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Indian nationality law

Indian nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds Indian nationality. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the Constitution of India and the Citizenship Act, 1955.

All persons born in India between 26 January 1950 and 1 July 1987 automatically received citizenship by birth regardless of the nationalities of their parents. Between 1 July 1987 and 3 December 2004, citizenship by birth was granted if at least one parent was a citizen. Individuals born in the country since then receive Indian citizenship at birth only if both parents are Indian citizens, or if one parent is a citizen and the other is not considered an illegal migrant.

Foreigners may become Indian citizens by naturalisation after residing in the country for at least 12 years and renouncing any previous nationalities. Members of certain religious minority communities from neighbouring countries qualify for a reduced residence requirement of six years. Indian citizens who permanently settle in Pakistan or Bangladesh, or voluntarily acquire foreign citizenship automatically lose Indian citizenship. Dual citizenship is allowed in certain cases of minor children.

India was previously ruled by the British Empire and local residents were British subjects and British protected persons. Although India gained independence in 1947 and Indians no longer hold British nationality, they continue to have favoured status when residing in the United Kingdom; as Commonwealth citizens, Indians are eligible to vote in UK elections and serve in public office there. Indian citizens also enjoy free movement rights in Nepal through bilateral agreement.

Terminology
The distinction between the meaning of the terms citizenship and nationality is not always clear in the English language and differs by country. Generally, nationality refers a person's legal belonging to a nation state and is the common term used in international treaties when referring to members of a state; citizenship refers to the set of rights and duties a person has in that nation.

In general discourse within the Indian context, the two terms are used interchangeably. However, the Supreme Court provides a more precise definition applicable in Indian law; citizenship is a legal status that can only be held by natural persons and determines the civil and political rights a person may exercise, while nationality is a status that can apply to both natural and juridical persons that determines the rights that entity has in the context of international law.

Company administration
The East India Company was founded by royal charter in 1600 and granted a monopoly on all English trade with Asia. Over the course of the 17th century, the company secured a strong commercial presence in the Indian subcontinent through trade in indigo dye, saltpeter, and Indian textiles. Operations became more lucrative as the Mughal Empire entered into decline in the 18th century, giving the company opportunity to gain further advantages by intervening in regional politics. The vast financial resources of the firm and its superior military enabled it to defeat rival European trade companies and become the dominant power in India. The company itself ruled as the direct governing body from 1757 to 1858, though sovereignty was often shared with the Crown. Although legislation was enacted referencing British subjects in India, no comprehensive nationality statute existed to define which persons were subjects, leaving the status of native Indians ambiguous throughout this period.

Legislation passed in 1852 allowed foreigners residing in territory governed by the East India Company to naturalise as British subjects by application to the government. There was no minimum residence requirement and candidates simply needed approval from a relevant official. The oath of allegiance administered to successful applicants required them to swear loyal service to the company, as well as allegiance to the British monarch.

Direct imperial rule
India was brought under direct rule of the British Empire in 1858. Territories were broadly divided between two political groupings: the provinces of British India, which were administered by the British government, and the princely states, which were areas ruled by local monarchs given limited autonomy in exchange for accepting British suzerainty. Provincial residents were British subjects, while subjects of princely state rulers were considered British protected persons instead.

Although Britain held comprehensive jurisdiction in both types of holdings, domestic law treated the princely states as foreign territory. British protected persons were treated as aliens in the United Kingdom, but both Indian British subjects and protected persons could be issued British Indian passports. Protected persons could not travel to the UK without first requesting permission, but were afforded the same consular protection as British subjects when travelling outside of the Empire. A person with connections both to directly governed portions of British India and one of the princely states could be a British subject and British protected person simultaneously.

British nationality law during this time was uncodified and did not have a standard set of regulations, relying instead on past precedent and common law. Until the mid-19th century, it was unclear whether naturalisation rules in the United Kingdom were applicable in other parts of the Empire. Each colony had wide discretion in developing their own procedures and requirements for admitting foreigners as subjects. Naturalisation in Britain was achieved through individual Acts of Parliament until 1844, when a more streamlined administrative process was introduced. In 1847, the Imperial Parliament formalised a clear distinction between subjects who were naturalised in the UK and those who did so in other territories. Individuals who were naturalised in the UK were deemed to have received the status by imperial naturalisation, which was valid throughout the Empire. Those naturalised in colonies were said to have gone through local naturalisation and were given subject status valid only within the relevant territory. For example, a subject locally naturalised in Bengal was a British subject there, but not in England nor New South Wales. Like protected persons, locally naturalised British subjects were still entitled to imperial protection when travelling outside of the Empire.

The Imperial Parliament brought regulations for British subject status into codified statute law for the first time with passage of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 17). British subject status was standardised as a common nationality across the Empire. This act allowed Dominions and British India to grant subject status to aliens by imperial naturalisation, but did not prevent further grants of local naturalisation under local legislation. The continued application of local naturalisation allowed British Indian authorities to avoid adding English language requirements to the naturalisation process.

Unequal status
Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Queen Victoria issued a royal proclamation to the "Princes, Chiefs and People of India" in 1858, declaring the Crown to be "bound to the natives of our Indian territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects". Official rhetoric emphasised British subject status as a platform of equity, illustrating an imperial philosophy that all subjects of the Crown were equal before the law, regardless of race or background.

This ideal was directly contradicted by a series of immigration restrictions in other colonies and Dominions that were created to exclude non-white migrants, including Indian British subjects, from entering their borders. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa all enacted legislation severely restricting Indian immigration in some form by the early 20th century. Indians had greater success exercising their British subject rights in Britain itself, exemplified by the election of two Indian candidates to the House of Commons, Dadabhai Naoroji and Mancherjee Bhownaggree.

Demands for an equal imperial citizenship with the same status and rights as European British subjects were a primary motivator for Indian civil rights movements throughout the Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While the imperial government had recognised these claims as legitimate prior to the First World War, it was nervous at the prospect of these movements becoming revolutionary in nature and decided to forcefully suppress local unrest rather than politically address Indian concerns. As it became apparent that equality within the British Empire would not be possible, the focus of post-war Indian political movements turned towards independence.

Partition and transition
British India was partitioned into two independent Dominions on 15 August 1947, the Union of India and Federation of Pakistan. India transitionally retained the British sovereign as its head of state until its continued membership in the Commonwealth of Nations as a republic was agreed upon at the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. Indians continued to be British subjects until independent India enacted its own nationality legislation. Subjects of the princely states, who were previously considered British protected persons, became British subjects of India when their states acceded to India.

British subject status was reformed under the British Nationality Act 1948. The Act abandoned the common nationality used across the Empire and redefined British subject to mean any citizen of a Commonwealth country. A Commonwealth citizen was defined in this Act to have the same meaning. British subject/Commonwealth citizen status co-existed with the citizenship of each Commonwealth country. Because India had not enacted citizenship regulations by the time the 1948 Act took effect on 1 January 1949, Indians (and citizens of all other Dominions without citizenship laws) were provisionally classed as "British subjects without citizenship".

Republic and a national citizenship
The citizenship provisions of the Constitution of India came into force on 26 November 1949, in advance of the document's full effective date and the country's conversion into a republic on 26 January 1950. The partition resulted in large-scale population movements across the new borders separating India and Pakistan. In this context, the Constituent Assembly limited the scope of the Constitution's citizenship provisions for the immediate purpose of determining citizenship of these migrants. The Citizenship Act later enacted by Parliament in 1955 provides a full framework detailing citizenship requirements after that point.

Any individual domiciled in India automatically became an Indian citizen in 1949 if they were: born in India, born to at least one parent who themself was born in India, or living in India for at least five years prior to the Constitution's commencement. Individuals of Indian descent living outside of the country could register for citizenship, but a person who had voluntarily acquired citizenship of a foreign state was barred from Indian citizenship. In this context, the definition of "foreign state" does not include Commonwealth member states.

Persons who migrated from the area that became part of Pakistan could be registered as Indian citizens if they (or a parent or grandparent) were born in any part of pre-partition India as defined by the Government of India Act 1935 and had either become domiciled in Indian territory before 19 July 1948, or had been registered as a citizen of India by Dominion officials after that date, but before commencement of the Constitution. Migrants from Pakistan were required to have been domiciled in India for at least six months prior to applying for registration. Conversely, persons who migrated from India to Pakistan and settled there at any time are not considered Indian citizens.

Migration between Nepal and India has been unrestricted since before a clear boundary existed between the two countries. While the British Indian government had encouraged Nepalese to settle in northeastern India to facilitate the growth of tea plantations in that area, high levels of migration between the two countries continued to occur due to cultural and religious similarities. Following Indian independence, the government negotiated a free movement agreement with Nepal that resulted in the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship; all Indian and Nepalese citizens have since had the officially sanctioned ability to live and work in either country.

Commonwealth citizenship
Commonwealth citizens initially continued to hold an automatic right to settle in the United Kingdom and Ireland after 1949. Non-white immigration into the UK was systemically discouraged, but strong economic conditions in Britain following the Second World War attracted an unprecedented wave of colonial migration. In response, the British Parliament imposed immigration controls on any Commonwealth citizens originating from outside the British Islands with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962. Ireland had continued to allow all British subjects free movement despite independence in 1922 as part of the Common Travel Area arrangement, but moved to mirror Britain's restriction in 1962 by limiting this ability only to people born on the islands of Great Britain or Ireland. Britain somewhat relaxed these measures in 1971 for patrials, subjects whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom, which gave effective preferential treatment to white Commonwealth citizens.

