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John T. Hoffman

John Thompson Hoffman (January 10, 1828 – March 24, 1888) was the 23rd governor of New York (1869–72). He was also recorder of New York City (1861–65) and the 78th mayor of New York City (1866–68). Connections to the Tweed Ring ruined his political career, in spite of the absence of evidence to show personal involvement in corrupt activities. He is to date the last New York City mayor elected Governor of New York and the last elected to higher office.

Early life
He was born in Ossining in Westchester County, New York. He was the son of Jane Ann (Thompson) and Adrian Kissam Hoffman, a physician in Westchester County. His father's parents, Philip L. Hoffman and Helena Kissam, were "among the most valuable members of early society in New York, and the founders of many public charities and benevolent works," Harper's Weekly effused.

He attended Union College starting in 1843 in the junior class, but had to leave for a time due to ill health, eventually graduating in 1846. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849 and practiced in Manhattan.

Hoffman became active in the Tammany Hall faction of the Democratic Party. He was a member of the New York State Democratic Central Committee beginning in 1848, and served as New York City Recorder from 1861 to 1866. Hoffman served as mayor of New York City from 1866 to 1868. from 1866 to 1868 he was Grand Sachem, or leader, of the Tammany Hall organization.

High hopes of reformers
When he was elected mayor in 1865, reformers had high hopes for him. A front-page article in Harper's Weekly intoned:

"It is many years since the city of New York has chosen for her Chief Magistrate a man of the position and reputation of John T. Hoffman. He is not only a gentleman of high social position, but a lawyer of distinction, a judge of eminent probity, a representative by descent of some of the oldest New York families, a citizen of unblemished reputation ..."

Guilt by association
Hoffman was elected governor in 1868, the last New York City mayor to accomplish this feat and the last New York City mayor elected to higher office. Hoffman's election was aided by Tammany Hall under the leadership of its boss William Tweed. Later on the fact that Hoffman had aid from Tweed, and his voter majority was so large for that time, would be recalled as proof that the governor was a member of the notorious Tweed Ring.

In actuality, while Tweed did frequently see Hoffman in Albany on various votes and projects, it was no more than any other major Democrat in New York State. But they worked harmoniously together, and Tweed aided Hoffman in getting re-elected in 1870. Shortly afterwards a new city charter was enacted which granted more local autonomy to New York City. Such reform had been discussed for decades, but Tweed with Hoffman brought it to fruition. But just at this point Tweed's corruption began being revealed in The New York Times and Harper's Weekly, and the new charter was discredited as being planned for more municipal corruption. At this time Hoffman was also considering seriously to run for the presidency in 1872, and Tweed was to be his manager. Tweed, in actuality, had little interest in national affairs (he had been a congressman for a single term in the 1850s), and while he might have considered the possible corruption pickings greater he also was aware of the bad publicity such scandals had brought on the Grant administration. Whoever ran for president in 1872 would face Grant running for re-election. As it turned out, the Tweed scandals wrecked Hoffman's chances, and the nomination eventually was split between those Democrats supporting liberal Republican Horace Greeley and those supporting the "pure" Democrat, New York attorney Charles O'Conor. Hoffman, his reputation ruined by the connections with Tweed, did not seek further political offices.

Death
Hoffman died at age 60 in Wiesbaden, Germany on March 24, 1888, while traveling in Europe with family members, as he did each winter. He was buried at Dale Cemetery in Ossining.

Legacy

 * Hoffman Island is named for him.

title: John T. Hoffman


text:
User talk:Fusion

Wow, you're handling this very maturely.

 * This is presumably in reference to the Big Fish Games article, which you keep treating as your personal property while refusing to discuss the dispute in the proper forum. Is that what you consider mature? Fusion 22:21, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Asa Dotzler
An article that you have been involved in editing, Asa Dotzler, has been listed for deletion. If you are interested in the deletion discussion, please participate by adding your comments at Articles for deletion/Asa Dotzler. Thank you. -- mms 01:00, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Fusion


text:
Armenia national football team

The Armenia national football team (Հայաստանի ֆուտբոլի ազգային հավաքական) represents Armenia in men's international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia, the governing body for football in Armenia.

After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, the team played its first international match on 12 October 1992. The national team has participated in the qualification of every major tournament from the UEFA Euro 1996 onwards, though they are yet to qualify for the final stages of either a UEFA European Football Championship or a FIFA World Cup. The team's main achievements have been third-place finish in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying stage, and being promoted to the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B.

The primary training ground is at  the Technical Center-Academy of the Football Federation of Armenia in the northern Avan District of the capital Yerevan, and the team plays their home matches at the Republican Stadium.

History
During the Soviet era of the country, Armenia competed in the Trans-Caucasian Championship. Armenia's first game came against the Azerbaijan SSR in 1926, losing 4–0 in Tbilisi. During the five competitions arranged during the 1920s and 1930s, Armenia failed to win a game, picking up their only draw in December 1927 against the Georgian SSR.

Armenia became an independent state in 1991, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic having previously played for the Soviet Union national football team. The Football Federation of Armenia was founded on 18 January 1992 and established relations with FIFA in 1992 and with UEFA in 1993. The history of the Armenia national team began on 14 October 1992, when Armenia played its first match against Moldova. That meeting ended in a goalless draw. Since 1996, the team has been a member of qualifiers European and World Championships. Armenia has competed in every UEFA European Championship qualifying and FIFA World Cup qualification since 1994.

The first head coach of the Armenian national squad was Soviet Armenian football star Eduard Markarov. Armenian winner of the UEFA Jubilee Awards and fellow Soviet Armenian football great Khoren Oganesian also became a head coach. Many of the early coaches of the national team never stayed for longer than two years. Scottish coach Ian Porterfield became head coach in 2006 and began to lead the team to some of its first international successes. Under his leadership, the Armenian team played a series of great matches with victories over Kazakhstan 2–1, Poland 1–0 and a draw with Portugal (1–1), with Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup. But then tragedy struck; the 62-year-old Porterfield died of cancer, leaving his work unfinished. An acting assistant coach, Vardan Minasyan, became acting head coach following Porterfield's death. Minasyan learned much from Porterfield and Samvel Darbinyan, another former head coach of Armenia, during this time about coaching and managing. On 10 February 2009, after the draw for the qualifying round teams of the UEFA Euro 2012, by order of the President of the Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan, Minasyan continued to lead the Armenian national squad, only now as the official head coach.

In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches, Minasyan led Armenia in Group B against Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia and Andorra. Armenia, considered a heavy underdog, defeated the group favorite Slovakia with two crushing defeats 4–0 and 3–1, defeated Andorra in two matches as well 4–0 and 3–0, drew with Macedonia 2–2 and defeated them in the deciding match 4–1 and tied with the group winners Russia 0–0. The Armenian team scored the most goals out of Group B, with a total of 22. Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Armenia scored 6 goals, the most goals scored by a single player in Group B. The national team almost made the final draw, but controversially lost in a decisive match against Ireland 1–2. Armenian goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky was given a red card by Spanish referee Eduardo Gonzalez in the 26th-minute for supposedly touching the ball outside the goal area. However, replays clearly showed the ball touched his chest and never touched his hands. Replays also showed that Ireland striker Simon Cox had actually touched the ball with his right hand. Despite this, Gonzalez did not penalize Cox, who would later admit he touched the ball with his hand. Had Cox's offence been punished, Armenia would have been awarded a free-kick. Edgar Malakyan was swapped for replacement goalkeeper Arsen Petrosyan. Valeri Aleksanyan later accidentally scored an own goal past Petrosyan, which ended up deciding the match. Armenia and Ireland would each score another goal. The Football Federation of Armenia unsuccessfully filed a protest over the match. Gonzalez had later resigned after the match. Despite not getting to play in the UEFA Euro 2012, Minasyan brought the Armenia national team to a record #41 FIFA ranking, placed the team in a personal best third place in the group stage and went on to become the longest leading head coach of the Armenia football team. Minasyan stated he was proud of the entire team. They were all welcomed in the airport back in Armenia as heroes.

After the incredible UEFA Euro 2012 run, the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016 qualifiers were not successful, with the Armenian side stood near bottom in the 2014 World Cup run and even finished last without a single win in Euro 2016 campaign. Armenia salvaged some few pride in 2018 World Cup qualification when the Armenians managed to create a shocking 3–2 home win over Montenegro, which contributed to Montenegro's failure to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. After these disappointments, Vardan Minasyan returned to lead Armenia in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D, but finished behind Macedonia, including a humiliating 0–1 home loss to Gibraltar. Due to this humiliation, Minasyan was sacked and Armen Gyulbudaghyants was appointed new coach of Armenian side. The Armenians participated in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying along with giants Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, former European champions Greece, Finland and Liechtenstein. Armenia lost two opening fixtures to Bosnia 1–2 away and Finland 0–2 at home, and was supposed to get eliminated pretty early. However, Armenia began their resurgence following these losses, with a convincing 3–0 home cruise to Liechtenstein before managed to create a shocking 3–2 away win over Greece, former UEFA Euro 2004 champions. Armenia suffered a minor setback after losing at home to powerhouse Italy 1–3, before created another shock in their qualification with a 4–2 convincing win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the same ground. Armenia was pulled back to the ground when they faced Greece, Finland and Italy in their games, with Armenia defeated in both games and eventually finished fifth in their group, failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2020.

Armenia participated in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League C and was seen as a minnow in a group containing strong North Macedonia and Georgia, along with fellow minnow Estonia. Armenia began with a 1–2 loss to North Macedonia away, before bounded back with an encouraging 2–0 home win to Estonia in September 2020. In October, Armenia had to play their designated "home game" away from their country in Poland due to 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, and disappointed with only a 2–2 draw to Georgia and 1–1 draw to Estonia, thus leaving impression that Armenia would flounder from the chance to get promotion. Yet, in November the same year, despite having to play away from home, and without their talisman and captain Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenia managed what would be the country's greatest comeback in the history, beating Georgia right in Tbilisi 2–1 before stunned the Fyromians, who had qualified for Euro 2020, 1–0, in their designated home game in Cyprus. These wins had not just ensured Armenia's promotion to 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B, but it also meant Armenia could be the first Caucasus country to get a FIFA World Cup playoff ticket. Moreover, the League B season in 2022–23 could also ensure Armenia a playoff place for the UEFA Euro 2024.

