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Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love

Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love is a 1994 American made-for-television comedy film, a sequel to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds, and the final installment in the Revenge of the Nerds series.

Plot
Dudley "Booger" Dawson (Curtis Armstrong) is marrying his Omega Mu girlfriend Jeannie (Corinne Bohrer), but her wealthy father Aaron tries to stop them, as his desire to maintain his conservative, nouveau riche standing clashes with his daughter's common interests with and love for the nerdy Booger. Jeannie's father works with his loathsome son-in-law Chip (the husband of Jeannie's older sister Gaylord) to find a way to discredit Booger and cause Jeannie to call off the wedding. Lewis Skolnick and the other nerds discover the conspiracy and work to save Booger's wedding ceremony from being ruined. In a subplot, Lewis' wife Betty is pregnant with their first child and is in her third trimester as the wedding date approaches.

Booger fights an accusation that he fathered an illegitimate child, Heidi, who is introduced as "Heidi Dawson" by Chip. Jeannie's mother tells her husband that she will leave him if he does not support his daughter's wedding to Booger, and Chip's accusations fall apart when the little girl reveals she was taken from an orphanage to play the illegitimate child role. Chip's wife decides to divorce him and throw him out of their lives forever, leaving Chip to swear his own revenge against the nerds (while Gaylord declares to cheers that her next husband will be a nerd). Aaron apologizes to Booger and gives his daughter his blessing, stating as well that he is proud to be nouveau riche and the California GOP will have to accept him that way or else. Booger and Jeannie are married, Betty gives birth to a healthy baby boy, and the newly married couple tell Heidi they would like to adopt her.

Cast

 * Curtis Armstrong as Dudley (Booger) Dawson
 * Corinne Bohrer as Jeanie Humphrey-Dawson
 * Joseph Bologna as Aaron Humphrey
 * Robert Carradine as Lewis Skolnick
 * Julia Montgomery as Betty Childs-Skolnick
 * Christina Pickles as Tippy
 * Jessica Tuck as Gaylord Medford
 * Robert Picardo as Chad Penrod
 * Stephen Davies as Chip Medford
 * Laurel Moglen as Judy
 * Larry B. Scott as Lamar Latrelle
 * Brian Tochi as Takashi Toshiro
 * Ted McGinley as Stanley Harvey "Stan" Gable
 * James Cromwell as Mr. Skolnick
 * Donald Gibb as Frederick Aloysius "Ogre" Palowaski
 * Bernie Casey as U. N. Jefferson
 * John Pinette as Trevor Gulf
 * Gregg Binkley as Harold
 * Marvin Kaplan as Mr. Dawson
 * James Karen as Mylan Whitfield

Note: Lewis' best friend, Gilbert did not appear in this film, but is briefly mentioned by Booger. Wormser doesn't appear in the film either.

Promotion
The film was broadcast as part of the Monday night "Fox-o-Rama" promotion. As a promotional gimmick, Fox telecast the film in 3-D and "aroma-vision", the latter of which utilized a series of scratch and sniff cards sold at 7-Eleven outlets, each to be used at certain points during the movie. A prompt appeared at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to let viewers know when to smell their cards and which card to sniff. Several other network shows employed similar gimmicks with aromatic cards and 3D glasses at around the same time, including Living Single and Married... with Children. The 3D effects used in these broadcasts was based on the Pulfrich effect.

Reception
Todd Everett of Variety had a subdued reaction to the film. He said it was "capably directed" and that the 3-D and "aroma-vision" effects were "OK", and praised several of the actors' performances, but criticized the script as being typical made-for-TV filler, and said that overall the Nerd series was wearing thin.

title: Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love


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Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria.

South Point at -39.135°N, 146.37556°W is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nearby South East Point, (-39.11667°N, 146.41667°W) is the Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse. Most of the peninsula is protected by the Wilsons Promontory National Park and the Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.

Human history

The promontory was first occupied by indigenous Koori people at least 6,500 years prior to European arrival. Middens along the western coast indicate that the inhabitants subsisted on a seafood diet.

The promontory is mentioned in dreamtime stories, including the Bollum-Baukan, Loo-errn and Tiddalik myths. It is considered the home of the spirit ancestor of the Brataualung clan - Loo-errn. The area remains highly significant to the Gunai/Kurnai and the Boon wurrung people, who consider the promontory to be their traditional country/land. The land is now owned by the Boonwurung, Bunurong and Gunaikurnai people.

The first European to see the promontory was George Bass in January 1798. He initially referred to it as "Furneaux's Land" in his diary, believing it to be what Captain Furneaux had previously seen. But on returning to Port Jackson and consulting Matthew Flinders he was convinced that the location was so different it could not be that land.

Seal hunting was conducted in the area in the 19th century. Shore-based whaling was also carried out in a cove at Wilsons Promontory from at least 1837. It was still underway in 1843 at Lady's Bay (Refuge Cove).

Throughout the 1880s and '90s a public campaign to protect the area as a national park was waged, including by the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria. The promontory has been a national park, to one degree or another, since 1898. Wilsons Promontory National Park, also known locally as "the Prom", contains the largest coastal wilderness area in Victoria. Until the 1930s, when the road was completed, it was accessible only by boat. The site was closed to the public during World War II, as it was used as a commando training ground. The only settlement within Wilsons Promontory is Tidal River which lies 30 km south of the park boundary and is the focus for tourism and recreation. This park is managed by Parks Victoria. In 2005 a burn started by staff got out of control and burnt 13% of the park, causing the evacuation of campers. In 2009, a lightning strike near Sealer's Cove started a fire that burned over 25000 ha. Much of the area had not been burned since 1951. The fire began on 8 February, the day after "Black Saturday", where an intense heat wave, combined with arson, faulty electrical infrastructure and natural causes, led to hundreds of bushfires burning throughout the state of Victoria. Although the fire burned to within 1 km, the Tidal River camping area and park headquarters were unaffected. The park reopened to the public one month after the incident and the burned areas quickly regrew. Despite the damage, the natural beauty of the area remained largely intact.

In March 2011 a significant rainfall event led to major flooding of the Tidal River camping area. The bridge over Darby River was cut, leaving no vehicle access to Tidal River, leading to the evacuation of all visitors by helicopter over the following days, and the closure of the southern section of the park. In September 2011 public access to Tidal River was reopened following repair of the main access road, and the bridge at Darby River. All sections of the park south of Tidal River were closed while further repairs of tracks and footpaths were undertaken. The park was fully re-opened by Easter of 2012.

Tourists may choose basic or glam, cabins or camping (powered/unpowered) if they wish to stay inside Wilsons Promontory National Park. Many however choose to stay in accommodation just outside the Park in Yanakie, where they can still view the Wisons Promontory mountains and scenery and be only minutes from the Park's free entrance.

There are overnight hiking tracks with two key circuits, one in the north and one in the south. The southern circuit is more popular with overnight hikers with several camping areas suited to wild camping. Camping is only allowed in the designated areas to reduce damage to the bush.

Name
The promontory is also known as "Yiruk" or "Wamoon" by some traditional owner groups. From the early 19th century, it has also been known as Wilsons Promontory. It was given this name by Governor Hunter on the recommendation of Matthew Flinders and George Bass:

"At our recommendation governor Hunter called it WILSON'S PROMONTORY, in compliment to my friend Thomas Wilson, Esq. of London."

Despite Wilson being significant enough for such a large amount of land to be named in his honour, he had slipped into obscurity until 2023, when new research was published by the Royal Australian Historical Society. Wilson was in fact one of the most important promoters of the study of the natural history of New South Wales, as Eastern Australia was then known, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was a member of both the Society for Promoting Natural History and the Linnean Society, a wealthy apothecary, a patron of surgeon and botanical collector John White and supporter of Flinders. White dedicated his far-reaching and substantial account of the First Fleet to Wilson, entitled Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales

Geography and wildlife

Coastal features include expansive intertidal mudflats, sandy beaches and sheltered coves interrupted by prominent headlands and plunging granite cliffs in the south, backed by coastal dunes and swamps. The promontory is surrounded by a scatter of small granite islands which, collectively, form the Wilsons Promontory Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for breeding seabirds.

Tidal River is the main river in Wilsons Promontory. The river runs into Norman Bay and swells with the tide. The river is a very fascinating colour, a purple-yellow. This is due to the large number of tea trees in the location, which stain the water with tannin, giving it a tea-like appearance. Darby River is the second major river, with extensive alluvial flats and meanders. It was the site of the original park entrance and accommodation area from 1909 to the Second World War.

Wilsons Promontory is home to many marsupials, native birds and other creatures. One of the most common marsupials found on the promontory is the common wombat, which can be found in much of the park (especially around campsites where it has been known to invade tents searching for food). The peninsula is also home to kangaroos, snakes, wallabies, koalas, long-nosed potoroos, white-footed dunnarts, broad-toothed rats, feather-tailed gliders and emus. Some of the most common birds found on the promontory include crimson rosellas, yellow-tailed black cockatoos and superb fairywrens. There are also many pests, including hog deer, foxes, feral cats, rabbits, common starlings, and common blackbirds.

As the Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park and Corner Inlet Marine National Park have been established, the area holds a variety of marine life and coral reefs. In recent years, after a long disappearance, due to illegal hunting by the Soviet Union with help by Japan, Southern right whales started to return to the area to rest and calve in the sheltered bays along with Humpback whales. Killer whales are also known to pass the area, and dolphins, seals, sea lions, and penguins still occur today.

The peninsula is also home to two large sets of dunes, the Big Drift and Little Drift. They are not very well-known but sometimes visited by hikers and suitable for sandboarding.

Climate
Wilsons Promontory has an oceanic climate heavily influenced by the Roaring Forties, bringing summer temps far below what is the norm on mainland Australia at sea level. Winters and springs are dominated by low-pressure systems and high rainfall.

