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Spartacus (The Farm album)

Spartacus is the debut studio album by British rock band the Farm, released on 4 March 1991 through Produce Records. Following a variety of member changes and single releases, the band solidified their line-up in 1987; after a record deal fell through, they opted to start their own label, Produce Records. They recorded the bulk of their debut album in London in 1990 with former Madness frontman Graham "Suggs" McPherson as producer; one track from 1987 was produced by the Housemartins members Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore. Spartacus  is a baggy and dance-rock album that takes influence from the work of Buzzcocks, the Clash and the Jam.

Spartacus received generally positive reviews from music critics. Although some of them were split on the album's songwriting quality, while others praised it in the context of the baggy scene. The album topped the charts in the United Kingdom. "Groovy Train" was released as its lead single in August 1990, followed by the second single "All Together Now" in November 1990. "Don't Let Me Down" appeared in April 1991, and was promoted with a supporting slot for Happy Mondays in June 1991 at the Elland Road football stadium in Leeds. They then toured the United States with Big Audio Dynamite and Downtown Science. NME and Vox included the album on their lists of the year's best 50 releases.

Background
Influenced by the likes of punk rock acts such as the Clash and the Jam, Peter Hooton decided to become a musician, initially picking up bass briefly before focusing on singing instead. He joined his friend's brother's band after their frontman failed to show up to a rehearsal. The death of John Lennon, coupled with anger towards the Tory party following a speech by leader Margaret Thatcher, inspired Hooton to become a writer. He started the fanzine The End, which chronicled his poems as well as football news, music and politics. The zine helped Hooton grow in his confidence as a wordsmith, which he had shied away from after being ridiculed by his school's English teacher. Hooton's band soon became directionless and he was looking to form another band; through a mutual friend, he met Steve Grimes, guitarist for local punk rock act the Excitements. After an audition, Hooton joined the Excitements, replacing Martin Dunbar. The rest of the band consisted of bassist Phil Stephenson, drummer Neil Campbell and dancer Thomas. Around the same time, Phil Jones of zine Time for Action and Mick Potter started contributing to The End when it became popular throughout Liverpool. Hooton played his debut show with the Excitements in 1982 at a friend's party. Despite him wanting to keep The End and the Excitements as separate entities, readers of the zine started attending the band's shows.

Several more local gigs ensued, with them changing their name to the Farm, reflecting that they rehearsed on a farm plot in Lydiate. The band's punk rock sound was out of place in the post-punk scene in Liverpool, featuring the likes of Echo & the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes and Wah!. Andy McVann, who had seen Hooton's first show, joined the Farm as their drummer. Positive reviews from the music press earned the band their first John Peel session in April 1983, where they performed "Information Man", "No Man's Land" and "Memories". In February 1984, they did another session Peel, playing "Hearts & Minds", "Too Late", "Same Old Story" and "Somewhere". In between these sessions, the band went through multiple bassists until Carl Hunter joined. They then appeared on Oxford Road Show, where they met Graham "Suggs" McPherson and Chas Smash, both formerly of Madness. Around this time, the Farm had little money, surviving off residuals from the Peel sessions. A friend of the Farm's was manning the doors at a Madness show and said the Farm were in need of help. Suggs, who had heard one of the Farm's Peel sessions, let them record some demos at Madness' studio on Caledonian Road, London for free. Suggs would subsequently produce their debut single, "Hearts & Minds", later in the year. Simon Moran, who would later found promoter SJM Concerts, became one of the band's early supporters, helping to organise shows for them.

Sometime later, a brass section consisting of Anthony Evans, Steve Levy, George Maher and John Melvin was brought into the band's line-up, shifting their sound towards Northern soul. McVann was involved in a fatal car crash in October 1986; the Farm almost broke up when the brass section left after this incident. In 1987, Roy Bulter filled in McVann's role, and second guitarist Keith Mullen and keyboardist Benjamin Leach were added to the line-up. Bill Drummond, one half of the KLF, who was well versed in the Liverpool scene and the Farm's actives, wanted to become their manager after meeting Hooton in a bar, but ultimately did not. After seeing one of the Farm's performances, Happy Mondays supported them in Liverpool in May 1987. The Farm then went on tour with the Housemartins; they almost signed to the Housemartins' Stan Cullimore's label Fair Play Committee, but the deal fell through when Cullimore decided to write children's books instead. In discussions, Moran wanted 20% of the proposed £25,000 signing bonus, claiming that as their manager he should be paid more; Hooton remarked that they considered him an equal, not a superior. Moran subsequently parted ways with the band at the same time the deal collapsed. "Body and Soul", their next single, was released in 1988 and saw a shift to synth-pop. In an attempt to draw more attention to the band, Hooton concocted a music scene under the name Urchin Rock that would include them and fellow Liverpools bands Rain and the Real People. Hooton then convinced popular journalists to cover the faux movement; it received significant press coverage, but did not further the careers of any of the acts grouped under it.

Label and recording
Around the Christmas period in 1989, Paul McKenna, who had been the Farm's merchandise aid, and Hooton had a meeting at the former's flat. McKenna introduced Hooton to Barney Moores, a fan of theirs and son of Littlewoods Pools owner John Moores. Barney Moores had spare money to invest in a business and was interested in helping the band; Hooton told him that £25,000 would cover the cost of an album and two singles. Hooton then contacted Kevin Sampson, who they previously met when the latter was shooting a film some months prior. He had connections around London and was an associate of Suggs. In January 1990, Sampson was asked to become their manager, eventually agreeing to become co-manager with Suggs. Shortly afterwards, Sampson travelled from London to Liverpool to set up a meeting. The outcome of that meeting saw the formation of the record label Produce Records with Ian Croft, Wayne Chad, Moors and McKenna as business partners. The label's offices were located in the Holmes Building in Liverpool; its releases would be distributed by Kent-based company Pinnacle. Part of the money the band received was used to purchase a sampler to expand their musical style. Sampson drafted up an eight-page plan that Hooton referred to as "how to get the Farm into the Top 40". The band hired Anglo Plugging to promote them on the radio, booking agent Martin Horn of International Talent Booking and press officer John Best of Savage & Best Management, and planned to record at Madness' studio. Hooton admitted that they "didn't know anything" and trusted Sampson's judgement.

Shortly afterwards, the band began working on a cover of "Stepping Stone" (1966) by Paul Revere & the Raiders as their next single. Sampson felt they needed an outside influence to aid them, and proposed Terry Farley. Around this time, Farley was growing in popularity as a DJ in the acid house movement, and was formerly a subscriber to The End. Farley, serving as mixing engineer, suggested the band slow the track down and incorporate samples from "The Power" (1990) by Snap!. Though the song stalled at number 59 on the UK Singles Chart, the single received positive press coverage. The Farm tried to record "Higher & Higher" soon after, but were not satisfied with the sound, and decided to work on "Groovy Train" with engineer Mark Saunders instead as their next single. They had played a psychedelic version of "Groovy Train" for a Peel session; for the released version, Farley moved Mullen's guitar from the middle eight to the intro section and added a loop from "The Gas Face" (1989) by 3rd Bass. Suggs produced nearly every track that would feature on Spartacus, save for "Tell the Story", which had been recorded in 1987 and was produced by Cullimore and Housemartins bandmate Paul Heaton. "Hearts & Minds", "How Long", "Sweet Inspiration", "Higher & Higher", "Don't Let Me Down", "Very Emotional" and "All Together Now" were recorded at Mayfair Studios in London in October and November 1990, while "Groovy Train" and "Family of Man" were recorded at Liquidator Studios and "Tell the Story" was recorded at Fairview Recording Studio in Hull. Kevin Petri engineered the majority of the tracks, except for "Groovy Train" (done by Gary Wilkinson) and "All Together Now" (done by Noel Rafferty). Saunders mixed "Groovy Train" at the Konk studio in London; the majority of the songs were mixed at Westside Studios in London, while "All Together Now" was done at Mayfair and "Family of Man" and "Tell the Story" were remixed at E-Zee, also based in London. Paula David, who was a session vocalist that Suggs knew, and Pete Wylie contributed backing vocals throughout the recordings.

Composition and lyrics
Musically, the sound of Spartacus has been described as baggy and dance-rock, taking influence from the work of Buzzcocks, the Clash and the Jam. AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it had all of the hallmarks of baggy, from "its rolling, neo-psychedelic grooves" to the "blissfully colorful pop hooks". The album's title was taken from the 1960 film of the same name. Grimes said that the name worked as a "very tongue-in-cheek analogy between the Farm, who, like, for years didn't have a record label and then decided to do it ourselves[,] ... [b]asically, in spite of all the major record companies". He said McVann's death influenced some of the tracks on the album, such as "Don't Let Me Down".

