text:
Template talk:World Athletics

Iaaf_name template
<<>>

GregorB 17:45, August 22, 2005 (UTC)

 * Eh, I started a similar template about a week ago, which is just simply . I don't think "name" needs to be clarified, since the only thing listed are profiles. Admittedly the tag hasn't been used as much as this one, but it might be good to merge the projects together? Sarge Baldy 02:09, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Didn't know that... I haven't seen it used, and it is somewhat difficult to browse through existing templates. Anyway: I used "iaaf name" because: 1) IMDb template uses it, so it would work exactly like an existing (and quite popular) template, 2) because the IAAF web site might offer something else in the future (I believe they already have results grouped by competitions), and 3) because might be used for something else (ironically, I was correct about that one).

 * I happen to like the way your template looks better. I didn't want to use the word "biography" because it really isn't one; "profile" is more like it. The question is whether to link to IAAF internally or externally... Perhaps internally makes a little bit more sense after all, since the athlete link already gets you there. So yes, I'd like to see them merged in one way or another... GregorB 18:43, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

 * Well, yours is in more common usage, and I suppose it is possible they'll use the page for something else. I guess I chose the shorter name because it's easier and eventually saves some amount of space. It might be best to use my wording and your name, and I can just change the template on the few pages I did tag it with? Sarge Baldy 01:56, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree completely... Please do go ahead and do it. GregorB 02:13, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Done. Sarge Baldy 02:18, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

http://www.iaaf.org --> http://iaaf.org
http://www.iaaf.or --> http://iaaf.org is shorter and easier to spell.
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: the latter is a URL hard-redirect to the former, which results in an irritating 'loop' in browsers (click 'back' just once, and you're immediately forwarded again to where you started from). Happy‑melon 14:18, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

PT interwiki
Could some administrator edit and put the Portuguese interwiki ( pt:Predefinição:Iaaf name )? Thanks Mwaldeck (talk) 14:11, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Name field
What exactly is the purpose of the "name=" field? It seems to work fine without... Sillyfolkboy (talk) 19:25, 17 March 2009 (UTC)
 * The template uses as the default, but this is not optimal when the article name differs from the athlete's name; see e.g. Nicholas Kemboi (1989). GregorB (talk) 08:18, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Edit request (doc subpage)
Please create the doc subpage. Thanks! GregorB (talk) 08:21, 1 June 2009 (UTC) ✅ — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:31, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was move per request.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:37, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Template:Iaaf name → Template:IAAF name – International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)see picture Caps is correct.--777sms (talk) 12:55, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

. But since IAAF is correct, I would say "rename". Teyandee (talk) 14:23, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment. We already have Template:IAAF name (it just redirects to Template:Iaaf name). And it works same as Template:iaaf name:
 * Support: Acronyms should be capitalized. –CWenger ( ^ •  @ ) 17:30, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Meh. Seeing as it's a template it makes no difference, but seeing as someone feels strongly about it, I guess there's no reason not to move it either. Jenks24 (talk) 02:57, 1 May 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Template links
I've noticed that whilst most of the time, the template links work fine, but recently, for some strange reason, the IAAF link returns a "500 - Internal server error." with the text: There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed. It appears to be the digit 0 appearing in the generic URL. Take the recently created stub for Gideon Trotter as an example. The template links to http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=248166/index.html, but if you change "letter=0" to the first letter of his surname (letter=t), http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=t/athcode=248166/index.html, then the IAAF biography appears on screen. Why does this only affect a small amount of biography links? And can anything be done about it? Jared Preston (talk) 22:04, 30 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The IAAF seems to have revamped its internal webpage system in the last few months (I believe they have a new webmaster?). Previously, all IAAF website pages could be viewed at a variety of urls (with bits of code that generated competition specific backgrounds etc), but now only two versions are present – the main view and the print view. This change not only affects the biographies, but also ther articles.
 * Biographies are now only visible if the url has the correct letter in the "letter=" field of the url. I am in the middle of developing a template option to correct this problem.
 * There are fortunately two upsides – first, all IAAF pages with active incoming links appear to have been preserved. Only newly linked citations will need to modified, thus no replacement scheme is necessary (thank god!). Secondly, search engine results have been radically simplified as, previously, the same article would appear numerous times at different locations, whereas now only one link will appear. In terms of updating our behaviour, we need only use my new "letter" option on newer biographies (July 2011 onwards). SFB 18:53, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 1 November 2011
IAAF profile for

This edit provides a necessary update to the template. Since around July, the IAAF website has changed and the default "0" option is refused on new incoming links, giving an internal error (e.g. here). The letter option will allow the entry of the first letter of the athlete's surname delivering a valid response for future entries (e.g. here) and preserving backward compatibility with older active links. SFB 19:05, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

 * ✅ -- WOSlinker (talk) 20:20, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

IAAF new site
At the moment template work (sometimes), but the athletes biographies have a new link as http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/jamaica/usain-bolt. --Kasper2006 (talk) 07:50, 6 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Please see Template:IAAF profile. SFB 16:00, 26 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I've found that we can get all the old links working again by omitting the letter part of the code. This will save masses of work. Please can the link part of the code be updated as follows? Thanks. SFB 18:29, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

 * Yes check.svg Done -- Red rose64 (talk) 19:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Edit request on 29 March 2013
Please make the following change to strip out the disambiguators in article titles when automatically picking up the PAGENAME.

IAAF profile for

Thanks. SFB 22:25, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done -- Red rose64 (talk) 12:29, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Edit request on 22 September 2013
Please edit this template to place the external link at the beginning of the line. That is the standard format used by most templates located in Category:Sports external link templates and Category:People and person external link templates. I have placed the updated code in Template:IAAF name/sandbox. Examples:
 * (current template)
 * (sandbox template)

-- Zyxw (talk) 09:14, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done -- Red rose64 (talk) 13:35, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks -- Zyxw (talk) 14:36, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Wikidata
, great job linking IAAF name with Wikidata! Would you consider adding tracking categories such as "IAAF id different in Wikidata and Wikipedia" and "IAAF id not in Wikidata"? I also feel migration of ids to Wikidata is the way to go, and these two categories might help - see e.g. Official website. GregorB (talk) 16:58, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Great idea. I've added them on now. Thanks to the work of MATEUSZ on, everything has been set up for some time and thousands of athletes have their IDs in WikiData already. I've made a property proposal of my own to incorporate personal best data there. We'll see how that goes: if it works it should radically change and simplify how we include personal best info, across languages. SFB 18:32, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
 * , it seems that the template is currently querying P856, which I suppose is a C&P error - it should use P1146 throughout. GregorB (talk) 19:30, 20 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Ha ha - what a dumbo! Cheers for picking it up. SFB 20:26, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Problem with IDs beginning with 0
I've noticed that whenever an athlete's ID begins with 0, the generated link does not lead to the athlete's bio, but redirects to the Athlete search engine at the IAAF's site. Take as an example Natta Nachan with the ID 014302687. Any ideas? Pietaster (talk) 16:10, 13 May 2019 (UTC)
 * If that's of any help, in this athlete's case the search engine doesn't show the typical redirect link, such as https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/athlete=56220 but the full url https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/thailand/nachan-natta-014302687. Pietaster (talk) 16:19, 13 May 2019 (UTC)
 * If this is still an issue, one workaround for this would be to use the format https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/_/014302687 instead of https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/athlete=014302687. It seems like a better plan going forward, but I haven't tested this redirect extensively with other IDs. --Habst (talk) 15:26, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Update: I added a new conditional to the sandbox so it uses this new URL format only if the ID starts with 0, otherwise it continues to use the old format. This way there's no chance of any old URLs being broken, only the already-broken ones will be fixed. I also added new testcases to IAAF name/testcases to test this, and it seems to work fine. So I'm going to make a quick edit request here to implement my changes:

 * Feel free to let me know if there's any issues and I can try to fix. Thanks. --Habst (talk) 23:06, 23 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 19:55, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Not working?
Hallo, I don't usually edit sports articles but was working on Mariam Mamdouh Farid, found her profile at https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/qatar/mariam-mamdouh-farid-14760443 and wanted to include it as an External Link. I found this template and added but it didn't work:  it led me to https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes. Have they restructured the database perhaps? The German article has a link which reaches https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/_/14760443, which appears to be a different URL for the page I found. All rather puzzling. Over to you: I've linked to the stats page without using the template. Pam D  08:38, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I think the next post solved this problem. Thanks. Pam  D  07:38, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Edit request on 08 August 2021
Please replace the forward slash in front of the   query parameter on line 3 of this template with a question mark  as in my edit to the sandbox. Rationale: This template currently generates a URL of the form, which leads to a 502 error. Using a question mark, the usual query string separator, instead, correctly leads to the athlete's entry:. Presumably, the site's URL format was changed. – Rummskartoffel 21:49, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ firefly  ( t · c ) 06:42, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Change URL format to unconditionally use https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/_/ID
Please change the URL format to unconditionally use use, rather than conditionally using it only if the ID starts with a '0'. This is because some IDs don't start with a '0', but still require the new format, like. Currently this produces a blank page with the old format.

