text:
Talk:Letchworth

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was mouldy. Use a new move request if one is needed; this can't represent a current consensus, and the intervening period may help us gain a better perspective as to what extent the official name has become the common name. Dekimasu よ! 07:23, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Letchworth → Letchworth Garden City — Letchworth Garden City is the official name for the town, whilst Letchworth is an informal abbreviation. Currently the formal name links to the informal name; I'd expect the opposite. Ratarsed 13:41, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Survey

 * Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one-sentence explanation, then sign your opinion with  ~

 * Support. I wouldn't suggest it otherwise... Ratarsed 14:26, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Support, assuming "Letchworth Garden City" is the official name. See below. David Kernow 15:18, 28 June 2006 (UTC), updated 09:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Support as this implies "Letchworth Garden City" is the correct name. --Pak21 15:23, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose, this suggested move is contrary to policy. We locate articles at the most common name (except in a few rare examples), not the "correct" name. Everyone knows it as "Letchworth", not LGC. James F. (talk) 11:19, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm wondering more and more whether this policy is wise, as it can propogate or maintain inaccuracy – not a good idea, I hope all would agree, for an encyclopa/edia. Huzzah for redirects. Regards, David Kernow 12:40, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Indeed, however, whether or not the longest-standing nomenclature policy on Wikipedia is "wise" is just somewhat beyond the competency of this discussion, and thus our decision in this case must be to follow it. James F. (talk) 14:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I know the town as Letchworth Garden City, but I do know people do abbreviate -- if you were to list towns by what "everyone konws it as", then King's Lynn would be listed as Lynn, Ipswich as Ippo, Wivenhoe as Wiv. To me, it would seem better to list by the proper name with redirects from common use names. Ratarsed 17:43, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * You are both confusing "most common" with "slang" name (we don't locate the article on London at "The Great Stink", do we? :-)), and, as has David, above, suggest that we should conciously and explicitly ignore very basic policy in this regard. James F. (talk) 14:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
 * James has a point re Wikipedia favo/u/ring commonly-used names (with redirects from formally-correct names) rather than vice versa, as I recall reading this somewhere. (Thought I'd be able to locate it quickly, but must've missed it.) Hence I've withdrawn my vote. Regards, David Kernow 09:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * "Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature." -- Naming conventions, "nutshell" expression. James F. (talk) 06:47, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
 * There's a nutshell version of that nutshell version somewhere; something along the lines of "Prefer common or everyday names over official or technically correct ones, as the latter may redirect to the former." Maybe I saw it on a page other than one on policy or guidelines. Regards, David 17:56, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose. El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula. Enough said. The Wednesday Island 15:28, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Support. "Letchworth" was the official name of the town until 2003 when it "officially" changed its name to "Letchworth Garden City" as part of the centenary celebrations, and following a lengthy local campaign. Considering the town's historical importance as the First Garden City its quite an important addition. Johnlbirch 21:56, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Support. As above, I live there and we call it that, it's important to overcome the name that people who don't live there call it. The example of Los Angeles above is different, I've never been but I doubt most poeple that live there know what the old name was. grayme

Discussion

 * Forgot to mention; the page Letchworth, does state that Letchworth Garden City is the official name...
 * Add any additional comments

===As per discussion, see Naming_conventions_%28common_names%29, indeed use the commom name, so no issue here. -- Kim van der Linde at venus 20:40, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

 * I think the above move request closed around 1 and a half years ago so all things afterwards are now void. But then nobody has closed the discussion... Simply south (talk) 21:58, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Re. the section on local government, especially in regard to the UDC's old crest
This section of the article seems to be increasingly used as a mean of one side in this ongoing dispute to express their opinion or viewpoint. This is inappropriate in any reference source - either both sides of the argument should be refelected, or the matter should be avoided until it is resolved. Johnlbirch (talk) 20:40, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

To-Morrow
The title of the 1898 book is given on the Ebenezer Howard page as "To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform" Grmf 14:43, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Are you saying we should include a hyphen on this page, then? The Wednesday Island 15:26, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes please Grmf 15:26, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Twin towns
The wikipedia entry "List of twin towns in the United Kingdom" lists three Letchworth twin towns: "Chagny, France; Kristiansand, Norway; Wissen, Germany" I think they are also listed on the signs when you enter the town and there are street names like "Chagny Close" and "Kristiansand Way" in Letchworth. Please add these to the Letchworth entry.

Famous Residents
Not sure if this is the best place to do this but I'd like to query the the Famous residents list. I have read the wikipedia pages for Lenny Henry, Dawn French, and Una Stubbs but I can't see the connection. As a former resident myself (born in Hitchin, attended St Francis' College) it would be lovely to boast of these links but can they be corroborated?

On the flip side, one of St Francis' most famous "old girls" is Jennie Bond, the Royal Correspondent for the BBC. Can she be added to the list please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.219.247.242 (talk • contribs)

 * I believe Lenny Henry & Dawn French used to live in Paddock Close, but you're right, really these need citations -- Ratarsed 11:12, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

 * Una Stubbs is definately a decendent of Ebenezer Howard - though whether she lived in the town I do not know - but it seems quite plausible. On the other hand I can find no link anywhere confirming that Henry or French have any connection with the town. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.25.106.209 (talk • contribs).

The coat of arms
I think we need to be careful about WP:NPOV in describing the current spat over the coat of arms. I have deleted some text which was verging on, but wasn't quite, POV; we should probably replace it with something a little more neutral.

Here are some news links about the matter, for people who are interested in helping improve the article:

I'd like to point out that:

1. despite what a number of people in the Comet's letters page appear to think, the question of who should have rights to the LUDC's arms is not a matter of opinion: it is a matter of heraldic law.

2. Nobody "owns" the LUDC's arms any more, because the LUDC does not exist. Some people are saying that the Corporation had rights to the LUDC arms. I find this difficult to believe, but in any case the Corporation also no longer exists. The Foundation are on record as saying that they have no right to the LUDC arms; even if the Corporation had the right to the arms, it wasn't transferred to the Foundation.

3. What none of the news coverage has mentioned, and what the previous version of this article also failed to note, is that there are two coats of arms here: the Heritage Foundation have their own coat of arms, based on the LUDC's, but not identical to it. See Stuart Kenny's quote here (although he thinks it's called a "crest"):

 * The Corporation's crest ceased to exist in 1995 when the Corporation was wound-up. It was felt, subsequently, that the Heritage Foundation should have its own crest. Not least, this was in response to Letchworthians who wanted to purchase souvenirs with a crest, from our then Letchworth Shop. We went through the appropriate channels and worked closely with the College of Arms to create a new crest, albeit based on the original one.

These are the arms which the Foundation gave the golf club permission to use, and which you can see on items for sale in the Letchworth Shop.

Here are the two coats for comparison:

 * The Foundation's arms
 * The old LUDC arms

You see that both the crest and the shield differ. The crest has a golden owl and leaves, instead of proper; the shield has cinquefoils instead of roses.

The Foundation can quite properly tell the Town Council not to use the Foundation's arms, but the LUDC arms are none of their business.

