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Denise Bloch

Denise Madeleine Bloch (21 January 1916 – 5 February 1945) was a French citizen who worked as an agent with the clandestine British Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in the Second World War. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially those occupied by Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.

Bloch and her family, Jews, evaded capture by the Germans in Paris after its occupation by Nazi Germany in summer 1940. In 1942 the family escaped to Lyon. Bloch became involved in the French Resistance and narrowly avoided arrest in Lyon. Fleeing to southwestern France, she worked for SOE agent George Reginald Starr as his courier. In May 1942, she made a dangerous crossing of the Pyrenees into Spain and hence to SOE headquarters in London to present Starr's request for more aid to his resistance forces. Although known to the Germans and with a price on her head, Bloch was trained as a radio operator by SOE and sent back to France in 1944 to help carry out sabotage missions against the Germans. She was captured and sent to prison camps in Germany and executed in late January or early February 1945 at Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Early life
Bloch was born to a Jewish family (Jacques Henri Bloch and Suzanne Levi-Strauss) in Paris, France in 1916. She had three brothers. Her father and two of her brothers were French soldiers taken prisoner by the German army in 1940. The Germans occupied northern France in summer 1940 and anti-Jewish campaigns began. Her mother, her brother Jean-Claude, and Denise then lived a clandestine life avoiding persecution as Jews by using false papers and identities. In the summer of 1942, the family was smuggled across the border from occupied to unoccupied Vichy France arriving in Lyon on 17 July.

Working for the Resistance and SOE
In Lyon Bloch became a secretary for Jean-Maxime Aron, a Jewish engineer for Citroen who was working with the French Resistance and the SOE network led by Philippe de Vomécourt. Bloch began working for Aron as a courier, delivering messages to agents around the region. Through her work with Aron, Bloch met several Jews working in the French Resistance and SOE agents sent from London to help the Resistance. As a cover she fabricated an engagement to Dominique Mendelsohn, also involved in the resistance. She helped SOE radio operator Brian Stonehouse and courier Blanche Charlet. She witnessed Stonehouse being escorted by police officers after his arrest on 14 October 1942. (Stonehouse survived the war in German prison camps; Charlet escaped prison and survived.) Mendelsohn was also soon arrested. Realizing she was in danger, on 26 October SOE agent Paul Sarrette decided that he would accompany her from Lyon to a safe house in Marseilles. Bloch sent a telegram to her mother in Lyon with her travel plans. The Germans intercepted the telegram. As a result, Aron, who accompanied Bloch to the railroad station, was arrested. Bloch and Sarrette evaded arrest.

After Aron's arrest, Bloch went into hiding in Lyon and later Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. She dyed her black hair blond as a disguise, but her height of 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) made her conspicuous. In January 1943, Sarrette accompanied Bloch to Toulouse which was the territory of SOE agents George Reginald Starr and Henri Sevenet. Starr and Sevenet initially regarded Bloch as a nuisance and Starr proposed "to liquidate her." However, they decided instead to evacuate her over the Pyrenees to Spain. The mid-winter crossing on foot was thwarted by heavy snow. Bloch returned to Toulouse where she first met Starr in person. He was impressed and invited her to become his courier and stay with him at his base in a house in the isolated village of Castelnau-sur-l'Auvignon. The two became inseparable and possibly lovers. Starr had no radio operator at the time and Bloch weekly made the long journey to Toulouse to communicate with SOE headquarters in London with SOE agent Marcus Bloom's radio. However, in April 1943, Bloom was arrested by the Germans. Without a means of communicating with London and in desperate need of supplies for his resistance groups, Starr sent Bloch to London with a written report of his activities and as an advocate for him. She walked across the Pyrenees mountains with Maurice Dupont as a guide, but the Spanish briefly arrested her and confiscated Starr's report. Bloch made her way to the British territory of Gibraltar and was flown to England, arriving there on 21 May.

Illustrating that the Germans knew of Bloch, on 29 June 1943 she was convicted in absentia and sentenced to ten years hard labor.

In London, Bloch was debriefed by SOE and expressed the desire to return to France. SOE initially opposed her return as she was known to the Germans and SOE's French section deputy Nicolas Bodington complained that she was a security risk and should be removed from SOE. Bloch, in return, was contemptuous of the SOE. Eventually, SOE decided to train her as a radio operator and send her back to a different area of France where she was not known.

Return to France
On 2 March 1944, with fellow SOE agent and former racing car driver, Robert Benoist, Bloch landed at clandestine landing site in central France. Working in the Nantes area for the Clergyman circuit, the pair re-established contact with SOE agent and Benoist's fellow racing car driver, Jean-Pierre Wimille. Their objectives were to destroy pylons on the power line at Ile Heron in Nantes and to interrupt railroad transportation in support of the allied invasion of France which took place on 6 June. On 17 June, their preparations apparently in place, Benoist called a meeting of the key members of the network at his villa near Sermaise, a violation of SOE's guidance that members of a network should have as little contact with each other as possible. During dinner, he announced that he had received news that his mother was dying and he was leaving to visit her. He warned that if he didn't return by lunch the next day, 18 June, the members of the network should disperse. Benoist was arrested by the Germans outside his mother's apartment in Paris. His warning to his associates to disperse was not heeded and at about 8 p.m. on 18 June the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) raided the villa and captured Bloch and the others.

Imprisonment and execution
Bloch was interrogated at SD headquarters at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris and imprisoned at Fresnes Prison. On 8 August 1944, with the allies advancing on Paris, Bloch and other captured SOE agents was sent by train to Germany. In late August she reached Ravensbrück concentration camp for women. Along with SOE agents Violette Szabo and Lilian Rolfe she volunteered for a work party at Torgau in Saxony, where conditions were better than at Ravensbrūck. They attempted, but failed to escape. Sent back to Ravensbrück, they were beaten and put in an underground bunker. On 19 October, they were sent to Königsberg in Brandenburg where they were forced to do heavy labor in winter conditions. Recalled to Ravensbrück in late January 1945, they were in pitiful condition. Rolfe was no longer able to walk and Bloch was "suffering from gangrene." A few days later they were taken to the courtyard by the crematorium. Camp commandant Fritz Suhren read the order for their execution and they were each shot in the back of the head with a small caliber pistol. Their bodies were cremated. An eyewitness said the women were "very brave" and that Commandant Suhren was annoyed that the Gestapo "did not themselves carry out the execution."

Bloch's family gravesite at the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris memorialises her life and execution.

Monuments

Britain France
 * Brookwood Memorial as one of 3,500 "to whom war denied a known and honoured grave".
 * FANY memorial (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) in Wilton Road, Kensington.
 * Tempsford Memorial as one of the women of the SOE who went out from RAF Tempsford and other airfields and port to aid resistance movements in occupied Europe, 1941 - 1945
 * Valençay SOE Memorial in Valençay, Indre, in the "Roll of Honour" of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom.

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

title: Denise Bloch


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The Happiest Millionaire

The Happiest Millionaire is a 1967 American musical film starring Fred MacMurray, based upon the true story of Philadelphia millionaire Anthony Drexel Biddle. The film, featuring music by the Sherman Brothers, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design by Bill Thomas. The screenplay by A. J. Carothers was adapted from the play, based on the book My Philadelphia Father by Cordelia Drexel Biddle. Walt Disney acquired the rights to the play in the early 1960s. The film was the last live-action musical film to be produced by Disney before his death on December 15, 1966.

Plot
In autumn of 1916, Irish immigrant John Lawless (Tommy Steele) has applied for a butler position with eccentric Philadelphia millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle (Fred MacMurray). Even though the family is a bit strange, Lawless soon learns that he fits right in. Mr. Biddle takes a liking to him immediately.

Mr. Biddle busies himself with his Biddle Boxing and Bible School (located in his stable) and with his alligators in the conservatory. He is also anxious to get America into the war in Europe, despite the government's policy of neutrality. His wife, Cordelia (Greer Garson), stands quietly by, accepting his eccentricities with a sense of pride and class. Their two sons, Tony and Livingston (Paul Petersen and Eddie Hodges) are headed off to boarding school, not to be seen again. Their daughter, Cordy (Lesley Ann Warren), is a tomboy with a mean right hook who was educated by private tutors and has had limited contact with conventional society. She is frustrated by her apparent inability to attract suitors and wants to see what is beyond the Biddle manor.

