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Petrofina

Petrofina was a Belgian oil company. It merged with Total in 1999 to form TotalFina, which after subsequent mergers has changed its name back to Total. In the United States, Fina's former refining and marketing operations are now owned by Delek US.

Petrofina was founded on 25 February 1920 by Auguste Diagre, Hector Carlier his brother Fernand and Aloys Van de Vyvere as an Antwerp-based group called Compagnie Financière Belge des Pétroles, but changed to PetroFina to reflect their telegraphic address name.

Petrofina's Canadian retail operations in eastern Canada were sold in 1981 to the Canadian government and became part of Petro-Canada.

Petrofina merged with Total S.A. of France to form TotalFina and with Elf in 2000 to form TotalFinaElf. The company's current name is TotalEnergies (since 2021).

Fina in the United States - "Pink Air" and "Pflash"
Petrofina expanded its operations to the United States in 1956 with the purchase of Texas-based Panhandle Oil Company, which was headquartered in Wichita Falls, Texas, where the firm operated an oil refinery and marketed gasoline through service stations in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. American Petrofina, as the United States operation was called, further expanded its presence in the US through the purchase of several small oil companies, the largest being the Cosden Oil Company from W.R. Grace in 1963, which gave Fina a very large chain of service stations in Texas and New Mexico along with an oil refinery in Big Spring, Texas.

The Fina brand appeared on gasoline and other petroleum products at Panhandle stations in 1958, with the service stations rebranded as Fina in 1959 and service stations acquired through purchase of Cosden and other companies also converted to the Fina brand. In 1961, Fina introduced its Pink Air promotional campaign noting that while Fina gasolines were loaded with all the same ingredients that made their fuels "Exactly As Good As The Best" adding that only at Fina stations could motorists get "Pink Air" for their tires to keep them from deteriorating. In its "Pink Air" ads, Fina (then undergoing a major expansion of its marketing territory which encompassed the Mid-Continent region from Texas to Minnesota) noted that Pink Air was arriving at new Fina stations as fast as they could be opened and set a goal of having Pink Air in all of its stations by May 1966 - five years later.

In 1966, when "Pink Air" finally arrived at every Fina station, Fina replaced that campaign with a new one regarding an ingredient in its gasoline called "Pflash." At a time when other US oil companies were promoting their gasoline products with campaigns such as Exxon/Esso's "Put A Tiger in Your Tank!", Shell's "Platformate" additive that they claimed to improve gas mileage, Texaco's invitation to "Trust Your Car to the Man Who Wears The Star" and Mobil's "Detergent gasoline"; ""PFLASH", was promoted as an ingredient in Fina gasoline that would improve driving pleasure by "turning red lights green," "smoothing out rough roads," "improving the food at roadside restaurants" and "making you feel less sorry you ever got a driver's license." Fina stations even offered free "Pflash" bumper stickers to motorists who pulled in for gasoline purchases.

In 1973, American Petrofina expanded its marketing area to include Florida, Georgia and several other Southeastern states following the purchase of BP's marketing assets including service stations, terminals and jobber contracts, converting them to the Fina brand. Another expansion of Fina's marketing operations came in 1984, when American Petrofina purchased several thousand service stations from Oklahoma-based Champlin Refining Company following that firm's closing of its Enid, Oklahoma refinery. The Champlin assets were rebranded as Fina stations in several Mid-Continent states including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa among others.

Petrofina's U.S. subsidiary, Fina Inc., announced that it would move its headquarters to Houston from Plano, Texas in 2000. Fina Inc. planned to occupy 149000 sqft in the World Houston Plaza building, near George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

In 2005, Total Petrochemicals USA, Inc., moved to offices in downtown Houston. Petrochemicals USA, Inc. has retained the petrochemicals operations of the former Fina, and the Port Arthur, Texas refinery.

US Fina assets now owned by Alon USA
Since the Total-Petrofina merger in 1999, all of Fina's former marketing assets and the Big Spring refinery have been owned by Texas-based Alon USA. Alon assets include the former Fina refinery at Big Spring, Texas and the Fina brand name. Alon supplies gasoline and other petroleum products to 1,200 Fina stations directly and through distributors in seven Southwestern states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and the southern portion of Colorado. Alon also owns Southwest Convenience Stores, which is the largest franchiser of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the United States. Southwest owns and operates 160 7-Eleven stores in West Texas and New Mexico, each of which sell Fina gasoline. In 2012, Alon announced it would be converting all of its retail locations to the Alon gasoline brand, rather than extend the contract they had with TotalElf which lasted 12 years to keep using the Fina brand. Doing so would also allow them to expand beyond the original eight state territory they could use the Fina name in (Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Colorado, and New Mexico). This conversion was completed by the end of 2012 at all former Fina locations.

The Fina Port Arthur refinery is still owned by Total.

BMW Motorsport
Fina were BMW's primary oil & lubricants partner from 1988 to 1998, featuring on all of BMW Motorsport's works team racing cars beginning with the 1988 European Touring Car Championship, through entries in the World Rally Championship, British Touring Car Championship, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) until 1992 and the German Super Tourenwagen Cup (STW). Fina also supported BMW's in the French Touring Car Championship (Supertourisme), and both Rafanelli and Schnitzer Motorsport's 24 Hours of Le Mans entries, plus the works McLaren-BMW F1 GTR and GTR Longtail from 1996 to 1998 at Le Mans and the FIA GT Championship.

NASCAR sponsorship
Fina was a major sponsor of NASCAR teams in the 1990s, most notably of Randy LaJoie's Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) teams. Fina was LaJoie's primary sponsor from 1993-1994, and then again from 1996-1998, which included two Busch Series championships in 1996 and 1997 in the #74 Fina Chevrolets owned by Bill Baumgartner.

title: Petrofina


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Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total in 2003 and TotalEnergies in 2021. Elf has been as a major brand of TotalEnergies since then.

Founding and mergers (1965-1993)
Elf Aquitaine's heritage is rooted among three French oil companies: Régie Autonome des Pétroles (RAP), Société Nationale des Pétroles d'Aquitaine (SNPA), and Bureau de Recherches de Pétroles (BRP). These companies were formed to exploit the discovery of a gas field in Saint-Marcet in the Aquitaine region of south-western France. In December 1965, RAP and BRP were merged to form Entreprise de Recherches et d'Activités Pétrolières (ERAP). ERAP had SNPA, Union Générale des Pétroles (UGP), and Union Industrielle des Pétroles (UIP) as subsidiaries. The resulting company achieved vertical integration, owning assets in all phases of the petrol business from exploration and production to the filling station.

On April 28, 1967, the company's disparate brands and products were unified under the Elf brand, Essence Lubricants France. Elf was the first company to pioneer a completely synthetic racing oil.

In 1973, the subsidiary SNPA set up a pharmaceuticals subsidiary called Sanofi and acquired the pharmaceutical groups Labaz, Castaigne, and Robilliart, and also bought interests in a cosmetics company. In 1976, Elf-ERAP merged with Antar Pétroles de l'Atlantique and became Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine (SNEA), later Elf Aquitaine.

Hoax and merger (1979-1981)
Elf Aquitaine lost over US$150 million in the 1979 Great Oil Sniffer Hoax to develop a new "gravity wave-based oil detection system", which was later revealed to be a scam.

In 1981, Elf Aquitaine bought Texasgulf for $3 billion, despite a request by the US government to postpone the merger for time to study the implications. At the time, Texasgulf was the largest producer of sulphur in the world, with Elf Aquitaine gaining majority control. Texasgulf was over one-third owned by the government of Canada. Elf Aquitaine was listed on the NYSE in 1991. In 1993, Elf was awarded the exclusive contract to the Iraqi oil fields by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Fraud scandal (1994)
The Elf scandal which came to light in 1994 in France was according to The Guardian, 'the biggest fraud inquiry in Europe since the Second World War... Elf became a private bank for executives who spent £200 million on political favours, mistresses, jewellery, fine art, villas and apartments'. Iraqi-born Nadhmi Auchi, at that time rumoured to be among the ten richest men in Britain, received a 15-month suspended sentence and a £1.5m fine for his involvement taking illegal commissions. Auchi was also linked to the Clearstream scandal. He is BNP Paribas bank's main private share-holder; and until 2001, the money for the Oil-for-Food programme transited through the escrow account of BNP Paribas. Magistrate Eva Joly investigated the case. In the Leuna/Minol deal following German reunification, Elf Aquitaine took over circa 2,500 vacated gas station allottments in the former East Germany without paying the rightful owners.

Merger and Total S.A. (1996-2022)
In 1996, the French government sold its stake, retaining a golden share. In 2000, Elf Aquitaine merged with Total Fina to form TotalFinaElf, which changed its name to Total in 2003.

Legal investigations into the company continued after it was purchased by Totalfina.

Automobile and motorcycle partnerships
Elf Aquitaine is an official recommended fuel and motor oil for all Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance marques (including Renault (shared with BP, Aral, and Castrol), Nissan, Dacia, Datsun, Alpine, Venucia, Renault Korea Motors and Infiniti), Honda (including Acura shared with BP, Aral, and Castrol), and Brough Superior for automobiles only as well as Kawasaki and Honda for motorcycles only.

