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Culture of Hungary

Hungarian culture is characterised by its distinctive cuisine, folk traditions, poetry, theatre, religious customs, music and traditional embroidered garments. Hungarian folklore traditions include tales, music, dance, decorated pottery, carvings and embroidery. Historically, Hungarian music has largely consisted of folk music and classical and baroque pieces. Hungary is in southeastern Central Europe and shares cultural similarities with neighbouring Balkan countries and Turkic nations in Asia. Noted Hungarian authors include Sándor Márai, Imre Kertész, Péter Esterházy, Magda Szabó and János Kodolányi. Imre Kertész is particularly noteworthy for having won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002.

Music

Hungarian folk music is a prominent part of the national identity and continues to play a major part in the country’s music. Prominent Hungarian composers include Franz Liszt, Franz Schmidt, Ernő Dohnányi, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, György Ligeti and Miklós Rózsa. Traditional Hungarian music tends to have a strong dactylic rhythm due to the Hungarian language consistently putting stress on the first syllable of each word. Hungary has a number of internationally known composers of contemporary classical music, including György Kurtág, Péter Eötvös and Zoltán Jeney, among others.

Franz Liszt spoke no Hungarian until 1870, when he started to learn the language, but clearly identified himself as Hungarian and founded the Academy of Music. Béla Bartók was also born in the former Kingdom of Hungary. György Ligeti was born in Transylvania, after the region was transferred to Romania. Both György Ligeti and Béla Bartók studied at the Liszt Academy before moving abroad, where a large portion of their work was written.

Broughton claims that Hungary's "infectious sound has been surprisingly influential on neighbouring countries (thanks perhaps to the common Austro-Hungarian history) and it's not uncommon to hear Hungarian-sounding tunes in Romania, and Slovakia. The Busójárás carnival in Mohács is a major Hungarian folk music event, formerly featuring the long-established and well-regarded Bogyiszló orchestra.

Hungarian classical music has long been an "experiment, made from Hungarian antedecents and on Hungarian soil, to create a conscious musical culture [using the] musical world of the folk song". Although the Hungarian upper class has long had cultural and political connections with the rest of Europe, leading to an influx of European musical ideas, the rural peasants maintained their own traditions, so that by the end of the 19th century Hungarian composers could draw on rural peasant music to (re)create a Hungarian classical style. For example, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, two of Hungary's most famous composers, are known for using folk themes in their music. Bartók collected folk songs from across Central Europe, including Romania and Slovakia, whilst Kodály was more interested in creating a distinctively Hungarian musical style.

During the era of Communist rule in Hungary (1944–1989), a Song Committee examined and censored popular music for traces of subversion and ideological impurity. Since then, however, the Hungarian music industry has begun to recover, producing successful performers in the fields of jazz such as trumpeter Rudolf Tomsits, pianist-composer Károly Binder, and in a modernized form of Hungarian folk, Ferenc Sebő and Márta Sebestyén. Hungary has had several popular rock bands such as Illés, Metró, or Omega, of which Omega has remained relevant to the present with small foreign followings in Germany and elsewhere. Veteran underground bands from the 1980s such as Beatrice also remain popular.

Architecture
Hungary is home to:

 * Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe, and the second largest in the world after the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem in Israel
 * Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, the largest medicinal bath in Europe
 * Esztergom Basilica, the third-largest church in Europe
 * Pannonhalma Archabbey, the second-largest territorial abbey in the world
 * Gödöllő, the second-largest Baroque castle in the world
 * Pécs, the largest Myles Necropolis outside Italy

Literature

In earliest times, the Hungarian language was written in a runic-like script (Rovásírás). The country switched to the Latin alphabet after being Christianized under the reign of Stephen I of Hungary (1000–1038). There are no existing documents from before the 11th century.

The oldest written record in Hungarian is a fragment in the Establishing charter of the abbey of Tihany (1055) which, while mostly written in Latin, contains several Hungarian terms, among them the words feheruuaru rea meneh hodu utu rea, "up the military road to Fehérvár". The oldest complete text is the Funeral Sermon and Prayer (Halotti beszéd és könyörgés) (1192–1195), a translation of a Latin sermon. The oldest poem is the Old Hungarian Laments of Mary (Ómagyar Mária-siralom), also a translation from Latin, albeit a flawed one, from the 13th century. It is also the oldest surviving Uralic poem.

Among the first chronicles of Hungarian history were Gesta Hungarorum ("Deeds of the Hungarians") by the unknown author usually called Anonymus, and Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum ("Deeds of the Huns and the Hungarians") by Simon Kézai, both written in Latin. These chronicles are a blend of history and legends, so they are not always historically accurate. Another chronicle is the Képes krónika (Illustrated Chronicle), which was written for Louis the Great.

Renaissance literature flourished under the reign of king Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490). Janus Pannonius—even though he wrote in Latin—is considered one of the most important writers in Hungarian literature; he was also the only significant Hungarian Humanist poet of the period. The first printing house was founded during Matthias' reign by András Hess in Buda. The first book printed in Hungary was the Chronica Hungarorum.

Matthias Corvinus' library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was among Europe's greatest collections of secular historical chronicles and philosophical and scientific works in the 15th century. In 1489, Bartolomeo della Fonte of Florence wrote that Lorenzo de Medici had founded his own Greek-Latin library after being inspired by the example of the Hungarian king. Matthias Corvinus' library is now part of UNESCO World Heritage. Two other important figures of the Hungarian Renaissance are poets Bálint Balassi and Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos.

The most important poets of the period following the reign of King Matthias were Bálint Balassi (1554–1594) and Miklós Zrínyi (1620–1664). Balassi's poetry, reflecting medieval influences, can be divided into three groups: love poems, war poems, and religious poems. Zrínyi's most significant work, the epic Szigeti veszedelem ("Peril of Sziget", 1648–49) is written in a fashion similar to the Iliad. In the poem Zrínyi recounts the heroic Battle of Szigetvár where his great-grandfather died while defending the castle of Szigetvár. Among religious works, the most important is the Bible translation by Gáspár Károli, the Protestant pastor of Gönc, which was completed in 1590. This translation is called the Bible of Vizsoly after the town where it was first published. (See Hungarian Bible translations for more details.)

The Hungarian enlightenment followed about fifty years after the Western European enlightenment, reaching Hungary through Vienna. The first writers of the Hungarian enlightenment were, among others, Maria Theresa's bodyguards György Bessenyei and János Batsányi. The greatest poets of this period were Mihály Csokonai Vitéz and Dániel Berzsenyi. The enlightenment prompted a reform of the Hungarian language. The greatest figure in this reform was Ferenc Kazinczy. Beginning at that time, Hungarian became useful for scientific writing, and many words were coined to name new inventions.

Hungarian literature has recently gained renown outside the borders of Hungary, mostly through German, French and English translations. Some modern Hungarian authors have become popular in Germany and Italy, especially Sándor Márai, Péter Esterházy, Péter Nádas, and Imre Kertész. Kertész is a contemporary Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2002.

The classics of Hungarian literature have remained largely unknown outside Hungary. János Arany, a famous 19th-century poet, is still much loved in Hungary, especially his collection of ballads. Arany is among several other "true classics" including Sándor Petőfi, the poet of the Revolution of 1848, Endre Ady, Mihály Babits, Dezső Kosztolányi, Attila József, and János Pilinszky. Other Hungarian authors are Ferenc Móra, Géza Gárdonyi, Zsigmond Móricz, Gyula Illyés, Albert Wass, and Magda Szabó. Vilmos Kondor has created a new trend in recent years, and is mentioned as the creator of Hungarian noir (see Budapest Noir).

Film
Many Hungarians have contributed to film art and its technology, but, due to political reasons, many of them found it was easier to find success abroad. As of 2018, Hungarians working in Hollywood and some in Hungary had received more than 150 Academy Award nominations and about 46 Academy Awards. Already in the 1930s there were 17 Hungarian nominations, but the peak was in the decade of the 1940s when about 51 nominations and 13 to 15 Academy Awards were given to exiled Hungarians. The best year was 1944 with 9 to 10 nominations and four (Michael Curtiz, Paul Lukas, George Pal, and William S. Darling) Academy Awards. The first Hungarian to be nominated was Lajos Bíró (1929) and the first to win the award was William S. Darling (1933). Art Direction might be the most successful category concerning wins/nominations: Paul Groesse 3/11, William S. Darling 3/7, Joseph Kish 1/5, Vincent Korda 1/4, Alexandre Trauner 1/2 and Marcel Vertès 1/1. The number of nominees and awards in all categories, exceeds all other nations, counted per capita.

Hungarians emigrated in large numbers after several disasters following the First World War (1918) when neighbouring countries—Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia—occupied parts of the former Kingdom of Hungary, which lost two-thirds of its territory in a 1920 treaty. There was a brief communist takeover accompanied by a so-called ″red terror″ and then a reaction against it called the ″white terror″, which disrupted the economy. At that time Hungarian filmmakers tried their fortunes abroad, first, as did Géza von Bolváry, in the German-speaking world and later in the English-speaking world. Film with sound was invented (1918) in Germany by Dénes Mihály. Béla Gáspár invented, 1932, the first full color one-strip film: Gasparcolor patented in 1933. With the advent of racial laws in 1939, Jewish citizens were forced to leave the country to find work. It is ironic that some of the most successful propaganda films during the Second World War for both sides were directed by Hungarians: Münchhausen by Josef von Báky and "Pimpernel" Smith by Leslie Howard. With another, longer-lasting, communist takeover in 1948, more Hungarians left. After the crushed 1956 revolution, more important filmmakers left, including Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács, Jean Badal and Peter Medak. Following the amnesty of 1960, the cultural climate eased somewhat. Nevertheless, despite the hardships of staying at home, some Hungarians received Academy Award nominations (21 times for 24 people up to 2018) and in some cases the actual Award (Ferenc Rofusz (1980), István Szabó (1981), Zsuzsa Böszörményi (1991) and co-winners Jászberényi, Perlaki and Priskin (2010), and co-winners Imre Major and Csaba Kőhegyi in 2014. The first Hungarian to be nominated from Hungary was Tamás Czigány, for best short documentary in 1967.