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

title: Wilsons Promontory


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Bisulfide

Bisulfide (or bisulphide in British English) is an inorganic anion with the chemical formula HS− (also written as SH−). It contributes no color to bisulfide salts, and its salts may have a distinctive putrid smell. It is a strong base. Bisulfide solutions are corrosive and attack the skin.

It is an important chemical reagent and an industrial chemical, mainly used in paper pulp industry (Kraft process), textiles, synthetic flavors, coloring brasses, and iron control.

Properties
A variety of salts are known, including sodium hydrosulfide and potassium hydrosulfide. Ammonium hydrosulfide, a component of "stink bombs" has not been isolated as a pure solid. Some compounds described as salts of the sulfide dianion contain primarily hydrosulfide. For example, the hydrated form of sodium sulfide, nominally with the formula Na2S * 9 H2O, is better described as NaSH * NaOH * 8 H2O.

Aqueous bisulfide absorbs light at around 230 nm in the UV–visible spectrum. Using this approach, bisulfide has been detected in the ocean and in sewage. Bisulfide should not be confused with the disulfide dianion, S2(2−), or −S–S−.

Basicity
The bisulfide anion can accept a proton:

Because of its affinity to accept a proton (H+), bisulfide has a basic character. In aqueous solution, it has a corresponding pKa value of 6.9. Its conjugate acid is hydrogen sulfide. However, bisulfide's basicity stems from its behavior as an Arrhenius base. A solution containing spectator-only counter ions, has a basic pH according to the following acid-base reaction:

Chemical reactions
Upon treatment with an acid, bisulfide converts to hydrogen sulfide. With strong acids, it can be doubly protonated to give. Oxidation of bisulfide gives sulfate. When strongly heated, bisulfide salts decompose to produce sulfide salts and hydrogen sulfide.

Biochemistry
At physiological pH, hydrogen sulfide is usually fully ionized to bisulfide (HS−). Therefore, in biochemical settings, "hydrogen sulfide" is often used to mean, bisulfide. Hydrosulfide has been identified as the third gasotransmitter along with nitric oxide and carbon monoxide.

Other derivatives
SH− is a soft anionic ligand that forms complexes with most metal ions. Examples include [Au(SH)2]− and (C5H5)2Ti(SH)2, derived from gold(I) chloride and titanocene dichloride, respectively.

Safety
Bisulfide salts are corrosive, strongly alkaline and release toxic hydrogen sulfide upon acidification.

title: Bisulfide


text: Category:1541 births

title: Category:1541 births


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Boehmite

Boehmite or böhmite is an aluminium oxide hydroxide (γ-AlO(OH)) mineral, a component of the aluminium ore bauxite. It is dimorphous with diaspore. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic dipyramidal system and is typically massive in habit. It is white with tints of yellow, green, brown or red due to impurities. It has a vitreous to pearly luster, a Mohs hardness of 3 to 3.5 and a specific gravity of 3.00 to 3.07. It is colorless in thin section, optically biaxial positive with refractive indices of nα = 1.644 – 1.648, nβ = 1.654 – 1.657 and nγ = 1.661 – 1.668.

Boehmite occurs in tropical laterites and bauxites developed on alumino-silicate bedrock. It also occurs as a hydrothermal alteration product of corundum and nepheline. It occurs with kaolinite, gibbsite and diaspore in bauxite deposits; and with nepheline, gibbsite, diaspore, natrolite and analcime in nepheline pegmatites. Industrially, it is used as an inexpensive flame retardant additive for fire-safe polymers.

It was first described by J. de Lapparent in 1927 for an occurrence in the bauxites of Mas Rouge, Les Baux-de-Provence, France, and named for the Bohemian-German chemist Johann Böhm (1895–1952) who carried out X-ray studies of aluminium oxide hydroxides in 1925 (and not for the German geologist Johannes Böhm (1857–1938) as often stated).

title: Boehmite


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Talk:Tochmarc Étaíne

Untitled
Shouldn't this be under Tochmarc Étaín since thats what the story is called and how it is referenced in scholarly works, rather than the anglicized version Wooing of Etain. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stevegiacomelli (talk • contribs)

 * Works for me. I'd like to see a fada or two, at the minimum! QuartierLatin1968 [[Image:Red flag waving transparent.png|20px|El bien mas preciado es la libertad]] 18:52, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

It would be good to have some sort of date associated with this. {151.200.160.173 13:12, 16 September 2007 (UTC)}

title: Talk:Tochmarc Étaíne


text: Category:1549 births

title: Category:1549 births


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Ipeľ

The Ipeľ (Slovak; ) or Ipoly (Hungarian) (German: Eipel, archaic Slovak: Jupoľ, Latin: Bolia ) is a 232 km long river in Slovakia and Hungary, a tributary of the Danube River. Its source is in central Slovakia in the Slovak Ore Mountains. It flows south to the Hungarian border, and then southwest, west, and again south along the border until it flows into the Danube near Szob.

The Ipeľ flows through or creates the border of the Banská Bystrica and Nitra regions in Slovakia, and Nógrád and Pest counties in Hungary.

Towns and villages
The following towns and villages are situated on the river, in downstream order:
 * Poltár (SK)
 * Kalinovo (SK)
 * Boľkovce (SK)
 * Ipolytarnóc (HU)
 * Litke (HU)
 * Nógrádszakál (HU)
 * Szécsény (HU)
 * Balassagyarmat (HU)
 * Ipolyvece (HU)
 * Ipeľské Predmostie (SK)
 * Šahy (SK)
 * Vámosmikola (HU)
 * Pastovce (SK)
 * Ipolytölgyes (HU)
 * Salka (SK)
 * Letkés (HU)
 * Ipolydamásd (HU)
 * Szob (HU)

title: Ipeľ


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Freddie Welsh

Freddie Welsh (born Frederick Hall Thomas; 5 March 1886 – 29 July 1927) was a Welsh World boxing champion. The lightweight boxer was born in Pontypridd, Wales, nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a working-class background to make a name for himself in America. He turned professional as a boxer in Philadelphia in 1905, and spent the best part of his career fighting in the United States.

Welsh spent much of his career chasing the world championship title, held in turn by Battling Nelson, Ad Wolgast and Willie Ritchie, failing through a series of events to meet each until a successful encounter with Ritchie in July 1914, when he finally became world lightweight champion. Welsh held the title until 1917 when he lost to Benny Leonard, though he continued to fight sparingly until 1922. During his career, he fought in more than 160 professional bouts, suffering defeat on just 5 occasions.

A keen follower of Bernarr Macfadden's physical culture, Welsh believed in exercise and healthy living and was a non-smoker and a vegetarian. In the years following the end of his career, bad business choices cost him his fortune, and after numerous health problems he died in poverty in 1927.

Early life and amateur career
Freddie Welsh was born in Pontypridd on 5 March 1886, to John Thomas and his wife Elizabeth Thomas (née Hall). In the late 19th century, Pontypridd was a growing coal mining town, which attracted not only those wishing to make a living in the mines, but also middle-class professionals who saw an opportunity to make a living in a thriving community. Welsh's father was one such commercial immigrant, setting up a business on Taff Street as an auctioneer. Welsh's parents moved into 17 Morgan Street in the town, where Welsh was born. He had two younger siblings, a brother, Arthur Stanley and a sister, Edith Kate. Unlike most boxers of the period, Welsh had a privileged upbringing, at the age of four he attended Mr Mclune's Grammar School in Pontypridd and was privately educated at Long Ashton College in Clifton, Bristol. A few months after Welsh was born, his mother persuaded her husband to buy the Bridge Inn Hotel on Berw Road, and the family moved there. Welsh's mother was the daughter of a hotelier from Merthyr, and the Bridge Inn was her responsibility, as John Thomas was often away from home. When Welsh was ten, his father died. His mother, faced with running the hotel alone, sent Kate and Stanley to an aunt in Merthyr, while Welsh was sent to his maternal grandfather in Radyr. After a year, suffering from homesickness, Welsh returned home to Pontypridd. His mother later remarried, to Richard Williams, an innkeeper from Aberdare.

When Welsh left school at the age of 14, he took up work as a boilerman (the 1901 census, when he was 15, has him recorded as an apprentice mechanical engineer) finding work with Llewellyn & Cubbitt of Pentre, Rhondda. At the age of 16 he and three friends decided to find a new life in Canada. They set sail from Liverpool to Vancouver arriving in January 1903, but although his companions were able to find work, Welsh struggled to hold down any steady jobs. It was in Canada that he took a serious interest in bodybuilding and became a firm advocate of Bernarr Macfadden's physical culture regime. After a year Welsh was again homesick and borrowed enough money to return to Britain, but with only $10 he was forced to travel as a worker on a cattle-boat.

With his newfound physical fitness he entered the boxing ring undertaking amateur fights in Scotland, far away from Wales to prevent his mother discovering his passion for fighting. After twelve months he raised the money needed to return to the America, travelling to New York on the Baltic on her maiden voyage on 29 June 1904.

Welsh failed to find steady work in the States, and although his mother thought he was earning a regular wage and living comfortably, Welsh was actually taking any casual work that was offered him. Initially he rode the rails to the Dakotas to labour in the farm fields, before heading to New York City working long hours as a dishwasher or banner bearer. When Welsh was mugged while sleeping at a cheap hotel, he was given a job as a porter by the sympathetic hotel manager.

His first job in New York was as a boxing instructor in one of Bernarr Macfadden institutes. He was allowed to sleep in the gym, was given all his meals, plus $1 salary a day. It was as an instructor he first met his future wife, Brahna Weinstein, a Jewish Russian girl who anglicised her name to Fanny Weston when her family moved to the East Side.

