Ray denies it. The plan backfires when Ray stabs Bobby repeatedly out of anger because his favorite show, The Wayans Bros., has been canceled after five seasons without getting a final episode. The killer abruptly arrives and stabs him, so Cindy kicks him out a window, employing moves from The Matrix. However, the killer vanishes before the police arrive, to Cindy's dismay.

At the police station, Cindy and the sheriff discover the killer was Doofy and not David Keegan, the man whom Cindy and her friends accidentally killed a year earlier. He was faking his disability and has escaped with Gail Hailstorm after removing his disguise, similarly to the ending of The Usual Suspects. Finding his discarded backpack with his Ghostface mask and knife in the street, Cindy begins screaming but is run over by a car as the sheriff walks away.

Cast

 * Kurt Fuller as Sheriff Burke (from Scream)
 * Rick Ducommun as Neil Campbell (from Scream)
 * David L. Lander as Principal "Squiggy" Squiggman (from Laverne & Shirley)
 * Andrea Nemeth as Heather
 * Dan Joffre as Cameraman Kenny (from Scream)
 * Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tina (from Scream)
 * Keenen Ivory Wayans as Slave (from Amistad )
 * Jayne Trcka as Miss Mann
 * Kelly Coffield Park as Teacher
 * Tanja Reichert as Miss Congeniality
 * James Van Der Beek as himself (uncredited)
 * Anthony McKay as Not Drew's Boyfriend (from Scream)

Production
The screenplay was developed by Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans with Buddy Johnson and Phil Beauman, writers for the sitcom The Wayans Bros. At the same time, Miramax was developing a spoof of Scream scripted by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Due to a WGA decision, all six writers were credited, despite Friedberg and Seltzer not actually working on the filmed script.

Anna Faris had graduated from the University of Washington and planned to travel to London, but decided instead to go to Los Angeles and after meeting with some managers; she then auditioned for the film and booked her first acting job. Keenen had rejected many other actresses, and was willing to take the chance on Faris despite her lack of experience because of her instinctual performance. He said: "She had this natural innocence and was funny. Jenny McCarthy and Melissa Joan Hart auditioned for the part of Drew Decker, before Carmen Electra was cast.

Parodies
Much of the humor of Scary Movie relies upon specific references to other contemporary films. Roger Ebert remarked in his review that "to get your money's worth, you need to be familiar with the various teenage horror franchises." The two films on which the script is most heavily based are Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) (both written by Kevin Williamson), using the general narrative arcs of both films, and featuring comedic recreations of key scenes. The backstory in which the teenagers are responsible for accidentally killing a man following a beauty pageant recalls the same plot point in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Major references to Scream include the identity of Ghostface and the murder of Drew Decker in the opening scene, a reference to the opening scene of Scream in which the same thing occurs to the character of Casey Becker, played by Drew Barrymore. Additionally, the characters of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer are mirrored in the film, and the title "Scary Movie" was originally the working title for the project that would eventually become Scream. At one point the title of this film was going to be "Scream If You Still Know What I Did Last Halloween". Although the Ghostface mask and costume was a replica, the original costume in the Scream series was used when Cindy notices the killer outside of the school.

Many scenes and jokes parody or reference other films outside the horror film genre. The fight between Cindy and the killer heavily mimics The Matrix, particularly its use of bullet time. The final scene, in which Doofy stops feigning his disability and drives away with Gail, is a takeoff of the final scene of The Usual Suspects. When asked about her favorite horror movie, Drew answers "Kazaam" due to Shaquille O'Neal's acting. Cindy becomes aggressive and roars "Say my name!" during sex with Bobby, similar to the sex scene between Michelle and Jim in American Pie. The movie theater scene shows a screening of Shakespeare in Love and a trailer for a fictitious sequel to Amistad titled Amistad II with elements of Titanic also appears in the movie theater scene. When Gail and her cameraman are attacked by the killer, she partakes in a parody of the famous scene in The Blair Witch Project where Heather records an apology to her friends' parents.

The film also makes other pop culture references beyond the scope of film, such as the parodied version of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character Helen Shivers in I Know What You Did Last Summer being named Buffy, which is a reference to her character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Others include a brief references to Dawson's Creek, Candid Camera, Big Momma's House, Candyman, Friday the 13th and a parody of the Whassup? ad campaign by Budweiser.

The tagline for the movie's poster was "No Shame. No Mercy. No Sequel." When Scary Movie 2 was released a year later, the tagline for the sequel was "We Lied."

 * Films parodied
 * I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997): Main parody
 * Scream (1996): Main parody
 * Scream 2 (1997): Brenda's death parodies Maureen Evans' in the opening theater scene, and Cindy's chase scene references CiCi Cooper throwing a bicycle down the stairs, as well as the killer falling over a chair from Sidney Prescott's chase scene.
 * Scream 3 (2000): Post video of Shorty giving advice what to do in a sequel.
 * The Sixth Sense (1999): Character of Shorty says "I see dead people".
 * The Blair Witch Project (1999): Gail Hailstorm references famous "I'm so scared" scene.
 *  Halloween (1978): The scene in which Cindy spots the killer outside her classroom window is a direct parody to the scene from Halloween, in which Laurie Strode first spots Michael Myers outside her classroom window.
 * Friday the 13th (1980): Killer says "ch ch ch ah ah ah", a famous sound effect in the Friday the 13th franchise.
 *  The Shining (1980): Killer says "Redrum".
 *  The Matrix (1999): Climax references several fight scenes.
 * The Usual Suspects (1995): Ending parodies the twist ending.
 * Psycho (1960): Bobby references the Norman Bates line when he says "we all go a little crazy sometimes", imitating Billy Loomis in Scream.
 * Candyman (1992): Ray tells Cindy that she "branded [Bobby] the Candyman" after Bobby was released from jail.

Music
The soundtrack to Scary Movie was released on July 4, 2000, through TVT Records and consists of a blend of hip hop and rock music.

 * Track listing
 * 1) "Too Cool for School"- 2:27 (Fountains of Wayne)
 * 2) "The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope"- 3:53 (Bloodhound Gang)
 * 3) "Stay"- 3:56 (Radford)
 * 4) "The Only Way to Be"- 3:20 (Save Ferris)
 * 5) "My Bad"- 3:22 (Oleander)
 * 6) "Punk Song #2"- 2:46 (Silverchair)
 * 7) "Everybody Wants You"- 4:11 (Unband)
 * 8) "Superfly"- 2:55 (Bender)
 * 9) "I Wanna Be Sedated"- 2:31 (The Ramones)
 * 10) "Scary Movies"- 3:56 (Bad Meets Evil)
 * 11) "All Bout U"- 4:34 (2Pac, Top Dogg, Yaki Kadafi, Hussein Fatal, Nate Dogg & Dru Down)
 * 12) "I Want Cha"- 4:37 (Black Eyed Peas)
 * 13) "What What"- 5:03 (Public Enemy)
 * 14) "Feel Me"- 3:49 (Rah Digga, Rampage & Rock)
 * 15) "I'm the Killer"- 3:57 (Lifelong & Incident)

Home media
Scary Movie was released on DVD and VHS on December 12, 2000 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment (under the Dimension Home Video banner).

Box office
Scary Movie opened theatrically in the United States and Canada on July 7, 2000, on 1,912 screens, and debuted at number one at the US box office, grossing $42,346,669 during its opening weekend. It went on to break Air Force One's record for having the biggest opening weekend for any R-rated film. The film ultimately grossed $157,019,771 in the United States and Canada, surpassing Good Will Hunting as Miramax's highest-grossing film in that market. It grossed $121,000,000 in other markets, for a worldwide gross of $278 million.

Critical response
Scary Movie received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 117 reviews, with an average score of 5.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Critics say Scary Movie overloads on crudity and grossness to get its laughs." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 48 based on 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Joe Leydon of Variety said that the film was "unbounded by taste, inhibition or political correctness" and that "the outer limits of R-rated respectability are stretched, if not shredded". Leydon concluded the film is "practically guaranteed to make you laugh until you're ashamed of yourself". Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying it "delivers the goods", calling the film a "raucous, satirical attack on slasher movies." However, Ebert was critical of the film for not being as innovative as other films, saying it lacked "the shocking impact of Airplane!, which had the advantage of breaking new ground."

Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution felt that the film's crude humor detracted from the film, saying that Scary Movie "dives so deep into tasteless humor that it's a wonder it landed an R rating instead of an NC-17." Other reviewers, such as A.O. Scott of The New York Times, argued that the jokes were "annoying less for their vulgarity than for their tiredness." Scott remarked "Couch-bound pot smokers, prison sex, mannish female gym teachers, those Whassssup Budweiser commercials—hasn't it all been done to death?"

Peter Howell of The Toronto Star wrote that the film "doesn't just push the gross-out envelope, it folds, spindles, mutilates and mails it to your mama." He adds, however, that "Scary Movie has a nasty side to it that negates much of the humour. Many jokes are just plain sexist, racist, homophobic, violent . . . and not funny. A scene where a woman is knocked to the ground by an angry man who then proceeds to brutally kick her is sickening to watch. The film's frequent use of profanity also seems gratuitous, even by these standards, but that may be beside the point. By the time you realize the four-letter word count is running high, the plot itself has become repetitious and forced."

title: Scary Movie


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The Adventures of Robin Hood (disambiguation)

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 film starring Errol Flynn. The title may also refer to:

 * The Adventures of Robin Hood, a 1956 novel by Roger Lancelyn Green
 * The Adventures of Robin Hood, a 1979 novel by Patricia Leitch
 * The Adventures of Robin Hood (1985 film), a 1985 animated television film produced by Burbank Films Australia
 * The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series), a 1950s television series starring Richard Greene
 * The Adventures of Robin Hood (video game), a 1991 video game published by Millennium Interactive

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


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Walter Olmo

Walter Olmo (28 November 1938, Alba, Piedmont, Italy – 16 May 2019) was an Italian musician and composer. In 1957 he wrote Towards a Conception of Musical Experimentation (Pour un concept d'expérimentation musicale). He advocated avant-garde electronic and contemporary music. In his 1975 he published the essay La fine della preistoria musicale (The End of Musical Prehistory).

