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Cast (band)

Cast is an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 1992 by John Power (vocals, guitar) and Peter Wilkinson (bass, backing vocals) after Power left The La's and Wilkinson's former band Shack had split. Following early line-ups with different guitarists and drummers, Liam "Skin" Tyson (guitar) and Keith O'Neill (drums) joined Cast in 1993.

Emerging from the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s, Cast signed to Polydor Records and their debut album All Change (1995) became the highest selling debut album for the label. Further commercial success continued with the albums Mother Nature Calls (1997) and Magic Hour (1999), however a departure in sound on the band's fourth album Beetroot (2001) was met by a poor critical and commercial reaction and contributed to the band's split two weeks after its release.

The band re-formed in November 2010 and released their fifth album Troubled Times in November 2011. Bassist Peter Wilkinson confirmed his departure from the band in March 2015, after abruptly leaving a previous tour in December 2014. He was replaced on that tour and in the band by Power's frequent collaborator Jay Lewis, who would also feature on their sixth album Kicking Up the Dust, which was released on 21 April 2017. The band would later officially become a trio of Power, Tyson and O'Neill – with Lewis reverting back to touring bassist – during the recording of their seventh album, 2024's Love Is the Call.

Noel Gallagher of Oasis described watching the band live as being like a "religious experience" and they were labelled "The Who of the 90s". It has been suggested that the name "Cast" was taken from the final word on The La's eponymous album (the song "Looking Glass" ends with the repeated line "The change is cast"); John Power has since confirmed this to be true, despite previously playing the link down to coincidence.

1992–1994: formation and early years
John Power was previously the bass player, backing vocalist and only constant member along with Lee Mavers in The La's. He left the band on 13 December 1991 after becoming frustrated with the ever-increasing number of aborted studio sessions, having played essentially the same set of songs since 1986 and emerging as a songwriter in his own right. Power later commented that by that point he was more interested in his own songs "than anyone else’s".

Having switched from bass to rhythm guitar whilst residing at Brucklay House – a near derelict squat in Mossley Hill, where the seeds of legendary dance label 3 Beat Records were sown, Power began jamming with friends and with an ever-changing line-up began to form Cast. The first addition to the band was ex-Shack bassist Peter Wilkinson who had seen Power performing acoustically at a free festival in Liverpool, and who Power had seen around town.". Embryonic lineups of the band, featuring several guitarists including the legendary Ged Malley, ex-La's members Barry Sutton and Cammy and drummer Russell Brady started gigging in mid 1992 and supported the likes of Pele and The Stairs. Power would later state that he was never happy with these lineups. Unhappy with the band and the demos recorded with Who sound engineer Bob Pridden, he split the band up and extricated himself from his Go! Discs contract in Summer 1993, with whom he was still signed to following his departure from The La's and set about forming a new lineup with Wilkinson.

The first new member to be recruited was Keith O'Neill who had previously played in The Empty Hours, The Windmills and Tommy Scott's pre-Space band The Australians and who Power had seen playing in local band The Windmills, fronted by Howie Payne later of The Stands and then guitarist Liam 'Skin' Tyson, who Wilkinson knew from college and had previously played in Pyramid Dream. When approached to join the band, Tyson initially declined as he had sold all of his musical equipment to teach canoeing at an outdoor centre in Alston in Cumbria. Tyson, who witnessed one of the band's early London shows and commented that "John had these songs, but not the band", joined the band in November 1993 and the new lineup played their first gig in Hull in January 1994. Within months the band secured high-profile support slots with Elvis Costello on two UK tours, including 2 nights at the Royal Albert Hall and Oasis. It was during the tour with Oasis that Polydor head of A&R Paul Adam, surprised that the band had not already been snapped up, approached the band to sign them. The band signed to Polydor on 13 December 1994, three years to the day that Power left The La's.

1995–1998: record deal and success
The band released their debut single "Finetime" in July 1995, which went straight in at No. 17. The follow-up single "Alright", a song originally written and performed a handful of times whilst still in The La's under the original title "Fly On" became the band's first Top 15 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 13 in the singles chart.

The band's debut album All Change, released October 1995 was produced by John Leckie who had previously worked with The Stone Roses and The Verve and had also previously worked with Power in The La's. The album shot to No. 7 in the UK charts, reaching double platinum and went on to become the fastest selling debut album in the history of the Polydor label, outselling the likes of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who and The Jam. A further two singles were taken from the album in "Sandstorm" (#8) and "Walkaway" (#9), both top ten hits.

A stand-alone single was released in October 1996 titled "Flying", which reached No. 4 on the UK singles chart, giving the band their highest chart position in the UK yet.

With their second album Mother Nature Calls, released April 1997 the "rockier material was now sounding looser and cockier in a Stonesy or Faces-ish way and the moodier tracks awash with melancholic atmosphere". The band worked again with John Leckie. The album peaked at No. 3, reaching platinum and stayed in the Top 40 for over 6 months. The album spawned three top ten hits in "Free Me" (#7), "Guiding Star" (#9), "Live the Dream" (#7) and one top twenty hit with the 4th single from the album "I'm So Lonely" (#14), a ballad written during a period of bleak loneliness in a Japanese hotel room. Power revealed that the album title was supposed to be tongue in cheek, because Mother Nature is always calling because of man's mortality, but also because he was on the toilet at the time he came up with the name. Although The Daily Telegraph proclaimed "Employing the spiritual terms of Power's lyrics, Cast may be the perfect Taoist band. They don't seem to try. Cast just are.", the album received largely mixed reviews in the press, Power later blamed this on the fact that it was more of a slow burner than the more instant All Change and claimed that a number of critics later told him that repeated listens had changed their perceptions of the album.

1999–2001: Post-Britpop and split
By the time the band set to work on their third album, Magic Hour, released May 1999 the Britpop movement was faltering – a number of Cast's contemporaries, such as Kula Shaker and The Seahorses had disbanded, Suede and Mansun were experiencing a drop in record sales from their previous efforts and label mates Shed Seven and Medal had been dropped by Polydor. Amid the changing musical climate, the band enlisted Gil Norton who had previously produced The Pixies and the band moved towards a heavier riff based sound. Power described the album as "21st century rock'n'roll" and "Walt Disney doing Quadrophenia".

The first single from "Magic Hour" was "Beat Mama", with the band using loops and samples on the record for the first to give the material a more modern feel, Power described the song as "a call to everyone, a beat for everyone to move to, like the old Kia-Ora advert with the dog and the crows". The song became the band's last top ten hit, peaking at No. 9. In a chart now awash with teen pop the album shot to No. 6. A second and final single was taken from the album "Magic Hour", which stalled at No. 28. Momentum was lost due to a lack of touring and Power also later criticised the choice of single, suggesting the band should have gone with something more uptempo. A planned third single was scrapped after disagreements between the band and label. Following the release and short lived promotion of the album, Power stated that he believed with three albums under Cast's belt that a chapter had finished.

Power began writing in early 2000 for the follow-up, Beetroot, released July 2001. Although the band were initially set to work with John Leckie, Power met producer and programmer Tristin Norwell who he was interested in working with, as he was "up on now, the sounds of now and someone who I can talk to with an acoustic". The pair worked on the album together for 3 months before moving to another studio, where other members of the band contributed. Bassist Peter Wilkinson was not present for much of the recording due to the birth of his son, guitarist Skin Tyson mostly featured only as rhythm guitarist and most of the drums were cut up and looped. The album was based largely on loops and featured heavy use of horns and flutes and deliberately moved away from the bands guitar sound, as Power claimed the band "wanted to come back with something that feels fresh and enticing", describing the material as being groovier and talked of having a desire of "combining this sort of Marley and funkadelic stuff or Sly and the Family that I’ll get into as much as I get into Townshend and Lennon".

Only one single was released from the album, "Desert Drought" which stalled at No. 45 in the charts. The album fared worse, crawling to No. 78. Following the cancellation of a planned UK Autumn tour due to "internal band circumstances", Cast split in August 2001 just one month after the release of the album. It had been rumoured in the UK tabloid press that the band had been dropped by Polydor and that Power had walked out of the band. However, a spokesman for the band at the time denied the band were splitting, that they were merely taking time out to work on solo projects. John Power released a statement to deny any rifts in the band and that this was "just the beginning of a new musical chapter", but would later admit that there were many internal differences in the band by the end, that “some of the band didn’t like it (the album Beetroot) and looking back, it should have been a solo album" and that half of the band didn't want to be involved any more. In 2013, Power admitted that the album was "still a slight bone of contention with the rest of the band. They’ve never got over it".

Power revealed that "when Cast split, it was the same as when The La's fell apart. You pretend everything is okay, but it's not. I was really down, really depressed".

2001–2009: After split
Following the split, John Power released a solo album entitled Happening For Love in 2003 through Eagle Rock Entertainment and 2 further solo albums more in the acoustic folk vein through Tanuki Tanuki, a label set up by former La's A&R man and his then manager Jona Cox. He has toured regularly as The John Power Band (which has featured Steve Pilgrim of The Stands and Jay Lewis and Nick Miniski of the 2005 lineup of The La's) as well as performing solo acoustic shows. In 2005, Power played a series of gigs with newly re-formed The La's. The band didn't showcase any new material and have not been heard from again.

Peter Wilkinson, along with the band's live keyboardist Paul Ellison joined Echo & The Bunnymen and appeared on the 2005 album Siberia before leaving shortly after to rejoin the re-formed Shack. In 2002 he released a solo album via The Viper Label under the guise of Aviator with help from O'Neill, Paul Ellison and former La's guitarist Paul Hemmings. In 2003 Wilkinson and O'Neill briefly joined Kealer with Manchester singer-songwriter Jason Kelly and then set to work with ex-Stairs guitarist Carl Cook on a follow-up to the first Aviator album in early 2004 which was seemingly shelved. He then formed the short lived DC-10. Wilkinson has also recorded and toured with a number of other artists including Ian McCulloch and The Hours and more recently has started composing music for TV commercials.

Keith O'Neill, following stints with Aviator and Kealer went on to work as part of the management team at Deltasonic Records before going on to work as a tour and production manager with bands such as the now-defunct Liverpool band Dead 60s, Babyshambles, Art Garfunkel, Lostprophets. and Foals.

Liam Tyson joined Robert Plant's band, Strange Sensation in early 2002, touring Plant's album Dreamland before appearing on and co-writing the follow-up Mighty ReArranger. He then set about working on his Men From Mars project in 2004, originally set to feature Wilkinson and O'Neill, with others members of Strange Sensation.