The best-known Hungarian film to date is Mephisto, by István Szabó. It won an Academy Award in the category Best Foreign Language film. The year before, in 1980, The Fly, an animation by Rofusz, became the very first Hungarian film to receive an Academy Award. The Foreign Student Academy Award went to Zsuzsa Böszörményi (1991). In 2010 the trio Márk Jászberényi, Tamás Perlaki and Gyula Priskin obtained the scientific and engineering award for Lustre, a software program to color-correct intermediates in real time, first used on The Lord of the Rings. In 2014, the same prize went to three Hungarians, Tibor Madjar, Imre Major and Csaba Kőhegyi. Up to 2018, ten films have been nominated in the category Best Foreign Language Film: four nominations to István Szabó (the most nominated person in Hungary), two to Zoltán Fábri (1969, 1979) and one each to Imre Gyöngyössy, Barna Kabay and Károly Makk, and On Body and Soul (2018). Three films have been nominated for Best Short Animation (Marcell Jankovics, Ferenc Rófusz and Géza M. Tóth). Cinematographer Lajos Koltai has been nominated for best cinematography in 2000. In 2016, Son of Saul won the second Best Foreign Language Film AA for Hungary. In 2017 Hungary won the best short feature category with Mindenki. In 2018, Hungary got its 10th nomination in the category Best Foreign Language Film for On Body and Soul by Ildikó Enyedi. The most successful film around 2019 is Eternal Winter by Atilla Szász. Those Who Remained was shortlisted for Best Foreign film 2020.

Hollywood
Cinematographers László Kovacs ASC, Andrew László ASC. Andrew Marton directed the chariot race in Ben-Hur for which he won a Golden Globe. Joe Eszterhas wrote Basic Instinct and became the highest-paid writer in Hollywood history. He also wrote the Berlin Golden Bear winner "Music Box" and the first Hungarian "blockbuster", Children of Glory. Zoltan Elek won AA-award (1986) for make-up. Actors of Hungarian origin are Peter Lorre, Paul Newman (10 AA nominations: 59, 62, 64, 68–69, 82–83, 86–87, 95, 99 and 2003)/one win 87 plus one honorary award 86 and 99 win), Tony Curtis (1 AA nomination), Johnny Weissmüller (Tarzan) and Béla Lugosi (Dracula), Franciska Gaal, Ilona Massey, Zsa Zsa Gabor. Hedy Lamarr was half-Hungarian as was Ali MacGraw nominated (71) (Love Story), Adrien Brody (1 AA), Goldie Hawn (1 AA), Marton Csokas and Isabelle Huppert, one nomination (2017).

Great Britain

 * Alexander Korda founded London films in order to compete with Hollywood on the same terms. He produced The Third Man with music of Anton Karas.
 * Producer Gabriel Pascal got one nomination (1939) for Pygmalion co-directed and starred by Leslie Howard.

Germany

 * Géza von Radványi made 70 mm films to compete with Hollywood.
 * Josef von Báky (directed Münchausen)
 * Géza von Bolváry
 * Géza von Cziffra
 * Eduard von Borsody
 * Julius von Borsody

Israel
Ephraim Kishon (b. Ferenc Hoffmann) was Israel's first nominee for best foreign-language film. He got two nominations (1964, 1972).

Czechoslovakia
Ján Kadár (b. János Kadár) won the first AA for Czechoslovakia (1965).

Canada
Paul Sarossy is active often as Atom Egoyan's cinematographer.

Hungary
Some years after the failed revolution of 1956 against the Soviet-dominated communist dictatorship, the cultural climate eased slightly; this led to more creative freedom. Important films in the 1960s were directed by István Gaál: (The Falcons), András Kovács: Hideg Napok (1966), Miklós Jancsó: The Round-Up (1965) (Screenplay: Hernádi Gyula, DOP: Tamás Somló), and István Szabó (The Father). Márton Keleti directed: Franz Liszt: Dreams of Love. (1970) filmed in 70 mm by István Hildebrandt. Other important filmmakers Sándor Pál, Márta Mészáros (Adoption Golden Bear Berlin 1975), Péter Gothár (Golden Lion, Venice): Time Stands Still (Cannes: Award of the Youth, 1982) (1982). Sunshine and Children of Glory are successful bigger budget movies about Hungary's turbulent past. Recent successful films include: János Szász: (Witman fiúk, DOP: Tibor Máthé 1997), György Pálfi: Hukkle (2002), (Taxidermia) (2006). The first super-studio in Hungary was Korda Studios. The next was Raleigh Studios, Budapest. Partly because of this an increasing number of foreign films, mainly with larger budgets, have been shot in Hungary in recent years, especially in Budapest. Budapest has been nicknamed "Hollywood on the Danube" because it is arguably now the most Hollywood-populated place outside the U.S. Steven Spielberg's Munich was also partly shot in Budapest. Most of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II was shot in Hungary. Altogether 47 foreign films were shot in Hungary in 2008, and 52 in 2009. In comparison, about 20 to 30 Hungarian movies are made annually.

Art movies
Hungarians were major pioneers in cinema both in Europe (e.g. Alexander Korda) and in the United States, and they have entered to the formation of the art movie.

István Szőts People of the Mountains won the Venice Biennale in 1942, then Géza Radványi Somewhere in Europe influenced the emerging neorealism.

After World War II the greatest Hungarian film director was Miklós Jancsó who won the first two international film prizes:
 * The Round-Up (Szegénylegények), Locarno, FIPRESCI, 1965
 * Red Psalm ("Még kér a nép" Sándor Petőfi), Cannes, Best Director Award, 1971
 * Hungary won Crystal Globe 2016
 * Hungary won Prix Europa (Best European TV Movie or Mini-series of the Year) 2017: Memo
 * Hungary won Prix Europa (Best European TV Movie or Mini-series of the Year) 2018: Eternal Winter by Attila Szász
 * Main Prize at Braunschweig Int. Film Festival 2018: X by Ujj Mészáros
 * Main Prize at Berlin Int. Film Festival 2018: On Body and Soul by Ildikó Enyedi
 * Main Prize at Monte Carlo Int. Film Festival 2019: Bad Poems by Gábor Reisz
 * Main Prize at Tuburon Int. Film Festival(US) 2019: Eternal Winter, also: Best Director, Screenplay, Actress and Cinematography

Cuisine

Traditional dishes such as the world-famous Goulash (gulyás stew or gulyásleves soup) are popular. Dishes are often flavoured with paprika (ground red peppers), a Hungarian innovation. Thick, heavy Hungarian sour cream called tejföl is often used to soften the dish's flavour. The famous Hungarian hot river fish soup called Fisherman's soup or halászlé is usually a rich mixture of several kinds of poached fish.

Other dishes include chicken paprikash, foie gras made of goose liver, pörkölt stew, vadas (game stew with vegetable gravy and dumplings), trout with almonds or salty and sweet dumplings, and túrós csusza, (dumplings with fresh quark cheese and thick sour cream). Desserts include the iconic Dobos Cake, Strudel (rétes), filled with apple, cherry, poppy seeds or cheese, Gundel pancake, plum dumplings (szilvás gombóc), somlói dumplings, dessert soups like chilled sour cherry soup, and sweet chestnut puree (gesztenyepüré) (cooked chestnuts mashed with sugar and rum, split into crumbs, and topped with whipped cream). Perec and kifli are widely popular pastries.

The csárda is the most distinctive type of Hungarian inn, an old-style tavern offering traditional cuisine and beverages. Borozó usually denotes a cozy old-fashioned wine tavern, pince is a beer or wine cellar, and a söröző is a pub offering draught beer and sometimes meals. The bisztró is an inexpensive restaurant often with self-service. The büfé is the cheapest place, although one may have to eat standing at a counter. Pastries, cake, and coffee are served at a cukrászda, while an eszpresszó is a cafeteria.

Alcoholic beverages
Pálinka: Pálinka is a fruit brandy, distilled from fruit grown in the orchards of the Great Hungarian Plain. It is a spirit native to Hungary, and comes in a variety of flavours including apricot (barack) and cherry (cseresznye). However, plum (szilva) is the most common flavour. Though many flavours are available, pálinka made of strawberries or walnut are considered to be a rare and expensive delicacy; variations also include pálinka sweetened with honey or fruit beds under the liquid.

Beer: Beer goes well with many traditional Hungarian dishes. The five main Hungarian breweries are Borsodi, Soproni, Arany Ászok, Kőbányai, and Dreher.

Wine: As Hugh Johnson says in The History of Wine, the territory of Hungary is ideal for wine-making. Since the fall of communism, there has been a renaissance of Hungarian wine-making. The choice of good wine is widening from year to year. The country can be divided to six wine regions, which include North-Transdanubia, Lake Balaton, South Pannonia, Duna-region or Alföld, Upper Hungary and Tokaj-Hegyalja. Hungarian wine regions offer a great variety of style, of which the main products of the country are elegant and full-bodied dry whites with good acidity, although complex sweet whites (Tokaj), elegant (Eger) and full-bodied robust reds (Villány and Szekszárd). The main varieties are Olaszrizling, Hárslevelű, Furmint, Pinot gris or Szürkebarát, Chardonnay (whites), Kékfrankos (or Blaufrankisch in German), Kadarka, Portugieser, Zweigelt, Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, and Merlot. The most famous wines from Hungary are Tokaji Aszú and Egri Bikavér.

Tokaji: Tokaji, meaning "of/from Tokaj", is used to label wines from the wine region of Tokaj-Hegyalja. Tokaji wine has received accolades from numerous great writers and composers including Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert, and Goethe; Joseph Haydn's favorite wine was a Tokaji. Louis XV and Frederick the Great tried to outdo one another in the excellence of the vintages they stocked, when they treated guests like Voltaire to some Tokaji. Napoleon III, the last Emperor of the French, ordered 30–40 barrels of Tokaji for the Court every year. Gustav III, King of Sweden, never had any other wine to drink. In Russia, customers included Peter the Great and Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

Zwack Unicum: For over 150 years, a blend of 40 Hungarian herbs has been used to create the liqueur Unicum. Unicum is a bitter, dark-coloured liqueur that can be drunk as an apéritif or after a meal; it is claimed that this helps the digestion. The recipe is held secret by the Zwack family.

