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Cecchetti method

The Cecchetti method is variously defined as a style of ballet and as a ballet training method devised by the Italian ballet master Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928). The training method seeks to develop essential skills in dancers as well as strength and elasticity. Cecchetti-trained dancers are commonly found in ballet and other dance companies throughout the world.

History
The greatest influence on the development of the Cecchetti method was Carlo Blasis, a ballet master of the early 19th century. A student and exponent of the traditional French school of ballet, Blasis is credited as one of the most prominent ballet theoreticians and the first to publish a codified technique, the "Traité élémentaire, théorique, et pratique de l'art de la danse" ("Elementary, Theoretical, and Practical Treatise on the Art of the Dance"). Reputedly a very rigorous teacher, Blasis insisted on his students conforming to strict technical principles when learning to dance, a philosophy which Cecchetti learnt from his own teachers, who were all students of Blasis (Giovanni Lepri, Cesare Carnesecchi Coppini and Filippo Taglioni). Consequently, the key characteristic of the Cecchetti method is the adherence to a rigid training regime, designed to develop a virtuoso technique, with the dancer having a complete understanding of the theory behind the movement.

The other key influences on the Cecchetti method came from his own professional career as a dancer, which exposed him to many different techniques and styles of ballet. When he began to gain a reputation as a teacher, he experimented with these various styles, fusing the best elements of each to create his own ballet technique and training system, the eponymous Cechetti method. Such was the success of Cecchetti's teaching, he is recognised as one of the key contributors to modern classical ballet, his method credited with significantly improving the teaching of classical ballet throughout Europe. Where previously ballet teaching had been haphazard and reliant on the preferences and style of the individual teacher, the Cecchetti method established the model of standardised teaching which is the basis of all professional ballet teaching today.

Initially, Cecchetti passed on his method by teaching it to his pupils and professional dancers, including well known dancers of the early 20th century, such as Anna Pavlova, Alicia Markova, George Balanchine and Serge Lifar. Many of his students later taught the Cecchetti method, including Ninette de Valois, Marie Rambert, Laura Wilson, Margaret Craske and Olga Preobrajenska. A number of professional ballet schools have historically used the Cecchetti method, including the Royal Ballet School, Rambert Ballet School, National Ballet School of Canada, and the Australian Ballet School.

In 1922, British writer and dance historian Cyril W. Beaumont collaborated with Cecchetti and Stanislas Idzikowsky to document the method in print, producing the Manual of the Theory and Practice of Classical Theatrical Dancing. This continues to be the standard resource for the Cecchetti method throughout the world and it has been replicated in numerous forms, including Benesh and Laban notation. The method was further documented by Grazioso Cecchetti, one of Enrico's sons, in his treatise, Classical Dance.

The Cecchetti Society was established by Cyril Beaumont in London in 1922, with Maestro Enrico Cecchetti as its first president, and remained independent until it joined the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, against the wishes of Enrico Cecchetti, in 1924. Today, the Cecchetti training system is used internationally to teach classical ballet.

Australia
The Cecchetti Society was established in Australia in 1934 by Madam Lucie Saronova. The Society grew over the next 51 years while being administered by the Council of Management in Victoria, under the auspices of The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in London. In 1987 The Cecchetti Society of Australia Inc. was formed as an autonomous Australian society under the administration of an elected National Council, composed of members from its state branches. The corporation's head office is located in Melbourne.

In 1997 an international organization, Cecchetti International Classical Ballet, was formed by founding members from Australia, Canada, Italy, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the USA. This organization, which became a non-profit Canadian corporation in 2004, is committed to keeping alive and raising the profile of the Cecchetti method of classical ballet and its training system throughout the world.

Today, the Cecchetti method is used at The Australian Ballet School, Victorian College for the Arts, and Queensland School of Excellence.

United Kingdom
The Cecchetti teaching method was vital in the development of Classical Ballet in the United Kingdom and contributed heavily to modern-day British teaching methods. Enrico Cecchetti and his wife opened a ballet school in London in 1918, and his pupils included some of the most influential names in British ballet, many also influencing ballet throughout the world.

Dame Marie Rambert was a former pupil and colleague of Cecchetti, who also established a professional ballet school teaching his methods. This led to the formation of the UK's first ballet company, which survives today as the country's oldest established dance company, although it is now known as Rambert Dance Company and specialises in contemporary dance. The school also remains and is known as the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Dame Ninette de Valois was a colleague of Cecchetti during her professional career with the Ballets Russes. She established The Royal Ballet in London, with many of the companies early dancers being pupils of Cecchetti. The Cecchetti method was also favoured by de Valois when she formed the Royal Ballet School. Phyllis Bedells, another Cecchetti pupil, would also play an important role in the teaching of ballet in Britain, as a founder member of the Royal Academy of Dance, which today is a classical ballet teaching examination board.

The British writer and dance historian Cyril W. Beaumont was a close friend of Cecchetti and, in 1922 he collaborated with Cecchetti to codify the training technique into a printed syllabus, The Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet, which has become the foremost reference for Cecchetti method teachers worldwide. Cecchetti also gave Beaumont permission to establish the Cecchetti Society to maintain the method and ensure that it would be passed on to future ballet teachers in its original form. Branches of the Cecchetti Society were subsequently established around the world, most notably in Australia, South Africa, Canada and the US. The original Cecchetti Society still exists in Britain, although against the wishes of Enrico Cecchetti it was absorbed into the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, which continues to maintain the Cecchetti method as a separate entity from its own Imperial Classical Ballet syllabus.

Today, the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing promotes the Cecchetti method as a syllabus-based series of dance examinations, which are taught by registered teachers around the world in both pre-vocational and vocational dance schools. The syllabus is a progressive series of graded and vocational graded examinations, which are accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the government-appointed regulator of qualifications in England and Wales. Successful exam passes in the Cecchetti method can therefore be submitted for credit towards other nationally recognised qualifications, however this only applies in England and Wales. These qualifications are in reality usually taken by the amateur rather than the professional dancer.

There are a few ballet teachers, such as Gavin Roebuck, who can trace their knowledge of the Cecchetti method in a direct line from pupils of Enrico Cecchetti, including generations of dancers trained at the Royal Ballet School, the Rambert School and Canada's National Ballet School.

United Kingdom
In 2002, the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, became an accredited dance awarding body. As a result of this change, its system of exams and qualifications were revised, including those of the Cecchetti faculty. The ISTD now operates a three tier system of qualifications, which are recognised by the national qualifications regulators of England, Wales and Northern Ireland:

 * Graded examinations
 * Vocational graded examinations
 * Teaching qualifications

The system of teaching qualifications has been revised to include three levels of qualification. The first level, the DDE is compulsory for any person wishing to teach the ISTD syllabus and enter candidates for examinations. The Licentiate and Fellowship levels are optional, higher level qualifications that existed before 2002 and retain their previous status.

 * Diploma in Dance Education
 * Licentiate
 * Fellowship

United States
Students are tested on their ability to properly execute a number of specifically choreographed routines that emphasize a particular ballet movement. They are also graded on their knowledge of the theory and terms.

Grades five through seven correspond to his original levels.

In the American version, there are a few different marks for passing a level. From lowest to highest they are:
 * Pass on condition (bad and fairs)
 * Pass (fairs and goods)
 * Pass plus (mostly good with a few excellents)
 * Pass Commended (mostly excellent, a few good)
 * Pass Highly Commended (perfect exam, no corrections, all excellent)

All exams have different sections that the student is graded on. These sections include theory, barre, port de bras, adage, allegro, petit allegro, tours, pointe work, musicality, quality, and style among other things. These are all part of the total grade. Dancers taking their grade four exam will be asked to choreograph a one-minute dance, with teacher supervision, and perform it to the examiners. Students taking their grade 7 will be asked to perform a variation to the examiners.

A dancer who achieves a pass condition must wait two years before attempting the next exam level.

Student level examinations: designed to be more technically demanding and to provide a solid technical base so that when the dancer reaches higher levels, they can focus more on artistry. Examiners will correct some things, such as pirouette and retire positions, without marking any of the students down unless they fail to correct. Levels: grade one to grade four.

Pre-professional examinations: career oriented, with a high level of ballet technique and artistry expected. Examiners will no longer teach in these levels and any correction will result in being marked down. Levels: grade 5 to grade 8/diploma.

Teacher Qualifying Examinations: Successful completion of these examinations leads to qualification with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Levels: A.I.S.T.D. - Associate (provisional registration) A.I.S.T.D. - Associate Diploma (full registration) L.I.S.T.D. - Licentiate F.I.S.T.D. - Fellow (highest teaching qualifications and held by all examiners)

Australia
Cecchetti examinations are divided into seven categories:
 * 1) Pre Primary and Primary
 * 2) Grades
 * 3) Assessments
 * 4) Dance Spectrum One
 * 5) Majors
 * 6) Enrico Cecchetti Diploma
 * 7) Status

1) PRE PRIMARY AND PRIMARY:
 * The aim of these examinations is to provide an examination system for the once-a-week student, with the accent on enjoyment and dance quality.
 * There are two examinations PRE-PRIMARY, and PRIMARY
 * Pre Primary and Primary examinations are marked STANDARD NOT YET ATTAINED or PASS or PASS WITH MERIT or PASS WITH SPECIAL MERIT.

2) GRADE EXAMINATIONS:
 * These examinations are designed to give the student a strong basic ballet technique with gradual buildup through the Grades.
 * There are six grades - ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE and SIX. These may be preceded by Pre Primary and Primary.
 * In all six grades they will be marked as follows: STANDARD NOT YET ATTAINED or PASS or CREDIT or COMMENDED or HIGHLY COMMENDED or HONOURS.

3) ASSESSMENTS:
 * Assessments have been introduced to run parallel with the Grades 1 to 6, thereby, enabling these students to experience an examination situation without the stress of a result, whilst gaining confidence and receiving a written assessment of their performance.
 * All rules pertaining to the Grades apply to the Assessments but NO RESULT will be given.

4) DANCE SPECTRUM ONE (DS1):
 * DS1 has been developed for the Recreational and Vocational student who for various reasons may or may not wish to commence training in the Cecchetti Major levels.
 * The emphasis of the syllabus will be on the enjoyment, improvisation and understanding of the Cecchetti Principles rather than dance technique, thereby enabling the recreational student to achieve a good result.
 * There is no prerequisite examination to this examination stream.

5) MAJOR EXAMINATIONS:
 * There are three Major examinations – Intermediate, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 and they substantially cover the work of the Maestro Cecchetti.
 * The Diploma examination completes this set of examinations (SEE NOTE ON DIPLOMA EXAMINATION).
 * Examination order: All professional (Major) examinations must be taken in the correct order, progressing from Intermediate onwards. No level may be missed.