He then successfully applied to an advertisement for a "smart, active young man who can box" at a down town gym, Knipe's Institute. Welsh subsidised his work as a trainer, as a boxing instructor and training director at Brown's Gymnasium. When hard times hit the gym, he was put on half time subsidising his earnings as a snow shoveller in Harlem. Welsh then found work at a well-known New York gymnasium for $8 a day, the wage barely paid his meals but he took the job to learn the boxing profession.

Despite going days without eating, and having to sleep on the wrestling mats at the gym, he refused to turn professional, partially to preserve his amateur status and he also did not want his mother to discover he was earning a living as a boxer. When friends who knew him from his gym work, and seeing him struggle to pay for a decent meal, asked why he didn't take up the nightly paid 'private' fights, Welsh initially refused. Despite his misgivings, the next day Welsh took up the offer and knocked out Kid Allen in a third round bout. This was followed with wins over Johnny Mezier, Young Peterson and Jack Cameron. With his financial issues resolved and being able to pay for steady meals, at the age of 19, Welsh decided to turn professional.

Early professional career, 1905–1906
Still with dreams of becoming a culture expert, he moved to Philadelphia to become an instructor at Herman's Institute, while Fanny stayed in New York to finish her studies. Before his first professional fight, Welsh decided to change his name, fearing he may fail and that his mother would find out he was boxing. He first chose Fred Cymry, Cymry meaning Welsh, but on writing to Fanny, she suggested that 'Welsh' would be less confusing. Welsh took Jack Clancy on as his American manager, and on 21 December 1905 he experienced his first professional bout. His first opponent was Young Williams, and the two novices fought at the Broadway Athletic Club of Philadelphia. Welsh won by knockout in the third round, and was booked to return to the club for his second fight in January. He went six rounds with Johnny Keely on 25 January, with a 'no-decision' verdict, the standard practice in Philadelphia for full-distance fights at the time, given to the fight. His next match saw him stop Eddie Fay in the sixth, and with this promising start to his career, the Broadway Athletic Club lined up a more challenging opponent, journeyman Tommy Feltz. The fight went all six rounds, and although Feltz was past his best, he was expected to win the bout; so the result, given to Welsh by the Philadelphia Item, was seen as an upset. From that fight, Welsh started to take more frequent matches, sometimes accepting two bouts a week to build up his experience and stamina. In March 1906, he faced four opponents, defeating Tommy Love and Kid Stinger (both 'no-decision', but given by the Philadelphia Item) and then a points win over Eddie Lenny, followed by a draw with Johnny Dohan. The Lenny result was the first of eight bouts to which the Philadelphia Item failed to give Welsh a victory, though seven of them were 'no-decision' verdicts on the night. The seven matches after Dohan were Billy Maharg, who took the fight decisively on points, then Frank Carsey, followed by three experienced fighters, Jimmy Devine, Tommy Love and Matty Baldwin; the last two opponents on this losing streak were Philadelphians Billy Willis and Tim Callahan. On 12 May, two days after the Callahan encounter, he faced Jack Reardon, another 'no-decision' match, though on this occasion Welsh was given the bout by the press. This was followed by a win over Kid Gleason, and a second-round stoppage of Mike Loughlin. The 15 June saw a rematch with Chicago native Frank Carsey, which after the full six rounds it was again declared a 'no-decision', but with the press siding with Carsey. Carsey and Welsh would later become close friends over the years, with Carsey becoming his sparring partner, and was part of Welsh's corner team during his big fights.

Welsh finished June with a gruelling win over Billy Glover, before facing Young Erne, an intelligent boxer from Philadelphia. The match against Young Erne quickly turned into a slugging contest with both men forgetting their defensive strategies for an all-out attacking contest. The crowd were well entertained in a six-round bout, which the press gave to Welsh. The next contest was to be his first twenty-round match and his first professional fight outside Philadelphia, in Dayton, Ohio, against Australian lightweight champion Hock Keys. Welsh injured his favoured right hand in the sixth round, forcing him to box left-handed for the next eleven rounds, and won the match by technical knockout after downing Keys twice in the sixteenth round, and again in the seventeenth.

After the defeat of Hock Keys, Welsh took a month break, partly due to a failed show by Tim Callahan. He faced Jimmy Dunn on 31 August, in a six-round bout that went all the way, the press favouring Dunn. Welsh took another extended break, and when he returned to the ring, both he and Dunn agreed to another encounter, this time a twenty-round match at Dayton. The contest went the distance, with the referee declaring the match a draw, which enraged the crowd.

He fought twice more in America before the end of the year, both six-round results given to Welsh by the press: against Willie Moody on 23 November and then Kid Gleeson in December. Welsh now had a fine record behind him, but a few days after the Gleeson fight, he received news from Wales that his mother was seriously ill, and with Fanny still in New York, he returned to Britain on the Etruria.

First British fights, 1907
When Welsh returned to Britain, he was still an unknown, even in boxing circles. Despite his mother's illness Welsh arranged boxing matches in Britain, his first was against Seaman Arthur Hayes, a six-round match held at the National Sporting Club (NSC) in London. Welsh took the contest on points and followed this up with another points victory at the NSC, this time a 15-round bout against Young Joseph. To this point, Welsh had never fought in his home country, and to introduce himself to a Welsh audience, a display was arranged at the Park Gymnastic Club in Pontypridd on 17 April 1907. No opponent of sufficient calibre was available to fight, so he took on three local boxers. All three men lasted no more than three rounds. On 21 May, Welsh took part in a fight against Johnny Owens of Aberaman, unofficial lightweight champion of Wales. The contest was for a purse of £50 and the Welsh lightweight title, though as a spectacle the match was a disappointment, with Welsh in complete control of the bout from the second round. After a two-month break, Welsh's next fight was a win over Sid Russell of Cheltenham on 18 July; and the next day appeared at an exhibition bout at Pontypridd, where he sparred with Jim Driscoll a fighter who would play a prominent part in Welsh's boxing career. After a win over Young Lilly in August, he followed this with a victory over former amateur featherweight champion, Dick Lee. A few days later at the St. Mary Hill Fair at Pencoed in Wales, Welsh and Driscoll fought in their first recorded match. Driscoll was working for the Frank Guess Boxing Booth at the fair, when Welsh accepted the barker's offer of £1 if he could last six rounds with Driscoll. In Welsh's previous fight Driscoll had been part of Welsh's corner, so it came as some surprise to Driscoll when his friend was over enthusiastic in the challenge, attacking him with kidney and rabbit punches. Driscoll never forgave Welsh for taking such liberties.

After winning a rematch against Seaman Hayes on 7 September, Welsh was invited to a private fight arranged by local industrialists for a fee of £100 plus a large purse. Some individuals had felt that Welsh had embraced America too much, and had undertaken too many 'Yankee' mannerisms, forgetting his home country. The fight was arranged to test Welsh, and they chose Joe White, a Swiss-Canadian who had also learnt his boxing art in the United States, but was now living in Cardiff. The fight took place in a converted loft in front of a select crowd of about sixty, who were balloted to gain their tickets. The fight went to sixteen rounds before White, who had suffered since the eleventh, threw in the towel.

Welsh's final fight in Britain until 1910, took place in Pontypridd on 3 October, when he faced two opponents on the same night. He stopped both in five rounds, first beating Gunnar Hart, the welterweight champion of the Royal Navy; then Arthur Ellis. Welsh never fought competitively in Pontypridd again. On 4 October, Welsh left for America, catching the train to Liverpool before taking the Lusitania to New York.

An insight into Welsh's personality was recorded in a legal case he raised which was concluded after he had left for the States. Welsh took the case against one of the three boys he travelled to Canada with in 1902, claiming that he had given the defendant, David Davies, £8 for the cost of the trip. Davies denied having received the money, and knew nothing of the claim until meeting Welsh in Taff Street in June, who then threatened to 'knock him through a window if he didn't pay the money'. After testimonies from the other two emigrants who travelled with Davies and Welsh, the judge found in favour of Welsh.

Return to America and first international belt, 1907–1909
On arrival in the United States, Welsh met Fanny in New York and the two of them travelled to Philadelphia. On 2 November 1907, Welsh faced Cyclone Johnny Thompson at the National Athletic Club in the city. The six-round encounter ended in a 'no-decision' given by the press to Welsh. A similar result was given in the contest against a poor Boxer Kelly, before he faced Willie Fitzgerald at Spring Garden Athletic Club; another six-round bout given as a draw. Welsh then experienced his first American fight outside Pennsylvania when a bout was arranged between him and Dave Deshler at the Winnisemmet Club in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The ten-round bout went the distance, with Welsh victorious by points decision, and he was congratulated by Theodore Roosevelt Jr. at the end of the match. Welsh went on to beat Eddie Carter in Philadelphia on Christmas Day 1907, Kid Locke on 2 January and then Maurice Sayers at the Milwaukee Boxing Club. He then faced local Milwaukee boxer Charley Neary in a ten-round match, the decision going to the referee Al Bright, who called the encounter a draw. This was followed by a fight against Chicago boxer Packey McFarland, regarded as one of the greatest lightweight boxers in history, which McFarland won on points. The contest caused controversy after Welsh was floored in the fourth round following what is believed to be a low shot. The referee failed to see the offending blow, and the match continued. When the points decision was announced there was jeering from the crowd, and accusations of favouritism were made, as referee Malachy Hogan was a Chicago man and had previously favoured Chicago fighters.

With fan frustration after the McFarland match, a rematch was arranged for 4 July, with Welsh facing just one opponent in the four and a half months between the bouts, Phil Brock. Welsh was meant to fight Dick Hyland, but blood poisoning to the Welshman's hand meant the Hyland fight did not take place. The Brock encounter, held at Vernon, California, was Welsh's first 25-round bout and ended in a terribly one-sided victory with a plucky Brock losing on points.

