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Theodore Shackley

Theodore George "Ted" Shackley, Jr. (July 16, 1927 – December 9, 2002) was an American CIA officer involved in many important and controversial CIA operations during the 1960s and 1970s. He is one of the most decorated CIA officers. Due to his "light hair and mysterious ways", Shackley was known to his colleagues as "the Blond Ghost".

In the early 1960s, Shackley's work included being station chief in Miami, during the period of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as the Cuban Project (also known as Operation Mongoose), which he directed. He was also said to be the director of the "Phoenix Program" during the Vietnam War, as well as the CIA station chief in Laos between 1966 and 1968, and Saigon station chief from 1968 through February 1972. In 1976, he was appointed Associate Deputy Director for Operations, second in charge of CIA covert operations.

Early years
Shackley was born on July 16, 1927, and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on October 23, 1945, at Springfield, Massachusetts as a private, eventually becoming part of the Allied Occupation Force in Germany on completion of basic training. Due to his knowledge of the Polish language (his mother was a Polish immigrant), he became a recruit of U.S. Army Counterintelligence (ACI). As an army recruit he studied at the University of Maryland, and returned to Germany as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1951. Again he served as a member of Army Counterintelligence, where his linguistic skills were used in the recruitment of Polish agents. It was at this time that he was recruited by the CIA, and in 1953 he was assigned to work under William King Harvey at the CIA's Berlin Base. In 1961, Shackley married Hazel Tindol Shackley of Bethesda.

Miami and the Cuban crisis
During the period (1962–1965), Shackley was station chief in Miami, Florida. While heading the CIA office (known as "JMWAVE") shortly after the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, Shackley dealt with operations in Cuba (alongside Edward Lansdale). JMWAVE employed more than 200 CIA officers, who handled approximately 2,000 Cuban agents. These included the famous "Operation Mongoose" (aka "The Cuban Project"). The aim of this was to "help Cubans (exiles) overthrow the Communist regime" (of Fidel Castro Ruz). During this period as Miami Station Chief, Shackley was in charge of about 400 agents and general operatives (as well as a huge flotilla of boats), and his tenure there encompassed the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

Vietnam, Laos and the "Phoenix Program"
In 1966, Shackley moved on to the Vietnam War, becoming the CIA station chief in Laos between 1966 and 1968, where he directed the CIA's secret war against the North Vietnamese forces in Laos. He also helped coordinate local army efforts against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese Army in the northern regions of Laos. In late 1968, he then moved to Saigon to become station chief for Vietnam. Shackley was responsible for running the Phoenix Program and the Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs), a secret assassination and capture campaign aimed at members of the Vietcong infrastructure. However, in his memoirs Shackley claimed that he had not been the mastermind of the Phoenix Program (which had already started before his arrival in Saigon) and did not even approve of it, given its disappointing effectivity at producing intelligence material and "its poor press image" of being an assassination program rather than one for information procurement. In November 1969, he decided a six-months "phase-out" of CIA's involvement in the program before transferring it under South Vietnamese control, CIA agents being replaced by CORDS personnel.

Shackley served in South Vietnam through February 1972 when he returned to Langley, Virginia. According to Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould, Shackley was linked to the Australian Nugan Hand Bank where heroin trade profits worth millions of dollars were transferred to after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Western Hemisphere Division and Chile
From May 1972, Shackley ran the CIA's "Western Hemisphere Division". When Shackley took over the division, one mission for him was "regime change" in Chile (United States intervention in Chile / Project FUBELT).

During this time, Shackley also dealt with the case of ex-CIA officer Philip Agee, who was suspected of having defected to Cuban intelligence. Agee had told acquaintances that he was going to write an exposé of the CIA (published in 1975 as Inside The Company: CIA Diary). Shackley managed to get a copy of Agee's book before it was published, and according to journalist David Corn, even arranged for Agee to receive a bugged typewriter.

Associate Deputy Director for Operations
In May 1976, Shackley was made Associate Deputy Director for Operations, serving under CIA director George H. W. Bush. After Jimmy Carter had succeeded Gerald Ford as President and replaced Bush with Stansfield Turner, Shackley was relieved of his post in December 1977, before officially retiring from the organization in 1979 – when the Carter administration announced wide cuts in the CIA's network of officers and informants. Reportedly, he was forced out of the CIA by Turner who disapproved of Shackley's involvement with former officer Edwin P. Wilson, who was under federal investigation for smuggling explosives to Libya.

Shackley was suspected by federal prosecutor Lawrence Barcella to be part of Wilson's Egyptian-American Transport and Services Corporation (EATSCO), a front for his arms smuggling which was also accused of fraudulently billing the Department of Defense. At that time, Shackley claimed that he would have become CIA director if President Gerald Ford had been reelected in 1976 and that only this investigation kept him from becoming CIA director or deputy director under new president Ronald Reagan. In 1982, Wilson was convicted for selling 22 tons of C4 plastic explosive to Muammar al-Gaddafi's Libya, and also on the charge of exporting guns. On October 29, 2003, the conviction on the explosives charge was reversed.

Iran–Contra affair
On February 5, 1986, Shackley was interviewed by the Tower Commission investigating the Iran–Contra affair. Shackley reported that he met with General Manucher Hashemi, the former head of SAVAK's counterintelligence division, in Hamburg, West Germany in November 1984. There, Hashemi introduced Shackley to Manucher Ghorbanifar stating that Ghorbanifar's contacts in Iran were "fantastic". Ghorbanifar, known to the CIA as a person of questionable reliability and veracity, attempted to show that he and Hashemi had influence in Iran by stating that the Iranians would be willing to trade captured Soviet equipment for TOW missiles. Ghorbanifar also proposed that a cash payment be offered as ransom for the four American hostages held in Beirut, Lebanon (which included William Francis Buckley*) and that he act as the intermediary. Shackley stated that Ghorbanifar presented a deadline of December 7, 1984.

Shackley prepared a memorandum regarding the proposal and sent it to General Vernon A. Walters with the United States Department of State. According to Shackley, the State Department responded stating that they would attempt to solve the problem through other channels. *(Vernon Walters did not respond to or resolve the problem of William Francis Buckley's capture, who was later tortured to death by the Iranians.) In May 1985, Shackley discussed the hostage issue with Michael Ledeen and shared that he had received no response from Walters regarding the report he had prepared regarding the November meeting with Ghorbanifar. Ledeen asked for a copy of the report and stated that others were still interested in investigating the hostage issue. In June, Shackley prepared an updated second report that outlined a similar proposal from Ghorbanifar in which he suggested a "discussion of a quid pro quo that involved items other than money." He gave the report to Ledeen who forwarded it to Oliver North, the staff officer on the National Security Council responsible for counter-terrorism. The report outlined a similar proposal from Ghorbanifar in which he suggested a "discussion of a quid pro quo that involved items other than money." It also received no response.

On February 2, 1987, The Washington Post printed an article from Shackley in which he countered allegations that he was involved in the arms for hostages deal. After detailing his encounter with Ghorbanifar in Hamburg and the nature of his reports to the State Department and Ledeen, he wrote: "When anyone asserts that my intervention on behalf of the hostages shows that I must also have participated in the transfer of weapons to Iran and, therefore, must have helped supply the contras with funds, material or arms, I can only gape in amazement and conclude that there are those who have studied logic from a different textbook than I did. To make it plain, I have never played a role in any aspect of the transaction that led to an exchange of weapons for hostages, nor have I been a participant in any activities on behalf of the contras." Shackley concluded his statement: "I was not a participant in the Iran weapons transfer; I was not in the past, nor am I now, involved in providing aid of any kind of the contras; and I completely endorse the position that no U.S. intelligence operation that is in violation of an act of Congress should be undertaken."

Christic Institute lawsuit
In 1986, Shackley was named as one of thirty defendants in a $24 million civil lawsuit filed by attorney Daniel Sheehan's Christic Institute. The suit claimed Shackley was part of a conspiracy responsible for the La Penca bombing, and a number of other covert operations.

Similar charges were made in a 1987 letter from the Burmese warlord Khun Sa to the U.S. Justice Department. The letter, which was transmitted by James "Bo" Gritz, accused Shackley of organizing heroin smuggling from the Golden Triangle in the 1960s and 70s.

In 1988, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed the Christic suit, after finding it to be frivolous and ordered the Institute to pay $955,000 in attorneys fees and $79,500 in court costs. The ruling was subsequently upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Death
Shackley died from cancer at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 75 years old.

title: Theodore Shackley


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Hugh Hewitt

Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American conservative political commentator, radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network, attorney, academic, and author. He writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is a former official in the Reagan administration, the former president and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation, a law professor at Chapman University School of Law, a columnist for The Washington Post, and a regular political commentator on Fox News.

Early life and education
Hewitt was born on February 22, 1956, in Warren, Ohio. He is the son of Marguerite (née Rohl) and William Robert Hewitt. He describes himself as "a descendant of both Ulster and the Republic through a green-orange marriage of immigrants from County Down and County Clare". He attended John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Warren, Ohio. He then graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in government in 1978. After leaving Harvard, he worked for David Eisenhower and then as a ghostwriter for Richard Nixon in California and New York, working on Nixon’s books The Real War and Leaders. At Nixon's urging he attended the University of Michigan Law School, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif. Hewitt received his J.D. degree in 1983, then moved to Washington, D.C., to clerk for Judges Roger Robb and George MacKinnon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1983–84.

Career
Hewitt worked in many posts in the Ronald Reagan administration, including deputy director and General Counsel of the Office of Personnel Management, General Counsel for the National Endowment for the Humanities, Assistant White House Counsel, and Special Assistant to the Attorney General.