Intermediate
 * May be taken as a practical examination as a Dancer (Category A).
 * Mature age students (over 30 years) have the option of choosing either Category B(1) or B(2) as for Advanced 1 and Advanced 2.

Advanced 1 & Advanced 2
 * May be taken in either Category A or Category B
 * Category A: as a Dancer
 * Category B (1:) as a Dancer who will be expected to perform all the work to his or her individual ability and answer questions about the technical and artistic content as applicable to the syllabus.
 * Category B(2): as a mature age candidate (30 years and over) who will be expected to at a minimum, to walk thru the various exercises with some sense of the style and impetus required and explain their view of them in detail.
 * Major examinations are marked as follows: PASS, CREDIT, COMMENDED, HIGHLY COMMENDED, HONOURS or STANDARD NOT YET ATTAINED.

Progress Examinations:
 * These examinations are conducted in the Intermediate, Advanced 1, Advanced 2 and Diploma syllabi.
 * No certificates are issued but a full report is given to help the student and teacher evaluate the progress of the student.
 * A candidate may move directly from Progress Intermediate to Progress Advanced 1 examinations but cannot take the Advanced 1 examination until they have successfully taken the preceding examination.

6) THE ENRICO CECCHETTI DIPLOMA EXAMINATION:
 * The Diploma is not part of the qualifying process and can be taken without having previously passed Intermediate, Advanced 1 or Advanced 2.
 * The Diploma gives NO STATUS in the Organisation, but entitles the holder to carry the 'Holder of the Enrico Cecchetti Diploma' after their name.
 * There are two categories of entrant:
 * 1) DANCER – Dancers may take the examination in its entirety or in two parts separately — Part A and Part B.
 * 2) TEACHER - Teachers may take the examination in its entirety or in two parts separately — Part A and Part B. The minimum age limit for teachers is 25 years of age.

 * DIPLOMA will be marked PASS AWARDED or STANDARD NOT YET ATTAINED.

7) STATUS EXAMINATIONS (Professional Teaching Qualifications) There are five Status qualifications:
 * i) Associate: A.C.B.A. - C.I.C.B.
 * ii) Associate Diploma: A.(Dip)C.B.A. - C.I.C.B.
 * iii) Licentiate: L.C.B.A. - C.I.C.B.
 * iv) Licentiate Diploma: L.(Dip)C.B.A. - C.I.C.B.
 * v) Fellowship: F.C.B.A. - C.I.C.B.

South Africa
In South Africa, the Cecchetti Society (established in 1928) has five Grades and the major examinations are the same as for the UK: Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2. Examination passes are awarded as follows: Pass, Pass Plus, Commended, Highly Commended and Honours. To teach, the student must take the Associate examination after passing Advanced 1. Further qualifications are the same as for the UK and Australia. More information about Cecchetti in South Africa may be obtained by going to www.cecchetti.co.za

title: Cecchetti method


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Charles Kemble

Charles Kemble (25 November 1775 – 12 November 1854) was a Welsh actor of a prominent theatre family.

Life
Charles Kemble was one of 13 siblings and the youngest son of English Roman Catholic theatre manager/actor Roger Kemble, and Irish-born actress Sarah Ward. He was the younger brother of, among others, John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble and Sarah Siddons. He was born at Brecon in South Wales. Like his brothers he was raised in his father's Catholic faith, while his sisters were raised in their mother's Protestant faith. He and John Philip were educated at Douai School.

After returning to England in 1792, he obtained a job in the post office, but soon resigned to go on the stage, making his first recorded appearance at Sheffield as Orlando in As You Like It in that year. During the early part of his career as an actor he slowly gained popularity. For a considerable time he played with his brother and sister, chiefly in secondary parts, and received little attention.

His first London appearance was on 21 April 1794, as Malcolm to his brother's Macbeth. Ultimately he won independent fame, especially in such characters as Archer in George Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem, Dorincourt in Hannah Cowley's The Belle's Stratagem, Charles Surface and Ranger in Benjamin Hoadley's The Suspicious Husband. His Laërtes and Macduff were as accomplished as his brother's Hamlet and Macbeth. His production of Cymbeline in 1827 inaugurated the trend to historical accuracy in stagings of that play that reached a peak with Henry Irving at the turn of the century.

In comedy he was ably supported by his wife, Marie Therese De Camp, whom he married on 2 July 1806. His visit, with his daughter Fanny, to America during 1832 and 1834, aroused much enthusiasm. The later part of his career was beset by money troubles in connection with his joint proprietorship of Covent Garden theatre.

He formally retired from the stage in December 1836, but his final appearance was on 10 April 1840. From 1836-1840 he held the office of Examiner of Plays. In 1844-45 he gave readings from Shakespeare at Willis's Rooms. Macready regarded his Cassio as incomparable, and summed him up as "a first-rate actor of second-rate parts."

Selected roles

 * Mr Contest in The Wedding Day by Elizabeth Inchbald (1794)
 * Henry Woodville in The Wheel of Fortune by Richard Cumberland (1795)
 * Radanzo in Zorinski by Thomas Morton (1795)
 * Sigebert in Edwy and Elgiva by Fanny Burney (1795)
 * Henry Woodville in The Wheel of Fortune by Richard Cumberland (1795)
 * Pascentius in Vortigern and Rowena by William Henry Ireland (1796)
 * Dorington in The Man of Ten Thousand by Thomas Holcroft (1796)
 * Henrique in Don Pedro by Richard Cumberland (1796)
 * Publius in The Conspiracy by Robert Jephson (1796)
 * Hamet in Almeyda by Sophia Lee (1796)
 * Young Woodland in Cheap Living by Frederick Reynolds (1797)
 * Peregrine in The Last of the Family by Richard Cumberland (1797)
 * Henry Horeland in The Heir at Law by George Colman the Younger (1797)
 * Percy in The Castle Spectre by Matthew Lewis (1797)
 * Lorenzo in Aurelio and Miranda by James Boaden (1798)
 * Fernando in The Inquisitor by Thomas Holcroft (1798)
 * Prince David in Cambro-Britons by James Boaden (1798)
 * Mr Torrid in The Secret by Edward Morris (1799)
 * Alonzo in Pizarro by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1799)
 * Beauchamp in The East Indian by Matthew Lewis (1799)
 * Marquis of Vaublane in The Castle of Montval by Thomas Sedgwick Whalley (1799)
 * Don Henry in Antonio by William Godwin (1800)
 * King Henry in Adelaide by Henry James Pye (1800)
 * Aldermorn in Adelmorn, the Outlaw by Matthew Lewis (1801)
 * Sir Dudley Dorimant in Fashionable Friends by Mary Berry (1802)
 * Rinaldo in The Voice of Nature by James Boaden (1802)
 * Headlong in Hear Both Sides by Thomas Holcroft (1803)
 * Colonel Dorimant in The Three Per Cents by Frederick Reynolds (1803)
 * Charles Merton in The Marriage Promise by John Allingham (1803)
 * Villars in The Blind Bargain by Frederick Reynolds (1804)
 * Henry in Who Wants a Guinea? by George Colman the Younger (1805)
 * Lord Transit in A Hint to Husbands by Richard Cumberland (1806)
 * Plastic in Town and Country by Thomas Morton (1807)
 * Algernon St Albyn in Begone Dull Care by Frederick Reynolds (1808)
 * Vincent Templeton in Education by Thomas Morton (1813)
 * Count Luneburg in Adelaide by Richard Lalor Sheil (1816)
 * Hemaya in The Apostate by Richard Lalor Sheil (1817)
 * Hamed in Retribution by John Dillon (1818)
 * Giraldi in Fazio by Henry Hart Milman (1818)
 * Manfredi in Bellamira by Richard Lalor Sheil (1818)
 * Dorrington in A Word to the Ladies by James Kenney (1818)
 * Aldemar in Fredolfo by Charles Maturin (1819)
 * Vicentio in Evadne by Richard Lalor Sheil (1819)
 * Icilius in Virginius by James Sheridan Knowles (1820)
 * Douglas in Wallace by Charles Edward Walker (1820)
 * Pythias in Damon and Pythias by Richard Lalor Sheil (1821)
 * Guido in Mirandola by Barry Cornwall (1821)
 * Raimond Di Procida in The Vespers of Palermo by Felicia Hemans (1823)
 * Charles II in Charles the Second by John Howard Payne (1824)
 * Leon in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife by John Fletcher (1825)
 * Don Cesar in Love's Victory by George Hyde (1825)
 * Conrad in The Three Strangers by Harriet Lee (1825)
 * Francesco Foscari in Foscari by Mary Russell Mitford (1826)
 * Duke of Rougemont in The French Libertine by John Howard Payne (1826)
 * Sir Arthur Stanmore in A School for Grown Children by Thomas Morton (1827)
 * Sir Thomas Clifford in The Hunchback by James Sheridan Knowles (1832)
 * Charles of Bourbon in Francis the First by Fanny Kemble (1832)

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title: Charles Kemble


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Flora Twort

Flora Caroline Twort (24 June 1893 – 1985) was an English painter who specialised in watercolours and pastels of the scenes and people of Petersfield, Hampshire.

Flora was born at Yeovil, Somerset, the daughter of Albert Samuel Twort and his wife Jane (nee Rapley. Her father was a Surveyor of Taxes with the Inland Revenue, an employment that required constant relocation. By March 1898, he and his family had moved to Truro in Cornwall, where they remained for several years, before moving to Lambeth, and then Hampstead.

Twort began painting at the age of four, and was educated at the South Hampstead High School, London School of Art, the Regent Street Polytechnic and the Slade School of Art. At the end of World War I she moved to Petersfield, where she ran a secondhand bookshop at Numbers 1 and 2 The Square, in partnership with two other young women. The shop also sold handmade jewellery, pottery and textiles and gained a reputation as one of the finest book shops in the South of England. In 1934 she joined the Society of Women Artists.

Her studio was above this shop until 1948, when the three partners decided to give up the shop and Twort moved to a studio in the nearby Church Path. Her work was exhibited in the Royal Academy and other London galleries, and she continued to paint until she was 81.

Her pictures, usually watercolours, typically contain local scenes of Petersfield which are filled with people and animals, with such subjects as The Square on Market Day, or the fair on Petersfield Heath. She also produced drawings in pencil, crayon, charcoal and pastel, including some fine portraits.

Twort was a friend of Nevil Shute, who in 1925 proposed marriage to her, unsuccessfully, though they remained lifelong friends and she became godmother to his daughter Shirley Anne. For a short period in 1939, Shute and his family lived at The Old Mill at Langstone, which she owned.