2010–present: reunion
Power undertook a "Cast Acoustic Show" tour in June 2010, where he played a set of Cast songs along with new tracks written over the past year for a potential new Cast album. On 22 June, it was officially announced by NME that the band were to re-form, with plans to work on new material. The band toured the UK in November and December to mark the 15th anniversary of All Change. A deluxe edition of All Change was released on 25 October that year, to tie in with the re-union and 15th anniversary of the album, containing the original album re-mastered plus b-sides, outtakes, demos and live recordings.

On 6 November, John Power appeared on British TV show Soccer AM, and stated that Cast would be starting work on a new album in early 2011, and that it would be released via Pledgemusic.

Cast released their fifth studio album, Troubled Times, produced by John Leckie, initially as a download to pledgers through Pledgemusic on 2 November 2011, with a physical release in March 2012. The album featured drummer Steve Pilgrim, who also completed a short tour with the band in December 2011, due to O'Neill unable to take part in recording and touring due to work commitments as a tour manager. In response to a fan's query on Twitter, he stated that a tour in early 2012 should feature the original line-up unless he is "called upon by a major client".

The band released new song Baby Blue Eyes as a free download on 13 November 2014 from an as yet unrecorded and untitled album due for release in 2015. The band embarked on a UK tour in December 2014, with Steve Pilgrim once again filling in on drums for Keith O'Neill. Peter Wilkinson abruptly left the tour after the first night of the tour in Hull due to "personal reasons", and was replaced the following night by former La's guitarist Jay Lewis. O'Neill re-joined the band on the tour on 14 December, following the cancellation of the remainder of Johnny Marr's US tour which he was tour managing. During the tour, Power commented that Wilkinson "won't be back for a while he has some personal issues".

In March 2015, Wilkinson confirmed he had left the band and therefore wouldn't be working on their forthcoming album or touring with the band, stating that "without going into too much detail, I don't really want to do it any more" and added that "they play the same set we were playing twenty years ago and I just thought "I can't do that any more - I can't engage with it". Power responded, stating that "we can all breathe easier in the knowledge that all those moments of second guessing and all them feelings of negativity. The toxic and uncreative atmosphere where everyone was feeling something's not quite right were indeed actually quite right. So the weight of carting a problem from room to room has been lifted and Pete can liberate himself and liberate the rest of us from what was becoming a drag and we can get on with being a band and recording new material as opposed to trying placate someone whose body language was telling us something right from the off and that was Pete had bigger issues to deal with other than dealing with Cast."

Despite Wilkinson's departure from Cast, he would still involve his former band-mates in his project Aviator, with O'Neill on drums for live shows and Tyson contributing guitar on "The Gift". In May 2017, Wilkinson also tweeted that he had spent a couple of hours with Power, and Power confirmed the amicable nature of their encounter. Meanwhile, Cast resumed recording and touring with Jay Lewis as a full member of the band, with Power crediting Lewis as helping the band regain its creativity.

In November 2015, the band set up a Pledge Music campaign to fund the recording of their next studio album which was due for release in April 2016. The same year, the band signed to Creation Management, the newly formed music management company run by Alan McGee and Simon Fletcher. The album was delayed due to scheduling conflicts and continued work in the studio, and the band's sixth studio album Kicking Up the Dust was eventually released 21 April 2017. A band member had incorrectly claimed the main reason for the delay was that they had signed a major label record deal with Warner Music Group, but in fact they had self-financed the distribution of the album using Warners owned distribution network Alternative Distribution Alliance and remain unsigned.

Due to Tyson's touring commitments with Robert Plant to promote the latter's latest album Carry Fire (which includes several songs co-written by Tyson), he was unable to participate in Cast's UK shows from late November to mid-December 2017. In his absence, Lewis switched from bass to lead guitar, and filling in on bass was Martyn Campbell, best known as a member of The Lightning Seeds and a close friend of O'Neill's who had toured together with the drummer as part of Kealer's backing band. Campbell had also played bass on Power's debut solo album Happening for Love and on Richard Ashcroft albums. After fulfilling his duties with Robert Plant, Tyson returned to Cast halfway through their tour, in which they were the opening act for Shed Seven.

On 2 May 2018, Cast announced the November release of the compilation Singles 1995-2017, coinciding with a month-long, 13-date Greatest Hits Tour across the UK from 23 November to 22 December.

On 30 January 2020, Cast announced that they would be embarking on a UK tour that October to mark the 25th anniversary of their debut album All Change. The tour was postponed to April-May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but finally went ahead after being rescheduled yet again to January and February 2022.

Meanwhile, John Power spent 2021 writing a new album that he described as "may well be Cast's last ever album". Produced by Youth with work concluding in 2023, the band recorded the album as a three-piece of Power, Liam Tyson and Keith O'Neill, with Power playing bass on an album for the first time since he was in The La's.

Following the completion of the album, John Power embarked on a October-November 2023 UK solo tour in which he performed a couple of songs from the new record, and on 28 October Cast released the title track and first single from their album Love Is the Call that Power described as feeling like "a missing link" between his time in The La's and Cast's debut album All Change. Second single "Love You Like I Do" followed on 5 December along with the confirmation of a 16 February 2024 release date for the album Love Is the Call, a February UK in-store tour and a March UK headlining tour. Cast were also confirmed as a support act for Liam Gallagher's June 2024 tour of UK and Ireland to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his former band Oasis' debut album Definitely Maybe. "Faraway", the third single from Love Is the Call, was released on 5 January 2024.

Current

 * John Power – vocals, guitar (1992–2001, 2010–present), bass (2022-present)
 * Liam "Skin" Tyson – guitar, backing vocals (1993–2001, 2010–present)
 * Keith O'Neill – drums (1993–2001, 2010–present)

Live members

 * Jay Lewis – bass, backing vocals (2014, 2023–present), guitar (2017)
 * Martyn Campbell – bass (2017, 2024–present)

Former members

 * Ged Malley – guitar (1992)
 * Barry Sutton – guitar (1992)
 * Peter "Cammy" Cammell – guitar (1993)
 * Russell Brady – drums (1992–1993)
 * Peter Wilkinson – bass, backing vocals (1992–2001, 2010–2014)
 * Jay Lewis – bass, backing vocals (2015–2023)

Former touring members

 * Paul Ellison – keyboards
 * Steve Pilgrim – drums (2011–2012, 2014)

Compilation albums

 * The Collection (2004)
 * The Complete BBC Sessions (2007)
 * Singles 1995–2017 (2018)

title: Cast (band)


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Bis (Scottish band)

Bis (, stylised in all lowercase ) are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark (Sci-Fi Steven), John Clark (John Disco), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin), formed in 1994. The band's name, rhyming with 'this', derives from "black iron skyline", a lyric from the song "Twilight of a Champion" by The The.

After releasing numerous EPs and three studio albums, The New Transistor Heroes (1997), Social Dancing (1999), and Return To Central (2001), the band broke up in 2003, but re-formed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts. In 2009, they re-formed again and released the album data Panik etcetera (2014).

In 2019, the band's lineup returned to the original core three-piece and released the album Slight Disconnects. In 2021, the band self-released Low Level (A Return To Central Travel Companion), a CD consisting of previously unreleased material recorded during the Return To Central sessions. In October 2022, Systems Music For Home Defence was released, which Sci-Fi Steven has described as the band's "rave" album.

1994–1997: Formation and early history
The three musicians formed Bis in late 1994 while Rin and Disco were in secondary school, Woodfarm High School, and Steven who had recently finished there. After releasing their first singles Transmissions On The Teen-C Tip! and Disco Nation 45 the following year, they appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops in 1996 performing "Kandy Pop" from their The Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP ahead of its release. Bis were the first unsigned band performed on Top of the Pops. "Kandy Pop" came 49th in a reader poll of the "50 Greatest Britpop Songs Ever" by NME.

Bis released a number of EPs (The Secret Vampire Soundtrack, Bis vs. The D.I.Y Corps, Atom-Powered Action! and This Is Teen-C Power!), three of which entered the UK Singles Chart in 1996, followed by several singles between 1997 and 1999. They contributed a song to the Gary Numan tribute album Random in 1997. Two of the band's early releases (Disco Nation 45 and The Secret Vampire Soundtrack) were on Glasgow's Chemikal Underground label, run by the Delgados, and the band released one EP (Bis Vs. The D.I.Y Corps) on their own Teen-C Recordings label, before they transferred to Wiiija where labelmates included Cornershop. In the United States, their records appeared on the underground label K Records, and on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label.

They toured extensively both in the UK and abroad, their diverse influences reflected in the kinds of acts they appeared with; Foo Fighters, Garbage, Luscious Jackson, Gary Numan, and Pavement amongst them. The group became a favourite of the likes of Blur, John Peel and Green Day, despite a particularly hostile review by Steven Wells in the New Musical Express entitled "The Sinking of the Bis Lark".

Sleeve artwork for the band's early releases featured a consistent "cut’n’paste" visual aesthetic and typewritten text in line with the band's interests in zine culture, DIY and punk. The band produced the fanzines Funky Spunk and Paper Bullets and advertised these in record liner notes. Manda Rin's manga-influenced artwork adorned early record sleeves contributing to a defiantly "twee" and self-consciously "cute" aesthetic.

The band was heavily influenced by the approach of cult punk band The Nation Of Ulysses. Liner notes often made reference to "The Teen-C Tip" and outlined the band's vision for a "Teen-C Revolution" involving various factions in the Bis canon such as the "Disco Nation", "Secret Vampires", "Atom-Powered Action Gang", "Icky-Poo Air Raiderz", "Sweet Shop Avengerz", "New Transistor Heroes" and the "D.I.Y Corps". The Teen-C Revolution (and its adherents, the "Teen-C Nation") effectively advocated for self-empowerment, independence and perpetual adolescence (as well as the right to enjoy both disco and punk) - in part it was an embrace of "deceptively dangerous" cuteness, the positive energy of youthful exuberance, a knee-jerk rejection of enforced maturity and the dour responsibilities of adulthood, and a rallying cry against blandness, normality and "yr geetarawk".

Songs that directly mention Teen-C include "Teen-C Power", "Team Theme", "Tell It To The Kids", "Sweet Shop Avengerz", "Rebel Soul", "Ninja Hi Skool" and "Cliquesuck".