He attended the Milan Conservatory graduating in piano and composition. He then studied under Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Christian Wolff and Iannis Xenakis in Darmstadt. Then he moved to Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena where he studied with Franco Donatoni and Franco Ferrara.

With Piero Simondo, Elena Verrone, Michèle Bernstein, Guy Debord, Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio and Asger Jorn, Olmo founded the Situationist International on July 28, 1957. Following a row with Debord, the Italian Section consisting of Olmo, Simondo and Verrone was expelled in January 1958. However he continued to collaborate with Gallizio, providing his "tereminofono", a musical instrument he had devised by adapting a theremin, for Gallizio's first public exhibition of "Industrial Painting" held at the Notizie Gallery, Turin on 30 May 1958.

During the 1980s, he was a lecturer at the Licinio Refice Conservatory Frosinone.

title: Walter Olmo


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Republican China

Republican China may refer to:

 * The Republic of China on the mainland with distinctive periods:
 * Beiyang government
 * Nationalist government
 * Wang Jingwei regime
 * The Republic of China on Taiwan since 1949
 * The free area of the Republic of China

title: Republican China


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Magnus Magnusson

Magnus Magnusson, (born Magnús Sigursteinsson; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was an Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter. Born in Reykjavík, he lived in Scotland for almost all his life, although he never took British citizenship. He came to prominence as a BBC television journalist and was the presenter of the BBC television quiz programme Mastermind for 25 years.

Early life
Magnús Sigursteinsson was born in Reykjavík on 12 October 1929, but grew up in Edinburgh, where his father, Sigursteinn Magnússon, was the Icelandic consul. In Scotland his family adopted a British naming convention, and from childhood Magnus used his father's patronymic as a surname.

Magnusson lived with his family in John Street, Portobello, an eastern suburb of Edinburgh. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, where he was in the school's marching brass band, and at Jesus College, Oxford.

Journalism and television
After graduating from Oxford he became a reporter with the Scottish Daily Express and The Scotsman. Between 1962 and 1964 he edited the Saltire Society's magazine New Saltire. He went freelance in 1967, then joined the BBC. In 1968 he appeared as a storyteller in five episodes of the BBC children's programme Jackanory, narrating English translations of 'Stories from Iceland'. He presented programmes on history and archaeology including Chronicle and BC The Archaeology of the Bible Lands, and appeared in news programmes. In later years Magnusson wrote for the New Statesman.

Mastermind
Magnusson presented the long-running quiz show Mastermind from 1972 to 1997 on BBC1. His catchphrase "I've started, so I'll finish", which his successors continued to use, was said whenever the time for questioning a contestant ran out while he was reading a question on the show. Magnusson made cameo appearances as himself, hosting Mastermind in Morecambe and Wise as well as the children's series Dizzy Heights and as Magnus Magnesium in The Goodies episode "Frankenfido".

Magnusson ended his 25-year run hosting Mastermind in September 1997, and the original black chair was given to him at the end of the production, passing to his daughter Sally Magnusson after his death.

Magnusson later returned to present a one-off celebrity special, originally broadcast on 30 December 2002 on BBC Two, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first ever Mastermind final. This was a precursor to the main show returning to the BBC with Humphrys as host. Shortly before his death, Magnusson returned to the regular Mastermind series to present the trophy to the 2006 champion Geoff Thomas. Sally Magnusson presented the trophy to the next series winner, David Clark, while also paying tribute to her father and his legacy to the show.

The Magnus Magnusson principle
The Magnus Magnusson principle refers to a rule or guideline often associated with quizzes or competitions, notably popularized by the British television quiz show "Mastermind," on which Magnus Magnusson was a long-time host. The principle is essentially: "I've started so I'll finish." It applies during the quiz when a contestant is asked a question just as the time runs out; the host allows the question to be completed and the contestant to provide their answer, even though the allotted time has expired.

This principle is often cited outside of quizzes as well, symbolizing a commitment to completing tasks or responsibilities one has begun, regardless of new time constraints or challenges that arise.

Books

 * Scotland: The Story of a Nation
 * Introducing Archaeology
 * Viking Expansion Westwards
 * The Clacken and the Slate (The Edinburgh Academy, 1824 – 1974)
 * Viking Hammer of the North
 * BC: The Archaeology of the Bible Lands
 * Landlord or Tenant?: A View of Irish History
 * Iceland
 * Vikings!
 * Magnus on the Move
 * Treasures of Scotland
 * Lindisfarne: The Cradle Island
 * Reader's Digest Book of Facts (ed.)
 * Iceland Saga
 * Chambers Biographical Dictionary (ed., 5th edition)
 * The Nature of Scotland (ed.)
 * I've Started, So I'll Finish
 * Rum: Nature's Island
 * Magnus Magnusson's Quiz Book
 * Fakers, Forgers and Phoneys: Famous Scams and Scamps

Translator
Magnusson translated or co-translated a variety of books from modern Icelandic and Old Norse into English. Among these are several works by Halldór Laxness, the Nobel prize-winning novelist from Iceland, as well as a number of Norse sagas, which he co-translated (with Hermann Pálsson) for Penguin Classics: Njal's Saga (1960), The Vinland Sagas (1965), King Harald's Saga (1966) and Laxdæla Saga (1969).

Awards and charity positions
Magnusson was given the honorary award of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989.

He was elected President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at its 94th annual general meeting in October 1995, succeeding Max Nicholson, and held the office until 2000. He was founder chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage from 1992 and founder chairman of the Scottish Churches Architectural Heritage Trust in 1978 (it became Scotland's Churches Trust in 2012).

He was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University from 1975 to 1978 and in 2002 he became Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University. The Magnus Magnusson Fellowship, an intellectual group based at the Glasgow Caledonian University, was named in his honour.

Death
On 12 October 2006, his 77th birthday, Magnusson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Magnusson mordantly noted that "This has to be one of my worst birthdays ever." His condition forced him to cancel a string of public appearances. He died on 7 January 2007. The Aigas Field Centre has a building named the Magnus House in his honour.

Family
Magnusson was married to Mamie Baird from 1954 until his death. They had five children. Their eldest son, Siggi, died in a traffic accident in 1973, when he was struck by a vehicle close to the Glasgow Academy playing fields at Anniesland in the city's West End. Their daughter Sally is a journalist, writer and television presenter, and youngest son Jon is a television producer, writer and director.

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Graf

Graf (feminine: Gräfin) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "countess").

The German nobility was gradually divided into high and low nobility. The high nobility included those counts who ruled immediate imperial territories of "princely size and importance" for which they had a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet.

Etymology and origin
The word Graf derives from grave, which is usually derived from graphio. Graphio is in turn thought to come from the Byzantine title grapheus, which ultimately derives from the Greek verb γρᾰ́φειν (graphein) 'to write'. Other explanations have been put forward, however; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, while still noting the potential of a Greek derivation, suggested a connection to gagrêfts, meaning 'decision, decree'. However, the Grimms preferred a solution that allows a connection to gerēfa 'reeve', in which the ge- is a prefix, and which the Grimms derive from Proto-Germanic  'number'.

History
The comital title of Graf is common to various European territories where German was or is the official or vernacular tongue, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Alsace, the Baltic states and other former Habsburg crown lands. In Germany, all legal privileges of the nobility have been officially abolished since August 1919, and Graf, like any other hereditary title, is treated as part of the legal surname. In Austria, its use is banned by law, as with all hereditary titles and nobiliary particles. In Switzerland, the title is not acknowledged in law. In the monarchies of Belgium, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, where German is one of the official languages, the title continues to be recognised, used and, occasionally, granted by the national fons honorum, the reigning monarch.

From the Middle Ages, a Graf usually ruled a territory known as a Grafschaft ('county'). In the Holy Roman Empire, many Imperial counts (Reichsgrafen) retained near-sovereign authority in their lands until the Congress of Vienna subordinated them to larger, neighboring monarchs through the German mediatisation process of 1815, preserving their precedence, allocating familial representation in local legislatures, some jurisdictional immunities and the prestigious privilege of Ebenbürtigkeit. In regions of Europe where nobles did not actually exercise Landeshoheit over the populace, the Graf long retained specific feudal privileges over the land and in the villages in his county, such as rights to peasant service, to periodic fees for use of common infrastructure such as timber, mills, wells and pastures.

These rights gradually eroded and were largely eliminated before or during the 19th century, leaving the Graf with few legal privileges beyond land ownership, although comital estates in German-speaking lands were often substantial. Nonetheless, various rulers in German-speaking lands granted the hereditary title of Graf to their subjects, particularly after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Although lacking the prestige and powers of the former Imperial counts, they remained legal members of the local nobility, entitled to whatever minor privileges were recognised at the ruler's court. The title, translated as "count", was generally accepted and used in other countries by custom.

Many Continental counts in Germany and Austria were titled Graf without any additional qualification. Except in the Kingdom of Prussia from the 19th century, the title of Graf was not restricted by primogeniture: it was inherited by all legitimate descendants in the male line of the original titleholder, the males also inheriting an approximately equal share of the family's wealth and estates. Usually a hyphenated suffix indicated which of the familial lands a particular line of counts held, e.g. Castell-Rudenhausen.

In the medieval Holy Roman Empire, some counts took or were granted unique variations of the gräfliche title, often relating to a specific domain or jurisdiction of responsibility, e.g. Landgraf, Markgraf, Pfalzgraf (Count Palatine), Burggraf, Wildgraf, Waldgraf, Altgraf, Raugraf, etc. Although as a title Graf ranked, officially, below those of Herzog (duke) and Fürst (prince), the Holy Roman Emperor could and did recognise unique concessions of authority or rank to some of these nobles, raising them to the status of gefürsteter Graf or "princely count". But a grafliche title with such a prefix did not always signify a higher than comital rank or membership in the Hochadel. Only the more important of these titles, historically associated with degrees of sovereignty, remained in use by the 19th century, specifically Markgraf and Landgraf.