On her death she bequeathed her studio cottage and pictures to Hampshire County Council. A selection of her pictures is now displayed in her old studios, which have become the Flora Twort Gallery; the selection is changed twice per year. Hampshire County Council has also put 600 of her pictures online.

title: Flora Twort


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Gage Roads

Gage Roads is an outer harbour area of Fremantle Harbour. It is situated in the Indian Ocean offshore from Fremantle, Western Australia, and incorporates a deep water sea channel. Gage Roads serves both as a shipping lane and as an anchorage for sea traffic heading towards the seaport of Fremantle.

With Rottnest Island lying to the west of Gage Roads and Owen Anchorage and Cockburn Sound to the south, Gage Roads was the location of the 1987 America's Cup.

Coastal geology
The area is the most northern of one of four coastal basins formed from the flooding of a depression between Pleistocene aeolianite ridges running north-south, and the subsequent deposition of east-west Holocene banks. The seabed of Gage Roads is covered by seagrass.

Naming
Gage Roads was named after Rear-Admiral Sir William Hall Gage who was the Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, when James Stirling was surveying the Swan River in 1826. In turn, the local brewery Gage Roads Brew is named after the area.

Shipping reports
Gage Roads is identified in shipping reports listing ships at anchor prior to entering the port of Fremantle.

Anchorage
At certain times, over 10 ships can be seen anchored in Gage Roads waiting to enter the port of Fremantle. In addition to these waiting ships, oversized ships that are unable to enter the inner harbour due to size or draft are required to anchor in Gage Roads.

Cruising
In the early 1900s, the local boat SS Zephyr regularly took cruises in Gage Roads. In the 2000s, the STS Leeuwin II has used Gage Roads for short sailing cruises.

Wartime
During the World War II era, the Leighton Guns (also known as Leighton Battery) on Buckland Hill were part of the main anti-aircraft defence of the Gage Roads area.

The guns were still operable into the Gage Roads area in the 1950s.

Swimming
Swimmers in the Rottnest Channel Swim (an annual swimming event) start at Cottesloe beach, cross Gage Roads and finish at Rottnest Island.

title: Gage Roads


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Stephen Kemble

George Stephen Kemble (21 April 1758 – 5 June 1822) was a successful English theatre manager, actor, and writer, and a member of the famous Kemble family. He was described as "the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw" though he also played title roles in Hamlet and King Lear among others. He published plays, poetry and non-fiction.

Kemble wed prominent actress Elizabeth Satchell (1783). His niece was the actress and abolitionist Fanny Kemble.

Early life and family
He was born in Kington, Herefordshire, one of 13 siblings and the second son of Roger Kemble and Sarah "Sally" Ward. His siblings included Charles Kemble, John Philip Kemble and Sarah Siddons. He and his brothers were raised in their father's Catholic faith; his sisters were raised in their mother's Protestant faith.

His daughter Frances Kemble was a music composer who was a favourite of Sir Walter Scott. She married Capt. Robert Arkwright., son of Richard Arkwright Jr. Kemble's son Henry was also an actor.

Manager
Similar to his father, Stephen Kemble became a very successful theatre manager of the Eighteenth-Century English stage. He managed the original Theatre Royal, Newcastle for fifteen years (1791–1806). He brought members of his famous acting family and many other actors out of London to Newcastle. Stephen's sister, Sarah Siddons, was the first London actor of repute to break through the prejudice which regarded summer " strolling", or starring in the provincial theatres, as a degradation.

Stephen Kemble guided the Theatre through many celebrated seasons. The Newcastle audience quickly came to regard itself, that is, as "in a position of great theatrical privilege." The original Theatre Royal was opened on 21 January 1788 and was located on Mosley Street, next to Drury Lane. While in Newcastle upon Tyne Kemble lived in a large house opposite the White Cross in Newgate Street.

Stephen Kemble took a temporary 12-month lease on the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh in 1792/3 but initially failed to take a long-term lease. He ran a temporary theatre nearby at the head of Leith Walk 1793/4 under the title of "circus" before securing long-term lease in 1794 and he held this until 1800 although with an interval created by Harriet Pye Esten. He also managed other theatres; The Theatre Royal, Glasgow (eventually replaced by Tivoli Theatre (Aberdeen)) (1795); Chester; Lancaster; Sheffield (1792); Berwick-upon-Tweed (1794); theatres in Northumberland; Alnwick (where he built a theatre, 1796) and rural areas on the theatre circuit. From Newcastle, Kemble ran the Durham circuit (1799), which included North Shields, Sunderland, South Shields, Stockton and Scarborough and the opening for the Stockton Races at Stockton Racecourse. He also managed theatres at Northallerton and Morpeth. In Broadway, he performed in the Assembly Room of the Lygon Arms (formerly known as the White Hart Inn). He also managed Whitehaven and Paisley (1814), Northampton Theatre, the theatre at Birmingham and Theatre Royal, Dumfries, Portsmouth. For a short time in 1792, actor Charles Lee Lewes assisted Stephen Kemble in the management of the Dundee Repertory Theatre

He supported the careers of many leading actors of the time such as Master Betty, his wife Elizabeth Satchell, his sister Elizabeth Whitlock, George Frederick Cooke, Charlotte Wattell, Harriet Pye Esten, John Edwin, Joseph Munden, Grist, Elizabeth Inchbald, Pauline Hall, Wilson, Charles Incledon, Egan. His nephew Henry Siddons (Sarah Siddons' son) made his first appearance on stage in Sheffield (October 1792), his younger brother Charles Kemble, Thomas Apthorpe Cooper, John Liston, John Emery, Daniel Egerton, William Macready.

Stephen presented London stars such as Edmund Kean, Alexander and Elizabeth Pope (née Elizabeth Younge), Mrs. Dorothea Jordan, his brother John Philip Kemble, Wright Bowden, his sister Sarah Siddons, Elizabeth Billington, Michael Kelly (tenor), Anna Maria Crouch, and Charles Lee Lewes.

Actor
He was also famous for playing Falstaff. In 1783, Stephen made his debut with his brother John in London. Contemporary critics acclaimed that in this role Kemble achieved the "optimum balance between comedy and gravity." After his performance in London at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1802, the Morning Chronicle wrote that "It is to be regretted that his associations in the country prevent him from accepting a permanent engagement in London." Kemble would return to play Falstaff in London at Covent Garden (1806) and the Drury Lane (1816), for which he received great acclaim. After Kemble's death, The Edinburgh Literary Journal wrote, "[Stephen] Kemble was perhaps the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw."

Kemble also played the title roles in Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and many other roles.

For The London Magazine John Taylor wrote, "Mr. Stephen Kemble was an actor of considerable merit." Taylor writes about Kemble's commitment to address injustice through theatre: "All characters of an open, blunt nature, and requiring a vehement expression of justice and integrity, particularly those exemplifying an honest indignation against vice, he delivered in so forcible a manner, as to show. obviously that he was developing his own feelings and character. This manner was very successfully displayed in his representation of the Governor, Sir Christopher Curry, in the opera of Inkle and Yarico."

Taylor writes of Kemble's reputation in the provincial theatre circuit: "Stephen Kemble, who was an accurate observer of human life, and an able delineater of character and manners, was so intelligent and humorous a companion, that he was received with respect into the best company in the several provincial towns, which he occasionally visited in the exercise of his profession."

Writer
He also published a dramatic play The Northern Inn (1791). The play was also known as The northern lass, or, Days of good Queen Bess, The good times of Queen Bess. The play was first produced on 16 August 1791, as The northern inn, or, The good times of Queen Bess, at the Haymarket Theatre (i.e. Little Theatre or Theatre Royal, Haymarket).

Kemble also published a collection of his writings Odes, Lyrical Ballads and Poems on various occasions (1809). About Kemble's poetry, John Wilson (Scottish writer) stated, "Stephen Kemble was a man of excellent talents, and taste too; and we have a volume of his poems... in which there is considerable powers of language, and no deficiency either of feeling or of fancy. He had humour if not wit, and was a pleasant companion and worthy man." Of particular interest is Kemble's writing is his reflections on contemporaneous events such as the Battle of Trafalgar, the death of Lord Nelson, the death of Robert Burns, his conversion to the abolitionist movement and support of the Slave Trade Act 1807, the death of his brother-in-law William Siddons.

Stephen published a play with his son Henry Kemble (1789–1836) entitled Flodden Field (1819) based on the Battle of Flodden (1513), which was performed by Thomas S. Hamblin. The text is based on Sir Walter Scott's Marmion: a tale of Flodden field. In six cantos. The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on Thursday evening, 31 December 1818. The European Magazine, and London Review reported that at its debut "the whole [play] went off without opposition, and its repetition, was received with applause."

An essay of his entitled "In the Character of Touchstone, Riding on an Ass" was published by William Oxberry in his book The Actor's Budget (1820).

Retirement
Kemble moved from Newcastle to Durham, and lived in retirement after 1806. In later life, Kemble took on less responsibilities in management and made only occasional appearances on the stage.

He was a close friend of another famous Durham resident, the 3 ft 3 inch tall Polish dwarf, Józef Boruwłaski. When these two friends - one little and one large - strolled along the wooded paths of the city, they were reported to be an interesting sight for the people of Durham.

Kemble's last performance at Durham was in May 1822, a fortnight before his death at the age of 64. He was fondly remembered by the natives of Durham, and was honoured with a burial in the Chapel of the Nine Altars in the Durham Cathedral. His close friend Józef Boruwłaski is buried at the west end of the cathedral's nave, beneath the north-west tower. The grave is marked with his initials J.B on a flagstone. The heyday of Durham theatre came to an end with Kemble's death.

In 2013, lines from his ode to a Guinea were inscribed on the rim of a £2 coin issued to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Guinea coin. "What is a Guinea? 'Tis a splendid thing"."

title: Stephen Kemble


text:
Strict constructionism

In the United States, strict constructionism is a particular legal philosophy of judicial interpretation that limits or restricts the powers of the federal government only to those expressly, i.e., explicitly and clearly, granted to the government by the United States Constitution. While commonly confused with textualism or originalism, they are not the same, and in fact frequently contradict, as textualists like Antonin Scalia have noted.

Strict meaning
Strict construction requires a judge to apply the text only as it is expressly written, i.e., read perfectly literally. This can contradict the commonly-understood meaning of a law. For example, consider a law that specifies "the use of a knife when committing a crime should be punished by ten years in prison." This would commonly be understood as prohibiting the use of a knife to threaten or injure another person. However, read purely literally, the law would also mandate ten years in prison for dining and dashing if the diner were to use a knife to cut their food.