Under the 1955 Citizenship Act, Commonwealth citizens were eligible to obtain Indian citizenship by registration in lieu of naturalisation, though there were no specific advantages to this method of acquisition. This pathway was available until Commonwealth citizen status was removed from Indian law in 2003. The UK itself updated its nationality law to reflect the more modest boundaries of its remaining territory and overseas possessions with the British Nationality Act 1981, which redefined the term "British subject" to no longer also include Commonwealth citizens. Indian citizens remain Commonwealth citizens in British law and are still eligible to vote and stand for public office in the UK.

Integration of remaining colonies
Remaining European colonial possessions in India were reintegrated by 1961. French-administered Chandernagore held a referendum in 1949 resulting in the city's merger with West Bengal, while the rest of French India was relinquished by 1954. Portuguese India was taken by force with two military offensives in 1954 and 1961. Although most residents of these territories were given a choice between acquiring Indian citizenship and retaining their previous nationalities, those from Dadra and Nagar Haveli were not. In Goa, Daman and Diu, residents automatically became Indian citizens on 20 December 1961 unless they had made a written declaration before this date stating their intention to retain their existing nationality. Portugal did not recognise the annexation of its former Indian territories; persons born in applicable areas before 3 June 1975 were recognized as Portuguese citizens.

Accession of Sikkim
The Kingdom of Sikkim was an autonomous monarchy in northeastern India from the 17th century to 1975. Although Britain (and later India) had control over its foreign affairs, Sikkim was never considered a princely state and always held full autonomy over domestic matters. Sikkim lacked codified nationality legislation until 1961, when the Sikkim Subject Regulation came into force. This legislation initially defined Sikkim subjects as anyone of native ancestry with their permanent home in the country, or a person permanently settled in Sikkim who had cut all ties with their previous country or had acquired real estate in Sikkim. Subject status was further restricted by a requirement to have held property rights in Sikkim before 1937, effectively barring a large number of Nepali residents from obtaining a permanent status in the country. Dual citizenship was prohibited and women automatically lost their rights as subjects on their marriage to non-Sikkimese men.

The ethnic qualification to subject status was particularly unpopular, leading to a revolt and the repeal of the regulation in the following year. However, the 1962 amendment also created a facilitated naturalisation pathway for non-subjects of native ancestry; any person descended from a person domiciled in Sikkim before 1850 could apply for subject status even if they did not live in the country.

After the dissolution of Sikkim's monarchy and its accession to India in 1975, any person registered as a Sikkimese subject before 26 April 1975 became an Indian citizen. This process of acquisition left certain groups of people living in Sikkim stateless including long-term residents without property, Sikkimese women who married non-Sikkimese, and individuals who had otherwise qualified for subject status but failed to complete registration before 1975.

Legislative responses to migration
Indian nationality regulations were broadly permissive when they were first created at the time of the republic's founding. Successive governments since the 1980s have gradually increased the difficulty of acquiring Indian citizenship in response to changing patterns of immigration from neighbouring countries.

Large-scale migration into Assam from Bengal began during colonial rule. British authorities encouraged workers from outside the region to resettle there to provide a continual source of labour for railway construction, agricultural development, and resource mining. The National Register of Citizens for Assam was created in 1951 to maintain a central ledger of all citizens in the state as a result of local discontent towards the influx of migrants.

Assam's population growth rate was substantially higher than the rest of India for the entire period between 1901 and 1981. The highest levels of migration occurred in the decade following the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War; an estimated 1.8 million people settled in the state in the 1970s, compared to 221,000 in the 1950s and 424,000 in the 1960s. During a local election in 1979, a substantial portion of the enrolled electorate was discovered to be non-citizens. The ensuing backlash triggered the multi-year Assam Movement, which demanded the expulsion of foreigners in the state. Protest organisers and government officials ultimately agreed on the Assam Accord in 1985, which resulted in the addition of Section 6A to the Citizenship Act that same year. Under this change, any person who had been living in Assam prior to 1966 was an Indian citizen; those who settled there between 1966 and 1971 were removed from electoral rolls and subject to a 10-year waiting period before becoming eligible to register for citizenship. Migrants arriving after 1971 were all considered to have illegally immigrated.

Ethnic conflict in neighbouring Sri Lanka led to civil war in 1983. Following the start of hostilities, about 100,000 people sought refuge in India. This event, combined with sustained unrest in Assam, led to another amendment to the Citizenship Act in 1986 that limited citizenship by birth to children born to at least one Indian parent. A further amendment in 2003 restricted that entitlement only to children with two Indian parents, or those with one parent who is a citizen and if the other is not considered an illegal migrant. Mandatory registration in the National Register of Citizens for the entire country (contrasted with the register specific to Assam) was introduced in that year, as well as overseas citizenship for the Indian diaspora living abroad.

Restrictions were selectively relaxed in 2019 for migrants from neighbouring countries belonging to certain religious groups who illegally entered India before 2015; persons from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, or Christians are not counted as illegal migrants for nationality purposes and are eligible for a reduced six-year residence requirement for naturalisation. The enactment of these changes sparked widespread protests for countering the secular nature of earlier citizenship law.

The National Register of Citizens for Assam was comprehensively updated in 2019, with every citizen in the state required to show proof of their citizenship and pre-1971 settlement. 1.9 million people failed to provide sufficient documentation and were not listed on the register, leaving them stateless and subject to deportation.

Entitlement by birth or descent
All persons born in India between 26 January 1950 and 1 July 1987 automatically received citizenship by birth regardless of the nationalities of their parents. From 1 July 1987 until 3 December 2004, children born in the country received Indian citizenship by birth if at least one parent was a citizen. Since then, citizenship by birth is granted only if both parents are Indian citizens, or if one parent is a citizen and the other is not considered an illegal migrant.

Children born overseas are eligible to become Indian citizens by descent if at least one parent is a citizen. The birth of eligible persons must be registered at an Indian diplomatic mission within a certain time frame for citizenship to be granted. Individuals born before 3 September 2004 were not required to have had their birth registered and received citizenship by descent automatically, unless either parent was an Indian citizen by descent, in which case registration of their birth was mandatory. Prior to 10 December 1992, only children of Indian fathers (not mothers) were eligible for citizenship by descent. Indian citizens by descent who hold another nationality automatically cease to be Indian citizens six months after reaching the age of 18, unless they renounce their foreign nationality.

Voluntary acquisition
Certain non-citizens qualify for citizenship by registration if they are married to an Indian citizen, are minor children of Indian citizens, or are of Indian origin and living either in the country or outside the area of pre-partition India. Persons whose parents are Indian citizens, who themselves or their parents had previously held Indian citizenship, or have held overseas citizenship for at least five years are also eligible to acquire citizenship by registration. Eligible individuals must be resident in the country for at least 12 months prior to an application for registration, and are subject to additional residence requirements depending on the criterion they qualified under.

All other foreigners may become Indian citizens by naturalisation after residing in the country for at least 11 of the previous 14 years, with an additional 12 months of residence immediately preceding an application, a total of 12 years. Anyone acquiring Indian citizenship through either naturalisation or registration must renounce their previous nationalities. Between 2010 and 2019, about 21,000 people naturalised as Indian citizens.

Any person deemed to be an illegal migrant is typically barred from obtaining citizenship through both naturalisation and registration. However, migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan who belong to selected religious communities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, or Christians) and arrived in India prior to 2015 are not considered illegal migrants. They are eligible for naturalisation with a reduced residence requirement; at least five years of residence during the previous 14-year period, along with the additional 12 months of residence immediately preceding an application.

Relinquishment and deprivation
Indian citizenship can be voluntarily relinquished by any person over the age of 18. Minor children of a person who gave up citizenship also cease to be citizens. On reaching adult age, these children have the option of resuming Indian citizenship within one year. Before 2003, relinquishment required holding nationality of another country, and all married women were considered to be of full age for the purposes of giving up citizenship regardless of their actual age. Minor children lost citizenship only if their fathers (not mothers) relinquished that status until 1992. Any Indian citizen who permanently settles in Pakistan or Bangladesh, or who voluntarily acquires citizenship of another country at any time automatically loses Indian citizenship. Between 2015 and 2019, about 670,000 people lost their Indian citizenship either through renunciation or automatic loss after acquiring a foreign nationality.

Dual citizenship
Indian citizens by descent can be dual citizens till 18 upon which they have to choose a citizenship  Dual citizenship was allowed with specific countries till 2005. Citizenship amendment bill of 2003 allowed citizens by descent to continue Indian citizenship after 18 if they registered as overseas citizens. Residents of Goa have claimed to have dual citizenship since there was no law terminating their previous citizenship.

Overseas citizenship
Former Indian citizens and descendants of citizens have been eligible for overseas citizenship since its creation in 2003. This status gives its holders a lifelong entitlement to live and work in the country but they cannot vote in elections, stand for public office, and are subject to restrictions on entry into protected and restricted areas. Overseas citizenship is a status created specifically to work around the constitutional prohibition on holding multiple nationalities; it is not considered a full form of Indian citizenship. All persons who (or whose parents or grandparents) have ever been citizens of Pakistan or Bangladesh are permanently ineligible for overseas citizenship.

title: Indian nationality law


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Fiend Without a Face

Fiend Without a Face is a 1958 independently made British black-and-white science fiction-horror film drama directed by Arthur Crabtree, and starring Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Michael Balfour, and Kim Parker.

It was produced by John Croydon and Richard Gordon for Amalgamated Productions. The screenplay by Herbert J. Leder was based upon Amelia Reynolds Long's 1930 short story "The Thought Monster", originally published in the March 1930 issue of Weird Tales magazine. The film was released in the U.K. by Eros Films; in the U.S. it was released in June 1958 by MGM as a double feature with The Haunted Strangler (1958).