Motorsports
From its very beginnings, Elf used motor racing as a means of promotion. It began with a four-year association with Matra in a French Formula Three program. This resulted in Henri Pescarolo winning the title. The European Formula Two Championship fell to Matra the following year with Jean-Pierre Beltoise. In 1969, the combination won the Formula One World Championship with Tyrrell and Jackie Stewart.

The goal of winning the Le Mans 24 Hours was not achieved until 1972, by which time Elf and Matra had gone their separate ways. Elf, at that time owned by France, then undertook a policy to rebuild and promote French motor racing. began a long-term relationship with Renault, which was also owned by the French government at the time. Renault promoted the use of Elf oils in its road cars, while its Formula One racing cars also carried Elf sponsorship. This changed in 2009, when the Renault Formula One cars replaced the Elf logos with Total logos.

The most famous of the schemes to promote young drivers dates back to the start of the 1970s, when Francois Guiter of Elf established what was known as the Volant Elf. The fastest drivers on each course at the Winfield Racing Schools, Magny Cours and Paul Ricard, were asked to return to the school in the autumn to establish the fastest driver of the year. The two winners were each given a full budget to race the following year in Formula Renault. If they were fast enough they would be retained by Elf in Formula Three and then Formula Two (or later Formula 3000), and eventually they would get a drive in Formula One. The first two Pilotes Elf were Patrick Tambay and Didier Pironi. Both went on to win Grands Prix. They were followed over the years by Alain Prost, Pascal Fabre, Olivier Grouillard, Paul Belmondo, Éric Bernard, Érik Comas and Olivier Panis, all of whom became Formula One drivers. In addition, Elf often picked up other good drivers and sponsored them, creating a generation of top French drivers in the 1980s and early 1990s.

When Guiter retired Elf decided to change the policy and a revised program was implemented. This aimed to create a scheme for drivers, mechanics and engineers. Called "La Filière;" it funded as many as eight drivers each year in Formula Renault Elf Campus and four in Formula Three. Budget cuts between 2008 and 2012 reduced the number of French drivers moving on to Formula One positions.

Elf also supplying fuels and lubricants for two Formula One junior feeder open-wheel single-seater formula auto racing tournaments GP2 Series (later rebranded as FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017) since 2005 and GP3 Series since 2010 (later rebranded as FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019) respectively due to in fact Mecachrome has a long-term technical partnership with Elf since 1969 until 2022.

Elf also supplying standard Ethanol E10 fuels for all SRO-owned GT championships. In 2023, Elf became a series sponsor of the TCR Australia series.

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

title: Elf Aquitaine


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Peg o' My Heart

"Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical Ziegfeld Follies.

The song was first performed publicly by Irving Kaufman in 1912 at The College Inn in New York City after he had stumbled across a draft of sheet music on a shelf at the Leo Feist offices.

The song was inspired by the main character in the very successful Broadway play of the time, Peg o' My Heart, that debuted December 20, 1912 at the Cort Theatre in NYC. The play was written by J. Hartley Manners and starred Laurette Taylor in the title role. Taylor appeared on the cover of early published sheet music.

Notable recordings
Notable recordings of the song include:

 * Charles W. Harrison
 * Label: Victor 17412 (matrix: 13628-2)
 * Recorded: July 24, 1913
 * Henry Burr
 * Label: Columbia A-1404 (matrix: 38980-2)
 * Recorded: August 1, 1913
 * Walter Van Brunt
 * Edison, Blue Amberol 2036
 * Released: September 1913
 * Bunny Berigan & his Orchestra
 * Label: Victor 27258 (matrix: 043925)
 * Recorded: New York City November 28, 1939
 * Lester Young Trio
 * Label: Clef MGC 135 (matrix: 353-1)
 * Released: 1953
 * Recorded: Hollywood April 1946
 * The Harmonicats
 * Label: Vitacoustic Records 1
 * Released: March 1947
 * First entered the Billboard magazine chart on April 18, on charts 21 weeks, peaking at #1
 * Buddy Clark with orchestra directed by Mitchell Ayres
 * Label: Columbia 37392 (matrix: CO 37671)
 * Recorded: New York City April 25, 1947
 * First entered the Billboard magazine chart on June 27, on charts 7 weeks, peaking at #4
 * Art Lund with orchestra conducted by Johnny Thompson
 * Label: MGM 10037 (matrix: 47-S-3077-3)
 * Recorded: in Los Angeles, California May 12, 1947
 * First entered the Billboard magazine chart on June 20, on charts 10 weeks, peaking at #6
 * Clark Dennis
 * Label: Capitol 346
 * First entered the Billboard magazine chart on July 4, 1947, on charts 1 week, at #10
 * The Three Suns
 * Label: RCA Victor 20-2272
 * First entered the Billboard magazine chart on June 20, 1947, on charts 16 weeks, peaking at #2
 * Joe Loss and his Orchestra
 * Label: His Master's Voice BD 5987
 * Recorded: London on October 13, 1947
 * Gene Vincent and His Bluecaps
 * Album: Bluejean Bop!
 * Label: Capitol Records
 * Released: 13 August 1956
 * Robert Maxwell His Harp and Orchestra
 * Released 1964: #64 on the US, Hot 100
 * Andy Williams
 * Album: The Shadow of Your Smile (1966)
 * Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys covered the song on their 2011 album, Going Out in Style. Their version features a guest appearance by Bruce Springsteen.

In other media
"Peg o' My Heart" featured in the 1959 film Oh, You Beautiful Doll, a fictionalized biography of Fred Fisher, a German-born American writer of Tin Pan Alley songs. (Mark Stevens) turns serious composer Fred Breitenbach (S. Z. Sakall) into songwriter Fred Fisher. Fred Fisher is his assumed name in real life and Breitenbach is his birth surname. In the film, many Fisher songs were given a symphonic arrangement that was performed at Aeolian Hall. Among the other Fisher songs heard were "Chicago," "Dardanella," and "Who Paid the Rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle". Mark Stevens (dubbed by Bill Shirley) and June Haver (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams) sing "Peg o' My Heart" as a duet. The film was released on November 11, 1949.

The song, performed by Max Harris and his Novelty Trio (based on the Harmonicats' 1947 version), was used as the theme of the BBC miniseries The Singing Detective (1986). When recording engineer Bill Putnam recorded the Harmonicats' version of the song, he utilized the bathroom of Universal Recording as an echo chamber and became the first person to use artificial reverberation creatively on a pop recording.

In the 2010 ITV drama Downton Abbey, episode 4 season 1 features William, the second footman, playing "Peg o' My Heart" on the piano in the servants' hall.

title: Peg o' My Heart


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User:Ffransoo

Solve the anagram:

Donar Reiskoffer

title: User:Ffransoo


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Cunninghame Graham

Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); the first ever socialist member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; a founder, and the first president, of the Scottish Labour Party; a founder of the National Party of Scotland in 1928; and the first president of the Scottish National Party in 1934.

Cunninghame Graham was the eldest son of Major William Bontine of the Renfrew Militia and formerly a Cornet in the Scots Greys with whom he served in Ireland. His mother was the Hon. Anne Elizabeth Elphinstone-Fleeming, daughter of Admiral Charles Elphinstone-Fleeming of Cumbernauld and a Spanish noblewoman, Doña Catalina Paulina Alessandro de Jiménez, who reputedly, along with her second husband, Admiral James Katon, heavily influenced Cunninghame Graham's upbringing. Thus the first language Cunninghame Graham learned was his mother's maternal tongue, Spanish.

Youth
He spent most of his childhood on the family estate of Finlaystone in Renfrewshire and Ardoch in Dunbartonshire, Scotland, with his younger brothers Charles and Malise.

After being educated at Harrow public school in England, Robert finished his education in Brussels, Belgium, before moving to Argentina to make his fortune cattle ranching. He became known as a great adventurer and gaucho there, and was affectionately known as Don Roberto. He also travelled in Morocco disguised as a Turkish sheikh to find the "forbidden" city of Taroudant but was captured by a Caid (Si Taieb ben Si Ahmed El Hassan El Kintafi), prospected for gold in Spain, befriended Buffalo Bill in Texas, and taught fencing in Mexico City, having travelled there by wagon train from San Antonio de Bexar with his young bride sic "Gabrielle Marie de la Balmondiere", a supposed half-French, half-Chilean poet.

Convert to socialism
After the death of his father in 1883 he reverted to the Cunninghame Graham surname. He returned to the UK and became interested in politics. He attended socialist meetings where he heard and met William Morris, George Bernard Shaw, H. M. Hyndman, Keir Hardie and John Burns. Despite his wealthy origins, Graham was converted to socialism and he began to speak at public meetings. He was an impressive orator and was especially good at dealing with hecklers.

Liberal Party MP
Although a socialist, in the 1886 general election he stood as a Liberal Party candidate at North West Lanarkshire. His election programme was extremely radical and called for:

 * the abolition of the House of Lords
 * universal suffrage
 * the nationalisation of land, mines and other industries
 * free school meals
 * disestablishment of the Church of England
 * Scottish Home Rule
 * the establishment of an eight-hour working day

Supported by liberals and socialists, Graham defeated the Unionist candidate by 322 votes. He had stood against the same candidate at the 1885 general election, in which he was defeated by over 1100 votes.