1997–2003: Rise to fame and breakup
From 1997 to 2001, Bis released three mainstream albums: The New Transistor Heroes (1997), Social Dancing (1999), and Return to Central (2001). A compilation of non-album tracks entitled Intendo was released in 1998. That same year Manda Rin contributed vocals to the J Church album Cat Food. The band enjoyed a period of success in Japan, selling nearly 100,000 copies of their debut album in its first week of release, but future releases failed to match its success in Japan. The single "Eurodisco", from Social Dancing, became a minor success for the band in Australia as well as the UK. Their single "Detour" was also given some radio airplay in the U.S. and was included in the 2000 film Bring It On. The six-track EP Music For A Stranger World was released in 2000 and featured increasing electronic elements which would later become more prominent on Return To Central. Also in 2000, Sci-Fi Steven (adopting the pseudonym "Marco Stiletto") formed the duo Italian Electro with partner "Angelino Vampyro" - Catmobile Records released their sole output (the track "Don’t Come Back Alone") that year on a split 7-inch with Kumari.

Bis gained some American popularity in 1998, when they recorded the closing credits theme to the animated series The Powerpuff Girls. They also did a punk version of the theme for 2002's The Powerpuff Girls Movie. The four-song EP Fukd I.D. #5 was released in 2001 through Chemikal Underground. Bis contributed a remix of their song "Statement of Intent" to the 2002 game Jet Set Radio Future. The four-song 12-inch EP Fact 2002 paying tribute to Factory Records was released in 2002 through Optimo Singles Club and featured cover versions of Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio and Section 25. The band broke up in March 2003, after playing a farewell show at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut.

2003–2009: Solo projects
The band members remained active in the local music scene. Steven and John Disco produced music together as the duo Dirty Hospital (releasing multiple 12-inchs on their own label Rottenrow Records) and Rin acted as a DJ. Disco (with Ally Christie) formed Kempston, Protek & Fuller who released the 12-inch Fukd I.D. #8 - 12k Boost Boost in 2003 on Chemikal Underground. Rin was also in a duo called The Kitchen with Ryan Seagrist of Discount (debut album Foreign Objects released on Damaged Goods in 2004), whilst Disco joined the ska band, The Amphetameanies, which included members of Belle & Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand and Pink Kross. Also in 2004 Rin contributed vocals to the album I Met The Music by Meister.

In 2005, the band announced on the official Bis website that together they had formed a new band called data Panik, with Stuart Memo on bass and drummer Graham Christie. After releasing two 7-inch singles, however, this band split up. Also in 2005, Bis performed in animated form on the CBBC children's cartoon BB3B.

In 2006, Rin was working on solo material. The following year, she teamed up with the Scottish electro-pop outfit Juno!, and has collaborated on their independently released singles, "Smoke & Mirrors" and "These Boys Are Athletes", as well as regularly appearing live with the band, most recently at the Rock Ness 2008 Festival.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the release of their debut album The New Transistor Heroes, Bis reformed in April 2007 for three shows in Glasgow, Manchester, and London. A greatest hits compilation, titled We Are Bis from Glasgow, Scotland, was released on compact disc to coincide with these shows.

In August 2008, Rin released the solo single "DNA", which she followed up with the release of her debut album, My DNA with This Is Fake DIY in September 2008.

In 2009, Disco (using the moniker John Hospital) released a digital-only solo EP The Truant on Pest Control Records.

2009–2017: Reunion to Data Panik Etcetera
In November 2009, Rin announced that the band would reform to play at the Primavera Festival in May 2010, returning this time with a bassist and drummer, former data Panik members, Stuart Memo and Graham Christie, respectively.

Rin made two guest appearances on the BBC music quiz programme Never Mind the Buzzcocks (on 18 November 2010 and 19 January 2011). She also teamed up with Hyperbubble on a track for their 2011 album Drastic Cinematic. Rin would go on to work with Hyperbubble again on the 2013 EP Hyperbubble + Manda Rin. Around 2011 John Disco began releasing solo electronic material under the moniker Debukas, with his debut solo LP I Am Machinery appearing in 2013 on the label 20:20 Vision.

In 2013, Rin contributed lead vocals to the track "Crack On, Have A Booze" which appeared on the album Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear by punk rock/oi! band Hard Skin.

In February 2014, Bis announced they would release their fourth album, data Panik etcetera, on 15 May on Rough Trade Records. The album was made available for streaming at NME on 28 April.

The same year, the band's first three albums were re-released as double CD deluxe editions by the Do Yourself In label.

In 2014, Rin provided the artwork for an iPhone game called "All Fridges Are Psychotic".

In 2015, Sci-Fi Steven began releasing solo material under the moniker Batteries with Do Yourself In Records releasing the self-titled debut album Batteries in 2015 and sophomore album The Finishing Line in 2016.

2017–present: Slight Disconnects, Systems Music For Home Defence and beyond
In October 2017, the band announced that they were working on their fifth album. Slight Disconnects was released in February 2019 on Last Night From Glasgow. They also returned to a three piece with only Manda, John and Steven being in the lineup.

In 2020, Last Night From Glasgow released Music For Animations, an archival album consisting of the music recorded for the CBBC kids cartoon BB3B.

In 2021, the band self-released a cassette-only live album The Fan Club Tapes Vol. 1 - Live In Toulouse 1997 and Komponist released Low Level (A Return To Central Travel Companion) - a collection of previously unreleased material recorded parallel to Return To Central.

In October 2022, the album Systems Music For Home Defence was released on Last Night From Glasgow.

Members

 * Manda Rin – vocals, keyboards, drums (1994–2003; 2007; 2009–present)
 * Sci-Fi Steven – vocals, guitar, keyboards (1994–2003; 2007; 2009–present)
 * John Disco – vocals, guitar, bass guitar (1994–2003; 2007; 2009–present)
 * Stuart Memo – bass guitar (2009–2014)
 * Graham Christie – drums (2009–2014)

Live albums

 * Play Some Real Songs: A Bis Live CD (2001, only sold through the Bis website)
 * The Fan Club Tapes Vol. 1 - Live In Toulouse 1997 (2021, self-released, cassette only, limited to 100 copies)

Compilation albums

 * Icky-Poo Air Raid (1997, Rock)
 * Intendo (1998, Grand Royal)
 * I Love Bis (2001, EMI)
 * Plastique Nouveau (2002, spinART)
 * We Are Bis from Glasgow, Scotland (2007, Cherry Red)
 * The Anthology - 20 Years of Antiseptic Poetry (2014, Do Yourself In Records)
 * Low Level (A Return To Central Travel Companion) (2021, Komponist)

Soundtrack albums

 * Music For Animations (2020, Last Night From Glasgow)

Extended plays

 * Transmissions on the Teen-C Tip! (1995, Acuarela)
 * Disco Nation 45 (1995, Chemikal Underground)
 * The Secret Vampire Soundtrack (1996, Chemikal Underground) UK No. 25, SCO No. 16
 * Bis vs. the D.I.Y. Corps (1996, teen-c recordings) UK No. 45, SCO No. 47
 * Atom-Powered Action! (1996, Wiiija) UK No. 54, SCO No. 29
 * This Is Teen-C Power! (1996, Grand Royal)
 * Techno Disco Lovers (1999, V2 & PIAS)
 * Music for a Stranger World (2000, Wiiija, Lookout! & V2)
 * fukd ID No. 5 (2001, Chemikal Underground)
 * Fact 2002 (2001, Optimo Singles Club and Other Related Recordings)
 * Plastique 33 (2002, spinART)
 * Mechanical Love (2014, Do Yourself In Records)
 * You Wrecked My Christmas (2017, Last Night From Glasgow, Snowflake)
 * John Peel Session 14.10.95 (2023, Precious Recordings Of London)
 * John Peel Session 16.06.96 (2023, Precious Recordings Of London)

Singles

 * "Sweet Shop Avengerz" (1997, Tristar/Sony) – (1997, Wiiija) UK No. 46, SCO No. 37
 * "Everybody Thinks That They're Going to Get Theirs" (1997, Wiiija & Shock) – (1997, Tristar/Sony) UK No. 64, SCO No. 56
 * "Tell It to the Kids" (1997, Sony Japan)
 * "Kid Cut (Demo Version)" (1997) (One-sided 7-inch single given out at gigs in Glasgow and London)
 * "Eurodisco" (1998, Wiiija, Grand Royal/Capitol) UK No. 37, AUS No. 54, BE No. 41, SCO No. 27
 * "Action and Drama" (1999, Wiiija, Shock) UK No. 50, SCO No. 45
 * "Detour" (1999, Wiiija & Grand Royal) UK No. 80, SCO No. 72
 * "What You're Afraid Of" (2001, spinART)
 * "Protection" (2001, Tilt)
 * "The End Starts Today" (2002, Artful)
 * "Rulers and the States" (2014, Rough Trade)
 * "Keep Your Darkness" (2014, Do Yourself In Records)
 * "Minimum Wage" (2014, Do Yourself In Records)
 * "Twilight Cafe" (2014, Do Yourself In Records)

Split singles

 * Ché Trading Limited Presents… Bis and The Golden Mile versus The Delgados and Merzbow 2×7″: "In Stealth" – The Golden Mile b/w "I’ve Only Just Started To Breathe" – The Delgados and "Icky-Poo Air Raid" – Bis b/w "Iro Moyo" – Merzbow (1995, Ché Trading)
 * "Trophy Girlfriend" – Heavenly b/w "Keroleen" – Bis (1996, K)
 * "Pop Song" / "Clockwork Punk" – Bis b/w "Rococo Neggro" / "Harrap Ageing Fast" – Lugworm (1997, Guided Missile)
 * "Signal in the Sky (Let's Go)" – The Apples in Stereo b/w "The Powerpuff Girls (End Theme)" – Bis (2000, Kid Rhino)
 * "Minimum Wage" – Bis b/w "Hair Metal Shame" – Ghosts of Dead Airplanes (2014, Do Yourself In Records)
 * "Boredom Could Be Good For You" – Bis b/w "Tear It Up And Start Again" – Big Zero (2016, Do Yourself In Records)