I will think about ways to work these into the article over the next few days, but if anyone wants to discuss or argue with anything I've said here, feel free, and if anyone wants to put this stuff into the article, feel free as well, of course. Marnanel 22:45, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Notable residents
I've referenced this section as much as I can - there are still a few names there who are likely to have lived in Letchworth but I can't find a source specific enough - if anyone could help that would be great. Names that had no verifiable indication of a link to Letchworth have been removed. Mato (talk) 18:34, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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Requested move 24 July 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: no consensus to move the city to "Letchworth Garden City" at this time, per the discussion below, and general agreement that the city is the primary topic of "Letchworth", so the disambiguation page is not moved at this time. Dekimasu よ! 21:36, 4 August 2018 (UTC)

– The name appears to be "Letchworth Garden City", even though on some levels, OS does show it as plain "Letchworth". A Google search for just "Letchworth" shows sources like the council and BBC that use the full name. The recently abolished CP was "Letchworth Garden City", but the older one was just "Letchworth", apparently this is because it was renamed in 2003.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 10:47, 24 July 2018 (UTC) --Relisting. Dekimasu よ! 02:32, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Letchworth → Letchworth Garden City
 * Letchworth (disambiguation) → Letchworth
 * Oppose. Both forms of the name are used, but it's the clear primary topic for Letchworth in any case. No need for a move. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:41, 25 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Then we should just make the first move and leave "Letchworth" as a redirect to Letchworth Garden City. It looks like Letchworth Garden City is the more common name today.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 08:23, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't think it is. I think Letchworth is more common in ordinary usage. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:47, 31 July 2018 (UTC)
 * What kind of ordinary usage, are you saying, how people locally refer to it? we have Appleby-in-Westmorland which is hardly ever called by the full name, though Appleby is ambiguous, Newcastle upon Tyne which is not normally called in full, though Newcastle is also ambiguous. Staines-upon-Thames is not ambiguous and was renamed in 2012 but it looks like the OS is settled on the new name.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 11:22, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Appleby-in-Westmorland is probably not the primary topic for Appleby. Newcastle upon Tyne is borderline, but has stiff competition from the Australian city. Staines should be renamed, as nobody calls it Staines-upon-Thames. The town of Letchworth, however, is the primary topic for Letchworth. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:52, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The fact people don't call it "Staines-upon-Thames" is not the most important factor, the OS and other source now call it "Staines-upon-Thames" even though they used to call it just "Staines" with Letchworth it can redirect to the modern name. WP:COMMONNAME is not necessarily local name/what people call it but what the printed name is in reliable sources.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 13:03, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I have cited two highly reliable sources below. The OS obviously uses the full name. As the national geographical data agency, using full names is its job! -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:26, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The OS uses the common name, not necessarily the official name, for example it labels Lancaster as "Lancaster" and lists "Lancaster District" as an alternative name. While "City of Lancaster" is used generally only in legislation. You can find plenty of sources that use "Letchworth Garden City" but not that use "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations", even its website doesn't appear to. The OS is used by numerous reliable sources and what it uses is what other sources formerly use. The fact that sources locally use the short form and that news reports also do so is just for brevity, the common and proper name appears to be the full name here.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 12:56, 3 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm puzzled as to what you think "common name" means? You seem to be discounting all sources except the OS. If the BBC isn't a reliable source for a common name then I don't know what is. Yes, it uses it for brevity. But that doesn't conflict with our common name policy. That's usually why a common name is used as opposed to a full version. If most sources use the shortened name, whether for brevity or not, then that's still the common name. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:33, 3 August 2018 (UTC)
 * As I pointed out the BBC uses the full name, while it uses "Letchworth" in news reports for brevity. Pastscape like many sources also uses the full name for the parish. BBC news reports are helpful in situations where a longer more complete name is uses like County Durham, even though the name of the county is just "Durham" as can be seen from a 2008 A-Z.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 13:42, 3 August 2018 (UTC)
 * So, because it uses the full name on its weather reports, this trumps the hundreds of times it uses the abbreviated name in its news reports?! Durham is not really relevant because it can refer to two different things, so context is important (if it's obvious you're referring to the county as opposed to the city, you don't need to write "County Durham"). This is not the case with Letchworth! -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:55, 3 August 2018 (UTC)
 * It is still a shortened name just like our article does (hence why we should use it here), it mentions its formal and shortened name. The relevant context with Durham being that it has a longer common name than the formal name. Minster-in-Thanet is another good example where a longer name is also common. This is also appears to be similar to the points at WP:CONCISE, with people, the first or last names generally aren't dropped.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 14:07, 3 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Relisting comment. Evidence of the relative prevalence of each form in reliable sources would be helpful. Dekimasu よ! 02:32, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Letchworth Garden City by OS (generally), official website and BBC
 * Letchworth Britannica.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 11:22, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The town's website may call it Letchworth Garden City in the header, but it's referred to as Letchworth many times within the body of the website. The BBC News generally refers to it as just Letchworth. The local paper calls it Letchworth. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:58, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The would you argue that Microsoft Windows should be at Windows and Adolf Hitler should be at Hitler, its common for sources to use the full name at the beginning and the less complete name throughout the rest.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 13:03, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Actually, I would argue that Windows should be a redirect to Window! People's names are clearly a different case. Note that the BBC and local paper do not usually use the full name at all. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:24, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I would some what agree with that but I think too many readers would be looking for Microsoft. People's names were also a bad example here but still makes the point.
 * Oppose I also (regretfully) oppose on the basis there is insufficient evidence "Letchworth Garden City" is the WP:COMMONNAME. The full name Welwyn Garden City isn't comparable because it's never referred to as "Welwyn", and in any case there is another town which has just the name Welwyn. jamacfarlane (talk) 18:45, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Comment Could there be 2 places with this name in close proximity, as both the OS  and GeoNames   have 2 entries for a settlement, although I expect its more likely duplication, it raises questions that 2 sources have 2 entries but I expect that GeoNames has used the OS.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk )  12:56, 3 August 2018 (UTC)
 * User:Crouch, Swale, the "Letchworth" when you zoom in on the OS map is the railway station. jamacfarlane (talk) 13:13, 3 August 2018 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Tidying
I have given the article a thorough tidy over the last month, trying to source what was there but unsourced, remove inaccuracies and information which I can find no reliable sources for, expanded notable topics, particularly on the town's history and governance, and added more illustrations. A couple of reservations remain - in particular the section on the town council feels too long and detailed for how relatively significant it was to the town's history overall, and does still feel a little partisan. I know this wikipedia page itself became something of an editing war at the time, which may explain why this section ended up so big. I'd like to strip it back to something more brief and neutral, but will leave that for a couple of weeks to see if anyone has any comments on here first. (It doesn't help that some of the links used as sources for this section died with the town council.) Conversely, I think there is a place for mentioning critiques of the town's impact, but at the moment all that's here is what one commentator said on BBC2 in 2007, which isn't particularly comprehensive. Stortford (talk) 08:02, 28 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Town council section now slimmed, hopefully hitting more neutral tone. Stortford (talk) 11:42, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 6 July 2024