Robert Cunninghame Graham refused to accept the conventions of the British House of Commons. On 12 September 1887 he was suspended from parliament for making what was called a "disrespectful reference" to the House of Lords. He was the first MP ever to be suspended from the House of Commons for swearing; the word was damn.

Graham's main concerns in the House of Commons were the plight of the unemployed and the preservation of civil liberties. He complained about attempts in 1886 and 1887 by the police to prevent public meetings and free speech. He attended the protest demonstration in Trafalgar Square on 13 November 1887 that was broken up by the police and became known as Bloody Sunday. Graham was badly beaten during his arrest and taken to Bow Street Police Station, where his uncle, Col William Hope VC, attempted to post bail. Both Cunninghame Graham, who was defended by H. H. Asquith, and John Burns were found guilty for their involvement in the demonstration and sentenced to six weeks imprisonment.

When Graham was released from Pentonville prison he continued his campaign to improve the rights of working people and to curb their economic exploitation. He was suspended from the House of Commons in December 1888 for protesting about the working conditions of the chain makers of Cradley Heath. His response to the Speaker of the House, "I never withdraw", was later used by George Bernard Shaw in Arms and the Man.

Scottish independence and the Scottish Labour Party
Graham was a strong supporter of Scottish independence. In 1886, he helped establish the Scottish Home Rule Association (SHRA), and while in the House of Commons, he made several attempts to persuade fellow MPs of the desirability of a Scottish parliament. On one occasion, Graham joked that he wanted a "national parliament with the pleasure of knowing that the taxes were wasted in Edinburgh instead of London."

In 1888, Graham attended the SHRA Conference at the Anderton's Hotel in Fleet Street and passed a motion "That in the opinion of this Conference the interests of Scotland demand the establishment of a Scotch national Parliament and an Executive Government having control over exclusively Scotch affairs, with a due regard to the integrity of the Empire". The motion was supported by Mr Cuninghame Graham (as name spelt in article), who said he "wanted a Scotch Parliament to do justice to their crofters and keep them at home, to pass an Eight Hours' Bill for their miners, to settle the liquor laws, and to nationalise the land." Peter Esslemont MP attended. Dr G.B Clark Chaired conference MP for Caithness-shire. While in the House of Commons, Graham became increasingly more radical and went on to found the Scottish Labour Party with Keir Hardie. Graham left the Liberal Party in 1892 to contest the general election in a new constituency as a Labour candidate.

He supported workers in their industrial disputes and was involved with Annie Besant and the Matchgirls Strike and the 1889 Dockers' Strike. In July 1889, he attended the Marxist Congress of the Second International in Paris with James Keir Hardie, William Morris, Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling. The following year he made a speech in Calais that was considered by the authorities to be so revolutionary that he was arrested and expelled from France.

Graham was a supporter of the eight-hour day and made several attempts to introduce a Bill on the subject. He made some progress with this in the summer of 1892, but he was unable to persuade the Conservative government, headed by Lord Salisbury, to allocate time for the Bill to be fully debated.

At the 1892 general election Graham stood as the Scottish Labour Party candidate for Glasgow Camlachie. He was defeated, bringing his parliamentary career to an end. He remained active in political circles, though, helping his colleague Keir Hardie establish the Independent Labour Party and enter parliament as the MP for West Ham. However, he became disillusioned by the pettiness and dissent of those he called "piss-pot socialists" and increasingly turned to a nascent Scottish nationalism as a means of achieving social justice and cultural revival.

Graham retained a strong belief in Scottish home rule. He played an active part in the establishment of the National Party of Scotland (NPS) in 1928 and was elected the Honorary President of the new Scottish National Party in 1934. He was several times the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association candidate for the Lord Rectorship of the University of Glasgow, which he lost by only sixty-six votes in 1928 to Stanley Baldwin, the Conservative Prime Minister at the time. This event was pivotal in the founding of the National Party, and the eventual creation of the Scottish National Party in the 1930s.

Because of his Scottish nationalism, and criticism of what he saw as the Labour Party's timidity and lack of socialist zeal, Graham has been effectively written out of Labour Party history, and the belief has been circulated that after his electoral defeat in 1892, he retired from politics until the late 1920s. This is entirely incorrect; in fact, between 1905 and 1914, Graham, while retaining the position of elder statesman, social commentator, and renowned world-traveller, became more militant, involving himself in many left-wing causes and protests. There is evidence to suggest that he joined the hard-left British Socialist Party, and he was an associate of anarchists and a political assassin. Graham was also a vociferous anti-imperialist at the height of British jingoism as well as a high-profile supporter of the women's suffrage movement and Home Rule for Ireland and India.

Author
Between 1888 and 1892, Graham was a prolific contributor to small-circulation socialist journals, but his literary career took off when he was recruited by Frank Harris to write for the Saturday Review in 1895, and he continued writing for the Saturday until 1926, as well as other journals. His main form was the 'sketch', or sketch-tale', mostly descriptive, atmospheric works on South America and Scotland, which gave his work a unique aesthetic, which carried a subtext of anti-colonialism, nostalgia, and loss. T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) described his Scottish sketches as "the rain-in-the-air-and-on-the-roof mournfulness of Scotch music in his time-past style [. . .] snap-shots – the best verbal snapshots ever taken I believe." His many works were collected into anthologies. Subject matter included history, biography, poetry, essays, politics, travel and seventeen collections of short stories or literary sketches. Titles include Father Archangel of Scotland (1896 in conjunction with his wife Gabriela), Thirteen Stories (1900), Success (1902), Hope (1910), Scottish Stories (1914), Brought Forward (1916) and Mirages (1936). Biographies included: Hernando de Soto (1903), Doughty Deeds (1925), a biography of his great-great-grandfather, Robert Graham of Gartmore and Portrait of a Dictator (1933). His great-niece and biographer, Jean, Lady Polwarth, published a collection of his short stories (or sketches) entitled Beattock for Moffatt and the Best of Cunninghame Graham (1979) and Alexander Maitland added his selection under the title Tales of Horsemen (1981). Professor John Walker published collections of Cunninghame Graham's South American Sketches (1978), Scottish Sketches (1982) and North American Sketches (1986) and Kennedy & Boyd republished the stories and sketches in five volumes (2011 – 2012). In 1988 The Century Travellers reprinted his Mogreb-el-Acksa (1898) and A Vanished Arcadia (1901). The former was the inspiration for George Bernard Shaw's play Captain Brassbound's Conversion. The latter helped inspire the award-winning film The Mission. More recently The Long Riders Guild Press have reprinted his equestrian travel works in their Cunninghame Graham Collection.

He helped his close friend Joseph Conrad, whom he had introduced to his publisher Edward Garnett at Duckworth, with research for his novel Nostromo. Other literary friends included Ford Madox Ford, John Galsworthy, W. H. Hudson, George Bernard Shaw (who openly admits his debt to Graham for "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" as well as a key line in Arms and the Man) and G. K. Chesterton, who proclaimed him "The Prince of Preface Writers" and famously declared in his autobiography that while Cunninghame Graham would never be allowed to be Prime Minister, he instead "achieved the adventure of being Cunninghame Graham", which Shaw described as "an achievement so fantastic that it would never be believed in a romance."

There is a seat dedicated to Cunninghame Graham in the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh with the inscription: "R B 'Don Roberto' Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Ardoch, 1852–1936, A great storyteller".

Cunninghame Graham in art
Cunninghame Graham was a staunch supporter of the artists of his day and a popular subject. He sat for artists such as Sir William Rothenstein, who painted Don Roberto as The Fencer; Sir John Lavery, whose famous Don Roberto: Commander for the King of Aragon in the Two Sicilies was on the cover of the Penguin Books edition of Conrad's Nostromo for many years and who painted the equestrian portrait of Don Roberto on his favourite horse, Pampa; and G. P. Jacomb-Hood, who painted his official portrait on entering parliament, with whom, along with Whistler, he was personal friends. George Washington Lambert painted him in oil with his horse Pinto and James McBey portrayed him in old age. There are also busts by Weiss and Jacob Epstein. The Dumbarton born artist, William Strang, used Cunninghame Graham as the model for his series of etchings of Don Quixote. It is unsurprising that he was at the mercy of cartoonists such as Tom Merry, who portrayed him in prison garb, and caricaturists such as Max and Spy.

Cunninghame Graham as literary inspiration
Anne Taylor and James Jauncey have argued that Cunninghame Graham's travels in Morocco were one of the inspirations for the character Sandy Arbuthnot, hero of John Buchan's novel Greenmantle (1916).

Final years
Graham remained sprightly and rode daily even in his eighties. He continued to write, and held the office of President of the Scottish Branch of the P.E.N. Club, and involve himself in politics. He died from pneumonia on 20 March 1936 at the Plaza Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, following a visit to the birthplace of his friend William Hudson. He lay in state in the Casa del Teatro and received a countrywide tribute led by the President of the Republic before his body was shipped home to be buried beside his wife on 18 April 1936, in the ruined Augustinian Priory on the island of Inchmahome, Lake of Menteith, Stirling.

