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Vicente Amigo

Vicente Amigo Girol (born 25 March 1967) is a Spanish flamenco composer and guitarist, born in Guadalcanal near Seville. He has played as an accompanying guitarist on recordings by flamenco singers Camarón de la Isla, and Luis de Córdoba, and he has acted as a producer for Remedios Amaya and José Mercé. His album Ciudad de las Ideas won the 2001 Latin Grammy for the Best Flamenco Album and the 2002 Ondas award for the best Flamenco work.

Biography
Amigo was raised in Córdoba, where he took guitar lessons and later improved his playing with Manolo Sanlúcar, with whom he worked for ten years. After a period of accompaniment which began with El Pele, he devoted himself almost exclusively to playing concerts in 1988. De Mi Corazón al Aire (From Out of My Heart, 1991) was his first solo record. An admirer of Paco de Lucía since childhood, Amigo took part with him in the show Leyendas de la guitarra (Legends of the Guitar) in Seville.

Amigo has worked with Amaia Montero, Khaled, Miguel Bosé, Carmen Linares, Manolo Sanlúcar, Wagner Tiso, Rosario, Nacho Cano, Alejandro Sanz, Sting, Paco de Lucía, Stanley Jordan, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, and Milton Nascimento.

As lead

 * De mi corazón al aire (CBS/Sony, 1991)
 * Vivencias Imaginadas (CBS/Sony, 1995)
 * Poeta (CBS/Sony, 1997)
 * Del Amanecer... with Jose Merce (Virgin, 1998)
 * Ciudad de las Ideas (2000)
 * Un Momento en el Sonido (Columbia, 2005)
 * Paseo de Gracia (Sony, 2009)
 * Tierra (Sony, 2013)
 * Memoria de los Sentidos (Sony, 2017)
 * Andenes del Tiempo (2024)

As accompanist
With Miguel Bosé
 * Bajo El Signo De Cain (WEA, 1993)
 * Laberinto (WEA, 1995)
 * Mordre Dans Ton Coeur (WEA, 1997)
 * Papitwo (WEA, 2012)

With others
 * Remedios Amaya, Me Voy Contigo (Hispavox, EMI 1997)
 * Pedro Aznar, Mudras: Canciones De a Dos (Tabriz Music, 2003)
 * David Bisbal, Premonicion (Vale Music, 2006)
 * Nacho Cano, The Feminine Side (Virgin, 1997)
 * Nacho Cano, A un Musical De (Warner, 2008)
 * Los Chunguitos, Vive a Tu Manera en Directo (EMI, 1988)
 * Camarón de la Isla, Soy Gitano (El Pais, 2010)
 * Tino di Geraldo, Burlerias (Nuevos Medios, 1994)
 * Roberto Fonseca, Zamazu (Enja, 2007)
 * GNR, Sob Escuta (EMI, 1994)
 * Josh Groban, Bridges (Reprise, 2018)
 * Alberto Iglesias, Hable Con Ella (Milan, 2002)
 * Azucar Moreno, Ojos Negros (Epic, 1992)
 * Enrique Morente & Lagartija Nick, Omega (El Europeo Musica, 1996)
 * Carlos Nunez, Os Amores Libres (RCA Victor, 1999)
 * Potito, Andando por Los Caminos (CBS, 1990)
 * Manolo Sanlucar, Tauromagia (Polydor, 1988)
 * Alejandro Sanz, El Alma al Aire (WEA, 2001)
 * Alejandro Sanz, Mas (WEA, 2006)
 * Sting, Sacred Love (A&M, 2003)
 * Wagner Tiso, Baobab (Philips, 1990)
 * Wagner Tiso, Brazilian Scenes (Kardum/Iris, 1997)
 * Potito, Mi reencuentro (Concert Music Entertainment S.L, 2018)
 * El Pele, Canto (BMG Music Spain S.A, 2003)
 * Eliane Elias, Around the City (RCA Victor, 2006)

authors: ВаСиЛбЕлЕжКоВ

title: Vicente Amigo


text:
Jacobson density theorem

In mathematics, more specifically non-commutative ring theory, modern algebra, and module theory, the Jacobson density theorem is a theorem concerning simple modules over a ring $R$.

The theorem can be applied to show that any primitive ring can be viewed as a "dense" subring of the ring of linear transformations of a vector space. This theorem first appeared in the literature in 1945, in the famous paper "Structure Theory of Simple Rings Without Finiteness Assumptions" by Nathan Jacobson. This can be viewed as a kind of generalization of the Artin-Wedderburn theorem's conclusion about the structure of simple Artinian rings.

Motivation and formal statement
Let $R$ be a ring and let $U$ be a simple right $R$-module. If $u$ is a non-zero element of $U$, $u • R = U$ (where $u • R$ is the cyclic submodule of $U$ generated by $u$). Therefore, if $u, v$ are non-zero elements of $U$, there is an element of $R$ that induces an endomorphism of $U$ transforming $u$ to $v$. The natural question now is whether this can be generalized to arbitrary (finite) tuples of elements. More precisely, find necessary and sufficient conditions on the tuple $(x_{1}, ..., x_{n})$ and $(y_{1}, ..., y_{n})$ separately, so that there is an element of $R$ with the property that $x_{i} • r = y_{i}$ for all $i$. If $D$ is the set of all $R$-module endomorphisms of $U$, then Schur's lemma asserts that $D$ is a division ring, and the Jacobson density theorem answers the question on tuples in the affirmative, provided that the $x_{i}$ are linearly independent over $D$.

With the above in mind, the theorem may be stated this way:

 * The Jacobson density theorem. Let $U$ be a simple right $R$-module, $D = End(U_{R})$, and $X ⊂ U$ a finite and $D$-linearly independent set. If $A$ is a $D$-linear transformation on $U$ then there exists $r ∈ R$ such that $A(x) = x • r$ for all $x$ in $X$.

Proof
In the Jacobson density theorem, the right $R$-module $U$ is simultaneously viewed as a left $D$-module where $D = End(U_{R})$, in the natural way: $g • u = g(u)$. It can be verified that this is indeed a left module structure on $U$. As noted before, Schur's lemma proves $D$ is a division ring if $U$ is simple, and so $U$ is a vector space over $D$.

The proof also relies on the following theorem proven in p. 185:

 * Theorem. Let $U$ be a simple right $R$-module, $D-R$, and $D = End(U_{R})$ a finite set. Write $X ⊂ U$ for the annihilator of $X$ in $R$. Let $u$ be in $U$ with $I = ann_{R}(X)$. Then $u$ is in $XD$; the $D$-span of $X$.

Proof of the Jacobson density theorem
We use induction on $u • I = 0$. If $X$ is empty, then the theorem is vacuously true and the base case for induction is verified.

Assume $X$ is non-empty, let $x$ be an element of $X$ and write $|X|$ If $A$ is any $D$-linear transformation on $U$, by the induction hypothesis there exists $Y = X \{x}.$ such that $s ∈ R$ for all $y$ in $Y$. Write $A(y) = y • s$. It is easily seen that $I = ann_{R}(Y)$ is a submodule of $U$. If $x • I$, then the previous theorem implies that $x$ would be in the $D$-span of $Y$, contradicting the $D$-linear independence of $X$, therefore $x • I = 0$. Since $U$ is simple, we have: $x • I ≠ 0$. Since $x • I = U$, there exists $i$ in $I$ such that $A(x) − x • s ∈ U = x • I$.

Define $x • i = A(x) − x • s$ and observe that for all $y$ in $Y$ we have:

 * $$\begin{align}

y \cdot r &= y \cdot(s + i) \\ &= y \cdot s + y \cdot i \\ &= y \cdot s && (\text{since } i\in \text{ann}_R(Y)) \\ &= A(y) \end{align}$$

Now we do the same calculation for $x$:

 * $$\begin{align}

x \cdot r &= x \cdot (s + i) \\ &= x \cdot s + x \cdot i \\ &= x \cdot s + \left ( A(x) - x \cdot s \right )\\ &= A(x) \end{align}$$

Therefore, $r = s + i$ for all $z$ in $X$, as desired. This completes the inductive step of the proof. It follows now from mathematical induction that the theorem is true for finite sets $X$ of any size.

Topological characterization
A ring $R$ is said to act densely on a simple right $R$-module $U$ if it satisfies the conclusion of the Jacobson density theorem. There is a topological reason for describing $R$ as "dense". Firstly, $R$ can be identified with a subring of $A(z) = z • r$ by identifying each element of $R$ with the $D$ linear transformation it induces by right multiplication. If $U$ is given the discrete topology, and if $U^{U}$ is given the product topology, and $End(_{D}U)$ is viewed as a subspace of $U^{U}$ and is given the subspace topology, then $R$ acts densely on $U$ if and only if $R$ is dense set in $End(_{D}U)$ with this topology.

Consequences
The Jacobson density theorem has various important consequences in the structure theory of rings. Notably, the Artin–Wedderburn theorem's conclusion about the structure of simple right Artinian rings is recovered. The Jacobson density theorem also characterizes right or left primitive rings as dense subrings of the ring of $D$-linear transformations on some $D$-vector space $U$, where $D$ is a division ring.

Relations to other results
This result is related to the Von Neumann bicommutant theorem, which states that, for a *-algebra $A$ of operators on a Hilbert space $H$, the double commutant $A′′$ can be approximated by $A$ on any given finite set of vectors. In other words, the double commutant is the closure of $A$ in the weak operator topology. See also the Kaplansky density theorem in the von Neumann algebra setting.

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

title: Jacobson density theorem


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FA Vase

The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English football league system). For the 2017–18 season 619 entrants were accepted, with two qualifying rounds preceding the seven proper rounds, semi-finals (played over two legs) and final to be played at Wembley Stadium.

The 2024 winners were Romford, who beat Great Wakering Rovers 3–0 at Wembley Stadium.