Four years ago I cautiously made the new format conditional, but it looks like I was too cautious and we will have to change to using the new format in all cases now, until we find some issue with it.

I made the change here: and tested it on the testcases, all working.

-- Habst (talk) 23:39, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

 * ✅.  P.I. Ellsworth  , ed.  put'er there 10:48, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

title: Template talk:World Athletics


text:
Wikipedia:Peer review/Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd/archive1

NMUK
This is my first article and, basically, I want to make sure I am doing it right!! I have read through as much of the Help section as I can, but there is so much, and it's all a little daunting. I welcome any feedback, positive or negative. John the mackem 17:37, 22 August 2005 (UTC)John_the_mackem

 * The images need to be tagged with their copyright status, as outlined in WP:ICT. --Carnildo 19:54, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

 * I thought I had? If you click on the image, the copyright tag is in there. Have I done it wrong? John the mackem 20:18, 22 August 2005 (UTC)John_the_mackem
 * Must have missed it -- I think the "copyrighted any purpose" tag is the smallest one around, and the colors blend in quite well with the "Classic" skin. In any case, the description page needs to indicate the source of the image. --Carnildo 21:36, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

 * The Reference section links should be labeled
 * Thanks to everyone who has given feedback. I have made all of the suggested changes. Does anyone have any comments regarding the subject matter? John the mackem 19:42, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

1. Avoid informal contractions like "it's". 2. Link more of the text to specific sources. For example "It is expected up to 18% of the plant's overall power needs can be met through these turbines." could do with a citation. 3. The last part of ==History== has too many one-sentence paragraphs. 4. Consider restructuring the ==Plant functions== section to reflect the tripartite division and avoid one-sentence paragraphs. I hope that this is helpful. —Theo (Talk) 12:20, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Our article naming convention requires us to avoid abbreviations so I have renamed this Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd and bypassed the consequent redirects except here and at the noticeboards (because I thought that those last few might confuse John). Comments on this clear and interesting article:

The citations are quite difficult, because a lot of it comes from my own personal experience and knowledge (I work at the factory). With regards to the one-sentence-paragraphs, I understand what you mean - I will have a look at reworking it. Thanks again. John the mackem 20:09, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Theo, thanks for all the input. Greatly appreciated. I did read the rule on acronyms, but I also read that they are OK in situations when the subject is almost totally known by it's acronym. I thought this was one of those cases, but on reflection I think you're right. Thanks for doing the changes for me; I don't think I could have managed it!

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


text:
User:Shig23

Hello, it's me, my name is Shig the Unmentionable. Deedlie-dee.

Currently working on an audio version of the article on The Foundation Series.

title: User:Shig23


text:
Small red-eyed damselfly

The small red-eyed damselfly (Erythromma viridulum) is a member of the damselfly family Coenagrionidae. It is very similar to the red-eyed damselfly.

Appearance
The species is a small damselfly, about 29 mm long, predominantly black with iridescent blue markings. Its large, spaced eyes are a deep red. Like the red-eyed damselfly, both sexes lack pale spots behind the eyes and have pale brown pterostigmata. The male has a bronze-black top and blue sides. The sides of the female's thorax are yellow, green or blue. The rear edge of the pronotum is rounded.

Viewed from the side, the second and eighth segment of the abdomen of the male are mostly blue, which distinguishes it from the red-eyed damselfly where these are mostly black.

Breeding
This damselfly breeds in ponds, lakes and ditches and, in continental Europe, sluggish rivers. It seems to be well able to tolerate brackish water. It seems to be associated with floating vegetation such as Hornwort and Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum).

Eggs are laid while in tandem, into the stems and leaves of floating plants. The larvae live amongst pondweed and probably emerge after a year.

Behaviour
Mating occurs either on floating plants or at the margins. When perched on floating plants, the male holds its abdomen slightly upcurved (the red-eyed damselfly holds it straight).

Colonisation of Britain
The populations of this species in northwest Europe increased in the latter part of the 20th century, and in 1999 the species was recorded in Britain for the first time. It has since increased its range considerably and become an established breeding resident. The first British record was in Essex on 17 July 1999 and is documented in Dewick and Gerussi (2000). Breeding was finally proven in 2002.

title: Small red-eyed damselfly


text:
Mysterious Stranger

Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic by illusionist David Blaine was published on October 29, 2002 by Random House. Part autobiography, part history, and part armchair treasure hunt, the book also includes instructions on how to perform basic card tricks and illusions.

Synopsis
The book has been divided into 12 chapters — For Those Who Believe, Discovery of Magic, The Three Magi, Secrets of Cards, Confidence, Playing the Part of a Magician, The Man Ain't Right, Primitive Mysteries, Ehrich Weiss, The Premature Burial, Frozen in Time2, Vertigo.

In the chapter "Discovery of Magic", Blaine tells stories about his childhood, of how he became interested in magic, and of his devotion to his late mother.

In "The Three Magi", he acknowledges Robert-Houdin, Max Malini and Alexander Herrmann as major influences; in "Confidence", he cites Orson Welles and Titanic Thompson as inspiration for his street magic persona; and in "Ehrich Weiss", he celebrates the man we know as Houdini.

In "The Man Ain't Right", Blaine describes the evolution of his street magic act and how a masterfully timed card trick cinched his television deal with ABC.

In "Premature Burial", "Frozen in Time", and "Vertigo", Blaine details his grueling regime in preparation for each of his stunts of endurance, respectively, being buried in a glass coffin for seven days, standing inside a block of ice for sixty-one hours, and standing atop a 100-foot pole in high winds for thirty-five hours.

In addition, scattered throughout the book are clues to Blaine's $100,000 Challenge, an armchair treasure hunt of visual ciphers and logic deduction devised by game designer Cliff Johnson, creator of The Fool's Errand. The Challenge was solved by Sherri Skanes on March 20, 2004, 16 months after the book's publication.

Treasure Hunt reference

 * The Official Solution
 * The Winner's Tale

title: Mysterious Stranger


text:
Kentucky Route 61

Kentucky Route 61 (KY 61) is a 151.333 mile long Kentucky State Highway extending north from the Tennessee state line in Cumberland County to Columbia in Adair County through to Greensburg in Green County. From there, the route traverses LaRue, Hardin and Bullitt counties to terminate in Jefferson County (where it is commonly signed as Preston Street or Preston Highway) at the junction of U.S. Route 31E (East Main Street) in downtown Louisville.

Cumberland and Adair County
The first 12.8 mi of KY 61 is considered part of the Appalachian Development Highway System’s Corridor J project. That stretch of highway is one of five segments of that ADHS project, along with KY 90, US 27, KY 914, and KY 80 going from Burkesville through Burnside to London.

KY 61 runs concurrently with KY 90 into downtown Burkesville. KY 90 branches westward, while KY 61 goes onto a northwestward course, and turns northeast near the tripoint of the Cumberland, Metcalfe, and Adair County lines. Going north, the route crosses the Adair County line twice, and enters the far eastern tip of Metcalfe County before entering Adair County the second time. KY 61 has junctions with the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway and KY 80 on the west side of Columbia. KY 55 (Columbia Bypass) also has a concurrency with KY 61 near Columbia as well.