As a result of this distinction, nearly all textualists reject strict constructionism in this sense. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, a major proponent of textualism, said that "no one ought to be" a strict constructionist, because the most literal interpretation meaning of a text can conflict with the commonly-understood or original meaning. Similarly, many of the original framers of the Constitution were not strict constructionists; Washington, Hamilton, and Adams all took broad interpretations of the powers afforded to the federal government. An early attempt at limiting the federal government's powers to only those "expressly" granted by the constitution was rejected at the constitutional convention, as many of the Founding Fathers did not originally intend for the constitution to be read in this manner. However, some fathers not present at the convention, such as Thomas Jefferson, would later argue for a strict interpretation of federal powers. James Madison (the Constitution's primary author) tended to take a more moderate view, somewhere between the interpretations promoted by Jefferson and Adams.

Common use
"Strict constructionism" is also used in American political discourse as an umbrella term for conservative legal philosophies, which tend to be more willing to strike down federal laws and regulations for exceeding the authorities given to them by the constitution. One example of this is the major questions doctrine. The major questions doctrine limits the ability of the executive branch to enact broad or sweeping changes without express authorization from Congress, under the principle that few people would understand a vague statute to imply the existence of broad, sweeping powers

Constitutional scholar John Hart Ely believed that "strict constructionism" is not really a philosophy of law or a theory of interpretation, but a coded label for judicial decisions popular with a particular political party.

The term is frequently used even more loosely to describe any conservative judge or legal analyst. This usage is pervasive, but in tension with the legal meaning of the term. For example, on the campaign trail in 2000, when speaking on his choices for new Supreme Court Justices, George W. Bush promised to appoint "strict constructionists in the mold of Justices Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas", though Thomas considers himself an originalist, and Scalia outright rejected strict construction, calling it "a degraded form of textualism."

History
The use of the term strict construction in American politics is not new. The term was used regularly by members of the Democratic-Republican Party and by Democrats during the antebellum period when they argued that powers of the federal government listed in Article I should be strictly construed. They embraced this approach in the hope that it would ensure that the bulk of governmental power would remain with the states and not be usurped by the federal government via novel interpretations of its powers. Perhaps the best known example of this approach is Jefferson's opinion arguing against the constitutionality of a national bank. Because the vagueness of Article I inevitably lent itself to broad interpretations as well as narrow ones, strict constructionists turned to the somewhat restrained descriptions of the powers of Congress that were offered by advocates of the Constitution during ratification. Thus, politicians who identified themselves as strict constructionists embraced an approach to constitutional interpretation that resembles what we today call originalism.

The term began to be used by conservative politicians such as beginning with Richard Nixon in 1968 when he was running for election. His pledge was to appoint justices that interpret the law and reinstate "law and order" to the judiciary. President Nixon appointed four justices that seemed (at the time) to be of that philosophy. One of them, Harry Blackmun, however, shifted leftward, while another, Lewis F. Powell, became a moderate. The other two, Warren Burger and William Rehnquist, were in the mold of what most think of in terms of strict constructionists. Gerald Ford, when running to serve a full term of his own, distanced himself from this issue. Ronald Reagan, however, also promised strict constructionists. All three of his US Supreme Court nominees loosely fell into this category. Still, Antonin Scalia was more of an originalist, while Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy were fairly conservative. Since Reagan, Republican presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, along with Republican nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney, have all promised to nominate strict constructionist judges to the courts.

Criticism
The term has been criticized as being a misleading or meaningless term. Few judges self-identify as strict constructionists, due to the narrow meaning of the term. Antonin Scalia, the justice most identified with the term, once wrote: "I am not a strict constructionist, and no one ought to be," calling the philosophy "a degraded form of textualism that brings the whole philosophy into disrepute." Scalia summarized his textualist approach as follows: "A text should not be construed strictly, and it should not be construed leniently; it should be construed reasonably, to contain all that it fairly means." He continued with one real case to differentiate them:

The difference between textualism and strict constructionism can be seen in a statutory case my Court decided last term. The statute at issue provided for an increased jail term if, "during and in relation to ... [a] drug trafficking crime," the defendant "uses ... a firearm." The defendant in this case had sought to purchase a quantity of cocaine; and what he had offered to give in exchange for the cocaine was an unloaded firearm, which he showed to the drug-seller. The Court held, I regret to say, that the defendant was subject to the increased penalty, because he had "used a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime." The case was not even close (6–3). I dissented. Now I cannot say whether my colleagues in the majority voted the way they did because they are strict-construction textualists, or because they are not textualists at all. But a proper textualist, which is to say my kind of textualist, would surely have voted with me. The phrase "uses a gun" fairly connoted use of a gun for what guns are normally used for, that is, as a weapon.

When you ask someone "Do you use a cane?" you are not inquiring whether he has hung his grandfather's antique cane as a decoration in the hallway.

Doctrine of absurdity
In law, strictly literal interpretations of statutes can lead one to logically deduce absurdities, and the doctrine of absurdity is that common sense interpretations should be used in such cases, rather than literal reading of a law or of original intent. The absurdity doctrine is a doctrine in legal theory, also known as "scrivener's error exception"; in which American courts have interpreted statutes contrary to their plain meaning in order to avoid absurd legal conclusions. It has been described as follows:

"The common sense of man approves the judgment mentioned by Puffendorf [sic], that the Bolognian law which enacted 'that whoever drew blood in the streets should be punished with the utmost severity', did not extend to the surgeon who opened the vein of a person that fell down in the street in a fit. The same common sense accepts the ruling, cited by Plowden, that the statute of [1st] Edward II, which enacts that a prisoner who breaks out of prison shall be guilty of a felony, does not extend to a prisoner who breaks out when the prison is on fire – 'for he is not to be hanged because he would not stay to be burnt'."

title: Strict constructionism


text:
1999 New Zealand general election

The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance. This marked an end to nine years of the Fourth National Government, and the beginning of the Fifth Labour Government which would govern for nine years in turn, until its loss to the National Party in the 2008 general election. It was the first New Zealand election where both major parties had female leaders.

Background
Before the election, the National Party had an unstable hold on power. After the 1996 election National had formed a coalition with the populist New Zealand First party and its controversial leader, Winston Peters. The coalition was unpopular, as New Zealand First was seen as opposed to the National government, and had made many statements in the 1996 election campaign to that effect, such as saying that only through New Zealand First could National Party be toppled, and Peters said that he would not accept Jim Bolger as Prime Minister, Bill Birch as Finance Minister or Jenny Shipley in a social welfare portfolio. NZ First's support crashed, though this was also partly caused by scandals and by mid-1997, NZ First was polling at as low as 2%. National also polled badly, and Jim Bolger was replaced as Prime Minister with Jenny Shipley.

Gradually, however, the relationship between the two parties deteriorated, and Peters took his party out of the coalition, after Shipley sacked him from her cabinet. A number of New Zealand First MPs deserted Peters, establishing themselves as independents or as members of newly established parties. By forming agreements with these MPs, National was able to keep itself in office, but its control was often unsteady. The polls were still initially close, but without NZ First support, National's chances of forming a government were slim. Eventually, Labour Party gained a solid lead over National.

The Labour Party, which had been in Opposition since losing the 1990 election, presented a strong challenge, particularly due to its agreement with the smaller Alliance party. The two had not previously enjoyed good relations, primarily due to the presence of the NewLabour Party as one of the Alliance's key members. NewLabour had been established by Jim Anderton, a former Labour MP who quit the party in protest over the economic reforms of Roger Douglas, which were often blamed for Labour's election loss in 1990. Gradually, as the Labour Party withdrew from Rogernomics, the Alliance (led by Anderton) reduced its hostility towards Labour, but it was not until shortly before the 1999 election that a formal understanding was reached regarding a possible left-wing coalition. This agreement was deemed a necessary step towards building a credible alternative to the National Party.

This election was the first one in New Zealand's history where both main parties were led by women, being repeated again in the 2020 election.

MPs retiring in 1999
Fifteen MPs intended to retire at the end of the 45th Parliament.

The election
The election took place on 27 November. Less than 84.1% of the 2,509,365 people registered to vote turned out for the election. This was the lowest turnout for some time, although it would drop further in the 2002 election. A total of 679 candidates stood for electorate seats, representing 36 parties. Party lists comprised 760 candidates from 22 parties. The new government was sworn in on 10 December.

In the election 965 candidates stood, and there were 22 registered parties with party lists. Of the candidates, 482 were electorate and list, 197 were electorate only, and 286 were list only. 67% of candidates (647) were male and 33% (318) female.

Summary of results
Labour Party won 49 seats in parliament. When combined with the ten seats won by the Alliance, the coalition was two seats short of an absolute majority. It was able to form a new government with support from the Green Party, which entered parliament for the first time as an independent party (having previously been a part of the Alliance). The Green Party's entry to parliament was by a narrow margin, however – in order to gain seats, it needed to either win 5% of the party vote or win an electorate seat, neither of which the party appeared likely to do. Helen Clark openly encouraged Labour supporters in the Coromandel to give their constituency vote to Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons and their party vote to Labour. However, when all special votes (that is, votes cast by people who were not able to attend a polling place in their electorate on the day of the election) were counted, the Greens had narrowly reached not one but both targets – Jeanette Fitzsimons won the electorate of Coromandel by 250 votes, and the party gained 5.16% of the vote.

The National Party, while not performing exceptionally poorly, failed to gain enough support to keep it in power. It won 39 seats, ten fewer than the Labour Party. ACT New Zealand, a potential coalition partner for National, gained nine seats. While this was an increase on ACT's previous election results, it was not sufficient to enable the National Party to form a government. National's former coalition partner, New Zealand First, performed poorly, with voters punishing it for the problems in the last government. The party received less than 5% of the vote, and so would have been removed from parliament had Winston Peters not retained his electorate of Tauranga, something he did by only 63 votes. None of the MPs who deserted New Zealand First were returned to parliament.