The rematch with McFarland was set for 4 July, Independence Day, to coincide with the world lightweight title fight between champion Joe Gans and Battling Nelson held in California. The Welsh-McFarland fight was gaining much press attention, and this increased after fight promoter and owner of the Jeffries Arena, Jim Jeffries, had offered Gans a $20,000 purse to face the winner of the bout in August. Betting was heavy for the match, and was to be refereed by Jeffries himself. Fought over 25 rounds, Welsh had the upper hand for the first nineteen, but after an announcement was made that Nelson had won in California, Welsh's game slipped with McFarland taking control. In the final two rounds Welsh took a heavy beating and was knocked down to the canvas in the last round. At the end of the encounter the decision from the referee was a draw. McFarland took the result badly and launched into a vicious tirade of abuse towards Jeffries, though Welsh too thought he had done enough to win in the first two-thirds of the fight and sent a cablegram to Wales stating such.

After the McFarland draw, for the first time the American press began questioning Welsh's credentials as a champion contender, mainly due to his inability to finish off his opponent due to a lack of punching power. Welsh was hurt by the remarks that he was a 'snowflake puncher', and used his next three fights to prove his critics wrong. Johnny Murphy went the full twenty-five rounds but suffered a terrible beating, Frank Carsey was knocked out in round four, lying unconscious for five minutes; while Harry Trendall was laid out in the sixth.

Although Welsh was chasing Nelson for a title shot, Nelson took an eight-month sabbatical after winning his rematch in September over Gans. Around this time, Welsh received a promise of a fight from fellow Brit Johnny Summers for the European title, but the major challenger in California was Abe Attell, the featherweight champion of the world since 1906. Attell had run out of opponents, so after much advertising of the match, the two men met on 25 November 1911. Although Attell's boxing weight was half a stone lighter than Welsh's on the night, both men weighed in at 128 lb. Under stormy weather conditions, Welsh won by points in a fifteen-round match, with one newspaper reporting that although Attell did not lose his featherweight title, he did "lose the title that he has held for years, that being the cleverest man in the game".

Welsh followed up the Attell fight with a narrow victory over George Memsic in Los Angeles, before heading to New Orleans to take a points victory over Young Erne and then a knock-out win over Ray Bronson. Shortly after the Bronson fight, Welsh learned that Nelson had no intention of facing him, deciding to face three more opponents before retiring; none of these talks included Welsh. Welsh carried on fighting, with one final match in New Orleans against Young Donahue. It was an acrimonious affair before the bout started, and when Welsh rejected the referee before the match began, another referee was found, but was told to call a draw if no clear winner was apparent. When the fight reached its ten-round conclusion, the referee called a draw, much to Welsh's annoyance.

Welsh and Fanny headed East to New York, and on 7 May he made his New York debut against Johnny Frayne. The match went the full ten rounds, with the press giving Welsh the decision with a lukewarm report, comparing him unfavourably against Jim Driscoll. Welsh finished off his tour of America with far more convincing displays over Jack Goodman and Phil Brock. With his sights now on the Lonsdale Belt, Welsh travelled back to Britain.

On his arrival at Cardiff on 19 June he was greeted by a throng of admirers; one of the first to greet him was Jim Driscoll. Cars had been arranged to take Welsh through Pontypridd, and he asked Driscoll to join him on the journey. Despite Pontypridd having a population of 32,000 at the time, reports were made that 80,000 people lined the streets to see their hero's arrival.

Welsh began his British return with an encounter with Young Joseph at the Pavilion in Mountain Ash, a 20-round match which only reached the eleventh after Young was disqualified for two low punches. Just over a month later, Welsh was back fighting in Mountain Ash, to face little known French lightweight Henri Piet. The press were unimpressed with the choice of opponent, but Piet gave a good account for himself before retiring in the twelfth. After Piet, Welsh faced Joe Fletcher from England; it was a terribly mismatched affair which resulted in negative press reports towards Welsh's choice of opponents. In truth there were very few fighters of a sufficient calibre to test Welsh in Britain, but on 8 November, Welsh got his chance to face Johnny Summers, for the British and European lightweight championship.

The Summers fight took part at the National Sporting Club in Covent Garden, with a purse of £2,200 and the Lonsdale Belt at stake. Welsh took control in the first round and never let Summers into the fight. One reporter counted 200 successful blows to Summers head during the match, and he was bleeding as early as the third round. During the fight, some members of the crowd jeered Welsh's use of the kidney punch, which although not outlawed at the time was seen as unsporting; he was also cautioned by the referee for the use of his head in the fifth. The fight went the distance, with Welsh winning on points; in taking the Lonsdale Belt he was the pride of Wales and America, but many in the boxing fraternity of England saw in Welsh a cynical, cold and cruel fighter.

McFarland, Driscoll and Wells, 1910–1911
Welsh took a break away from boxing after winning the Lonsdale Belt, earning good money making theatrical appearances at music halls in London, but a chance meeting with Packy McFarland led to a match being arranged between them. Welsh warmed up for the bout with a win over Jack Daniels, before facing McFarland for the third time, now on British soil at Covent Garden. The match was billed as the "Light-weight Championship of the World", but that title was now held by Ad Wolgast who had beaten Battling Nelson in a shock win in February. McFarland started the fight well, and most reporters gave him the first nine rounds, after that Welsh took most of the rounds, though in the eyes of the British press he failed to claw back the advantage McFarland had opened up in the early rounds. Although the result after twenty rounds was a draw, the British newspapers reported that McFarland had been robbed of a victory.

In the summer of 1910, Welsh was finding it difficult to find a fight. Wolgast was pricing himself out of the market, McFarland could not reach the weight and the National Sporting Centre could not find a credible contender to challenge for the Lonsdale Belt. Jim Driscoll, who had earlier won the flyweight Lonsdale Belt, was in a similar situation and a highly anticipated match was arranged between them. Two uninspiring fights were arranged before the Driscoll encounter in December, a sixth round win over middleweight Joe Heathcote and then a ninth round stoppage over Dick Bailey. A long build up to the game caused the relationship between Welsh and Driscoll to sour, and when they met to sign the contracts, an argument broke out between the two men over the choice of referee. Driscoll lost his temper with Welsh, became verbally abusive and stormed out of the meeting.

The fight took place on 20 December 1910 at the American Skating Ring in Cardiff, in front of a crowd of 10,000. Welsh started well, surprising the crowd with a straight back stance, out-jabbing Driscoll, but in the fifth he reverted to his normal crouched stance. Welsh's tactics changed and was now using his kidney punch on his opponent, amidst cries of "foul" from the crowd. He also tried to get in close to Driscoll, holding with one arm and delivering body blows with the other, which saw Driscoll adopt a similar tactic. By the eighth round Driscoll was coming into the match, and forced the fighting in the ninth. In the tenth round, Driscoll, becoming irritated at Welsh's clinches and illegal use of his shoulder, rushed Welsh and head butted him on the chin. It was an obvious foul, the referee, Arthur Frederick Bettinson, quickly entered the ring and disqualified Driscoll. The end of the fight was mired further when men from each of the boxers' corners began arguing before coming to blows, which saw the police entering the ring.

In early 1911, Welsh was about to set off for the United States when Matt Wells, a little-known British boxer who had recently turned professional, challenged him for his title. Welsh accepted, but was unprepared for Wells, who had been studying Welsh for the last eighteen months. On 27 February 1911 Welsh entered the ring at Covent Garden to little cheer, with the crowd supporting Wells the underdog. Wells' tactics were finely executed and he built up a healthy lead by attacking Welsh from the first round, he then spent the second half of the match defending his body and his lead. When the twenty rounds were up, Wells was given the decision and the championship title. Welsh departed for America on 11 March 1911, no longer a champion.

Reclaiming the British lightweight title 1911–1913
Welsh's time in Britain had damaged his credibility in America, so he set out to make amends. An easy victory over Pal Moore in March was followed by a trip to California to face Matty Baldwin in San Francisco. Welsh won the Baldwin fight on points in a performance that was considered an excellent display of boxing. On 4 August 1911, after weeks of negotiation, it was announced that Wolgast would face Welsh on 30 November, Welsh's first attempt at the world title. The buildup was intense and both camps attempted to use the media to their advantage. Just days before the match, with tickets in high demand, the man named in the fight articles as the referee, Eddie Smith, died. This led to arguments between Welsh and Tom 'Ten per cent' Jones, Wolgast's manager, as both tried to get the most favourable replacement referee. When Jones and Welsh met each other by chance on Windward Avenue in Venice, California, the men came to a heated argument with Jones threatening that he would 'knock his [Welsh] block off'. A few days later, realising that he was in the weaker position as the challenger, Welsh accepted Jones' choice of referee, Jack Welch. On the eve of the big encounter, news reached Welsh that Wolgast had been taken to hospital with acute appendicitis and would be unable to fight for three months. Walgast's last-minute replacement Willie Ritchie took Welsh the full twenty rounds, and although he failed to beat the Welshman, the fight had many fans contemplating how Welsh would have fared against the champion.

In January 1912, Welsh dislocated his neck in a bout of wrestling. He was now unable to box and running low on money after living beyond his means. He left San Francisco in March, travelling to Canada where he took in an exhibition bout with Jack O'Brien, before heading to Chicago where he and Fanny stayed for two months. Welsh then decided to head to New York as to take in some six-round matches to earn some money. On the way through Buffalo he fought Jimmy Duffy, although about half a stone overweight, Welsh was given the bout by the press, and was at least making money again. While in Buffalo, Welsh visited his friend Elbert Hubbard and after long philosophical discussions, he returned to boxing with a new purpose, intent on regaining his British title. He fought three more times in America before he returned to Britain, two draws against Grover Hayes and a press decision over Phil Knight.