Green, LaRue, Hardin, and Nelson Counties
KY 61 goes on a northwestward course to Green and LaRue counties, traversing Greensburg and Hodgenville, respectively. US 68 and KY 70 runs concurrently with KY 61 in Greensburg, then US 31E gets co-signed with KY 61 near Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. At Hodgenville, KY 61 continues northwest into Hardin County to the US 31W and Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway junction in Elizabethtown, and runs concurrently with the northbound lanes of the U.S. route there. In downtown Elizabethtown, KY 61 begins a concurrency with US 62 from there through the I-65 Exit 94 interchange, all the way to just past Boston, in western Nelson County.

Bullitt County and Metro Louisville
KY 61 then runs further northward to Bullitt County (into Lebanon Junction and Shepherdsville) and then the Louisville-Jefferson County metro area, with major junctions with I-65, and then I-265 and I-264 (with access to I-264 eastbound only), along with US 150 (Broadway) before terminating in downtown Louisville at a junction with US 31E (East Main Street) at Louisville Slugger Field.

title: Kentucky Route 61


text:
User:Movezig

Movezig or Move Zig
A term referring to the animated short video clip titled "All your base are belong to us." The video clip was taken from an animation in a game for the Nintendo NES system which was translated so poorly that it became hilarious to English speaking players. View the video here: www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/

title: User:Movezig


text:
Tom Nairn

Thomas Cunningham Nairn (2 June 1932 – 21 January 2023) was a Scottish political theorist and academic. He was an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. He was known as an essayist and a supporter of Scottish independence.

Early life
Nairn was born on 2 June 1932 in Freuchie, Fife, the son of a primary school headmaster. He attended Dunfermline High School and the Edinburgh College of Art before graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Philosophy in 1956. He was awarded a British Council scholarship in 1957 to the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he stayed for some time. As well as becoming fluent in Italian, it was during this sojourn that he began to transcend the limits of orthodox Marxism, particularly while exploring the writings of Antonio Gramsci. "If you were a Marxist [in Britain] you were a Stalinist or a Trotskyist," he later explained, "but I was insulated against that by my Italian experience... there was a much wider intellectual, cultural atmosphere that one could go on breathing." During the 1960s Nairn studied at the University of Dijon (now the University of Burgundy), worked in warehouses as a nightwatchman, and taught at various institutions including the University of Birmingham (1965–66).

Nairn came to national prominence as a lecturer at Hornsey College of Art during 1968, where he became involved in a student occupation. The occupation offered a major critique of the education system at the time. After the authorities regained control, he was dismissed. He was then absent from secure university posts for three decades. He was at the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, from 1972 to 1976, but resigned when his efforts to steer it towards becoming a pan-European thinktank failed. He then worked on and off as a journalist and TV researcher (mainly for Channel 4 and Scottish Television, Glasgow) before a year at the Central European University with Ernest Gellner (1994–95) and then setting up and running a Masters course on Nationalism at the University of Edinburgh (1995–99). In 2001 he was invited to take up an Innovation Professorship in Nationalism and Cultural Diversity at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and worked with Paul James. He left in January 2010 when in his late 70s. Returning to France and then Britain, he was fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study of Durham University (2009).

Work
Nairn was considered one of the key thinkers of the British New Left, although he expressed dissent with what he saw as its generally nationalist nostalgia. From 1962, with Perry Anderson in New Left Review, he developed a thesis (the "Nairn-Anderson thesis") to explain why Britain did not develop in a 'normal' way, which was defined as the continental European movement to anti-clericalism and Republicanism since the 1789 French Revolution.

By contrast, Nairn was long an advocate of European integration, an argument he first put forward in The Left Against Europe (1973), when leftist opinion in the UK was very much against the idea.

He was an advocate of Scottish independence as well as devolution of power to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly and criticised the 1990s–2000s Blair Labour government for not giving those bodies enough power. While critical of Scottish elites, Nairn considered that Scotland's economic potential had been limited by the concentration of power in London in combination with what he claimed was the archaic nature of the British state.

An anthology of NLR articles, The Break-Up of Britain (1977, revised 1982) is the best known of Nairn's books on the nationalism theme. It is a Marxist critique of the emergence of worldwide nationalism. Essentially, Nairn contends that imperialism from the core countries (Western Europe) amongst the peripheral nations (Africa, Asia, Australia, etc.) motivated the peripheral elites to mobilise their exploited masses. As such, they created powerful myths and stories based on local artefacts and local happenings. The peripheral intelligentsia, as he denoted them, were inspired by both romanticism and populism. In a chapter devoted to him, Enoch Powell is placed in both traditions. Nairn's ideas on nationalism were in the news during Britain's protracted Brexit negotiations from 2016, and Scotland's desire to remain in the European Union; his major works have been reprinted.

His republican inclinations meant that his The Enchanted Glass (1988) was one of the earliest serious modern investigations into the British monarchy from an abolitionist perspective. It won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award. Here and elsewhere Nairn used the term 'Ukania' to suggest the irrational and Ruritanian nature of the British constitutional monarchy. His original source for the term is the nickname "Kakania" that Robert Musil uses for the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy in The Man Without Qualities. An updated edition of The Enchanted Glass (published by Verso) appeared in 2011.

Personal life and death
Tom Nairn lived in Scotland with his long-term partner Millicent Petrie, and had two stepchildren. He died on 21 January 2023, at the age of 90.

Honours
In 2009, Nairn was elected a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Major works
Books
 * Quattrocchi, A. and Nairn, T. (1968) The Beginning of the End: France, May 1968 Panther Books
 * Students and Staff of Hornsey College of Art (1969) The Hornsey Affair, Penguin Books
 * Nairn, T. (1973) The Left against Europe, Penguin
 * Nairn, T. (1977) The Break-up of Britain: Crisis and Neonationalism, London: NLB (2nd ed. 1981 Verso; 3rd 2003 Common Ground Pub) (paperback released in 1981 and republished in 2021), ISBN 978-1-78168-320-0
 * Nairn, T. (1988) The Enchanted Glass: Britain and Its Monarchy, London: Radius (2nd ed. 1994, Vintage. 3rd ed. 2011), ISBN 0-09-172955-6
 * Nairn, T. (1992) Auld enemies: Essays from the "Nairn on Monday" column, The Scotsman, Glasgow : Common Cause
 * Nairn, T. (1997) Faces of Nationalism: Janus Revisited, Verso (2nd ed. 2005), ISBN 1-85984-194-5
 * Quattrocchi A and Nairn, T. (1998) The Beginning of the End: France, May 1968, Verso
 * Nairn, T. (2001) After Britain: New Labour and the Return of Scotland, Granta, ISBN 1-86207-293-0
 * Nairn, T. (2002) Pariah: Misfortunes of the British Kingdom, Verso
 * Nairn, T (2006) Global Nations, Verso
 * Nairn, T (2006) Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness, Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs
 * Nairn, T (2006) Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness, Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs
 * Nairn, T (2006) Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness, Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs

Articles and media

He has written many articles for the London Review of Books and contributed regularly to openDemocracy as well as other publications.
 * (Also reprinted in Break-up.)
 * Nairn, T. (1976) Northern Ireland: Relic or Portent?, in Burnett, Ray (ed.), Calgacus No. 3, Spring 1976, pp. 36 - 50,
 * Nairn T. (1976), review of The Radical Approach edited by Gavin Kennedy, in Question, July 1976, pp. 8 - 10
 * Nairn, T. (1980), Internationalism: A Critique, in The Bulletin of Scottish Politics No. 1, Autumn 1980, pp. 101 - 125
 * The Edinburgh lecture.
 * Articles on OpenDemocracy.net

Literature

 * Tributes from Perry Anderson et al
 * Tributes from Perry Anderson et al
 * Tributes from Perry Anderson et al

 * Turnbull, Ronald and Beveridge, Craig (1983), Scottish Nationalist, British Marxist: The Strange Case of Tom Nairn, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 13, Summer 1983, pp. 2 - 5,

title: Tom Nairn


text: User talk:81.151.46.87

title: User talk:81.151.46.87


text:
Tjeldsundet

Tjeldsundet is a strait in Northern Norway. The 50 km long strait is located between the island of Hinnøya and mainland Norway in its northern part and between Hinnøya and the island of Tjeldøya in its southern part. Tjeldsundet has been an important waterway for more than 1,000 years and was well known and used during the Viking Age.

The northern part is in Troms county between the municipalities of Harstad and Tjeldsund, while the southern part forms the border between Troms and Nordland counties between the municipalities of Tjeldsund and Lødingen. The southern entrance to the strait begins at the Ofotfjorden at the village of Lødingen and the town of Harstad is located at the northern entrance of the strait where it empties into the Vågsfjorden.