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: no consensus. (closed by non-admin page mover) Warm Regards, ZI Jony  (Talk) 06:43, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Letchworth → Letchworth Garden City – is this the only UK city with its title at its short name? only others I can think of are Frankfurt am Main at Frankfurt. Clacton on Sea is titled that way with Clacton redirecting to it. But anyway, it seems as though sources do use the full name like BBC inyourarea the comet Hartfordshire Mercury. Britannica only mentiones the short name. So is it time to go to the full name? JuniperChill (talk) 16:17, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Support per my previous request, unlike "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" which is more a description "Garden City" is clearly part of the name as demonstrated by maps like the OS.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 16:40, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Just an observation, some Ordnance Survey maps just call it Letchworth, see here. Though the 50,000 maps give the full name: see here Murgatroyd49 (talk) 17:44, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Note: WikiProject UK geography has been notified of this discussion. JuniperChill (talk) 17:11, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * Conditional support if we use Letchworth for the Letchworth (disambiguation) page. Although support on the basis that |Letchworth_State_Park|Letchworth_Village|Letchworth_(disambiguation)|Letchworth_High_School,_Gainesville this article does not seem to be the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for Letchworth, and all (including this one) have fuller names. However, neutral on using the nominator's argument concerning WP:CONCISE and WP:OTHERCONTENT, as no WP:COMMONNAME argument made.  Dank Jae  19:06, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * While not my intention of making Letchworth a primary redirect to Letchworth Garden City (if successful), I don't mind about the results. But anyway, I think the policy is that if sources do mention the full name, then use that (even if they use the shorter name later on). BBC does sometimes only uses the short name, although the topic name is LGC. I also think the fulltitle helps readers know its a gardencity. Google Maps does mention the full name. Plus I think it would be consistent with Welwyn Garden City and those with full names. Kingston upon Hull really should just be called Hull because the full name is uncommon (and Google Maps uses the shorter name this time) but WP:NATDAB saves the day and hull is a disambig page. Why not do a Google search of both Letchworth and Letchworth Garden City to see if sources do use the short name only. JuniperChill (talk) 20:36, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * Oppose. Evidence provided so far doesn't prove the proposed title is the WP:COMMONNAME. The BBC in particular seems to use the short name most of the time. Vpab15 (talk) 21:53, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Now we can rule that the BBC tends to only use the short name, that can be ruled out when using the full name. I just think the full name is preferred (even if sources only use it once) unless a majority of sources only use the short one. This explains why Frankfurt am Main is simply called Frankfurt. Maybe Freiburg im Breisgau should also be renamed?Its a bit hard to prove what is common name since its hard to filter (reliable) sources use LGC at least once vs only using L. Idk about the reliability of these sources My London, Express but they both use LGC at first. The Comet can be ignored as its the majority of Letchworths news results. JuniperChill (talk) 09:56, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
 * I am afraid I didn't understand your comment. Do you agree or disagree that the BBC mostly uses the short name? Looking at the news labelled at Letchworth, it is hard to find any using the full name in the header or in the text body. Vpab15 (talk) 12:46, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
 * What I'm saying (like other people have said) is that when BBC talks about the garden city, it normally only uses the short name so others can look for reliable sources (other than BBC) that uses the long name, even if its only used once. JuniperChill (talk) 16:28, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose: per WP:COMMONNAME -- the article is packed full of local organisations, clubs, companies, and the like that use the short form. I also haven't seen any convincing evidence that "Letchworth Garden City" even is definitively the "proper" or "official" name (something that can be quite difficult to pin down) and "Letchworth" a mere casual abbreviation. The article has a paragraph about it being the "official" name, but merely cites a campaign that got the railway station and Royal Mail post town names changed by the private operators of the rail and postal systems. When there was a Letchworth Garden City Town Council, that was probably the best argument for it being "official", but now there isn't one. Both the district and county council omit the "Garden City" from the names of the electoral wards covering the town. The Office for National Statistics omit the GC in their BUA census data. Ordnance Survey use both forms. The Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation Act 1995 defines LGC for the purpose of the act ("the whole of the estate and undertaking from time to time owned or managed by the Corporation or by the Heritage Foundation together with the environs thereof", which could be interpreted as being the town), but it also casually uses the short form, and "the town of Letchworth", throughout. The aforementioned reference to a name change campaign in the article text, plus one of the comments on the previous requested move discussion ("I live there and we call it that, it's important to overcome the name that people who don't live there call it") suggests an element of trying to make "Letchworth Garden City" the name of the town, rather than it indisputably being the name of the town. (I'm not at all suggesting this is a motivation behind opening this good faith RfM, only that we should be wary of any influence of campaigning on our content!). Joe D (t) 22:50, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * Oppose. Letchworth is the WP:COMMONNAME used in everyday language and by many local organisations. I would also challenge the assumption that there is such a thing as an unambiguous official name for the town. Letchworth is neither a parish nor a local government district, and so the legal provisions which allow a parish or district council to change its official name don't apply. We're therefore having to weigh up other sources as to what the best name for the article is. The Post Office uses "Letchworth Garden City" as the post town, but post towns aren't the only way of naming a place and sometimes differ from the name used by other authorities - e.g. the post town is just "Hull" not "Kingston upon Hull". The North Hertfordshire wards covering the town all just use "Letchworth" in their names rather than "Letchworth Garden City". The urban area which is the subject of the article also incorporates the old village of Letchworth, which long predates the garden city. The Office for National Statistics also just calls the built-up area "Letchworth".
 * Stortford (talk) 11:44, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Oppose. Clear common name. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:30, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Letchworth


text:
Billy Howerdel

William L. Howerdel (born May 18, 1970) is an American musician, best known as a founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerdel has recorded six studio albums across his career: four with A Perfect Circle, one under the moniker Ashes Divide, and one under his own name.

Early life
Howerdel was born in New Jersey. He attended high school at West Milford High School, where he played sports, took an interest in a television production class, and was active in an extracurricular audio program. This program gave him the foundation for his post-high school audio-technical pursuits and eventually led to his high-profile guitar technician positions. Stephen Porcello, the high school teacher who was the adviser for this program, took Howerdel to New York City and helped him select his first electric guitar.

Howerdel spent several years sound engineering for New Jersey artists and further worked as a guitar technician for numerous others, which, before forming A Perfect Circle, included Faith No More, Fishbone, David Bowie, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Guns N' Roses, and Tool.

Early work and A Perfect Circle
Howerdel functioned as a guitar technician for Tool during the tour and recording of Ænima, working with Maynard James Keenan, whom he met in 1992. During this time, Howerdel played Keenan some of his songs, and Keenan offered to sing if Howerdel ever decided to form a band. Despite originally considering a female vocalist, Howerdel would eventually accept Keenan's offer. In 1999, Howerdel founded A Perfect Circle and invited Keenan to join. The project was a success. Their debut album, Mer de Noms, released in May 2000, went platinum in the US, selling over one million copies by the end of the year. However, complications arose: Keenan could not commit all of his time to the band, still fronting Tool, and over time, he began to be more and more involved in the creative process of the music, leading to disagreements on the musical direction for the second A Perfect Circle album, Thirteenth Step. The record, released in September 2003, was still a success, going platinum as well, though the two decided to take a break from the band, so that Keenan could return to Tool, and Howerdel could pursue solo work.

Ashes Divide: 2003–2021
Howerdel first began working on solo material during the writing sessions for Thirteenth Step, in 2003. Rough versions of three or four songs were written during that era, including the track "Stripped Away", which was even played at soundchecks at A Perfect Circle (APC) concerts while supporting the album. Additionally, the APC demo "Army" was eventually reworked into Howerdel's own "The Stone". Shortly after Thirteenth Step, APC decided to quickly throw together a collection of anti-war cover songs just prior to the 2004 United States presidential election, entitled Emotive. Keenan pushed Howerdel to sing lead vocals on a few of the songs, to "get people used to [his] voice", and to help Howerdel transition to the role of primary singer in his solo work. Once Emotive was completed, APC went on hiatus, while Howerdel continued to write new material.

Keep Telling Myself It's Alright
As he put together more songs, Howerdel named his project Ashes Divide (stylised as ASHES dIVIDE) and began recording an album. He handled nearly all instruments in the studio, except drums, for which he recruited then-A Perfect Circle bandmate Josh Freese as a session musician. The project's first single, "The Stone", made its radio premiere on January 22, 2008, and the full album, titled Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, followed on April 8. The record features a guest cello performance on the track "Sword" by Devo Keenan, Maynard's son. In addition to Freese and Keenan, the record also includes contributions from drummer Dean Sainz, Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba, and former APC bassist Paz Lenchantin.

Howerdel formed a band to promote the record, touring throughout 2008. The lineup consisted of Jeff Friedl on drums, Matt McJunkins on bass, Jonathan Radtke on lead guitar, and Adam Monroe on keys.

The album debuted at number 36 in the U.S., selling 15,800 copies in its first week. As of August 2010, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright had sold 61,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Further activity and decline
Ashes Divide toured extensively in 2008 but pulled out of an opening slot for Puddle of Mudd at the end of the year, for undisclosed reasons, and fell out of the public eye. Toward the end of 2008, Maynard James Keenan announced that he and Howerdel were working on music for APC, and rumors arose that Ashes Divide was splitting up.

