text:
Stephen Cummings

Stephen Donald Cummings (born 13 September 1954) is an Australian rock singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from 1976 to 1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success. He has written two novels, Wonderboy (1996) and Stay Away from Lightning Girl (1999), and a memoir, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy (2009). In 2014 a documentary film, Don't Throw Stones, based on his memoir premiered as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Early years
Stephen Cummings was born in 1954 in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of Camberwell. He was the vocalist for Ewe and the Merinos.

The Pelaco Brothers
The Pelaco Brothers formed in 1974, with Cummings on vocals, Joe Camilleri on saxophone and vocals, Peter Lillie on guitar and vocals, Johnny Topper on bass guitar, Karl Wolfe on drums and Chris Worrall on guitar. They played "rock-a-billy, country swing and R&B which recalled American outfits like Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen and Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. Yet, the band's delivery presented a fiercely Australian outlook". Only existing for 18 months, they later included Ed Bates on guitar and Peter Martin on slide guitar, their posthumous releases were The Notorious Pelaco Brothers Show a live six-track Extended Play on the Ralph imprint (a completely different entity from the San Francisco label) in June 1977 and three studio tracks for a various artists release, The Autodrifters and The Relaxed Mechanics Meet The Fabulous Nudes and The Pelaco Bros, in June 1978 on Missing Link Records. The Pelaco Brothers disbanded in late 1975. Camilleri went on to form Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Lillie formed Relaxed Mechanics and Topper formed the Fabulous Nudes. Lillie, Topper and Wolfe were all in the Autodrifters. Meanwhile, Steve Cummings and Bates formed the Sports in 1976

The Sports
The Sports were a new wave band formed in 1976 by Cummings and former Pelaco Brothers bandmate Ed Bates, with Robert Glover (former Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven on piano (former the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band) with Paul Hitchins on drums. Their early sets contained covers of Chuck Berry, Billy Emerson, Don Covay, Company Caine and Graham Parker. Original songs, mostly written by Cummings and Bates, completed their sets. The Sports' debut recording was the EP Fair Game in early 1977. A friend in London posted the record to New Musical Express which declared it "Record Of The Week". Andrew Pendlebury (ex-Myriad) joined on guitar in August 1977 and assisted Cummings with songwriting. Cummings brought in Martin Armiger on guitar, vocals and songwriting to replace Bates in August 1978. The Sports had top 30 hits on the Australian Kent Music Report singles charts with "Don't Throw Stones" (1979), "Strangers on a Train" (1980) and "How Come" (1981); and top 20 albums with Don't Throw Stones (#9, 1979), Suddenly (No. 13, 1980) and Sondra (1981). "Who Listens to the Radio?", co-written by Cummings and Pendlebury, peaked at No. 35 on the Australian singles charts in 1978, and was their only hit on the United States Billboard pop singles chart, peaking at No. 45 in November 1979.

Solo career
After the Sports had disbanded in late 1981, Cummings formed a "part-time" band, A Ring of Truth, with Robert Glover (also the Sports), Peter Luscombe (Tinsley Waterhouse), Wilbur Wilde (Ol '55, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons) and Les Stackpool (In-Focus). Stackpool was soon replaced by Peter Laffy (Mondo Rock). According to Tharunka's Diane Livesey, "[they were Cummings] way of relieving boredom for a while and inflicting 'the modern face of cabaret' upon an unsuspecting public ... The only way to describe them is 'truly wonderful'." By late March 1982, Cummings had left that group. He spent the rest of 1982 co-writing tracks with Ian Stephen and waiting out his contract. He released his debut solo single, "We all Make Mistakes" on Phantom Records, in December 1982 and followed with "Stuck on Love" in May 1983. Cummings' debut album, Senso, released by Regular Records in August 1984, was produced by former bandmate Martin Armiger, and recorded with session musicians including Armiger, Joe Camilleri and Pendlebury from his earlier bands. Senso spawned two dance-pop singles, "Gymnasium" in July 1984 and "Another Kick in the Head" in October.

His second studio album, This Wonderful Life, was released in August 1986. It was a more personal and less busy recording which was produced by Cummings and provided two singles, "Speak with Frankness" and "Love is Crucial". In September 1987, Cummings dueted with Pendlebury on "She Set Fire to the House". before releasing his third album, Lovetown in January 1988. Cummings formed Stephen Cummings' Lovetown (aka Stephen Cummings and Lovetown) with Rebecca Barnard on backing vocals, Mick Girasole (also in the Black Sorrows alongside Camilleri) on bass guitar, Peter Luscombe (also the Black Sorrows) on drums, Shane O'Mara on guitar and Pendlebury on guitar. It "was a very subtle, alluring, personal and mostly acoustic album ... full of conversational, narrative vignettes". The album, produced by Mark Woods and Cummings, provided two further singles, "Some Prayers Are Answered" in February and "My Willingness" in May.

Cummings changed labels to True Tone Records for his next album, A New Kind of Blue, which was released in March 1989 and produced by Cummings and O'Mara. It spawned three singles, "A Life is a Life" in October 1988, "Your House is Falling" in February 1989 and "When the Day is Done" in July. The album provided Cummings with his only Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Award, winning "Best Adult Contemporary Album" in 1990.

For his fifth solo album, Good Humour, Cummings returned to his earlier dance and funk sound from his Senso album, using a backing band of Barnard, O'Mara and Nick Smith (ex-Kevins) on backing vocals, with additional session musicians from Sydney jazz outfit The Necks, and Robert Goodge (I'm Talking) on guitar, drum programming and co-production (for two tracks). The album, produced by Cummings and O'Mara, peaked at No. 40 on the ARIA Album Charts in March 1991. "Hell (You've Put Me Through)", which peaked at No. 33 after its November 1990 release, was followed by a cover of Sly Stone's "Family Affair" and then "Stand Up (Love is the Greatest)". Cummings has supplemented his income by writing advertising jingles: he co-wrote Medibank Private's theme "I Feel Better Now", with Goodge.

Cummings' sixth studio album, Unguided Tour, produced by Cummings and O'Mara for Polygram Records, was issued in August 1992 and provided three singles. The album peaked at number 76 on the ARIA Charts. In 1993, Cummings' first compilation album Rollercoaster was released.

In August 1994, Cummings' seventh solo album Falling Swinger was released. The single, "September 13" appeared in July and is titled for Cummings' birthday, which he shares with Steve Kilbey. Later in 1994, the Toni Childs and Cummings duet, "Fell from a Great Height", was released as a single. It later appeared on Childs' compilation album, The Very Best of Toni Childs in 1996.

Steve Kilbey also produced Cummings' eighth studio album Escapist, released in September 1996, which contained "countrified ballad "Everything Breaks Your Heart" to the psychedelic-tinged mantra "Sometimes". Also in 1996, Cummings published his first novel, Wonderboy, which deals with relationships especially those between a father and son.

On 14 November 1998, Cummings and, a briefly reformed, The Sports performed at the Mushroom Records 25th anniversary concert. His next solo album, Spiritual Bum, had Cummings as record producer and was issued in June 1999. He returned to an acoustic, melancholic sound. Cummings also had his second novel, Stay Away from Lightning Girl, published in 1999, which described an ageing musician and his band. In 2001, he released Skeleton Key followed by Firecracker in 2003, Close Ups in 2004, Love-O-Meter in 2005, Space Travel in 2007, and Happiest Man Alive in 2008. On 1 May 2009, his memoir, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy was printed, which his publishers described as a series of anecdotes from his childhood through thirty years of the music business and his family relationships. In October 2010, his 1988 album Lovetown was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

In 2019, Cummings released his 20th studio album, Prisoner of Love. A four disc anthology album, titled A Life is a Life, was also released in 2019.

In February 2023, Cummings announced the forthcoming release of 100 Years from Now for 5 May 2023.

Personal life
In March 2020, Cummings had a stroke, but partially recovered and began releasing work in 2023.

Media reviews
"Alongside Nick Cave and Tim Rogers, I would nominate Stephen Cummings. He is easily one of our great storytellers, capable of creating lives in miniature" "Apart from Paul Kelly, no other Australian solo artist has managed to sustain a recording and performing career at such a high level of artistry for as long as Stephen Cummings" "Debonair, romantic and sensitive, Cummings owns a voice that allows vulnerable yearning qualities as much space as an authoritative voice of experience." "In a year rich in fine albums from singer-songwriters as diverse as Bob Dylan, Ron Sexsmith and Lucinda Williams, this is one of the finest"

ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Cummings has won one award from six nominations.

 * 1989
 * "A Life Is a Life"
 * Best Male Artist
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="3"| 1990
 * rowspan="3"| A New Kind of Blue
 * Best Male Artist
 * Nominated
 * Album of the Year
 * Nominated
 * Best Adult Contemporary Album
 * Won
 * 1991
 * "Hell (You've Put Me Through)"
 * Best Male Artist
 * Nominated
 * 1996
 * Escapist
 * Best Adult Contemporary Album
 * Nominated
 * Nominated
 * 1996
 * Escapist
 * Best Adult Contemporary Album
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Countdown Australian Music Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.