Mr. Biddle reluctantly lets Cordy go to a boarding school as well after some prodding from both Cordy and from his Aunt Mary (Gladys Cooper). Cordy's roommate teaches her how to lure men with feminine wiles, and at a social dance hosted by her aunt and uncle, Cordy meets Angier Buchanan Duke (John Davidson) and they fall in love. He tells Cordy that he is fascinated with the invention of the automobile and wants to head to Detroit, Michigan, to make his fortune there, instead of taking over his family's tobacco business.

That winter, Cordy comes back to her parents' home and tells them that she is engaged. At first, this is a difficult thing for Mr. Biddle to take. He does not want to give up his little girl, but after meeting Angier and witnessing first-hand his Jiu Jitsu fighting skills, Mr. Biddle takes a liking to him and accepts the engagement. Then Cordy travels with Angier to New York City to meet his mother (Geraldine Page). Soon the Biddles and the Dukes are making arrangements for a very grand wedding.

It is by now the spring of 1917, and constant condescending comments from Angier's mother anger Cordy. To make matters worse, their families' elaborate planning for the "social event of the season", makes both Cordy and Angier feel pushed aside. The tension reaches a climax when Cordy learns that Angier has abandoned his plans for Detroit, and is instead taking his place in the family business, following his mother's wishes. Cordy angrily calls the wedding off, thinking of Angier as a mama's boy, and Angier storms out of the house. Both families are instantly in a tremendous state of upheaval. Mr. Biddle sends John Lawless to look after Angier.

John finds Angier at the local tavern, contemplating what he will do next, and tries to convince Angier to go back to Cordy. However, Angier is stubborn and thinks of other ways to deal with his problems, among other things saying that he wants to join the Foreign Legion. Angier unwittingly starts a bar fight (with a little help from John) and is hauled off to jail.

The next morning, Mr. Biddle comes to bail Angier out. He tells Angier he has to forget about his own dreams and accept his place in the family business. His words have the desired effect, inspiring Angier to defy his mother and elope with Cordy and go to Detroit. Cordy, however, believes her father talked Angier into it, so to prove his sincerity, amid the cheering of the cellmates, Angier throws Cordy over his shoulder and carries her out of the jail house to start their new life together.

Longer version
After Mr. and Mrs. Biddle return home a delegation of Marines arrive to inform him he has been made a "provisional captain" in the Marine Corps and is wanted immediately to go to Parris Island to continue training the recruits, now that America is finally entering the War. Mr. Biddle accepts with delight, and the hearty congratulations of his suddenly appearing Bible Boxing Class.

A car with two people (presumably Cordie and Angie) drives toward a city skyline (presumably Detroit) dominated by factories with smoke clouding the sky at sunset.

Cast

 * Fred MacMurray as Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Cordy's father
 * Greer Garson as Cordelia Bradley Biddle, Cordy's mother
 * Gladys Cooper as Aunt Mary
 * Geraldine Page as Sarah Pearson Angier Duke, Angier's mother
 * Tommy Steele as John Lawless, the butler, a recent immigrant from Ireland
 * Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Worth, the Biddles' maid
 * John Davidson as Angier Buchanan Duke, Cordy's fiancé
 * Lesley Ann Warren as Cordelia "Cordy" Drexel Biddle
 * Paul Petersen as Anthony Biddle, Cordy's brother
 * Eddie Hodges as Livingston Biddle, Cordy's brother
 * Joyce Bulifant as Rosemary, Cordy's roommate
 * Sean McClory as Police Sgt.
 * Jim McMullan as Lt. Powell
 * William Wellman Jr. as Lt. Grayson
 * Aron Kincaid as Walter Blakely
 * Larry Merrill as Charlie Taylor
 * Frances Robinson as Aunt Gladys

Origins
The film had its origins in the 1955 book My Philadelphia Father by Cordelia Biddle, as told to Kyle Crichton. The New York Times said the story was told with "charm". There was early interest in the book for stage adaptation. Crichton adapted the story into a play called The Happiest Millionaire, which opened on Broadway on November 20, 1956, at the Lyceum Theatre. Walter Pidgeon portrayed Anthony J. Drexel Biddle and George Grizzard played Angie. It was Pidgeon's first appearance on Broadway in 21 years, and MGM obtained film rights in exchange for permitting him to appear in the play. Howard Erskine and Joseph Hayes produced the play, and Guthrie McClintic was to direct, but he left the production before opening night. The New York Times called the production "decent and amusing" and Pidgeon "wonderful". The production ran for 271 performances, closing on July 13, 1957.

Development
In the early 1960s, Walt Disney acquired the rights to the play, but he had no intent of making it into a musical at first. After the box-office success of Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, the first of which he had produced, the film's original producer Bill Walsh decided to make the film into a musical, but Disney reassigned him to Blackbeard's Ghost, replacing him with Bill Anderson.

The Sherman Brothers, who wrote the film's music, wanted Rex Harrison for the lead role, but Disney insisted on Fred MacMurray. Regardless, Harrison would not have been available, as he was shooting Doctor Dolittle for 20th Century Fox.

In January 1966, a key role went to Tommy Steele, who had achieved success on Broadway in Half a Sixpence. Lesley Ann Warren, whom Disney had seen in the 1965 CBS television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, made her screen debut in the film. She also met future husband Jon Peters during the film's production. The role of MacMurray's wife went to Greer Garson, who called the film "... a delightful Life with Father type picture. I don't have much to do but I love working with Fred MacMurray."

Music

 * 1) "Fortuosity" – Tommy Steele
 * 2) "What's Wrong with That?" – Fred MacMurray and Lesley Ann Warren
 * 3) "Watch Your Footwork" – Paul Petersen and Eddie Hodges
 * 4) "Valentine Candy" – Lesley Ann Warren
 * 5) "Strengthen the Dwelling" – Fred MacMurray and Biddle Bible Class
 * 6) "I'll Always Be Irish" – Tommy Steele, Fred MacMurray and Lesley Ann Warren
 * 7) "Bye-Yum Pum Pum" – Joyce Bulifant and Lesley Ann Warren
 * 8) "Are We Dancing?" – John Davidson and Lesley Ann Warren
 * 9) "I Believe in This Country" – Fred MacMurray
 * 10) "Detroit" – John Davidson and Lesley Ann Warren
 * 11) "When a Man Has a Daughter" – Fred MacMurray
 * 12) "There Are Those" – Gladys Cooper, Tommy Steele (talking) and Geraldine Page
 * 13) "Let's Have a Drink on It" – John Davidson, Tommy Steele, and Chorus
 * 14) "It Won't Be Long 'Til Christmas" (Roadshow version only) – Greer Garson and Fred MacMurray
 * 15) "Finale (Let's Have a Drink On It)" – Tommy Steele and Chorus
 * 16) "Off Rittenhouse Square" (Unused song)

The song "Detroit" contains the lyric "F.O.B. Detroit". According to the Shermans, Disney overheard them singing the song and misheard the phrase as "S.O.B.", then scolded them for using such language in a Disney film. The Shermans corrected Disney and the three laughed about it.

The original cast soundtrack was released on Buena Vista Records in stereo (STER-5001) and mono (BV-5001) versions. A second cast recording with studio singers and orchestrations by Tutti Camarata appeared on Disneyland Records in stereo (STER-1303) and mono (DQ-1303).

The cast soundtrack was re-released on CD in 2002 (60781-7), remastered from the original eight-track master tapes to reduce the heavy reverb from the original LP. The soundtrack is currently available on iTunes.

"Are We Dancing?" was included on the 1992 CD compilation The Sherman Brothers. The song along with "Fortuosity" was included on the 2009 Sherman Brothers Songbook compilation set.

The Supremes covered "It Won't Be Long 'Til Christmas" for their planned album of Disney covers, but the tracks from that session were not released until the 1980s.

Release
When Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, the film's first cut had already been completed. Disney told Anderson to use his own judgement, but added, "Don't let the distribution people rush you..." Anderson wanted to shorten the film, as he disliked the musical number "It Won't Be Long 'Til Christmas" as performed by Greer Garson. Disney COO Card Walker wanted to excise even more material, and the two men fought bitterly over the extent of the cuts. The film opened at 164 minutes on a "reserved seating" basis.

Robert Sherman was in England during the film's Hollywood premiere at the Pantages Theatre, but he became furious when he discovered in the Los Angeles Times that a theater in the vicinity was showing a double feature of The Shaggy Dog and The Absent-Minded Professor at a much lower price. In order to satisfy requests from Radio City Music Hall, the site of the film's New York premiere, the studio cut 20 minutes from the film after the premiere. For the general release, the film was shortened even further to 118 minutes. It was not reissued and did not appear on television until 1984, when the 164-minute version was screened at the Los Angeles International Film Expo and aired on The Disney Channel.

