tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78922245795882696232024-03-13T23:27:22.330-07:00Lizard FeathersLizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-30753581261474841732012-07-10T16:39:00.003-07:002012-07-10T16:44:34.064-07:00Marc Marquez - Our Brightest MotoGP Star<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Story So Far</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Marc Marquez was born in Cervera, Lleida in Spain in 1993. On board his first Enduro machine at the age of just
five, he has been competing since he was six years old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">KTM</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"> recruited
Marc Marquez to Grand Prix
racing at age 14 for the 2008 season of 14-year old. Márquez joined Team Repsol
KTM with Alberto Puig as Team Director and Emilio Alzamora as Marc‘s personal consultant. Alzamora, a former world champion had
been the young rider’s mentor at his Monllau
Road Racing School.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In 2007 Marquez was competing in the 125cc class of the
Spanish championships where he excelled in some races and finished eighth
overall, exhibiting enough all-round talent to catch the attention of KTM Grand Prix Technical Director Harald Bartol.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Bartol</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"> said back
then, the project with Marc Márquez
was in line with KTM’s
philosophy. “We have brought countless riders to the top In Motocross and Enduro racing and we are determined to do the same in Grand Prix racing. Marc’s achievements in the Spanish Championship justifies opening
the doors to the World Championship,”
he said. “I believe Emilio Alzamora
is the ideal person to guide him as he goes into the Grand Prix series. I am
sure Marc will be very
successful.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Marc made his championship debut as a 15 year old in April
2008 at the 125cc <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Portuguese Grand
Prix</span></a>. He is the youngest Spanish rider to take a pole position or a
podium in a motorcycle racing world championship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">At 15, Márquez achieved his first podium in June 2008 at the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_British_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">British Grand Prix</span></a>.
For 2009, he was a factory KTM rider, and in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_French_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">French Grand Prix</span></a>
achieved his first pole at only 16 years old. He also took pole for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Spanish_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">2010 Spanish Grand
Prix</span></a> but on lap one the exhaust pipe fell off, causing Márc to crash
heavily. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">His first win was on 6 June 2010 at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Italian_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Mugello</span></a>.
Further victories at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_British_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Silverstone</span></a>,
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Dutch_TT"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Assen</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Catalan_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Catalunya</span></a>
in the next three races saw Márquez become the youngest rider to win four
successive races. A fifth win at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_German_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Sachsenring</span></a>
saw Márc became the first rider since <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentino_Rossi"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Valentino Rossi</span></a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Grand_Prix_motorcycle_racing_season"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">1997</span></a> to
win five successive races in 125cc racing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">He dropped to third in the standings after being taken out
in the first corner at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_del_Motor_de_Arag%C3%B3n"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Motorland Aragon</span></a>.
Four wins from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Japanese_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Motegi</span></a>
onwards moved Márquez into a 17-point lead with one round to go. At <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Portuguese_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Estoril</span></a>,
the race was red-flagged due to rain with Márc running second. When returning
to the grid for the second race, Márquez fell on the sighting lap and returned
to the pits. Márc re-started at the back of the field. Despite this, Márquez
recovered to win and extend his lead before the Valencia finale. His tenth victory
of the season moved him to within one of tying the record set by Rossi in 1997.
He would fall short of tying it as he took a measured fourth place at the final
race in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Valencian_Community_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Valencia</span></a>
to become the second-youngest World Champion after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loris_Capirossi"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Loris Capirossi</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Márquez moved into the Moto2 class for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Grand_Prix_motorcycle_racing_season"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">2011</span></a> as
the sole rider of the new team <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monlau_Competici%C3%B3n&action=edit&redlink=1"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Monlau Competición</span></a>,
run by his manager <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Alzamora"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Emilio Alzamora</span></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Márquez started the season with a pair of accidents in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Qatar_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Qatar</span></a>
and at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Spanish_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Jerez</span></a>.
He finished 21st in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Portuguese_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Portugal</span></a>,
before taking his first victory in the class at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_French_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">French Grand Prix</span></a>,
recovering from a poor start that left him in ninth position. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">At his home race in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Catalan_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Catalonia</span></a>,
Márquez finished second behind championship leader <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Bradl"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Stefan Bradl</span></a>, before
another fall at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_British_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Silverstone</span></a>,
having started from his first Moto2 pole position. With Bradl taking his fourth
victory in the first six races, Márquez trailed him by 82 points at the end of
the weekend. Márquez made a mid-season surge winning six of the next seven
races to move within six points of Bradl in the championship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Japanese_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Japan</span></a>,
Márquez took his seventh pole of the season but was beaten in the race by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Iannone"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Andrea Iannone</span></a>, but
Márquez's second place finish combined with a fourth place for Bradl, allowed
Márquez to take the championship lead by a point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">At the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Australian_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Australian Grand
Prix</span></a>, Márquez was involved in an incident with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratthapark_Wilairot"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Ratthapark Wilairot</span></a>
during practice; Márquez crashed into the back of Wilairot after the session
had been concluded, and for riding in an "irresponsible manner", was
given a one-minute penalty onto his qualifying time. The penalty ensured Márquez
started last on the grid, but he made his way through to finish in third place,
albeit losing his championship lead to Bradl, who finished second.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Malaysian_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Malaysian Grand Prix</span></a>,
Márquez's race weekend was hampered in the opening minutes of free practice, as
he crashed on a damp patch. After sitting out two further sessions, Márquez
completed two laps in qualifying, but his times were only good enough for 36th
on the grid. He did not start the race, as he failed a medical examination
prior to the warm-up on race morning. Márquez attended the final race of the
season in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Valencian_Community_motorcycle_Grand_Prix"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Valencia</span></a>,
in the hope of being fit to compete, but withdrew due to his continued vision
problems, giving Bradl the 2011 title.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">At the half way point in the 2012 Moto2 World Championship,
Marquez has a 43 points lead over fellow Spaniard Pol Espargaro after the
German GP round at Sachenring. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Looking for to the 2013 season, Dorna and IRTA have decided
that the rule preventing MotoGP rookies from being signed to a factory team had
to be scrapped due to the difficulties presented by the limited number of bikes
available to ride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The catalyst of all this is of course Marc Marquez.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">With the Rookie Rule out of the way, Marquez’ path has been
cleared to join Dani Pedrosa at the Repsol Honda squad. A HRC source said that
no contract had been signed, though they acknowledged that talks were ongoing.
They also affirmed that Honda were keen to retain the services of Dani Pedrosa,
who they still consider vital to their Championship chances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-43328824051074475682012-04-29T18:17:00.000-07:002012-04-29T18:27:31.520-07:00The Belgian Baron's Hindu Temple in Cairo - Fact and Fantasy<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Baron Empain's 1906 Fantasy in Heliopolis </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Cairo's New City of the Sun</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>A modern garish light show illuminates the Baron's Palace</i></b></span></span></div>