In Russia, the title of Graf (Граф; feminine: Графиня, romanized Grafinya) was introduced by Peter the Great. The first Russian graf (or count) was Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, elevated to this dignity in 1706 for the pacification of the Astrakhan uprising (1705–1706). Then Peter granted six more graf dignities. Initially, when someone was elevated to the graf's dignity of the Russian Empire, the elevated person recognition by the German Emperor in the same dignity of the Holy Roman Empire was required. Subsequently, the latter ceased to be obligatory.

Nobiliary titles containing the term Graf
Some are approximately of comital rank, some higher, some lower. The more important ones are treated in separate articles (follow the links); a few minor, rarer ones only in sections below.

Reichsgraf
A Reichsgraf was a nobleman whose title of count was conferred or confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor, and meant "Imperial Count", i.e., a count of the Holy Roman Empire. Since the feudal era, any count whose territory lay within the Empire and was under the immediate jurisdiction of the Emperor with a shared vote in the Reichstag came to be considered a member of the "upper nobility" (Hochadel) in Germany, along with princes (Fürsten), dukes (Herzöge), electors (Kurfürsten), and the emperor himself. A count who was not a Reichsgraf was likely to possess only a mesne fief (Afterlehen) — he was subject to an immediate prince of the empire, such as a duke or prince elector.

However, the Holy Roman Emperors also occasionally granted the title of Reichsgraf to subjects and foreigners who did not possess and were not granted immediate territories — or, sometimes, any territory at all. Such titles were purely honorific.

In English, Reichsgraf is usually translated simply as count and is combined with a territorial suffix (e.g., Count of Holland, Count Reuss) or a surname (Count Fugger, Count von Browne). Even after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Reichsgrafen retained precedence above other counts in Germany. Those who had been quasi-sovereign until German mediatisation retained, until 1918, status and privileges pertaining to members of reigning dynasties.

Notable Reichsgrafen have included:
 * Castell
 * Fugger
 * Henneberg, a title merged into the imperial dignity
 * Leiningen
 * Nassau-Weilburg since 26 September 1366 (previously, simply Graf)
 * Pappenheim
 * Stolberg
 * Tyrol as a dominion of the Austrian crown

A complete list of Reichsgrafen with immediate territories as of 1792 can be found in the List of Reichstag participants (1792).

Margrave
A Markgraf or Margrave was originally a military governor of a Carolingian "mark" (march), a border province. In medieval times the borders of the Holy Roman Empire were especially vulnerable to foreign attack, so the hereditary count of these "marches" of the realm was sometimes granted greater authority than other vassals to ensure security. They bore the title "margrave" until the few who survived as sovereigns assumed higher titles when the Empire was abolished in 1806.

Examples: Margrave of Baden, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Since the abolition of the German Empire at the end of World War I, the heirs of some of its former monarchies have resumed use of margrave as a title of pretence, e.g. Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen and Maximilian, Margrave of Baden.

Landgrave
A Landgraf or Landgrave was a nobleman of comital rank in feudal Germany whose jurisdiction stretched over a territory larger than usually held by a count within the Holy Roman Empire. The status of a landgrave was elevated, usually being associated with suzerains who were subject to the Holy Roman Emperor but exercised sovereign authority within their lands and independence greater than the prerogatives to which a simple Graf was entitled, but the title itself implied no specific, legal privileges.

Landgraf occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such minor royalty as the Elector of Hesse or the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who functioned as the Landgrave of Thuringia in the first decade of the 20th century. The jurisdiction of a landgrave was a Landgrafschaft or landgraviate, and the wife of a landgrave was a Landgräfin or landgravine.

Examples: Landgrave of Thuringia, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Leuchtenberg, Landgrave of Fürstenberg-Weitra. The title is now borne by the hereditary heirs to the deposed monarchs of Hesse (Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse and Wilhelm, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld), who lost their throne in 1918.

Gefürsteter Graf
A gefürsteter Graf (princely count) is a Reichsgraf who was recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor as bearing the higher rank or exercising the more extensive authority of an Imperial prince (Reichsfürst). While nominally retaining only a comital title, he was accorded princely rank and, usually, arms by the emperor. An example of this would be the Princely County of Habsburg, the namesake of the Habsburg Dynasty, which at various points in time controlled vast amounts of lands throughout Europe.

Burgrave/Viscount
A Burggraf, or Burgrave, was a 12th- and 13th-century military and civil judicial governor of a castle (compare castellan, custos, keeper) of the town it dominated and of its immediate surrounding countryside. His jurisdiction was a Burggrafschaft, burgraviate.

Over time the office and domain to which it was attached tended to become hereditary by Imperial grant or retention over generations by members of the same family.

Examples: Burgrave of Nuremberg, Burgrave of (Burggraf zu) Dohna-Schlobitten

Initially burgrave suggested a similar function and history as other titles rendered in German by Vizegraf, in Dutch as Burggraaf or in English as Viscount (Vicecomes); the deputy of a count charged with exercising the count's prerogatives in overseeing one or more of the count's strongholds or fiefs, as the burgrave dwelt usually in a castle or fortified town. Some became hereditary and by the modern era obtained rank just below a count, though above a Freiherr' (baron) who might hold a fief as vassal of the original count.

Rhinegrave, Wildgrave, Raugrave, Altgrave
Unlike the other comital titles, Rhinegrave, Wildgrave (Waldgrave), Raugrave, and Altgrave are not generic titles. Rather, each is linked to a specific countship, whose unique title emerged during the course of its history. These unusually named countships were equivalent in rank to other Counts of the Empire who were of Hochadel status, being entitled to a shared seat and vote in the Imperial Diet and possessing Imperial immediacy, most of which would be mediatised upon dissolution of the Empire in 1806.

 * Rhinegrave (Rheingraf) was the title of the count of the Rheingau, a county located between Wiesbaden and Lorch on the right bank of the Rhine. Their castle was known as the Rheingrafenstein Castle. After the Rhinegraves inherited the Wildgraviate (see below) and parts of the Countship of Salm, they called themselves Wild-and-Rhinegraves of Salm.
 * When the Nahegau (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113, the counts of the two parts, belonging to the House of Salm, called themselves Wildgraves and Raugraves, respectively. They were named after the geographic properties of their territories: Wildgrave (Wildgraf; comes sylvanus) after Wald ("forest"), and Raugrave (Raugraf; comes hirsutus) after the rough (i.e. mountainous) terrain.
 * The first Raugrave was Count Emich I (died 1172). The dynasty died out in the 18th century. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine purchased the estates, and after 1667 accorded the wife and children of his arguably bigamous (morganatic) second marriage to Baroness Marie Luise von Degenfeld, the title of "Raugravine/Raugrave".
 * Altgrave (Altgraf, "old count") was a title used by the counts of Lower Salm to distinguish themselves from the Wild- and Rhinegraves of Upper Salm, since Lower Salm was the senior branch of the family.

In Scandinavia
The corresponding titles in Scandinavia are greve (m.) and grevinna (f.) and would commonly be used in the third-person in direct address as a mark of courtesy, as in grevinnan.

Modern usage in German surnames
German nobility, although not abolished (unlike the Austrian nobility by the new First Austrian Republic in 1919), lost recognition as a legal class in Germany under the Weimar Republic in 1919 under the Weimar Constitution, article 109. Former hereditary noble titles legally simply transformed into dependent parts of the legal surname (with the former title thus now following the given name, e.g. Otto Graf Lambsdorff). As dependent parts of the surnames (nichtselbständige Namensbestandteile), they are ignored in alphabetical sorting of names, as is any nobiliary particle, such as von or zu, and might or might not be used by those bearing them. The distinguishing main surname is the name following the Graf, or Gräfin, and the nobiliary particle if any. Today, having lost their legal status, these terms are often not translated, unlike before 1919. The titles do, however, retain prestige in some circles of society.

Other uses
The suffix -graf occurs in various office titles which did not attain nobiliary status but were either held as a sinecure by nobleman or courtiers, or functional officials such as the Deichgraf (in a polder management organization).

Sources and references
(incomplete)

 * WorldStatesmen: see every modern state; here Germany/Holy Roman Empire

title: Graf


text:
Talk:The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)

Ring Lardner
Is the "Ring Lardner" mentioned in the article the same Ring Lardner as the article? Daniel Quinlan 09:56 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)~
 * Propably not, the article's Lardner died 22 years before the first episode aired. -- JeLuF 10:13 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * I cribbed that bt of information from the Richard Greene page. Was there maybe a Ring Lardner Jr? -- Lee M 12:04 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The one who worked on Robin Hood was Ring Lardner, Jr. Zephirine (talk) 13:02, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

ITC project
Please consider joining the project! HowardBerry 19:16, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

Maybe a list of episodes would be in order? 74.47.65.210 (talk) 19:47, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

"One large fake oak tree"
The comment about Sherwood being represented by one large fake tree needs to be verified. As it stands, I totally disagree with this statement. I have the entire four seasons on DVD and I do not think it to be accurate, and could evidence this with screen grabs from the show if necessary. Howie ☎  09:54, 22 March 2009 (UTC)
 * The additions made by the anon IP referencing TV Guide from 1956 are now verified. When User:The Cool Kat removed the additions without an edit summary, I decided to track down a copy of the TV Guide in question to check if that was a fair thing to do.  This morning my eBay purchased copy of a 1956 TV Guide arrived on my doorstep and I'm very happy to say that all the details mentioned in the article in TV Guide match the referenced content here. If anyone would like to check, I'll happily scan the article in question. Howie  ☎  15:18, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Supporting Cast
People always write that, oh yes, Paul Eddington played lots of parts and John Dearth did lots - but how were they contracted? I also have all the series on DVD, and if you watch in sequence it is quite clear that actors were on contract for a spell, for non-specific roles. It is more consistent than could be accounted for by casting directors having 'runs' on people, though this of course does happen. Willoughby Gray, Shaun O'Riordan, John Dearth, Charles Stapley, Graham Stewart, Martin Lane, Paul Hansard, Patrick Troughton and numerous others all appear for periods on the 'Robin Hood Rep'. It is actually more like the way the BBC 'Rep' worked in radio than anything else I know of in television. Another actor who did a stint was Peter Welch, who quite extraordinarily appears to be working as an extra in several episodes in which he has no individual role - presumably as a result of a multi-episode contract.