In September 1912, Welsh travelled back to Britain on the Mauritania. A rematch was planned with Wells for 11 November, and Welsh warmed up with a points win over Jack Langdon in Liverpool. Almost three weeks later he faced Wells at Covent Garden for a second time, but now as challenger. Wells took the first four rounds, but in the sixth round, Welsh landed a combination of punishing blows which slowed the champion down. By the tenth round the match was level, and as the match progressed Welsh took charge. At the end of the 20 round bout Welsh was declared European and British champion.

Just before his next fight, news came from America that Willie Ritchie had taken the world title from Wolgast, strengthening Welsh's case for a championship shot. Before he could return a British Empire title fight had been arranged against Australian Hughie Mehegan. The encounter went the full 20 rounds, and although Welsh won on points he took a severe beating, complaining he found it difficult to sleep from the pain three or four days after the fight.

In early January 1913, Welsh's mother, who had been ill for some time, died. He gave up his immediate plans to chase Willie Ritchie and stayed in Wales for a while to be near his family. He fought four more fights in Britain, beginning with a home contest in Aberdare against Frenchman Paul Brevieres, who was stopped in the third. Then he took a points win over Young Nipper, a successful defence of his European title against Raymond Vittet, finishing with a points win over Eddie Beattie. The three final fights were conducted within seven days, and Welsh almost paid the price for such a challenging schedule when Beattie knocked him down for nine seconds in the ninth.

World title bid 1913–1914
When Welsh returned to America he was intent on fighting Ritchie, having failed to meet both Nelson and Wolgast. He employed the services of Harry Pollok, one of New York's most flamboyant sports impresarios. When Welsh and Fanny arrived in New York on 29 March 1913, Pollok was there orchestrating the reporters and photographers. Even with Pollack's help Ritchie was difficult to commit. Champions tended to stick to the East Coast, fighting in six round contests where the 'no-decision' contests meant the only way the title could be lost would be through a knockout. When Welsh arrived in New York, Billy Dolan, Ritchie's manager, announced that the champion would not be fighting for four months as he was touring Europe to fulfil theatrical commitments.

In preparation of a possible title bid on Ritchie's return, Welsh started his build up on 28 April by going the distance with Al Ketchell in Bridgeport. He then headed north to Canada to take the press decisions over Jack Redmond on 16 May and Kid Scaler on 24 May. These fights were followed by bouts against Billy Farrell in Moose Jaw, Ray Campbell and Young Jack O'Brien in Vancouver and then Martin Murphy in Fernie, British Columbia. In early July Welsh broke off his Canadian tour to watch Ritchie's return to the ring. It was an unimpressive display over 'Mexican' Joe Rivers, saved only by a knockout in the eleventh. During this period, to insure his name stayed in the papers, Welsh revealed that he and Fanny Weston had actually been married since 1905, a secret kept from all but the closest family members. This was followed by a stunt to break the Canadian land speed record over a mile. Welsh sat in with 'Speed King' Bob Burman when he broke the record in 50.8 seconds in his Blitzen Benz.

Eventually a fight was arranged between Welsh and Ritchie to be fought in Vancouver on 4 September 1913, but when Welsh turned on his ankle in training the date was forced back to the 20th. Worse was to follow when the evening before the fight Ritchie left Vancouver, later citing unhappiness over the filming rights of the fight. Around the same time, a gold belt awarded to Welsh after he won the Commonwealth encounter with Mehegan, was stolen while on display at a tea room near his training quarters. The belt was recovered when an Australian, named Henry Beckett, was caught trying to smuggle it out of the country.

Welsh responded to his bad luck by throwing himself back into competitive fighting. With three months of the year left, he arranged five fights. The first two contests, in Montana, against Fighting Dick Hyland and Leo Kossick were won on points decisions. These was followed with a match against Milburn Saylor who was disqualified in the ninth for a low blow. He faced Phil Bloom in New York, the press decision favouring Welsh, before he returned to Canada for a knockout win over Canadian Champion Arthur Ellis. Back in the United States, Welsh, although struggling with his weight was able to best Johnny Dundee in New Orleans, followed by a points victory over Frank Whitney in Atlanta. Welsh continued his journey east, stopping at Philadelphia for a match against Sam Robideau. This would be his third win in three different cities in just ten days. Five days later on 15 January 1914 in Kansas City he faced Mickey Sheridan of Chicago, who underwent "thirty minutes of torture and considerable humiliation" in an easy points decision for Welsh. He faced two more opponents in January, Earl Fisher in Cincinnati on the 26th followed by Leo Kelly in Saint Louis on the 29th, both were press decisions for Welsh. With his weight now coming down and his bank account swelled, Welsh and Pollok refocused on Ritchie. The American sportswriters were calling Welsh a 'has-been', so the two men devised a new strategy, if they could not get Ritchie to agree to a bout, they would beat as many of Ritchie's credible contenders until he could no longer ignore Welsh. The first target on his list was Mexican Joe Rivers, who had already had two failed attempts at the lightweight title. On his build-up to the match, Welsh suffered his first defeat since 1911, when Jimmy Duffy took the press decision over eight rounds in Saint Louis. Undeterred he continued his preparation for the contest with Rivers on 17 March in Vernon. Rivers started as favourite, but his inexperience showed and Welsh dominated the entire fight winning on points. After the fight, at a celebratory dinner, Welsh was shown a newspaper reporting King George V's enthusiasm for boxing. Welsh wrote to His Majesty thanking him for his support, the next day he received a royal response by telegram. Nearly every major newspaper in the United States and the United Kingdom printed the correspondence in full, giving Welsh much needed column space.

In the spring of 1914, Welsh contacted Ritchie and asked him if he would face him in England, providing he got a satisfactory guarantee of money. Ritchie agreed that he would fight for the right money. Welsh cabled the Olympia Theatre, London and began booking advertising space. When Ritchie finally stated that he wanted $50,000, win lose or draw, Welsh said the price "would make a horse laugh", and was double what he was expecting. Despite this huge fee, England was desperate for a world champion and $40,000 was raised on the stipulation that Ritchie fought no other bouts in the meantime. Ritchie accepted the $40,000 but stated a fight was already planned and he would fight who he liked. The London syndicate relented to his demands. Before Ritchie's arranged fight with Charley White, Welsh took in two more encounters, beating Leach Cross on points and then Joe Mandot on press decision. All attention then switched to the White-Ritchie fight in Milwaukee. In almost the first punch that White connected with, Ritchie was in trouble. Staggered, Ritchie was laid open to a battering, but stayed on his feet until the end of the fight. White was declared winner, but as he had failed to stop Ritchie before the end of the match, he kept his world title. Pollok and Welsh then took a major gamble. They sent a telegram to Ritchie with the message, 'Promoters have called off match with you. Want us to meet White.', a bluff to force the Champion's hand. The following day Ritchie accepted a fee for $25,000 and $1,500 expenses to meet Welsh in London. The White fight had cost Ritchie almost $15,000.

Welsh and Pollok set off for Britain on the Imperator, and on his arrival on 12 June, he told reporters that he had received news from Fanny of the birth of his first child, Elizabeth. The fight took place on 7 July, and from the first round Welsh took control. It wasn't until the sixth when Ritchie caught Welsh on the jaw that he took a round. Welsh played defensive, but landed with jabbing blows to the head, while Ritchie kept looking for the massive knockout punch that would win the match. In the seventeenth round Ritchie was forced to up his game to find a winning punch, but failed to make significant contact before the end of the bout. Welsh was declared winner and lightweight boxing champion of the world, with the consensus around the ring that Welsh took ten rounds, Ritchie five and five were even. After the fight the new champion retired to The Waldorf Hilton, London to see his daughter for the first time.

Championship years and World War I
Just 25 days after becoming lightweight champion, Germany declared war on Russia, and the Great War began. His expected payout touring theatres was curtailed and he lost more than $50,000 in music hall engagements alone. Thanks to a manager of the White Star Line, he, Fanny and Elizabeth obtained first class passage to America on the Olympic. In some sections of the sporting press he was accused of cowardice for not joining the British Army. Welsh countered that he undertook numerous engagements to rally support for troops and stated "I can do far more for my country out of the trenches than in them."

In 1914 only two U.S. states allowed twenty round championship bouts to a verdict, Colorado and Louisiana, and no promoters in either state were offering large enough purses to risk losing the championship title for. To earn as much money as he could from being the champion, Welsh fought in as many ten round 'no verdict' matches as he could. As long as he was on his feet at the end of the ten rounds, he could not lose his title. Still, Welsh wanted to show he was not going to choose soft opposition and began a series of bouts against serious contenders. His first defence was against Matty Baldwin on 27 October in Boston, a match he won on points. This was followed six days later by a contest against Al Wolgast, the former champion who had avoided Welsh when he had the title to lose. The fight was a near sell out at Madison Square Garden in New York, with the crowd firmly behind Wolgast. Although the first few rounds were fairly even between the two fighters, at the end of the fifth round Wolgast blocked an uppercut with his right arm. The blow broke his ulna three inches (76 mm) above the wrist, forcing Wolgast to box on with just his left hand. Wolgast kept on fighting but could not continue after the eighth.

A week later Welsh faced Charley White, the man most sports-writers believed was the natural contender for the lightweight title. The ten round bout, held in Milwaukee, was a one-sided affair with Welsh landing four times as many punches as White. Despite White having the stronger punch, it was not until the tenth that he managed to draw blood, and many writers failed to give him even one round.

Welsh was expected to retire in 1915, with Harry Pollok stating that he planned to fight on four more occasions before leaving the sport. However, he continued fighting and retained the title until May 1917, when he was knocked out at the Manhattan Athletic Club by Benny Leonard, the first time in his career that he had been stopped. Leonard was deemed to have controlled the fight. After being floored in the ninth round, Welsh had risen back to his feet and absorbed even more blows before the referee called a halt to the bout.