In 1989, Hewitt became the executive director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. In 1990, he sparked controversy by proposing screening of researchers wishing to use the library resources. Hewitt suggested refusing admission to researchers deemed "unfriendly" – specifically Bob Woodward, whom he characterized as "not a responsible journalist." John Taylor, a spokesman for Nixon, overturned Hewitt's decision after two days. It became the subject of editorial rebuke in The New York Times.

Hewitt left the Nixon Library in 1990. He hosted a weekend radio talk show for the Los Angeles radio station KFI, where he broadcast until 1995. In the spring of 1992, he began co-hosting L.A. PBS member station KCET's program Life & Times, and remained with the program until the fall of 2001, when he began broadcasting his own radio show. Hewitt received three Emmys for his work on Life & Times on KCET, and also conceived and hosted the 1996 PBS series Searching for God in America.

He has worked as a weekly columnist for the Daily Standard (the online edition of The Weekly Standard) and World. He has appeared on programs such as The Dennis Miller Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Larry King Live, The O'Reilly Factor, The Today Show and The Colbert Report.

Hewitt also became a professor of law at Chapman University School of Law. Hewitt founded the journal Nexus Journal of Law and Policy.

In 2019, Hewitt returned to the Nixon Library as president and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation, the nonprofit that co-operates the Nixon Library with the National Archives and Records Administration. He succeeded businessman William H. Baribault. On his first day in the job, Hewitt announced that he would split his time between Orange County and Washington, D.C., and open a Nixon Foundation office in Washington. In November 2021, Hewitt was replaced as president and CEO by Jim Byron.

In March 2020, after Joe Biden won the South Carolina presidential primary, Hewitt predicted that Biden's victory would be of little benefit to his campaign and that Bernie Sanders would perform strongly on Super Tuesday; after Biden took the lead on Super Tuesday and eventually won the Democratic nomination, Politico named Hewitt's predictions among "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year".

The Hugh Hewitt Show (radio)
Hewitt's nationally syndicated radio show, The Hugh Hewitt Show, is broadcast from California from 6 to 9 am EST on weekdays. The show appears on more than 75 stations and is syndicated by the Salem Radio Network. Beginning April 4, 2016, the show moved to a morning drive time slot. Although Hewitt's background is in law, government, and politics, he also covers American cultural trends and the entertainment industry. He frequently critiques the mainstream media on air, often inviting journalists to defend their work on the show. His regular contributors include law professors John C. Eastman, former Dean of Chapman University School of Law, and Erwin Chemerinsky, erstwhile Dean of UC Irvine Law School and current Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law (whom Hewitt calls "The Smart Guys"), James Lileks, Mark Steyn, United States Naval Academy English professor David Allen White (who does a monthly Shakespeare showcase), and Congressman David Dreier (R-CA), as well as frequent callers from around the country. He used to spend the 15th hour of the week discussing movies with "Emmett of the Unblinking Eye".

Hugh Hewitt (television)
On June 24, 2017, Hugh Hewitt debuted, a half-hour television show which ran on MSNBC in the Saturdays 8 am EST timeslot. On the show, he conducted interviews and provided commentary on current events. On Saturday, June 30, 2018, Hewitt announced that the show had been cancelled, but that he would continue his commentary on the NBC family of networks. In 2020, NBC and MSNBC stopped inviting Hewitt to appear on their programs, which constituted a breach of contract. Thus, in 2021, Hewitt was released from that contract and started appearing on Fox News Channel.

Salem News Channel
Hugh Hewitt also broadcasts on the Salem Radio Network. His show began streaming on the Salem News Channel in November 2021.

Political views
Hewitt has described George Will and Charles Krauthammer as models for his style of punditry. Politico described Hewitt as an "ardent Reaganite".

Foreign policy
In a 2006 interview on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Hewitt said that in regards to George W. Bush's decisions while President, the War in Iraq would go down as "one of the wisest he has made." In regard to the Syrian Civil War, Hewitt stated that President Donald Trump was making a "major error" in deciding to draw down the number of U.S. troops in the country, over seven years after the beginning of the conflict. Hewitt has advocated for increasing the defense budget in the United States, stating that "any Republicans who vote against higher defense spending should be fired."

Donald Trump
Hewitt moderated several of the 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, where he clashed with Donald Trump. Hewitt said that Trump did not possess "the temperament to be president". In February 2016, Hewitt wrote that, despite being repeatedly publicly insulted by Trump, he would support him should he become the Republican nominee for president. In June 2016, after Trump's controversial remarks concerning Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Hewitt publicly called on the RNC to disendorse Trump as nominee. A week later, Hewitt reversed his position in a Washington Post op-ed. Internal emails showed that a Salem Media executive pressured Hewitt to support Trump, and that the Salem Media executive attributed Hewitt's support for Trump in the aforementioned Washington Post op-ed shortly after to the pressure. Hewitt denied being pressured to change his position on Trump.

On August 3, he publicly floated the idea of replacing Donald with Ivanka Trump on the ticket. On October 8, he called on Trump to drop out of the race after the Access Hollywood tape emerged. Hewitt has said he ultimately voted for Trump.

Hewitt supported Trump's decision to re-shuffle his foreign policy staff in March–April 2018, and place John Bolton and Mike Pompeo in key national security positions. He described John Bolton, a zionist hawk, as "peace-through-strength, 600-ship [navy], Reagan conservative" (as compared to Trump's approach, which Hewitt likened to the Great White Fleet). According to Politico, Hewitt emerged "perhaps the most public advocate for Trump's hawkish new national security team at a time when others, even inside his own party, have voiced increasing fears that Trump is surrounding himself with war-minded hawks who may play to the president's worst instincts."

Amid the Trump-Ukraine scandal, which led to the first impeachment of Donald Trump, Hewitt floated a conspiracy theory that the whistleblower complaint that set off the scandal was by a whistleblower who was trying to divert attention from his own involvement in a "Clintons-Obama-Biden collusion debacle". He penned an op-ed about the impeachment inquiry titled, "Impeachment-minded Democrats, welcome to Al Capone's vault. Look familiar?" He said that the FBI had tried a "coup" against Trump and that Democrats were trying "another coup". He described the July 25 phone call in which Trump requested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy investigate Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, as a "nothingburger".

In October 2019, Hewitt defended Trump's decision to remove a small contingent of US military forces from Northern Syria where they served as a buffer between Turkey and Syrian Kurds, leaving Kurds vulnerable to attack by Turkish forces.

Immigration
In a June 2018 interview with then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Hewitt repeatedly pressed Sessions about the morality of the Trump administration's decision to separate undocumented immigrant children from their parents. Hewitt said, "I don't think children should be separated from biological parents at any age, but especially if they're infants and toddlers. I think it's traumatic and terribly difficult on the child."

Scott Pruitt
In April 2018, Hewitt defended EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt amid controversy over his expenditures as Administrator and a conflict of interest over renting a condo at discounted prices from a lobbyist representing clients regulated by the EPA. Politico described Hewitt as "one of Pruitt's staunchest defenders". Hewitt described the numerous ethics scandals facing Pruitt as "nonsense scandals" and argued that Pruitt's critics were "just trying to stop the deregulation effort". Hewitt argued that the top EPA ethics official had approved Pruitt's rental arrangement and that it therefore did not constitute a gift. Richard Painter, ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, argued against Hewitt, saying it was a "violation of the gift rules, and no ethics lawyer could cover that up".

Hewitt has argued that media coverage of Pruitt has been "hyperpartisan". In an interview with Pruitt, Hewitt said "I know you are not a climate denier"; Pruitt rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. After Pruitt resigned amid a dozen separate ethics investigations, Hewitt defended Pruitt, saying he "is a good friend and a very good man, caricatured by left and MSM. I hope he sets to work on a memoir ASAP and deals out a tenth of what he took."

The conflict of interest was that Hugh Hewitt's son, James, was a political appointee working under Pruitt. In May 2018, it was reported that Pruitt had personally prioritized a polluted Orange County site for immediate and intense clean-up via long-term federal clean-up funding after Hewitt had brokered a December 2017 meeting between Pruitt and a legal firm representing the polluted district. The EPA did not disclose the meeting; it was revealed after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Hewitt lived in Orange County for over two decades before relocating to Virginia in 2015; he is employed by the law firm. After the meeting, Hewitt would frequently defend Pruitt amid a number of ethics scandals. Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor at The Washington Post, where Hewitt is a contributing columnist, said that he was "disturbed" by the reports of Hewitt's undisclosed ties, and that Hewitt would not write on issues related to the EPA again. MSNBC gave Hewitt a verbal warning after he failed to disclose the EPA meeting to viewers of his MSNBC show.

CNN debate
Hewitt was booed during a CNN debate in 2015 for his controversial questioning of presidential candidate Ben Carson. He asked whether Carson was capable of ordering "ruthless" military strikes that could kill thousands of innocent children. Following Carson's initial answer to the question, Hewitt asked Carson to confirm whether he was, in fact, "OK with the death of thousands of innocent children and civilians." The audience subsequently booed Hewitt.

Personal life
Hewitt has written several books concerning the Christian faith. He has several times accused the Democratic Party of being anti-religion. He attends church regularly. He is married to Betsy Hewitt, whom he married in 1982. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.