I would love to know more. This pattern is shared with The Adventures of Sir Lancelot and The Adventures of William Tell. Another pattern these series share is that, in parallel with there being a pool of supporting actors, there is a pool of minor characters - or at least names for them. In 'Sir Lancelot', these of course include other Knights of the Round Table. In 'Robin Hood' there are often outlaws called Edgar and Quentin, and the Sheriff has a sergeant named Bault and a lieutenant named Howard. In 'William Tell' Gessler similarly has a lieutenant named Frederick, and Tell's band includes Hans and Fritz. There seems little or no attempt to match the actors to these named characters! Sometimes the regulars practically swop character names from one episode to the next.

Yet another form of doubling in 'Robin Hood' is that there is quite a lot of outdoor shooting, frequently intercut in a complex way with studio work. It can be distractingly obvious which is which. And, on the whole, the characters in exterior shots seem to be doubled by others - often stunt people or horse men and women, no doubt. The exterior doubling for Leslie Phillips, in more than one character, is particularly noticeable.

Rogersansom (talk) 08:22, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
 * It's interesting you mention the supporting cast being like the BBC rep. I'm currently building a list of the ITC contract players - those who appeared in several ITC productions in guest or starring roles. Roger Delgado was in 16 productions (and possibly in several episodes on many, such as Count of Monte Cristo on which he was a regular), and Cyril Shaps was in 14. Even people like Annette Andre were in at least 6 different productions. It's currently only on my computer as I can't find a good way to recreate my spreadsheet effectively on Wikipedia, but there is a basic text version over on the ITC wikiproject page. Howie  ☎  12:07, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

I believe the doubling and re-casting was simply to do with the extremely tight budgets and schedules for these shows. They had a four-day shoot for each episode and the second-unit material (outdoor scenes) would all be shot with doubles so that it could be filmed at the same time as the actors were working in the studio. Similarly, if an actor wasn't available - ill, or working elsewhere - they didn't re-arrange the schedule but simply cast someone else. As most of the actors in those days would have worked in 'rep' they probably found this quite normal. Zephirine (talk) 12:47, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Communist Party links
I have changed the sentence in the Blacklisted Writers section which said that Sapphire Films was funded by the American Communist Party. I have done some research on Hannah Weinstein and have found no evidence of this. As far as I can see, the company was funded in the usual way, by sales of programmes and by loan finance. The Guardian article by Tom Dewe Matthews which supported the Communist Party statement doesn't give any sources for the assertion. I have put that Weinstein had left-wing views which is certainly verifiable.Zephirine (talk) 13:01, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Telegraph pole
At the time, it was rumoured that the arrow in the opening sequence went past a telegraph pole. Can anyone confirm or deny? Paul Magnussen (talk) 21:00, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
 * So there were no trees in the country the week they needed to film the opening sequence? Do some tree trunks resemble a "telegraph pole?" Yes. Edison (talk) 05:39, 29 December 2010 (UTC)
 * That doesn't answer the question. Paul Magnussen (talk) 00:20, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

 * No, is the answer, we see Robin fire the Arrow, cut to a whip pan, without arrow, and then cut to a short pan across to the tree with arrow imbedded, the arrow is never seen in flight so can't have passed a telegraph pole, if you freeze frame the whip pan you might see something who knows? but no the arrow never passes a telegraph pole or anything else, o.k.? It's amazing how good editing fools the eye.81.111.127.132 (talk) 13:21, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

35mm photography
I remember this show from more than 50 years ago, and the image & sound quality were far superior to what I'm seeing right now on an RTV rerun. It would be interesting to know if the DVDs were mastered from the original 35mm negatives or prints, or from lower-quality sources. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 18:25, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

 * No, non of the DVD editions UK or US have been mastered from the original negatives, (should the series receive a Blu-ray release this will no doubt happen), what you are probably seeing are copies made from 16mm syndication prints in the US, prints that are obviously showing their age. US DVDs are mostly from this source, 16 or so eps on the season 1 DVD released by Mill Creek are either 35mm or 16mm syn prints the rest on that edition are poor NTSC transfers from PAl Video sourced eps, series 2-4 are slightly better transfers from PAL Video sources, lower quality sources seem to have been used by other US companys, in the UK 35mm archive prints and existing Video transfer copies of certain eps were used for DVD without any restoration.81.111.127.132 (talk) 14:00, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Original research?
I removed the following unreferenced text: "At least one episode "The Knight who came to Dinner" had two different versions. The basic plotline (Sir Richard of the Lea's castle being subject to forfeit due to a debt; remains the same, however in the Alpha Video version the bondholder is a corrupt knight, while in the Mill Creek version of the episode the bondholder is a corrupt Abbot.  The shots not directly involving the Abbot or the Knight are identical.  The only other difference being that in the Mill Creek version Sir Richard refers to Maid Marian by a different surname suggesting that it might have been a pilot.  It is noteworthy that both versions have identical credits reflecting the Abbot and not the knight in the cast.  The Fact that the Knight is played by a regular member of the troop of actors who appear in the series also suggests it was made later, perhaps for American audiences." It is great that someone has watched several different releases, but it sounds like original research and speculation, and it gets undue weight when this much emphasis is placed on unexplained editing differences in different video releases. It's right up there with long trivial "I spotted a blooper" sections which degrade from articles about film or TV. Edison (talk) 05:36, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Quite right, I have checked the American DVD (volume 10 from Alpha Video) in question and the unreferenced text is correct, there are two versions, have made a short note on the episode list page.81.111.127.132 (talk) 13:24, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

 * Additional: Quality Comics 1956 version of this tale also changed the Abbott to a Baron as the American comics code forbade that any religion be attacked or ridiculed, someone at CBS/Official Films must have applied the same mentality to the TV series. "The Wager" and "The Inquisitor" like "The Knight Who Came to Dinner" were also screened toward the end of the original US run (all three were TXed early in UK first run), we know "Knight etc.." was reshot and it would seem these two other episodes most likely also had to be reshot holding up their US tx dates, "The Wager" features Norman soldiers pretending to be Monks probably they were genuine Monks in the original version and "The Inquisitor" probably also had some evil monkery reshot, only the reshot versions of these two appear on DVD (UK/US), anyone know if any VHS releases contained different versions of these episodes?81.111.124.190 (talk) 12:57, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

How ATV began in 1955 and first TX Robin Hood
ATV began broadcasting as ABC(Associated Broadcasting Company), officially from Saturday 24th September 1955 at weekends only in the London region, week day transmissions were by Associated Redifussion from Thursday 22nd September 1955. Associated British Pictures Corporation who held the weekend franchise for Midlands and the North and were due to start transmissions in February 1956 brought a court action to gain legal rights to use the ABC name, The court ruled in their favour and so from October 1955 ABC (the London weekend broadcaster) changed its name to ATV (Associated TeleVision), (from Feb 17th 1956) ATV were the weekday broadcaster for the Midlands, Granada for the North. Having now re-checked ABC/later ATV first broadcast Robin Hood on Sunday 25th September 1955 at 5.30pm, not the 24th. will change. 26 of Sept could not have been tx date of 1st ep in UK as that date was a Monday in 1955, CBS in the US broadcast the series on Monday nights at 7.30pm from 26th Sept 1955.

Unfortunateley it seems no details of the first UK transmission dates have been published either online or in a book, apart, possibly, for the 4th series on one website, it seems all other sources refer to the CBS transmission dates for series 1-3, even Network DVD info, the only book to use non US info is Dave Rogers book "ITV Encyclopedia of Adventure" published in 1988 (ITV Books) he lists- 17th Feb 1956-12 Nov 1960 which would seem to refer to ATV Midlands TX dates, Is the "Transdiffusion Broadcasting System" website an acceptable source/reference??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.111.127.132 (talk) 01:20, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
 * 17th Feb 1956 was a Friday so would suggest ATV midlands but 12 Nov 1960 is a Saturday which would suggest ATV London. I always remember it broadcast on a saturday about 5.15pm after the football results but it was a long while ago when Mon-Fri there was no afternoon TV.REVUpminster (talk) 00:15, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for that REVUpminster, looking around the web I found a few annecdotes from other fans who remember it as a saturday show as well and some who recall it being broadcast three times a week due to their region showing the backlog of episodes already screened by ATV, to catch up to the current series I suppose. Amazing that it had so many repeat screenings through out the fifties/sixties, until it seems, about 1970. Anyway will change 1st uk tx date to 25 Sept 1955, if there are no objections? This will then be correct for uk ATV London first run: 25th September 1955 - 12th Nov 1960. For the CBS run: 26th Sept 1955(Mondays 7.30pm) - 26th Sept 1959 (Saturdays 11.30am), also note Canada first run from 22nd Sept 1955.