 * 1984
 * himself ("Gymnasium")
 * Best Male Performance in a Video
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

title: Stephen Cummings


text:
Bertrand's ballot theorem

In combinatorics, Bertrand's ballot problem is the question: "In an election where candidate A receives p votes and candidate B receives q votes with p > q, what is the probability that A will be strictly ahead of B throughout the count?" The answer is

 * $$\frac{p-q}{p+q}.$$

The result was first published by W. A. Whitworth in 1878, but is named after Joseph Louis François Bertrand who rediscovered it in 1887.

In Bertrand's original paper, he sketches a proof based on a general formula for the number of favourable sequences using a recursion relation. He remarks that it seems probable that such a simple result could be proved by a more direct method. Such a proof was given by Désiré André, based on the observation that the unfavourable sequences can be divided into two equally probable cases, one of which (the case where B receives the first vote) is easily computed; he proves the equality by an explicit bijection. A variation of his method is popularly known as André's reflection method, although André did not use any reflections.

Bertrand's ballot theorem is related to the cycle lemma. They give similar formulas, but the cycle lemma considers circular shifts of a given ballot counting order rather than all permutations.

Example
Suppose there are 5 voters, of whom 3 vote for candidate A and 2 vote for candidate B (so p = 3 and q = 2). There are ten equally likely orders in which the votes could be counted: For the order AABAB, the tally of the votes as the election progresses is: For each column the tally for A is always larger than the tally for B, so A is always strictly ahead of B. For the order AABBA the tally of the votes as the election progresses is: For this order, B is tied with A after the fourth vote, so A is not always strictly ahead of B. Of the 10 possible orders, A is always ahead of B only for AAABB and AABAB. So the probability that A will always be strictly ahead is
 * AAABB
 * AABAB
 * ABAAB
 * BAAAB
 * AABBA
 * ABABA
 * BAABA
 * ABBAA
 * BABAA
 * BBAAA
 * $$\frac{2}{10}=\frac{1}{5},$$

and this is indeed equal to $$\frac{3-2}{3+2}$$ as the theorem predicts.

Favourable orders
Rather than computing the probability that a random vote counting order has the desired property, one can instead compute the number of favourable counting orders, then divide by the total number of ways in which the votes could have been counted. (This is the method used by Bertrand.) The total number of ways is the binomial coefficient $$\tbinom{p+q}{p}$$; Bertrand's proof shows that the number of favourable orders in which to count the votes is $$\tbinom{p+q-1}{p-1}-\tbinom{p+q-1}{p}$$ (though he does not give this number explicitly). And indeed after division this gives $$\tfrac{p}{p+q}-\tfrac{q}{p+q}=\tfrac{p-q}{p+q}$$.

Random walks
Another equivalent problem is to calculate the number of random walks on the integers that consist of n steps of unit length, beginning at the origin and ending at the point m, that never become negative. As n and m have the same parity and $$n\ge m\ge 0$$, this number is
 * $$\binom{n}{\tfrac{n+m}2}-\binom{n}{\tfrac{n+m}2+1} = \frac{m+1}{\tfrac{n+m}2+1}\binom{n}{\tfrac{n+m}2}.$$

When $$m=0$$ and $$n$$ is even, this gives the Catalan number $$\frac1{\tfrac{n}2+1}\binom{n}{\tfrac{n}2}$$. Thus the probability that a random walk is never negative and returns to origin at time $$n$$ is $$2^{-n}\frac1{\tfrac{n}2+1}\binom{n}{\tfrac{n}2}$$. By Stirling's formula, when $$n\to \infty$$, this probability is $$\sim \frac{\sqrt 2}{n^{3/2}}$$.

[Note that $$m,n$$ have the same parity as follows: let $$P$$ be the number of "positive" moves, i.e., to the right, and let $$N$$ be the number of "negative" moves, i.e., to the left. Since $$P+N=n$$ and $$P-N=m$$, we have $$P=\frac{n+m}{2}$$ and $$N=\frac{n-m}{2}$$. Since $$P$$ and $$N$$ are integers,$$m,n$$ have the same parity]

Proof by reflection
For A to be strictly ahead of B throughout the counting of the votes, there can be no ties. Separate the counting sequences according to the first vote. Any sequence that begins with a vote for B must reach a tie at some point, because A eventually wins. For any sequence that begins with A and reaches a tie, reflect the votes up to the point of the first tie (so any A becomes a B, and vice versa) to obtain a sequence that begins with B. Hence every sequence that begins with A and reaches a tie is in one-to-one correspondence with a sequence that begins with B, and the probability that a sequence begins with B is $$q/(p+q)$$, so the probability that A always leads the vote is
 * $$ = 1- $$ the probability of sequences that tie at some point
 * $$ = 1- $$ the probability of sequences that tie at some point and begin with A or B
 * $$ = 1- 2 \times ($$ the probability of sequences that tie at some point and begin with B $$)$$
 * $$ = 1- 2 \times ($$ the probability that a sequence begins with B $$)$$
 * $$ = 1-2\frac{q}{p+q}=\frac{p-q}{p+q}$$

Proof by induction
Another method of proof is by mathematical induction:
 * We loosen the condition $$p > q$$ to $$p \geq q$$. Clearly, the theorem is correct when $$p = q$$, since in this case the first candidate will not be strictly ahead after all the votes have been counted (so the probability is 0).
 * Clearly the theorem is true if p > 0 and q = 0 when the probability is 1, given that the first candidate receives all the votes; it is also true when p = q > 0 as we have just seen.
 * Assume it is true both when p = a − 1 and q = b, and when p = a and q = b − 1, with a > b > 0. (We don't need to consider the case $$a = b$$ here, since we have already disposed of it before.) Then considering the case with p = a and q = b, the last vote counted is either for the first candidate with probability a/(a + b), or for the second with probability b/(a + b).  So the  probability of the first being ahead throughout the count to the penultimate vote counted (and also after the final vote) is:
 * $${a \over (a+b)}{(a-1)-b \over (a+b-1)}+{b \over (a+b)}{a-(b-1) \over (a+b-1)}={a-b \over a+b}.$$

 * And so it is true for all p and q with p > q > 0.

Proof by the cycle lemma
A simple proof is based on the cycle lemma of Dvoretzky and Motzkin. Call a ballot sequence dominating if A is strictly ahead of B throughout the counting of the votes. The cycle lemma asserts that any sequence of $$p$$ A's and $$q$$ B's, where $$p> q$$, has precisely $$p-q$$ dominating cyclic permutations. To see this, just arrange the given sequence of $$p+q$$ A's and B's in a circle and repeatedly remove adjacent pairs AB until only $$p-q$$ A's remain. Each of these A's was the start of a dominating cyclic permutation before anything was removed. So $$p-q$$ out of the $$p+q$$ cyclic permutations of any arrangement of $$p$$ A votes and $$q$$ B votes are dominating.

Proof by martingales
Let $$n= p+q$$. Define the "backwards counting" stochastic process

$$X_k = \frac{S_{n-k}}{n-k}; \quad k = 0, 1, ..., n-1$$ where $$S_{n-k}$$ is the lead of candidate A over B, after $$n-k$$ votes have come in.

Claim: $$X_k$$ is a martingale process. "Given $X_k$, we know that $S_{n-k} = (n-k)X_k$, so of the first $n-k$ votes, $\frac{X_k + 1}2 (n-k)$ were for candidate A, and $\frac{-X_k + 1}2 (n-k)$ were for candidate B.""X_k] = X_k$."Define the stopping time $$T$$ as either the minimum $$k$$ such that $$X_k =0$$, or $$n-1$$ if there's no such $$k$$. Then the probability that candidate A leads all the time is just $$E[X_T]$$, which by the optional stopping theorem is $$E[X_T] = E[X_0] = \frac{p-q}{p+q}$$

Bertrand's and André's proofs
Bertrand expressed the solution as
 * $$\frac{2m-\mu}{\mu}$$

where $$\mu=p+q$$ is the total number of voters and $$m=p$$ is the number of voters for the first candidate. He states that the result follows from the formula
 * $$P_{m+1,\mu+1}=P_{m,\mu}+P_{m+1,\mu},$$

where $$P_{m,\mu}$$ is the number of favourable sequences, but "it seems probable that such a simple result could be shown in a more direct way". Indeed, a more direct proof was soon produced by Désiré André. His approach is often mistakenly labelled "the reflection principle" by modern authors but in fact uses a permutation. He shows that the "unfavourable" sequences (those that reach an intermediate tie) consist of an equal number of sequences that begin with A as those that begin with B. Every sequence that begins with B is unfavourable, and there are $$\tbinom{p+q-1}{q-1}$$ such sequences with a B followed by an arbitrary sequence of (q-1) B's and p A's.  Each unfavourable sequence that begins with A can be transformed to an arbitrary sequence of (q-1) B's and p A's by finding the first B that violates the rule (by causing the vote counts to tie) and deleting it, and interchanging the order of the remaining parts. To reverse the process, take any sequence of (q-1) B's and p A's and search from the end to find where the number of A's first exceeds the number of B's, and then interchange the order of the parts and place a B in between. For example, the unfavourable sequence AAB B ABAA corresponds uniquely to the arbitrary sequence ABAA AAB. From this, it follows that the number of favourable sequences of p A's and q B's is
 * $$\binom{p+q}{q}-2\binom{p+q-1}{q-1}=\binom{p+q}{q}\frac{p-q}{p+q}$$

and thus the required probability is
 * $$\frac{p-q}{p+q}$$

as expected.