The following year (June 1937), a monument, the Cunninghame Graham Memorial, was unveiled at Castlehill, Dumbarton, near the family home at Ardoch. Despite the monument being removed to Gartmore in 1981, closer to the principal Graham estate, which he had been forced to sell in 1901 to the shipping magnate and founder of the Clan Line, Sir Charles Cayzer, Bt, the Cunninghame Graham Memorial Park (which is managed by the National Trust for Scotland) is still affectionately locally known as "the Mony".

His estates at Ardoch and feudal barony of Gartmore passed to his nephew, Captain (later Admiral Sir) Angus Cunninghame Graham, the only son of his brother Cdr. Charles Elphinstone-Fleeming Cunninghame Graham, MVO.

Bibliographies

 * A bibliography of the first editions of the works of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, compiled with a foreword by Leslie Chaundy, London: Dulau, & Co. 1924
 * Cunninghame Graham and Scotland: an annotated bibliography, John Walker, Dollar: Douglas S. Mack, 1980

Archival collections

 * Guide to the Anne Elizabeth Bontine Diaries and Other Materials. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Other

 * Biographical Profile at ElectricScotland.com
 * The Cunninghame Graham Collection Series
 * Rare Reprints – Cunninghame Graham
 * R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Rauner Special Collection, Dartmouth College Library, N.H.
 * Canning House Special Collection – R. B. Cunninghame Graham
 * Slainte: Information & Libraries Scotland – Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham
 * The Cunninghame Graham Collection
 * First Foot – Cunninghame-Graham
 * Los Caballos de la Conquista – Robert Cunninghame Graham
 * Robert Cunninghame-Graham by Raymond Vettese
 * Robert_Bontine_Cunninghame_Graham_1852-1936
 * National Portrait Gallery
 * Gartmore House – history
 * Finlaystone House – history
 * Cross party support to honour Scottish Hero Robert Cunninghame Graham
 * National Portrait Gallery
 * Gartmore House – history
 * Finlaystone House – history
 * Cross party support to honour Scottish Hero Robert Cunninghame Graham

title: Cunninghame Graham


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Bézier surface

Bézier surfaces are a species of mathematical spline used in computer graphics, computer-aided design, and finite element modeling. As with Bézier curves, a Bézier surface is defined by a set of control points. Similar to interpolation in many respects, a key difference is that the surface does not, in general, pass through the central control points; rather, it is "stretched" toward them as though each were an attractive force. They are visually intuitive and, for many applications, mathematically convenient.

History
Bézier surfaces were first described in 1962 by the French engineer Pierre Bézier who used them to design automobile bodies. Bézier surfaces can be of any degree, but bicubic Bézier surfaces generally provide enough degrees of freedom for most applications.

Equation
A given Bézier surface of degree (n, m) is defined by a set of (n + 1)(m + 1) control points ki,j where i = 0, ..., n and j = 0, ..., m. It maps the unit square into a smooth-continuous surface embedded within the space containing the ki,j s – for example, if the ki,j s are all points in a four-dimensional space, then the surface will be within a four-dimensional space.

A two-dimensional Bézier surface can be defined as a parametric surface where the position of a point p as a function of the parametric coordinates u, v is given by:

 * $$\mathbf{p}(u, v) =

\sum_{i=0}^n \sum_{j=0}^m B_i^n(u) \, B_j^m(v) \, \mathbf{k}_{i,j}$$

evaluated over the unit square, where
 * $$B_i^n(u) = {n \choose i} u^i (1-u)^{n-i}$$

is a basis Bernstein polynomial, and
 * $${n \choose i} = \frac{n!}{i! (n-i)!}$$

is a binomial coefficient.

Some properties of Bézier surfaces:
 * A Bézier surface will transform in the same way as its control points under all linear transformations and translations.
 * All u = constant and v = constant lines in the (u, v) space, and – in particular – all four edges of the deformed (u, v) unit square are Bézier curves.
 * A Bézier surface will lie completely within the convex hull of its control points, and therefore also completely within the bounding box of its control points in any given Cartesian coordinate system.
 * The points in the patch corresponding to the corners of the deformed unit square coincide with four of the control points.
 * However, a Bézier surface does not generally pass through its other control points.

Generally, the most common use of Bézier surfaces is as nets of bicubic patches (where m = n = 3). The geometry of a single bicubic patch is thus completely defined by a set of 16 control points. These are typically linked up to form a B-spline surface in a similar way as Bézier curves are linked up to form a B-spline curve.

Simpler Bézier surfaces are formed from biquadratic patches (m = n = 2), or Bézier triangles.

Bézier surfaces in computer graphics

Bézier patch meshes are superior to triangle meshes as a representation of smooth surfaces. They require fewer points (and thus less memory) to represent curved surfaces, are easier to manipulate, and have much better continuity properties. In addition, other common parametric surfaces such as spheres and cylinders can be well approximated by relatively small numbers of cubic Bézier patches.

However, Bézier patch meshes are difficult to render directly. One problem with Bézier patches is that calculating their intersections with lines is difficult, making them awkward for pure ray tracing or other direct geometric techniques which do not use subdivision or successive approximation techniques. They are also difficult to combine directly with perspective projection algorithms.

For this reason, Bézier patch meshes are in general eventually decomposed into meshes of flat triangles by 3D rendering pipelines. In high-quality rendering, the subdivision is adjusted to be so fine that the individual triangle boundaries cannot be seen. To avoid a "blobby" look, fine detail is usually applied to Bézier surfaces at this stage using texture maps, bump maps and other pixel shader techniques.

A Bézier patch of degree (m, n) may be constructed out of two Bézier triangles of degree m + n, or out of a single Bézier triangle of degree m + n, with the input domain as a square instead of a triangle.

A Bézier triangle of degree m may also be constructed out of a Bézier surface of degree (m, m), with the control points so that one edge is squashed to a point, or with the input domain as a triangle instead of a square.

title: Bézier surface


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Mildred Bailey

Mildred Bailey (born Mildred Rinker; February 27, 1907 – December 12, 1951) was a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing", "The Rockin' Chair Lady", and "Mrs. Swing". She recorded the songs "For Sentimental Reasons", "It's So Peaceful in the Country", "Doin' The Uptown Lowdown", "Trust in Me", "Where Are You?", "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart", "Small Fry", "Please Be Kind", "Darn That Dream", "Rockin' Chair", "Blame It on My Last Affair", and "Says My Heart". She had three records that reached number one on the popular charts.

She grew up on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Idaho, where her mother was an enrolled member. The family moved to Spokane, Washington, when she was 13. Her younger brothers also became musicians. Her brother, Al Rinker, started to perform as a singer with Bing Crosby in Spokane and became a member of The Rhythm Boys. As adults, Charles Rinker was a lyricist, and Miles Rinker was a clarinet and saxophone player who later became a booking agent.

Early life
Bailey was born Mildred Rinker on a farm in rural Tekoa, Washington. Her mother Josephine was a member of the Coeur d'Alene people and a devout Roman Catholic. Bailey's great-grandfather, Bazil Peone, was a head speaker and song leader of the Coeur d'Alene at the turn of the 20th century. His ability to create indigenized Catholic hymns helped guide the tribe during difficult times of active colonization by Jesuit missionaries.

Bailey and her siblings grew up near De Smet, Idaho, on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. Her father played fiddle and called square dances. Her mother played piano every evening and taught her to play and sing. Her younger brothers included Miles, Al, a vocalist and composer, and Charles, a lyricist. The family often hosted Saturday night gatherings, creating small music and dance hall in the home for local ranchers with both Josephine and Mildred at the piano. Mildred also accompanied her mother to traditional native ceremonies, where she heard and practiced the traditional songs and lyrics that would later influence her unique singing voice.

Josephine died from tuberculosis at the age of 36, threatening Mildred's ability to remain connected to her native family and traditions in a way that she was able to while her mother was alive. Soon after Josephine's death, Mildred's father remarried, bringing a daughter and creating a tumultuous and unhappy house from which Mildred and her siblings were systematically pushed out by her new stepmother. Given an ultimatum to choose his own children or his new wife, Mildred's father sided with his wife and Mildred moved out of the home and in with her aunt and uncle in Seattle. She and her aunt were involved in a serious car accident a short time later which killed her aunt and left Mildred with serious physical and emotional scars.

Music career
At age 17, Rinker moved to Seattle and worked as a sheet music demonstrator at Woolworth's. She married and divorced Ted Bailey, keeping his last name because she thought it sounded more American than Rinker, which was of Swiss (German) origin.

She toured with a West Coast revue and finished in California where she obtained work at radio station KMTR and at a speakeasy in Bakersfield called The Swede's. With the help of her second husband Benny Stafford, Bailey became an established blues and jazz singer on the west coast of the United States. According to Gary Giddins in his book Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years 1903–1940, she found work for her brother Al Rinker and Bing Crosby, who had started performing in Spokane, Washington. They had traveled from Spokane to join her in Los Angeles. Giddins says Crosby heard about Louis Armstrong from Bailey, who urged him to hear Armstrong if Crosby was to be a serious jazz singer. She also played Crosby records from her collection by Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith.