Various artist compilations

 * Disco Sucks (1996, Ché Trading) – "Icky-Poo Air Raid"
 * Songs About Plucking (1996, Fierce Panda) – "Super James"
 * The Smiths Is Dead (1996, Small Records) – "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side"
 * Casper: A Spirited Beginning: The Soundtrack (1997, EMI-Capitol) – "Kandy Pop"
 * Random (1997, Beggars Banquet) – "We Are So Fragile"
 * Uproar - 17 Indie Essentials (1998, BBC Radio 1/MCI) – "Kill Yr Boyfriend (Live)"
 * At Home with the Groovebox (2000, Grand Royal) – "Oh My"
 * The Powerpuff Girls – Heroes and Villains (2000, Rhino Entertainment) – "Fight the Power" and "The Powerpuff Girls (End Theme)"
 * The Powerpuff Girls – The City of Soundsville (2001, Rhino Entertainment) – "Super Secret City of Soundsville Song"
 * The Powerpuff Girls – Power Pop (2003, Rhino Entertainment) – "Powerpunk End Theme"
 * Last Night From Glasgow Isolation Sessions - March and April 2020 (2020, Last Night From Glasgow) – "Dial Up Internet Is The Purest Internet"

Music videos

 * "Kandy Pop" (1996)
 * "This Is Fake D.I.Y" (1996)
 * "Starbright Boy" (1997)
 * "Sweet Shop Avengerz" (1997)
 * "Tell it to the Kids" (1997)
 * "Everybody Thinks That They're Going to Get Theirs" (1997)
 * "Eurodisco" (1998)
 * "Action and Drama" (1999)
 * "Detour" (1999)
 * "The End Starts Today (Single Edit)" (2001)
 * "Sound Of A Heartbreak" (2019)
 * "There Is No Point (Other Than The Point That There Is No Point)" (2019)
 * "Lucky Night" (2022)

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

title: Bis (Scottish band)


text:
Paul Heaton

Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962) is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and main lyricist of The Housemartins, who had commercial success in the UK and other European countries between 1985 and 1988 with several singles including "Happy Hour" and the UK number one single "Caravan of Love" in 1986, before the band disbanded in 1988. Heaton then formed The Beautiful South with The Housemartins' drummer Dave Hemingway in 1988, and the band's debut single (Song for Whoever) and debut album (Welcome to the Beautiful South) were released in 1989 to commercial success. They had a series of hits throughout the 1990s, including the number-one single "A Little Time". They disbanded in 2007. He subsequently pursued a solo career, which produced three albums, and in 2014 he released What Have We Become?, a collaboration with former Beautiful South vocalist Jacqui Abbott. As of 2022, he has recorded four more albums with her: Wisdom, Laughter and Lines in 2015, Crooked Calypso in 2017, Manchester Calling in 2020 and N.K-Pop in 2022. Heaton performed at Glastonbury on 28th June 2024 with backing singer Rianne Downey. Earlier in June, it was announced on Heaton's homepage and on Heaton's official account on Twitter (@PaulHeatonSolo) that a new album, "The Mighty Several" (produced by Ian Broudie) will be released on Friday 11 October 2024.

British newspaper The Guardian has described Heaton as "one of our finest songwriters: his music reveals an exuberant ear for melody, his lyrics a keen eye and a brilliant wit". AllMusic said: "The warm, mellifluous voice of Paul Heaton often masks the jagged satirical content of his lyrics."

Early life
Paul David Heaton was born in Bromborough, Cheshire, on 9 May 1962 to parents Doris and Horace Heaton. Heaton has two older brothers Mark Heaton and Adrian Heaton. At the age of four his family relocated to Sheffield. While living in Sheffield, Heaton became interested in football, and while his elder brothers elected to watch Sheffield Wednesday, Heaton chose to support Sheffield United. After moving to Sheffield, Heaton's father took a job in management and Heaton described his childhood as being "fairly middle class, although you wouldn't know it given the schools I went to and the friends I had".

After a childhood in Sheffield, Heaton moved to Chipstead, Surrey during his adolescent years, an early life Heaton described as "bred in Sheffield, fed in Surrey". Whilst in Surrey he, with his brother Adrian, formed their first band "Tools Down" with friends John Box and Stuart Mair. After leaving Surrey, Heaton spent time hitch-hiking around Europe before moving to Hull in 1983, where he formed the Housemartins. Heaton also lived in Leeds for a year.

Throughout his childhood, Heaton's main interest was football, and he regularly attended Sheffield United games. Heaton played over 700 competitive games at junior and amateur level, often insisting on driving back from gigs on a Friday or Saturday night to attend his Saturday and Sunday matches.

The Housemartins
Heaton, then billing himself as P.d. Heaton, formed the Housemartins in the early 1980s. This band featured Stan Cullimore on guitar, Ted Key on bass and Hugh Whitaker on drums. Shortly afterwards Key left the band and was replaced with Norman Cook. The Housemartins released a number of singles and two studio albums, London 0 Hull 4 and The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death. Their most popular hit was an a cappella cover version of "Caravan of Love" (originally by Isley-Jasper-Isley), which reached number 1 on 16 December 1986, their only number 1 hit in the UK. For the second album Hugh Whitaker was replaced with Dave Hemingway on drums. Shortly afterwards the Housemartins split up.

The Housemartins' lyrics were a mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity (the inner sleeve of London 0 Hull 4 contained the mantra "Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope").

The Beautiful South
In 1988, Heaton formed the Beautiful South. The initial lineup consisted of Heaton, Dave Rotheray on lead guitar, former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch on bass, David Stead on drums and Housemartins former drummer Dave Hemingway, now in the role of joint lead singer and frontman. The writing partnership of Heaton and Rotheray proved very successful. The Beautiful South released two top ten singles, "Song for Whoever" and "You Keep It All In"; the latter featured Irish singer Briana Corrigan on vocals. In 1989, the band released an album, Welcome to the Beautiful South. The band's biggest success to date is the single "A Little Time", released in 1990; it reached number 1 on the UK chart.

The band went on to release eight more albums, including two (1996's Blue Is the Colour and 1998's Quench) that reached the number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, as well as releasing the best-of compilation Carry on up the Charts, which also reached number 1 and achieved platinum status, before the band split up.

After a band meeting on 30 January 2007, they decided to split. They released a statement on 31 January, in which their reasons for splitting were "musical similarities". On an interview with BBC Breakfast in July 2008, Heaton clarified this by saying that the Beautiful South had made similar-sounding albums for the past ten years.

Solo albums
In 2001, Heaton released a solo album using the persona of Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman). This double name, including the parenthetical a.k.a., was the official project name on all early releases.

The solo album, called Fat Chance, was not a commercial success, peaking at number 95 for one week on the UK albums chart. Also, "Mitch", the lone single credited to Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman), reached only number 75 in the UK Singles Chart.

In an attempt to relaunch the album, Mercury Records re-issued Fat Chance in 2002. The album featured new artwork, and was now credited to Paul Heaton. However, this record charted even lower in the album chart, hitting number 168. "The Perfect Couple", a single pulled from this re-release also did poorly, peaking at number 102 in the UK. Heaton subsequently rejoined the Beautiful South from 2002 to 2007.

With the 2007 dissolution of the Beautiful South, Heaton formed a new band, The Sound of Paul Heaton.

Heaton's second solo album, The Cross-Eyed Rambler, was released on 7 July 2008, preceded by the single "Mermaids and Slaves" on 30 June, and he toured in support of it throughout July. The album charted at number 43.

Heaton released his third solo album, Acid Country, in September 2010.

The 8th
In 2011, the Manchester International Festival endorsed the writing by Heaton of an anthology of songs based on the 7 deadly sins, to be called The 8th. The song was broken down into a section for each sin, which was to be performed by a different artist. The singers for the original piece were: Wayne Gidden, Aaron Wright, King Creosote, Simon Aldred, Cherry Ghost, Jacqui Abbott, Yvonne Shelton and Mike Greaves. The individual sections were incorporated with a narration written by Che Walker and performed by Reg E. Cathey.

The 8th debuted in July 2011 at the Festival Pavilion Theatre in Manchester's Albert Square. Six further performances took place in the summer of 2012. Accompanying Heaton on the 2012 tour were Gareth Paisey of Los Campesinos!, Cherry Ghost, Wayne Gidden, Christian Madden of The Earlies, Yvonne Shelton, Mike Greaves, Aaron Wright, Simon Aldred, and Steve Menzies.

Along with the live shows in July 2012, a recording of The 8th was released on a CD/DVD format, including tracks by Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost, Aaron Wright, Mike Greaves, Yvonne Shelton, Jacqui Abbott and Heaton himself.

Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott
Heaton reunited with former Beautiful South vocalist Jacqui Abbott in 2013 to record new material. What Have We Become? was released on 19 May 2014. The album reached number 3 in the UK Albums Chart. The album contained 12 new songs (the deluxe version an additional four new songs). The majority of the songs were written by Heaton and his current songwriting partner Jonny Lexus, with "D.I.Y", "When it Was Ours" and "You're Gonna Miss Me" written by Heaton only.

On working with Abbott again, Heaton said: "Working with Jacqui again was like going into your garage and discovering a beautiful, covered up Rolls-Royce that hadn't been started in years. Jacqui is one of the best singers I've worked with and is also part of my past. It was only a matter of time before I asked her."

On Sunday 29 June 2014 they appeared live on BBC Two at Glastonbury Festival performing acoustic versions of second single "Moulding of a Fool" and a cover version of Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream". During the summer of 2014 Paul and Jacqui performed at a series of festivals across the UK and Ireland including Glastonbury Festival, Latitude Festival, V Festival and Festival N°6.

On 11 November 2014, BBC Radio 2 broadcast a world premiere of "Real Hope", featuring the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, from the deluxe edition of What Have We Become?.

Heaton and Abbott's next two albums together, Wisdom, Laughter and Lines (2015) and Crooked Calypso (2017), both reached the UK top 10, and their fourth, Manchester Calling (2020), became their first UK Number 1 album for over twenty years. They followed this up with a further UK Number 1 album, N.K-Pop in 2022 and a UK & Ireland arena tour, which included a night at the London O2 Arena. During the tour in December 2022, Abbott took ill which forced Heaton to continue the tour solo, before adding guest singers for the Ireland shows in early 2023 and his subsequent summer festival appearances.

The Last King of Pop
On 16 November 2018, a career-spanning collection of Heaton's music titled The Last King Of Pop was released on the Virgin EMI label. It featured 23 of the songs written by Heaton throughout his career in the Housemartins, The Beautiful South, his solo years, and his collaboration with Jacqui Abbott.