Armenia participated in the 2022 World Cup qualification and was seen weak to the group containing strong Germany, Iceland, Romania and North Macedonia. Armenia started with a difficult 1–0 win to Liechtenstein away, leaving yet again an impression that Armenia would just end up being mopped by the remainders. However, Armenia stunned both Iceland and Romania on their home fixtures 2–0 and 3–2 to top the group for the first time ever, raising the country's hopes of qualifying for an improbable maiden World Cup. Ultimately however, Armenia's campaign ended in bitter disappointment as they failed to win a single one of their remaining seven qualifying games, finding themselves on the end of a 6-0 trashing by Germany and even being held to a 1–1 draw at home by lowly Liechtenstein. Armenia finished a distant fourth place in the group, ahead of Liechtenstein and an underwhelming Iceland side but six points behind playoff-bound North Macedonia and even five points behind third-placed Romania.

Stadium

Hrazdan Stadium was built from 1969 to 1970 on Athens St., Kentron in a period of 18 months with the financial support of the oil magnate Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. A total amount of 5 million rubles was allocated for Hrazdan. The stadium was named after the slope of the Hrazdan River. It is the largest stadium in Armenia, with more than 70,000 seats. The opening of the stadium took place on 29 November 1970. The Armenia national team played home matches in Hrazdan until 2000. Several Armenian football clubs also played in Hrazdan. In Soviet times, it was one of the largest stadiums in the Soviet Union (among the top four) and one of the few double-tiered stadiums. Hrazdan was the football ground stadium for Ararat Yerevan. Hrazdan Stadium hosted its first official football match on 19 May 1971 when Ararat Yerevan defeated Kairat 3–0 in front of a record 78,000 spectators. The stadium would host Ararat Yerevan for the final victory of the club in the 1973 Soviet Top League and in the 1973 and 1975 Soviet Cup. The Soviet Union national football team played only two matches at the stadium, both of which date back to 1978. In April of that year, in a friendly game against Finland, the USSR won 10–2. Six months later, in a qualifying match for the UEFA Euro 1980 against Greece the Soviet team won again 2–0. The match with Finland hosted 12,000 spectators and the match with Greece hosted 40,000. The capacity of the stadium decreased from 70,000 to an all-seater of 53,849 spectators. By the second half of 2012, Hrazdan was completely renovated to become the regular venue of the national team's home matches.

The Republican Stadium was renovated in 1999 and, since 2000, has been the home ground for Armenia. The stadium was built in 1953 and finished within a year's time. Republican Stadium has a capacity of 14,968. During the Soviet period and onward from 1953 to 1999, it was known as Dinamo Stadium. The stadium had its official name changed to "Republican Stadium named after Vazgen Sargsyan" in 1999, after Armenian war hero and former Prime Minister of Armenia Vazgen Sargsyan, who died that year. Local clubs Pyunik and Ulisses play home matches at the Republican Stadium. In 2008, the stadium went under a large-scale development in order to modernize the playing surface and to create a high level VIP section and other facilities which met UEFA standards.

Armenia played a match in Hrazdan in 2008 against Turkey after partial renovation earlier that year. The number of seats decreased from 75,000 to 53,849. It is planned to hold Armenia's home matches after a complete renovation in 2012. On 12 October 2012, Armenia played a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Italy, but has not used Hrazdan since. Hrazdan is used mostly for Armenian football clubs and a number of other athletic competitions.

Jerseys and colour
The home gear color were previously the Red-Blue-Orange Armenian tricolour, designed by Stepan Malkhasyants. All three colors were on the first Armenia national team jerseys issued. The definition of the colors, as stated in government website, is:

 * The Red emblematizes the Armenian Highland, the Armenian people's continued struggle for survival, maintenance of the Orthodox Christian faith, Armenia's independence and freedom. The Blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The Orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia.

In the Euro 2012 qualification matches, played in 2010 and 2011, Armenia's home colors were red-blue-red, produced by Hummel. Beginning with the May 2012 friendly with Greece, Armenia switched to all-red home colours and an all-white away kit produced by Adidas.

Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Current squad
The following players were called up for friendly matches against Slovenia at home and Kazakhstan away on June 4 and 7, 2024 respectively.

Caps and goals correct as of 7 June 2024, after the match against Kazakhstan.

Recent call-ups
The following players were called up in the last 12 months.

 * Notes
 * INJ = It is not part of the current squad due to injury.
 * PRE = Preliminary squad/standby.
 * RET = Retired from the national team.

Records

 * Players in bold are still active with Armenia.

title: Armenia national football team


text:
Talk:Ko Samui

small suggestions
Some small suggestions for improvements: But all in all it's a vast improvement over what was there before. Well done. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:56, 1 Jun 2004 (UTC)
 * A map of the region would really help (showing the island wrt either the province or the country). The easiest way to do this is to find whoever drew the country map (User:Ahoerstemeier in this case) and ask them for a blank one (one without all the highlighted sections).  Then you can put a dot or whatever on the region of interest.
 * Good idea, I've just stuck a note on his page. :)
 * Equally the lat/long can be very useful
 * Done.
 * It's often worth searching NASA's earth-observation photo websites (for shuttle and satellite images) - these are usually (it depends...) uncopyrighted, and a nice orbital shot can make a world of difference (cf Kansai International Airport). ESA have some nice stuff too, but theirs is copyright (grrr).
 * I can't seem to find anything, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places.
 * you should probably mention that it's in Surat Thani province, and that it's an administrative subdivision (Amphoe Ko Samui) in its own right
 * as Surat Thani seems to be both a city and a province, when you mention the city it's probably a good idea to say "the city of Surat Thani" to make it clear which you're talking about.
 * Done and done.
 * "the southern peninsula" - I'm assuming you don't mean the Malay Peninsula, but rather that little bump NE of the city of Surat Thani. Doesn't it have a proper name?
 * Actually I think I just made a mistake. Thailand does have a southern peninsula, but it's not there! It's off the east coast of the Kra Isthmus. Updated accordingly.

accuracy
The island can't have appeared on Ming Dynasty maps as far back as 1687 because the Ming Dynasty was replaced by the Qing Dynasty in 1644. Either the maps mentioned are earlier, or they are Qing Dynasty maps. Sorry if this sounds pedantic, but could the point be clarified by somebody in the know? (I'm user WJL but I've forgotten my password so this is going to be an "anonymous" comment).

redirect
I think there should probably be a redirect from Goh Samui. I'd never heard of this island until I just read about it under Goh Samui in Icon Intro (aan EFL book), where it is written Goh Samui. Kdammers (talk) 09:04, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Thetsaban Status
This page declairs that Thetsaban Tambon Ko Samui is now planed to be upgraded to Thetsaban Nakhon. However their official site partly states that it is already Thetsabam Mueang. Does Anyone know about detail of this matter? --Anan 14:20, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

 * It was upgraded to Thesaban Mueang, even though the board responsible for the municipal upgrades did decide on an upgrade to Thesaban Nakhon. I haven't been able to find any reason why this was changed after it was decided already, especially apparently without any discussion in the board (the transcripts of that board are about the only in-time source on the municipal changes I know about). You can find several posts on this topic in my blog, those on Samui are at the "Surat Thani" tag. andy (talk) 16:40, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

 * Thank you for the information. I will upgrade this in Jawiki. --Anan (talk) 14:06, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Ko Samui larger than Ko Chang
That's true according to the data at the relevant Wikipedia articles at least. So for consistency that should also be reflected in the intro of "Ko Samui" (Ko Samui = 2nd largest island). --AlexKeilo (talk) 12:41, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

neutral viewpoint
While much useful content has been added recently, Ko Samui sometimes reads more like a travel article than a reference article. Maintaining a neutral viewpoint is important in Wikipedia. Some current Ko Samui content might be more appropriately located in Wikitravel. And the bots are flagging that more citations are needed.

(Non)Neutrality examples:
 * 3rd paragraph in Geography section: "it is almost small enough..."
 * 4th paragraph in Lifestyle subsection: "...religious tensions..."
 * Events and festivals subsection: should list events in a more neutral fashion and less like a recommendation.

One example of what to aim for: Mackinac Island is a Wikipedia Featured Article.

But all in all, some fine work has been done on this article. Even in just the past week.

Declangi (talk) 05:47, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

 * agreed, good pick up. LibStar (talk) 05:51, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

Change of municipal status?
An IP editor added this then took it out I guess because it went in the wrong place; I'm not sure of "city-municipality" in Thai - Amphoe? - but it needs to go back in; someone more familiar with Thai municipalities and this particular matter please do the honours.Skookum1 (talk) 08:45, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

 * It's already mentioned in the Administration section: "The complete island is one city municipality (thesaban nakhon)." --Paul_012 (talk) 12:47, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
 * K, I'd just noticed that reverted edit and wondered what was up....it was from the same IP, i.e. the insertion and the removal, figured it was something someone meant to put in, saw the format damage, and reverted. Thanks for the clarification.Skookum1 (talk) 16:09, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

"abundant natural resources" ??
Curious as to what those are....fresh water maybe? Maybe it's because I'm Canadian and associate that phrase with mines and logging and hydro dams.....there's no mines on Samui? Teak harvesting? So far as I know the place ran on coconut and coconut oil before tourism came along....Skookum1 (talk) 11:23, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

When I visited I was told by local guides that Ko Samui is one of the largest coconut producing locations in Thailand. This article claims:

"'Samui' means coconut, and the crop is the island's main cash crop", however that translation appears to be incorrect according to Google Translate. Phersh (talk) 01:14, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

temples and religious sites - and education
I note that there are no temples mentioned, I just created a few articles for them (see List of Buddhist temples in Thailand and know that there's the mosque in Hua Thanon and a few Christian churches as well. I can't find enough on them to make articles, though it strikes me as the mosque is notable simply for being the only one (Masjid Nurulihsan).  Also I note on many town/location articles there are listings of educational institutions; one site I saw said Rajabhat University had a campus here but from that article I see only one in Surat Thani.  Most guides and other websites for Ko Samui seem to be travel/booking sites and blogs, which mostly can't be used for references, if I'm understanding things right.  So how to cite such places?  Does not having web coverage mean somewhere is not notable?AlfredShonfeld (talk) 07:55, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

surat thani airport item
Re this, Nok Air also flies there doesn't it? From Suvanhabumi or Don Mueang or both? And I'm pretty sure it's not the only one.....I don't have the schedules handy but seems to me this comes off like a plug for Air Asia if the competition isn't named. That Surat Thani Airport is used for Ko Samui as an alternative to Bangkok Airways' private airport and higher prices should be mentioned more specifically.Skookum1 (talk) 05:00, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Blacklisted Links Found on the Main Page
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External links modified
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Events and festivals
I think the entire events and festivals section should be moved to Wikivoyage. Not encyclopedia material. Seligne (talk) 17:20, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