A scientist on an air base in Canada experiments with the materialisation of thought waves through atomic energy, which ultimately take the form of malevolent invisible killer brains, which then materialize as flying brains with attached spinal columns and eyestalks, strangling people with their spinal cords.

Plot
U. S. Air Force Interceptor Command Experimental Station No. 6 is a long-range radar installation located in rural Winthrop, Manitoba, Canada. Unexplained deaths begin to occur in the general area of a farming village near the American base. Postmortems reveal the victims were murdered and the brains and spinal cords are missing from the corpses; the only clue left behind are two puncture marks at the base of each skull. The locals, however, become convinced that radiation leaks from the radar installation's nuclear-power experiments are the cause of the mysterious deaths.

Air Force Major Jeff Cummings begins an investigation as the local deaths continue, interviewing various townsfolk, while looking for anything unusual. Cummings becomes suspicious of Professor R. E. Walgate, a retired British scientist living near the airbase; Walgate is in the process of writing another book about his ongoing experiments with telekinesis, this time as it applies to thought projection. Major Cummings' suspicion of Walgate is later proved to be correct. The scientist finally admits he has not only succeeded in developing his mental ability, but in the process created a living thought projection. Unknown to Professor Walgate, the nuclear power radar experiments underway at the nearby U. S. airbase have greatly enhanced his mental abilities to the point that, through him, his living thought projection has become a malevolent and invisible new life form. It escaped from Walgate's laboratory and is now attacking humans as a means of replicating physical, though still invisible, new versions of itself, all of which are now feeding on the base's nuclear-generated power.

The invisible creatures eventually attack and kill the military personnel at the airbase in order to take over control of the radar station's nuclear reactor; two of them dial-up the power to very dangerous levels. As they do so all the creatures suddenly become visible. Their now visible bodies are revealed to be the missing brains with spinal cords stolen from their victims; their spinal cords have become very flexible and have now sprouted tendrils. These mutations also allow the brain-spine creatures to move quickly and even leap distances; each brain-spine has also developed a pair of small eyes at the ends of extended eye stalks.

The slithering creations then attack Walgate's home, where most of the film's principal characters have gathered to discuss the crisis. Some of the brains get inside by breaking through a boarded-up window using their tendrils, while others leap to the roof and slither down through the fireplace's open flue. Some of the defenders are attacked and killed, but well-aimed .45 semi-automatic pistol shots to the brains soon make short work of most of the attacking creatures; they gorily bleed out as they expire.

Walgate exits his home as a diversion, but is quickly attacked and killed by his creation. Meanwhile, Major Cummings escapes out the back way and quickly heads to the airbase, where he saves the day by blowing up the radar installation's power machinery. This immediately robs the surviving brains of their high-energy food source, and the creatures quickly die, dissolving into puddles of goo.

Cast

 * Marshall Thompson as Major Jeff Cummings
 * Kynaston Reeves as Professor R. E. Walgate
 * Michael Balfour as Sergeant Kasper
 * Kim Parker as Barbara Griselle
 * Terry Kilburn as Captain Al Chester
 * Gil Winfield as Dr. Warren, M.D.
 * Shane Cordell as Nurse
 * Stanley Maxted as Colonel G. Butler
 * James Dyrenforth as Mayor Hawkins
 * Kerrigan Prescott as Peterson
 * Peter Madden as Dr. Bradley
 * Meadows White & Lala Lloyd as Ben & Amelia Adams
 * Robert MacKenzie as Const. Gibbons

Production and release
Noted science fiction personality, collector, and literary agent Forrest J Ackerman represented mystery and science fiction pulp writer Long and brokered the sale of her story "The Thought Monster" to the film's producers.

Screenwriter Leder was originally set to direct the film, but being American, was unable to obtain a British work permit in time, so Crabtree replaced him as director. Thompson later said that when the director showed up on the first day of shooting and looked at the script, Crabtree claimed it was not the film he had been hired to direct, as he did not do "monster" films. After a heated argument with the producers, Crabtree left the set and did not show up for several days. In the interim, Thompson himself directed the film.

Fiend Without a Face was made entirely in England. Its Canadian setting was chosen because it would appeal to both American and British Commonwealth movie audiences, while still being easy to replicate using the English shooting locations. U. S. Air Force stock aviation footage was also used to establish the military base setting and to pad out the film's meager running time. The producers used primarily expatriate American and Canadian actors working in the United Kingdom, plus a few British actors dubbed by Americans. The film's visible brain creatures were created using stop-motion animation, an unusual practice for such a low-budget science fiction thriller of this era. The director of these effects sequences was Florenz Von Nordoff, while the actual stop-motion was done in Munich by Nordhoff's partner, German special effects artist K. L. Ruppel. Peter Neilson headed up the British practical effects crew.

During July 1958, Fiend Without a Face first opened in the United States at the Rialto Theatre in New York City's Theater District. The film's producers placed an outdoor, front-of-the-house exhibit near the sidewalk that showcased a "living and breathing Fiend" in a steel-barred glass display case. It periodically moved its spinal cord tail, startling onlookers, and also made menacing sounds with the help of a concealed electrical device. The crowds that gathered to watch the caged Fiend grew so large that NYC police finally ordered the display case removed because it was creating a public disturbance.

Five months later, Fiend Without a Face created a public uproar after its British premiere at the Ritz Theatre in Leicester Square in London's West End. The British Board of Film Censors had demanded a number of cuts before its release and finally granted the film an "X" certificate, but newspaper critics were still aghast at its horrifying special effects. Questions were actually raised in Parliament as to why British censors had allowed Fiend Without a Face to be released, notably: "What is the British film industry thinking by trying to beat Hollywood at its own game of overdosing on blood and gore".

Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "For the most part this is tepidly macabre. What may give the film a special interest for devotees of the genre is the final scene in which the creatures, hitherto invisible, appear as mobile brains with proboscis projections and trailing tails; the anatomical device whereby they are able to fly through the air as well is not explained. The trick photography is the best for a long time and the monsters have been devised with a certain amount of originality."

A reviewer for Harrison's Reports wrote in May 1958, "Up until the last two reels, this British-made science-fiction-horror program horror melodrama is fairly interesting in the usual fantastic sort of way, because it deals with unexplained, invisible monsters who strangle their victims and supposedly suck out their brains and spinal cords. During the final fifteen minutes, however, the picture, instead of being mystifying or horrifying, is just plain revolting, to an extent that even those with strong stomachs may not be able to take it ... Because of its excessive gore, the picture is too unpalatable to be classified as entertainment."

In contrast, a reviewer for Motion Picture Daily in June 1958 wrote, "This entry in the science fiction, horror division sweepstakes is well and logically constructed, capably acted and directed with an eye toward building suspense. The cast is substantially unknown but exploitation of the horror angle is indicated and should be effective."

Later reviews concentrated on the low production values and lack of a cohesive plot, but with a 67% "Fresh" rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Fiend Without a Face now is considered one of the best B movies of the 1950s.

James Rolfe called the film the "best killer brain movie ever" and stated that "it may be the goriest film of its time".

Leonard Maltin noted the film's "horrific climax, [and] good special effects." Marcella Papandrea of The Super Network said, "While the film gets off to a bit of a rocky start, it finds its footing fairly quickly though and it becomes quite immersive and intense."

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Arthur Crabtree's Quatermass-style shocker starts off pretty ordinarily but, once the flying spinal cords whip into throat-choking action, the screams you hear may well be your own! British to the core, despite the pseudo-American trappings and fading Hollywood actor Marshall Thompson taking centre stage."

Leslie Halliwell said: "Tepid shocker with well-organised mobile brains."

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Dreary horror film whose only (considerable) interest lies in the special effects, ahead of thir time."

Box office
According to MGM records, Fiend Without a Face was released on a double bill with The Haunted Strangler. Together, the two films earned $350,000 in the United States and Canada, and $300,000 in England and elsewhere. The estimated production budget for Fiend Without a Face was £50,000 ($,000); MGM realized a profit of $160,000 on the movie.

While Fiend Without a Face was not a major hit, it was one of the more successful British films released in the U.S. in 1958. Unexpectedly, it performed better in the South, Midwest, and California than in the Northeast, where U.K. imports were usually more well received. MGM was also surprised by market research showing Fiend Without a Face to be a "stronger draw by far" than its companion release, The Haunted Strangler, which failed to generate much audience interest.

Remakes
On 22 March 2010, Roy Frumkes confirmed to Fangoria magazine that he planned to produce a remake of the film in 2011.

The online website Dread Central offered an October 2013 update from Frumkes on his Fiend Without a Face remake:

"I've wanted to do this film for 40 years, so I already had it all in my head, and it wasn't hard to write. What I didn't have was the technical information; I'm no science buff. Now I'm interviewing scientists, getting the technology straight. It's set in a think tank in the Berkshires, and it's not about young people. It's a mature film, but it has a Street Trash sensibility, so the people who like my work will not be disappointed."

The website also posted a still from a fundraising trailer that Frumkes had shot for the remake with director Franco Frassetti. As of April 2023, that remake has yet to materialize.

Montreal-based filmmaker Rémi Fréchette produced, co-wrote and directed a web series (2013) and a horror comedy feature film (2014), both called Les Jaunes, which shared the themes and images of Fiend Without a Face, including the military aspects, rural setting, and energy-based brain creatures. In Les Jaunes, an epidemic of yellow crawling brains threatens the lives of the inhabitants of Fort Vince, a reclusive Northern Quebec town.