The Tjeldsund Bridge connects Hinnøya to the mainland by the E10 road, also known as King Olav's Road (Kong Olavs vei), part of which goes from the town of Harstad to Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes.

title: Tjeldsundet


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Toa Warriors

 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. Sjakkalle (Check!)  07:42, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

Toa Warriors
The content of the article does not seem to be verifiable. See Talk:Tino rangatiratanga. --Tony Sidaway Talk 17:39, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
 * delete. Unverifiable. --Tony Sidaway Talk  17:39, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
 * delete as per Tony Sidaway. --Apyule 04:50, 23 August 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.


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Ólafur

Ólafur is a common name in Iceland, derived from the Old Norse Óláfr, meaning "ancestor's relic".

According to Icelandic custom, people are generally referred to by first and middle names and patronyms are used if disambiguation is required.

The name is a frequently given name in Iceland. In 2005, it was the fifth most common male given name after Gunnar and before Einar. A diminutive form is Óli.

Notable Icelanders named Ólafur

 * Bjarni Ólafur Eiríksson (born 1982), football defender
 * Guðni Ólafur Guðnason (born 1965), retired basketball player
 * Ólafur Arnalds (born 1986), modern composer
 * Ólafur Benediktsson (born 1952), former handball player
 * Ólafur Egilsson (1564–1639), priest
 * Ólafur Elíasson (born 1967), Danish-Icelandic artist
 * Ólafur Friðrik Magnússon (born 1952), former mayor of Reykjavík
 * Ólafur Garðar Einarsson (1932–2023), politician and former minister
 * Ólafur Gottskálksson (born 1968), retired professional football goalkeeper
 * Ólafur Guðmundsson, handball player
 * Ólafur Haukur Símonarson, (born 1947), playwright and novelist
 * Ólafur Ingi Skúlason (born 1983), footballer and a midfielder
 * Ólafur Ísleifsson (born 1955), Icelandic economist and politician
 * Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson (born 1962), author
 * Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson (1918–1988), novelist, short story writer and poet
 * Ólafur Jóhannesson (football manager) (born 1957), football manager and former player
 * Ólafur Jóhannesson (1913–1984), the fifteenth Prime Minister of Iceland
 * Ólafur Jónsson (born 1946), former handball player
 * Ólafur Josephsson, musician, better known by the stage name Stafrænn Hákon
 * Ólafur Örn Bjarnason (born 1975), football defender
 * Ólafur Páll Snorrason (born 1982), international footballer
 * Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (born 1943), the fifth President of Iceland
 * Ólafur Stefánsson (born 1973), handball player
 * Ólafur Stígsson (born 1975), footballer
 * Ólafur Þór Gunnarsson (born 1977), footballer
 * Ólafur Þórðarson (footballer) (born 1965), former footballer
 * Ólafur Thors (1892–1964), former Prime Minister of Iceland on five occasions

title: Ólafur


text: User talk:84.9.69.46

title: User talk:84.9.69.46


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List of Augustae

Augusta (plural Augustae; αὐγούστα) was a Roman imperial honorific title given to empresses and women of the imperial families. It was the feminine form of Augustus. In the third century, Augustae could also receive the titles of Mater Senatus ("Mother of the Senate"), Mater Castrorum ("Mother of the Camp"), and Mater Patriae ("Mother of the Fatherland").

Augustae could issue their own coinage, wear imperial regalia, and rule their own courts.

Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, was the first wife of the emperor in Roman history to receive the title of Augusta, a position she held for the rest of her life, ruling with her husband and son.

In the third century, Julia Domna was the first empress to receive the combined title Pia Felix Augusta after the death of her husband Septimius Severus, which may have implied greater powers being vested in her than was usual for a Roman empress mother. In this official position and honor, she accompanied his son on an extensive military campaign and provincial tour.

title: List of Augustae


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W800

W800, W 800 or W–800 may refer to:

 * Sony Ericsson W800, a mobile phone
 * Kawasaki W800, a motorbike

title: W800


text:
Christian apologetics

Christian apologetics (ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity.

Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in the early church and Patristic writers such as Origen, Augustine of Hippo, Justin Martyr and Tertullian, then continuing with writers such as Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Anselm of Canterbury during Scholasticism.

Blaise Pascal was an active Christian apologist during the 17th century. In the modern period, Christianity was defended through the efforts of many authors such as John Henry Newman, G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis, as well as G. E. M. Anscombe.

Jewish precursors
According to Edgar J. Goodspeed in the first century CE Jewish apologetic elements could be seen in works such as The Wisdom of Solomon, Philo's On the Contemplative Life and more explicitly in Josephus' Against Apion.

Apostolic and post-apostolic period
Christian apologetics first appear in the New Testament (e. g. Paul's preaching on Mars Hill in Acts 17:22–31). During the subapostolic age Christianity was already competing with Judaism as well as with various other religions and sects in the Greco-Roman world. Christian apologetics can be first seen in the  Preaching of Peter  (Gospel of Peter), but the first explicitly apologetic work comes from Quadratus of Athens (c. 125 CE) in which he writes a defense of the faith to emperor Hadrian. Only a fragment, quoted by Eusebius, has survived to our day: "But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine:—those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day. (Church History iv. 3. 2)"One of the first comprehensive attacks on Christianity came from the Greek philosopher Celsus, who wrote The True Word (c. 175 CE), a polemic criticizing Christians as being unprofitable members of society. In response, the church father Origen published his apologetic treatise Contra Celsum, or Against Celsus, which systematically addressed Celsus's criticisms and helped bring Christianity a level of academic respectability. In the treatise, Origen writes from the perspective of a Platonic philosopher, drawing extensively on the teachings of Plato. Contra Celsum is widely regarded by modern scholars as one of the most important works of early Christian apologetics.

Other apologists from this period are Aristides of Athens, the author of the Epistle to Diognetus, Aristo of Pella, Tatian, Justin Martyr, Melito of Sardis, Athenagoras of Athens, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Origen, Hippolytus of Rome, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Cyprian, and Victorinus of Pettau.

Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
Anselm of Canterbury propounded the ontological argument in his Proslogion. Thomas Aquinas presented five ways, or arguments for God's existence, in the Summa Theologica, while his Summa contra Gentiles was a major apologetic work. Aquinas also made significant criticisms of the ontological argument which resulted in its losing popularity until it was revived by René Descartes in his Meditations. Blaise Pascal outlined an approach to apologetics in his Pensées: "Men despise religion; they hate it and fear it is true. To remedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason; that it is venerable, to inspire respect for it; then we must make it lovable, to make good men hope it is true; finally, we must prove it is true."

Late Modern Period
Christian apologetics continues in modern times in a wide variety of forms. Among Catholics there are Bishop Robert Barron, G. K. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Taylor Marshall, Arnold Lunn, Karl Keating, Michael Voris, Peter Kreeft, Frank Sheed, Dr. Scott Hahn, and Patrick Madrid. The Russian Orthodox Seraphim Rose is perhaps the best known modern, English speaking Eastern Orthodox apologist. Among the Evangelicals there is the Anglican C. S. Lewis (who popularized the argument now known as Lewis's trilemma). Among Protestant apologists of the 19th century there was William Paley who popularized the Watchmaker analogy. In the first half of the 20th century, many Christian fundamentalists became well known apologists. Some of the best known are R. A. Torrey and John Gresham Machen. Evangelical Norman Geisler, Lutheran John Warwick Montgomery and Presbyterian Francis Schaeffer were among the most prolific Christian apologists in the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st, while Gordon Clark and Cornelius Van Til started a new school of philosophical apologetics called presuppositionalism, which is popular in Calvinist circles.

Others include William Lane Craig, Douglas Groothuis, Josh McDowell, Hugo Anthony Meynell, Timothy J. Keller, Francis Collins, Vishal Mangalwadi, Richard Bauckham, Craig Evans, Darrell Bock, Frank Turek, John F. MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Michael R. Licona, Ravi Zacharias, Allister McGrath and John Lennox.

Terminology and origin
The original Greek apologia (ἀπολογία, from ἀπολογέομαι) was a formal verbal defense, either in response to accusation or prosecution in a court of law. The defense of Socrates as presented by Plato and Xenophon was an apologia against charges of "corrupting the young, and ... not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel".

