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Leon Garfield

Leon Garfield FRSL (14 July 1921 – 2 June 1996) was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. He wrote more than thirty books and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television.

Life
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932–1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who became his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She also greatly influenced Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions, including the original idea for Smith.

After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time.

In 1964 the Garfields adopted a baby girl whom they called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.

Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers, but an editor at Constable & Co. saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded Garfield to adapt it for younger readers. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several of his later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of travelling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another is Smith (1967), in which the eponymous hero, a young pickpocket, is accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another is Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.

In 1970 Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, co-authored with Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for the best British children's book. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975), republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) is a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of the tale of Romulus and Remus, using the baby sister of one of the boys. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult-themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the death in 1870 of Dickens, an author who had a major influence on Garfield's own style.

Garfield was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.

Themes, influences, style
Garfield's novels for children all have historical settings. The early novels are mostly set in the late eighteenth century, but from John Diamond on they tend to be set in the nineteenth century. They are not novels about major historical events, which are rarely depicted, or social conditions, which provide only starting points for the personal stories of the characters. In the few novels in which Garfield handles actual events he writes of them from the limited and subjective viewpoints of his characters.

The novels owe much to Charles Dickens and to Robert Louis Stevenson. The latter's Treasure Island clearly provided a model for Jack Holborn, with its shifting alliances of manipulative characters in pursuit of a treasure. Garfield also acknowledged the brothers in Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae as inspiration for the book. Beyond these specific debts, Garfield shares Stevenson's fondness for binding a relatively conservative hero to a more forceful personality outside the bounds of conventional morality. Another recurring plot line, most evident in Smith and The December Rose, in which an outcast is integrated into a supporting household, owes more to Dickens. Garfield also shares with Dickens a preference for urban settings, generally in London.

Garfield's father broke off contact with him when he divorced his Jewish wife. Roni Natov argues that this may have had an influence on Garfield's work, giving particular significance to fathers and father figures.

Film and television
Many of Garfield's books have been adapted for film or television: Devil-in-the-Fog was televised in 1968; Smith in 1970; The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris was made into a 6-part BBC serial in 1979; Black Jack was made into a feature film by Ken Loach in the same year; John Diamond was made into a BBC television series in 1981; Jack Holborn was made into the German Christmas mini-series Jack Holborn by ZDF in 1982; The Ghost Downstairs was televised in 1982; the following year, "The Restless Ghost" was included in the Dramarama:Spooky series; "Mr Corbett's Ghost" was made into a television film with Paul Scofield and John Huston in 1987. In addition Garfield himself wrote the script for the 1986 television serial, The December Rose, afterwards adapting it as a novel, and for Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (1992 and 1994), a well regarded Russian animation of Shakespeare, commissioned by the Welsh Channel Four, S4C; for this he was awarded the 1995 Sam Wanamaker Award.

Awards
Devil-in-the-Fog (1966) won the inaugural Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1967. The newspaper-sponsored Prize is judged by a panel of children's writers and it annually recognises one new British children's novel by an author who has not won it.

The God Beneath the Sea (1970) won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject that has not previously won the prize. From 1967 to 1970 Garfield was also a Commended runner up for the Carnegie Medal three times, for Smith, Black Jack, and Drummer Boy, the latter in competition with his Medal-winning work.

John Diamond (1980) won the annual Whitbread Literary Award, Children's Novel, a year's best award that considers enjoyable reading for a wide audience, as well as literary merit.

Smith won the 1987 Phoenix Award (from the mythical phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes ) from the Children's Literature Association as the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when originally published.

In The Guardian, Francis Spufford named The God Beneath the Sea one of the greatest children's books, calling it "visceral, overpowering, defiantly undomesticated", adding, "Read this as a child, and ever after you understand why Prometheus and Pandora are down there at the roots of the West's imagination."

In the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, Philip Pullman praised Garfield as "someone who put the best of his imagination into everything he wrote", particularly praising The Pleasure Garden.

Selected works

 * Jack Holborn (1964)
 * Devil-in-the-Fog (1966)
 * Smith (1967)
 * Black Jack (1968)
 * ''Mister Corbett's Ghost and Other Stories (1969)
 * The Drummer Boy (1970)
 * The God Beneath the Sea (Longman, 1970) ‡
 * The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1971)
 * The Ghost Downstairs (1972)
 * The Golden Shadow (Longman, 1973) ‡
 * The Sound of Coaches (1974), illus. John Lawrence
 * The Prisoners of September (1975)
 * The Pleasure Garden (1976)
 * The Confidence Man (1978)
 * The Apprentices (1978)
 * Bostock and Harris (1979); US title, The Night of the Comet
 * John Diamond (Kestrel, 1980); US title, Footsteps
 * The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Deutsch, 1980), by Charles Dickens and Garfield
 * Fair's Fair (1981), illus. Margaret Chamberlain, picture book
 * The House of Cards (1982)
 * Shakespeare Stories (1985), illus. Michael Foreman
 * The Wedding Ghost (1985)
 * The December Rose (1986)
 * The Empty Sleeve (1988)
 * Blewcoat Boy (1988)
 * Shakespeare Stories II (1994), illus. Michael Foreman

‡ The God Beneath the Sea (1970) and The Golden Shadow (1973) were written by Garfield and Edward Blishen, illustrated by Charles Keeping, and published by Longman.

title: Leon Garfield


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Gary Kurtz

Gary Douglas Kurtz (July 27, 1940 – September 23, 2018) was an American film producer whose list of credits includes American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Return to Oz (1985). Kurtz also co-produced the 1989 science fiction adventure film Slipstream, which reunited him with Star Wars star Mark Hamill.

Early career
During 1965, Kurtz was an assistant director on a Monte Hellman Western, Ride in the Whirlwind, starring Jack Nicholson for Proteus Films. He then served as production manager on Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet with Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue for American International Pictures. Kurtz additionally worked as an assistant director and second unit director, as well as a camera operator for the second unit, on the musical comedy Beach Ball for Paramount Pictures. In 1966, Kurtz was again production manager on Queen of Blood, with John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, and Dennis Hopper, as well as acting as a sound technician on Blood Bath, both for American International Pictures. Kurtz then worked as an assistant camera operator on another Monte Hellman western, The Shooting, starring Warren Oates and Jack Nicholson, and finally wore multiple hats as production manager, assistant director, and editor on the Harry Dean Stanton-starring The Hostage, both for Crown International Pictures.

Kurtz's film career was interrupted between 1966 and 1969, when he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Raised as a Quaker, Kurtz enlisted as a conscientious objector, refusing to wear a sidearm, and served as a combat cameraman in Vietnam.

Upon leaving the military, Kurtz moved up to the world of studio pictures, acting as the associate producer on the neo-noir Warren Oates-starring Chandler for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer; and Two-Lane Blacktop with Monte Hellman for Universal Pictures, both in 1971.

American Graffiti
Gary Kurtz and George Lucas' first collaboration was on the 1973 film American Graffiti. Lucas and producer Kurtz initially took the script to American International Pictures, which expressed interest but ultimately deemed American Graffiti not violent or sexual enough by the studio's standards. The pair eventually found favor at Universal Pictures, who allowed Lucas total artistic control and the right of final cut privilege on the condition that he and Kurtz make American Graffiti on a strict, low budget.

Universal initially projected a $600,000 budget, but added an additional $175,000 once producer Francis Ford Coppola signed on to co-produce with Kurtz. This would allow the studio to advertise American Graffiti as "From the Man Who Gave You The Godfather." Production proceeded with virtually no input or interference from Universal.

The film was released in the United States on August 1, 1973, to sleeper hit reception. The film cost only $1.27 million to produce and market, but yielded worldwide box office gross revenues of more than $55 million. It had only modest success outside the United States, but became a cult film in France. Universal reissued Graffiti in 1978 and earned an additional $63 million, which brought the total revenue for the two releases to $118 million. At the end of its theatrical run, American Graffiti had one of the best cost-to-profit ratios of any motion picture ever. It was the thirteenth-highest-grossing film of all time in 1977, and, adjusted for inflation, was the forty-third highest as of 2009. By the 1990s, American Graffiti had earned more than $200 million in box office gross and home video sales. In December 1997, Variety reported that the film had earned an additional $55.13 million in rental revenue.

American Graffiti went on to receive widespread critical acclaim. Based on 33 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of the critics enjoyed the film with an average score of 8.3/10. The consensus reads, "One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence."

Kurtz and Coppola were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to The Sting. Further nominations at the 46th Academy Awards included Best Director (George Lucas), Best Original Screenplay (Lucas, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz), Best Supporting Actress (Candy Clark) and Best Film Editing (Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas). Kurtz and Coppola went on to win the Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) at the 31st Golden Globe Awards, while Paul Le Mat won Most Promising Newcomer. Lucas was nominated for Best Director and Richard Dreyfuss was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical. More nominations included Cindy Williams by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Lucas for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing, and Lucas, Huyck and Katz by the Writers Guild of America for Best Original Comedy.

In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."

In 1973, at approximately the same time as he began his collaboration with George Lucas, Kurtz formed his own company, Kinetographics, in San Rafael, California.

Star Wars
Kurtz continued his collaboration with Lucas on Star Wars (later subtitled Episode IV – A New Hope), released in 1977.

When principal photography began on Star Wars on March 22, 1976, in the Tunisian desert for the scenes on the planet Tatooine, the project faced several problems. Lucas fell behind schedule in the first week of shooting due to a rare Tunisian rainstorm, malfunctioning props, and electronic breakdowns. He also clashed with cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, whom Kurtz called "old-school" and "crotchety".

Produced with a budget of $11 million and released on May 25, 1977, the film earned $460 million in the United States and $314 million overseas, surpassing Jaws as the nominal highest-grossing film and remaining that way until being surpassed by E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. When adjusted for inflation, it is the second highest-grossing film in the US and Canada and is the third highest-grossing in the world.

Among the many awards the film received were ten Academy Award nominations, winning six; the nominations including Kurtz himself for Best Picture, and Alec Guinness for Best Supporting Actor. The film is often ranked among the best films of all time.

In 1989, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."

The Empire Strikes Back
Kurtz's final collaboration with Lucas, The Empire Strikes Back, was an expensive and difficult production. Records at Elstree Studios indicate that the movie took 175 shooting days, having been budgeted at 100, which forced Lucas to borrow $10 million to complete the film. Kurtz had to help direct along with David Tomblin, Irvin Kershner, Harley Cokeliss and John Barry (who died of meningitis during production) to bring the film in on even this revised schedule and budget. The actual completion of photography occurred a month after the film's 'wrap party' in late August 1979, which Kurtz and his wife hosted. Kurtz was actively involved from post production through its release in theatres in the US and the UK, but was replaced four weeks before filming wrapped by Howard Kazanjian. On Kurtz's parting of ways with Lucasfilm following the movie's release, Kazanjian took over the producer's reins for Return of the Jedi. Kurtz decided not to produce the latter film as he found its story to be too commercial, as well as redundant of the first film in the trilogy.

The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, becoming the most critically acclaimed chapter in the Star Wars saga and one of the most highly rated films in history. It earned more than $538 million worldwide over the original run and several re-releases, making it highest-grossing film in 1980. When adjusted for inflation, it is the twelfth-highest-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada.

In 2010, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."

Productions post-Lucasfilm
Kurtz claimed that he and George Lucas clashed over how to progress the Star Wars series. Kurtz claimed that after Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Lucas became convinced that audiences no longer cared about the story and were simply there for thrills and entertainment, and began to deviate from the originally planned plotlines for Return of the Jedi, at which point Kurtz quit the series—though opposing sources state that he was fired by Lucas due to his mishandling of The Empire Strikes Back, which went massively overbudget and overschedule. Kurtz also claimed Lucas changed the emphasis from storytelling to prioritizing toy merchandising. In a 2010 interview for the L.A. Times, Kurtz revealed he had become disillusioned with what he saw as the commercially driven direction the franchise was taking, as well as the related changes that Lucas made to the plot of the third movie, which was originally much darker, and supposedly included the death of Han Solo. He stated that:

"I could see where things were headed. The toy business began to drive the empire. It's a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It's natural to make decisions that protect the toy business but that's not the best thing for making quality films."

Kurtz was particularly displeased with Lucas' decisions in Return of the Jedi to resurrect the Death Star and to change the plot outline from one that ended on a "bittersweet and poignant" note to one having a "euphoric ending where everyone was happy".

Kurtz later expressed his dissatisfaction with the 1997 Star Wars Special Editions and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

The Dark Crystal
Kurtz' next production was The Dark Crystal, a 1982 American-British fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. The screenplay was written by David Odell, who had previously worked with Henson as a staff writer on The Muppet Show. The film was shot at Elstree Studios, and exterior scenes were shot in the Scottish Highlands; Gordale Scar, North Yorkshire, England; and Twycross, Leicestershire, England. At the scoring stage, Kurtz had composer Trevor Jones scrap his initial notion of reflecting the settings' oddness by using acoustical instruments, electronics and building structures, in favor of a more sweeping orchestral score so as not to alienate audiences.

The Dark Crystal was released in 858 theaters in North America on December 17, 1982. Initially going up against heavy Christmas competition, including Tootsie and the already massively successful E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial., the film nevertheless presented substantial staying power in its following weeks and into 1983. By the end of its U.S. box office run, it had made $40,577,001 domestically, profiting over its modest $15 million budget. On its international release later in 1983, The Dark Crystal continued to add to its U.S. box office takings, was the highest-grossing box office release for the year in both France and Japan, and managed to out-gross E.T. as the most successful foreign film in Japan until Titanic took over the spot 14 years later. The film has gained a cult following over the years since its release.

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Japanese producer Yutaka Fujioka had approached George Lucas in 1978 to help produce a film of Little Nemo in Slumberland, but Lucas found problems with the storyline, as did American animator Chuck Jones. The project was officially announced in 1982, and Kurtz' company TMS/Kinetographics began to recruit staff. Kurtz was brought onto the production and appointed producer of the American production side, initially hiring Ray Bradbury and later Edward Summer to write screenplays. Japanese animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were briefly involved, but left due to creative differences with Fujioka. Miyazaki later described his involvement on the film as "the worst experience of his professional career." Kurtz himself would likewise step down in the fall of 1984. Many writers and filmmakers followed Kurtz in boarding and leaving the project over the years. Eventually, the film was released in Japan, on July 15, 1989, under the title Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland.

Return to Oz
Kurtz next production was Return to Oz, a 1985 fantasy adventure film based on L. Frank Baum's Oz books, in particular The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. Directed by Walter Murch, an editor and sound designer, development began 1980 during a brainstorming session with Murch and Walt Disney Pictures production chief Tom Wilhite. In the time between the development period and actual shooting, there was a change of leadership at the Walt Disney studios, with Wilhite being replaced by Richard Berger, and the movie's budget increased. Once shooting began, Murch began to fall behind schedule, leading to pressure from the studio, with Murch being fired as director for a short period before later being reinstated. Unfortunately, the film did not draw in an audience in theaters and the film was considered a flop upon release.

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, but lost to Cocoon. Fairuza Balk and Emma Ridley were nominated for Young Artist Awards. The film received three Saturn Award nominations for Best Fantasy Film, Best Younger Actor for Fairuza Balk, and Best Costumes for Raymond Hughes.

Slipstream
Slipstream proved to be a disastrous financial and critical flop. Its failure reportedly drove Kurtz into bankruptcy. Slipstream had a short cinema run in the United Kingdom, where it was considered a flop, and Australia, where the film grossed just $66,836 during its entire theatrical run. The film was never released in theaters in North America and enjoyed only moderate VHS sales. Fans awaiting a director's cut have been disappointed after Kurtz said in an interview that the script was originally much more violent, but that these violent scenes, which would have made the plot more coherent, were never filmed.

As of December 2019, the film has a "no consensus" score on Rotten Tomatoes of 43%.

Awards
Gary Kurtz and the films he has produced have both been nominated for and won a number of awards. Below is a selection of the main "Best Picture" awards and nominations. The pages of individual films contain more detailed breakdowns of cast and crew awards.

Producer
He was producer for all films unless otherwise noted.

Producer
He was producer for all projects unless otherwise noted.

Incomplete projects

 * The Spirit with Will Eisner, Jerry Rees, Brad Bird
 * Teefr with Edward Summer
 * Once... aka The Thief and the Cobbler with Richard Williams
 * A New Atlantis with Edward Summer, Richard Edlund
 * Panzer 88 with Peter Briggs

Personal life
Kurtz was married first to Meredith Alsup and then to Roberta Jiminez. However, both of these marriages ended in divorce. He had two daughters, Tiffany and Melissa, with Alsup and a son, Dylan, with Jiminez. His final marriage was to Clare Gabriel and this endured until his death. Born in Los Angeles, he moved to London, England for the production of Star Wars and elected to permanently remain and raise his family there. He was a Quaker. He was also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He died of cancer in north London on September 23, 2018.

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

title: Gary Kurtz


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Panzertruppenschule II

Panzertruppenschule II (Armoured Troops School No.2) was originally formed as the Kavallerieschule (Cavalry School) at Krampnitz on 1 October 1937. It was renamed the Schule für Schnelle Truppen (School for Mobile Troops) on 26 June 1941.

It was the second of two major schools set up by the German Panzerwaffe in World War II to train German armour officers to operate Panzers.

The Panzertruppenschule was a 'branch school', where officer candidates were sent after 12–16 weeks spent in basic training and having successfully undertaken an 8-week course at a Kriegsschule. Prospective panzer troops, known as Fähnrich undertook a 16-week training course which aimed to familiarise the officer candidates with the nuances and workings of a Panzer, and also with the tactics to be used when commanding panzers in the field. Upon graduation, the recruit was promoted to Oberfähnrich and sent on field probation.

The instructors were chosen because of their skill, and many had seen action and received decorations.

In late 1943, the school was stripped of its experienced instructors, who were used to form the élite Panzer-Lehr-Division.

title: Panzertruppenschule II


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Talk:Latakia

Pronunciation?
Yes, how do we say it in ENGLISH? Which syllable is stressed? 2nd or 3rd?

Untitled
According to Microsoft Word, "refounded" is not a word.

The site, on the Ras Ziyarah peninsula, has been occupied for a long time. The Phoenicians had a city here named Ramitha, and to the Greeks it was Leuke Akte, then it was refounded and named Laodicea by Seleucus I Nicator, after his mother. It became an important port and an exporter of wine produced in the hills behind the city (Strabo 16.2.9). An arch from the time of Septimius Severus has survived.

Rebuild? Founded again? Something else?

[EDIT] - Ahh got it, edited it to re-founded, just needs a hyphen.

Unsourced statement about Alawization by Hafez al Asaad
"Latakia was historically a Sunni city, however the Alawatization process under Hafez al Asaad led to many Alawites moving from the rural hinterland into the city." Sounds like a serious charge/statement against a polital opponent should at least have a good source for that? Presuming the claim is undisputed. 83.84.100.133 (talk) 18:22, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Pronunciation?
Could we have some help here how to pronounce Latakia in English -- the city and the tobacco (if different)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.237.249.175 (talk) 12:57, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Photos
Do we really need two photos of the arch right next to each other? Maybe some of the photos could moved down to a gallery section... AnonMoos 13:58, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

To-do list
--Al Ameer son (talk) 04:43, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ - Expand "Etymology" section.
 * Expand the "Ancient settlement and founding" and "Modern era" sections by just a passage more of info. They're all satisfactory right now, but a little more info would be even more helpful.
 * ✅ - Start a Geography section with info about what Latakia is situated on and its immediate surroundings.
 * Latakia doesn't have an "Old City", but something on the city center, subdivisions, etc. should be mentioned in a subsection.
 * ✅ - Start a Climate subsection with a table, as standard.
 * ✅ - Start a "Sports" subsection.
 * Start a "Museums" subsection.
 * Slightly expand "Economy" section.
 * Find the recent-most population of Latakia. (Lonely Planet says 354,000 in 2008, but this is pretty much the same as the 1994 estimate. We got 402,000 from 2002.)
 * Start a section on the local government.
 * Mention the current mayor of the city.
 * If there is any other cultural aspect of the city worthy of note, it should be mentioned in the article.
 * Create an informative, but concise lead.

Editing questions:
 * Throughout the article, we need to choose whether to use "October War of 1973" or "Yom Kippur War" for the name of the conflict.

--More to be posted later, if found.  Spencer T♦ Nominate! 21:54, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Etymology
The Seleucid dynasty of Macedonian-Greek rulers had four "dynastic" names which they used to name almost all the cities which they founded or re-founded or significantly changed the institutions of: Antiokheia (Antioch), Seleuceia, Laodicea, and Apamea (even Jerusalem was called "Antioch" by some for a time). Not sure there's too much more to say... AnonMoos (talk) 08:01, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Population
I haven't seen any sources list the population in the 500,000s. This book lists a population of 400,000, as does this one. Lonely Planet says 354,000 Which one are we using for the current population? --Al Ameer son (talk) 01:26, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

news
it's under attack going on right now. --Ujaj35 (talk) 15:38, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Russian spy facility
"Latakia is the home of Russia's largest foreign electronic eavesdropping facility". What's the name of this base? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 05:33, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Possible copyright problem
This article has been revised as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. Mkativerata (talk) 09:57, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
 * It's a shame this article had to be slaughtered. I'm going to begin reinstating information that was deleted as a result of the copy-vio in line with our copyright guidelines. Please verify as needed. --Al Ameer (talk) 20:45, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Timeline of Latakia
What is missing from the recently created city timeline article? Please add relevant content! Contributions welcome. Thank you. -- M2545 (talk) 16:52, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Latakia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20071115004024/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com:80/view_page.jsp?artid=65&letter=L&pid=0 to http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view_page.jsp?artid=65&letter=L&pid=0
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20091231233957/http://damascus-online.com/se/geo/latakia.htm to http://www.damascus-online.com/se/geo/latakia.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080507203735/http://www2.mfa.gr:80/www.mfa.gr/en-US/Policy/Geographic+Regions/Mediterranean+-+Middle+East/Bilateral+Relations/Syria/ to http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US/Policy/Geographic+Regions/Mediterranean+-+Middle+East/Bilateral+Relations/Syria/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 05:07, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose that Laodicea in Syria be merged into Latakia. This is the same city (not a separate archaeological site), also called Laodicea ad Mare under the Seleucids, and habitation in that area has been continuous. It makes little sense to fork out each history epoch into its own stub. The information could be added to the history section of the current article. Yazan (talk) 20:49, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

 * There are many cases where we have separate articles for the same city in the two periods: Berytus/Beirut, Londinium/London, Mediolanum/Milan, Jicheng (Beijing)/Yanjing/Dadu/Beijing, Batavia, Dutch East Indies/Jakarta, Tenochtitlan/Mexico City. In other cases, the content is divided differently: Rome/History of Rome, Trier/History of Trier (Augusta Treverorum redirects to History of Trier).

 * The main criterion for having two articles seem to be:
 * Keeping the main article from getting too long.
 * A clear or radical break in culture or dynasty.
 * In the case of Latakia, the main article is quite long, and there is a clear change from the Roman/Byzantine period to the Islamic period. So the current division seems reasonable.
 * But there is room for improving our criteria for cases like this in general. --Macrakis (talk) 21:24, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Hmm. I understand the rationale behind having a separate article sometimes, but my contention is that I doubt that this applies in the case of Latakia.
 * I don't believe an article strictly on Roman Laodicea can be improved much on its own
 * I disagree about the radical break (especially in Hellenistic -> Roman transition)
 * I think a better argument could be made to change the scope of the article to cover the Hellenistic/Roman period until the Islamic conquest.
 * As it stands now it's a bit of a mess, as Laodicea ad Mare redirects to Latakia, while arguably it was the city's most flourishing era, while Laodicea in Syria hardly ever links to the current city. That's why I proposed to merge what's in Laodicea in Syria into the Latakia article until such moment when it can be more properly/systematically expanded. Yazan (talk) 13:57, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

 * I agree. The Roman/Islamic line is probably the right place to split the article, with content about Laodicea ad Mare merged into Laodicea in Syria. --Macrakis (talk) 17:37, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

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Roxy & Elsewhere

Roxy & Elsewhere  is a double live album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, released on September 10, 1974. Most of the songs were recorded on December 8, 9 and 10, 1973 at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Overview
The material taken from the Roxy concerts was later amended with some overdubs in the studio, while the "Elsewhere" tracks ("Son of Orange County" and "More Trouble Every Day") were recorded on May 8, 1974, at the Edinboro State College, Edinboro, Pennsylvania (and parts of "Son of Orange County" on May 11, 1974, at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois [late show]) and do not contain overdubbed material.

Album
The album primarily comprised recordings from three shows at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood, and featured tracks never before or thereafter released on any Zappa/Mothers album.

The opening track, "Penguin in Bondage", is edited together from performances at the Roxy and the Chicago date. The guitar solo on "Son of Orange County" is one of the few Zappa guitar solos edited together from more than one concert, in this case the Edinboro and Chicago dates.

Some of the unused tracks from the Roxy shows circulate as bootlegs, as well as the entirety of the Edinboro show. Other tracks were released on Volumes One, Three and Four of the You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore series. On a side note, Zappa can be heard, on the released and unreleased Roxy tapes, speaking of the making of a 'film' that could potentially be "broadcast on television", as well as reminding the audience not to be "uncomfortable around the intimidatingly large 16 mm cameras."

A four-channel quadraphonic version of the album was mixed by Zappa and advertised, but the quad version has never been released.

The 2014 CD Roxy by Proxy includes other material from the Roxy shows, including alternate versions of some songs from Roxy & Elsewhere, with no overdubs.

In the documentary Genesis: Together and Apart, Phil Collins states that the twin drum solos in "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?" is what inspired him to ask Chester Thompson to become Genesis' touring drummer in late 1976. Collins and Thompson also used the drum fill from the chorus of "More Trouble Every Day" in the coda of live versions of the Genesis song "Afterglow."

On February 2, 2018, Zappa Records/UMe released The Roxy Performances, a definitive set that collects all four public shows from December 9–10, 1973, and the December 8th film shoot and soundcheck, each presented in their entirety without overdubs, along with bonus content featuring rarities from a rehearsal, unreleased tracks and highlights from the recording session at Bolic Sound.

On June 17, 2022, Zappa Records/UMe released Zappa/Erie, a 6 CD box set including the complete May 8, 1974 concert from Edinboro that had been one of the sources of "Son of Orange County" and "More Trouble Every Day" from Roxy & Elsewhere.

Film
There was a 3-minute trailer released in the new millennium advertising a Roxy DVD, which could potentially contain the footage from all three nights. The trailer was later included on the Baby Snakes DVD as a bonus feature.

Joe Travers has stated that "It's sitting in the vault. Waiting for a budget to do it properly. Basically the film footage, the negatives were transferred by Frank in the '80s using '80s technology. What we want to do is go back to the original negatives and do it in High Definition and then create a 5.1 mix from the original masters so that we have surround sound as well as Frank's 2 channel stereo mix. Once we get all that together, then we need to cut the program. Edit the program together, camera angles, what shows, what we are going to include from what shows or include all the shows. I have no idea what Dweezil and Gail want to do. It's great stuff, but the process of just getting to that point is going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time." Two songs from the unreleased film ("Montana" and "Dupree's Paradise") were used as opener for the Zappa Plays Zappa concerts in 2006.

On April 1, 2007, Zappa.com unveiled a redesigned website, which included the 30-minute segment from the Roxy performances, which had been used at the Zappa Plays Zappa concerts, on its new videos page.

The clip for "Montana" was included as a bonus feature of the Classic Albums: Apostrophe(')/Over-Nite Sensation DVD, which was released on May 1, 2007.

The Blu-ray Roxy: The Movie was released in October 2015. It includes some of the takes released on Roxy & Elsewhere and others from Roxy by Proxy, revealing some editing that went into those releases. (For instance, the second half of Zappa's "Be-Bop Tango" intro mostly matches Roxy & Elsewhere while the first half is different.)

Track listing
All selections composed by Frank Zappa and performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers, except where noted. Original LP editions separated Zappa's vocal introductions at the start of each side; these were each listed as "Preamble". When the album was reissued on CD, these were combined as the first tracks on each side, as displayed below.

Musicians

 * Frank Zappa – lead guitar, vocals, producer
 * Jeff Simmons – rhythm guitar, vocals
 * Napoleon Murphy Brock – flute, tenor saxophone, vocals
 * George Duke – keyboards, synthesizer, vocals
 * Don Preston – synthesizer
 * Bruce Fowler – trombone, dancer
 * Walt Fowler – trumpet, bass trumpet
 * Tom Fowler – bass guitar
 * Ralph Humphrey – drums
 * Chester Thompson – drums
 * Ruth Underwood – percussion
 * Robert "Frog" Camarena – backing vocals on "Cheepnis"
 * Debbie Wilson – backing vocals on "Cheepnis"
 * Linda "Lynn" Sims – backing vocals on "Cheepnis"
 * Ruben Ladron de Guevara – backing vocals on "Cheepnis"

Production

 * Stephen Marcussen – digital remastering
 * Kerry McNabb – engineer, remixing
 * Wally Heider – engineer
 * Coy Featherston, Steve Magedoff – photography
 * Cal Schenkel – graphic design, design

title: Roxy & Elsewhere


text:
Radcliffe, Greater Manchester

Radcliffe is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It lies in the Irwell Valley 7 mi northwest of Manchester and 3 mi southwest of Bury and is contiguous with Whitefield to the south. The disused Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal bisects the town.

Evidence of Mesolithic, Roman and Norman activity has been found in Radcliffe and its surroundings. A Roman road passes through the area, along the border between Radcliffe and Bury. Radcliffe appears in an entry of the Domesday Book as "Radeclive" and in the High Middle Ages formed a small parish and township centred on the Church of St Mary and the manorial Radcliffe Tower, both of which are Grade I listed buildings.

Plentiful coal in the area facilitated the Industrial Revolution, providing fuel for the cotton spinning and papermaking industries. By the mid-19th century, Radcliffe was an important mill town with cotton mills, bleachworks and a road, canal and railway network.

At the 2011 Census, Radcliffe had a population of 29,950. Radcliffe is predominantly a residential area whose few remaining cotton mill buildings are now occupied by small businesses.

Toponymy
The name Radcliffe is derived from the Old English words read and clif, meaning "the red cliff or bank", on the River Irwell in the Irwell Valley. The Domesday Book records the name as "Radeclive". Other archaic spellings include "Radclive" (recorded in 1227), and "Radeclif" (recorded in 1309 and 1360). The Radcliffe family took its name from the town.

Early history
The first human settlements in the area, albeit seasonal, are thought to have been as far back as 6,000BC during the Mesolithic period. Archaeological excavations in 1949 at Radcliffe Ees (a level plain along the north bank of the Irwell, formed by retreating glacial deposits during the previous ice age) found evidence of pre-historic activity, suggesting a lake village site, but dating techniques of the time were unreliable. Further investigations in 1961 revealed rows of sharpened posts and worked timbers, but no further dating evidence was collected. In 1911, while repairs to the bridge at Radcliffe Bridge were underway, a stone axe-hammer was found in the river bed. The 8.5 in large tool artefact weighs 4 lb and is made from polished Quartzite, with a bore to take a shaft.

South of the present-day Withins reservoir is a possible location for a Hengi-form Tumulus. During the Roman period, a Roman road passed through the area on a south-east to north-west axis; tracing an alignment with the modern border between Radcliffe and Bury. The route linked the Roman forts of Mamucium (Manchester) and Bremetennacum (Ribchester). The approximate route was through Higher Lane in nearby Whitefield, through Dales Lane and across the Irwell over Radcliffe Ees through the site of the former East Lancashire Paper Mill. The route passes up Croft Lane, over Cross Lane and over the route of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal under the 10¾ milestone. It then crosses Bury and Bolton Road, and heads through Higher Spen Moor.

Other than placenames, little information about the area survives from the Dark Ages. Radcliffe was likely moorland and swamps.

Following the 11th century Norman conquest of England, Radcliffe became a parish and township in the hundred of Salford, and county of Lancashire. One of only four parishes from the hundred mentioned in the Domesday Book and held by Edward the Confessor as a Royal Manor, it initially consisted of two hamlets; Radcliffe, near to the border with Bury and centred on the Medieval Church of St Mary and the manorial Radcliffe Tower, and further to the west Radcliffe Bridge, at a crossing of the Irwell. As a Royal Manor, the hide may originally have been up to four times the size it was when it was recorded in 1212 as being held by William de Radeclive, of the "Radclyffes of the Tower" family.

In the 15th century the Pilkington family, who during the Wars of the Roses supported the House of York, owned much of the land around the parish. Thomas Pilkington was at this time lord of many estates in Lancashire. In 1485 Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth. The Duke of Richmond, representing the House of Lancaster, was crowned Henry VII. Sir William Stanley may have placed the crown upon his head. As a reward for the support of his family, on 27 October 1485 Henry made Thomas Stanley the Earl of Derby. Thomas Pilkington was attainted, and in February 1489 Earl Thomas was given many confiscated estates including those of Pilkington, which included the township of Pilkington, and Bury. During the English Civil War Radcliffe, along with nearby Bolton, fought on the side of the Parliamentarians against the Royalist Bury.

In 1561, after about 400 years rule by the Radclyffes, Robert Assheton (Lord of the Manor of Middleton) bought the manor of Radcliffe for 2,000 Marks. From 1765 the Assheton estates were divided between the two daughters of the late Ralph Assheton, one of whom married Thomas Egerton, 1st Earl of Wilton. The manor of Radcliffe appears to have been included in her share, and thereafter was included in the Wilton estates.

Textiles and the Industrial Revolution
The first documented reference to industry in Radcliffe is after 1680, in the Radcliffe parish registers, which make increasing mention of occupations such as woollen webster (weaving), linen webster, and whitster (bleacher). These were cottage industries which worked alongside local agriculture. In 1780 Robert Peel built the first factory in the town, several hundred yards upstream from Radcliffe Bridge (at the end of Peel Street). With a weir and goit providing motive power for a water wheel, the factory was built for throstle spinning and the weaving of cotton—a relatively new introduction to Britain. The water wheel proved to be insufficient, and so around 1804 the goit was extended. The weir (known as Rectory Weir) was made from timber. Conditions were poor; the mill employed child labour bought from workhouses in Birmingham and London. Children were boarded on an upper floor of the building, and bound until they reached the age of 21. They were unpaid, and were kept locked up each night. Shifts were typically 10–10.5 hours in length, and children returning from a day shift would sleep in the same bed as children leaving for a night shift. Peel himself admitted that conditions at the mill were "very bad". In 1784 an outbreak of typhoid prompted Lord Grey de Wilton to inform the magistrates of the Salford Hundred; keen to prevent the spread of the disease to neighbouring towns and villages, they sent doctors to assess the situation. Their recommendations included leaving the windows of the mill open at night, fumigation of rooms with tobacco (as this was thought to discourage disease), regular cleaning of rooms and toilets and occasional bathing of children. The report forced the magistrates, led by Thomas Butterworth Bayley, to abandon the practice of binding parish apprentices to any mill not adhering to these conditions. The report also prompted Peel to introduce an Act of Parliament to improve factory hygiene, which later became the Factory Act of 1802. Over time, conditions at the mill improved; in the mid-1790s the physician John Aikin, a critic of the factory system, praised working conditions at the mill, and in 1823 inspections by local magistrates of conditions in mills across the county revealed that unlike many others, the factory at Radcliffe was adhering to all requirements of the Factory Acts.

The underlying coal measures throughout the parish were a valuable source of fuel. Radcliffe already had an established textile industry before the arrival of steam power. The first recorded instance of coal getting in the North West of England was in 1246, when Adam de Radeclyve was fined for digging de minera on common land in the Radcliffe area. Coal outcroppings were not uncommon; as recently as 1936 members of the public were seen carrying away large pieces of coal from a seam revealed by the landslip caused when the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal breached at Ladyshore. Mining was initially limited to bell pits until the arrival of steam engines, which along with improved ventilation, made possible much deeper pits. The earliest known local use of such an engine was in 1792 at Black Cat Colliery. The parish of Radcliffe was once home to as many as 50 pits, but with the exceptions of Outwood Colliery and Ladyshore Colliery, all were either exhausted or closed by the end of the 19th century. During the 1926 General Strike many striking miners illegally took coal from exposed seams around the Coney Green area of the town, to sell to local housewives. In the 1950s to the north of the town the National Coal Board did some open cast mining near Radcliffe Moor Road, but the last legal instance of coal mining in Radcliffe was between 1931 and 1949, close to Bury and Bolton Road.

The transformation of the area from an industry based upon water power, to one based upon steam power, may not have been without problems. A story in W. Nicholl's History and Traditions of Radcliffe (1900) tells of a "great crowd" of protesters from Bury who marched on Bealey's Works, demanding that work be halted. James Booth ordered the gates closed, gave the ringleaders £5, and promised to halt work the next day. The crowd then marched on other businesses within the town before heading along the canal to Bolton, at which point they were apparently turned back by news of approaching soldiers.

There were many smaller textile concerns in the parish. Thomas Howarth owned a cottage in Stand Lane from where he sent yarn to be dyed and sized. He made his own warps which were weaved in the town. He would then travel to Preston and Kendal where drapers would purchase his products. His nephews founded A. & J. Hoyle's Mill in Irwell Street, which employed power weaving to produce their specialities in Ginghams and shirting. The mill closed in 1968. Messrs Stott & Pickstone's Top Shop on Stand Lane was the first company to employ powered looms and spinning around 1844. Many of their employees would eventually leave to start their own businesses, such as Spider Mill, built by Robert and William Fletcher, and John Pickstone. This mill closed around 1930.

Radcliffe was at one time home to around 60 textile mills and 15 spinning mills, along with 18 bleachworks of which the Bealey family were prominent owners. However, the textile industry was not the town's major employer; other industries such as mining and paper making were also important sources of employment.

Mount Sion Mill along Sion Street was founded in the early 19th century and during the First World War manufactured guncotton. A weir was constructed along with a goit, used to turn a water wheel which powered a beam engine to pump water to the reservoirs above.

Radcliffe became well known for its paper industry; its mills included the East Lancashire Paper Mill and Radcliffe Paper Mill. The former was founded by the Seddon family on 29 March 1860, along the banks of the Irwell. Its construction provided much-needed employment: in the 1860s living standards within the town were poor, and local mills often operated on "short time". A reduction in the demand for coal had placed many colliers out of work, and the Lancashire Cotton Famine was starving Lancashire of raw materials, especially cotton. Soup kitchens were opened by local benefactors, and many local residents were on poor relief. The mill began producing low grade paper and newsprint, moving on to other products including high quality printing and writing papers. Radcliffe Paper Mill was formed during the First World War, when it took over from a paper mill and a pipe plant. It originally produced paper suitable for roofing felt, to cater for a national shortage. After World War II the mill employed over 600 people and produced 70,000 tons of paper annually. British Plaster Board Industries (BPB) took over the company in 1961.

Other industries in the town included brick making and chimney pot manufacture. Raw materials were sourced from local collieries. In Mill Street carts, waggons, and bicycles were manufactured from 1855, and elsewhere motor vehicles were also produced until the late 1950s. John Cockerill moved to the town from Haslingden before leaving for continental Europe to become the founder of Cockerill-Sambre. James Cockerill, employed Radcliffe man William Yates as his manager. Several foundries and machine manufacturers were located around the town, including Dobson and Barlow at Bradley Fold, and Wolstenholme's along Bridgewater Street. Munitions, aircraft and tank components were manufactured during the Second World War. Chemicals were manufactured by companies such as Bealey's and J. & W. Whewell.

Post-industrial history
From the 1950s Radcliffe's textile industry went into terminal decline, and although its paper industry survived to the end of the 20th century, both the town's largest paper mills have now been closed and demolished. One of the larger mills in Radcliffe was the Pioneer Mill, built between 1905 and 1906, and which ceased weaving in July 1980—the last mill in Radcliffe to use cotton. The building is now occupied by several different businesses.

Although the town retains much of its existing Victorian and Edwardian housing stock, new estates have been built on former brownfield land including that of the Radcliffe Paper Mill Company. Since deindustrialisation the local population has continued to grow. Radcliffe's housing stock of 23,790 properties is a mixture of mainly semi-detached and terraced housing, with smaller percentages of detached housing and flats. In 1974 the town became a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, and as a result has been described as losing its independence, and to some extent its identity.

Governance
Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, Radcliffe formed part of the Bury Poor Law Union, an inter-parish unit established to provide social security. Radcliffe's first local authority was an early form of local government in England. In July 1866 the Radcliffe Local Board of Health was established. With reference to the Local Government Act 1858, it was a regulatory body consisting of 12 members, responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation in the township. Richard Bealey J.P. was chairman of the local board until April 1876 In the same year, the parish was extended to include parts of the former township of Pilkington, formerly in the parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham.

Radcliffe became a part of the Municipal Borough of Bury in 1876, but following the Local Government Act 1894 it left the district (by then the County Borough of Bury), becoming an urban district within the administrative county of Lancashire. The district boundary was extended to include the Stand Lane district The extension made the area covered by Radcliffe Urban District 3084 acre. Radcliffe Urban District was governed by a council of 24 members, made from six councillors from each of the four wards, Radcliffe Hall, Radcliffe Bridge, Black Lane, and Stand Lane. Alker Allen J.P. was the first chairman of the new council. Radcliffe Town Hall was built in 1911, replacing an earlier building on the junction of Water Street and Spring Lane. It formed the public administrative centre for the district with a large council chamber on the first floor, with public gallery, and four committee rooms.

The Lancashire (Southern Areas) Review Order of 1933 extended the district to include the township of Ainsworth, and a portion of the township of Outwood. This increased the area covered by Radcliffe District to 4915 acre. A new ward was created for Ainsworth, comprising the former township and a portion of the Black Lane ward. Three councillors were added to the council, and the total number of electors became 15,009. On 21 September 1935 the urban district received a charter as a municipal borough, which gave it borough status, and elevated it to the Municipal Borough of Radcliffe.

Under the Local Government Act 1972 the town's urban district status was abolished, and Radcliffe has, since 1 April 1974, formed an unparished area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, a local government district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

For electoral purposes, Radcliffe is now divided into three wards; Radcliffe North, Radcliffe East, and Radcliffe West. It is in the Bury South constituency and was represented in the House of Commons by Labour Party member Ivan Lewis; however he was suspended from the party in 2017 and sat as an independent until the dissolution of Parliament ahead of the 2019 general election. Since December 2019, the constituency has been represented by Labour Party member Christian Wakeford; Wakeford was elected a Conservative, but defected to Labour in January 2022.

Geography
At 53.56139°N, -2.32667°W (53.5615°, −2.3268°) and 170 mi northwest of central London, Radcliffe lies in the Irwell Valley on the course of the River Irwell. The towns of Bury and Bolton lie to the northeast and northwest. For the purposes of the Office for National Statistics, Radcliffe forms a northerly part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area, with Manchester city centre 6.5 mi to the south-southeast.

Radcliffe's position on the River Irwell has proved important in its history and development as the river provided a source of water for local industry. Radcliffe E'es, a level plain formed along the north bank of the Irwell during the previous ice age, is now derelict and the planned location of a new school. From a highpoint of 500 ft above sea level in the northwest of Radcliffe, the surface gradually descends, particularly in the south and east, being the lowest along the River Irwell. The geology is represented by coal measure.

Radcliffe is surrounded by open space and rural land, much of which is visible from the town centre. To the east of the town the River Roch flows under Blackford Bridge, and joins the Irwell shortly thereafter, along which several weirs and goits were built as it passes through the town. Flowing from east to west the river divides the town on the north and south sides of the valley respectively. The town centre sits on the north side of the valley. Two road bridges cross the river: one in the former hamlet of Radcliffe Bridge, and another newer bridge built as part of the A665 Pilkington Bypass. Another bridge crosses the river along the eastern border with Bury. Various smaller pedestrian footbridges and two railway viaducts (one disused) also exist.

Demography
According to the Office for National Statistics, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Radcliffe had a population of 34,239. The population density in 2001 was 9132 PD/sqmi, with a 100 to 94.9 female–male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 28.6% were single (never married) and 42.8% married. Radcliffe's 14,036 households included 28.1% one-person, 39.0% married couples living together, 9.2% were co-habiting couples, and 12.3% single parents with their children. The figures for married couples households was below the borough (48.5%) and national average (47.3%), and single parent households were slightly above the average for the whole of Bury (11.6%) and England (10.5%). Of those aged 16–74, 31.1% had no academic qualifications, slightly higher than averages of Bury (29.2%) and England (28.9%).

The residential areas of Radcliffe both to the north and the south of the town centre operate as suburbs of Bury and Manchester, such that their populations are not necessarily linked to the town. The socio-demographic characteristics of the town's population includes a mix of working and suburban middle classes, the layout of which are both linked to neighbouring towns.

Radcliffe is within the Manchester larger urban zone, and within the Manchester travel to work area.

Economy
Radcliffe's first market was built by the Earl of Wilton and opened in 1851. The town was home to twelve Co-op stores, the largest of which was on Stand Lane. The four-storey structure, built in 1877, had shops and offices on the ground floor, and a large area for public meetings on the second floor. The building was truncated to two stories in June 1971, and eventually demolished. Two more Co-op stores were located on Bury Street and Cross Lane. The current market hall, built in 1937 on a different site to the old market, suffered a devastating fire in 1980 but was later restored. Radcliffe was once served by several banks including the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, the Union Bank of Manchester, and Parr's Bank ltd. As of 4 May 2019 the Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax bank have closed or are in the process of closing in the town. The Halifax branch on Blackburn street is to close on 28 May 2019. These closures will leave only the TSB on the Market Place (M26 1PN) as the only bank in the town

Radcliffe has two weekly newspapers, the Radcliffe Times, based at the Bury Times offices, in Bury, and the Salford-based The Advertiser, which also covers the neighbouring areas of Prestwich and Whitefield. The main gates to the East Lancashire Paper mill (mill closed in 2001) were, in May 2018, installed in the centre of Radcliffe's Festival Gardens off Church Street.

The construction in the 1980s of the A665 Pilkington Way Bypass relieved traffic congestion along the traditional route through the town, Blackburn Street. A new bridge across the Irwell was constructed for the road, and part of Blackburn Street was pedestrianised. The road has attracted developments along former industrial land to the west of the town, including a large Asda superstore and petrol filling station which opened in May 1997, when Asda moved out of their town centre store in Green Street, although it has exacerbated the decline of the retail outlets in the town centre. The bypass has created problems for cyclists and pedestrians who appear reluctant to cross the road and visit the town centre. One solution presently under consideration would involve a partial reopening of the pedestrianised section of Blackburn Street to traffic.

The closure of the East Lancashire and Radcliffe Paper Mills, both of which employed thousands of people, has left a large gap in the town's local economy. Along with the decline of local industry the town's shopping centre has suffered a severe loss of trade and is now barely viable as a retail outlet. Radcliffe's market hall compares poorly with the neighbouring Bury Market. Amongst other shops, the town's central shopping precinct retains a Boots. A Dunelm Group, formerly known as Dunelm Mill, home and soft furnishings store now occupies the former site of the town's Asda supermarket on Green Street. In February 2018 a new Lidl store opened its doors on the site of the old bus station employing around forty people.

"Re-inventing Radcliffe" is the name given on a report of a proposed improvement scheme. The report envisages several initiatives, and includes the creation of new housing both to the north and south of the town. Existing industry to the west of the town and along Milltown Street would be retained and improved, along with sections of the former Radcliffe Paper Mill and Pioneer Mill. The market would be redeveloped along with the Kwik Save site and bus station, and the town could become a centre for the arts. To improve transport links, new crossings of the Irwell and canal are proposed. Plans for a new secondary school in Radcliffe are now in doubt, however a new build at Castlebrook High School Parr Lane, Bury BL9 8LP began in January. Finally, the report suggests improving the image of Radcliffe within the Bury area. On 27 June 2018, due to very hot weather, a fire started on the exterior of the complex of shops adjoining the precinct as roofing tar caught alight.

"Newlands" is a regeneration programme run by the Forestry Commission. One site under consideration for regeneration is the former waste tip of Radcliffe E'es.

Population and employment change
In 1921 2,394 men and 3,680 women were employed in the textile industry. By 1951 these figures had fallen respectively to 981 and 1,852. A more drastic fall is evident in the numbers of people employed in the mining and quarrying industries; in 1921 591 people were employed in both, but in 1951 this had dropped to only 57, reflecting the number of mines in and around Radcliffe that had by that time been completely exhausted.

By 2001, from a working population of 15,972 between the ages of 16–74 only six people were employed in mining. 3,011 people were employed in manufacturing, 103 in public utilities, and 985 in construction. 3,371 people worked in wholesale and retailing; repair of motor vehicles, 682 in hotels and catering, and 1,185 in transport; storage and communication. 642 people worked in financial intermediation, 1,711 in real estate, 694 in public administration and defence, 987 in education, 1,876 in health and social work, and 657 in other work.

Landmarks
Radcliffe Tower is all that remains of an early 15th-century stone-built manor house. The structure is a Grade I listed building and protected as a Scheduled Monument. The construction of a nearby tithe barn is not documented, but it was probably built between 1600 and 1720. It was used for storage of the local tithes (a tenth of a farm's produce). Along with Radcliffe Tower, the Parish Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building. The town also has two Grade II* listed buildings; Dearden Fold Farmhouse, completed during the 16th century, and Radcliffe Cenotaph, built in 1922 to commemorate the First World War. Outwood Viaduct, and Radcliffe's most visible landmark, St Thomas' Church, are Grade II listed buildings. St Thomas' took nine years to complete. The first stone was laid by Viscount Grey de Wilton (grandson of the Countess Grosvenor) on 21 July 1862, and it was consecrated in 1864 by the first Bishop of Manchester, James Prince Lee. Construction of the tower began in 1870 and the building was completed in 1871. The building cost £7,273, (£ today) and the tower cost £1,800 (£ today). The first vicar was the Reverend Robert Fletcher.

Radcliffe's first public ornament was a drinking fountain located at the bottom of Radcliffe New Road. It was presented to the town by a Mrs Noah Rostron in memory of her husband, and erected in August 1896. The fountain no longer exists at this location.

Built in 1911 the town hall was on the junction of Water Street and Spring Lane. For many years after the town lost its urban district status, the building was unoccupied. It was converted to private accommodation in 1999.

Transport
The Manchester to Blackburn packhorse route passed through the town (hence the name Blackburn Street). The bridge across the Irwell was likely first erected during the late Medieval period at the site of a ford. An Act of Parliament in 1754 authorised the first turnpike through the hamlet of Radcliffe Bridge, and included Manchester to Bury via Crumpsall, and from Prestwich to Radcliffe. An Act of 1821 created a turnpike from Bury to Radcliffe, Stoneclough and Bolton. An Act of 1836 created a turnpike from Starling Lane to Ainsworth, and Radcliffe to Bury and Manchester Road (near Fletcher Fold). A turnpike from Whitefield to Radcliffe Bridge via Stand Lane was created in 1857 with toll houses at Besses o' th' Barn, Stand Lane, the junction of Dumers Lane and Manchester Road, on Bolton Road near Countess Lane, and on Radcliffe Moor Road at Bradley Fold. Radcliffe New Road was created in an Act of 1860 which enabled the construction of a toll road between Radcliffe and Whitefield. To prevent damage to the road surfaces, weighing machines were used at various strategic positions including at the bridge end of Dumers Lane, at Sandiford turning, and on Ainsworth Road.

During the Industrial Revolution, as local cottage industries were gradually supplanted by the factory system the roads became inadequate for use. A convoy of horse-drawn lorries carrying salt between Bealey's Bleach Works and Northwich would take up to two weeks to make a return journey. These problems gave rise to the construction of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, which reached the town in 1796 and which was navigable throughout in 1808. For 38 years the canal was the town's main route for trade and transport, with a wharf near Hampson Street. The proprietors later converted into a railway company and built a line between Salford and Bolton, which opened in 1838. A branch from this line was to have been built to Bury, along the line of the canal, but due to technical constraints this did not happen. Radcliffe's closest railway connection therefore remained several miles distant at Stoneclough.

The opening of the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway (later known as the East Lancashire Railway (ELR)) in 1846 brought the town a direct connection to Manchester and Bury. Two stations served the town, Radcliffe Bridge station, and Withins Lane station (although this closed in 1851 after only a few years of operation). Ringley Road station was located to the south of the parish, close to the civil parish of Pilkington. The line crossed the Irwell over Outwood Viaduct, an impressive structure which remains to this day.

The Liverpool and Bury Railway (L&BR) opened on 28 November 1848, with a station to the north of the town, called Black Lane station. On 18 July 1872 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR), which had amalgamated with the ELR some years previously, gained an Act of Parliament to construct a railway between Manchester and Bury, via Whitefield and Prestwich. This opened in 1879 with a new station, known as Radcliffe New Station, with a link to the L&BR line at Bradley Fold (near the present day Chatsworth Road), and a new station along Ainsworth Road, Ainsworth Road Halt. The new L&YR route joined the existing ELR route near Withins Lane (North Junction), whereon they shared the connection to Bury. The L&YR gained a further act, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. lix), to construct a link between North Junction and Coney Green Farm (West Junction). The LY&R line was electrified in 1916 for which a substation was constructed, between the canal and the West Fork.

The town also had an extensive tram network. The first tram ran from Black Lane (latterly Ainsworth Road) in 1905, with a terminus next to St Andrew's Church on Black Lane Bridge. In 1907 a branch was built to connect to the Bury to Bolton part of the network. A large bus station is located between Dale Street and the river. Officially abandoned in 1961, the canal is currently undergoing restoration on the Salford arm, although a rebuilt bridge along Water Street presents a barrier to its full restoration.

Public transport in Radcliffe is now coordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), a county-wide public body with direct operational responsibilities such as supporting (and in some cases running) local bus services, and managing integrated ticketing in Greater Manchester.

The town is now served only by a single light rail system and regular bus services. The Metrolink opened on 6 April 1992 along the L&YR line between Manchester and Bury/Bury and Altrincham (Manchester also serves as a change point for the rest of the Metrolink system as it expands to cover a greater portion of the region, including Oldham). Trams leave from the town's station every six minutes between 7:15 am and 6:30 pm, and every 12 minutes at other times of the day. Radcliffe Bridge station closed on 5 July 1958, and has since been replaced by the path of the A665 Pilkington Way (the new road has been built below the level of the old station). The path of the ELR line is still quite visible from aerial photography, with Outwood Viaduct fully restored, and the route of the line southwest of the town converted for use as a nature trail forming part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail.

National Cycle Route 6 runs through the town, along the route of the former ELR line, through the town centre and continuing toward Bury along the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. New combined pedestrian and cycle crossings have been constructed to facilitate the route. A new cycleway has also been built along the line of the former Liverpool to Bury Railway, to the north of the town.

Education
One of the earliest schools in the parish was the Close Wesleyan Day School, a Dame school opened around 1840. St Thomas's day school was opened on 4 March 1861, and housed over 500 children. Due to overcrowding and the risk of subsidence caused by local mining activity, the school was rebuilt on a new site along School Street, provided by the Earl of Wilton. It was opened in October 1877 by Lady Wilton. On the opposite side of the town St John's school started life in 1860 as an institute along Irwell Street, and by 1864 contained 120 children. The buildings were enlarged in 1869. In 1897 eight teachers and a monitor taught 358 children. In 1899 the school leaving age was twelve, and many of the senior class were "half-timers" who would spend half the day at school, and the other half at work. This system was abolished in 1919. Regular epidemics of scarlet fever, chicken pox, mumps, and especially measles, meant that in 1897 and 1903 the school was temporarily closed. St John's School and the nearby church were demolished in the 1970s. Radcliffe also had a technical school on Whittaker Street. Formally opened by Lord Stanley on 7 November 1896, it adjoined the public baths on Whittaker Street. The building is now used as council offices.

Radcliffe County Secondary School was founded in 1933 on the former Peel Park Ground near School Street, but Radcliffe's first secondary school (apart from an endowed grammar school in nearby Stand) was held at the New Jerusalem schoolroom from the early 1860s. Radcliffe East, latterly known as Coney Green County Comprehensive School, was built in 1975 on the site of the former railway goods yard alongside Radcliffe East Fork. Part of the school, known as "Phase One", opened in September 1975, with 150 first-year pupils, and 70 second-year pupils (from Radcliffe County Secondary School). The remainder, known as "Phase Two", opened two years later.

Radcliffe has ten primary schools, but no secondary schools. A new school was proposed to replace the former Coney Green and Radcliffe High schools, but recent developments make the construction of this school uncertain.

Religious sites
In Romano–British times, Radcliffe was in the Diocese of York; in Saxon times in the Diocese of Lindesfarne, then of York; in Norman times in the Diocese of Lichfield; after 1540 in the Diocese of Chester and since 1847 in the Diocese of Manchester.

Based on the subdivisions of the dioceses, before 1535 Radcliffe ancient parish was in Manchester and Blackburn Rural Deanery. Between this date and 1850 the ancient parish was placed in Manchester Rural Deanery. From 1850 to 1851 it was placed in Bury Rural Deanery; from 1851 to 1872 it was in Prestwich Rural Deanery; from 1872 to 1912, it was placed in Prestwich and Middleton Rural Deanery; and since 1872 it has been in Radcliffe and Prestwich Rural Deanery.

Church of England
Radcliffe was an ancient parish which in its early history had duties which combined both ecclesiastical and civil matters. In 1821 Radcliffe St. Thomas ecclesiastical parish was created from the ancient parish, and it was re-founded in 1839. In 1873 further parts of the ancient parish were taken to form Bury St. Peter's ecclesiastical parish. In 1878 parts of the ancient parish as well as part of Radcliffe St. Thomas were taken to form Radcliffe St. Andrew, Black Lane ecclesiastical parish. The Parish Church of St Mary was built during the 14th century, and the tower added in the 15th century. In 1966 it was designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage under its former name of the Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew. In 1991 some local parishes were merged, and the church adopted its present name.

Radcliffe is also served by the Parish of St Thomas and St John. St Thomas' is visible on the horizon for many miles. The original church was built in 1819 by Countess Grosvenor and is visible above in the image of Radcliffe Bridge. The building was later considered too small, and in 1862 was demolished and replaced with the present structure (see landmarks). The Church of St John was consecrated on 19 February 1866 at the bottom of Radcliffe New Road. Built at a cost of about £4,000 (£ today) the site was donated to the church by the Earl of Derby, who in 1897 also made a grant of land for the site of the Mission Church at Chapelfield. The parishes of St John and St Philip were merged with St Thomas' in 1975–76. Radcliffe is also home to the Church of St Andrew on Ainsworth Road, which was consecrated in 1877.

Other faiths
Radcliffe was also home to many smaller churches. The main Roman Catholic church, St. Mary & St. Philip Neri, on Spring Lane, was built in 1894. In 2009 a new Catholic Church of the same name was opened (29 May 2009) in a brand new purpose built building on Belgrave street in Radcliffe. The old St Mary's Church on Spring Lane has since been demolished. Other churches included Stand Independent, a Quaker meeting house on Foundry Street, Water Lane Congregational, and several Wesleyan churches, including one on Bridgefield Street, which in March 2008 was destroyed by fire. The church was built in 1892. The United Reformed Church has two congregations within the town, one on Lord Street, and the other on Stand Lane. The church was originally formed from a Congregational school in 1848. A Methodist New Connexion church has existed along Smyrna Street since 1844. Other faiths are also catered for, with a mosque on Bridgefield Street, and a centre and a church for Swedenborgianism on Radcliffe New Road and Stand Lane respectively.

Sports
Radcliffe has a rich history of sport, including football, rugby, cricket and swimming, but entertainment in Radcliffe once included bear-baiting, bull-baiting, and cock-fighting. Cock fights were prevalent in the town and took place in local "hush-shops", generally viewed by invitation only. Bull and bear baiting was held in the Radcliffe Bridge area of the parish. In Nicholls' History and Traditions of Radcliffe (1900) the author describes the contents of the diary of a Lord Kenyon, who wrote "W.M. Robt. James, and Thomas Radcliffe, were fined for causing a Bayre to be bayted upon Saturday being the 18th of March 1587–8, at the Bull-Ringe neere the conduite in Manchester." Trained dogs were used to attack a bull, which was donated by the Earl of Wilton. Such entertainment took place where the bridge now stands, along the banks of the river near the ford. Such spectacles were eventually outlawed by Act of Parliament, and the last bull bait in the town was held on 26 September 1838. Horse racing replaced the sport the following year, with a course alongside the river. During the first year of racing the main spectator stand collapsed, injuring many spectators. In 1876 events were moved to a new course approximately one mile in circumference at Radcliffe Moor, upon which site the town's cricket club now stands.

The town is home to the Greater Manchester Cricket League side Radcliffe Cricket Club, who played in the Central Lancashire Cricket League until its demise in 2015. For many years Sir Frank Worrell played for the club, and a street near the cricket ground was named in his honour. Sir Garfield Sobers joined the club in 1958 at the age of 21. The town also has two Football teams, Radcliffe Town, and Radcliffe F.C. (formerly Radcliffe Borough). The football club Bury A.F.C. groundshared with Radcliffe F.C. at Stainton Park until the former's merger with Bury F.C. Former players include Paul Gascoigne, Craig Dawson and Matt Derbyshire.

Radcliffe was also home to Nellie Halstead, who in her time was known as "Britain's greatest woman athlete". A multiple world record holder, she represented Great Britain at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

History
The Rivers Pollution Prevention Act 1876 posed a problem for the local authorities; disposal of sewage was generally an expensive proposition, and efforts to resolve the practical problems involved were often unsatisfactory. After initial experiments, in 1894 contracts were let for work. Chairman of the Local Board Samuel Walker Esq cut the first sod on 23 April 1894, and the works were completed in the following year.

The town was provided with electricity by a coal-fired power station along the south bank of the river, to the west of the town. Authorised by the Radcliffe Electric Lighting Order of 1894, and inaugurated on 5 October 1904, Radcliffe Power Station was opened by the Earl of Derby on 9 October 1905. It originally had two 1,500 kW turbo sets made by British Thomson-Houston, and was the first power station in the country to transmit electricity over bare electrical conductors.

In 1921 the Radcliffe and Little Lever Joint Gas Board purchased the Radcliffe & Pilkington Gas Company. Constituted in 1921 by an Act of Parliament, the board consisted of six members of the Radcliffe Council and one member of the Little Lever Council. The area supplied included all the districts of Radcliffe and Little Lever, and also Prestwich, Whitefield, Unsworth, Outwood, and Ainsworth. In 1935 the company supplied 263000000 cuft of gas to 16,748 consumers, and provided gas for public street lighting. Water supplies were provided both by upland watersheds and by the Bury & District Joint Water Board, of which Radcliffe was a constituent authority.

By 1935 a fire brigade and ambulances were available to protect the town during emergencies. The Gamewell system of fire alarms was used and consisted of 16 alarm boxes spread throughout the district. Three motor ambulances and a motorised utility van were kept at the fire station, operated by permanent staff.

Modern services
The North West Ambulance Service provides emergency patient transport, and the statutory emergency fire and rescue service is now provided by the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Home Office policing in Radcliffe is provided by the Greater Manchester Police. The Radcliffe police station that was situated along Railway street was closed due to cost saving measures announced by Greater Manchester Police in November 2015. In July 2016 the building was sold by auction to an anonymous buyer for £150,000. Waste management is coordinated by the local authority via the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. Radcliffe's distribution network operator for electricity is United Utilities.

Notable people
Born in Radcliffe, the First World War veteran Private James Hutchinson was a recipient of the Victoria Cross. Radcliffe was also the birthplace of Canadian author Donald Jack and the home of Olympic Medal-winning cyclist Harry Hill who took bronze at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Nellie Halstead was a runner who represented Great Britain in both the 1932 Summer Olympics and 1936 Summer Olympics. Radcliffe was the birthplace of Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle and the three times World Champion snooker player John Spencer.

Culture
Radcliffe's wealth as a mill town gave rise to many outlets for the entertainment of its population. These included cinemas and public houses. Several cinemas were built in the town, including the Picturedrome in Water Street, and an Odeon cinema, built in 1937 along Dale Street. Whittaker Street public baths were built in 1898 and demolished in 1971. The swimming pool on Green Street which replaced the old Whittaker Street baths was itself closed down after storm damaged the main facilities in 2013 disclosing high levels of asbestos in the building super-structure. As a replacement a new £945,000 25-metre length modular above-ground swimming pool was erected in 2015 at the recently closed Riverside High School on Spring Lane (formally Coney Green High School). The pool complex also includes a fully equipped public gymnasium. A public library was opened in 1907 on a site donated by Andrew Carnegie, who also contributed £5,000 (£ today) towards the cost of the building. Two branch libraries were opened in Ainsworth between 1933 and 1935. A museum was located in the upper rooms of Close House before it was demolished in March 1969.

Radcliffe Brass Band has performed in the town since 1914, when it accompanied one of the Whit Walks that used to take place on Whit Friday. Popular as these were, support later dwindled to a point where they were abandoned around 1977. Rushcart processions were once popular, held on the first Saturday of September, finishing on the following Sunday at the Parish Church.

The town has several parks, including Coronation Park near Radcliffe Bridge and Close Park near Radcliffe Tower. Much of the land for Coronation Park was in 1900 donated by the Earl of Derby. Close House and the grounds around it were formerly the home of the Bealey family, and were donated by the Bleachers' Association. The town is also along the route of the Irwell Sculpture Trail.

title: Radcliffe, Greater Manchester


text:
Xiahe County

Xiahe County is a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, China, bordering Qinghai province to the west. The name (both Chinese and Tibetan), which literally means "Xia River", refers to the Daxia River which runs through the county. It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town is populated largely by ethnic Tibetans, as well as some Hui and Han Chinese. The area is highly rural and pastoral (including yak and other animal rearing). The geography is mountainous. In recent years it has become a tourist attraction. The county was named Xiahe in 1928, after the Daxia River that flows through its territory.

History
Xiahe (Sangqu) used to be part of Qinghai when it was under the control of Chinese Muslim General Ma Qi. It was the site of bloody battles between Muslim and Tibetan forces.

In 1980, Xiahe mandible, a hominin fossil jaw, was discovered in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe County.

Location
Xiahe (Sangqu) is found in the southern portion of Gansu province, along the western border with Qinghai province. It lies along the Daxia and Zhao rivers. It is on the northeast edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The average elevation is 2900 to 3100 m with the highest being 4636 m and the lowest 2160 m.

Climate
Xiahe County has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc) that grades into an alpine climate (ETH) at the highest elevations. The climate is characterised by mild, rainy summers and frigid, but dry and sunny, winters.

Administrative divisions
Xiahe County is divided to 8 towns and 5 townships.

title: Xiahe County


text:
Jiayuguan City

Jiayuguan is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Gansu province, with a population of 312,663 as of the 2020 census. Compared with the 231,853 people in the sixth national census in 2010, there was an increase of 80,810 people, with an average annual increase of 3.04%. Its built-up (or metro) area was home to 768,274 inhabitants made of Jiayuguan City and Suzhou urban district of Jiuquan City now being conurbated. It is named after the nearby Jiayu Pass, the largest and most intact pass of the Great Wall of China.

Jiayuguan is a major industrial city. In 1958, Jiuquan Iron and Steel Works established in Jiuquan, Gansu. In 1965, parts of Jiuquan County and Sunan Yugur Autonomous County (Including Jiuquan Iron and Steel Works) were marked out to establish the County-level Jiayuguan City, which is under the direct jurisdiction of Gansu Government. Following Jiuquan Iron and Steel Works, the largest Iron and Steel Works in Gansu, was assigned to Jiayuguan City, mining and mineral processing are the primary industries of the city. In 1971, Jiayuguan City was changed to a prefecture-level city. By area, it is by far the smallest prefecture-level division of Gansu. It is also one of the four prefecture-level cities which has no districts.

The fortress at Jiayuguan is situated at the end of the portion of the Great Wall of China which was built by the Ming Dynasty, in the 14th century.

Administration
As 2019, Jiayuguan City is underdivided 3 towns.
 * Towns
 * Xincheng(新城镇)
 * Yuquan(峪泉镇)
 * Wenshu(文殊镇)

Jiayuguan is divided into 2 subdistricts and 3 towns.

Transport
Jiayuguan is served by China National Highway 312, and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang and Jiayuguan-Ceke Railways. A 69-km-long branch railway, the Jiajing Railway (嘉镜铁路), runs from Jiayuguan to Jingtieshan.

Jiayuguan is served by the Jiayuguan Jiuquan Airport that offers direct air services to Xi'an on Shanghai Airlines and Beijing on Air China.

Climate
Jiayuguan has a cool arid climate (Köppen BWk), in common with most of northwestern China. Summers feature pleasant mornings and very warm afternoons, whilst winters are freezing to frigid though with essentially no snow due to the extreme aridity produced by the Siberian High.

title: Jiayuguan City


text: Talk:Roxy & Elsewhere

title: Talk:Roxy & Elsewhere


text:
USS Hull

Four ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Hull, in honor of Commodore Isaac Hull.

 * USS Hull (DD-7), was a Bainbridge-class destroyer, launched in 1902 and sold in 1921
 * USS Hull (DD-330), was a Clemson-class destroyer, launched in 1921 and sold in 1931
 * USS Hull (DD-350), was a Farragut-class destroyer launched in 1934 and lost in a typhoon in 1944
 * USS Hull (DD-945), was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer, launched in 1957 and struck in 1983

title: USS Hull


text:
Talk:Controller.controller

Vfd
On April 8, 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was keep. See Votes for deletion/Controller.controller for a record of the discussion. —Korath (Talk) 01:18, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)

Publicity photo
I've added a publicity photo from the record company. I believe this is fair use, as it's the whole purpose of publicity photos. I'll be seeing the band in London in a couple of weeks so I'll try and take some photos and hopefully something worthy of Wikipedia will come out of it, and we can replace the copyrighted photo. Shermozle 11:38, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Controller.controller-X-Amounts.jpg
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BetacommandBot 05:01, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
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title: Talk:Controller.controller


text:
Binder Twine Festival

The Binder Twine Festival, or usually Binder Twine, was an annual festival held the first Saturday after Labour Day in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. It was one of the most popular festivals in southern Ontario, and marked the beginning of the harvest fair season in the Greater Toronto Area. In April 2020, the committee that organized the festival announced that as a result of increased costs and decreasing number of volunteers, it would discontinue the festival.

In the late 19th century, farmers would come to the community to acquire binder twine with which they could bind sheaves of wheat. Charlie Shaw, a resident and owner of a hardware store, offered food and entertainment to those farmers, establishing the Binder Twine Night festival which was held annually until his death in the 1930s. In 1967, a committee of residents revived the concept as part of the Canadian Centennial celebrations.

The festival was organized and operated entirely by volunteers, which once included author Pierre Berton, a famous resident of the village. Berton's wife Janet was an executive of the organizing committee from 1967 until 1996, during which time she published 16 booklets about the history of Kleinburg. Binder Twine became a successful community event, and resulted in new town signage and the creation of Binder Twine Park.

There was a fee for admission except for those wearing pioneer period costumes, who were admitted for free.

Activities
The festival featured the Binder Twine Parade, the Binder Twine Queen contest and a Quilt Raffle, along with craft sales and musical entertainment. The McMichael Canadian Art Collection sponsored art activities at the festival. It included an arts and craft show, pioneer skills demonstration, and "old-fashioned" entertainment.

In 1979, a few months after the federal election which resulted in Joe Clark becoming Prime Minister of Canada, festival organizers announced a Joe Clark look-alike contest, requesting entries from individuals with "an oversized head, large ears and hardly much of a chin".

Binder Twine Queen
The Binder Twine Queen contest required contestants to demonstrate their abilities in a set of activities such as cow milking, hog calling, and log sawing. Each year, one activity was kept secret until the day of the festival so contestants could practice for it. Contestants wore costumes and often had props, including live animals, and "shamelessly spoof the traditional beauty contest". It had sometimes been judged by well-known personalities, including Knowlton Nash and Ben Wicks.

Berton wrote an article in the Toronto Star in 1992 comparing the Binder Twine Queen contest with beauty pageants, stating that "while other queen contests are fading away under the disapproving frowns of feminists, the Binder Twine Queen contest has never been healthier or more popular".

title: Binder Twine Festival


text: Talk:JoJo Savard

title: Talk:JoJo Savard