Books

 *  The Queen: The Epic Ambition of Hillary and the Coming of a Second "Clinton Era" (2015, ISBN 1-4555-6251-3)
 * The Happiest Life: Seven Gifts, Seven Givers, and the Secret to Genuine Success (2013, ISBN 1-5955-5578-1)
 * The Brief Against Obama: The Rise, Fall & Epic Fail of the Hope & Change Presidency (2012, ISBN 1-4555-1630-9)
 * The War Against the West: Crucial Conversations with the Most Informed Experts About Our Enemies, Our Defenses, Our Strategy and Our Leaders in the Long War Against Islamist Extremism (2008, ISBN 978-1-60791-069-5)
 * A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney (2007, ISBN 1-59698-502-X)
 * A Guide to Christian Ambition: Using Career, Politics, and Culture to Influence the World (2006, ISBN 0-7852-8871-6)
 * Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority (2006, ISBN 0-89526-002-6)
 * Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World (2005, ISBN 0-7852-8804-X)
 * If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It (2004, ISBN 0-7852-6319-5)
 * In, But Not Of: A Guide to Christian Ambition (2003, ISBN 0-7852-6395-0)
 * The Embarrassed Believer (1998, ISBN 0-8499-1419-1)
 * Searching for God in America: The Companion Volume to the Acclaimed TV Series (1996, ISBN 0-7881-9914-5)
 * First Principles: A Primer of Ideas for the College-Bound Student (1987, ISBN 0-89526-793-4)

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title: Hugh Hewitt


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Thomas B. Marsh

Thomas Baldwin Marsh (November 1, 1800 – January 1866) was an early leader in the Latter-day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who served as the quorum's first president in the Church of the Latter Day Saints from 1835 to 1838. He withdrew from the church in 1838, was excommunicated from it in 1839, and remained disaffected for almost 19 years. Marsh was rebaptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in July 1857, but never again served in church leadership positions.

Early life
Marsh was born in the town of Acton, Massachusetts, to James Marsh and Molly Law. He spent his early life farming in Westmoreland, New Hampshire.

As a young man, Marsh developed a pattern of traveling and working for various employers. Marsh ran away at age 14 to Chester, Vermont, and worked as a farmer for three months. Then he left for Albany, New York, working as a waiter for 18 months. He spent two years working at the New York City Hotel, then returned to Albany for a year, and then back at the New York hotel for two more years. He also spent 18 months working as a groom for Edward Griswold on Long Island, New York.

During the time Marsh was employed by Griswold, he married Elizabeth Godkin in New York City on his 21st birthday in 1820. After his marriage, he attempted unsuccessfully to run a grocery business for 18 months. He subsequently spent seven years working at a type foundry in Boston, Massachusetts.

During his time in Boston, Marsh became a member of the Methodist Church. However, Marsh became dissatisfied because he came to believe that Methodism did not correspond to the Bible. Marsh left the Methodist Church and joined a group of friends in what others called a Quietist sect.

Conversion and baptism
In 1829, Marsh unexpectedly left his home in Boston and journeyed west, traveling with Benjamin Hall, one of his friends from the Quietist sect. In his words, "I believed the Spirit of God dictated me to make a journey west." He stayed at Lima, New York in Livingston County for three months before returning home. On the way home, he stopped at Lyonstown, where a woman informed him of the golden plates that Joseph Smith was said to have obtained. She directed him to Palmyra, New York, and told him to seek out Martin Harris for more information.

Marsh traveled to Palmyra in 1830 and discovered Harris at a printing office, working on the printing of the Book of Mormon. Marsh obtained the first sixteen pages of the book as a printer's proof and also met Oliver Cowdery at the printing office.

Returning to his home, Marsh showed the sixteen pages to his wife. They both were pleased and began to correspond with Cowdery and Smith. After the Church of Christ was formed on April 6, 1830, Marsh moved with his family to Palmyra to join them that September.

Shortly after his arrival, Marsh was baptized by David Whitmer in Cayuga Lake on September 3, 1830, and soon after was ordained an elder by Cowdery. From September 26 to 28, 1830, Smith said he received Doctrine and Covenants section 31, a revelation directed at Marsh. In this section, he was told that he would be as "a physician to the church"

Marsh moved with the church to Kirtland, Ohio in the spring of 1831. He was ordained a high priest and received a call to proselytize in Missouri with Ezra Thayre. Thayre delayed for a long time, and so Selah J. Griffin was appointed to take Thayre's place.

Apostleship
Smith organized the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on February 14–15, 1835. Smith arranged the members of the quorum by age. As there was confusion over David W. Patten's birth date, Marsh was identified as the eldest of the apostles and was therefore designated quorum president. According to Marsh's autobiographical sketch, published in 1864: "In January, 1835, in company with Bishop Partridge and agreeable to revelation, I proceeded to Kirtland, where we arrived early in the spring, when I learned I had been chosen one of the Twelve Apostles. ... May 4, 1835, in company with the Twelve I left Kirtland and preached through the eastern states, holding conferences, regulating and organizing the churches, and returned September 25. ... In the winter of 1835–36, I attended school, studied the first English grammar under Sidney Rigdon, and Hebrew under Professor Seixas (a Hebrew by birth)". He traveled east with the Twelve Apostles on a mission later in 1835.

After these activities with the Twelve Apostles, Marsh returned to Fishing River, Clay County, Missouri, in April 1836. Severe difficulties between members of the church and the larger community continued to plague the Saints in Missouri. Animosity had been building for years over what one county judge, Samuel Lucas, and other town leaders saw, feeling the Saints and their revelations were threats to their property and political power. Marsh was chosen as a delegate from his community to try to resolve these issues. Despite the efforts of church members, their Missouri neighbors decided that church members must leave Clay County.

Marsh traveled to Latter Day Saint congregations in other states, including Kentucky, gathering loans at an interest of ten percent to help the Clay County Saints obtain new property. The diary of apostle Wilford Woodruff contains an account of part of that journey:

Aug. 20th - Elder [David] Patten preached at the house of Randolph Alexander, and after meeting baptized him and his wife. Brother T. B. Marsh arrived in Tennessee on his mission to collect means, and attend a Conference with the brethren laboring in Tennessee and Kentucky, which was held on Damon's Creek, Callaway County, Kentucky, Sept. 2nd 1836. T. B. Marsh presided. Seven Branches were represented containing 133 members.

Sept. 19th. - Elders T. B. Marsh, D. W. Patten, E. H. Groves and Sister Patten left the Saints in Kentucky and Tennessee and started for Far West, Missouri, where they arrived in peace and safety.

In September 1836, Marsh returned to Missouri and joined the Latter Day Saints in their new location, a city called Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri. The town had been founded by the presidency of the Missouri Stake, consisting of David Whitmer, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer. Around this time, Marsh traveled to Canada on a mission with Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Meanwhile, in Kirtland, the financial situation of many of the church members unraveled with the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society bank. A dispute arose between the presidency in Missouri and the church's First Presidency in Kirtland over the land funds, with both sides accusing the other of financial improprieties.

Marsh sided with the First Presidency and convened a series of church courts in the spring of 1838. He charged the Whitmers, Phelpses, and Cowdery of financial impropriety and other failings. The court released these men from their positions and disfellowshipped them. On February 10, 1838, Marsh was put in charge of supervising the church in Missouri, with David W. Patten and Brigham Young as his assistants.

In April 1838, Joseph Smith and his first counselor, Sidney Rigdon, moved to Far West, which became the new church headquarters.

1838 split with Smith
In Missouri, some of the Latter Day Saints, led by Sampson Avard, formed a society which came to be known as the "Danites." According to Marsh, these men swore oaths to "support the heads of the church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong".

Although disfellowshipped, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, W.W. Phelps, and other former leaders (who were known as the "dissenters") continued to live in the county. According to Reed Peck, two of these Danites, Jared Carter and Dimick B. Huntington, proposed at a meeting that the society should kill the dissenters. Marsh and fellow moderate, John Corrill, spoke vigorously against the motion. However, on the following Sunday, Rigdon issued his "Salt Sermon," in which he likened the dissenters to salt that had lost its savor and was "good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men". Within a week the dissenters had fled the county.

On October 18, a group of Mormons entered Daviess County and engaged in the looting and burning of non-Mormon settlements, including Gallatin. Marsh stated: "A company of about eighty of the Mormons, commanded by a man fictitiously named Captain Fearnot [David W. Patten], marched to Gallatin. They returned and said they had run off from Gallatin twenty or thirty men and had taken Gallatin, had taken one prisoner and another had joined the company. I afterwards learned from the Mormons that they had burned Gallatin, and that it was done by the aforesaid company that marched there. The Mormons informed me that they had hauled away all the goods from the store in Gallatin, and deposited them at the Bishop's storehouses at Adam-ondi-Ahmon."

On October 19, 1838, the day after Gallatin was burned, Marsh and fellow apostle, Orson Hyde, left the association of the church. Marsh drafted and signed a legal affidavit against Smith on October 24, 1838, which Hyde also signed. In addition to reporting on the organization of the Danites and on the events in Daviess County, Marsh reported rumors that the Danites had set up a "destroying company" and that "if the people of Clay & Ray made any movement against them, this destroying company was to burn Liberty & Richmond." He further stated his belief that Smith planned "to take the State, & he professes to his people to intend taking the U.S. & ultimately the whole world". The committee that received Marsh's and Hyde's affidavit noted that Marsh and Hyde left the church due to their "conviction of [the Mormons'] immorality and impiety."

Marsh's testimony added to the panic in northwestern Missouri and contributed to subsequent events in the Mormon War.

Marsh was excommunicated from the church on March 17, 1839.

Rebaptism in Utah
In July 16, 1857, Marsh was rebaptized into the LDS Church in Florence, Nebraska. Marsh wrote an autobiography in 1864, recounting his church service and rebellion. It was published in the Millennial Star of that year. However, his religious affiliation still may not have been fixed. According to Thomas Job, a missionary of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints serving in Utah, shortly before his death Marsh:

"had been in the Josephite conference in Salt Lake City, and bore a strong testimony to the truth, and necessity of the reorganization; and when a revelation through young Joseph was read to him he said that it was the voice of God, and again testified that he knew it, and desired us to write to the young prophet to send for him back from here, that he had faith that he would bear the journey, and join the young prophet, if he could go that [last] spring."