Parliamentary parties
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 style="width:213px;" | Party ! Colspan=3 | Party vote ! Colspan=3 | Electorate vote ! Colspan=4 | Seats ! Votes ! % ! Change (pp) ! Votes ! % ! Change (pp) ! List ! Electorate ! Total ! +/- ! colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Valid votes ! 2,065,494 ! 97.10 ! 0.04 ! 2,047,473 ! 96.25 ! 0.31 ! Colspan=4 | ! colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Total ! 2,127,265 ! 100 ! ! 2,127,265 ! 100 ! ! 53 ! 67 ! 120 ! In addition to the registered parties listed above, some groups participated in the election without submitting party lists. Many of these were unregistered parties, lacking the necessary membership numbers for submitting a party list. There were, however, three registered ones that did not, for whatever reason, submit a party list. In total, 14 parties nominated electorate candidates only. By number of votes received, the most significant parties to do this were Te Tawharau (registered), Mana Wahine Te Ira Tangata (registered), the Equal Rights Party (unregistered), the Piri Wiri Tua Movement (unregistered), and the Asia Pacific United Party (registered). None of these parties were successful. There were also 36 independent candidates, also unsuccessful. The Mauri Pacific Party, established by a group of defectors from New Zealand First, failed to place even second in the electorates they held. Te Tawharau, which held a seat in parliament thanks to another New Zealand First defector, failed to retain its seat.
 * colspan=12 align=center| 1999 New Zealand general election - composition chart.svg
 * - style="text-align:center;"
 * - style="text-align:center;"
 * 800,199
 * 38.74
 * 10.55
 * 854,736
 * 41.75
 * 10.67
 * 8
 * 41
 * 49
 * 12
 * 629,932
 * 30.50
 * 3.37
 * 641,361
 * 31.32
 * 1.99
 * 17
 * 22
 * 39
 * 5
 * 159,859
 * 7.74
 * 2.36
 * 141,322
 * 6.90
 * 4.35
 * 9
 * 1
 * 10
 * 3
 * 145,493
 * 7.04
 * 0.94
 * 92,445
 * 4.52
 * 0.77
 * 9
 * 0
 * 9
 * 1
 * 106,560
 * 5.16
 * new
 * 86,157
 * 4.21
 * new
 * 6
 * 1
 * 7
 * new
 * 87,926
 * 4.26
 * 9.09
 * 85,737
 * 4.19
 * 9.30
 * 4
 * 1
 * 5
 * 12
 * 11,065
 * 0.54
 * 0.34
 * 22,467
 * 1.10
 * 0.97
 * 0
 * 1
 * 1
 * 49,154
 * 2.38
 * 1.95
 * 44,885
 * 2.19
 * 0.19
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 23,033
 * 1.12
 * new
 * 19,289
 * 0.94
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 22,687
 * 1.10
 * 0.56
 * 6,519
 * 0.32
 * 0.15
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 5,949
 * 0.29
 * 0.26
 * 0.03
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 5,190
 * 0.25
 * 0.05
 * 3,925
 * 0.19
 * 0.04
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 4,008
 * 0.19
 * new
 * 9,321
 * 0.46
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 3,244
 * 0.17
 * 0.01
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 3,191
 * 0.15
 * 0.14
 * 3,633
 * 0.18
 * 0.32
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 2,912
 * 0.14
 * new
 * 2,408
 * 0.12
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 1,712
 * 0.08
 * 0.07
 * 2,101
 * 0.10
 * 0.16
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 1,311
 * 0.06
 * new
 * 267
 * 0.01
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 936
 * 0.05
 * new
 * 688
 * 0.03
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * style="background-color:#EEE" |
 * style="text-align:left;" |Freedom Movement
 * 454
 * 0.02
 * new
 * 762
 * 0.04
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * style="background-color:#639" |
 * style="text-align:left;" |People's Choice
 * 387
 * 0.02
 * new
 * 154
 * 0.01
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 292
 * 0.01
 * 0.01
 * 231
 * 0.01
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * style="background-color:#ffffff" |
 * style="text-align:left;" |Unregistered parties
 * 2,354
 * 0.11
 * 0.04
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 23,004
 * 1.12
 * 0.08
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * style="background-color:#EEE" |
 * style="text-align:left;" |Freedom Movement
 * 454
 * 0.02
 * new
 * 762
 * 0.04
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * style="background-color:#639" |
 * style="text-align:left;" |People's Choice
 * 387
 * 0.02
 * new
 * 154
 * 0.01
 * new
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * new
 * 292
 * 0.01
 * 0.01
 * 231
 * 0.01
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * style="background-color:#ffffff" |
 * style="text-align:left;" |Unregistered parties
 * 2,354
 * 0.11
 * 0.04
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 23,004
 * 1.12
 * 0.08
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0.04
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 23,004
 * 1.12
 * 0.08
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * 23,004
 * 1.12
 * 0.08
 * 0
 * 0
 * 0
 * colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Informal votes
 * 19,887
 * 0.93
 * 0.55
 * 37,908
 * 1.78
 * 0.90
 * Colspan=4 |
 * colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Disallowed votes
 * 41,884
 * 1.97
 * 0.59
 * 41,884
 * 1.97
 * 0.59
 * Colspan=4 |
 * 0.59
 * Colspan=4 |
 * colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | Eligible voters and Turnout
 * 2,509,365
 * 84.77
 * 3.51
 * 2,509,365
 * 84.77
 * 3.51
 * Colspan=4 |
 * }
 * }

Electorate results

Of the 67 electorates in the 1999 election, a majority (41) were won by the opposition Labour Party. Included in Labour's total are the Maori seats, which it managed to regain after losing them to New Zealand First in the previous election. The governing National Party won 22 electorate seats, slightly less than a third of the total.

Four minor parties managed to win electorate seats. This proved important for some – neither New Zealand First nor United would have entered parliament if not for Winston Peters and Peter Dunne retaining their seats. Jim Anderton also retained his seat. The Greens won their first electorate seat when Jeanette Fitzsimons took Coromandel, although since the Greens crossed the 5% threshold, this was of less importance than originally thought. The Greens were not to repeat an electorate win until the 2020 election, with Chloë Swarbrick's plurality in Auckland Central.

The table below shows the results of the 1999 general election:

Key

|colspan=10 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" | General electorates

|colspan=10 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" | Māori electorates

 * }

List results

MPs returned via party lists, and unsuccessful candidates, were as follows:

 * Notes:
 * 1) These party list members later entered parliament in the term as other list MPs elected resigned from parliament.
 * 2) These party list members later resigned during the parliamentary term.

Summary of seat changes

 * Electoral redistributions:
 * A minor reconfiguration of electorates and their boundaries occurred between the 1996 and 1999 elections. Six seats were abolished and eight were created, giving a net gain of two electorates.
 * The seats of Mahia, New Lynn, Owairaka, Waipareira, Te Tai Rawhiti (Maori) and Te Puku O Te Whenua (Maori) ceased to exist.
 * The seats of East Coast, Mt Albert, Mt Roskill, Te Atatu, Titirangi, Hauraki (Maori), Ikaroa-Rawhiti (Maori) and Waiariki (Maori) came into being.
 * Seats captured:
 * By Labour: Banks Peninsula, Hamilton West, Maungakiekie, Northcote, Rotorua and Wairarapa were captured from National. Te Tai Hauauru and Te Tai Tokerau were captured from Mauri Pacific. Wellington Central was captured from ACT. Te Tai Tonga was captured from New Zealand First.
 * By the Greens: Coromandel was captured from National.
 * Seats transferred from departing MPs to new MPs:
 * Epsom, Kaikoura, Karapiro, Port Waikato, Rangitikei, Waitakere and Whangarei, all held by departing National MPs, were won by new National candidates. Two of the departing MPs remained in Parliament as list MPs, and another won a different electorate seat.
 * The seats of Mana, Dunedin South and Waimakariri, all held by departing Labour MPs, were won by new Labour candidates. One of the departing MPs remained in Parliament as a list MP.
 * Labour list seats: Lost 3 (was 11, fell to 8)
 * Became electorate MPs: 7
 * Re-elected: 5
 * Newly elected: 3 (including a former electorate MP)
 * National list seats: Gained 3 (was 14, rose to 17)
 * Retired: 4
 * Re-elected: 6
 * Not re-elected: 3
 * Newly elected: 11 (including 9 former electorate MPs)
 * Alliance list seats: Lost 2 (was 11, fell to 9)
 * Re-elected: 9
 * (Became Green MPs: 2)
 * ACT list seats: Gained 2 (was 7, rose to 9)
 * Retired: 2
 * Re-elected: 5
 * Newly elected: 4 (including a former electorate MP)
 * Green list seats: Gained 6 (was 0, rose to 6)
 * (Former Alliance list MPs: 2)
 * Became electorate MP: 1
 * Re-elected: 1
 * Newly elected: 5
 * New Zealand First list seats: Lost 3 (was 7, fell to 4)
 * Re-elected: 4
 * Not re-elected: 3
 * Christian Heritage list seats: Lost 1 (was 1, fell to 0)
 * Not re-elected: 1
 * Mauri Pacific list seats: Lost 2 (was 2, fell to 0)
 * Not re-elected: 2
 * Mana Wahine list seats: Lost 1 (was 1, fell to 0)
 * Not re-elected: 1

Post-election events
The result in the Tauranga electorate was an extremely close three way race. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters beat National candidate Katherine O'Regan in a close race with Labour's Margaret Wilson in third. Labour sought a judicial recount as since New Zealand First won less than five percent of the party vote they would have no seats in parliament in at all if Peters lost the electorate (allowing Labour to govern solely with the Alliance and not needing the Greens). Peters criticised the recount as a waste of money. The recount resulted in Peters' majority increasing by one vote from 62 to 63.

A by-election to the Wellington City Council was caused after Eastern Ward councillor Sue Kedgley resigned her seat after she was elected a List MP for the Green Party, necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Ray Ahipene-Mercer.

title: 1999 New Zealand general election


text:
Andrew Li

Andrew Li Kwok-nang (born December 1948) is a retired Hong Kong judge, and a former Chief Justice of Hong Kong, who was the first to preside over the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, established on 1 July 1997. Li was succeeded by Geoffrey Ma on 1 September 2010.

Li was born in Hong Kong and educated locally and in England. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Li practised as a barrister in Hong Kong until his appointment as Chief Justice. During his 13 years as Chief Justice, Li handled a variety of important appellate cases and was known for his moderate jurisprudence and visionary leadership. He has remained active in public service since his retirement.

Early life and education
Born in Hong Kong, Andrew Li received his early education at St. Paul's Co-educational College, and then at Repton School in Derbyshire, England. He earned an MA and LLM from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Legal career
Li was called to the Middle Temple in 1970, and the Hong Kong Bar in 1973. He served pupillage under Peter Millett, later Lord Millett.

His first ever pupil was Audrey Eu, who commenced her pupillage in 1978. Her brother and senior counsel was also Li's pupil. Former Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung was Li's last pupil. In 1988, he was appointed Queen's Counsel.

He was appointed a Deputy Judge of the District Court of Hong Kong in 1982 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 1991. In 1997, Li was appointed the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal by Tung Chee-Hwa, the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after the handover. As Chief Justice, he presided in the Court of Final Appeal and was Head of the Judiciary charged with its administration. He served for 13 years until his retirement in 2010.