Spa culture
Hungary is a land of thermal water. A passion for spa culture and Hungarian history have been connected from the very beginning. It has been shown that Hungarian spa culture is multicultural. The basis of this claim is architecture: Hungarian spas feature Roman, Greek, Turkish, and northern country architectural elements. Due to an advantageous geographical location, thermal water can be found with good quality and in great quantities on over 80% of Hungary's territory.

The Romans heralded the first age of the spa in Hungary; remains of their bath complexes are still to be seen in Óbuda. The spa culture was revived during the Turkish Invasion; the Turks used the thermal springs of Buda for the construction of a number of bathhouses, some of which are still functioning (such as Király Baths and Rudas Baths). In the 19th century, advances in deep drilling and medical science provided the springboard for a further leap in bathing culture. Grand spas such as Gellért Baths, Lukács Baths, Margaret Island, and Széchenyi Medicinal Bath are a reflection of this resurgence in popularity. About 1,500 thermal springs can be found in Hungary. About half of these are used for bathing.

The spa culture has a history of nearly 2,000 years in Budapest. Budapest has the richest supply of thermal water among the capitals of the world. There are about 450 public baths in Hungary. Nowadays the trend shows that bath operators are modernizing their facilities and expanding the services offered. A total of 50 of the 160 public baths are qualified as spas throughout the country. Services are offered for healing purposes. These spas provide every type of balneal and physical therapy.

The wine-growing terroir of Egerszalók
The spa at Egerszalók is noted for its position in one of the principal wine-growing regions of Hungary. Egerszalók is also notable for human-caused geological morphology: when the spa was expanded by the government in 1961, the flow of supersaturated mineral water sharply increased, leading to the deposition of a hillside of shining white travertine.

The thermal lake of Hévíz
Lake Hévíz is the largest biologically active, natural thermal lake in the world. The oldest and most well-known bath of Hungary, in accordance with records from the Roman era, has a history of 2,000 years. The Hévíz treatment, in its present sense, also dates back more than 200 years.

The 4.4 ha (11 acre) lake is fed by its spring rushing up at a depth of 38 m, containing sulphur, radium, and minerals. Due to the high water output of the spring, the water of the lake is completely changed within 48 hours. The water of the lake is equally rich in dissolved substances and gases, combining the favourable effects of naturally carbonated medicinal waters and those containing sulphur, calcium, magnesium, hydrogen-carbonate, as well as those with a slightly radioactive content. The medicinal Hévíz mud, which is unique of its kind, contains both organic and inorganic substances and the radium-salts and reduced sulphuric solutions in it represent special medicinal factors. The temperature of the water is 23–25 °C in winter and 33–36 °C in summer.

Folk dance

 * Ugrós (Jumping dances): Old style dances dating back to the Middle Ages. Solo or couple dances accompanied by old style music, shepherd and other solo man's dances from Transylvania, and marching dances along with remnants of medieval weapon dances belong in this group.
 * Karikázó: a circle dance performed by only women, and accompanied by singing of folksongs.
 * Csárdás: New style dances developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is the Hungarian name for the national dances, with Hungarian embroidered costumes and energetic music. From the men's intricate bootslapping dances to the ancient women's circle dances, Csárdás demonstrates the infectious exuberance of the Hungarian folk dancing still celebrated in the villages.
 * Verbunkos: a solo man's dance evolved from the recruiting performances of the Austro-Hungarian army.
 * The Legényes: It is a men's solo dance done by the ethnic Hungarian people living in the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania. Although usually danced by young men, it can be also danced by older men. The dance is performed freestyle usually by one dancer at a time in front of the band. Women participate in the dance by standing in lines to the side and sing/shout verses while the men dance. Each lad does a number of points (dance phrases) typically 4 to 8 without repetition. Each point consists of 4 parts, each lasting 4 counts. The first part is usually the same for everyone (there are only a few variations).

Embroidery

It was in the beginning of the 18th century that the present style of Hungarian folk art took shape, incorporating both Renaissance and Baroque elements, depending on the area, as well as Persian Sassanide influences. Flowers and leaves, sometimes a bird or a spiral ornament, are the principal decorative themes. The most frequent ornament is a flower with a centerpiece resembling the eye of a peacock's feather.

Nearly all the manifestations of folk art practiced elsewhere in Europe, also flourished among the Magyar peasantry at one time or another, their ceramics and textile being the most highly developed of all.

The finest achievements in their textile arts are the embroideries which vary from region to region. Those of Kalotaszeg in Transylvania are charming products of Oriental design, sewn chiefly in a single color - red, blue, or black. Soft in line, the embroideries are applied on altar cloths, pillow cases and sheets.

In Hungary proper, Sárköz (a historical area in Tolna) in Transdanubia and the Matyóföld in the Great Hungarian Plain produce the finest embroideries. In the Sárköz region, the women's caps show black and white designs as delicate as lace and give evidence of the people's wonderfully subtle artistic feeling. The embroidery motifs applied to women's wear have also been transposed to tablecloths and runners suitable for modern use as wall decorations.

Black pottery
These vessels, made of black clay, reflect more than three hundred years of traditional Transdanubian folk patterns and shapes. No two are precisely alike, since all work is done by hand, including both the shaping and the decorating. The imprints are made by the thumb or a finger of the ceramist who makes the piece.

Herend Porcelain
Founded in 1826, Herend Porcelain is one of the world's largest ceramic factories, specializing in luxury hand painted and gilded porcelain. In the mid-19th century, it was purveyor to the Habsburg Dynasty and aristocratic customers throughout Europe. Many of its classic patterns are still in production. After the fall of communism in Hungary, the factory was privatized and is now 75% owned by its management and workers, exporting to over 60 countries of the world.

Hungarian domestic animals
There are specifically Hungarian breeds of domestic animals which are seen as national symbols in Hungary:
 * Long-horn Hungarian Grey Cattle - Hungarian breed, traditionally kept in the open full year. Nowadays, they are raised for infant food due to natural, healthy meat.
 * Dogs [[Image:Vizslaonalog.jpg|thumb|A female Vizsla]]
 * Hungarian Vizsla - one of the oldest hunting dogs in the world. The ancestors of this dog came into the Carpathian Basin with the nomadic Hungarian tribes.
 * Puli - small shepherd dog
 * Komondor - large shepherd dog, was brought to Hungary a thousand years ago by nomadic Magyars.
 * Kuvasz - large shepherd dog
 * Pumi - small shepherd dog
 * Magyar Agár (Hungarian Greyhound) was already known in the 8th century. It is as old as the Vizsla.
 * Transylvanian Bloodhound - Hungarian hound
 * Mudi - shepherd dog
 * Hungarian thoroughbred horses - a mid-19th century mixture of the best Arab and English racehorse characteristics.
 * Mangalica, a breed of pig, with long curly hair and relatively fatty meat, which makes them ideal for making sausages and salami.

Sport
Only seven countries (USA, USSR, UK, France, Italy, China, and Germany) have won more Summer Olympic gold medals than Hungary. Hungary has the second most Olympic gold medals per capita in the Summer Olympics. Hungary has the ninth highest, out of 211 participating nations, all-time total medal count for the Olympic Games, with a total of 465 medals. This despite the fact that Hungary was punished and barred from participation in the 1920 and 1984 Olympics. In the Summer Olympics, Hungary was always been among the top 10 best nations (in gold medal count) between 1928 and 1996, when they were allowed to compete. Hungary had the third most gold medals in 1936, 1952, 1956, and 1960. See: All-time Olympic Games medal table (2008 data)

Among the most famous Hungarians is footballer Ferenc Puskás (1927–2006). He scored 84 goals in 85 internationals for Hungary, and 511 goals in 533 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues. Puskás played in the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final against West Germany. In 1958, after the Hungarian Revolution, he emigrated to Spain, where he played on the legendary Real Madrid team that also included Alfredo Di Stéfano and Francisco Gento.

Hungarians are also known for their prowess at water sports, mainly swimming, water polo (See: Water polo at the Summer Olympics) (in which they defeated the Soviet team in 1956), and canoeing (they have won multiple medals). Krisztina Egerszegi is one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 1996) and five time Olympic champion in swimming; and one of three individuals to have ever won the same swimming event at three consecutive Summer Olympics. She is currently also the only female swimmer who won five individual Olympic gold medals. As a player, till date Dezső Gyarmati (1927–2013) is the first and only athlete (man or woman) to win five Olympic medals in water polo: three gold, one silver and one bronze. As a head coach, he guided the Hungary men's national water polo team to three Olympic medals: one gold, one silver and one bronze, making him one of the most successful water polo coaches in Olympic history, and the only man to win Olympic gold in water polo as player and head coach in the last 100 years. In 2013, FINA described him as a "legendary water polo player and coach", and "one of the best players the game ever seen and in fact the most decorated in history".

Despite being landlocked, the presence of two major rivers (the Duna and the Tisza) and a major lake (Balaton), provide excellent opportunities to practice water sports. In recent years there has also been a steady rise in the number of golfers in the country; the sport has developed much over the past 20 years (after the fall of Socialism), but the economic situation hinders further development of golf courses.

Some of the world's best sabre fencing athletes have historically hailed from Hungary.

Hungary's national basketball team was one of Europe's major basketball forces from the mid-1940s until the mid-1960s when it won several medals at the European Basketball Championship and often qualified for the Summer Olympics. In the past decades, the team showed its potential less frequently. Its most famous player in recent decades has been Kornél Dávid.

The Hungarian national ice hockey team also qualified for their first IIHF World Championship in more than 70 years.

Games
Traditional toys are made from various plants, for example juglans (dió), nuts (mogyoró) or maize. "Erre csörög a dió, arra meg a mogyoró" is one of the most famous Magyar children's games.

Ulti is one of the most famous card games played by a 32-card set so-called: "Magyar kártya", exactly: "Tell-Karte" with German decks.

Button football is a tabletop game which is known in Europe, typically in Hungary.