References: (1) [] 'Riding Through the Glen' by David Brockman:'Transdiffusion Broadcasting System' website./ (2) [] Airdates 'Robin Hood Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood' website./ (3) [] CBS airdates for Robin Hood 1955-58./ (4) [] 'History of TV  Studios in London' website./ (5) [] Blacklisted writers and TV in the 1950s and 1960s pdf pages 7-10 for Robin Hood. / (6) [] Lew Grade Part 4. 81.111.127.132 (talk) 03:00, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Found original UK airdates at BFI online Series 1:'25th September 1955 to 10th August 1956' 39 episodes/ Series 2: between 15th September 1956 and 15th September 1957' 37 episodes (the two missing episodes 'The Goldmaker' and 'Isabella' not screened on first run only during later repeat in 1961)/ Series 3: '29th September 1957 to 22nd June 1958' 39 episodes/ Series 4: '14th September 1958 to 1st March 1959' 26 episodes. original run from 25th September 1955 - 1st March 1959. UPDATE: found this website page [] with sample ATV London schedules that confirm BFI TX dates.UPDATE.81.111.127.132 (talk) 04:58, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

Sponsors US series 1-3
Sponsor credits, Mill Creek DVD episode 'The Sheriff's Boots' series 1 has end sponsor titles for season 2 ep 'The Road in the Air' instead of its own (has credit for James Hayter as Tom the Miller/writer credit: Carol Warner Gluck & Albert A Dorner/Director credit: Robert Day), have changed text accordingly.81.111.127.132 (talk) 11:00, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

DVD Section
There is a DVD section on this page as well as the List of episodes page, someone should determine which page this is best placed on.81.111.127.132 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:41, 15 July 2011 (UTC).

Allington Castle
I just added a link to Allington Castle in the filming section, and noticed that it's in Kent, not Suffolk as the text formerly indicated. I can't find any Allington Castle in Suffolk, and pictures of the Kent castle do look very much like scenes from the show's Fitzwalter Castle, so I changed it to Kent. If any afficionados of this show know otherwise, please change it back!

Incidentally, I noticed a couple of unusual things in this article with a quick read. Are these changes OK? Thanks, Walkerma (talk) 03:03, 23 December 2012 (UTC)
 * The lede section has an entire paragraph about the wrap-up party. This is interesting, but surely a party doesn't warrant this prominence in the lede section?  Can I move that paragraph to the end of the Crew section?
 * There are few internal links missing, but I didn't want to make wholesale changes as I don't normally edit TV articles. I'd like to add links for the castles in the filming section, and remove the links to towns that are used to explain where the castles are.  For example, I think a link to Saltwood Castle is much more useful than a link to Hythe, Kent when describing Saltwood Castle.

 * Yes, I agree that the wrap-party story doesn't belong in the lede, especially as it is not represented in the main article. Valetude (talk) 19:03, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110608130759/http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/behindthescreens/riding_through.php to http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/behindthescreens/riding_through.php

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1959 or 1960?
The BFI link states that the series ended in 1959, but a number of outher sources like the IMDb give 1960. What is correct? --Clibenfoart (talk) 14:41, 8 January 2022 (UTC)


text:
Politics of Victoria

Politics of the Australian state of Victoria takes place in the context of a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliamentary system, and like other Australian states, Victoria is part of the federation known as the Commonwealth of Australia.

Victorians, and Melburnians in particular, are considered by some analysts to be more progressive than other Australians. The state recorded the highest Yes votes of any state in the republic referendum and same-sex marriage survey. Victorians are said to be "generally socially progressive, supportive of multiculturalism, wary of extremes of any kind". However, the Liberal Party along with the Nationals at varying points had continuous governance from the 1955 Victorian state election to the 1982 Victorian state election, in part due to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.

State government
The nominal head of the Government of Victoria is the King of Australia, represented in the state by the Governor of Victoria. Legislative power rests with the Crown and the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria. The powers and responsibilities of the parliament are defined in the Constitution Act 1975.

The Victorian Government is often referred to as "Spring Street", a metonym of the street of that name where the Parliament House of Victoria is located in Melbourne.

Parliament of Victoria
The Parliament of Victoria is bicameral, consisting of a Lower and an Upper house.

The Victorian Legislative Assembly (lower house) is composed of 88 members of parliament, each of whom represent a single electoral district and are elected using a preferential voting system/Instant-runoff voting. The Legislative Assembly currently sits for fixed four-year terms. The leader of the party with a majority in the Legislative Assembly (or with the confidence of the Assembly) is appointed by the Governor as the Premier of Victoria.

The Victorian Legislative Council (upper house) has 40 members (or MLCs), representing eight electoral regions. Five members are elected for each province using a proportional voting system/Single transferable voting. Prior to 2003, the Legislative Council comprised 44 members from 22 two-member provinces until a 2001 constitutional committee recommended the council be re-organised to the current system.

General elections are held every four years, electing the entire Legislative Assembly and half of the Legislative Council. The last state election was on Saturday, 26 November 2022.

Federal politics
Victoria is divided into 38 federal electoral divisions, each represented by a seat in the Australian House of Representatives. Like other Australian states, Victoria is represented by twelve Senators in the Australian Senate, with six of those Senators elected for two three-year Senate terms at each half-Senate election.

Political parties
The centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia, the centre-right National Party of Australia, and the left-wing environmentalist Australian Greens are Victoria's main political parties. Traditionally, Labor is strongest in Melbourne's working and middle class western, northern and inner-city suburbs, and the regional cities of Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. The Liberals' main support lies in Melbourne's more affluent eastern suburbs and outer suburbs, and some rural and regional centres. The Nationals are strongest in Victoria's North Western and Eastern rural regional areas. The Greens, who won their first lower house seats in 2014, are strongest in inner Melbourne.

Victoria is currently governed by the Australian Labor Party, which regained power in the 2014 Victorian state election; the Labor Party have governed Victoria for all but eleven of the past 0 years years (1982–1992, 1999–2010, 2014–present). The other major parties are the Liberal and National Coalition parties.

Other current Parliamentary parties in Victorian politics include the Greens, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Animal Justice Party, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, and Pauline Hanson's One Nation. All state Parliamentary parties except for the LDP, the DLP and Transport Matters are registered to contest federal elections.

Parties not represented in the Parliament include the Companions and Pets Party, the Health Australia Party, and the Victorian Socialists. Of these four parties, only One Nation is registered to contest federal elections.

Notable Victorian political figures
Daniel Mannix: Catholic archbishop and opponent of conscription in World War I.

John Wren: Bookmaker, underworld figure and politician. The famous novel Power Without Glory by communist author Frank Hardy was allegedly based on his exploits, although a short TV documentary appearing on Rewind showed Hardy's portrayal of Wren as a lifelong crime figure was itself politically motivated. Unsuccessful attempts were made to suppress the novel on the grounds of libel, although these backfired and caused the fictional life of Hardy's John West to become tangled with Wren's in the minds of most Australians.

Robert Menzies: Australia's longest serving Prime Minister held office during the 1950s and 1960s. Remembered for anti-communism, extreme devotion to the Queen and Empire, and for a period of particular prosperity and a sense of well-being and stability in Australia.

Henry Bolte: Premier of Victoria from 1955 to 1972, notable for his conservative populist style and for his role in the last judicial execution (the hanging of Ronald Ryan in 1967) in Australia.

Jeff Kennett: Premier from 1992 to 1999. His aggressive reforms and populist style led to a surprise electoral loss in 1999 to Steve Bracks.

title: Politics of Victoria


text:
Joey Giardello

Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army while underage, and continued to use the pseudonym throughout his boxing career.

Early life
Giardello was born in Brooklyn, but lived most of his life in the Lower Moyamensing area of South Philadelphia. He joined the U.S. Army while underage towards the end of World War II, using a cousin's friend's name, and volunteered for airborne duty. During his military time, he took part in Army boxing matches, and after his discharge in 1948, began boxing professionally. He continued to use the name he had enlisted under, Joey Giardello, in his boxing career.

Professional career
During his early career, he had a scuffle at a gas station which cost him $100,000 in prize fight money and five months in jail.

As a pro, he quickly racked up a 15–1–2 record in his first 18 fights while facing less-than-stellar opposition. His only loss was a decision to undefeated boxer Jimmy Morton. During this time, he fought just three men who had previously won a fight. It caught up with Giardello on January 16, 1950, when he was handed his second defeat by Joe DiMartino, a journeyman with a 6–10 record.

After that embarrassment, he began to face better opposition and by 1951, was beating some of the better middleweight boxers on the Philadelphia scene. He continued to do so for years afterward, but was blocked from receiving a shot at the world championship by the underworld figures who controlled the sport at that time. On June 4, 1954, Los Angeles-based heavyweight boxer Clarence Henry, who was managed by Mafiosi Frank "Blinky" Palermo, was arrested in New York City for attempting to bribe Oakland middleweight Bobby Jones to throw his June 11 Madison Square Garden match with Giardello. Henry allegedly offered $15,000 to Jones to throw the fight. Once the third-ranked heavyweight contender, Henry was released after posting $2,000 bail and subsequently retired from the ring. Giardello beat Jones in a close decision.

Giardello's fight vs. Billy Graham was the next significant bout. The decision first was awarded to Giardello, then later reversed to a decision in favor of Graham, then reversed again, some time later as a result of litigation, in favor of Giardello. This fight is known in boxing lore as "The reversed reversal."

In 1960, Giardello received his first championship opportunity. On April 20, he faced Gene Fullmer for the National Boxing Association version of the world middleweight title. He missed out on the title when he and Fullmer fought to a draw over 15 rounds.

Giardello lost four of his next six fights, but then came back strong with an 8–1–1 record in his next 10, all of which were over some of the biggest names in the division at that time. One of his wins, a 10-round decision over Henry Hank on January 30, 1962, was chosen as Ring Magazine's fight of the year. Then, on June 24, 1963, Giardello upset boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson, and at the age of 33, was finally named as the No. 1 challenger for the world middleweight title.

On December 7, 1963, Giardello faced Dick Tiger in Atlantic City for the title and won a controversial decision in 15 rounds.