The album's opening track, "Hearts & Minds", was slowed down from its original recording, and has an offbeat reggae sound. Its title alludes to a rally cry spoken by celebrities and politicians of the time; two years before including it on the album, Hooton said that some lyrics were added to "incorporate the plastic gangster fraternity". Though NME reported that the band had used samples from Taxi Driver (1978), Hooton was adamant that they used impersonators for the audio clips. "How Long" recalled the work of U2, while part of its lyrics referred to Hooton and drummer Boulter visiting the Berlin Wall in East Berlin. Hooton explained that the song talked about politicians rooting for change as long as it served their own ambitions. "Sweet Inspiration" was written around the release of Nelson Mandela and is about political prisoners that stand up for their beliefs even when confronted by authority figures. Discussing "Groovy Train", Grimes said it was an interpretation of people that Hooton knew during school that used to be political, but after acid house, "they've just forgotten about all their politics and just though, 'Sod this! Let's just have a good time. Hooton wrote the lyrics in the weeks following an encounter with a girl at a nightclub in Liverpool. Journalist Paul Lester wrote that the song consisted of an "iridescent African hi-life [atmosphere], quintessentially baggy 'Funky Drummer' shufflebeat and slashing" Steve Jones-aping guitarwork.

"Higher & Higher" talks about a person facing rejection, which Hooton compared to "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (1982) by the Clash. "Don't Let Me Down" targeted Britain's underclass, anchored by as gospel-like backing vocals. The first verse of it grew out of an older, abandoned song titled "That's the Way We Were", with some lines specifically referring to McVann. Hootson said "Family of Man" asks the question of "why don't the police join the family of man, instead of punishing people at every opportunity?" "Tell the Story", which was an update on "Same Old Story", evoked the sound of fellow Liverpool act the Pale Fountains with its acoustic production. Journalist Bob Stanley wrote that the song's lyrics propose that the "derelict buildings and waste-ground tell a truer story about the band's hometown than thousand Jimmy Tarbuck-fuelled platitudes". It initially had six verses, which were then edited down to two for the final version; Hooton said it referred to the slade trade and the planned redevelopment of Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock. "Very Emotion" evolved out of their 1985 song "Steps of Emotion" and was dedicated to their technician Ray Toohey. He had been involved in a peaceful protest in regards to Risley Remand Centre, but was arrested and imprisoned for 30 months. The band changed the song's lyrics to reflect Toohey's situation, with influence from "Stay Free" (1978) by the Clash.

"All Together Now" began as "No Man's Land", which Hooton had written after the reaction from right-wing press towards British politician Michael Foot wearing a coat that resembled a donkey jacket in November 1981. Alongside this, Hooton had read newspaper articles about the Christmas truce during the First World War, which he learned about from training as a history teacher. "No Man's Land" consisted of six verses sections and lacked a defined chorus. For a few years, Grimes wanted to pair the words with the music of a TV advert, which featured a version of Pachelbel's Canon in D. The band did not attempt to match them until after they had bought the aforementioned sampler; while it worked, the song still was void of a chorus section. They refined the song while in the studio, where they came up with an appropriate chorus. At Suggs' recommendation, the six verses were cut down to three, and half of the music for the chorus was similarly dropped. He then included a sample of Sid Vicious' rendition of the 1969 song "My Way" during the middle eight. At Farley's suggestion, the band wanted to include a beat they knew from a hip hop record. As they were unable to recreate it in a London studio, a member of their entourage was tasked with going to Hooton's house in Liverpool to retrieve it. When they sampled the drum loop, they found that it was partially out of synch with the music they had recorded.

"Groovy Train" and "All Together Now" singles, and initial promotion
By mid-1990, the Farm were being slotted into the baggy scene, much to the chagrin of Hooton. After some persuading from Sampson, the band travelled to Ibiza, where they would shoot A Short Film About Chilling... Ibiza '90. The location was rising in popularity amongst the British youth and dance cultures. The film coincided with the release of "Groovy Train", helping to grow the band's stature. Soon afterwards, they performed at the Alexandra Palace in London with Big Audio Dynamite. "Groovy Train" was released as the lead single from Spartacus on 20 August 1990. The CD and 12-inch vinyl versions included different remixes of "Groovy Train"; the CD version also featured a remix of "Stepping Stone". The music video for it featured Bill Dean singing into a piece of rock at a Southport fun fair, cut with some footage of their trip to Ibiza. Before the end of the following week, A Short Film About Chilling... Ibiza '90 premiered on Channel 4. The success of "Groovy Train" allowed the band to appear on Top of the Pops twice, and once on The Word. Produce Records received offers from various labels to buy them out, including from Sony Music Entertainment, but all of these were declined. Produce Records also received orders to license out "Groovy Train". One such request was from Sire Records, which was operated by Seymour Stein. He had been to several of the band's performances, which led to them being signed to the label some months later. Up to that point, the song had some success on modern rock stations in the United States as an import release.

"All Together Now" was released as the second single from Spartacus on 26 November 1990. The CD edition featured remixes of the song by Farley & Pete Heller and Rocky & Diesel. The music video for "All Together Now", directed by Angus Cameron, sees the band and members of their families drinking in a pub. It was shot in a pub next to Shepherd's Bush Empire in London; they were concerned that if they had shot the video in Liverpool, too many people would try to gain entry. In January 1991, the Farm supported Happy Mondays at the Great British Music Weekend festival, which featured a line up of Madchester-related acts. Following this, they embarked on a UK tour in February and March 1991, all the dates of which sold out. A launch show was scheduled for 7 February 1991, but was cancelled because of a dispute between the band and Flying Records, as the latter had not paid the band for an earlier show. Ahead of the album's release, promotional remixes of "Very Emotional" and "Higher & Higher" done by Farley and Heller were released as a white label 12-inch vinyl record.

Album release and touring
After initially being planned for release on 25 February 1991, Spartacus was released on 4 March 1991 through Produce Records in the UK. The album's artwork was created by Hunter, who had experience illustrating from attending a graphic arts school. Grimes explained that the band were being referred to in the British music press as a "very unglamorous band. We should be, like, working in a building profession, or we should be electricians, that type of thing". He decided that since the press thought that they looked like ordinary people, they would make the artwork "as something you'd see in a supermarket, that you wouldn't look twice at". The album featured the Farley and Heller remixes of "Very Emotional" and "Higher & Higher" as additional tracks; the vinyl version limited the remixes to 30,000 copies. To promote the album, the band appeared on the Nicky Campbell show for BBC Radio 1, where they performed "Don't Let Me Down" and "How Long". Around this time, they released their first video album, Groovy Times; it consisted of a live performance of the entire album shot at the London Astoria in December 1990. It also included interviews and the music videos to "Stepping Stone" and "Groovy Train".

Hooton, while appreciative of the attention the band was receiving, felt burnt out from interviews, causing him to lose his voice. The other members of the band similarly suffered from restlessness; Hooton recounted how they were performing in Brighton the same night that the album went to number one "and I don't think we celebrated. We all became blasé even when everywhere on the tour was sold out". "Don't Let Me Down" was released as the album's third single on 22 April 1991; remixes by Farley and Rocky & Diesel were included as its B-sides. Sampson was insistent on reissuing "Stepping Stone" instead of releasing "Don't Let Me Down", while everyone else at Produce Records were in favour of "Don't Let Me Down". The band were concerned they would be seen as sell outs if they went with Sampson's proposal, although they later admitted that his idea would have been a better choice. The music video for "Don't Let Me Down" was filmed in London and starred Frankie Howerd, who the band hired based on his performance in Up Pompeii! (1969). They had to change one of the lyrics, from "stand up and fight" to "stand up, stand up", as the song would not have received airplay or TV airings due to the Gulf War.

Sire Records released Spartacus in the US on 30 April 1991. Warner Bros. Records product management vice president Steven Baker said Reprise Records was brought in to help the band at alternative radio stations in the hopes of having them crossover to top 40 stations. Initially support came from the "Groovy Train" video being on active rotation at MTV. On 1 June 1991, they supported Happy Mondays at the Elland Road football stadium in Leeds. On 3 September 1991, "Groovy Train" was released as a single in the US; it featured remixes of "Groovy Train", "All Together Now" and "Stepping Stone", alongside the non-album single "Mind". As Sire did not like the original music video for "Groovy Train", another one was shot with the band travelling around Manhattan on a London-themed bus. Shortly afterwards, they went on a US tour alongside Big Audio Dynamite and Downtown Science. At that point, Suggs stopped managing the band and returned to this own music career.