Variant: ties allowed
The original problem is to find the probability that the first candidate is always strictly ahead in the vote count. One may instead consider the problem of finding the probability that the second candidate is never ahead (that is, with ties are allowed). In this case, the answer is
 * $$\frac{p+1-q}{p+1}.$$

The variant problem can be solved by the reflection method in a similar way to the original problem. The number of possible vote sequences is $$\tbinom{p+q}{q}$$. Call a sequence "bad" if the second candidate is ever ahead, and if the number of bad sequences can be enumerated then the number of "good" sequences can be found by subtraction and the probability can be computed.

Represent a voting sequence as a lattice path on the Cartesian plane as follows: Each such path corresponds to a unique sequence of votes and will end at (p, q). A sequence is 'good' exactly when the corresponding path never goes above the diagonal line y = x; equivalently, a sequence is 'bad' exactly when the corresponding path touches the line y = x + 1. For each 'bad' path P, define a new path P′ by reflecting the part of P up to the first point it touches the line across it. P′ is a path from (−1, 1) to (p, q). The same operation applied again restores the original P. This produces a one-to-one correspondence between the 'bad' paths and the paths from (−1, 1) to (p, q). The number of these paths is $$\tbinom{p+q}{q-1}$$ and so that is the number of 'bad' sequences. This leaves the number of 'good' sequences as
 * Start the path at (0, 0)
 * Each time a vote for the first candidate is received move right 1 unit.
 * Each time a vote for the second candidate is received move up 1 unit.
 * $$\binom{p+q}{q} - \binom{p+q}{q-1} = \binom{p+q}{q}\frac{p+1-q}{p+1}.$$

Since there are $$\tbinom{p+q}{q}$$ altogether, the probability of a sequence being good is $$\tfrac{p+1-q}{p+1}$$.

In fact, the solutions to the original problem and the variant problem are easily related. For candidate A to be strictly ahead throughout the vote count, they must receive the first vote and for the remaining votes (ignoring the first) they must be either strictly ahead or tied throughout the count. Hence the solution to the original problem is
 * $$\frac{p}{p+q}\frac{p-1+1-q}{p-1+1}=\frac{p-q}{p+q}$$

as required.

Conversely, the tie case can be derived from the non-tie case. Note that the number of non-tie sequences with p+1 votes for A is equal to the number of tie sequences with p votes for A. The number of non-tie votes with p + 1 votes for A votes is $$\tfrac{p + 1 - q}{p + 1 + q} \tbinom{p + 1 + q}{q} $$, which by algebraic manipulation is  $$\tfrac{p + 1 - q}{p + 1} \tbinom{p + q}{q}  $$, so the fraction of sequences with p votes for A votes is $$\tfrac{p + 1 - q}{p + 1}$$.

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

title: Bertrand's ballot theorem


text:
Seacliff State Beach

Seacliff State Beach is a state beach park on Monterey Bay, in the town of Aptos, Santa Cruz County, California. It is located off Highway 1 on State Park Drive, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Santa Cruz. The beach is most known for the concrete ship SS Palo Alto lying in the water. North of Seacliff State Beach is New Brighton State Beach.

History
The beach was originally home to the Ohlone people. Spanish missionaries established the Mission Santa Cruz about eight miles west of here.

In 1821, when Mexico gained independence from Spain, the area was divided up into land grants. The area of the beach was a part of the Rancho Aptos grant to Rafael Castro in 1833. Castro worked with Claus Spreckels to establish the Castro-Spreckels wharf. The beach soon became a successful shipping port. The logging industry also thrived here with the local coast redwood trees.

The port facilitated major trade with the Kingdom of Hawaii. In 1838, King Kamehameha III requested that Mexican vaqueros from California travel to Hawaii to teach Hawaiians how to manage herds of wild cattle. Seacliff became a popular place to recruit vaqueros, who were known as paniolos by the Hawaiians.

In the 1850s, Thomas Fallon acquired part of the beach and turned it into a resort, which he named "New Brighton", in honor of his favorite seaside resort in England.

In the 1920s, after Claus Spreckels' death, sections of the beach were developed into the Seacliff Park and the Rio Del Mar Country Club.

In 1930, the first California state grant for preserving land was granted for the beach and, in 1931, it became a state beach.

SS Palo Alto
The beach's most notable feature is the World War I concrete ship SS Palo Alto formerly lying at the end of a wooden pier. The unfinished ship was hauled to Seacliff Beach in 1930 by the Cal-Nevada Company, beached, and turned into an amusement center, complete with a ballroom, a cafe, a 4-foot heated pool, and carnival booths. The company went bankrupt after two seasons and the ship was stripped. It is now permanently closed to the public. In the 2016-2017 storm season, a section of the ship overturned, and the pier was damaged. During the 2022–2023 storms, the ship was further broken down and the pier was extensively damaged, with the part closest to the ship being destroyed. Demolition of the pier began on March 20, 2023 and has since been completed.

Animal and plant life
The beach is home to many types of birds and marine life, including mussels, ocean worms, sea stars, sea anemones, barnacles, rock crabs, harbor seals, anglers, flounder, mackerel, halibut, lingcod, perch, cabezon, jacksmelt, steelhead, anchovy, bocaccio (tomcod), kingfish, dark seabirds, sea lions, dolphins, sea otters and whales. The Palo Alto serves as a main place for marine life.

Recreation
Seacliff includes RV facilities, picnic tables, and fire pits. It is also a popular place for surfing and fishing.