The track listing included the Housemartins' 1985 debut single "Flag Day", The Beautiful South's "Don't Marry Her", "Rotterdam" and "Perfect 10" through to 2017's Heaton & Abbott single "I Gotta Praise" + a 2018 re-record by Paul and Jacqui of the Beautiful South song "A Little Time", and a brand new song, entitled "7' Singles".

The album reached Number 10 in the UK Charts and was certified Gold on 11 January 2019.

To coincide with the album release, Heaton and Abbott performed three shows at Sheffield City Hall, Blackpool Empress Ballroom and London's Royal Albert Hall, performing the album in full.

Following the success of the shows, it was announced that Heaton and Abbott would perform The Last King Of Pop at an outdoor headline show at Stockport County's Edgeley Park on 21 June 2019. All 15,000 tickets sold out and a second night was announced to take place on 20 June 2019. Richard Hawley was announced as special guest at both shows.

A television documentary covering Paul Heaton's life and career was broadcast on Wednesday 12 December 2018 on Channel 4. The documentary included archived material and interviews with many key figures from throughout Heaton's life.

Personal life
Heaton lives in Manchester with his wife and three children.

Heaton has on occasions referred to the Beautiful South as having a heavy drinking culture. Many songs by the Beautiful South, such as "Woman in the Wall", "Liars' Bar", "I May Be Ugly", "The Slide", "Look What I Found in My Beer" and "Old Red Eyes Is Back", have referred to alcoholism or drink-fuelled violence.

In December 2011, Heaton purchased the lease of The Kings Arms public house, Bloom Street in Salford, Greater Manchester. He sold the pub in December 2015.

He is a keen collector and has a diverse range of collections including football memorabilia, crisp packets, beer mats, postcards and comics.

Other appearances
During the 1990s, Heaton regularly appeared on Football Italia, Channel 4's coverage of Italian Serie A football as a pre-match guest and was frequently introduced by host James Richardson as an 'Italian football expert'.

Heaton appeared on BBC One talking head programme Why We Love the Royle Family, along with Noel Gallagher, in his capacity as a fan of the television sitcom The Royle Family.

In May 2012, Heaton set off on his 50:50 cycle tour of British and Irish pubs, promoting his latest album, British pubs, and cycling. He covered 2500 miles – 50 mi for each year of his life.

In 2022, unable to do another cycling tour, he sent money to 60 pubs across the UK and Ireland to enable them to give free pints to celebrate his 60th birthday.

In February 2023, Heaton and his crisp packet collection appeared on the Channel 4 documentary Grayson Perry's Full English, with Heaton donating a display of Murphy’s Crisps flavours to Perry's exhibition of Englishness.

The Housemartins

 * London 0 Hull 4
 * The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
 * Now That's What I Call Quite Good

The Beautiful South

 * Welcome to the Beautiful South
 * Choke
 * 0898 Beautiful South
 * Miaow
 * Blue Is the Colour
 * Quench
 * Painting It Red
 * Gaze
 * Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs
 * Superbi

Compilations

 * Carry on up the Charts (1994)
 * Carry on up the Charts (1994) - 2CD Limited Edition
 * Solid Bronze (2001)
 * Gold (2006)
 * Soup (2007)
 * The BBC Sessions (2007) - 2-CD Set
 * Live at the BBC (2011) - 3CD+DVD Set

Studio albums

 * Fat Chance (2001) as Biscuit Boy (AKA Crackerman)
 * The Cross Eyed Rambler (2008)
 * Acid Country (2010)
 * Paul Heaton Presents the 8th (2012)
 * What Have We Become? (2014) with Jacqui Abbott
 * Wisdom, Laughter and Lines (2015) with Jacqui Abbott
 * Crooked Calypso (2017) with Jacqui Abbott
 * Manchester Calling (2020) with Jacqui Abbott
 * N.K-Pop (2022) with Jacqui Abbott

title: Paul Heaton


text:
Broxburn

Broxburn (Srath Bhroc, ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It is 12 mi from the West End of Edinburgh, 5 mi from Edinburgh Airport and 5 mi to the north of Livingston. Originally a village known as Easter Strathbock in the medieval period, by 1600, the village had become known as Broxburn. The area developed rapidly during the Victorian era as a result of industralisation related to shale oil extraction. While much of the industry in the area is now diminished, the town has continued to grow following new residential development, resulting in Broxburn forming a conurbation with neighbouring Uphall. It lies just to the south of Winchburgh.

Etymology
The name Broxburn is a corruption of "brock's burn", brock being an old Scots name for a European badger whether from the Gaelic broc  or the Pictish/Welsh/Brythonic Broch and burn being a Scots word for a large stream or small river. The village was earlier known as Easter Strathbrock (Uphall was Wester Strathbrock) with Strath coming either from the Gaelic srath or the Pictish/Welsh/Brythonic ystrad meaning a river valley.

History
The village that later became Broxburn probably originated around 1350 when Margery le Cheyne inherited the eastern half of the Barony of Strathbrock (Easter Strathbrock) on the death of her father, Sir Reginald le Cheyne III. The hamlet that grew up around her residence was then called Eastertoun (eastern town) after the land on which it stood. The lands of Strathbrock were earlier owned by Freskin the Fleming, granted to him under a charter from King David I.

Easter Strathbrock was burned to the ground sometime in 1443-4 during a conflict between William, Earl of Douglas, Lieutenant-General of Scotland, and William, Lord Crichton, Chancellor of Scotland. It was destroyed again in 1455 during fighting between the Douglases and King James II. After the conflict, peace was regained and the town was gradually resettled. In 1590, Kirkhill House was built for John Laing, a local landowner. The village was renamed Broxburn in 1600 by Sir Richard Cockburn of Clerkington, Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, almost certainly after Broxburn, East Lothian.

In 1636, Kirkhill house was granted to Ludovic Stewart, advocate. The house and surrounding land eventually passed to David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan, where the house was extensive remodelled in 1770/1771. It then passed to his nephew, the 12th Earl who was buried in St John's Church nearby. The house still exists today in Broxburn and is Category B listed.

Past
Broxburn remained an agricultural community until the development of the oil shale industry in the area during the second half of the nineteenth century. This brought in a rapid influx of workers, greatly expanding the local population. Broxburn is still known for its association with the industry, pioneered by the inventor and industrialist James Young. Many shale spoil tips, known as bings, are still in evidence around the town.

Up until its closure in 2013, Hall's of Broxburn, a food manufacturer, employed around 1,700 employees at its meat processing plant to the east of the town. At the time of closure, it was the largest, single employer in Broxburn. The large building was demolished in 2014.

The Shale Bings
The 3 Broxburn Bings (Greendikes Bing, Albion Oil Works Bing and Hopetoun Bing) reside on the north east of Broxburn starting from behind the East Mains Industrial estate. The nearby Niddry Bing resides near the village of Winchburgh. The largest of the three Bings is the Greendykes Bing which when scaled provides excellent views of the whole area. The Bings were created by large piles of spoil from the shale mines being dumped on top of each over to form the Bings.

Present
Broxburn now has two separate industrial areas, the Greendykes Industrial Estate and the East Mains Industrial Estate, which provide employment for local people. The largest employers are Campbells Prime Meat Limited, Glenmorangie and Broxburn Bottlers Limited (part of Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd). James Ritchie & Son is a firm of clockmakers located in Broxburn that was established in 1809.

Governance
Broxburn lies in the Livingston constituency of the British Parliament and the Almond Valley constituency of the Scottish Parliament.

Before Brexit, it was part of the Scotland European Parliament constituency.

For Local Government purposes, it is part of; the Broxburn, Uphall and Winchburgh Ward of West Lothian Council and is part of West Lothian Council 2nd ward, which also includes the nearby villages of Uphall and Winchburgh.

Community facilities
The Strathbrock Partnership Centre is a local community facility that contains a medical centre, library, community museum and community centre. The library, formerly known as the Broxburn library was renamed the Lex Davidson Library in 2022 in honour of a local councillor who served the community for 25 years.

The local hospital is St. John's Hospital at Howden in Livingston.

Transport
The A89 road passes along the southern edge of Broxburn. The A899 road passes directly through the centre of Broxburn where it is known as East and West Main Street. The nearest motorway is the M8. Broxburn is served by multiple bus services operated by McGill's Scotland East, Lothian Country and E&M Horseburgh. SD Travel operates one twice-a-day service 16 between Livingston Centre and Western General Hospital in the northwestern tip of Edinburgh via Broxburn, Whinchburgh, and Kirkliston, and HcL, a small mobility company based in the county, operates a local town service 2A and 2B between Broxburn and Uphall and within Broxburn itself.

Lothian Country operates services:

 * 72 - Kirkliston - Winchburgh - Broxburn - Uphall - St. John's Hospital - Livingston

 * X18 - Edinburgh - Ratho Station - Broxburn - Uphall - Bathgate - Armadale - Whitburn

 * N18 - Edinburgh - Ratho Station - Broxburn - Uphall - Bathgate - Armadale - Whitburn (Night Service)

McGill's Scotland East operate services:

 * 23 - Broxburn - Livingston - St. John's Hospital - Blackburn - Whitburn - Shotts

Railway
Broxburn has regular links to Edinburgh, Livingston, Linlithgow and Edinburgh Airport. The nearest railway station is at Uphall Station providing links to Edinburgh, Livingston, Bathgate, Airdrie and Glasgow.

Canal
The Union Canal passes through Broxburn. It no longer operates as a transport link, but is now used for fishing, magnet fishing and some leisure boating. It has a towpath previously used by the horses which drew canal barges and which is now used as a footpath, the footpaths are popular places for dog walkers, bikers, runners and walkers.

Education
Broxburn has four schools, all state-funded, Broxburn Primary, Kirkhill Primary, St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Primary and Broxburn Academy.

Religious sites
Broxburn has six churches.

The church of St John Cantius and St Nicholas Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church. The church is Category B listed. It was built in 1880 in the Early English style to a design by Shiells & Thomson, the church is notable for containing a 15th/16th-century font from the medieval church excavated at Kirkhill. The church high altar is in Caen stone and marble by Pugin & Pugin. Adjacent to the church is a hall dating to 1936 (now used by a local scout group) and a memorial chapel for Henry Erskine, 12th Earl of Buchan built in 1857, who lived nearby at Kirkhill House.

The Broxburn Parish Church was built in 1880 to a French Gothic design by Hippolyte Blanc. It provides Church of Scotland services.

The St Nicholas United Free Church of Scotland was built in 1890 in the Gothic style to a design by James Graham Fairley.