History

Until 1974, football players were either professionals or amateurs. Professionals were paid to play by their clubs, and the only cup competitions such clubs were allowed to enter were the FA Cup and, after 1969, for clubs outside the Football League, the FA Trophy. Amateurs, on the other hand, were not paid (at least not officially) by their clubs, and such clubs had their own cup competition, the FA Amateur Cup.

In 1974, with many of the top amateur players receiving payment for playing, the Football Association abolished the distinction, scrapped the Amateur Cup and introduced the FA Vase for the majority of clubs who had previously played in the competition. Well over 200 clubs entered in the first season, 1974–75, when Hoddesdon Town of the Spartan League beat Epsom & Ewell of the Surrey Senior League 2–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 9,000.

In September 2021 Hinckley AFC set a new record score in the competition, beating St Martins 18–0.

Eligibility
In recent years, entry to the FA Vase has been restricted to clubs in the ninth and lower tiers of the English football league system (those in the four levels above the ninth qualified for the FA Trophy). Reorganisation of the National League System for 2004 onwards moved the dividing line down to the new "Step 5" (ninth tier overall). Clubs from the Channel Islands (First Tower United, St. Martins and Vale Recreation) and the Isle of Man (Douglas HSOB) also entered the Vase in the past. Guernsey F.C., who were formed in 2011 and played in the "Step 5" Combined Counties League, gained entry for the 2012–13 season and reached the semi-finals.

Exemptions

 * Eligible teams who played in the FA Vase the previous season and participated in the fourth round proper are exempt from qualifying, and start play in the second round proper of the Vase, unless they were promoted to a Step 4 league. (If they were promoted, they would play for the FA Trophy instead.)
 * Those teams that lost in the third round proper the previous season are, unless promoted to the Trophy, exempt until the first round proper.

Finals
Only five teams have won the FA Vase more than once. Whitley Bay are the only team to win the FA Vase three times in successive seasons, while Billericay Town, Tiverton Town and Halesowen Town have won back-to-back titles. As of 2017–18, at least one Northern League team has reached the final for 10 consecutive seasons, with teams from the league winning the title in all but two of those years. In 2017 Forest Green Rovers became the first FA Vase winners to go on to play in the English Football League, while one former Football League team (Glossop North End) have been beaten finalists.

Media coverage
BT Sport showed the 2016 FA Vase Final between Hereford and Morpeth Town live on 22 May as part of a double-header along with the 2016 FA Trophy Final. This has continued in more recent years.

title: FA Vase


text:
Konkan

The Konkan is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, bound by the river Daman Ganga at Damaon in the north, to Anjediva Island next to Karwar town in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau to the east. The hinterland east of the coast has numerous river valleys, riverine islands and the hilly slopes known as the Western Ghats; that lead up into the tablelands of the Deccan. The region has been recognised by name, since at least the time of Strabo in the third century CE. It had a thriving mercantile port with Arab tradesmen from the 10th century. The best-known islands of Konkan are Ilhas de Goa, the site of the Goa state's capital at Panjim; also, the Seven Islands of Bombay, on which lies Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra & the headquarters of Konkan Division.

Definition
Historically, the limits of Konkan have been flexible, and it has been known by additional names like "Aparanta" and "Gomanchal", the latter being defined as the coastal area between the Daman Ganga River in the north and the Gangavalli River in the south.

The ancient Sapta Konkan was a larger geographical area that extended from Gujarat to Kerala and included the whole region of coastal Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka. However, this segment overlaps the Konkan and Malabar coast continuum; and usually corresponds to the southernmost and northernmost stretches of these locales respectively.

Etymology
According to the Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana, Parashurama threw his axe into the sea and commanded the Sea God to recede up to the point where his axe landed. The new piece of land thus recovered came to be known as Saptah-Konkana, meaning "piece of earth", "corner of the earth", or "piece of the corner", derived from Sanskrit words: koṇa (कोण, corner) + kaṇa (कण, piece). Xuanzang, the noted Chinese Buddhist monk, mentioned this region in his book as Konkana Desha; Varahamihira's Brihat-Samhita described Konkan as a region of India; and 15th-century author Ratnakosh mentioned the word Konkandesha.

Geography
The Konkan extends throughout the western coasts of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. It is bounded by the Western Ghats mountain range (also known as Sahyadri) in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west, the Daman Ganga River in the north, and the River Aghanashini in the south. The Gangavalli flows in the district of Uttara Kannada in present-day Karnataka. Its northern bank constitutes the southernmost portion of Konkan. The towns of Karwar, Ankola, Kumta, Honavar, and Bhatkal fall within the Konkan coast. The largest city on the Konkan coast is Mumbai, the state capital of Maharashtra. Districts on the Konkan coast are, from north to south:
 * Damaon district
 * Palghar district
 * Thane district
 * Mumbai Suburban district
 * Mumbai City district
 * Raigad district
 * Ratnagiri district
 * Sindhudurg district
 * North Kanara(Karwar to Bhatkal)

Ethnology
The main ethnolinguistic group of the Konkan region is the Konkani people. Specific caste and communities found in the region are the Aagri, Koli, Bhandari, Kunbi, Maratha, Gabit, Mangela, Karadi, Phudagi, Vaiti, Kharvi, Teli, Kumbhar, Nhavi, Dhobi, Kasar, Sutar, Lohar, Chambhar, Mahar, Dhangar, Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (also includes Rajapur Saraswats and Chitrapur Saraswats), Kudaldeshkar, Pathare Prabhu, Gomantak Maratha, Chitpavan Brahmins, Karhade Brahmins, Daivadnya, Kayastha Prabhu, Panchkalshi, Vani, Komarpant, Vadval   Gavli, Ghorpi, Nath Jogi, Gurav, Pagi, Kalan, Ghadi, Padti, Vanjari, Namdev Shimpi and others. Billava, Bunt, Nadavara, Mogaveera and Linghayat communities found in the parts of Karnataka which are near to Konkan.

Tribal communities include the Katkari, Thakar, Konkana, Warli and Mahadev Koli, mainly found in the northern and central parts of Konkan. The Dubla and Dhodia tribes live in southern Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Palghar district of Maharashtra. Palghar district has the largest percentage of tribal population in Konkan. A small nomadic tribe called the Vanarmare is found in southern parts of Konkan, which was originally associated with the hunting of monkeys. The Gauda and Velip tribes are found in Goa.

The Jewish community called Bene Israel is mainly found in Raigad district. The Christians included Bombay East Indians in North Konkan and Mumbai, Goan Catholics in Goa, Karwari Catholics in Uttara Kannada as well as Mangalorean Catholics in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.

Major Muslim communities like Konkani Muslims and Nawayaths are scattered throughout the whole region. They are reportedly descendants of people who came from Hadhramaut (in Yemen or South Arabia), and other parts of Arabia and the Middle East. The Siddis have their roots in Africa.

title: Konkan


text:
Churchill tank

The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war.

The origins of the Churchill's design lay in the expectation that war in Europe might be fought in conditions similar to those of the First World War, and thus emphasised the ability to cross difficult ground. The Churchill was hurried into production in order to build up British defences against a possible German invasion. The first vehicles had flaws that had to be overcome before the Churchill was accepted for wide use. After several marks (versions) had been built, a better-armoured specification, the Mark VII, entered service with the British Army. The improved versions performed well in the later stages of the war.

The Churchill was used by British and other Commonwealth forces during the North African, Italian and North-West Europe campaigns. In addition, 344 Churchills were sent as military aid to the Soviet Union during the Second World War and more than 250 saw active service on the Eastern Front.

Name
The Churchill tank was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Winston Churchill told Field Marshal Jan Smuts "That is the tank they named after me when they found out it was no damn good!"

The name only incidentally matched what became the British Army practice of giving service names beginning with C to tanks. Cruiser tanks were given names, such as the contemporary Covenanter, Crusader, Cromwell, Cavalier and Comet but infantry tank naming had no particular pattern.

A20
Initially specified just before the outbreak of the Second World War, the A20 (its General Staff specification) was to supplement the Matilda II and Valentine infantry tanks. In accordance with British infantry tank doctrine and based on the expected needs of attacking a fixed defensive line, crossing wide trenches, possibly shell-cratered ground similar to First World War trench warfare it was to be immune to the current German 3.7 cm Pak 36 anti-tank guns and carry an unditching beam.

A general outline produced by Woolwich Arsenal was expanded by Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff with advice from the Department of Tank Design. The General Staff had proposed that it was armed with two QF 2 pounder guns, each located in a side sponson with a coaxial Besa machine gun. A third Besa and a smoke projector would be fitted in the front hull. To reduce weight the specification was revised to prefer a maximum armour to the front of 60 mm – sufficient to protect against ordinary shells from the German 37 mm gun. Outline drawings were produced by Woolwich Arsenal based on the A12 Matilda turret – the Director of Mechanisation opposed a turretless design – and the engine and Wilson epicyclic transmission being developed for the A13 Mark III Covenanter tank. Detail design and construction of the A20 was left to Harland & Wolff, who completed four prototypes by June 1940. During the construction period, the armament was reconsidered, including fitting either a 6-pounder gun or the French short 75 mm gun (as used on Char B1) in the forward hull – the former was considered too long and the latter would require redesigning the front of the hull. In the end, a 3-inch howitzer was chosen. The A20 designs were short-lived, however, as at roughly the same time the defeated British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk. While intended for "positional warfare" and direct assaults against fortifications (it was referred to as "Shelled Area Tank", or by the French phrase Char de Fortresse) which had been rendered pointless by the fast pace of German armoured warfare a heavy tank that could defend the infantry from other tanks was still desired.