Climate
Stop changing the climate classification of Koh Samui. According to the noted sources, Koh Samui is a tropical savanna climate. It is located on the South Bay of Thailand which is a completely different weather model than Phuket and other west facing parts of Thailand on the end of in Sea which do get monsoons and are subject to tsunamis. Koh Samui doesn't get any of this kind of weather. It falls under the specific guidelines of a tropical savanna climate. Please review the technical specifications of the koppen climate category system and stop trying to change it to a monsoon climate which it is not by any stretch of the imagination. Koh Samui gets only a six to eight week wet season. And even then it's relatively light with no monsoons and no typhoons at all ever recorded in all of history. At worst it gets some tropical storms. But this is normal over a six to eight week period. And with the dry month of February and other conditions of a tropical savanna climate as defined by the koppen system, it is indeed a tropical savanna climate — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2403:6200:8870:CEEE:9DE2:D590:3FBA:C004 (talk) 02:12, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

 * Could you clarify what noted sources you're referring to? --Paul_012 (talk) 11:03, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Koh Samui gets only a six to eight week wet season. And even then it's relatively light with no monsoons and no typhoons at all ever recorded in all of history. At worst it gets some tropical storms. But this is normal over a six to eight week period. And with the dry month of February and other conditions of a tropical savanna climate as defined by the Köppen climate classification 2403:6200:8870:74AB:753A:94BE:FF6A:ECBA (talk) 06:13, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Köppen climate classification 2403:6200:8870:74AB:753A:94BE:FF6A:ECBA (talk) 06:15, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

The sources are noted at the end of the comment above

 * Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and cannot be cited for such claims. And that article actually says Ko Samui is an "Am bordering on Af" climate, not Aw. You'd need a WP:reliable source that actually discusses the climate of Ko Samui and says it's a savannah climate to support including that statement in this article. The vast majority of sources I see about Thailand's climate only describe all of Southern Thailand as Aw without singling out Ko Samui, and the only one that does separate the Andaman and the gulf coast actually says that the gulf coast from Chumphon to Narathiwat is an Af climate.
 * You can't take the Köppen definition and apply it to the weather with your own conclusions, as that would constitute WP:original research. And even if you did so, the definition for Aw climate is that the driest month has less than 100-(total annual precipitation in mm/25) annual precipitation, which is clearly not the case for Ko Samui, as the average rainfall for February, the driest month, is 54.4 mm, which is much higher than 100-(1960/25)=21.6. --Paul_012 (talk) 21:31, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

 * Your reply fails to cite anything else outside of Wikipedia as well. Please provide your own objective sources for your personal opinion that Wikipedia is not a useful source of climate references includes external climate references in the various articles which are cited 223.205.213.103 (talk) 19:28, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Now you're talking nonsense. I didn't give any opinion, that's Wikipedia policy. If there are sources, cite them directly. You still haven't provided anything to back your Aw claim. --Paul_012 (talk) 09:02, 31 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Anyway, this source from Prince of Songkla University clearly states that Ko Samui has an Am climate (while mainland Surat Thani has Aw, an exception to the rest of the South). --Paul_012 (talk) 09:20, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ko Samui


text:
Litomyšl

Litomyšl (Leitomischl) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is a former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle complex of the Litomyšl Castle, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation.

Administrative parts
Litomyšl is made up of the town parts of Lány, Litomyšl-město, Nedošín, Zahájí and Záhradí, and the villages of Kornice, Nová Ves u Litomyšle, Pazucha, Pohodlí and Suchá. Nová Ves u Litomyšle and Pohodlí form an exclave of the municipal territory.

Geography
Litomyšl is located about 16 km northwest of Svitavy and 41 km southeast of Pardubice. It lies in the Svitavy Uplands. The highest point is at 558 m above sea level. The town is situated on the Loučná river. There are several fish ponds in the municipal territory; the largest is Velký Košíř in the western part.

History
The first written mention of Litomyšl is from 981. It is a record in Chronica Boemorum mentioning death of Duke Slavník. Litomyšl was originally a protective fortified settlement of the Slavník dynasty principality on a significant trade route from Bohemia to Moravia. In 1259, Litomyšl was promoted to a town by King Ottokar II of Bohemia.

During the following centuries the town was owned by various noble families: Kostka of Postupice, Pernštejn, Trauttmansdorff, Waldstein-Wartemberg and last Thurn und Taxis. The Litomyšl Castle was built in 1568–1581 by the Pernštejns.

From 30 April 1344 till its suppression in 1474 the town was the seat of the Latin Catholic Diocese of Leitomischl until its territory was merged back into the (meanwhile Metropolitan Arch) Diocese of Prague. In 1970 it was nominally restored as titular see.

In the 19th century, Litomyšl ceased to be the main economical centre of the region, but remained the cultural and educational centre. Until 1918, Leitomischl – Litomyšl was a part of Austria-Hungary, head of the district with the same name, one of the 94 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Bohemia.

Existence of the Jewish community is documented at least from the late 16th century. During the Holocaust, in 1942, the last families were deported. Litomyšl had a German-speaking community until it was expelled in 1945 as a result of the Beneš decrees.

Transport
The I/35 road (the section from Hradec Králové to Svitavy, part of the European route E442) passes through the town.

Litomyšl is the starting point of the railway line of local importance heading to Choceň. The town is served by three train stations and stops.

Culture
Since 1946, the town hosts Smetanova Litomyšl, a large annual festival of classical music. It bears the name of the composer Bedřich Smetana, who is the most famous local native.

There is an extensive permanent exhibition of Olbram Zoubek's sculptures and art in Litomyšl Castle Vault Gallery.

Language
Until the late 19th century, the Litomyšl area had its own unique variety of the Czech language. This variety, named Teták by linguist Henning Andersen (after its word for "five", /tet/, as opposed to Standard Czech pět /pjet/), underwent an unusual sound change: bilabial consonants (/p/, /b/, /m/) became alveolars (/t/, /d/, /n/) before front vowels. Examples are /tekɲe/ ('nicely'; Standard Czech pěkně), /diːlej/ ('white'; Standard Czech bílý) and /nesto/ ('town'; Standard Czech město).

Sights
The main landmark of Litomyšl is the Litomyšl Castle, one of the largest Renaissance castles. The buildings of the castle precincts are exceptional for their architectural refinement. The castle complex also includes the birthplace of Bedřich Smetana, carriage house, stables, riding school, castle brewery, castle park and French-style garden. The castle complex was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

Neyt to the castle is the Piarist college with the seat of members of the order, the Church of the Finding the Holy Cross and adjacent monastery gardens. Today the gardens serve as a town park. The gardens include sculptures by Olbram Zoubek.

On the elongated square, which is almost 500 m long and one of the largest in Central Europe, is a town hall of Gothic origin and series of Renaissance and Baroque houses, many with arcades and vaulted ground floor rooms. One of the most significant burgher houses is the house U Rytířů ("At the Knights"), a Renaissance house built from 1540 to 1546 with a notable stone façade.

Litomyšl is also home to the "Portmoneum", a museum of the artist and writer Josef Váchal in the home of his admirer Josef Portman, who commissioned Váchal's murals and painted furniture in the house.

Notable people

 * Jan Augusta (1500–1572), bishop of the Unitas Fratrum and Protestant reformer; lived here
 * Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová (1785–1845), author of the first cookbook written in Czech; lived here in 1834–1845
 * August von Jilek (1819–1898) physician and oceanographer
 * Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884), classical composer
 * Julius Mařák (1832–1899), painter and graphic designer
 * Eduard Pospichal (1838–1905), Austrian botanist
 * Josef Kořenský (1847–1938), traveller, educator and writer; worked here as a teacher in 1871–1874
 * Zdeněk Nejedlý (1878–1962), musicologist and politician
 * Arne Novák (1880–1939), critic and historian of literature
 * Karel Píč (1920–1995), Esperantist and writer
 * Miroslav Macek (1944–2024), politician
 * Václav Jílek (born 1976), football manager
 * Markéta Adamová (born 1984), politician

Twin towns – sister cities
Litomyšl is twinned with:
 * 🇸🇰 Levoča, Slovakia
 * Noordenveld, Netherlands
 * 🇮🇹 San Polo d'Enza, Italy

title: Litomyšl


text:
User talk:Jutta

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia!

Here are some tips to help you get started:

 * If you haven't already, please add your name to the new user log to let others know a little about yourself.
 * Read the Tutorial, and feel free to experiment in the Sandbox.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk or ask me on my talk page.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck! Jrdioko

P.S. One last helpful hint. To sign your posts like I did above (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type ~~~ (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~~~~ (4 tildes).

Halfbakery
I have started a discussion about the Halfbakery article on its talk page. Please discuss there before removing big chunks of article. D aniel (☎) 20:35, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Christopher Hitchens
Hello Jutta, Sergio from Italy here. I used for the Italian article 'Christopher Hitchens' the photo you uploaded on Wiki Common. Would you be so kind to tell me where - and when - that photo was shot? I found no informations about it and was curious to learn more. Thanks. Sergio 21 feb. 15:37 CET —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 146.133.254.84 (talk) 14:38, 21 February 2007 (UTC).

 * Hi Sergio! It's my photo, but I didn't upload it - I just found it looking back at me when I looked up Hitchens for other reasons! Weird.  Anyway, if you follow the link from the photo's Wiki Commons page to the photo's flickr page, there's a rambling blog entry there that starts with the occasion: "At The Amazing Meeting 5 in Las Vegas". Going by the published schedule, that would have been Sat, Jan 20, 2007, around 2:45pm, at the Riviera Hotel's Conference Center. Jutta 16:03, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jutta


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Tim Berne

Tim Berne (born October 16, 1954) is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.