Home media
The Criterion Collection, a video company known for its painstaking restorations of various film classics, released a deluxe DVD edition of Fiend Without a Face in 2007, having previously released it on LaserDisc.

A high-definition video transfer, created on a Spirit DataCine from a 35 mm film print, was struck from the film's original negative. Thousands of pieces of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. For optimal image quality, Criterion also encoded the dual-layer DVD-9 at the highest possible bit rate. The film's original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit, and audio restoration tools were used to eliminate clicks, pops, hisses and crackles.

Criterion added these bonus DVD features to their release:
 * A new widescreen 1.66: 1 transfer with a complete digital picture restoration enhanced for 16×9 hi-def televisions.
 * Audio commentary: a conversation with executive producer Gordon and genre film writer Tom Weaver.
 * An illustrated essay on British science fiction/horror film making by film historian Bruce Eder.
 * A collection of movie trailers from various Gordon films: Fiend without a Face, The Haunted Strangler, Corridors of Blood, First Man into Space and The Atomic Submarine.
 * Rare still photographs and ephemera, with audio commentary.
 * Vintage advertisements and lobby cards.
 * New English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.
 * A new DVD cover art design by David Cohen.

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

title: Fiend Without a Face


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Asansol

Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. According to a 2010 report released by the International Institute for Environment and Development, a UK-based policy research non-governmental body, Asansol was ranked 11th among Indian cities and 42nd in the world in its list of 100 fastest-growing cities. Asansol is classed as a Y-category city for calculation of HRA (House Rent Allowance) for public servants (rate 16%) making it a "Tier-II" city.

Etymology
"Asan", a species of tree which generally grows thirty meters tall, is found on the banks of the Damodar River; "sol" refers to land. The name "Asansol" is a combination of these two words. Asansol is a city on the banks of Damodar and its land is rich in minerals.

Historically the city was anglicised as Assensole during the British era but the name was reverted after Independence.

History
The region is believed to have been a part of the kingdom of Vishnupur where the Malla dynasty ruled for approximately a thousand years till the emergence of the British. This theory is backed by the presence of Vishnupur style temple present at Chhotodighari village and Domohani village in Asansol.

Overview
Asansol is a cosmopolitan city located on the lower Chota Nagpur Plateau, which occupies most of Jharkhand, between the Damodar and Ajay rivers. Another river, the Barakar, joins the Damodar near Dishergarh. Two small rivulets, Nunia and Garui flows past Asansol. While Dhanbad district in Jharkhand lies on the western side, Durgapur subdivision lies on the eastern side. To the south, across the Damodar river are the Purulia and Bankura districts. To the north are Dumka and Birbhum districts. Dhanbad district is a major coal mining area and has close links with Asansol; both lie in the Damodar valley.

The city is connected by the Grand Trunk Road and by rail with Durgapur, Burdwan, and Kolkata. It is an important coal-trading and railway centre, with large railway workshops and a railway colony.

Climate
Asansol has hot and dry summers and mild winters. In summers temperatures soar above 45 °C with dry hot air blowing known as 'loo' while in winter temperatures go below 10 °C. Monsoon lasts from June to September and sometimes in October as well. The Köppen Climate Classification sub-type for this climate is "Aw" (Tropical Savanna Climate).

Administration
Asansol is administered by the Asansol Municipal Corporation. In 1850, a union committee was formed to look after the civic needs of Asansol. The Assensole (now Asansol) Municipality was approved in 1885 but started functioning effectively in 1896. It was upgraded to the status of a corporation in 1994. Since 2011 it has had its own Police Commissionerate. In 2015, Kulti, Jamuria and Raniganj Municipalities were dissolved and now these areas are administered by the Asansol Municipal Corporation. Thus the proper city limits of Asansol includes the old Asansol Area, including Burnpur, as well as other prominent locations like Raniganj, Chinakuri, Mithani, Barakar, Kulti, Dishergarh, Neamatpur, Sitarampur and Jamuria. Asansol Municipal Corporation has 106 wards.

Asansol-Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA) was established in April 1980 by the merger of the Asansol Planning Organisation and the Durgapur Development Authority. Jurisdiction of ADDA covers the areas administered by Asansol Municipal Corporation, the Jamuria Panchayet Samiti, the Community Development Blocks of Andal, Pandabeswar and Durgapur-Faridpur, Durgapur Municipal Corporation and a small part of Kanksa Community Development Block.

Police stations
Asansol North police station has jurisdiction over Raniganj CD Block and parts of Asansol Municipal Corporation. The area covered is 50 km2 and the population covered is 410,000 (2001). It has police investigation centres at Kanyapur and Jahagirmohalla

Asansol South police station has jurisdiction over parts of Asansol municipal corporation. The area covered is 69 km2 and the population covered is 475,439 (2001).

Asansol Women PS covers Asansol subdivision.

Raniganj PS has jurisdiction within the city and has the following centres under its area;

Jamuria PS has jurisdiction over the following centres;

Hirapur and Kulti Police Stations also serve the following parts of Asansol municipal corporation area.

Demographics
As per the 2011 census, the Asansol municipal area has a total population of 563,917, and the total population of Asansol UA is 1,243,414 out of which 646,052 are males and 597,362 are females. The city has a literacy rate of 83.30%.

Religion
The major religions in Asansol are Hinduism, followed by 75.18% of the population, and Islam, followed by 21.26% of the population. 1.09% of the populace are adherents of Sikhism, while 0.99% of the population adheres to Christianity.

Languages
Bengali is spoken by the majority (43.1%), followed by Hindi (31.7%), Urdu (19.4%), Santali (2.9%), and Punjabi (1.2%).

Economy
The economy of Asansol is primarily dependent on its steel and coal industries, railways, and its trade and commerce.

Steel
The Steel Authority of India IISCO (Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd) steel-making plant at Kulti was the first such facility in India. It became well known during the 1960s and 1970s, with its company shares being traded on the London Stock Exchange. However, a decade later the company became loss-making until it was revived in 2006 when it merged with the Steel Authority of India. Modernisation at IISCO Steel Plant has helped the city develop at a very rapid pace. The plant's capacity will be raised from 0.4 MT to 2.5 MT of saleable steel, using what will be the biggest blast furnace in the country. As of 2015, the investment for modernisation was the single largest investment in West Bengal till then.

Coal
Eastern Coalfields, which has its headquarters in Sanctoria P.O. - Dishergarh, has a significant presence in the area due to the huge deposits of high-quality coal. However, most of the coalfields and surrounding residential colonies are located away from the main city. Nearby areas like Raniganj, Chinakuri, and Jamuria are of particular importance as coal blocks. As of 2012, the total coal reserve in the ECL command area up to 600 metre depth was 49.17 billion tonnes.

Railways
Railways also is a big contributor to the economy of Asansol. Railways were the first employer in the city and they are credited with developing the city in the late 19th century. Asansol is one of four divisions of Eastern Railway Zone and among the major revenue generating divisions in Indian Railways. World's largest vertically integrated organisation Chittaranjan Locomotive Works under Indian Railways is also situated here. It is India's first locomotive works and Asia's largest Locomotive manufacturer.

Other business ventures
Other industries include Dishergarh Power Supply, Damodar Valley Corporation, Burn Standard Co. which is now a subsidiary of Eastern Railways, Hindustan Cables Limited and cement factories like Burnpur Cement.

Road
The Grand Trunk Road (NH 19 - old numbering NH 2) runs across the subdivision and NH 14 (old numbering NH 60) connects Asansol with Odisha. NH 19 has been broadened as part of the Golden Quadrilateral project and now allows three-lane traffic in both directions. A highway bypass avoids the areas of Ushagram, Murgasol, Asansol Bazar, Chelidanga, BNR, Gopalpur, Neamatpur, Kulti, and Barakar. Some of the other important roads of the city are namely Vivekananda Avenue, Burnpur Road, and S.B Gorai Road.

The South Bengal State Transport Corporation operates daily bus services to Kolkata and numerous other destinations, such as Malda, Siliguri, Midnapur, Bankura, Siuri, Purulia, Burdwan, Kalna, Howrah, Barrackpore, Digha, Bolpur, Kirnahar and Berhampore. The North Bengal State Transport Corporation also runs services to and from the city and towns in North Bengal like Malda, Raiganj and Balurghat. There are also many private buses, Taxis and Radio Taxis, which ply locally and on intercity and interstate routes.

Railway
Asansol Junction railway station is the Division of Eastern Railway zone This is one of the oldest divisions on the Indian Railways and has always been in the forefront of operations, both freight and passenger. As far as Eastern Railway is concerned, Asansol Division is referred to as the heart of operations, being at the crossroads of the Grand Chord route via Gaya and the main line route via Patna. With a total of 629.38 route kilometres, the division has the unique distinction of having quadruple lines (two up and two down line) from Khana to Sitarampur.

The railway track from Kolkata to Delhi passes through the subdivision and bifurcates into the main line and the grand chord line at Sitarampur railway junction, a little to the west of Asansol railway junction. Another railway track links Asansol with Adra and then to Jamshedpur via Purulia and Kharagpur via Bankura. A branch line connects Andal with Sainthia on the Sahibganj Loop.

Almost all the trains linking Kolkata with north India also connect with Asansol including Howrah-Patna Vande Bharat Express, Sealdah Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani, Howrah Duronto, Sealdah Humsafar Express, Yuva Express and Shalimar Duronto. As a result, Asansol enjoys good connectivity with cities like New Delhi, Jammu, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Dehradun, Jaipur, Kota, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Gwalior, Bhopal, Indore, Patna, Ranchi, Durgapur and Dhanbad on the one hand and commands a fairly good traffic movement towards the western cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Surat and southern cities like Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, Vijaywada, Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum. It is also connected with Guwahati in the north-east region.