At an initial 32 tons, with a 300 hp flat-12 Meadows DAV engine, the A20 had limited power compared to the 16-ton Covenanter. This was a less serious limitation than it might appear, owing to the British distinction between the high-speed cruiser tanks and the slow-speed infantry tanks. Vauxhall, who were already involved as consultants on the suspension, were approached to see if they could build the A20 and one example was sent to Vauxhall at Luton to see if they could provide an alternative engine developing 350 bhp. To this end, they developed a flat-12 petrol engine. For speed of production, this engine was based on a Bedford Vehicles (Vauxhall's commercial vehicle operations) six-cylinder lorry engine, giving rise to its name of "Twin-Six". Although using sidevalves to fit within the space, the engine was developed with high squish pistons, dual ignition and sodium-cooled exhaust valves in Stellite seats to give 350 bhp.

A22
With France lost, the scenario of trench warfare in Northern Europe was no longer applicable and the design was revised by Dr H. E. Merritt, Director of Tank Design at Woolwich Arsenal, based on the combat witnessed in Poland and France. These new specifications, for the A22 or Infantry Tank Mark IV, were given to Vauxhall in June 1940.

With a German invasion of Britain looking imminent, and the loss of a substantial amount of military vehicles in the evacuation from France, the War Office specified that the A22 had to enter production within a year. By July 1940, the design was completed and by December of that year the first prototypes were completed; in June 1941, almost exactly a year as specified, the first Churchill tanks began rolling off the production line.

A leaflet from the manufacturer was added to the User Handbook, which also described known faults, with work-arounds and what was being done to correct the problem. It said:

"Fighting vehicles are urgently required, and instructions have been received to proceed with the vehicle as it is rather than hold up production. All those things which we know are not as they should be will be put right."

Harold Drew of Vauxhall achieved miracles with the Churchill and its Merrit-Brown Tank Gearbox produced by David Brown Limited; "a brilliant design that went into production off the drawing board without adequate prototype testing and had the most disastrous teething troubles" according to Robotham, but British tanks were under-powered, under-gunned and unreliable. At the Tank Board level the Director of Artillery was still extolling the merits of the 2-pounder, and this gun was still fitted to every British tank until March 1942. In a 1942 exercise, one tank had to have its gearbox changed five times.

Because of its hasty development, there had been little testing and the Churchill was plagued with mechanical faults. Most apparent was that the Churchill's engine was underpowered, unreliable, and difficult to access for servicing. Another serious shortcoming was the tank's inadequate armament, the 2 pounder (40 mm) gun, which was improved by the addition of a 3-inch howitzer in the hull to deliver a HE shell, albeit not on a howitzer's usual high trajectory.

Production of a turret to carry the QF 6 pounder gun began in 1941, but lack of supplies of the plate used in an all-welded design led to an alternative cast turret also being produced. These formed the distinction between Mark III and Mark IV.

In August 1942, the Churchill was used offensively for the first time in the Dieppe Raid.

The poor speed of the Churchill nearly caused production to be ceased in favour of the forthcoming Cromwell tank; it was saved by the successful use of the Mk III at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

The second major improved Churchill, the Mk VII, was first used in the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The Mk VII improved on the already heavy armour of the Churchill with a wider chassis and the British 75 mm gun, which had been introduced on the Mk VI. It was primarily this variant, the A22F, which served through the remainder of war. It was re-designated A42 in 1945.

The Churchill was a versatile project and was used in numerous specialist roles.

Design
The hull was made up of simple flat plates, which were bolted together in earlier models and were welded in later models. The hull was split into four compartments: the driver's position at the front, then the fighting compartment including the turret, the engine compartment, and the gearbox compartment. The suspension was fitted under the two large "panniers" on either side of the hull, the track running over the top. There were eleven bogies either side, each carrying two 10-inch wheels. Only nine of the bogies normally took the vehicle weight, the front coming into play when the vehicle nosed into the ground or against an obstacle, the rear acting in part as a track tensioner. Due to the number of wheels, the tank could survive losing several without much in the way of adverse effects as well as traversing steeper terrain obstacles. As the tracks ran around the panniers, escape hatches in the side could be incorporated into the design. These were retained throughout the revisions of the Churchill and were of particular use when the Churchill was adopted as the AVRE.

The Bedford Vehicles engine was effectively two engines in horizontally opposed configuration ("flat twelve") on a common crankshaft. There were four Solex carburettors each on a separate manifold that fed three cylinders formed as a single cylinder head. The elements of the engine and ancillary components were laid out so they could be reached for maintenance through the engine deck covers. Air for the engine was drawn from the fighting compartment through air cleaners. Cooling air was drawn into the engine compartment through louvres on the sides, across the radiators and through the engine compartment by a fan driven by the clutch. This fan blew the air over the gearbox and out the rear of the hull. By opening a flap between the fighting compartment and the engine compartment, this airflow could be used to remove fumes produced by firing the armament. The 1296 cuin capacity engine was rated at 350 bhp at 2,000 rpm, delivering 960 lbft torque over an engine speed range from 800 to 1,600 rpm.

The gearbox featured a regenerative steering system that was controlled by a tiller bar instead of the more commonplace brake levers or, as with the German Tiger I heavy tank, a steering wheel. The tiller was connected, with servo assistance, hydraulically to the steering brakes. The Churchill was also the first tank to utilise the Merritt-Brown triple differential gearbox, which allowed the tank to be steered by changing the relative speeds of the two tracks; this effect became more pronounced with each lower gear, ultimately allowing the tank to perform a "neutral turn" when no gear was engaged, where it could fully pivot within its own length and thus rotate in place. There were final reduction gears, of the planetary type, in the driving wheels. Although capable of 17 mph the noise at that speed was so great that the Churchill was limited to 10 to 12 mph by not using the highest gear.

The first turrets were of cast construction and were rounded in shape, providing sufficient space to accommodate the relatively small 2 pounder gun. To fulfil its role as an infantry support vehicle, the first models were equipped with a 3-inch howitzer in the hull in a layout very similar to the French Char B1. This enabled the tank to deliver a useful high-explosive capability while retaining the anti-tank capabilities of the 2 pounder. However, like other multi-gun tanks, it was limited by a poor fire arc – the track horns limiting traverse – and elevation of only 9°. Despite the length of the gun the muzzle velocity was only 600 ft/s. The Mark IVA (retrospectively the Churchill Mk II) dispensed with the howitzer (there had been only enough guns to equip 300 tanks) and replaced it with a bow machine gun and on the Mk III, the 2 pounder was replaced with the 6 pounder, significantly increasing the tank's anti-tank capabilities. The tank underwent field modification in North Africa with several Churchills being fitted with the 75 mm gun of destroyed M4 Shermans. These "NA75" variants were used in Italy. The use of the 75 mm increased the effectiveness of the tank, as it was a generally superior weapon to the 6 pounder, possessing similar anti-tank capabilities, while also being considerably more effective when used in infantry support roles.

Churchills made use of the Vickers Tank Periscope MK.IV. In the Mark VII, the driver had two periscopes as well as a vision port in the hull front that could be opened. The hull gunner had a single periscope as well as the sighting telescope on the BESA machine gun mounting. In the turret, the gunner and loader each had single periscope and the commander had two fitted in his hatch cupola.

The armour on the Churchill, often considered its most important feature, was originally specified to a minimum of 16 mm and a maximum of 102 mm; this was increased with the Mk VII to a range from 25 mm to 152 mm. Though this armour was considerably thicker than its rivals (including the German Tiger I tank, but not the Tiger II) it was not sloped, reducing its effectiveness. Earlier models were given extra armour by the expedient of welding on extra plates. On the Mark VII, the hull front armour was made up of a lower angled piece of 5.5 in, a nearly horizontal 2.25 in plate and a vertical 6 inch plate. The hull sides, were, for the most part, 3.75 in. The rear was 2 in and the hull top 0.525 in. The turret of the Mark VII was 6 in to the front and 3.75 in for the other sides. The turret roof was 0.79 (20 mm) thick. Plate was specified as IT 80, the cast sections as IT 90.

The A22F, also known as "Heavy Churchill", was a major revision of the design. The most significant part was the use of welding instead of riveted construction. Welding had been considered earlier for the Churchill but, until its future was assured, this was no more than testing techniques and hulls at the firing ranges. What welding reduced in the overall weight (estimates were around 4%), the thicker armour of the A22F made up for. Welding also required fewer man-hours in construction. The hull doors changed from square to round which reduced stresses. A new turret went with the new hull. The sides, which included a flared base to protect the turret ring, were a single casting while the roof, which did not need to be so thick, was a plate fitted to the top.

Since the engines on the Churchill were never upgraded, the tank became increasingly slow as additional armour and armament was equipped and weight increased; while the Mk I weighed 40 long ton and the Mk III weighed 39,630 kg, the Mk VII weighed 40,640 kg. This caused a reduction in the tanks' maximum speed from its original 26 km/h down to 20.4 km/h.

Another problem was the tank's relatively small turret that prevented the use of powerful weapons; definitive versions of the tank were armed with either the QF 6-pounder or the derivative QF 75 mm gun. The 6-pounder was effective against armoured vehicles, but less so against other targets; the 75 mm was a better all-round weapon, but lacked in effectiveness against armour. Although the Churchills with their 6-pounders could outgun many contemporary German medium tanks (like the Panzer IV with the short-barrel 75 mm gun, and the Panzer III armed with the 50 mm gun) and the thick armour of all Churchill models could usually withstand several hits from any German anti-tank gun, in the later years of the war the German Panther tank had a 75 mm high-velocity cannon as its main armament along with increased protection, against which the Churchills' own guns often lacked sufficient armour penetration to fight back effectively.

The Churchill had many variations, including many specialised modifications. The most significant change to the Churchill was that it was up-gunned from 2-pounder to 6-pounder and then 75 mm guns over the course of the war. By the war's end, the late model Churchill Mk VII had exceptional amounts of armour – considerably more than the German Tiger tank. However, the firepower weakness was never fully addressed. The Mark VII turret that was designed for the 75 mm gun was of composite construction – cast with top and bottom plates welded into position.