Biography
Berne was born in Syracuse, New York, United States. He has said that he had no interest in playing an instrument until he attended Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. Hearing the album Dogon A.D. (1972) by Julius Hemphill turned his attention toward jazz. He was a fan of rhythm and blues, and it seemed to him that Hemphill was playing jazz with the soulfulness of R&B. In 1974, he went to New York to find Hemphill, who gave him saxophone lessons and advice on how to manage his career. Berne started the record label Empire in 1979.

For Empire, he recorded four albums with avant-garde jazz musicians such as John Carter, Alex Cline, Nels Cline, Olu Dara, Vinny Golia, Paul Motian, and Ed Schuller. His next two albums appeared on Soul Note in the early 1980s. In these sessions he worked with Motian, Schuller, Ray Anderson, Herb Robertson and others. He then got a contract with Columbia and recorded with Robertson, Hank Roberts, Bill Frisell and others. During this time he also recorded a duo album with Frisell and two albums with John Zorn. After two albums with Columbia, he signed with JMT, a label known for avant-garde jazz.

In the 1990s, he recorded in the trio, Miniature, with Roberts and Joey Baron, and in the band Caos Totale with Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Steve Swell, and Bobby Previte. He led a trio with Michael Formanek and Jim Black, then added Chris Speed to form the quartet Bloodcount (which was occasionally a quintet with the addition of Ducret). PolyGram bought JMT and closed it. This motivated Berne to start Screwgun Records as the outlet for his albums.

Screwgun's first release was a 3-disc set by Bloodcount called Unwound, the music of which exemplified Berne's characteristic style of "explod[ing] the walls of traditional compositional form: instead of adhering to anything remotely resembling theme and variations, he intersperses thematic material–sometimes repeated, elongated, or truncated–with the careening pleasures of free improvisation." During the late 1990s he continued to perform with Bloodcount, formed Paraphrase, a trio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey, and Big Satan, a trio with Ducret and Rainey.

In the early 2000s, Berne formed several groups, including the trio Hard Cell with Rainey and Craig Taborn, and the quartet Science Friction (Berne, Ducret, Rainey,and Taborn). He also collaborated with members of The Bad Plus for the project Buffalo Collision, with Nels Cline of Wilco for the critically acclaimed album The Veil in 2011, and with David Torn on several projects and recordings.

Berne formed the band Snakeoil with Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, and Ches Smith, which released a self-titled album in 2012, and six more recordings, with slight personnel changes, over the next decade. During this time, he has also recorded with members of The Bad Plus as Broken Shadows, and in duos with several musicians. In 2023 he released Oceans And with Hank Roberts and Aurora Nealand.

Recently albums by other musicians interpreting Berne's music have begun to appear. These include Førage by Matt Mitchell, Koi by Gregg Belisle-Chi, and Palm Sweat by Marc Ducret.

Groups

 * BBC Trio (Jim Black, Nels Cline)
 * Big Satan (Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey)
 * Bloodcount (Jim Black, Marc Ducret, Michael Formanek, Chris Speed)
 * Broken Shadows (Reid Anderson, David King, Chris Speed)
 * Buffalo Collision (Ethan Iverson, David King, Hank Roberts)
 * Caos Totale (Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Bobby Previte, Herb Robertson, Steve Swell)
 * Hard Cell (Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)
 * Miniature (Joey Baron, Hank Roberts)
 * Paraphrase (Drew Gress, Tom Rainey)
 * Science Friction (Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)
 * Snakeoil (Marc Ducret, Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, Ches Smith, formerly Ryan Ferreira)

As leader/co-leader

 * 1979 The Five Year Plan (Empire)
 * 1980 7X (Empire)
 * 1981 Spectres (Empire)
 * 1982 Songs and Rituals in Real Time (Empire)
 * 1983 The Ancestors (Soul Note)
 * 1984 Mutant Variations (Soul Note)
 * 1987 Fulton Street Maul (Columbia)
 * 1988 Sanctified Dreams (Columbia)
 * 1989 Tim Berne's Fractured Fairy Tales (JMT)
 * 1993 Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) (JMT)
 * 1999 The Empire Box (Screwgun)
 * 2011 Insomnia (Clean Feed)
 * 2020 Sacred Vowels (Screwgun)
 * 2020 Adobe Probe (Screwgun)
 * 2022 Decay (Screwgun)

With ARTE Quartet
 * 2002 The Sevens (New World)

With BB&C
 * 2011 The Veil (Cryptogramophone)

With Gregg Belisle-Chi
 * 2022 Mars (Intakt)
 * 2022 Zone One (Screwgun)

With Big Satan
 * 1997 Big Satan (Winter & Winter)
 * 2004 Souls Saved Hear (Thirsty Ear)
 * 2006 Livein Cognito (Screwgun)

With Bloodcount
 * 1995 Lowlife: The Paris Concert (JMT)
 * 1995 Poisoned Minds: The Paris Concert (JMT)
 * 1995 Memory Select: The Paris Concert (JMT)
 * 1996 Unwound (Screwgun)
 * 1997 Discretion (Screwgun)
 * 1997 Saturation Point (Screwgun)
 * 2007 Seconds (Screwgun)
 * 2021 Attention Spam (Screwgun)
 * 2021 5 (Screwgun)

With Broken Shadows
 * 2019 Broken Shadows (Newvelle)
 * 2020 Broken Shadows Live (Screwgun)

With Buffalo Collision
 * 2008 Duck (Screwgun)

With Caos Totale
 * 1990 Pace Yourself (JMT)
 * 1994 Nice View (JMT)

With Bruno Chevillon
 * 2011 Old and Unwise (Clean Feed)

With Marilyn Crispell
 * 1995 Inference (Music & Arts)

With Michael Formanek
 * 1993 Loose Cannon (Soul Note)
 * 1998 Ornery People (Little Brother)

With Bill Frisell
 * 1984 Theoretically (Empire)

With Hardcell
 * 2001 The Shell Game (Thirsty Ear)
 * 2004 Electric and Acoustic Hard Cell Live (Screwgun)
 * 2005 Feign (Screwgun)
 * 2020 The Cosmos (Screwgun)
 * 2021 Sensitive (Screwgun)

With Miniature
 * 1988 Miniature (JMT)
 * 1991 I Can't Put My Finger on It (JMT)

With Matt Mitchell
 * 2018 Angel Dusk (Screwgun)
 * 2020 1 (Screwgun)
 * 2020 Spiders (Out of Your Head)
 * 2022 One More, Please (Intakt)

With Aurora Nealand and Hank Roberts
 * 2023 Oceans And (Intakt)

With Paraphrase
 * 1997 Visitation Rites (Screwgun)
 * 1999 Please Advise (Screwgun)
 * 2005 Pre-Emptive Denial (Screwgun)

With Hank Roberts
 * 1998 Cause & Reflect (Level Green)

With Herb Robertson, Marc Ducret and the Copenhagen Art Ensemble
 * 2001 Open, Coma (Screwgun)

With Science Friction
 * 2002 Science Friction (Screwgun)
 * 2003 The Sublime And (Thirsty Ear)
 * 2007 Mind Over Friction (Screwgun)
 * 2020 Science Friction +size (Screwgun)

With Snakeoil
 * 2012 Snakeoil (ECM)
 * 2013 Shadow Man (ECM)
 * 2015 You've Been Watching Me (ECM)
 * 2015 Spare (Screwgun)
 * 2017 Incidentals (ECM)
 * 2020 The Fantastic Mrs. 10 (Intakt)
 * 2020 The Deceptive 4 (Intakt)

With Nasheet Waits
 * 2020 The Coandă Effect (Relative Pitch)
 * 2022 Tangled (Screwgun)

As sideman
With Ray Anderson
 * Big Band Record (Gramavision, 1994)

With Nels Cline
 * Angelica (Enja, 1988)

With Marc Ducret
 * Tower Vol. 2 (Ayler, 2011)
 * Tower Bridge (Ayler, 2014)

With Enten Eller
 * Melquiades (Splasc(H), 1999)
 * Auto da Fe (Splasc(H), 2001)

With Umberto Petrin
 * Ellessi (Splasc(H), 1999)

With Jazzophone Compagnie
 * Mosaiques (Yolk, 2000)

With Simon Fell
 * Positions & Descriptions (Clean Feed, 2011)

With Figure 8
 * Pipe Dreams (Black Saint, 1994)

With Michael Formanek
 * Extended Animation (Enja, 1992)
 * Low Profile (Enja, 1994)
 * Nature of the Beast (Enja, 1997)
 * The Rub and Spare Change (ECM, 2010)
 * Small Places (ECM, 2012)
 * The Distance (ECM, 2016)
 * Even Better (Intakt, 2019)
 * Pre-Apocalyptic (Out Of Your Head, 2020)

With Vinny Golia
 * Compositions for Large Ensemble (Nine Winds, 1984)
 * Facts of Their Own Lives (Nine Winds, 1986)

With Drew Gress
 * Spin & Drift (Premonition, 2001)
 * 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005)
 * The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007)
 * The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)

With Mark Helias
 * Split Image (Enja, 1985)
 * The Current Set (Enja, 1986)

With Julius Hemphill
 * Five Chord Stud (Black Saint, 1994)
 * One Atmosphere (Tzadik, 2003)

With Ingrid Laubrock
 * Ubatuba (2015)

With Mr. Rencore
 * Intollerant (Auand, 2011)

With Ivo Perelman
 * (D)ivo (2022)

With Hank Roberts
 * Black Pastels (JMT, 1988)

With Herb Robertson
 * Transparency (JMT, 1985)
 * X-Cerpts: Live at Willisau (JMT, 1987)
 * Elaboration (Clean Feed, 2005)
 * Real Aberration (Clean Feed, 2007)

With Samo Salamon & Tom Rainey
 * Duality (Samo, 2012)

With George Schuller
 * Hellbent (Playscape, 2002)

With Ches Smith
 * Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013)
 * International Hoohah (For Tune, 2014)

With Spring Heel Jack
 * Masses (Thirsty Ear, 2001)

With David Torn, Craig Taborn, and Tom Rainey
 * Prezens (ECM, 2005)
 * Slipped on a Bar (Screwgun, 2009)
 * xFORM (Screwgun, 2020)
 * DISCO TENT (Screwgun, 2024) Torn Rainey Berne Dunn

With David Torn and Ches Smith
 * Sun of Goldfinger (ECM, 2019)
 * Congratulations To You (Screwgun, 2020)
 * Ozmir (Screwgun, 2022)
 * Mystic (Screwgun, 2023) With Aurora Nealand
 * Candid (Intakt, 2024) as The Sunny Five (Torn/Berne/Smith/Hoff/Ducret)

With Stefan Winter
 * The Little Trumpet (JMT, 1986)

With Yōsuke Yamashita
 * Ways of Time (Verve, 1995)

With John Zorn
 * The Big Gundown (Nonesuch/Icon, 1986)
 * Spy vs Spy (Elektra/Musician, 1989)

title: Tim Berne


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Screwgun Records

Screwgun Records is a jazz record label founded by saxophonist Tim Berne in 1996. Most releases on the label have been by Berne, though some have been by Berne's associates and bandmates. Steve Byram has designed and illustrated the artwork for many of the label's albums.