Home media
The film was first released on VHS format in 1983, then reissued in 1986. Both releases are of the 144-minute version.

Anchor Bay Entertainment released separate DVDs of both the long and short versions on July 20, 1999. The long version, presented on home video for the first time, was in 1.66:1 non-anamorphic widescreen, but the short version was 1.33:1.

Disney re-released the film on DVD on June 1, 2004, featuring only the long version and including the intermission music at the end of Act I and the exit music at the end of Act II, elements that had been missing from the Anchor Bay release.

The film became available on the Disney+ streaming service on June 11, 2021.

Reception
Writing in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther panned the film: "...the whole picture is vulgar. It is an over-decorated, over-fluffed, over-sentimentalized endeavor to pretend the lace-curtain millionaires are—or were—every bit as folksy as the old prize-fighters and the Irish brawlers in the saloon".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "... adults will find the plot thin and the characters one-dimensional. Lots of kids will find little to hold their interest except the alligators. The children will wonder how John Davidson could have possibly been cast in such an innocent and naive role when he looks at least 25 years old. I mean, that's a little late to steal your first kiss. As for the musical numbers, I found them eminently forgettable, with the sole exception of a nicely staged Irish reel".

Reviewing the film for Life, Richard Schickel remarked: "What is missing, quite literally, is magic. The movie's length, period, cost, even its eccentric central figure indicate Disney was trying for another Mary Poppins. It desperately needs her magic umbrella to lift MacMurray and the whole project off the ground. But the people who created the highest moments in Poppins with the dance across the rooftops are absent".

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times stated that the film was "a disappointment" and compared it unfavorably to Mary Poppins: "There is no such unity of interest and identification in The Happiest Millionaire. If there is not really anybody to root against (except maybe Geraldine Page as the tart-tongued Mrs. Duke), there are too many people to root for, and each of them is pursuing his own story-line".

title: The Happiest Millionaire


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Dungeon

A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably derives more from the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from the French oublier, meaning 'to forget') or bottle dungeon is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an angstloch) in a high ceiling.

Etymology
The word dungeon comes from French donjon (also spelled dongeon), which means "keep", the main tower of a castle. The first recorded instance of the word in English was near the beginning of the 14th century when it held the same meaning as donjon. The earlier meaning of "keep" is still in use for academics, although in popular culture, it has come to mean a cell or "oubliette". Though it is uncertain, both dungeon and donjon are thought to derive from the Middle Latin word dominus, meaning "lord" or "master".

In French, the term donjon still refers to a "keep", and the English term "dungeon" refers mostly to oubliette in French. Donjon is therefore a false friend to dungeon (although the game Dungeons & Dragons is titled Donjons et Dragons in its French editions).

An oubliette (same origin as the French oublier, meaning "to forget" ) is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an angstloch) in a high ceiling.

The use of "donjons" evolved over time, sometimes to include prison cells, which could explain why the meaning of "dungeon" in English evolved over time from being a prison within the tallest, most secure tower of the castle into meaning a cell, and by extension, in popular use, an oubliette or even a torture chamber.

The earliest use of oubliette in French dates back to 1374, but its earliest adoption in English is Walter Scott's Ivanhoe in 1819: "The place was utterly dark—the oubliette, as I suppose, of their accursed convent."

History
Few Norman keeps in English castles originally contained prisons, which were more common in Scotland. Imprisonment was not a usual punishment in the Middle Ages, with most prisoners awaiting an imminent trial, sentence or a political solution. Noble prisoners were not generally held in dungeons, but lived in some comfort in castle apartments. The Tower of London is famous for housing political prisoners, and Pontefract Castle at various times held Thomas of Lancaster (1322), Richard II (1400), Earl Rivers (1483), Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York (1405), James I of Scotland (1405–1424) and Charles, Duke of Orléans (1417–1430). Purpose-built prison chambers in castles became more common after the 12th century, when they were built into gatehouses or mural towers. Some castles had larger provision for prisoners, such as the prison tower at Caernarfon Castle.

Features
Although many real dungeons are simply a single plain room with a heavy door or with access only from a hatchway or trapdoor in the floor of the room above, the use of dungeons for torture, along with their association to common human fears of being trapped underground, have made dungeons a powerful metaphor in a variety of contexts. Dungeons, as a whole, have become associated with underground complexes of cells and torture chambers. As a result, the number of true dungeons in castles is often exaggerated to interest tourists. Many chambers described as dungeons or oubliettes were in fact water-cisterns or even latrines.

An example of what might be popularly termed an "oubliette" is the particularly claustrophobic cell in the dungeon of Warwick Castle's Caesar's Tower, in central England. The access hatch consists of an iron grille. Even turning around (or moving at all) would be nearly impossible in this tiny chamber.

However, the tiny chamber that is described as the oubliette, is in reality a short shaft which opens up into a larger chamber with a latrine shaft entering it from above. This suggests that the chamber is in fact a partially back-filled drain. The positioning of the supposed oubliette within the larger dungeon, situated in a small alcove, is typical of garderobe arrangement within medieval buildings. These factors perhaps point to this feature being the remnants of a latrine rather than a cell for holding prisoners. Footage of the inside of this chamber can be seen in episode 3 of the first series of Secrets of Great British Castles.

A "bottle dungeon" is sometimes simply another term for an oubliette. It has a narrow entrance at the top and sometimes the room below is even so narrow that it would be impossible to lie down but in other designs the actual cell is larger.

The identification of dungeons and rooms used to hold prisoners is not always a straightforward task. Alnwick Castle and Cockermouth Castle, both near England's border with Scotland, had chambers in their gatehouses which have often been interpreted as oubliettes. However, this has been challenged. These underground rooms (accessed by a door in the ceiling) were built without latrines, and since the gatehouses at Alnwick and Cockermouth provided accommodation it is unlikely that the rooms would have been used to hold prisoners. An alternative explanation was proposed, suggesting that these were strong-rooms where valuables were stored.

In fiction
Oubliettes and dungeons were a favorite topic of nineteenth century gothic novels or historical novels, where they appeared as symbols of hidden cruelty and tyrannical power. Usually found under medieval castles or abbeys, they were used by villainous characters to persecute blameless characters. In Alexandre Dumas's La Reine Margot, Catherine de Medici is portrayed gloating over a victim in the oubliettes of the Louvre.

Dungeons are common elements in modern fantasy literature, related tabletop, and video games. The most famous examples are the various Dungeons & Dragons media. In this context, the word "dungeon" has come to be used broadly to describe any labyrinthine complex (castle, cave system, etc) rather than a prison cell or torture chamber specifically. A role-playing game involving dungeon exploration is called a dungeon crawl.

Near the beginning of Jack Vance's high-fantasy Lyonesse Trilogy (1983–1989), King Casmir of Lyonesse commits Prince Aillas of Troicinet, who he believes to be a vagabond, to an oubliette for the crime of having seduced his daughter. After some months, the resourceful prince fashions a ladder from the bones of earlier prisoners and the rope by which he had been lowered, and escapes.

In the musical fantasy film Labyrinth, director Jim Henson includes a scene in which the heroine Sarah is freed from an oubliette by the dwarf Hoggle, who defines it for her as "a place you put people... to forget about 'em!"

In the Thomas Harris novel The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice makes a descent into Gumb's basement dungeon labyrinth in the narrative's climactic scene, where the killer is described as having an oubliette.

In the Robert A. Heinlein novel Stranger in a Strange Land, the term "oubliette" is used to refer to a trash disposal much like the "memory holes" in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

title: Dungeon


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Lothar Bisky

Lothar Bisky (17 August 1941 – 13 August 2013) was a German politician. He was the chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED). In June 2007 he became co-chairman of The Left (Die Linke) party, formed by a merger of the PDS and the much smaller Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative. From 2007 until 2010 he was the President of the Party of the European Left. Also, he was the Publisher of the socialist newspaper Neues Deutschland.

Background
Bisky was born in Zollbrück, Pomerania, Germany (now Korzybie, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland), from where he came after 1945 as refugee to Schleswig-Holstein in northern West Germany. In order to get a free university education he emigrated to Communist GDR at the age of 18, and after facing initial doubts due to his heritage was allowed to join the Socialist Unity Party in 1963, but did not rise to leadership positions until shortly after the fall of communism and the resulting purge of hardliners from the party. He was rector of the University of Film and Television (Potsdam-Babelsberg) from 1986 to 1990. In 1991 he became a member of the board of directors of regional television channel ORB (now part of RBB).