While it had weaknesses, the Churchill could cross terrain obstacles that most other tanks of its era could not. This capacity frequently proved useful, especially during the fighting in Normandy. One action in Normandy where the tank's ability to surmount obstacles was found to be of value was the capture of Hill 309 on 30/31 July 1944 (Operation Bluecoat) conducted by VIII Corps.

Production
The Churchill tank was produced with Vauxhall as the design parent. Subcontracted work on some tanks was provided by Whessoe Foundry & Engineering, Metropolitan‑Cammell Carriage & Wagon, Babcock & Wilcox, Newton, Chambers & Company and the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company; the latter two produced some complete vehicles. Other contractors produced hulls and turrets which went to Vauxhall, Charles Roberts & Co, and Dennis Brothers for final assembly.

In March and April 1942, Vauxhall stopped producing new tanks. Together with Broom & Wade (at High Wycombe) they started rebuilding earlier tanks; about 700 of the first 1,000 built were included in this scheme. The reworked tanks got an "R" as a suffix to their WD number. Changes to the hull air intakes and the full length mudguards were the most obvious changes.

Turrets for the earliest Marks were single piece castings. One thousand were supplied from the United States: 600 complete from General Steel and 400 from American Steel Foundries that were finished by other companies before shipping to UK.

Dieppe Raid

The Churchill first saw combat on 19 August 1942, in the Dieppe Raid in France. The Dieppe raid was planned to temporarily take control of the French port of Dieppe using a strong force of about 6,000 troops – mostly drawn from inexperienced Canadian units. The operation, codenamed Jubilee, would test the feasibility of opposed landings. Nearly 60 Churchill tanks from the 14th Army Tank Regiment (The Calgary Regiment (Tank)) were allocated to support the infantry and commandos; they would be put ashore by Landing Craft Tank vessels, along with the supporting engineers. Some problems were anticipated and allowed for: waterproofing of the hulls, canvas carpets ("Bobbin") to aid the tanks crossing the short stretch of shingle beach, engineer teams to demolish road blocks and a few of the tanks were fitted with flame-throwers. The tanks, a mix of Mark I with hull howitzers, Mark II (three with flamethrowers) and Mark III (some with Bobbin), were expected to enter the town and reach a nearby airfield before retiring back to the beach to be taken off by the LCTs. Half of the tank force would be held in reserve offshore.

In the event, the German defences were stronger than expected. The beach was chert which included larger stones than the anticipated shingle: according to history professor Hugh Henry, the German defenders had previously considered it impassable to tanks. Only the 30 Churchills in the first two waves of 10 LCTs were landed on the beach under heavy fire: the latter two waves were turned away. One Churchill was trapped in its LCT by shellfire. Of the 29 remaining (eight Mark I/IIs, three Oke flamethrower tanks, and 18 Mark IIIs), two sank en route to shore, and 11 were immobilized on the beach due to a combination of the chert shingle and indirect fire. Only 15 would get off the beach and over the sea wall onto the Dieppe promenade. Although these tanks were effective in engaging the defenders in the town's buildings, their further progress was blocked by concrete defences; the engineer demolition teams – killed or pinned on the beach – had not been able to accompany the tanks. Ten of these Churchills were able to return to the beach once the withdrawal had been signalled but they could not be evacuated. According to Henry, no Churchills were penetrated by German anti-tank fire while still manned. These surviving tank crews fought to cover the withdrawal of the infantry from the beach, and almost all were captured with their vehicles, having exhausted their main gun ammunition. The tank regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Johnny Andrews, was among those killed in action. Nearly 70% of the Canadians were killed, injured or captured and none of the raid's objectives were met other than the secret raid on the radar station on a headland.

North Africa
Two Mark II had been sent to North Africa for trials and they were joined by six Mk III Churchills (with the 6 pounder) to form the Special Tank Squadron commanded by Major Norris King. They saw action in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. This detachment, called "Kingforce", supported the attack of 7th Motor Brigade first with three tanks at Kidney Ridge (where one was hit "repeatedly" by anti-tank gun fire (including "friendly fire" from a British gun) and another took "a lot of punishment"), then the remaining five at Tell-el-Aqqaqir. The Churchills were fired on many times by Italian and German anti-tank guns, but only one was knocked out and partially caught on fire. One tank was said to have been hit up to 80 times.

Kingforce, formed to test whether the Churchills could operate in Africa, was considered too slow to participate in the chase after the retreating Axis, sent back to Alexandria and disbanded after El Alamein. The 25th Army Tank Brigade of three regiments was sent to Africa, and went into action in February 1943 during the Tunisian campaign. It was followed by 21st Army Tank Brigade.

Churchill tanks took part in containing the German offensive of Operation Ochsenkopf in February – March 1943. At a place called Steamroller Farm, two Churchill Mk III tanks of 51 RTR got ahead of their squadron. They came across an entire German transport column, which they ambushed and completely shot up before they rejoined. The result was the destruction of two 88 mm, two 75 mm and two 50 mm, four lesser anti-tank guns, 25 wheeled vehicles, two 3-inch mortars, two Panzer III tanks and infliction of nearly 200 casualties.

A Churchill tank in a hull down defensive position made a particular contribution to Allied success. In one encounter, on 21 April 1943, during the start of the Battle of Longstop Hill, a Churchill tank of the 48th Royal Tank Regiment got the better of a German Tiger I heavy tank. A 6 pounder shot from the Churchill lodged between the Tiger's turret and turret ring, jamming the turret and injuring the German crew. They abandoned the Tiger, which was subsequently captured by the British. Known as Tiger 131, this was the first Tiger captured by the Western Allies and was particularly useful for intelligence. Tiger 131 has since been restored to full working condition and is now on display at The Tank Museum in Dorset, UK. As of early 2021, it is the only working Tiger tank in the world.

Italy

Churchill tanks were not initially used in the Italian mainland in 1943. There were six regiments with Churchills in Tunisia, these may have been kept out because Montgomery preferred the Sherman or because their 6-pdr guns were not considered suitable for the fighting in Italy. Churchills did land in Italy in April/May 1944 with 75mm gun armed Churchills arriving later. As the mainstay of the Tank Brigades, which operated in support of the infantry, Churchill units were in operation more often than other tank units.

The Churchill NA75's, Churchill Mark IVs converted to carry the US 75 mm gun, were used in Italy. As the Churchill proved to be a better gun platform than the Sherman, the effective range of the 75 mm was increased.

North-West Europe
Churchills saw widespread action in Normandy during the Battle of Hill 112 and Operation Bluecoat, as well as subsequent operations in the Low Countries and into Germany, such as the fighting in the Reichswald during Operation Veritable.

The Churchill was able to cross the muddy ground and force through the forests of the Reichswald; a contemporary report expressed the belief that no other tank could have managed the same conditions.

Burma and India
A single Churchill, possibly a Mk V, was trialled in Burma in 1945. It was operated by the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) from the end of April 1945 for about a month. Although it proved impossible to bring the Churchill into action, on approach marches the tank proved at least the equal to the M3 Lee then in service.

The 254th Indian Tank Brigade returned to India from Burma, arriving at Ahmednagar during July 1945. The brigade immediately began conversion from the Lee to the Churchill, the intention being for the newly equipped brigade to return to operations in October 1945. At the time, it was assumed that the war against Japan would continue and that the new battleground would be Malaya. Although a small number of tanks were delivered, and some training undertaken, the end of the war against Japan meant that the conversion was not completed. At the end of September, the 254th Indian Tank Brigade was reassigned and posted away from Ahmednagar. All the Churchills delivered up to that point were returned to the Ordnance Depot at Kirkee (Khadki) by the end of November–early December 1945. Of the three regiments (battalions) involved, the 3rd Dragoon Guards accompanied the 254th Brigade when posted away while the 149th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps and the 150th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps were eventually disbanded at Ahmednagar on 28 February 1946, the majority of personnel already having been repatriated to the United Kingdom or posted to other units.

Other theatres
In mid-1944, at the request of Britain's War Office, the Churchill was tested by the Australian Army, along with the M4 Sherman. The results were to be used to determine any modifications required for use in the tropics; Matildas were used as a reference point in the tests at Madang, New Guinea. The Churchill was found to be, overall, superior to the other tanks for jungle warfare.

It was not used in the Pacific War; only 46 of the 510 Churchills ordered by Australia were delivered by the end of the war, and the remainder of the order was cancelled.

Korean War and after
During the Korean War, the United Kingdom deployed 20 Churchill tanks from C Company, 7th Royal Tank Regiment, and arrived on the Korean Peninsula along with its first-sent troops in November 1950. Most of these tanks were Mk. VII (A42) 'Crocodile' flame-throwing tanks; despite being a flame-thrower, they were used like a regular tank. In addition, the Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV), and Bridgelayers variants were brought together.

In action against the Chinese, they mostly fought as gun tanks, for example in the Third Battle of Seoul. To restore the 1st Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers' position during the defence of Seoul, Brigadier Thomas Brodie of the 29th Infantry Brigade sent four Churchill tanks as reinforcement; their contributions to the battle were widely praised by British and American historians.

The Churchill tank was briefly operated from 1950 to 1951, and withdrew in October 1951 from Korea. All Churchills were retired from the British Army in 1952.

USSR

The Soviet Union was sent 301 Churchill tanks (45 Mk II, 151 Mk III and 105 Mk IV) as part of the Lend-Lease programme. 43 of them (19 Mk II and 24 Mk III) were lost en route on the Arctic Convoys. Delivery of the first 25 units took place in May 1942, but adoption by the Red Army was delayed because of the 30 that were sent by June 1942, 20 had been lost in shipping.