title: Seacliff State Beach


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Liberal parties

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was - kept

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was - kept

Liberal parties
At the very least, this needs a rename. It says that the LDP is Japan is not a Liberal party, when its very name is LIBERAL Democratic Party. It's very POV in which parties it chooses to include and exclude. Perhaps a better title would be Parties subscribing to Liberalism Theory. Incidentally, the TALK page seems to think that places outside the US hold the same definition of libertarian as the US does if they are in North America... 132.205.15.42 00:39, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Are you saying that Zhirinovsky's "Liberal Democratic Party" in Russia should be considered "liberal" because of its name, even though it is a right-wing nationalist party that is not "liberal" in any sense? This is the same (bad) logic that has some people arguing that the Nazis should be considered "socialist" because the official name of there party was the German equivalent of "National Socialist". -- Jmabel 01:33, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)
 * Well, the Nazi party started out with socialist roots, hence its name. By the very virtue of its name, it is a Socialism Party, even if it didn't have much socialism left in it. (What about the Nazi public works programs? The non-slave programs looks like elements of socialism) It should appear on a list of Socialism Parties, but not on a list of parties subscribing to socialism theory. The capitalization of Liberal parties matters alot, since parties have that name.132.205.15.42 00:29, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * If public works are socialist, then Bismarck was a socialist, as was FDR, as was Julius Cæsar. -- Jmabel 03:47, Oct 7, 2004 (UTC)
 * More pointedly, Kurt von Schleicher would be a socialist, since he was responsible for the initiating the public works programmes for which the Nazis were given the credit. -- Gregg 22:51, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Keep. Looks to me like a carefully researched and generally excellent article. I have to suspect the anon who added this to VfD of trolling. -- Jmabel 01:35, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)
 * If it's name contains Liberal, it's by definition a Liberal Party. If you exclude a Liberal Party because of ideological reasons, then the article is no longer about Liberal Parties. The article is about Liberalism, so Parties subscribing to Liberalism Theory would be more appropriate, if awkward. It is not about parties belonging to Liberal International, as it itself states so. As an article about Liberal parties, it should *not* exclude parties that do no subscribe to liberalism, if their name is Liberal. The content should appear on another page about liberalism (and socialism) subscribing parties, while this article should discuss the interplay of liberalism with the word Liberal with political parties. 132.205.15.42 02:41, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * If it's name contains Liberal, it's by definition a Liberal Party - please see Liberal Party of Australia -- Chuq 05:13, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * The article doesn't state it is about parties belonging to Liberal International, it states that belonging to Liberal International is a indication that it is a liberal party. Comment to Chuq: I refer to the first remark on the Zhirinovsky party. That is clear enough. --Gangulf 20:59, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: I do think there's a problem here, despite the impressive writing and research that has gone into this article. To accuse the Liberal Party of Australia of not being liberal enough to qualify for the list doesn't sound NPOV at all to me. Admittedly, the Nazis weren't really socialist despite their name, I think that's NPOV enough, but here in Australia at least, to say that the Liberal Party isn't a liberal party is politically charged and POV. No vote as yet. Andrewa 06:30, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure what you mean. When I said the Liberal Party wasn't Liberal, that wasn't some personal opinion or interpretation.  It's a blatant obvious fact.  They are a conservative party. -- Chuq 07:12, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: Personally I agree that the Liberal Party of Australia is poorly named, certainly from an international point of view, but that is not the point. The point is that many others would defend its name. So this blatant obvious fact isn't a fact at all, rather it's a strongly held opinion. Some in Australia talk of big-L Liberal and small-l liberal to distinguish the two, but those with no political axe to grind avoid using even this terminology, and so should we. We should report it certainly. It's a narrow line to walk, and the article talk page doesn't provide a lot of hope. But I'm still not convinced that deletion is the answer either, so still no vote. Andrewa 20:39, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I have changed the remarks on the Liberal Party of Australia to make it more POV. Some would say it is a liberal party, others would argue it is not. --Gangulf 20:52, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. (That took a while didn't it.) Article is improving, not quite consistent yet but there now seems hope, I might even try to contribute! Deletion was never a good option. Andrewa 20:59, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * That difference between big-L and small-l liberal is the very distinction that the page did not provide because of its name, and one of the reasons behind my listing it, hence the rename good. However there's still the issue between whether classical liberalism is used to categorize being liberal, or whether thoughts that liberal is anti-conservative, and relatedly, conservative is anti-liberal, and hence both are strictly associated with the political right and left (as they are in the US) and not what they can also mean (liberalism, conservatism). A Liberal Party is definitively a Liberal party and should be on Liberal parties, while it would not appear on List of liberal parties if it did not subscribe to some form of liberalism or what is thought to be liberal. 132.205.15.42 00:23, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: Well put, see Talk:List of liberal parties. Andrewa 01:29, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep this page. It doesn't need to be deleted, though it is in need of a good edit. --Martin Wisse 15:46, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Djadek 11:20, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. At best, it's misnamed, at worst, it's unavoidably POV. --Improv 16:26, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I renamed the article into List of liberal parties, to avoid the capital L. -- Gangulf 20:56, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * That is a better name, especially as it avoids the hazardous use of L. 132.205.15.42 00:23, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. It's a thorough and reasoned and NPOV article. The idea that a party is liberal "by definition" just because it uses the word "liberal" in its name is an astonishing claim. Acsenray 18:05, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * It's more astonishing to say that if you're a card carrying Liberal, you are not a Liberal. My claim is that a Liberal party is Liberal just by having it in its name. A party may be liberal without being Liberal and vice versa, the title of the article does not do liberal it does Liberal. The renamed page does not have that problem. 132.205.15.42 00:38, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep Suggestions for a good edit are always welcome, but generally the pros and contras in favour of including are stated with the party name. I will move the page to List of liberal parties, avoiding the capital-L- with liberal in the page name --Gangulf 20:02, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep, although there may be some NPOV issues (I know little about politics outside the US) — siro  χ  o  22:46, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete: I have no problem with the knowledge being displayed here. The problem I have is with that very nasty word, "Liberal," which seems to mean any damn thing.  "Liberal" as in "free?"  If so, then we get libertarians as liberals.  "Liberal" as in "freedom?"  "Liberal" as in the Anglo-American tradition of "change?"  If so, the Socialists are liberals, but the libertarians are not.  This is a word that has been very carefully undermined for the past 50 years.  Either we get a list of any party that has "liberal" in its name, or we rename this to "progressive" or "leftist" parties, and then we're in the soup again.  It's for that reason that I have to say, delete. Geogre 00:42, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I cannot imagine that anyone would label socialist parties as liberal parties, but there are social democratic parties close to liberalism or parties that seek a synthesis between liberalism and social democracy. Progressive and leftist are in no ways synonimes of liberal, since most parties on the list would be considered centre-right or centre. The list is about parties that adhere more or less to liberal positions as outlined in the article liberalism. Internationally there is political current different from conservatism, social democracy, christian democracy or socialism that bases its policies on individual liberty. It is a heteregenous current, but is is present. The way thatthe parties are listed makes it possible to have short comments why or why not a party is included, or to imply a nuancing remark. --Gangulf 14:06, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I cannot imagine that anyone would label socialist parties as liberal parties. In the United States this is the norm. Progressive and leftist are in no ways synonimes of liberal. In the United States, they are. Taco Deposit | Talk-o Deposit 19:54, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, for points made already by Geogre. This has come up several times on Categories for deletion, and deletion has occured there as well.  -Sean Curtin 02:16, Oct 9, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. As with the above, liberal is a specific political term with an accepted definition that provides a set of characteristics against which candidates for this list can be objectively judged. The parties mentioned, in Japan, Australia and Russia, do not meet those criteria and it is therefore perfectly NPOV to exclude them from the list regardless of the fact that they call themselves Liberal - just as the Nazi party would not be included on a list of socialist parties, and North Korea would not be included on a list of democracies. -- Gregg 22:51, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. --Dittaeva 12:44, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. "Liberal" means too many things to too many people.  See my response to Gangulf above for a perfect example of this. Taco Deposit | Talk-o Deposit 19:54, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


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User:Gerald Farinas/favorites

User:TheCustomOfLife User:Neutrality

title: User:Gerald Farinas/favorites


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Paestum

Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, in Magna Graecia. The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order dating from about 550 to 450 BC that are in an excellent state of preservation. The city walls and amphitheatre are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remain, as well as paved roads. The site is open to the public, and there is a modern national museum within it, which also contains the finds from the associated Greek site of Foce del Sele.

Paestum was established around 600 BC by settlers from Sybaris, a Greek colony in southern Italy, under the name of Poseidonia (Ποσειδωνία). The city thrived as a Greek settlement for about two centuries, witnessing the development of democracy. In 400 BC, the Lucanians seized the city. Romans took over in 273 BC, renaming it Paestum and establishing a Latin colony. Later, its decline ensued from shifts in trade routes and the onset of flooding and marsh formation. As Pesto or Paestum, the town became a bishopric (now only titular), but it was abandoned in the Early Middle Ages, and left undisturbed and largely forgotten until the eighteenth century.

Today the remains of the city are found in the modern frazione of Paestum, which is part of the comune of Capaccio Paestum in the Province of Salerno in the region of Campania, Italy. The modern settlement, directly to the south of the archaeological site, is a popular seaside resort with long sandy beaches. The Paestum railway station on the Naples-Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway line is directly to the east of the ancient city walls.

Name
The Greek settlers who founded the city originally named it Poseidonia (Ποσειδωνία). It was eventually conquered by the local Lucanians and later the Romans. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name.

Ancient ruins and features

Much of the most celebrated features of the site today are the three large temples in the Archaic version of the Greek Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC. All are typical of the period, with massive colonnades having a very pronounced entasis (widening as they go down), and very wide capitals resembling upturned mushrooms. Above the columns, only the second Temple of Hera retains most of its entablature, the other two having only the architrave in place.

These were dedicated to Hera and Athena (Juno and Minerva to the Romans), although previously they often have been identified otherwise, following eighteenth-century arguments. The two temples of Hera are right next to each other, while the Temple of Athena is on the other side of the town center. There were other temples, both Greek and Roman, which are far less well preserved.

Paestum is far from any sources of good marble. Unsurprisingly, the three main temples had few stone reliefs, perhaps using painting instead. Painted terracotta was used for some detailed parts of the structure. The large pieces of terracotta that have survived are in the museum.

The whole ancient city of Paestum covered an area of approximately 120 hectares. Only the 25 hectares that contain the three main temples and the other main buildings have been excavated. The other 95 hectares remain on private land and have not been studied.

The ancient city was surrounded by defensive walls, which are largely intact. The walls are approximately 4.75 km long in its polygonal perimeter, typically 15 m high, and 5 - 7 m thick. Corresponding with the cardinal points, there were four main openings in the wall: Porta Sirena (east to the hills); Porta Giustizia (south, now to the modern village Paestum); Porta Marina (west to the sea); and Porta Aurea (north), which was later destroyed. Positioned along the wall were 24 square or round towers. There may have been as many as 28, but some of them (and Porta Aurea) were destroyed during the construction of a highway during the 18th century that effectively cut the ancient site in two.

The central area is completely clear of modern buildings and always has been largely so, since the Middle Ages. Although much stone has been stripped from the site, large numbers of buildings remain detectable by their footings or the lower parts of their walls, and the main roads remain paved. A low-built heroon or shrine memorial to an unknown local hero survived intact; the contents are in the museum. Numerous tombs have been excavated outside the walls.

The three Greek Temples

The first Temple of Hera, built around 550 BC by the Greek colonists, is the oldest surviving temple in Paestum and the one farthest south. 18th-century archaeologists named it "the Basilica" because some mistakenly believed it to be a Roman building. (The original Roman basilica was essentially a civic form of building, before the basilica plan was adopted by the Early Christians for churches.)