Stasi informer
In 1995, it was discovered that Bisky had been an informer for the Stasi. The Stasi records on his wife referred to his activities as an informant. Subsequent investigations revealed that Bisky was registered by the Stasi with the code names of Bienert between 1966 and 1970, and as Klaus Heine from 1987. Lothar Bisky was also described in Stasi records as zuverlässig (reliable), the highest level of trust for an informer.

When Bisky was promoted, the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung) of the Stasi issued a statement where Bisky was described as "a reliable comrade, who strictly follows orders and always is honest with the Ministry for State Security (Stasi)" ("ein zuverlässiger Genosse, der sich strikt an die gegebenen Anweisungen hält und gegenüber dem MfS stets ehrlich war").

Political career
In 1990 he was a member of the Volkskammer and beginning in 1990 he was a member of the state parliament in Brandenburg.

He was chairman of the PDS from 1993 until his resignation in 2000 over a defeat for the executive committee on support for United Nations military intervention. He was re-elected chairman in 2003 after this "left turn" had cost the party its seats in the Bundestag in 2002. Bisky was seen to be on the moderate, social democratic wing of the party and was a long-time close ally of the party's most prominent figure, Gregor Gysi. He was often regarded for his abilities to lead meaningful discussions between parties of completely opposite viewpoints, be it within his own party or in media events with other groups.

The party returned strongly to the Bundestag in the 2005 election. Bisky, one of 54 Left MPs, was nominated by his party to become one of the six vice presidents of the Bundestag. When the new Bundestag was constituted on 18 October, however, he failed three times to be elected. Several MPs explained this with the fact that he was an informant of the Stasi. Later, he failed a fourth time, and subsequently gave up his bid for the vice president position which was given to Petra Pau instead.

Personal life
Lothar Bisky was married and the father of three sons. His oldest son, Jens Bisky, is a journalist and writer and the second-oldest, Norbert Bisky, is a painter. His youngest son, Stephan Bisky, died in late 2008 while working towards his neuro-informatics doctorate at the University of Edinburgh.

He died in a hospital in Leipzig as a result of falling down the stairs in his apartment in August 2013.

title: Lothar Bisky


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Pete's Dragon (1977 film)

Pete's Dragon is a 1977 American live-action/animated musical fantasy film directed by Don Chaffey, produced by Jerome Courtland and Ron Miller, and written by Malcolm Marmorstein. Based on the unpublished short story "Pete's Dragon and the USA (Forever After)" by Seton I. Miller and S. S. Field, the film stars Sean Marshall, Helen Reddy, Jim Dale, Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Jeff Conaway, Shelley Winters, and the voice of Charlie Callas as Elliott.

The project was initially conceived in 1957 as a two-part episode of the Disneyland television series, but it was shelved until it was revived as a musical film in 1975. The film was released on November 3, 1977 to mixed reviews from critics, though some praised the animation.

The film received two nominations at the 50th Academy Awards, for musical scoring and original song. Capitol Records released a single of Reddy performing "Candle on the Water" (with a different arrangement from that in the film) that reached #27 on the Adult Contemporary charts.

The film spawned a live-action remake made by Walt Disney Pictures and released in 2016.

Plot
In Maine in the early 1900s, orphan Pete flees from the Gogans – a horrible and abusive family that had previously purchased the child – with the assistance of an unseen force he calls Elliott. The family calls for Pete to return and promise they will treat him better, while also intending to punish him severely. After they abandon their search, Pete falls asleep. The next morning, Pete awakens and Elliott is revealed to be a dragon that can turn invisible.

Pete and Elliott visit Passamaquoddy, where the unseen Elliott's clumsiness causes Pete to be labeled a source of bad luck. Lampie, the lighthouse keeper, stumbles out of a tavern and encounters Pete. Elliott makes himself visible and Lampie, terrified, runs to the townsfolk. They dismiss Lampie's claims as a drunken rant. In a seaside cave, Pete reprimands Elliott for causing trouble. As they reconcile, Lampie's daughter Nora appears, warning that Pete is not safe there because of the incoming tide. After realizing he is orphaned and not from the area, she offers him shelter at the lighthouse, and the two bond. He learns the story of her fiancé Paul, whose ship was lost at sea the year before, and promises to ask Elliott to try to locate Paul.

Itinerant quack Dr. Terminus and his assistant Hoagy win over the gullible townspeople, who are angered by their return. After Lampie takes Hoagy to the cave where Elliot resides to prove that he is real, their encounter with him goes awry and the two flee. Hoagy tries to tell Terminus of the dragon, but he does not believe him. The next day, the local fishermen complain about the scarcity of fish, believing it is Pete's fault. Nora says the fishing grounds shift from time to time and Pete should be welcomed into town. That night, Nora and Lampie argue over Lampie's claims of seeing a dragon and Nora's belief that Paul will return.

Nora takes Pete to start school, where the teacher, Miss Taylor, punishes him for Elliott's antics. Enraged, Elliott smashes into the schoolhouse, leaving his shape in the wall and frightening the townspeople. Terminus, now convinced the dragon is real, discovers from a book that any physical property from these creatures can be used for remedies and tonics. He conspires with Hoagy to exploit Elliott for medical profit. Pete accepts Nora and Lampie's invitation to live with them. When the Gogans arrive in town and demand Pete be returned, they brandish a document proving they had legally bought the boy for fifty dollars (plus fees), but Nora refuses to surrender him. As the Gogans chase them in a boat, Elliott sinks it, saving Pete. Dr. Terminus makes a deal with the Gogans to capture Pete and Elliott, even convincing the locals that capturing Elliott will solve their problems.

That evening, a storm blows in, while at sea, a ship approaches Passamaquoddy with Paul on board. Terminus lures Pete to the boathouse while Hoagy does the same to Elliott, who is caught in a net, but frees himself. He retrieves Pete in a confrontation with the Gogans, who flee after Elliott destroys their bill of sale. Terminus attempts to harpoon Elliott, but his leg is caught in the rope and he is sent catapulting through the ceiling, ending up dangling near a utility pole. Elliott saves the Mayor, Miss Taylor, and the members of the Town Board from a falling utility pole, revealing himself to them. At the lighthouse, the lamp has been extinguished by a rogue wave. Elliott lights it with his fire, revealing himself to Nora and saving the ship.

The next morning, the Mayor and the townsfolk praise Elliott for his help, and Nora is reunited with Paul. Paul explains he was the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Cape Hatteras and suffered amnesia, but something knocked him out of bed and restored his memory. Elliott tells Pete that since he has a family now, he must move on to help another child in trouble. Pete says goodbye to Elliot as he is told that it is the last time they will see each other. As Pete and his family watch Elliot fly away, Pete reminds Elliott that he is supposed to be invisible as he disappears into the sky.

Cast

 * Helen Reddy as Nora, the kind daughter to the local lighthouse keeper.
 * Jim Dale as Dr. Terminus, a scheming quack and showman.
 * Mickey Rooney as Lampie, Passamaquoddy's lighthouse keeper and Nora's father.
 * Red Buttons as Hoagy, the assistant to Dr. Terminus.
 * Shelley Winters as Lena Gogan, the matriarch of the Gogan family.
 * Sean Marshall as Pete, an orphan boy escaping the cruel Gogans.
 * Jane Kean as Miss Romy Taylor, Passamaquoddy's strict, no-nonsense, and abusive schoolteacher.
 * Jim Backus as Mayor of Passamaquoddy.
 * Charles Tyner as Merle Gogan, the patriarch of the Gogan family.
 * Gary Morgan as Grover Gogan, Merle and Lena's older sadistic son.
 * Jeff Conaway as Willie Gogan, Merle and Lena's younger sadistic son.
 * Cal Bartlett as Paul, a sailor who disappeared at sea and Nora's fiancé.
 * Walter Barnes as Captain of the ship on which Paul returns home.
 * Charlie Callas as the vocal effects for Elliott, a dragon who befriends Pete.