Crosby helped Bailey in turn by introducing her to Paul Whiteman in Los Angeles. She sang with Whiteman's band from 1929 to 1933. Whiteman had a radio program for Old Gold Cigarettes, and when Bailey debuted on it with her version of "Moanin' Low" on August 6, 1929, favorable public reaction was immediate. However, Bailey's first recording with Whiteman did not take place until October 6, 1931, when she recorded a song called "My Goodbye to You". Her recording of "All of Me" with Whiteman the same year was a hit in 1932.

Her first two records had been as an uncredited vocalist for a 1929 session by the Eddie Lang Orchestra ("What Kind o' Man Is You?", a Hoagy Carmichael song that was issued only in the UK), and a recording on May 8, 1930, of "I Like to Do Things for You" for Frankie Trumbauer. She was Whiteman's female vocalist through 1932 (recording in a smooth, crooning style) but left the band later that same year over salary disagreements. She recorded four sides for Brunswick in 1931 with the Casa Loma Orchestra. and there were further recordings for the label in 1933 with the Dorsey Brothers as supporting musicians. Bailey was part of an all-star session with Benny Goodman's studio band in 1934 featuring Coleman Hawkins, Dick McDonough, and Gene Krupa. After leaving Whiteman, Bailey sang on the radio shows of George Jessel and Willard Robison.

In 1933, Bailey married Red Norvo, a xylophonist, improviser, and band leader who had also worked with Paul Whiteman. A dynamic couple, they remained married until 1942 and were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing". They worked much of the time in New York City. They remained friends after their divorce. She worked as a solo act, singing in clubs in New York, such as the Café Society and the Blue Angel. From September 1944, Bailey's radio show began on CBS and continued until February 1945. Her last major engagement was with Joe Marsala in Chicago in 1950.

From 1936 to 1939, Norvo recorded for Brunswick (with Bailey as primary vocalist), and Bailey recorded for Vocalion, often with Norvo's band. Some of her other recordings featured members of Count Basie's band. The two performers continued to record together intermittently until 1945. Bailey was featured on Benny Goodman's Camel Caravan radio program and sang on a number of Goodman's Columbia recordings in 1939 and 1940, including her version of "Darn That Dream" which was a hit in 1940.

Bailey suffered from diabetes. Due to her health, she was hospitalized in 1938, 1943, and 1949. She went into retirement for a time in 1949 on a farm she owned in Poughkeepsie, New York. Often in financial difficulties, she was bailed out several times by Bing Crosby.

Bailey died of heart failure on December 12, 1951 in St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York at the age of 44.

Awards and honors

 * In 1989, Bailey was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
 * The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz describes Bailey as "the first white singer to absorb and master the jazz-flavored phrasing...of her black contemporaries."
 * In 1994, a 29-cent stamp was issued by the US Postal Service in Bailey's honor; it was designed by Howard Koslow, based on the photograph by jazz photographer William Gottlieb (at the head of this article) of Bailey performing at Carnegie Hall.
 * In 2012, the Coeur d'Alene Nation introduced a resolution honoring Bailey to the Idaho state legislature. They were seeking acknowledgement of the singer's Coeur d'Alene ancestry as well as to promote her induction to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Hall of Fame in New York City.

Number one hits
In 1938, Bailey had two number one hits with Red Norvo and His Orchestra. "Please Be Kind" reached number one on the Hit Parade chart on May 7. She also sang lead vocals with Norvo on "Says My Heart", which reached number one during the week of June 18, 1938.

Bailey sang lead vocals on "Darn That Dream", recorded by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, which reached number one for one week in March 1940 on the U.S. pop chart.

Discography

 * Sweet Beginnings (The Old Masters, 1994)
 * Band Vocalist (The Old Masters, 1994)
 * The Rockin' Chair Lady (GRP, 1994)
 * The Blue Angel Years (Baldwin Street Music, 1999)
 * Me and the Blues (Savoy, 2000)
 * The Legendary V-Disc Sessions (Vintage Jazz, 1990)
 * The Complete Columbia Recordings of Mildred Bailey (Mosaic, 2000)

Hit singles
(Vocalion releases only)

Other notable recordings

 * "Georgia on My Mind" (1931)
 * "I'll Never Be the Same" (1932)
 * "Lazy Bones" (1933)
 * "Heat Wave" (1933)
 * "Ol' Pappy" (1934)
 * "Miss Brown to you" (Sideman Teddy Wilson) (1935)
 * "I'd Love to Take Orders from You" (1935)
 * "Someday, Sweetheart" (1935)
 * "When Day Is Done" (1935)
 * "Honeysuckle Rose" (1935)
 * "Squeeze Me" (1935)
 * "'Long About Midnight" (1936)
 * "It Can Happen to You" (1936)
 * "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (1937)
 * "Slumming on Park Avenue" (1937)
 * "Worried Over You" (1937)
 * "Love Is Here to Stay" (1938)
 * "Please Be Kind" (1938)
 * "Weekend of a Private Secretary" (1938)
 * "Says My Heart" (1938)
 * "Garden of the Moon" (1938)
 * "Have You Forgotten So Soon?" (1938)
 * "Born to Swing" (1938)
 * "I Go for That" (1939)
 * "Love's a Necessary Thing" (1939)
 * "I'm Glad There Is You" (1939)
 * "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (1939)
 * "The Lamp Is Low" (1939)
 * "I Thought About You" (1939)
 * "Bluebirds in the Moonlight" (1939)
 * "Darn That Dream" (1939)
 * "Don't Take Your Love from Me" (1940)
 * "It's So Peaceful in the Country" (1940)
 * "Wham (Re Bop Boom Bam) (1940)
 * "In Love in Vain" (1946)
 * "It's a Woman's Prerogative" (1946)
 * "Almost Like Being in Love" (1947)

title: Mildred Bailey


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Altrincham

Altrincham (, locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is 8 mi southwest of Manchester, 3 mi southwest of Sale and 10 mi east of Warrington. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 52,419.

Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, Altrincham was established as a market town in 1290, a time when the economy of most communities was based on agriculture rather than trade, and there is still a market in the town. Further socioeconomic development came with the extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Altrincham in 1765 and the arrival of the railway in 1849, stimulating industrial activity in the town. Outlying villages were absorbed by Altrincham's subsequent growth, along with the grounds of Dunham Massey Hall, formerly the home of the Earl of Stamford, and now a tourist attraction with three Grade I Listed Buildings and a deer park.

Altrincham has good transport links to Manchester, Sale, Stretford, Warrington and Stockport among other destinations. The town has a strong middle-class presence: there has been a steady increase in Altrincham's middle classes since the 19th century. It is also home to Altrincham F.C. and three ice hockey clubs: Manchester Storm, Altrincham Aces and Trafford Tornados.

History
Local evidence of prehistoric human activity exists in the form of two Neolithic arrowheads found in Altrincham, and, further afield, a concentration of artefacts around Dunham. The remains of a Roman road, part of one of the major Roman roads in North West England connecting the legionary fortresses of Chester (Deva Victrix) and York (Eboracum), run through the Broadheath area. As it shows signs of having been repaired, the road was in use for a considerable period of time. The name Altrincham first appears as "Aldringeham", probably meaning "homestead of Aldhere's people". As recently as the 19th century it was spelt both Altrincham and Altringham.

Until the Normans invaded England, the manors surrounding Altrincham were owned by the Saxon thegn Alweard; after the invasion they became the property of Hamon de Massey, though Altrincham is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The earliest documented reference to the town is from 1290, when it was granted its charter as a Free Borough by Baron Hamon de Massey V. The charter, which exists and is held by Trafford MBC, allowed a weekly market to be held, and it is possible that de Massey established the town to generate income through taxes on trade and tolls. This suggests that Altrincham may have been a planned market town, unusual during the Middle Ages, when most communities were agricultural. Altrincham was probably chosen as the site of the planned town rather than Dunham – which would have been protected by Dunham Castle – because its good access to roads was important for trade.

Altrincham Fair became St James's Fair or Samjam in 1319 and continued until 1895. Fair days had their own court of Pye Powder (a corruption of the French for "dusty feet"), presided over by the mayor and held to settle disputes arising from the day's dealings. By 1348 the town had 120 burgage plots – ownership of land used as a measure of status and importance in an area – putting it on a par with the Cheshire town of Macclesfield and above Stockport and Knutsford. The earliest known residence in Altrincham was "the Knoll", on Stamford Street near the centre of the medieval town. A 1983 excavation on the demolished building, made by South Trafford Archaeological Group, discovered evidence that the house dated from the 13th or 14th century, and that it may have contained a drying kiln or malting floor. During the English Civil War, men from Altrincham fought for the Parliamentarian Sir George Booth. During the war, armies camped on nearby Bowdon Downs on several occasions.