Later life

Welsh retired from boxing after a defeat by Archie Walker in 1922, but retired as a wealthy man. Before he lost to Leonard in 1917, Welsh bought a farm on Long Hill in Chatham Township, New Jersey. The farm was set in 162 acre and Welsh spent thousands of dollars on improvements, installing a gymnasium, a state of the art kitchen, golf course, tennis courts and a swimming pool. His idea was to turn it into a health spa, and on 11 August 1917 a host of celebrities and dignitaries were invited to its opening. One of the guests, Bat Masterson, described Long Hill as a 'palatial home sitting high upon a hill, like an acropolis'.

Welsh found Long Hill a poor distraction and thought of joining the British forces, but was persuaded out of the idea by Fanny. Instead he joined the United States Army, serving as a lieutenant and was consigned to the Walter Reed Hospital where he helped rehabilitate disabled veterans.

In 1918 Welsh was struggling with Long Hill and decided he wanted rid of it. Welsh had spent $150,000 on Long Hill, his entire life's earnings, and he placed it on the market for $20,000 cash as his business was close to collapse. He was still unable to find a buyer. Welsh's dream was to earn and run a health farm, held since his first days in America; now with his dream in tatters his life began to disintegrate. On 11 October 1919, Welsh was the only diner in a restaurant on 50th and Broadway, when by coincidence Harry Pollok walked in. The men became violent, and a fight ensued which ended with Pollok being rushed to the Polyclinic Hospital with half his right ear in an ice bucket. Pollok swore out a warrant against Welsh who was arrested upon complaint that he had bitten his former manager's ear in half. Welsh denied the charges and after Pollok failed to appear to press the charge for a third time, the case was dismissed.

In 1920 he was discharged from his duties at Walter Reed Hospital having reached the rank of captain. He returned to Long Hill, and with his money dwindling made the decision to return to the ring. After six months of preparation he faced 'Kid' Green on 28 December 1920. Despite the three-and-a-half-year absence from the ring, Welsh was in good shape and took only four rounds to beat Green; though he had switched his trademark defensive boxing to a heavier brawling style. Welsh then fought twice in May 1921, against Willie Jackson and Kid Murphy, both wins; but the most notable event regarding the bouts was the appearance of heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, who was spending time relaxing at Welsh's health farm. After two more fights in 1921, both in Canada, Welsh returned to New York to face Archie Walker in April 1922. The fight was a sporting disaster for Welsh, losing seven of the ten rounds, and by the tenth he was being chased around the ring as he covered himself up. It was a pitiful display and Welsh never stepped into a professional ring again.

By 1923, during Prohibition, Long Hill was attracting more guests for its supply of home-brewed ciders and beers than its sporting facilities. While in 1924, through their mutual acquaintance of Ring Lardner, F. Scott Fitzgerald turned up at the farm and sparred three rounds with Welsh. In 1924, Welsh was back in court, after he was involved in a car collision caused by him driving his vehicle on the wrong side of the road. Welsh began looking for other ventures to take him away from the health farm, and in 1925 he rejoined the US Army, becoming a boxing instructor at the Plattsburg Barracks in upstate New York. While in the forces he placed an advertisement for a manager to run Long Hill, which was accepted by neighbour and friend, Sidky Bey, and his wife Hranoush, known as Madame Bey. With strict curfew hours and a no-alcohol policy, Madame Bey made the farm a success, and Long Hill became an important training venue for New York boxers. But her tenure at the farm ended acrimoniously, over an argument with boxer Battling Siki, who Welsh believed to be a bad influence. After discussing the matter with other boxers, Madame Bey left Long Hill and set up her own rival venue. With Welsh in the Army and Madame Bey gone, the farm fell into disrepair. Bey later recalled Welsh fondly, stating that he was a man who enjoyed having a good time, but was a terrible businessman.

In 1927, with Welsh unable to raise the capital to pay the mortgage on his Long Hill estate, the farm was sold to satisfy a mortgage of $30,000 even though it was valued at $150,000. With Long Hill lost, Fanny and Welsh separated, Fanny taking a job as a live-in housekeeper at the St Paul's Hotel on 60th Street, New York, a venue where she and Welsh once lived in a suite of apartments. Soon after, Welsh's health began to deteriorate and he began complaining of severe chest pains. His doctor reported that Welsh was depressed and was drinking too much. On 17 July 1927 Welsh appeared at the West Side Court in New York City, sporting a black-eye suffered in a street brawl. He faced a charge of disorderly conduct, after he came off worse in a drunken encounter with Edward Delaney of New York. The patrolman who saved Welsh from a serious beating assured the magistrate that it was a friendly fight and the charges were dismissed against both men.

On 28 July 1927 a maid at Hotel Sidney, discovered Welsh laid face downward in his pyjamas and bathrobe. He had died in the night. A doctor was called who opined that Welsh had died of a heart attack. On 13 October 1927, Welsh's old health farm was destroyed in a fire.

Legacy
Freddie Welsh was inducted into the 'Ring Boxing Hall of Fame' in 1960, the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the 'International Boxing Hall of Fame' in 1997.

In 2008, Welsh was celebrated by Rhondda Cynon Taf council when it was decided to raise a blue plaque at his former boxing club to commemorate his life. The plaque was unveiled by Welsh boxer Dai Dower the following year.

Record
During the time Welsh boxed, scoring resulted in a large number of no-decision fights. However, newspapers commonly reported a winner in the case of no-decision bouts. With that adjustment, Welsh's final record would be 110–25–15 with 32 KOs and 16 no-decisions.

Fighting style
During his career Welsh was often reported in the British press as having learned his boxing trade in America, and therefore he had an ungentlemanly style of boxing, especially when compared to the darling of the National Sporting Club, 'peerless' Jim Driscoll. Welsh had a history of boxing in his family, with his paternal grandfather being a mountain fighter.

Although Welsh is often criticised throughout his career as being unable to knock out his opponents, his style centred on his footwork and ability to avoid punishment. He was calm, elusive and able to frustrate those who faced him, especially heavy hitters. Welsh would often finish long fights without injury, while his opponents suffered heavy damage, and was described as "essentially a long-distance fighter".

Vegetarianism
Welsh, when talking to the press, always stated that he was a vegetarian. This was always received with a mixture of interest and jest from his opponent and the journalists. Welsh was a vegetarian for its health values, inspired by the writings of Bernarr Macfadden, and showed no interest in animal welfare. When Welsh beat Phil Brock, he received a telegram from Macfadden stating 'Mr. Welsh - Dear Sir: Hope you will go through the whole bunch of meat eaters'.

Although he preached the benefits of vegetarianism, he was not averse to eating meat if required. In an interview Welsh once stated, "I don't believe in a variety of cooked dishes. I eat as much raw food as possible, and this second meal consists of all sorts of vegetables, and for the main dish I have a macaroni and cheese, followed by fruit and nuts and a little rice or tapioca pudding. I find plenty of vegetable and fruits to choose from without touching meat at all. I am not a faddist, and, I eat meat when I cannot get anything else."

In his later life his adherence to vegetarianism slipped, and his difficulty in maintaining his weight after 1913 was credited to him switching diets. Welsh was known to slip away after training to secluded roadhouses where he would eat his favourite meal Chicken Maryland.

Selected publications

 * Training the Body and Brain to Win: What and How to Eat (1915)

Professional boxing record
All information in this section is derived from BoxRec, unless otherwise stated.

Official Record
All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted to the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record
Record with the inclusion of newspaper decisions to the win/loss/draw column.

title: Freddie Welsh


text:
Women's fiction

Women's fiction is an umbrella term for women-centered books that focus on women's life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels or women's rights books. It is distinct from women's writing, which refers to literature written by (rather than promoted to) women. There exists no comparable label in English for works of fiction that are marketed to men.

The Romance Writers of America organization defines women's fiction as, "a commercial novel about a woman on the brink of life change and personal growth. Her journey details emotional reflection and action that transforms her and her relationships with others, and includes a hopeful/upbeat ending with regard to her romantic relationship."

The Women's Fiction Writers' Association gives a broader and more inclusive definition, in which romance elements are not mandatory: "Our stories may include romance, or they may not. They can be contemporary or historical and have magical, mystery, thriller, or other elements. Whereas the driving force of a romance novel is a love story, a mystery's is the exposure of an event, a thriller's is a fear-inducing chase or escape, etc., the driving force of women's fiction is the protagonist's journey toward a more fulfilled self.

"Women's fiction as defined by WFWA is reflected in our guiding statement: Women's Fiction Writers Association is an inclusive organization of writers creating layered stories in which the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey."

Criticism of the term
While the women's fiction label is embraced by some authors, others have argued that it is applied too broadly to works by women that would otherwise be considered literary fiction, therefore marginalizes women's writing. Critics point to the lack of an equivalent term for men's works, and that men's works are rarely if ever considered women's fiction even if they fall within the parameters of the genre. Author Jennifer Weiner has been a vocal critic of the term, which she believes leads to books written by women receiving less publicity, fewer reviews, and lower esteem than those written by men. Women's fiction has been compared it to chick lit, a term that has since fallen out of favor.

title: Women's fiction


text:
Westcliff-on-Sea

Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff, and in the past spelt as Westcliffe-on-Sea ) is a suburb of the city of Southend-on-Sea, located within the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 miles (55 km) east of London. The Westcliff-on-Sea area is described by Southend-on-Sea City Council as having a border in the east with Milton Road, Hamlet Court Road and Gainsborough Drive; Prittlewell Chase to the North and Valkyrie Road/ London Road/ Southbourne Grove in the west. Traditionally Westcliff included Chalkwell.