Music
The film's songs were written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. Irwin Kostal composed the score. "Candle on the Water" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Development
In December 1957, Walt Disney Productions optioned the film rights to the short story "Pete's Dragon and the U.S.A. (Forever After)" that was written by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field, in which Miller was hired to write the script. Impressed with his performance in Old Yeller, Walt Disney had child actor Kevin Corcoran in mind to star in the project as a feature-length film. However, Disney considered the project to be more appropriate for his Disneyland anthology program, by which it was slated to be filmed as a two-part episode in the following year. In February 1958, Variety reported that filming was scheduled to begin in October. By the following spring, veteran screenwriter Noel Langley had completed his draft of the script. However, Disney was still unsure of how to approach the project, and the project was placed in turnaround.

In 1968, writers Bill Raynor and Myles Wilder were hired to write the script, and completed their outline in October. They submitted their outline to the studio for review, but the project continued to languish in development. In 1975, producer Jerome Courtland re-discovered the project and hired writer Malcolm Marmorstein to write the script. For his script, Marmorstein revised the story from being in contemporary time into a period setting, and had the dragon changed from being wholly imaginary into a real one. In earlier drafts, Elliott was mostly invisible aside from one animated sequence, in which Dr. Terminus would chop up the dragon for his get-rich scheme. However, veteran Disney artist Ken Anderson felt the audience would "lose patience" with the idea and lobbied for Elliott to be seen more in his visible form during the film. In retrospect, Marmorstein conceded that "We tried a completely invisible dragon, but it was no fun. It was lacking. It's a visual medium, and you're making a film for kids." He also named the dragon "Elliott" after actor Elliott Gould (who was a friend from his theater days), and named the town "Passamaquoddy" after the real Native American tribe in Maine.

In October 1975, the songwriting duo of Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn were assigned to compose the musical score. The production was directed by British filmmaker Don Chaffey, who had made two smaller films for Disney in the early 1960s between directing larger fantasy adventures (Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C.) for others.

Locations
The lighthouse for the film was built on Point Buchon Trail in Montana De Oro State Park located south of Los Osos, California, substituting for Maine. It was equipped with such a large beacon that Disney had to get special permission from the Coast Guard to operate it, since doing so during filming would have confused passing ships. Pacific Gas and Electric opened the Point Buchon Trail and allows hikers access to where filming took place (35.24697°N, -120.8974°W).

Animation
The film is the first involving animation in which none of the Nine Old Men—Disney's original team of animators—were involved. One technique used in the movie involved compositing with a yellowscreen that was originally used in Mary Poppins and similar to today's greenscreen compositing, whereby up to three scenes might be overlaid together – for example, a live foreground, a live background, and an animated middle ground containing Elliott. Ken Anderson, who created Elliott, explained that he thought it would be appropriate to make him "a little paunchy" and not always particularly graceful at flying. Don Hahn, who was an assistant director to Don Bluth on Pete's Dragon, gained some experience working with a combination of live-action and animation before later going on to work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Release
Pete's Dragon premiered on November 3, 1977 at the Radio City Music Hall, in which the film ran 134 minutes. For its general release, it was edited down to 121 minutes. It was later re-released on March 9, 1984, shortened from 121 minutes to 104 minutes. The film's movie poster was painted by artist Paul Wenzel.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack recording (Disneyland 3138) was released that told much of the story and added a narrator, but unlike many other Disney book and records, used the actual dialogue recorded for the film, which the book presented in script format. The inclusion of story led to the omission of several songs, including "The Happiest Home in These Hills," "There's Room for Everyone," and "Bill of Sale," while "Brazzle Dazzle Day" is included only in instrumental.

Home media
The film was released on VHS in early 1980. It was re-released on VHS on October 28, 1994 as a part of Masterpiece Collection. It was originally slated to be released in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line-up on December 5, 2000, but it was pushed back to January 16, 2001. The DVD includes bonus features such as two animated shorts Lighthouse Keeping and Man, Monsters and Mysteries, two vintage excerpts from the Disney Family Album episode on Ken Anderson and "The Plausible Impossible" from Disneyland, and both theatrical trailers for the film.

The film was re-released in a "High-Flying Edition" DVD on August 18, 2009. The DVD includes a half-hour documentary feature, a deleted storyboard sequence, original demo recordings of the songs, and several bonus features transferred from the Gold Classic Collection release. It was released on the 35th-anniversary edition Blu-ray on October 16, 2012.

Critical reaction
Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film declaring it "the most energetic and enjoyable Disney movie in a long while." She noted, "Sean Marshall doesn't sing well, but Helen Reddy does, so she often accompanies his vocals. Miss Reddy is serviceable but undistinguished as an actress—she has a tendency to behave as if she were a very bright light bulb in a very small lamp—but she so often finds herself in the company of Messrs. Rooney, Dale or Buttons that her scenes work well." However, she was critical of the film's length and the excessive alcohol consumption.

Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News gave the film three stars out of four, criticizing the score and the live-action footage, but praising the animation of the dragon and the performances, writing "Sean Marshall, as Pete, looks and acts natural on camera which makes him a refreshing change from those sweet little cherubs usually cast in Disney movies. Miss Reddy plays her role with crisp efficiency and fortunately receives strong support for the rest of the cast, particularly Dale, so slick and funny as the conniving medicine man he nearly upstages the cuddly dragon."

Variety wrote the film was "an enchanting and humane fable which introduces a most lovable animal star (albeit an animated one)." They praised the combination of live-action and animation as "never before more effectively realized" and commented that the film suffered "whenever Elliott is off screen."

John Skow of Time wrote the film was "likeable fantasy", but dismissed the musical numbers as "a good opportunity to line up for more popcorn."

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "At 2 hours 7 minutes it is a trying span for small sitters. The animated excitements keep stopping for songs by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, but they are not showstoppers in the grand sense. Bland, perfunctory and too numerous is more like it."

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that "we get the same tired Disney formula: a gooey-faced kid in a phony sound-stage world populated by old actors required to perform ancient vaudeville routines ... Compared to the great Disney animation classics, 'Pete's Dragon' is just TV fare on the wide screen."

Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film "was apparently meant to be a big, rousing musical comedy-fantasy, but it's staged and photographed without musical-comedy energy, flair or coordination ... Perhaps children can be counted on to enjoy Elliott's mugging and the slapstick interludes that occasionally interrupt the tedium, but parents will see this one more as a chore."

Critic Leonard Maltin observed that Disney made several attempts to recreate the appeal and success of Mary Poppins (1964), and that Pete's Dragon did not come close on that score. However, he added that it might please children, and that "the animated title character is so endearing that it almost compensates for the live actors' tiresome mugging."

Thomas J. Harris, in his book Children’s Live-Action Musical Films: A Critical Survey and Filmography, heavily criticized the story as well as the compositing of the animated Elliott; he also found the "Mary Poppinsish ending" to be "thoroughly unmotivated", because Pete's life before meeting Elliott is never fleshed out.

In 2006, Elliott was ranked fifth on a top 10 list of movie dragons by Karl Heitmueller for MTV Movie News.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 56% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's consensus states: "Boring and slow, this is a lesser Disney work, though the animation isn't without its charms." Metacritic gave film a score of 46 based on 5 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Box office
During its initial release, the film grossed $16.1 million in distributor rentals from the United States and Canada, which was ranked sixteenth on Variety's box office hits list of 1978. However, the returns were considered disappointing for Disney who were hoping for a Mary Poppins-sized blockbuster. The film has a lifetime domestic gross ranging from $36 to 39.6 million.

Remake
In March 2013, Disney announced a remake of the film, written by David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks, the director/writer and co-producer (respectively) of the Sundance hit Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013). The film is a live-action movie instead of an animated movie. It re-imagines a venerable Disney family and is presented as a straightforward drama as opposed to a musical. Principal photography commenced in January 2015 in New Zealand, with Lowery directing, and subsequently released on August 12, 2016.

title: Pete's Dragon (1977 film)


text:
Leon Brittan

Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 1939 – 21 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he served several ministerial roles in Margaret Thatcher's government, including Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985.

Early life
Leon Brittan was born in London, the son of Rebecca (née Lipetz) and Joseph Brittan, a doctor. His parents were Lithuanian Jews who had migrated to Britain before the Second World War.

Brittan was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society and Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association. Brittan then studied at Yale University on a Henry Fellowship. Sir Samuel Brittan, the economics journalist, was his brother. The former Conservative MP Malcolm Rifkind and the music producer Mark Ronson were cousins.

MP and minister
After unsuccessfully contesting the constituency of Kensington North in 1966 and 1970, he was elected to Parliament in the general election of February 1974 for Cleveland and Whitby, and became an opposition spokesman in 1976. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1978. Between 1979 and 1981, he was Minister of State at the Home Office. He was then promoted to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury, becoming the youngest member of the Cabinet. He warned cabinet colleagues that spending on social security, health and education would have to be cut "whether they like it or not".