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The Baron’s Palace, of course, is not a temple at all, but was built between 1907 and 1911 as the eccentric home of the wealthy Belgian industrialist, Eduard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, where he lived on and off until his death in 1929. Baron Empain had come to Egypt in 1904 to try and salvage a contract of one of his companies to build a railway line between Mansoura and Matariyah. The contract was lost to another company, but the Baron stayed on, as many foreigners have done before and after him, entranced by Egypt itself.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>The newly completed Palace in 1912</i></b></span></div>
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In 1906, he established a company on six thousand acres of land acquired from the government at the ridiculous price of one pound an acre. The land was in the desert, ten kilometres from Cairo, but Empain was to transform it into the chic suburb of Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. Just as modern cities like 6th October and El-Obour provide many of Cairo's citizens with cleaner air and more space, so back then Heliopolis offered every amenity to the wealthy patrons who chose to live there. Spacious villas and exotic apartment blocks were built next to a golf course, a racetrack and park.<br />
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<i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Gardens, Fountains and Parklands. </span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Now the Palace sits swallowed by urban sprawl and on the way to Cairo Airport</span></b></i></div>
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To preside over all this, Baron Empain had built for himself an extraordinary residence, atop an artificial hill from which he could survey his city of the sun, and no doubt be seen by all its residents. It is said that not only could he see the whole of Heliopolis from the palace tower, but could even see as far out as the pyramids, so many miles away.<br />
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Taking just over three years to build, and inspired by the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and by Hindu temples in Orissa, the palace was designed by Alexandre Marcel, who also designed the Basilica in Heliopolis. It was he who had constructed and decorated the Oriental Pavilion next to the Royal Palace of Laeken in Belgium. King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians must have been reminded of home, when they stayed here during their pre -World War One visit to Egypt.<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Decoration above the Front Door</i></b></span></span></div>
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Surprisingly, the whole structure is made of reinforced concrete, although its design suggests sandstone. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>The exterior of the palace is covered with so many statues of so many varied designs. <span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></i></b></span></div>
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Snakes and elephants sit alongside Buddhas and Renaissance figures. The overall effect is truly astounding, making onlookers pause to take a second breath as they view it for the first time. A team of artists and sculptors was brought over from Indonesia to give the exterior such an oriental feel.<br />
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The interior was designed by Georges-Louis Claude and is equally extraordinary, with marble and wood alongside painted ceilings and stuccoed walls. Or that, at least, is what it used to look like before the decay which set in when the Empain family sold the property.<br />
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After the 1952 Revolution it fell into a condition of total disrepair, the parquet floors, Belgian mirrors and gold door-knobs being stolen by anyone who could manage to get in. <br />
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The palace remained in this condition until just a few years ago. <br />
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Far from being the home of a wealthy industrialist and his family, the palace became the home of thousands of bats and stray dogs, with stories of ghosts and strange goings-on to accompany them.<br />
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To mark the centenary of the building of Heliopolis, the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of Culture managed to acquire the property from its owners and to begin a restoration. Whilst the interior has been thoroughly cleaned, there still remains much to be done. The exterior of the palace, though, and its grounds have been beautifully restored. The long-term future use of the Baron's Palace is yet to be decided.<br />
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Baron Empain, fabulously wealthy in his day, now lies in a granite tomb beneath his Basilica in Heliopolis, whilst his extraordinary home is now a ruin. </div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-69509735606645472252012-04-12T16:55:00.003-07:002012-04-12T17:01:27.128-07:00WW2 Pearl Harbour - Rare Box Brownie Pictures Just Found<div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (December 7, 1941) </b></span></div></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA</b></span></div></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Thought you might find these photos very interesting; what quality from 1941.</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Pearl Harbor photos found in an old Brownie stored in a foot locker. And just recently</span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">taken to be developed. </span>Isn't it amazing how a film could last so long in a camera without disintegrating? </span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Fantastic photos taken 69 years ago. Some of you will have to go to a museum to see what a Brownie camera looked like?</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Here is a simple picture of what we are talking about. . .</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRpIhyphenhyphenpscRYR8mDmsIps6VgfCqrmJHYCzN7Ske-WM_xCju0i8ENpaYFhgMTSMNqDCe_vhhalNmSYuotYZJNPgZrofV1tyjy_krmd3czelfFFwNZvrUD92VYBINhapahDuNiHQXLKNBNOT/s1600/WW2+Box+Brownie+camera+1941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRpIhyphenhyphenpscRYR8mDmsIps6VgfCqrmJHYCzN7Ske-WM_xCju0i8ENpaYFhgMTSMNqDCe_vhhalNmSYuotYZJNPgZrofV1tyjy_krmd3czelfFFwNZvrUD92VYBINhapahDuNiHQXLKNBNOT/s1600/WW2+Box+Brownie+camera+1941.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>PEARL HARBOR December 7th, 1941</i></span></div></div><div style="font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
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</div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-62926753021451164052012-03-12T20:48:00.006-07:002012-03-13T18:47:32.747-07:00TUTANKHAMEN The Biggest Box-Office Attraction Of All Time!<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 22pt;"><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 22pt;">TUTANKHAMEN</span></i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOCVmvZ5Je-TnD6HTa_9AlonsfmVLd_-aGUI5i7M3AVMz-Enrt_ZfRAPY7TMCx4e8pL1-ihLXRZmE9CAIN0siZzE4BopYQb2a5kjjE_5LboD0o7p79jFJ72d6CZPZ2WFz_BqZkZHpKACC/s1600/King+Tut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOCVmvZ5Je-TnD6HTa_9AlonsfmVLd_-aGUI5i7M3AVMz-Enrt_ZfRAPY7TMCx4e8pL1-ihLXRZmE9CAIN0siZzE4BopYQb2a5kjjE_5LboD0o7p79jFJ72d6CZPZ2WFz_BqZkZHpKACC/s320/King+Tut.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima;">“King Tut is bigger than Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles and Michael Jackson”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 216.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">BIGGEST DEAD CELEBRITY EARNERS<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">In 1972 the British Museum exhibited objects from Tutankhamen’s tomb for the first time. Over 1.7 million people queued around the block for months setting new attendance records and igniting an insatiable interest in Tutankhamen that keeps growing, showing no sign of abating 38 years later.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF0zx_Ij4O-CDi9nTez7vdtldMVlQNpn6z4k_WGh1CxY9mZHeos89iGi9YP37IdeevFbCk-5taPbIzAqD6Jc6pMPygY8MRxvd6JTpn1MYql_Aj1NDcZ2x2wMyFT9ISjyc3mVLfSn5jpvZ/s1600/Tut1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF0zx_Ij4O-CDi9nTez7vdtldMVlQNpn6z4k_WGh1CxY9mZHeos89iGi9YP37IdeevFbCk-5taPbIzAqD6Jc6pMPygY8MRxvd6JTpn1MYql_Aj1NDcZ2x2wMyFT9ISjyc3mVLfSn5jpvZ/s320/Tut1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">In 1976 -1979 a small exhibition “Treasures of Tutankhamen” featuring 130 objects from the boy-king’s tomb toured 7 cities in the U.S. attracting 8 million visitors. At the time the biggest museum tour in history. The Chicago Museum alone sold 1.3 million tickets.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-zwCKZshgLQwmjtoe3AyLiciXgRQx0uI8AYOTta5xo33QAmRcXVZeXIIs1aNAPbvcSshOYBLYnwsNiQ1GpHm8d-geTuFSfBKbjZoT6bKN9bmkLkSgziJ9D9heYawUqmt5AOIfzTQ38DFd/s1600/Tut2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-zwCKZshgLQwmjtoe3AyLiciXgRQx0uI8AYOTta5xo33QAmRcXVZeXIIs1aNAPbvcSshOYBLYnwsNiQ1GpHm8d-geTuFSfBKbjZoT6bKN9bmkLkSgziJ9D9heYawUqmt5AOIfzTQ38DFd/s320/Tut2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Optima;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">Another exhibition in 2005 “Golden Age of the Pharaohs” with 50 Tutankhamen objects toured for 27 months. In Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and Chicago “Golden Age” smashed all records. In the first 8 months 3.5 million people filed through their turnstiles.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVHFghgOnnixKi88CVXhnmeqwDBFzPlycqfYD6i20BnFl9xGXUy1M3_5s8A1JVPMl0TcN0spCpucPSqK2CUE_7O6mJi8QNFu0WliBfL-Fe8DfdhOfecqgSZfBFJP1rY00b-vlm7CcKIHr/s1600/Tut7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVHFghgOnnixKi88CVXhnmeqwDBFzPlycqfYD6i20BnFl9xGXUy1M3_5s8A1JVPMl0TcN0spCpucPSqK2CUE_7O6mJi8QNFu0WliBfL-Fe8DfdhOfecqgSZfBFJP1rY00b-vlm7CcKIHr/s320/Tut7.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">A computer-generated likeness of Tutankhamen based on the structural features of his mummy.</span></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">The Los Angeles County Museum of Art was forced to extend its hours when they pre-sold 250,000 tickets and then another 500,000 tickets in the first 30 days. <i>“This is the greatest comeback tour in history,”</i> said Terry Garcia, Executive Vice-President of the National Geographic Society, a co-sponsor of the exhibit. Fort Lauderdale hosted 707,534 visitors in 4 months. In Chicago over 100,000 tickets at $25 pre-sold months before opening, including 525 groups coming in from 32 U.S. States.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfrTSdTaD40YmKQnfOx8oEBbUTGgQYz9HhjjJyFl6YYABqYm4lW4wvZk70fTdF9qyx7snFZ3CoEfJAi8C0gVB9isZr4yJocbUZjCbLPmZOK_WqCLN7gnFWjLxW-zDOHijywJmO4jJvyJ5/s1600/Tut4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfrTSdTaD40YmKQnfOx8oEBbUTGgQYz9HhjjJyFl6YYABqYm4lW4wvZk70fTdF9qyx7snFZ3CoEfJAi8C0gVB9isZr4yJocbUZjCbLPmZOK_WqCLN7gnFWjLxW-zDOHijywJmO4jJvyJ5/s320/Tut4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">A wooden mannequin used for Tutankhamen's pendants and earrings.</span> </o:p></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Optima;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">The Franklin Museum in Philadelphia <i>pre-sold</i> 1.3 million tickets [6 months prior to opening they had sold 270,000, with 50% booking from outside the State] setting a new record for the “most attended travelling exhibition ever in the U.S.” In anticipation the Dallas Museum increased ticket prices to $32.50 and still sold 600,000 tickets, making it the most visited exhibit in the Museum’s 100-year history.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU04U13DGpcwZKW7iDbrOT20D8YeVJg_QehpEmQDQk0e14YxdjLd0Eont8qXDmm7VRckWGaUAZaEMzVlq0Aos040_oVGILgoTHKbr9lwHcHmSpkknBdeSX5UkXS4EX9rEskvrBILS7BpFu/s1600/Tut3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU04U13DGpcwZKW7iDbrOT20D8YeVJg_QehpEmQDQk0e14YxdjLd0Eont8qXDmm7VRckWGaUAZaEMzVlq0Aos040_oVGILgoTHKbr9lwHcHmSpkknBdeSX5UkXS4EX9rEskvrBILS7BpFu/s320/Tut3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">A gold outer coffin, one of three inter-fitting coffins in which the mummy was interned. </span></o:p></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">The mask and coffins make a solid gold mass of over 100 kilos.</span> </o:p></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">Late 2007 “The Golden Age” Exhibition opened in London at the O2 Dome and sold out immediately selling over 2 million at $29 each. “Golden Age” moved to Basel in Switzerland in 2008 and drew 620,000 visitors or 4,500 everyday for 7 months.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqaOHvOoAWYRXbFRtd6ii4hwCKtDg96I8irlpqiInPLpDEcWZyHLepWQLrwa-fNhZ934x_Z0hj85fTD4DAj34lv_KhOOe-nIZsY9qMS25NocXowdKFo1cCCZUN-cyCvRihcqMFmsxYunz/s1600/Tut5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqaOHvOoAWYRXbFRtd6ii4hwCKtDg96I8irlpqiInPLpDEcWZyHLepWQLrwa-fNhZ934x_Z0hj85fTD4DAj34lv_KhOOe-nIZsY9qMS25NocXowdKFo1cCCZUN-cyCvRihcqMFmsxYunz/s320/Tut5.jpg" width="190" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Winifred Brunton's fanciful illustrations of a young Tutankhamen and his wife Ankhesenamen</span></b><br />