Geography
The cliffs formed by erosion of the local quaternary geology give views over the Thames Estuary towards the Kent coastline to the south. The coastline has been transformed into sandy beaches through the use of groynes and imported sand. The estuary at this point has extensive mud flats. At low tide, the water typically retreats some 600 m from the beach, leaving the mud flats exposed.

History
The southern area of what is now known as Westcliff, south of the London Road, was known as Milton or Milton Hamlet until the period 1860–1880 when the Milton Estate and surrounding land was sold to speculators who preferred the name Westcliff-on-Sea. The name Milton was derived from being in the middle between Leigh and Southchurch, with the settlement said to be from where Leigh Road meets Chalkwell Park to the mayor's residence at Porters. The protestant martyr John Frith was captured on the shore at Milton trying to escape in 1532. By the time the station opened in 1895, it was named Westcliff not Milton. The area between Milton Road and Hamlet Court Road was named The Hamlet by the original developers Brassey, Peto, Betts & Co. when they developed it as a "high class suburban retreat". Milton Hall (demolished 1900) was on the site of the what is now Nazareth House on the London Road. Hamlet Court was a large house in the area between Hamlet Court Road, Canewdon Road, and Ditton Court Road and was demolished in 1929.

Governance
Westcliff-on-Sea is covered by several wards under Southend-on-Sea City Council, including some that fall outside of the designated area of Westcliff. The wards are:
 * Westborough
 * Milton
 * Victoria
 * Prittlewell

Westborough Ward
Westborough is an electoral ward of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England covering the urban area of Westcliff-on-Sea. The ward starts at Southbourne Grove in the West, Prittlewell Brook to the North, Wenham Drive in the East and London Road/West Road in the south. The ward borders Blenheim Park, Prittlewell and Victoria. In 2021 it had a population of 11,284.

Transport
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway route passing through the suburb was completed to Southend in 1856 but the Westcliff railway station in Station Road was not opened until 1895. It is now managed by c2c.

Education
Westcliff is served by two selective secondary schools: Westcliff High School for Girls and Westcliff High School for Boys, two Catholic secondary schools: St Thomas More High School for boys and St Bernard's High School, Westcliff-on-Sea for girls, and the non selective Chase High School.

Architecture
Several areas of Westcliff have been classified as conservation areas: Clifftown bordering Southend town centre and including Prittlewell Square gardens, Shorefield and the Leas towards the sea front, and Milton focused on the Park Estate between Park Street and Milton Road. The Milton Conservation Area includes the Grade II listed building which was formerly the Wesleyan Chapel (Park Road Methodist Church) it was completed in 1872 to the design of Elijah Hoole (1837-1912) and was Southend's first permanent Methodist Church.

Westcliff contains a number of other Grade II listed buildings, Our Lady Help of Christians and St Helen's Church in Milton Road, the Church of Saint Alban the Martyr in St John's Road, the former Havens department store in Hamlet Court Road, Marteg House in Annerley Road, Westcliff Library in London Road and the Palace Theatre. The official list entries for these are available from Historic England on the National Heritage List for England.

Economy
The main shopping area in Westcliff-on-Sea is Hamlet Court Road, where the department store Havens established itself in 1901, and remained the anchor store until its closure in 2017. Hamlet Court Road took its name from a manor house called the Hamlet Court, which stood on land now occupied by Pavarotti's restaurant and adjoining shops, facing towards the sea with sweeping gardens down to the rail line. The road later developed into a strong independent retail area and quickly became famous outside the area as the Bond Street of Essex. There were many haberdashers and specialist shops, and it was not too unusual to see chauffeurs waiting for their employers to emerge from the shops.

The economic recessions of the 1980s and 1990s saw the area decline. The road underwent a £1 million regeneration in the early 2000s and a further regeneration in 2010. Further plans have been put forward by Southend-on-Sea City Council to pedestrianise half of the street, while the local historical organisation, the Milton Society is campaigning to regenerate the road on the lines of Margate and the Cathedral Quarter in Derby.

The Milton Ward in Westcliff is one of the most deprived areas in England. The ward is mostly in the top 20% most deprived areas in the East of England, but some of the ward is in the top 10% most deprived areas in the country.

Leisure
The two main theatres in Westcliff are the Cliffs Pavilion, which overlooks the seafront, and the Palace Theatre situated on the London Road.

Westcliff-on-Sea is also home to the Thames Estuary Yacht Club and the Genting Casino Westcliff. Westcliff RFC currently play in National League 2 East, the fourth tier of the English rugby union system.

In Literature
Westcliff is the location for the French novel Un souvenir by Michel Déon.

Notable people

 * Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904), poet and journalist, lived at Hamlet Court from 1878.
 * David Atkinson, politician
 * Trevor Bailey (1923–2011), test cricketer and cricket writer and broadcaster, was born there.
 * John Barber (1919–2004), former Finance Director of Ford of Europe and managing director of British Leyland.
 * Dorothea Bate, Welsh palaeontologist and pioneer of archaeozoology, died in Westcliff-on-Sea in 1951
 * E. Power Biggs (1906–1977), concert organist was born there.
 * Robert Williams Buchanan (1841–1901), poet, novelist and playwright, lived at Hamlet Court from 1884.
 * Dick Clement (born 1937) comedy writer and director, was born there.
 * Geoffrey Crawley photographic expert and journalist. He was the editor in chief of British Journal of Photography for two decades and was noted for exposing the photographs of the Cottingley Fairies taken in the early 20th century as a hoax.
 * Josh Cullen (born 1996), professional footballer who currently plays for Burnley and the Republic of Ireland national team.
 * Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen (1828–1894), curator and Director of the South Kensington Museum in London lived at Hamlet Court.
 * Jean Floud (1915–2013), sociologist and academic, was born there.
 * Edward Greenfield (1928–2015) chief music writer in The Guardian from 1977 to 1993 and biographer of Andre Previn was born there and attended Westcliff High School for Boys.
 * John Horsely (1920–2014), actor, was born there.
 * Wilko Johnson (1947–2022) guitarist, singer and songwriter attended Westcliff High School for Boys and lived in Westcliff until his death.
 * Frank Matcham (1854–1920), theatre architect, retired to 28 Westcliff Parade, Westcliff-on-Sea and died there in 1920.
 * Hugh Sells (1922–1978), first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force officer.
 * Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams FBA (1929–2003), English moral philosopher.

title: Westcliff-on-Sea


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Random sample consensus

Random sample consensus (RANSAC) is an iterative method to estimate parameters of a mathematical model from a set of observed data that contains outliers, when outliers are to be accorded no influence on the values of the estimates. Therefore, it also can be interpreted as an outlier detection method. It is a non-deterministic algorithm in the sense that it produces a reasonable result only with a certain probability, with this probability increasing as more iterations are allowed. The algorithm was first published by Fischler and Bolles at SRI International in 1981. They used RANSAC to solve the Location Determination Problem (LDP), where the goal is to determine the points in the space that project onto an image into a set of landmarks with known locations.

RANSAC uses repeated random sub-sampling. A basic assumption is that the data consists of "inliers", i.e., data whose distribution can be explained by some set of model parameters, though may be subject to noise, and "outliers" which are data that do not fit the model. The outliers can come, for example, from extreme values of the noise or from erroneous measurements or incorrect hypotheses about the interpretation of data. RANSAC also assumes that, given a (usually small) set of inliers, there exists a procedure which can estimate the parameters of a model that optimally explains or fits this data.

Example
A simple example is fitting a line in two dimensions to a set of observations. Assuming that this set contains both inliers, i.e., points which approximately can be fitted to a line, and outliers, points which cannot be fitted to this line, a simple least squares method for line fitting will generally produce a line with a bad fit to the data including inliers and outliers. The reason is that it is optimally fitted to all points, including the outliers. RANSAC, on the other hand, attempts to exclude the outliers and find a linear model that only uses the inliers in its calculation. This is done by fitting linear models to several random samplings of the data and returning the model that has the best fit to a subset of the data. Since the inliers tend to be more linearly related than a random mixture of inliers and outliers, a random subset that consists entirely of inliers will have the best model fit. In practice, there is no guarantee that a subset of inliers will be randomly sampled, and the probability of the algorithm succeeding depends on the proportion of inliers in the data as well as the choice of several algorithm parameters.

Overview
The RANSAC algorithm is a learning technique to estimate parameters of a model by random sampling of observed data. Given a dataset whose data elements contain both inliers and outliers, RANSAC uses the voting scheme to find the optimal fitting result. Data elements in the dataset are used to vote for one or multiple models. The implementation of this voting scheme is based on two assumptions: that the noisy features will not vote consistently for any single model (few outliers) and there are enough features to agree on a good model (few missing data). The RANSAC algorithm is essentially composed of two steps that are iteratively repeated: The set of inliers obtained for the fitting model is called the consensus set. The RANSAC algorithm will iteratively repeat the above two steps until the obtained consensus set in certain iteration has enough inliers.
 * 1) In the first step, a sample subset containing minimal data items is randomly selected from the input dataset. A fitting model with model parameters is computed using only the elements of this sample subset. The cardinality of the sample subset (e.g., the amount of data in this subset) is sufficient to determine the model parameters.
 * 2) In the second step, the algorithm checks which elements of the entire dataset are consistent with the model instantiated by the estimated model parameters obtained from the first step. A data element will be considered as an outlier if it does not fit the model within some error threshold defining the maximum data deviation of inliers. (Data elements beyond this deviation are outliers.)

