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Republic of Crema

The Republic of Crema (Republega Cremasca; Repubblica Cremasca) was a revolutionary municipality in Lombardy, which was created when the French Army entered Crema on 28 March 1797. It ruled the local affairs of the city and its environs, which previously were a Venetian exclave in the Duchy of Milan. The municipality entered then into the Cisalpine Republic in July 1797.

History
The city of Crema and its surroundings had been annexed by the Republic of Venice since 1449, and had been ruled by a Venetian podestà for more than three centuries. On 28 March 1797, a troop of French dragoons entered and occupied the city without facing any resistance and arrested the last Venetian magistrate, the duke Zan Battista Contarini.

A new municipality was formed to control the city, which was composed mostly of small landowners and local nobles. They proclaimed the new Republic of Crema, that had the control of the town and the territories previously belonging to the province of Crema.

The small revolutionary republic had a short life. Three months later, on 29 July 1797, its territory merged with the Cisalpine Republic and legally annexed to it on the base of the Treaty of Campo Formio, becoming part of the Adda department and later on the Alto Po one.

Nowadays, the territory of the former Republic of Crema goes from the municipality of Spino d'Adda (east) to the Castelleone one.

Flag and coat of arms
The republic used a simple white flag with the coat of arms.

title: Republic of Crema


text:
Markel Group

Markel Group Inc. is a group of companies headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and originally founded in 1930 as an insurance company.

History
Company founder Samuel A. Markel formed the Mutual Casualty Association and established the Mutual Casualty Company in Norfolk, Virginia. The company headquarters later moved to Richmond, Virginia. Sam Markel's four sons, Lewis, Irvin, Stanley, and Milton, joined the business in the 1930s, and Markel Service, Inc. was created. During this time, Markel was actively involved in efforts to develop safety and other standards aimed at legitimizing the growing bus and trucking industries. Markel also assisted in passing the National Motor Carrier Act of 1935.

By the 1940s, Markel Service, Inc. earned a national following and developed a reputation for industry-leading claims adjusting and safety engineering. American Fidelity & Casualty, a sister company covering fleets of trucks and buses, also became the largest insurer of these risks in the United States. In 1980, the company became an insurance carrier when Essex Insurance Company was incorporated and licensed to write excess and surplus lines business.

In 1986, the Markel Corporation was listed on the NASDAQ exchange, with an IPO offered at $8.33 per share. The company's trading was moved to the NYSE in 1997. Markel gained access to specialty international markets in 2000, when Terra Nova Holdings, Ltd. was acquired and the London office opened. Branch offices later opened in the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Canada. With a "permanent capital" investing approach, Markel Ventures acquired AMF Bakery Systems in 2005 and continued to acquire other varied and scalable businesses. With the $3.1 billion acquisition of Alterra Capital Holdings Limited, Markel added two additional insurance divisions, Markel Global and Markel Reinsurance.

In 2015, Markel acquired Bermuda-based CATCo, a specialist investment management business; and Markel Ventures announced a majority interest in CapTech.

In 2023, Markel Corporation changed its name to Markel Group Inc.

Timeline
Beginning in 1930, Markel established Markel Service, a separate company to handle direct and reinsurance of AF&C.

In 1951, the company expanded into Canada by founding Markel Service Canada, Ltd., headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

In 1959, the national claims division of AF&C became National Claims Service, an independent adjuster that could be contracted by other insurance firms. The Safety Engineering Division also began offering services to other firms.

The company later expanded beyond truck and bus companies, led by the third generation of Markels: Anthony, Steve, and Gary.

In 1980, the company founded Essex Insurance Company in Delaware. Essex began as a property insurance company in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, but later moved to Richmond, Virginia.

In 1985, Prem Watsa took control of Markel Financial Holdings, a Canadian-based trucking insurance company. Near bankruptcy, Watsa determined it needed a capital injection.

In December 1986, Markel Corp. held its first IPO at $8.33 per share, valuing the company at $15 million. Shares traded on the NASDAQ.

In 1987, Markel reorganized Markel Financial Holdings (Canada) and renamed it Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., short for "fair, friendly acquisitions."

In December 1987, Markel Corp. acquired half of Shand Morahan & Company, an underwriter in Deerfield, Illinois.

In December 1990, Markel completed its acquisition of Shand. As part of the Shand acquisition, Markel Corp. also acquired American Underwriting Managers, an insurance underwriter in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, specializing in personal boat and motorcycle insurance.

In 1989, Markel Corp. acquired the Rhulen Agency of Monticello, New York. Rhulen is a specialty insurer for children's summer camps and youth organizations. Rhulen was later moved to Richmond, Virginia, and renamed Markel Insurance Company.

In the Spring of 1997, Markel Corp. trading moved to the NYSE.

In January 2000, Markel Corp. founded Markel Southwest Underwriters in Scottsdale, Arizona, after buying the Arizona policies of Acceptance Insurance Company.

In March 2000, Markel Corp. completed the acquisition of Terra Nova (Bermuda) Holdings Ltd.

In October 2009, Elliott Special Risks LP (ESR) was purchased by Markel International, a London-based specialty property and casualty insurer that runs the international operations of Markel Corp.

On October 30, 2009, Markel Ventures, Inc. acquired Panel Specialists, LLC., a manufacturer of panels, wall systems, casework, furniture, and countertops and other stone-related products.

On December 2, 2009, Markel Ventures, Inc. acquired a majority interest in Ellicott Dredge Enterprises, LLC, a company which manufactures dredging equipment for both domestic and international markets.

On May 10, 2010, at the Markel Corp. Annual Meeting, it was reported there would be a new management structure approved by the Board. Alan I. Kirshner would remain chairman and chief executive officer while Anthony F. Markel and Steven A. Markel would still serve as vice chairman. Reporting to them would be a three-member Office of the President. Thomas S. Gayner became president and chief investment officer, while Richard R. Whitt, III and F. Michael Crowley became president and co-chief operating officers.

On May 11, 2010, Markel Ventures, Inc. acquired Solbern, LLC, a manufacturer of food processing equipment for both the domestic and international markets.

In July 2010, Markel Corp. acquired Aspen Holdings, Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska.

In April 2011, Markel (UK) Limited launched Markel Direct, an online direct to customer distribution channel for specialist insurance.

On July 14, 2011, Markel Corp. acquired PartnerMD, LLC, a company which provides concierge medicine, a type of membership health-care service in which patients pay an annual fee for enhanced care that includes disease-prevention, health-maintenance, and around-the-clock access to a physician.

On October 19, 2011, Markel Ventures, Inc. acquired a majority interest in WI Holdings, Inc. ("Weldship") which manufactures, leases and sells high pressure tube trailers, certified ISO containers and other gas and liquid containers to industrial gas manufacturers, independent distributors, specialty chemical companies and the United States Government for use in the domestic and international compressed gas, electronic gas and specialty chemical industries.