He reigned as world champion for nearly two years, winning four fights during that time. On December 14, 1964, he fought "Hurricane" Rubin Carter in a title defense. In the first three rounds, Carter stalked Giardello and was the aggressor, as the champion looked to stay away from Carter's left hook. In the 4th round, Carter opened a cut over Giardello's left eye and staggered him with several head shots. By the 13th round, Carter had begun to tire, and Giardello began pounding Carter's head and body, which continued through the 15th and final round. According to Carter, he dominated Giardello the first ten rounds, but Giardello was awarded a unanimous decision, an event dramatized in the 1999 film The Hurricane. Carter would later revise his claims, admitting he should have fought Giardello more aggressively.

In a rematch with Dick Tiger on October 21, 1965, the Nigerian won a unanimous decision over Giardello in 15 rounds to regain the belt. Giardello was described as "back pedaling for most of the fight." Giardello fought just four more times over the next two years before retiring.

Life after boxing
After retirement, he went into private business and went back to his real name. He was an insurance salesman and later joined the Misco International Chemical Company as their New York-Philadelphia-New Jersey distributor. He had married his wife Rosalie in 1950, with whom he had four children. He did work with the intellectually disabled, particularly for St. John of God School Community Services in Westville Grove, New Jersey, where his son, Carman, who had Down Syndrome, lived for ten years. He met the pope and was invited to President John F. Kennedy's Inauguration. With his celebrity and title, he participated in countless fundraising events for the intellectually disabled and contributed his time and talent to the Special Olympics, founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. At one event he taught the Special Olympians to jump rope.

He had a small role as a man from "The Syndicate" in the 1975 movie Moonrunners.

In 1996, he was invited to a Hungarian TV talk-show, (Friderikusz show) in which he made appearance in Budapest, Hungary, to celebrate Laszlo Papp's 70th birthday, that was a honorary invitation because of eastern communist block did not let Papp to match with Giardello in 1966, therefore Giardello could keep holding the 2 world titles, while Laszlo Papp was forced by the communist Hungarian government to bring his boxing career to an end.

He later filed a federal lawsuit against Universal Pictures, Beacon Communications and Aloof Films, for unspecified damages, for its "thoroughly false depiction" of his bout with Rubin Carter in Norman Jewison's 1999 film The Hurricane. The case was settled out-of-court and the DVD version of the film included scenes from the actual fight, as well as Jewison's statement that Giardello "no doubt" was a great fighter.

He died on September 4, 2008, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He was 78 years old.

Honors
Giardello was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, the 3rd boxer to be inducted after Joe Frazier (2004) and Tommy Loughran (2008). He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. His career record was 101 wins, 25 losses and 7 draws. He was 5-3-1 against other boxers in the Hall of Fame, including a 2–2 mark against Tiger.

A public statue honoring Giardello is situated in the East Passyunk Crossing section of South Philadelphia.

title: Joey Giardello


text:
Highest averages method

In mathematics, economics, and social choice theory, the highest averages or divisor methods, sometimes called divide-and-round, are a family of apportionment algorithms that aim to fairly divide a legislature between several groups, such as political parties or states.   More generally, divisor methods can be used to round shares of a total, e.g. percentage points (which must add up to 100). The two names for these methods—highest averages and divisors—reflect two different ways of thinking about them, and their two independent inventions. However, both procedures are equivalent and give the same answer.

Divisor methods aim to treat voters equally by ensuring every legislator represents an equal number of voters, as nearly as practicable, by iteratively assigning additional representatives to whichever party is most underrepresented. In doing so, the method maintains proportional representation, i.e. a party with twice as many votes should win twice as many seats.

History
The highest averages method was first described by the American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, as a way to guarantee compliance with a constitutional requirement for states to have at most one representative per 30,000 people. He proposed an apportionment by dividing each state's population by 33,000 people/representative, then rounding down. Apportionment would become a major topic of debate, especially after the discovery of pathologies in many superficially-reasonable rounding rules. These changes often had substantial results, with the use of an improper rounding procedure ultimately determining the 1876 presidential election. Similar debates would appear in Europe after the adoption of proportional representation.

Definitions
Divisor methods are based on rounding rules, defined using a signpost sequence $post(k)$, where $k ≤ post(k) ≤ k+1$. Each signpost marks the boundary between natural numbers, with numbers being rounded down if and only if they are less than the signpost.

Divisor method
The divisor procedure apportions seats by searching for a divisor or electoral quota. This divisor can be thought of as the number of votes a party needs to earn one additional seat in the legislature, the ideal population of a congressional district, or the number of voters represented by each legislator.

If each legislator represented an equal number of voters, the number of seats for each state could be found by dividing the population by the divisor. However, seat allocations must be whole numbers, so to find the apportionment for a given state we must round (using the signpost sequence) after dividing. Thus, each party's apportionment is given by:

$$\text{seats} = \operatorname{round}\left(\frac{\text{votes}}{\text{divisor}}\right)$$

Usually, the divisor is initially set to equal the Hare quota. However, this procedure may assign too many or too few seats. In this case the apportionments for each state will not add up to the total legislature size. A feasible divisor can be found by trial and error.

Highest averages
With the highest averages algorithm, every party begins with 0 seats. Then, at each iteration, we allocate a seat to the party with the highest vote average, i.e. the party with the most votes per seat. This method proceeds until all seats are allocated.

It is reasonable to ask whether we should look at the vote average before assigning the seat, what the average will be after assigning the seat, or if we should compromise with a continuity correction. These approaches each give different apportionments. In general, we can define the averages using the signpost sequence:

$$\text{average} := \frac{\text{votes}}{\operatorname{post}(\text{seats})}$$

With the highest averages procedure, every party begins with 0 seats. Then, at each iteration, we allocate a seat to the party with the highest vote average, i.e. the party with the most votes per seat. This method proceeds until all seats are allocated.

Specific methods
While all divisor methods share the same general procedure, they differ in the choice of signpost sequence and therefore rounding rule. Note that for methods where the first signpost is zero, every party with at least one vote will receive a seat before any party receives a second seat; in practice, this typically means that every party must receive at least one seat, unless disqualified by some electoral threshold.

Jefferson (D'Hondt) method
Thomas Jefferson proposed the first divisor method in 1792. It assigns the representative to the state that would be most underrepresented at the end of the round. It remains the most-common method for proportional representation to this day.

Jefferson's method uses the sequence $$\operatorname{post}(k) = k+1$$, i.e. (1, 2, 3, ...), which means it will always round a party's apportionment down.

apportionment never falls below the lower end of the ideal frame, and it minimizes the worst-case overrepresentation in the legislature. However, Jefferson's method performs poorly when judged by most metrics of proportionality. The rule typically gives large parties an excessive number of seats, with the apportionment frequently exceeding the ideal share rounded up.

This pathology led to widespread mockery of Jefferson's method when it was realized it would "round" New York's apportionment of 40.5 up to 42, with Senator Mahlon Dickerson saying the extra seat must come from the "ghosts of departed representatives".

Adams' (Cambridge) method
Adams' method was conceived of by John Quincy Adams after noticing Jefferson's method allocated too few seats to smaller states. It can be described as the inverse of Jefferson's method; it awards a seat to the party that has the most votes per seat before the new seat is added. The divisor function is $k$, which is equivalent to always rounding up.

Adams' apportionment never exceeds the upper end of the ideal frame, and minimizes the worst-case underrepresentation. However, violations of the lower seat quota are common. Like Jefferson, Adams' method performs poorly according to most metrics of proportionality.

Adams' method was suggested as part of the Cambridge compromise for apportionment of European parliament seats to member states, with the aim of satisfying degressive proportionality.

Webster's (Sainte-Laguë) method
Daniel Webster's method uses the fencepost sequence $0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00$ (i.e. 0.5, 1.5, 2.5); this corresponds to the standard rounding rule. Equivalently, the odd integers (1, 3, 5…) can be used to calculate the averages instead.

Webster's method produces more proportional apportionments than D'Hondt's by almost every metric of misrepresentation. As such, it is typically preferred to D'Hondt by political scientists and mathematicians, at least in situations where manipulation is difficult or unlikely (as in large parliaments). It is also notable for minimizing seat bias even when dealing with parties that win very small numbers of seats. Webster's method can theoretically violate the ideal share rule, although this is extremely rare for even moderately-large parliaments; it has never been observed to violate quota in any United States congressional apportionment.

In small districts with no threshold, parties can manipulate Webster by splitting into many lists, each of which wins a full seat with less than a Hare quota's worth of votes. This is often addressed by modifying the first divisor to be slightly larger (often a value of 0.7 or 1), which creates an implicit threshold.

Hill's (Huntington–Hill) method
In the Huntington–Hill method, the signpost sequence is $2÷(1/k + 1/k+1)$, the geometric mean of the neighboring numbers. Conceptually, this method rounds to the integer that has the smallest relative (percent) difference. For example, the difference between 2.47 and 3 is about 19%, while the difference from 2 is about 21%, so 2.47 is rounded up. This method is used for allotting seats in the US House of Representatives among the states.

Hill's method tends to produce very similar results to Webster's method; when first used for congressional apportionment, the two methods differed only in whether they assigned a single seat to Michigan or Arkansas.

Zero-seat apportionments
Huntington-Hill, Dean, and Adams' method all have a value of 0 for the first fencepost, giving an average of ∞. Thus, without a threshold, all parties that have received at least one vote will also receive at least one seat. This property can be desirable (as when apportioning seats to states) or undesirable, in which case the first divisor may be adjusted to create a natural threshold.

Bias
There are many metrics of seat bias. While Webster's method is sometimes described as "uniquely" unbiased, this uniqueness property relies on a technical definition of bias as the expected difference between a state's number of seats and its ideal share. In other words, a method is called unbiased if the number of seats a state receives is, on average across many elections, equal to its ideal share.

By this definition, Webster's method is the least-biased apportionment method, while Huntington-Hill exhibits a mild bias towards smaller states. However, other researchers have noted that slightly different definitions of bias, generally based on percent errors, find the opposite result (Hill's method is unbiased, while Webster's method is slightly biased towards large states).