Air
The domestic airport that serves the city is Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport. The airport is located in Andal. It is roughly 25 km from the Asansol City Bus Terminus.

There is also a private airport located at Burnpur Riverside Area. At present this Airport is operated by IISCO. Recently Airport Authority of India gave nod to start commercial flights for six routes in West Bengal; Burnpur Airport being one of them is hopeful to receive its first commercial flight by the last quarter of 2019.

The nearest international airport is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Dum Dum in Kolkata.

Education
Among the many educational institutions are:

Schools

 * Asansol Ramakrishna Mission High School
 * Assembly of God Church School
 * DAV Public School, Asansol
 * Loreto Convent, Asansol
 * Kendriya Vidyalaya, Asansol
 * St. Patrick's Higher Secondary School
 * St. Vincent's High and Technical School
 * Subhaspally Bidyaniketan

Colleges/Universities

 * Asansol Engineering College
 * Asansol Girls' College
 * Asansol Polytechnic
 * Banwarilal Bhalotia College, Asansol
 * Bengal Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital
 * Bidhan Chandra College, Asansol
 * Deshbandhu Mahavidyalaya
 * Kanyapur Polytechnic
 * Kazi Nazrul Islam Mahavidyalaya
 * Kazi Nazrul University
 * Khandra College
 * Kulti College
 * Raniganj Girls' College
 * St. Xavier's College, Asansol
 * Triveni Devi Bhalotia College

Libraries
There are several public libraries, including the District Library.

Media
Prasar Bharati has a High Power Transmitter Station at Asansol which broadcasts Doordarshan National / Bangla and Doordarshan News Channel. Transmissions are not only received by the city but also neighbouring places. Other than national channels, several local channels are available through cable TV networks, such as Vision 24, Drishti Channel, ATV, and ISP Channel.

Asansol currently has four FM radio stations: All India Radio 100.3 FM, 92.7 BIG FM, 93.5 RED FM and Radio Mirchi 95 FM.

Sports facilities

 * The Polo Ground has been a landmark in Asansol for a long time. The ground got its name from the sport of polo which was played here during British rule. Asansol Indoor Stadium is on the same site and has a capacity of 500 spectators. The stadium, which is notable for having the largest shell concrete roof in the district, has two badminton courts and an interchangeable volleyball court. Adjacent to this is Asansol Stadium, where both district and subdivision level football and cricket matches are played.
 * Eastern Railway Divisional Stadium, popularly known as the Loco Ground, houses several district and subdivision level football and cricket tournaments.
 * The Burnpur Football Stadium is a centre of extensive sports activities. Players groomed in the SAIL Football Academy at Burnpur have represented SAIL in the Kolkata IFA and 1st Division League matches.
 * Burnpur Cricket Club Ground is a first-class level cricket stadium located at Burnpur.
 * Asansol Rifle Club Shooting Range is located in Kanyapur Road beside the Ravindra Vidyala Government School. The Rifle Shooting ground founded in the year 1951 under the initiation of some elite citizen of Asansol under the aegis of WBRA and NRAI.
 * Kazi Nazrul Islam Krirangan is being developed as an international standard stadium at the former Sen Raleigh Football Ground.

Notable people

 * S. S. Ahluwalia
 * Arjun Atwal
 * Ajitesh Bandopadhyay
 * Meenakshi Banerjee, scientist
 * Timir Biswas, Indian playback singer and composer.
 * Ritwik Das
 * Kazi Nazrul Islam, writer, lyricist and poet
 * Manoj Kumar Mukherjee
 * Vivek Singh
 * Sharmila Tagore, Indian actress

title: Asansol


text:
Ken Salazar

Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martínez (R-Florida) were the first Hispanic U.S. senators since 1977; they were joined by Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) in 2006. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as Attorney General of Colorado from 1999 to 2005.

On December 17, 2008, President-elect Obama announced he would nominate Salazar as U.S. secretary of the interior. The environmentalist movement's reaction to this nomination was mixed. Previously, Salazar supported the nomination of Gale Norton to Secretary of the Interior, President George W. Bush's first appointee who preceded Salazar as Colorado Attorney General. On January 20, 2009, Salazar was confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate.

On January 16, 2013, it was reported that Salazar planned to resign his post as Secretary of the Interior in March 2013, but his resignation was delayed pending Senate confirmation of his successor, Sally Jewell. On June 10, 2013, he became a partner in the major international law firm of WilmerHale, and was tasked with opening a Denver office for the firm. On August 16, 2016, Salazar was appointed to head presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's transition team.

In May 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Salazar as the United States ambassador to Mexico. His nomination was confirmed by a voice vote in the United States Senate on August 11, 2021.

Early life and education
Ken Salazar was born in Alamosa, Colorado, the son of Emma Montoya and Enrique Salazar. His elder brother is former Congressman John Salazar. He grew up near Manassa, in the community of Los Rincones in the San Luis Valley area of south-central Colorado. Salazar attended St. Francis Seminary and Centauri High School in La Jara, graduating in 1973. He later attended Colorado College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981. Later Salazar was awarded honorary degrees (Doctor of Laws) from Colorado College (1993) and the University of Denver (1999). After graduating, Salazar started private law practice.

Salazar's Hispanic roots trace back to the Hispanos of the Southwestern United States. He has been identified as a Mexican American saying, "I've been taunted, called names—from 'dirty Mexican' to lots of other names—as I was growing up, and even now as a United States Senator."

Colorado cabinet
In 1986, Salazar became Chief Legal Counsel to then Colorado Governor Roy Romer. In 1990, Romer appointed him to his Cabinet as director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

In this position, he authored the Great Outdoors Colorado Amendment, which created a massive land conservation program of which he became chairman. Salazar also created the Youth in Natural Resources program, giving thousands of Colorado's youth an opportunity to work and learn about Colorado's natural resources in public schools. The Great Outdoors Colorado program's success was a model for President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative to create a 21st-century agenda for conservation and outdoor recreation.

In his cabinet role, he established reforms that forced mining and petroleum operations to better protect the surrounding environment and helped plan and promote Denver's South Platte River Valley redevelopment, transforming the area from an abandoned wasteland to a vibrant economic center.

Colorado attorney general
In 1994, Salazar returned to private practice. In 1998, he was elected state attorney general; he was reelected to this position in 2002. Police operations were streamlined under Salazar, and several new branches of law enforcement were created: the Gang Prosecution Unit, the Environmental Crimes Unit, and the General Fugitive Prosecutive Unit, which targeted murderers. He also worked to strengthen consumer protection and anti-fraud laws, as well as to protect children through new policy designed to crack down on sex offenders.

As Colorado Attorney General, he also led numerous investigations, including into the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Salazar was awarded the Conference of Western Attorneys General Profile in Courage award for his work.

During Salazar's tenure, his office pursued several environmental cleanup cases around the state. In a water contamination case involving the Summitville mine in Rio Grande County, Colorado, Salazar helped broker a joint settlement in which the federal and state government shared the $5 million settlement proceeds.

U.S. Senate
In 2004, Salazar declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Salazar considers himself a moderate and has at times taken positions that are in disagreement with the base of his party. He opposed gay adoption for a number of years, although by 2004 he had reversed his position. Salazar fell behind to candidate Mike Miles early in the state's caucus process. The national Democratic Party backed Salazar with contributions from the DSCC, and Salazar came back to defeat Miles in the Democratic primary, going on to defeat beer executive Pete Coors of the Coors Brewing Company and win the general election for the Senate seat. He assumed office on January 3, 2005.

Salazar was a leading member of a bipartisan group of senators that developed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would have provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increased funding for border security, though the bill ultimately failed in the Senate. During negotiations, Salazar was quoted by The New York Times saying he wanted the new point system to be equitable: "We do not want to create a system that is just for the wealthiest and most educated immigrants."

On May 23, 2005, Salazar was among the Gang of 14 moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the filibuster against judicial appointments, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. Salazar has skirmished with Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative Christian group of national stature, over his stance on judicial nominees.

In 2005, Salazar voted against increasing fuel-efficiency standards (CAFE) for cars and trucks, a vote that the League of Conservation Voters believes is anti-environment. In the same year, Salazar voted against an amendment to repeal tax breaks for ExxonMobil and other major petroleum companies.

In August 2006, Ken Salazar supported fellow Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in his primary race against Ned Lamont in Connecticut. Lamont, running primarily as an anti-war candidate, won the primary. Salazar's continued support of Lieberman, who successfully ran as an independent against Lamont, has rankled the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party.

In 2006, Salazar voted to end protections that limit offshore oil drilling in Florida's Gulf Coast.

Salazar introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Colorado Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall to limit natural gas drilling on the environmentally-rich Roan Plateau in western Colorado. The bill increased the amount of acreage on the Plateau designated too environmentally sensitive to drill for gas.

Salazar worked in the Senate to give benefits to Rocky Flats workers who became ill after working at the former nuclear weapons plant in Colorado. The legislation would grant workers immediate access to medical coverage and compensation without the need to file individual health claims.

In 2007, Salazar was one of only a handful of Democrats to vote against a bill that would require the United States Army Corps of Engineers to consider global warming when planning water projects.