In later use 'apologia' sometimes took a literary form in early Christian discourse as an example of the integration of educated Christians into the cultural life of the Roman Empire, particularly during the "little peace" of the 3rd century, and of their participation in the Greek intellectual movement broadly known as the Second Sophistic. The Christian apologists of the early Church did not reject Greek philosophy, but attempted to show the positive value of Christianity in dynamic relation to the Greek rationalist tradition.

In the 2nd century, apologetics was a defense or explanation of Christianity, addressed to those standing in opposition and those yet to form an opinion, such as emperors and other authority figures, or potential converts. The earliest martyr narrative has the spokesman for the persecuted present a defense in the apologetic mode: Christianity was a rational religion that worshiped only God, and although Christians were law-abiding citizens willing to honor the emperor, their belief in a single divinity prevented them from taking the loyalty oaths that acknowledged the emperor's divinity.

The apologetic historiography in the Acts of the Apostles presented Christianity as a religious movement at home within the Roman Empire and no threat to it and was a model for the first major historian of the Church, Eusebius. Apologetics might also be directed to Christians already within the community explain their beliefs and justify positions. Origen's apologetic Contra Celsum, for instance, provided a defense against the arguments of a critic dead for decades to provide answers to doubting Christians lacking immediate answers to the questions raised. Apologetic literature was an important medium for the formation of early Christian identity.

In addition to Origen and Tertullian, early Christian apologists include Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and the author of the Epistle to Diognetus. Augustine of Hippo was a significant apologist of the Patristic era. Some scholars regard apologetics as a distinct literary genre exhibiting commonalities of style and form, content, and strategies of argumentation. Others viewed it as a form of discourse characterized by its tone and purpose.

Biblical basis
R. C. Sproul, quoting the First Epistle of Peter, writes that "The defense of the faith is not a luxury or intellectual vanity. It is a task appointed by God that you should be able to give a reason for the hope that is in you as you bear witness before the world." The verse quoted here reads in full: "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

Another passage sometimes used as a biblical basis for Christian apologetics is God's entreaty in the Book of Isaiah: "Come now, let us reason together." Other scriptural passages which have been taken as a basis for Christian apologetics include Psalm 19, which begins "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands," and Romans 1, which reads "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Varieties
There are a variety of Christian apologetic styles and schools of thought. The major types of Christian apologetics include historical and legal evidentialist apologetics, presuppositional apologetics, philosophical apologetics, prophetic apologetics, doctrinal apologetics, biblical apologetics, moral apologetics, and scientific apologetics.

Biblical apologetics
Biblical apologetics include issues concerned with the authorship and date of biblical books, biblical canon, and biblical inerrancy. Christian apologists defend and comment on various books of the Bible. Some scholars who have engaged in the defense of biblical inerrancy include Robert Dick Wilson, Gleason Archer, Norman Geisler and R. C. Sproul. There are several resources that Christians offer defending inerrancy in regard to specific verses. Authors defending the reliability of the Gospels include Craig Blomberg in The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Mark D. Roberts in Can We Trust the Gospels? Richard Bauckham, Craig Evans and Darrell Bock.

Experiential apologetics
Experiential apologetics is a reference to an appeal "primarily, if not exclusively, to experience as evidence for Christian faith." Also, "they spurn rational arguments or factual evidence in favor of what they believe to be a self-verifying experience." This view stresses experience that other apologists have not made as explicit, and in the end, the concept that the Holy Spirit convinces the heart of truth becomes the central theme of the apologetic argument.

Historical and legal evidentialism
A variety of arguments has been forwarded by legal scholars such as Simon Greenleaf and John Warwick Montgomery, by expert forensic investigators such as cold case homicide detective J. Warner Wallace, and academic historical scholars, such as Edwin M. Yamauchi. These arguments present a case for the historicity of the resurrection of Christ per current legal standards of evidence or undermining the pagan myth hypothesis for the origin of Christianity.

Regarding evidence for the historicity of the Book of Acts, A. N. Sherwin-White states that: "For Acts, the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. Acts is, in simple terms and judged externally, no less of a propaganda narrative than the Gospels, liable to similar distortions. But any attempt to reject its basic historicity, even in matters of detail, must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.... The agnostic type of form-criticism would be much more credible if the compilation of the Gospels were much later in time.... Herodotus enables us to test the tempo of myth-making, [showing that] even two generations are too short a span to allow the mythical tendency to prevail over the hard historic core."

Moral apologetics
Moral apologetics states that real moral obligation is a fact. Catholic apologist Peter Kreeft said, "We are really, truly, objectively obligated to do good and avoid evil." In moral apologetics, the arguments for man's sinfulness and man's need for redemption are stressed. Examples of this type of apologetic would be Jonathan Edwards' sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Four Spiritual Laws religious tract (Campus Crusade for Christ) would be another example.

Defense of miracles
C. S. Lewis, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig and Christians who engage in jurisprudence Christian apologetics have argued that miracles are reasonable and plausible wherever an all-powerful Creator is postulated. In other words, it is postulated that if God exists, miracles cannot be postulated as impossible or inherently improbable.

Philosophical apologetics
Philosophical apologetics concerns itself primarily with arguments for the existence of God, although they do not exclusively focus on this area. They do not argue for the veracity of Christianity over other religions but merely for the existence of a Creator deity. Omnipotence and omniscience are implied in these arguments to greater or lesser degrees: some argue for an interventionist god, some are equally relevant to a Deist conception of God.

They do not support hard polytheism, but could be used to describe the first god who created many other gods; however, the arguments are only relevant when applied to the first god (the first cause, pure act and unmoved mover; it is a contradiction a priori to suppose a plurality of "pure acts" or "first causes" or "unmoved movers").

These arguments can be grouped into several categories:
 * 1) Cosmological argument – Argues that the existence of the universe demonstrates that God exists. Various primary arguments from cosmology and the nature of causation are often offered to support the cosmological argument.
 * 2) Teleological argument – Argues that there is a purposeful design in the world around us, and a design requires a designer. Cicero, William Paley, and Michael Behe use this argument as well as others.
 * 3) Ontological argument – Argues that the very concept of God demands that there is an actual existent God.
 * 4) Moral Argument – Argues that there are objectively valid moral values, and therefore, there must be an absolute from which they are derived.
 * 5) Transcendental Argument – Argues that all our abilities to think and reason require the existence of God.
 * 6) Presuppositional arguments – Argues that the basic beliefs of theists and nontheists require God as a necessary pre-condition.

Other philosophical arguments include:
 * Alvin Plantinga's argument that belief in God is properly basic, reformed epistemology.
 * Pascal's wager, is an argument that posits that humans all bet with their lives either that God exists or that he does not. Pascal argues that a rational person should live as though God exists.

In addition to arguments for the existence of God, Christian apologists have also attempted to respond successfully to arguments against the existence of God. Two very popular arguments against the existence of God are the hiddenness argument and the argument from evil. The hiddenness argument tries to show that a perfectly loving God's existence is incompatible with the existence of nonresistant nonbelievers. The argument from evil tries to show that the existence of evil renders God's existence unlikely or impossible.

Presuppositional apologetics
Presuppositional apologetics is a Reformed Protestant methodology which claims that presuppositions are essential to any philosophical position and that there are no "neutral" assumptions from which a Christian can reason in common with a non-Christian. There are two main schools of presuppositional apologetics, that of Cornelius Van Til (and his students Greg Bahnsen and John Frame) and that of Gordon Haddon Clark.

Van Til drew upon but did not always agree with, the work of Dutch Calvinist philosophers and theologians such as D. H. Th. Vollenhoven, Herman Dooyeweerd, Hendrik G. Stoker, Herman Bavinck, and Abraham Kuyper. Bahnsen describes Van Til's approach to Christian apologetics as pointing out the difference in ultimate principles between Christians and non-Christians and then showing that the non-Christian principles reduce to absurdity. In practice, this school utilizes what has come to be known as the transcendental argument for the existence of God.

Clark held that the Scriptures constituted the axioms of Christian thought, which could not be questioned, though their consistency could be discussed. A consequence of this position is that God's existence can never be demonstrated, either by empirical means or by philosophical argument. In The Justification of Knowledge, the Calvinist theologian Robert L. Reymond argues that believers should not even attempt such proofs.