In practice, the difference between these definitions is small when handling parties or states with more than one seat. Thus, both Huntington-Hill and Webster's method can be considered unbiased or low-bias methods (unlike Jefferson or Adams' methods). A 1929 report to Congress by the National Academy of Sciences recommended Hill's method, while the Supreme Court has ruled the choice of bias metric to be a matter of opinion.

Example: Jefferson
The following example shows how Jefferson's method can differ substantially from less-biased methods such as Webster's. In this election, the largest party wins 46% of the vote, but takes 52.5% of the seats, enough to win a majority outright against a coalition of all other parties (which together reach 54% of the vote). Moreover, it does this in violation of quota: the largest party is entitled only to 9.7 seats, but it wins 11 regardless. The largest congressional district is nearly twice the size of the smallest district. Webster's method shows none of these properties, with a maximum error of 22.6%.

Example: Adams
The following example shows a case where Adams' method fails to give a majority to a party winning 55% of the vote, again in violation of their quota entitlement.

Example: All systems
The following shows a worked-out example for all voting systems. Notice how Huntington-Hill and Adams' methods give every party one seat before assigning any more, unlike Webster's or Jefferson's.

Monotonicity
Divisor methods are generally preferred by mathematicians to largest remainder methods because they are less susceptible to apportionment paradoxes. In particular, divisor methods satisfy population monotonicity, i.e. voting for a party can never cause it to lose seats. Such population paradoxes occur by increasing the electoral quota, which can cause different states' remainders to respond erratically. Divisor methods also satisfy resource or house monotonicity, which says that increasing the number of seats in a legislature should not cause a state to lose a seat.

Min-Max inequality
Every divisor method can be defined using the min-max inequality. Letting brackets denote array indexing, an allocation is valid if-and-only-if: "$0.00 1.33 2.40 3.43$"In other words, it is impossible to lower the highest vote average by reassigning a seat from one party to another. Every number in this range is a possible divisor. If the inequality is strict, the solution is unique; otherwise, there is an exactly tied vote in the final apportionment stage.

Method families
The divisor methods described above can be generalized into families.

Generalized average
In general, it is possible to construct an apportionment method from any generalized average function, by defining the signpost function as $√k(k + 1)$.

Stationary family
A divisor method is called stationary if its signposts are of the form $$d(k) = k+r$$ for some real number $$r\in[0,1]$$. The methods of Adams, Webster, and Jefferson are stationary; those of Dean and Huntington-Hill are not. A stationary method corresponds to rounding numbers up if they exceed the weighted arithmetic mean of $0.00 1.41 2.45 3.46$ and $r = 1/3$. Smaller values of $k + r$ tend to be friendlier to smaller parties.

Danish elections allocate leveling seats at the province level using-member constituencies. It divides the number of votes received by a party in a multi-member constituency by 0.33, 1.33, 2.33, 3.33 etc. The fencepost sequence is given by $0.33 1.33 2.33 3.33$; this aims to allocate seats equally rather than exactly proportionally.

Power mean family
The power mean family of divisor methods includes the Adams, Huntington-Hill, Webster, Dean, and Jefferson methods (either directly or as limits). For a given constant $k + 1/2$, the power mean method has signpost function $0.50 1.50 2.50 3.50$. The Huntington-Hill method corresponds to the limit as $p = 2$ tends to 0, while Adams and Jefferson represent the limits as $p}$ tends to negative or positive infinity.

The family also includes the less-common Dean's method for $0.71 1.58 2.55 3.54$, which corresponds to the harmonic mean. Dean's method is equivalent to rounding to the nearest average—every state has its seat count rounded in a way that minimizes the difference between the average district size and the ideal district size. For example: "The 1830 representative population of Massachusetts was 610,408: if it received 12 seats its average constituency size would be 50,867; if it received 13 it would be 46,954. So, if the divisor were 47,700 as Polk proposed, Massachusetts should receive 13 seats because 46,954 is closer to 47,700 than is 50,867."Rounding to the vote average with the smallest relative error once again yields the Huntington-Hill method because $k + 1$, i.e. relative differences are reversible. This fact was central to Edward V. Huntington's use of relative (instead of absolute) errors in measuring misrepresentation, and to his advocacy for the Huntington-Hill technique: Huntington argued the choice of apportionment method should not depend on how the equation for equal representation is rearranged, and only relative errors (i.e. the Huntington-Hill technique) satisfy this property.

Stolarsky mean family
Similarly, the Stolarsky mean can be used to define a family of divisor methods that minimizes the generalized entropy index of misrepresentation. This family includes the logarithmic mean, geometric mean, and the identric mean. The Stolarsky means can be justified as minimizing these misrepresentation metrics, which are of major importance in the study of information theory.

Thresholds
Many countries have electoral thresholds for representation, where parties must win a specified fraction of the vote in order to be represented; parties with fewer votes than the threshold requires for representation are eliminated. Other countries modify the first divisor to introduce a natural threshold; when using Webster's method, the first divisor is often set to 0.7 or 1.0 (the latter being called the full-seat modification).

Majority-preservation clause
A majority-preservation clause guarantees any party winning a majority of the vote will receive at least half the seats in a legislature. Without such a clause, it is possible for a party with slightly more than half the vote to receive just barely less than half the seats (if using a method other than D'Hondt). This is typically accomplished by adding seats to the legislature until an apportionment that preserves the majority for a parliament is found.

Quota-capped divisor method
A quota-capped divisor method is an apportionment method where we begin by assigning every state its lower quota of seats. Then, we add seats one-by-one to the state with the highest votes-per-seat average, so long as adding an additional seat does not result in the state exceeding its upper quota. However, quota-capped divisor methods violate the participation criterion (also called population monotonicity)—it is possible for a party to lose a seat as a result of winning more votes.

title: Highest averages method


text:
Piero Simondo

Piero Simondo (25 August 1928 – 6 November 2020) was an Italian artist born in Cosio di Arroscia, Liguria, Italy.

Biography
In Alba, Piedmont, Italy, with Asger Jorn and Giuseppe Pinot Gallizio he founded the Laboratory of immaginiste experiences as part of the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus (IMIB).

He edited Eristica the magazine published by IMIB and September 1956 he organised the First World-wide Conference of the Free Artists, with Jorn, Gallizio and Elena Verrone. He married Verrone two years later. At the Cultural Union of Turin he helped put on a demonstration unitary urbanism in December 1956.

In the summer of 1957 he took a holiday in his house in Cosio d' Arroscia. Here, with Michèle Bernstein, Guy Debord, Pinot Gallizio, Asger Jorn, Walter Olmo, Ralph Rumney and Elena Verrone the Situationist International was founded on 28 July. Following a row with Debord, he left the organisation with Olmo and Verrone.

In 1962 he founded in Turin the CIRA (International Center for an Institute of Artistic Research) with the purpose to expand the proposals of the Alba Laboratory.

From 1968 he continued with his own artistic activity.

From 1972 to 1996 Simondo worked at the University of Turin where he organised experimental activities at the Institute of Pedagogy. He held the chair of Methodology and Didactics of the Audovisual Medium.

Publications by Simondo include:
 * Ars vetus, ars modernorum, SEI, Turin 1971
 * What were the experiences of the Alba Laboratory, Libreria Editrice Sileno, Opuscola, Genoa 1986
 * The Laboratory as Situation, Tirrenia Stampatori, Turin 1987
 * The colour of colours, La Nuova Italia, Florence 1990
 * Jorn in Italy. The Years of the imaginiste Bauhaus, F.lli Pozzo editori, Turin 1997

title: Piero Simondo


text:
Bhagwan Das

Bhagwan Das (12 January 1869 – 18 September 1958) was an Indian Theosophist and public figure. For a time he served in the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He became allied with the Hindustani Culture Society and was active in opposing rioting as a form of protest. As an advocate for national freedom from the British rule, he was often in danger of reprisals from the Colonial government. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955.

Life
Born in Varanasi, India, he graduated school to become a deputy in the collections bureau, and later left to continue his academic pursuits. Das joined the Theosophical Society in 1894 inspired by a speech by Annie Besant. After the 1895 split, he sided with the Theosophical Society Adyar. Within that society, he was an opponent of Jiddu Krishnamurti and his Order of the Star in the East organisation. Das joined the Indian National Congress during the Non-co-operation movement and was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1955.

With Besant he formed a professional collaboration which led to the founding of the Central Hindu College, which became Central Hindu School. Das would later found the Kashi Vidya Peeth, a national university where he served as headmaster. Das was a scholar of Sanskrit, from which he added to the body of Hindi language. He wrote approximately 30 books, many of these in Sanskrit and Hindi.

A prominent road in New Delhi, on which the Supreme Court of India is situated, is named after him and a colony is also named after his name in Sigra area of Varanasi 'Dr. Bhagwan Das Nagar.'

In Banaras Hindu University, Law hostel is named after him (Dr.Bhagwan Das Hostel). The Indian Law Institute and office of the Bar Council of India is located on the road named after Dr. Bhagwan Das near Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

The Pranava-Vada of Gargyayana
The Pranava-Vada of Gargyayana (pranava-vāda is the Sanskrit for "uttering of Pranava (AUM)") was published in three volumes in years 1910-1913 by the Theosophical Society, Adyar with notes by Annie Besant. Das alleges that the work is a "summarised translation" of an otherwise unknown "ancient text" by a sage called Gargyayana. Das states that the text was dictated to him from memory by Pandit Dhanaraja Mishra, a theosophist friend of his who was blind in both eyes and had died before the book's publication.