After Marsh moved to Utah and joined the LDS Church, he spoke of his split with Smith: "About this time I got a beam in my eye and thought I could discover a mote in Joseph's eye, though it was nothing but a beam in my eye; I was so completely darkened that I did not think on the Savior's injunction: 'Thou hypocrite, why beholdest thou the mote which is in thy brother's eye, when a beam is in thine own eye; first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, then thou shalt see clearly to get the mote out of thy brother's eye'." While not a reason for his withdrawal from the church, Marsh also admitted that polygamy had been a "great bugbear" prior to his rebaptism, his concern about the practice being resolved when he read writings of Orson Pratt on the subject and understanding it to be "heaven's own doctrine"

Marsh moved west to Utah Territory in 1857 and settled in Spanish Fork and later Ogden. He died in Ogden in January 1866. He is buried at the Ogden Cemetery.

"Milk and strippings" story
On April 6, 1856, George A. Smith stated that Marsh had left the church because of a dispute between his wife and another female church member over a milk cow, which had escalated all the way up to the First Presidency. LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley has repeated the story, as have official church publications.

Modern opinion in the LDS Church
Marsh's conversion story is occasionally cited as an example of how powerful the Book of Mormon can be in convincing people of the truthfulness of the church. When his apostasy is mentioned, he is often referred to either as an example of pride or as an example of one who failed to fulfill his calling to serve the church. For example, in 2006, David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, repeated the "milk and strippings story". He contrasted Marsh's faithlessness with the devotion of Brigham Young. Bednar states: "In many instances, choosing to be offended is a symptom of a much deeper and more serious spiritual malady. Thomas B. Marsh allowed himself to be acted upon, and the eventual results were apostasy and misery. Brigham Young was an agent who exercised his agency and acted in accordance with correct principles, and he became a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord."

title: Thomas B. Marsh


text:
Miss Rhode Island Teen USA

The Miss Rhode Island Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Rhode Island in the Miss Teen USA pageant and the name of the title held by that winner.

Rhode Island has placed seven times at the Miss Teen USA Pageant, most recently in 2023 when Lola Paolissi made the top 20, it is the state's first placement since 2009. The state's first finalist was Shaelyn McNally in 2006. One of those semi-finalists was Shanna Moakler, who would later win the Miss New York USA pageant and takeover the Miss USA title when Chelsi Smith won Miss Universe.

Other notable Miss Rhode Island Teen USAs are:
 * Claudia Jordan - was also Miss Rhode Island USA 1997 and has appeared on The Price Is Right, Deal or No Deal and The Real Housewives of Atlanta
 * Gina Tognoni - known for her portrayal of Kelly Cramer on the soap opera One Life to Live from 1995 to 2001. Currently portraying the role of Phyllis Summers on the soap The Young and the Restless since August 11, 2014.

Lola Paolissi of Cranston was crowned Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 2023 on May 28, 2023, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence. She represented Rhode Island at Miss Teen USA 2023 and placed in the top 20.

Placements

 * Top 10: Alysha Castonguay (2002), Shaelyn McNally (2006), Rochelle Rose (2007)
 * Top 12: Gina Tognoni (1991), Shanna Moakler (1992)
 * Top 15: Talia Turco (2009)
 * Top 20: Lola Paolissi (2023)
 * Rhode Island holds a record of 7 placements at the Miss Teen USA.

Awards

 * Miss Photogenic: Raye-Anne Johnson (1987 - tie), Gina Tognoni (1991)
 * Miss Congeniality: Malia Cruz (2016), Alexa Papigiotis (2017)

Winners
Declared as Winner

Ended as runner-up

Ended as one of the finalists or semifinalists

1 Age at the time of the Miss Teen USA pageant

title: Miss Rhode Island Teen USA


text:
Lawrence Batley Theatre

Lawrence Batley Theatre is a theatre in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England which offers drama, music, dance and comedy.

The theatre is named after Lawrence Batley, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded a nationwide cash and carry chain.

The building was originally built in 1819 as a Methodist chapel, called the Queen Street Chapel. The architect is unknown but the chief mason was Joseph Kaye, the man who was also responsible for Huddersfield station. It was opened on 9 July 1819 and the reporter in the Leeds Mercury described it as "one of the most handsome and commodious chapels in the kingdom; being capable of accommodating 3000 persons, and has been erected at an expense of from 8 to £10,000". The chapel became a mission in 1906 until a decline in numbers saw the mission move out of the building in 1970 to a new building in King Street. In 1973 the building was converted into an arts centre. However serious structural problems were discovered by Kirklees Metropolitan Council in 1975 and the Arts Centre was rehoused into Venn Street Arts Centre and the building remained vacant before being sublet to Novosquash Limited and converted to a squash club known as The Ridings. It also housed a restaurant and a The Catacombs Disco. In 1989 the Kirklees Theatre Trust was given the go ahead to save the building from deterioration and launch Huddersfield's newest theatre. Building work for the theatre started in September 1992 and took 4 years to complete.

Notable events

 * GNUF- a Grand Northern Ukulele Festival
 * Shakespeare Schools Festival

title: Lawrence Batley Theatre


text:
Wikipedia:Australian Collaboration of the Fortnight/Removed

This is a list of articles which failed to become Australian Collaboration of the Fortnight. They either failed to generate interest, content, or did not meet Wikipedia criteria for articilization.

If you feel either of those three things has changed, you can resurface them if you want, or even create the article all by yourself.

When nominations are removed from the WP:ACOTF page, they should be added to the end of this page.

Archives

 * /Archive 1
 * /Archive 2 (June-December 2006)
 * /Archive 3 (2007)

BHP Billiton
Nominated on 11 December 2007; needs 2 votes by 25 December 2007 to remain listed. Removed 27 January 2008.

Support: Comments:
 * 1) Matilda talk 06:52, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 2)  Shark face  217  00:57, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) Lankiveil (talk) 04:22, 22 December 2007 (UTC).
 * The world's ;largest mining company with Australian origins - it isn't a bad article but could do with a lot more work to get to be a potententially featured article and is tagged as needing citations--Matilda talk 06:52, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Drover (Australian)
Nominated on 11 December 2007; needs 6 votes by 5 February 2008 to remain listed. Removed 22 February 2008 with 5 votes

Support: Comments:
 * 1) Matilda talk 06:56, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 2)  Shark face  217  00:57, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) Roisterer (talk) 00:21, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 4) Garrie 02:40, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 5) Shiftchange (talk) 03:17, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
 * It's a bit of an essay as it currently is! Garrie 02:40, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Mojo (advertising)
Nominated on 22 December 2007; needs 4 votes by 2 February 2007 to remain listed. Removed 22 February 2008 with 2 votes.

Support:
 * 1) Matilda talk 03:21, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 2)  Shark face  217  20:26, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Can't believe we don't have an article on this firm! Famous ad agency.  One famous campaign was the Shrimp on the barbie which changed Australian tourism.  Other campaings according to an obituary of one of the founders were You oughta be congratulated (Meadow Lea margerine) and Come On Aussie, Come On for promoting Kerry Packer's pyjama cricket plus they applied Peter Allen's I Still Call Australia Home to Qantas ads in a campaign that continues to run.  The article John Singleton (Australian entrepreneur) doesn't mention the agency :-( and really needs a bit of a clean-up as it claims (contrary to the obituary's claims) that Singelton is responsible for the Qantas ad.  Also the campaings: Anyhow have a Winfield and I feel like a Tooheys.  At least five of their ads were among the the 50 best Australian advertisements of all time--Matilda talk 03:21, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Sydney Harbour New Years Eve Fireworks
Nominated on 7 January 2008; needs 4 votes by 4 February 2008 to remain listed. Removed 22 February 2008 with 2 votes.

Support:
 * 1) Whiteandnerdy111 (talk) 22:55, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 2)  Shark face  217  19:03, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Notable Australian Event, just created article for it, needs more detail and images. -- Whiteandnerdy111 (talk) 22:55, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Lots of work could be done here, and an extensive picture gallery would make this article wonderful. -- Shark face  217  19:03, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Rod Quantock
Nominated on 15 December 2007; needs 6 votes by 24 February 2007 to remain listed. Removed 2 March 2008.

Support:
 * 1) Davido321 (talk) 11:59, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 2)  Shark face  217  00:58, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) Mckinlayr (talk) 08:25, 25 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 4)  Daniel15  ( Talk/Contribs ) 02:56, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
 * 5) Hide&Reason (talk) 11:32, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Iconic figure in Australian stand-up comedy, still touring. Has little information at the moment, but has the potential to be upgraded to GA standard.
 * Was the face of Captain Snooze for many years!!

Jack McCafferty
Nominated on 15 January 2008; needs 4 votes by 26 February 2008 to remain listed. Removed 2 March 2008.