The Rubik's Cube was invented in Hungary in 1977 and gained international fame.

Hungary has produced many top-level chess players, notably Judith Polgar and Peter Leko. The 45th Chess Olympiad is planned for Budapest in 2024.

Flag
The flag of Hungary is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green (red-white-green). This revised style was adopted on the 12th of October 1957 following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

The colours of were used during the coronation of Matthias II in 1608. It is speculated that the colours and their relationship with the Hungarian monarchy date back to the 13th century.

The colours of the flag are also present in the traditional Hungarian Coat of Arms. The red is thought to signify the various battles which Hungary has fought in, whilst the white and green denote Hungary's rivers and mountains respectively.

title: Culture of Hungary


text:
Rocky Ridge

Rocky Ridge is the name of various places:

Australia

 * Rocky Ridge, Queensland, a rocky outcrop and archaeological site nicknamed the Gympie Pyramid

Canada

 * Rocky Ridge, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta

United States

 * Rocky Ridge, a mountain in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, California
 * Rocky Ridge, Maryland, an unincorporated community
 * Rocky Ridge, Missouri, an unincorporated community in Sainte Genevieve County
 * Rocky Ridge, Ohio, a village
 * Rocky Ridge, Utah, a town

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

title: Rocky Ridge


text:
Charleroi (disambiguation)

Charleroi can refer to:

 * Charleroi, a city in Belgium
 * Brussels South Charleroi Airport, an airport in Belgium
 * R. Charleroi S.C., a football club in Belgium
 * Charleroi, Pennsylvania, a borough in the United States

title: Charleroi (disambiguation)


text:
Ernesto Bertarelli

Ernesto Silvio Maurizio Bertarelli (born 22 September 1965 ) is an Italian-born Swiss billionaire businessman and philanthropist.

The 2017 edition of the Sunday Times Rich List estimated the family's wealth at £11.5 billion, an increase of £1.72 billion since the previous year. Swiss magazine Bilanz estimated the family fortune at CHF13.5 billion. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bertarelli and family has an estimated net worth of $20.2 billion, as of 16 April 2021.

Biography
Born in Rome to Italian parents, his family moved to Switzerland in 1977. He graduated from Babson College in 1989, and earned an MBA at Harvard Business School in 1993.

Career

His grandfather, Pietro, joined Serono, a pharmaceutical company founded in 1906. In 1935 Pietro became the company's managing director, a position he was succeeded in by his son, Fabio Bertarelli, in 1965. Bertarelli became CEO in 1996 and, along with his sister Dona, inherited ownership in 1998 on the death of his father. Changing the company's focus from pharmaceuticals to biotechnology, revenues increased from $809 million in 1996 to $2.8 billion in 2006. The company gained fame from its discovery of a natural hormone used in the treatment of female infertility, and its treatments for multiple sclerosis and growth hormone deficiency.

Bertarelli and his family sold the company to Merck KGaA of Germany in January 2007 for US$13.3 billion, forming the new company Merck-Serono. His family split an estimated $9 billion stake at that time, which added to previous share sales when the company floated on the NY stock market in 2000, which is now invested mainly through his B-Flexion (formerly Waypoint Capital) investment vehicle. Bertarelli currently co-chairs – with his sister Dona – the Bertarelli Foundation which focuses on marine conservation and neuroscience research.

B-Flexion
Between 2002 and 2009, Bertarelli served as a board director of UBS AG. Management of the family's combined wealth is through B-Flexion, which invests through a number of separate specialist investment partnerships including such areas as real estate, technology, hedge funds and life sciences.

These businesses include Kedge Capital, an investment management group specialising in hedge funds and private equity; a UK real estate investment fund, Crosstree; and Gurnet Point Capital, a fund based in Boston that invests in healthcare and life science business.

As well as these businesses, B-Flexion, which is headquartered in Geneva, with offices in London, Jersey, Boston and Dublin, also manages investment holdings itself, including an allergy immunotherapy group Stallergenes-Greer,  Corium, Corium Pharma Solutions, a contract development and manufacturing company, and a number of asset management businesses such as Longview and Capital Four.

Campus Biotech
On 22 May 2013, it was announced that a consortium led by the Bertarelli family and comprising Hansjörg Wyss, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Geneva had been successful in their bid for the former Merck Serono site in Geneva, which had been put up for sale when that company announced in April 2012 that it would be closing its Geneva headquarters. The name of the joint initiative is Campus Biotech and the site became a ‘centre of excellence in the fields of healthcare, biotechnology and life sciences’. As part of this, the EPFL and the University of Geneva occupy some 15,000m2 of the site and, in October 2013, it was announced that Campus Biotech was to be the core of a new Swiss neuroscience valley with the research groups involved in the Human Brain Project and the Blue Brain Project, as well as most scientists from the Center for Neuroprosthetics, moving there in 2014.

Sailing
His relationship with this sport is due to his youth spent in Monte Argentario. The name Alinghi derives from the Bertarelli family boats that sailed in the regatta fields around Porto Santo Stefano and Porto Ercole.

In 2000, Bertarelli founded the yachting syndicate Team Alinghi, which in 2003, representing the Société Nautique de Genève, won the Louis Vuitton Cup before beating Team New Zealand in Auckland to win the America's Cup. It was the first time a team had ever won the coveted sailing trophy on its first attempt, with the victory bringing the Cup to Europe for the first time. Team Alinghi hired sailors from many different nationalities, including Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth, respectively skipper and tactician of Team New Zealand's 2000 crew. Bertarelli was Team Alinghi's only Swiss national serving as navigator in 2003 and subsequently as an afterguard runner and grinder in 2007, when Team Alinghi defended the America's Cup in Valencia. On July 3, 2007, Alinghi beat Team New Zealand in race 7 by 1 second to retain the America's Cup, winning the series 5–2.

In recognition of his success, in 2003 Bertarelli was named Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by French President Jacques Chirac, and was given the Cavaliere di Gran Croce by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic.

Société Nautique de Genève and Bertarelli's efforts to organize the 33rd America's Cup following their 2007 victory in Alinghi were subject to numerous legal challenges by the Golden Gate Yacht Club. The race finally took place in February 2010, in Valencia, Spain. Bertarelli was the primary helmsman of his boat Alinghi 5, which lost both races against the challenger USA 17 by a considerable margin.

Alinghi now competes in the Extreme Sailing Series, which it most recently won in 2016, and in the summer-long, one-class D35 championship on Lake Geneva. Since 2016 he is a member of America's Cup Hall of Fame.

Philanthropy
Bertarelli and his family established a foundation in 1999 for promoting research and development in the field of male and female infertility, assisted reproduction technologies, andrology, genetics and endocrinology; supporting training, education and international and national exchanges in these areas through grants. The Bertarelli Foundation, in Trelex, Switzerland, merged into the Foundation FABER, in Lausanne, in 2006, and since 2008 a renewed Bertarelli Foundation has regrouped the family's numerous philanthropic initiatives in the fields of charity, health, sciences, sport and culture.

Some projects recently sponsored by the Bertarelli Foundation have been the research Centre for Neuroprosthetics at the EPFL in Lausanne; the partnership with the British government to create the largest marine reserve in the world in Chagos, in the Indian Ocean; a joint research and education program in neuroscience between Harvard Medical School and EPFL; the Swiss Sailing Grants in partnership with the Swiss Sailing Federation; and the Henna Pre-School in South Africa and a partnership with the Stoke-on-Trent YMCA that was led by Kirsty Bertarelli.

Bertarelli is a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows. In 2023, Bertarelli pledged $75 million to Harvard Medical School to "advance scientific discovery and a culture of entrepreneurship".

Honorary doctorate
Bertarelli was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Marine Sciences from Plymouth University in 2013.

Personal life
Bertarelli met Kirsty Roper, a former 1988 Miss UK and songwriter, while on holiday in Italy in 1997. The couple married in 2000, and have three children. The couple's divorce was announced in October 2021. The couple lived in Gstaad and also spent time in their house on the shores of Lake Geneva.

In December 2008, Appledore Shipbuilders launched the hull of Project55, Bertarelli's new yacht, which was completed as Vava II by Devonport Engineering Consortium Ltd at Plymouth in February 2012

Honour

 * 🇮🇹: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (11 April 2003)

title: Ernesto Bertarelli


text:
Schöneberg

Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

History
The village was first documented in a 1264 deed issued by Margrave Otto III of Brandenburg. In 1751, Bohemian weavers founded Neu-Schöneberg also known as Böhmisch-Schöneberg along northern Hauptstraße. During the Seven Years' War on 7 October 1760 Schöneberg and its village church were completely destroyed by a fire due to the joint attack on Berlin by Habsburg and Russian troops.

Both Alt-Schöneberg and Neu-Schöneberg were in an area developed in the course of industrialization and incorporated in a street network laid out in the Hobrecht-Plan in an area that came to be known architecturally as the Wilhelmine Ring. The two villages were not combined as one entity until 1874 and received town privileges in 1898. In the following year it was disentangled from the Kreis of Teltow, and became a Prussian Stadtkreis (independent city). Many of the former peasants gained wealth by selling their acres to the settlement companies of growing Berlin and built luxurious mansions on Hauptstraße. The large town hall, Rathaus Schöneberg, was completed in 1914. In 1920, Schöneberg became a part of Greater Berlin. Subsequent to World War II the Rathaus served as the city hall of West Berlin until 1991 when the administration of the reunited City of Berlin moved back to the Rotes Rathaus in Mitte.

Gay life
The area around Nollendorfplatz has been the heart of gay life in Berlin, since the 1920s and early–1930s during the Weimar Republic.

The Eldorado nightclub on Motzstraße was closed down by the Nazis on coming to power in December 1932. Holocaust survivor Elsa Conrad co-ran the lesbian bar Mali und Igel. Inside the bar, was a club called Monbijou des Westens. The club was exclusive and catered for Berlin's lesbian, intellectual elite; one famous guest was the actress Marlene Dietrich. Each year the club hosted balls with up to 600 women in attendance.