In late summer of 2009, Twitter posts and Myspace blogs indicated that the band was still active, and the group subsequently played a few live shows. Notably, they debuted a new song that Howerdel originally called "Untitled" but which has since been dubbed "Trafficking" by fans who attended Ashes Divide shows in late 2009 and early 2010. In April 2011, Howerdel mentioned that Ashes Divide would have released music in late 2010, had APC not reconvened for touring.

In December 2012, Howerdel updated the status of the project's second album, stating, "right now, I'm focusing most of my energy on a new Ashes Divide record, which is under way with 11 songs. Still working on finishing vocals and writing lyrics, and hopefully [will] get that thing mixed in January or February." Progress on the album was delayed, however, when Howerdel decided to redesignate a number of songs to APC instead.

The band played their first live show in three years on May 8, 2013, at the Satellite in Los Angeles, for Pathology Brand's "Wednesday Society" fundraising event. In April 2017, Howerdel commented that he still continued to work on new material, but that the sound had deviated so far from the project's first record, that he was contemplating whether or not he'd release it under the Ashes Divide name." In April 2018, he reiterated his plans to release a second album, but that some songs he had been working on ended up on the fourth APC album, Eat the Elephant, instead, including "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish".

Revolver listed new Ashes Divide material as one of their most anticipated albums of 2020, despite it not having an official release date, and then again in 2021.

What Normal Was: 2022
In early 2022, Howerdel announced the name of his second studio album, What Normal Was, to be released on June 10, 2022, under his own name rather than the Ashes Divide moniker. Former A Perfect Circle contributors Danny Lohner and Josh Freese, in addition to current bassist Matt McJunkins, played on the album. Lohner and Freese would go on to play live dates in support of the album with Howerdel.

Other projects
Howerdel has occasionally played live with the band Abandoned Pools. In 2005, he wrote and recorded music for the video game Jak X: Combat Racing, which also features remixes of Howerdel's songs by Danny Lohner and Dean Menta, as well as including contributions from Josh Freese, Troy Van Leeuwen, Atom Willard, Joey Castillo, ex-A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin, and Wes Borland. Howerdel also worked on the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy, specifically the song "There Was a Time".

Personal life
In a 2008 interview, Howerdel said he did not take drugs, drank only occasionally, and practiced Transcendental Meditation.

with A Perfect Circle

 * Mer de Noms (2000)
 * Thirteenth Step (2003)
 * Emotive (2004)
 * Eat the Elephant (2018)

as Ashes Divide
Albums
 * Keep Telling Myself It's Alright (2008)

Singles

as Billy Howerdel

 * What Normal Was (2022)

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

title: Billy Howerdel


text: User talk:66.190.242.110

title: User talk:66.190.242.110


text:
USS Edsall

Two ships of United States Navy have been named USS Edsall:

 * USS Edsall (DD-219), a Clemson-class destroyer, in commission from 1920 to 1942
 * USS Edsall (DE-129), the lead ship of her class of destroyer escort, in commission from 1943 to 1946

title: USS Edsall


text:
The Glass Bead Game

The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel, ) is the last full-length novel by the German author Hermann Hesse. It was begun in 1931 in Switzerland, where it was published in 1943 after being rejected for publication in Germany due to Hesse's anti-Fascist views.

"The Glass Bead Game" is a literal translation of the German title, but the book has also been published under the title Magister Ludi, Latin for "Master of the Game", an honorific title awarded to the book's central character. "Magister Ludi" can also be seen as a pun: magister is a Latin word meaning "teacher", while ludus can be translated as either "game" or "school". But the title Magister Ludi is somewhat misleading, as it implies the book is a straightforward bildungsroman, when, in reality, the book touches on many different genres, and the bulk of the story is on one level a parody of the genre of biography.

In 1946, Hesse won the Nobel Prize in Literature. In honoring him in its Award Ceremony Speech, the Swedish Academy said that the novel "occupies a special position" in Hesse's work. In 2019, the novel was nominated for the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Description
The Glass Bead Game takes place at an unspecified date centuries in the future. Hesse suggested that he imagined the book's narrator writing around the start of the 25th century. The setting is a fictional province of central Europe called Castalia, which was reserved by political decision for the life of the mind; technology and economic life are kept to a strict minimum. Castalia is home to an austere order of intellectuals with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools, and to cultivate and play the Glass Bead Game, whose exact nature remains elusive and whose devotees occupy a special school in Castalia known as Waldzell. The rules of the game are only alluded to—they are so sophisticated that they are not easy to imagine. Playing the game well requires years of hard study of music, mathematics, and cultural history. The game is essentially an abstract synthesis of all arts and sciences. It proceeds by players making deep connections between seemingly unrelated topics.

The novel is an example of a Bildungsroman, following the life of a distinguished member of the Castalian Order, Joseph Knecht, whose surname means "servant" and is cognate with the English word knight. The plot chronicles Knecht's education as a youth, his decision to join the order, his mastery of the Game, and his advancement in the order's hierarchy to eventually become Magister Ludi, the executive officer of the Castalian Order's game administrators.

Plot
The novel's beginning introduces the Music Master, the resident of Castalia who recruits Knecht as a young student and who is to have the longest-lasting and profoundest effect on Knecht throughout his life. At one point, as the Music Master nears death in his home at Monteport, Knecht obliquely refers to the Master's "sainthood". At the prestigious school Waldzell, Knecht develops another meaningful friendship with Plinio Designori, a student from a politically influential family, who is studying in Castalia as a guest. Knecht holds vigorous debates with Designori, who views Castalia as an "ivory tower" with little to no impact on the outside world. Knecht disagrees and argues in favor of Castalia.

Although educated in Castalia, Knecht's path to "Magister Ludi" is atypical for the order, as he spends much of his time after graduation outside the province's boundaries. His first such venture, to the Bamboo Grove, results in his learning Chinese and becoming something of a disciple to Elder Brother, a recluse who had given up living in Castalia. Next, as part of an assignment to foster goodwill between the order and the Catholic Church, Knecht is sent on several "missions" to the Benedictine monastery of Mariafels, where he befriends the historian Father Jacobus—a relationship that also profoundly affects Knecht.

As the novel progresses, Knecht begins to question his loyalty to the order, gradually coming to doubt that the intellectually gifted have a right to withdraw from life's big problems. Knecht, too, comes to see Castalia as a kind of ivory tower, an ethereal and protected community, devoted to pure intellectual pursuits but oblivious to the problems of life outside its borders. This conclusion precipitates a personal crisis, and, according to his personal views regarding spiritual awakening, Knecht does the unthinkable: he resigns as Magister Ludi and asks to leave the order, ostensibly to become of value and service to the larger culture. The heads of the order deny his request, but Knecht departs Castalia anyway, initially taking a job as a tutor to his childhood friend Designori's energetic and strong-willed son, Tito. Only a few days later, the story ends abruptly with Knecht drowning in a mountain lake while attempting to follow Tito on a swim for which Knecht was unfit.

The fictional narrator leaves off before the final sections of the book, remarking that the end of the story is beyond the scope of his biography. The concluding chapter, "The Legend", is reportedly from a different biography. After this final chapter, several of Knecht's "posthumous" works are then presented. The first section contains Knecht's poetry from various periods of his life, followed by three short stories labeled "Three Lives". These are presented as exercises by Knecht imagining his life had he been born in another time and place. The first tells of a pagan rainmaker named Knecht who lived "many thousands of years ago, when women ruled". Eventually the shaman's powers to summon rain fail, and he offers himself as a sacrifice for the good of the tribe. The second is based on the life of St Hilarion and tells of Josephus, an early Christian hermit who acquires a reputation for piety but is inwardly troubled by self-loathing and seeks a confessor, only to find that same penitent had been seeking him.