In 1754, a stretch of road south of Altrincham, along the Manchester to Chester route, was turnpiked. Turnpikes were toll roads which taxed passengers for the maintenance of the road. Further sections were turnpiked in 1765 from Timperley to Sale, and 1821 from Altrincham to Stockport. The maintenance of roads passed to local authorities in 1888, although by then most turnpike trusts had already declined. The connection of the Bridgewater Canal to Altrincham in 1765 stimulated the development of market gardening, and for many years Altrincham was noted for its vegetables. By 1767, warehouses had been built alongside the canal at Broadheath, the first step in the development of Broadheath as an industrial area and the beginning of Altrincham's industrialisation. The canal was connected in 1776 to the River Mersey, providing the town not only with a water route to Manchester, but also to the Irish Sea. Moves to connect the town to the UK's railway network gained pace in 1845, when the Act of Parliament for the construction of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJAR) was passed. The first train left Altrincham early on 20 July 1849, carrying 65 passengers. The MSJAR had two stations in the town: Altrincham, on Stockport Road, and Bowdon – though not actually in Bowdon – on Lloyd Street/Railway Street. Both were replaced in 1881 by Altrincham & Bowdon railway station on Stamford New Road. The London and North Western Railway's station at Broadheath, on the town's northern edge, was opened in 1854, while a further connection was created on 12 May 1862 by the Cheshire Midland Railway (later the Cheshire Lines Committee), who opened their line from Altrincham to Knutsford.

With its new railway links, Altrincham and the surrounding areas became desirable places for the middle classes and commuters to live. Professionals and industrialists moved to the town, commuting into Manchester. While some travelled daily by coach, the less well–to–do commuted by express or "flyer" barges from Broadheath. Between 1851 and 1881 the population increased from 4,488 to 11,250. Broadheath's industrial area, covering about 250 acre, was founded in 1885 by Harry Grey, 8th Earl of Stamford, to attract businesses. By 1900 Broadheath had its own docks, warehouses and electricity generating station. The site's proximity to rail, canal and road links proved attractive to companies making machine tools, cameras and grinding machines. The presence of companies like Tilghmans Sand Blast, and the Linotype and Machinery Company, established Broadheath as an industrial area of national standing. By 1914, 14 companies operated in Broadheath, employing thousands of workers. One of those was the Budenberg Gauge Company. Linotype also created 172 workers' homes near its factory, helping cater for the population boom created by Broadheath's industrialisation. Between 1891 and 1901 the population of Altrincham increased by 35 per cent, from 12,440 to 16,831.

From the turn of the 20th century to the start of the Second World War, there were few changes in Altrincham. Although the town was witness to some of the Luftwaffe's raids on the Manchester area in the latter war, it emerged from the war relatively unscathed having lost only 23 civilian residents through enemy action, and as with the rest of Britain, experienced an economic boom. This manifested itself in the construction of new housing and the 1960s rebuilding of the town centre. However, during the 1970s employment at Broadheath declined by nearly 40 per cent.

Governance
Altrincham became a free borough and a self-governing township when it was granted its charter in June 1290 by the Lord of the Manor, Hamon de Massey V. The charter allowed for the creation of a merchants' guild, run by the town's burgesses to tax people passing through the borough. Burgesses were free men who lived in the town. The borough was ruled by a Court Leet and elected a mayor since at least 1452. Amongst the court's responsibilities were keeping the public peace and regulating the markets and fairs.

The borough was not one of those reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, and continued to exist under the control of the Lord of the Manor and the Court Leet until its final abolition in 1886. The Public Health Act of 1848 led to the creation of Altrincham's Local Board of Health in 1851 to address the unsanitary conditions created by the town's growing population – the first such board in Trafford.

The local board was reconstituted as an urban district council in the administrative county of Cheshire under the Local Government Act 1894. Altrincham Urban District was expanded in 1920 when parts of Carrington and Dunham Massey Civil Parishes were added. Altrincham Town Hall was designed by Charles Albert Hindle and completed in November 1901. A further expansion took place in 1936; Timperley Civil Parish was abolished and most of its area incorporated into Altrincham UD. At the same time, there was a minor exchange of areas with Hale Urban District; a minor addition from Bowdon Urban District; and a further substantial portion of Dunham Massey Civil Parish was added. In 1937 the urban district was granted a charter of incorporation and became a municipal borough. The new borough was granted armorial bearings which featured heraldic references to the Masseys and Earls of Stamford. With the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, the administrative counties and municipal boroughs were abolished and Altrincham became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester on 1 April 1974.

Trafford Council is responsible for the administration of local services, such as education, social services, town planning, waste collection and council housing. The area is divided into seven electoral wards: Altrincham, Bowdon, Broadheath, Hale Barns and Timperley South, Hale, Timperley Central, and Timperley North. These wards have 21 out of the 63 seats on the Trafford Council; as of the 2023 local elections seven of these seats were held by the Conservative Party, six by the Liberal Democrats (UK), six by the Green Party, and two by the Labour Party. Altrincham was in the eponymous parliamentary constituency which was created in 1885. This lasted until 1945 when it was replaced by Altrincham and Sale. In 1997, this in turn became part of the newly created constituency of Altrincham and Sale West. Since its formation, Altrincham and Sale West has been represented in the House of Commons by the Conservative MP, Graham Brady. This is one of only four Conservative seats in Greater Manchester.

Geography
At 53.38389°N, -2.35472°W (53.3838, −2.3547), Altrincham is on the southwestern edge of the Greater Manchester Urban Area, immediately south of the town of Sale, and 8 mi southwest of Manchester city centre. It lies in the northwest corner of the Cheshire Plain, just south of the River Mersey. The Bridgewater Canal passes through the Broadheath area of the town. Altrincham's drinking water is supplied by United Utilities. The local bedrock consists mainly of Keuper Waterstone, a type of sandstone, and water retrieved from those rocks is very hard and often saline, making it undrinkable. The town's climate is generally temperate, with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean temperature is slightly above average for the United Kingdom; whereas both annual rainfall and average hours of sunshine are slightly below the average for the UK.

Along with Sale, Stretford and Urmston, Altrincham is one of the four major urban areas in Trafford. The Altrincham area, as defined by Trafford Council, comprises the south of Trafford. In addition to the town of Altrincham, it includes the villages of Timperley, Bowdon, Hale and Hale Barns. The Broadheath area of the town was a light industrial centre until the 1970s and is now a retail park. The most densely populated part of the town is around the town centre, with the less populated areas and more green space further from the centre of town in villages such as Bowdon and Hale. The Oldfield Brow area lies on the outskirts of the town beside the Bridgewater Canal and close to Dunham Massey. • • • • •

Demography
As of the 2011 UK census, the town of Altrincham had a total population of 52,419. Of its 41,530 residents aged 16 and over, 62.1 per cent were couples living together. The town's population density is 37.4 inhabitants per hectare, with the population consisting of 49.0% males and 51.0% females. Of those aged 16 and over, 15.2 per cent had no academic qualifications, similar to the 18.6 per cent in all of Trafford. At 8.4 percent, Altrincham has a low proportion of non-white people. Asians are the area's largest ethnic minority, at 4.9 per cent of the population.

In 1931, 14.6 per cent of Altrincham's population was middle class, slightly higher than the figure for England and Wales, which was 14 per cent. By 1971 this gap had increased to 28.8 per cent compared to 24 per cent nationally, while the town's working class population had declined, from 30.3 per cent in 1931 (36 per cent in England and Wales) to 18.6 per cent (26 per cent nationwide). The remainder comprised clerical and skilled manual workers. This change in social structure was similar to that seen across the nation – although biased towards the middle classes – making Altrincham the middle-class town it is today.

Population change
According to the hearth tax returns from 1664, the township of Altrincham had a population of about 636, making it the largest of the local settlements; this had increased to 1,692 in 1801. In the first half of the 19th century, the town's population increased by 165 per cent, higher than 89 per cent across England and 98 per cent in the Trafford area. The growth of the settlement was a result of the Industrial Revolution, and although Altrincham was one of the fastest-growing townships in the Trafford area, but paled in comparison to new industrial areas such as Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde, and Manchester. In the second half of the 19th century, Altrincham's population grew by 275 per cent, higher than the 235 per cent for Trafford and 69 per cent nationally in the same period. This was due to the late industrialisation of the area and the introduction of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway in 1849.

Economy
Historically, Altrincham was a market town and the two main areas of employment were agriculture and market trade. Although the town went into decline in the 15th century, it recovered and the annual fairs lasted until the mid-19th century and the market still continues. During the Industrial Revolution, Altrincham grew as an industrial town, particularly the Broadheath area, which was developed into an industrial estate. In 1801 there were four cotton mills in Altrincham, although they had closed by the 1851 census. The decline of the textile industry in Altrincham mirrored the decline of the industry in the Trafford area as a result of a lack of investment and the development of more established industrial areas such as Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Oldham. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, heavier industries moved into Broadheath, providing local employment. The area steadily declined during the second half of the 20th century, with employment at Broadheath falling from 8,000 to 5,000 between 1960 and 1970. Despite the presence of retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer in the town, a new Asda superstore in Broadheath, and redevelopment schemes costing over £100 million, Altrincham's 15.5 per cent level of employment in retail is below the national average of 16.9 per cent. Altrincham, with its neighbours Bowdon and Hale, is said to constitute a "stockbroker belt", with well-appointed dwellings in an area of sylvan opulence.

The historic market town developed as a residential area in the 19th century although it retains its retail heritage in the Old Market Place (a conservation area) and a new pedestrianised shopping centre. The retail districts of the town have more recently fallen victim to decline due to competition from the nearby Trafford Centre and a regenerated Manchester city centre. In 2006 Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council unveiled plans for a £1.5 million redevelopment for the town centre. The renovation will create 146000 sqft of new retail space and 203000 sqft of refurbished space, providing 349000 sqft in total.