Prophetic fulfillment
In his book Science Speaks, Peter Stoner argues that only God knows the future and that Biblical prophecies of a compelling nature have been fulfilled. Apologist Josh McDowell documents the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Christ, relating to his ancestral line, birthplace, virgin birth, miracles, death, and resurrection. Apologist Blaise Pascal believed that the prophecies are the strongest evidence for Christianity. He notes that Jesus not only foretold, but was foretold, unlike in other religions, and that these prophecies came from a succession of people over a span of four thousand years.

Origins apologetics
Many Christians contend that science and the Bible do not contradict each other and that scientific fact supports Christian apologetics. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge... These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator." The theologian and mathematician Marin Mersenne used celestial mechanics as evidence in his apologetic work, while Matteo Ricci engaged in scientific apologetics in China. In modern times, the theory of the Big Bang has been used in support of Christian apologetics.

Several Christian apologists have sought to reconcile Christianity and science concerning the question of origins. Theistic Evolution claims that classical religious teachings about God are compatible with the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution and that the Creator God uses the process of evolution. Denis Lamoureux, in Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution, states that "This view of origins fully embraces both the religious beliefs of biblical Christianity and the scientific theories of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution. It contends that the Creator established and maintains the laws of nature, including the mechanisms of a teleological evolution."

One of the most influential examples of a Christian-evolutionary synthesis is the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, which was intended as apologetics to the world of science, but was later condemned by the Catholic Church.

Creationist apologetics
Creationist apologetics aims to defend views of origins such as Young Earth creationism and Old Earth creationism that run counter to mainstream science.

Young Earth creationists believe the Bible teaches that the Earth is approximately 6,000 years old, and reject the scientific consensus for the age of the Earth. They apply a literal interpretation to the primordial history in Genesis 1–11 – such as the long life spans of people such as Methuselah, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. Among the biggest young Earth creation apologetic organizations are Answers in Genesis, Institute for Creation Research, and Creation Ministries International.

Old Earth creationists believe it is possible to harmonize the Bible's six-day account of creation with the scientific consensus that the universe is 13.8 billion-years-old and Earth is 4.54 billion-years-old. Old Earth creationists, such as astrophysicist Hugh Ross, see each of the six days of creation as being a long, but finite period of time, based on the multiple meanings of the Hebrew word yom (day light hours/24 hours/age of time) and other Biblical creation passages.

title: Christian apologetics


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User:Vicenç~enwiki

Place of Birth / Lugar de Nacimiento

 * City / Ciudad: Alicante
 * Area / Comarca: L'Alacantí
 * Region / Provincia: Alicante
 * Country / País: Land of Valencia (Comunidad Valenciana)
 * State / Estado: Spain (España)
 * Confederation / Confederación: European Union (Unión Europea)

Place of Residence / Lugar de Residencia

 * Neighbourhood / Barrio: Sant Gervasi de Cassoles
 * District / Distrito: Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
 * City / Ciudad: Barcelona
 * Area / Comarca: El Barcelonès
 * Region / Provincia: Barcelona
 * Country / País: Catalonia (Cataluña)
 * State / Estado: Spain (España)
 * Confederation / Confederación: European Union (Unión Europea)

title: User:Vicenç~enwiki


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Victoria Plum

Victoria Plum may refer to:
 * Victoria plum, an English plum cultivar
 * A children's literature character from the 1980s created by Angela Rippon
 * Plum Sykes, (born 1969) the professional name of British novelist and fashion journalist Victoria Rowland

title: Victoria Plum


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Bob Taylor (cricketer)

Robert William Taylor MBE (born 17 July 1941) is an English former cricketer who played as wicket-keeper for Derbyshire between 1961 and 1984 and for England between 1971 and 1984. He made 57 Test, and 639 first-class cricket appearances in total, taking 1,473 catches. The 2,069 victims across his entire career is the most of any wicket-keeper in first-class history. He is considered one of the world's most accomplished wicket-keepers. He made his first-class debut for Minor Counties against South Africa in 1960, having made his Staffordshire debut in 1958. He became Derbyshire's first choice wicket-keeper when George Dawkes sustained a career-ending injury. His final First Class appearance was at the Scarborough Festival in 1988. He remained first choice until his retirement except for a short period in 1964 when Laurie Johnson was tried as a batsman-wicketkeeper. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup.

Taylor made his Test debut in 1971 in New Zealand at the end of the successful Ashes winning tour. Though highly regarded, Taylor was unable to displace incumbent Alan Knott, a talented keeper and a superior batsman. It was only when Knott joined World Series Cricket in 1977 that Taylor appeared in more Tests and was selected as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1977. He continued to be England's choice keeper through the 1970s, falling three short of a maiden Test century in the 1978–79 Ashes, and retiring from Tests in 1984 – though he would make an emergency appearance for a day of Test cricket in 1986 – and all first-class cricket in 1988.

Early life
Taylor was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He began cricketing early, keeping wicket in a car park next to Stoke City Football Club's home ground, before playing for his schools Under-15 XI aged 12. He also was on the books of Port Vale F.C. as an apprentice, though he never played football professionally. At 15 years he played for Bignall End Cricket Club in the North Staffordshire and District League and for Staffordshire in the Minor Counties cricket league. On his debut he was confused for a spectator because of his youth. He continued playing for Staffordshire from 1958 to 1960, whereupon he moved to Derbyshire and joined the Second XI of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

County stalwart
Taylor played in 639 first-class matches. His 1,649 dismissals (1,473 caught, 176 stumped) in 639 games remains a first-class record. With the bat, Taylor averaged only 16.92, and he is one of only two players to have passed 10,000 first-class runs without scoring a century though he subsequently scored exactly 100 against Yorkshire at Sheffield in 1981, his only first-class century. He also took one first-class wicket as a bowler.

He played his debut first-class match against South Africa on 1 June 1960, appearing as keeper for a Minor Counties XI. He scored 11 and a duck and did not take any catches behind the stumps. Thanks largely to recommendations by Cliff Gladwin, he went on to make his County Championship and Derbyshire debut on 7 June the follow year, scoring another duck and eight as well as taking two catches as Derbyshire drew with Sussex at the County Ground, Derby. His first victim was Sussex's Ken Suttle, yet several players observed that he had much to learn; many bowlers condemned him for standing up to the stumps and missing edges. Taylor would go on to play 17 matches in his debut 1961 season for his county, scoring 20 runs at 11.38 with a best of 48, taking 47 catches and 6 stumpings behind the wicket. 29 more games followed in 1960, however his batting remained unimpressive, scoring 300 runs at 10.71 with a best of 44. He remained dependable behind the stumps, with 77 catches and three stumpings. His 77 catches set a new Derbyshire-record. He notched his first half-century in the 1963 season, though averaged under 10.00. His 32 first-class games that season, what would be a career high, and a career-best season total of 81 catches behind the timbers. This included all ten wickets in a match against Hampshire falling courtesy of his glove-work.

The 1964 season was marked for Taylor's mid-season ankle injury. Though it occurred when he was playing football, he told his county that he had slipped on an escalator. According to Wisden the experience taught Taylor to be fastidious in his attention to physical fitness. He nevertheless scored his second half-century and took 58 catches. Nevertheless, Derbyshire considered dropping Taylor for Laurie Johnson, a more capable batsman. An effort with the pen from several Wisden contributors secured his reinstatement, however.

Taylor's strong keeping continued to secure his place in the side, though despite a career best 719 runs in the 1966 season his batting struggled, with no half-centuries to add to his tally. In 1967 his career was again put on hiatus through injury, when he edged a delivery into his own eye and suffered a detached retina which put him on his back for three weeks. He nevertheless took another 63 catches from 23 appearances, but managed only 442 runs at 18.41. His batting in the County Championship saw marginal improvement over the next two seasons, with a half century in 1968 and a career best 65 in 1969. The 1969 season also saw Taylor make his first major forays into List-A cricket. He made 19 appearances that year, having made only seven others over the previous six. He only scored 180 runs, however he took 28 catches behind the stumps which would be a season best for the rest of his career.