Support:
 * 1)  Sting_au   Talk  22:12, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 2)  Shark face  217  20:01, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Dihydrogen Monoxide (party) 00:35, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Jack was the founder of one of Queensland’s largest coach and travel firms, and is the third longest serving Mayor of Towoomba. Sting_au   Talk  22:12, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Added some info, tags to the article. -- Shark face  217  20:01, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Queensland collabs in a row? Yay! Dihydrogen Monoxide (party) 00:35, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Sexpo
Nominated on 10 February 2008; needs 4 votes by 9 March 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Sting au  Buzz Me...   11:39, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) dihydrogen monoxide (H20) 11:10, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Ok don't all look at me like that. It does say here to only nominate articles that need serious work and this certainly fits the bill. The next Sexpo is coming up in Brisvegas from Feb 28 to Mar 2. There's going to be a "Gaggle of International porn stars!" This page could be getting viewed a bit in the next few days and even make the news pages here so might make sense to collaborate on this one? Sting au  Buzz Me...
 * Sounds fun :) dihydrogen monoxide (H20) 11:10, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

1998 Sydney water crisis
Nominated on 4 February 2008; needs 4 votes by 17 March 2008 to remain listed. Removed 23 March with 2 votes.

Support:
 * 1) Davido321 (talk) 03:17, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Littleteddy (talk) 10:29, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * The Sydney water crisis of 1998. Involves some very complex issues about the handling of the situation issues which require expansion. Would be great so see this article written up in depth, it may pose a challenge.

Afghan (Australia)
Nominated on 4 February 2008; needs 4 votes by 17 March 2008 to remain listed. removed 23 March with 3 votes.

Support:
 * 1) Ptcamn (talk) 17:19, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Roisterer (talk) 12:14, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Matilda talk 22:32, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * There has been an excellent exhibition (created mainly) by South Australians - at the National Library of Australia - the article could be well expanded from the material alone - the camelleers/afghans did serious contributions for Australian exploration and development in the 1800's and early 1900's - and hardly have ever hit the conventional history books - they deserve a much better article than there is at present SatuSuro 09:11, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Port Phillip Channel Deepening Project
Nominated on 6 March 2008; needs 4 votes by 3 April 2008 to remain listed. Removed 7 April with 3 votes.

Support: Comments:
 * 1) Davido321 (talk) 04:49, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Wai Hong (talk) 08:32, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) 124.191.121.25 (talk) 11:05, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Huge current issue, needs quite a but of expanding, has alot of potential as it is so current.

Griffith, New South Wales
Nominated on 24 March 2008; needs 4 votes by 21 April 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Bidgee (talk) 05:40, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Matilda talk 20:37, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Mattinbgn\talk 20:57, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * The article needs a bit of work done to it such as sources, expanding ect, to bring it inline with Wikipedia's standards. -- Bidgee (talk) 05:40, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * ''I was told yesterday that Griffith has 76 different language groups. Not bad for a small regional city! -- Mattinbgn\talk 20:57, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Lake Cowal
Nominated on 27 March 2008; needs 4 votes by 24 April 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Bidgee (talk) 13:47, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Matilda talk 20:36, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) —Pengo 13:39, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Just came aross the article today which has no sources and parts of it isn't neutral -- Bidgee (talk) 13:47, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Eric Weissel Oval
Nominated on 5 May 2008; needs 2 votes by 26 May 2008 to remain listed. Removed 8 June with one vote.

Support:
 * 1) Bidgee (talk) 12:53, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * After checking by to see whats happened after it's closure the other day, I checked to see if there was an article and there is, for a oval named after Eric Weissel which has had some well named players in the past it really needs some work (I did start to expand it and will/may continue to do so) to be done to it such as improving the style, notability, and cites Bidgee (talk) 12:53, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Moomba
Nominated on 18 May 2008; needs 4 votes by 22 June 2008 to remain listed. Removed 6 July 2008 with 2 votes.

Support:
 * 1) Colliric (talk) 06:18, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) --TheGrantley (talk) 02:21, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * This is a great Melbourne Festival that has seen many many years and has a long interesting history, especially in relation to it's famous street Parade. It is one of the most unique festivals this country has to offer and this article is abysmally tiny for such a grand annual event. There is far too little on this page, especially in the lack of description of events such as the Birdman rally and the Dragon boat racing.

West Australian Current
Nominated on 27 June 2008; needs 4 votes by 25 July 2008 to remain listed. Removed 25 August with 3 votes.

Support:
 * 1) Shiftchange (talk) 22:15, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) SatuSuro 14:00, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Lankiveil (speak to me) 12:11, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * An oceanic gyre to the west of the continent. WP:OCEANS might help. - Shiftchange (talk) 22:15, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * My understanding is the leeuwin current article is fine - its the inter-relationship between the various currents throughout the whole indian ocean and it is important to get such stuff up as the oceans and oceanography surrounding australia are poorly described SatuSuro 14:00, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Logie Award
Nominated on 30 June 2008; needs 4 votes by 28 July 2008 to remain listed.Removed 25 August 208 with 3 votes

Support:
 * 1) Davido321 (talk) 01:35, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) WWGB (talk) 12:15, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) —Giggy 03:20, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Major television award. With a bit of work I think this article can be lifted significantly.
 * Looks very listcrufty at the moment. WWGB (talk) 12:15, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Post war immigration to Australia
Nominated on 18 July 2008; needs 4 votes by 12 September 2008 to remain listed. Removed 14 September 2008.

Support:
 * 1) Matilda talk 06:07, 18 July 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) SatuSuro 04:12, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Hide&Reason (talk) 15:55, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Would be happy if the article were renamed by post-war migration was very important to Australia and the article needs a lot of work. We should add in experiences in migrant camps such as Bonegilla and the Snowy Mountains Scheme as well as improve the statistics--Matilda talk 06:07, 18 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Complex article think its needs some direction and structure before being ACOTF as I suspect that its unable to cover a 50 year period effectively. Gnangarra 14:53, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Collaboration sought to develop the structure. I have some ideas which I am adding to the talk page.  I don't think the scope is too large - after all we have an article on the history of all immigration.  This is a topic area that has been ignored.  We have little on migrant camps - two of the locations I know of mention it but others don't - we don't even have an article on Bonegilla, Victoria and Greta, New South Wales does not mention it.  It was important to the Snowy Mountains Scheme but we fail to explain why The Scheme's construction is seen by many "as a defining point in Australia's history, and an important symbol of Australia's identity as an independent, multicultural and resourceful country." - in particular the bit about multicultural.--Matilda talk 22:04, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Hi - appreciate if you could have a look again as I have been working on it--Matilda talk 01:34, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Split the entry on German immigration: "Peter Medding's account of the Jewish Community since 1945, and surveys of Jewish attitudes undertaken by the Melbourne University Psychology Department and published in Social Structures and Personality in a City, provided valuable material on the early relationships and attitudes in the gentile community to Jews. The immediate post war period 1945-1947 was another period when the refugees were in the news; it was the last flowering of contemporary documentation about the German and Austrian [exodus] to Melbourne [and Mount Buffalo]." Ottre (talk) 15:51, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Significant work as nominee
ACOTF nominee from 14 July 2008 to 14 September 2008 how it changed]
 * 4 contributors made 70 edits
 * The article increased from 728 bytes to 21,289 bytes - 30 times longer
 * See [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Post_war_immigration_to_Australia&diff=235364720&oldid=226265139

Robert French
Nominated on 25 August 2008; needs 4 votes by 22 September 2008 to remain listed. Removed 21 October 2008.

Support:
 * 1) Jmount (talk) 14:21, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Euryalus (talk) 07:29, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * The new Chief Justice of Australia. Needs a lot of work. Would be great to substaintially improve this article about the head of one of Australia's branches of government. Jmount (talk) 14:21, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Michael Pate
Nominated on 3 September 2008; needs 4 votes by 1 October 2008 to remain listed. Removed 21 October 2008.

Support:
 * 1) Roisterer (talk) 03:07, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Boylo (talk) 11:22, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * The recently departed Pate remains one of out most successful actors on the world stage but curiously underappreciated here. Considering that some of the obits looked suspiciously similar in parts to our article, perhaps we could build it up. --Roisterer (talk) 03:07, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * An internationally renowned actor who appeared in over 300 TV shows (which included Batman, Mission:Impossible, Get Smart, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Matlock Police and numerous westerns as a Apache Indian) and over 50 movies deserves a much better article. Someone has even asked that the article be deleted stating: the actor is not important and irrelevent. They must be joking !  Boylo (talk) 12:57, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * He was a one-day vandal . WWGB (talk) 14:52, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

The Costello Memoirs
Nominated on 14 September 2008; needs 2 votes by 28 September 2008 to remain listed. Removed 21 October 2008.

Support:
 * 1) Davido321 (talk) 10:54, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Very important political expose by Peter Costello to be released soon

List of longest-serving members of the Australian Senate
Nominated on 22 September 2008; needs 2 votes by 6 October 2008 to remain listed. Removed 26 October 2008 with one (anon) vote.

Support:
 * 1) 210.14.98.38 (talk) 22:29, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Almost none of the Senators' electoral history has been filled in
 * Obvious potential for a FL if an Australian Senate portal was ever created

Viewed
Nominated on 8 November 2008; needs 4 votes by 6 December 2008 to remain listed. Removed 7 December 2008.

Support:
 * 1) Lankiveil (speak to me) 05:35, 8 November 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Gnangarra

Comments:
 * Winner of the 2008 Melbourne Cup, article is currently a fairly basic stub, should be plenty of room for expansion
 * would think that its more important to improve the Melbourne Cup article before working on individual horses especially one time winners. Gnangarra 11:51, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Assistance Dogs Australia
Nominated on 8 November 2008; needs 2 votes by 22 November 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Assistance Dogs Australia (talk) 05:15, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Information on this Australian charitable organisation needs to be available to the general public especially people with disabilities who may be interested in obtaining an assistance dog
 * I'd recommend the nominator aquaints themselves with WP:COI, WP:NOTABILITY, and WP:RS Gnangarra 12:10, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Great Dividing Range
Nominated on 27 October 2008; needs 4 votes by 10 December 2008 to remain listed (revised date to to tardy changing of ACOTF).