Other smaller churches in the town include the New Life Christian Fellowship Broxburn in Strathbrock Community Centre, the Broxburn Baptist Church, and the Grace Community Church. There are also some other religious groups active in the town, including Jehovah's Witnesses and several evangelical Christian organisations.

Sports
Broxburn is home to the football club Broxburn Athletic, who play in the East of Scotland League. There are sports and health facilities publicly available, including a sports centre, library, swimming pool and bowling clubs. The Binny Golf Club is located on the Binny Estate. A motorcycle dirt track was built at The Sports Park in 1928 and a few demonstration events were staged to show off the new sport to football fans. Due to Broxburn's proximity to Edinburgh, it was not licensed. Another demonstration event at a motorcycle club event in 1929 ended after both riders crashed.

Notable residents

 * David Erskine and Henry Erskine, the 11th and 12th Earls of Buchan
 * James Anderson (Paralympian swimmer)
 * Charles Benham (cricketer)
 * Mark Burchill (footballer)
 * Bill Bann (footballer)
 * James Baird (footballer)
 * Colin Fleming (tennis player)
 * David Fleming (cricketer)
 * Gavin Hamilton (cricketer)
 * John Kerr (figure skater)
 * Shelley Kerr (football manager)
 * Stephen Robson (Bishop)
 * Liam Henderson (footballer)
 * Alexander Steuart (clock and instrument-maker).

title: Broxburn


text:
The Housemartins

The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianity, reflecting the beliefs of the band (the back cover of their debut album, London 0 Hull 4, contained the message, "Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope"). The group's a cappella cover version of "Caravan of Love" (originally by Isley-Jasper-Isley) was a UK number one single in December 1986.

After breaking up in 1988, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway formed the Beautiful South, while bassist Norman Cook became an electronic dance music DJ and producer, founding the groups Beats International, Pizzaman, and Freak Power, before rebranding himself as Fatboy Slim.

Career
The band was formed in late 1983 by Paul Heaton (vocals) and Stan Cullimore (guitar), initially as a busking duo. Throughout his tenure with the band, Heaton billed himself as "P.d. Heaton". Heaton and Cullimore recorded a demo tape with Ingo Dewsnap and Sharon Green of Les Zeiga Fleurs which brought them to the attention of Go! Discs. They then expanded by recruiting Ted Key (bass), former guitarist with The Gargoyles. Their first live performance as a band was at Hull University in October 1984.

The band's membership changed considerably over the years. Key left at the end of 1985 and was replaced by Norman Cook (later known as Fatboy Slim). Drummer Chris Lang was replaced briefly by Dodger (Roger Wilde) on loan from local Hull band 3-Action! for their first few gigs as a 4 piece then by Hugh Whitaker, former drummer with the Gargoyles, who in turn was replaced with Dave Hemingway. The band often referred to themselves as "the fourth best band in Hull", with the best three bands being Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and the Gargoyles.

In 1986, having recorded two John Peel sessions, the band broke through with their third single "Happy Hour", which reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. The single's success was helped by a claymation animated pop promo of a type that was in vogue at the time, featuring a cameo by television comedian Phill Jupitus, who toured with the band under his stage name of "Porky the Poet". Their debut album, London 0 Hull 4, was released later in 1986 and contained their previous two singles as well as alternative versions of first single "Flag Day" and follow-up to Happy Hour, "Think for a Minute". At the end of 1986 they had their only UK No. 1 single on 16 December with a cover version of Isley-Jasper-Isley's "Caravan of Love".

The song "Caravan of Love" was first performed by the Housemartins in their second Peel session in April 1986, before their initial chart success. At Peel's suggestion, the band then recorded another session (under the name the Fish City Five), consisting entirely of a cappella performances, and on at least one occasion (at The Tower nightclub in Hull, the same concert at which they were filmed as the Housemartins for the BBC programme, Rock Around the Clock), played support act for their own performance under this alternative name. The "Caravan of Love" single featured four a cappella gospel songs on the B-side.

The Housemartins' second album The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death was released in September 1987, and included their two previous singles "Five Get Over Excited" and "Me and the Farmer". A third single from the album, "Build", was released in November; a Peel Session from the same month provided a recording used for their last single "There Is Always Something There to Remind Me" in 1988. A farewell compilation album, Now That's What I Call Quite Good was released later that year.

The band split in 1988, but the members have remained in contact and have worked on each other's projects. Norman Cook has enjoyed significant success with Beats International and then as Fatboy Slim, while Heaton, Hemingway and roadie Sean Welch formed the Beautiful South. In August 2009, Mojo magazine arranged for The Housemartins' original members to get together for a photo-shoot and interview, for the first time in many years, but in the interview all the members maintained that the band would not re-form.

In December 2009, Cullimore co-wrote songs for (and appeared in) a pre-school music series called The Bopps, which first showed on Nick Jr. in the UK in April 2010. Cullimore and Whitaker joined Heaton on stage during a show by Heaton and Jacqui Abbott in 2014 at Hull's The New Adelphi Club, on the stage where the band had signed their Go-Discs record contract, although it was not a Housemartins reunion. The trio performed the Housemartins hit "Me and the Farmer", and Cullimore and Heaton closed the show with a performance of "Caravan of Love".

In June 2024, Heaton performed on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival playing a setlist of Housemartins and Beautiful South songs, and was joined by Cook on bass for a performance of Happy Hour.

Musical style and lyrics
The band's early releases saw them described as jangle pop, which brought comparisons with bands such as the Smiths and Aztec Camera. David Quantick, writing for Spin, described them in 1986 as playing "traditional '60s-style guitar pop overlaid with soul vocals". Cook described the band as "religious, but not Christians", and the band's repertoire included gospel songs.

Many of the band's lyrics have socialist themes, with Cook stating that "Paul realised that he hated writing about love...and that writing politically came easier to him", describing some of their songs as "angrily political".

Final lineup

 * Paul Heaton - vocals, guitar, trombone, harmonica (1983-1988)
 * Stan Cullimore - guitar, vocals (1983-1988)
 * Norman Cook - bass, vocals (1985-1988)
 * Dave Hemingway – drums, vocals (1987–1988)

Former members

 * Ted Key – bass, vocals (1984–1985)
 * Justin Patrick – drums (1985)
 * Chris Lang – drums (1985)
 * Roger "Dodger" Wilde – drums (1985)
 * Hugh Whitaker – drums, vocals (1985–1987)

Videography
(does not include "live" appearances on TV programmes)
 * "Sheep"
 * "Happy Hour"
 * "Think for a Minute"
 * "Caravan of Love"
 * "Five Get Over Excited"
 * "Me and the Farmer"
 * "Build"
 * "There Is Always Something There to Remind Me"
 * "We're Not Deep"

title: The Housemartins


text:
Honoré Mercier

Honoré Mercier (October 15, 1840 – October 30, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician in Quebec. He was the ninth premier of Quebec from January 27, 1887, to December 21, 1891, as leader of the Parti National or Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ). He rose to power by mobilizing the Francophone opposition to the execution of Louis Riel, denouncing it as a betrayal by John A. Macdonald's Conservative government.

Early background
Mercier was born in Saint-Athanase, Lower Canada to farmer Jean-Baptiste Mercier and Marie Kimener. Mercier is descended from Julien Mercier (1621-1676) who arrived from Tourouvre, France in 1647. Mercier studied at the Jesuit College Sainte-Marie in Montreal, and was called to the Bar of Quebec in April 1865. As the age of 22, Mercier became the editor of Le Courrier de St-Hyacinthe newspaper. He opposed the Confederation project as early as 1864, believing that it would be detrimental to French Canadians.

Member of Parliament
In 1871, he was instrumental in creating the short-lived Parti National. Mercier successfully ran as a Liberal candidate in the 1872 election. He became Member of the House of Commons for the district of Rouville. He did not run for re-election in the 1874 election. In the 1878 election, Mercier was candidate in the district of St. Hyacinthe. He was defeated by the Louis Tellier, his Conservative opponent.

Provincial politics
In 1879, Mercier was appointed Solicitor General of Quebec in the Cabinet of Premier Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière and served in that position for less than a year. He won a by-election and became Member of the Legislative Assembly for the district of Saint-Hyacinthe. He was re-elected in the 1881 and 1886 elections and won another by-election in 1887.

He left an impact on a later leader, Henri Bourassa.

Party leader
He became the leader of the PLQ in 1883. A practising lawyer, from 1885 to 1887 he was President of the Bar of Montreal. He strongly opposed the execution of Louis Riel in 1885; this event helped him win popular support, and the Quebec Conservative Party lost support because its federal counterparts had ordered Riel's execution.

Seizing the opportunity to build a coalition with dissident Conservatives, Mercier revived the "Parti National" name for the 1886 Quebec provincial election, and won a majority of seats. However, the coalition consisted of mostly Liberals and only a few Conservatives, so the "Liberal" name was soon reinstituted. The Conservatives, reduced to a minority in the Legislative Assembly, clung to power for a few more months, but Mercier became Premier of Quebec in 1887.

Premier of Quebec

Seeing provincial autonomy as the political expression of Quebec nationalism, he collaborated with Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat to roll back federal centralism. Mercier initiated the idea of interprovincial conferences in 1887. He was the first Quebec premier to defend the principle of provincial autonomy within the confederation, campaigning to abolish the federal government's claimed right to veto provincial legislation.

With his strong nationalist stance, Mercier was very much a precursor of later nationalist premiers in future decades who confronted the federal government and tried to win more power for Quebec. He promoted contacts with Francophones in other parts of North America outside of Quebec including Western Canada and New England. Those francophones had not yet been assimilated into the English-Canadian or American culture to the extent they would be in the future. Mercier promoted reform, economic development, Catholicism, and the French language. He won popularity but also made enemies. He was returned to the legislature as the Member for the district of Bonaventure and his party won the 1890 election with an increased majority. In 1891, he was created a count by the Pope.

Political downfall
On December 16, 1891, he was dismissed by Lieutenant Governor Auguste-Réal Angers after a report concluded that his government had diverted public funds. He lost the 1892 election, and gave up the party leadership to Félix-Gabriel Marchand. He was brought to trial later that year and found not guilty when a second report concluded differently on the matter. However, his health had greatly deteriorated and his political career was over. He died in 1894 at the age of 54, and was interred in the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal, Quebec.