At the 1983 election, Brittan was elected MP for Richmond. Following the election, he was promoted to Home Secretary, becoming the youngest since Churchill. During the 1984–85 miners' strike, Brittan was a strong critic of the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers. He accused them of organising violence by flying pickets, whom he described as "thugs". One factor in the defeat of the strike was central control of local police forces. As soon as the strike began, Brittan set up a National Reporting Centre in New Scotland Yard to coordinate intelligence and the supply of police officers between forces as necessary. Margaret Thatcher's government had carefully planned for a miners' strike, and a Whitehall committee had been meeting in secret since 1981 to prepare for a protracted dispute.

In 1984, after the murder of Yvonne Fletcher, a police officer, during a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London, Brittan headed the government's crisis committee as both Thatcher and the Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, were away at the time. In January 2014, secret government documents released by the National Archives disclosed that Libya twice warned British officials that the Libyan embassy protest would become violent – hours before WPC Fletcher was killed.

In September 1986, Brittan was cleared by a High Court Judge of acting unlawfully when, as Home Secretary, he gave MI5 permission to tap the telephone of a leader of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

In September 1985, Brittan was moved to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The reason for his demotion, according to Jonathan Aitken, was that the prime minister Margaret Thatcher felt that Brittan was "not getting the message across on television". In her memoirs, Thatcher wrote of Brittan: "Everybody complained about his manner on television, which seemed aloof and uncomfortable."

Brittan had been criticised as a poor communicator and for his role in the suppression of a BBC television programme in the Real Lives series on The Troubles in Northern Ireland, At the Edge of the Union. Brittan stated that transmission of the programme would be against the national interest and in August 1985 he wrote to the BBC chairman, Stuart Young, asking for the broadcast to be cancelled. The BBC's Board of Governors called an emergency meeting and ruled that the documentary could not be shown. The controversy led to a rift between the BBC's boards of management and governors. It also led to a day of strike action by hundreds of television and radio workers who protested against what they perceived as government censorship.

Resignation over the Westland affair
Brittan resigned as Trade and Industry Secretary in January 1986 over the Westland affair. Brittan had authorised the leaking of a letter from the Solicitor General that had accused Michael Heseltine of inaccuracies in his campaign for Westland to be rescued by a consortium of European investors. The rest of the government, led by Margaret Thatcher, supported a deal with the American business Sikorsky Fiat.

Jonathan Aitken wrote of Brittan's resignation: "Soon after a poisonous meeting of Tory backbenchers at the 1922 Committee, he fell on his sword. It was a combination of a witch hunt and a search for a scapegoat – tainted by an undercurrent of anti-Semitism. […] I believed what should have been obvious to anyone else, that he was being used as a lightning conductor to deflect the fire that the Prime Minister had started and inflamed". It was later revealed that Brittan had attempted to persuade British Aerospace and General Electric Company (GEC) to withdraw from the European consortium.

In October 1986, in a House of Commons debate, Brittan made a bitter attack on Michael Heseltine, accusing him of "thwarting the Government at every turn" in its handling of the Westland affair. Brittan said that Government decisions "should have the support of all its members and should not be undermined from within".

In 1989, Brittan revealed in a Channel 4 programme that two senior Downing Street officials, Bernard Ingham and Charles Powell, had approved the leaking of the letter from the Solicitor General. Brittan's claim led to calls from some Labour MPs for a new inquiry into the Westland affair.

European Commission

Brittan was knighted in the 1989 New Years Honours List. He was made European Commissioner for Competition at the European Commission early in 1989, resigning as an MP to take the position. He accepted the post reluctantly, as it meant giving up his British parliamentary ambitions. Margaret Thatcher appointed Brittan to the Commission as a replacement for Lord Cockfield, whose pro-European enthusiasm she disapproved of; however, in doing so she had overlooked Brittan's own record as a supporter of the European Union and subsequently found his views and policies at odds with those she had expected from him. Brittan passed the merger regulation in 1989, which enabled him to ban the ATR/De Havilland planned merger in 1991.

In 1993 he became European Commissioner for Trade and in 1995 European Commissioner for External Affairs, also serving as a Vice-President of the European Commission. Brittan resigned with the rest of the Santer Commission in 1999 amid accusations of fraud against Jacques Santer and Édith Cresson. During his time as a Vice-President of the European Commission, one subsequently prominent member of his official office was Nick Clegg, who became leader of the Liberal Democrats in December 2007 and deputy prime minister in May 2010.

Peerage

Brittan was created a life peer (Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, of Spennithorne in the County of North Yorkshire) on 9 February 2000. He was vice-chairman of UBS AG Investment Bank, non-executive director of Unilever and member of the international advisory committee for Total. In August 2010, Brittan was appointed a trade adviser to the UK government. Prime Minister David Cameron said that Brittan had "unrivalled experience" for the job, which was scheduled to last for six months.

Brittan's wife Diana (Clemetson, born 1940), Lady Brittan of Spennithorne, was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours "for public service and charity".

Death
Brittan died at his London home in Pimlico on 21 January 2015, aged 75; he had been ill with cancer for some time. He had two stepdaughters.

Paedophile dossier
In 1984, in his capacity as Home Secretary, Brittan was handed a 40-page dossier by Geoffrey Dickens MP which detailed alleged paedophile activity in the 1980s, including, according to Dickens, allegations concerning "people in positions of power, influence and responsibility". The whereabouts of the dossier is currently unknown. Brittan denied any knowledge of the matter in an e-mail to a Channel 4 News reporter in 2013, and later replied that he had no recollection of it to a query from The Independent newspaper.

Brittan later declared in 2014 that Dickens had met him at the Home Office and that he had written to Dickens on 20 March 1984, explaining what had been done about the files. In an article for The Times, journalist James Gillespie quoted a letter from Dickens dated 7 January 1984 in which he thanked Brittan for his "splendid support". He also gave examples of the allegations in the dossier, including a woman protesting that her 16-year-old son had become homosexual after working in Buckingham Palace kitchens and a civil servant advocating persons caught by Customs and Excise importing child pornography should be referred to the police.

An initial review by Home Office civil servant Mark Sedwill in 2013 concluded that copies of Dickens's material had "not been retained" but that Brittan had acted appropriately in dealing with the allegations. In November 2014, a review by Peter Wanless followed. Wanless said there was no evidence to suggest that files had been removed to cover up abuse.

Allegations pursued by Labour MP
In June 2014, Brittan was interviewed under caution by police in connection with the alleged rape of a 19-year-old student in his central London flat in 1967 before he became an MP. They had not pursued the allegation when it was first made because of insufficient evidence. The police reopened the investigation after Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, had been lobbied by Labour MP Tom Watson to investigate further. In a statement on 7 July 2014, Brittan denied the claims. At the time of his death, Brittan had not been told by the police that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him for the alleged rape of the woman. The deputy assistant commissioner of the Met, Steve Rodhouse, wrote a letter of apology to the solicitors of Brittan's widow.

In October 2014, the Labour MP Jimmy Hood used parliamentary privilege to refer to claims that Brittan had been linked to child abuse. After Brittan died in January 2015, Watson accused him of "multiple child rape"; he said he had spoken to two people who claimed they were abused by Brittan. Convicted fraudster Chris Fay alleged that he had seen a photograph of Brittan with a child at Elm Guest House in mid-1982. In March 2015, it was reported that detectives from Operation Midland, set up by the Metropolitan Police to investigate claims of child sex abuse, had visited and searched two homes in London and Yorkshire formerly owned by Brittan. One of Brittan's accusers subsequently told BBC's Panorama that he originally named Brittan as a joke and told the Metropolitan Police that two well-known campaigners may have led him into making false claims. On 21 March 2016, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that Operation Midland had been closed without any charges being brought.

On 1 September 2017, it was reported that the Metropolitan Police had paid substantial compensation to Brittan's widow for having raided the Brittans' home "after accepting that the searches had been unjustified and should never have taken place." Carl Beech, whose claims spurred Operation Midland, was convicted of perverting the course of justice in July 2019.

Honours
Brittan was created a life peer by the Queen on the advice of Conservative Party leader William Hague. He took the title Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, of Spennithorne in the County of North Yorkshire on 9 February 2000. He sat with the Conservative Party benches in the House of Lords.

title: Leon Brittan


text:
Vicente Guerrero

Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña (baptized 10 August 1782 – 14 February 1831) was a Mexican military officer and statesman who became the nation's second president. He was one of the leading generals who fought against Spain during the Mexican War of Independence.