Later in the year, the band failed to sell-out a show in Newcastle; Moran told them that Nirvana was playing a show in the city that same night and had affected the attendance as a result. Unbeknownst to the Farm, the success of Nirvana's Nevermind (1991) some months earlier allowed for the success of grunge acts such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Hooton explained that they were "reading about it [in the press] and we saw the Melody Maker attacking us and we realised they wanted to get rid" of Madchester and baggy and "replace it with something that they were more comfortable with". Around this time, the band's second video album, Spartacus Live, was released, featuring footage from a show at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool in March 1991. "All Together Now" was released as a single in the US on 6 February 1992, featuring remixes of "All Together Now" and a live demo of "Over Again".

Related releases and events
In 1991, a box set of Spartacus' three singles, plus "Stepping Stone" and "Mind", was released on 12-inch vinyl under the name Boxsetacus; a CD version followed in 1993. In January 1999, NME reported that Produce Records initiated a legal dispute against BMG Entertainment, claiming that "Macarena" (1993) by Los del Río had copied from "Higher & Higher". The World Intellectual Property Organization later reported that BMG settled out of court on the matter. In May 2004, Edsel Records released Spartacus as double-CD edition under the name Spartacus... Plus, which included B-sides and remixes. The Farm were originally scheduled to perform the album in its entirety on a UK tour in April and May 2012, but the tour was postponed to September and October 2012. Spartacus was included in The Complete Studio Recordings 1983–2004 (2015) box set, alongside all of the band's studio albums plus bonus discs of B-sides, remixes and radio sessions. BMG Rights Management released an EP of "All Together Now" remixes to celebrate the song's 30th anniversary. In March 2021, BMG released a digital expanded edition of the album to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

"Groovy Train", "Don't Let Me Down" and "All Together Now" were included on the Farm's second compilation album, Best of the Farm (1998). All of the songs from Sparatacus were included, albeit in a different running order, on their third compilation album, The Very Best of the Farm (2001). Thieir fourth compilation album, All Together Now: The Very Best of the Farm (2001), included all of the albums tracks except for "Very Emotional". For their fifth compilation album, Alltogethernow – The Very Best of the Farm (2004), "Very Emotional" was included and "How Long" was not ; the accompanying DVD featured the music videos for "Groovy Train", "Don't Let Me Down" and "All Together Now". The whole album was again included on their sixth and seventh compilation albums, All Together Now: The Very Best of the Farm (2009) and Groovy Train: The Very Best of the Farm (2017).

Reception and legacy
Critical opinion was split on the quality of Spartacus' songwriting. While noting that a few of the songs had been previously released, Andrew Collins of NME wrote that it was "as solid as a rock record, yet roomy enough to accommodate" experimentation on tracks such as "Hearts & Minds" and "Tell the Story". Stanley, in a review for Melody Maker, praised the band for having "the most astute lyrics" out of their contemporaries, making "it[] that much sadder that this LP is worthy but dull". Doug Iverson of Toledo Blade felt that aside from the first two singles, "it's doubly disappointing that Spartacus ... is so lame". In a review for Select, writer Graham Linehan countered this by stating that it "keeps you alert and live. There's very little filler, very few signs of exhaustion". He went on to praise the songwriting quality and stated that their "honey appreciation of what [makes] a song danceable and memorable guarantees them a longer shelf-life than most". The staff at St. Petersburg Times thought the band set themselves apart from "most of the other '70s revivalists, however, by being so darn serious", taking their "big-haired beat and avocado-harvest gold tones to heart".

Some reviewers viewed the Farm as being superior than the baggy tag let on. Erlewine wrote that the album was "one of the more ridiculous by-products of baggy, ... yet [with] very little of its charm, character, or substance". He added that since the genre was "never about substance, this is particularly damning". Gary Crossing of Record Mirror echoed a similar statement, praising the band's creativity, remarking that Spartacus was "conclusive proof that the Farm are more than just another baggy band". Journalist John Harris, writing in Sounds, said that when compared to their contemporaries, the Farm were "older, wiser, and in far greater command of a killer commercial sensibility" as Spartacus conveys "final confirmation of their sharp musical suss".

Spartacus topped the UK Albums Chart after its first week of release. It was Album of the Month in Select, and included in Vox magazine's 50 Albums of 1991 list. The NME placed the album at number 32 in their list of the Top 50 Albums of 1991. In 1998, Melody Maker considered it the 20th worst album of all time. In 2014, journalist John Robb wrote that "All Together Now" was "not only a great anthemic and uniting pop record, it also came out" during "one of those rare periods when people felt optimistic and [the song] soundtracked this, add[ing] a poignant working class memory".

Track listing
All songs written by Peter Hooton and Steve Grimes.

 * 1) "Hearts & Minds" – 4:24
 * 2) "How Long" – 3:38
 * 3) "Sweet Inspiration" – 5:29
 * 4) "Groovy Train" – 4:10
 * 5) "Higher & Higher" – 4:38
 * 6) "Don't Let Me Down" – 4:37
 * 7) "Family of Man" – 4:44
 * 8) "Tell the Story" – 3:39
 * 9) "Very Emotional" – 4:41
 * 10) "All Together Now" – 5:41
 * 11) "Higher & Higher" (remixed by Pete Heller and Terry Farley) – 6:09
 * 12) "Very Emotional" (remixed by Heller and Farley) – 6:22

Personnel
Personnel per sleeve.

The Farm
 * Peter Hooton – lead vocals
 * Keith Mullin – guitar
 * Steve Grimes – guitar
 * Carl Hunter – bass
 * Ben Leach – synthesizers
 * Roy Boulter – drums

Additional musicians
 * Paula David – backing vocals
 * Pete Wylie – additional backing vocals

Production and design
 * Graham "Suggs" McPherson – producer (all except track 8), remixing (track 8)
 * Kevin Petri – engineer (tracks 1–3, 5–7 and 9), remixing (track 8)
 * Gary Wilkinson – engineer (track 4)
 * Mark Saunders – mixing (track 4)
 * Paul Heaton – producer (track 8)
 * Stan Cullimore – producer (track 8)
 * Noel Rafferty – engineer (track 10)
 * Terry Farley – remixing (tracks 11 and 12)
 * Pete Heller – remixing (tracks 11 and 12)

title: Spartacus (The Farm album)


text:
Liu Gongquan

Liu Gongquan, courtesy name Chengxuan (誠懸) (778—865), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, and politician who lived during the late Tang dynasty. Liu Gongquan was especially famous for regular script (楷書) and was one of the 4 calligraphic masters of regular script in China. The other three were Yan Zhenqing, Ouyang Xun and Zhao Mengfu.

Style
A minister like Yan of the Tang dynasty, Liu was a native of today's Tongchuan, Shaanxi, a devout Buddhist and follower of Yan's style of writing. Like him an expert of the regular script, Liu's works were imitated for centuries after and he is often referred in unison with his famed predecessor as "Yan-Liu".

Calligraphy
Xuan mi ta bei (玄秘塔碑) from the Forest of Steles in Xi'an.

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

title: Liu Gongquan


text:
Furio

Furio may refer to:

 * Furio (given name), including a list of people with the name
 * Furio (surname), including a list of people with the name
 * Falcomposite Furio, a kit-plane

title: Furio


text:
User talk:TomWS

Welcome to the Wikipedia
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You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

(Sam Spade | talk | contributions) 22:55, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:TomWS


text: User talk:70.112.89.45

title: User talk:70.112.89.45


text: User talk:165.138.232.2

title: User talk:165.138.232.2


text:
Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia (born Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh; 25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936), was the third child and second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. She was a granddaughter of both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Emperor Alexander II of Russia.

Born a British princess, Victoria spent her early life in England and lived for three years in Malta, where her father served in the Royal Navy. In 1889, the family moved to Coburg, where Victoria's father became the reigning duke in 1893. In her teens, Victoria fell in love with her maternal first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, but his Orthodox Christian faith discouraged marriage between first cousins. Bowing to family pressure, Victoria married her paternal first cousin Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, in 1894. The marriage failed – Victoria scandalized the royal families of Europe when she divorced her husband in 1901. The couple's only child, Princess Elisabeth, died of typhoid fever in 1903.