Over the winter of 1969, he was selected to tour Sri Lanka with the Marylebone Cricket Club. He played one match, on 20 February 1970, against Ceylon at Colombo. He scored 7 and 19*, and stumped Anura Tennekoon as the MCC moved to a convincing victory. Taylor returned to England for the 1970 county season, continuing his good form behind the stumps with 21 List-A and 51 Championship catches. He also snared 11 stumping victims, a career best. He toured with the MCC over the winter in Australia, with 16 more victims from four matches though his batting disappointed, with 94 runs at only 18.80.

New Zealand Test debut
With his experience with the MCC, and his county success behind the stumps, Taylor had been coming to the notice of England captain Ray Illingworth. Though Knott was incumbent, Illingworth rewarded Taylor's patience with a Test cap. Taylor made his Test debut against New Zealand at Christchurch on 25 February 1971. In an eight-wicket England victory, he took two catches and a stumping, but scored only four runs before being stumped by his opposite number. His quiet debut escaped any reference in Wisden's match report. He did not play another match on the tour, and would not play another Test for six more years.

County interim
Taylor instead returned to England for the 1971 season, improving with the bat and scoring 619 runs at 24.76, with three half-centuries and a best of 74*. He secured another 68 victims from behind the stumps across all matches. Over the winter of 1971/72, he was selected for the World Test XI tour of Australia, playing seven four-day matches under captain Rohan Kanhai. He took 21 catches, performed three stumpings and although he only scored 128 runs at 16.00 this including a half century against Western Australia on 4 December. He returned to England for the summer of 1972, scoring another half century and snaring fifty batsmen from behind the stumps in the County Championship, and a further 23 in the one day arena. A further 77 batsmen fell to Taylor in 1973, and he earned a place on the MCC winter tour of the West Indies. Although not being selected for the Test series over the incumbent Knott, he scored 65 against Jamaica on 9 February, outscoring Knott's five. In doing so, he passed 6,500 first-class runs in his career.

Taylor became a regular back-up keeper for Knott on England's winter tours. After a solid 1974 season with another County Championship half century and 86 victims with the gloves, he toured New Zealand with the England national side, and following 111 more wickets in 1975 toured South Africa with the International Wanderers under Greg Chappell. On facing a South African Invitation XI in Johannesburg on 2 April Taylor, batting in the second innings, scored a career best 97 before being dismissed by Howard Bergins. Over 1976 and 1977, he took 164 more dismissals, and scored 910 runs including another half-century. He was selected as Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1977, along with Mike Brearley, Gordon Greenidge, Michael Holding and Viv Richards.

Return to Tests
Knott, the incumbent keeper for England, turned to World Series Cricket in 1977 on the encouragement of Tony Greig and was thus banned from Test cricket. Taylor was the next in line to take up the gloves, and returned to Test cricket on 14 December 1977 against Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Although there had been three first-class warm-up fixtures, Taylor had not impressed with the bat and had been rotated out of the second game in order for Paul Downton to have a chance at the gloves. Taylor nevertheless got the nod for the first Test. Captained by fellow Wisden Cricketer of the Year Brearley, he took two catches and a stumping, and score a lengthy 32 from 158 deliveries supporting Geoff Miller who was eventually stranded on 98. He played in the following two Tests of the series, and though keeping tidily he was dismissed for a first ball duck – a score of zero – in the second Test, though improved with a slow (and then career best) 36 from 200 balls and 18 not out in the third match. He also played in the 2nd and 3rd One Day International fixtures. He remained the incumbent gloveman for the New Zealand leg of the tour, appearing in two warm up games and three Tests. He took four catches in the first, all from the bowling of Chris Old, and scored a career-best 45 in the second. His 236 runs across the entire tour came at 21.45, and he took 20 catches and a stumping.

Taylor returned to the County Championship for three matches before the home Pakistan Test series. Taylor played in all three Tests, keeping well with eight catches but batting poorly, with 12 runs at only 6.00. Although he took five catches and three stumpings in the ODI series, he batted only once and did not score. He only had two more County Championship appearances before the home Test series against New Zealand on 27 July, where despite 12 catches and a stumping he again averaged low with the bat – 31 runs at 10.33. However, the importance of his work behind the stumps was recognised when he was named 'Player of the Series', and he retained his place in the team.

1978/79 Ashes series
Taylor joined the England team for the winter Ashes series of 1978/79, commencing the tour by facing South Australia on 3 November 1978. Though it was a quiet game with the bat, Taylor was in strong form behind the stumps – collecting eight victims though the tourists went on to lose the match. Facing New South Wales on 17 November, Taylor hit a forgettable nine, however four more scalps came, two of them from what was becoming a prolific partnership, both for England and Derbyshire, with Geoff Miller.

England went into the first Test on 1 December with mixed success in the warm up matches behind them. Australia batted first, however with wickets for Bob Willis, Old and Ian Botham, and five catches for Taylor, they were removed for only 116. Taylor, batting at number four, scored 20 runs as England replied with 286; however, the tourists' bowling success would not strike twice as Australia reached 339 in the second innings and Taylor was quiet behind the stumps during that innings. England reached the required total with 170/3 and thus won by seven wickets.

England, however, took a 166 run victory in the second Test, commencing on 15 December at the WACA. Taylor made only 14 runs, but he held onto six catches for England's potent bowling attack. Australia replied with a 103-run victory in the third Test, and Taylor was quiet both with the gloves and the bat. The fourth Test was equally unspectacular for Taylor, though England took a series-lead with a 93-run victory.

On 27 January 1979, Geoffrey Boycott and Brearley walked out to bat at the Adelaide Oval for the fifth Test, having been put in by Australia. The tourists were routed for 169 all out with Taylor only making four runs. He partnered with Botham to take two catches as Australia were, in return, routed for 164. England, needing to set a commanding total, were precariously poised at only 132/6 when Taylor walked out to bat with his Derbyshire colleague Miller. Miller went on to make 64 before he was dismissed and John Emburey came to the crease, however, by the time Taylor was sent back England had reached 336/8, Taylor having scored 97 runs from 300 balls. He passed his previous Test best of 45, and with his 97th run he both equalled his first-class best and reached 9,500 first-class runs. His dismissal was to a "tiny leg-side tickle" though, despite being three from a hundred, he chose to walk off the field. John Thicknesse in 2004 wrote that "it said everything about his sportsmanship." Though Taylor took no catches in the final innings, Willis and Mike Hendrick combined to reduce Australia to 160 all out and give England victory. Taylor made 36 in the final Test match, three catches and a stumping as England took a convincing nine-wicket victory to seal the series. Taylor's 208 runs at 26.00 outscored captain Brearley, and he ended the Test series with 18 catches and two stumpings.

Taylor played a one-day warm up match against Tasmania, however his ODI place was taken by David Bairstow.

1979 World Cup
Taylor returned to England to make several Benson and Hedges Cup and John Player League List-A appearances, and resumed his capable keeping for Derbyshire in the County Championship – in a match against Leicestershire on 2 May he took four catches and performed two stumpings. In June, the 1979 Cricket World Cup commenced in England, and Taylor was selected as keeper for the tournament which consisted of 60 overs per innings. England were seen as good prospects for the tournament, having won five of their previous six Tests thanks, according to Wisden, to "the bowlers, Bob Taylor's skilful wicket-keeping, and the all-round excellence of Ian Botham." 9 June saw the opening match of Group A, where England faced Australia at Lord's. Taylor took one catch, but was not called on to bat as the hosts won by six wickets. Nor was he required to bat on 13 June when, in a two-day game where England demolished Canada for 45 all out and won by eight wickets. Against Pakistan on 16 June at Headingley he scored 20 from 59 balls and took two catches as England won by a narrower margin of 14 runs.

England thus reached the semi-finals, and faced New Zealand at Old Trafford on 20 June. Taylor, batting at nine, scored 12 runs from 25 before he was run out, and New Zealand fell to 212 chasing 221. The final took place at Lord's on 23 June against the West Indies. The host team – minus an injured Willis – put the West Indies into bat, however a century from Viv Richards took them to 286/9 – with Taylor taking one catch. Despite an opening partnership of 129 between Brearley and Boycott, England fell 92 runs short at 194 all out. Taylor, batting at ten, was dismissed for a first-ball duck from Joel Garner before Hendrick was bowled by Colin Croft to seal the West Indies' victory. Taylor's returns were modest, scoring only 32 runs at 16.00 with a best of 20*, and taking four catches but no stumpings.