During his presidency, he abolished slavery in Mexico. Guerrero was deposed in a rebellion by his Vice-President Anastasio Bustamante.

Early life
Vicente Guerrero was born in Tixtla, a town 100 kilometers inland from the port of Acapulco, in the Sierra Madre del Sur; his parents were María Guadalupe Rodríguez Saldaña, and Juan Pedro Guerrero. His father's family included landlords, wealthy farmers, and traders with broad business connections in the south, members of the Spanish militia, and gun and cannon makers. In his youth, he worked for his father's freight business that used mules for transport, a prosperous business during this time. His travels took him to different parts of Mexico where he heard of the idea of independence. There is controversy regarding Guerrero's ethnic origin, with some authors describing him as having both an Indigenous and African background. However, no portraits of him were made during his lifetime and those made posthumously may not be reliable. Fellow insurgent José María Morelos described him as a "young man with bronzed or tanned skin ("broncineo" in Spanish), tall and strong (N.B. "forbid", strapping, muscular), aquiline nose, bright and light-colored eyes and big sideburns". Vicente's father, Juan Pedro, supported Spanish rule, whereas his uncle, Diego Guerrero, had an important position in the Spanish militia. As an adult, Vicente was opposed to the Spanish colonial government. When his father asked him for his sword in order to present it to the viceroy of New Spain as a sign of goodwill, Vicente refused, saying, "The will of my father is for me sacred, but my Fatherland is first." "Mi patria es primero" is now the motto of the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, named in honor of the revolutionary. Guerrero enlisted in José María Morelos's insurgent army of the south in December 1810. He was married to María Guadalupe Hernández; their daughter María Dolores Guerrero Hernández married Mariano Riva Palacio, who was the defense lawyer of Maximilian I of Mexico in Querétaro, and was the mother of late nineteenth-century intellectual Vicente Riva Palacio.

Insurgent

In 1810, Guerrero joined in the early revolt against Spain, first fighting in the forces of secular priest José María Morelos. When the Mexican War of Independence began, Guerrero was working as a gunsmith in Tixtla. He joined the rebellion in November 1810 and enlisted in a division that independence leader Morelos had organized to fight in southern Mexico. Guerrero distinguished himself in the Battle of Izúcar, in February 1812, and had achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel when Oaxaca was claimed by rebels in November 1812. Initial victories by Morelos's forces faltered, and Morelos himself was captured and executed in December 1815. Guerrero joined forces with Guadalupe Victoria and Isidoro Montes de Oca, taking the position of "Commander in Chief" of the rebel troops. In 1816, the royal government under Viceroy Apodaca sought to end the insurgency, offering amnesty. Guerrero's father carried an appeal for his son to surrender, but Guerrero refused. He remained the only major rebel leader still at large and kept the rebellion going through an extensive campaign of guerrilla warfare. He won victories at Ajuchitán, Santa Fe, Tetela del Río, Huetamo, Tlalchapa, and Cuautlotitlán, regions of southern Mexico that were very familiar to him.

Hoping to extinguish the rebellion, the royal government sent Agustín de Iturbide against Guerrero's forces. Guerrero was victorious against Iturbide, who realized that there was a military stalemate. Guerrero appealed to Iturbide to abandon his royalist loyalty and to join the fight for independence. Events in Spain had changed in 1820, with Spanish liberals ousting Ferdinand VII and imposing the liberal constitution of 1812 that the king had repudiated. Conservatives in Mexico, including the Catholic hierarchy, began to conclude that continued allegiance to Spain would undermine their position and opted for independence to maintain their control. Guerrero's appeal to join the forces for independence was successful. Guerrero and Iturbide allied under the Plan de Iguala and their forces merged as the Army of the Three Guarantees.

The Plan of Iguala proclaimed independence, called for a constitutional monarchy and the continued place of the Roman Catholic Church, and abolished the formal casta system of racial classification. Clause 12 was incorporated into the plan: "All inhabitants... without distinction of their European, African or Indian origins are citizens... with full freedom to pursue their livelihoods according to their merits and virtues." The Army of the Three Guarantees marched triumphantly into Mexico City on September 27, 1821.

Iturbide was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico by Congress. In January 1823, Guerrero, along with Nicolás Bravo, rebelled against Iturbide, returning to southern Mexico to raise rebellion, according to some assessments because their careers had been blocked by the emperor. Their stated objectives were to restore the Constituent Congress. Guerrero and Bravo were defeated by Iturbide's forces at Almolongo, now in the State of Guerrero, less than a month later. When Iturbide's imperial government collapsed in 1823, Guerrero was named one of Constituent Congress's ruling triumvirate.

1828 presidential election
Guerrero was a liberal by conviction, and active in the York Rite Masons, established in Mexico after independence by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the U.S. diplomatic representative to the newly independent Mexico. The Scottish Rite Masons had been established before independence. Following independence the Yorkinos appealed to a broad range of Mexico's populace, as opposed to the Scottish Rite Masons, who were a bulwark of conservatism, and in the absence of established political parties, rival groups of Masons functioned as political organizations. Guerrero had a large following among urban Yorkinos, who were mobilized during the 1828 election campaign and afterwards, in the ouster of the president-elect, Manuel Gómez Pedraza.

In 1828, the four-year term of the first president of the republic, Guadalupe Victoria, came to an end. Unlike the first presidential election and the president serving his full term, the election of 1828 was highly partisan. Guerrero's supporters included federalist liberals, members of the radical wing of the York Rite Freemasons. General Gómez Pedraza won the September 1828 election to succeed Guadalupe Victoria, with Guerrero coming in second and Anastasio Bustamante, third through indirect election of Mexico's state legislatures. Gómez Pedraza was the candidate of the "Impartials", composed of Yorkinos concerned about the radicalism of Guerrero and Scottish Rite Masons (Escocés), who sought a new political party. Among those who were Impartials were distinguished federalist Yorkinos Valentín Gómez Farías and Miguel Ramos Arizpe. The U.S. diplomatic representative in Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett was enthusiastic about Guerrero's candidacy, writing ""....A man who is held up as ostensible head of the party, and who will be their candidate for the next presidency, is General Guerrero, one of the most distinguished chiefs of the revolution. Guerrero is uneducated, but possesses excellent natural talents, combined with great decision of character and undaunted courage. His violent temper renders him difficult to control, and therefore I consider Zavala's presence here indispensably necessary, as he possesses great influence over the general.""

- Joel R. Poinsett, US minister for Mexico (i.e. Ambassador), about the character of Vicente Guerrero

Guerrero himself did not leave an abundant written record, but some of his speeches survive. ""A free state protects the arts, industry, science and trade; and the only prizes virtue and merit: if we want to acquire the latter, let's do it cultivating the fields, the sciences, and all that can facilitate the sustenance and entertainment of men: let's do this in such a way that we will not be a burden for the nation, just the opposite, in a way that we will satisfy her needs, helping her to support her charge and giving relief to the distraught of humanity: with this we will also achieve abundant wealth for the nation, making her prosper in all aspects.""

- Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña, Speech to his compatriots

Two weeks after the September 1 election, Antonio López de Santa Anna rose in rebellion in support of Guerrero. As governor of the strategic state of Veracruz and former general in the war of independence, Santa Anna was a powerful figure in the early republic, but he was unable to persuade the state legislature to support Guerrero in the indirect elections. Santa Anna resigned the governorship and led 800 troops loyal to him in capturing the fortress of Perote, near Xalapa. He issued a political plan there calling for the nullification of Gómez Pedraza's election and the declaration of Guerrero as president. In November 1828 in Mexico City, Guerrero supporters took control of the Accordada, a former prison transformed into an armory, and days of fighting occurred in the capital. President-elect Gómez Pedraza had not yet taken office and at this juncture he resigned and soon went into exile in England. With the resignation of the president-elect and the ineffective rule of the sitting president, civil order dissolved. On 4 December 1828, a riot broke out in the Zócalo and the Parián market, where luxury goods were sold, was looted. Order was restored within a day, but elites in the capital were alarmed at the violence of the popular classes and the huge property losses. With the resignation of Gómez Pedraza, and Guerreros's cause backed by Santa Anna's forces and the powerful liberal politician Lorenzo de Zavala, Guerrero became president. Guerrero took office as president, with Bustamante, a conservative, becoming vice president. One scholar sums up Guerrero's situation, "Guerrero owed the presidency to a mutiny and a failure of will on the part of [President] Guadalupe Victoria...Guerrero was to rule as president with only a thin layer of support."