Support:
 * 1) Shiftchange (talk) 22:11, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Roisterer (talk) 01:32, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Matilda talk 21:56, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * One of the countries largest geographic features, currently only has 1 reference.

The Justice Project (Australia)
Nominated on 29 November 2008; needs 2 votes by 13 December 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Peachey88 (Talk Page 13:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * The article is only at Stub Class, It shouldn't be hard to find sources for the article. It would be great if we could work on all Australian articles relating to law and what better place to start than an organization thats goal is to help everyone with legal matters and basic human rights for all regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. This article is also not controversial, and currently there is no disputes to its significance. - Peachey88 (Talk Page 13:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Centenary of Federation of Australia
Nominated on 31 December 2008; needs 2 votes by 14 January 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) –Moondyne 01:09, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Very surprised that this is red. Anyway, I may get it started in the next week or so myself. –Moondyne 01:09, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
 * This might sound silly with me being Australian and such but doesn't Federation of Australia cover this? Peachey88 (Talk Page 11:13, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Jonty Bush
Nominated on 25 January 2008; needs 2 votes by 8 February 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) WWGB (talk) 08:46, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Comments:
 * 2009 Young Australian of the Year

Bushfire
Nominated on 11 February 2008; needs 2 votes by 25 February 2008 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Bidgee (talk) 07:54, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Comments:
 * The article is in need of some work and with the fires in Victoria has made me add it here. The article needs some cleaning out, sourcing as well as some expansion. Bidgee (talk) 07:54, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Kakadu National Park
Nominated on 31 December 2008; needs 6 votes by 26 April 2009 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Shiftchange (talk) 22:39, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Kralizec! (talk) 01:22, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Lots of information, 30 photos already in article, still needs checking and references. - Shiftchange (talk) 22:42, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The article was dramatically expanded in early 2007 by (an account used by Tourism NT), however it still only has two references used for in-line citations.  --Kralizec! (talk) 01:22, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Lorimer Dods
Nominated on 10 January 2009; needs 6 votes by 26 April 2009 to remain listed.

Support:
 * 1) Sting  Buzz Me...   12:35, 10 January 2009 (UTC)
 * 2) Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:03, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Comments:
 * I just noticed this article tonight. Needs some TLC.--Sting  Buzz Me...   12:35, 10 January 2009 (UTC)
 * What a mess Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:03, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Cricket/Australian biography worklist/Invinc
Nominated on 3 February 2009; needs 6 votes by 26 April 2009 to remain listed.

Support: Comments:
 * 1) Close to a FT. Needs attention though. Most of the B class articles are complete and are awaiting reviews etc.  YellowMonkey   ( click here to vote for world cycling's #1 model! ) 06:03, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * 2) --Roisterer (talk) 09:45, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * 3) --  Aaroncrick (Tassie talk) 00:50, 6 February 2009 (UTC)


text:
Albert Roy

Albert J. Roy (born February 23, 1939) is a jurist and former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1984 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Background
Roy was born in Saskatchewan and educated at the University of Ottawa. He was called to the bar in 1965. He worked as a lawyer before entering political life, and was active in the Association des Jeunes Adultes Franco Ontariens.

Politics
He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbent Jules Morin by 5,127 votes in Ottawa East. Roy's election was one of the few significant gains for the Liberals in this campaign, as the party finished a distant second in the legislature against the governing Progressive Conservatives of William Davis.

Roy was re-elected with an increased majority in the 1975 election, in which the Progressive Conservatives were brought down to a minority government. Liberal leader Robert Nixon resigned soon after this election, and Roy entered the race to succeed him. He finished third at the party's 1976 leadership convention, behind Stuart Smith and David Peterson.

He was re-elected in 1977, and 1981. He continued to serve in the legislature until he resigned to run in the 1984 federal election. Roy contested Ottawa—Carleton for the Liberal Party of Canada, and lost to Barry Turner of the Progressive Conservative Party by 3,946 votes. His defeat marked only the second time in one hundred years that the riding of Ottawa—Carleton elected a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament.

Later life
Roy returned to his legal practice after this loss, and served as chair of the Ottawa-Carleton French Language Association Advisory Committee in 1985 and 1986. He was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in 1995. He retired in 2014. He is active in the Ottawa Dispute Resolution Group.

title: Albert Roy


text:
Binocular rivalry

Binocular rivalry is a phenomenon of visual perception in which perception alternates between different images presented to each eye.

When one image is presented to one eye and a very different image is presented to the other (also known as dichoptic presentation), instead of the two images being seen superimposed, one image is seen for a few moments, then the other, then the first, and so on, randomly for as long as one cares to look. For example, if a set of vertical lines is presented to one eye, and a set of horizontal lines to the same region of the retina of the other, sometimes the vertical lines are seen with no trace of the horizontal lines, and sometimes the horizontal lines are seen with no trace of the vertical lines.

At transitions, brief, unstable composites of the two images may be seen. For example, the vertical lines may appear one at a time to obscure the horizontal lines from the left or from the right, like a traveling wave, switching slowly one image for the other. Binocular rivalry occurs between any stimuli that differ sufficiently, including simple stimuli like lines of different orientation and complex stimuli like different alphabetic letters or different pictures such as of a face and of a house.

Very small differences between images, however, might yield singleness of vision and stereopsis. Binocular rivalry has been extensively studied in the last century. In recent years neuroscientists have used neuroimaging techniques and single-cell recording techniques to identify neural events responsible for the perceptual dominance of a given image and for the perceptual alternations.

Types
When the images presented to the eyes differ only in their contours, rivalry is referred to as binocular contour rivalry. When the images presented to the eyes differ only in their colours, rivalry is referred to as binocular colour rivalry. When the images presented to the eyes differ only in their lightnesses, a form of rivalry called binocular lustre may be seen. When an image is presented to one eye and a blank field to the other, the image is usually seen continuously. This is referred to as contour dominance. Occasionally however, the blank field, or even the dark field of a closed eye, can become visible, making the image invisible for about as long as it would be invisible were it in rivalry with another image of equal stimulus strength. When an image is presented to one eye and a blank field to the other, introducing a different image onto the blank field usually results in that image being seen immediately. This is referred to as flash suppression.

History
Binocular rivalry was discovered by Porta. Porta put one book in front of one eye, and another in front of the other. He reported that he could read from one book at a time and that changing from one to the other required withdrawing the "visual virtue" from one eye and moving it to the other. According to, binocular colour rivalry was first reported by. also recorded it when looking at different colours from spectra in the bevel of a mirror. The clearest early description of both colour and contour rivalry was made by. To experience colour rivalry Dutour either crossed his eyes or overdiverged his eyes (a form of free fusion commonly used also at the end of the 20th century to view Magic Eye stereograms) to look at differently coloured pieces of cloth or differently coloured pieces of glass. To experience contour rivalry Dutour again used free fusion of different objects or used a prism or a mirror in front of one eye to project different images into it. The first clear description of rivalry in English was by. Wheatstone invented the stereoscope, an optical device (in Wheatstone's case using mirrors) to present different images to the two eyes.

Early theories
Various theories were proposed to account for binocular rivalry. Porta and Dutour took it as evidence for an ancient theory of visual perception that has come to be known as suppression theory. Its essential idea is that, despite having two eyes, we see only one of everything (known as singleness of vision) because we see with one eye at a time. According to this theory, we do not normally notice the alternations between the two eyes because their images are too similar. By making the images very different, Porta and Dutour argued, this natural alternation can be seen. Wheatstone, on the other hand, supported the alternative theory of singleness of vision, fusion theory, proposed by Aristotle. Its essential idea is that we see only one of everything because the information from the two eyes is combined or fused. Wheatstone also discovered binocular stereopsis, the perception of depth arising from the lateral placement of the eyes. Wheatstone was able to prove that stereopsis depended on the different horizontal positions (the horizontal disparity) of points in the images viewed by each eye by creating the illusion of depth from flat depictions of such images displayed in his stereoscope. Such stereopsis is impossible unless information is being combined from each eye. Although Wheatstone's discovery of stereopsis supported fusion theory, he still had to account for binocular rivalry. He regarded binocular rivalry as a special case in which fusion is impossible, saying "the mind is inattentive to impressions made on one retina when it cannot combine the impressions on the two retinae together so as to occasion a perception resembling that of some external object" (p. 264).

Other theories of binocular rivalry dealt more with how it occurs than why it occurs. Dutour speculated that the alternations could be controlled by attention, a theory promoted in the nineteenth century by Hermann von Helmholtz. But Dutour also speculated that the alternations could be controlled by structural properties of the images (such as by temporary fluctuations in the blur of one image, or temporary fluctuations in the luminance of one image). This theory was promoted in the nineteenth century by Helmholtz's traditional rival, Ewald Hering.

Empirical studies: B. B. Breese (1899, 1909)
The most comprehensive early study of binocular rivalry was conducted by. Breese quantified the amount of rivalry by requiring his observers to press keys while observing rivalry for 100-second trials. An observer pressed one key whenever and for as long as he or she saw one rival stimulus with no trace of the other, and another key whenever and for as long as he or she saw the other rival stimulus with no trace of the first. This has come to be known as recording periods of exclusive visibility. From the key-press records (Breese's were made on a kymograph drum), Breese was able to quantify rivalry in three ways: the number of periods of exclusive visibility of each stimulus (the rate of rivalry), the total duration of exclusive visibility of each stimulus, and the average duration of each period of rivalry.