Legacy
The following landmarks were named to honour Honoré Mercier:

 * The Mercier Bridge that links the western part of the Island of Montreal with the South Shore;
 * The town of Mercier, Quebec;
 * Avenue Mercier, located in downtown Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;
 * The provincial electoral district of Mercier;
 * An elementary school named Honoré-Mercier in Montreal;
 * A high school named Honoré-Mercier in Montreal;
 * A hospital in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec named Hôpital Honoré-Mercier;
 * Avenue Honoré-Mercier, located in the Quebec City centre;
 * The borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and its contained district of Mercier in Montreal.

Family
His son Honoré Mercier fils was a multi-term member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and a Cabinet Minister; his grandson Honoré Mercier III served one term in the Legislative Assembly.

Mercier was Lomer Gouin's father-in-law and is a great-great-grandfather of NDP retired leader Thomas Mulcair.

Archives
There is a Honoré Mercier fonds at Library and Archives Canada. There are also two fonds at Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

title: Honoré Mercier


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Robert Kite

Sir Robert Kite was appointed Sheriff of London for 1761 and Lord Mayor of London for 1766. He was knighted on 16 October 1760. He was the last member of the Skinners Company to serve as Lord Mayor until Sir Rupert De la Bère in 1953.

title: Robert Kite


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Thin-film optics

Thin-film optics is the branch of optics that deals with very thin structured layers of different materials. In order to exhibit thin-film optics, the thickness of the layers of material must be similar to the coherence length; for visible light it is most often observed between 200 and 1000 nm of thickness. Layers at this scale can have remarkable reflective properties due to light wave interference and the difference in refractive index between the layers, the air, and the substrate. These effects alter the way the optic reflects and transmits light. This effect, known as thin-film interference, is observable in soap bubbles and oil slicks.

More general periodic structures, not limited to planar layers, exhibit structural coloration with more complex dependence on angle, and are known as photonic crystals.

In manufacturing, thin film layers can be achieved through the deposition of one or more thin layers of material onto a substrate (usually glass). This is most often done using a physical vapor deposition process, such as evaporation deposition or sputter deposition, or a chemical process such as chemical vapor deposition.

Thin films are used to create optical coatings. Examples include low emissivity panes of glass for houses and cars, anti-reflective coatings on glasses, reflective baffles on car headlights, and for high precision optical filters and mirrors. Another application of these coatings is spatial filtering.

Examples in the natural world
Thin-film layers are common in the natural world. Their effects produce colors seen in soap bubbles and oil slicks, as well as the structural coloration of some animals. The wings of many insects act as thin-films, because of their minimal thickness. This is clearly visible in the wings of many flies and wasps. In butterflies, the thin-film optics is visible when wing itself is not covered by wing scales, which is the case in the blue wing spots of the Aglais io and the blue-green patches of the Graphium sarpedon. In buttercups, the flower's gloss is due to a thin-film, which enhances the flower's visibility to pollinating insects and aids in temperature regulation of the plant's reproductive organs.

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Chatoyancy

In gemology, chatoyancy, also called chatoyance or the cat's eye effect, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones, woods, and carbon fiber. Coined from the French œil de chat, meaning 'cat's eye'. The chatoyant effect is typically characterized by one or more well-defined bands of reflected light, reminiscent of a cat's eye, which appear to glide across the material's surface as the chatoyant object or observer shifts position.

Chatoyancy is caused by either the presence of fibrous structures within the material, such as in tiger's eye quartz, or by fibrous inclusions and cavities, as seen in cat's eye chrysoberyl. In cat's eye chrysoberyl, the chatoyant effect is caused by the presence of rutile, composed mostly of titanium dioxide, which aligns perpendicularly to create the cat's eye appearance.

Description
Chatoyancy in the gemstone chrysoberyl is induced by the presence of the mineral rutile, a mineral primarily composed of titanium dioxide. These rutile precipitates align perpendicularly, contributing to the cat's eye effect. This alignment is attributed to the rutile's lattice parameter, which matches only one of the three orthorhombic crystal axes of chrysoberyl, leading to its preferred orientation in that direction.

Optimal presentation of effect

To bring out the chatoyancy effect, gemstones are typically fashioned into a cabochon cut, characterized by a rounded, flat base rather than facets, with the fibrous structures aligned parallel to the base. High-quality specimens display a single, sharply defined band of light that moves across the stone when rotated, while lower-quality stones may show a banded effect similar to cat's-eye quartz. Faceted stones do not showcase the effect well.

Varieties of chatoyant materials
Gem species known for this phenomenon include the aforementioned quartz, chrysoberyl, beryl (especially. aquamarine varieties), charoite, tourmaline, labradorite, selenite, feldspar, apatite, moonstone, thomsonite and scapolite amongst others. Chatoyancy is not limited to gemstones but can also be found in various wood species and carbon fiber. Synthetically made gemstones with optical fibers can also have chatoyancy. These gemstones are available in a variety of vibrant colors.

Cat's eye terminology
When the term "cat's eye" is used to describe a gemstone by itself, it typically refers to cat's eye chrysoberyl. It can also be used as an adjective to indicate the chatoyance phenomenon in another stone, for example, cat's eye aquamarine.

In woodworking
Chatoyancy in wood occurs in various species – particularly hardwoods and the various types of Nanmu woods of China and South East Asia, particularly where stresses from the weight of the growing tree result in denser patches, or where stresses cause burl or bird’s eye. This ‘figure’, which has a striking three-dimensional appearance, is highly prized by woodworkers and their clients alike, and is featured regularly in furniture, musical instruments, and other decorative wood products. Figuring takes on a variety of forms and is referred to as flame, ribbon, tiger stripe, quilting, among other names.

This effect is sometimes called wet look, since wetting wood with water often displays the chatoyancy, albeit only until the wood dries. Certain finishes cause the wood grain to become more pronounced. Oil finishes, epoxy, and shellac can strongly bring out the wet look effect. When the refractive index of the finish nearly matches that of the wood, light scattering no longer occurs at the wood surface, adding the appearance of depth to the wood's figure.

Measurement
No method to measure wood chatoyance is unanimously accepted by the scientific community. Some methods have been proposed, such as one named PZC, which was used to measure typical values for a number of wood species; some results are reported below:

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Mikhail Kalinin

Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Михаи́л Ива́нович Кали́нин, ; 19 November 1875 – 3 June 1946)  was a Soviet politician and Russian Old Bolshevik revolutionary. He served as head of state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. From 1926, he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Born to a peasant family, Kalinin worked as a metal worker in Saint Petersburg and took part in the 1905 Russian Revolution as an early member of the Bolsheviks. During and after the October Revolution, he served as mayor of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). After the revolution, Kalinin became the head of the new Soviet state, as well as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Politburo.

Kalinin remained the titular head of state of the Soviet Union after the rise of Joseph Stalin, with whom he enjoyed a privileged relationship, but held little real power or influence. He retired in 1946 and died in the same year. The former East Prussian city of Königsberg, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945, was renamed Kaliningrad after him a year later. The city of Tver was also known as Kalinin until 1990 when its historic name was restored, one year before the eventual fall of the Soviet Union.

Early life
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin was born on 19 November 1875 to a peasant family of ethnic Russian origin in the village of Verkhnyaya Troitsa (Верхняя Троица), Tver Governorate, Russia. He was the elder brother of Fedor Kalinin.

Kalinin worked with his father on the land until the age of 13. When he was 10, he was taught to read and write by an army veteran. At 11, he entered a primary school run by a local landowning family. When he finished school, the family took him to Saint Petersburg to work as a footman. At 16, he was sent as an apprentice in a cartridge factory, and at 18, he was employed as a lathe operator in the Putilov factory.

Early political career
Kalinin joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898, while still working at the Putilov works. The following year, he was arrested, imprisoned for 10 months, then exiled to the Caucasus, and found work as a craftsman at the Tbilisi railway depot, where he met Sergei Alliluyev, the father of Joseph Stalin's second wife. He came to know Stalin through the Alliluyev family. Dismissed for taking part in a strike, and later deprived of the right to work in the Caucasus, he moved to Reval, in Estonia, where he was arrested again in 1903, he spent six months in custody in St Petersburg, then two and a half months in Kresty Prison. After his release, he returned to Reval, but was arrested again in 1904 and exiled in Siberia.

Released in 1905, Kalinin returned to St Petersburg, and moved from job to job. In 1906, he married the ethnic Estonian Ekaterina Lorberg (Екатерина Ивановна Лорберг (Yekaterina Ivanovna Lorberg, 1882–1960). She changed her last name to Kalinina after the marriage. In the same year, he joined the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP, headed by Vladimir Lenin, and was on the staff of the Central Union of Metal Workers.

He served as a delegate at the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, in April 1906, and to the 1912 Bolshevik Party Conference held in Prague, where he was elected an alternate member of the governing Central Committee and sent to work inside Russia. He did not become a full member because he was suspected of being an Okhrana agent (the real agent was Roman Malinovsky, a full member). In November 1916, during World War I, while he was again working in a factory in St Petersburg, Kalinin was arrested again and was due to be deported to Siberia, but was freed during the February Revolution of 1917.

Russian Revolutions
Kalinin joined the Petrograd Bolshevik committee and assisted in the organization of the party daily newspaper Pravda, now legalized by the new regime.

In April 1917, Kalinin, like many other Bolsheviks, advocated conditional support for the Provisional Government in cooperation with the Menshevik faction of the RSDLP, a position at odds with that of Lenin. He continued to oppose an armed uprising to overthrow the government of Alexander Kerensky throughout that summer.

In the elections held for the Petrograd City Duma in autumn 1917, Kalinin was chosen as mayor of the city, which he administered during and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 7 November.

In 1919, Kalinin was elected a member of the governing Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party as well as a candidate member of the Politburo. He was promoted to full membership on the Politburo in January 1926, a position which he retained until his death in 1946.

When Yakov Sverdlov died in March 1919 from influenza,  Kalinin replaced him as President of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the titular head of state of Soviet Russia. The name of this position was changed to Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in 1922 and to Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1938. Kalinin continued to hold the post without interruption until his retirement at the end of World War II.

In 1920, Kalinin attended the Second World Congress of the Communist International in Moscow as part of the Russian delegation. He was seated on the presidium rostrum and took an active part in the debates.

Soviet Union
Kalinin was a factional ally of Stalin during the bitter struggle for power after the death of Lenin in 1924. He delivered a report on Lenin and the Comintern to the Fifth World Congress in 1924.