The painter and printmaker Otto Dix used patrons of this establishment as subjects for some of his works. Christopher Isherwood lived just around the corner on Nollendorfstraße. This apartment was the basis for his book Goodbye to Berlin (1939) and later the musical Cabaret (1966) and the film Cabaret (1972) and is commemorated by a historic plaque on the building.

Neighborhoods
The locality of Schöneberg includes the neighborhoods (Stadtquartiere) of Bayerisches Viertel (English: “Bavarian quarter”; an affluent residential area with streets named after Bavarian towns) and the Rote Insel (English: “red island”) as well as Lindenhof and the large natural park area Südgelände (English: “south grounds”) on the outside of the Ringbahn railway circle line.

Popular sights

 * Dorfkirche, the old village church, built in 1766
 * Rathaus Schöneberg on John-F.-Kennedy-Platz (formerly Rudolph-Wilde-Platz, built in 1914), where, on 26 June 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy held his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in front of hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic spectators.
 * Headquarters of the RIAS Berlin (Radio in the American Sector) from 1948 to 1993, then headquarters of DeutschlandRadio Berlin from 1994 until the station was renamed Deutschlandradio Kultur in 2005. The building was erected in 1941 by the IG Farben conglomerate.
 * Former headquarters of the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), the public transport company of Berlin, on Potsdamer Straße
 * Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe), the largest department store in continental Europe, at Wittenbergplatz
 * Heinrich-von-Kleist-Park, first laid out in 1656 by Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg as a nursery, later Berlin's Botanical Garden, which in 1910 moved to Dahlem. The Kammergericht appellate court building was erected within the park in 1913, together with two colonnades by Carl von Gontard from 1780, which had been moved here from the Alexanderplatz. On 8 August 1944 it was the site of the Volksgerichtshof show trial of members of the 20 July plot led by judge-president Roland Freisler. From 1945 onward, the building served as the seat of the Allied Control Council in Berlin. When the Soviet representatives left the Council in 1948, the Berlin Air Safety Center remained there as the only four-power authority (besides Spandau Prison), while the rest of the building was empty. Today it again serves as the seat of the Kammergericht.
 * Pallasstraße Hochbunker, a former air-raid shelter, built in 1943 by forced laborers. A large social housing estate was built in 1977 to partially bridge over the bunker and to cross the street, the former site of the Berlin Sportpalast. This is where Joseph Goebbels held his 1943 "Total War" speech. It was demolished in 1973. The present housing estate is known to Berliners as the Sozialpalast ("Social Palace").
 * Lutherkirche at Denewitzplatz, which now houses the American Church in Berlin.

Born in Schöneberg

 * Kitty Kuse, German lesbian activist and economist, born 17 March 1904, died 7 November 1999
 * Blixa Bargeld, musician, born 12 January 1959
 * Eduard Bernstein, lived 1850-1932, Socialist economist and politician, member of Reichstag
 * Marlene Dietrich, actress, born 27 December 1901, Sedanstraße 65 (today: Leberstraße 65), Rote Insel, died 6 May 1992 in Paris; buried in the Städtischer Friedhof III cemetery, Friedenau
 * Gisèle Freund, photographer, born 19 December 1908, Bayerisches Viertel, died 31 March 2000 in Paris
 * Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor, born 25 January 1886, Maaßenstraße 1 at Nollendorfplatz, died 30 November 1954 in Ebersteinburg, Baden-Baden
 * Alfred Lion, co-founder of the Blue Note jazz record label, born 21 April 1909, Gotenstraße 7, died 2 February 1987 in New York City
 * Ernst Hermann Meyer, composer and musicologist, born 8 December 1905, died 8 October 1988 in Berlin
 * Helmut Newton, photographer, born 31 October 1920, Innsbrucker Straße 24, died 23 January 2004 in West Hollywood; buried in the Städtischer Friedhof III cemetery, Friedenau
 * Jürgen Ohlsen (1917–1994), child actor best-remembered for the role of Heini Völker in Hitlerjunge Quex (Our Flag Leads Us Forward) (1933).
 * Christian Ried (born 1979), racing driver
 * Nelly Sachs, writer, holder of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature, born 10 December 1891, Maaßenstraße 12, died 12 May 1970 in Stockholm
 * Margarete Seeler (1909–1996), was a German-born American artist, designer, educator, and author; known for her cloisonné work.
 * Willi Stoph, politician, born 9 July 1914, Rote Insel, died 13 April 1999 in Berlin

Lived in Schöneberg

 * Hans Baluschek, painter, Ceciliengärten housing estate, 1929–1933
 * August Bebel (1840–1913) Hauptstraße 97
 * Gottfried Benn (1886–1956) Bozener Straße 20
 * David Bowie (1947–2016) Hauptstraße 155, 1976–1978
 * Iggy Pop (born 1947) Hauptstraße 155, 1976–1978
 * Paul Burridge (born 1959) Winterfeldtstraße 83, 2006–2008
 * Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924) Viktoria-Luise-Platz 11, buried at Städtischer Friedhof III cemetery, Friedenau
 * Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), actress; born and lived with her husband and her family in Schöneberg before they finally left Germany in 1933.
 * Albert Einstein (1879–1955) Haberlandstraße 5, 1919-1933
 * Hans Fallada (1893–1947) Luitpoldstraße 11
 * Sepp Herberger (1897–1977) Bülowstraße
 * Hilde Hildebrand (1897–1976) (actress) Voßbergstraße 2, 1930–1932
 * Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986) Nollendorfstraße 17, 1930–1932
 * Klaus Kinski, actor, Wartburgstraße 3, 1930–1944
 * Hildegard Knef, actress, Sedanstraße 68
 * Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945) Motzstraße 7
 * Friedrich Luft (1911–1990) (theater critic, author and broadcaster) Maienstraße 4
 * Friedrich Naumann (1860–1919) Naumannstraße
 * Annemarie Renger (1919–2008) (President of the Bundestag 1972–1976) Bülowstraße
 * Ruth Margarete Roellig (1878–1969)
 * Jean Ross (1911–1973) Nollendorfstraße 17, 1930–1932
 * Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-von Sivers Motzstraße 30, 1903–1923
 * Claire Waldoff, singer, (1884–1957) Bamberger Straße, Starnberger Straße 2, Landshuter Straße 14, Regensburger Straße 33 1919–1933, Haberlandstraße 7
 * Billy Wilder (1906–2002) Viktoria-Luise-Platz 11, 1927–1928
 * Paul Zech Naumannstraße 78

title: Schöneberg


text:
DeDe Lind

DeDe Lind (born Diane Gayle Lind) was an American glamour model famous for her appearance in Playboy magazine as the Playmate of the Month for August 1967.

Playboy
Lind's photographer friend, Leon, talked her into testing for Playboy. At 19, she was selected to be the Playboy Playmate for August 1967. The photography was done by Mario Casilli. Lind received more fan mail than any other Playboy Playmate in history.

Lind's color likeness traveled to space. The November 1969 Playboy calendar photo of Lind was on Apollo XII. The ground crew for the mission stashed the photo, which they labeled "MAP OF A HEAVENLY BODY" inside a locker aboard the command module Yankee Clipper. Astronaut Richard Gordon, the commander of the Yankee Clipper, put the photo up for auction in 2011 for a minimum bid of US$1000. The winning bid was for US$21,013.20.

Later career
Lind appeared in the December 1979 issue of Playmates Forever and, in the early 1980s, in the first "Playmate Playoffs" special issue. Her video appearances for Playboy included Race Horses and a frontal-nudity appearance on a sailing yacht. She was also the subject for "Playmates Revisited" in the March 1996 issue.

As of 1999, Lind resided in Boca Raton, Florida.

Death
DeDe died February 4, 2020, from ovarian cancer in Boca Raton, Florida, at the age of 72.

Filmography

 * Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates (2004) (V)
 * Playboy: The Party Continues (2000) (TV)
 * Video Centerfold: Sherry Arnett (1985) (V)
 * Playboy After Dark (First Episode) (1968) (TV)

title: DeDe Lind


text:
Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea, is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of energy, and dehydration may also occur. This typically lasts less than two weeks. Although it is not related to influenza, in the U.S. and U.K., it is sometimes called the "stomach flu".

Gastroenteritis is usually caused by viruses; however, gut bacteria, parasites, and fungi can also cause gastroenteritis. In children, rotavirus is the most common cause of severe disease. In adults, norovirus and Campylobacter are common causes. Eating improperly prepared food, drinking contaminated water or close contact with a person who is infected can spread the disease. Treatment is generally the same with or without a definitive diagnosis, so testing to confirm is usually not needed.

For young children in impoverished countries, prevention includes hand washing with soap, drinking clean water, breastfeeding babies instead of using formula, and proper disposal of human waste. The rotavirus vaccine is recommended as a prevention for children. Treatment involves getting enough fluids. For mild or moderate cases, this can typically be achieved by drinking oral rehydration solution (a combination of water, salts and sugar). In those who are breastfed, continued breastfeeding is recommended. For more severe cases, intravenous fluids may be needed. Fluids may also be given by a nasogastric tube. Zinc supplementation is recommended in children. Antibiotics are generally not needed. However, antibiotics are recommended for young children with a fever and bloody diarrhea.

In 2015, there were two billion cases of gastroenteritis, resulting in 1.3 million deaths globally. Children and those in the developing world are affected the most. In 2011, there were about 1.7 billion cases, resulting in about 700,000 deaths of children under the age of five. In the developing world, children less than two years of age frequently get six or more infections a year. It is less common in adults, partly due to the development of immunity.

Signs and symptoms
Gastroenteritis usually involves both diarrhea and vomiting. Sometimes, only one or the other is present. This may be accompanied by abdominal cramps. Signs and symptoms usually begin 12–72 hours after contracting the infectious agent. If due to a virus, the condition usually resolves within one week. Some viral infections also involve fever, fatigue, headache and muscle pain. If the stool is bloody, the cause is less likely to be viral and more likely to be bacterial. Some bacterial infections cause severe abdominal pain and may persist for several weeks.