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</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQ7zWhs1Qvz6Waid8_uoUcm-1nKdEx7usrxEJh4LME5NJTbRDDKs2cCVhoGsxDbiS9vROuaDBe6i_fwZ6Thal_IIzvYIWmNRt_1taoneK6XHNTGrJ60HU7oPs0V-kilsZofVuFsp0W7AF/s1600/Tut6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQ7zWhs1Qvz6Waid8_uoUcm-1nKdEx7usrxEJh4LME5NJTbRDDKs2cCVhoGsxDbiS9vROuaDBe6i_fwZ6Thal_IIzvYIWmNRt_1taoneK6XHNTGrJ60HU7oPs0V-kilsZofVuFsp0W7AF/s320/Tut6.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Optima;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">4 years later, Tutankhamen has been through Europe and the U.S. selling out everywhere the boy-king appeared. Sales exceeded 14 million tickets sold. The most successful exhibition in history! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MsENyEiMf1Wb1lB-ixWI2s5FUJNVyCP3qp4T3S_j6on87bHu6cmcRESogTxwnGepP_rGJZKivxbOz_jPGKq-MwGoz2ixyCpvtLREPCSCuveg3NShshcy695MA2iuezII99XH057XCKHv/s1600/Tut9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MsENyEiMf1Wb1lB-ixWI2s5FUJNVyCP3qp4T3S_j6on87bHu6cmcRESogTxwnGepP_rGJZKivxbOz_jPGKq-MwGoz2ixyCpvtLREPCSCuveg3NShshcy695MA2iuezII99XH057XCKHv/s320/Tut9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>When archeologist Howard Carter unwrapped Tutankhamen's mummy, it was found with garlands of flowers around the boy-king's neck and his death mask.</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha45C4DU_EVoJPbUSWEBjkkN2hS3hoFkFMNC5DcLRWS1Qlb-FgH4KsLPiStRBbFs7w6M1jLKh9JhAu4g5eotOsX2NniX9wKLfdhA_Y1ugSs6No-hzM8eDkbxZY4MqlSpzXLnV_D9Sce4gv/s1600/Tut10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha45C4DU_EVoJPbUSWEBjkkN2hS3hoFkFMNC5DcLRWS1Qlb-FgH4KsLPiStRBbFs7w6M1jLKh9JhAu4g5eotOsX2NniX9wKLfdhA_Y1ugSs6No-hzM8eDkbxZY4MqlSpzXLnV_D9Sce4gv/s320/Tut10.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Optima; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><b> The garlands included Opium poppies, Nightshade berries and a wreath of blue Cornflowers, interwoven with scented blooms and olive leaves, carefully arranged to show their green front and silver backs alternately.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">The "Golden Age" exhibition then opened in Melbourne, Australia in 2011 with pre-sales of 150,000 and over 850,000 tickets sold in 34 weeks, smashing records and making it the most visited exhibition in Australia. Museum Victoria said: “Nothing is going to be as big as King Tut ever again. That’s a long time.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9c6e7KnxYk6N8vra-_fFz5_6CwyE4b7123junUuIAtW72PreiDABXqw7_XgGbKlKa_X7F7HiwtUy6VHv2YNOMdor3atX4AuGK5GClPPfkXBgrTpcHzbafM6tEJQ6w82nQtieecYJJInZB/s1600/Tut12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9c6e7KnxYk6N8vra-_fFz5_6CwyE4b7123junUuIAtW72PreiDABXqw7_XgGbKlKa_X7F7HiwtUy6VHv2YNOMdor3atX4AuGK5GClPPfkXBgrTpcHzbafM6tEJQ6w82nQtieecYJJInZB/s1600/Tut12.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Optima;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;">Today, tourism remains Egypt’s major earner accounting for $13 billion of the country’s GNP. 15 million tourists saw the ancient sights in 2010, up 15% from 2009.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0RiUS9EIP2VPrwSvdEQOfOBxzsnrp3c7sngaOsAQjYfqwvgS8aUOWiQtOX3NRKNXgORwblWCs5dwa5FMs1KOSdnRGy8cVjyoe6TeokHfMejHEC-Jbgxa_h66AFuQAGNX0RWySU43Tric/s1600/Tut13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0RiUS9EIP2VPrwSvdEQOfOBxzsnrp3c7sngaOsAQjYfqwvgS8aUOWiQtOX3NRKNXgORwblWCs5dwa5FMs1KOSdnRGy8cVjyoe6TeokHfMejHEC-Jbgxa_h66AFuQAGNX0RWySU43Tric/s320/Tut13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Tutankhamen's outer coffin still sits in his Valley of the Kings tomb, in its sarcophagus, as it has for over 3,200 years.</span></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLGDHCl6uqSFLl4pQLBNhZLjobUFpM8aSSzL9oTqSJWRSJUDGffbexUL07QslyrJOW0r6y7qS7kkS7tQMS0h4paddNLb7pa4AYVaYl7_gGzyYwrlm1kAGWnYiZnBjsA8PGcwI-bjf6i2a/s1600/Tut14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLGDHCl6uqSFLl4pQLBNhZLjobUFpM8aSSzL9oTqSJWRSJUDGffbexUL07QslyrJOW0r6y7qS7kkS7tQMS0h4paddNLb7pa4AYVaYl7_gGzyYwrlm1kAGWnYiZnBjsA8PGcwI-bjf6i2a/s320/Tut14.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-57481463699003861632011-12-11T17:01:00.000-08:002011-12-11T17:07:26.959-08:00Mike [The Bike] Hailwood - Still the Greatest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Nine Times World Motorcycle Champion</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Mike [The Bike] Hailwood MBE</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1940 - 1981</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Still the Greatest Motorcycle Racer of All Time</i></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1O4ZplU8o4cTHEA5eho-k87nP_o-BmBpXq5xyEU06xVGoACCfmpBF65r4lICWX4cXYAuFiuD-GZQcm52yVEqlq29oLUrgkxmn2aeOltRLl7tknq5yUUcnE46IsLVaInmzWv89iFI_lS_/s1600/hailwood1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1O4ZplU8o4cTHEA5eho-k87nP_o-BmBpXq5xyEU06xVGoACCfmpBF65r4lICWX4cXYAuFiuD-GZQcm52yVEqlq29oLUrgkxmn2aeOltRLl7tknq5yUUcnE46IsLVaInmzWv89iFI_lS_/s320/hailwood1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Classic Hailwood</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Honda 6 cylinder RC 166 Grand Prix 250</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">60 horsepower @ 18,000 rpm in 1966</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the most loved and respected riders of all time, Mike Hailwood's career can be defined by extraordinary successes, under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, executed with a humility rarely seen in today's sportsmen.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He raced and won in all the classes, including 125cc machines, despite his height. He rode "unrideable" motorcycles such as the MZ 250 and the first Honda 500 to victory. He reached the finish lines despite some frightening falls. And he won a TT race after coming back from years in retirement. He won 9 World Championships, was adored by millions and even towards the end, still did not know what all the fuss was about.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Despite being incredibly shy, with his bike racing friends, he was the life of the party, enjoyed a drink, had a quick wit and was quick to play a practical joke. He loved jazz, and he could play the guitar, the clarinet and the piano. Mike was very comfortable around women and in the 'swinging sixties' he was in his element. Rich, famous and fast. A very heady combination.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVY4YNEN5BNancR_bN2TIFPT4JzQ2pLRjS247R8LYX8PU1wxv0dD8wmxn7ABf_umeoYfQGVWR6L6oAS51Xmpfe_9PvXP-Ah6LHBGPvG4hyphenhyphenUHdicEDieocrUmTARmQTMYoVT5IHmx1ATA9/s1600/hailwood583.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVY4YNEN5BNancR_bN2TIFPT4JzQ2pLRjS247R8LYX8PU1wxv0dD8wmxn7ABf_umeoYfQGVWR6L6oAS51Xmpfe_9PvXP-Ah6LHBGPvG4hyphenhyphenUHdicEDieocrUmTARmQTMYoVT5IHmx1ATA9/s320/hailwood583.gif" width="233" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Mike returns from South Africa in 1958 as National Champion and with the trophies to prove it.</span></b></div></div><div><br />
</div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mike Hailwood was born in 1940, the second year of World War II. Mike's father Stan had married twice. Mike was the last of three children of his first wife.<br />
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Stan Hailwood was an interesting enough person in his own right. Stan broke his leg badly as a child, and it had to be broken and re-set many times. As a result, he was largely self-schooled for two years. He left school at 13, started working for a motorcycle repair outfit at 16, and started grass-track racing at 17.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">At 21, he joined a motorcycle dealer in Oxford called Kings on a month's trial. The boss was cautious about employing someone with a disability, so Stan insisted on working for commission only. He retired as the managing director 38 years later. When he retired Kings was the largest dealer in the country.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Stan was also very competitive and raced 500cc sidecars, despite his troublesome leg.</div><br />
So it's easy to see how Mike had his first bike at the age of seven. The first time Mike rode it, he didn't know where the brake was, so he circled around a paddock until it ran out of fuel.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Born into a wealthy family, he was a mischievous boy. He was once caught driving his mother's Jaguar, but he didn't go that far, he couldn't see over the steering wheel.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">At fourteen, he got a James trials bike, which he used to ride around a backyard grass track when home from college. His father once surreptitiously timed him, and found he was going faster than a grass track racer whom he sponsored.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mike was not suited for college, so he worked in the family business for a while, and then his father sent him to work at Triumph Motorcycles.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">He entered his first event at 17 -- the Scottish Six Days Trial. A week later, he entered his first race, on a borrowed 125cc MV Agusta. He came 11th.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A few months later, he had his international racing licence and with the help of a sizeable cheque he received from his father, he brought a semi-official MV.<br />