Salazar received a 25 percent vote rating for 2007 by the Humane Society of the United States, a zero percent vote rating for 2005–2006 by Fund for Animals, a 60 percent vote rating for 2007 by Defenders of Wildlife, and a zero percent vote rating on the Animal Welfare Institute Compassion Index. He also supported the Bush administration's release of lands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for emergency haying in Colorado's Yuma and Phillips Counties. Salazar has an 81 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters, including a 100 percent rating for the year 2008.

Salazar resigned his Senate seat on January 20, 2009, upon his confirmation by the Senate to become Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama.

Secretary of the Interior

Salazar accepted Obama's offer to join his cabinet as the Secretary of the Interior. His appointment triggered a Saxbe fix by Congress. On January 7, 2009, Congress approved a bill,, and President George W. Bush signed it into law, providing such a fix by reducing the Secretary of Interior's salary to the level it was prior to the time Salazar took office in January 2009.

The Senate confirmed Salazar's nomination by voice vote on January 20, 2009, shortly after Obama was sworn in as president. As Secretary of the Interior, Salazar was in charge of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other federal agencies overseen by the Interior Department.

Salazar was one of two Hispanics serving in Obama's Cabinet, along with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis of California. Salazar is the second Hispanic Interior Secretary after Manuel Lujan, Jr., who held the post from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush.

As secretary of the department, Salazar began a large-scale effort within the department to ensure that the country's national parks and national monuments were inclusive of America's tribal and minority communities. Salazar worked to create new monuments to honor Cesar Chavez, the Buffalo Soldiers, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Fort Monroe and sacred Native American sites like Chimney Rock in Colorado.

Several prominent environmentalist groups were wary of Salazar, noting his strong ties with the coal and mining industries. Kieran Suckling, executive director of Center for Biological Diversity, which tracks endangered species and habitat issues stated, "He [Ken Salazar] is a right-of-center Democrat who often favors industry and big agriculture in battles over global warming, fuel efficiency and endangered species."

The nomination was praised, however, by Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. Upon the nomination, Karpinski said, "Throughout his career, Senator Salazar has campaigned on a pledge of support for 'our land, our water, our people.' With a perfect 100% score on the 2008 LCV Scorecard, he has lived up to that pledge. As a westerner, Senator Salazar has hands on experience with land and water issues, and will restore the Department of the Interior's role as the steward of America's public resources. We look forward to working with him to protect the health of America's land, water, and people in the coming years."

Although Senate Republicans were expected to raise questions concerning Salazar's stances on oil shale development and drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, Salazar was one of several Obama Cabinet appointees confirmed in the Senate by voice vote on January 20, 2009, shortly after Obama's inauguration. Salazar became the 50th Secretary of the Interior succeeding Dirk Kempthorne, who praised Salazar's appointment.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter appointed Denver Superintendent of Schools Michael Bennet to finish Salazar's term in the Senate, which expired in January 2011.

On January 23, 2009, Salazar stated that he was considering reopening the Statue of Liberty's crown to tourists. The crown has been closed to the public since the September 11, 2001 attacks. "I hope we can find a way", Salazar said in a statement. "It would proclaim to the world—both figuratively and literally—that the path to the light of liberty is open to all."

On March 6, 2009, Salazar agreed to move forward with the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove the Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the Endangered Species List in Montana and Idaho, but not Wyoming. Minimum recovery goal for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains is at least 30 breeding pairs and at least 300 wolves for at least three consecutive years, a goal that was attained in 2002 and has been exceeded every year since. (There are currently about 95 breeding pairs and 1,600 wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.) Salazar, a former rancher has come under criticism of groups like the Defenders of Wildlife for this decision, and lack of protection of wolves.

On May 9, 2009, Salazar announced the upholding of a Bush-era policy that prevents the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions via the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a policy he pledged to reevaluate when he took office in January. The policy states that, despite the apparent negative impact global warming has on polar bears, an endangered species, greenhouse gasses cannot be regulated with the ESA. Salazar stated in a conference call announcing the decision that "The single greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change," but the Endangered Species Act "is not the appropriate tool for us to deal with what is a global issue." The decision was met with criticism from environmental groups and praise from energy groups including the American Petroleum Institute, some Democrats and many Republicans. Salazar contended in the same conference call that the ESA was never intended to be used for the regulation of climate change, while sidestepping questions of how this situation is different from that of the Clean Air Act, which is being used by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions.

In May 2009, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, and the state's both senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, wrote a letter to President Obama, recommending Salazar be appointed to the Supreme Court following the resignation of David Souter. Salazar stated on the Today that he was not interested and enjoyed his current job. United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor was eventually nominated and confirmed.

With Ritter's announcement on January 6, 2010, that he would not seek re-election as governor, speculation began to swirl about a possible Salazar candidacy that year. Congressman John Salazar, Salazar's brother, told local media that he thought his brother would likely run for governor. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper indicated that while he was considering a run himself, he would "do everything [he could] to help him get elected." Both the Secretary's brother, John, and the Obama administration urged him to run for governor, but he ultimately declined and endorsed Hickenlooper's campaign.

On April 28, 2010, Ken Salazar approved Cape Wind, the first-ever commercial wind operation in public water, leading to initiation of the approval process for the first-of-its-kind Atlantic wind energy transmission line.

During his time as secretary, Salazar successfully developed and implemented numerous renewable energy initiatives on public lands and helped lead the Obama administration's "all of the above" energy strategy.

Secretary Salazar prioritized the rapid, responsible development of renewable energy on America's public lands, greenlighting the development of over 11,000 megawatts of renewable energy on public lands, including approval of the first-ever solar energy projects on public lands, and creation of the first-ever roadmap for future solar energy development in the West.

During Salazar's tenure, the department also undertook new surveys to evaluate and identify innovative capacity and efficiency increases to help enhance hydropower generation at facilities of the Bureau of Reclamation, the nation's second-largest hydropower producer.

He has dealt with criticism after pushing to impose tougher leasing rules and cancel a series of planned drilling operations in Alaska and elsewhere. Salazar has dealt with criticism over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, both because of the way his agency handled the permitting process for underwater drilling, and also because of the way the aftermath of the spill has been handled by the government.

But Salazar also ushered in the most comprehensive offshore oil and gas safety initiatives and reforms ever in the United States, overhauling the government's antiquated and conflicted offshore oil and gas management program while approving millions of acres for oil and gas development offshore. Salazar also implemented a new five-year plan for responsible oil and gas exploration and development in America's offshore waters.

In May 2010 Salazar testified to Congress that he had issued a "hit the pause button" order and that no new permits had been issued since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. However, a new deepwater well had been started in the Gulf since April 20, and the Department of the Interior under Salazar had "issued permits for at least seventeen other new offshore oil projects."

As Secretary of the Interior, Salazar was the designated survivor for the 2011 State of the Union Address.

Salazar created new partnerships between the Department of the Interior and American mayors and governors to create and revitalize a new generation of urban parks in cities such as New York City, Denver, Chicago and St. Louis. As secretary, the department also created seven new national parks, including Pinnacles National Park in California, and 10 new national monuments.

In May 2012, Salazar spoke at the commencement ceremony for the 2012 class at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

In November 2012, asked a question he did not like by a reporter for The Gazette regarding Salazar's association with hauler who shipped wild horses to slaughter plants, Salazar told the reporter, "If you do that to me again, I'll punch you out". Salazar later apologized.

In January 2013 Salazar announced that he would be resigning as Secretary of the Interior. His replacement, Sally Jewell, was nominated on February 6, 2013, approved by the Senate on April 10, 2013, and sworn in on April 12, 2013.

Clinton transition team
On August 16, 2016, Hillary for America chairman John Podesta announced that Secretary Clinton had chosen Salazar to head her transition team in order to prepare for an orderly transition should she be elected as the 45th President of the United States.

On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the election for President of the United States, and thus Ken Salazar was not granted the opportunity to head the White House transition team.

Ambassador to Mexico
On June 15, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Salazar to be the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings for his nomination on July 28, 2021. Salazar's nomination was then reported favorably by the committee on August 4, 2021. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 2021, by voice vote. He was ceremoniously sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on September 2, 2021. On September 14, 2021, Salazar presented his credentials to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In July 2022, the New York Times published an article quoting "growing concern within the Biden administration that the ambassador may have actually compromised U.S. interests" and had become too close to sitting Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

title: Ken Salazar


text:
Calne

Calne is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England, at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Calne is on a small river, the Marden, that rises 2 mi away in the Wessex Downs, and is the only town on that river. It is on the A4 road national route 19 mi east of Bath, 6 mi east of Chippenham, 13 mi west of Marlborough and 16 mi southwest of Swindon. Wiltshire's county town of Trowbridge is 15 mi to the southwest, with London 82 mi due east as the crow flies. At the 2021 Census, Calne had 19,074 inhabitants.

History
In 978, Anglo-Saxon Calne was the site of a large two-storey building with a hall on the first floor. It was here that St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury met the Witenagemot to justify his controversial organisation of the national church, which involved the secular priests being replaced by Benedictine monks and the influence of landowners over churches on their lands being taken away. According to an account written about 1000, at one point in this meeting Dunstan called upon God to support his cause, at which point the floor collapsed killing most of his opponents, whilst Dunstan and his supporters were in the part that remained standing. This was claimed as a miracle by Dunstan's supporters.

Early market town
In 1086 Calne may already have been, as it was later, a market town on the main Bristol-London road, with 114 households and a church. 74 or more households were held almost outright by burghal tenure (as citizens of a borough), and the lordship of its large outlying land was divided between the king (of whom 45 burgesses were tenants) and the church.

In the Middle Ages the king's successor as the lord of Calne manor and, as owner of the church's revenues, the treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, each had the right to hold a market and a fair in the town, with two triangular market places or fair grounds. A modest hospital was provided on a modest endowment from 1248 until it provided no accommodation in 1546 and was sold two years later by the Crown.