Children infected with rotavirus usually make a full recovery within three to eight days. However, in poor countries treatment for severe infections is often out of reach and persistent diarrhea is common. Dehydration is a common complication of diarrhea. Severe dehydration in children may be recognized if the skin color and position returns slowly when pressed. This is called "prolonged capillary refill" and "poor skin turgor". Abnormal breathing is another sign of severe dehydration. Repeat infections are typically seen in areas with poor sanitation, and malnutrition. Stunted growth and long-term cognitive delays can result.

Reactive arthritis occurs in 1% of people following infections with Campylobacter species. Guillain–Barré syndrome occurs in 0.1%. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) may occur due to infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli or Shigella species. HUS causes low platelet counts, poor kidney function, and low red blood cell count (due to their breakdown). Children are more predisposed to getting HUS than adults. Some viral infections may produce benign infantile seizures.

Cause
Viruses (particularly rotavirus (in children) and norovirus (in adults)) and the bacteria Escherichia coli and Campylobacter species are the primary causes of gastroenteritis. There are, however, many other infectious agents that can cause this syndrome including parasites and fungus. Non-infectious causes are seen on occasion, but they are less likely than a viral or bacterial cause. Risk of infection is higher in children due to their lack of immunity. Children are also at higher risk because they are less likely to practice good hygiene habits. Children living in areas without easy access to water and soap are especially vulnerable.

Viral
Rotaviruses, noroviruses, adenoviruses, and astroviruses are known to cause viral gastroenteritis. Rotavirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in children, and produces similar rates in both the developed and developing world. Viruses cause about 70% of episodes of infectious diarrhea in the pediatric age group. Rotavirus is a less common cause in adults due to acquired immunity. Norovirus is the cause in about 18% of all cases. Generally speaking, viral gastroenteritis accounts for 21–40% of the cases of infectious diarrhea in developed countries.

Norovirus is the leading cause of gastroenteritis among adults in America accounting for about 90% of viral gastroenteritis outbreaks. These localized epidemics typically occur when groups of people spend time proximate to each other, such as on cruise ships, in hospitals, or in restaurants. People may remain infectious even after their diarrhea has ended. Norovirus is the cause of about 10% of cases in children.

Bacterial
In some countries, Campylobacter jejuni is the primary cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, with half of these cases associated with exposure to poultry. In children, bacteria are the cause in about 15% of cases, with the most common types being Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and Campylobacter species. If food becomes contaminated with bacteria and remains at room temperature for a period of several hours, the bacteria multiply and increase the risk of infection in those who consume the food. Some foods commonly associated with illness include raw or undercooked meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs; raw sprouts; unpasteurized milk and soft cheeses; and fruit and vegetable juices. In the developing world, especially sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, cholera is a common cause of gastroenteritis. This infection is usually transmitted by contaminated water or food.

Toxigenic Clostridium difficile is an important cause of diarrhea that occurs more often in the elderly. Infants can carry these bacteria without developing symptoms. It is a common cause of diarrhea in those who are hospitalized and is frequently associated with antibiotic use. Staphylococcus aureus infectious diarrhea may also occur in those who have used antibiotics. Acute "traveler's diarrhea" is usually a type of bacterial gastroenteritis, while the persistent form is usually parasitic. Acid-suppressing medication appears to increase the risk of significant infection after exposure to a number of organisms, including Clostridium difficile, Salmonella, and Campylobacter species. The risk is greater in those taking proton pump inhibitors than with H2 antagonists.

Parasitic
A number of parasites can cause gastroenteritis. Giardia lamblia is most common, but Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidium spp., and other species have also been implicated. As a group, these agents comprise about 10% of cases in children. Giardia occurs more commonly in the developing world, but this type of illness can occur nearly everywhere. It occurs more commonly in persons who have traveled to areas with high prevalence, children who attend day care, men who have sex with men, and following disasters.

Transmission
Transmission may occur from drinking contaminated water or when people share personal objects. Water quality typically worsens during the rainy season and outbreaks are more common at this time. In areas with four seasons, infections are more common in the winter. Worldwide, bottle-feeding of babies with improperly sanitized bottles is a significant cause. Transmission rates are also related to poor hygiene, (especially among children), in crowded households, and in those with poor nutritional status. Adults who have developed immunities might still carry certain organisms without exhibiting symptoms. Thus, adults can become natural reservoirs of certain diseases. While some agents (such as Shigella) only occur in primates, others (such as Giardia) may occur in a wide variety of animals.

Non-infectious
There are a number of non-infectious causes of inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Some of the more common include medications (like NSAIDs), certain foods such as lactose (in those who are intolerant), and gluten (in those with celiac disease). Crohn's disease is also a non-infectious cause of (often severe) gastroenteritis. Disease secondary to toxins may also occur. Some food-related conditions associated with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea include: ciguatera poisoning due to consumption of contaminated predatory fish, scombroid associated with the consumption of certain types of spoiled fish, tetrodotoxin poisoning from the consumption of puffer fish among others, and botulism typically due to improperly preserved food.

In the United States, rates of emergency department use for noninfectious gastroenteritis dropped 30% from 2006 until 2011. Of the twenty most common conditions seen in the emergency department, rates of noninfectious gastroenteritis had the largest decrease in visits in that time period.

Pathophysiology
Gastroenteritis is defined as vomiting or diarrhea due to inflammation of the small or large bowel, often due to infection. The changes in the small bowel are typically noninflammatory, while the ones in the large bowel are inflammatory. The number of pathogens required to cause an infection varies from as few as one (for Cryptosporidium) to as many as 108 (for Vibrio cholerae).

Diagnosis
Gastroenteritis is typically diagnosed clinically, based on a person's signs and symptoms. Determining the exact cause is usually not needed as it does not alter the management of the condition.

However, stool cultures should be performed in those with blood in the stool, those who might have been exposed to food poisoning, and those who have recently traveled to the developing world. It may also be appropriate in children younger than 5, old people, and those with poor immune function. Diagnostic testing may also be done for surveillance. As hypoglycemia occurs in approximately 10% of infants and young children, measuring serum glucose in this population is recommended. Electrolytes and kidney function should also be checked when there is a concern about severe dehydration.

Dehydration
A determination of whether or not the person has dehydration is an important part of the assessment, with dehydration typically divided into mild (3–5%), moderate (6–9%), and severe (≥10%) cases. In children, the most accurate signs of moderate or severe dehydration are a prolonged capillary refill, poor skin turgor, and abnormal breathing. Other useful findings (when used in combination) include sunken eyes, decreased activity, a lack of tears, and a dry mouth. A normal urinary output and oral fluid intake is reassuring. Laboratory testing is of little clinical benefit in determining the degree of dehydration. Thus the use of urine testing or ultrasounds is generally not needed.

Differential diagnosis
Other potential causes of signs and symptoms that mimic those seen in gastroenteritis that need to be ruled out include appendicitis, volvulus, inflammatory bowel disease, urinary tract infections, and diabetes mellitus. Pancreatic insufficiency, short bowel syndrome, Whipple's disease, coeliac disease, and laxative abuse should also be considered. The differential diagnosis can be complicated somewhat if the person exhibits only vomiting or diarrhea (rather than both).

Appendicitis may present with vomiting, abdominal pain, and a small amount of diarrhea in up to 33% of cases. This is in contrast to the large amount of diarrhea that is typical of gastroenteritis. Infections of the lungs or urinary tract in children may also cause vomiting or diarrhea. Classical diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) presents with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, but without diarrhea. One study found that 17% of children with DKA were initially diagnosed as having gastroenteritis.

Water, sanitation, hygiene
A supply of easily accessible uncontaminated water and good sanitation practices are important for reducing rates of infection and clinically significant gastroenteritis. Personal hygiene measures (such as hand washing with soap) have been found to decrease rates of gastroenteritis in both the developing and developed world by as much as 30%. Alcohol-based gels may also be effective. Food or drink that is thought to be contaminated should be avoided. Breastfeeding is important, especially in places with poor hygiene, as is improvement of hygiene generally. Breast milk reduces both the frequency of infections and their duration.

Vaccination
Due to both its effectiveness and safety, in 2009 the World Health Organization recommended that the rotavirus vaccine be offered to all children globally. Two commercial rotavirus vaccines exist and several more are in development. In Africa and Asia these vaccines reduced severe disease among infants and countries that have put in place national immunization programs have seen a decline in the rates and severity of disease. This vaccine may also prevent illness in non-vaccinated children by reducing the number of circulating infections. Since 2000, the implementation of a rotavirus vaccination program in the United States has substantially decreased the number of cases of diarrhea by as much as 80 percent. The first dose of vaccine should be given to infants between 6 and 15 weeks of age. The oral cholera vaccine has been found to be 50–60% effective over two years.

There are a number of vaccines against gastroenteritis in development. For example, vaccines against Shigella and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), which are two of the leading bacterial causes of gastroenteritis worldwide.

Management
Gastroenteritis is usually an acute and self-limiting disease that does not require medication. The preferred treatment in those with mild to moderate dehydration is oral rehydration therapy (ORT). For children at risk of dehydration from vomiting, taking a single dose of the anti vomiting medication metoclopramide or ondansetron, may be helpful, and butylscopolamine is useful in treating abdominal pain.

Rehydration
The primary treatment of gastroenteritis in both children and adults is rehydration. This is preferably achieved by drinking rehydration solution, although intravenous delivery may be required if there is a decreased level of consciousness or if dehydration is severe. Drinking replacement therapy products made with complex carbohydrates (i.e. those made from wheat or rice) may be superior to those based on simple sugars. Drinks especially high in simple sugars, such as soft drinks and fruit juices, are not recommended in children under five years of age as they may increase diarrhea. Plain water may be used if more specific ORT preparations are unavailable or the person is not willing to drink them. A nasogastric tube can be used in young children to administer fluids if warranted. In those who require intravenous fluids, one to four hours' worth is often sufficient.

Dietary
It is recommended that breast-fed infants continue to be nursed in the usual fashion, and that formula-fed infants continue their formula immediately after rehydration with ORT. Lactose-free or lactose-reduced formulas usually are not necessary. Children should continue their usual diet during episodes of diarrhea with the exception that foods high in simple sugars should be avoided. The BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast and tea) is no longer recommended, as it contains insufficient nutrients and has no benefit over normal feeding.