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After that every time he raced he won prize money and used it to buy a better bike -- first a 125cc MV Agusta, then an 196cc MV Agusta with a 240cc overbore job, and a 50cc Iton.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Later that year, in 1957, he travelled with his father to South Africa to gain some overseas experience. He borrowed a 250cc NSU from John Surtees. He made enough prize money that he didn't have to give it back -- he bought it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">When he came home in early 1958, he was the South African national champion.</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAy34u7nmgz4xR-aflTf6Fbldu9Rvz7FTQ1DIQoDv7_cPKcY6BhzuLBhhMOFajpISHNt0QP8EkUbAOyNPPWUzGWAD4N59nDUYzzEE71l5EE5z5jC_ndY1EZmqXXolyB6KTk2ptxJkYcDTe/s1600/Hailwoodmvagusta3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAy34u7nmgz4xR-aflTf6Fbldu9Rvz7FTQ1DIQoDv7_cPKcY6BhzuLBhhMOFajpISHNt0QP8EkUbAOyNPPWUzGWAD4N59nDUYzzEE71l5EE5z5jC_ndY1EZmqXXolyB6KTk2ptxJkYcDTe/s320/Hailwoodmvagusta3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Back home, he started racing a 125cc Ducati, John Surtees's NSU, and 350cc and 500cc Nortons. He won the British 125, 250 and 350 championships and came second in the world 250 cc championship.<br />
<div>In 1958, Mike's second year of racing, he won a total of 74 races.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nwhSdHqEuEJcYYyvqcaxkEb1ByMnL6s7CVgf7-s-sku0YmRrAv8X-r_j2C9GLS2LyevyVVtPAEATbZfDoOCQIguKtDLYhJk_p09owsimZjkIOqXM17_C-W_TX8Md11Ost05ETQDL5ckB/s1600/Hailwood4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nwhSdHqEuEJcYYyvqcaxkEb1ByMnL6s7CVgf7-s-sku0YmRrAv8X-r_j2C9GLS2LyevyVVtPAEATbZfDoOCQIguKtDLYhJk_p09owsimZjkIOqXM17_C-W_TX8Md11Ost05ETQDL5ckB/s320/Hailwood4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In 1959, he won the British 125cc championship on a Ducati, the 250cc championship on a Mondial, and the 350cc and 500cc championships on Nortons. He won the Northern Ireland 125cc GP on a Ducati, and he finished 3rd in the 125cc World Championship.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sL9a6G8xXcrU_PLMiqOC9qXdDTFHdu-i_UXEDlemPFKP6lw8IEOSSjV63NOiefeHQiVovfDMi2vY-i7QpTKtD5wFLOOEUVJljRRL1z0vbFxVzK88KLY0RW6PgVY3mN31M3hKiw8cZcH_/s1600/mike-hailwood-1959-ducati-250cc-photograph-10506-p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sL9a6G8xXcrU_PLMiqOC9qXdDTFHdu-i_UXEDlemPFKP6lw8IEOSSjV63NOiefeHQiVovfDMi2vY-i7QpTKtD5wFLOOEUVJljRRL1z0vbFxVzK88KLY0RW6PgVY3mN31M3hKiw8cZcH_/s320/mike-hailwood-1959-ducati-250cc-photograph-10506-p.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Mike poses alongside his trophy and his Ducati 250 1959</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In the 250cc Isle of Man race, Mike was on an eight year old bike. Mike was leading with two of the latest Factory MV Agusta's behind him, when his ignition failed 50m from the finish.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The legend of Mike the Bike hadn't started yet. That was to happen in 1961 when Stan and Mike went back to the Isle of Man.<br />
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The was a new face in the pits at the Island that year. A Japanese motorcycle company called Honda, who were only to happy to lend Mike their little 125cc Honda racer.<br />
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</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5PEeqdDAPGc74Papux6-RyJMnpRYRNN15I7fSMCwNydPClpuX5Fpzy8JRuqC66ZGJkPVvPJXcZIiI4mb8cbTTq9HH6-doMjE9l4rxKcVct6kGUYcZPTAD12iO9lI7c0iaH5Hq5ziUluj/s1600/Hailwood5jpg_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5PEeqdDAPGc74Papux6-RyJMnpRYRNN15I7fSMCwNydPClpuX5Fpzy8JRuqC66ZGJkPVvPJXcZIiI4mb8cbTTq9HH6-doMjE9l4rxKcVct6kGUYcZPTAD12iO9lI7c0iaH5Hq5ziUluj/s320/Hailwood5jpg_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">On the first two laps, Mike broke the lap record twice. Taveri, the rider he was duelling with, then broke the lap record again catching Mike. And Mike passed him and won by seven seconds.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">He borrowed another Honda, this time a 250cc and raced it later that afternoon. The 125cc race was three laps of the Island, the 250cc race was five laps. Mike had raced 486km back to back in one day.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In the 350cc race, he had a two minute lead with twenty one kilometres to go, when his Norton stopped with a broken piston.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In the 500cc race, despite having a bike which was 15km/h slower than Gary Hocking's MV Agusta, he hounded Hocking until Hocking overshot a corner and took an escape road. Hocking eventually caught up, but then his Agusta broke and Mike won. In the process, Mike became the first person to average 100mph around the Isle on a British bike, and the first person to win three Isle of Man TTs in one week.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7iVoGCNhTyYLh6-r9KY49lApuRqCKpI1loAiol_k4yQ1Y6HwGulWbiUfIAZOv38sFASL59_Hi1so1-QvROlRDiPvmJ3z9mt4DZ7RyzMyRGeFNr06Pons3ttvCU_BscOY_oRsXDySKaPX/s1600/Haillwood+19586.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7iVoGCNhTyYLh6-r9KY49lApuRqCKpI1loAiol_k4yQ1Y6HwGulWbiUfIAZOv38sFASL59_Hi1so1-QvROlRDiPvmJ3z9mt4DZ7RyzMyRGeFNr06Pons3ttvCU_BscOY_oRsXDySKaPX/s320/Haillwood+19586.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Appropriately riding a Triumph in the Thruxton 200 Mile Race in 1958</span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">He won the 250cc races at the Dutch, East German and Swedish TT, and chased Gary Hocking's four cylinder MV Agusta 500, on his 500 Norton, so hard that Count Agusta lent him works 350 and 500 MVs for the last two races. Jumping straight from a Norton single to an MV four, Mike came first and second in the races and finished second in the world championship.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Count Agusta invited Mike to join his team for the 1962 season.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">In 1962, 1963 and 1964 there were twenty seven 500cc races held. Mike Hailwood won twenty two of them. In the other five, either he did not start or he did not finish.</div><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">In 1964, Mike decided to try for the hour record at Daytona International Raceway. Using a practice bike and standard tyres, Mike rode 144.8 miles in an hour, beating the previous record by about two miles. That was in the morning. In the afternoon, he won the United States GP.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">In 1965, Mike took the 500cc championship for MV Agusta again. However, the awesomely talented Giacomo Agostini had joined MV, and Count Agusta liked the idea of an Italian rider winning on an Italian bike. He started giving Mike inferior equipment, so Mike left and signed with Honda.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div>In his first season on Honda, he took the 250cc and 350cc championships, and came second to Agostini in the 500cc championship. He repeated this in 1967.<br />
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And his legendary fan base was growing. Mike somehow got his bike to lean angles which were greater than his competitors could achieve, but he didn't hang off the bike like modern riders do. He was famous for wearing through the leather on his boots so far that he would grind his toes on the road, with bloody results. And, perhaps as a result of his early grass track training, he would spin the rear wheel out of corners, too; a technique which was not widely used then.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMpnaDMHPYQ9UjVUa-7solKzvreAIj9piKG4Dtec9jE4ekzzvVBKnw8yEDm111lgTxWn5JNMwt5kFigKvEOYMb1h7SusxMPJ8LZinWeea4BGCvzAlQt4MabMmILNx_TgF_FpLNi35_I1-/s1600/Hailwood1967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMpnaDMHPYQ9UjVUa-7solKzvreAIj9piKG4Dtec9jE4ekzzvVBKnw8yEDm111lgTxWn5JNMwt5kFigKvEOYMb1h7SusxMPJ8LZinWeea4BGCvzAlQt4MabMmILNx_TgF_FpLNi35_I1-/s320/Hailwood1967.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">He was riding Hondas which were then at the apex of how much power could be extracted from an internal combustion engine. There was a five cylinder 125. There was a six cylinder 250. And there was a four cylinder 500cc bike that was so powerful that Honda couldn't build a frame that would contain it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">In 1967, Mike complained about that.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">The next year, they squeezed even more power out of the 500cc engine. And left the frame the same. Witnesses reported the motorcycle wobbling severely as it went down straights. Another racer said Hailwood deserved a Victoria Cross if he dared ride it in an Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. He did. He pitted with a throttle grip falling off. The mechanics couldn't fix it, so one of them tied it to the handlebars with his handkerchief. Mike re-joined the race and won. In catching up, he set a lap record of 108.77mph, which stood for eight years. And then Honda pulled out of the World Championships. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdg7R8w9AH2TuZXreo4FZKas3Y4dIvcKBdXoUdc_RThmX2mjiI9JkT6zss0VYEZbZY4LsF_xrEN7WRhzoG6F-rZfv5fRo4IwUGtpK0NSffr6VJzd41kRROOne3klYUIxHDYCkRiXw-T0TP/s1600/Mike-Hailwood---1978-TT---D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdg7R8w9AH2TuZXreo4FZKas3Y4dIvcKBdXoUdc_RThmX2mjiI9JkT6zss0VYEZbZY4LsF_xrEN7WRhzoG6F-rZfv5fRo4IwUGtpK0NSffr6VJzd41kRROOne3klYUIxHDYCkRiXw-T0TP/s320/Mike-Hailwood---1978-TT---D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Hailwood Ducati at the Isle of Man</span></b></div><br />
Mike left bikes for a while to try his hand at car racing. He raced Formula 5000, Sports cars, Formula 1 and Formula 2. He did quite well, but nowhere near as well as he had done on motorcycles. He was apparently not comfortable. He believed he was looked down upon because of his motorcycling background.<br />
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He came back to the Isle of Man in 1977. The Isle no longer had Grand Prix status (most riders thought it was too dangerous) and the promoters were willing to pay handsomely for Mike to bring some of his former glory back. Hailwood returning to the Island brought a record crowd in excess of a 100,000 spectators to jam the Mountain course, all desperate to get a glimpse of their idol.<br />
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</div><div>He started twelfth in the TTF1 Superbike class, but had a nine second lead at the end of the first lap, and won the race on his Ducati, beating the second place holder by about two minutes. Since then a replica of the Ducati he rode has become a must have in any decent collection.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6qzAaxoX-dpbEavQfjvfLcVYI4jsBVvPkt3vioO9Put7D8QVJ2Lt0NEdrgK1Yu9UG5L_j4Bqr-_HG9d_FahCa1f75k1plyOwd4mpAdFtH8M4SVusP_IeeR_ajFGaZu-XHAE6keTifD4nY/s1600/HailwoodDucati750SS7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6qzAaxoX-dpbEavQfjvfLcVYI4jsBVvPkt3vioO9Put7D8QVJ2Lt0NEdrgK1Yu9UG5L_j4Bqr-_HG9d_FahCa1f75k1plyOwd4mpAdFtH8M4SVusP_IeeR_ajFGaZu-XHAE6keTifD4nY/s320/HailwoodDucati750SS7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Hailwood on Ducati's 750 SS in Australia's Castrol Six Hour Production Race at Amaroo Park 1977</span></b></div></div><div><br />
Re-enthused by his spectacularly successful return to the Isle of Man, Mike was encouraged to have a few more rides, including two trips to Australia.<br />
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Mike appeared in Australia's biggest production motorcycle race, the Castrol Six Hour at Sydney's Amaroo Park. Typically, Mike camped in the pits with everyone else, refusing any special priveleges.<br />