The final story concerns the life of Dasa, a prince wrongfully usurped by his half-brother as heir to a kingdom and disguised as a cowherd to save his life. While working with the herdsmen as a young boy, Dasa encounters a yogi in meditation in the forest. He wishes to experience the same tranquility as the yogi, but is unable to stay. He later leaves the herdsmen and marries a beautiful young woman, only to be cuckolded by his half-brother (now the Rajah). In a cold fury, he kills his half-brother and finds himself once again in the forest with the old yogi, who, through an experience of an alternate life, guides him on the spiritual path and out of the world of illusion (Maya).

The three lives, together with that as Magister Ludi, oscillate between extroversion (rainmaker, Indian life—both get married) and introversion (father confessor, Magister Ludi) while developing the four basic psychic functions of analytical psychology: sensation (rainmaker), intuition (Indian life), feeling (father confessor), and thinking (Magister Ludi).

Earlier plans
Hesse originally intended several different lives of the same person as he is reincarnated. Instead, he focused on a story set in the future and placed the three shorter stories, "authored" by Knecht in The Glass Bead Game, at the end of the novel.

Two drafts of a fourth life were published in 1965, the second recast in the first person and breaking off earlier. Dated 1934, they describe Knecht's childhood and education as a Swabian theologian. This Knecht has been born some dozen years after the Treaty of Rijswijk in the time of Eberhard Ludwig, and in depicting the other characters Hesse draws heavily on actual biographies: Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, Johann Friedrich Rock, Johann Albrecht Bengel and Nicolaus Zinzendorf make up the cast of Pietist mentors. Knecht is heavily drawn to music, both that of Pachelbel and the more exotic Buxtehude. The fragment breaks off as the young contemporary of Bach happens upon an organ recital in Stuttgart.

Central characters

 * Joseph Knecht: The story's main character. He is the Magister Ludi for a majority of the book.
 * The Music Master: Knecht's spiritual mentor who, when Knecht is a child, examines him for entrance into the elite schools of Castalia.
 * Plinio Designori: Knecht's foil in the world outside.
 * Father Jacobus: Benedictine monk and Joseph Knecht's antithesis in faith.
 * Elder Brother: A former Castalian and student of various Chinese scripts and ideologies.
 * Thomas van der Trave: Joseph Knecht's predecessor as Magister Ludi.
 * Fritz Tegularius: A friend of Knecht's but a portent of what Castalians might become if they remain insular.

Castalia
Castalia, where most of the novel is set, is described in English translation as the "pedagogical province". It forms part of a large and prosperous state whose leaders are broadly but not uncritically sympathetic to the Castalian ideal of scholarship.

Castalia is an entirely male community, whose members are or aspire to be members of a secular Order similar to monastic orders. Prospective members are recruited in their pre-/early teens from the most promising scholars in its host state's regular schools. One of Castalia's roles (not explored in depth in the book) is provision of schoolteachers to its host state. Another is the advancement of learning, primarily in the fields of mathematics, musicology (of Western music up to the 18th century), philology and the history of art. This role is entirely analytical: creativity and scientific research appear to be dead. A third role is to cultivate and develop the Glass Bead Game.

The game
The Glass Bead Game is "a kind of synthesis of human learning" in which themes, such as a musical phrase or a philosophical thought, are stated. As the Game progresses, associations between the themes become deeper and more varied. Although the Glass Bead Game is described lucidly, the rules and mechanics are not explained in detail.

The popularity of the book led to the development of a community of game designers exploring what a playable game might be like. A physical game called the Glass Plate Game was developed in 1976 by Adrian Wolfe and Dunbar Aitkens, focusing on connections between the ideas of a conversation. Online variants began to be developed in the 2010s.

Allusions
Many of the novel's characters have names that are allusive word games. For example, Knecht's predecessor as Magister Ludi was Thomas van der Trave, a veiled reference to Thomas Mann, who was born in Lübeck, situated on the Trave river. Knecht's brilliant but unstable friend Fritz Tegularius (Latin: "roof tile maker") is based on Friedrich Nietzsche, while Father Jacobus is based on the historian Jakob Burckhardt. The name of Carlo Ferromonte is an Italianized version of the name of Hesse's nephew, Karl Isenberg, while the name of the Glass Bead Game's inventor, Bastian Perrot of Calw, was taken from Heinrich Perrot, who owned a machine shop where Hesse once worked after dropping out of school. The name of the pedagogic province in the story is taken from Greek legend of the nymph Castalia, who was transformed into an inspiration-granting fountain by the god Apollo.

As utopian literature
In his biography of Hesse, Freedman wrote that the tensions caused by the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany directly contributed to the creation of The Glass Bead Game as a response to the oppressive times. "The educational province of Castalia, which provided a setting for the novel, came to resemble Hesse's childhood Swabia physically while assuming more and more the function of his adopted home, neutral Switzerland, which in turn embodied his own antidote to the crises of his time. It became the 'island of love' or at least an island of the spirit." According to Freedman, in the Glass Bead Game, "contemplation, the secrets of the Chinese I Ching and Western mathematics and music fashioned the perennial conflicts of his life into a unifying design."

English translations

 * 1949: Mervyn Savill (translated as Magister Ludi)
 * 1969: Richard and Clara Winston

Adaptations
In 2010, The Glass Bead Game was dramatised by Lavinia Greenlaw for BBC Radio 4. It starred Derek Jacobi as the Biographer, Tom Ferguson as Knecht and David Seddon as Plinio.

title: The Glass Bead Game


text:
John Boorman

Sir John Boorman (born 18 January 1933) is a British film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing feature films such as Point Blank (1967), Hell in the Pacific (1968), Deliverance (1972), Zardoz (1974), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Excalibur (1981), The Emerald Forest (1985), Hope and Glory (1987), The General (1998), The Tailor of Panama (2001) and Queen and Country (2014).

Boorman has directed 20 films and received five Academy Award nominations, twice for Best Director (for Deliverance, and Hope and Glory), two British Academy Film Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations. He is also credited with creating the first Academy Award screeners to promote The Emerald Forest. In 2004, Boorman received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In the 2022 New Year Honours, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to film.

Early life
Boorman was born in Shepperton, Middlesex, England, the son of pub landlord George Boorman and his wife, Ivy (née Chapman), daughter of a "well-to-do owner of pubs in London's East End". George Boorman was of Dutch parentage; he served as a captain in the British Indian Army during World War I, and later worked for the founder of Shell Oil. Boorman's paternal grandfather, an inventor, "made and lost several fortunes during his lifetime". Although not Roman Catholic, after failing the eleven-plus he was sent to be educated at the Salesian School in Chertsey, Surrey.

Career
Boorman was conscripted for military service and became a clerical instructor in the British Army. He did not serve in the Korean War, but once faced court-martial for "seducing a soldier from the course of his duty" by criticising the war to his trainees; this was abandoned when Boorman showed that The Times newspaper was the source of all his comments. After army service he worked as a drycleaner and journalist in the late 1950s. He ran the newsrooms at Southern Television in Southampton and Dover before moving into television documentary filmmaking, eventually becoming head of the BBC's Bristol-based documentary unit. In 1963 he wrote and directed a documentary about professional football, Six Days to Saturday, which focused on a week in the life of Swindon Town, who were in England's second division. Having caught the attention of a producer, David Deutsch, Boorman was offered the chance to direct a film aimed at repeating the success of A Hard Day's Night (directed by Richard Lester in 1964): Catch Us If You Can (1965) is about another pop group, the Dave Clark Five. While it was not as successful commercially as Lester's film was, it drew good reviews from distinguished critics such as Pauline Kael and Dilys Powell, and smoothed Boorman's way into the film industry.