Victoria married Kirill in 1905. They wed without the formal approval of Britain's King Edward VII (as the Royal Marriages Act 1772 would have required), and in defiance of Russia's Emperor Nicholas II. In retaliation, the Tsar stripped Kirill of his offices and honours, also initially banishing the couple from Russia. They had two daughters, Maria and Kira, and settled in Paris before being allowed to visit Russia in 1909. In 1910 they moved to Russia, where Nicholas recognized Victoria as Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna. After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917 they escaped to Finland (then still part of the Russian Empire) where she gave birth to her only son, Vladimir, in August 1917. In exile they lived for some years among her relatives in Germany, and from the late 1920s on an estate they bought in Saint-Briac in Brittany. In 1926 Kirill proclaimed himself Russian emperor in exile, and Victoria supported her husband's claims. Victoria died after suffering a stroke while visiting her daughter Maria in Amorbach (Lower Franconia).

Early life
Victoria was born on 25 November 1876 in San Anton Palace in Attard, Malta, hence her second name, Melita. Her father, who was stationed on the island as an officer in the Royal Navy, was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria. Her mother was Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse.

As a patrilineal grandchild of the British monarch, Victoria Melita was styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Edinburgh. Within her family, she was always known as "Ducky". At the time of her birth, she was 10th in the line of succession to the British throne. The princess was christened on 1 January 1877 at San Anton Palace by a Royal Navy chaplain. Her godparents included her paternal grandmother, who was represented by a proxy.

After the Duke's service in Malta was over, the family returned to England, where they lived for the next few years. They divided their time between Eastwell Park, their country home in Kent, and Clarence House, their residence in London facing Buckingham Palace. Eastwell, a large estate of 2,500 acres near Ashford, with its forest and park was the children's favorite residence. In January 1886, shortly after Princess Victoria turned nine, the family left England when her father was appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean naval squadron, based on Malta. For the next three years, the family lived at the San Anton Palace in Malta, Victoria's birthplace.

The marriage of Victoria's parents was unhappy. The Duke was taciturn, unfaithful, prone to drinking and emotionally detached from his family. Victoria's mother was independent-minded and cultured. Although she was unsentimental and strict, the Duchess was a devoted mother and the most important person in her children's lives. As a child, Victoria had a difficult temperament. She was shy, serious and sensitive. In the judgment of her sister Marie: "This passionate child was often misunderstood." Princess Victoria Melita was talented at drawing and painting and learned to play the piano. She was particularly close to Marie. The two sisters would remain very close throughout their lives. They contrasted in appearance and personality. Victoria was dark and moody while Marie was blonde and easy-going. Although she was one year younger, Victoria was taller and seemed to be the older of the two.

Youth in Coburg
As a son of Queen Victoria's deceased husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria Melita's father was in the line of succession to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the sovereign German duchy ruled by Albert's elder brother, Ernest II, until his death in 1893. Prince Alfred became heir presumptive to the duchy when his older brother, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), relinquished his Saxon succession rights in favour of his younger brothers. Alfred and his family therefore moved to Coburg in 1889. Their mother immediately began attempting to "Germanise" her daughters by installing a new governess, buying them plain clothing, and having them confirmed in the German Lutheran church, even though they had previously been raised as Anglicans. The children rebelled and some of the new restrictions were eased.

The teenage Victoria was a "tall, dark girl, with violet eyes ... with the assuredness of an Empress and the high spirits of a tomboy," according to one observer. Victoria had "too little chin to be conventionally beautiful," in the opinion of one of her biographers, but "she had a good figure, deep blue eyes, and dark complexion." In 1891, Victoria travelled with her mother to the funeral of her maternal aunt Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia. There Victoria met her first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich. Although the two were deeply attracted to each other, Victoria's mother was reluctant to allow her to marry him because the Russian Orthodox faith forbids the marriage of first cousins. She was also suspicious of the morality of the Romanov men. When her teenage daughters were impressed by their handsome cousins, their mother warned them that the Russian grand dukes did not make good husbands.

Soon after her sister Marie was married to Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania, a search was made for a suitable husband for Victoria. Her visit to her grandmother Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle in the autumn of 1891 coincided with a visit by her cousin Prince Ernest Louis of Hesse, heir apparent to the grand ducal throne of Hesse and by Rhine. Both were artistic and fun loving, got along well and even shared a birthday. The Queen, observing this, was very keen for her two grandchildren to marry.

Grand Duchess of Hesse
Eventually, Victoria and Ernest bowed to their families' pressure and married on 19 April 1894 at Schloss Ehrenburg in Coburg. The wedding was a large affair, with most of the royal families of Europe attending, including Victoria Melita's grandmother Queen Victoria, her aunt Empress Frederick of Germany, her cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II and her uncle Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Victoria became Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, Ernest having ascended the throne in 1892. Her wedding is also significant since at the same time the official engagement of the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to Ernst's younger sister, Alix, was proclaimed. Together Victoria and Ernst had two children, a daughter, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, who they nicknamed Ella, born on 11 March 1895, and a stillborn son, born on 25 May 1900.

Victoria and Ernest proved incompatible. Victoria despaired of her husband's lack of affection towards her, while Ernest devoted much of his attention to their daughter, who he adored. Elisabeth, who physically resembled her mother, preferred the company of her father to Victoria. Ernest and Victoria both enjoyed entertaining and frequently held house parties for young friends. Their unwritten rule was that anyone over thirty "was old and out." Formality was dispensed with and royal house guests were referred to by their nicknames and encouraged to do as they wished. Victoria and Ernest cultivated friends who were progressive artists and intellectuals as well as those who enjoyed fun and frolic. Victoria's cousin Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark remembered one stay there as "the jolliest, merriest house party to which I have ever been in my life."

Victoria was, however, less enthusiastic about fulfilling her public role. She avoided answering letters, put off visits to elderly relations whose company she did not enjoy, and talked to people who amused her at official functions while ignoring people of higher standing who she found boring. Victoria's inattention to her duties provoked quarrels with Ernest. The young couple had loud, physical fights. The volatile Victoria shouted, threw tea trays, smashed china against the wall, and tossed anything that was handy at Ernest during their arguments. Victoria sought relief in her love for horses and long gallops over the countryside on a hard-to-control stallion named Bogdan. While she was in Russia for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, Victoria's affection for Kirill was also rekindled. She enjoyed flirting with him at the balls and celebrations that marked the coronation.

Divorce

Victoria and Ernest's marriage suffered a further blow in 1897, when Victoria returned home from a visit to her sister Queen Marie of Romania and reportedly caught Ernest in bed with a male servant. She did not make her accusation public, but told a niece that "no boy was safe, from the stable hands to the kitchen help. He slept quite openly with them all." Queen Victoria was saddened when she heard of trouble in the marriage from Sir George Buchanan, her chargé d'affaires, but refused to consent to her grandchildren's divorce because of their daughter, Elisabeth. Efforts to rekindle the marriage failed and, when Queen Victoria died in January 1901, significant opposition to the end of the marriage was removed.

Ernest, who had at first resisted the divorce, came to believe it was the only possible step. "Now that I am calmer I see the absolute impossibility of going on leading a life which was killing her and driving me nearly mad," Ernest wrote to his elder sister Princess Louis of Battenberg. "For to keep up your spirits and a laughing face while ruin is staring you in the eyes and misery is tearing your heart to pieces is a struggle which is fruitless. I only tried for her sake. If I had not loved her so, I would have given it up long ago." Princess Louis later wrote that she was less surprised by the divorce than Ernest was. "Though both had done their best to make a success of their marriage, it had been a failure ... [T]heir characters and temperaments were quite unsuited to each other and I had noticed how they were gradually drifting apart." The divorce caused scandal in the royal circles of Europe. Tsar Nicholas wrote to his mother that even death would have been better than "the general disgrace of a divorce."

After her divorce, Victoria went to live with her mother at Coburg and at her house in the French Riviera. She and Ernest shared custody of Elisabeth, who spent six months of each year with each parent. Elisabeth blamed Victoria for the divorce and Victoria had a difficult time reconnecting with her daughter. Ernest wrote in his memoirs that Elisabeth hid under a sofa, crying, before one visit to her mother. The Grand Duke assured the child that her mother loved her too. Elisabeth responded, "Mama says she loves me, but you do love me." Ernest remained silent and did not correct Elisabeth's impression.