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At the time, I was the promoter of this event and had arranged sponsorship of the Ducati 750 SS Mike rode. Despite our relationship, Mike came up to me in the Control Tower and asked if he could buy another pit pass to get a friend into the pits. He refused accommodation in the best hotel we could find, preferring to sleep on the couch in his co-rider's lounge room.<br />
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No doubt lots of other people who came in to contact with Mike Hailwood have similar an anecdotes about their experiences.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mike eventually became a devoted family man. He had met Pauline Fields, one of the main women in his life, when he was 19. She was an airline hostess. She later became an actor, and appeared in a few Carry On movies. She eventually married Mike in South Africa after he retired, and they had two children, David and Michelle.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaFXQ9Zr1wLu4BxErM0im35p_DEZWVyiQQ02YMyFKI30dpf16nfhTFV5wqZUdvEqda6OGtuzxraYxbIteQB4ylWWJ27ThxoT4_o6ddLX-Hc0b3DLORoVsFiVj1cGUel18ix-G0kXVd-pj/s1600/Hailwoodmemorabilia9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaFXQ9Zr1wLu4BxErM0im35p_DEZWVyiQQ02YMyFKI30dpf16nfhTFV5wqZUdvEqda6OGtuzxraYxbIteQB4ylWWJ27ThxoT4_o6ddLX-Hc0b3DLORoVsFiVj1cGUel18ix-G0kXVd-pj/s320/Hailwoodmemorabilia9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Mike Hailwood MBE. GM. is still regarded as the greatest motorcycle road racer of all time.</b></span></div></div><div><br />
</div><div>In a mocking twist of fate, after thousands of racing miles at breakneck speeds, Mike Hailwood died in a road accident together with his young daughter Michelle on 22 March 1981.<br />
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It was a Sunday night and he was off down to the local to collect pizza for dinner when he ran into the back of a truck. An ordinary incident that turned into a disaster.<br />
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His funeral was the biggest. And for years after, leaving from the former Norton Works in Bracebridge Street, Aston, Birmingham, the Mike Hailwood Memorial Run attracted thousands of riders.<br />
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Mike Hailwood will always be the best - because he did it for the love of the sport.</div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-58569960676057032502011-11-29T19:25:00.000-08:002011-11-30T18:46:12.322-08:00The Spirit Lives Forever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggREAKwbVOEsVrnXgJ-lDCeM1Olh4H3s9Awn55DdpDqLncxoYAE8elbbAx3dnq247_YlzDRaHoHgo0kvRgQ2PSwL4WVH603-qkPx-Pl-v7SfwPcravaHRjpTvwkARD-Cw7gbM3YFkDlkAP/s1600/spirit1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggREAKwbVOEsVrnXgJ-lDCeM1Olh4H3s9Awn55DdpDqLncxoYAE8elbbAx3dnq247_YlzDRaHoHgo0kvRgQ2PSwL4WVH603-qkPx-Pl-v7SfwPcravaHRjpTvwkARD-Cw7gbM3YFkDlkAP/s320/spirit1.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br />
Some years ago I was forced to cull my collection of comics. This down-sizing was as a result of having to move into smaller digs and some stuff had to go. I junked about 1,500 comics and just kept the best 500. This process took about three months, as I could not help reading them all - just one last time. It was also a great opportunity to re-discover just how good Will Eisner's <i>The Spirit </i>titles are.<br />
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In the piles of boxes I found dozens of pristine <i>The Spirit</i> comics - masterwork illustrations that bond an eclectic mix of anti-heroes, pulp fiction crime stories and witty tales of the city, spun in a tongue-in-cheek storytelling style and drawn with unmatched originality, creativity and energy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL6sEk80wwKjIFxrUkklznnFu_eu32HJOJwLtW-oTvOqqP8xZrwm0Vqo5auJT87XelzAZgx2I4cDJv8BW74w32RUvpW__r9H7ohT4qMiINLoZuAeHsMNi_cF1dSxcEG4ba4dAt8Ihl-GUK/s1600/Spirit2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL6sEk80wwKjIFxrUkklznnFu_eu32HJOJwLtW-oTvOqqP8xZrwm0Vqo5auJT87XelzAZgx2I4cDJv8BW74w32RUvpW__r9H7ohT4qMiINLoZuAeHsMNi_cF1dSxcEG4ba4dAt8Ihl-GUK/s320/Spirit2.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><br />
Will Eisner is one of the most revered and respected creators in the history of comics. An innovator all his life, he is credited with coining the term “graphic novel.” He created <i>The Spirit</i> in 1940 and he wrote/drew and supervised the numerous titles through the early 1950s. At a time the average comic art was very basic and one-dimensional.<br />
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</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lkp-of72dhRmSpI4_cDZXuoYJ3Nz4WaUerdKHcpre4Fw-rEG1wUDJ2lRXvHIr5Zo9vf6V_ZJuivM3acUWXF4KEWTgMh_AjutkGd68Sr3d_zLL3UWe8mRZClj0a8UIgYpLbOGGN7_oxhx/s1600/spirit3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lkp-of72dhRmSpI4_cDZXuoYJ3Nz4WaUerdKHcpre4Fw-rEG1wUDJ2lRXvHIr5Zo9vf6V_ZJuivM3acUWXF4KEWTgMh_AjutkGd68Sr3d_zLL3UWe8mRZClj0a8UIgYpLbOGGN7_oxhx/s320/spirit3.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
He was a short story writer in the medium of graphic storytelling, with cinematic visual style adapted to the graphic snapshot of sequential art. It’s the art of his work more than the durability of his character that made his stories so essential and inimitable.<br />
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<i>The Spirit </i>was in many ways Eisner’s take on the urban crime milieu that was bubbling up in the movies and would later be called film noir, full of shadows and urban badlands and criminal miscreants.<br />
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And it was colorful, as the recent definitive reprints so boldly remind us. Eisner created a vibrant world of primary hues that descend into monochrome hard shadows and dark screens, punctuated by blinding street lights and the vibrant blue of <i>The Spirit’s</i> defining trenchcoat.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTpy9IVDFHtP-FNlRQJiI0V-4boWMOl_CvlIaOcHDhHcwoYnEGcdJG1qC6WM5olzV6hjojb9UsxCBA3-k4OISQnpW_w2-YZrOKSoL8HVEcDeC7FpgfU1mscockWHoddD-xmEfD_i14ioqC/s1600/spirit4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTpy9IVDFHtP-FNlRQJiI0V-4boWMOl_CvlIaOcHDhHcwoYnEGcdJG1qC6WM5olzV6hjojb9UsxCBA3-k4OISQnpW_w2-YZrOKSoL8HVEcDeC7FpgfU1mscockWHoddD-xmEfD_i14ioqC/s320/spirit4.jpg" width="246" /></a></div><br />
Eisner’s classic comics simply don’t have the cultural recognition of a Batman or a Spider-Man. The average fan of action movies and superhero cinema has probably never heard of <i>The Spirit</i>. But the writers and directors who made those movies know Will Eisner's character very well.<br />
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For example, today's luminary directors George Lucas and Steven Speilberg are quoted as having being in awe of Eisner's illustrations, the multi-layed perspectives, the worms-eye views of the action and the incredible details that are happening above, below and to the sides of every frame. Like an M.C. Escher puzzle disappearing into the distance only to end up back at the start.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJ0upZ7_jUdONhMILSpNcHr-IhFTHyu8mdfDZEqqHEguzs0hw15r_TrI48YYI6IjMryppX4S1j3MXM7Z14Z9_QeRIsu8gHdqlPx2iZmMRQMFnK8fqJjihIMqF6gDjKHHGBcbZpAQ_TeER/s1600/spirit6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJ0upZ7_jUdONhMILSpNcHr-IhFTHyu8mdfDZEqqHEguzs0hw15r_TrI48YYI6IjMryppX4S1j3MXM7Z14Z9_QeRIsu8gHdqlPx2iZmMRQMFnK8fqJjihIMqF6gDjKHHGBcbZpAQ_TeER/s320/spirit6.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br />
WILL EISNER was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. He died on January 3, 2005, following complications from open heart surgery.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxTtKSK26GWFStOMFmWZ8wNWYEcz8Nu48YG0NvP7H6eJXa6Q7Tax0_yQBCphohPw_i32CGRPXQeUfwyR3kIm7v4BydDYubLFGHTSvt4JuU4j5ioFvgD-j1VR2UIoeKjwOhTpB4Vya23iV/s1600/spirit7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxTtKSK26GWFStOMFmWZ8wNWYEcz8Nu48YG0NvP7H6eJXa6Q7Tax0_yQBCphohPw_i32CGRPXQeUfwyR3kIm7v4BydDYubLFGHTSvt4JuU4j5ioFvgD-j1VR2UIoeKjwOhTpB4Vya23iV/s320/spirit7.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
In a career that spanned nearly seventy years and eight decades — from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics — he truly was the 'Orson Welles of comics' and the 'father of the Graphic Novel'. He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of <i>The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena</i> and countless others.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibheYFst-MCLDAHv_AmyNrk4qR1sqloB4i0jtxCOE5O8dvXIDSA-UdfpCf1bw8aFUWgGQHI16XWTSx5hD5WWgkFfaA9VZZZcleAza6LJHGWzTQBYBDwpdvXdIW11l3oXB5ABfx5-o6D_NF/s1600/spirit8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibheYFst-MCLDAHv_AmyNrk4qR1sqloB4i0jtxCOE5O8dvXIDSA-UdfpCf1bw8aFUWgGQHI16XWTSx5hD5WWgkFfaA9VZZZcleAza6LJHGWzTQBYBDwpdvXdIW11l3oXB5ABfx5-o6D_NF/s320/spirit8.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
One of the comic industry's most prestigious awards, The Eisner Award, is named after him. Recognized as the 'Oscars' of the American comic book business, the Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/index.php">Comi-Con International</a> in San Diego, America's largest comics convention.<br />
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In 2002, Eisner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, only the second such honor in the organization's history, presented by Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqj5V04iXwWQTpsAYOh6KshcIySw1pCSAtJcP34JYFyOaya032sxgRMvleAKN9QE8egNguNRDZSSRYJsOSvqsO1Aq7ZwWmUpgCFe3N1PvArI0urpIwostq5dhUzmCu1NWt4_VryeNybhXJ/s1600/spirit+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqj5V04iXwWQTpsAYOh6KshcIySw1pCSAtJcP34JYFyOaya032sxgRMvleAKN9QE8egNguNRDZSSRYJsOSvqsO1Aq7ZwWmUpgCFe3N1PvArI0urpIwostq5dhUzmCu1NWt4_VryeNybhXJ/s320/spirit+6.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Wizard magazine named Eisner "the most influential comic artist of all time.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx0fiIexheGcQZqReJPqafa21eRfCdG6ZxsUtWWHawgFmAOVii9LY5m29i2YBC0GBKf_ZKuJUMyhL9Qvt2G1pbDz5XmQcPIEBogcG2FTlTf5Ek439shoNTChjvVHjc3votwYJ3P1dmM9C2/s1600/spirit10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx0fiIexheGcQZqReJPqafa21eRfCdG6ZxsUtWWHawgFmAOVii9LY5m29i2YBC0GBKf_ZKuJUMyhL9Qvt2G1pbDz5XmQcPIEBogcG2FTlTf5Ek439shoNTChjvVHjc3votwYJ3P1dmM9C2/s320/spirit10.jpg" width="266" /></a></div></div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-19658392041809505642011-10-14T21:07:00.001-07:002012-02-26T13:42:58.843-08:00Freddie Bartholomew - Ugly Scenes Behind The Scene<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvgdMHJv7NB9E-0yqroXJj6HwpsilbSh8xaJWPR0ZTY3wt5G1cb5kDUML7xwpoceuxSnraUYhUUOjvEfh04hRQ5OPvofnoHt5hv4v9Bn71cysnC7DUShr9xTchAHZLgcpRHlr10jLtZZpd/s1600/freddie12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvgdMHJv7NB9E-0yqroXJj6HwpsilbSh8xaJWPR0ZTY3wt5G1cb5kDUML7xwpoceuxSnraUYhUUOjvEfh04hRQ5OPvofnoHt5hv4v9Bn71cysnC7DUShr9xTchAHZLgcpRHlr10jLtZZpd/s320/freddie12.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Freddie Bartholomew, one of the greatest child stars of all time </span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">and second only to Shirley Temple </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">in the Hollywood high-earners list.