Li has been lauded for visionary leadership as Chief Justice. He has left "an indelible mark in the annals of the history of the HKSAR." He was "the main impetus" in the development of the Court of Final Appeal, where he developed a moderate jurisprudence and was a consensus builder. Lord Millett, who served alongside Li as a non-permanent judge of the CFA, described Li as "[certainly] the wisest" member of the court.

In 1999, he gave the leading judgment in Ng Ka Ling and Others v. Director of Immigration, which was at the centre of the right of abode controversy.

In 2000, Li set up a working party, consisting of judges, lawyers and academics, to introduce reforms on minimising the complexity of High Court civil litigation procedures, widening judges' discretionary powers to manage the progress of cases and requiring lawyers to justify their charges. An interim report was released in 2001, containing 80 recommendations, some of which mirror those in the Woolf Reforms in England. Known as the Civil Justice Reform, the final report was released on 3 March 2004, setting out 150 recommendations. It has come into effect on 2 April 2009.

Li announced his decision to resign early from his position as Chief Justice on 25 August 2009, ceasing service on 31 August 2010 and commencing pre-retirement leave on 1 September 2010, three years before retirement age. He would leave public life upon retirement. Li's announcement that he intended to take early retirement came as a surprise, prompting widespread speculation that there had been pressure from Beijing, according to the South China Morning Post. Li, however, stressed his retirement was in the best interests of the judiciary and would be conducive to orderly succession planning of the judiciary as three other permanent judges on the Court of Final Appeal were to reach retirement age between 2012 and 2014. He also said the judiciary had been under his leadership for 13 years, which was a long time, and that retirement was consistent with his personal wishes. He dismissed speculation that he resigned due to political pressure.

On 18 February 2010, Li achieved the highest score ever recorded (68.1) by the University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme.

On 8 April 2010, it was announced that Chief Executive Donald Tsang had accepted the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission to appoint Geoffrey Ma as Li's successor. On 9 June 2010, Ma was formally endorsed unanimously by Hong Kong legislators. But pro-democracy members remained concerned at the implications of Li's resignation. Margaret Ng said: "The public is deeply worried that [Li's resignation] signals an era in which judicial independence will gradually yield to the influence and intervention of Beijing ... but I believe the challenges have always been there, openly at times, but unceasingly as an undercurrent." Emily Lau said many people were unnerved by Li's decision to resign, and that "Hong Kong cannot afford another surprise resignation."

On 17 July 2010, a farewell ceremony was held for Li. The courtroom was packed by judges and lawyers, including representatives of the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Bar Association.

Extra-judicial life
Li has a long record of public service. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1985. In 1992, he was appointed member at-large of the Executive Council of Chris Patten (later Lord Patten of Barnes), the last British Governor of Hong Kong, and was appointed Commander of the Order of British Empire the same year.

Li had served as Chairman of the Land Development Corporation, Deputy Chairman of the Inland Revenue Board of Review, member of the Securities Commission, the Law Reform Commission, the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform, the Banking Advisory Committee, and the Judicial Services Commission, and Honorary Secretary of the Hong Kong Bar Association. He had also served as steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

On the education front, Li had served as vice-chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and chairman of the university and Polytechnics Grants Committee. He had also served as a trustee of the Friends of Tsinghua University Law School Charitable Trust and as the vice-chairman of the School Council of St. Paul's Co-educational College of Hong Kong.

Li has received numerous awards, including Honorary Degrees awarded by Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (1993); Baptist University (1994); Open University of Hong Kong (1997); University of Hong Kong (2001); Griffith University (2001), University of New South Wales (2002), University of Technology, Sydney (2005), Chinese University of Hong Kong (2006), Shue Yan University (2009), Lingnan University (2010), City University of Hong Kong (2010), Tsinghua University (2013) and University of Oxford (2013). He was made an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple in 1997, an Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in 1999, and an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford in 2016.

Li was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by the Hong Kong Government in 2008. He received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service and the Sing Tao Leader of the Year Award in 2010. In the following year, he was made an Honorary Life Member respectively of the Hong Kong Bar Association and of the Law Society of Hong Kong. He is also a Patron of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.

Since his retirement from the post of Chief Justice, Li has devoted himself to education. He is Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong, as well as a visiting professor of Tsinghua University.

In an interview published in early June 2020, Li said about the Hong Kong national security law, whose enactment would follow at the end of the month, that it was understandable for the National People's Congress to enact this legislation, but that "investigatory powers must be governed by Hong Kong law", and that a requirement on national security judges to not have dual or foreign citizenship would be detrimental to judicial independence.

Li is married with two daughters. His wife, Li Woo Mo Ying Judy, is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong (Social Sciences, 1970).

title: Andrew Li


text:
Fanny Kemble

Frances Anne Kemble (27 November 1809 – 15 January 1893) was a British actress from a theatre family in the early and mid-19th century. She was a well-known and popular writer and abolitionist whose published works included plays, poetry, eleven volumes of memoirs, travel writing, and works about the theatre.

Kemble's "lasting historical importance...derives from the private journal she kept during her time in the Sea Islands" on her husband's plantations, where she wrote a journal documenting the conditions of the slaves on the plantation and her growing abolitionist feelings. She was also an early adopter of spoken word performances combined with music.

Early life and education

A member of the famous Kemble theatrical family, Fanny was the eldest daughter of the actor Charles Kemble and his Viennese-born wife, the former Marie Therese De Camp. She was a niece of the noted tragedienne Sarah Siddons and of the famous actor John Philip Kemble. Her younger sister was the opera singer Adelaide Kemble. Fanny was born in London and educated chiefly in France. In 1821, Fanny Kemble departed to boarding school in Paris to study art and music as befitted the child of the most celebrated artistic family in England at that time. In addition to literature and society, at Mrs. Lamb's Academy in the Rue d'Angoulême, Champs Elysées, Fanny received her first real personal exposure to the stage performing staged readings for students' parents during her time at school. As an adolescent, Kemble spent time studying literature and poetry, in particular the work of Lord Byron.

One of her teachers was Frances Arabella Rowden (1774 – c. 1840), who had been associated with the Reading Abbey Girls' School since she was 16. Rowden was an engaging teacher with a particular enthusiasm for the theatre. She was not only a poet but according to Mary Russell Mitford, "she had a knack of making poetesses of her pupils"

In 1827, Kemble wrote her first five-act play, Francis the First. It was met with critical acclaim from multiple quarters. Nineteenth-century critics wrote that the script "displays so much spirit and originality, so much of the true qualities which are required in dramatic composition, that it may fairly stand upon its own intrinsic worth, and that the author may fearlessly challenge a comparison with any other modern dramatist."

Acting career
On 26 October 1829, at the age of 19, Kemble first appeared on the stage as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden Theatre, after only three weeks of rehearsals. Her attractive personality immediately made her a great favourite, and her popularity enabled her father to recoup his losses as a manager. She played all the principal women's roles of the time, notably Shakespeare's Portia and Beatrice (Much Ado about Nothing), and Lady Teazle in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal. Kemble disliked the artificiality of stardom in general but appreciated the salary which she accepted to help her family in their frequent financial troubles.

In 1832, Kemble accompanied her father on a theatrical tour of the United States. While in Boston in 1833, she journeyed to Quincy to witness the revolutionary technology of the first commercial railroad in the United States. She had previously accompanied George Stephenson on a test of the Liverpool and Manchester before its opening in England and described this in a letter written in early 1830. The Granite Railway was among many sights she recorded in her journal.

Kemble retired from her acting career upon her marriage in 1834, but after her separation, she returned to acting as a solo platform performer, beginning her first American tour in 1849. During her readings, she rose to focus on presenting edited works of Shakespeare, though, unlike others, she insisted on representing his entire canon, ultimately building her repertoire to 25 of his plays. She performed in Britain and the United States, concluding her career as a platform performer in 1868.

Marriage
On 7 June 1834, Kemble retired from the stage to marry a wealthy Philadelphian, Pierce Mease Butler, grandson of U.S. Senator Pierce Butler, whom she had met on an American acting tour with her father in 1832. Although they met and lived in Philadelphia, Pierce's mother was a daughter of Pierce Butler, a Founding Father who represented South Carolina at the Constitutional Convention. By agreeing to change his last name from Mease to Butler - as his grandfather's will had demanded, Butler became heir to the cotton, tobacco, and rice plantations of his grandfather on Butler Island, just south of Darien, Georgia, and to the hundreds of slaves who worked them. By the time the couple's daughters, Sarah and Frances, were born, Butler had inherited three of his grandfather's plantations on Butler Island, just south of Darien, Georgia, and the hundreds of people who were enslaved on them.

He made trips to the plantations during the early years of their marriage but never took Kemble or their children with him. At Kemble's insistence, they finally spent the winter of 1838–1839 at the plantations at Butler and St. Simons islands, in conditions primitive compared to their house in Philadelphia, and Kemble kept a diary of her observations, later published as Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839, flavored strongly by abolitionist sentiment. Kemble was shocked by the living and working conditions of the slaves and their treatment by the overseers and managers. She tried to improve matters, complaining to her husband about slavery and about the mixed-race slave children attributed to the overseer, Roswell King Jr. Butler disapproved of Kemble's outspokenness, forbidding her to publish.

Marital tensions had emerged when the family returned to Philadelphia in the spring of 1839. Apart from their disagreements over slave treatment on Butler's plantations, Kemble was "embittered and embarrassed" by Butler's marital infidelities. Butler threatened to deny Kemble access to their daughters if she published any of her observations about the plantations.

By 1845–1847, the marriage had failed irretrievably, and Kemble returned to England.

Separation and divorce
Butler filed for a divorce in 1847, after they had been separated for some time, citing abandonment and misdeed by Kemble. The couple endured a bitter and protracted divorce in 1849, with Butler retaining custody of their two daughters. Other than brief visits, Kemble was not reunited with her daughters until each came of age at 21.

Her ex-husband squandered a fortune estimated at $700,000 but was saved from bankruptcy by a sale on 2–3 March 1859 of 436 people he held in slavery. The Great Slave Auction, at Ten Broeck racetrack outside Savannah, Georgia, was the largest single slave auction in United States history. As such, it was covered by national reporters.

After the American Civil War, Butler tried to run his plantations with free labour but failed to make a profit. He died of malaria in Georgia in 1867. Neither Butler nor Kemble remarried.