Presidency
A liberal folk hero of the independence insurgency, Guerrero became president on 1 April 1829, with conservative Anastasio Bustamante as his vice president. For some of Guerrero's supporters, a visibly mixed-race man from Mexico's periphery becoming president of Mexico was a step toward what one 1829 pamphleteer called "the reconquest of this land by its legitimate owners" and called Guerrero "that immortal hero, favorite son of Nezahualcoyotzin", the famous ruler of prehispanic Texcoco. Some creole elites (American-born whites of Spanish heritage) were alarmed by Guerrero as president, a group that liberal Lorenzo de Zavala disparagingly called "the new Mexican aristocracy".

Guerrero set about creating a cabinet of liberals, but his government already encountered serious problems, including its very legitimacy, since president-elect Gómez Pedraza had resigned under pressure. Some traditional federalists leaders, who might have supported Guerrero, did not do so because of the electoral irregularities. The national treasury was empty and future revenues were already liened. Spain continued to deny Mexico's independence and threatened reconquest.

A key achievement of his presidency was the abolition of slavery in most of Mexico. The slave trade had already been banned by the Spanish authorities in 1818, a ban that had been reconfirmed by the nascent Mexican government in 1824. A few Mexican states had also already abolished the practice of slavery, but it was not until September 16, 1829 that abolition across almost all of the nation was proclaimed by the Guerrero administration. Slavery at this point barely existed throughout Mexico, and only the state of Coahuila y Tejas was significantly affected, due to the immigration of slaveowners from the United States. In response to pressure from Texan settlers, Guerrero exempted Texas from the decree on December 2, 1829.

Guerrero called for public schools, land title reforms, industry and trade development, and other programs of a liberal nature. As president, Guerrero championed the causes of the racially oppressed and economically oppressed. Initially, the leader of the colonization of Texas, Stephen F. Austin, proved enthusiastic towards the Mexican government. ""This is the most liberal and munificent Government on earth to emigrants – after being here one year you will oppose a change even to Uncle Sam""

- Stephen Fuller Austin, 1829, letter to his sister describing Guerrero's Government of Mexico (and Texas)

During Guerrero's presidency, the Spanish tried to reconquer Mexico but were defeated at the Battle of Tampico.

Fall and execution
Guerrero was deposed in a rebellion under Vice-President Anastasio Bustamante that began on 4 December 1829. Guerrero left the capital to fight in the south, but was deposed by the Mexico City garrison in his absence on 17 December 1829. Guerrero had returned to the region of southern Mexico where he had fought during the war of independence.

Open warfare between Guerrero and his opponent in the region Nicolás Bravo was fierce. Bravo had been a royalist officer and Guerrero was an insurgent hero. Bravo controlled the highlands of the region, including the town of Guerrero's birth, Tixtla. Guerrero had strength in the hot coastal regions of the Costa Grande and Tierra Caliente, with mixed race populations that had been mobilized during the insurgency for independence. Bravo's area had a mixed population, but politically was dominated by whites. The conflict in the south occurred for all of 1830, as conservatives consolidated power in Mexico City.

The war in the south might have continued even longer, but ended in what one historian has called "the most shocking single event in the history of the first republic: the capture of Guerrero in Acapulco through an act of betrayal and his execution a month later." Guerrero controlled Mexico's principal Pacific coast port of Acapulco. An Italian merchant ship captain, Francisco Picaluga, approached the conservative government in Mexico City with a proposal to lure Guerrero onto his ship and take him prisoner for the price of 50,000 pesos, a fortune at the time. Picaluga invited Guerrero on board for a meal on 14 January 1831. Guerrero and a few aides were taken captive and Picaluga sailed to the port of Huatulco, where Guerrero was turned over to federal troops. Guerrero was taken to Oaxaca City and summarily tried by a court-martial.

His capture was welcomed by conservatives and some state legislatures, but the legislatures of Zacatecas and Jalisco tried to prevent Guerrero's execution. The government's 50,000 peso payment to Picaluga was exposed in the liberal press. Despite pleas for his life, Guerrero was executed by firing squad in Cuilapam on 14 February 1831. His death did mark the dissolution of the rebellion in southern Mexico, but those politicians involved in his execution paid a lasting price to their reputations.

Many Mexicans saw Guerrero as the "martyr of Cuilapam" and his execution was deemed by the liberal newspaper El Federalista Mexicano "judicial murder". The two conservative cabinet members considered most culpable for Guerrero's execution, Lucas Alamán and Secretary of War José Antonio Facio, "spent the rest of their lives defending themselves from the charge that they were responsible for the ultimate betrayal in the history of the first republic, that is, that they had arranged not just for the service of Picaluga's ship but specifically for his capture of Guerrero."

Historian Jan Bazant speculates as to why Guerrero was executed rather than sent into exile, as Iturbide had been, as well as Antonio López de Santa Anna, and long-time dictator of late-nineteenth century Mexico, Porfirio Díaz. "The clue is provided by Zavala who, writing several years later, noted that Guerrero was of mixed blood and that the opposition to his presidency came from the great landowners, generals, clerics and Spaniards resident in Mexico...Guerrero's execution was perhaps a warning to men considered as socially and ethnically inferior not to dare to dream of becoming president."

Honors were conferred on surviving members of Guerrero's family, and a pension was paid to his widow. In 1842, Vicente Guerrero's remains were exhumed and returned to Mexico City for reinterment. He is known for his political discourse promoting equal civil rights for all Mexican citizens. He has been described as the "greatest man of color" to ever live.

Legacy
Guerrero is a Mexican national hero. The state of Guerrero is named in his honour. Several towns in Mexico are named in honor of this famous general, including Vicente Guerrero in Durango, Vicente Guerrero in Baja California and the Colonia Guerrero.

title: Vicente Guerrero


text:
Petra Pau

Petra Pau (born 9 August 1963) is a German politician of The Left. She has been a member of the Bundestag since 1998. Since 2006, she has also served as one of the Vice Presidents of the Bundestag, being the first member of her party to hold this office. Pau belongs to the reform-oriented wing of her party, actively supporting parliamentary representative democracy.

Political career
Pau's first involvement in politics came in 1983 when she joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED), the governing party of East Germany. She worked as a functionary for the Free German Youth as a leader of the East German pioneers. After German reunification, the SED became the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and she was elected as a PDS member to the Borough Assembly of Hellersdorf in Eastern Berlin in October 1990. She became district chairwoman of the PDS branch in Hellersdorf in October 1991, and was elected chairwoman of the Berlin PDS association in October 1992. From 2000 to 2002, she was deputy chairwoman of the federal party.

She was elected to the state parliament of Berlin in 1995, and remained a member until 1998, when she was elected to the Bundestag for the Berlin Mitte – Prenzlauer Berg constituency. Controversial boundary changes abolished this constituency and for the 2002 election, she contested Berlin-Marzahn-Hellersdorf, regarded as a safe seat for the PDS. She was elected for that constituency and became one of only two members of the Bundestag for her party, which fell below the 5% electoral threshold. The new Left party regained proportional representation in 2005, in part due to Pau being reelected in Marzahn-Hellersdorf and the Left winning two other constituency seats. A party that wins at least three constituency seats qualifies for proportional representation even if it falls below the threshold.

Pau retained the constituency in 2009, 2013, and 2017, but was defeated in 2021 by CDU candidate Mario Czaja. She nonetheless reentered the Bundestag on the Left party list.

After the 2005 federal election, the Left group offered Lothar Bisky as their candidate for Vice President of the Bundestag, but he failed to win a majority after four rounds of voting. They subsequently put forward Pau, who was elected on the first ballot. She has been reelected as Vice President in each subsequent term. Since the 2013 term, she has been the longest-serving Vice President.

Speaking of her upbringing, Pau said: "Of course my past is typical for someone who grew up in the GDR. I was a teacher and Pioneer leader in East Berlin. It is my past which drives me today in my commitment to a democratic society, and I reject any suggestion that this is not the case or even possible." In her capacity as Vice President, she seeks to be impartial but not apolitical, and champions civil rights and democracy.

Literature

 * Michael F. Feldkamp (ed.), Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt – Funktion – Person. 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-7892-8201-0

title: Petra Pau