The input to the RANSAC algorithm is a set of observed data values, a model to fit to the observations, and some confidence parameters defining outliers. In more details than the aforementioned RANSAC algorithm overview, RANSAC achieves its goal by repeating the following steps:

 * 1) Select a random subset of the original data. Call this subset the hypothetical inliers.
 * 2) A model is fitted to the set of hypothetical inliers.
 * 3) All data are then tested against the fitted model. All the data points (of the original data) that fit the estimated model well, according to some model-specific loss function, are called the consensus set (i.e., the set of inliers for the model).
 * 4) The estimated model is reasonably good if sufficiently many data points have been classified as a part of the consensus set.
 * 5) The model may be improved by re-estimating it by using all the members of the consensus set. The fitting quality as a measure of how well the model fits to the consensus set will be used to sharpen the model fitting as iterations goes on (e.g., by setting this measure as the fitting quality criteria at the next iteration).

To converge to a sufficiently good model parameter set, this procedure is repeated a fixed number of times, each time producing either the rejection of a model because too few points are a part of the consensus set, or a refined model with a consensus set size larger than the previous consensus set.

Pseudocode
The generic RANSAC algorithm works as the following pseudocode:

Given: data – A set of observations. model – A model to explain the observed data points. n – The minimum number of data points required to estimate the model parameters. k – The maximum number of iterations allowed in the algorithm. t – A threshold value to determine data points that are fit well by the model (inlier). d – The number of close data points (inliers) required to assert that the model fits well to the data. Return: bestFit – The model parameters which may best fit the data (or null if no good model is found). iterations = 0 bestFit = null bestErr = something really large // This parameter is used to sharpen the model parameters to the best data fitting as iterations go on. while iterations < k do maybeInliers := n randomly selected values from data maybeModel := model parameters fitted to maybeInliers confirmedInliers := empty set for every point in data do if point fits maybeModel with an error smaller than t then add point to confirmedInliers end if end for if the number of elements in confirmedInliers is > d then // This implies that we may have found a good model. // Now test how good it is. betterModel := model parameters fitted to all the points in confirmedInliers thisErr := a measure of how well betterModel fits these points if thisErr < bestErr then bestFit := betterModel bestErr := thisErr end if end if increment iterations end while return bestFit

Example code
A Python implementation mirroring the pseudocode. This also defines a  based on least squares, applies   to a 2D regression problem, and visualizes the outcome:

Parameters
The threshold value to determine when a data point fits a model ($t$), and the number of inliers (data points fitted to the model within t) required to assert that the model fits well to data ($d$) are determined based on specific requirements of the application and the dataset, and possibly based on experimental evaluation. The number of iterations ($k$), however, can be roughly determined as a function of the desired probability of success ($p$) as shown below.

Let $p$ be the desired probability that the RANSAC algorithm provides at least one useful result after running. In extreme (for simplifying the derivation), RANSAC returns a successful result if in some iteration it selects only inliers from the input data set when it chooses $n$ points from the data set from which the model parameters are estimated. (In other words, all the selected $n$ data points are inliers of the model estimated by these points). Let $$w$$ be the probability of choosing an inlier each time a single data point is selected, that is roughly,

 * $$w$$ = number of inliers in data / number of points in data

A common case is that $$w$$ is not well known beforehand because of an unknown number of inliers in data before running the RANSAC algorithm, but some rough value can be given. With a given rough value of $$w$$ and roughly assuming that the $n$ points needed for estimating a model are selected independently (It is a rough assumption because each data point selection reduces the number of data point candidates to choose in the next selection in reality), $$w^{n}$$ is the probability that all n points are inliers and $$1 - w^{n}$$ is the probability that at least one of the $n$ points is an outlier, a case which implies that a bad model will be estimated from this point set. That probability to the power of $k$ (the number of iterations in running the algorithm) is the probability that the algorithm never selects a set of $n$ points which all are inliers, and this is the same as $$1 - p$$ (the probability that the algorithm does not result in a successful model estimation) in extreme. Consequently,

1 - p = (1 - w^n)^k \, $$

which, after taking the logarithm of both sides, leads to

k = \frac{\log(1 - p)}{\log(1 - w^n)} $$

This result assumes that the $n$ data points are selected independently, that is, a point which has been selected once is replaced and can be selected again in the same iteration. This is often not a reasonable approach and the derived value for $k$ should be taken as an upper limit in the case that the points are selected without replacement. For example, in the case of finding a line which fits the data set illustrated in the above figure, the RANSAC algorithm typically chooses two points in each iteration and computes  as the line between the points and it is then critical that the two points are distinct.

To gain additional confidence, the standard deviation or multiples thereof can be added to $k$. The standard deviation of $k$ is defined as

 * $$ \operatorname{SD}(k) = \frac{\sqrt{1 - w^n}}{w^n}$$

Advantages and disadvantages
An advantage of RANSAC is its ability to do robust estimation of the model parameters, i.e., it can estimate the parameters with a high degree of accuracy even when a significant number of outliers are present in the data set. A disadvantage of RANSAC is that there is no upper bound on the time it takes to compute these parameters (except exhaustion). When the number of iterations computed is limited the solution obtained may not be optimal, and it may not even be one that fits the data in a good way. In this way RANSAC offers a trade-off; by computing a greater number of iterations the probability of a reasonable model being produced is increased. Moreover, RANSAC is not always able to find the optimal set even for moderately contaminated sets and it usually performs badly when the number of inliers is less than 50%. Optimal RANSAC was proposed to handle both these problems and is capable of finding the optimal set for heavily contaminated sets, even for an inlier ratio under 5%. Another disadvantage of RANSAC is that it requires the setting of problem-specific thresholds.

RANSAC can only estimate one model for a particular data set. As for any one-model approach when two (or more) model instances exist, RANSAC may fail to find either one. The Hough transform is one alternative robust estimation technique that may be useful when more than one model instance is present. Another approach for multi model fitting is known as PEARL, which combines model sampling from data points as in RANSAC with iterative re-estimation of inliers and the multi-model fitting being formulated as an optimization problem with a global energy function describing the quality of the overall solution.

Applications
The RANSAC algorithm is often used in computer vision, e.g., to simultaneously solve the correspondence problem and estimate the fundamental matrix related to a pair of stereo cameras; see also: Structure from motion, scale-invariant feature transform, image stitching, rigid motion segmentation.

Development and improvements
Since 1981 RANSAC has become a fundamental tool in the computer vision and image processing community. In 2006, for the 25th anniversary of the algorithm, a workshop was organized at the International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) to summarize the most recent contributions and variations to the original algorithm, mostly meant to improve the speed of the algorithm, the robustness and accuracy of the estimated solution and to decrease the dependency from user defined constants.

RANSAC can be sensitive to the choice of the correct noise threshold that defines which data points fit a model instantiated with a certain set of parameters. If such threshold is too large, then all the hypotheses tend to be ranked equally (good). On the other hand, when the noise threshold is too small, the estimated parameters tend to be unstable ( i.e. by simply adding or removing a datum to the set of inliers, the estimate of the parameters may fluctuate). To partially compensate for this undesirable effect, Torr et al. proposed two modification of RANSAC called MSAC (M-estimator SAmple and Consensus) and MLESAC (Maximum Likelihood Estimation SAmple and Consensus). The main idea is to evaluate the quality of the consensus set ( i.e. the data that fit a model and a certain set of parameters) calculating its likelihood (whereas in the original formulation by Fischler and Bolles the rank was the cardinality of such set). An extension to MLESAC which takes into account the prior probabilities associated to the input dataset is proposed by Tordoff. The resulting algorithm is dubbed Guided-MLESAC. Along similar lines, Chum proposed to guide the sampling procedure if some a priori information regarding the input data is known, i.e. whether a datum is likely to be an inlier or an outlier. The proposed approach is called PROSAC, PROgressive SAmple Consensus.

Chum et al. also proposed a randomized version of RANSAC called R-RANSAC to reduce the computational burden to identify a good consensus set. The basic idea is to initially evaluate the goodness of the currently instantiated model using only a reduced set of points instead of the entire dataset. A sound strategy will tell with high confidence when it is the case to evaluate the fitting of the entire dataset or when the model can be readily discarded. It is reasonable to think that the impact of this approach is more relevant in cases where the percentage of inliers is large. The type of strategy proposed by Chum et al. is called preemption scheme. Nistér proposed a paradigm called Preemptive RANSAC that allows real time robust estimation of the structure of a scene and of the motion of the camera. The core idea of the approach consists in generating a fixed number of hypotheses so that the comparison happens with respect to the quality of the generated hypothesis rather than against some absolute quality metric.

Other researchers tried to cope with difficult situations where the noise scale is not known and/or multiple model instances are present. The first problem has been tackled in the work by Wang and Suter. Toldo et al. represent each datum with the characteristic function of the set of random models that fit the point. Then multiple models are revealed as clusters which group the points supporting the same model. The clustering algorithm, called J-linkage, does not require prior specification of the number of models, nor does it necessitate manual parameters tuning.

RANSAC has also been tailored for recursive state estimation applications, where the input measurements are corrupted by outliers and Kalman filter approaches, which rely on a Gaussian distribution of the measurement error, are doomed to fail. Such an approach is dubbed KALMANSAC.

Related methods

 * MLESAC (Maximum Likelihood Estimate Sample Consensus) – maximizes the likelihood that the data was generated from the sample-fitted model, e.g. a mixture model of inliers and outliers
 * MAPSAC (Maximum A Posterior Sample Consensus) – extends MLESAC to incorporate a prior probability of the parameters to be fitted and maximizes the posterior probability
 * KALMANSAC – causal inference of the state of a dynamical system
 * Resampling (statistics)
 * Hop-Diffusion Monte Carlo uses randomized sampling involve global jumps and local diffusion to choose the sample at each step of RANSAC for epipolar geometry estimation between very wide-baseline images.

title: Random sample consensus


text: Category:1535 deaths

title: Category:1535 deaths