Inscriptions and terracotta statuettes revealed that the goddess worshiped here was Hera. Later, an altar was unearthed in front of the temple, in the open-air site usual for a Greek altar. The faithful could attend rites and sacrifices without entering the cella or inner sanctuary.

The columns have a very strong entasis or curvature down their length, an indication of an early date of construction. Some of the capitals still retain visible traces of their original paint. The temple is wider than most Greek temples, probably because there are two doors and a row of seven columns running centrally inside the cella, an unusual feature. This may reflect a dual dedication of the temple. Having an odd number of columns, here nine, across the shorter sides also is very unusual; there are eighteen columns along the longer sides. This was possible, or necessary, because of the two doors, so that neither has a view blocked by a column.

On the highest point of the town, some way from the Hera Temples and north of the center of the ancient settlement, is the Temple of Athena. It was built around 500 BC, and was for some time incorrectly thought to have been dedicated to Ceres. The architecture is transitional, being mainly built in early Doric style and partially Ionic. Three medieval Christian tombs in the floor show that the temple was at one time used as a Christian church.

The second Temple of Hera was built around 460–450 BC, just north of the first Hera Temple, the two both part of a Heraion, or sanctuary to the goddess. It was once thought to be dedicated to Poseidon, who may have been a secondary focus of worship there. Instead of the typical 20 flutes on each column, they have 24 flutes. The Temple of Hera II also has a wider column size and smaller intervals between columns. The temple was also used to worship Zeus and another deity, whose identity is unknown. There are visible on the east side the remains of two altars, one large and one smaller. The smaller one is a Roman addition, built when a road leading to a Roman forum was cut through the larger one. It also is possible that the temple originally was dedicated to both Hera and Poseidon; some offertory statues found around the larger altar are thought to demonstrate this identification.

Other archaeological features
In the central part of the complex is the Roman Forum, thought to have been built on the site of the preceding Greek agora. On the north side of the forum is a small Roman temple, dated to 200 BC. It was dedicated to the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.

To the north-east of the forum is the amphitheater. This is of normal Roman pattern, although much smaller than later examples. Only the western half is visible; in 1930 AD, a road was built across the site, burying the eastern half. It is said by local inhabitants that the civil engineer responsible was tried, convicted and received a prison sentence for what was described as wanton destruction of a historic site. There is also a small circular council hall (bouleuterion) or assembly space (ekklesiasterion), with seats in tiers. It was probably never roofed, but had a wall around it, perhaps with a small arcade round the inside. This ceased to have a role in Roman times and was filled over.

The heroön, close to the forum and the Temple of Athena, probably celebrated the founder of the city, though constructed around a century after the death of this unnamed figure. It was a low tumulus with a walled rectangular enclosure faced with large stones around it. When it was excavated in 1954 a low stone chamber with a pitched roof was discovered at the centre, half below the surrounding ground level and half above. This contained several large, rare, and splendid bronze vessels, perhaps not locally-made, and a large Athenian pottery black-figure amphora of about 520–500 BC. The bronze vessels had traces of honey inside. These are all now in the museum.

Just south of the city walls, at a site still called Santa Venera, a series of small terracotta offertory molded statuettes of a standing nude woman wearing the polos headdress of Anatolian and Syrian goddesses, which were dated to the first half of the sixth century BC, were found in the sanctuary. Other similar ones have been excavated at other Paestum sanctuaries during excavations in the 1980s. The figure is highly unusual in the Western Mediterranean. The open-air temenos was established at the start of Greek occupation: a temple on the site was not built until the early fifth century BC. A nude goddess is a figure alien to Greek culture before the famous Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles in the fourth century: iconographic analogies must be sought in Phoenician Astarte and the Cypriote Aphrodite. "In places where the Greeks and Phoenicians came in contact with one another, there is often an overlapping in the persona of the two deities."

Inscriptions make clear that during Roman times the cult was reserved to Venus.

Painted tombs

Paestum also is renowned for its painted tombs, mainly belonging to the Lucanian period, while only one of them dates to the Greek period. However, this is the Tomb of the Diver (Italian: Tomba del tuffatore), which is the most famous. It is named after the enigmatic scene, depicted on the underside of the covering slab, of a young man diving into a stream of water. It dates to the first half of the fifth century BC (about 470 BC), the Golden Age of the Greek town. It was found, on 3 June 1968, in a small necropolis some 1.5 km south of the ancient walls. The paintings have now been transferred to the museum. The tomb is painted with the true fresco technique and its importance lies in being "the only example of Greek painting with figured scenes dating from the Orientalizing, Archaic, or Classical periods to survive in its entirety. Among the thousands of Greek tombs known from this time (roughly 700–400 BC), this is the only one found to have been decorated with frescoes of human subjects."

The remaining four walls of the tomb are occupied by symposium-related scenes, an iconography far more familiar from Greek pottery than the diving scene. All the five frescoes are displayed in the museum, together with other cycles from Lucanian painted tombs. In contrast to earlier Greek tomb paintings, these later scenes have many figures and a high proportion of scenes including horses and equestrian sports.

Sele complex
A few kilometres from Paestum there was a temple complex at the mouth of the Sele river (Foce del Sele in Italian) dedicated to Hera. The temple is now all but destroyed, and little remains of several other buildings. About 70 of the sixth-century BC Archaic metope relief panels on the temple and another building at the site were recovered, however. These fall into two groups, the earlier of which shows the story of the life of Heracles in 38 surviving reliefs; the later group, of about 510 BC, shows pairs of running women. The earlier cycle forms the centrepiece of the Paestum museum, set in place around walls of the original height. At the site there is a museo narrante with video displays, but no original artefacts.

Art from Paestum
The National Archaeological Museum of Paestum holds the largest collection, but many significant pieces were removed from the site before modern controls and are in a number of collections around the world. The National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid has especially rich holdings, with two important Imperial Roman statues and many, very fine vases (see below). Other pieces, mostly painted pottery, are in the Louvre, the Antikensammlung Berlin, and other museums in Europe and America.

In the case of painted pottery, a number of individual artists, especially from the fourth century BC, have been identified and given notnames whose work has been found in tombs around the city and the region, and sometimes farther afield. It has been presumed that these artists were based in the city.

National Archaeological Museum
The highlights of the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum are mentioned above: the Sele metopes, the Tomb of the Diver, and the contents of the Heroon. The displays also show a number of large painted terracotta architectural fragments from the temples and other buildings, many Greek terracotta figurines, and incomplete larger terracotta statues, and pottery including painted vases.

Foundation

According to Strabo, the city was founded as Poseidonia (named after the Greek deity of the sea) by Greek Achaeans from Sybaris. The colonists had built fortifications close to the sea, but then decided to found the city farther inland at a higher elevation. Solinus wrote that it was established by Dorians. The fortifications might have been built to the south of Poseidonia on the promontory where Agropoli is now. According to the historical tradition the sanctuary to Poseidon was located there, after which the city would have been named. The date of Poseidonia's founding is not given by ancient sources, but the archaeological evidence gives a date of approximately 600 BC.

Alternatively in fact, the Sybarites may have been Troezenians. Aristotle wrote that a group of Troezenians was expelled from Sybaris by the Achaeans after their joint founding of that city. Gaius Julius Solinus calls Paestum a Dorian colony and Strabo mentions that Troezen once was called Poseidonia. As a consequence it has been argued that Paestum was founded by the Troezenians referred to by Aristotle. Another hypothesis is that the Sybarites were aided by Dorians in their founding of Poseidonia.

Greek period

Archaeological evidence from Paestum's first centuries indicates the building of roads, temples, and other features of a growing city. Coinage, architecture, and molded votive figurines all attest to close relations maintained with Metaponto in the sixth and fifth centuries.

It is presumed that Poseidonia harbored refugees from its mother city, Sybaris, when that city was conquered by Croton in 510 BC. In the early fifth century, Poseidonia's coins adopted the Achaean weight standard and the bull seen on Sybarite coins. A. J. Graham thinks it was plausible that the number of refugees was large enough for some kind of synoecism to have occurred between the Poseidonians and the Sybarites, possibly in the form of a sympolity.

Poseidonia might have had a major share in a new foundation of Sybaris, which lasted from 452/1 BC until 446/5 BC. This is suggested by the great resemblance of the coins of Sybaris to those of Poseidonia during this period. Possibly a treaty of friendship between Sybaris, its allies, and the Serdaioi (an unknown people) dates to this new foundation, because Poseidonia was the guarantor of this treaty.

Lucanian period

It is not until the end of the fifth century BC that the city is mentioned, when according to Strabo, the city was conquered by the Lucanians. From the archaeological evidence it appears that the two cultures, Greek and Oscan, were able to thrive alongside one another.

Many tomb paintings show horses and horse-racing, a passion of the Lucanian elites.