Boorman was drawn to Hollywood for the opportunity to make more ambitious films and in Point Blank (1967), based on a novel by Richard Stark ( a pen name of Donald E. Westlake), he brought a stranger's vision to the decaying fortress of Alcatraz and the proto-hippy world of the West Coast of the United States. Lee Marvin gave the unknown director his full support, telling MGM that he deferred all his approvals on the project to Boorman.

After Point Blank, Boorman worked with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune on the robinsonade Hell in the Pacific (1968), which tells a fable of two representative soldiers stranded on an island.

After returning to the United Kingdom, Boorman made Leo the Last (US–UK, 1970). This film exhibited the influence of Federico Fellini and even starred a Fellini regular, Marcello Mastroianni. It won Boorman a Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Boorman achieved much greater resonance with Deliverance (US, 1972, adapted from a novel by James Dickey), depicting the ordeal of four urban men, played by Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty, who encounter danger from an unexpected quarter while whitewater-rafting through the Appalachian backwoods. The film became Boorman's first true box office success and earned him several award nominations.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Boorman planned to film The Lord of the Rings and corresponded about his plans with the author, J. R. R. Tolkien. Ultimately the production proved too costly, though some elements and themes can be seen in Excalibur (1981). A wide variety of films followed. Zardoz (1974), starring Sean Connery, is a post-apocalyptic science fiction piece, set in the 23rd century where sex is divided into two worlds. According to the director's film commentary, the "Zardoz world" is on a collision course with an "effete" eternal society.

Boorman was selected as director for Exorcist II: The Heretic (USA, 1977), a move that surprised the industry given his dislike of the original film. Boorman declared, "Not only did I not want to do the original film, I told the head of Warner Brothers, John Calley, [that] I'd be happy if he didn't produce the film too". The original script by a Broadway playwright, William Goodhart, was intellectual and ambitious, being concerned with the metaphysical nature of the battle between good and evil, and influenced by the writings of Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, "I found It extremely compelling. It was based on Chardin's intoxicating idea that biological evolution was the first step In God's plan, starting with inert rock, and culminating in humankind." Despite Boorman's rewriting throughout shooting, the film was rendered incomprehensible. The film, released in June 1977, was a critical disaster but a moderate box office success. Boorman was denounced by William Peter Blatty, the author of the original novel The Exorcist, and by William Friedkin, director of the first Exorcist film. Boorman later admitted that his approach to the film was a mistake. The Heretic is often considered not just the worst film of The Exorcist series but one of the worst films of all time. Excalibur, a long-held dream project of Boorman's, is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on Le Morte D'Arthur. Boorman cast Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren over their protests, as the two disliked each other intensely but Boorman felt that their mutual antagonism would enhance their presentations of the characters they were playing. The production was based in the Republic of Ireland, where Boorman had settled. For the film he employed all of his children as actors and crew (several of Boorman's later films have also been "family business" productions). The film, one of the first to be produced by Orion Films, was a moderate success.

The Emerald Forest (1985) saw Boorman cast his son Charley Boorman as an eco-warrior in a rainforest adventure that included commercially required elements – action and near-nudity – with authentic anthropological detail. Rospo Pallenberg's original screenplay was adapted into a book of the same name by award-winning author Robert Holdstock. Because the film's distributor faced business troubles that year, the film did not receive a traditional "For Your Consideration" advertising campaign for the 1985 Academy Awards, despite positive critical reviews. Boorman took the initiative to promote the film himself by making VHS copies available for no charge to Academy members at several Los Angeles-area video rental stores. Boorman's idea later became ubiquitous during Hollywood's award season, and by the 2010s, more than a million Oscar screeners were mailed to Academy members each year. Emerald Forest received no nominations.

Hope and Glory (1987, UK) is his most autobiographical movie to date, a retelling of his childhood in London during The Blitz. Produced by Goldcrest Films, with Hollywood financing the film, it proved a box office hit in the US, receiving numerous Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. His 1990 US-produced comedy about a dysfunctional family, Where the Heart Is, was a major flop.

When his friend David Lean died in 1991, Boorman was to take over direction of Lean's long-planned adaptation of Nostromo, though the production collapsed. Beyond Rangoon (US, 1995) and The Tailor of Panama (US/Ireland, 2000) both explore unique worlds with alien characters stranded and desperate. Boorman won the Best Director Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for The General, his biopic of Martin Cahill. The film is about a glamorous, yet mysterious, criminal in Dublin who was killed, apparently by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Boorman had been one of Cahill's burglary victims, having the gold record awarded for the score to Deliverance stolen from his home.

Released in 2006, his The Tiger's Tail was a thriller set against the tableau of early 21st century capitalism in Ireland. At the same time, Boorman began work on a long-time pet project of his, a fictional account of the life of Roman Emperor Hadrian (entitled Memoirs of Hadrian), written in the form of a letter from a dying Hadrian to his successor. In the meantime, a re-make/re-interpretation of the classic The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz with Boorman at the helm was announced in August 2009.

In 2007 and 2009 he took part in a series of events and discussions as part of the Arts in Marrakech Festival along with his daughter Katrine Boorman including an event with Kim Cattrall called 'Being Directed'. In November 2012 he was selected as a president of the main competition jury at the 2012 International Film Festival of Marrakech.

In Autumn 2013 Boorman began shooting Queen and Country, the sequel to his 1987 Oscar-nominated Hope and Glory, using locations in Shepperton and Romania. The film was selected to be screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

John Boorman's debut novel, Crime of Passion, was published in 2016 (by Liberties Press, Dublin), with a French-language edition published by Marest in 2017.

Personal life
Boorman was a longtime resident of Ireland and lived in Annamoe, County Wicklow, close to the Glendalough twin lakes. In 2022, he put his property up for sale, intending to move to Surrey, England, where his son Charley lives. According to a 2012 interview, he was recently divorced. By 2020, he was married to his third wife.

He has seven children: Katrine (b. 1958), Telsche (1959–1996), Charles (b. 1966), and Daisy (b. 1966) with his first wife, Christel Kruse, to whom he was married until 1990; and Lola, Lee, and Lily Mae with his second wife, Isabella Weibrecht, whom he married in 1995.

His son, Charley Boorman, has a career as an actor but reached a wider audience when he and actor Ewan McGregor made a televised motorbike trip across Europe, Central Asia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and the Midwest US during 2004. His daughter Katrine Boorman (Igrayne in Excalibur) works as an actress in France. Another daughter, Telsche, co-wrote the screenplay for Where the Heart Is with Boorman. She died of ovarian cancer in 1996 at the age of 36. She had been married to the journalist Lionel Rotcage, the son of French singer Régine, and they had a daughter together.

Boorman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1994 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry. In 2004, Boorman was also made a Fellow of BAFTA and in 2013 he received a Fellowship from the British Film Institute, an organisation he had previously served as a Governor. Boorman was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to film.

Awards and nominations
Academy Awards British Academy Film Awards Cinema for Peace Golden Globe Awards
 * Best Picture (1973) (Deliverance) – Nominated
 * Best Director (1973) (Deliverance) – Nominated
 * Best Picture (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated
 * Best Director (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated
 * Best Original Screenplay (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated
 * Best Film (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated
 * Best Original Screenplay (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated
 * BAFTA Fellowship (2004) – Won
 * The Cinema for Peace Award for the Most Valuable Film of the Year (2004) (In My Country) – Won
 * Best Director (1973) (Deliverance) – Nominated
 * Best Director (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated
 * Best Screenplay (1988) (Hope and Glory) – Nominated

Partial filmography
Film

Short film

title: John Boorman


text:
Stephanoberyciformes

The Stephanoberyciformes are an order of marine ray-finned fishes, consisting of about 68 species, the majority (61) of which belong to the ridgehead family (Melamphaidae). The Stephanoberyciformes are mostly uncommon deep-sea species with little, if any, importance to commercial fishery. They share many morphological similarities with the Beryciformes, their sister order.