The Churchill was not very popular in Soviet service. Soviet operators disliked the 2 pdr gun of the Mk II version (also used by Matildas and Valentines shipped to the USSR), and the tank was considered "sufficient" by inspectors, who warned that it was "unrefined" in terms of both design and production and would require constant maintenance in the field. Like Soviet heavy tanks, they were assigned to separate breakthrough tank regiments tasked with infantry support.

In 1942–1943, Churchills were used in the Battle of Stalingrad (47th and 48th regiments of heavy tanks – 42 Churchills). In 1943, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army used Churchills in the Battle of Prokhorovka (15th and 36th regiments of heavy tanks – 42 Churchills) during the Battle of Kursk, and in the Fourth Battle of Kharkov. It was also used in other battles until 1944 (82nd regiment of heavy tanks).

The Churchills were also employed at the Finnish front, and they took part on the capture of Viipuri 1944. The Finnish forces reported to have destroyed "three heavy tanks of previously unknown type", which after the war were recognized as Churchill III tanks.

Ireland
The Irish Army took delivery of three Churchill Mk VI tanks in 1948 and a fourth in 1949. These were rented from the British War Office as trials vehicles until 1954, when they were purchased outright. This purchase was despite the fact that the supply and transport corps workshops, which maintained them, had reported that spares had all but run out. Experiments were carried out involving replacing the existing Bedford engine with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine salvaged from an Irish Air Corps Supermarine Seafire aircraft on one tank. The experiment was a success, but not followed up on the other tanks although the reasons are not recorded. By 1967, only one Churchill remained serviceable, and by 1969 all were retired. One remains preserved in the Curragh Camp.

Variants

During the course of the war, as well as new production, older vehicles were reworked to bring them up to later standard. For example, 2-pdr turrets were replaced with the 6-pdr turret, and the improved commander's cupola (with eight periscopes) introduced after the first Mark VII was applied to some earlier marks as well. Nearly 3,100 Churchills of all marks were rebuilt. Early tanks were produced before the Churchill name was attached and were retroactively known as Churchill Mark I etc.

The following Churchill variants saw primary use as battle tanks:

 * Churchill I: 303 produced. Equipped with a 40 mm Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun in the turret with 150 rounds and a coaxial Besa machine gun. It was equipped with an Ordnance QF 3 inch howitzer in the hull, with 58 rounds, for use against infantry. It was a tank that was noted for poor mechanical reliability. This variant was used alongside Mark IIs and IIIs with Canadian forces on the Dieppe Raid and in Tunisia; some were still in use late in the war in Italy on the Gothic Line.
 * Churchill Mk II: 1,127 produced. Replaced the hull howitzer with another machine gun to reduce cost and complexity. Sometimes referred to as "Churchill Ia".
 * Churchill Mk IICS: Close support. Placed the 2-pounder gun in the hull and the howitzer in the turret, available in very limited numbers. Sometimes called the "Churchill II". Not used in combat.
 * Churchill Mk III: 675 produced. The III was the first major armament overhaul of the series, eliminating the hull howitzer and equipping the tank with a more powerful Ordnance QF 6-pounder gun with 84 rounds. It had a new welded, "cleaner", squarish turret (from Babcock & Wilcox Ltd) unlike earlier versions. The availability of rolled armour plate limited the number that could be built – leading to the Mark IV. The first Mark to have "catwalks" over the upper track runs to protect the tracks; examples later upgunned with the QF 75 mm gun are known as the Churchill III*.
 * Churchill Mk IV: 1,622 produced. The IV, the most numerous Churchill produced, was virtually identical to the III, the largest change being a return to the cheaper cast turret, keeping the welded turret's "clean" squarish shape. A tank telephone was fitted to the rear of the tank for communication with infantry. In earlier models, turrets using the 6-pounder Mark V were fitted with a counterweight. Two hundred and ten were refitted in North Africa with US 75 mm guns taken from battle-damaged M4 Sherman tanks (the Churchill NA75's), while others were up-gunned with British Ordnance QF 75 mm guns, creating the Mark IV (75). The QF 75 mm had a muzzle brake unlike the 6-pounder.
 * Churchill Mk V: 241 produced. A Churchill equipped with a close support Ordnance QF 95 mm howitzer with 47 rounds in place of the main gun in a cast turret. The gun could fire smoke, HE, or HEAT round with a maximum range of 6,800 yd. Produced from the Mark IV production run at about 1 in 10. The turret was similar to the Marks IV/VI turrets, with a slightly different opening for the gun in the turret front face.
 * Churchill Mk VI: 200 produced. Along with several minor improvements, such as an additional collar at the turret base protecting the turret ring, it was produced as standard with the 75 mm Mark V gun. Few were built due to the impending release of the VII and concurrent up-gunning of the Marks III/IV.
 * Churchill Mk VII (A22F): 1,600 produced, together with Mark VIII. The second big redesign, the VII used the 75mm gun, was wider and carried much more armour, 50 per cent thicker at the front than a Tiger I, giving it the ability to withstand massive amounts of punishment. It is sometimes called the "Heavy Churchill" and was given the specification number "A42" in 1945. This version of the Churchill first saw service in the Battle of Normandy and equipped three Royal Armoured Corps regiments in western Europe, one in Italy and with 7th Royal Tank Regiment in Korea. The Mark VII was designed to be able to be converted into the "Crocodile" flame-throwing variant without major modification.
 * Churchill Mk VIII: 1,600 produced, together with Mark VII. A Churchill VII with a 95 mm howitzer and 47 rounds in a slightly different turret.
 * Churchill Mk IX: Churchill III/IV upgraded with extra armour added to hull and turret, along with gearbox and suspension modifications. If the original turret was retained without added armour it was called LT ("Light Turret").
 * Churchill Mk X: The same improvements as for the IX applied to a Mk VI.
 * Churchill Mk XI: The same improvements as for the IX applied to a MkV CS. Does not appear to have been built.
 * Churchill NA75: 210 produced. Churchill IVs with 6-pounder guns replaced (under Operation Whitehot ) by US 75 mm guns and mantlets from destroyed or scrapped Sherman tanks, fitted to Churchill IV cast turrets. Their performance was virtually identical to the VI. They were known as NA75 (North Africa 75) where the first conversions took place, after 48 Shermans with new guns had been disabled by mines. Some Mark IIIs were also modified, using Mark IV turrets. To fit the Sherman mantlet required cutting away the front of the Churchill turret before it was welded in place, then the mantlet slot had to be cut away to give sufficient elevation. The Sherman 75 mm gun was designed for a left hand loader and the Churchill, in common with British practice, had a right hand loader. The gun was turned upside down and the firing controls adapted. The conversion of about 200 tanks was carried out between March and June 1944 and the conversion project earned the officer in charge, Capt. Percy Morrell, an MBE and a promotion.

Specialist vehicles
In addition to the tanks, several specialist Churchill variants were developed, chiefly for combat engineering roles. The Churchill Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers was a Churchill III or IV armed with a spigot mortar demolition weapon which replaced the 6 pounder gun. The effective range of the 230mm high-explosive "flying dustbin" round was only around 80 yards of 230 yard maximum range. Crew was increased to six to accommodate a demolition NCO in addition to driver, commander, gunner, wireless operator, and co-driver/machine gunner. As well as the mortar ammunition it carried "General Wade" 26 lb explosive charge, and "Beehive" charges of up to 75 lbs of explosive. Both types of charge had to be set manually, but could be detonated from the relative safety of the AVRE interior. The AVRE could be fitted to carry different combat engineering equipment.

The Churchill Crocodile was a flamethrower tank which replaced the hull machine gun with a flamethrower and towed an armoured fuel trailer.

Churchills were converted to "Kangaroo" armoured personnel carriers by removing the turret from Churchills.

Further development
The Black Prince, General Staff specification A43), was a development of the Churchill design. In 1943, an attempt was made to produce a Churchill with the same 17 pounder that the Sherman Firefly, a British modification of the American M4 Sherman, on a Churchill chassis and turret. It was known that insufficient numbers of the 17 pounder armed Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger were going to be produced in time for the invasion of Europe, and work was only starting on the Centurion cruiser design. Due to the wider turret ring required, Vauxhall had to redesign the hull though it used as much of the Churchill Mark VII as possible including retaining the Bedford Flat-12 engine which led to the heavier Black Prince being consequently much slower, going from 15 MPH (24 km/h) to 10.5 MPH onroad, and 7.5 mph offroad. This resulted in the "Tank, Infantry, Black Prince (A43)". Six prototypes were built and delivered in May 1945 just as the war in Europe was ending. The test programme was completed but the project was cancelled due to the success of the new and less complicated Centurion Mark I, which offered the same armament and frontal armour, was faster and more manoeuvrable, and had just entered production. Two Black Princes currently survive. The one that is fully intact is No. 4 of the prototypes, and is displayed at The Tank Museum in Bovington. The second surviving Black Prince is only a hull, recovered from Salisbury plain in the 80s as part of the Tony Budge collection. It is now held as of today by the Rex and Rod Cadman collection. After the Black Prince, no more Churchills were developed, as the army had shifted in favour of the above-mentioned Centurion, which was mainly claimed as the first Main battle tank, and also, the British army was going through a change of doctrine, meaning large infantry tanks to support men were no longer needed on the front.

Operators

 * 🇦🇺 Australia – retired, replaced with the Centurion main battle tank
 * 🇨🇦 Canada – retired, replaced with the Centurion
 * 🇮🇳 India – retired
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland – retired in 1969, replaced with the Comet cruiser tank
 * 🇵🇱 Poland (Polish Armed Forces in the West) – retired in 1947 without replacement
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – retired from British Army service in 1952, replaced by the Centurion
 * Soviet Union (Lend-Lease) – retired, replaced with IS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks
 * Kingdom of Iraq – retired, replaced with the Centurion

Surviving vehicles
A number of Churchills still exist as gate guardians or war memorials, while many examples reside in museums. Jacques Littlefield's Military Vehicle Technology Foundation in California, United States, acquired a Flail FV3902 "Toad" in its collection in 2008 after it was restored to full working order by RR Services in Kent, England; it was subsequently sold at auction and acquired by the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum. There are two Churchill Mark IVs at Normandy in France; one is residing at Lion-sur-Mer, while the other is located at Graye-sur-Mer.