Reflecting the large area of the king's estate, until the late 19th century Calne had tithings at Eastmead Street, Quemerford, Whetham, Whitley, and part of Beversbrook, all now within Calne parish; and furthermore Blackland, Calstone, Stock, Stockley and Studley, all now in Calne Without parish.

Industry
Calne had a significant woollen broadcloth industry in the 18th century, and evidence of this can be seen set around the triangular green by the parish church, where 24 listed buildings remain, five at Grade II* including the Tounson almshouses for the neediest poor    and Georgian era clothiers' houses. Nearby are some of the 14 original mills along the Marden. St Mary's church was extended by the generous donations of rich clothiers and wool merchants in the 15th century.

Houses of the 17th and 18th centuries have external walls of stone and timber-framed walls inside. Most of the stone is limestone rubble, laid with ashlar dressings in houses of higher quality; the walls of many houses were rendered smooth. Until the 19th century, quarries beside the London road northwest and southeast of the town were sources of stone for building.

A relic of 19th century lime extraction, a kiln, exists in the grounds of St Mary's School. This solid marine deposition is chiefly one chemical, calcium carbonate, and is dug in nearby pits for its main use in cement and as fertiliser on acid ground.

Former canal
The Wilts & Berks Canal linked the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. Much of the traffic on the canal was coal from the Somerset Coalfield. As the canal passed through open country near Stanley, east of Chippenham, a short branch led through three locks to a wharf in Calne. The canal was completed in 1810 and abandoned in 1914.

Former railway
Calne railway station opened in 1863, the terminus of its own branch line of the Great Western Railway running east from Chippenham, with one intermediate stop: Stanley Bridge Halt. The opening of Black Dog Halt in the early 20th century provided insufficient demand to slow a progressive decline. The branch closed as a result of the Beeching Axe in September 1965, having made the biggest loss per mile of any line in the country.

Wiltshire pork and ham
Subsequently, Calne's main industry other than being a small market town was the imposing C&T Harris pork processing factory. It is said that the pork-curing industry developed because pigs reared in Ireland were landed at Bristol and then herded across England on drovers' roads to Smithfield, London. One resting place for the pigs was at Black Dog Hill, just west of the town, and the Harris family of butchers took the pigs that would not survive the onward journey.

C&T Harris
The Harris business began in the second half of the 18th century, when widow Sarah Harris and her son John relocated from Devizes and began trading as pork butchers in Church Street (Butchers Row). Brothers John and Henry Harris, sons of John Harris, continued separately in business, at High Street and the original Church Street location respectively. John Harris and his wife Mary Perkins had eleven children, with three, Thomas, George, and Charles continuing to expand the family business. The businesses of Charles and Thomas merged in 1888 as C. & T. Harris & Co. C&T Harris documented their work in a company magazine between 1927 and 1939, each issue containing an article by their managing director, Sir John Bodinnar.

C&T Harris built a five-storey factory in the centre of the town in the 1930s, which at its height employed 2,000 people to process 5,000 pigs each week into bacon, pies, sausages and cooked meats. The business declined in the 1970s, due in part to competition from Danish bacon. The company (by now Farmers Meat Company Ltd) closed in 1982, and the factory was demolished over the next two years. Its site was later redeveloped as housing and the town's public library.

Economy
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Calne saw rapid expansion compared to most other towns in the South West region, with a population which the district council projected to peak at around 19,000 by 2015 but which has since been surpassed. The Lansdowne Park housing development (completed in early 2007 ) has substantially increased the size of the town, creating a new northwestern suburb, including a new primary school, a medical centre and a small shopping area. This area has attracted professional workers from traditionally more expensive areas such as Bath, Bristol, Marlborough and as far afield as the 'silicon valley' towns of central Berkshire. The development's name reflects its proximity to the seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne, whose family have owned the nearby Bowood House country estate since 1784.

The Porte Marsh Industrial Estate on the north side of the town provides the bulk of the town's internal employment, and is home to around 100 companies in predominantly light industries and information technology. The Belgian company Deceuninck has invested considerably in this area and operates two large facilities for production and distribution. Another significant employer is the Exception Group, an electronics manufacturer which, as of 2013, was the town's largest employer with some 220 employees. In 2006, plans to build a cement production plant on the Porte Marsh site were vigorously opposed by local residents and planning permission was refused by the council.

Aside from the completion of Lansdowne Park, smaller pockets of new housing were built. In May 2009, the 94-acre Beversbrook Sports Facility was opened. This facility is managed by Calne Town Council was built with £1.2 million funding from Hills Property, provided as part of the planning agreement for their King Edward Close development. The facility boasts fourteen age appropriate football pitches, one-ten wicket cricket square, an artificial cricket wicket, archery range, floodlit tennis courts and indoor facilities, including a badminton court.

Retail
Calne has Sainsbury's, Tesco and Iceland supermarkets, and an intermediate-sized Tesco store on the northern edge of the town and an intermediate- sized Asda Express on the southern edge. As part of the New Heart of Calne initiative, a section of the Phelps Parade was redeveloped in 2009, using part Cotswold stone and part red brick, a new glass roof section and roof lining.

Arts and tourism
Tourism is described in nearby places of interest below, with details of the surrounding historic and landscape attractions. Within the town the annual Calne Music & Arts Festival was established in 1975.

In 2014 the town entered the South West in Bloom area of the Britain in Bloom competition and won a Gold Award for the first time. The award is judged on both the town council's floral displays and those of the community projects whose groups have entered in the 'It's Your Neighbourhood' category of the awards.

Calne is home to approximetely twenty pieces of public art ranging from bronze and ceramics to murals and mixed-media structures. These pieces have been documented in detail, mapped and made available as a Public Art Trail for residents and tourists alike.

Landmarks
Notable buildings in the town include St Mary's Church, Calne's only Grade I listed structure, an array of houses on The Green and Calne Town Hall.

An inn in the centre of the town – now the Lansdowne Strand Hotel – is a Grade II* listed building, dating in part from the 17th century and re-fronted in the 18th.

Of particular note is Calne Library which has won awards for its innovative design and was opened by the Queen in 2001.

Since the demolition of the Harris pork factory and the completion of the first phase of redevelopment/regeneration in 2001, Calne has seen Cotswold stone, similar to local limestone, being used together with smart red brickwork, formerly reserved for fine historical buildings.

Transport and infrastructure
The town centre suffers traffic congestion, with the A4 through the town close to gridlock during rush hour, due to single-file traffic between Curzon Street and Wood Street, with eastbound traffic having priority. A northern bypass road (a re-routing of the A3102) was completed in 2000.

Calne is equidistant (12 mi) from the M4 motorway at Junction 16 (Wootton Bassett/Swindon West) to the northeast of Calne, and the westbound M4 junction 17 just north of Chippenham to the northwest. The nearest main passenger airport is Bristol, 38 mi to the southwest. The nearest railway stations are Chippenham, Melksham and Pewsey. Bus operators Stagecoach West, Faresaver and Swindon's Buses provide services to towns and cities such as Chippenham, Devizes, Marlborough, Swindon and Bath.

Education
Bentley's School opened in the town in 1664 using an endowment left by John Bentley in 1662. In 1901 this was amalgamated with Calne Technical School as a school of science for boys aged 9–17, which became known as Calne County School and later Calne County Secondary School. Girls were admitted from 1903 and in 1908–09 new buildings were added to the nucleus of buildings dating from 1842. The school was later called the Bentley Grammar School. In 1957 it moved to a new building in the angle of the London and Melksham roads. In 1974, Wiltshire County Council closed the grammar school and the Fynemore Secondary Modern School in Silver Street and created a new school, the John Bentley Comprehensive School, on both sites. This was later called the John Bentley School, and in 2019 was renamed as the Kingsbury Green Academy. Until 1998 both sites were used. After the buildings in Silver Street were given up, new buildings were erected on the site of Bentley Grammar, and existing ones improved.

St Mary's School, Curzon Street, is an independent school for girls established in 1873.

Calne had other small schools, some based in houses, such as one in Curzon Street in which girls were trained for domestic service. Another example was a small boarding school for boys open in 1842 on the site of a former factory in Silver Street, called William Jacob's School. This was attended by Reg Birkett, the international sportsman, who played football and rugby for England in the 1870s, and by Charlie Absolom who played cricket for the England cricket team in a Test match in 1879.

The nearest university is the University of Bath campus at Claverton Down in Bath, 19 mi to the west. Bath Spa University lies 23 mi away, between Bath and Bristol.

The closest further education institution is the Wiltshire College & University Centre site in Chippenham, 6+1/2 mi away.

The town has five primary schools and one independent preparatory school.
 * Fynamore Primary School – School Road
 * Holy Trinity CofE School – Quemerford
 * Marden Vale CofE (VC) Academy – William Street (formerly St Dunstan's)
 * Priestley Primary School – Prince Charles Drive
 * Saint Edmund's RC Primary School – Duncan Street
 * St Margaret's Preparatory School – a mixed day preparatory school that shares the 25 acre Curzon Street site with St Mary's

Anglican
St Mary's church has a central position in the town and dates from the 12th century. The building was greatly expanded in the 14th and 15th centuries, and its tower rebuilt in the 17th. It is a Grade I listed building.

Holy Trinity church at Quemerford, on the London Road southwest of the town, was built in 1852–3. Its churchyard became the parish graveyard, as St Mary's was full.