On January 4, 2012, Markel Corp. completed the acquisition of Thompson Insurance Enterprises, a privately held program administrator underwriting multi-line, industry-focused insurance programs.

In February 2012, Markel's Camp Insurance Program joined forces with CampDoc.com, an electronic health record system for camps, to help summer camps reduce risk and liability and to ensure the health and safety of kids while at camp.

In June 2012, Markel Direct expanded product range into charity and community group risks.

In October 2012, Markel purchased Essentia Insurance Company.

On May 1, 2013, Markel Corporation completed its acquisition of Alterra Capital Holdings Limited.

On August 16, 2013, Markel Ventures, Inc. acquired Eagle Construction of VA, a recognized leader in designing active adult communities and in building energy efficient homes through its signature E3 program.

In January 2014, Markel Corp. acquired Abbey Protection plc, an integrated specialty insurance and consultancy group headquartered in London.

On July 23, 2014, Markel Ventures, Inc. acquired majority interest in Cottrell, Inc., a global leader in the design, manufacture and delivery of over-the-road automobile transport equipment.

On January 1, 2016, Thomas S. Gayner and Richard R. Whitt III began serving Markel as co-CEOs.

In June 2016, it was announced that Markel had joined the Fortune 500 for the first time.

In 2017, Markel merged their Global and Wholesale divisions and created Markel Assurance.

On May 1, 2017, Markel Corp. acquired SureTec Financial Corp., one of the largest privately owned surety companies in the US.

On July 26, 2017, Markel Corp. announced their plans to acquire majority interest in Costa Farms and their related operating companies. Costa Farms is the largest producer of ornamental plants in the world.

On November 1, 2017, Markel Corp. acquired State National Companies, Inc., a leading specialty provider of property and casualty insurance services.

On June 4, 2018, Markel Corp. announced their partnership with Rosemont Investment Partners LLC, a specialist investor focusing on making investments in asset and wealth management companies.

On August 31, 2018, Markel Corp. acquired Nephila Capital Ltd, a leading investment manager which specializes in reinsurance. Nephila Capital Ltd focuses on insurance-linked securities, catastrophe bonds, insurance swaps, and weather derivatives.

On September 17, 2018, Markel Corp. announced their plans to acquire majority interest in Brahmin, a creator of fashion leather handbags.

On September 12, 2019, Markel announced their plans to acquire Caunce O'Hara & Company Limited, an Insurance Broker based in Manchester specialising in providing insurance to freelance and contract workers.

Markel Specialty

 * Markel Specialty provides property and casualty solutions for standard and hard-to-place risks to commercial customers and individuals for the insuring of: camps; child care centers; horses and farms; medical transportation, motorcycle, boat, and ATV owners; museums and fine art collections; pest control operators; schools; social service agencies; and small businesses.

Markel CATCo

 * Based in Bermuda, Markel CATCo managed retrocessional and traditional reinsurance portfolios on behalf of financial institutions, charities, pension funds, family offices, and investment funds. CATCo was placed into runoff in 2019 and has 10 or fewer open contracts as of mid-2023.

Nephila

 * Based in Bermuda, Nephila Capital Ltd offers a broad range of investment products focusing on instruments such as insurance-linked securities, catastrophe bonds, insurance swaps, and weather derivatives. As of mid-20203 the firm manages $7.2 billion.

State National

 * State National Companies, Inc., provides property and casualty insurance services operating in two niche markets across the United States—Its Lender Services and Program Services segments--typically as a fronting carrier.

Markel Assurance

 * Markel Assurance has underwriting teams located across the US, and in Bermuda, Dublin, and London. Products originate from three product lines—casualty, professional liability, and property/marine.

Markel International

 * Headquartered in London, Markel International writes business across the UK, Europe, Canada, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Their product portfolio includes equine and livestock, marine and energy, professional liability, and trade credit coverage. They also write "specialty" coverage on a primary and reinsurance basis, including products for accident & health, casualty treaty reinsurance, contingency, property open market (including manufacturing risks), and property treaty reinsurance.

Markel Ventures
This line of business makes permanent investments in businesses outside of the specialty insurance marketplace. The goal is to build profitable enterprises that will endure as part of the broader Markel Corporation. Markel Ventures companies include:

 * Brahmin – Boston, Massachusetts
 * CapTech Ventures – Richmond, Virginia
 * Costa Farms – Miami, Florida
 * Cotrell – Gainesville, Georgia
 * Diamond Healthcare Corporation – Richmond, Virginia
 * Eagle Construction of VA – Richmond, Virginia
 * Eagle Partners – Richmond, Virginia
 * Ellicott Dredges – Baltimore, Maryland
 * Havco – Cape Girardeau, Missouri
 * Markel Food Group – Richmond, Virginia
 * Panel Specialists – Temple, Texas
 * Parkland Ventures – Richmond, Virginia
 * PartnerMD – Richmond, Virginia
 * RetailData – Richmond, Virginia
 * Rosemont Investment Group – Richmond, Virginia
 * Weldship – Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Markel Global Reinsurance

 * Markel Global Reinsurance provides Casualty and Specialty Reinsurance products to the broker market.

Office Locations
Markel is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with 76 offices in 18 countries:

Companies

 * Essex Insurance Company
 * Shand, Morahan & Company
 * Markel Insurance Company
 * Markel American Insurance Company
 * Investors Underwriting Managers, Inc.
 * Markel Global Reinsurance
 * Markel Southwest Underwriters
 * Markel International Insurance Company Limited U.K.
 * Corifrance (Compagnie de Reassurance d'lle-de-France)
 * Markel Capital Limited
 * Markel Syndicate Management Limited
 * Markel Syndicate 3000
 * Markel UK Ltd
 * Elliott Special Risks LP
 * Alterra

Markel-Gayner Asset Management Corp
Markel's internal money management firm is Markel-Gayner Asset Management Corp.

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

title: Markel Group


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MKL

MKL may refer to:

 * Math Kernel Library, an Intel software library
 * Multiple kernel learning
 * FAA Identifier for McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport

title: MKL


text:
Steinheim skull

The Steinheim skull is a fossilized skull of a Homo neanderthalensis or Homo heidelbergensis found on 24 July 1933 near Steinheim an der Murr, Germany. It is estimated to be between 250,000 and 350,000 years old. The skull is slightly flattened and has a cranial capacity between 950 and 1280 cc. Sometimes referred to as Homo steinheimensis in older literature, the original fossil is housed in the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany. Some believe that the Steinheim skull may have belonged to an adult female due to its gracile nature.

Classification
The "primitive man of Steinheim" is a single find. The designation "Steinheim skull" can be seen as a reference to the location of the fossil, but in no way identifies with a certain taxon. The skull shows characteristics of both H. heidelbergensis and Neanderthals. It is therefore classified by most paleoanthropologists to H. heidelbergensis and is believed to be a transitional form of H. heidelbergensis to Neanderthals. This has sometimes been referred to as "pre-Neanderthal.” The inner ear of the fossil has a feature in which Neanderthals and H. sapiens differ. The location of the semicircular canals of the inner ear in the temporal bone of the skull base is similar to the situation in Neanderthals, while the semicircular canals of the older H. erectus, as with H. sapiens, are closer.