The Churchill Trust is a project that aims to restore existing Churchills to their original condition and working order. So far, a Mark III AVRE with appliqué armour, salvaged from a firing range, and a post-war Mark IV Twin-ARK have been restored to running condition. The specialist equipment was removed and turrets were added, converting both tanks into their original variants. the project was in the process of restoring a Mark VII AVRE recovered from a range in northern England.

The Tank Museum in Bovington Camp, Dorset, England, currently has four Churchills in its collection: a Mark VII in The Tank Story Hall as a static exhibit, a working Mark III AVRE as a static display (currently located in the museum's Conservation Hall), a Mark VI returned to the museum after the closure of the Isle of Wight Military History Museum (also currently located in the museum's Conservation Hall) and a Mark II (with cosmetic alterations to make it appear as a Mark I) as an outdoor static display. The museum's Mark VII was the last Mark VII produced; it went directly to the museum from the factory, and in terms of mileage, is virtually brand new. The Mark III AVRE was salvaged from a firing range marker as a complete wreck. It was restored to running order by Bob Grundy of Wigan and his Tracked Armour Group in August 1988. The museum also has the only surviving Black Prince prototype.

The Churchill Trust and the Tank Museum are not affiliated or associated with one another in any way; their tanks are different and owned separately, and the only common ground between both parties is that the Churchill Trust sometimes sends its tanks to participate in the Tank Museum's annual Tankfest event. Additionally, the Churchill Trust's tanks were all specialist vehicles, but were converted back into the standard turreted heavy tank variants during restoration. In 2018 the two parties concluded a long-term agreement that saw the Churchill Trust loan all three of its Churchills to the Tank Museum, with the III* becoming a permanent part of the museum's fleet of running vehicles and the IV and VII being included in the museum's Second World War exhibitions. The Churchill III* was restored in time for Tankfest 2019, and ran at the event.

The Cavalry Tank Museum, Ahmednagar. Maharashtra, India has one Churchill Mark VII, a Mark X (uparmoured Mk VI chassis; Mk VII turret; 75mm gun; Mk VII driver's visor and MG mount), a Churchill bridgelayer and a Churchill ARV.

A Mk. VII Churchill Tank stands at the side of the Marine Highway, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. The restored vehicle was a gift to the Borough from the Trustees of the North Irish Horse Regimental Association.

title: Churchill tank


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Sound design

Sound design is the art and practice of creating soundtracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, video game development, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production, radio, new media and musical instrument development. Sound design commonly involves performing (see e.g. Foley) and editing of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue for the purposes of the medium, but it can also involve creating sounds from scratch through synthesizers. A sound designer is one who practices sound design.

History
The use of sound to evoke emotion, reflect mood and underscore actions in plays and dances began in prehistoric times when it was used in religious practices for healing or recreation. In ancient Japan, theatrical events called kagura were performed in Shinto shrines with music and dance.

Plays were performed in medieval times in a form of theatre called Commedia dell'arte, which used music and sound effects to enhance performances. The use of music and sound in the Elizabethan Theatre followed, in which music and sound effects were produced off-stage using devices such as bells, whistles, and horns. Cues would be written in the script for music and sound effects to be played at the appropriate time.

Italian composer Luigi Russolo built mechanical sound-making devices, called "intonarumori," for futurist theatrical and music performances starting around 1913. These devices were meant to simulate natural and man-made sounds, such as trains or bombs. Russolo's treatise, The Art of Noises, is one of the earliest written documents on the use of abstract noise in the theatre. After his death, his intonarumori' were used in more conventional theatre performances to create realistic sound effects.

Recorded sound
Possibly the first use of recorded sound in the theatre was a phonograph playing a baby's cry in a London theatre in 1890. Sixteen years later, Herbert Beerbohm Tree used recordings in his London production of Stephen Phillips’ tragedy NERO. The event is marked in the Theatre Magazine (1906) with two photographs; one showing a musician blowing a bugle into a large horn attached to a disc recorder, the other with an actor recording the agonizing shrieks and groans of the tortured martyrs. The article states: “these sounds are all realistically reproduced by the gramophone”. As cited by Bertolt Brecht, there was a play about Rasputin written in (1927) by Alexej Tolstoi and directed by Erwin Piscator that included a recording of Lenin's voice. Whilst the term "sound designer" was not yet in use, some stage managers specialised as "effects men", creating and performing offstage sound effects using a mix of vocal mimicry, mechanical and electrical contraptions and gramophone records. A great deal of care and attention was paid to the construction and performance of these effects, both naturalistic and abstract. Over the twentieth century recorded sound effects began to replace live sound effects, though often it was the stage manager's duty to find the sound effects, and an electrician played the recordings during performances.

Between 1980 and 1988, Charlie Richmond, USITT's first Sound Design Commissioner, oversaw efforts of their Sound Design Commission to define the duties, responsibilities, standards and procedures expected of a theatre sound designer in North America. He summarized his conclusions in a document which, although somewhat dated, provides a succinct record of what was then expected. It was subsequently provided to the ADC and David Goodman at the Florida USA local when they both planned to represent sound designers in the 1990s.

Digital technology
MIDI and digital audio technology have contributed to the evolution of sound production techniques in the 1980s and 1990s. Digital audio workstations (DAW) and a variety of digital signal processing algorithms applied in them allow more complicated soundtracks with more tracks and auditory effects to be realized. Features such as unlimited undo and sample-level editing allows fine control over the soundtracks.

In theatre sound, features of computerized theatre sound design systems have also been recognized as being essential for live show control systems at Walt Disney World and, as a result, Disney utilized systems of that type to control many facilities at their Disney-MGM Studios theme park, which opened in 1989. These features were incorporated into the MIDI Show Control (MSC) specification, an open communications protocol for interacting with diverse devices. The first show to fully utilize the MSC specification was the Magic Kingdom Parade at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in September 1991.

The rise of interest in game audio has also brought more advanced interactive audio tools that are also accessible without a background in computer programming. Some of such software tools (termed "implementation tools" or "audio engines") feature a workflow that's similar to that in more conventional DAW programs and can also allow the sound production personnel to undertake some of the more creative interactive sound tasks (that are considered to be part of sound design for computer applications) that previously would have required a computer programmer. Interactive applications have also given rise to many techniques in "dynamic audio" which loosely means sound that's "parametrically" adjusted during the program's run-time. This allows for a broader expression in sounds, more similar to that in films, because this way the sound designer can e.g. create footstep sounds that vary in a believable and non-repeating way and that also corresponds to what's seen in the picture. The digital audio workstation cannot directly "communicate" with game engines, because the game's events often occur in an unpredictable order, whereas traditional digital audio workstations as well as so called linear media (TV, film etc.) have everything occur in the same order every time the production is run. Especially, games have also brought in dynamic or adaptive mixing.

The World Wide Web has greatly enhanced the ability of sound designers to acquire source material quickly, easily and cheaply. Nowadays, a designer can preview and download crisper, more "believable" sounds as opposed to toiling through time- and budget-draining "shot-in-the-dark" searches through record stores, libraries and "the grapevine" for (often) inferior recordings. In addition, software innovation has enabled sound designers to take more of a DIY (or "do-it-yourself") approach. From the comfort of their home and at any hour, they can simply use a computer, speakers and headphones rather than renting (or buying) costly equipment or studio space and time for editing and mixing. This provides for faster creation and negotiation with the director.

Film
In motion picture production, a Sound Editor/Designer is a member of a film crew responsible for the entirety or some specific parts of a film's soundtrack. In the American film industry, the title Sound Designer is not controlled by any professional organization, unlike titles such as Director or Screenwriter.

The terms sound design and sound designer began to be used in the motion picture industry in 1969. At that time, The title of Sound Designer was first granted to Walter Murch by Francis Ford Coppola in recognition for Murch's contributions to the film The Rain People. The original meaning of the title Sound Designer, as established by Coppola and Murch, was "an individual ultimately responsible for all aspects of a film's audio track, from the dialogue and sound effects recording to the re-recording (mix) of the final track". The term sound designer has replaced monikers like supervising sound editor or re-recording mixer for the same position: the head designer of the final sound track. Editors and mixers like Murray Spivack (King Kong), George Groves (The Jazz Singer), James G. Stewart (Citizen Kane), and Carl Faulkner (Journey to the Center of the Earth) served in this capacity during Hollywood's studio era, and are generally considered to be sound designers by a different name.

The advantage of calling oneself a sound designer beginning in later decades was two-fold. It strategically allowed for a single person to work as both an editor and mixer on a film without running into issues pertaining to the jurisdictions of editors and mixers, as outlined by their respective unions. Additionally, it was a rhetorical move that legitimised the field of post-production sound at a time when studios were downsizing their sound departments, and when producers were routinely skimping on budgets and salaries for sound editors and mixers. In so doing, it allowed those who called themselves sound designers to compete for contract work and to negotiate higher salaries. The position of Sound Designer therefore emerged in a manner similar to that of Production Designer, which was created in the 1930s when William Cameron Menzies made revolutionary contributions to the craft of art direction in the making of Gone with the Wind.