Later stage career
In England, she began to act on the stage again - at first in plays and then as a "reader" of Shakespeare's plays in lecture rooms and concert halls. She returned to the theatre and toured major US cities, giving successful readings of Shakespeare plays. Following her father's example, she succeeded as a Shakespearean reader rather than acting in plays. She toured the United States.

Kemble's success as a Shakespearean reader enabled her to buy a home in Lenox, Massachusetts.

In 1877, she returned to London to join her younger daughter Frances, who had moved there with her British husband and child. Using her maiden name, Kemble lived there until her death. During this period, she was a prominent and popular figure in London society and became a great friend of the American writer Henry James during her later years. His novel, Washington Square (1880), was based on a story Kemble told him about one of her relatives.

Literary career
Kemble wrote two plays, Francis the First (1832) and The Star of Seville (1837). She also published a volume of poems (1844). She published the first volume of her memoirs, Journal, in 1835, shortly after her marriage.

She waited until 1863, during the American Civil War, to publish her anti-slavery Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839. It became her best-known work in the United States: she published several other volumes of journals. It included her observations of slavery and life on her husband's Southern plantation in the winter of 1838–1839. It contains the earliest-known written use of the word "vegetarian": "The sight and smell of raw meat are especially odious to me, and I have often thought that if I had had to be my own cook, I should inevitably become a vegetarian, probably, indeed, return entirely to my green and salad days." After separating from Butler in the 1840s, Kemble travelled in Italy and wrote a two-volume book on this time, A Year of Consolation (1847).

In 1863, Kemble also published a volume of plays, including translations from Alexandre Dumas, père and Friedrich Schiller. Other memoirs followed these: Records of a Girlhood (1878); Records of Later Life (1882); Far Away and Long Ago (1889); and Further Records (1891). Her various reminiscences contain much valuable material about the social and theatrical history of the period. She also published Notes on Some of Shakespeare's Plays (1882), based on her long experience in acting and reading his works.

In 2000, Harvard University Press published an edited compilation from her journals. These included Record of a Girlhood (1878) and ''Records of Later Life (1882).

Descendants
Kemble's older daughter, Sarah Butler, married Owen Jones Wister, an American doctor. Their one child, Owen Wister, grew up to become a popular American novelist, writing in 1902 a popular western, The Virginian.

Fanny's other daughter Frances met James Leigh in Georgia. He was a minister born in England. The couple married in 1871, and their one child, Alice Leigh, was born in 1874. An attempt was made to run Frances's father's plantations there with free labour, but no profit could be made. Leaving Georgia in 1877, they moved permanently to England. Frances Butler Leigh defended her father in the continuing post-war dispute over slavery as an institution. Based on her experience, Leigh published Ten Years on a Georgian Plantation since the War (1883), a rebuttal to her mother's account.

Death
Her granddaughter Alice Leigh was present when Fanny Kemble died in London in 1893.

Legacy
One of the most recognised depictions of Queen Victoria in her coronation year is a portrait by Thomas Sully, a renowned American artist, who modelled this painting on portraits he had made of Kemble. Both in England and the USA, this portrait quickly became the most widely circulated image of the Queen. It was Sully's daughter, Blanch Sully, who first suggested to him that Kemble resembled the Queen. The popular perception of Queen Victoria in her early years as monarch is significantly influenced by her portrayal in art, particularly through depictions that were stylistically influenced by paintings of Kemble.

Professor of English, Dr. Laura Engel, has documented how Fanny Kemble, along with Sarah Siddons, Mary Robinson, and Mary Wells have an enduring legacy by helping create "the emergency of modern celebrity," casting "fame [as] the celebration of the individual."

Controversy
According to Encyclopedia.com, Kemble's "lasting historical importance...derives from the private journal she kept during her time in the Sea Islands", documenting the conditions of the slaves on the plantation and her growing abolitionist feelings.

While Kemble's account of the plantations has been criticised, it is seen as notable for voicing the slaves, especially enslaved black women, and has been drawn on by many historians. As noted earlier, her daughter published a rebuttal account. Margaret Davis Cate published a strong critique in the Georgia Historical Quarterly in 1960. In the early 21st century, historians Catherine Clinton and Deirdre David studied Kemble's Journal and raised questions about her portrayal of Roswell King, father, and son, who successively managed Pierce Butler's plantations, and about Kemble's racial sentiments. On Kemble's racial views, David notes she described slaves as stupid, lazy, filthy, and ugly. Such views were then common and compatible with opposing slavery and outrage at its cruelties.

Clinton noted that in 1930, Julia King, granddaughter of Roswell King Jr., stated that Kemble had falsified her account of him after he spurned her affections. There is little evidence in Kemble's Journal that she encountered Roswell King Jr. on more than a few occasions, and none that she knew his wife, the former Julia Rebecca Maxwell. But she criticized Maxwell as "a female fiend" because a slave named Sophy told her that Mrs. King had ordered the flogging of Judy and Scylla, "of whose children Mr. K[ing] was the father." Roswell King Jr. was no longer employed by her husband when Pierce Butler and Kemble began their short residency in Georgia. King had resigned due to "growing uneasiness... born of a dispute between the Kings and the Butlers over fees the elder King thought were owed him as co-administrator of Major Butler's estate."

Before arriving in Georgia, Kemble had written, "It is notorious that almost every Southern planter has a family more or less numerous of illegitimate coloured children." Her statements about Roswell King Sr. and Roswell King Jr. and their alleged status as white fathers of enslaved mulatto children are based on what other slaves told her. Individuals sometimes relied on hearsay accounts of their paternity, although European ancestry was visible. The mulatto Renty, for example, was "ashamed" to ask his mother about the identity of his father. He believed he was the son of Roswell King Jr. because "Mr. C[ouper]'s children told me so, and I 'spect they know it." John Couper, the Scottish-born owner of a rival plantation adjacent to Pierce Butler's Hampton Point on St. Simon's Island, had marked disagreements with the Roswell Kings. Clinton suggests that Kemble favored Couper's accounts.

Biographies
Numerous books have appeared on Fanny Kemble and her family, including Deirdre David's A Performed Life (2007) and Vanessa Dickerson's passage on Kemble in Dark Victorians (2008). Earlier works were Fanny Kemble (1933) by Leota Stultz Driver, Fanny Kemble: A Passionate Victorian (1939) by Margaret Armstrong, Fanny Kemble: Actress, Author, Abolitionist (1967) by Winifred Wise, and Fanny Kemble: Leading Lady of the Nineteenth-century Stage : A Biography (1982) by J.C. Furnas.

Some recent biographies that focus on Kemble's role as an abolitionist include Catherine Clinton's Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars: The Story of America's Most Unlikely Abolitionist (2000). Others have studied the theatrical careers of Kemble and her family. One of these, Henry Gibbs' Affectionately Yours, Fanny: Fanny Kemble and the Theatre, appeared in eight editions between 1945 and 1947.

Works
Available through Harvard University Library's Open Collections Program: Women Working 1800–1930:
 * Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839. New York: Harper & Bros, 1863; ISBN 0-8203-0707-6
 * Record of a Girlhood. London: R. Bentley and Son, 1878
 * Records of Later Life. New York: H. Holt and Co., 1882
 * Further Records, 1848–1883: a series of letters. London: R. Bentley and Son, 1890

Other publications: Several editions of her journals have been published in the twenty-first century:
 * Francis the First, a drama (London, 1832; New York, 1833)
 * Journal (2 vols., London, 1835; Philadelphia and Boston, 1835)
 * The Star of Seville, a drama (London and New York, 1837)
 * Poems (London and Philadelphia, 1844; Boston, 1859)
 * A Year of Consolation, a book of Italian travel (2 vols, London and New York, 1847)
 * Plays, including translations from Dumas and Schiller (London, 1863)
 * Notes on Some of Shakespeare's Plays (London, 1882)
 * Far Away and Long Ago (1889)
 * Works by Fanny Kemble at Project Gutenberg.
 * Kemble, Fanny. Fanny Kemble's Journals, Edited and with an Introduction by Catherine Clinton, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
 * Kemble, Fanny. (1835). Journal, edited by Murray (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2009; ISBN 978-1-108-00401-5)
 * Kemble, Fanny (1863). Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839. Longman Green (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2009; ISBN 978-1-108-00393-3)

Other media

 * People & Events: Fanny Kemble and Pierce Butler: 1806–1893, PBS
 * Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble (1999), a made-for-TV movie adapted from her Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839, starring Jane Seymour as Kemble and Keith Carradine as Butler
 * Fanny Kemble, directed and created by Peter Hinton with Domini Blythe, Stratford Festival, Canada, Ontario, (2006)

title: Fanny Kemble


text:
The Chiffons

The Chiffons were an American girl group originating from the Bronx, a borough of New York City, in 1960.

Origins
The group was originally a trio of schoolmates - lead singer Judy Craig, backed by Patricia Bennett and Barbara Lee - enrolled at James Monroe High School in the Bronx in 1960. In 1962, at the suggestion of songwriter Ronnie Mack, the group added Sylvia Peterson, who had sung with Little Jimmy & the Tops at age 14, sharing lead vocals with Jimmy on "Say You Love Me", the B-side of the Tops' 1959 local hit "Puppy Love".

Recordings
The group chose the name The Chiffons while recording and releasing their first single, "He's So Fine", written by Ronnie Mack, produced by The Tokens of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" fame, and released on the Laurie Records label. "He's So Fine" hit No. 1 in the United States, selling over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. (This sales figure would have qualified the record for platinum status under the current [as of 2011] RIAA certification standards, effective since 1975, that lowered the "gold" certification threshold to 500,000 copies and set the "platinum" threshold at 1 million.)

The Chiffons immediately released their first LP He's So Fine (which charted at No. 97) and began touring the East Coast and Midwest states primarily. Within a few months, the group released their second LP, One Fine Day.

The group also released two singles in 1963 as the Four Pennies (with Sylvia on lead) on the Laurie Records subsidiary Rust, but they abandoned the Four Pennies name as the success of "He's So Fine" became clear. This first hit was followed by other notable tunes such as Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "One Fine Day", "Sweet Talkin' Guy" and "I Have A Boyfriend". As the 1960s progressed, Peterson assumed a more prominent role in the group, singing lead on the Chiffons' "Why Am I So Shy"; "Strange, Strange Feeling"; "The Real Thing"; "Up On The Bridge"; and "My Block" (written by Jimmy Radcliffe, Carl Spencer and Bert Berns).

Shortly after the first round of hits, the Chiffons had business problems but still continued to tour the US throughout 1964 (including Murray the K Shows and as part of a package tour headlined by Gene Pitney). In mid-1965, they signed directly to the Laurie label, and had a hit with "Nobody Knows What's Going On In My Mind But Me". To promote the record, Sylvia and Barbara flew to the West Coast to premiere the disc on a July 1965 Shindig episode, with two substitute members as Judy and Pat were on maternity leave.