Roman period and abandonment
It became the Roman city of Paestum in 273 BC in the aftermath of the Pyrrhic War, in which the Graeco-Italian Poseidonians sided with king Pyrrhus of Epirus against the Roman Republic.

During the Carthaginian invasion of Italy by Hannibal, the city remained faithful to Rome and afterward, was granted special favours such as the minting of its own coinage. The city continued to prosper during the Roman imperial period and became a bishopric as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pesto around 400 AD.

By the time of Virgil the city was "known for roses that bloomed twice a year", as he mentions in Book IV of his Georgics (c. 29 BC). Then highly unusual, this is now a common feature of modern cultivars of garden roses. It started to go into decline between the fourth and seventh centuries AD, and was abandoned during the Middle Ages. The bishopric was suppressed in 1100. Like Naples and most of the surrounding region, the inhabitants presumably spoke a Greek dialect throughout its history. The decline and desertion were probably due to changes in local land drainage patterns, leading to swampy malarial conditions. Raids by "Saracen" pirates and slavers also may have been a deciding factor. The remaining population seems to have moved to the more easily defended cliff-top settlement at Agropoli (i.e. "acropolis" or "citadel" in Greek), a few kilometres away, although this settlement became a base for Muslim raiders for a period. The Paestum site became overgrown and largely forgotten, although some stone spolia were collected and used in Salerno Cathedral by Robert Guiscard (d. 1085).

Rediscovery

Despite stray mentions such as that in the history of Pietro Summonte in 1524, who correctly identified the three Doric temples as such, its ruins only came to wide notice again in the eighteenth century, following the rediscovery of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and during the construction of a new coastal road south from Naples. The modern settlement had begun to revive by at least the sixteenth century, to the side of the ancient ruins. After a complicated start, the rediscovery of the three relatively easily accessible, and early, Greek temples created huge interest throughout Europe.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi visited to make a book of highly atmospheric but also accurate etchings, published in 1778; these and other prints were widely circulated. The complete and relatively simple form of the temples became influential in early Greek Revival architecture.

In 1740 a proposal was made, but not executed, to remove columns for the new Palace of Capodimonte in Naples. Initially, eighteenth-century savants doubted that the structures had been temples, and it was suggested variously, that they included a gymnasium, a public basilica or hall, or a "portico". There also was controversy and misunderstanding of their cultural background. Alessio Simmaco Mazzocchi, a clergyman and antiquarian, "the founder of the modern study of Magna Graecia" (the ancient Greeks in Italy), thought they were Etruscan, in line with his theories that Greek colonists merely had joined existing cultures in Italy, founded by peoples from farther east. He derived the etymology of "Poseidonia" from an invented Phoenician sea deity.

The first modern published account of the ruins was Les Ruines de Paestum in 1764, by G. P. M. Dumont, who had been taken to the site in 1750, along with the architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot, by Count Gazzola, an engineer for the government in Naples. Gazzola had drawn or commissioned measured drawings, to which Dumont added his own, as well as, more artistic plates. There was an expanded edition in 1769, the same year when a still more extensive account was published by the Englishman Thomas Major. By 1774 there were nine different illustrated publications on the site.

Second World War

On September 9, 1943, Paestum was the location of the landing beaches of the U.S. 36th Infantry Division during the Allied invasion of Italy. German forces resisted the landings from the outset, causing heavy fighting within and around the town. Combat persisted around the town for nine days before the Germans withdrew to the north. The Allied forces set up their Red Cross first aid tents in and around the temples, as they were regarded as "off limits" to bombing by both sides.

Recent developments
In 2024, the Italian Ministry of Culture announced that two Doric style temples were uncovered at Paestum.

Coins
The coins of Paestum date from about 550 BCE. These early issues may all be festival coins; they usually depict Poseidon with an upraised trident. Issues continue until the reign of Tiberius. For unknown reasons Paestum alone—of all the smaller Italian mints—was allowed to continue minting bronze coins by a Senatorial decree of about 89 BCE, after minting had been centralized. Later coins carry "P. S. S. C.", standing for "Paesti Signatum Senatus Consulto" to reflect this.

In fiction

 * In his partially fictionalized travelogue, The Innocents Abroad (1869), Mark Twain includes Paestum in the itinerary in Chapter 1 of the "great pleasure excursion to Europe and the Holy Land." The itinerary includes: "Rome [by rail], Herculaneum, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Vergil’s tomb, and possibly the ruins of Paestum can be visited..."
 * In the novel My Ántonia (1918) by Willa Cather, the professor Gaston Cleric contracts a fever after spending the night outdoors admiring "the sea temples at Paestum".
 * In the film Mare Nostrum (1926) by Rex Ingram, they visit Paestum.
 * Gate to the Sea, a historical novel by Bryher published in 1958, portrays the flight of Harmonia, a Greek high priestess, from Poseidonia (Paestum), where the Greek inhabitants have been enslaved and culturally dominated by the Lucani since the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
 * Scenes in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts (1963) were filmed here – notably when the Argonauts assist King Phineus (Patrick Troughton), who has been blinded and is tormented by harpies for his transgressions against the gods. In return for his advice on how to reach Colchis, the Argonauts render the harpies harmless by caging them.
 * Scenes in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans (where Perseus fights and kills Medusa's guardian, a two-headed dog) take place in Paestum.
 * In the 2007 video game Medal of Honor: Airborne, the second mission set during Operation Avalanche takes place in Paestum.

title: Paestum


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Drunk Enough to Dance

Drunk Enough to Dance is the fourth studio album and second major label album by American rock band Bowling for Soup. It was recorded from 2001 to 2002 at Tree Sound Studios and Sonica Recording in Atlanta and Big Time Audio in Dallas.

Production and recording
After a UK, Canada and midwest U.S. tour to promote their album "Let's Do It for Johnny!", the band ventured out to film the new Britney Spears film Crossroads. After filming, they would head to Atlanta in October 2001 to record their next new album. The album was produced by Butch Walker, formerly of Marvelous 3. In a newsletter from the band on January 9, 2002, Reddick said they "recorded 14 songs and that the album would contain a bonus track "Greatest Day"... and hopefully a song or two that Butch and I write next month... the import will have three more song that we did here in Dallas last month."

Release
It was released August 6, 2002 through Jive Records. The single, "Girl All the Bad Guys Want," was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003 in the "Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal" category. A re-release in 2003 added: "Punk Rock 101"; a cover of 1980s new wave band A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran (So Far Away)"; and "Star Song". There is an acoustic version of the song "Belgium" at the very end of the album.

"Punk Rock 101" was released as a radio single on May 20, 2003. Between late June and early August, the group appeared on the Warped Tour. The album is certified Silver in the U.K., having sold over 60,000 copies.

Reception
The album was included in Rock Sound's 101 Modern Classics list at number 63. The album was included at number 32 on Rock Sound's "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list. BuzzFeed included the album at number 28 on their "36 Pop Punk Albums You Need To Hear Before You F——ing Die" list. Cleveland.com ranked "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" at number 61 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs.

Track listing
Each version of the album has a number tracks that are five-to-six seconds of complete silence, titled "[Blank]," between the last song and "Belgium." The number of blank tracks varies upon the version, but "Belgium" is track 28 on all versions except for the Japanese Edition, where it is on track 20 after "Other Girls". There is about 1 minute of silence in between both songs.

 * Bonus tracks

 * B-sides

Personnel
Bowling for Soup
 * Jaret Reddick — vocals, rhythm guitar, producer for "Greatest Day"
 * Erik Chandler — bass, vocals
 * Chris Burney — lead guitar, vocals
 * Gary Wiseman — drums

Production
 * Butch Walker - producer, engineering, mixing, percussion, piano, Hammond, additional guitars, additional vocals on "Life After Lisa"
 * Tom Lord-Alge - mixing (tracks 3, 18 and 19)
 * John Briglevich - additional engineering (track 6)
 * Tom Soares - mixing (track 6 and 16)
 * Steve Browne - engineering (track 16)
 * Rhys Fulber - producer (track 19)
 * Chris Shaw - mixing (track 20)
 * Jeff "FFroe" Roe and Howie - additional backing vocals on "I Don't Wanna Rock" and "Running from Your Dad"
 * Chaz Harper - mastering
 * General Assistant to Butch Walker: Christie Priode
 * Jamie Muhoberac - keyboards on "I Ran (So Far Away)"
 * Management: Jeff Roe for FFroe
 * Legal Representation: Mike McKoy - Serling, Rooks, Ferrara
 * Road Crew: Sweet Charlie, Greg Lobdell

 * Assistant Engineers
 * Tree Sound - Russ-T Cobb and Robert Hannon
 * Stonehenge at ZAC Recording: Russ-T Cobb and Jon Oullette
 * Second Engineer: Ari Newman
 * Sonica Recording: Mike Schneider
 * Streetlight Studios: Tim Obremski
 * Electric Lady: Shinobu Mitsuoka
 * Ruby Red Studios: Russ-T Cobb
 * Avatar Studios: Ross Petersen