The audio production team is a principal member of the production staff, with creative output comparable to that of the film editor and director of photography. Several factors have led to the promotion of audio production to this level, when previously it was considered subordinate to other parts of film:

 * Cinema sound systems became capable of high-fidelity reproduction, particularly after the adoption of Dolby Stereo. Before stereo soundtracks, film sound was of such low fidelity that only the dialogue and occasional sound effects were practical. These sound systems were originally devised as gimmicks to increase theater attendance, but their widespread implementation created a content vacuum that had to be filled by competent professionals. Dolby's immersive Dolby Atmos format, introduced in 2012, provides the sound team with 128 tracks of audio that can be assigned to a 7.1.2 bed that utilizes two overhead channels, leaving 118 tracks for audio objects that can be positioned around the theater independent of the sound bed. Object positions are informed by metadata that places them based on X, Y, Z coordinates and the number of speakers available in the room. This immersive sound format expands creative opportunities for the use of sound beyond what was achievable with older 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound systems. The greater dynamic range of the new systems, coupled with the ability to produce sounds at the sides, behind, or above the audience, provided the audio post-production team new opportunities for creative expression in film sound.

 * Some directors were interested in realizing the new potential of the medium. A new generation of filmmakers, the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls"—Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and others—were aware of the creative potential of sound and wanted to use it.
 * Filmmakers were inspired by the popular music of the era. Concept albums of groups such as Pink Floyd and The Beatles suggested new modes of storytelling and creative techniques that could be adapted to motion pictures.
 * New filmmakers made their early films outside the Hollywood establishment, away from the influence of film labor unions and the then rapidly dissipating studio system.

The contemporary title of sound designer can be compared with the more traditional title of supervising sound editor; many sound designers use both titles interchangeably. The role of supervising sound editor, or sound supervisor, developed in parallel with the role of sound designer. The demand for more sophisticated soundtracks was felt both inside and outside Hollywood, and the supervising sound editor became the head of the large sound department, with a staff of dozens of sound editors, that was required to realize a complete sound job with a fast turnaround.

Theatre
Sound design, as a distinct discipline, is one of the youngest fields in stagecraft, second only to the use of projection and other multimedia displays, although the ideas and techniques of sound design have been around almost since theatre started. Dan Dugan, working with three stereo tape decks routed to ten loudspeaker zones during the 1968–69 season of American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco, was the first person to be called a sound designer.

A theatre sound designer is responsible for everything the audience hears in the performance space, including music, sound effects, sonic textures, and soundscapes. These elements are created by the sound designer, or sourced from other sound professionals, such as a composer in the case of music. Pre-recorded music must be licensed from a legal entity that represents the artist's work. This can be the artist themselves, a publisher, record label, performing rights organization or music licensing company. The theatre sound designer is also in charge of choosing and installing the sound system —speakers, sound desks, interfaces and convertors, playout/cueing software, microphones, radio mics, foldback, cables, computers, and outboard equipment like FX units and dynamics processors.

Modern audio technology has enabled theatre sound designers to produce flexible, complex, and inexpensive designs that can be easily integrated into live performance. The influence of film and television on playwriting is seeing plays being written increasingly with shorter scenes, which is difficult to achieve with scenery but easily conveyed with sound. The development of film sound design is giving writers and directors higher expectations and knowledge of sound design. Consequently, theatre sound design is widespread and accomplished sound designers commonly establish long-term collaborations with directors.

Musicals
Sound design for musicals often focuses on the design and implementation of a sound reinforcement system that will fulfill the needs of the production. If a sound system is already installed in the performance venue, it is the sound designer's job to tune the system for the best use for a particular production. Sound system tuning employs various methods including equalization, delay, volume, speaker and microphone placement, and in some cases, the addition of new equipment. In conjunction with the director and musical director, if any, the sound reinforcement designer determines the use and placement of microphones for actors and musicians. The sound reinforcement designer ensures that the performance can be heard and understood by everyone in the audience, regardless of the shape, size or acoustics of the venue, and that performers can hear everything needed to enable them to do their jobs. While sound design for a musical largely focuses on the artistic merits of sound reinforcement, many musicals, such as Into the Woods also require significant sound scores (see Sound Design for Plays). Sound Reinforcement Design was recognized by the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards with the Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical until the 2014-15 season, later reinstating in the 2017-18 season.

Plays
Sound design for plays often involves the selection of music and sounds (sound score) for a production based on intimate familiarity with the play, and the design, installation, calibration and utilization of the sound system that reproduces the sound score. The sound designer for a play and the production's director work together to decide the themes and emotions to be explored. Based on this, the sound designer for plays, in collaboration with the director and possibly the composer, decides upon the sounds that will be used to create the desired moods. In some productions, the sound designer might also be hired to compose music for the play. The sound designer and the director usually work together to "spot" the cues in the play (i.e., decide when and where sound will be used in the play). Some productions might use music only during scene changes, whilst others might use sound effects. Likewise, a scene might be underscored with music, sound effects or abstract sounds that exist somewhere between the two. Some sound designers are accomplished composers, writing and producing music for productions as well as designing sound. Many sound designs for plays also require significant sound reinforcement (see Sound Design for Musicals). Sound Design for plays was recognized by the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards with the Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Play until the 2014-15 season, later reinstating the award in the 2017-18 season.

Professional organizations

 * Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA)
 * The Association of Sound Designers is a trade association representing theatre sound designers in the UK.
 * United Scenic Artists (USA) Local USA829, which is integrated within IATSE, represents theatrical sound designers in the United States.
 * Theatrical Sound Designers in English Canada are represented by the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC), and in Québec by l'Association des professionnels des arts du Québec (APASQ).

Music
In the contemporary music business, especially in the production of rock music, ambient music, progressive rock, and similar genres, the record producer and recording engineer play important roles in the creation of the overall sound (or soundscape) of a recording, and less often, of a live performance. A record producer is responsible for extracting the best performance possible from the musicians and for making both musical and technical decisions about the instrumental timbres, arrangements, etc. On some, particularly more electronic music projects, artists and producers in more conventional genres have sometimes sourced additional help from artists often credited as "sound designers", to contribute specific auditory effects, ambiences etc. to the production. These people are usually more versed in e.g. electronic music composition and synthesizers than the other musicians on board.

In the application of electroacoustic techniques (e.g. binaural sound) and sound synthesis for contemporary music or film music, a sound designer (often also an electronic musician) sometimes refers to an artist who works alongside a composer to realize the more electronic aspects of a musical production. This is because sometimes there exists a difference in interests between composers and electronic musicians or sound designers. The latter specialises in electronic music techniques, such as sequencing and synthesizers, but the former is more experienced in writing music in a variety of genres. Since electronic music itself is quite broad in techniques and often separate from techniques applied in other genres, this kind of collaboration can be seen as natural and beneficial.

Notable examples of (recognized) sound design in music are the contributions of Michael Brook to the U2 album The Joshua Tree, George Massenburg to the Jennifer Warnes album Famous Blue Raincoat, Chris Thomas to the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon, and Brian Eno to the Paul Simon album Surprise.

In 1974, Suzanne Ciani started her own production company, Ciani/Musica. Inc., which became the #1 sound design music house in New York.

Fashion
In fashion shows, the sound designer often works with the artistic director to create an atmosphere fitting the theme of a collection, commercial campaign or event.

Computer applications and other applications
Sound is widely used in a variety of human–computer interfaces, in computer games and video games. There are a few extra requirements for sound production for computer applications, including re-usability, interactivity and low memory and CPU usage. For example, most computational resources are usually devoted to graphics. Audio production should account for computational limits for sound playback with audio compression or voice allocating systems.

Sound design for video games requires proficient knowledge of audio recording and editing using a digital audio workstation, and an understanding of game audio integration using audio engine software, audio authoring tools, or middleware to integrate audio into the game engine. Audio middleware is a third-party toolset that sits between the game engine and the audio hardware.

Interactivity with computer sound can involve using a variety of playback systems or logic, using tools that allow the production of interactive sound (e.g. Max/MSP, Wwise). Implementation might require software or electrical engineering of the systems that modify sound or process user input. In interactive applications, a sound designer often collaborates with an engineer (e.g. a sound programmer) who's concerned with designing the playback systems and their efficiency.

Awards
Sound designers have been recognized by awards organizations for some time, and new awards have emerged more recently in response to advances in sound design technology and quality. The Motion Picture Sound Editors and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the finest or most aesthetic sound design for a film with the Golden Reel Awards for Sound Editing in the film, broadcast, and game industries, and the Academy Award for Best Sound respectively. In 2021, the 93rd Academy Awards merged Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing into one general Best Sound category. In 2007, the Tony Award for Best Sound Design was created to honor the best sound design in American theatre on Broadway.

North American theatrical award organizations that recognize sound designers include these:
 * Dora Mavor Moore Awards
 * Drama Desk Awards
 * Helen Hayes Awards
 * Obie Awards
 * Joseph Jefferson Awards

Major British award organizations include the Olivier Awards. The Tony Awards retired the awards for Sound Design as of the 2014-2015 season, then reinstated the categories in the 2017-18 season.

title: Sound design


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Table setting

Table setting (laying a table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the layout in which the utensils and ornaments are positioned. The practice of dictating the precise arrangement of tableware has varied across cultures and historical periods.

Place setting
Informal settings generally have fewer utensils and dishes but use a layout based on more formal settings. Utensils are arranged in the order and according to the manner in which the diner will use them. In the West, forks, plate, butter knife, and napkin generally are placed to the left of the dinner plate, and knives, spoons, stemware and tumblers, cups, and saucers to the right. (By contrast, formal settings in Armenia place the fork to the right of the dinner plate and informal settings in Turkey place the fork to the right of the dinner plate if not accompanied by a knife) Sauceboats and serving dishes, when used, either are placed on the table or, more formally, may be kept on a side table.

Informal
At an informal setting, fewer utensils are used and serving dishes are placed on the table. Sometimes the cup and saucer are placed on the right side of the spoon, about 30 cm or 12 inches from the edge of the table. Often, in less formal settings, the napkin should be in the wine glass. However, such objects as napkin rings are very rare in the United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico, or Italy.