Kalinin was one of the comparatively few members of Stalin's inner circle springing from peasant origins. The lowly social origins were widely publicised in the official press, which habitually referred to Kalinin as the "All-Union Elder" (Всесоюзный староста), a term harking back to the village community, in conjunction with his role as titular head of state. In practical terms, by the 1930s, Kalinin's role as a decision-maker in the Soviet government was nominal.

Although he was a member of the Politburo, the de facto executive branch of the Soviet Union, and nominally held the second-highest state post in the USSR, Kalinin held little power or influence. His role was mostly limited to receiving diplomatic letters from abroad. Recalling him, future Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said, "I don't know what practical work Kalinin carried out under Lenin. But under Stalin he was the nominal signatory of all decrees, while in reality he rarely took part in government business."

On 5 March 1940, six members of the Politburo – Kalinin, Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Kliment Voroshilov, and Anastas Mikoyan – signed an order to execute 25,700 Polish "nationalists and counterrevolutionaries" (Polish intelligentsia, priests, and military officers) kept at camps and prisons in occupied western Ukraine and Belarus, ultimately leading to the Katyn massacre.

Personality
Despite the very high offices he occupied, Kalinin had very little real power, and was principally a figurehead, easily dominated by Stalin. According to the Russian writer, Roy Medvedev, "on the pretext of protecting Kalinin, Stalin kept him under virtual house arrest for a long time, with NKVD agents constantly in his apartment. Kalinin completely surrendered to Stalin, covering up the dictator's crimes with his great prestige. Trotsky wrote:

"For a long time, he was afraid to tie his own fate to Stalin's. 'That horse', he was wont to say to his intimates, 'will some day drag our wagon into a ditch.' But gradually, groaning and resisting, he turned first against me, then against Zinoviev, and finally, with even greater reluctance, against Rykov, Bukharin and Tomsky, with whom he was more closely connected because of his moderate views."

Kalinin was unable to protect his wife, Ekaterina Kalinina, who was critical of Stalin's policies and was arrested on 25 October 1938 on charges of being a "Trotskyist". At the time of her arrest Ekaterina and her husband Mikhail Kalinin were not living together. Although her husband was the chair of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1938–46), she was tortured in Lefortovo Prison and on 22 April 1939, she was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in a labour camp. She was released shortly before her husband's death in 1946.

Shortly before Kalinin died, the Montenegrin communist, Milovan Djilas, was one of a delegation of Yugoslav communists, led by Josip Broz Tito, who dined in the Kremlin with Stalin and other Soviet leaders. Djilas recalled:

"Old Uncle Kalinin, who could barely see, had difficulty finding his glass, plate, bread, and I kept helping him solicitously ... Stalin certainly knew of Kalinin's decrepitude, for he made heavy-handed fun of him when the old man asked Tito for a Yugoslav cigarette. 'Don't take any – those are capitalist cigarettes,' said Stalin, and Kalinin confusedly dropped the cigarette from his trembling fingers, whereupon Stalin laughed and the expression on his face was like a satyr's."

Death and legacy

Kalinin retired in 1946 and died of cancer on 3 June that year in Moscow. He was honoured with a state funeral and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, in one of the twelve individual tombs located between the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kremlin Wall.

Three large cities (Tver, Korolyov and Königsberg ) were renamed after Kalinin. Tver's historic name was restored in 1990, and Korolyov's in 1996 in honour of a famous Soviet/Russian rocket scientist Sergey Korolev. Kalinin Square and Kalinin Street which were named after Kalinin are located in Minsk, Belarus. Kalinin Street in Tallinn, Estonia was renamed Kopli Street following Estonian independence. Prospekt Kalinina in Dnipro, Ukraine was renamed Prospekt Serhiy Nigoyan in January 2015 as part of decommunization in Ukraine.

title: Mikhail Kalinin


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title: User talk:195.194.178.251


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Television in Quebec

Television in Quebec is a part of the culture of Quebec, with over 99% of households owning a television in Quebec. Long a preferred medium of many of Quebec's actors, artists, and writers, television has been one of the important forces in Quebec society, including its substantial influence in a series of dramatic changes in the 1960s: the Quiet Revolution.

Types of television
Although broadcast in French, la télévision québécoise has little relationship to television in France. It is similar to television in the United States: A 30-minute programming grid, commercials, local stations, and a division between broadcast television formed around networks of stations—which is freely available to anyone with a TV within their broadcast area—and cable television channels that require a subscription.

Broadcast television
The four major broadcast television networks in Quebec are Ici Radio-Canada Télé, TVA, Noovo and Télé-Québec. Some local advertising is aired and stations produce local newscasts, but all four networks otherwise air virtually identical schedules throughout Quebec, with the network signals being essentially the output of their Montreal flagships. Local stations affiliated with the networks are located in each of the 10 television markets of Quebec: Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau–Ottawa, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and Carleton-sur-Mer.

TVA is by far the most watched network: in fall 2006, it held 28% of the Quebec francophone primetime television audience, compared to Radio-Canada's 19% and Noovo's 14%.

Given the predominantly French-speaking population, only CBC, the English-language television service (CBMT-DT) funded by the government of Canada, is available over the air throughout the province. Montreal has local owned-and-operated stations of CTV (CFCF-DT), Global (CKMI-DT), and Citytv (CJNT-DT), Canada's three main English-language networks, while Gatineau receives all three networks as part of the Ottawa media market; Global is also available over-the-air in Quebec City and Sherbrooke through rebroadcasters of the Montreal station.

Cable television
Quebec has the lowest cable television-satellite television penetration rates in Canada, with 85.7% of Quebecers having cable television, as of 2006.

Vidéotron and Cogeco are the largest cable companies in Quebec, although a large number of independent cable companies exist. These compete against satellite companies Bell Satellite TV and Shaw Direct, as well as Bell's IPTV service Bell Fibe TV.

The industry
There are two primary television seasons of approximately 13 weeks each with the first being a fall season running from the beginning of September to December and, then, a winter season running from January to April. It is during these two periods that the majority of new domestic series air.

Nearly all Quebecois television outlets are owned by six companies: the federally owned Société Radio-Canada, the provincially owned Société de télédiffusion du Québec, and private companies Groupe TVA, Corus Entertainment, Rogers Sports & Media, and Bell Media. These companies produce programming themselves or, more commonly, by independent producers. Tax breaks provided to independent producers have increased their workload, although the two largest networks produce a large amount of programming themselves.

Television production is centred in Montreal, where Radio-Canada and TVA have their large studio complexes and where most other independent studio facilities exist. A small amount of national programming is produced in Quebec City, in accordance with the licenses of the broadcast networks.

The French-language television industry in Canada uses much more original, domestic productions than English-language outlets. As the French-language stations did not compete with U.S. stations, and viewers were relatively uninterested in dubs of U.S. imports, there was a larger incentive to invest in original dramas and entertainment programming catered towards the captive Quebecois audience. the top ten shows were written and created by Quebecers. The Quebec television industry produced two and one half times more TV series per capita than American networks, and domestic dramas were four times as profitable as American imports.

Because of the large domestic industry, Quebecois television has been described as having an insular "star system" that favours local talent. Personalities may frequently appear across different programs, and an extensive network of local celebrity news outlets cover them. Montreal Gazette media writer Steve Faguy found that there were at least 40 different Quebecois programs with formats dependent on celebrity guests (either as a participant or interview subject). In April 2016, during an interview on Radio-Canada's Tout le monde en parle, Quebecois musician Pierre Lapointe criticized the lack of diversity in the personalities seen on Quebecois television, which he described as a "culture of emptiness". Lapointe explained that "I'm sick of always seeing the same faces, and I'm one of those faces." The episode aired against the 2016 Artis Awards on TVA, which featured many of the same nominees and winners as the previous year's edition.

History
Television began in Quebec (and in Canada) on September 6, 1952, with the launch of CBFT in Montreal, the first station in what would become Radio-Canada's television network. Borrowing the technical standards and frequency plan from television in the United States, the station broadcast on the lowest channel, channel 2. Though initially bilingual, carrying programming from sister broadcaster CBC as well, the network would hold a monopoly on French-language television during all of the 1950s.

This "golden age" would end with a producers' strike at Radio-Canada in December 1958. The strike would lead one popular television host, René Lévesque, to launch a career in politics, one that would lead him to found the Parti Québécois and, later, nine-years as the Premier of Quebec.

In 1961, Télé-Métropole in Montreal signed on the air with decidedly populist programming. Known as le 10 for its channel number, it was first private French-language television broadcaster, the station would become the backbone of what is now the largest and highest-rated network in Quebec. In 1971, the network was formalized and given a name: TVA. By the early 1980s, its broadcast coverage reached nearly the entire province.

Colour began to be introduced in the 1960s, and by the end of the decade, unique cable television programming began with the introduction of télévision communautaire, the community channel.

Radio-Québec, now Télé-Québec, began in 1972, creating a third network, focusing on cultural and educational programming; first, its programming only appeared on cable, three years later, it began broadcasting as Montreal's first UHF station.

In the following years, additional Quebec cable networks appeared: TVSQ, covering sports, and surpassed in 1988 by RDS; TVJQ, with children's programming, later becoming Le Canal Famille, and now VRAK.TV; the TEQ, carrying an assortment of ethic programming, and now CJNT-TV; and TVFQ-99 (now TV5 Québec Canada).

In 1986, Télévision Quatre-Saisons, later V, now Noovo, launched as the newest television network, and the first to be distributed by satellite. With stations in Montreal and Quebec City, its reach was extended with partnerships with Radio-Canada affiliates elsewhere in the province, creating what is known as a twinstick.

At the same time, expansion of the number of cable channels continued: MusiquePlus (now Elle Fictions) in 1986; MétéoMédia in 1987; Réseau de l'information (now ICI RDI) and Canal D in 1995; MusiMax (now simply known as Max), Canal Vie, Télétoon, and Le Canal Nouvelles in 1997; Évasion, Historia, Séries+ (now SériesPlus) and Canal Z (later renamed as Ztélé; now simply known as Z), in 2000; and ARTV (now Ici ARTV) in 2001.

In the middle of the decade, as the growth of digital cable expanded, digital-only cable channels began to appear; today they include such channels as AddikTV, Argent, CASA, Cinépop, MOI ET CIE, Prise 2, RDS2, RDS Info, Télétoon Rétro, TVA Sports and Natyf TV.

title: Television in Quebec