</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Freddie Bartholomew was born in 1924 in Middlesex, England. Freddie's talents were instantly obvious to those around him. In 1930 he made his film debut in<i> Toyland</i>, aged six. The next year Freddie had bit parts in <i>Fascination</i> and <i>Strip Strip Hooray</i> and then scored a feature role in 1932 with <i>Lily Christine</i>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Freddie's otherwise occupied parents soon tired of the novelty of their precocious child and were only too happy to palm Freddie off to his aunt Millicent, who ferried him to the set everyday and gave him the support he needed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the same time, in Hollywood, movie moguls and producers David O Selznick and George Cukor, were busy planning their next big budget film, <i>David Copperfield</i>. A local young actor, Florida born David Jack Holt, had been chosen for the role and the youngster was studiously learning a British accent.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To also ready themselves for the production, O Selznick and Cukor decided they needed a dose of British culture, so the producer and director sailed to London to get a feel for the landscapes, sets and local atmosphere. It was then they saw Freddie Bartholomew and decided they had to sign him to the role.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQwsGpahV9_EOfU43u34sNyjbRS1k0GRy11sWYbaSmaIknMijr2ylggSp7Ui_O8xLqkOvXLvphwgppJZYKYh6lF7jBblI-eeeUhgOJnT_FFFvasFnCZmGI45XmXpqPUu7EYVX1OiwQogQ/s1600/freddie1940-dcopperfieldwcfields.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQwsGpahV9_EOfU43u34sNyjbRS1k0GRy11sWYbaSmaIknMijr2ylggSp7Ui_O8xLqkOvXLvphwgppJZYKYh6lF7jBblI-eeeUhgOJnT_FFFvasFnCZmGI45XmXpqPUu7EYVX1OiwQogQ/s320/freddie1940-dcopperfieldwcfields.jpg" width="209" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Freddie with W.C. Fields in David Copperfield in 1934</b></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">After some difficult negotiations with local authorities and a murky episode involving the local child labour laws, Freddie and his Aunt Millicent boarded a liner for the United States. At the wharf Aunt Millicent waved goodbye clutching a proof of guardianship and a power of attorney certificate Freddie's parents were only too happy to sign.<br />
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On the <i>David Copperfield</i> set, young Freddie astounded the production crew and he sent the Hollywood gossip machine into overdrive with his performance. The movie cost a massive $1 million to make and took $2.8 million in a record breaking 86 week run. It also made Freddie a huge star. He was paid $100 a week for his trouble.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLTxz8HDYGJGWoNpgRu678Df3TQEjEUPBGYDst7O8knfSSNebGGw5_Kn1mwtMUMf-u_ZooaFco8nLJzoXzMZy0cNHeMoTKZkW8zufl3XaisGAiNGrhTpEnjb7ctNYm6vryFaDIAqIwHqT/s1600/freddie2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLTxz8HDYGJGWoNpgRu678Df3TQEjEUPBGYDst7O8knfSSNebGGw5_Kn1mwtMUMf-u_ZooaFco8nLJzoXzMZy0cNHeMoTKZkW8zufl3XaisGAiNGrhTpEnjb7ctNYm6vryFaDIAqIwHqT/s320/freddie2.jpeg" width="221" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Freddie as Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1936</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Freddie's upper-class British accent, angelic face, gentle trusting manner and china-doll fragility</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">was perfect for his role in <i>Little Lord Fauntelroy</i>.</span></b></div><br />
Freddie's successful Hollywood screen debut in <i>David Copperfield</i> had studio executives clamouring to bounce little Freddie on their laps and offer him roles. MGM were desperate to sign Freddie so they offered him the lead role in <i>Oliver Twist</i>. Once again with the critics raving about the newcomer, MGM touted Freddie as a young male Shirley Temple and backed it up with a new long-term contract, casting him to play young Cedric in <i>Little Lord Fauntelroy</i>.<br />
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Soon Freddie was bringing home a salary to his Aunt Millicent of over $1,000 a week! [33 times more than average wages at the time]<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdMh1zQZYyttF6unha7It4rbQ8zmj7MjfZwMkKoJOn4qIBSjnGeXxHhe9ydfELbOrx560Ebqb-ZvdTFxqyh_ZLdNj-EvB6F56Gsu7dYsMXfyULDcYRBygQfiPDpDs1q2jMq9Oy7lfsqqM/s1600/freddie3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdMh1zQZYyttF6unha7It4rbQ8zmj7MjfZwMkKoJOn4qIBSjnGeXxHhe9ydfELbOrx560Ebqb-ZvdTFxqyh_ZLdNj-EvB6F56Gsu7dYsMXfyULDcYRBygQfiPDpDs1q2jMq9Oy7lfsqqM/s320/freddie3.jpeg" width="221" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">In <i>Little Lord Fauntelroy</i>, Freddie role as <i>Cedric</i>, heir to a British Lord, was unforgettable. He plays opposite his screen-pal Mickey Rooney, a 15 year old bootblack in the Bronx, whom Freddie must leave behind to claim his peerage in England.</span></b></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Despite the many film adaptions of Little Lord Fauntelroy, in hindsight, no-one can match Freddie Bartholomew's mastery to pull at our heart-strings. His expression of vulnerability and the innocence of his performance had audiences desperately involved in his fate.</span></b></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQukDq29yv0EsZ75b7E3b9ncR3M_-v1_4zujxwjdCTHjOyQHYUyw5wg8vjebXWxkjDBHW_aDsw6AZefn2ZhrwJ1-TOmsx3u80Ig180JXAkPZ5jmEF2_8xo_Alum7gvMW4BaWlJME2D9CMF/s1600/freddie4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQukDq29yv0EsZ75b7E3b9ncR3M_-v1_4zujxwjdCTHjOyQHYUyw5wg8vjebXWxkjDBHW_aDsw6AZefn2ZhrwJ1-TOmsx3u80Ig180JXAkPZ5jmEF2_8xo_Alum7gvMW4BaWlJME2D9CMF/s320/freddie4.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>When he arrived in Hollywood, Freddie had the dubious honour of eclipsing previous child-star Jackie Coogan, who was entering adolescence and outgrowing his parts. Although Jackie was gaining some extra bits, he was fast losing his popularity as America's favourite son.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFTGDLzmflalyNoN-gRZ-QSGsoGe5peSTsm-wMgpy6ZH_E6IHVv-oFoaLlY3yr7pi9irGKr4QWGqws71B_4wPThT8ZmwYfdfvcAoW7qDXopty0ezA6DJkPojZMlSW1ojuqk_eO7j7RvgJT/s1600/freddiegarbo-anna-karenina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFTGDLzmflalyNoN-gRZ-QSGsoGe5peSTsm-wMgpy6ZH_E6IHVv-oFoaLlY3yr7pi9irGKr4QWGqws71B_4wPThT8ZmwYfdfvcAoW7qDXopty0ezA6DJkPojZMlSW1ojuqk_eO7j7RvgJT/s320/freddiegarbo-anna-karenina.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Freddie snuggles up to Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina in 1935</b></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Freddie's sudden fortune did not go unnoticed back in Britain. Soon Freddie's mother suddenly realised she loved the little superstar and showed up in Hollywood to wrench guardianship away from Aunt Millicent. Not to be left out Freddie's estranged father and grandfather soon followed with their own claims of undying affection.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Freddie spent the next three years in court testifying in 27 seperate lawsuits filed by his family members against each other, as to who owned his pay packets. Freddie finally had to give 20% of his earnings to his family but there was little left. After his mother and father left to sail back to Britain, Freddie had only $1,400 in the bank. His defence lawyers got the lot.</div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBXsijHRZf1NCjNqMySwSa7nA5SrTzbw6OQciA6ozlnKR8PFTWnoUhU_6cSGURJaiU6H3u_VRzfLESs1aaH97XPVrMWCZgjbnWOxQ_fijITIWEchKJQpJm2krFFvGoHsDTYgLugy0ZL1UC/s1600/freddie5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBXsijHRZf1NCjNqMySwSa7nA5SrTzbw6OQciA6ozlnKR8PFTWnoUhU_6cSGURJaiU6H3u_VRzfLESs1aaH97XPVrMWCZgjbnWOxQ_fijITIWEchKJQpJm2krFFvGoHsDTYgLugy0ZL1UC/s320/freddie5.jpg" width="177" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Movie poster for Captains Courageous circa 1937. Notice how Mickey Rooney has equal billing with Spencer Tracy and Freddie does not get a mention.</span></b><br />
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</span></b></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Spoilt rich-kid <i>Harvey Cheyne</i> falls overboard from an ocean liner and nearly drowns but for Portuguese fisherman <i>Manuel Fidello</i>. Manuel [Spencer Tracy] calls his unusual catch "my little fish" and young Harvey is forced to drop his "airs" and grow to survive his ordeal on the boat.</span></b></div></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPSYmuKO4ej8cGbUpD5Ti9FASHyWnSAxcH86PaqT6pBfCMgSzYaFBLVcJgKArRcy7m9w1ADOGJeALVnU_YVX8My6WVE8Ee-O5efcRUI6QjNpEar_0QH3liXKTmqhiVj4o2cE4AYtvgNL3/s1600/freddie6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPSYmuKO4ej8cGbUpD5Ti9FASHyWnSAxcH86PaqT6pBfCMgSzYaFBLVcJgKArRcy7m9w1ADOGJeALVnU_YVX8My6WVE8Ee-O5efcRUI6QjNpEar_0QH3liXKTmqhiVj4o2cE4AYtvgNL3/s320/freddie6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Freddie and Spencer Tracy in 1937</span></b></div><br />
Totally shattered, young Freddie bounced back to give the performance of his life opposite Spencer Tracy in <i>Captains Courageous</i>. Appearing in almost every scene, most of it soaking wet and cold, Freddie amazed all around him with his resolute attitude and absolute professionalism, holding his own against a screen legend like Tracy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh8x52u9f774F4VRR92yVUEJ05EpKVID-ENUBcjcLl3g1CAKgwEgSVy_95jzt2b20P4MJkRPo8WgkXB7Zjwq5lhGbQnMmiJ03EXlPfuFFzqhcys9BxpIKANF-9R9qPUExI9S8v5_YlgBu/s1600/freddie7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh8x52u9f774F4VRR92yVUEJ05EpKVID-ENUBcjcLl3g1CAKgwEgSVy_95jzt2b20P4MJkRPo8WgkXB7Zjwq5lhGbQnMmiJ03EXlPfuFFzqhcys9BxpIKANF-9R9qPUExI9S8v5_YlgBu/s320/freddie7.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br />
One can only imagine the pressure on a 13 year old, being dragged through the courts by his parents, and then having to front the cameras everyday with the weight of expectant, critical movie audiences on your shoulders. Do yourself a favour, get this movie out and watch it, now knowing what was going on in Freddie's personal life.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIqCb9hYiA0dzHzBdQXj6ghfyPXNOU_l9gmUnekPaogbjZS6s4AcSb3WaliLBsrn7S07JlmvzyXHOzqF-AvLcn7-d7gO9KCSGeXeFpmU_-fIY7GBXjAIwQePYflJwZGtSps1or_ntgebJ/s1600/freddie8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIqCb9hYiA0dzHzBdQXj6ghfyPXNOU_l9gmUnekPaogbjZS6s4AcSb3WaliLBsrn7S07JlmvzyXHOzqF-AvLcn7-d7gO9KCSGeXeFpmU_-fIY7GBXjAIwQePYflJwZGtSps1or_ntgebJ/s320/freddie8.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br />
Freddie Bartholomew went on to make <i>Anna Karenina</i> with Greta Garbo [1935] and <i>Professional Soldier</i> [1935], <i>Lloyds of London</i> with Tyrone Power [1936], <i>Captains Courageous</i> [1937], Robert Louis Stevenson's adaption of <i>Kidnapped</i> [1938] and then <i>Lord Jeff</i> with Mickey Rooney [1938].<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfE6RXxtNryzeTxB-S44Q25N6nY9qnKcG89pSCQxkGxW2-p8teYX8PZ2HT99ozRGOcfYBAKNYR-hmcFfDo60E37yXZroRZd_Mqa0grxBxcL7uK4ITDD-lt2OsvZQIdGg_zQilQK8OSOER/s1600/freddie9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfE6RXxtNryzeTxB-S44Q25N6nY9qnKcG89pSCQxkGxW2-p8teYX8PZ2HT99ozRGOcfYBAKNYR-hmcFfDo60E37yXZroRZd_Mqa0grxBxcL7uK4ITDD-lt2OsvZQIdGg_zQilQK8OSOER/s320/freddie9.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br />