Catholic
St Edmund's Catholic Church, Oxford Road, was built in 1962. The font has tiles from Stanley Abbey (which was visited by Saint Edmund Rich) and the church received stained glass from the demolished St Joseph's Church at RAF Lyneham.

Nonconformist
Calne has a long history of Nonconformism.

A Presbyterian chapel was built in Back Road c. 1695. The congregation became Unitarian after 1770, being influenced by Joseph Priestley who lived in the town from 1773 to 1780 and preached at the chapel. The chapel had been closed by the late 1830s and was re-used by the Primitive Methodists and later by the Salvation Army. It was demolished in the 1960s.

The Baptist church in Castle Street was built in the late 17th century, rebuilt in 1704 and again in 1817. The church continues in use. Particular Baptists built Zion chapel in 1836 on the street now called The Pippin; this too remains open, and is a feature of Calne's pedestrian precinct.

Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel in Back Road in 1811, and opened a larger church at Silver Street in 1867, which continues in use. Primitive Methodists used the former Unitarian chapel from the late 1830s, and moved to the former Wesleyan chapel in Back Road in 1887. In 1965 both congregations came together in the Silver Street building and the chapel in Back Road was later demolished.

The Free Church in Church Street was built in 1868 by a group who broke away from the parish church. The congregation is affiliated to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.

There is an Evangelical church in Oxford Road. First built in the early 1930s, and rebuilt at a later date, this was an Open Brethren Gospel Hall until at least the late 1990s.

There is a non-conformist cemetery alongside the Curzon Street section of the A4 leading towards Chippenham. The cemetery was opened in 1867 and is available to people of any faith.

Demography
At the 2021 Census, Calne parish had a population of 19,074. There were 19,732 in the built-up area, which extends further south to include those parts of Quemerford lying in Calne Without parish, as well as Stockley hamlet.

Earlier statistics for Calne parish are shown below. Figures from 1911 to 1961 are for the successor Metropolitan Borough which covered a slightly smaller area. In 2011 the population reached 17,274 living in 7,113 homes.

Media
In local radio, BBC Radio Wiltshire and Heart West are supplemented by two Internet-only stations: Eartunes Radio (Calne's long-established community station), and White Horse Radio (music, advertiser-supported).

Local television news coverage is through BBC Points West and ITV News West Country, both Bristol-based.

Governance
Following boundary changes which came into effect at the 2024 general election, the four electoral divisions covering Calne civil parish are split between two Westminster constituencies. Calne North, Calne Chilvester & Abberd, and Calne Central are within the Chippenham constituency, while Calne South (covering a southern part of the town, as well as Quemerford and a large rural area to the south) is part of Melksham and Devizes. The former is represented by Sarah Gibson and the latter by Brian Mathew, both Liberal Democrats.

At a parish level, Calne is run by Calne Town Council which has responsibility for allotments, play areas, open spaces, town events, cemeteries, tourist information and more. It elects 19 town councillors, from four wards.

Calne is within the area of Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority. It elects five of the authority's ninety-eight councillors. As of the 2021 Wiltshire Council election, Calne's councillors are:

Notable inhabitants
The first inhabitant of note was Edmund Rich (1175–1240), who became Archbishop of Canterbury. He was canonised and many educational establishments are named after him, notably St Edmund Hall, Oxford and St Edmund's College, Cambridge.

John Pym (1584–1643) lived in Calne. He was a leader of the Long Parliament and a prominent critic of Kings James I and then Charles I. He was one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in 1642 sparked the Civil War.

Isaac Nichols, a transported convict who became the first postmaster of Sydney, New South Wales was born here in 1770.

The country estate of Bowood House, which dates from 1725, lies approximately 3 mi southwest of the town. It is the family seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne; the current Marquess is Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice. It was at Bowood that Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774; there is a plaque in the town centre commemorating this. Jan Ingenhousz repeated Joseph Priestley's experiments and found it was sunlight which acted upon the plants to create oxygen (photosynthesis). There is a pavement display outside the Millennium Library in Calne in his honour.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge stayed from 1814 to 1816 as part of the Morgan household whilst writing his Biographia Literaria. A plaque on the house commemorates this visit.

Walter Goodall George (1858–1943) was an athlete who set numerous world records as an amateur and then as a professional. In one of his races, he set a mile record which was not surpassed for almost 30 years. George held more than 13 world records for running at the time and still holds a world record simply for holding the mile record longer than anyone else. There are two plaques in Calne to commemorate his life, one in front of the town hall and one at ground level just inside the recreation grounds.

Frederic Hicks Beaven (11 April 1855 – 22 January 1941) was Bishop of Mashonaland from 1911 – 1915 when his title was changed to Bishop of Southern Rhodesia, until his retirement in 1925.

Sarah Grand (1854–1943), a feminist activist and writer, settled in Calne in 1942 after her house in London was damaged by a German bomb. She died a year later on 12 May 1943, at age 88. She coined the phrase 'The New Woman' and advocated new rights for women, notably in marriage.

The composer Sir Michael Tippett lived in an isolated house on Derry Hill above Calne.

The singer-songwriter-author Julian Cope resided in nearby Yatesbury until 2006, and lived in Calne itself for some years before he moved with his family to the village.

The actor David Hemmings lived in the Old Mill in Calne for many years until his death in December 2003.

Clive Farahar, the books and manuscripts expert on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow, and his wife Sophie Dupré who is also a manuscript specialist, were residents in 1994.

Nearby places of interest
In common with the surrounding villages, hotels cater to the following attractions:
 * Cherhill White Horse – 3.4 mi east of central Calne, carved into the south face of Cherhill Down in 1780, situated south of Cherhill village and clearly visible from the A4 Calne – Marlborough Road. Cherhill Down rises to 860 ft.
 * Lansdowne Monument – situated close to the summit of Cherhill Down, the 125 ft stone needle provides views of Calne and the surrounding landscape. The mountains of South Wales and Cleeve Hill in the western Cotswolds can be seen on exceptionally clear days, as well as the cities of Bath and Bristol.
 * Bowood House (including the 2/3 mi Bowood Lake) – is 3.1 mi to the west of Calne, accessible via the village of Derry Hill. Bowood House is privately owned by the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne and is grade I listed.
 * Avebury stone circle & Avenue (UNESCO World Heritage Site) – Europe's largest neolithic stone circle site is 7+1/2 mi east of Calne on the A4361 route towards Wroughton.
 * Silbury Hill, the largest neolithic structure in Europe, is situated 7 mi east of the town on the A4 route 1/2 mi east of Beckhampton.
 * West Kennett Long Barrow – the 5,500-year-old neolithic long barrow/tomb is situated 7+1/4 mi east of Calne, south of the A4 route east between Beckhampton and West Kennett.
 * North Wessex Downs AONB – the range's highest summit is the Tan Hill-Milk Hill ridge near Allington, at 968 ft above sea level, 9 mi southeast of Calne. This area is popular with hill walkers, and several hills over 820 ft (250 m) high are situated adjacent to Calne.
 * Salisbury Plain – the northernmost point of the plain is 12 mi to the southeast of Calne, slightly to the southeast of Devizes.
 * Stonehenge is 24 mi south of the town.

Blackland Lakes is a large camping site on the southern edge of Calne which is popular with anglers and tourists alike. The 'lakes' themselves are in fact large angling pools.

Calne Town F.C.
Founded in 1886, Calne Town F.C. play in the Western Football League First Division at the tenth highest tier of the English league system. Their Bremhill View ground is located on the north side of the town close to the A3102 bypass.

Calne R.F.C.
According to their website, the rugby club was formed in the late 1920s, in part due to the influx of Welsh to the area during the depression. The Junior Imperial League, forerunners of the Young Conservatives formed the club under the presidency of either Mr Drewett or Mr L. Taylor.

The team's first match was probably in Drewett ’s field where now stands Braemor Road. Their inaugural game against a Bath XV team was played on the Recreation Ground to which Calne returned in the late 1970s as a permanent home, which despite ground disputes and uncertainty – remains their home to date. It appears that a lack of local interest forced the club to fold in the late 1930s. In 1960 the club was re-formed as Old Bentlians; though it was not exclusively an "old boys" club it did use the pitches at Bentley Grammar School.

The club currently fields a 1st and 2nd XV, alternating home games on Saturdays, and also a junior team who play on Sundays.

Calne SMaRTT
Calne SMaRTT Running and Triathlon Team was formed in 2007. They organise an annual 10 km multi-terrain running race called the SMaRTT Smasher, on an out-and-back route along the cycle path towards Chippenham.

Calne Running Club
Formed in 1992 by Mike Tawn and Dave Balkwill, Calne Running Club has members of all abilities. They also organise the Compton Bassett 5-miler and Heddington 5k races yearly.

Basketball
As of 2011, due to the work of local sports enthusiast Shaun Preen, Calne is represented in the West of England Basketball Association (WEBBA), although home games are played at the Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham, home of the 'Olympiad Flames' with which Calne basketball is officially affiliated. The club provides the local community the opportunity to participate in competitive basketball.

Suburbs
Calne's suburbs and housing developments include Quemerford, Calne Marsh, Lansdowne Park, Curzon Park, Castlefields, Lickhill, Sand Pit Estate, Sands Farm Estate and Regent Park Estate.

Ordnance Survey maps published in 1959–61 show Quemerford village along the A4 east of the town, a few houses at Calne Marsh along the Swindon road on the northeastern outskirts, and Lickhill Farm standing in farmland to the northwest.

Twin towns
Calne is twinned with the towns of:
 * Charlieu in France
 * Eningen in Germany
 * Caln Township, Pennsylvania

title: Calne