Construction on Altair, a £100 million development on Oakfield Road, began in September 2019 after many years of delay. The scheme includes apartments, shops and eating places and will create a new public square linking it to the nearby Altrincham Interchange, which underwent a £19million refurbishment in 2015. A 2010 survey found that despite being in one of the country's most affluent areas, nearly a third of the shops in Altrincham were vacant; Trafford council attributed the high number (78) to the effects of the recession and plans to refurbish Stamford House, which left most of its shops unused.

According to the 2011 UK census, the main industries of employment of residents in Altrincham were wholesale and retail trade (14.8%), human health and social work activities (13.0%), and professional, scientific and technical activities (11.6%). The census recorded the economic inactivity of residents aged 16–74 as 3.5 per cent looking after home or family, 2.8 per cent long-term sick or disabled, 4.1 per cent students, and 1.5 per cent economically inactive for other reasons. The 3.1 per cent unemployment rate of Altrincham was low compared with the national rate of 4.4 per cent.

Landmarks and attractions
The Old Market Place is thought to stand on the site of the original town settlement. Now a registered conservation area it consists of a series of part timber-framed buildings echoing the wattle and daube constructions of the original houses and burgage plots. The cobblestone paving was replaced in 1896. The Buttermarket which stood in the area near the Old Market Place from the 17th century until the late 19th century was also the site for dispensing early local justice. A courtroom, stocks and whipping post saw public floggings take place there until the early 19th century. The whipping post and stocks were restored as a tourist attraction by local traders in the 1990s. However, the Buttermarket area was also a site of religious importance, since prospective brides and grooms are thought to have declared their intentions here. In 1814 Thomas de Quincey described the Old Market Place in his Confessions of an English Opium Eater while travelling from Manchester to Chester. He noted how little the place had changed since his visit 14 years earlier at the age of three, and that "fruits, such as can be had in July, and flowers were scattered about in profusion: even the stalls of the butchers, from their brilliant cleanliness, appeared attractive: and bonny young women of Altrincham were all tripping about in caps and aprons coquettishly disposed" In 1974 Altrincham artist George Allen was approached by Trafford Council to paint a picture of The Old Market Place. This picture was used to produce postcards which were sold to promote Altrincham, and are still sold today to raise funds for a local charity. Another of Altrincham's attractions is the historic market, set up over 700 years ago when the town was first established.

Of the 21 conservation areas in Trafford, ten are in Altrincham: The Downs, The Devisdale, Bowdon, Ashley Heath, Goose Green, Old Market Place, Sandiway, George Street, the Linotype Housing Estate and Stamford New Road. On the town's outskirts is the 18th-century Dunham Massey Hall, surrounded by its 250 acre deer park, both now owned by the National Trust. The hall is early Georgian in style, and along with its stables and carriage house, is a Grade I listed building.

Royd House was built between 1914 and 1916, by local architect Edgar Wood, as his own residence. It has a flat concrete roof, a concave façade, and is faced in Portland red stone and Lancashire brick. It is regarded as one of the most advanced examples of early 20th-century domestic architecture, and is referenced in architectural digests. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1975, one of six such buildings in Trafford. The Grade II listed clock outside the main transport interchange was built in 1880.

The 16 acre Stamford Park was designed by landscape gardener John Shaw. It opened to the public in 1880, as a sports park with areas for cricket and football. The land was donated by George Grey, the 7th Earl of Stamford, and is now owned and run by Trafford Council. The park is listed as Grade II on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, and has won a bronze award from the Greenspace award scheme.

John Leigh Park, located in the area of Oldfield Brow, was the site of Oldfield Hall until 1917 when it fell into disrepair after being purchased by the Earl of Stamford. That year Mr John Leigh purchased the land from the widowed Countess of Stamford and gifted it to the local council to be used as a park for soldiers and workers. The park was named 'John Leigh Park' and opened on 22 July 1917.

Events and venues
Altrincham has its own annual festival that has taken place for over 40 years (except during Covid). The event takes place at the end of June/Early July. The festival, which is entirely self funded and arranged by volunteers, consists of a Parade through the town and culminates in a 2-day music and family event at Beechfields. The family event consists of a stage showcasing local music and culture, together with a fun fair, food village and community stalls. The event is the largest free family event in the Borough of Trafford. Altrincham has two theatres, the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse and the Club Theatre (latterly known as the Altrincham Little Theatre). The Altrincham Garrick group was formed in 1913. The Garrick held the world stage premier of Psycho in 1982. In 1998, it received a grant of £675,000 from the National Lottery as part of a £900,000 redevelopment of the theatre, which was completed in 1999. The Club Theatre group began in 1896, as the St Margaret's Church Institute Amateur Dramatics Society. It provides a venue for the Trafford Youth Theatre production each year, and it runs the Hale One Act Festival, an annual week-long event started in 1972. The club has received awards from both the Greater Manchester Drama Federation and the Cheshire Theatre Guild. Altrincham also had Greater Manchester's only Michelin starred restaurant, the Juniper.

Sport
Altrincham F.C., nicknamed The Robins, was founded in 1903 and play home matches at Moss Lane. The club plays in the National League. In the 1970s and 1980s, Altrincham F.C. built a reputation for giant-killing acts against Football League teams in FA Cup matches. The club has knocked out Football League opposition on a record 16 occasions, including a 1986 victory against top-flight Birmingham City. Altrincham won the forerunner of the Football Conference in its first two seasons, but was denied election to the Football League on both occasions, falling a single vote short in 1980. Altrincham have since had mixed fortunes. Relegated to the Northern Premier League in 1997, the club has since earned 5 promotions and suffered 5 relegations, most recently gaining promotion to the National League in the 2019-20 season. The club's main rivals are Macclesfield Town and Northwich Victoria.

Altrincham is one of the few towns in north-west England with an ice rink and has had an ice hockey team since 1961, when Altrincham Ice Rink was built in Broadheath. The Altrincham Aces (later renamed the Trafford Metros) played from 1961 until 2003, when Altrincham Ice Rink closed. The town then had a three-year period without a rink or ice hockey team, until construction of the 2,500 capacity Altrincham Ice Dome was completed. Manchester Phoenix, a club having a professional presence in the English Premier Ice Hockey League and an extensive junior development aspect, relocated to the Ice Dome during the 2006–07 season, having withdrawn from competition two years earlier due to the high cost of playing matches at Manchester's MEN Arena. In 2009, the Manchester Phoenix English National Ice Hockey League team was renamed Trafford Metros, bringing the old Altrincham team's name back into use. When not being used by Phoenix the Altrincham Ice Dome is open to the public for ice skating.

Founded in 1897, Altrincham Kersal RUFC plays rugby union. They have played at level 6 since being relegated from North One in 2012. Following the withdrawal of a number of Lancashire clubs from the county's union, they have been level transferred to play in the North Lancashire and Cumbria League for 2018–19. The club has produced England and Sale Sharks players Mark Cueto and Chris Jones and continues to produce players for the Sale Jets.

Altrincham and District Athletics Club was founded in 1961 and provides training facilities for track and field, road running, cross-country running and fell running.

Seamons Cycling Club was formed in 1948 in the area of Altrincham known locally as Seamons Moss.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Manchester, Heart North West, Smooth North West, XS Manchester, Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West,Capital Manchester and Lancashire and RadioAlty, a community based station. The town's local newspapers are Sale & Altrincham Messenger and Altrincham Today.

Education
As Altrincham was part of the Bowdon parish, children from the township may have gone to the 16th-century school established at Bowdon; before that point, the town had no formal education system. A salt merchant from Dunham Woodhouses founded a school at Oldfield House intended for 40 boys aged 8–11 from the surrounding area. Sunday schools were set up in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Altrincham's increasing population prompted the founding of more schools during the early 19th century and by 1856 the town had 9 schools, 1 college, and 23 teachers. The introduction of compulsory education during the second half of the 19th century increased the demand for schools, and by 1886 Altrincham had 12 church schools and 8 private schools.

Responsibility for local education fell to Cheshire County Council in 1903. Loreto Convent, the County High School for Girls, and Altrincham County High School for Boys, were founded in 1909, 1910, and 1912 respectively. Although still open these schools have since changed their names to Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, and Loreto Grammar School. Altrincham received evacuees during the Second World War, and it was in this period that St. Ambrose College was founded.

Altrincham now has eighteen primary schools, one special school and eight secondary schools, including five grammar schools; the Trafford district maintains a selective education system assessed by entrance exams set by each school. Several of Altrincham's secondary schools have specialist status: Altrincham College (arts); Altrincham Grammar School for Boys (language); Altrincham Grammar School for Girls (language); Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College (maths and computing); Loreto Grammar School (science and maths); and St. Ambrose College (maths and computing). Altrincham College of Arts, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College, Loreto Grammar School and St. Ambrose College were all rated as outstanding in 2011–12 Ofsted reports. Brentwood Special School is a mixed school for 11- to 19-year-olds who have special needs or learning difficulties.