After attending college in Oregon, Berne moved to New York City in the 1970s to meet saxophonist Julius Hemphill, whose music had inspired him to become a jazz musician. Hemphill became his mentor, giving him saxophone lessons and helping him find his way in the music business. Berne founded Empire Records in the late 1970s to issue own albums. He released five albums, and his work was noticed by Giovanni Bonandrini, an Italian producer who issued Berne's next two albums on Soul Note. Berne signed with Columbia Records in the 1980s, then recorded for JMT Records until it shut down in 1995. Then Berne founded Screwgun to get control of his work again. Screwgun albums were initially distinguished by their brown, cardboard covers decorated with the line drawings of Steve Byram. The unorthodox artwork fit Berne's unorthodox music and business tactics.

title: Screwgun Records


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The Bartered Bride

The Bartered Bride (, The Sold Bride) is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863 to 1866, and first performed at the Provisional Theatre, Prague, on 30 May 1866 in a two-act format with spoken dialogue. Set in a country village and with realistic characters, it tells the story of how, after a late surprise revelation, true love prevails over the combined efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming marriage broker.

The opera was not immediately successful, and was revised and extended in the following four years. In its final version, premiered in 1870, it rapidly gained popularity and eventually became a worldwide success. Until this time, the Czech national opera had only been represented by minor, rarely performed works. This opera, Smetana's second, was part of his quest to create a truly Czech operatic genre. Smetana's musical treatment made considerable use of traditional Bohemian dance forms, such as the polka and furiant, and, although he largely avoided the direct quotation of folksong, he nevertheless created music considered by Czechs to be quintessentially Czech in spirit. The overture, often played as a concert piece independently from the opera, was, unusually, composed before almost any of the other music had been written.

After a performance at the Vienna Music and Theatre Exhibition of 1892, the opera achieved international recognition. It was performed in Chicago in 1893, London in 1895 and reached New York in 1909, subsequently becoming the first, and for many years the only, Czech opera in the general repertory. Many of these early international performances were in German, under the title Die verkaufte Braut, and the German-language version continues to be played and recorded. A German film of the opera was made in 1932 by Max Ophüls.

Context
Until the middle 1850s Bedřich Smetana was known in Prague principally as a teacher, pianist and composer of salon pieces. His failure to achieve wider recognition in the Bohemian capital led him to depart in 1856 for Sweden, where he spent the next five years. During this period he extended his compositional range to large-scale orchestral works in the descriptive style championed by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Liszt was Smetana's long-time mentor; he had accepted a dedication of the latter's Opus 1: Six Characteristic Pieces for Piano in 1848, and had encouraged the younger composer's career since then. In September 1857 Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar, where he met Peter Cornelius, a follower of Liszt's who was working on a comic opera, Der Barbier von Bagdad. Their discussions centred on the need to create a modern style of comic opera, as a counterbalance to Wagner's new form of music drama. A comment was made by the Viennese conductor Johann von Herbeck to the effect that Czechs were incapable of making music of their own, a remark which Smetana took to heart: "I swore there and then that no other than I should beget a native Czech music."

Smetana did not act immediately on this aspiration. The announcement that a Provisional Theatre was to be opened in Prague, as a home for Czech opera and drama pending the building of a permanent National Theatre, influenced his decision to return permanently to his homeland in 1861. He was then spurred to creative action by the announcement of a prize competition, sponsored by the Czech patriot Jan von Harrach, to provide suitable operas for the Provisional Theatre. By 1863 he had written The Brandenburgers in Bohemia to a libretto by the Czech nationalist poet Karel Sabina, whom Smetana had met briefly in 1848. The Brandenburgers, which was awarded the opera prize, was a serious historical drama, but even before its completion Smetana was noting down themes for use in a future comic opera. By this time he had heard the music of Cornelius's Der Barbier, and was ready to try his own hand at the comic genre.

Libretto
For his libretto, Smetana again approached Sabina, who by 5 July 1863 had produced an untitled one-act sketch in German. Over the following months Sabina was encouraged to develop this into a full-length text, and to provide a Czech translation. According to Smetana's biographer Brian Large, this process was prolonged and untidy; the manuscript shows amendments and additions in Smetana's own hand, and some pages apparently written by Smetana's wife Bettina (who may have been receiving dictation). By the end of 1863 a two-act version, with around 20 musical numbers separated by spoken dialogue, had been assembled. Smetana's diary indicates that he, rather than Sabina, chose the work's title because "the poet did not know what to call it." The translation "Sold Bride" is strictly accurate, but the more euphonious "Bartered Bride" has been adopted throughout the English-speaking world. Sabina evidently did not fully appreciate Smetana's intention to write a full-length opera, later commenting: "If I had suspected what Smetana would make of my operetta, I should have taken more pains and written him a better and more solid libretto."

The Czech music specialist John Tyrrell has observed that, despite the casual way in which The Bartered Bride's libretto was put together, it has an intrinsic "Czechness", being one of the few in Czech written in trochees (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one), matching the natural first-syllable emphasis in Czech.

Composition
By October 1862, well before the arrival of any libretto or plot sketch, Smetana had noted down 16 bars which later became the theme of The Bartered Bride's opening chorus. In May 1863 he sketched eight bars which he eventually used in the love duet "Faithful love can't be marred", and later that summer, while still awaiting Sabina's revised libretto, he wrote the theme of the comic number "We'll make a pretty little thing". He also produced a piano version of the entire overture, which was performed in a public concert on 18 November. In this, he departed from his normal practice of leaving the overture until last.

The opera continued to be composed in a piecemeal fashion, as Sabina's libretto gradually took shape. Progress was slow, and was interrupted by other work. Smetana had become Chorus Master of the Hlahol Choral Society in 1862, and spent much time rehearsing and performing with the Society. He was deeply involved in the 1864 Shakespeare Festival in Prague, conducting Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette and composing a festival march. That same year he became music correspondent of the Czech-language newspaper Národní listy. Smetana's diary for December 1864 records that he was continuing to work on The Bartered Bride; the piano score was completed by October 1865. It was then put aside so that the composer could concentrate on his third opera Dalibor. Smetana evidently did not begin the orchestral scoring of The Bartered Bride until, following the successful performance of The Brandenburgers in January 1866, the management of the Provisional Theatre decided to stage the new opera during the following summer. The scoring was completed rapidly, between 20 February and 16 March.

Act 1
A crowd of villagers is celebrating at the church fair ("Let's rejoice and be merry"). Among them are Mařenka and Jeník. Mařenka is unhappy because her parents want her to marry someone she has never met. They will try to force her into this, she says. Her desires are for Jeník even though, as she explains in her aria "If I should ever learn", she knows nothing of his background. The couple then declare their feelings for each other in a passionate love duet ("Faithful love can't be marred").

As the pair leave separately, Mařenka's parents, Ludmila and Krušina, enter with the marriage broker Kecal. After some discussion, Kecal announces that he has found a groom for Mařenka – Vašek, younger son of Tobiáš Mícha, a wealthy landowner; the older son, he explains, is a worthless good-for-nothing. Kecal extols the virtues of Vašek ("He's a nice boy, well brought up"), as Mařenka re-enters. In the subsequent quartet she responds by saying that she already has a chosen lover. Send him packing, orders Kecal. The four argue, but little is resolved. Kecal decides he must convince Jeník to give up Mařenka, as the villagers return, singing and dancing a festive polka.

Act 2
The men of the village join in a rousing drinking song ("To beer!"), while Jeník and Kecal argue the merits, respectively, of love and money over beer. The women enter, and the whole group joins in dancing a furiant. Away from the jollity the nervous Vašek muses over his forthcoming marriage in a stuttering song ("My-my-my mother said to me"). Mařenka appears, and guesses immediately who he is, but does not reveal her own identity. Pretending to be someone else, she paints a picture of "Mařenka" as a treacherous deceiver. Vašek is easily fooled, and when Mařenka, in her false guise, pretends to woo him ("I know of a maiden fair"), he falls for her charms and swears to give Mařenka up.

Meanwhile, Kecal is attempting to buy Jeník off, and after some verbal fencing makes a straight cash offer: a hundred florins if Jeník will renounce Mařenka. Not enough, is the reply. When Kecal increases the offer to 300 florins, Jeník pretends to accept, but imposes a condition – no one but Mícha's son will be allowed to wed Mařenka. Kecal agrees, and rushes off to prepare the contract. Alone, Jeník ponders the deal he has apparently made to barter his beloved ("When you discover whom you've bought"), wondering how anyone could believe that he would really do this, and finally expressing his love for Mařenka.

Kecal summons the villagers to witness the contract he has made ("Come inside and listen to me"). He reads the terms: Mařenka is to marry no one but Mícha's son. Krušina and the crowd marvel at Jeník's apparent self-denial, but the mood changes when they learn that he has been paid off. The act ends with Jenik being denounced by Krušina and the rest of the assembly as a rascal.