Locations
 * Produced, engineered and mixed by Butch Walker at Ruby Red Productions, Atlanta
 * Basic Tracks Recorded at Tree Studios, Atlanta, except "Punk Rock 101," "I Ran (So Far Away)" and "Star Song" Recorded at Ruby Red Studios, Atlanta, "Life After Lisa" Recorded at Sonica Recording, Atlanta and "Greatest Day" Recorded at Big Time Audio, Dallas.
 * Overdubs Recorded at Ruby Red Studios, Atlanta, except "Life After Lisa" Recorded at Sonica Recording and "Greatest Day" Recorded at Big Time Audio
 * Mixed at Stonehenge at ZAC Recording, Atlanta, except "Girl All the Bad Guys Want," "Punk Rock 101" and "I Ran (So Far Away)," Mixed at South Beach Studios, Miama, "Star Song" Mixed at Avatar Studios, NYC, "Life After Lisa" Mixed at Streetlight Studios, NYC and "Greatest Day" Mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York
 * Mastered by Chaz Harper at Battery Mastering, New York

Charts
Album

Singles

title: Drunk Enough to Dance


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Wikipedia:Categories for deletion/Liberal parties

Category:Liberal parties
Same reason as for Leaders of Liberal parties that was concluded to be POV-centric. Note parties in Liberal International are listed on that page. 132.205.15.42 00:45, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. The same discussion is going on about the article Liberal parties. Most people at this moment voted in favour of keeping. The same should go for this category. This category is comparable with the other sub-categories in Category:Political parties by ideology (including Anarchist organizations, Christian Democratic parties, Communist parties, Conservative parties, Green political parties, Liberal parties, Libertarian parties, Nordic Agrarian parties, Right-wing populists, Social Democratic Parties and Socialist parties). If one doesn't agree with the categorization of one of these parties in this category, one should start a discussion page of that party or on the discussion page of that category. There was no category of Leaders of Liberal parties, but on Liberal leaders, which concentrated on the United States. It was POV in the US context. BTW, the list includes also many parties outside Liberal International. --Gangulf 20:13, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * As Liberal parties was renamed to List of liberal parties, should not this category also be renamed then, to Category of liberal parties or Parties that are liberal, maybe Politically liberal parties? 132.205.15.42 00:43, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * It wouldn't be a easy name to handle. I made a remakr on the category page. --Gangulf 06:03, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Category:List of liberal parties would solve the problems. 132.205.45.110 15:52, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I don't understand the debate. It seems, to me, to be totally detached from my (European) reality. Keep. /Tuomas 10:25, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * It is dependant on the definition of liberal, liberalism, left wing, conservative, right wing, Liberal, and liberal. 132.205.45.110 15:52, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * That is true, but we have an article on liberalism and an article with a List of liberal parties. At the main page of the category there is an explanation why parties are listed in this category. --Gangulf 18:54, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Keep category. Not inherently POV; the criteria for the list are explained. Cool Hand Luke  03:46, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep--Josiah 23:42, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)


text:
Port of Liverpool Building

The Port of Liverpool Building (formerly Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Offices, more commonly known as the Dock Office) is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and, along with the neighbouring Royal Liver Building and Cunard Building, is one of Liverpool's Three Graces, which line the city's waterfront. It is also part of Liverpool's formerly UNESCO-designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City.

The building was designed by Sir Arnold Thornely and F.B. Hobbs and was developed in collaboration with Briggs and Wolstenholme. It was constructed between 1904 and 1907, with a reinforced concrete frame that is clad in Portland stone. The building was the headquarters of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB) for 87 years, from 1907 to 1994, when the company relocated to new premises at Seaforth Dock. In 2001 it was sold to Downing, a Liverpool-based property developer, and between 2006 and 2009 underwent a major £10m restoration that restored many original features of the building.

The Port of Liverpool Building is in the Edwardian Baroque style and is noted for the large dome that sits atop it, acting as the focal point of the building. It is approximately rectangular in shape with canted corners that are topped with stone cupolas. At 220 ft the building was the tallest building in Liverpool when built, and as of 2022 is the fourteenth tallest. Like the neighbouring Cunard Building, it is noted for the ornamental detail both on the inside and out, and in particular for the many maritime references and expensive decorative furnishings.

History
In 1898 the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB) decided to close down and infill George's Dock, which was located on the site of what is the Pier Head today. The land was sold to the Liverpool Corporation in 1900, although the MDHB opted to keep the southern section so that they could build a new central headquarters for the company, having been previously located at various sites around the city, including the Old Customs House.

In 1900 a committee was formed by the MDHB to plan and develop a new building for the company. Under the leadership of Robert Gladstone, a competition was launched for local architects to submit designs for the new building. Alfred Waterhouse, a renowned local architect, was brought in to help judge the competition and prizes of £300, £200 and £100 were offered for the three best designs. In total, seven entries were submitted, with the winning design being that of the architects Sir Arnold Thornely and F.B. Hobbs, which had been developed in collaboration with Briggs and Wolstenholme. Due to boundary changes of the land on which the building was to be built, amendments were made to the design, most notably with the central dome, which was only added at the last minute.

In 1903, with the design now confirmed, the MDHB requested that a number of builders submit a tender document for the construction of the building to the revised design. Over 30 builders were contacted, with William Brown & Son of Manchester winning the contract to construct the new building. Work began in 1904, with the first nine months of construction focusing on laying the building's foundations, which were dug to a depth of 30 – below ground level. The building's frame was built from reinforced concrete, which was then clad in Portland stone, a design that meant the building was more fire resistant than with other structural forms. It was completed in 1907 at a cost of approximately £250,000, although when the cost of furniture, fittings and professional fees was taken into account, the total cost was nearer £350,000. Staff from the MDHB headquarters officially moved into the building on 15 July 1907, with staff from departments located in other areas of the city moving in throughout the rest of the year.

During World War II, Liverpool's importance as a major port saw it become a target for the Luftwaffe and during the May Blitz of 1941, a heavy bomb exploded in the basement, on the eastern side of the building. The damage from the explosion was significant with the eastern wing being seriously damaged by fire. Nonetheless, the building's structural integrity meant that much of the building could be re-occupied with only temporary repairs. In the aftermath of the war the building was fully restored; the cost of restoration exceeding the original construction costs.

The building acted as the head offices of the MDHB (renamed the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company in 1972) for some 87 years. In 1994 the company moved to new headquarters at the Maritime Centre near Seaforth Dock in the north of the city, in order to be closer to what was now the centre of Liverpool's docking system. However, the company remained the owners of the building until 2001 when it was acquired by Downing, a Liverpool-based property developer.

Plans submitted in 2005 for the restoration of the building were approved by Liverpool City Council. The scheme involved major internal and external work that would fully restore the Grade II* listed building. The plans included opening the building to the public, by creating a new viewing floor inside the dome and a publicly accessible sunken piazza on the riverside frontage that would provide a small parade of restaurants, cafes and shops. A sixth level of the building, which had been "dismantled" in the aftermath of the Second World War, was also to be restored, providing a series of luxury apartments. The first stage of the renovation was completed in early 2008, when the restoration of the Portland stone on the river facing side of the building was completed. The £10m restoration project was fully completed in early 2009, when the last scaffolding was removed from the outside of the building and 20000 sqft of refurbished office space was completed.

Architectural design
The Port of Liverpool Building is the oldest of the three large Pier Head buildings and the architectural features were designed to be reflective of Liverpool's importance to the maintenance of the British Empire. However, the building that exists today is actually a modified version of the originally chosen design. Initially, the plan had called for the main entrance of the building to be located on the south-west corner, but boundary changes to land on which it was to be built meant that the design was significantly revised to give it the symmetrical look it has today. Notably, the initial design did not include the large dome that sits so prominently above the building today. Inspired by an unused design for Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, which had been developed several years earlier, the architects added the dome to the design in order to give the building a more imposing look. This decision, however, was not without controversy, as many board members believed that it was not part of the Port Authority's duty to "beautify the town". Nonetheless, it was added to the design, becoming the focal point of the building itself.

Designed in Edwardian Baroque style, the Port of Liverpool Building's structural form has been likened to those of Renaissance palaces. Approximately 264 by in size, the building rises to 220 ft in height, making it the fourteenth tallest building in the city. Covering five floors, the main body of the building is 80 ft tall to the cornice. The main entrance is located in the centre of the river-facing side of the building and is flanked by two three-metre-high stone statues of women representing "Commerce" and "Industry", which were designed by Charles John Allen. Each corner of the building is canted and has a tall hexagonal turret that is topped by a stone cupola, which would have originally been crowned by a lantern. Because the building has a large central dome, it has been compared architecturally to many other buildings throughout the world, including Belfast City Hall, the Capitol Building, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Port of Liverpool Building was constructed using a reinforced concrete frame, which not only made the building structurally strong, but also much more fire resistant than buildings in the past. As a result of being built on the site of the former George's Dock, the building required deeper foundations than normal and in total some 35,000 tons of concrete were used. Due to the building's proximity to the River Mersey, extensive work was carried out during the development of the basement level in order to make sure it was water resistant. Asphalt was used extensively to coat the floors and walls of the basement, in order to make sure it stayed dry.