Altrincham is home to one of the longest established, family-owned nursery schools in the UK, Oakfield Nursery School. Oakfield was voted 'UK Nursery of the Year' in 2014 and 'Best Individual Nursery' in 2008.

Religion
During the medieval and post-medieval periods the township of Altrincham was part of Bowdon parish. Low population density meant that the town did not have a church until the Anglican church established a chapel of ease in 1799. Nonconformists were also present in Altrincham; Methodists set up a chapel in 1790, and Baptists built one in the 1870s. Irish immigrants in the 1830s and 1840s also returned Roman Catholicism to the area, the first Roman Catholic church built in Altrincham being St Vincent's, in 1860.

Several churches in Altrincham are deemed architecturally important enough to be designated Grade II listed buildings. These are Christ Church, the Church of St Alban, the Church of St George, the Church of St John the Evangelist and Trinity United Reformed Church. Of the nine Grade II* listed buildings in Trafford, three are in Altrincham: the Church of St Margaret, the Church of St John the Divine and Hale Chapel in Hale Barns. As of the 2001 UK census, 78.8 per cent of Altrincham's residents reported themselves as being Christian, 1.1 per cent Jewish, 1.1 per cent Muslim, 0.4 per cent Hindu, 0.2 per cent Buddhist and 0.1 per cent Sikh. The census recorded 12.1 per cent as having no religion, 0.2 per cent with an alternative religion, while 6.1 per cent did not state a religion. Altrincham is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, and the Church of England Diocese of Chester. The nearest synagogue, belonging to Hale and District Hebrew Congregation, is on Shay Lane in Hale Barns.

Transport
Construction of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway began in 1845. The line was opened in October 1849, with services from Manchester London Road via Sale to Altrincham. In 1931, it became one of Great Britain's first electrified railway lines, with a 1,500 V DC overhead line. At the same time, a new Altrincham station was opened on the same line, at Navigation Road, serving housing developments in the area. By 1937, 130 train services ran daily between Manchester and Altrincham. The line was renovated in the early 1990s to form part of the Manchester Metrolink light rail system. Broadheath railway station served the northern part of Altrincham between 1853 and 1962, on the line from Manchester, via Lymm, to Warrington.

Altrincham Interchange is one of the Metrolink's termini. The interchange was refurbished (2015–16) and now includes a brand new footbridge, with three lifts to cope with increased passenger demands, a larger-scale ticket office and a modern bus interchange. The Interchange connects the town to several locations in Greater Manchester, such as Sale and Bury; the service also includes Navigation Road station. Metrolink services leave around every six minutes, between 07:15 and 19:30 on weekdays and less frequently at other times. National Rail services link the Altrincham and Navigation Road stations with Chester (via Northwich) and with Manchester (via Stockport). Altrincham Interchange, next to the railway station, is a hub for local bus routes. Manchester Airport, the largest in the UK outside London, is 5 mi to the south-east of the town and is connected via the Manchester Piccadilly–Crewe line. There are plans to create a new link between Manchester Airport and the Mid-Cheshire Line, which Altrincham Interchange is a station on. Recently the Metrolink completed connections to this airport and opened the line 12 months early, but this is not a direct connection from the Metrolink line at Altrincham Interchange.

Notable people
The artist Helen Allingham, born in 1848, lived in Altrincham and then Bowdon during her childhood years. Abstract artist Jeremy Moon was born in Altrincham in 1934. The composer and music teacher John Ireland was born in Bowdon in 1879. Alison Uttley wrote the Little Grey Rabbit books while living in Bowdon. Dramatist Ronald Gow lived there in his youth and later taught at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys. The town was also the birthplace of the film and television actress Angela Cartwright. Ian Brown and John Squire of the Stone Roses both attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, and Paul Young of Sad Café and Mike and the Mechanics lived in Altrincham until his death in 2000.

Nick Estcourt, mountain climber, opened a climbing shop on Stamford New Road in Altrincham shortly before being swept to his death by an avalanche during an expedition to climb K2 in 1978 (the shop was subsequently run for many years by his wife, Carolyn). Estcourt was one of the closest friends of Chris Bonington, who lived for a time in Bowdon.

Hewlett Johnson, later known as the "Red Dean" of Canterbury, was curate, and later vicar of St Margaret's in the town from 1904 to 1924. Footballer Jack Liggins was born within Altrincham in 1906. The Lancashire and England Test cricketer Paul Allott was born in Altrincham.

Two Victoria Cross recipients were born at Altrincham. Edward Kinder Bradbury was born (16 August 1881) in the town, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry and ability in organising the defence of 'L' Battery against heavy odds at Nery on 1 September 1914 in World War I. Altrincham born Bill Speakman received the Victoria Cross for valour in 1951 in the Korean War.

Sir Michael Pollock, an officer in the Royal Navy who rose to the position of First Sea Lord, was born in Altrincham.

title: Altrincham


text:
Talk:Bézier surface

Picture
Seems to me the article should at least one fucking picture - it is after all an article about geometrical shapes.

This article contains material from FOLDOC, used by permission.

There's a lot more that can be said about this topic; I know enough to know I have forgotten most of it. Basis vectors, vector spaces, continuity, tensors, topology... -- Karada 12:37, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

From memory:
 * Note that this property is not in general true of arbitary lines in (u,v) space.

I think that's true: can someone confirm it? -- Karada 13:06, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Concerning your last two paragraphs: See "Bezier and B-Spline Techniques" (Prautzsch et al) pp 166 for conversion between tensor product and triangular patches. Your are right that a m times n patch can be represented as a single m+n triangular patch, since both represent polynomial surfaces of the same degree. I think you just have to transform the input domain from square to barycentric coordinates, though I am not sure how you would do that. An idea how you might convert the control points for 1x1 TP -> 2x2 triangular is represented here: http://www.mmweg.rwth-aachen.de/~arne.schmitz/download/tensor.png -- dunno if that is correct, but I think it makes sense. Root 42 20:26, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Definition of Bézier surface
I modified the definition of a Bézier surface. Strictly speaking, the poles are defined in an affine space and are not vectors. Typically, a vector does not depend on the choosing of the origin, but a point does depend. Also, I specified the range of the parameters (u,v), since it can be convenient to change this range when converting into orthogonal polynomials basis like Legendre or Tchebychev. I did not mention this in my editing.

Error
I'm probably not doing this right, but I'm just learning about wikipedia. In the sentence

All u = constant and v = constant lines in the (u, v) space, and, in particular, all four edges of the deformed (u, v) unit square are Bézier curves.

you really mean to say that the _images_ of these lines are Bezier curves, don't you? This is what people mean by a Bezier curve; the image. (Notwithstanding that in differential geometry 'curve' technically means the mapping itself. And yes, these lines (u=const, v=const)in the domain itself are also trivially Bezier curves, but no way do you mean that -- you write too well for any such unbridled pedantry)

Finn 68.55.44.143 01:31, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

taxonomic rank

 * Bézier surfaces are a species of mathematical spline ...

'Species' implies less variation than I think it ought. How about 'family'? —Tamfang (talk) 23:23, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

I miss the article about Bicubic patches in general. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 37.44.138.209 (talk) 20:02, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Biharmonic Bézier surface into Bézier surface
The concept of Biharmonic Bézier surface doesn't really seem to be notable enough for its own article, but it might fit in possibly to the main article about Bézier surfaces as a topic snood1205(Say Hi! (talk)) 19:18, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

 * The topic of Bezier surfaces is too abstract as presented. Merging the content of Biharmonic Bezier surface to the Bezier surface topic would only complicate learning instead of spreading knowledge faster. The best compromise is to add a link in the Bezier surface topic's SEE ALSO section pointing to the Biharmonic Bezier surface topic. 2601:183:857F:E370:E833:E389:A109:F6ED (talk) 14:33, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Closing, given the uncontested objection and no support. Klbrain (talk) 17:43, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bézier surface


text:
Constant Huret

Constant Huret, nicknamed "le Boulanger" (the Baker) (26 January 1870, in Ressons-le-Long – 18 September 1951, in Paris) was a French long distance track racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1894 to 1902.

Major achievements
He won the 600 km Bordeaux–Paris road race (known as The Derby of the Road) in 1899 and held the record winning time for 34 years. He was also the 1900 world velodrome champion and won the Bol d'Or four times, in 1894, 1895, 1898 and 1902.

In art
He is depicted in La Chaine Simpson by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec racing for the Simpson Chain team.

Palmarès

 * 1894
 * 1st French National Stayers Championships
 * 1st Bol d'Or
 * World records for 24 hours (736km) and 100km
 * 8 Days of Paris – Vel d'Hiv

 * 1895
 * 1st Bol d'Or
 * World records for 6 hours and 24 hours (829.498km)

 * 1896
 * World records for 6 hours and 100km

 * 1897
 * World records for 6 hours, 100km and 24 hours (909.027km)

 * 1898
 * 1st Bol d'Or

 * 1899
 * 1st Bordeaux–Paris (594km in 16 hours and 35 minutes at an average 36kmh)

 * 1900
 * 1st World Championship, Track, Stayers, Elite, Paris

 * 1902
 * 1st Bol d'Or
 * World record for 6 hours

title: Constant Huret