Some sources classify their other close relatives, the whalefishes, as a superfamily herein, named Cetomimoidea. Most taxa traditionally placed here would then be the Stephanoberyciodea.

The families are:
 * Melamphaidae – ridgeheads (about 61 species)
 * Gibberichthyidae – gibberfishes (2 species)
 * Stephanoberycidae – pricklefishes (4 species)
 * Hispidoberycidae - Bristlyskin (1 species)

Common characteristics include; a generally rounded body, a toothless palate, rather thin skull bones, and a missing orbitosphenoid bone (except for Hispidoberyx).

The gibberfishes on the other hand appear to be closer to whalefishes such as Rondeletia, as has been proposed time and again. These two groups have - apparently as only living fishes - the mysterious Tominaga's organ (A large mass of globular white tissue, that is present anterior to the orbit and posterior and medial to the nostrils and nasal rosette). Rondeletia, meanwhile, is suspected to be very close to the velvet whalefish, Barbourisia rufa.

title: Stephanoberyciformes


text:
Russian Constitution of 1906

The Russian Constitution of 1906 refers to a major revision of the 1832 Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, which transformed the formerly absolutist state into one in which the emperor agreed for the first time to share his autocratic power with a parliament. It was enacted on 1906, on the eve of the opening of the first State Duma. This first-ever Russian Constitution was a revision of the earlier Fundamental Laws, which had been published as the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire (Свод законов Российской империи, pre-1918 Russian orthography: Сводъ законовъ Россійской Имперіи) in 1832. It was granted during the Russian Revolution of 1905, in a last-ditch effort by the imperial government to preserve its own existence and keep the empire from disintegration.

The new constitution provided for a bicameral Russian parliament, without whose approval no laws were to be enacted in Russia. This legislature was composed of an upper house, known as the State Council, and a lower house, known as the State Duma. Half of the members of the upper house were appointed by the Tsar, while the other half were elected by various governmental, clerical and commercial interests. Members of the lower house were to be chosen by different classes of the Russian people, through a complex scheme of indirect elections—with the system being weighted to ensure the ultimate preponderance of the propertied classes. While the Duma held the power of legislation and the right to question the Tsar's ministers, it did not have control over their appointment or dismissal, which was reserved to the monarch alone. Nor could it alter the constitution, save upon the emperor's initiative. The Tsar retained an absolute veto over legislation, as well as the right to dismiss the Duma at any time, for any reason he found suitable. The emperor also had the right to issue decrees during the Duma's absence—though these lost their validity if not approved by the new parliament within two months.

This charter had been granted under duress, and Nicholas abhorred its restrictions upon his power, which he had sworn at his coronation to pass on to his son. He dismissed the First and Second Dumas when they proved "unsatisfactory" to him, and unilaterally altered the election statutes (in violation of the constitution) to ensure that more landed persons would be elected to future Dumas. Although the resulting Third and Fourth Dumas proved more lasting, they still quarreled with the Tsar and his government over the general direction of state policy, and over the fundamental nature of the Russian state. Ultimately, with the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Duma took a leading role in bringing about the Tsar's abdication, which led in turn to the abolition of monarchy and the ascent to power of the Russian Provisional Government under Kerensky. However, that liberal government would be overthrown a few months later in the October Revolution, with the rise of the Bolsheviks signifying Russia's transition to a dictatorship.

Russian government prior to 1906
Prior to the enactment of the 1906 Russian constitution, the Russian Empire had been an absolute monarchy, ruled by an autocratic emperor, who was commonly referred to by his pre-imperial title of "Tsar". The precise regulations by which the Tsar exercised his imperial prerogatives were first codified in 1832, with the issuance of the Set of Laws of the Russian Empire (Свод законов Российскои империи), penned by Mikhail Speransky. These laws could be altered or repealed by the emperor. However, the autocratic Tsars were generally limited by two constraints: they and their spouses must profess the Russian Orthodox faith, and they must obey the laws of succession laid down by Emperor Paul I. Beyond that, the power of the Russian emperor was virtually limitless.

Although a Boyar Duma had existed in Russia from Muscovite times until the rule of Peter I, it was an advisory institution, without legislative prerogatives. Peter abolished this organ in 1721, replacing it with the Governing Senate. This body consisted of nine (later ten) members, and was intended to oversee administration of the empire, under the direction of an Ober-Procurator, appointed (as were all members of this body) by the sovereign. The emperor might submit draft decree proposals to this committee for their deliberation and recommendations, but he was not bound to do so, nor was he required to accept their advice, once tendered. In later years, the Governing Senate took on an important role in administration and law, and by the late nineteenth century it had evolved into the highest judicial organ in Russia, with all officials and legal institutions under its control. Its decisions as to interpretation of the legal code, unless countermanded by the Tsar, were seen as absolutely authoritative. However, the Senate still remained at all times under the monarch's direct control: he named and dismissed its members, could alter its prerogatives, and was free to overrule its actions. As such, the Ruling Senate was never considered to be a "parliament" in the modern sense.

Various proposals for reform emerged during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Alexander I formed a Privy Committee to investigate introducing a parliament and ministerial system; the latter was eventually introduced, but the former foundered due to the Napoleonic Wars and opposition from conservative members of the nobility. Alexander did establish a State Council, with 35—later 60—members, whose major duty was the investigation, promulgation and abrogation of laws. Its four departments were:

 * Legislative;
 * Civil and Ecclesiastical Administration;
 * State Economy; and
 * Industry, Science and Commerce.

Each department had its own presiding officer (called a State Secretary) and met separately to discuss matters assigned to it. There were also plenary sessions of the whole Council, called to peruse laws proposed by the Tsar's ministers, who were ex-officio members. While most sessions concerned the budget and state expenditures, the Council would examine anything submitted to it. It had no authority to propose changes to existing laws, nor to investigate anything not initiated by the Tsar. Decision-making authority rested with the emperor, who appointed and dismissed members of the Council.

Alexander's nephew Alexander II entertained reformist ideas, culminating in a project initiated by Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov, who had been appointed his Minister of Interior in August 1880. One of these proposals would have established two Imperial commissions, to be populated by indirectly elected members, who would advise the Emperor on further reforms. Alexander's assassination, on the very day he intended to sign this proposal into law, effectively killed all mention of legislative reform in Russia—as the murdered Tsar's son, Alexander III, insisted upon preserving the autocracy intact. Nicholas II, who succeeded his father in 1894, was also committed to maintain absolute monarchy, even in the face of ever-increasing calls for reform, peasant unrest, and the rise of revolutionary organizations within his empire. When reforms became inevitable, Nicholas would insist upon retaining as much of his previous authority as possible. For instance, faced with demands from municipal and provincial dumas for the establishment of a national legislative assembly, Nicholas offered only a broadening of the local councils' authority, insurance for factory workers, and the abolition of censorship. This was not considered nearly enough for the liberals, who agitated even more for a constitution and far-reaching political reforms.

Adoption of the constitution
Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 combined with a rising tide of revolutionary feeling in Russia to produce the Russian Revolution of 1905. This upheaval was initially provoked by Bloody Sunday, in which thousands of unarmed protesters (largely urban workers and intellectuals) seeking to present a petition to the Tsar were met by imperial troops, who opened fire on them and killed several. As word of this tragedy spread across the empire, it combined with the catastrophic Russian defeat in the Far East to incite a major uprising against the emperor's authority. Although the Tsarist army largely remained loyal to the emperor, close advisors to the Tsar became convinced that some kind of fundamental change in State administration was inevitable, if the monarchy was to survive.