Internally, the building's form centres on a full-height, octagonal hall that sits below the central dome. The hall has round, arched openings from the first floor upwards, providing large gallery spaces, whilst its floor is decorated with a mosaic depicting the points of a compass. Office spaces are located off long central corridors, which are decorated with white Calacatta Marble. A large portion of the building costs (approximately 25%) were spent on decorations and fittings; the inside of the building is lavishly decorated using expensive materials including mahogany from Spain and oak from Gdańsk ( Danzig ) for the woodwork, bronze for the floor furniture and fittings, and white marble for the floors and walls. One noted interior feature is the grey granite grand staircase, which is lined with stained glass windows adorned with images of Poseidon, anchors, ships bells and shells and dedications to countries of the British Empire including Singapore, South Africa, Canada and Australia. The grand nature of the inside of the building's interior has meant that it has been used as a film set in several productions, including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. episode "The Blue Carbuncle"

Throughout the building, there are numerous references to the sea and the maritime operations of both Liverpool and the British Empire. The main entrance gates are decorated with a globe supported by dolphins, while the cast iron gates and gate piers are decorated with mermaids, shells and anchors, and have shields with the initials "M.D. & H.B." (Mersey Docks & Harbour Board).

The outside light fittings are designed such that the lights themselves appear to be held in the hands of the Roman God Neptune. Similarly, the lifts are also decorated with maritime references, in the form of gilded emblems representing the globe, seahorses and anchors. In the central hall, the frieze between the ground and first floor is adorned with the words of psalm 107: "They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. Anno Domini MCMVII" (1907).

title: Port of Liverpool Building


text:
The Sports

The Sports were an Australian rock group which performed and recorded between 1976 and 1981. Mainstay members were Stephen Cummings on lead vocals and Robert Glover on bass guitar, with long-term members such as Paul Hitchins on drums, Andrew Pendlebury on lead guitar and vocals, and Martin Armiger on guitar. Their style was similar to both 1970s British pub rock bands (such as Brinsley Schwarz) and British new wave (such as Elvis Costello). The Sports' top forty singles are "Who Listens to the Radio", "Don't Throw Stones", "Strangers on a Train" and "How Come". Their top 20 releases on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart are Don't Throw Stones (February 1979), Suddenly (March 1980) and Sondra (May 1981).

In October 2010 Don't Throw Stones was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

History
The Sports were formed in 1976 by Stephen Cummings who had been the lead singer of Melbourne rockabilly group, The Pelaco Brothers, (which also comprised Joe Camilleri, Peter Lillie and Johnny Topper). The original line-up was Cummings and ex-The Pelaco Brothers bandmate, Ed Bates, on guitar, Robert Glover (ex-Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven (ex-The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band) on piano and Paul Hitchins on drums. Their early sets contained covers of Chuck Berry, Billy Emerson, Don Covay, Company Caine and Graham Parker material. Original songs, mostly written by Cummings and Bates, completed their sets. The Sports' debut recording was a four-track extended play, Fair Game, which was released in early 1977 on the independent label, Zac Records. A friend in London posted the record to the New Musical Express (aka NME) which declared it 'Record of the Week'.

The Sports were in tune with music trends dominating London rock and had provided song-based rock as an antidote to punk, which was dubbed new wave. Cummings was compared favourably with Mick Jagger and Bates was praised for his slide guitar style: being similar to Little Feat. "We were totally surprised", Cummings said in 1997 of the NME review; he continued, "It was the last thing you'd expect. It was my making and my undoing in some ways. When you have everything go right so quickly you expect that everything after that is going to be good and that easy. It meant that I probably didn't put myself out as much as I should have."

Andrew Pendlebury (ex-Myriad) joined on guitar in August 1977 and assisted Cummings with song writing. Cummings recalled, "I just vaguely met people and dragged them into it. I always wanted Andrew in the group as a guitarist and I had an idea for a rockabilly country sound. But I always wanted to change it because I really liked the MC5 and wanted to make it more like that as well." In May 1978 The Sports issued their debut studio album, Reckless, on Mushroom Records with ex-The Pelaco Brothers bandmate, Camilieri, as their producer. John Magowan of Woroni enthused about the "passionate, alive, and in its own way, unique" album, which showed "a perfect synthesis of archetypal 50's romance and the cutting neurotic edge of life in the 70's." Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt it "displayed plenty of charm, but failed to capture the atmosphere of the band's sweaty live shows."

The lead track, "Boys! (What Did the Detective Say?)", was released in March 1978 and peaked at 55 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. In England it provided some confusion with the similarly titled, "Watching the Detectives", by Elvis Costello, which had been released in the previous October.

In August 1978 Cummings brought in Martin Armiger (ex-Toads, Bleeding Hearts, High Rise Bombers) on guitar, vocals and for song writing, to replace Bates. According to McFarlane, Bates had been "ousted" as Armiger "had a more commercial outlook". On the strength of Reckless, The Sports were chosen to support Graham Parker & the Rumour's Australian tour later that year. Luis Feliu of The Canberra Times described The Sports in September that year, "[their] roots lie in the fifties or early rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues ... [Cummings and Bates] pen short and sharp songs ... [while Armiger] brings with him a more electric sound." Parker arranged for The Sports to support their United Kingdom tour in February of the following year. Fellow Australian musician Keith Shadwick accompanied the band on the tour and wrote an extensive account for the Australian music magazine Roadrunner''.

They supported Thin Lizzy at the iconic concert in front of an estimated 100,000 people at Sydney Opera House in October 1978.

In November, they started work on their second album, Don't Throw Stones, with Pete Solley and Dave Robinson producing. It was released in February 1979 ahead of their joining Graham Parker & the Rumour's UK tour. Feliu felt "plenty of admiration for their punchy and melodic rockabilly sound, [he] found the change to the more diverse, bigger-breath songs of new a wee strange but acceptable." While in the UK they recorded another four-track EP, O.K, U.K!, which appeared in August that year.

Don't Throw Stones reached No. 9 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart, which provided two top 40 singles, "Who Listens to the Radio" (November 1978) and the title track (March 1979). "Who Listens to the Radio?", was their only hit on the United States Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at No. 45 in November 1979. Stiff issued material from the first two Australian albums under the name, Don't Throw Stones, in October 1979; while Arista Records released it in the US and continental Europe.

The group's third album, Suddenly, was released in March 1980 and was also produced by Solley. Feliu opined that it showed "trimmed up reggae-favoured tunes and souped-up straight, melodic rockers... [and] has its fair share of goodies" while he "had reservations about the overall slickness, and excesses in production for the sake of commercial acceptance" by Solley. McFarlane noticed that it "featured an even slicker, more commercial pop sound." In Australia, the album reached No. 13 and its lead single, "Strangers on a Train", peaked at No. 22. Before the album had appeared Hitchins was replaced by Iain McLennan (ex-Ariel, Mondo Rock) on drums and Niven was replaced by Red Symons (ex-Skyhooks) on keyboards. To promote the album, in March and April 1980, The Sports undertook a national tour with Mushroom label mates, Split Enz. Symons left after the tour and McLennan, who had hepatitis in May, was then replaced by Freddie Strauks (Symons' bandmate from Skyhooks) on drums.

In 1981, the Sports had another top 30 hit on the Australian singles chart with "How Come"; and a top 20 album with Sondra. The Sports broke up late in 1981 with Cummings going on a solo singing career; Armiger became a composer for film and TV after moving to Sydney; Pendlebury joined The Dugites; Strauks joined Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons; and Glover was in Wilbur Wilde's backing band. In October 2010, their 1979 album, Don't Throw Stones, was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

On 14 November 1998, the band reformed for a one-off performance at the Mushroom 25 concert, held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mushroom Records.

Jim Niven died of cancer on 9 April 2012.

Members

 * Stephen Cummings – lead vocals (1976–1981)
 * Andrew Pendlebury – guitars, backing vocals (1976–1981)
 * Ed Bates – guitars (1976–1978)
 * Jim Niven – keyboards, backing vocals (1976–1980)
 * Robert Glover – bass (1976–1981)
 * Paul Hitchins – drums (1976–1980)
 * Martin Armiger – guitars, backing vocals (1978–1981; died 2019)
 * Red Symons – keyboards (1980)
 * Iain McLennan – drums (1980)
 * Freddie Strauks – drums (1980–1981)

Studio albums

 * Reckless (1978)
 * Don't Throw Stones (1979)
 * Suddenly (1980)
 * Sondra (1981)

Live albums

 * Missin' Your Kissing (1987)

King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.

 * 1978
 * themselves
 * Most Popular New Group
 * Won
 * Won

TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.

 * 1979
 * themselves
 * Most Outstanding Achievement
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

title: The Sports