This book has nothing to do with the original Pranava Veda by Mamuni Mayan

Other works

 * A concordance dictionary to The yoga-sutras of Patanjali. Kaashai, Benares 1938.
 * A few Truths about Theosophy. in The Theosophist, Adyar September 1889.
 * Ancient solutions of modern problems. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1933.
 * Ancient versus modern "scientific socialism", or, Theosophy and capitalism, fascism, communism. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1934.
 * Annie Besant and the changing world. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1934.
 * Communalism and its cure by theosophy, Or spiritual health, the only sure basis of material wealth. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1934.
 * Eugenics, Ethics and Metaphysics. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1930.
 * Indian ideals of women's education. Current Thought Press, Madras 1929.
 * Krishna, a study in the theory of Avataras. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1924.
 * My picture of free India. Indian Book Shop, Benares et al. 1944.
 * The central Hindu college and Mrs. Besant, the rise of the Alcyone cult. Divine Life Press, London 1913.
 * The dawn of another Renaissance. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1931.
 * The essential Unity of all Religions. Theosophical Press, Wheaton 1939.
 * The Ethico-Psychological Crux in Political Science and Art, or, Who Should be Legislators?. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1931.
 * The fundamental idea of theosophy. Theosophist Office, Madras 1912.
 * The metaphysics and psychology of Theosophy. in The Theosophist, Adyar 1916. und
 * The philosophy of non-co-operation and of spiritual-political swaraj. Tagore & Co., Madras 1922.
 * The psychology of conversion. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1917.
 * The religion of theosophy. Theosophist Office, Madras 1911.
 * The science of peace, an attempt at an exposition of the first principles of the science of the self. Theosophical Publishing House, Benares et al. 1904.
 * The science of religion, or, Sanatana vaidika dharma, an attempt at an exposition of principles. Indian Book Shop, Benares 1948.
 * The Science of Social Organization, or, The Laws of Manu in the Light of Atma Vidya. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1935.
 * The science of social organisation, or, The laws of Manu in the light of Theosophy. Theosophist Office, Adyar 1910.
 * The science of the emotions. Theosophical Publishing House, Benares et al. 1908.
 * The spiritualisation of the science of politics by Brahma-vidya. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1919.
 * The superphysics of the Great War. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1916.
 * The Historic Trial of Mahatma Gandhi, 1922

Literature

 * Katherine Browning: An epitome of the "science of the emotions", a summary of the work of Pandit Bhagavan Das. Theosophical Publishing House, London 1925.

title: Bhagwan Das


text:
History of Eastern Germany

History of Eastern Germany may refer to:
 * History of the German Democratic Republic
 * History of eastern German regions:
 * Prussia
 * East Prussia
 * West Prussia
 * Silesia
 * East Brandenburg
 * Pomerania
 * Province of Posen

title: History of Eastern Germany


text:
Elena Kats-Chernin

Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin (born 4 November 1957) is a Soviet-born Australian composer and pianist, best known for her ballet Wild Swans.

Early life and career
Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent (now the capital of independent Uzbekistan, but then part of the Soviet Union) and is Jewish. She studied at the Yaroslavl Music School and the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow from age 14, and migrated to Australia in 1975, continuing her studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, under Richard Toop (composition) and Gordon Watson (piano). She also participated in the Darlinghurst underground theatre scene, with groups such as Cabaret Conspiracy, Fifi Lamour, Boom Boom La Burn and others, often under the name Elena Kats.

Europe
Kats-Chernin studied with Helmut Lachenmann in Germany. She remained in Europe for thirteen years, and became active in theatre and ballet, composing for state theatres in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg and Bochum. In 1993 she wrote Clocks for the Ensemble Modern. It has since been performed around the world.

Australia
Since returning to Australia in 1994, Kats-Chernin has written several operas, two piano concertos and compositions for many performers and ensembles, including The Seymour Group, The Song Company, The Sydney Jewish Choral Society, the Sydney Alpha Ensemble, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Chamber Made Opera, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She was commissioned to write a piece, Page Turn, for the 2000 Sydney International Piano Competition. Her music was featured at the opening ceremonies of both the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

She wrote three silent film soundtracks for a co-production between German/French TV channels ZDF/ARTE: Victor Sjöström's Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage, 1921), Billy Wilder and Robert Siodmak's People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag, 1930), and G. W. Pabst's The Devious Path (Abwege, 1928). Kats-Chernin's other works include Charleston Noir for solo piano, Rockhampton Garden Symphonies with Mark Svendsen for solo voices, mixed choirs and orchestra, and Wild Swans, a collaboration with choreographer Meryl Tankard.

She has won numerous music composition prizes in Australia, and her pieces are regularly broadcast on ABC Classic FM radio. In 2009, Kats-Chernin was commissioned by the National Museum of Australia to write a piece for orchestra called Garden of Dreams, named for one of the architectural features of the museum, which premiered at the museum the same year.

Performances of Kats-Chernin's music are available on several commercially released recordings. One album is Chamber of Horrors, released in August 2006 by Tall Poppies Records. Chamber of Horrors includes Charleston Noir, for four basses; Chamber of Horrors, for harp (1995), played by Alice Giles; Still Life, for viola and piano (2001); Gypsy Ramble, for viola, cello and piano (1996); Wild Rice, for cello (1996); and Velvet Revolution, for horn, violin and piano (1999).

Kats-Chernin's "Eliza Aria" from her score for the ballet Wild Swans (ABC Classics) is used in Lloyds TSB's 2007 television advertisements. In 2010, Wild Swans became the theme music for ABC Radio National's Late Night Live program until the end of 2015.

Kats-Chernin has written a number of ragtime pieces for piano; one of these, "Russian Rag", was used in two different instrumental ensemble arrangements, as the theme of Late Night Live until 2010. It is also used as the New York theme in Adam Elliot's feature film, Mary and Max.

Kats-Chernin is a represented composer of the Australian Music Centre.

A portrait of Kats-Chernin by Australian portrait artist Wendy Sharpe was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery (Australia) in 2019.

Honours and awards
Elena Kats-Chernin was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in January 2019 "for distinguished service to the performing arts, particularly to music, as an orchestral, operatic and chamber music composer".

ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony held by the Australian Recording Industry Association. They commenced in 1987.

! Ref. (with Lior and The Idea of North)
 * 2005
 * Wild Swans
 * rowspan="2" | Best Classical Album
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="2" |
 * 2008
 * Slow Food
 * Nominated
 * 2017
 * A Piece of Quiet (The Hush Collection, Vol. 16)
 * 2017
 * A Piece of Quiet (The Hush Collection, Vol. 16)
 * A Piece of Quiet (The Hush Collection, Vol. 16)
 * Best Children's Album
 * Nominated

Australian Women in Music Awards
The Australian Women in Music Awards is an annual event that honours women for their contributions to the Australian music industry. They were first awarded in 2018.

 * rowspan="2"| 2022
 * rowspan="2"| Elena Kats-Chernin
 * Artistic Excellence Award
 * Won
 * Excellence in Classical Music Award
 * Nominated
 * Excellence in Classical Music Award
 * Nominated

Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards
The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards commenced in 1984 and recognise outstanding achievements in dance, drama, comedy, music, opera, circus and puppetry.

 * 2013 || Elena Kats-Chernin || Individual Award || awarded
 * 2013 || Elena Kats-Chernin || Individual Award || awarded

Operas

 * Iphis, Sydney, 1997
 * Matricide, the Musical, Melbourne, 1998
 * Mr Barbeque, Lismore, New South Wales, 2002
 * Rage of Life, Antwerp, 2010
 * George, Hannover-Herrenhausen, 2014
 * The Divorce, for ABC Television, 2015
 * The Monteverdi Trilogy
 * Whiteley, 2019
 * Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, 2019
 * The Wind in the Willows (opera), Staatstheater Kassel 2021, adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's children's book The Wind in the Willows

Ballets

 * Wild Swans (including "Eliza Aria")

Vocal

 * Land of Sweeping Plains, SA choir and piano (set to Dorothea Mackellar, My Country)
 * Rockhampton Garden Symphonies, solo voices, mixed choirs and orchestra (with Mark Svendsen)
 * The Uninvited Stranger, 2007, SATB choir (text by Sandy Jeffs)
 * Human Waves, 2020, SATB choir (text by Tamara Anna Cislowska)

Instrumental

 * Butterflying
 * Blue Silence
 * Cadences, Deviations and Scarlatti
 * Calliope Dreaming, 2009
 * Chamber of Horrors, for harp
 * Charleston Noir
 * Clocks
 * Cinema
 * Frankenstein (incidental music, 2013)
 * Gypsy Ramble, for viola, cello and piano
 * In Tension
 * Intermezzo Days
 * Lullaby for Nick
 * Meditations of Eric Satie: Unsent Love Letters
 * Page Turn
 * Peggy's Minute Rag
 * Phoenix Story
 * Purple Prelude
 * Russian Rags
 * Sand Waltz
 * Schubert Blues
 * Setting Out
 * Slicked Back Tango
 * Spirit and the Maiden
 * Still Life, for viola and piano
 * Stur in Dur
 * Tast-en
 * The Offering, Piano Quintet No. 1 (2016)
 * Three Dancers (2015)
 * Tremors, dreams, memories (2003, written for the Indonesian pianist Ananda Sukarlan and dedicated to the victims of the Bali bombings 2002)
 * Trio Grandios
 * Variations in a Serious Black Dress
 * Velvet Revolution, for horn, violin and piano
 * Wild Rice, for cello (1996)
 * Zoom and Zip

Orchestral/concertante

 * Deep Sea Dreaming
 * Garden of Dreams
 * Harpsichord Concerto ("Ancient Letters"), for Mahan Esfahani
 * Night and Now (for flute and orchestra)
 * Ornamental Air (for clarinet and orchestra)
 * Piano Concerto (Displaced Dances)
 * 2nd Piano Concerto
 * Prelude and Cube
 * Retonica
 * Singing Trees
 * Stairs
 * Symphonia Eluvium
 * Transfer
 * Violin Concerto
 * The Witching Hour, concerto for 8 double basses and orchestra (2016), commissioned for the Australian World Orchestra
 * Inner Angels, commissioned for the Melbourne Youth Orchestra

Films

 * The Widower
 * Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage)
 * People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag)
 * Abwege (The Devious Path)
 * Varieté (Variety)

title: Elena Kats-Chernin