Until the late 1980s, the fossil was sometimes referred to as H. sapiens steinheimensis. During this time Neanderthals were also referred to as H. sapiens neanderthalensis. Today, however, many paleoanthropologists classify Neanderthals and modern humans as separate species, with H. heidelbergensis their possible last common ancestor (LCA). Therefore that two distinct species are to be considered: H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens.

A 2016 study by Chris Stringer found Homo heidelbergensis to have not been the common ancestor of Neanderthals and humans, being instead placed entirely on the Neanderthal side of the tree along with Denisovans (close relatives of the Neanderthals) and the Steinheim skull, which was classified as an early Neanderthal fossil. Taking this into account, the LCA of modern humans and Neanderthals needs to be dated even further back, e. g. to Homo erectus, see Neanderthal §Evolution. Sequencing of genome (aDNA) and proteome (ancient protein) of further human fossils has to be done in order to shed light on the relation of H. heidelbergensis and the Steinheim skull to the pre-neanderthal "Neandersovans", the proposed LCA of Neanderthals and Denisovans.

A 2021 study by Chris Stringer found Steinheim sits as a sole sister to a group containing H. antecessor and H. longi, plus H. sapiens. Together they are considered as sister to the Neanderthals.

Discovery
Prior to discovery of the Steinheim skull in the gravel pit, many objects such as bones of elephants, rhinos and wild horses had been unearthed. Therefore, the archaeologists excavating the site were already sensitized to possible skeletal remains in the quarry. Fritz Berckhemer traveled on the same day of the skull's discovery and reviewed the still hidden skull in the wall. The next day, together with Max Bock, he began the careful excavation. It was clear, on the basis of the shape and dimensions of the skull, that it was not a monkey, as had initially been suspected. It turned out to be a human skull from the Pleistocene. The skull was roughly cleaned, hardened and plastered so it would arrive safe and sound in the Museum of Natural History.

The find in Steinheim turned up no other artifacts. There were no artifacts from the people as well as no other skeletal remains found. There were also no tools such as stone tools or bone implements discovered at the site. It can be assumed, however, that the hominin would have been capable of creating tools and using them for different purposes. For example, evidence of this can be found around the same time frame of “Swanscombe man", where they found some fist wedges from the Acheulean tool culture.

Brain tumor
The investigations completed at the Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen in 2003 by Alfred Czarnetzki, Carsten M. Pusch and Erwin Schwaderer, showed that the owner of the skull suffered from a meningioma, which is an arachnoid tumor. Meningiomas are a diverse set of tumors that arise from the meninges, which is the membranous layers surrounding the central nervous system.

The slow-growing tumor had a size of 51 mm × 43 mm × 25 mm and a volume of 29 ml. It is believed that this tumor may have caused headaches. It is also possible that no neurological deficiencies were suffered, due to the slow growing nature of meningiomas. Whether the tumor should be considered the cause of death cannot be determined from the remains. Having the rest of the skeleton would be necessary for further investigation into a possible cause of death. Meningiomas are very rare with roughly 2 out of 100,000 causing symptoms, so finding evidence of one in such ancient remains is a very exciting discovery. It is the earliest evidence of a meningioma tumor on record.

title: Steinheim skull


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WISH-TV

WISH-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) and low-power, Class A getTV affiliate WIIH-CD (channel 17). The stations share studios on North Meridian Street (at the north end of the Television Row section) on the near north side of Indianapolis; WISH-TV and WNDY-TV also share transmitter facilities on Walnut Drive in the Augusta section of the city's northwest side (near Meridian Hills).

Early history
The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1954 at 6 p.m. Founded by C. Bruce McConnell—owner of WISH radio (1310 AM, now WTLC)—it was the third television station to sign on in the Indianapolis market, after WFBM-TV (channel 6, now WRTV), which signed on in May 1949 and Bloomington-licensed WTTV (channel 10, now on channel 4), which signed on six months later in November 1949. WISH-TV originally operated as a primary ABC affiliate with a secondary affiliation with DuMont Television Network and NBC. WISH-TV originally transmitted its signal from a tower it shared with WISH radio; the following year, the station constructed a 1000 ft transmitter tower, which allowed the station to improve its signal coverage in the market.

CBS affiliate (1956–2014)
In 1956, McConnell sold the station to the Indiana Broadcasting Company, the broadcasting subsidiary of J. H. Whitney & Company and owners of WANE-TV in Fort Wayne. The new owners persuaded CBS to move its programming to channel 8, taking that affiliation from WFBM. Conversely that same year, WISH-TV lost the ABC affiliation to WTTV; this resulted in WLBC-TV, channel 49 in Muncie (whose allocation is now occupied by PBS member station WIPB) serving as the de facto ABC affiliate for the northern part of the market as WTTV's signal did not extend very far north outside of Indianapolis's northern suburbs as its transmitter was located farther south than the market's other stations. Also in 1956, WISH became one of the first television stations in the United States to install a videotape machine.

Indiana Broadcasting became the Corinthian Broadcasting Corporation in 1957, with WISH-TV serving as the company's flagship station. From 1958 to 1959, it was an affiliate of the NTA Film Network. Corinthian merged with Dun & Bradstreet in 1971. Dun & Bradstreet sold its entire broadcasting unit to the Belo Corporation in February 1984. However, the merger put Belo two stations over the television ownership limits that the Federal Communications Commission had in effect at the time. As a result, the company sold WISH-TV and WANE to LIN Broadcasting (the predecessor of LIN Media) the following month in March 1984. LIN was headquartered in Indianapolis for many years, with WISH-TV serving as that company's flagship television property; the company eventually moved its headquarters to Providence, Rhode Island, in the late 1990s, resulting in WPRI-TV replacing WISH as LIN's flagship station. LIN later acquired low-power independent station W11BV (channel 11, now WIIH-CD channel 17) in 1992. In 1995, WISH-TV relocated its transmitter to a new tower built in the Augusta section of Indianapolis.

WISH-TV signed on its digital signal on VHF channel 9 on December 17, 1998; two days later on December 19, the station broadcast its first program in high definition when it broadcast an NFL game telecast in the format. In 2002, WISH-TV began handling the master control operations of WANE-TV and fellow sister station WLFI-TV in Lafayette, Indiana. The hub expanded to include the Buffalo duopoly of WIVB-TV and WNLO in October, with other LIN-owned stations gradually being added to the WISH hub by the summer of 2003.

On February 10, 2005, the Paramount Stations Group subsidiary of Viacom sold UPN affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) as well as its Columbus, Ohio, sister station WWHO to LIN TV for $85 million, creating a duopoly with WISH-TV when the sale was finalized that spring. On May 18, 2007, the LIN TV Corporation announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in the sale of the company.

On September 15, 2008, LIN and Time Warner Cable entered into an impasse during negotiations to renew retransmission consent deals for some of the group's television stations. Bright House Networks, one of two major cable providers serving Indianapolis, negotiates retransmission consent contracts through Time Warner Cable. LIN TV requested compensation for carriage of its stations in a manner similar to the deals that cable networks have with pay television providers, as other broadcast station owners began to seek compensation from cable and satellite providers for their programming. The carriage agreement with Bright House expired on October 2. By 12:35 a.m. on October 3, LIN's television stations were replaced on Time Warner Cable systems in markets where the group owns stations and where either provider operates systems with programming from other cable channels. LIN's stations (with the exception of WIIH-CA) were restored 26 days later on October 29 through a new carriage agreement reached between Time Warner Cable and LIN TV.

The station shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition VHF channel 9, using virtual channel 8.

On August 7, 2009, WISH-TV began operating a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 8.1, which originally was only accessible via an app for BlackBerry devices.

On January 29, 2010, LIN TV filed an application to the FCC to operate a digital fill-in translator on UHF channel 17, an allotment that was previously occupied by the analog signal of Class A sister station WIIH-CA; the FCC granted a construction permit to build the translator's transmitter facilities on June 16. The translator, which shares the same transmitter facility as WISH's main signal in the Augusta section of Indianapolis and began operating on January 13, 2011, serves parts of Indianapolis that lost signal coverage after the 2009 digital transition. The translator is mapped as virtual channel 8, which results in virtual channel duplication while tuning sequentially on digital tuners in areas that are able to receive both signals, as the translator simulcasts WISH-TV's main channel and its two digital subchannels. As mentioned above, in late March 2015, a simulcast of WISH's main signal was added via WNDY-DT3.

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would buy LIN Media in a $1.6 billion deal, described as a merger. The merger was completed on December 19.

CW station (2015–present)
On August 11, 2014, Tribune Broadcasting announced that CW affiliate WTTV would become the market's CBS affiliate on January 1, 2015, as part of an agreement that also renewed the CBS affiliations on Tribune-owned stations in five other markets. The deal, which resulted in the end of WISH-TV's 58-year relationship with CBS, was reportedly struck as a result of WISH station management balking at the network's demands for sharing of retransmission consent revenue from its affiliates. This marked the second time in Indianapolis television history that WTTV took an affiliation from WISH, the first being ABC in 1956.

As the other major broadcast networks had existing affiliation deals with other area stations (WRTV's ABC affiliation was up for renewal around this time, though the E. W. Scripps Company reached an agreement to allow WRTV and nine of the company's other stations to remain with ABC the day prior to the announcement ), WISH announced on December 11, 2014, that it would become an independent station upon losing the CBS affiliation, filling timeslots previously occupied by network shows with additional newscasts and an expanded inventory of syndicated talk shows, newsmagazines, and sitcoms, including some shows relocated from sister station WNDY-TV to make up for the loss of CBS daytime and late-night programs on channel 8's schedule and a national news program from TouchVision (the latter of which was later replaced with an additional half-hour of the station's morning newscast, 24-Hour News 8's Daybreak, on July 13, 2015) to serve as a replacement for the CBS Morning News. However, on December 22, 2014, Tribune announced that it would sell the market's CW affiliation to Media General—the deal occurred three days after the completion of the company's merger with LIN. As a result, WISH instead became a CW affiliate, in effect switching affiliations with WTTV and preventing a situation in which The CW, which WTTV originally planned on carrying over its second digital subchannel (which had previously been affiliated with This TV prior to December 2014), would be relegated to the lower digital subchannel tier on local cable systems and probable subjection to non-carriage by satellite providers for months until carriage agreements were struck. The loss of WISH's CBS affiliation also affected the Media General-LIN merger, with the purchase price being lowered by $110 million in stock, though no other factors were affected.

Media General signed an agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment to affiliate several of its stations with GetTV. WISH added the network on its .2 subchannel on February 1, 2016.

Nexstar ownership
After a failed bid for Media General to merge with Meredith Corporation, Nexstar Broadcasting acquired Media General in January 2017. The WISH-WNDY duopoly gained new sister stations in nearby markets within Indiana: the Evansville virtual duopoly of ABC affiliate WEHT and fellow CW affiliate WTVW, and the Terre Haute virtual duopoly of NBC affiliate WTWO and ABC affiliate WAWV-TV. CBS affiliate WANE-TV in Fort Wayne was the only existing sister station of WISH and WNDY that became part of the combined group, as Media General and Nexstar each sold certain Indiana stations they already owned (Nexstar's Fox affiliate WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne and Media General's two other Indiana-based CBS affiliates, WTHI-TV in Terre Haute and WLFI-TV in Lafayette to Heartland Media, and Nexstar's WEVV-TV in Evansville to Bayou City Broadcasting) to alleviate conflicts with FCC ownership rules.

In late March 2015, Media General added a 1080i HD simulcast feed of WISH's main signal on the 23.3 subchannel of WNDY-TV, mainly for the convenience of over-the-air viewers, especially those unable to receive WISH's VHF channel 9 signal due to signal limitations by way of their geographic location in proximity to the transmitter and/or a lack of an antenna able to properly receive VHF signals. In January 2016, the station converted the subchannel from a 24-hour feed of its Doppler radar into an affiliate of the Justice Network.

Sale to Circle City Broadcasting
On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media—which has owned Fox affiliate WXIN (channel 59) since July 1996 and CBS affiliate WTTV since July 2002—for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. Due to FCC ownership rules, Nexstar could not retain both duopolies. On April 8, 2019, it was announced that Circle City Broadcasting (owned by DuJuan McCoy of Indianapolis, the then-principal owner of the aforementioned, now defunct, Bayou City Broadcasting) would acquire WISH and WNDY for $42.5 million. The WTTV/WXIN duopoly was longer-established and Nexstar opted to keep that duopoly over WISH/WNDY. The sale was completed on September 19, 2019, effectively separating it from WANE-TV after 62 years as sister stations.

Sports programming
In its later years as a CBS affiliate, WISH-TV aired most Indianapolis Colts regular season games as well as any playoff games involving the team through CBS, via the network's broadcast rights to the NFL's American Football Conference. The move of Colts games to WISH-TV when CBS acquired the rights to the AFC in 1998 coincided with the debut of rookie quarterback Peyton Manning, as well as the station's coverage of the Colts' appearances in Super Bowl XLI (a victory) and Super Bowl XLIV. WISH-TV also aired Indiana Pacers games from their absorption into the NBA from 1976 until 1990, through CBS' NBA broadcast contract. The station provided local coverage of the 1987 Pan-American Games, which were held in Indianapolis.

As a result of WISH swapping its CBS affiliation with CW affiliate WTTV in January 2015, the station's status as the unofficial "home" station of the Colts ended after the 2014 NFL regular season. Consequently, it no longer aired any Colts related programming after the 2014 season (except for Countdown to Kickoff and possibly Huddle Up Indy), nor were WISH and WNDY affiliated with the Colts. Colts games began to air on WTTV on January 4, 2015, when the Colts defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the NFL playoffs. The coach's show and Colts Up Close moved to WTTV and its sister Fox affiliate WXIN (channel 59) for the 2015 NFL season.

After losing CBS, WISH gradually cobbled together agreements to restore sports events onto the station's schedule to make up for both the loss of sports coverage provided by CBS as well as the absence of such content from The CW's schedule. First on February 17, 2015, WISH signed a two-year agreement with the Indy Eleven to carry home matches from the North American Soccer League team during the 2015 and 2016 seasons; WISH replaced sister station WNDY as the Eleven's local television broadcaster, as that station carried the team's games during its inaugural 2014 season. All game telecasts and a half-hour post-game show that follows each game are produced under an outsourcing agreement with Indianapolis-based video production firm WebStream Sports. The first Indy Eleven game to air on WISH was the April 11 home season opener with the New York Cosmos.

On March 20, 2015, Media General announced that WISH and WNDY would become part of the Chicago Cubs and White Sox broadcast television networks and carry many of the games the teams broadcast locally in the Chicago market through ABC owned-and-operated station WLS-TV, then-fellow CW affiliate WGN-TV and later dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPWR-TV (excluding those broadcast by the cable/satellite-only Comcast SportsNet Chicago). WISH carries a Sunday-only schedule of games due to program preemption restrictions within its CW affiliation contract, with WNDY airing the remainder of the weekday game schedule and a few Sunday games. The deal for carriage of the games in Indianapolis was required after Tribune Broadcasting discontinued airing sports events involving Chicago-area teams over its WGN America cable channel at the end of 2014. Both of Chicago's Major League Baseball teams claim Indianapolis as part of their broadcasting territories, sharing the market with the Cincinnati Reds, which have games that originate on Fox Sports Ohio carried by sister network Fox Sports Indiana.

On June 30, 2015, WISH reached an agreement to carry Atlantic Coast Conference college football and basketball games produced by Raycom Sports (via the syndicator's ACC Network service) effective with the 2015–16 ACC football season, as Indianapolis is in the ACC market covered by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The first ACC game to air on the station through this deal was the September 5 game between the Wofford Terriers and Clemson Tigers. On October 6, Media General announced that WISH would carry NHL games involving the Chicago Blackhawks produced by WGN-TV, with an initial slate of 19 Saturday and Sunday games during the 2015–16 season starting with the team's October 10 game against the New York Islanders. This marked the first time outside of Canadian cable distribution quirks involving WGN-TV that WGN's Blackhawks coverage aired outside the Chicago market (WGN America never carried Blackhawks telecasts).

News operation
WISH-TV presently broadcasts 76 hours of locally produced newscasts and programs each week (with $12 1/2$ hours each weekday, six hours on Saturdays and $7 1/2$ hours on Sundays); weekdays include Life.Style.Live! from 10 to 11 a.m. and Sundays include Pet Pals TV at 10 a.m. followed by Great Day TV with Patty Spitler at 10:30 a.m. and Sportslocker at 10:30 p.m. and Indy Sports Tonight, which airs every night at 11:15 p.m. In regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the second-highest newscast output of any broadcast television station in the entire United States, behind Los Angeles CW owned-and-operated station KTLA (channel 5), which broadcasts 94 hours, 20 minutes of local newscasts per week; it also has the highest newscast output of any single television station in the Indianapolis market and the state of Indiana.

In 1963, WISH-TV became the first television station in the market to provide extensive live coverage of a major local news event, when it covered the deadly explosion at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. WISH-TV's newscasts were the highest-rated in the Indianapolis market from the mid-1980s until WTHR overtook it for the No. 1 position in 2002. The station's ratings success was largely attributed to the longevity of most of its news staff, some of whom have been at the station for over 20 years. Mike Ahern was the station's main weeknight news anchor as well as the de facto face of its newsroom for more than 30 years (the longest tenure of anyone in Indianapolis television history); he joined channel 8 as a reporter in 1967 and was promoted to lead anchor in 1974, where he remained until his retirement from the anchor chair on December 1, 2004 (Ahern later hosted sister station WNDY's now-cancelled interview program One on One). Debby Knox joined Ahern as co-anchor on the weeknight newscasts in 1980 and remained with the station until she retired on November 26, 2013. Stan Wood served as the station's main weather forecaster from the 1960s until 1991, while Patty Spitler served as anchor of the noon newscast and entertainment reporter from 1982 to 2004. Lee Giles, who left the station in 2004, was one of the longest-tenured news directors in local broadcasting.

For a time during the 1990s, WISH-TV advertised that "more people in Central Indiana get their local news from 24-Hour News 8 than from any other source" at the close of many of its newscasts and in promos for its newscasts. The station's local newscasts are currently at a distant second place behind WTHR in most timeslots, except during the 5 to 6:30 p.m. period on weeknights, when both stations maintain a much tighter viewership margin. However, due to the strength of CBS' prime time lineup in the 2000s and 2010s (as well as the fact its late news served the lead-in for Indianapolis native David Letterman's late night talk show on the network, the Late Show), WISH regained the lead in the 11 p.m. slot. The station's "I-Team 8" investigative reports have earned the station numerous journalism awards, including Regional Emmy, Peabody and Edward R. Murrow Awards (the station was awarded the latter in 1998 and 2006). In 2008, the Indiana Associated Press Broadcast Association honored WISH-TV with the "Outstanding News Operation" and "Outstanding Weather Operation" designations.

In 1990, WISH-TV implemented the "24-Hour News Source" concept that was originally developed that year by WEWS-TV in Cleveland; the format, which began spreading to other television stations nationwide around that timeframe, involves the production of 30-second news updates that air at or near the top of every hour during local commercial break inserts – even during prime time network and overnight programming – in addition to the station's long-form newscasts in regularly scheduled timeslots. The station continues to use the format (which is reinforced in the branding that the station has used for its news programming off-and-on since 1990, 24-Hour News 8, and all but one of the varying news slogans it had used from 1990 to 2014), even as stations elsewhere had discontinued the hourly update format by the early 2000s. However, as of June 4, 2018, WISH-TV has dropped the 24-Hour moniker from its newscast name (the moniker part of its slogan has been dropped for years).

For many years, the news themes that WISH-TV had commissioned have incorporated components (including the eight-note musical signature) from the song "Back Home Again in Indiana"; these include two custom packages by Stephen Arnold Music – "Newsleader" (used from 1991 to 1997) and the "WISH-TV News Music Package," a customized version of Arnold's "Counterpoint" package (used from 1997 to 2004) – and an alteration of the V.3 package from 615 Music's "In-Sink" (used from 2004 to 2012). The 615-composed custom package "A New Wish," introduced on September 5, 2012, was the first theme used by the station in 21 years to omit compositional ties to "Back Home Again in Indiana". As of June 4, 2018, WISH-TV has returned to using the "In-Sink" news music package containing the "Back Home Again in Indiana" melody. On February 28, 2005, shortly after LIN TV announced its purchase of channel 23, WISH-TV took over production of WNDY's 10 p.m. newscast from WTHR, which had produced the program from its inception on March 16, 1996; this partnership expanded to include an hour-long extension of WISH's weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m., which debuted on January 5, 2009.

On September 8, 2008, WISH-TV became the second television station in Indiana to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; the WNDY newscasts were included in the upgrade. On September 9, 2013, WISH-TV added a half-hour to its weekday morning newscast at 4:30 a.m., becoming the last English-language news-producing station in the market to expand its morning newscast to a pre-5 a.m. timeslot (WTHR had an eight-year head start, expanding its morning newscast into the 4:30 slot in 2005; that station was later joined by WXIN in 2009 and WRTV in 2010. WTTV became the last station in the market, again, to air a pre-5 a.m. timeslot when their news operation debuted in 2015).

When it became an affiliate of The CW on January 1, 2015, WISH-TV expanded its news programming by 20 hours (increasing its weekly total from 34 to 54 hours a week). Most existing newscasts were retained, though the 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts it produced for WNDY moved to channel 8 (the former of which is part of an expansion of Daybreak that extended the weekday edition of the program by two hours and the weekend editions by one), while the noon newscast expanded to one hour and a 6:30 p.m. newscast on weeknights was added. The weekend 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts were also shortened to a half-hour, with the Sports Locker being moved to bookending the latter and the 11 p.m. news on Sunday nights, and a new sports program (Indy Sports Tonight) taking up 15 minutes of the 11 p.m. news.

Notable former on-air staff

 * Mike Barz – anchor/reporter
 * Chet Coppock – sportscaster (1974–1981; later at WMVP-AM in Chicago; deceased)
 * Eboni Deon – weekend meteorologist, (now at WFTV)
 * Nicole Manske – sports anchor/reporter (2004–2006; now at ESPN)
 * Mark Patrick – sports director (1990–1999)
 * Jane Pauley – weekend anchor (1972–1975; later co-anchor of Today, now host of CBS News Sunday Morning)
 * Rolland Smith – anchor (1967–1969)
 * Sage Steele – sports reporter (1997–1998; now at ESPN)
 * John Stehr – anchor (later at WTHR; retired June 20, 2018)
 * Anne Marie Tiernon – anchor/reporter (1991–2000; now at WTHR)

Local Weather Station
WISH-TV originally launched digital subchannel 8.2 in 2005 as an over-the-air feed of its 24-hour weather service, LWS (or "Local Weather Station"); formatted similarly to the now-defunct SkyTrak Weather Network service previously operated by WTHR and its low-power sister station WALV-CD (channel 46), the service also began to be simulcast on low-power sister station WIIH-CA on January 1, 2009, after that station lost its Univision affiliation; WIIH-CA dropped the service when it was converted into a fill-in translator of WISH-TV in January 2011. Until February 2016, Channel 8 carried a half-hour simulcast of the LWS service on its primary channel on Friday nights/early Saturday mornings.

Subchannels
The station's signal is multiplexed: {{legend|#E6FFF7|Simulcast of subchannels of another station}}

Translator

 *  26 Indianapolis

title: WISH-TV


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dorothy Hall-Kinnear

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Joyous (talk) 18:27, July 25, 2005 (UTC)

Dorothy Hall-Kinnear
Delete standard autobio nn vanity. Just read the last line. TheMidnighters 15:30, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete vanity. Dunc|☺ 16:48, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per above. Friday 17:20, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete nn vanity. --Etacar11 01:04, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

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


text:
Vishvakarma

Vishvakarma or Vishvakarman (विश्वकर्मा, ) is a craftsman deity and the divine architect of the devas in contemporary Hinduism. In the early texts, the craftsman deity was known as Tvastar and the word "Vishvakarma" was originally used as an epithet for any powerful deity. However, in many later traditions, Vishvakarma became the name of the craftsman god.

Vishvakarma crafted all of the chariots of the devas and weapons including the Vajra of the god Indra. Vishvakarma was related to the sun god Surya through his daughter Samjna/Randal. According to the legend, when Samjna left her house due to Surya's energy, Vishvakarma reduced the energy and created various other weapons using it. Vishvakarma also built various cities like Lanka, Dvaraka, and Indraprastha. According to the epic Ramayana, the vanara (forest-man or monkey) Nala was the son of Vishvakarma, created to aid the avatar Rama.

Vedas

The term Visvakarman was originally used as an epithet for any supreme god and as an attribute of Indra and the Sun. The name Visvakarman occurs five times in the tenth book of the Rigveda. The two hymns of the Rigveda identify Visvakarman as all-seeing, and having eyes, faces, arms and feet on every side and also has wings. Brahma, the god of creation, who is four-faced and four-armed resembles him in these aspects. He is represented as being the source of all prosperity, swift in his thoughts and titled a seer, priest, and lord of speech.

According to some parts of the Rigveda, Vishvakarma was the personification of ultimate reality, the abstract creative power inherent in deities, living and non-living being in this universe. He is considered to be the fifth monotheistic God concept: He is both The Architect and The Divine Engineer of The Universe from before the advent of time.

The later parts of the Rigveda reveal efforts to find a satisfactory answer to the mysteries regarding the origin of the Architect, the creation hymns present in these parts of the Rigveda mention individual creator gods as opposed to the collection of gods and their chiefs (Indra, Varuna, Agni, etc.) creating the architecture.

In the historical Vedic religion, the role of Vishvakarma as the builder of gods is attributed to Tvastar. Vedic Vishvakarman is identified with Prajapati rather than Tvaṣṭṛ. In later mythology, Vishvakarman is sometimes identified with Tvaṣṭṛ and is a craftsman deity.

Iconography
Vishvakarma's iconography varies drastically from one region to another, though all picture him with creation tools. In the most popular depiction, he is depicted as an aged and wise man, with four arms. He has white beard and is accompanied by his vahana, hamsa (goose or swan), which scholars believe that these suggest his association with the creator god Brahma. Usually, he is seated on a throne and his sons standing near him. This form of Vishvakarma is mainly found in the Western and North Western parts of India.

Contradictory to the above account, the murtis of Vishvakarma in the eastern parts of India depict him as a young muscular man. He has black moustache and is not accompanied by his sons. An elephant is his vahana, suggesting his association with Indra or Brihaspati.

Family
Parentage of Vishvakarma differs in many other texts. In the Nirukta and Brahmanas he is stated to be the son of Bhuvana. In the Mahabharata and Harivamsha, he is the son of Vasu Prabhāsa and Yoga-siddhā. In the Puranas, he is the son of Vāstu or sometimes, Brahma. Vishvakarma is the father of three daughters named Barhishmati, Samjna and Chitrangada, as well as five sons. In Vamana Purana, Vishvakarma is presented as the husband of the celestial nymph Ghritachi. When identified with Tvastar, Vishvakarma is also described to be the father of a son named Vishvarupa.

Vishvakarma Puja

Among those who celebrate Vishwakarma's birthday, it is celebrated on two days under different names:
 * Vishvakarma Puja: This occasion is observed by adherents on the 17/18 September of every year.
 * Rishi Panchami: Those who celebrate this day believe that Vishvakarma did not have a birthday like the mortals but only a commemoration day in which his five children (supposedly five rishis) came together to declare their solidarity and pray to their illustrious father. This day follows the rules of the Hindu calendar and changes with every year. The five groups among the Vishvakarma community also celebrate this as an auspicious day in commemoration of their patron god at present.

title: Vishvakarma


text:
Fort Belvedere, Surrey

Fort Belvedere (originally Shrubs Hill Tower) is a Grade II* listed country house on Shrubs Hill in Windsor Great Park, in Surrey, England. The fort was predominantly constructed by Jeffry Wyatville in a Gothic Revival style in the 1820s.

The fort was occupied by numerous members of the British royal family and associated personages from 1750 to 1976. From 1929 Fort Belvedere was the home of Edward, Prince of Wales, who greatly renovated the house and grounds, and it was the site of his abdication as King Edward VIII in 1936. The property remains part of the Crown Estate, is home to private tenants and is not open to the public.

Location
The Fort Belvedere estate is situated in the extreme south end of Windsor Great Park in the parish of Egham, in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey. The closest town to the fort is Sunningdale in Berkshire. The fort is situated on Shrub's Hill and overlooks Virginia Water. The fort is 22 mi from London, and Edward, Prince of Wales, would boast of being able to see London's St Paul's Cathedral "through a spy-glass" from the fort in the 1930s.

The fort's acquired name of 'Belvedere' (from Italian: 'beautiful view') reflects its status as a vantage point and as an 'eye-catcher' for the park.

Early history
Fort Belvedere was built 1750–1755, by Henry Flitcroft, for Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721–1765), younger son of George II and Queen Caroline, and was featured in an engravings in 1753 and 1754, where it was described as the "New building on Shrubb's Hill".

It was, at first, merely a folly. It was used as a summer-house, and seven counties could be seen, as now, from the top of the flagstaff tower. The triangular turreted structure was set amid a dense plantation of trees and overlooked Virginia Water, a man-made body of water constructed by Thomas and Paul Sandby at the behest of the Duke.

Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, who was responsible, under George IV, for the rebuilding of Windsor Castle, enlarged the house in 1828 at a proposed cost of £4000. Additions included an octagonal dining room in the north-east side, in which the King regularly had dinner. A three-storey annex was added for the accommodation of the Bombardier, with a new wall linking a heightened turret to which a large flagpole was added. The addition of further Gothic details enhanced the interior and exterior of the fort in 1829. The fort is built of brick with an applied wash that imitated the appearance of stone. Queen Victoria used Fort Belvedere as a tea house, and the fort was opened to the public in the 1860s.

By 1910 the fort was occupied as a grace and favour residence by Sir Malcolm Murray, the Comptroller to Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The Duke was the owner of nearby Bagshot Park. The fort was extended with a new service wing and entrance porch in 1911–12, which was subsequently demolished. The dining and drawing rooms were also extended and new entrance lodges were built. After the departure of Murray, the fort was described as suffering from "dust inches deep, splintered doors and sagging floors" in 1929.

The ruins in the grounds can be seen from the shore of Virginia Water and are part of an ancient temple brought from Leptis Magna near Tripoli. The ruins are located between the south shore and Blacknest Road close to the junction with the A30 London Road and Wentworth Drive.

Edward VIII
In 1929, the building became vacant, and was given to Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, by his father, George V. The King had originally expressed surprise at Edward's request asking him "What could you possibly want that queer old place for? Those damn weekends I suppose", but then smiled and gave his permission. Edward's previous residence had been York House, part of St. James's Palace in London, which he had thought "more an office than a home." He would later write that he "created a home at the fort just as my father and grandfather had created one at Sandringham ... here I spent some of the happiest days of my life." During Edward's occupancy, extensive renovation of the interior and grounds was carried out. He built a swimming pool at the fort between 1931 and 1932, that replaced an old lily pond, and added a tennis court and developed stables in the grounds of the fort. Edward added modern conveniences at the fort, many of which were still rare in British homes, including bathrooms adjacent to nearly every room, a steam-room, showers, built-in cupboards and central heating. The prince initially renovated the house with the assistance of his then mistress Freda Dudley Ward. By 1959 only one room, the drawing room, had survived from Edward's renovations. The drawing room's painted walls were designed to resemble the pinewood panelling of a Scottish shooting lodge. The total cost of the redecoration including plumbing and repairs came to £21,000 (£ as of ). The relationship between Edward and Wallis Simpson blossomed at Fort Belvedere; the couple spent their first weekend at the fort at the end of January 1932, and by early 1935 two rooms had been combined at the fort for her use. Notable interior decorators to work on the fort under Edward included Sybil Colefax, Lady Mendl, Maison Jansen, and Herman Schrijver. Edward and Wallis entertained most weekends at the house; guests present included 'courtiers and diplomats, American men of affairs and English Society, garnished with a sprinkling of statesmen, soldiers and sailors'. Giles Gilbert Scott added a guest wing to the fort after Edward's accession as king in 1936. In 1936 Wallis moved permanently to the fort after receiving threatening anonymous letters, and left Fort Belvedere for the final time on 3 December 1936, a week before Edward's abdication.

Cabinet Office files released in 2013 revealed that during December 1936, the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, had ordered the General Post Office to intercept Edward's telephone communications between the fort and the European continent. Government officials were caused further alarm by Edward's habit of leaving his official "red boxes" unguarded around the fort.

Following opposition to the potential of Edward's marriage to Wallis Simpson from the British government and autonomous Dominions of the British Commonwealth, the fort became the final setting of Edward's abdication as king. He held several meetings with Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin at Fort Belvedere during the crisis, and on 10 December 1936 signed his written abdication notices at the fort, witnessed by his three younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York (who succeeded Edward as George VI); Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent. The following day, it was given legislative form by special Act of Parliament: His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. Following his abdication at the fort, Edward described himself as feeling "like a swimmer surfacing from a great depth ... I left the room and stepped outside, inhaling the fresh morning air." He retained the visitor's book from the fort, and it would be used at all the subsequent homes he and Wallis Simpson would share.

Edward continued to pay for the gardeners, insurance and upkeep of the fort in the initial years following his abdication, because it was his wish that he would return there. His possessions from the fort were transferred to the Château de la Croë in the south of France (where he had named the sitting room "The Belvedere") in the spring of 1938, but many were damaged in transit. Edward was informed in March 1940 that the fort was no longer in his possession as his warrant to occupy the grace and favour residence had expired on the termination of his reign and was not to be renewed by the present sovereign, his brother, now George VI. Edward was greatly upset by this, writing in 1940 that "It is crystal clear that this proposed reserving of the Fort by the use of Crown Lands is nothing more than a piece of bluff, and the first excuse that the king has been able to find to deprive me of my right to occupy the place should I ever desire to do so ..." Edward believed that the incident was an example of his 'brother's failure to keep his word to me' after the fort had apparently been reserved for him if he should reside once more in England.

In 1977 the fort was used extensively for the filming of Edward & Mrs. Simpson, an ITV serialisation of Edward and Wallis's relationship.

Post abdication
Fort Belvedere was largely unoccupied during the 20 years following Edward's abdication. The fort was used by the Office of the Commissioners of Crown Lands, who had been evacuated from their central London offices during World War II. After the war, the house remained empty.

Gerald and Angela Lascelles
In 1953 it was announced that the fort was to be available on a long lease, and a 99-year lease on the fort was bought by The Honourable Gerald Lascelles in 1955. Lascelles was the son of Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood and Mary, Princess Royal, the only daughter of George V and Mary of Teck. Lascelles was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He lived at the fort with his wife, Angela, and their son, Henry. Lascelles described the house as 'falling to pieces' at the beginning of his occupancy, and refurbished the fort, removing most traces of Edward's renovations in the process, except for the swimming pool and the battlements walk. The 30–40 rooms of the fort were reduced by the Lascelleses to the "equivalent of an eight-bedroom house, including quarters for three or four staff. It will be a very manageable home". Angela Lascelles remained dedicated to improving and renovating the house and maintaining the estate. The Lascelleses’ restoration of the fort was undertaken by the designer Stanley Peters who took three years to return it to its 18th-century state; Peters faced difficulties in removing offices added when Edward became king. A mural added by Peters in the drawing-room, and painted by Oliver Carson, depicted Peters in an incidental role, portrayed in 18th-century clothes chasing butterflies. The Lascelleses later claimed the credit for Peters's designs and his career suffered irreparable damage as a result.

1976 sale of the lease
The financial pressure following his divorce caused Gerald Lascelles to put his 78-year remainder of the lease up for sale through estate agents Savills in 1976. Offers for the lease above £200,000 were invited. An advertisement for Fort Belvedere's lease listed the features of the fort as "Hexagonal central hall, fine drawing room, dining room, library, compact domestic quarters, 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, arranged mainly in suites" and the expanse of the estate as "about 59 acres, of which 25 acres is freehold woodland". Three cottages were also included in the lease with the swimming pool and tennis court. The lease was eventually acquired by a son of the Emir of Dubai in 1976.

Galen and Hilary Weston
From the early 1980s until his death in 2021, the lease on Fort Belvedere has been held by the late Canadian billionaire retail magnate Galen Weston and his wife, Hilary. It continues to be occupied by his family. The Westons have carried out extensive works on the fort, constructing a polo stud and doubling the size of the lake in the grounds.

The Westons have a close relationship with the British royal family; they were often guests of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at the nearby Royal Lodge, and have hosted Queen Elizabeth II at the fort. King Charles III played polo with Galen Weston and stables his polo ponies at Fort Belvedere, and the nearby Coworth Park Polo Club in Sunningdale is the base for Weston's polo team, the Maple Leafs. The Westons have held notable parties at Fort Belvedere: Hilary Weston's 60th birthday party at the fort was attended by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Queen Noor of Jordan and Princess Caroline of Monaco, and a June 2014 ball at the fort was enthusiastically covered in The Spectator magazine by Taki Theodoracopulos.

The Crown Estate retains ownership of the freehold, as the property is still part of the Great Park.

Gardens
The grounds of Fort Belvedere are about a hundred acres in size and include forests and a lake. The gardens of Fort Belvedere, Virginia Water and the nearby Clockcase are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Edward said of the fort that "By the time I came upon it, it had become a pseudo-Gothic hodge-podge. A profusion of yew trees kept one side of the house in perpetual shadow, staining the wall with green acidulous mould. But the half-buried beauty of the place leaped to my eye."

Edward's subsequent passion for landscaping and horticulture briefly eclipsed golf and hunting in his affections, and he would often get his weekend guests, including his brother Bertie, the future George VI, to assist him in the landscaping of the fort. The garden designer Norah Lindsay also worked on the fort's garden at the behest of Edward, he would later describe how her "unusual use of roses in the herbaceous border" had justified her payment. Edward planted roses and irises along the walls of the battlement. Prime Minister Baldwin complimented Edward on the beauty of the garden; commenting on the "silvery radiance of the birch trees and the delicacy of the autumn tints" in late 1936. Edward also mowed hay on the fort's estate in the summer months and built a rock garden with cascading water pumped from Virginia Water.

The Westons have carried out substantial landscaping at the fort, and recruited Rosemary Verey to help with the design of the gardens at Fort Belvedere in the early 1980s. Verey's designs for the rose garden and the 120-foot-long borders along the battlement remain, and have been reworked and maintained by garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith.

Cannon
Thirty-one brass cannon were moved to the north-facing crenelated terrace of the fort from nearby Cumberland Lodge in the early 19th century. The cannon were made by Andrew Schalch at the Royal Brass Foundry in Woolwich in 1729–1749. The cannon were fired for George IV's birthdays and other royal birthdays until 1907, with the cannon fire being answered by a miniature frigate situated on Virginia Water in the early years of their operation. The last Bombardier situated at the fort was Master Gunner Robert Turner of the Royal Artillery. The Bombardier was entrusted with the care of the guns and lived in Bombardier's Cottage, connected to the main house by an archway. The cannon would have been melted down as part of the war effort in 1943 had it not been for the intervention of the head of the Tower Armoury, J. G. Mann. Four guns were removed from the terrace in 1930 and placed in two pairs at the entrances to the fort.

Derivative buildings
Shrubs Hill Tower inspired the building of similar triangular tower follies on various large estates, including:
 * Haldon Belvedere, also known as Lawrence Tower (1788), Haldon House, near Exeter, Devon, built by Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet (1717–1798), in memory of his friend and patron General Stringer Lawrence (1697–1775).
 * Powderham Belvedere (1773) at Powderham Castle, near Exeter, Devon, built by the Earl of Devon.

title: Fort Belvedere, Surrey


text:
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text: User talk:67.180.101.79

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Anconine Republic

The Anconine Republic (Repubblica Anconitana) was a revolutionary municipality formed on 19 November 1797. It came about after a French victory at Ancona in February 1797, and the consequent occupation of the city. It existed in the region of Marche, with Ancona serving as its capital. Despite the Treaty of Campo Formio stating that Ancona and the surrounding region had to be returned to the Papal States, the municipality proclaimed the decadence of papal rule, under French protection. The subsequent tension led to general conflict with Pope Pius VI and the French occupation of the whole of the Papal States. Ancona was incorporated into the Roman Republic on 7 March 1798. It had a consul as its head.

Ancona is now a province of Italy, in the central part of the country on the Adriatic Sea.

title: Anconine Republic