Formal
Utensils are placed inward about 20 cm or 8 inches from the edge of the table, with all placed either upon the same invisible baseline or upon the same invisible median line. Utensils in the outermost position are to be used first (for example, a soup spoon or a salad fork, later the dinner fork and the dinner knife). The blades of the knives are turned toward the plate. Glasses are placed an inch (2.5 cm) or so above the knives, also in the order of use: white wine, red wine, dessert wine, and water tumbler.

Formal dinner

The most formal dinner is served from the kitchen. When the meal is served, in addition to the central plate (a service plate or dinner plate at supper; at luncheon, a service plate or luncheon plate) at each place there are a bread roll (generally on a bread plate, sometimes in the napkin), napkin, and flatware (knives and spoons to the right of the central plate, and forks to the left). Coffee is served in Butler Service style in demitasses, and a spoon placed on the saucer to the right of each handle. Serving dishes and utensils are not placed on the table for a formal dinner. The only exception in the West to these general rules is the protocol followed at the Spanish royal court, which was also adopted by the Austrian court, in which all cutlery was placed to the right of the central plate for each diner.

At a less formal dinner, not served from the kitchen, the dessert fork and spoon can be set above the plate, fork pointing right, spoon pointing left.

title: Table setting


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Temple of Athena Nike

The Temple of Athena Nike (Greek: Ναός Αθηνάς Νίκης, Naós Athinás Níkis) is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens, dedicated to the goddesses Athena and Nike. Built around 420 BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. It has a prominent position on a steep bastion at the south west corner of the Acropolis to the right of the entrance, the Propylaea. In contrast to the Acropolis proper, a walled sanctuary entered through the Propylaea, the Victory Sanctuary was open, entered from the Propylaea's southwest wing and from a narrow stair on the north. The sheer walls of its bastion were protected on the north, west, and south by the Nike Parapet, named for its frieze of Nikai celebrating victory and sacrificing to their patroness, Athena and Nike.

Nike was the goddess of victory in Greek mythology, and Athena was worshipped in this form, representative of being victorious in war. The citizens worshipped the goddesses in hopes of a successful outcome in the long Peloponnesian War fought against the Spartans and allies.

History

The cult of Athena Nike was operable in the early sixth century BC. On the remains of a Mycenaean bastion, a cult image of Athena seated holding a pomegranate in her right hand and holding a helmet in her left was placed on top of a square limestone base. The Sanctuary of Athena Nike was demolished by the Persians in 480-479 BC and a temple was built over the remains. The new temple construction was underway in 449 BC and was finished around 420 BC. The cult was supervised by the Priestess of Athena Nike, who was appointed through democratic allotment. If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.

Athens fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1456. The temple sat untouched until it was demolished in 1686 by the Ottomans who used the stones to build defenses. In 1834 the temple was reconstructed after the independence of Greece. In 1998 the temple was dismantled so that the crumbling concrete floor could be replaced and its frieze was removed and placed in the new Acropolis Museum that opened in 2009. The Temple of Athena Nike is often closed to visitors as work continues. The new museum exhibit consists of fragments of the site before the Persians were thought to have destroyed it in 480 BC. Sculptures from the friezes have been salvaged such as: deeds of Hercules, statue of Moscophoros, a damaged sculpture of a goddess credited to Praxiteles and the Rampin horseman, as well as epigraphic dedications, decrees, and stelae.

Architecture

The Temple of Athena Nike was finished around 420 BC, during the Peace of Nicias. It is a tetrastyle (four column) Ionic structure with a colonnaded portico at both front and rear facades (amphiprostyle), designed by the architect Kallikrates. The columns along the east and west fronts were monolithic columns. The temple ran 8 m long by 5.5 m wide and 7 m tall. The total height from the stylobate to the acme of the pediment while the temple remained intact was a modest 7 m. The ratio of height to diameter of the columns is 7:1, rather than the more standard 9:1 or 10:1 ratio in Ionic buildings. Constructed from white Pentelic marble, it was built in stages as war-starved funding allowed.

Friezes
The friezes of the building's entablature were decorated on all sides with relief sculpture in the idealized classical style of the 5th century BC. The orientation of the temple is set up so that the East Frieze sits above the entrance of the temple on the porch side. The north frieze depicted a battle between Greeks entailing cavalry. The south frieze showed the decisive victory over the Persians at the battle of Plataea. The east frieze showed an assembly of the gods Athena, Zeus and Poseidon, rendering Athenian religious beliefs and reverence for the gods bound up in the social and political climate of 5th century Athens. The west frieze has a good amount of the original sculpting preserved. Similar to the east frieze it is most likely telling the story of a battle, or more specifically a victory. There are multiple corpses depicted (more than any of the other three friezes) and imagery of one about to be killed with some figures wearing helmets. This battle between armies most likely is depicting the massacre of the Corinthians by the Athenians.

Some time after the temple was completed, around 410 BC a parapet was added around it to prevent people from falling from the steep bastion. The outside of the parapet was adorned by carved relief sculptures showing Nike in a variety of activities, including two Nikai setting up a trophy, and all in procession.

Architects Christian Hansen and Eduard Schaubert excavated the temple in the 1830s. The building had been totally dismantled in the 17th century and the stone built into the Turkish wall that surrounded the hill. A primitive anastylosis was carried out in 1836 when the temple was re-erected from remaining parts. A third restoration was completed in Summer 2010. The main structure, stylobate and columns are largely intact, minus the roof and most of the tympanae. Fragments of the sculpted frieze are exhibited in the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum; copies of these are fixed in their place on the temple.

Parapet of Nike

On the parapet, there would have stood a famous marble statue of a wingless Nike. The positioning of this statue has Nike leaning towards her right foot with her right arm stretching towards her sandal and her clothes slipping off her shoulder. For a while, there has been much debate over what the imagery of this statue is supposed to represent. There are many other uses of Greek sandal-related art found on cups, vases, and even on the friezes of the Parthenon. However, these versions all depict the subjects bending down with both arms stretched out to adjust or tie their sandals. The difference in imagery between one hand and two is what has caused discrepancy behind the meaning of the statue of a wingless Nike. It is most likely that Nike is instead removing or loosening her sandal as opposed to adjusting or putting it on. This use of imagery is thought to be used to demonstrate the action of removing footwear to those entering the temple to pay tribute to Athena, as this was a traditional action of worshiping in this space. The statue was discovered in 1835 near the temple. It is thought to have stood on the south side of the temple. It is currently held by the Acropolis Museum (inventory number Ακρ. 973).

The famous parapet of Nike removing her sandal is an example of wet drapery. Wet drapery involves showing the form of the body but also concealing the body with the drapery of the clothing. Some friezes are from the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. The friezes contained a cavalry scene from the battle of Marathon and a Greek victory over the Persians at the battle of Plataea. The battles represent Greek and Athenian dominance through military power and historical events. A statue of Nike stood in the cella, or otherwise referred to as a naos. Nike was originally the "winged victory" goddess (see the winged Nike of Samothrace). The Athena Nike statue's absence of wings led Athenians in later centuries to call it Apteros Nike or wingless victory, and the story arose that the statue was deprived of wings so that it could never leave the city.

Cornice
The cornice follows standard architectural design and sits immediately above the frieze and wraps around the entire structure. Many sections of the cornice that have been discovered are believed to be part of the Temple of Athena Nike, however, some archaeologists think that some of the pieces found near the temple might not be part it. These pieces of the cornice are lined on the inside with an array of holes, supporting the idea that the cornice was held in place by dowels, which connected it to the frieze. Many of these cornice pieces are so weathered and worn that the dowel holes are no longer visible.

The cornice stretches flat and with no moldings that would create a design. If there had been a design, it would not be sculptural. There is evidence that would suggest that the cornice would have at one point been painted. However, because the architecture has been worn for such a long time, any knowledge of what the design could have been is long lost.

Cyma
Just above the cornice, on the north and south sides of the temple, rests the cyma. They sit at an angle on both sides, creating the slope that makes up the roofing and the pediment. Stretching along the cyma is an order of lion heads that extend outward. At each end of the cyma, where the corners would turn into the east and west faces of the temple, there are cuttings just above the cyma where an akroteria would have been placed.

Akroteria
The main body of the central statue that made up the akroteria was composed of bronze, not marble. There is evidence of gold foiling and gold wiring through the main bronze core. Researchers have hypothesized on the form of the statue, but there is no trace of the original sculpture to indicate what the central akroteria really looked like. The same can be said for the statues that would make up the east and west akroteria. Both were made of bronze and it is impossible to know what the figures could have been. Theories around the figure of the central statue include the winged horse Pegasus or the monster Chimera. However, these theories may be unlikely as the proportions of these animals’ bodies would not match where their feet would be placed in the akroteria's base block.

Statue theories
A possible theory for the central akroteria would be a bronze tripod, similar to the ones that would have been on the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. This hypothesis has not been discredited for a few reasons: 1) It would be a realistic answer for the shape of the statue since the tripods dimensions would fit in the cuttings of the supporting block (unlike the animal theories). 2) A tripod would have been a likely statue to have a bronze core when serving as an acroteria. 3) The Tripod is commonly used as a symbol of victory.

A commemorative trophy is another theory for the central akroteria that has yet to be disproven for many of the same reasons as the tripod. There are also some sculptures on the surrounding parapets that depict Nike setting up a trophy.

The last theory that has yet to be discredited is a central akroteria of a flying Nike. The idea is that a statue of a winged Nike would have been set just above a shield and on either side of her would have stood a Nikai holding weapons dedicated to the goddess. The akroteria at the temple of Zeus in Olympia would be a good statue for comparison with the exception of the two Nikai. This shape for the central akroteria would explain the cuttings in the supporting block that would not have matched with some of the other forms.

title: Temple of Athena Nike