A Cochrane Review from 2020 concludes that probiotics make little or no difference to people who have diarrhea lasting 2 days or longer and that there is no proof that they reduce its duration. They may be useful in preventing and treating antibiotic associated diarrhea. Fermented milk products (such as yogurt) are similarly beneficial. Zinc supplementation appears to be effective in both treating and preventing diarrhea among children in the developing world.

Antiemetics
Antiemetic medications may be helpful for treating vomiting in children. Ondansetron has some utility, with a single dose being associated with less need for intravenous fluids, fewer hospitalizations, and decreased vomiting. Metoclopramide might also be helpful. However, the use of ondansetron might possibly be linked to an increased rate of return to hospital in children. The intravenous preparation of ondansetron may be given orally if clinical judgment warrants. Dimenhydrinate, while reducing vomiting, does not appear to have a significant clinical benefit.

Antibiotics
Antibiotics are not usually used for gastroenteritis, although they are sometimes recommended if symptoms are particularly severe or if a susceptible bacterial cause is isolated or suspected. If antibiotics are to be employed, a macrolide (such as azithromycin) is preferred over a fluoroquinolone due to higher rates of resistance to the latter. Pseudomembranous colitis, usually caused by antibiotic use, is managed by discontinuing the causative agent and treating it with either metronidazole or vancomycin. Bacteria and protozoans that are amenable to treatment include Shigella Salmonella typhi, and Giardia species. In those with Giardia species or Entamoeba histolytica, tinidazole treatment is recommended and superior to metronidazole. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of antibiotics in young children who have both bloody diarrhea and fever.

Antimotility agents
Antimotility medication has a theoretical risk of causing complications, and although clinical experience has shown this to be unlikely, these drugs are discouraged in people with bloody diarrhea or diarrhea that is complicated by fever. Loperamide, an opioid analogue, is commonly used for the symptomatic treatment of diarrhea. Loperamide is not recommended in children, however, as it may cross the immature blood–brain barrier and cause toxicity. Bismuth subsalicylate, an insoluble complex of trivalent bismuth and salicylate, can be used in mild to moderate cases, but salicylate toxicity is theoretically possible.

Epidemiology
Diarrhoeal diseases world map - DALY - WHO2004.svg for diarrhea per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004

{{legend|#b3b3b3| no data }} {{legend|#ffff65| ≤500 }} {{legend|#fff200| 500–1000 }} {{legend|#ffdc00| 1000–1500 }} {{legend|#ffc600| 1500–2000 }} {{legend|#ffb000| 2000–2500 }} {{legend|#ff9a00| 2500–3000 }}

{{legend|#ff8400| 3000–3500 }} {{legend|#ff6e00| 3500–4000 }} {{legend|#ff5800| 4000–4500 }} {{legend|#ff4200| 4500–5000 }} {{legend|#ff2c00| 5000–6000 }} {{legend|#cb0000| ≥6000 }} ]] It is estimated that there were two billion cases of gastroenteritis that resulted in 1.3 million deaths globally in 2015. Children and those in the developing world are most commonly affected. As of 2011, in those younger than five, there were about 1.7 billion cases resulting in 0.7 million deaths, with most of these occurring in the world's poorest nations. More than 450,000 of these fatalities are due to rotavirus in children under five years of age. Cholera causes about three to five million cases of disease and kills approximately 100,000 people yearly. In the developing world, children less than two years of age frequently get six or more infections a year that result in significant gastroenteritis. It is less common in adults, partly due to the development of acquired immunity.

In 1980, gastroenteritis from all causes caused 4.6 million deaths in children, with the majority occurring in the developing world. Death rates were reduced significantly (to approximately 1.5 million deaths annually) by 2000, largely due to the introduction and widespread use of oral rehydration therapy. In the US, infections causing gastroenteritis are the second most common infection (after the common cold), and they result in between 200 and 375 million cases of acute diarrhea and approximately ten thousand deaths annually, with 150 to 300 of these deaths in children less than five years of age.

Society and culture
Gastroenteritis is associated with many colloquial names, including "Montezuma's revenge", "Delhi belly", "la turista", and "back door sprint", among others. It has played a role in many military campaigns and is believed to be the origin of the term "no guts no glory".

Gastroenteritis is the main reason for 3.7 million visits to physicians a year in the United States and 3 million visits in France. In the United States gastroenteritis as a whole is believed to result in costs of US$23 billion per year, with rotavirus alone resulting in estimated costs of US$1 billion a year.

Terminology
The first usage of "gastroenteritis" was in 1825. Before this time it was commonly known as typhoid fever or "cholera morbus", among others, or less specifically as "griping of the guts", "surfeit", "flux", "colic", "bowel complaint", or any one of a number of other archaic names for acute diarrhea. Cholera morbus is a historical term that was used to refer to gastroenteritis rather than specifically cholera.

Other animals
Many of the same agents cause gastroenteritis in cats and dogs as in humans. The most common organisms are Campylobacter, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium perfringens, and Salmonella. A large number of toxic plants may also cause symptoms.

Some agents are more specific to a certain species. Transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV) occurs in pigs resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. It is believed to be introduced to pigs by wild birds and there is no specific treatment available. It is not transmissible to humans.

title: Gastroenteritis


text:
John R. MacArthur

John Rick MacArthur (born June 4, 1956) is an American journalist and author of books about US politics. He is the president and publisher of Harper's Magazine.

Biography
MacArthur is the son of J. Roderick MacArthur and French-born Christiane L’Étendart. and the grandson of billionaire John D. MacArthur. He grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, graduating from North Shore Country Day School in 1974. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in history in 1978. In 2017 he was named a chevalier in the French order of arts and letters. He lives with his wife and two daughters in New York City. He is well known for his skeptical stance of the internet, all things technological and insistence on print publishing.

Career
MacArthur writes a monthly column, in French, for Le Devoir on a wide range of topics from politics to culture and is a regular contributor to the Spectator (U.K.), the Toronto Star, Le Monde Diplomatique and Le Monde.

Though John D. MacArthur disinherited his son J. Roderick MacArthur, the latter served on the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation until his death in 1984. In 1980, John R. MacArthur persuaded the foundation to partner in creating and funding a Harper's Magazine Foundation to acquire and operate the magazine of the same name. This new entity acquired Harper's Magazine (which was then losing nearly $2 million per year and was on the verge of ceasing publication) for $250,000. He became president and publisher of Harper's Magazine in 1983.

In 1993 he received the Baltimore Sun's H.L. Mencken Writing Award for best editorial/op-ed column for his New York Times exposé of "Nayirah", the Kuwaiti diplomat's daughter who helped fake the Iraqi baby-incubator atrocity.

MacArthur has been a reporter for The Wall Street Journal (1977), the Washington Star (1978), The Bergen Record (1978–1979), Chicago Sun-Times (1979–1982), and an assistant foreign editor at United Press International (1982).

MacArthur serves on the board of The Author's Guild and the Death Penalty Information Center. He received the Philolexian Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement in 2009.

title: John R. MacArthur


text:
Blankenberg

Blankenberg may refer to:

 * Blankenberg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, part of the Amt Sternberger Seenlandschaft, district of Parchim, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
 * Blankenberg, Thuringia, part of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Saale-Rennsteig, Saale-Orla-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany
 * Blankenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, near Siegburg, part of Hennef (Sieg)
 * Ngaire Blankenberg (born 1971/72), a South African-Canadian museum director

title: Blankenberg


text:
Deal Castle

Deal Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII in Deal, Kent, between 1539 and 1540. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the strategically important Downs anchorage off the English coast. Comprising a keep with six inner and outer bastions, the moated stone castle covered 0.85 acre and had sixty-six firing positions for artillery. It cost the Crown a total of £27,092 to build the three castles of Deal, Sandown and Walmer, which lay adjacent to one another along the coast and were connected by earthwork defences. The original invasion threat passed but, during the Second English Civil War of 1648–49, Deal was seized by pro-Royalist insurgents and was only retaken by Parliamentary forces after several months' fighting.

Although it remained armed, Deal was adapted by Sir John Norris and Lord Carrington during the 18th and 19th centuries to form a more suitable private house for the castle's captain, which was by now an honorary position. In 1904, the War Office concluded that the castle no longer had any value either as a defensive site or as a barracks and it was opened to the public when the captain was not in residence. Early in the Second World War, the captain's quarters were destroyed by German bombing, forcing Deal's then-captain, William Birdwood, to move to Hampton Court Palace and the castle became an observation post for an artillery battery placed along the shore line. The castle was not brought back into use as a residence and was restored by the government during the 1950s to form a tourist attraction. In the 21st century, Deal Castle is operated by English Heritage, receiving 25,256 visitors in 2008.

Background
Deal Castle was built as a consequence of international tensions between England, France and the Holy Roman Empire in the final years of the reign of King Henry VIII. Traditionally the Crown had left coastal defences to the local lords and communities, only taking a limited role in building and maintaining fortifications, and while France and the Empire remained in conflict with one another, maritime raids were common but an actual invasion of England seemed unlikely. Modest defences, based around simple blockhouses and towers, existed in the south-west and along the Sussex coast, with a few more impressive works in the north of England, but in general the fortifications were very limited in scale.

In 1533, Henry broke with Pope Paul III so as to annul the long-standing marriage to his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and remarry. Catherine was the aunt of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and he took the annulment as a personal insult. This resulted in France and the Empire declaring an alliance against Henry in 1538 and the Pope encouraging the two countries to attack England. An invasion of England appeared certain. In response, Henry issued an order, called a "device", in 1539, giving instructions for the "defence of the realm in time of invasion" and the construction of forts along the English coastline.

Construction
Deal and the adjacent castles of Walmer and Sandown were constructed to protect the Downs in east Kent, an important anchorage formed by the Goodwin Sands which gave access to Deal Beach, on which enemy soldiers could easily be landed and an area the King knew well. The stone castles were supported by a line of four earthwork forts, known as the Great Turf, the Little Turf Bulwark, the Great White Bulwark of Clay and the Walmer Bulwark, and a 2.5 mi defensive ditch and bank. Collectively the castles became known as the "castles of the Downes".