Count Sergei Witte, the Tsar's Minister of Finance and recent Russian plenipotentiary at the Treaty of Portsmouth negotiations (ending the war with Japan), was named chairman of the Tsar's Council of Ministers after returning home from New Hampshire. He proposed introduction of an elected legislature, the granting of basic civil rights, and the formation of a constitutional monarchy. Nicholas strenuously resisted these ideas, but gave in after his first choice to head a military dictatorship, Grand Duke Nicholas, threatened to shoot himself in the head if the Tsar did not accept Witte's suggestion. Nicholas unwillingly agreed, and issued what became known as the October Manifesto on 1905, promising basic civil rights and an elected parliament called the Duma, without whose approval no laws were to be enacted in Russia in the future.

Accordingly, three proposed drafts were prepared for a revision of Speransky's Fundamental Laws. The Tsar chose to accept the draft authored by Peter Kharitonov, Deputy State Secretary of the State Chancellory, as the basis for the new constitution. Other constitutions from Austria-Hungary, Japan and Prussia were also studied, as was a draft constitution authored by the Union of Liberation, and published abroad. The State Chancellory prepared a draft, which was discussed during five sessions of the Council of Ministers, where alterations were made to further strengthen the emperor's prerogatives at the expense of the new parliament. Following this, the draft was further discussed and amended under the Tsar's chairmanship; Nicholas chose to officially publish this new constitution on 1906. With this act, Russia was officially transformed from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional one, though the exact extent of just how constitutional quickly became the subject of debate, based upon the emperor's subsequent actions.

Provisions
The Russian Constitution of 1906 contained an introduction and eleven chapters: comprising a total of 124 articles:

 * The Introduction (Articles 1–3) declared that Russia was "one and indivisible", and mandated the use of Russian in the armed forces and other public institutions. It also acknowledged the Grand Principality of Finland as an "inseparable part of the Russian state", while ambiguously acknowledging its special legislative and political status.
 * Chapter One (Articles 4–24) concerned "the essence of the supreme autocratic power", declaring that the emperor possessed "supreme sovereign power", and that obedience to his commands was mandated by God himself. It provided for the ruler's prerogatives, while making him personally inviolable.  The Tsar possessed an absolute veto over all legislation, legislative initiative on all matters, and the sole prerogative to initiate any revision of the constitution itself. The emperor had charge over Russia's administrative and external affairs, and sole power to declare war, make peace and negotiate treaties, as well as the supreme command of the armed forces.  The emperor also retained authority over the minting of money, as well as the right to grant pardons and quash judicial proceedings.  He appointed and dismissed his ministers at will, and decided the nature and scope of their duties.
 * Chapter Two (Articles 25–39) regulated the order of succession to the throne. The thrones of Poland and Finland were declared "inseparable" from that of Russia, while precise rules on succession to the throne were spelled out. Females were eligible to succeed, though they were placed last in order behind all dynastically qualified male descendants of Romanov emperors.  A female ruler was guaranteed all the prerogatives and privileges of the imperial office, though her consort was not to take the title of "emperor".  Children born to a marriage between a dynastic Romanov and a person "not of corresponding dignity" (defined as "not belonging to any royal or sovereign house") were ineligible for the throne, as was any person who inherited the throne while ruling over another nation whose state religion was not Orthodox, if unwilling to renounce that other throne and faith.
 * Chapter Three (Articles 40–82) concerned issues of regency and guardianship, if the emperor was a minor. The age of majority was established at sixteen, and instructions were given concerning the appointment of a regent and a mandatory regency council, together with the prerogatives exercised by the same.
 * Chapter Four (Articles 53–56) concerned accession to the throne and the Oath of Allegiance to be sworn by all male citizens of the empire, aged twenty and above, each "according to his faith and law".
 * Chapter Five (Articles 57–58) concerned the coronation and anointing of a new sovereign, which was to take place "according to the rite of the Greco-Russian Orthodox Church." Explanatory Note 1 at the end of this chapter indicated that the emperor was conjointly crowned Emperor of Russia and King of Poland. Explanatory Note 2 required him to recite the Nicene Creed according to the Orthodox Christian formula (without the filioque clause), and mandated a specific prayer for him to recite during the ceremony while wearing the Imperial Crown of Russia and holding the sceptre and orb.
 * Chapter Six (Articles 59–61) concerned the many formal titles held by the Russian sovereign, together with the precise makeup of the Russian state coat of arms and seal.
 * Chapter Seven (Articles 62–68) concerned the relationship of the Russian state to the various religions professed by its subjects. The Orthodox faith was declared the state religion, and both the emperor and his or her consort were required to profess that religion. The Tsar was named as the "supreme defender and guardian" of the Russian Orthodox Church, while those of other confessions were promised full religious liberty, which was also extended to "Jews, Muslims and heathens."
 * Chapter Eight (Articles 69–83) concerned the "rights and obligations" of Russian citizens. Citizens were guaranteed protection from arbitrary arrest and detention, the inviolability of their domiciles, protection from illegal search and seizure, the right to travel (subject to restriction), and the right to own private property. Other rights promised in the document included freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, to organize unions and similar organizations, and freedom of religion.  Military service was mandatory for all male subjects called to it, regardless of social rank, and payment of taxes and performance of "other duties in accordance with lawful decrees" was required.
 * Chapter Nine (Articles 84–97) concerned the promulgation of laws. Article 86 required the approval of the emperor, Duma and State Council for all laws, while Article 87 permitted the Tsar and his cabinet to issue decrees during times when the Duma was not in session. However, these lost their validity if not introduced to the new Duma within two months of its convocation, or if the new Duma or Council refused to confirm them. This article furthermore prohibited the emperor from using this authority to change the Constitution itself, or to change the laws for election to the Duma or Council. Nicholas' violation of this provision during the so-called Coup of June 1907 would irreparably damage his reputation among Russian liberals, and led many to conclude that the entire Russian Constitution was ultimately a sham. This contributed to more revolutionary agitation, and to the Tsar's eventual overthrow in February 1917. The Russian system did not offer any right of impeachment to the legislative branch of government.
 * Chapter Ten (Articles 98–119) regulated the modus operandi of the State Council and Duma. Both were required to meet at least once per year, though the duration of their sessions and the length of their recess were the emperor's prerogative. The Tsar was granted the right to appoint up to one-half of the membership of the State Council, while members of the Duma were to be elected for a five-year term according to the state election statutes.  Both houses possessed equal rights in legislative matters, while either or both of them could be dissolved at any time by the emperor, though new elections for the Duma must be announced at the same time as its dissolution.  Both houses possessed the right of legislative initiative, save in respect to the constitution itself; amendments to the constitution could only be proposed by the monarch.  The Imperial Court Ministry was not subject to the Duma's control. Securing of governmental loans was also beyond the legislature's purview, nor was it permitted to refuse or reduce funds to repay such obligations.  The Duma was equally prohibited from using its budgetary power to deny manpower requests from the Army or Navy; should the legislature not approve such a petition, the military was allowed to call a new number of draftees equal to the previous year's number.
 * Chapter Eleven (Articles 120–124) concerned the Council of Ministers. It established the office of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and made all members of this council responsible to the emperor for their actions. "Regulations, instructions or orders" issued by this council, or any member thereof, could not contradict existing law. Ministers could be interrogated by either the State Council or Duma for their actions while in office, but only the Tsar could remove them.

Abolition of the 1906 constitution
With the abdication of Tsar Nicholas in February 1917 (Old Style), the government of Russia was initially taken over by a Provisional Government established by the Fourth Duma. Alexander Kerensky, who became the most prominent leader of this government, unilaterally abolished the Russian monarchy on 1917, thereby formally abrogating the 1906 Constitution. In November Russia was taken over by the Bolshevik party, leading ultimately to the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 30 December 1922. Prior to that time, the Communists had enacted a new constitution, firmly establishing Russia as a Bolshevik state. This was in turn superseded by the 1924 Soviet Constitution and the constitutions of 1936 and 1977, the last of which lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union and the adoption of Russia's current governing document in 1993, under which the nation is currently governed.

title: Russian Constitution of 1906