A strong male role model may have been just what Freddie needed at a time when his own parents lacked any moral conviction or commitment. Certainly this iconic image with Spencer Tracy is life imitating art.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNW4CjR6fCE7ElTW3GyMXvbG6GbD2lnWyMswpIem9EpTapKlRA_tW97MnMbClpTHsOB5OyfstgGSdb4PLP6Nx9wO3iKmXip_cCVtwxtkGO2UCmnDf6VIR3gjsFVDnvXkgrWlJfIHFULnWY/s1600/freddie10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNW4CjR6fCE7ElTW3GyMXvbG6GbD2lnWyMswpIem9EpTapKlRA_tW97MnMbClpTHsOB5OyfstgGSdb4PLP6Nx9wO3iKmXip_cCVtwxtkGO2UCmnDf6VIR3gjsFVDnvXkgrWlJfIHFULnWY/s320/freddie10.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Lord Jeff 1938</b></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">In Lord Jeff, spoilt child Geoffrey Bramer [Freddie] teams up with a pair of small time crooks to pose as an aristocrat and steal jewelry from exclusive shops. During a caper, Geoffrey is caught and is sentenced to a reformatory where young men are trained to be sailors. He is befriended by model in-mate Terry O'Mulvaney [Mickey Rooney] but soon starts to get them both in trouble</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RgmQHU5KHWg8KSRpoiEt2Cbbq2o2cxwMHG6ty2f-Y-skVu1UJLPNeWMYKRrU6TJZ8GmoRfiUwt571nw-34BEgyAMwtutjdq_wtDVlDXRRYFrAL4BMUj6jWbIaO9SfepWLE8aVHESwqpk/s1600/freddie11.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RgmQHU5KHWg8KSRpoiEt2Cbbq2o2cxwMHG6ty2f-Y-skVu1UJLPNeWMYKRrU6TJZ8GmoRfiUwt571nw-34BEgyAMwtutjdq_wtDVlDXRRYFrAL4BMUj6jWbIaO9SfepWLE8aVHESwqpk/s1600/freddie11.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>As he grew Freddie managed his transition into his teenage years better than most child stars. He continues to co-star with Hollywood's A-List . In 1938, a 14 year old Freddie played Buzz in Little Darling opposite 16 year old Judy Garland.<br />
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But with the advent of young manhood, his dimpled, angelic good looks began to fade. After a stint in the Air Force in World War II, his film career was all but finished. In 1954, he went to work for an advertising agency as a television producer and director, and remarked at the time that the millions he had earned as a child had been spent mostly on lawsuits, many of which involved headline court battles between his parents and his aunt for custody of young Freddie and his money.<br />
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</div><div>"I was drained dry," he said.<br />
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Freddie Bartholomew died in Florida in 1992 at the age of 67.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj225d9swwR-gAZW9V9aziKWIYJTwDsubJP4HhGgPhUfxz82tf5mfX4imw5bd30z0awcw5CoY_yTQzAAm7sa0bg2Ui3Fi93xM3HA7fTbdd58qwIhqtxCxxkwrd3yzfecJKefVjl6OySPuw4/s1600/freddie1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj225d9swwR-gAZW9V9aziKWIYJTwDsubJP4HhGgPhUfxz82tf5mfX4imw5bd30z0awcw5CoY_yTQzAAm7sa0bg2Ui3Fi93xM3HA7fTbdd58qwIhqtxCxxkwrd3yzfecJKefVjl6OySPuw4/s320/freddie1.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Freddie Bartholomew</span></b></div><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The famous child star of his generation and one of the best juvenile actors in the history of Hollywood.</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-6128247011214181902011-08-22T18:59:00.000-07:002011-10-26T16:43:18.322-07:00Jimi Hendrix - Power, Passion, Fragile Genius<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImK37JVBUQLz9pC9Itv4atB7YWjETDoDjZjGnI9DMzqWHvHLp1_6Uwy5PgE5krvYOKhngC99fuWvVUwd98u_SNNqEbqHt7gdSuUoAYNr8uWhzLWF2LzZvRzrmfqUjaoKL7m-f-4kEHYib/s1600/Jimi+Hendrix-Live+At+Woodstock+DVDrip-avi+1025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImK37JVBUQLz9pC9Itv4atB7YWjETDoDjZjGnI9DMzqWHvHLp1_6Uwy5PgE5krvYOKhngC99fuWvVUwd98u_SNNqEbqHt7gdSuUoAYNr8uWhzLWF2LzZvRzrmfqUjaoKL7m-f-4kEHYib/s320/Jimi+Hendrix-Live+At+Woodstock+DVDrip-avi+1025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>James Marshall Hendrix [1942 - 1970]</b></span></div><br />
Jimi Hendrix was born November 27th, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, USA. The first of five children to James "Al" Hendrix. He was part Cherokee Indian and part Afro American. From humble beginnings and a $5 acoustic guitar when he was 15, Jimi Hendrix went on to become the greatest electric guitarist in musical history.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-Xo6htVYg1zmaVqIJbLskCxwaXojIg_ZPvnSYY6ER93qxI_RGAjFeUhWbjJ7ZMee-TlMkd7HfzO4HduysAbqebF6v6k7zUPzKr-n-dkx4EBn-dpzk4ZzMUBGu0AkLd32tC6zi_CGpp3m/s1600/JImi1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-Xo6htVYg1zmaVqIJbLskCxwaXojIg_ZPvnSYY6ER93qxI_RGAjFeUhWbjJ7ZMee-TlMkd7HfzO4HduysAbqebF6v6k7zUPzKr-n-dkx4EBn-dpzk4ZzMUBGu0AkLd32tC6zi_CGpp3m/s320/JImi1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
He grew up listening to <i>BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Albert King</i> and <i>Elmore James</i>. His real rock influences came from listening to and playing behind <i>Little Richard. </i>Jimi always said he wanted to, "<i>do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice.</i>"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-yUlaVXgVSRnzcEWPZtEHhhhWdseki5nNhrkc3aysuOQbznPwPSJySvgrt6hAlTqRxB6u0bEwbzG5znDoStA_oglqhQaRlllvd6U-dFKkao3HQVZvYNbdUH3H1Sku2odX-oKACeQHglU/s1600/jimi4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-yUlaVXgVSRnzcEWPZtEHhhhWdseki5nNhrkc3aysuOQbznPwPSJySvgrt6hAlTqRxB6u0bEwbzG5znDoStA_oglqhQaRlllvd6U-dFKkao3HQVZvYNbdUH3H1Sku2odX-oKACeQHglU/s320/jimi4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
" His official biography says: <i>"Jimi Hendrix was one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century. Innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and distortion top create a new musical style."</i><br />
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I believe this description sells Jimi short for it does not take into account his genius as a record producer and his use of the recording studio as an extension of his creative abilities. It does not acknowledge his engineering and manipulating of new sounds, that influenced musicians across a broad genre of music. Jimi was the only musician to be top of the Billboard Chart listings in Jazz, Rock and Blues, all at the same time.<br />
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I've been trying to think of another instance where one person completely mastered his instrument or excelled in displaying his talent to the degree Hendrix did. Superlatives do not do justice to the natural ease at which he seemed to demonstrate his art.<br />
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After a stint in the Army in 1961, he came back to play in the line-up for Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, the Isley Bros and Little Richard. In 1965, he moved to be part of the developing scene in Greenwich Village and whilst all the bands wanted Jimi behind them, he decided to take his trip to London to get noticed as a solo artist.<br />
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He formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. By 1966 he was the talk of the U.K. Every venue he appeared, night after night, some of the biggest rock stars in Britain would pack the Clubs to see what all the fuss was about.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWlQqKjjz2DHWfFEAtVyPVEfLy7OPX5IruzfC-lxowFI7WwLFpFxM3LR1U_58a1bOXAMH_Hk5UCEJUDEhyGzVeD2qHJOfmi3qYYxqaVK57obfTYdm990EcUphszUcGXIcnDvijvCXHUwh/s1600/Jimi3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWlQqKjjz2DHWfFEAtVyPVEfLy7OPX5IruzfC-lxowFI7WwLFpFxM3LR1U_58a1bOXAMH_Hk5UCEJUDEhyGzVeD2qHJOfmi3qYYxqaVK57obfTYdm990EcUphszUcGXIcnDvijvCXHUwh/s320/Jimi3.jpg" width="312" /></a></div><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>One of the most iconic images in Rock and Roll. Jimi finishes his set at Monterey in 1967.</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">By the time Jimi went back to the States he was welcomed as a superstar. His first L.P. <i>Are You Experienced</i> was a huge successes but it was not until his incendiary performance at the Monterey Pop Festival that he became of the biggest acts in the world - overnight.<br />
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At the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the Who were booked to close the show, until Pete Townsend realised they had to follow Jimi. Townsend refused and after a stand-off, the promoters insisted Jimi go on last. The Who pulled out all stops, Townsend smashed his guitar, the band wrecked the stage set and the urban myth has it that when Townsend left the stage he said to Jimi, "Beat that ni**er!"</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The rest his history. Jimi closed the show playing <i>Wild Thing</i>, poured lighter fluid on his Strat and set it alight. Still vibrating and screaming feedback, Jimi picked up the burning guitar, smashed it and stormed off.</div><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Jimi's signature guitar was a right-handed, white Fender Stratocaster. He played left-handed so he turned the guitar upside down and re-arranged the strings. He also moved the tone and volume controls to the top of the guitar so he could access them easily. Later when he could have what he wanted he chose a black maple-neck and a blonde maple neck Strat.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And strangely for someone with such a good voice, Jimi was always very nervous about his singing. In the studio he recorded his vocals behind a screen</div><div><br />
</div>Jimi followed <i>Are you Experienced</i> with <i>Axis Bold as Love</i> in 1968. By 1969 the pressures of touring took their toll and the Experience disbanded.<br />
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After experimenting with a new line-up he changed the group's name to Band of Gypsy's. A self-titled compile album followed. And then the double album <i>Electric Ladyland</i> which he recorded in his own Electric Ladyland studios he built in New York.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEossgFXtDKdHfANDEYtMAhhT66fRE5wtYFgWYOYph4QG2oIzTWbf5TzfxBzR4xBAdJkzcJ6l45g_VBf97tOifL5R10APHi5b8km4WSEAj_XOZ2Jr2idN37h9X8u8-tH8hLL9E4nJLoPCH/s1600/JimmyHendrix1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEossgFXtDKdHfANDEYtMAhhT66fRE5wtYFgWYOYph4QG2oIzTWbf5TzfxBzR4xBAdJkzcJ6l45g_VBf97tOifL5R10APHi5b8km4WSEAj_XOZ2Jr2idN37h9X8u8-tH8hLL9E4nJLoPCH/s320/JimmyHendrix1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Jimi plays the Woodstock 3 Day Festival in 1969</span></b></div><br />
The Woodstock Music Festival was staged on a farm at Woodstock, Bethel, NY on August 17th, 1969. It was a fitting climax to the peace, love, dove era of the Sixties.<br />
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[After Woodstock, the peace came to a shuddering halt at Altamont, the next big outdoor festival. The headline act was the Rolling Stones who on stage when a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels security]<br />
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At Woodstock the best bands of the Sixties appeared, including Janis Joplin, Ten Years After, Ritchie Havens, Ravi Shankar, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Country Joe, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead, Credence Clearwater, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Jerrerson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, Crosby Stills Nash & Young. 40 years later Woodstock still belongs to Jimi Hendrix.<br />
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Hendrix assembled a group called Gypsy Suns and Rainbows including the original drummer Mitch Mitchell playing with bassist Billy Cox and guitarist Larry Lee, plus two other percussionists, Jerry Velez and Juma Sultan.<br />
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Jimi was booked to close the show but they ran so late that he ended up on stage at 7am on the Monday morning, playing to only a few thousand mud-soaked, die hard fans. Most had already left the night before to get home for the working week. They missed the performance of the decade. A performance that defined the Sixties.<br />