The next Top 10 hit for the Chiffons was "Sweet-Talking Guy" in mid 1966.The success of the song resulted in the Chiffons releasing their third LP, Sweet Talking Guy which peaked at #149 on the Billboard Top 200 LP chart. The Chiffons did their first overseas tour of England and Germany in June 1967; on one of their London club dates (the Chiffons were one of the opening acts for Jimi Hendrix), members of the Beatles and Stones were in the audience.

Laurie released several minor US chart hits on the Chiffons (including “Up On The Bridge”, “My Boyfriend’s Back)” until the end of the 60s. One track “Just For Tonight” was a big Canadian hit in 1968.

Personnel changes
Tiring of the constant touring and lack of hits, Judy Craig left the group in 1972, and she took a bank job in Manhattan. The remaining trio continued to do live shows with Sylvia now as permanent lead singer. Eventually, Sylvia, Pat, and Barbara took on regular 9-5 jobs, but continued to do live shows on weekends. Sylvia eventually left, and her spot was taken by alternating friends of the group.

In 1970, George Harrison released the song "My Sweet Lord", whose musical similarities to "He's So Fine" prompted the estate of Ronnie Mack to file a copyright infringement claim. The Chiffons went on to record "My Sweet Lord" in 1975. A judge later found that Harrison had unintentionally plagiarized the earlier song.

Sylvia returned to the Chiffons during the 1980s. On May 15, 1992, Barbara Lee died from a heart attack, and Craig returned to the group. Peterson retired shortly thereafter and was replaced by Connie Harvey. Harvey has since left to pursue a solo career and Bennett has retired from the group.

As of 2023, Judy Craig occasionally performs with her eldest daughter and a niece. Pat Bennett lives in Georgia. Sylvia Peterson retired from her career in healthcare, and died on July 28, 2023, at the age of 77.

The Four Pennies
Singles
 * 1963 "My Block" (Jimmy Radcliffe - Carl Spencer - Bert Berns) (US #67)
 * 1963 "When the Boy's Happy" (US #95)

The Chiffons
Standard albums

 * 1963: He's So Fine Laurie Records – LLP 2018 (US #97)
 * 1) "He's So Fine"
 * 2) "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"
 * 3) "Oh My Lover"
 * 4) "Why Do Fools Fall in Love"
 * 5) "My Block"
 * 6) "ABC-123"
 * 7) "Lucky Me"
 * 8) "Why Am I So Shy"
 * 9) "See You in September"
 * 10) "Wishing"
 * 11) "Mystic Voice"
 * 12) "When I Go to Sleep at Night"

 * 1963: One Fine Day Laurie Records – LLP 2020
 * 1) "One Fine Day"
 * 2) "It's My Party"
 * 3) "The Loco-Motion"
 * 4) "Tonight I Met an Angel"
 * 5) "Only My Friend"
 * 6) "Da Doo Ron Ron"
 * 7) "I Wonder Why”
 * 8) "Foolish Little Girl"
 * 9) "I'm Going to Dry My Eyes"
 * 10) "Did You Ever Go Steady"
 * 11) "When Summer's Through"
 * 12) "Love Is Like a Merry Go Round"
 * 13) "My Boyfriend's Back"

 * 1966: Sweet Talkin' Guy Laurie Records – SLP 2036 (US #149)
 * 1) "Sweet Talkin' Guy"
 * 2) "Up On the Bridge"
 * 3) "Nobody Knows What's Going On"
 * 4) "Thumbs Down"
 * 5) "Just a Boy"
 * 6) "Down Down Down"
 * 7) "Out of This World"
 * 8) "My Boyfriend's Back"
 * 9) "Open Your Eyes"
 * 10) "March"
 * 11) "Keep the Boy Happy"
 * 12) "See You in September"

 * 1970: My Secret Love B.T. Puppy Records – BTPS-1011
 * 1) "Secret Love"
 * 2) "You're The Love Of A Lifetime"
 * 3) "Soul"
 * 4) "I Don't Deserve A Boy Like You"
 * 5) "Strange Strange Feeling"
 * 6) "Now That You're My Baby"
 * 7) "The First And Last"
 * 8) "Remember Me Baby"
 * 9) "It Hurts To Be Sixteen"
 * 10) "Every Boy And Every Girl"

Compilation albums
 * 1974: Everything You Always Wanted to Hear by the Chiffons but Couldn't Get
 * 1979: The Chiffons Sing the Hits of the 50s & 60s
 * 2004: Absolutely The Best!
 * 2006: Sweet Talkin' Girls

Singles
 * 1963: "He's So Fine"/"Oh My Lover" (US #1, R&B #1, UK #16)
 * 1963: "Lucky Me"/"Why Am I So Shy"
 * 1963: "One Fine Day"/"Why Am I So Shy" (US #5, R&B #6, UK #29)
 * 1963: "A Love So Fine"/"Only My Friend" (US #40, R&B #50)
 * 1963: "I Have a Boyfriend"/"I'm Gonna Dry My Eyes" (US #36, R&B #6)
 * 1964: "Sailor Boy"/"When the Summer Is Through" (US #81, R&B #24)
 * 1964: "Easy to Love"/"Tonight I Met an Angel"
 * 1964: "What Am I Gonna Do With You (Hey Baby)"/"Strange, Strange Feeling"
 * 1965: "Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind but Me)"/"Did You Ever Go Steady" (US #49)
 * 1965: "Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind but Me)"/"The Real Thing"
 * 1965: "Tonight I'm Gonna Dream"/"Heavenly Place"
 * 1966: "Out of This World"/"Just a Boy" (US #67)
 * 1966: "Stop, Look and Listen"/"March" (US #85)
 * 1966: "Sweet Talkin' Guy"/"Did You Ever Go Steady" (US #10, UK #31) (UK #4 (1972 re-issue))
 * 1966: "My Boyfriend's Back"/"I Got Plenty of Nuttin'"
 * 1967: "If I Knew Then"/"Keep the Boy Happy"
 * 1968: "Up on the Bridge"/"March"
 * 1968: "Just for Tonight"/"Teach Me How"
 * 1969: "Love Me Like You're Gonna Lose Me"/"Three Dips of Ice Cream"
 * 1970: "So Much in Love"/"Strange Strange Feeling"
 * 1975: "My Sweet Lord"/"Main Nerve"
 * 1976: "Dream Dream Dream"/"Oh My Lover"

In popular culture

 * Chiffon is the name of one of the girl-group-inspired narrators in the musical Little Shop of Horrors.

title: The Chiffons


text:
Betel nut beauty

In Taiwan, a betel nut beauty or binlang girl is a young woman selling betel nuts and cigarettes from a brightly lit glass enclosure while wearing revealing clothing. The term in Chinese comes from Xi Shi, the legendary beauty of imperial China's Spring and Autumn period. Though betel nuts are chewed in many regions in Southeast Asia, the betel nut beauty phenomenon is distinctly Taiwanese.

The original betel nut beauties were the "Shuangdong Girls" who, in the 1960s, brought glamour to the opening of the Shuangdong Betel Nut Stand in Guoxing, Nantou. The success of the marketing strategy led competitors to follow suit, and by the end of the century, betel nut stands topped with neon signs became a common feature of Taiwan. The stands appear in urban, suburban and rural settings alike.

As icons of Taiwanese culture, betel nut beauties appear frequently in art and film, notably the 2001 movie Betelnut Beauty and the 2007 art film Help Me, Eros. In 2016, director Tony Xue released Betelnut Girls, with lead actors Peggy Tseng and Paul Hsu.

Definition and distribution
In a general sense, betel nut beauty refers to any female betel nut saleswoman wearing seductive clothing.

Flamboyant betel nut stands decorated with flashing neon signs are a common sight on many major roads in Taiwan. Their primary target consumers are mostly truckers and other working-class people. Some shop owners started to hire girls dressed in sexy outfits to grab customers' attention, and rivals followed suit.

Apart from being scantily clothed, some betel nut beauties also offered "drive-through" sex services for their customers. For an extra charge, a betel nut beauty would enter a customer's car and perform oral sex on them.

Aside from the fear that these practices would generate crime, the presence of betel nut beauties is said to also distract drivers and cause more car accidents.

Taiwanese betel nut culture
Betel nut refers to the seed of Areca catechu, or betel palm, which, like Cocos nucifera (coconut palm), belongs to family Arecaceae. It is an evergreen tree whose trunk can grow as tall as twenty meters. The word binlan originated from Indonesian. Betel nut was initially used as a herbal plant, although in modern times it is mostly taken for its stimulating properties.

Betel nut chewing is a widespread practice in Taiwan, first introduced to the majority Han population by the native Taiwanese indigenous peoples. It is estimated that over a hundred billion New Taiwan dollars are spent annually on this product which has the colloquial name of "Taiwanese chewing gum". Frequent users are often called the "red-lip clan", since the residue often stains the lips and gums. According to the government's Council of Agriculture, as many as seventy farms have joined this lucrative pursuit by planting betel nut trees, which makes betel nut the most important economic crop in Taiwan since the 1990s. However, the upsurge of betel nut planting causes problems with soil and water conservation on the hillside land. It was also found that the Taiwanese way of consuming betel nut significantly enhances its potential to cause cancer.

Controversy

Controversy surrounding betel nut beauties generally centers on two questions:
 * 1) the propriety of their revealing dress in public places
 * 2) whether their dress marks them as victims of exploitation

Betel nut beauties often come from agricultural and working-class sectors of Taiwanese society. This has led some critics to regard their revealing dress as a sign of exploitation. Other observers, such as Josephine Ho, coordinator of the Center for the Study of Sexuality at National Central University, see betel nut beauties as self-empowering: young women with few resources who better their economic situation by employing a marketing technique that requires confidence.

Suppression
In 2002, local governments in Taiwan started to impose laws or regulations covering the dress code of betel nut beauties, prohibiting the wearing of over-revealing clothes. Taipei was the first to initiate the change.

On 17 September 2002, Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City) implemented a "three nos" policy which prevented betel nut beauties from wearing outfits which exposed their bellies, breasts, and buttocks. The policy sparked backlash from those operating in the industry and resulted in groups protesting in front of the Taoyuan County Hall.

Regulations were also imposed in Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.

Some betel nut beauties are high school dropouts and their jobs represent the principal source of income for their families. Most have difficulty finding a job in a convenience store because they lack an educational qualification or because of age restrictions; some choose to enter this profession for its higher pay.

title: Betel nut beauty