Elisabeth died at age eight and a half of typhoid fever during a November 1903 visit to Tsar Nicholas II and his family at their Polish hunting lodge. The doctor advised the Tsar's family to notify the child's mother of her illness, but it is rumored that the Tsarina delayed in sending a telegram. Victoria received the final telegram notifying her of the child's death just as she was preparing to travel to Poland to be at her bedside. At Elisabeth's funeral, Victoria removed her Hessian Order, a medallion, and placed it on her daughter's coffin as a final gesture "that she had made a final break with her old home."

Remarriage
After Victoria's divorce from Ernest, Grand Duke Kirill, whom she had seen on all her subsequent visits to Russia, was discouraged by his parents from trying to keep a close relationship with her. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna told Kirill to keep Victoria as his mistress and marry someone else.

A few months later, war broke out between Russia and Japan. As a senior member of the navy, Kirill was sent on active service to the front in the Russo-Japanese War. His ship was blown up by a Japanese mine while entering Port Arthur and he was one of the few survivors. Sent home to recover, the Tsar finally allowed him permission to leave Russia and he left for Coburg to be with Victoria. The narrow escape from death had hardened Kirill's determination to marry Victoria. "To those over whom the shadow of death has passed, life has a new meaning," Kirill wrote in his memoirs. "It is like daylight. And I was now within visible reach of fulfillment of the dream of my life. Nothing would cheat me of it now. I had gone through much. Now, at last, the future lay radiant before me."

The couple married on 8 October 1905 in Tegernsee. It was a simple ceremony, with Victoria's mother, her sister Beatrice, and a friend, Count Adlerburg, in attendance, along with servants. The couple's uncle Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia was invited, without being told the reason, but did not arrive until after the ceremony. Tsar Nicholas II responded to the marriage by stripping Kirill of his imperial allowance and expelling him from the Russian navy. The Tsarina was outraged at her former sister-in-law and said she would never receive Victoria, "a woman who had behaved so disgracefully", or Kirill. The couple retired to Paris, where they purchased a house off the Champs-Élysées and lived off the income provided by their parents.

Victoria, who had matured as she entered her 30s, decided to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1907, a decision that thrilled both her mother and her husband. Three days later the first of their three children, Maria Kirillovna, was born. She was named after both her grandmothers and nicknamed "Masha". Their second daughter, Kira Kirillovna, was born in Paris in 1909. Victoria and Kirill, who had hoped for a son, were disappointed to have a girl, but named their daughter after her father.

Grand Duchess of Russia
Nicholas II reinstated Kirill after deaths in the Russian imperial family promoted Kirill to third in the line of succession to the Russian throne. Kirill and Victoria were allowed in Russia, Victoria was granted the title of Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, and in May 1910 the couple arrived in St Petersburg. The new grand duchess enjoyed entertaining at evening dinners and lavish balls attended by the cream of Saint Petersburg society. Victoria had an artistic talent that she applied to home decoration in her several elaborate residences, which she arranged attractively. She decorated, gardened, and rode, and also enjoyed painting, particularly watercolors.

Victoria fit in within the Russian aristocracy and the circle of her mother-in-law Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. As French was frequently spoken in high circles, Victoria never completely mastered the Russian language. Although she was a first cousin of both Nicholas II, on her mother's side, and to Empress Alexandra, on her father's side, the relationship with them was neither close nor warm. As Kirill became a keen auto racer, the couple often took trips by car; a favorite pastime was traveling through the Baltic provinces. Victoria dreaded the long Russian winter with its short days, and she traveled abroad, frequently visiting her sister Marie in Romania and her mother in the south of France or in Coburg. Victoria and her husband had a close relationship with their daughters, Maria and Kira. The family was spending the summer of 1914 on their yacht in the Gulf of Finland. The family arrived in Tartu on 24 July for the third Victoria Prize motor race which finished in Riga when the war broke out. Kirill was the Honorary President of the Baltic Automobile and Aero Club and participated in the race along with Baltic and German nobility.

War
During World War I, Victoria worked as a Red Cross nurse and organized a motorized ambulance unit that was known for its efficiency. Victoria frequently visited the front near Warsaw and she occasionally carried out her duties under enemy fire. Kirill, for his part, was also in Poland, assigned to the naval department of Admiral Russin, member of the staff of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, commander in chief of the Russian army. Kirill and Victoria had always shared their relatives' distaste for the Tsar and Tsarina's friendship with the starets Grigori Rasputin. The Tsarina believed Rasputin healed her son of his hemophiliac attacks with his prayers. Victoria told her sister, Queen Marie of Romania, that the Tsar's court was "looked upon as a sick man refusing every doctor and every help."

When Rasputin was murdered in December 1916, Victoria and Kirill signed a letter along with other relatives asking the Tsar to show leniency to Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, one of those implicated in the murder. The Tsar denied their request. Twice during the war Victoria visited Romania, where her sister Marie was now queen, volunteering aid for war victims. Victoria returned to Saint Petersburg in February 1917. Kirill had been appointed commander of the Naval Guards, quartered in Saint Petersburg, so he could be with his family for some time. Although publicly loyal to the Tsar, Victoria and Kirill began to meet in private with other relatives to discuss the best way to save the monarchy.

Revolution
At the end of the "February Revolution" of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and political turmoil followed. Victoria wrote to Queen Marie of Romania in February 1917 that their home was surrounded by a mob, "yet heart and soul we are with this movement of freedom which at the time probably signs our own death warrant ... We personally are losing all, our lives changed at one blow and yet we are almost leading the movement." By March 1917, the revolution had spread all over Petrograd (Saint Petersburg).

Kirill led his naval unit to the Provisional Government on 14 March 1917, which was obliged to share headquarters with the new Petrograd Soviet, and swore loyalty to its leadership, hoping to restore order and preserve the monarchy. It was an action which later provoked criticism from some members of the family, who viewed it as treason. Victoria supported her husband and felt he was doing the right thing. She also sympathized with the people who wanted to reform the government. Kirill was forced to resign his command of the Naval Guards, but nevertheless his men remained faithful and they continued to guard Kirill and Victoria's palace on Glinka Street. Close to despair, Victoria wrote to her sister Marie of Romania that they had "neither pride nor hope, nor money, nor future, and the dear past blotted out by the frightful present; nothing is left, nothing."

Anxious for their safety, Kirill and Victoria decided that the best thing to do was to leave Russia. They chose Finland as the best possible place to go. Although a territory of the Russian Empire, Finland possessed its own government and constitution, so in a way it would be like being in Russia and not being at the same time. They had already been once invited to Haikko, a beautiful estate, near Porvoo, a small town on the south coast of Finland, not far away from Helsinki. The Provisional Government permitted them to leave, though they were not allowed to take anything of value with them. They sewed jewels into the family's clothing, hoping they would not be discovered by the authorities.

Exile
After two weeks in Haikko, the family moved to a rented house in Porvoo where, in August 1917, Victoria gave birth to Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, her only son and the heir to the dynasty. The family remained in Finland, a former grand duchy under Russian rule, which had declared its independence in December 1917. They hoped that the White Russians would prevail. They gradually ran out of supplies and had to beg for help from family. In July 1918, Victoria wrote to her first cousin, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, begging her to send baby food so she could feed Vladimir. She was alienated from England because she felt her English relatives had not done enough to help the Romanovs.

Victoria pleaded with her cousin King George V to help the White Russians retake the country. In a letter to the King, Lord Acton, the British minister in Helsinki, noted the toll the revolution had taken on Victoria. She "looked aged and battered and has lost much of her beauty, which is not astonishing considering all that she has gone through."

After more than two years living under strained conditions, in the autumn of 1919 Victoria and Kirill left Finland and went to Germany. In Munich they were reunited with Victoria's mother and the family group moved to Zürich in September 1919. With the death of Victoria's mother, she inherited her villa, Chateau Fabron in Nice and her residence in Coburg, the Edinburg Palais. In the following years the exiled family divided their time between these two places.

While in Germany, Victoria showed an interest in the Nazi Party, which appealed to her because of its anti-Bolshevik stance and her hope that the movement might help restore the Russian monarchy. She attended a Nazi rally in Coburg in 1922. She was likely unaware of the most sinister aspects of the Nazi Party.

Claims to the Russian throne
Kirill suffered a nervous breakdown in 1923 and Victoria nursed him back to health. She encouraged his dreams of restoring the monarchy in Russia and becoming tsar. At Saint-Briac Kirill, aware of the murders of Tsar Nicholas II and his only son, officially declared himself the Guardian of the Throne in 1924. Victoria went on a trip to the United States in 1924, hoping to raise American support for restoration of the monarchy. Her efforts evoked little response, due to the isolationism prevalent in the United States during the 1920s. She continued in her efforts to help Kirill restore the monarchy and also sold her artwork to raise money for the household.

By the mid-1920s, Victoria worried over the prospects of her children. Maria, her eldest daughter, married the head of one of Germany's mediatized families, Karl, Hereditary Prince of Leiningen on 25 November 1925, Victoria's 49th birthday. Victoria was at her daughter's bedside when she gave birth to her first child, Emich Kirill, in 1926 (later father of claimant to the Russian throne, Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen).

In the mid-1920s, the German government established relations with Moscow and the presence of Kirill and his wife, pretenders to the Russian throne, became an embarrassment. Although the Bavarian government rejected pressures to expel the Russian claimant, Kirill and Victoria decided to establish their permanent residence in France. In the summer of 1926 they moved to Saint-Briac on the Breton coast, where they had spent their summer vacations. The remoteness of Brittany provided both privacy and security. They bought a large house on the outskirts of the town and gave it a Breton name, Ker Argonid, Villa Victoria. The resort town of Saint-Briac was a favorite spot for retired British citizens who wanted to live well on a limited income. Victoria made friends among the Britons as well as the French and other foreign residents of the town. Though at first her manner could seem haughty, residents soon discovered that Victoria was more approachable than her husband. Their friends treated them with deference, curtsying or calling them by their imperial titles. They lived a secluded country life, finding it more agreeable than at Coburg.

Victoria was exceedingly protective of her son Vladimir, upon whom her hopes for the future rested. She would not let him attend school because she was worried about his safety and because she wanted him to be brought up as Romanov grand dukes were prior to the revolution. Instead, she hired a tutor for him. She also refused to let him be educated for a future career. In return for her devotion, Vladimir loved and respected his mother. "We adored our parents and their love for us was infinite," Vladimir wrote after their deaths. "All the hardships and bitterness we had to endure in the years were fully covered by our mutual love. We were proud of (them)."

Last years
In Saint-Briac, during the summer, Kirill played golf and he and Victoria joined in picnics and excursions. They were part of the social life of the community, going out to play bridge and organizing theatricals. During the winter Victoria and her husband enjoyed visiting nearby Dinard and invited friends home for parties and games. However, it was rumored in town that Kirill went to Paris "for the occasional fling". Victoria, who had devoted her life to Kirill, was devastated when she discovered in 1933 that her husband had been unfaithful to her, according to correspondence of her sister Marie of Romania. She kept up a façade for the sake of her children, including her teenage son Vladimir, but was unable to forgive Kirill's betrayal. Victoria suffered a stroke soon after attending the christening of her fifth grandchild, Mechtilde of Leiningen, in February 1936. Family and friends arrived, but nothing could be done. When her closest sister reached her bedside Victoria was asked if she was glad Marie had come, to which Victoria haltingly replied, "It makes all the difference." However, she "shuddered away from Kirill's touch," wrote Marie. She died on 2 March 1936. Queen Marie eulogized her sister in a letter after her death: "The whole thing was tragic beyond imagination, a tragic end to a tragic life. She carried tragedy within her – she had tragic eyes – always – even as a little girl – but we loved her enormously, there was something mighty about her – she was our Conscience."

Victoria was buried in the ducal family mausoleum at  in Coburg, until her remains were transferred to the Grand Ducal Mausoleum of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg on 7 March 1995. Her husband was intensely lonely after her death. The marriage of their daughter, Kira, to Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, in 1938 was a bright spot for Kirill, who saw it as the joining of two dynasties. However, Kirill died just two years after his wife. Kirill, though he had been unfaithful, still loved and missed the wife he had depended so much upon and passed his remaining years writing memoirs of their life together. "There are few who in one person combine all that is best in soul, mind, and body," he wrote. "She had it all, and more. Few there are who are fortunate in having such a woman as the partner of their lives – I was one of those privileged."

Archives
Victoria Melita's letters to her sister Alexandra are preserved in the Hohenlohe Central Archive (Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv Neuenstein) in Neuenstein Castle in the town of Neuenstein, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Honours

 * CI: Companion of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, 11 December 1893
 * VA: Dame of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, 1st Class
 * GCStJ: Dame Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
 * RRC: Member of the Royal Red Cross
 * : Dame of the Order of Louise, 1st Division
 * Ernestine duchies: Dame of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order
 * Dame of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of the Golden Lion, in Brilliants, 19 April 1894
 * Dame Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Ludwig, in Brilliants, 25 November 1898
 * Medal of the Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous
 * : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania
 * Dame Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine, November 1894
 * Decoration of the Military Order of Saint George
 * : Dame of the Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa, 31 October 1913
 * Dame Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine, November 1894
 * Decoration of the Military Order of Saint George
 * : Dame of the Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa, 31 October 1913

British arms
As a male-line grandchild of the British monarch, Victoria Melita bore the royal arms, with an inescutcheon for Saxony, the whole differenced by a label of five points argent, the outer pair bearing hearts gules, the inner pair anchors azure, and the central point a cross gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant. Her arms from that point on are duplicated in the arms of Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy.


text: Category:Military of Libya

title: Category:Military of Libya


text:
Matucana

Matucana is a genus of cacti (family Cactaceae), containing approximately 20 species of mostly globular plants. The genus is known only from Peru, mostly along the Marañón River.

Some species are endangered due to collection for the specialist market.

Description
Plants within this genus may be identified by the distinctive structure of their fruits, which are marked by vertical splits that release their seeds upon maturity. The overall body shape, spination, offset production, and preferred habitat exhibit considerable variability, mirroring the diverse nature of the flowers within the genus. Species of Matucana have low, globose or shortly cylindrical bodies, either solitary or clustering. The flowers are subapical, usually more or less zygomorphic, diurnal, of various colours, but usually red, yellow or pink. However, a few species, notably M. oreodoxa, have actinomorphic flowers and were placed in a separate genus - Eomatucana - by F. Ritter. They are reported to flower at a young age.

Taxonomy
The first species was discovered near the town of Matucana and described as Echinocactus haynii by Christoph Friedrich Otto in 1849. The genus Matucana was erected by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose in 1922 to differentiate it from the diverse Echinocactus genus.

Species
, the following species were accepted:

Cultivation
All members of the genus cannot tolerate too much moisture so that it is recommended that they be watered only during their growing season and when the substrate is dry. They risk losing their roots if they are not kept warm through the winter. Members of Matucana grow quickly and may be grown from seed.

title: Matucana


text:
Peprilus paru

Peprilus paru, (harvestfish or American harvestfish; syn. Peprilus alepidotus), also occasionally known by a few local names as star butter fish or sometimes even simply as butterfish, is a marine, benthopelagic, circular-shaped and deep-bodied fish classified in the family Stromateidae of butterfishes.

These fish grow usually to about 20 cm in length, and are deep-bodied and circular-shaped, with curved fins, rounded nose and small mouth. Harvestfish are greenish silvery above, silvery sometimes tinged with yellow on its sides and belly and the fins of some individuals are slightly dusky or yellowish. Their habitat is the subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic: Chesapeake Bay and northern Gulf of Mexico in United States to Argentina. Harvestfish are sometimes caught commercially as a food fish.

Description
The harvestfish is deep-bodied, round, and strongly compressed laterally with a forked caudal fin. It has long, curved, sickle-shaped dorsal and anal fins, lacks pelvic fins, a blunt snout, a small mouth, weak teeth, and lack a longitudinal keel. Harvestfish are usually silvery and iridescent, sometimes with a green tint on its dorsal half, with tinged yellow fins. They usually grow to about 18 to 30 cm in length. Harvestfish have 2-5 total dorsal spines, 38-47 total soft dorsal rays, 2-3 anal spines, and 35-45 soft anal rays. The harvestfish also lacks the mucous pores situated below the anterior half of the dorsal fin that are conspicuous in the butterfish.

Diet
Adults are predatory and feed on small fishes, invertebrates such as jellyfish, crustaceans, and worms. Juveniles are plankton feeders.

Habitat
The harvestfish is a pelagic schooling fish found in subtropical waters in coastal bays and inshore waters over the continental shelf at moderate depths. Juveniles can be found in shallow coastal waters or near coastal estuaries. They are known for their habit of swimming under certain species of jellyfishes, where they find shelter and perhaps a food supply of small invertebrates that have become entangled in the tentacles, but they are also subject to fatal stings inflicted by these tentacles.

Distribution
The harvestfish distribution is Western Atlantic, as well as the Northern Gulf of Mexico to Argentina. They can range from Florida to Venezuela, Trinidad, and Antilles. They have been found in the western Caribbean.

title: Peprilus paru


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Negiah

Negiah (נגיעה), literally "touch", is the concept in Jewish law (Halakha) that forbids or restricts sensual physical contact with a member of the opposite sex except for one's spouse, outside the niddah period, and certain close relatives to whom one is presumed not to have sexual attraction. A person who abides by this halakha is colloquially described as a shomer negiah ("one observant of negiah").

The laws of negiah are typically followed by strict Orthodox Jews, with varying levels of observance. Some Orthodox Jews follow the laws with strict modesty and take measures to avoid accidental contact, such as avoiding sitting next to a member of the opposite sex on a bus, train, airplane, or other similar seating situations. Others are more lenient, only avoiding purposeful contact. Adherents of Conservative and Reform Judaism do not follow these laws. Many Jews with Orthodox beliefs believe that there is extensive room for leniency and that strict adherence to these rules stunts development and prevents social success and ultimately undermines well-being. Others understand the rules as clearly referring to sensual touch.

Biblical prohibition and subsequent exegesis
The prohibition of negiah is derived from two verses in Leviticus: "Any man shall not approach (לקרב lekarev) his close relative to uncover nakedness; I am God" (18:6), and: "You shall not approach a woman in her time of unclean separation, to uncover her nakedness" (18:19). The first verse refers to incest, the second to sexual relations with a woman who is in niddah status due to menstruation. Although the verses speak in the masculine gender, women are equally bound by these commandments.

The Sifra notes that these verses prohibit a man to "approach... to uncover nakedness", rather than simply prohibiting the "uncovering of nakedness", implying a separate prohibition of "approaching" even without sexual intercourse. Based on this, some Rishonim view these verses as also prohibiting sexual touch (such as hugging and kissing) which falls short of sexual intercourse, including Maimonides and the Semag, who note the consideration of whether the contact is done derekh [chibah v']taavah (דרך [חבה ו]תאוה) in a[n affectionate or] lustful manner. However Nachmanides considers the prohibition to be a rabbinic law not derived from scripture, and views the derivation from Leviticus 18:6 as an asmachta (a rabbinic prohibition with a biblical allusion) and not true exegesis.

Which individuals does the law apply to?
The same actions are forbidden with a niddah and with a forbidden close relative. During the niddah period, even non-affectionate touch between husband and wife is forbidden; however this is commonly referred to as a harchaka (הרחקה, "distancing") rather than a case of being shomer negiah.

The laws do not prohibit touching certain close relatives to whom one is expected not to have sexual attraction: children, siblings, grandchildren, parents, and grandparents. Opinions differ on whether one may touch an adopted child of the opposite sex: R' Eliezer Waldenberg and R' Hayim David HaLevi permit, while R' Menachem Mendel Schneerson prohibits. Other authorities offer limited or conditional permission.

Which touch is forbidden?
Maimonides and the Shulchan Aruch formulate this prohibition as "hugging, kissing, or enjoying close physical contact". They do not indicate that mere touching is forbidden.

Jonah of Gerona wrote that "any closeness of flesh is forbidden, for example touching [negiah] the hands of a married woman".

Regarding the question of whether all affectionate contact is forbidden, or only lustful sexual contact, R' Aharon Lichtenstein ruled that even non-sexual affectionate contact is forbidden. However, R' Yehudah Henkin ruled that only sexual contact is forbidden, at least according to Biblical law.

Incidental, unintended touch is permitted, for example when riding a crowded bus or train.

According to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, there are two separate laws underlying the concept of negiah. The first law is the prohibition against close contact with forbidden women. Because females above the age of 11 are presumed to have begun menstruation, the negiah prohibition extends to all females above that age. The second law, called hirhur, prohibits causing oneself to have inappropriate sexual thoughts. Feinstein prohibits such acts as hugging, kissing, and holding hands. With regard to shaking hands, see below.

Like most laws, these prohibitions are waived to save a person who is in life-threatening danger, e.g. for a man to save a woman from drowning. In such cases, the prohibitions are waived even if the male rescuer is certain that he will experience improper thoughts (hirhur). Furthermore, medical practitioners and other professionals such as hairdressers may touch members of the opposite sex in the course of their professional practice.

Shaking hands
Whether halacha permits a man to shake a woman's hand (or vice versa) is a matter of dispute. Opinions range from saying that it is prohibited for a man to return a woman's handshake even if doing so would embarrass him or her, to saying that returning a handshake is permissible to avoid embarrassment but not otherwise, to saying that handshaking is entirely permissible.

Some authorities prohibit returning a handshake, even to avoid embarrassing the other person. These include the Chazon Ish, Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, Moshe Stern, Yitzchak Abadi, Sefer Hasidim (who prohibits even when wearing gloves), and Yosef Hayyim.

Rabbi Feinstein gives the benefit of the doubt to those who return a handshake, stating that they apparently hold that doing so is not derekh khiba v'taavah (דרך חבה ותאוה), but concludes that such leniency is difficult to rely upon. Although Feinstein did not address the mitigating factor of preventing the other person from being embarrassed, and fell short of stating outright that returning a handshake is forbidden, it is commonly assumed that R' Moshe prohibits returning a handshake even to avoid embarrassing the other person. One publication states this in very strong terms. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky has also suggested that there may be room to be lenient in this situation.

J. Simcha Cohen has been quoted as giving a novel basis for permitting handshaking, based on the Yerushalmi and the ruling of Maimonides. Likewise, Yehuda Henkin holds that it is permissible to shake a woman's hand according to "the basic halacha" (the Rambam and Shulchan Aruch), and that those who feel otherwise are stringent. Hershel Schachter quotes Chaim Berlin as saying that shaking hands with women is strictly speaking (me'ikar haddin) permitted, particularly if to do otherwise would make the Torah look bad, and indicates that he agrees with this position.

According to Fuchs, only German Rabbis have traditionally permitted returning a handshake; and a man who is stringent about shaking hands may be lenient and shake hands with his sister (and vice versa), since we find other leniencies concerning brother and sister. The Career Development Center at Yeshiva University, a Modern Orthodox institution, informs its students that "Shaking hands is a customary part of the interview process. Halacha permits non-affectionate contact between men and women when necessary. A quick handshake can be assumed to be business protocol. Since failure to shake hands will most likely have a strong negative effect on the outcome, it is necessary non-affectionate contact, which is permissible."

However, nonetheless, it has been said in the name of prominent Yeshiva University rabbis that one should not engage fully in a handshake, but rather, one should not hold a tight grip. His hand should be "helpless" and as if the other person is initiating and completing the full action, with his hand being the innocent bystander. Acting as such prevents embarrassment and or loss of a business deal, while at the same time allows one to stay in the framework of halacha (Jewish Law).

Shaking hands and relations with non-practitioners
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson wrote that remaining firm in one's convictions when it comes to shaking hands with a woman can engender the respect of the other party.

In contrast, some people view refusal to shake hands with members of the opposite sex as offensive or discourteous, or even sexist. The case of a woman whose offer of a handshake was politely declined by her real estate agent is discussed by the New York Times' "Ethicist" Randy Cohen. Orthodox rabbi and law professor Michael Broyde opined that in the case discussed by Cohen, the values of gender equality and of religious freedom are in conflict.

However, others argue that the "intent [of the practice is] to elevate and sanctify the relationship between men and women, which is all too often trivialized." They further state that, rather than showing a lack of respect for the opposite gender, the laws of negiah recognize the inherent sexual attraction between the sexes and the need to avoid viewing members of the opposite gender as objects of sexual desire, except in the marital context. Moreover, the practice is not discriminatory because "strictly observant Jewish women also do not touch men, so the prohibition clearly does not confer 'untouchable' status on one sex or another. Rather it proscribes physical contact between the sexes equally." Cohen, on the other hand, likens this argument to the "separate but equal" status rejected in school desegregation cases.

Other meanings of negiah
In Jewish civil law, Negiah refers to the halakhic concept of having a vested interest in a dispute.

In popular culture

 * In the 2019 short film The Shabbos Goy, Hannah Levy approaches a man who extends his hand for a handshake. She declines by offering her scarf for him to shake instead.
 * In the 2017 American teen comedy film F the Prom, two of the students at the lunch table find out the other is Jewish. The female student stretches her hand out towards the male student (Brendan Calton playing Strings / Efraim), who exclaims that he is shomer negiah and cannot touch a woman unless she is his wife.

title: Negiah


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Manor Court House, West Derby

Manor Court House, West Derby, Liverpool, England. The present building is the result of a rebuilding in 1662 of the courthouse previously rebuilt in 1586 by Queen Elizabeth I. There has been a courthouse in West Derby for over 1,000 years since the Wapentake court of the Vikings.

It is constructed of sandstone as a single storey building with a stone tiled roof, and has one window and a studded door. The interior has the Steward's bench and Jury benches surrounding a table. The Steward was traditionally a member of the Molyneux family of nearby Croxteth Hall. The court dealt with minor offences such as drunkenness, vagrancy or failing to control animals and could only issue fines; failure to pay the fine could lead to time in the adjacent stocks, now relocated across the road.

It is jointly maintained by Liverpool City Council and the West Derby Society and open to the public on Sunday afternoons between April and October. It is a Grade II* listed building.

title: Manor Court House, West Derby


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Talk:Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Lardé

For a March 2005 deletion debate over this page see Votes for deletion/Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Lardé

Wherefore this article? It says nothing that isn't already on the John Nash page. I know it's a stub, but did she do anything in her own right to merit an article? 163.1.159.21 23:01, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Lardé


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Hierarchical proportion

Hierarchical proportion is a technique used in art, mostly in sculpture and painting, in which the artist uses unnatural proportion or scale to depict the relative importance of the figures in the artwork.

For example, in Egyptian times, people of higher status would sometimes be drawn or sculpted larger than those of lower status.

During the Dark Ages, people with more status had larger proportions than serfs. During the Renaissance images of the human body began to change, as proportion was used to depict the reality an artist interpreted.

title: Hierarchical proportion


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Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia

Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia (Владимир Кириллович Романов; 30 August 1917 – 21 April 1992) was the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia, a position which he claimed from 1938 to his death.

Early life
Vladimir was born Prince Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia at Porvoo in the Grand Duchy of Finland, the only son of Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich and Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna (née Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). Vladimir's paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (née Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin). His maternal grandparents were Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia.

Vladimir's family had fled to Finland after the Russian Revolution of 1917. His family left Finland in 1920, moving to Coburg, Germany. On 8 August 1922 Vladimir's father declared himself Curator of the Russian throne. Two years later on 31 August 1924 his father went a step further and assumed the title Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias. With his father's assumption of the Imperial title Vladimir was granted the title of Tsesarevich (heir apparent) and Grand Duke with the style of Imperial Highness. In 1930 his family left Germany for Saint-Briac, France where his father set up his court.

In the 1930s Vladimir lived for a period in England studying at the University of London and working at the Blackstone agricultural equipment factory in Lincolnshire. He later returned to France moving to Brittany where he became a landowner.

Russian heir and World War II
On the death of his father on 12 October 1938, Vladimir assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia. In 1938 there were suggestions that he would be made regent of Ukraine but he rebuffed the idea, saying he would not help dissolve Russia.

During World War II, Vladimir was living in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer in Brittany. On June 26, 1941, he issued this statement: "In this grave hour, when Germany and almost all the nations of Europe have declared a crusade against Communism and Bolshevism, which has enslaved and oppressed the people of Russia for twenty-four years, I turn to all the faithful and loyal sons of our Homeland with this appeal: Do what you can, to the best of your ability, to bring down the Bolshevik regime and to liberate our Homeland from the terrible yoke of Communism." In 1942, Vladimir and his entourage were placed in an internment camp at Compiègne after he refused to issue a manifesto calling on Russian émigrés to support Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union.

In 1944 the German army moved the family inland out of fear of an invasion from the coast. The Germans were taking them to Paris when an order to drive to Vittel was given. Even Vittel proved to be unsafe, so they were moved to Germany. Vladimir lived in a castle belonging to the husband of his elder sister Maria Kirillovna in Amorbach, Bavaria until 1945. After Germany's defeat, Vladimir's fear of being captured by the Soviets prompted relocation to Austria and next to the border of Liechtenstein. He tried to move with General Boris Smyslovsky's army and cross the border, but neither Liechtenstein nor Switzerland would issue him an exit visa, so he stayed in Austria where he lived in the American occupation zone.

Vladimir's maternal aunt, Infanta Beatrice of Orléans-Borbon, secured for him a Spanish visa. He subsequently lived with her in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Post war and marriage
After the war he spent most of his time in Madrid, with frequent stays at his property in Brittany, as well as in Paris.

Vladimir married Princess Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Moukhransky on 13 August 1948 in Lausanne. Pre-revolutionary Romanov house law dictated that only those born of an "equal marriage" between a Romanov dynast and a member of a "royal or sovereign house", were included in the Imperial line of succession to the Russian throne; children of morganatic marriages were ineligible to inherit the throne or dynastic status. The family to which Princess Leonida belonged, the Bagrationi dynasty, had been kings in Georgia from the medieval era until the early 19th century, but no male line ancestor of hers had reigned as a king in Georgia since 1505 and her branch of the Bagrations, the House of Mukhrani, had been naturalised among the non-ruling nobility of Russia after Georgia was annexed to the Russian empire in 1801. Yet the royal status of the House of Bagration had been recognized by Russia in the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk and was confirmed by Vladimir Kirillovich on 5 December 1946 as claimed head of the Russian imperial house. However the last ruling emperor of Imperial Russia Nicholas II had deemed marriage in this family of Princess Tatiana Constantinova in 1911, as morganatic. Some controversy therefore arises as to whether Vladimir's marriage to Leonida was equal or morganatic, and whether his claim to the Imperial throne validly passed to his daughter Maria, to some other dynast, or to no one upon his death.

Following Vladimir's public designation of his daughter as "curatrix of the throne", in anticipation that she would eventually succeed him as head of the dynasty in exile, the heads of three of the other branches of the imperial family—the Princes Vsevolod Ioannovich (Konstantinovichi), Roman Petrovich (Nikolaevichi) and Andrei Alexandrovich (Mihailovichi) -- wrote to Vladimir in 1969, asserting that the dynastic status of his daughter was no different from that of their own children (Vsevolod Ioannovich was childless, but Roman Petrovich had two sons by Countess Prascovia Sheremetyev, while Andrei Alexandrovich had two sons by Donna Elisabeth Ruffo of a Russian branch of the Princes di San Sant' Antimo) and that his wife was of no higher status than the wives of the other Romanov princes.

In 1952 he called on the Western powers to wage war against the Soviet Union. On 23 December 1969 Vladimir issued a controversial decree whereby in the event he predeceased the living male Romanovs that he recognised as dynasts then his daughter Maria would become the "Curatrix of the Imperial Throne". This has been viewed as an attempt by Vladimir to ensure the succession remained in his branch of the imperial family, while the heads of the other branches declared that Vladimir's actions were illegal.

Vladimir was able to visit Russia in November 1991 when he was invited to visit St Petersburg by its Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.

Death and succession dispute
Grand Duke Vladimir died while addressing a gathering of Spanish-speaking bankers and investors in Northern Trust Bank Miami in the United States on 21 April 1992. His body was returned to Russia and he was buried with full pomp and splendour in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, the first Romanov to be honoured in this way since before the revolution. The press noted that the funeral "was regarded by civic and Russian authorities as an obligation to the Romanov family rather than a step toward restoration of the monarchy." As he was only a great-grandson of a recognized Russian emperor, his claimed title of "Grand Duke of Russia" caused problems as to what to put on his tombstone.

After his death, his daughter Maria Vladimirovna assumed the headship of the Imperial Family of Russia according to his branch's interpretation of the Russian house laws. This was disputed by Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia who had been chosen president of the self-styled "Romanov Family Association" prior to the death of Grand Duke Vladimir.

Honours

 * Prussian Imperial and Royal Family: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle


text: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2005 February 27


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Rebecca Kavaler

Rebecca Kavaler (July 26, 1920 – April 14, 2008), short story writer and novelist, was born in the U.S. state of Georgia. She resided in New York City for more than two decades. During that time, her short fiction won various awards, including two National Endowment of the Arts fellowships. She won the Associated Writing Programs award in 1978 and had stories in Best of Nimrod, and Best American Short Stories.

Her short fiction is collected in The Further Adventures of Brunhild, Tigers in the Wood, and Next of Kin. Doubting Castle, originally published by Shocken Books and now available from Hamilton Stone Editions, was her first venture into full-length fiction. Her first collection of poetry, The Animal Within, was published a month before her death.

title: Rebecca Kavaler