Act 3
Vašek expresses his confusions in a short, sad song ("I can't get it out of my head"), but is interrupted by the arrival of a travelling circus. The Ringmaster introduces the star attractions: Esmeralda, the Spanish dancer, a "real Indian" sword swallower, and a dancing bear. A rapid folk-dance, the skočná, follows. Vašek is entranced by Esmeralda, but his timid advances are interrupted when the "Indian" rushes in, announcing that the "bear" has collapsed in a drunken stupor. A replacement is required. Vašek is soon persuaded to take the job, egged on by Esmeralda's flattering words ("We'll make a pretty thing out of you").

The circus folk leave. Vašek's parents – Mícha and Háta – arrive, with Kecal. Vašek tells them that he no longer wants to marry Mařenka, having learned her true nature from a beautiful, strange girl. They are horrified ("He does not want her – what has happened?"). Vašek runs off, and moments later Mařenka arrives with her parents. She has just learned of Jeník's deal with Kecal, and a lively ensemble ("No, no, I don't believe it") ensues. Matters are further complicated when Vašek returns, recognises Mařenka as his "strange girl", and says that he will happily marry her. In the sextet which follows ("Make your mind up, Mařenka"), Mařenka is urged to think things over. They all depart, leaving her alone.

In her aria ("Oh what grief"), Mařenka sings of her betrayal. When Jeník appears, she rebuffs him angrily, and declares that she will marry Vašek. Kecal arrives, and is amused by Jeník's attempts to pacify Mařenka, who orders her former lover to go. The villagers then enter, with both sets of parents, wanting to know Mařenka's decision ("What have you decided, Mařenka?"). As she confirms that she will marry Vašek, Jeník returns, and to great consternation addresses Mícha as "father". In a surprise identity revelation it emerges that Jeník is Mícha's elder son, by a former marriage – the "worthless good-for-nothing" earlier dismissed by Kecal – who had in fact been driven away by his jealous stepmother, Háta. As Mícha's son he is, by the terms of the contract, entitled to marry Mařenka; when this becomes clear, Mařenka understands his actions and embraces him. Offstage shouting interrupts the proceedings; it seems that a bear has escaped from the circus and is heading for the village. This creature appears, but is soon revealed to be Vašek in the bear's costume ("Don't be afraid!"). His antics convince his parents that he is unready for marriage, and he is marched away. Mícha then blesses the marriage between Mařenka and Jeník, and all ends in a celebratory chorus.

Premiere
The premiere of The Bartered Bride took place at the Provisional Theatre on 30 May 1866. Smetana conducted; the stage designs were by Josef Macourek and Josef Jiři Kolár produced the opera. The role of Mařenka was sung by the theatre's principal soprano, Eleonora von Ehrenberg – who had refused to appear in The Brandenburgers because she thought her proffered role was beneath her. The parts of Krušina, Jeník and Kecal were all taken by leading members of the Brandenburgers cast. A celebrated actor, Jindřich Mošna, was engaged to play the Ringmaster, a role which involves little singing skill.

The choice of date proved unfortunate for several reasons. It clashed with a public holiday, and many people had left the city for the country. It was an intensely hot day, which further reduced the number of people prepared to suffer the discomfort of a stuffy theatre. Worse, the threat of an imminent war between Prussia and Austria caused unrest and anxiety in Prague, which dampened public enthusiasm for light romantic comedy. Thus on its opening night the opera, in its two-act version with spoken dialogue, was poorly attended and indifferently received. Receipts failed to cover costs, and the theatre director was forced to pay Smetana's fee from his own pocket.

Smetana's friend Josef Srb-Debrnov, who was unable to attend the performance himself, canvassed opinion from members of the audience as they emerged. "One praised it, another shook his head, and one well-known musician ... said to me: 'That's no comic opera; it won't do. The opening chorus is fine but I don't care for the rest.'" Josef Krejčí, a member of the panel that had judged Harrach's opera competition, called the work a failure "that would never hold its own." Press comment was less critical; nevertheless, after one more performance the opera was withdrawn. Shortly afterwards the Provisional Theatre temporarily closed its doors, as the threat of war drew closer to Prague.

Restructure
Smetana began revising The Bartered Bride as soon as its first performances were complete. For its first revival, in October 1866, the only significant musical alteration was the addition of a gypsy dance near the start of act 2. For this, Smetana used the music of a dance from The Brandenburgers of Bohemia. When The Bartered Bride returned to the Provisional Theatre in January 1869, this dance was removed, and replaced with a polka. A new scene, with a drinking song for the chorus, was added to act 1, and Mařenka's act 2 aria "Oh what grief!" was extended.

So far, changes to the original had been of a minor nature, but when the opera reappeared in June 1869 it had been entirely restructured. Although the musical numbers were still linked by dialogue, the first act had been divided in two, to create a three-act opera. Various numbers, including the drinking song and the new polka, were repositioned, and the polka was now followed by a furiant. A "March of the Comedians" was added, to introduce the strolling players in what was now act 3. A short duet for Esmeralda and the Principal Comedian was dropped. In September 1870 The Bartered Bride reached its final form, when all the dialogue was replaced by recitative. Smetana's own opinion of the finished work, given much later, was largely dismissive: he described it as "a toy ... composing it was mere child's play". It was written, he said "to spite those who accused me of being Wagnerian and incapable of doing anything in a lighter vein."

Later performances

In February 1869 Smetana had the text translated into French, and sent the libretto and score to the Paris Opera with a business proposal for dividing the profits. The management of the Paris Opera did not respond. The opera was first performed outside its native land on 11 January 1871, when Eduard Nápravník, conductor of the Russian Imperial Opera, gave a performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. The work attracted mediocre notices from the critics, one of whom compared the work unfavourably to the Offenbach genre. Smetana was hurt by this remark, which he felt downgraded his opera to operetta status, and was convinced that press hostility had been generated by a former adversary, the Russian composer Mily Balakirev. The pair had clashed some years earlier, over the Provisional Theatre's stagings of Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila. Smetana believed that Balakirev had used the Russian premiere of The Bartered Bride as a means of exacting revenge.

The Bartered Bride was not performed abroad again until after Smetana's death in 1884. It was staged by the Prague National Theatre company in Vienna, as part of the Vienna Music and Theatre Exhibition of 1892, where its favourable reception was the beginning of its worldwide popularity among opera audiences. Since Czech was not widely spoken, international performances tended to be in German. The United States premiere took place at the Haymarket Theatre, Chicago, on 20 August 1893. The opera was introduced to the Hamburg State Opera in 1894 by Gustav Mahler, then serving as its director; in 1895 the Coburg Company brought its production to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. In 1897, after his appointment as director of the Vienna State Opera, Mahler brought The Bartered Bride into the Vienna repertory, and conducted regular performances of the work between 1899 and 1907. Mahler's enthusiasm for the work was such that he had incorporated a quote from the overture into the final movement of his First Symphony (1888). When he became Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1907 he added the opera to its repertory. The New York premiere, again in German, took place on 19 February 1909, and was warmly received. The New York Times commented on the excellence of the staging and musical characterisations, and paid particular tribute to "Mr. Mahler", whose master hand was in evidence throughout. Mahler chose to play the overture between acts 1 and 2, so that latecomers might hear it.

Modern revivals
The opera was performed more than one hundred times during Smetana's lifetime (the first Czech opera to reach this landmark), subsequently becoming a permanent feature of the National Theatre's repertory. On 9 May 1945 a special performance in memory of the victims of World War II was given at the theatre, four days after the last significant fighting in Europe.

In the years since its American premiere The Bartered Bride has entered the repertory of all major opera companies, and is regularly revived worldwide. After several unsuccessful attempts to stage it in France, it was premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1928, sung in French as La Fiancée vendue. In 2008 the opera was added to the repertoire of the Paris Opera, in a new production staged at the Palais Garnier.

In the English-speaking world, recent productions of The Bartered Bride in London have included the Royal Opera House (ROH) presentation in 1998, staged at Sadler's Wells during the restoration of the ROH's headquarters at Covent Garden. This production in English was directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Bernard Haitink; it was criticised both for its stark settings and for ruining the act 2 entrance of Vašek. It was nevertheless twice revived by the ROH – in 2001 and 2006, under Charles Mackerras.

A New York Metropolitan staging was in 1996 under James Levine, a revival of John Dexter's 1978 production with stage designs by Josef Svoboda. In 2005 The Bartered Bride returned to New York, at the Juilliard School theatre, in a new production by Eve Shapiro, conducted by Mark Stringer. In its May 2009 production at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, Opera Boston transplanted the action to 1934, in the small Iowan town of Spillville, once the home of a large Czech settlement.

Music
Although much of the music of The Bartered Bride is folk-like, the only significant use of authentic folk material is in the act 2 furiant, with a few other occasional glimpses of basic Czech folk melodies. The "Czechness" of the music is further illustrated by the closeness to Czech dance rhythms of many individual numbers. Smetana's diary indicates that he was trying to give the music "a popular character, because the plot [...] is taken from village life and demands a national treatment." According to his biographer John Clapham, Smetana "certainly felt the pulse of the peasantry and knew how to express this in music, yet inevitably he added something of himself." Historian Harold Schonberg argues that "the exoticisms of the Bohemian musical language were not in the Western musical consciousness until Smetana appeared." Smetana's musical language is, on the whole, one of happiness, expressing joy, dancing and festivals.

The mood of the entire opera is set by the overture, a concert piece in its own right, which Tyrrell describes as "a tour de force of the genre, wonderfully spirited & wonderfully crafted." Tyrrell draws attention to several of its striking features – its extended string fugato, climactic tutti and prominent syncopations. The overture does not contain many of the opera's later themes: biographer Brian Large compares it to Mozart's overtures to The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, in establishing a general mood. It is followed immediately by an extended orchestral prelude, for which Smetana adapted part of his 1849 piano work Wedding Scenes, adding special effects such as bagpipe imitations.

Schonberg has suggested that Bohemian composers express melancholy in a delicate, elegiac manner "without the crushing world-weariness and pessimism of the Russians." Thus, Mařenka's unhappiness is illustrated in the opening chorus by a brief switch to the minor key; likewise, the inherent pathos of Vašek's character is demonstrated by the dark minor key music of his act 3 solo. Smetana also uses the technique of musical reminiscence, where particular themes are used as reminders of other parts of the action; the lilting clarinet theme of "faithful love" is an example, though it and other instances fall short of being full-blown Wagnerian leading themes or Leitmotifs.