Breese first found that although observers could increase the time one rival stimulus was seen by attending to it, they could not increase the rate of that stimulus. Moreover, when he asked his observers to refrain from moving their eyes over the attended stimulus, control was abolished. When he asked observers specifically to move their eyes over one stimulus, that stimulus predominated in rivalry. He could also increase predominance of a stimulus by increasing the number of its contours, by moving it, by reducing its size, by making it brighter, and by contracting the muscles on the same side of the body as the eye viewing that stimulus. Breese also showed that rivalry occurs between afterimages. Breese also discovered the phenomenon of monocular rivalry: if the two rival stimuli are optically superimposed to the same eye and one fixates on the stimuli, then alternations in the clarity of the two stimuli are seen. Occasionally, one image disappears altogether, as in binocular rivalry, although this is much rarer than in binocular rivalry.

Other senses
Auditory and olfactory forms of perceptual rivalry can occur when there are conflicting and so rivaling inputs into the two ears or two nostrils.

title: Binocular rivalry


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Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featured major international figures of experimental and avant garde music, including guest composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, John Cage, Steve Reich, Jonathan Harvey, Helmut Lachenmann and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Its programme also includes improvisation, installation, sound sculptures, happenings, new technology and free jazz.

The festival is held across several venues in the town, including the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield Town Hall, St Paul's Hall, St Thomas's Church and the Creative Arts Building of the University of Huddersfield. There is also a Festival Hub which offers refreshments, CDs and free live shows every morning of the festival.

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival archive is held at the University of Huddersfield Archives at Heritage Quay.

History
The festival was founded at the suggestion of Richard Phillips, then music officer of the Yorkshire Arts Association. Richard Steinitz, a composer and lecturer at Huddersfield Polytechnic (later to become the University of Huddersfield), was appointed the festival director. The first concert was held on 13 October 1978.

Steinitz was succeeded as director by Susanna Eastburn in 2001 and guest director Tom Service in 2005. The current director is Graham McKenzie, who was appointed in 2006.

In 2005, the festival was held from 17 to 27 November.

In 2006 the festival took place from 17 to 26 November. On the event list was Kitchen Motors, and Psappha.

The 2008 festival ran from 21 to 30 November. A highlight was the performance of several Frank Zappa pieces by the Ascolta ensemble with guests.

The 2009 festival ran from 20 to 29 November. Jonathan Harvey was composer in residence, and the festival also featured the Arditti Quartet, Nieuw Ensemble, Louis Andriessen and musikFabrik.

The 2010 festival ran from 19 to 28 November. The composer in residence was Rebecca Saunders.

In 2011 Bent Sørensen became composer in residence.

The composer in residence for 2012 was Maja Ratkje.


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Mark Lawson

Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme Front Row between 1998 and 2014. He is also a Guardian columnist, and presented Mark Lawson Talks To... on BBC Four from 2006 to 2015.

Life and career
Born in Hendon, north London, Lawson was raised in Leeds, where his father was a marketing director for the Civil Service and British Telecom. Both of his parents originated from the northeast of England.

He was brought up a Catholic, and was educated at the independent Catholic school St Columba's College in St Albans. He then took a degree in English at University College London, where his lecturers included John Sutherland and A. S. Byatt.

Lawson became a freelance contributor to numerous publications in 1984, beginning on The Universe in that year, and for The Times from 1984 to 1986. He has written a column for The Guardian since 1995, having previously written for The Independent (1986–95), and has twice been TV Critic of the Year, as well as winning many other journalism awards. However, Richard Gott, a former colleague, commented in 2002 that the "prevalence of the bland and the obsequious" on The Guardian is typified by Lawson's "embedded presence".

Lawson presented The Late Show on BBC2 in the 1990s and presented its offshoot The Late Review (later Sunday Review and from 2000 Newsnight Review) until the 2005 "review of the year" edition of Newsnight Review, broadcast on 16 December, which marked the end of his association with the format. In 2004, Lawson made a documentary for BBC Four called The Truth About Sixties TV, criticising what he called "golden ageists" who, he said, have a rose-tinted view of television's past.

Lawson became the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's daily arts programme, Front Row, in 1998. He has written several radio plays for the network, including St Graham and St Evelyn (2003) on the friendship between the Catholic novelists Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh and The Third Soldier Holds His Thighs (2005) on Mary Whitehouse's unsuccessful litigation against the National Theatre production of Howard Brenton's play The Romans in Britain. He has also written episodes of the television version of the BBC sitcom Absolute Power appearing as himself in the series 1 episode 2, "Pope Idol", and is one of many celebrities impersonated by the Dead Ringers team, referred to as "Britain's brainiest potato" and "the thinking woman's potato" because of his baldness. In 2002, Viz ran a spoof of his Newsnight Review programme, featuring Lawson engaged in a desperate search for hard-core pornography, entitled "The Artful Podger". His in-depth, one-to-one interviews for BBC Four, entitled Mark Lawson Talks to …, ran from 2006 to 2015.

In addition to his work in print journalism and the broadcast media, Lawson has written five books, both fiction and non-fiction. His first, Bloody Margaret (1991), is a collection of novellas on late 20th-century politics in the UK, including an eponymous satire concerning Margaret Thatcher. This was followed by The Battle for Room Service (1993), a travelogue of people, politics and culture encountered by Lawson as a journalist. His 1995 book Idlewild is an alternative history novel in which both John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe survived the 1960s. Going Out Live (2001) focused on contemporary celebrity culture and the media, and Enough is Enough (2005) is a satire set in the government of Harold Wilson during the late 1960s. Lawson chaired the judges for the 2011 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine.

In 2006, Lawson witnessed, and reported to the BBC, a sexual assault on a BBC staff member by Jimmy Savile, later found to have been a prolific sex offender. This was recorded in the Dame Janet Smith Review report of 2016. In 2022, Lawson wrote about this encounter and his personal experience of Savile in British society.

Lawson's connection with Front Row ended in March 2014 for "personal reasons" in a joint agreement with the BBC. An internal report completed in January investigated claims of bullying within the BBC Radio Arts, which produces Front Row, and identified one producer and presenter as responsible. The Daily Telegraph reported on 5 March that Lawson was the presenter involved and he had been accused of "browbeating junior staff" who are often young freelancers. Lawson denied bullying. In his 2016 novel The Allegations, a lecturer at a fictional English university faces disciplinary action and dismissal for "B&H" (bullying and harassment). Dr Tom Pimm is accused of sighing during departmental meetings, "divisive social invitations" and "visual Insubordination (sic) towards senior management". Pimm attends a hearing during which he is told that "if someone felt you were being insensitive then, to all intents and purposes, you were". In the book's afterword, Lawson writes "It is the case that during a long, generally privileged and happy career in the media, I suffered one devastating experience of institutional group-think, baffling and contradictory management, false accusation and surreally sub-legal process; and have personal knowledge of the damage to reputation, employability and health that can result from such an ordeal."

Lawson supports Northampton Town FC and frequently goes to games, both at Sixfields Stadium and away. He lives near Towcester in Northamptonshire.

title: Mark Lawson


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Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra

The Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra is an amateur orchestra based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.

Origins
In 1862 the first orchestra in Huddersfield to achieve lasting permanence was established by Rev JH Thomas, as ‘Mr Thomas’s Band’. It changed its name to the Fitzwilliam Street Philharmonic Society and then ultimately Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra.

S H Crowther, in An Orchestral Centenary (about the orchestra’s history) claimed 1871 as the date of creation of the ‘Huddersfield Phil’ and the orchestra duly celebrated its centenary in 1971. However R A Edwards later pointed out in And the Glory (his history of Huddersfield Choral Society) that this claim was inaccurate; and the society’s present archivist now confirms that it was shortly after Thomas’s death that the orchestra renamed itself the Huddersfield Philharmonic, giving its first concert under that name on 7 February 1885.

The Rev J H Thomas was a Cambridge graduate, expert linguist and accomplished musician, who was initially ordained into the Church of England but who later abandoned Anglicanism in favour of Unitarianism. In 1862 he came to Huddersfield as Unitarian minister in Fitzwilliam Street, where he remained until his death in 1884. According to the Huddersfield Examiner obituary notice,

‘he got a number of lads and young men around him. For five or six years he gave lessons gratuitously…. And bought many instruments for the band out of his small means…For the first few years the music of the band was exceedingly crude and often painfully out of tune; but the band was always an improving one…’

Among the Rev Thomas’s successors as conductors was John North (conductor also of the Choral and Glee & Madrigal Societies). He began his working life as a butcher’s errand boy at the age of nine. A vacancy soon arose for an errand boy at Joe Wood’s music shop (founded in 1850) and Johnny North was taken on. This was to transform his life completely. Encouraged by Joe Wood he became an adept pianist and reliable tuner; he also took up the cornet and developed into a fine violinist. In his short and crowded life (he died at the age of 39) he held various posts as organist; in addition to the Huddersfield Choral Society, he conducted the Holmfirth and Keighley Societies and also further afield.

The programmes given by the orchestra in John North’s day were typical of the period with a multiplicity of items; the orchestra played nothing more substantial than an overture, and vocal and instrumental solos predominated. The October 1888 concert, for instance, featured two vocalists, two pianists and a violinist; the purely orchestral works ranged from Rossini’s Semiramide overture and a gavotte (True Love) to a selection from Cellier’s Dorothy and a Waldteufel waltz. Three years later a similar programme was given, though this did contain a full concerto – Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto played on the ‘grand pianoforte’ by Master G G Stocks.

Early years
For many years before and during the First World War the orchestra was conducted by another prominent local musician, J E Ibeson (a descendant of whom is a current playing member). At some time he was succeeded by Frederick Dawson, a leading concert pianist and former pupil of Grieg. He in turn was succeeded by J Fletcher Sykes in 1920; some time in the early 1930s the latter was briefly followed by F W Sykes, about whom nothing is known.