It is not known who designed Deal Castle, but Sir Edward Ryngeley and Thomas Wingfield served as the commissioners for the project, with Robert Loyrde and David Marten as the paymaster and comptroller, and Christopher Dickenson and William Clement as the master mason and carpenters. Work began at Deal in April and progressed at speed, with 1,400 men at work on the site by the following month. A strike for higher pay was broken up over the summer by Ryngeley and by December, when Anne of Cleves dined there, the castle was mostly completed. Deal and the other fortifications along the Downs cost the Crown a total of £27,092 to build, much of which came from proceeds of the dissolution of the monasteries a few years before. Lead, timber and stone from local monasteries were also recycled for use in Deal Castle.

Wingfield became the first captain of the castle in 1540, supported by a lieutenant and overseeing a garrison of eight soldiers, sixteen gunners and two porters. He reported to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

The original invasion threat passed, but the castle was reinforced in 1558, due to fresh concerns of a French attack. Around 1570, the main bastions were filled with earth, probably to allow heavier guns to be mounted on them, and Queen Elizabeth I inspected the castle in 1573. The defences along the coast were mobilised in 1588 in response to the threat posed by the Spanish armada and were probably kept ready for action throughout the rest of Elizabeth's reign.

17th century

During the first decade of the 1600s, England was at peace with France and Spain and coastal defences received little attention. By 1615, Deal Castle was in a poor state, its outer walls damaged by storms and coastal erosion, while a survey suggested repairs estimated at £396 were necessary. The Captain of the castle, William Byng, wrote numerous letters to his superiors, claiming winter storms had filled the moat with water and stones from the beach and undermined the castle foundations. By 1618, he reported most of the garrison were living in the nearby town, with only a small guard force manning the castle at night.

As its condition deteriorated, fighting between Dutch, French and Spanish ships in the Downs became common, increasing the strategic importance of fortifications along the Kent coast. A new survey in 1624 estimated the cost of repairs had escalated to £1,243 and George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, suggested nearby Camber Castle be demolished to provide materiel for the work. This does not appear to have been acted on, although some repairs were probably completed in the late 1630s. The castle was seized by Parliamentarian forces at the start of the First English Civil War in August 1642, with William Batten replacing William Byng, who was suspected of Royalist sympathies, although the castle played little part in this conflict.

When the Second English Civil War broke out in 1648, the Parliamentarian navy was based in the Downs, protected by Walmer and the other Henrician castles, but by May a Royalist insurrection was under way across Kent. The previous year, Batten had been forced to resign as Commander of the Fleet and he now encouraged elements of the navy to switch sides. Sir Henry Palmer, a former sailor, accompanied by other members of the Kentish gentry, also called on the fleet to revolt, taking advantage of the many fellow Kentish men in the crews. Walmer and Deal Castle declared for the King, shortly after the garrisons at Sandown. Rainsborough was removed from his post as captain. With both the coastal fortresses and the navy now under Royalist control, Parliament feared that foreign forces might be landed along the coast or aid sent to the Scots.

Parliament defeated the wider insurgency at the Battle of Maidstone at the start of June and then sent a force under the command of Colonel Nathaniel Rich to deal with Deal and the other castles along the Downs. Walmer Castle was the first to be besieged and surrendered on 12 July. Deal, which had been resupplied by the Royalists from the sea, was besieged in July. A Royalist fleet bombarded the Parliamentarian positions and temporarily landed a force of 1,500 Flemish mercenaries in support of the revolt, but a shortage of money forced their return to the Continent. The garrison then carried out a surprise attack on their besiegers but were fought back with some losses. The fleet, under the command of Prince Charles, attempted to land a fresh force in August, but despite three attempts the operation failed and suffered heavy losses. After news arrived of the Royalist defeat at Preston, Deal surrendered on 20 August and artillery assaults then began on Sandown, leading the remaining garrisons to surrender.

Rich became the new Captain and reported the castle had been badly damaged during the conflict, being "much torn and spoiled with the granades", and he estimated repairs work would cost at least £500. A governor, Samuel Taverner, was appointed, supported by a corporal and twenty soldiers. In light of the Dutch threat, Deal Castle was maintained and kept equipped with powder, and was reinforced with earthworks and soldiers at the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652. Following the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the garrison was reduced in size and their pay reduced, but the castle continued to play an important role in defending the Downs during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars, supported by local trained bands. Byng attempted to reclaim his former captainship under the new regime, and may have been briefly reappointed in early 1660. Following the December 1688 Glorious Revolution which removed James II, the townsfolk of Deal seized the castle in support of William of Orange, and took steps to defend the Downs against a feared Irish invasion which never materialised.

18th–21st centuries
Deal Castle continued to be used as a military fortification throughout the 18th century and in 1728 it was equipped with 11 culverin guns. The following year, the captain, naval officer Sir John Norris, redeveloped the castle to improve his personal accommodation. Similar work had been carried out at Walmer in 1708 by the Duke of Dorset, Lionel Sackville and there may have been some competition between the two men. The keep was redesigned with medieval-style battlements and wood-panelled accommodation at the rear overlooking the sea; the porter's lodge was also updated.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the castle was armed with nine 36-pounder guns, supported by further artillery batteries placed along the beach. To protect Deal, units of infantry and cavalry, called fencibles, were formed in 1794 by William Pitt the Younger—then both the prime minister and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports—and in 1802 units of bombardiers recruited by Pitt carried out military exercises at the castle. The politician and banker Lord Carrington carried out improvements to the castle in 1802, apparently as a rival project to his friend Pitt's work at Walmer. According to Samuel Wilberforce, Carrington had hoped to charge the cost of the work to the Treasury, but when he attempted to submit the claims, they were rejected by Pitt and he had to pay for the improvements himself.

Deal Castle was increasingly resembling a private house, rather than purely a fortification, and this led to arguments in 1829 as to whether it should be subject to local taxation as a private dwelling, or continue to be exempt as a military site. The captaincy had long since become an honorary position, given out as a reward by the Crown. In 1898, the War Office agreed that the Office of Works should be consulted over any external alterations to the historic castle and that the Office of Works would be responsible for paying for any resulting work. The War Office finally concluded in 1904 that the castle no longer had any value either as a defence or as a barracks and transferred it entirely to the Office of Works. When the captain was not in residence it was opened to visitors.

During the Second World War, in November 1940, during the Blitz, German bombers destroyed much of the captain's quarters, forcing the incumbent, William Birdwood, to move to Hampton Court Palace. Two 6-inch naval guns were mounted in front of the castle between 1940 and 1944, manned by 337 Battery of 563 Coast Regiment. The castle operated as a Battery Operating Post—one of the first-floor rooms in the keep became the Battery Office—and provided accommodation. Following Birdwood's death, in 1951, the castle officially ceased to function as a residence and was passed to the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. Restoration work was carried out during the 1950s, largely removing the remaining 18th-century modifications on the seaward side of the castle. In 1972 the captaincy of Deal Castle (in abeyance since 1951) was revived, as an honorary appointment, and vested in General Sir Norman Tailyour; he was succeeded in 1979 by Major General Ian Harrison. Since the latter's death, in 2008, the captaincy has been held ex officio by the Commandant General Royal Marines.

In the 21st century, Deal Castle is operated by English Heritage as a tourist attraction, receiving 25,256 visitors in 2008. It is protected under UK law as a scheduled monument.

Architecture
Deal Castle retains most of its original 16th-century structure, including a tall keep with six semi-circular bastions, 86 ft across, at the centre, flanked by a further six rounded bastions, the western of which served as a gatehouse, surrounded by a moat and a curtain wall. The castle's bastion walls are 15 feet thick. It was constructed using Kentish ragstone from near Maidstone, locally made bricks and Caen stone recycled from local monasteries. It was larger than its sister castles at Walmer and Sandown, measuring approximately 234 by across and covering 0.85 acre.

The castle originally had four tiers of artillery – the heaviest and longest-range weapons occupying the upper levels, including the keep – with a total of 66 firing positions and another 53 gunloops in the basement for handguns, should close defence be required. The embrasures in the walls were all widely splayed to provide the maximum possible space for the guns to operate and traverse, and the interior of the castle was designed with vents to allow the smoke from its guns to escape. The battlements on the modern castle are in a faux medieval, rather than Tudor, style and date from 1732.

The historian John Hale considered the original castle to form a transitional design between older medieval English designs and the newer Italian styles of defence. Like its sister castles along the Downs, Deal suffered from design problems: it needed too many guns to ever be fully equipped; its curved surfaces were vulnerable to attack; and despite attempts to keep the walls low and thick, its relatively high profile, driven by the requirement to support several tiers of defences, exposed it to attack.

Deal Castle is entered through the gatehouse, which originally overlooked a walled garden, since largely destroyed. The dry, stone-lined moat, 20 m wide and 5 m deep, would originally have been crossed over a stone causeway and a drawbridge, the latter now replaced by a modern wooden bridge. The gatehouse still has its original iron-studded doors – the historian Jonathan Coad considers them "among the best preserved for their date" – and five murder-holes to enable the garrison to defend the internal passageway with missiles or handguns; it would originally have also been protected by a portcullis at the entrance. The outer bastions were filled with earth in the 1570s, and have 18th-century ramparts; the superstructure around the eastern bastion was rebuilt after the Second World War. A passageway called "the Rounds" runs along the outside of the outer bastions, linking the handgun positions covering the base of the moat.

The keep has a central newel staircase, linking the basement, ground and first floors. When first built, the garrison would have lived on the ground floor of the keep, the first floor being used by the captain, and the basement for stores. The ground floor is subdivided by radial walls and originally would have been further subdivided by partitions; the original ovens and fireplace survive. The first floor mainly dates from the 1720s, although some Tudor elements remain. There is a wooden lantern structure on the top of the keep that contains a bell dating from 1655 and early 18th-century graffiti. The keep's gun embrasures were converted to form sash windows in the 18th and 19th centuries.

title: Deal Castle


text:
Brian Hutton

Brian Hutton may refer to:

 * Brian G. Hutton (1935–2014), American actor and director
 * Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton (1932–2020), Northern Irish judge and peer

title: Brian Hutton