Large has commented that despite the colour and vigour of the music, there is little by way of characterisation, except in the cases of Kecal and, to a lesser extent, the loving pair and the unfortunate Vašek. The two sets of parents and the various circus folk are all conventional and "penny-plain" figures. In contrast, Kecal's character – that of a self-important, pig-headed, loquacious bungler – is instantly established by his rapid-patter music. Large suggests that the character may have been modelled on that of the boastful Baron in Cimarosa's opera Il matrimonio segreto. Mařenka's temperament is shown in vocal flourishes which include coloratura passages and sustained high notes, while Jeník's good nature is reflected in the warmth of his music, generally in the G minor key. For Vašek's dual image, comic and pathetic, Smetana uses the major key to depict comedy, the minor for sorrow. Large suggests that Vašek's musical stammer, portrayed especially in his opening act 2 song, was taken from Mozart's character Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro.

Film and other adaptations
A silent film of The Bartered Bride was made in 1913 by the Czech film production studio Kinofa. It was produced by Max Urban and starred his wife Andula Sedláčková. A German-language version of the opera, Die verkaufte Braut, was filmed in 1932 by Max Ophüls, the celebrated German director then at the beginning of his film-making career. The screenplay was drawn from Sabina's libretto by Curt Alexander, and Smetana's music was adapted by the German composer of film music, Theo Mackeben. The film starred the leading Czech opera singer Jarmila Novotná in the role of Mařenka ("Marie" in the film), and the German baritone Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender as Jeník ("Hans").

Ophuls constructed an entire Czech village in the studio to provide an authentic background. Following the film's US release in 1934, The New York Times commented that it "carr[ied] most of the comedy of the original" but was "rather weak on the musical side", despite the presence of stars such as Novotná. Opera-lovers, the review suggested, should not expect too much, but the work nevertheless gave an attractive portrait of Bohemian village life in the mid-19th century. The reviewer found most of the acting first-rate, but commented that "the photography and sound reproduction are none too clear at times." Other film adaptations of the opera were made in 1922 directed by Oldrich Kminek (Atropos), in 1933, directed by Jaroslav Kvapil, Svatopluk Innemann and Emil Pollert (Espofilm), and in 1976, directed by Václav Kašlík (Barrandov). A version was produced for Australian television in 1960.

List of musical numbers
The list relates to the final (1870) version of the opera.

Recordings
See The Bartered Bride discography.

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Lord of the Dance

Lord of the Dance may refer to:

Personalities

 * Nataraja, Shiva in his dancing posture
 * Lord of the Dance, a title given to Jesus Christ in some musical adaptations
 * Rudolf Nureyev, ballet star, nicknamed Lord of the Dance

Literature

 * Lord of the Dance (novel), a 1984 novel by Father Andrew Greeley

Music

 * "Lord of the Dance" (hymn), a hymn written by Sydney Carter in 1963
 * "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", a traditional song that the "Lord of the Dance" hymn is based on
 * Lord of the Dance (Franciscus Henri album) (1976)
 * Lord of the Dance (musical), an Irish musical and dance production
 * Lord of the Dance, an album composed by Ronan Hardiman for the above production
 * A nickname for Michael Flatley, star of the above production
 * "Lord of the Dance", a song by Steven Curtis Chapman from the album Signs of Life
 * "Lord of the Dance", a song by Chris Clark from the album Clarence Park

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Brains Brewery

Brains (S. A. Brain & Company Ltd.) is a regional brewery based in Cardiff, Wales. It was founded in 1882 by Samuel Arthur Brain. At its peak, the company controlled more than 250 pubs in South Wales (particularly in Cardiff), Mid Wales and the West Country but the brewer sold most of its pub estate in 2022. The company took over Crown Buckley Brewery in Llanelli in 1997 and Hancock's Brewery in 1999. In 2000, Brains moved to the former Hancock's Brewery just south of Cardiff Central railway station. The Old Brewery, in Cardiff city centre, has been developed into a modern bar and restaurant complex.

The company produces a range of beers under the Brains, Buckley's and Hancock's names. As part of their marketing strategy, Brains use shirt sponsorship for the Wales national rugby union team and the Crusaders Rugby League team.

History
The original brewery, believed to be the oldest in Cardiff, was established by the Thomas brothers in the 18th-century. In 1882 it was acquired by Samuel Arthur Brain, a brewer from Bristol, England, and his uncle Joseph Benjamin Brain, Chairman of the West of England Bank. Part of the building dated from 1713 and it had been a brewery since at least 1822.

In 1882 the brewery produced 100 barrels of beer a week and operated 11 pubs. By 1900 this had grown to 1,000 barrels of beer a week, supplying 80 of their public houses. The company became a limited company, S A Brain & Co Ltd, in April 1897 and purchased the business for £350,000. Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (8).jpg Brains expanded the Old Brewery was expanded in 1914 by having a new brewery built in St Mary Street.

In 1997 Brains took over Crown Buckley in Llanelli. It closed Crown Buckley's brewery and transferred production to Cardiff. In 1999 Brains bought the former Hancock's Brewery just south of Cardiff Central railway station. In 2000 it moved production there, and in 2003 the Old Brewery was redeveloped as a bar and restaurant complex. Ownerships remains in the Brains family; until 2009 the chairman was Chris Brain, and since that date the company has been led by John Rhys, the great-great-grandson of the company's founder Samuel Arthur Brain. In March 2019 the new Dragon Brewery, at the Pacific Business Park in Tremorfa, was opened by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who was taken on a tour of the new facility by head brewer Bill Dobson.

In December 2020, Brains handed over the running of its 156 pubs via a 25-year lease-back deal to Marston's Ninety-nine Brains pubs were later put up for sale.

In May 2022 it was announced that Brains had sold the freehold and leasehold of 95 of their pubs to Song Capital, with the proceeds used to pay off existing debts.

In December 2023 Brains announced that, following the sale of their pubs, they had recovered from the debt that forced the sale following the pandemic.

Coffee
In September 2011 the company diversified into coffee shops, buying the Cardiff-based coffee house chain, Coffee#1. In mid-2018, SA Brain announced that they wished to sell a majority stake in Coffee#1, after a strategic review. In January 2019, Caffè Nero bought a 70% stake in the business, which at that time had 92 outlets.

In February 2022 it was announced that Brains had sold their remaining stake in the business to Caffe Nero.

Brains brand
Brains SA, the company's flagship brand, is a light-coloured malty best bitter which is colloquially known as "Skull Attack". Its formulation has undergone several revisions since the beer was launched in the early 20th century; the most recent revision was launched in early 2006 and increases the quantity of hops in the brew.

Brains Dark is a dark mild ale with an emphasis on roasted malts. There is also a 'smooth' variant.

Brains Bitter is the brewery's standard bitter and the most commonly available in Cardiff. Many Brains' pubs serve only bitter from a cask. When served pasteurised and nitrogenated it is termed Brains Smooth.

Brains IPA, an unusually malty example of the India Pale Ale style, is usually seen on cask only in the valleys outside Cardiff, although some pubs stock it as keg beer or in bottles in Cardiff proper.

SA Gold, the newest addition to the line, is – according to a release note sent out to Brains pubs in early 2006 – Brains' attempts to branch out into both the English and youth markets, areas in which Brains is visibly struggling. Its official launch was June 2006, but many houses retired it in favour of the bi-monthly guest ale rotation. The beer is hopped with Cascade, Target and Styrian Golding hops.

45 was a keg beer at 4.5% ABV. It was launched in 2006 in Cardiff as a competitor to strong lagers such as Stella Artois. In March 2007, the recipe was radically altered from the original used in the January launch after slow market growth and poor in-house response. It was discontinued in 2011.

The Rev. James is a 4.5% ABV dark best bitter carried over from the Buckley's range after the two breweries merged.

Brains Black is a 4.1% ABV stout launched on St David's Day 2010.

Barry Island IPA originally launched in June 2012 as part of the Brains Craft Brewery range, Barry Island IPA is an American style IPA brewed using a trio of American Hops. In 2019 it got a new look and became part of the core range.

Bayside Lager is a 4.3% lager launched in August 2020. It is a crisp and light lager and currently only available in draught form, although it is available in mini-keg online.

Buckley's brand
Brains bought the Llanelli-based Crown Buckley in 1998. It continues to brew three Buckley's beers, all at its Cardiff brewery: Buckley's Bitter, Buckley's IPA and Reverend James best bitter.

Hancock's brand
Hancocks HB is a 3.6% session bitter first brewed by Hancock's brewery. Formerly Wales' biggest brewer, the brewery was founded by William Hancock (father of Frank, Froude and William Hancock) and bought by Bass in 1968. Brains bought Hancock's in 1999, but initially Bass kept the rights to the brands. Production later came back to Cardiff.

Seasonal beers
Seasonal beers' include St David's Ale', which is brewed to celebrate St David's Day and is available in February and March. Taff End is available in June and July and celebrates sponsorship of the Glamorgan County Cricket Club. Brains' Bread of Heaven, named after a traditional Welsh rugby anthem, was launched in 2005 in commemoration of the sponsorship, and is mostly sold during the Six Nations Championship and autumn internationals.

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land Of My Fathers) was launched in 2006 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh national anthem. It is a golden ale brewed with Welsh honey.

Marketing
Brains sponsored a number of railway bridges over roads in Cardiff to have its advertising slogans painted on them. They include "It's Brains you want!" in Clare Road and Leckwith Road and "People who know beer... have Brains" in Penarth Road.

Brains was the shirt sponsor for the Wales national rugby union team from 2004 until 2010. As French law forbids alcohol sponsorship logos from appearing on rugby jerseys, when the team played in France the branding was changed. In 2005, "Brains" was replaced with "Brawn", in 2007 it was changed to "Brawn Again", and in 2009 it was replaced with "Try Essai", a pun on the invitation to "try SA".

The Old Brewery Quarter
In 2003, Brains vacant Old Brewery was redeveloped into the 85000 sqft "Old Brewery Quarter" .It is a mixed development of 55000 sqft of leisure space around an open-air piazza in the heart of Cardiff's growing city centre, together with 42 long-leasehold loft style apartments and penthouses.

The development has attracted a range of bar and restaurant operators including Chiquito, La Tasca, Lava Lounge, Nando's, Pancake House, Starbucks, Thai Edge and SA Brains own flagship venue, the Yard Bar and Kitchen.

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Michael Coren

Michael Coren (born 15 January 1959) is a British-Canadian writer and clergyman. A long-time television personality, Coren hosted The Michael Coren Show on the Crossroads Television System from 1999 to 2011 before moving to the Sun News Network to host The Arena with Michael Coren, from 2011 until the channel's demise in early 2015. He has also been a long-time radio personality, particularly on Toronto talk radio station CFRB. Coren is currently a columnist for the Toronto Star and iPolitics.

He has written more than ten books, including biographies of G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. His latest books are Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity (2012), The Future of Catholicism (2013), Hatred: Islam's War on Christianity (2014), Epiphany: A Christian's Change of Heart & Mind over Same-Sex Marriage (2016) and The Rebel Christ (2021).

Family
Coren married his wife, Bernadette, in 1987. They have four children. He is a cousin of the late British author and journalist Alan Coren, and is thus related to Alan's children Victoria Coren Mitchell and Giles Coren.

Life and career
Coren was born in Walthamstow, Essex, England, of Jewish heritage, and raised secular. After obtaining a degree in politics from the University of Nottingham, he moved from Britain to Canada in 1987. For several years, he was a columnist for Frank and then The Globe and Mail, before he began syndicated columns for the Financial Post and Sun Media in 1995. Following his departure from Frank, he became a favourite target of that publication, culminating in a spoof ad contest to "deflower" Michael Coren (a nod to Frank ' s notorious "Deflower Caroline Mulroney" contest, and a satirical jab at Coren's conservative leanings.) Coren had also been a favourite target of Frank back in the days before he began writing for them. Coren took exception to being labelled a "literary prostitute" during a 1994 interview.

His career as a broadcaster began in the early 1990s when he co-hosted a political debate segment with Irshad Manji on TVOntario's Studio 2. In 1995, he began an evening talk show on CFRB. In 1999, Coren briefly moved to Talk 640 for a short stint as its morning man. He returned to CFRB, where he hosted a show from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. weekday nights, and regularly filled in for other hosts until November 2005. Coren was dismissed by CFRB as a result of complaints arising from comments ridiculing the weight of an apparent guest. In fact, the guest was an actor and the segment was scripted. According to CFRB's Operations Manager, Steve Kowch, "Pat Holiday, our general manager and myself went through the tape of Monday night's show and were shocked ... it was totally out of bounds." Coren argues that it was a satire comparing in his mind public attitude to third world starvation with North America's obsession with slimming and self-indulgence.

Despite this acrimonious termination, Coren made regular talk show appearances on CFRB in July 2006, at the start of the 2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict, as he happened to be in Israel at the time. As of 22 April 2007, the show expanded from its usual one-hour slot at 7–8 pm to 7–9 pm. In the fall of 2007 he and former Liberal Party of Canada president Stephen LeDrew launched a daily hour-long afternoon show on CFRB called Two Bald Guys With Strong Opinions in which the two argue about the issues of the day. After the departure of LeDrew, Coren was joined by Tarek Fatah after several on air auditions by potential replacement co-hosts. Coren was again let go by CFRB along with 12 other staff of the Toronto radio station on 27 August 2009.

On television, Coren hosted the Michael Coren Show on the Crossroads Television System until June 2011 when he left to join the Sun News Network where he hosted The Arena with Michael Coren weeknights beginning 30 August 2011. Coren also had a newspaper column published every Saturday in the Sun newspaper chain until February 2015. He has been a columnist for the Western Standard, Catholic Insight and The Women's Post and has contributed to National Post, Reader's Digest and several other publications. A self-professed Tottenham Hotspur fan, he has appeared as a guest host on The Score's The Footy Show.

Following the demise of Sun News Network in February 2015, Coren briefly joined The Rebel Media, an online platform founded by Ezra Levant originally known as The Rebel Media and since renamed to Rebel News, but left the venture after a week.

Following his conversion to Anglicanism, Coren began to publicly embrace socially liberal ideas such as support for same-sex marriage. He stated that it negatively affected his career and that he became the target of personal attacks from former readers, observing that "there is none so angry as a fundamentalist scorned". In a 2015 interview Coren estimated that he lost $35,000 a year in income from lost speaking fees and his former recurring columns for Sun Media newspapers, Crossroads Christian Communications properties, The Catholic Register, and other conservative Christian publications. He also stated that contrition is a major aspect of his conversion and he regrets "so much of what [he] said, especially the tone" in his earlier career. Coren was ordained a transitional deacon in the Anglican Diocese of Niagara on 20 October 2019.

Coren is also a public speaker, particularly at religious gatherings.

AIDS and sexuality
In the 1990s and 2000s, Coren was alleged to have spoken objectionably about people with AIDS. In 1994, the Ryerson Review of Journalism reported Coren's response to an interview question about the disease:

"'What I do is attack something like a double standard on AIDS. Sure, we must find a cure for AIDS, we must put enormous amounts of money into it...” he pauses. 'Look, people are dying all over. When it was blacks in Africa dying of AIDS, no one gave a toss. Nobody gave a toss. Suddenly, it's middle-class men in California and everyone goes crazy about it. It's a double standard. I'm trying to provoke people into rethinking comfortable points of view'."

In 2006, Coren wrote a franker newspaper piece in Toronto Sun, questioning "Why is AIDS so special?": "At its most simple, stop fornicating. There, I've said it. One of the things that can end a career in North American media. Yet it's true. AIDS in the West is still overwhelmingly a threat to male homosexuals and intravenous drug users. It's now found in other groups, but it has taken years for that to happen and they still represent the minority of sufferers. More than this, the bulk of the newly infected tend to be people who have contracted the virus through permissive sexual practices."

With reference to the Bible, Coren would compare homosexuality to illegal sexual practices. In 2007, Coren wrote an Edmonton Sun article, saying: "As for Jesus not condemning homosexuality, nor did He condemn bestiality and necrophilia... Christ did indeed condemn homosexuality, as does the Old Testament, St. Paul, the church fathers and all Christianity until a few liberal Protestants in the last decades of the 20th century who, frankly, are more concerned with political correctness than truth."

International affairs
In September 2006, Coren published an article in the Toronto Sun supporting the use of tactical nuclear strikes against Iran. This position was retracted the following year.

Religious views
Coren's articles and speeches often include stories of his own personal spiritual journey. Coren's father was Jewish as was his maternal grandfather, while his maternal grandmother came from a family of Welsh coal miners and converted to Judaism. Coren's father and uncle were cab drivers. Coren has said that his father's family left Poland in the 1890s, a few decades before The Holocaust. He said "People have called me an anti-Semite. I thought it quite rich since my father's family was massacred in the Holocaust". Michael Coren was profiled on Credo on Vision TV, and said that his father told him he could not attend his son's wedding in a Catholic church without becoming "physically sick".

He converted to Catholic Christianity in 1984 while still living in England, later saying that he "converted to an institution."

He left Catholicism for Evangelicalism in the 1990s, after a conversion experience, greatly influenced by Canadian televangelist Terry Winter. In 1991, Coren said in a column for a humour magazine: "Evangelicals may be intolerant, small-minded, and repellent, but at least they hold a consistent set of beliefs". In a 1993 book review, he said "Can anyone imagine a detective priest? Regrettably, it is easier to conjure up the image of a priest being questioned by secular detectives over abuse charges." Also in 1993, he had a falling out with the Catholic Church over an unflattering profile he wrote of Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic for Toronto Life magazine. The bishop, who had made Coren a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre in October 1992, was quoted using words including "friggin" and "bitch", and said that the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco was a "conservative Catholic and not a bad fellow". Coren defended himself, saying "He's an archbishop and he was vulgar ... obviously what thousands of Catholics expected me to do was lie. I still get hate mail about the article."

After this incident, Coren said that he didn't consider himself a Catholic anymore. He said, "My wife is Catholic and the children will be raised Catholic, but that's it. It's just not there for me." Daniel Richler observed that Coren loves scandal, but hates having it come his way. In one of his columns for the satirical humour magazine Frank, Michael Coren depicted Mother Teresa getting drunk in a bar.

In early 2004, he embraced Catholicism again. He cites Thomas More, C. S. Lewis, Ronald Knox and his godfather Lord Longford as spiritual influences, and remains connected to the ecumenical scene in Canada and beyond.

In 2014, Michael Coren once again left the Catholic Church and began worshipping with the Anglican Church of Canada, being formally received into the communion the next year. In an interview with the National Post on 1 May 2015, he cited the Catholic Church's teachings on homosexuality and contraception as some of the reasons for his conversion to Anglicanism.

In contrast to his previous views, Coren now identifies as a Christian socialist. Coren supports infant circumcision, which he calls a "tradition [Jews and Muslims] consider holy and essential, based not in abuse and cruelty, but in concern and love for their child", and has said that its opponents are "irreligious zealots".

Coren is a priest of the Anglican Diocese of Niagara. He was ordained deacon in October 2019, and ordained priest in September 2021. He serves as assistant curate of the parish of St Christopher, Burlington.

Published books

 * Theatre Royal: 100 Years of Stratford East (1985) ISBN 0-7043-2474-1
 * Gilbert: The Man Who Was G. K. Chesterton (1990) ISBN 1-55778-256-3
 * The Invisible Man: The Life and Liberties of H. G. Wells (1993) ISBN 0-689-12119-9
 * The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1993) ISBN 0-7475-1229-9
 * The Man Who Created Narnia: The Story of C. S. Lewis (1994) ISBN 1-895555-78-7
 * Setting It Right (1996) ISBN 0-7737-2940-2
 * J. R. R.Tolkien: The Man who Created the Lord of the Rings (2001) ISBN 0-7522-6156-8
 * As I See It (2009) ISBN 0-9812767-0-9
 * Why Catholics Are Right (2011) ISBN 0-7710-2321-9
 * Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity (2012) ISBN 978-0771023156
 * The Future of Catholicism (2013) ISBN 0771023510
 * Hatred: Islam's War on Christianity (2014) ISBN 0771023847
 * Epiphany: A Christian's Change of Heart & Mind over Same-Sex Marriage (2016) ISBN 0771024118
 * The Rebel Christ (2021) ISBN 978-1459748514

title: Michael Coren