Taylor returned to Derbyshire, who had reached the Semi-Final of the Benson and Hedges Cup, however despite taking two catches and scoring eight runs, Surrey took a six-run victory and knocked Derbyshire out of the competition. On 12 July, Taylor was back with the England team for three Tests against India, where he proved himself more formidable with the bat – with a knock of 64 inflating his average to 32.50.

Australia 1979/80, 1981
From August 1979 to November 1981, Taylor and England would play Australia in two Ashes series, with one other Test against India. Taylor acquitted himself well over the winter tour of Australia and India, scoring 145 runs from four matches at 20.71, and his polished glovework took 20 catches and performed one stumping. On 15 February 1980, during the only Test against India in Bombay to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Taylor took seven catches in India's first innings, and three more in the second, all but two off the bowling of Botham. England won convincingly by ten wickets. His ten wickets for the match set a new world Test record. Taylor's 43 runs with the bat set a partnership of 171 runs with Botham, also a record sixth-wicket partnership for England against India. This included Taylor begin dismissed leg before wicket only to protest the decision and have his reservations supported by the Indian captain Gundappa Viswanath.

Taylor returned for the 1980 County Championship in England, and although he scored only 238 runs at 14.87 from 20 appearances he took 34 catches and performed seven stumpings, Derbyshire camp joint ninth that season.

On 10 June 1981, the touring Australian side faced Derbyshire in Derby in a three-day drawn match. Taylor had as quiet game. remaining five not out and not taking part in any wickets. On 17 June, however, during a county Championship match against Yorkshire, Taylor hit the only century of his career. Having taken two catches and performed two stumpings in Yorkshire's first innings of 374, he helped Derbyshire reach 480 with an innings of exactly 100 before being caught and bowled by Phil Carrick. The match was drawn before the third innings could begin.

Taylor again missed out on a place in the ODI team for the Prudential Trophy against Australia, with Geoff Humpage making the only three international appearances of his career. Paul Downton also took his place for the first Test of the 1981 Ashes series, where Australia took a four-wicket victory. Taylor was on the pitch for the 2nd Test, however, and despite scores of zero and nine took four catches as the match was drawn. In the third Test at Headingley, Taylor took seven catches though was outshone by Botham's all-round performance in England's 18-run victory. Two catches and eight runs came in England's 29 run win at Edgbaston on 30 July, where he kept John Emburey company in an important partnership of 50 runs.

Before the fifth Test, however, Knott – having returned from the Packer series and been admitted back into the Test fold, was awarded Taylor's place for the final two Tests. Taylor, his 1981 Ashes series truncated, finished with only 23 runs at a dire 3.83 average – the lowest of the entire England team including specialist bowlers. His keeping has netted him 13 catches, however. Knott, selected for his superior batting skills, scored 178 runs from his two Test matches at 59.33. Taylor instead returned to Derbyshire, and ended his season with 231 runs at 19.25, including his maiden century, 33 catches and 12 stumpings. He also helped Derbyshire to win the NatWest Trophy that season.

Final years
Taylor toured India and Sri Lanka over the winter of 1981/82, playing in seven Test matches. Though his keeping accounted for 19 batsmen, he scored only 88 runs over eight innings at 14.66. He kept for only two of the ODI matches, with Jack Richards taking the gloves from him for the rest. After a brief return to Derbyshire for the County Championship in May, he was again in the Test squad for the home series against India, taking nine catches but again a low 12.00 runs per innings from the three matches. Pakistan swiftly followed, and Taylor made 54 in England's second innings of the first Test at Edgbaston on 29 July,

On 22 October he commenced his 1982/83 tour of Australia by passing 11,000 first-class runs in a match against Queensland, before keeping wicket for all five Tests. Though he scored only 135 runs at 19.28, he took another 13 catches. He again missed out on the one day position, however, this time to Ian Gould. Upon his return he played several matches for Derbyshire in the County Championship. His batting would continue to struggle, only 267 runs at 17.80, though he kept tidily with 37 catches and two stumpings through the season. Commencing in mid-July, he also took part in a four-Test home series against New Zealand, taking 11 catches but failing to make an impression with the bat – 63 runs at 10.50. He returned to New Zealand that winter, and then on to Pakistan, though despite keeping well he failed to score more than 83 runs at 9.22. He featured in all three ODI matches, however, taking two catches but scoring only 10 runs at 5.00 per innings. His batting was consistently below par despite his keeping ability, and the third test against Pakistan on 19 March 1984 at Lahore was to be his last. It was a quiet game for him, scoring only one and five, and taking one catch in a drawn fixture.

Taylor played a full stint in the 1984 County Championship, playing 18 matches and scoring 303 runs at 20.20, as well as taking 32 victims with the gloves. Derbyshire could only manage twelfth. Taylor fared well with the gloves in the one day tournaments also, taking 10 catches in the Benson and Hedges Cup, and eight more in the John Player Special League.

On 8 September Taylor commenced his final four days playing for Derbyshire's First XI. On that day, his last County Championship match began against Hampshire. No play took place on the following day, 9 September, to allow the John Player Special League match between the two counties, where Taylor look two catches but was not called on to bat. Following this game, on 10 September, the County Championship resumed with Hampshire on 535/4, Taylor having taken one catch to remove Trevor Jesty from the bowling of Ole Mortensen. Derbyshire declared without losing another wicket, and Derbyshire reached 322/3 declared without Taylor having to bat thanks to centuries from Kim Barnett and Bill Fowler. Taylor completed a stumping from Miller to restrict Hampshire to 245/8, and Derbyshire chased down the final total for a five-wicket victory without Taylor needing to come out of the pavilion. He then retired.

This would not be Taylor's last outing with the club, however. He captained Derbyshire Second XI in 1985 for eight games, though he did not keep wicket. Batting last in the order, he was rarely called on to bat. During New Zealand's 1986 Test match at Lord's, Taylor was present in the hospitality tent when Bruce French was injured by a Richard Hadlee delivery. After trialling Bill Athey behind the wicket, New Zealand captain Jeremy Coney permitted Taylor to come on the field to keep for the remainder of the day. Wisden recorded "[Taylor] equipped himself with an assortment of borrowed kit, although he did, far-sightedly, have his own gloves in his car... Despite having retired from first-class cricket two years earlier, Taylor ... kept without a blemish." Bobby Parks was brought in to keep for the following day. Also in 1986, Taylor was selected as part of Brian Close's invitational XI to play New Zealand at Scarborough on 31 August. Taylor kept wicket, and scored 21 as well as taking two catches. He was part of Michael Parkinson's World XI in 1988, playing against the MCC where Taylor again kept wicket and scored four runs. He also appeared in a testimonial match at Trent Bridge for former England team-mate Derek Randall in 1993, playing for an England XI against an Australian XI, and he was at the wicket (batting with David Bairstow) when this match ended in a tie.

Style and equipment
Taylor's wicket keeping abilities have been oft praised. In his citation for Cricketer of the Year for 1977, Wisden noted that "artistry – there is no other word for it – behind the stumps has long illumined even the darkest hours of Derbyshire cricket." He was known both for his acrobatic fielding behind the stumps, and his diligence and stamina, "he has been without peer in the world for some years and would clearly have graced the England team but for Alan Knott." He was noted for standing up to the stumps on nearly all occasions, stating that "Any decent slip catcher could do it standing back." By keeping his weight forwards and planted on his left foot, he was a skilled leg side stumper – considered a difficult skill in wicket keeping.

Taylor was careful with his fitness, following an ankle injury in 1964 kept him from the first seven games of the season. Taylor wore two pairs of thin Chamois inners and Mitre wicket-keeping gloves from which he cut away all the padding from inside the palms and removed the webbing. His reasoning for this was that he liked to feel the ball in his palm and if taking the ball correctly most of the time the bruising wasn't too troublesome. This can be contrasted with Knott who preferred plenty of padding on his palms.

Taylor was a popular member of the England and Derbyshire squads, his nickname "Chat" deriving from his willingness to talk to his teammates and listen to their problems. Himself a mediocre batsmen but skilled keeper, Taylor has continued to advocate the picking of capable wicket-keepers over those with lesser ability behind the stumps but greater talent with the bat. He has been vocal over English selection policies since retirement, particularly those of Geraint Jones, Chris Read and Matt Prior.

title: Bob Taylor (cricketer)