Orchestra during and after the wars
The inter-war years were a difficult time for orchestras, professional as well as amateur, and the Huddersfield Phil was no exception. One factor peculiar to Huddersfield exacerbated matters. Arthur Willie Kaye was a local musician of humble origin who by dint of self-sacrifice and sheer hard work had turned himself into one of the country’s greatest violin teachers (it is estimated that he launched over 100 violinists on professional careers); and in Huddersfield at any rate, he had become a ‘legend in his own lifetime’. He formed his own symphony orchestra with enormous string sections drawn mainly from his own pupils: for concerts, brass and woodwind were imported from the Hallé. Though this orchestra’s ascendancy in the 1920s was short-lived, at that time it completely eclipsed the Phil. The Phil also faced competition from another body about which little is known – the Huddersfield 'Permanent' Orchestra. In the 1930s,says Crowther (op cit) the orchestra’s fortunes fell further ‘…. on one occasion it looked as if there were more players on the platform than there were men and women in the audience.’

But despite that depressing outlook, the members of the Phil persevered and their persistence was to be rewarded. Some signs of better days ahead had already appeared when T H Crowther became the orchestra’s conductor in 1935 (a concert in 1936, for instance, included Franck’s Symphonic Variations and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’ Symphony). During the Second World War, the orchestra continued to rehearse, but gave only one concert (in April, 1943, when the Town Hall was filled to capacity). In the absence of Crowther through illness, this concert was conducted by William Rees.

At the end of the war the Society was determined to raise both its standards and its profile. A major decision was that the Society should engage a professional conductor and in 1946, following the resignation of T H Crowther, William Rees took up the post. A one-time student under Felix Weingartner and former violinist with the Hallé, Rees was an experienced musician who quickly became a firm favourite with orchestra and audience alike. His appointment marked a definite turning-point: from then on, the orchestra’s rise to its present eminence as one of the country’s leading non-professional orchestras was steady and assured. A notable early concert occurred in 1947 when Margaret Binns made her first appearance as Leader, a post she was to hold with great distinction until her retirement in 1982. Also in that year, Geoffrey Phillips was appointed Treasurer: he was to remain a member of the committee for over 40 years until his death. The concert of 1 May 1995 was dedicated to a celebration of his life.

In 1952 the orchestra gave the first performance in Huddersfield of Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony (the choir was the now defunct Huddersfield Vocal Union). In 1954 the Brunswick Symphony Orchestra came to Huddersfield as guests of the Phil, and the Phil visited Brunswick in the following year. The programme, which included Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony and soloist Margaret Binns in Mozart’s Violin Concert in A (K219), was very well received.

A characteristic feature of the Rees years was the development of a repertoire which was both solid and enterprising. In 1956, for instance, works ranged from Brahms’ Fourth Symphony to Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto (at the time both the work and the soloist – Julian Bream – were relatively unknown). In 1958 a bold programme featured Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Wagner’s rarely heard Love Feast of the Apostles (in which the orchestra was joined by the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir). The orchestra was responsible for the first Huddersfield performance of the Beethoven triple Concerto (with ‘local’ soloists Margaret Binns, Pauline Dunn and Keith Swallow). William Rees’ retirement in 1964 was a matter of great regret; for almost twenty years he had enjoyed an exceptionally warm rapport with members of the orchestra, but it was understood that the time had come when he wished to be released from the strain of the road journey from his home in Lytham St Anne’s for rehearsals and concerts.

His successor, Arthur Butterworth, had already acted as the orchestra’s associate conductor. Originally a trumpeter with the Scottish and Hallé orchestras, he had given up his playing career in order to concentrate on conducting and composing, in which his reputation was steadily growing. (His skill as an orchestrator was recognised by Barbirolli who more than once called upon him, in the Hallé’s cash-strapped 1950s, to cue the parts of unaffordable ‘extras’ into those of standard instruments.) Butterworth was to conduct the Phil for the next 30 years. He inherited a well-established, confident orchestra – already large, it was to grow under him still further (in the 1971-72 Centenary [sic] Season no fewer than 113 players are listed in the programme including an amazing 81 strings).

In the 1960s amateur orchestras began to leave the safe havens of the classical core repertoire, and Butterworth relished the opportunity to steer the orchestra’s great potential into previously uncharted waters. Not that he had a free hand in the matter: nowadays conductors are usually titled ‘artistic directors’ and wield the powers implicit in that title, but in 1964, as was the way with organisations like the Phil ‘the committee’ reigned supreme – even in the choice of repertoire and soloists. The conductor was consulted on these matters but he had no executive powers. Soon after Butterworth’s appointment he suggested that the orchestra should play Elgar’s Enigma Variations for the first time. His proposal was accepted, though not without some misgivings on the part of the committee that such a ‘difficult’ work should be tackled. Nowadays the programming of such a work would be seen merely as routine.

In fact Butterworth was able to persuade the committee to expand the repertoire in all directions. Standard classics were not neglected (there were memorable performances of Beethoven’s Eroica and, in the Centenary [sic] Season, with the Huddersfield Choral Society, that composer’s Ninth Symphony) but works as diverse as Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses, Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, Prokofiev’s Firth Symphony, Respighi’s The Pines of Rome, Janáček’s Sinfonietta, Holst’s The Planets and the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition figured in Butterworth’s early years. His predilection for the music of Sibelius was also gratified: over the years four of the seven symphonies were played. His own music was occasionally performed and he was commissioned to write a work for the Centenary Season. From the Tower of Winds was the result.

Modern orchestra
It was in the late 1970s that the orchestra first tackled a Mahler symphony. At that time The Daily Telegraph's northern edition (edited by the music critic and author, Michael Kennedy) ran a weekly ‘Music in the North’ column and in one such edition he drew attention to the performance, noting that he would never have anticipated the day when an amateur orchestra would play a Mahler symphony. In singling out the Phil he was according it a well-deserved accolade.

Later years brought performances of Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, Edward Elgar's Falstaff, Claude Debussy's La mer and Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes". In 1989, after 25 years in office, Arthur Butterworth hinted that he did not plan to go on indefinitely though it was not until 1993 that he gave his final concert.

Butterworth was succeeded by Rupert D'Cruze. Originally trained as a trombonist, D'Cruze soon turned to conducting, winning prizes in competitions in Hungary and Japan in 1992. D’Cruze broadened the orchestra’s repertoire even further, showing an especial proclivity for the music of Gustav Mahler. The orchestra performed of the Sixth Symphony in 1995, and the First and Fifth were also performed under his leadership. In 1997 the orchestra gave the world premiere of All The Long Night Through, a commissioned piece from Bill Connor, for piano, percussion and orchestra. In 1997 they performed of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, reviewed in the Yorkshire Post in the following glowing terms. ‘… (this work) long feared by the best of performers, was undertaken with immense confidence and vigour. This performance worked because D'Cruze not only knew that score extremely well but succeeded in shaping its disparate sections into a satisfying whole…’

The years 2000 and 2001 saw the Phil produce a CD of significant performances whilst planning major concerts, including performances of Sally Beamish’s concerto for saxophone, The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone, with John Harle as soloist and another huge Mahler symphony, his third. When John Harle was taken ill, a potential problem became the beginning of a new musical friendship when his place was taken by Jack Liebeck, in a performance of the Mendelssohn Violin concerto. “Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat “read the headline in the Huddersfield Examiner, and the reviewer commented “Clearly, members knew this piece but, to dust it down in one hour and give such a performance demonstrates the talent which the Huddersfield Philharmonic has in its ranks.” If this concert tested the abilities of the players, the plans for Mahler’s Third Symphony were to With the sudden unavailability of Rupert D’Cruze, Nicholas Cleobury stepped in to take on the task of performing Mahler’s Third Symphony and, following this success, he was appointed as Principal Guest Conductor within two years. He has attracted comments including:

‘Guest conductor Nicholas Cleobury paid the orchestra the supreme compliment of making no concession to its “amateur” status’ (Huddersfield Examiner 23 April 2001, review of Mahler concert).

‘Nicholas Cleobury turned what could have been a hairy experience into a convincing one, full of raw energy and glittering colour’ (Yorkshire Post, 22 April 2002, review of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast). The latter concert, featuring Huddersfield Choral Society, was dedicated to the memory of Maurice Wray, orchestral manager of the Phil for some eleven years and who had been the prime mover and shaker in bringing the two organisations together on stage. Sadly, Maurice had died just 2 months before the concert. Further memorable concerts conducted by Nicholas have included February 2005's Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra and Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time in November of the same year, as well as the closing concert of the Saddleworth Festival in June 2007.

By autumn of 2002 the Phil was auditioning for a new Principal Conductor, a process which was to take almost two years, but which resulted in the appointment of Natalia Luis-Bassa, a prize-winner in the Maazel-Vilar Conductor's Competition of 2002 and the first person in Venezuela to receive the B Mus in orchestral conducting. Natalia’s audition concert (February 2004) included a performance of Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture and Elgar has remained at the heart of her continuing relationship with the orchestra. 2007 was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Elgar and the April performance of his second Symphony with the Phil won Natalia the Elgar prize. She followed this up by conducting the first performance of the work in Venezuela with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, with their principal conductor Gustavo Dudamel in the audience.

February 2008 saw a packed Town Hall, and heard the voice of Robert Powell as narrator in Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, which the Huddersfield Examiner described as "utterly engaging and absorbing. Here was an opportunity for various sections of the orchestra to shine and, without exception….. they excelled."

Notable members

 * Wallace Hartley, violinist and bandleader on the ill-fated RMS Titanic

title: Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra