text:
Matt Hughes (writer)

Matthew Hughes (born 1949) is a Canadian author who writes science fiction under the name Matthew Hughes, crime fiction as Matt Hughes and media tie-ins as Hugh Matthews. Prior to his work in fiction, he was a freelance speechwriter. Hughes has written over twenty novels and he is also a prolific author of short fiction whose work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Lightspeed, Postscripts, Interzone and original anthologies edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. In 2020 he was inducted into the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association Hall of Fame.

Biography
Matthew Hughes was born in Liverpool in May 1949. His family moved to Canada when he was five. As a teenager, he was a member of the Company of Young Canadians and worked a variety of jobs before becoming a journalist. He then moved into speechwriting, first on the staff of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Environment and subsequently as a freelance writer for corporate executives and politicians in British Columbia. While working as a speechwriter in 1982, he wrote a 27,000 word novella for a competition which he saw advertised in the Vancouver Sun. Although he did not win the contest, he returned to the story years later and expanded it into his first published novel, Fools Errant, which was released in 1994. Since 2007 he has worked across the world as a housesitter to support his fiction career. He has been married since the late 1960s and has three sons. One of his sons has high-functioning autism, which led Hughes to write the "To Hell and Back" books from the perspective of a high-functioning autistic character.

Influences
Hughes's Archonate stories and novels have been compared to the works of Jack Vance: Booklist called him Vance's "heir apparent" in their August 2005 review of The Gist Hunter and Other Stories. Hughes has written an authorised Dying Earth story ("Grolion of Almery") for the 2009 Vance tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth and in February 2020 was working on an authorised sequel to Vance's Demon Princes books, which was published in August 2021 as Barbarians of the Beyond. Hughes has praised Vance as being "a unique voice of genius." However, Hughes has cited his 2008 novel Template as being "the only time I’ve consciously tried to write a “Jack Vance novel,” although the themes and concerns embodied in the story are my own."

Other significant early influences include P. G. Wodehouse, Thorne Smith, L. Sprague de Camp (especially historical novels such as An Elephant for Aristotle), Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller and Philip K. Dick. Hughes still rereads Jack Vance, P. G. Wodehouse and Gene Wolfe but has not followed the science fiction and fantasy field since the mid-1980s and instead reads mostly crime fiction by authors such as Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Robert B. Parker and James Lee Burke, whom Hughes considers to be "the finest American crime novelist of them all."

Awards and nominations
Hughes's work has been shortlisted for numerous major science fiction awards, included the Nebula Award, Philip K. Dick Award, Locus Award, Aurora Award (English-language) and Endeavour Award. In 2000, his story "One More Kill" won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story presented by the Crime Writers of Canada. In 2020 his contributions to science fiction and fantasy were recognised with the CSFFA Hall of Fame Trophy. What the Wind Brings, a slipstream historical magical realism novel was nominated for the 2020 Neffy Award and won the 2020 Endeavour Award.

Archonate series
In the far-future setting of Hughes's Archonate stories, the operating principle of the universe changes at intervals of several thousand years between science and magic with catastrophic effects. Science is dominant in stories set in the Penultimate Age of Old Earth and almost all of the characters are initially unaware of or disbelieve in magic: these stories tend towards space opera and planetary romance influenced by Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe. More recently, Hughes has also written stories set during or after the change in the mode of Dying Earth genre. The stories and characters of the Archonate reflect Hughes's interest and passion in crime fiction: he has described himself as "a hard-boiled crime writer working in a science-fictional mode."

Filidor Vesh
The two Filidor Vesh books follow the picaresque adventures of the title character, nephew and apprentice to the ruling Archon of Old Earth.
 * Fools Errant (1994)
 * "From the Discourses and Edifications of Liw Osfeo" (Excerpt and variant of the Liw Osfeo sections from Fools Errant, first published in the limited edition of The Gist Hunter and Other Stories, August 2005)
 * Fool Me Twice (2001)
 * Gullible's Travels (SFBC omnibus of Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice, 2001)

The Commons
The stories concerned with the Commons were originally intended to form one long novel. As this book did not meet the word limits imposed by Tor Books, Hughes published the shortened novel as Black Brillion and turned the excised material into a series of six short stories about Guth Bandar, a scholar dedicated to exploring humanity's collective unconscious. Hughes sold these stories to Gordon Van Gelder at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; the first three were collected in 2005 as part of The Gist Hunter and Other Stories and Robert J. Sawyer assembled all six as a fixup novel (titled The Commons) in 2007. In 2014, Hughes self published the stories as they first appeared in F&SF as The Compleat Guth Bandar: differences between this volume and The Commons are slight. Black Brillion was nominated for the Aurora Award while "The Helper and His Hero" was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella.
 * Black Brillion (2004)
 * The Commons (2007) (vt. The Compleat Guth Bandar (2014))
 * "A Little Learning" (First published in Fantasy Readers Wanted — Apply Within, October 2003, reprinted in F&SF June 2004)
 * "Inner Huff" (First published in F&SF, February 2005)
 * "Help Wonted" (First published in The Gist Hunter and Other Stories, reprinted in F&SF October–November 2005)
 * "A Herd of Opportunity" (First published in F&SF, May 2006)
 * "Bye the Rules" (First published in F&SF, December 2006)
 * "The Helper and His Hero" (First published in F&SF, February 2007 and March 2007; Nebula Award for Best Novella nominee, 2008)

Henghis Hapthorn
Henghis Hapthorn is the foremost freelance discriminator of Old Earth in its penultimate age. Hapthorn first appeared in a sequence of six stories sold to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, where the arch-rationalist and sceptic discovers to his horror that his rational world is about to come to an abrupt end with the dawn of an age of magic. Hapthorn's story continued in three novels published by Night Shade Books: more recent Hapthorn stories have been set before his first encounter with magic ("The Immersion") or after Hespira ("Fullbrim's Finding", "Hapthorn's Last Case").
 * Majestrum (2006)
 * The Spiral Labyrinth (2007)
 * "Sweet Trap" (a standalone excerpt of the first two chapters of The Spiral Labyrinth, first published in F&SF, June 2007)
 * Hespira (2009)
 * 9 Tales of Henghis Hapthorn (2013)
 * "Mastermindless" (First published in F&SF, March 2004)
 * "Relics of the Thim" (First published in F&SF, August 2004)
 * "Falberoth's Ruin" (First published in F&SF, September 2004)
 * "Finding Sajessarian" (First published in F&SF, April 2005)
 * "The Gist Hunter" (First published in F&SF, June 2005)
 * "Thwarting Jabbi Gloond" (First published in F&SF, August 2005)
 * "Sweet Trap" (First published in F&SF, June 2007)
 * "Fullbrim's Finding" (First published in F&SF, July 2008)
 * "The Immersion" (First published in Unfit for Eden: Postscripts 26/27, January 2012)
 * "Hapthorn’s Last Case" (First published in Lightspeed Magazine, November 2018)

Conn Labro and Jenore Mordene
Template follows Conn Labro, the star duellist at a gaming house on the planet Thrais, who travels the worlds of the Spray with Old Earth dancer Jenore Mordene to investigate the murder of his only friend on the planet and the mystery of his own origins. Hughes began writing a sequel as a series of eight 10,000 word episodes but after the sale of the first episode to Amazing Stories decided to release the entire story as a novel provisionally titled Passengers and Perils, which will also feature many of Hughes's other recurring characters such as Henghis Hapthorn and Ern Kaslo in supporting roles. Hughes began serialising the novel in April 2022 as a series of Amazon Kindle ebooks, and released the full novel at the end of the month.
 * Template (2008)
 * Passengers and Perils (2022)
 * "Stopover at Meech’s World" (First published in Amazing Stories, Fall 2019)

Luff Imbry
Luff Imbry is a con man, forger and thief inspired by a pair of Sydney Greenstreet characters, Kaspar Gutman (The Maltese Falcon) and Signor Ferrari (Casablanca). Luff was originally intended only as a supporting character in Black Brillion and was killed off towards the end of the novel in the first draft. Luff was spared in the final book by the intervention of Hughes's editor at Tor, David G. Hartwell and first appeared in a lead role in "The Farouche Assemblage", beginning the character's long association with Postscripts and PS Publishing. The 2011 Luff Imbry novel The Other was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. Hughes has called Luff his favourite of his own Archonate characters and has expressed interest in completing the story begun in The Other.
 * The Other (2011)
 * The Meaning of Luff and Other Stories (2013)
 * "The Meaning of Luff" (First published in F&SF, July 2006)
 * "The Farouche Assemblage" (First published in Postscripts, Spring 2006)
 * "Nature Tale" (First published in Postscripts, Autumn 2006)
 * "Passion Ploy" (First published in Forbidden Planets, November 2006)
 * "The Eye of Vann" (First published in Postscripts, Summer 2008)
 * "Enemy of the Good" (First published in Enemy of the Good: Postscripts 19, October 2009)
 * "Another Day in Fibbery" (First published in Edison's Frankenstein: Postscripts 20/21, December 2009)
 * "Quartet & Triptych" (First published as a standalone novella, August 2010, reprinted in F&SF, November–December 2011)
 * "The Yellow Cabochon" (First published as a standalone novella, January 2012)
 * Forays of a Fat Man (2019)
 * "Quartet & Triptych" (First published as a standalone novella, August 2010, reprinted in F&SF, November–December 2011)
 * "The Yellow Cabochon" (First published as a standalone novella, January 2012)
 * "Of Whimsies & Noubles" (First published as a standalone novella, August 2014)
 * "Ephiphanies" (First published as a standalone novella, April 2016)
 * "Arboghasz Dal Axander Rides Again" (First published in Mixed Bag, July 2022)
 * The One (2024)

The Kaslo Chronicles
In the Lightspeed serial "The Kaslo Chronicles", Hughes for the first time showed the apocalyptic moment of transition from the age of rationality to that of magic through the eyes of Erm Kaslo, a confidential operative in the Ten Thousand Worlds whose client, the aristocratic dilettante Diomedo Obron, intends to become a powerful thaumaturge in the new era. Kaslo, by contrast, is a poor fit for the dawning age as his practical competence does not translate to a talent for magic but he nonetheless attempts to salvage what he can and fight back against interplanar threats. After this serial was collected as A Wizard's Henchman in 2016, Hughes returned to the character in prequel stories set when Kaslo was still "a hard-boiled, Sam-Spade-type private eye."
 * A Wizard's Henchman (2016)
 * "And Then Some" (First published in Asimov's, February 2013, reprinted in Lightspeed, September 2013)
 * "Sleeper" (First published in Lightspeed, November 2013)
 * "His Elbow, Unkissed" (First published in Lightspeed, January 2014)
 * "Phalloon the Illimitable" (First published in Lightspeed, March 2014)
 * "The Ba of Phalloon" (First published in Lightspeed, May 2014)
 * "A Hole in the World" (First published in Lightspeed, July 2014)
 * "Under the Scab" (First published in Lightspeed, September 2014)
 * "Enter Saunterance" (First published in Lightspeed, November 2014)
 * "The Archon" (First published in Lightspeed, January 2015)
 * "A Face of Black Iron" (First published in Lightspeed, March 2015)
 * "The Blood of a Dragon" (First published in Lightspeed, May 2015)
 * "Thunderstone" (First published in Extrasolar, August 2017)
 * "Solicited Discordance" (First published in Asimov’s, January–February 2018)
 * "The Bicolour Spiral" (First published in Pulp Literature, April 2020)

Raffalon
The character of Raffalon, a skilled but seldom lucky thief in the Dying Earth, was created when George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois invited Hughes to submit a story to their anthology Rogues. After writing the first Raffalon story, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings", Hughes realised the potential of the character and went on to write eight more stories about Raffalon's earlier adventures, which he collected in 2017.
 * 9 Tales of Raffalon (2017)
 * "Wearaway and Flambeau" (First published in F&SF, July–August 2012)
 * "Stones and Glass" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2013)
 * "The Inn of the Seven Blessings" (First published in Rogues, June 2014)
 * "Avianca's Bezel" (First published in F&SF, September–October 2014)
 * "Prisoner of Pandarius" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2015)
 * "The Curse of the Myrmelon" (First published in F&SF, July–August 2015)
 * "Telltale" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2016)
 * "The Vindicator" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2016)
 * "Sternutative Sortilage" (Original to this collection, reprinted in F&SF, May–June 2019)

Baldemar
The creation and subsequent development of the Baldemar series is comparable to that of the earlier Raffalon stories. Hughes was invited by Gardner Dozois to submit a story to The Book of Swords: the resulting story, "The Sword of Destiny" introduces Baldemar at the end of his career serving the ambitious but incompetent thaumaturge Thelerion. Subsequent stories have followed Baldemar's life from his streetwise beginnings through the rest of his time as a wizard's henchman.
 * Baldemar (2022)
 * "Ten Half-Pennies" (First published in F&SF, March–April 2017)
 * "The Prognosticant" (First published in F&SF, May–June 2017)
 * "The Sword of Destiny" (First published in The Book of Swords, October 2017)
 * "Jewel of the Heart" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2018)
 * "Argent and Sable" (First published in F&SF, May–June 2018)
 * "The Plot Against Fantucco’s Armor" (First published in F&SF, March–April 2019)
 * "A Geas of the Purple School" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2019)
 * "Air of the Overworld" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2020)
 * "The Glooms" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2020)
 * "The Cat and the Merrythought" (First published in Shapers of Worlds, Volume II, October 2021)

Cascor
Cascor, a former policeman turned private detective who covertly practices magic, was originally a supporting character in Hughes's Raffalon stories.
 * Cascor (2023)
 * "Stones and Glass" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2013)
 * "Prisoner of Pandarius" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2015)
 * "The Curse of the Myrmelon" (First published in F&SF, July–August 2015)
 * "The Vindicator" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2016)
 * "The Forlorn" (First published in F&SF, September–October 2021)
 * "The Mule" (First published in F&SF, March-April 2022)
 * "The Dire Delusion" (First published in F&SF, May-June 2023)
 * "Armady Dizzerant's Avarice" (Original to this collection)
 * "Tome-Tickler" (Original to this collection)
 * "The Touch" (Original to this collection)

Standalone Dying Earth stories
Hughes has to date written three standalone short stories and three novels in the same Dying Earth setting as the Raffalon and Baldemar series.
 * "The Prevaricator" (First published in F&SF, July–August 2018)
 * "The Friends of Masquelayne the Incomparable" (First published in The Book of Magic, October 2018)
 * A God in Chains (2019)
 * "The Last Legend" (First published in F&SF, March–April 2020)
 * The Ghost-Wrangler (2023)
 * A God in Hiding (2023)

To Hell and Back
To Hell and Back is a contemporary fantasy trilogy about mild-mannered actuary and superhero fan Chesney Arnstruther, who causes chaos in the spiritual realm when he accidentally summons a demon and refuses to sell his soul. His actions cause Hell to go on strike but also provide Chesney with an opportunity to live out his comic book fantasies.
 * The Damned Busters (2011)
 * "Hell of a Fix" (an early version of the first three chapters of The Damned Busters, first published in F&SF, December 2009 )
 * Costume Not Included (2012)
 * Hell to Pay (2013)

Demon Princes
Hughes's authorised sequel to Jack Vance's Demon Princes quintilogy, Barbarians of the Beyond, was released by Spatterlight Press. The book was published in the "Paladins of Vance" series, a line dedicating to preserving Vance's legacy by permitting authors to create new stories about new characters in Vance's worlds, avoiding the commodified "Frankensteinian reanimation" of characters Hughes criticised in posthumous continuations of series such those by Robert B. Parker. Hence rather than continuing the story of Vance's protagonist Kirth Gersen, Hughes's novel instead focuses on the new character Morwen Sabine, whose parents were enslaved in the Demon Princes' Mount Pleasant Massacre, as she returns to their much changed homeworld seeking a treasure she could use to buy her parents' freedom. The critic James Nicoll positively received the book as a "worthy companion to Vance's series" which was also accessible to readers who hadn't read the original Vance books. An audiobook narrated by Gabrielle de Cuir was released by Skyboat Media in February 2022.
 * Barbarians of the Beyond (2021)

Standalone novels
Hughes has called his 2019 magic realist historical novel What the Wind Brings his "magnum opus". It was inspired by a footnote Hughes read in a university textbook in 1971, which described how African slaves shipwrecked on the coast of Ecuador in the mid 16th century created a mixed society with the indigenous peoples and successfully "outfought and out-thought" the conquistadors to gain their independence. Hughes was unable to pursue the idea at the time due to the lack of English-language scholarship but forty years later a Canada Council grant and the increased attention to this passage of history in North America enabled him to complete the book, which received critical acclaim and won the 2020 Endeavour Award.

The 2022 novel Ghost Dreams is a contemporary fantasy story about a commercial burglar who helps the ghost of a woman who died wrongfully confined in an asylum in the 1940s to discover what happened to the child taken from her.
 * What the Wind Brings (2019; Endeavour Award winner, 2020)
 * The Emir's Falcon (2022; Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence nominee, 2023)
 * Ghost Dreams (2022)
 * Modie (2023)

Collections
Stories set in the Archonate are marked with a *:
 * The Gist Hunter and Other Stories (2005)
 * "Mastermindless"* (First published in F&SF, March 2004)
 * "Relics of the Thim"* (First published in F&SF, August 2004)
 * "Falberoth's Ruin"* (First published in F&SF, September 2004)
 * "Finding Sajessarian"* (First published in F&SF, April 2005)
 * "The Gist Hunter"* (First published in F&SF, June 2005)
 * "Thwarting Jabbi Gloond"* (First published in F&SF, August 2005)
 * "A Little Learning"* (First published in Fantasy Readers Wanted — Apply Within, October 2003, reprinted in F&SF June 2004)
 * "Inner Huff"* (First published in F&SF, February 2005)
 * "Help Wonted"* (Original to the collection, reprinted in F&SF October–November 2005)
 * "Shadow Man" (Original to the collection, reprinted in F&SF January 2006)
 * "The Devil You Don't" (First published in Asimov's, March 2005)
 * "Go Tell the Phoenicians" (First published in Interzone, #198 May–June 2005)
 * "Bearing Up" (First published in Takes, 1996)
 * "From the Discourses and Edifications of Liw Osfeo"* (Excerpt and variant of the Liw Osfeo sections from Fools Errant, original to the limited edition of this collection)
 * Devil or Angel & Other Stories (2015)
 * "Devil or Angel" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2013)
 * "Petri Parousia" (First published in F&SF, February 2008)
 * "The Devil You Don't" (First published in Asimov's, March 2005)
 * "Not a Problem" (First published in Welcome to the Greenhouse, February 2011)
 * "Grolion of Almery" (First published in Songs of the Dying Earth, July 2009)
 * "Timmy, Come Home" (First published in Is Anybody Out There?, June 2010)
 * "Go Tell the Phoenicians" (First published in Interzone, #198 May–June 2005)
 * "The Hat Thing" (First published in Asimov's, September 2004)
 * "Hell of a Fix" (First published in F&SF, December 2009)
 * "Hunchster" (First published in F&SF, August–September 2009)
 * "The Ugly Duckling" (First published in Old Mars, October 2013)
 * "Shadow Man" (First published in The Gist Hunter and Other Stories, August 2005, reprinted in F&SF January 2006)
 * "Widow's Mite" (First published in MinusTides Magazine, 1997)
 * "From the Discourses and Edifications of Liw Osfeo"* (Excerpt and variant of the Liw Osfeo sections from Fools Errant, original to the limited edition of The Gist Hunter and Other Stories, August 2005)
 * "So Loved" (First published in The New and Perfect Man: Postscripts 24/25, March 2011)
 * "Ant Lion" (Original to this collection, to be reprinted in Trees, 2022)
 * Mixed Bag (2022)
 * "The Friends of Masquelayne the Incomparable"* (First published in The Book of Magic, October 2018)
 * "The Gift of Gabby" (First published in Welcome to Pacific City, December 2018)
 * "Thunderstone"* (First published in Extrasolar, August 2017)
 * "Mean Mr. Mustard" (First published in Storyteller, Winter 2003)
 * "Loser" (First published in Welcome to Dystopia, December 2017)
 * "Greeves and the Evening Star" (First published in Old Venus, March 2015 )
 * "The Prevaricator"* (First published in F&SF, July–August 2018)
 * "Hapthorn’s Last Case"* (First published in Lightspeed Magazine, November 2018)
 * "The Bicolour Spiral"* (First published in Pulp Literature, April 2020)
 * "Arboghasz Dal Axander Rides Again"* (First published in Mixed Bag, July 2022)
 * "Awakening" (Original to this collection)

Uncollected short fiction

 * "Shadow Forest" (To be published in Pulp Literature, Summer 2024)
 * "What's in a Name?" (To be published in Fantasy Magazine, August 2024)

Crime novels (as by Matt Hughes)

 * Paroxysm (2013)
 * One More Kill (2018)

Sid Rafferty

 * Downshift (1997)
 * Old Growth (2013)

Crime short fiction

 * "Fishface and the Leg" (First published in Western Producer Magazine (1983); reprinted in Storyteller (1998) and Pulp Literature, January 2017)
 * "Something to Sell" (First published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July 1998)
 * "Number Crunch" (First published in Blue Murder Magazine, 1999)
 * "One More Kill" (First published in Blue Murder Magazine, 1999; reprinted in Storyteller (2001), Alibis 9 (2004), Son and Foe (2006), Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story winner, 1999 )
 * "Stepping Stones" (First published in Blue Murder Magazine, 2000)
 * "Wipe Out" (First published in Blue Murder Magazine, 2000; reprinted in Iced: The New Noir Anthology of Cold, Hard Fiction (2001))
 * "Mean Mr. Mustard" (First published in Storyteller, Winter 2003)
 * "Muscle" (First published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September 2004)

Tie-in fiction (as by Hugh Matthews)

 * Wolverine: Lifeblood (2007, reprinted in the Weapon X omnibus, 2020)
 * Pathfinder Tales Web Fiction: "Krunzle the Quick" (2012)
 * Pathfinder Tales: Song of the Serpent (2012)

Nonfiction (Ghostwritten)

 * Breaking Trail: The Memoirs of Senator Leonard Marchand (2000)
 * What's All This Got To Do With The Price of 2x4s? (2006)

title: Matt Hughes (writer)


text:
Wikipedia talk:Writing contests

see also Wikipedia talk:Contests

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

title: Wikipedia talk:Writing contests


text:
Talk:Milanese dialect

Untitled
Hello Jorgengb, thanks for contributing to this article. Now that I know there's someone watching for mistakes, I have expanded the article a little with a comparison between Italian and Milanese, which I was reluctant to add before because of the errors and approximations it certainly contains. I hope you find the time to keep working on this article. For now, I would like to ask you if you know the English terms (assuming they exist) for "a word stressed on the ultima" (parola tronca in Italian) and "a word stressed on the penultima" (parola piana). Please feel free to substitute these in the article if you do.

>>>Hello! here is the answer to your question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytone --Jorgengb 02:49, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

>>>>Thanks! I'd actually heard those terms before, but they'd definitely vanished into the fog of high-school-oblivium ;-) LjL 13:04, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Also please change the introductory paragraph of the comparison if you can think of a better wording; however, if you (or anybody else) really find the comparison itself too questionable to be included, as I hinted to, I would be grateful if you'd first discuss the matter here.

LjL 13:07, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

OK, I'll try to have a look at the different issues. Maybe we should add something about the Cherubini orthography and the one adopted in the best Milanese grammar published so far, Grammatica Milanese by F. Nicoli. The proposed unified Lombard orthography (Bollettino Storico Alta Valtellina 6/2003) could of course be used also for Milanese, but the strong literary tradition in this variety makes it little plausible

 * I must leave that to you. The only sources I have available are the Vallardi pocket dictionary (1997) and the Arrighi second edition dictionary (1896), which both employ the Carlo Porta orthography. For writing Milanese words on Wikipedia, personally I'd stick to Porta, although using some sort of unified orthography for all Lombard dialects would certainly have its merits.
 * LjL 14:52, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately I'll have to wait till I have more time. One thing is to have ideas about what could be done, another thing is to find the time to put those ideas into practice... :-(
 * Vallardi pocket dictionary? It must be the one by Claudio Beretta. The other dictionary, the little blue one by Cletto Arrighi is the second best Milanese dictionary, the "bible" being the one by F. Cherubini.--Jorgengb 23:20, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes, correct (except my Arrighi is red, but it's a reprint anyway). Unfortunately, while being way more extensive than the Vallardi (which is not too bad for its size, anyway), it's a bit, well, dated. I haven't been able to find the Cherubini in libraries, and in any case, I'm afraid it's a bit too much on the expensive side :-(
 * LjL 01:18, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"Subject pronouns are doubled in the 2nd and 3rd persons singular. Singular "you are" (Italian tu sei) becomes ti te seet in Milanese; here the first ti is the actual subject pronoun (which is optional), while the second te, normally a dative pronoun, is used to reinforce the subject and is compulsory. -- actually also the final -t (ti te cante-t) is the "te" pronoun (for the 3rd time!). Compare with the varieties of Upper Valtellina (Bormio/Bórm, Livigno/Livígn, etc.) where the ending is -sc, which has evolved from Latin -s, and there is no suffixed pronoun.--Jorgengb 02:45, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Aha, me I didn't myself know of this one. Does't it, Milanese, itself qualify as the language with the most pronouns/verb ever spoken? One would himself certainly think for him that it would be so :-D

 * Not just Milanese, but most Western Lombard varieties. Yes, the -t is again a pronoun (compare Latin: cant-as; French: (tu) chant-es, etc., where there is a -s since the pronoun is not repeated). There are other languages where the pronoun is repeated.--Jorgengb 23:20, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

What do you think of the way I changed the "dialect" thing?
 * Much better, as you can see I've already been editing and refining it.--Jorgengb 00:11, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If it's OK, I'll copy it to the Italian article as well (I'd have some hard time, though, translating it to the Swedish article ;-) LjL 13:51, 28 May 2005 (UTC)
 * My suggestion is to keep the English version as the "original", and to update/translate the others accordingly. Concerning the Swedish article, well, I could write it in Norwegian, not in Swedish. My competence of Swedish is mainly passive.--Jorgengb 00:11, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Anyway, there is still a point I'm not quite satisfied with. As I have already mentioned, Lombard is classified as a language branch in its own right (and distinct from Italian) by leading and serious organizations as the Unesco [Red Book] and Ethnologue/SIL. We have also seen that in Italian-speaking areas it is a quite common misunderstanding to consider Lombard as an Italian dialect/dialect of Italian. If the text "see also: Italian dialects" is kept, to the average reader it could be suggestive of the (incorrect) idea that "Lombard is an Italian dialect" (i.e. a dialect of Italian), which should be avoided.--Jorgengb 00:11, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * What you've done (i.e. redirecting "Dialects of Italy" instead of using "Italian dialects" directly) is probably the soundest solution, I think.
 * I'll point out, however, that I don't see such great problems in using the term "Italian dialects" a bit generically: after all, it's intrinsecally an ambiguous term - grammatically, it could either mean "dialects of Italian" or "dialects of the Italians". When the ambiguity is not a big concern (such as when the ambiguity has been clarified somewhere else), I don't think that the use of this most natural term should be refrained from. When one is going to be specific, they can use the terms "dialects of Italy" and "dialects of Italian" (not simply "Italian dialects"), don't you think?
 * I think I'll edit the article "Italian dialects" accordingly.
 * LjL 14:16, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * I believe that to make the article "Italian dialects" a disambiguator is the best solution. In this way we provide information in a structured manner, and help the reader make her/his mind clearer about what he/she is looking for. "Ok, you want to know something more about Italian dialects. But what are you actually looking for?". This solution does not make it more difficult for anyone to find information. The linguist looking for information about the dialects of Italian will probably search directly for "dialects of Italian". The linguist looking for information about non-Italian Romance varieties spoken in Italy will probably go directly to "Dialects of Italy". And, maybe, most non-specialists will probably go to "Italian dialects" and then from there jump to the topic they are looking for. Ater all, it is just a matter of one more mouse click...--Jorgengb 22:45, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Yes, it's definitely much clearer this way. When I said that you moved "Italian dialects" to "dialects of Italy", I was only referring to the link on the "Milanese" article (where it is certainly best to have a link to the latter rather than the former). Aside from "Milanese", keeping "Italian dialects" but making it a disambig is a very reasonable thing to do.
 * OK, please go ahead and fix it accordigly :-) --Jorgengb 13:04, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * The "faster typist than me" thing on Talk:Lombard actually referred to "I'll edit the article accordingly" -- after I was finished with the talk page, the edit was already done ;-)
 * I thought it was what you meant, I just wanted to be sure ;-)--Jorgengb 13:04, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * LjL 01:18, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Maybe we should change "SIL code" to "ISO 639-3". Cf. http://www.ethnologue.com/codes/ --Jorgengb 00:11, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

IPA, People, Come on
I was browsing this out of curiosity (I am just starting to learn standard Italian), and I really don't know what the phonemes /ö/ and /ü/ are supposed to represent. Are they as in German (which I'm not familiar with)? For readability, it would be best to use the standardized International Phonetic Alphabet symbols most professional linguists use for phonetic transcription rather than some ad hoc scheme.--NeantHumain 05:37, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Minga and no
Reading this article on the Wikipedia and being myself a Milanese native speaker (but I never studied gramatics, since there is no official status for this language), I've noticed that the original author affirmed that there is no rule for using minga rather than no and using one or another is a matter of personal taste. By telling the truth, there is a rule, even if it is not always respected, so I decided to edit that part of the article. I hope that nobody gets offended and any correction of my clumpy English is welcome. --Robwaha 13:25, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Let's try to guess how many vowels Italian has got
There is some edit conflict about the exact number of the mysterious vowels of standard Italian. Seven, five or twenty? I am italian and I pretend to know that my vowels are only five. It doesn't matter how many tones you can form from them, with open or close accent, they still are only five: A E I O U. Medende (talk) 13:19, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

 * "Tones"? What nonsense is that? A vowel is a sound, not a letter, so "A E I O U" aren't vowels per se. Standard Italian has seven distinct vowels, /a/ /e/ /ɛ/ /o/ /ɔ/ /i/ /u/, as browsing any dictionary that comes with IPA would show you. "Close or open accents" (which are actually called the acute accent and the grave accent) are, also, just a convention in ortography, and have nothing to do with the actual number of vowel sounds in the language.
 * See also Help:IPA for Italian and, of course, Italian phonology. LjL (talk) 09:45, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Milanese dialect


text:
Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format

The Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF) by Adobe is a file format for storing bitmap fonts. The content takes the form of a text file intended to be human- and computer-readable. BDF is typically used in Unix X Window environments. It has largely been replaced by the PCF font format which is somewhat more efficient, and by scalable fonts such as OpenType and TrueType fonts.

Overview
In 1988, the X Consortium adopted BDF 2.1 as a standard for X Window screen fonts, but X Windows has largely moved to other font standards such as PCF, Opentype, and Truetype.

Version 2.2 added support for non-Western writing. For example, glyphs in a BDF 2.2 font definition can specify rendering from top-to-bottom rather than simply left-to-right.

A BDF font file contains three sections:
 * 1) a global section that applies to all glyphs in a font;
 * 2) a section with a separate entry for each glyph; and
 * 3) the ENDFONT statement.

Example
This is an example font containing one glyph, for ASCII capital “A”. This glyph is taken from the GNU Unifont.

STARTFONT 2.1 FONT -gnu-unifont-medium-r-normal--16-160-75-75-c-80-iso10646-1 SIZE 16 75 75 FONTBOUNDINGBOX 16 16 0 -2 STARTPROPERTIES 2 FONT_ASCENT 14 FONT_DESCENT 2 ENDPROPERTIES CHARS 1 STARTCHAR U+0041 ENCODING 65 SWIDTH 500 0 DWIDTH 8 0 BBX 8 16 0 -2 BITMAP 00 00 00 00 18 24 24 42 42 7E 42 42 42 42 00 00 ENDCHAR ENDFONT

In the above example, the global declarations begin with the STARTFONT line and end with the CHARS line.

STARTFONT 2.1 defines the version of this BDF file as version 2.1.

FONT -gnu-unifont-medium-r-normal--16-160-75-75-c-80-iso10646-1 defines the font family and face names as an X logical font description.

SIZE 16 75 75 defines this to be a 16 point font, with an X-axis resolution of 75 dots per inch (dpi) and a Y-axis resolution of 75 dpi. This is the norm under X Window.

FONTBOUNDINGBOX 16 16 0 -2 defines a bounding box for the font of 16 pixels wide by 16 pixels high, with the lower left-hand corner starting at $x = 0$ and $y = -2$. Note that although the bounding box is defined to be a 16 by 16 cell, this can be overridden for individual glyphs. The “A” glyph, for example, is only 8 pixels wide.

STARTPROPERTIES 2 declares that two special properties will follow. STARTPROPERTIES is optional in the BDF specification. X Window allows the properties FONT_ASCENT and FONT_DESCENT to show the height above and below the baseline, respectively, for all glyphs. FONT_ASCENT 14 declares that 14 of the 16 pixels in height are above the baseline. FONT_DESCENT 2 declares that 2 of the 16 pixels in height are below the baseline. ENDPROPERTIES appears at the end of the STARTPROPERTIES section.

CHARS 1 declares that one character will follow. Although Adobe now refers to this file format as the Glyph BDF, they have retained the keyword CHARS in the final version of the specification.

Lines beginning with the word COMMENT can be inserted within a BDF file. Anything following the COMMENT keyword on a line is ignored.

Following the above global declarations, the following entries may repeat for each glyph.

STARTCHAR U+0041 specifies the start of a character in version 2.1 and earlier, or of a glyph in version 2.2. The string name of this particular character is U+0041, expressing in the Unicode convention the code point hexadecimal 41 (decimal 65, the ASCII character “A”). In version 2.1 and earlier, the character name string was limited to 14 characters. In version 2.2, the glyph name string can contain up to 65,535 characters.

ENCODING 65 declares the decimal code point for this glyph in the font.

SWIDTH 500 0 declares the scalable width of 500 on the X-axis and 0 (by default) on the Y-axis. This will result in an X-axis offset to the next glyph, but no Y-axis offset to the next glyph (i.e., the glyphs appear straight across in a line). The scalable width is 1000 times the actual point size of the character—the same unit used in an Adobe Font Metric (AFM) file. The number of pixels calculated as $Pixels = Scalable Width⁄1000 * Resolution⁄72$, where $Scalable Width$ is 500 in this example, and resolution is 75 dpi for this font. Because 75 is approximately equal to 72, the number of pixels is the full width of a glyph (defined globally as 16 pixels) times $500⁄1000$, or in other words the width of this glyph is 8 pixels.

DWIDTH 8 0 declares the device width of a glyph. In this case, after the glyph is rendered, the start of the next glyph is offset 8 pixels on the X-axis and 0 pixels on the Y-axis from the current glyph origin. Note that the device width is not necessarily equal to the width of the glyph. It is simply the offset on the X-axis to move the current point to the start of the next glyph.

The scalable width is used to calculate the width of a high-resolution glyph on a printer, whereas the device width is used to calculate the width of a glyph on a display device. Thus the scalable width is specified to greater precision than the device width.

BBX 8 16 0 -2 declares a bounding box that is 8 pixels wide and 16 pixels tall. The lower left-hand corner of the character is offset by 0 pixels on the X-axis and -2 pixels on the Y-axis.

BITMAP begins the bitmap for the current glyph. This line must be followed by one line per pixel on the Y-axis. In this example the glyph is 16 pixels tall, so 16 lines follow. Each line contains the hexadecimal representation of pixels in a row. A “1” bit indicates a rendered pixel. Each line is rounded to an 8 bit (one byte) boundary, padded with zeroes on the right. In this example, the glyph is exactly 8 pixels wide, and so occupies exactly 8 bits (one byte) per line so that there is no padding. The most significant bit of a line of raster data represents the leftmost pixel.

ENDCHAR ends the current glyph.

The declarations STARTCHAR through ENDCHAR are repeated for each glyph in a font.

ENDFONT appears as the last line in the file, after all glyphs in the font have been enumerated.

Version 2.2 Extensions
Version 2.2 of the BDF specification adds support for non-Western fonts. These additions allow moving the origin by a positive or negative movement on the X and Y axes. This not only accommodates right-to-left writing direction, but even top-to-bottom (for example, for Chinese). The following values provide multinational-font support:

METRICSET is set to 0 for writing direction 0, 1 for writing direction 1, or 2 (in the initial global area) for both writing directions within the same font. Traditional Western left-to-right scripts use METRICSET 0.

SWIDTH1 and DWIDTH1 have the same parameters as SWIDTH and DWIDTH, respectively. DWIDTH1 must be present for a METRICSET 1 glyph. Its offsets can be positive or negative.

VVECTOR defines an X-axis offset and a Y-axis offset to transition from a mode 0 glyph to a mode 1 glyph. An opposite offset is applied during a mode 1 to mode 0 glyph transition.

This scheme easily accommodates two writing directions. Historically, fonts had 128 or 256 code points. Today, Unicode allows for over one million code points. Fonts can conceivably contain thousands of glyphs, some of which should be written left-to-right, some right-to-left, and some top-to-bottom. Such multi-directional writing requires creative use of DWIDTH1 and SWIDTH1 for each glyph.

In addition to keywords added for international support, version 2.2 adds the CONTENTVERSION declaration. This keyword is followed by an integer to indicate the version number of the font.

For more detailed information, consult the version 2.2 specification.

X Window Properties
X Window font utilities support several properties that can be specified in the STARTPROPERTIES section of a BDF file. A generic BDF file is in ASCII encoding. X Window properties are specified using ISO 8859-1 encoding, which is an extension of ASCII. These properties include:
 * CAP_HEIGHT (integer) The height above the baseline of a capital letter (See Cap height).
 * COPYRIGHT (string) A copyright statement.
 * DEFAULT_CHAR (unsigned integer) The default character (glyph) to display for an undefined glyph.
 * FACE_NAME (string ) The name of the face for this font.
 * FONT (string) The X Window name of the font.
 * FONT_ASCENT (integer) The height above the baseline, for line spacing calculation.
 * FONT_DESCENT (integer) The descender below the baseline, for line spacing calculation.
 * FONT_VERSION (string) The version of the font.
 * FOUNDRY (string) The name of the foundry.
 * FAMILY_NAME (string) The font family name.
 * NOTICE (string) A general comment.
 * POINT_SIZE (integer) See Point (typography). If it is not separately specified, EMspace = round(POINT_SIZE/10), ENspace = round(POINT_SIZE/20), and THINspace = round(POINT_SIZE/30).
 * RESOLUTION_X (unsigned integer)
 * RESOLUTION_Y (unsigned integer)
 * SLANT (string) “R” is roman, “I” is italic, “O” is oblique, “RI” is reverse italic, “RO” is reverse oblique, “OT” is other, and a number indicates polymorphic slant capability.
 * WEIGHT_NAME (string) The weight of this font (“Bold” and “Normal” are typical, though there is no set enumeration).
 * X_HEIGHT (integer) The height above the baseline of a lower-case “x” (See x-height).

title: Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format


text:
Celebration (musical)

Celebration is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt. The musical fable, employing a nearly bare stage, explores the contrasts between youth and old age, innocence and jaded corruption, love and ambition, and poverty and wealth.

It was presented on Broadway in 1969 and was not a financial success. Although the critics found the show interesting, it did not develop a broad following among audiences. The show has been revived occasionally.

Background and production
Jones and Schmidt's previous work included the long-running Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks and the more-mainstream Broadway musicals 110 in the Shade and I Do! I Do!.

Celebration is an avant-garde fable played on a set consisting of bare platforms, masks serving as the primary costumes, and a score played by a nine-piece band instead of a full-sized theater orchestra. There are four main roles (a narrator, a young woman (Angel), a young man (Orphan) and a wealthy old man (Rich)) and a chorus, the Revelers, who play various roles. "At the musical's core is the struggle between youth and old age, innocence and corruption, love and ambition, and poverty and wealth, as Angel tries to decide if she would be better served by her feelings for Orphan or Rich's willingness to fulfill her every dream."

Celebration opened on Broadway on January 22, 1969 at the Ambassador Theatre, and closed on April 26, 1969 after 109 performances and thirteen previews. Directed by Jones and choreographed by Vernon Lusby, the cast featured Ted Thurston as Rich, Susan Watson as Angel and Keith Charles as Potemkin, with Michael Glenn-Smith as Orphan. Ed Wittstein designed the scenic design, costumes and lighting.

Celebration has occasionally been presented in university and community productions since then and was produced in 1997 at the Ritz Theatre in Oaklyn, New Jersey. The show was produced at the 14th Street Theatre in New York in 2007–2008. Jones revised the ending of the show for a 2016 production at New Line Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri.

Synopsis
The narrator, Potemkin, a Loki-like character, explains that if the world is on the brink of destruction, he wants to "seize the day" and celebrate being alive ("Celebration"). The masked Revelers join Potemkin in a primitive ceremonial dance, while Potemkin encourages the audience to participate. He describes the scene as a cold New Year's Eve. An innocent young man, Orphan, is an idealist trying to survive the cold and his tough world ("Orphan In The Storm"), but the Revelers taunt him. Potemkin, disguised as a tramp, befriends Orphan, who relates that his orphanage was purchased and eventually destroyed by a Mr. Rich. Orphan wants to find Rich to persuade him to restore the garden at the orphanage. Potemkin offers to be Orphan's guide and demonstrates how to cheat, steal, bow and scrape ("Survive").
 * Act I

Orphan and Potemkin enter the dwelling of Edgar Allen Rich, a wealthy old man. There, they see Angel, a beautiful girl with wings and halo, who does a flexible striptease down to sparkling pasties on her breasts and red panties, surprising Orphan and Potemkin, and ends up in Orphan's arms. Angel is the featured entertainer for the coming New Year's Eve party. She longs to be "Somebody" and rushes off to perform. Jaded Mr. Rich is the guest of honor. He eats lavishly while complaining about the food, his health, and his ennui ("Bored").

Orphan has a piece of stained-glass, the eye of God, from the orphanage chapel window. Mr. Rich demands that Orphan leave, but Potemkin negotiates a deal: If Orphan can make the old man feel alive again, Mr. Rich will restore the orphanage ("My Garden"). Angel and the Revelers join the singing, and Mr. Rich forgets himself and begins to conduct the group. His is finally moved to tears: he can feel emotion again. Mr. Rich describes his life story, beginning as a penniless young man and eventually becoming a successful businessman, manufacturing products that replace real things with artificial ones such as wax fruit, glass eyes, paper flowers and falsies. His retelling, however, adds to his despair ("Where Did It Go?"). Orphan, an optimist, urges the old man to see the beauty in life. Potemkin has an idea: since Orphan reminds Mr. Rich of his younger self, Orphan will portray a youthful Mr. Rich and pretend to fall in love with Angel by singing a romantic ballad. Angel is unsure about this plan; she is not a romantic, but she is willing to give it a chance ("Love Song").

The scene gradually turns from cold and bleak to green and summerlike, as Potemkin acts as ring master and increases the pace of the revelry. Mr. Rich and Orphan seem to blend together, and Angel finds herself torn between the two. Potemkin oversees the holiday pageant as midnight approaches and he gives a note to Orphan. Overjoyed, Orphan goes to meet Angel in the garden ("To The Garden"). In the garden, Angel looks stunning in gems and furs; Orphan is also struck by the beauty of the garden ("I'm Glad to See You've Got What You Want"). The partiers arrive, and Mr. Rich expresses his joy, dancing wildly with Angel ("It's You Who Makes Me Young"). But he soon argues with Orphan about who owns the property, and orders the garden destroyed. Potemkin refuses to help Orphan ("Not My Problem"). Orphan halts the machines that are about to destroy the garden by holding up his glass amulet ("Fifty Million Years Ago"). He says that he is an intermediary between the past and the future as he defies Mr. Rich.
 * Act II

Attendants and beauticians prepare Mr. Rich for the midnight New Year's party, making him look young. He narcissistically looks into a mirror and sees Orphan's face in his reflection. He is overjoyed at his youthful "transformation" ("The Beautician Ballet"). Just before midnight, the champagne is flowing, and Potemkin is costumed as Father Time. Belly dancers, masks and noise-makers all add to the carnival atmosphere. Angel is dressed as Eve ("Under The Tree"). She focuses on Mr. Rich with her seductive dance, but dances with Orphan in a unicorn mask. When Orphan removes the mask, Mr. Rich realizes that he has been tricked. The Revelers act out the conflict between age and youth in a stylized scene, portraying Mr. Rich as winter and Orphan as summer. Each claims Angel her for himself ("Winter and Summer"). Potemkin, as Father Time, calls out the hours, one by one, as Mr. Rich ages and collapses at the stroke of twelve.

Everyone is unmasked and must confront reality. Orphan sees that the garden is destroyed; Angel knows that she will never be a star. Potemkin blesses Angel and Orphan with a prayer for their survival; they walk to the world outside ("Celebration" (Reprise)).

Song list

 * Act I
 * "Celebration" – Potemkin and Revelers
 * "Orphan in the Storm" – Orphan and Revelers
 * "Survive" – Potemkin and Revelers
 * "Somebody" – Angel and Hittites
 * "Bored" – Rich
 * "My Garden" – Orphan and Revelers
 * "Where Did It Go?" – Rich and Sycophants
 * "Love Song" – Angel, Potemkin, Rich, Orphan and Revelers
 * "To the Garden" – Company

 * Act II
 * "I'm Glad to See You've Got What You Want" – Angel and Orphan
 * "It's You Who Makes Me Young" – Rich and Revelers
 * "Not My Problem" – Potemkin and Machines
 * "Fifty Million Years Ago" – Orphan
 * "Beautician Ballet" – Rich and Revelers
 * "Saturnalia" – Potemkin and Revelers
 * "Under the Tree" – Angel and Animals
 * "Winter and Summer" – Company
 * "Celebration" (reprise) – Company

Critical reception
According to Otis Guernsey Jr., "Celebration lyrics are strongly poetic. It suffers its moments of cynicism and despair, even of ugliness, but its theme of regeneration always finds the upbeat. Vernon Lusby's choreography illustrated each sardonic turn of the fable, and the design was a visual marvel of symbolic scenery, costumes and gargoyle masks by Ed Wittstein. ... Celebration struggled forward in an effort to find its audience. It was urged on by the enthusiasm of a few major critics and joyful members of the public who half-filled its auditorium."

Thomas Hischak wrote that it was "an allegorical piece" "performed as an ancient ritual." He further noted that "The score was eerie yet accessible. ... The critics were somewhat fascinated and complimentary. ... Many felt Celebration belonged Off Broadway."

title: Celebration (musical)


text:
Robert S. Kerr

Robert Samuel Kerr (September 11, 1896 – January 1, 1963) was an American businessman and politician from Oklahoma. Kerr formed a petroleum company before turning to politics. He served as the 12th governor of Oklahoma from 1943 to 1947 and was elected three times to the United States Senate. Kerr worked natural resources, and his legacy includes water projects that link the Arkansas River via the Gulf of Mexico. He was the first Oklahoma governor born in the territory of the state.

Early life

Kerr was born in a log cabin in Pontotoc County — near what is now Ada — in Indian Territory, the son of William Samuel Kerr, a farmer, clerk, and politician, and Margaret Eloda Wright. Kerr's upbringing as a Southern Baptist had a profound influence on his life. Not only did his religious beliefs lead him to teach Sunday school and to shun alcohol throughout his adulthood, it also aided his political aspirations in a conservative state where Baptists were the single largest denomination. He enrolled at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee as a junior in high school. He later attended and graduated from East Central Normal School in Ada. He briefly studied law at the University of Oklahoma until poverty forced him to drop out in 1916. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Kerr was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army. He never saw combat, but he used his active involvement in the Oklahoma National Guard and the American Legion to forward his business and political careers. He then returned to study law under an Ada judge. Kerr passed the bar exam in 1922, but a business failure the previous year had left him deeply in debt. In 1924, his wife of more than four years, Reba Shelton, died in childbirth, along with his twin daughters. The next year he married Grayce Breene, the youngest daughter of a wealthy Tulsa family. They had four children.

Kerr used his new family connections to enter the oil business with his brother-in-law, James L. Anderson, as his partner. By 1929 the Anderson-Kerr Drilling Company had become so prosperous that Kerr abandoned his law practice to focus on oil. Anderson retired in 1936, and Dean A. McGee, former chief geologist for Phillips Petroleum, joined the firm, which changed its name in 1946 to Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Incorporated. Kerr-McGee diversified into global drilling for petroleum and processed other fuels and minerals, including uranium and helium.

Political career
Kerr's growing wealth and business ties made him a power in state Democratic politics during the 1930s. He worked to raise funds for both Governors E.W. Marland and Leon C. Phillips. In 1940, he was elected as Democratic national committeeman for Oklahoma. Two years later he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor, campaigning as a supporter both of the New Deal and of a vigorous American role in World War II. Oklahoma's Democrats were divided over US President Franklin Roosevelt's policies, leading to a bitter campaign. Kerr narrowly won the primary and went on to win by a small margin in the general election. He was the first native-born governor.

Kerr's four-year term as governor served as a turning point for Oklahoma's politics and economy. For the first time in the state's history, executive-legislative relations remained cordial, largely due to Kerr's patient leadership. When not cultivating legislators, the governor prepared his state to weather postwar economic storms. Kerr traveled more than 400,000 miles to sell Oklahoma's products and potential throughout the nation. Not coincidentally, Kerr's boosterism also promoted his own political fortunes. In 1944 he was chosen to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, where he played a back-room role in the selection of Harry S. Truman as vice president. During World War II, despite the tendency of Oklahomans to keep the federal government at arm's length, Kerr promoted ties to the government, knowing how important the jobs and activity were to create prosperity. Oklahoma became home to many wartime industries and was a training site for military personnel. After the war, he called for increased spending to allow for post-war development of the state. Kerr traveled around the country to promote Oklahoma at his own expense.

Kerr was among 12 nominated at the 1944 Democratic National Convention to serve as Roosevelt's running mate in the presidential election that year. He used his success as governor to catapult himself into the U.S. Senate in 1948. Although Kerr had national ambitions, he always put what he considered to be the interests of his state first. Unlike many of his peers he generally neglected headline-grabbing issues, including anticommunism, foreign affairs, and civil rights (although Kerr did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution), in favor of more mundane topics such as oil policies and public works. He believed Oklahomans would benefit most, and support him strongly, if he concentrated on concrete economic matters.

In a closely-contested race, Kerr became the first Oklahoma governor elected to the Senate. He had Presidential aspirations briefly in 1952, but he failed to win the Democratic nomination. Instead he devoted his energies to building his Senate career.

Kerr's activism on natural gas regulation quickly won him a reputation among his colleagues for being a staunch defender of his region and its special interests, including his own petroleum company. His personality reinforced these first impressions. Kerr's colleagues widely considered him a brilliant debater who overwhelmed his opponents with his passion and his mastery of policy detail.

Following the 1952 disappointment, Kerr abandoned all hopes of becoming a presidential candidate and threw himself completely into his legislative work. He built alliances with the powerful southern and western Democrats who dominated the Senate, including Richard Russell of Georgia and Lyndon Johnson of Texas. On these friends he relied heavily. He also relied on careful committee preparation to pursue regional economic development.

The Arkansas River Navigation System (better known as the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System) became Kerr's defining goal through his three terms in the Senate. This $1.2 billion federal project, centered in northeastern Oklahoma, fostered more than $3 billion in commercial and industrial development in the Arkansas River basin during the two years after its completion in 1971. A once stagnant portion of Oklahoma quickly emerged as a regional economic hub.

Kerr served, in addition, on several key Senate committees, most notably the Finance and Public Works committees. He chaired the United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences from 1961 to his death, and delivered a keynote speech at the June 1962 dedication of Space Park in California.

As a petroleum executive, Kerr championed petroleum and natural gas interests and advocated for the conservation of natural resources. His father had told him, "To raise a family, you have to have three things – land, wood and water."

The legislative acumen that Kerr displayed, combined with changes in congressional leadership, had the effect of increasing his importance to John F. Kennedy as an ally for programs on Capitol Hill. On issues of common interest, such as space and taxes, Kerr co-operated with Kennedy to guarantee mutual success; but on areas of disagreement, including Medicare, Kerr stymied the president. In January 1963, the Wall Street Journal summarized the relationship with only some exaggeration: "Mr. Kennedy asked; Mr. Kerr decided."

Death
Kerr suffered a fatal heart attack on January 1, 1963. Shortly after he died, an article written by an Associated Press reporter agreed with the title of The Saturday Evening Post tribute. Both called Kerr "The Uncrowned King of the Senate." He was first buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Oklahoma City, but his body was later moved to the Kerr homestead in Ada, Oklahoma.

Legacy
Kerr's chief legacy for the state of Oklahoma is a series of water projects and dams that made the Arkansas River into a navigable inland waterway system. During his term as governor, Kerr witnessed the devastation caused by flooding of the Arkansas River and its tributaries due to the river's shallowness, which prevented river traffic from reaching Oklahoma. His first bill in Congress created the Arkansas, White and Red River Study Commission, which planned the land and water development in this region. He died before he saw the commission's work come to fruition as the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, a series of 18 locks and dams making the waterway navigable from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa to the Mississippi River.

Dozens of Oklahoma schools, buildings, roads, streets, parks, organizations, and events are named in Kerr's honor. Most notable is a portion of 2nd Street, between E.K. Gaylord Avenue and Classen Boulevard in downtown Oklahoma City, called Robert S. Kerr Ave. The Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma houses Kerr's papers from his years in the U.S. Senate, his gubernatorial papers and his speeches.

In 1956, Senator Kerr was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Kerr's death contributed to Kennedy's legislative difficulties in 1963, marked the end of the Democratic party's dominance in Oklahoma politics, and signaled the passing of a major figure in the oil industry, but in addition to an estate estimated to be worth at least $35 million, he left a legacy that extended beyond partisan or business affairs. His forceful use of the federal government to spur regional development, an approach shared by contemporaries, including Johnson, helped integrate the South and Southwest into the national economy. The rise of the "Sunbelt" ultimately transformed all aspects of American life. Robert Kerr played a significant role in that transformation.

Children
Robert Kerr's son Bill Kerr was a cofounder and major patron of the National Museum of Wildlife Art overlooking the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming.

title: Robert S. Kerr


text:
Matt Hughes (fighter)

Matthew Allen Hughes (born October 13, 1973) is an American retired mixed martial artist with a background in wrestling. Widely considered among the greatest fighters in the history of MMA, he is a former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame inductee, and NJCAA Hall of Fame inductee. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Hughes put together two six-fight winning streaks defeating all of the available opposition in the welterweight division. In May 2010, Hughes became the eighth inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame.

During his reign, Hughes was considered the #1 pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world. He was also regarded by many analysts and several media outlets as one of the greatest welterweight fighters of all time, as well as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport's history.

A long-time member of Miletich Fighting Systems, Hughes left the Miletich camp in late 2007 to start Team Hughes. In 2008, Hughes published his autobiography, Made in America, which made the New York Times bestseller list. In 2011, Hughes became host of Outdoor Channel's Trophy Hunters TV. Hughes has no nickname, although because of his successes against Gracie Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioners such as Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ricardo Almeida, and Matt Serra, people often refer to him as "the Gracie Killer" (the same as Sakuraba's nickname). His mastery of submissions, and having submission wins over various black belt holders, are the reasons why Joe Rogan thinks he deserved to get a black belt for BJJ. Hughes never liked the idea, however, and considers himself primarily an amateur and submission wrestler.

Early life
Matthew Allen Hughes was born on October 13, 1973, in Hillsboro, Illinois. Hughes has two siblings, a sister and his twin brother, Mark. During high school they both participated in football and wrestling. Hughes went to Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Illinois, before transferring to Lincoln College, in Lincoln, Illinois and then on to Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

Wrestling
Hughes was a two-time 145 lb IHSA Class A state wrestling champion. He won in 1991 and 1992 while attending Hillsboro High School. During his junior and senior years, Matt went undefeated and won back-to-back state championships in the 145 lb class. Over the final three years of high school, he totaled 131 wins against only 2 losses, both during his sophomore year (sophomore 43–2; junior 43–0; senior 45–0).

His college career started at Southwestern Illinois College. Hughes placed fifth in the nation at 158 lb. After Southwestern dropped their wrestling program, Hughes transferred to Lincoln College, where he placed third in the nation, notching a 33–3 record for the Lynx.

After graduation Hughes continued wrestling at Eastern Illinois University, where he was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American placing eighth in 1996 and fifth in 1997 at 158 lb. He finished with an 80–15 record for Eastern Illinois.

Hughes competed in the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, in which he held a record of 2–2, beating Ricardo Almeida and Jeremy Horn, and losing to Jeff Monson and Tito Ortiz.

Early career
Hughes made his mixed martial arts debut on January 1, 1998, at Joe Goytia's JKD Challenge. He slammed his opponent to the ground in just fifteen seconds, winning via KO. The slam became his signature move. He won his next fight via submission due to strikes. Hughes fought three times at Extreme Challenge 21, on October 17, 1998, defeating Victor Hunsaker via TKO and future UFC Middleweight Champion Dave Menne via unanimous decision. In the third fight of that night he lost to then-undefeated Dennis Hallman by technical submission (guillotine choke) at 0:17 of the first round. The result was announced as a KO. In the process, Hallman handed Hughes his first professional defeat.

Ultimate Fighting Championship
Hughes made his promotional debut at UFC 22: There Can Be Only One Champion, on September 24, 1999, defeating Bulgarian Valeri Ignatov via unanimous decision after three rounds.

He returned to the promotion at UFC 26: Ultimate Field of Dreams, where he defeated Marcelo Aguiar via TKO, throwing some elbows which cut Aguiar and forced the doctor to end the match. The stoppage came at 4:34 of the first round.

Hughes faced Dennis Hallman in a rematch at UFC 29: Defense of the Belts. At this point in their careers, Hallman was the only man to have defeated Hughes in MMA competition. Hughes lost the fight via armbar in only twenty seconds. When the bout started, Hughes lifted and brutally slammed Hallman to the mat, but was caught in the submission after landing in side-control.

Welterweight championship
Hughes won his first UFC World Welterweight title at UFC 34: High Voltage on November 2, 2001. In a come-from-behind fight, Hughes was caught in a triangle choke by then-champion Carlos Newton, but he lifted Newton in the air and slammed him to the mat, causing Newton to hit his head and lose consciousness just as Hughes was himself on the verge of blacking out from the choke. After the match Newton stated that he felt the reason Hughes fell to the mat was because he was rendered unconscious from the triangle choke. This was confirmed by Hughes himself upon reviewing the tape of the match Hughes can be heard telling his corner after the fight "I was out". The result was officially announced as a KO at 1:27 of the second round. The slam is considered to be one of the greatest in MMA history.

He successfully defended his championship belt at UFC 36: Worlds Collide, defeating former Shooto Middleweight Champion Hayato Sakurai via TKO due to strikes at 3:01 of the fourth round. In the first round of the fight, Hughes spent all the time either clinching Sakurai up against the fence, or ripping his feet out from under him. In round 2, Sakurai landed a right hand that sent Hughes to the mat; despite this, Matt won the round by spending three minutes hitting Sakurai with elbows from the top position. At the start of the third round, Hughes quickly slammed Sakurai to the ground, again staying three minutes on top. He looked too strong for Sakurai. Hughes finished the bout in the 4th round, by taking down Sakurai and transitioning to full mount. After one minute of ground-and-pound onslaught, the contest was over as Sakurai had no answer for the champion.

Hughes faced Carlos Newton in their rematch at the main event of UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall, in the promotion's debut in the United Kingdom. He won the fight by technical knockout when he trapped Newton in a modified crucifix position, which allowed him to rain unanswered blows on Newton's face until the referee stopped the contest at 3:27 of round 4.

In his next title defense, Hughes fought Gil Castillo at UFC 40: Vendetta, defeating the former Middleweight contender via TKO. Hughes started the match with a big slam and then began to attack from Castillo's guard with elbows and punches. Hughes easily avoided any submission attempts and looked far stronger than Castillo. As he passed to half guard, Castillo was bleeding above his left eye. The challenger's only offense was a weak triangle choke that went nowhere. The round ended with Hughes on top, ground-and-pounding his opponent. Between rounds doctors ruled that the resulting cut was too severe to continue, and Hughes was declared the winner due to stoppage.

At UFC 42: Sudden Impact, Hughes faced future UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk, winning via unanimous decision. Hughes started the action by taking Sherk down immediately, passing to half guard. Sherk was able to stand for a few seconds before Hughes took him down again. In round two, they started to trade punches, but eventually Hughes took Sherk down. Like the first round, they stood up for a moment. At the beginning of the third round, Sherk took Hughes down, while Hughes attempted a kimura from the bottom. A late stand up led to a second takedown by Sherk. Round 4 saw Hughes using his strength to control the challenger on the ground. Sherk took Hughes down again in the fifth round, but the champion controlled the rest of the time sprawl-and-brawling as he finished on top. With the victory, he became the first man to defeat Sherk.

Hughes faced former WFA Welterweight Champion Frank Trigg at the main event of UFC 45: Revolution. This event marked the UFC's 10th anniversary. After a tactical grappling match-up early on, Trigg fell victim to a standing rear naked choke at 3:45 of the first round. The choke earned Hughes the Tapout of the Night Submission Award.

Loss to Penn and regaining the title
Hughes kept the title until UFC 46: Supernatural, when he was submitted by Hawaiian Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist B.J. Penn via rear naked choke at 4:39 of the first round, in a fight he was heavily favored to win. The title was vacated following a contract dispute between Penn and the UFC, which promptly stripped him of the welterweight title, claiming Penn had breached his contract and that the signing constituted him refusing to defend his title. Penn filed suit against UFC and publicized his side of the conflict, claiming his contract had expired. Penn filed a motion to stop UFC from awarding a new welterweight title, but that motion was denied.

Hughes faced Penn's training partner Renato Verissimo at UFC 48: Payback, winning via unanimous decision (30-27; 30–27; 29–28). He was caught in a very tight triangle choke in the first round, but after winning the second and third rounds, was awarded with the victory.

Hughes regained the vacant welterweight title by submitting Canadian contender Georges St-Pierre via armbar in the final second of the first round at UFC 50: The War of '04. The fight was competitive. Hughes took GSP down twice and landed a huge slam. Hughes was in trouble at the beginning of the bout as St-Pierre unloaded a spinning back kick into his ribs. The submission earned Hughes his second Tapout of the Night. Obviously disappointed at the time, St. Pierre admitted afterward that he had lost before he ever stepped into the Octagon. He had regarded Hughes as his idol, not as someone he could beat.

Hughes retained his title against Trigg in their historic rematch at UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2. Accidentally hit in the groin early in the first round, Hughes looked to the referee for assistance; however, the referee had not seen the strike and Trigg capitalized on Hughes's distraction by staggering him with a barrage of punches. The fight quickly went to the ground, with Trigg ground-and-pounding Hughes, then attempting a rear naked choke. After nearly two minutes of struggling, Hughes broke free, picked Trigg up, carried him across the Octagon and slammed him to the ground. Hughes then ground-and-pounded Trigg before securing the victory with a rear naked choke of his own, in what is considered one of the UFC's greatest fights. and comebacks in MMA history This fight is UFC President Dana White's favorite match in combat sport history. He was awarded the Tapout of the Night for the third time in his career.

Hughes's next fight took place at UFC 56: Full Force, where he was scheduled to fight Judo practitioner Karo Parisyan. After Parisyan suffered a hamstring injury and could not fight, Joe Riggs took his place. The match was originally scheduled as a title bout, but since Riggs could not meet the 170-pound weight limit, it became a non-title fight. It marked the first time for the UFC that a title fight had to be called off for this reason.

"I'm not disappointed. It makes me a lot more relaxed to go in there. I don't have pressure of possibly losing my title. I think it's great news for me. I mean the only thing I don't like about it is it's a three-round fight and I've trained for five rounds."

Hughes defeated Riggs in the first round by submission via kimura from the half-guard at 3:28. The armlock earned Hughes his last Tapout of the Night award.

At UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie, on May 27, 2006, Hughes defeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend and UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie in a non-title, catch-weight bout by TKO (strikes) at 4:39 of the first round. Before the stoppage, Gracie was caught in an armlock from the side mount position; although Hughes appeared to have the submission in place, Gracie would not tap out. Hughes stated that he felt his arm pop and realized he would never tap, so instead of breaking his arm, opted to seek a different position. The event drew 620,000 buys, becoming the best-selling pay-per-view in UFC history, and was the first to break the $20 million mark in gross PPV sales.

"It just seemed like I was a step ahead of him. I was really surprised. I was [also] surprised by the strength difference, and especially when I was on the ground with him. Wherever I wanted his hand, I put it there. I really shouldn't be able to do that with somebody as talented as Royce."

Hughes was scheduled to fight Georges St-Pierre in a rematch at UFC 63, but after St-Pierre sustained a severe groin injury, the UFC announced that B.J. Penn would replace him in the title fight. At this point in their careers, Penn was the only mixed martial artist to beat Hughes after March 2001. In fact, it was Hughes's only loss in his last 19 fights. In the bout, Penn controlled the first two rounds, but sustained a rib injury during the scramble to take Hughes's back in round two. He was visibly different in the third round, appearing exhausted and missing punches he was landing earlier. Hughes was able to take Penn to the mat, and in side-control crucifix position rained punches on Penn's head until referee "Big" John McCarthy stopped the fight at 3:53 of the third round. In the process, Hughes became the first man to stop Penn in a fight. Both fighters were awarded the Fight of the Night bonus. In an interview on Penn's personal website, Penn stated that by round three he could hardly breathe and had no "mobility in his core". Despite the injury, Penn congratulated Hughes, calling him a great fighter and saying he deserved the victory.

St-Pierre stepped into the ring to promote his upcoming title fight against Hughes, stating that he was glad that Hughes won his fight, but that he was "not impressed" by Hughes's performance. According to both commentator Joe Rogan and Hughes's own autobiography, Hughes was unhappy with St-Pierre's statement. Hughes said that they "had words" off-camera shortly thereafter. St-Pierre apologized, saying he had misunderstood something Hughes had said on the microphone and did not mean to offend him.

Loss to St-Pierre
On November 18, 2006, at UFC 65: Bad Intentions, Georges St-Pierre defeated Hughes by TKO via strikes at 1:25 of round two, ending Hughes's title reign. In the first round, Hughes sustained two unintentional kicks near the groin; after Hughes went down from the second kick, St-Pierre was given a warning by referee "Big" John McCarthy. However, Hughes stated in the post-fight interview that the second kick mainly affected his legs, rather than his groin. Nearing the end of the first round, St-Pierre landed a Superman punch, which floored Hughes. St-Pierre then followed up with strikes on his stunned opponent. When it appeared that the fight would be stopped, the bell rang signaling the end of the first round. In the second round St-Pierre ended the fight with a head kick which stunned Hughes and knocked him to the mat. He followed up with a flurry of punches and elbows that forced McCarthy to stop the contest with 3:35 left in the round.

Return
On March 3, 2007, Hughes returned to the Octagon for UFC 68: Uprising, defeating Chris Lytle by unanimous decision, winning 30–27 on all three judges' scorecards. Hughes secured an armbar at the end of round one, but Lytle was saved by the bell. Hughes opened the second round with a quick takedown, moving up to side-control and then landed an elbow that cut Lytle. Finally, Hughes mounted his opponent, but Lytle swept and was able to reverse that position. In the third round, Hughes unsuccessfully tried an armbar again before the horn sounded.

In late mid-2007, Hughes left the Miletich camp with Miletich stablemate Robbie Lawler, longtime boxing coach Matt Pena, and wrestling/conditioning teacher Marc Fiore to form The H.I.T. (Hughes Intensive Training) Squad in Granite City, Illinois.

The Ultimate Fighter
In 2005, Hughes participated as a coach opposite Rich Franklin in the second season of the Spike TV reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter. This was the first season where the coaches did not fight each other after the conclusion of the show, because Franklin and Hughes were champions in different weight divisions. In 2007, Hughes participated as a guest coach for long-time friend and training partner, Jens Pulver during The Ultimate Fighter 5 season.

Hughes agreed to head coach again for The Ultimate Fighter 6, alongside then-UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Serra. Despite the fact that after the preliminary round, Team Hughes's record was 2–6, both Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer of Team Hughes made it to the finals. In 2011, Hughes appeared as guest coach during The Ultimate Fighter 13 season for friend and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

Interim Welterweight Championship bout
Following a championship win by Matt Serra over Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69, UFC President Dana White announced that Hughes would fight for the World Welterweight title in November 2007 against Serra. This fight was later changed to December 29, 2007, in Las Vegas, at UFC 79: Nemesis. On November 23, however, Serra sustained a herniated disc in his lower back and informed UFC that he would not be able to compete for an indeterminate time. As a replacement for the title match, the UFC quickly signed a rubber match between Hughes and St-Pierre that would also be for the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship. Despite his best efforts, Hughes was unable to mount a serious offense on St-Pierre, who easily avoided Hughes's takedown attempts, while taking Hughes down at will and using Hughes's own ground-and-pound style against him. Near the end of the second round, St-Pierre attempted a kimura on Hughes's right arm that he escaped, but in a reversal of their first fight, St-Pierre was able to twist it into a straight armbar with fifteen seconds remaining in the round. Hughes fought the extension, but with his left hand trapped between the mat and St-Pierre's legs, was forced to submit verbally at 4:54 of the second round. In the post-fight interview, Hughes praised St-Pierre as the better fighter:

"No excuses here. I came into this fight 120 percent... Georges is the better fighter. There's nothing more I can say about it."

Hughes vs. Alves
Hughes fought Thiago Alves at UFC 85: Bedlam on June 7, 2008. Hughes lost to Alves by TKO at 1:02 of the second round. After receiving a powerful flying knee, he dropped to the ground with his own left knee pinned behind his hips, ultimately leaving him with a torn MCL and partially torn PCL. Hughes took the fight on short notice as a favor to UFC. Alves failed to make weight for the match, but Hughes elected to fight him at a catch weight anyway. He stated in his blog:

"Thiago came in big, some people told me that he looked bigger than me in the octagon. I didn't expect that but I also think that had nothing to do with the outcome of the fight. I think Thiago came up with a good game plan."

Hughes vs. Serra and future
Immediately after the Alves fight, Hughes stated that he had "one more fight" left in him, and that he wanted to fight Matt Serra. Their rivalry stemmed from the time when Serra was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter and Hughes was guest coach. Serra did not like the way Hughes criticized other contestants on the show and was disgusted when Hughes constantly picked on Georges St-Pierre during a lunch break and bragged about his submission victory. On January 9, 2009, Hughes confirmed on his blog that UFC 98 would likely be the day he and Serra met in the Octagon. UFC confirmed the fight.

Hughes won the grudge match against Serra at UFC 98 via unanimous decision. In the first round, both fighters collided heads, and Hughes got the worst of it. Despite this, Serra could not finish the fight and Hughes recovered rapidly. In the second round, Hughes controlled his opponent on the ground with his wrestling skills. The final round saw the former champions taking each other down and exchanging punches. The back and forth action rewarded both competitors with Fight of the Night honors. After the fight Hughes and Serra embraced each other and ended their feud. Hughes posted on his blog: "When the fight was over, I was pretty confident I was going to get my hand raised. Some people have asked why I raised his hand at the end. Actually I didn't, he raised mine. He also told me that, no matter what the decision was, he was done with the rivalry". After the fight Hughes said, "I think I have a few more fights left in me."

Hughes vs. Gracie
Hughes then signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC. Hughes defeated Renzo Gracie, the 1st cousin once removed of his opponent at UFC 60, via third round TKO at UFC 112: Invincible, setting the record for most UFC wins with 17. Both of them seemed very comfortable fighting on their feet in the early going, with Gracie landing the cleaner and more effective punches and also landing a couple of kicks. Hughes started the second round with powerful leg kicks, but after that Gracie returned to his in-and-out punching style. Hughes got double underhooks and managed to take Gracie down briefly. In the final round Hughes connected with a right hook to Gracie's chin, then connected with a leg kick and another punch. With two minutes to go he knocked Gracie down with a leg kick. Gracie took all the time he could before Hughes helped him up and then dropped him with a second leg kick. Gracie stalled again, but when he finally stood up Hughes floored him with a punch, let him get up and then attacked again. Hughes knocked Gracie down again with a fourth punch, when referee Herb Dean ended it.

Hall of Fame and Hughes vs. Almeida
On May 28, 2010, Hughes was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

"I never thought about this, to be honest - I'm just a Midwest guy kinda living the dream. But I'm very privileged and I thank the UFC. Shaking hands, signing autographs, being a world title holder and being inducted into the Hall of Fame, this is beyond what I ever would have pictured my life being."

Fighting Renzo Gracie student and 3rd degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida, Hughes rendered him unconscious with a Dave Schultz front headlock at 3:15 of round 1, on August 7, 2010, at UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen. Hughes landed a huge left hook that knocked Almeida down, sinking in the very deep choke which earned him the Submission of the Night honors. Almeida requested the fight after watching his mentor lose to Hughes at UFC 112 back in April. Hughes now had four wins over mixed martial artists with ties to the Gracies, including UFC pioneer Royce Gracie, the prior mentioned Renzo Gracie and former champ Serra.

"It's an old-school wrestling move. I've been good at it. I'm happy to beat a good Brazilian with a wrestling move."

Hughes vs. Penn III
Hughes faced B.J. Penn on November 20, 2010, in a rubber match at UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida, after their previous two fights at UFC 46 and UFC 63. Penn came out strong in the first few seconds of the opening round, catching one of Hughes's kicks and knocking him off balance with a counter hook. Penn then connected with an overhand right that dropped Hughes, following up with three clean shots to the jaw. The bout was ended at 21 seconds into the first round, with Hughes trilogy against Penn ending at 1–2. The fight marked the first time Hughes had been knocked out (he had previously lost via technical knockout). Post-fight Hughes hinted that the loss moved him one step closer to retirement.

"I had a lot on the line. This was a huge fight for me. To be honest, I don't know what goes on now."

Hughes vs. Koscheck
Hughes was expected to face Diego Sanchez on September 24, 2011, at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage. However, Sanchez missed the bout with an injury and was replaced by Josh Koscheck. Hughes suffered a KO loss to Koscheck at 4:59 of the first round. Hughes showed improved striking, but ultimately succumbed to Koscheck's power punches.

"I'm not retiring. I'm just going to tell the UFC to put me up on a shelf for a while, and we'll see what happens after that."

Retirement
The UFC announced on January 24, 2013, that Matt Hughes retired from fighting and was named a Vice President of Athlete Development and Government Relations.

Theme music
In the UFC, Hughes frequently used the song "A Country Boy Can Survive" by Hank Williams, Jr. as he made his entrance towards the Octagon. At the UFC 56 live broadcast, Joe Rogan said: "My favorite walk-out song in all the UFC, ′A country boy can survive.′"

Autobiography
Hughes released his autobiography, Made in America: The Most Dominant Champion in UFC History, co-written with Michael Malice, on January 1, 2008. The book debuted at No. 21 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Trophy Hunters TV
In January 2011, Hughes became the host of hunting program Trophy Hunters TV, which aired on Outdoor Channel. The show is closely related to the Texas Trophy Hunters Association.

Uncaged with Matt Hughes
On July 4, 2013, Hughes became the host of Uncaged with Matt Hughes, which aired Saturdays on the Sportsman Channel.

The Takedown with Matt Hughes
On October 7, 2014, Hughes partnered with producer Joe David Garza and became the host of a new series entitled The Takedown with Matt Hughes, which aired on Sundays on the Sportsman Channel. The series was nominated for "Best New Series" in 2015 at the Sportsman's Choice Awards.

Criticisms
Hughes has been criticized by animal advocates, including former UFC fighter and commentator Dan Hardy, for his trophy hunting. In response to outrage over trophy hunting pictures posted on his Twitter account in 2012, Hughes called some of the commenters "PETA idiots" and told them to stop following his page.

Personal life
Hughes is a born again Christian and regularly posts Bible verses on his website. Hughes and his wife have two daughters together. She also has a son from a previous relationship. The couple's second daughter was born on January 2, 2010. Matt and his twin brother were born on their father's birthday.

On June 16, 2017, Hughes was hospitalized with a serious head injury after a train struck the passenger side of his truck at a rail crossing near his home in Montgomery County, Illinois. On June 18, Hughes's family released a statement that he had no broken bones or internal injuries but was unconscious and unresponsive. They were working with the Triumph Over Tragedy Foundation to determine next steps for care. The Foundation, of which Hughes was a board member for five years, provides care for families with brain and spinal cord injuries. On September 23, 2017, he returned to the hospital to honor the hospital staff who took care of him while he was there. On January 14, 2018, Hughes returned ringside as a guest of honor during UFC Fight Night in St. Louis. On September 19, 2019, news surfaced that Hughes sued Norfolk Southern Railway and several of its employees for the 2017 train crash.

Domestic violence allegations
In May 2019, Hughes's wife filed a restraining order against him after she accused him of several incidents of domestic violence. His brother Mark Hughes also filed a restraining order against him claiming that Matt choked his son and tried to destroy his tractor. Hughes filed to divorce his wife on May 27, 2019. In September 2019, Hughes' attorneys revealed that the brothers had settled the case.

Mixed martial arts
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
 * Ultimate Fighting Championship
 * UFC Hall of Fame (Pioneer Wing, class of 2010) and (Fight Wing, class of 2015) vs. Frank Trigg at UFC 52
 * UFC Welterweight Championship (Two times)
 * Five successful title defenses (First reign)
 * Two successful title defenses (Second reign)
 * Seven successful title defenses (Overall)
 * Most finishes in title fights in UFC Welterweight division history (8)
 * Second most title defenses in the UFC Welterweight division history (7)
 * Second most title fights in the UFC Welterweight division history (12)
 * Sixth most title fight wins in UFC history (9)
 * Second most finishes in UFC title fights (8)
 * Tied (Chuck Liddell & Randy Couture) for most knockouts in title fights in UFC history (5)
 * Most knockouts in title fights in UFC Welterweight division history (5)
 * Most submissions in title fights in UFC Welterweight division history (3)
 * Fight of the Night (Two times)
 * Submission of the Night (One time)
 * Third most finishes in UFC Welterweight division history (11)
 * Seventh most bouts in UFC Welterweight division history (22)
 * Tied (Thiago Alves & Kamaru Usman) for fourth most wins in UFC Welterweight division history (15)
 * Submission of the Year (2005) {{small|vs. Frank Trigg 2}}
 * Extreme Challenge
 * Extreme Challenge 21 Tournament Runner-up
 * Extreme Challenge 29 Tournament Winner
 * Black Belt Magazine
 * 2006 NHB Fighter of the Year
 * Black Belt Magazine Hall of Famer
 * Sherdog
 * Mixed Martial Arts Hall of Fame
 * Bleacher Report
 * 2000s Welterweight of the Decade
 * George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
 * George Tragos Award (2013)
 * Sports Illustrated
 * 2000s #3 Fighter of the Decade
 * UFC's #4 Greatest Fight vs. Frank Trigg on April 16, 2005
 * UFC's #1 Greatest Fight vs. B.J. Penn on September 23, 2006
 * About.com
 * 2000s #5 Fight of the Decade vs. B.J. Penn on September 23, 2006
 * 2000s #3 Fight of the Decade vs. Frank Trigg on April 16, 2005
 * Fight Matrix
 * 1999 Fighter of the Year 3rd Place
 * 2002 Fighter of the Year
 * 2003 Fighter of the Year 3rd Place
 * 2004 Fighter of the Year 3rd Place
 * 2005 Fighter of the Year 3rd Place
 * MMAFighting
 * 2002 Welterweight Fighter of the Year
 * 2003 Welterweight Fighter of the Year
 * 2005 Submission of the Year vs. Frank Trigg on April 16, 2005
 * Yahoo! Sports
 * 2000s #6 Fight of the Decade vs. Frank Trigg on April 16, 2005

Amateur wrestling

 * National Collegiate Athletic Association
 * NCAA Division I All-American Team (Two times)
 * NCAA Division I 158 lb - 8th place out of Eastern Illinois University (1996)
 * NCAA Division I 158 lb - 5th place out of Eastern Illinois University (1997)
 * National Junior College Athletic Association
 * NJCAA Hall of Fame
 * NJCAA All-American Team (Two times)
 * NJCAA Division I 158 lb - 5th place out of Southwestern Illinois College (1994)
 * NJCAA Division I 158 lb - 3rd place out of Lincoln College (1995)
 * Eastern Illinois University
 * EIU Athletic Hall of Fame
 * Illinois High School Association
 * IHSA Class A State Wrestling Champion 145 lb (1991)
 * IHSA Class A State Wrestling Champion 145 lb (1992)

}}

Submission grappling record

 * Matt Hughes fought Tito Ortiz for the bronze medal (3rd place) and was defeated.

title: Matt Hughes (fighter)


text:
Lenham railway station

Lenham railway station serves Lenham in Kent, England. It is 49 mi down the line from London Victoria.

The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern.

History
Lenham station opened on 1 July 1884 as part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's extension of the line from Maidstone to Ashford West. The goods yard comprised four sidings on the down side and one on the up side. One of the down sidings served a goods shed, which was used by the Morello Cheery Works and a local bacon factory.

In 1961, loops were installed in both directions. Freight facilities were withdrawn on 6 January 1969. Although a new signal box was provided in 1961, it closed on 28 May 1984.

A new footbridge replaced the life-expired concrete footbridge spanning the tracks here, completed in early 2010.

Facilities
The station has a ticket office which is staffed during Monday-Saturday mornings only (06:20-13:00). At other times, the station is unstaffed and tickets can be purchased from the self-service ticket machine at the station.

There is a passenger waiting room which is open while the station is staffed as well as passenger help points on each platform.

The station has a small cycle rack at the entrance as well as a chargeable car park which is operated by Saba Parking.

The station has step-free access available to the Ashford although the London bound is only reachable by the use of steps and there is no access between the stations platforms.

Services
All services at Lenham are operated by Southeastern using and  EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
 * 1 tph to London Victoria via Maidstone East
 * 1 tph to Ashford International

Additional services, including trains to and from London Charing Cross call at the station during the peak hours.

Connections
Stagecoach South East route 10X serves the station.

title: Lenham railway station


text: User talk:66.207.246.133

title: User talk:66.207.246.133