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Even though the band was worn out and wired, they played for nearly two hours, one of the longest sets of Jimi's career. The first time he ever played in the morning.<br />
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Jimi greeted them with, "<i>You can leave if you want to ... we're just jammin', that's all."</i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><i>Message to Love, Hear My Train A Comin', Red House, Mastermind, Lover Man, Foxy Lady, Jam Back at the House, Izabella, Gypsy Woman, Fire, Voodoo Chile, Star-Spangled Banner, Purple Haze, Improvised Villanova Junction</i> and <i>Hey Joe</i> as an encore. The only time Jimi played an encore. [During <i>Redhouse</i> he broke a high E-string and played the rest of the song with 5 strings.]<br />
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His inspired, improvised performance of the <i>Star-Spangled Banner</i> anthem is the sound of Woodstock.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidJF9AI1DKkZ1hXTVerlq3I7Et-gNgOwPPkwF09XvpsmDzOVUFvdKlGvSqtn650xCL8Ie6vUOC2yEiQlRD1tvcxti4qrF8Qv91Uzn4yp1cHDZDLXY3lZzfbvQYwUiOlfzOlh2ygDoEfXNh/s1600/jimi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidJF9AI1DKkZ1hXTVerlq3I7Et-gNgOwPPkwF09XvpsmDzOVUFvdKlGvSqtn650xCL8Ie6vUOC2yEiQlRD1tvcxti4qrF8Qv91Uzn4yp1cHDZDLXY3lZzfbvQYwUiOlfzOlh2ygDoEfXNh/s320/jimi2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Watch the vision and the total control with which he creates his wall of sound. Sure there have been master technicians that can play the notes, but still nobody can match the exact sound, let alone create it from scratch.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeKmk6Z5007q2ZTrV7vKp9bpJotLev2vwML1J87ilJ_1xsRFRwjXXTlhZc0i42qjiwvBDX0Z38tvN0lQydQe2QBwXNdMliQLCKyM4H_HZqB49m3IJNW3_eAY50hpgi9Fn32xaw7gNpnWw/s1600/jimi5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeKmk6Z5007q2ZTrV7vKp9bpJotLev2vwML1J87ilJ_1xsRFRwjXXTlhZc0i42qjiwvBDX0Z38tvN0lQydQe2QBwXNdMliQLCKyM4H_HZqB49m3IJNW3_eAY50hpgi9Fn32xaw7gNpnWw/s320/jimi5.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Great photo - wrong album!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div>Despite the hundreds of bootleg, live and "lost tapes" versions that are available, during his lifetime, Jimi only ever released three studio albums,<i> The Experience, Axis Bold As Love </i>and <i>Electric Ladyland</i>. There were also two live albums and two compilations and twelve singles from those albums.<br />
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Since his death the "official" album releases were <i>Cry of Love, War Heroes, Rainbow Bridge, Crash Landing, Midnight </i>and the latest,<i> Valley of Neptune</i>. Whilst any Hendrix is better than none, I would not waste my time with the others. [If you need a fix just go back and listen to the long version of <i>Voodoo Chile</i>!]<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHWfcY4A3BrXVVMbJLdCrNTK_D9_zNxXUycHJowLgdKWp7yFsx5HqSk-gxOGSLsSLyBzakZfY1tfdFDlbRGYFaQ3LQUpWzEaxnIrL04969B1cxnCnZFXatJ6iJd8oAD4cw-eQ0lr3GAfBZ/s1600/jimi-hendrix-buddy-miles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHWfcY4A3BrXVVMbJLdCrNTK_D9_zNxXUycHJowLgdKWp7yFsx5HqSk-gxOGSLsSLyBzakZfY1tfdFDlbRGYFaQ3LQUpWzEaxnIrL04969B1cxnCnZFXatJ6iJd8oAD4cw-eQ0lr3GAfBZ/s320/jimi-hendrix-buddy-miles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Jimi with Buddy Miles</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in his London flat, September 18, 1970. He was 29 years old. <br />
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The autopsy said he died of asphyxiation, choking on his own vomit, which had filled his airways. Earlier that night he attended a party with his friend Monica Dannemann. Getting home at about 3 am he reportedly took up to nine sleeping pills - the recommended dose was one and a half.<br />
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Apart from the pills there was not much else in his system, certainly no cocktail of drugs as was commonly thought at the time.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Unless you were there its hard to explain to people the impact his music, his sound, his easy, relaxed style of playing had on the scene as it was back then.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Even now it totally stands the test of time. Nobody has come close.</div><div><br />
</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-25102831299892869412011-08-17T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-17T00:03:48.791-07:00Downton Abbey - The Real Story Is Much Stranger Than Fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLe5SeKWOSILsI3YdMAO3CBWE3hTp-vM7gJyo7eZv0rQAv5oDz_tviVpYLd6YiZ9n5iGU1yJz2etWhYh-cCgyeo0ixbKV7kLiTSCRYERZV3_SBURkuGJo29YEDUEXr-2H9FTxgbKG81oNl/s1600/downton+mistress-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLe5SeKWOSILsI3YdMAO3CBWE3hTp-vM7gJyo7eZv0rQAv5oDz_tviVpYLd6YiZ9n5iGU1yJz2etWhYh-cCgyeo0ixbKV7kLiTSCRYERZV3_SBURkuGJo29YEDUEXr-2H9FTxgbKG81oNl/s320/downton+mistress-1.jpg" width="146" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Almina, Countess of Carnarvon and Chaterlaine of Highclere Castle</b></span></div><br />
Like many millions of others around the world, I was recently swept up in the Downton Abbey television series, although I must admit I was more interested in the setting than the storyline. The real star of the series is surely the magnificent Highclere Castle and the wonderful protocol that was strictly followed by the resident family and their guests of that early 1900's era. Namely George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and his wife Almina, the Countess of Carnarvon. And it is their true life story that is fascinatingly colourful, if not scandalous - much more so than the story portrayed in the television series on which these characters lives are based.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFc8fq1C877D3tjwFAnTVf4vIjVCD8lCSI_t-DuytSdinrsaPZS9l5uZ-IWY5wO_T8icv8H2XBCkEQhRfABFiuwn71AJQDsHWDffqSgA9uQjuekDtSw9n-jQ4D5rfeYO35RYBlaE5tYxHG/s1600/highclere-castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFc8fq1C877D3tjwFAnTVf4vIjVCD8lCSI_t-DuytSdinrsaPZS9l5uZ-IWY5wO_T8icv8H2XBCkEQhRfABFiuwn71AJQDsHWDffqSgA9uQjuekDtSw9n-jQ4D5rfeYO35RYBlaE5tYxHG/s320/highclere-castle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Highclere Castle in Hampshire, setting for the Downton Abbey TV Series</b></span></div><br />
Even Almina's parentage is a source of controversy. When she was born in London in 1876, her French mother, Marie, was already separated from her husband, Fredrick Wombwell and Almina was thought to be the result of a liasion with Alfred de Rothschild - of the Rothschild banking dynasty and one of the world's richest men. Whatever was the truth, Alfred took a fatherly interest in Almina and thanks to his financial support, when Almina was presented at Court at age 17, it was not only her looks but also her wealth that made her an attractive proposition to aristocratic young men looking to prop up their family fortunes.<br />
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Lord Carnarvon, no doubt, had the upkeep of Highclere Castle in mind when he proposed to Almina, as well as his massive gambling debts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtlUDX2EgWZ7HnWGkyhpIP4A4hO_hFwZKPQuGiJm13L0gNnA0jw7FnA-smDtPKGMEpafL56Osj9vcuveN2ORMspDmjmPHWprZzEgmDet_F0-lR4UOT8IckF_ycSQFSwThQQdxv0Cm_Hfgy/s1600/carnarvon6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtlUDX2EgWZ7HnWGkyhpIP4A4hO_hFwZKPQuGiJm13L0gNnA0jw7FnA-smDtPKGMEpafL56Osj9vcuveN2ORMspDmjmPHWprZzEgmDet_F0-lR4UOT8IckF_ycSQFSwThQQdxv0Cm_Hfgy/s320/carnarvon6.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon</b></span></div><br />
Together with his Eton schoolfriend and Indian prince Victor Suleep Singh, a notorious playboy, George toured the fleshpots and gambling dens of Cairo, Hong Kong and Paris. By the time he met Almina at a Buckingham Palace state ball, George was suffering from the ravages of his exploits, looking very much the dissolute aristocrat.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ISjFW3_d5kQoQm7nInv7Uf_oV4ygZdqDniWulTi7rIXQ25XaxEINK67rBpQBCelw_bGo0c5T28lQZS1YQuxewtLsr1BD6G8qvn64tGvgDQ8j3Gms1kvpmQB_jxIR6Arn7C9if4-F_Aqi/s1600/Prince_Victor_Duleep_Singh%252C_1897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ISjFW3_d5kQoQm7nInv7Uf_oV4ygZdqDniWulTi7rIXQ25XaxEINK67rBpQBCelw_bGo0c5T28lQZS1YQuxewtLsr1BD6G8qvn64tGvgDQ8j3Gms1kvpmQB_jxIR6Arn7C9if4-F_Aqi/s320/Prince_Victor_Duleep_Singh%252C_1897.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Prince Victor Duleep Singh, Lord Carnarvon's Eton schoolfriend.</b></span></div><br />
Alfred de Rothschild was keen for Almina to marry into peerage so he agreed to pay off the Earl's gambling debts, which amounted to an incredible 150,000 pounds, in return for her hand. Sensing a money stream, George also asked for a staggering 500,000 pound dowry, about 50 million dollars in today's money!<br />
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The unlikely pair were married in June 1895, the Earl towering above Almina who was only 5 feet tall. After an expensive honeymoon, Almina soon settled into Highclere Castle, spending millions on refurbishing the run-down state rooms and hosting lavish parties for up to 500 guests.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5hSRc9ChaE4BixNuomsCsho8G8Zk_VWqm0WU5ymepltxk1wTV43GpNu3y0ipyn287IGdMG7OI8Bexj_tqnUxXCN2GrFtYgKGll0kpDK1TfC-poC2S_VuI9c11jUB2yoNNeW8u8wXYlyX4/s1600/highclere+castle+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5hSRc9ChaE4BixNuomsCsho8G8Zk_VWqm0WU5ymepltxk1wTV43GpNu3y0ipyn287IGdMG7OI8Bexj_tqnUxXCN2GrFtYgKGll0kpDK1TfC-poC2S_VuI9c11jUB2yoNNeW8u8wXYlyX4/s320/highclere+castle+room.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Library at Highclere Castle</b></span></div><br />
In 1895 alone the Countess spent $360,000, in today's currency, on chefs, wine and flowers to prove to her new husband she could "run the house."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMS3UG_FrfZml4kS3PkTtYi8WVcG8CtGXpkaWLT60pqEsMMFlSgBo4PBRZ6lbFaVWeuFfBUgmWRlTDSbGNsEX3t3oNCk6xjfegfHjXJ6KCcOtDjfzPWRBjZGwvbMpz2qay2CLeOYuNYIG4/s1600/highclere+castle+salon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMS3UG_FrfZml4kS3PkTtYi8WVcG8CtGXpkaWLT60pqEsMMFlSgBo4PBRZ6lbFaVWeuFfBUgmWRlTDSbGNsEX3t3oNCk6xjfegfHjXJ6KCcOtDjfzPWRBjZGwvbMpz2qay2CLeOYuNYIG4/s320/highclere+castle+salon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Highclere Castle's Salon</b></span></div><br />
Almina was nicknamed "the pocket rocket" such was the vigour and energy she displayed in playing the society hostess at Highclere, interspersed with her regular appearances in London wearing fabulous "royal" gowns, dripping with precious diamonds and pearls.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfU9Sh7JcNd-vGbTZt2JCeHyJxY2m9xsywsgYs-FbysPOIRPTcHM4sthyphenhyphen1Ddb4k78UT9f8HqIy6cClsOUtn0eloHtucXuI8606jgqpbshAqkTQ4G9Ww6EVytPVn5k4wbQkUvuiRmJbyfx/s1600/carnavaron_tiara.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfU9Sh7JcNd-vGbTZt2JCeHyJxY2m9xsywsgYs-FbysPOIRPTcHM4sthyphenhyphen1Ddb4k78UT9f8HqIy6cClsOUtn0eloHtucXuI8606jgqpbshAqkTQ4G9Ww6EVytPVn5k4wbQkUvuiRmJbyfx/s320/carnavaron_tiara.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Countess Almina's diamond Carnarvon Tiara</b></span></div><br />
Whilst Almina was entertaining, her husband, the Earl soon tired of this scene and took up reckless, high-speed motoring which ended in a spectacular crash whilst racing in Gemany. The Earl was trapped under his overturned car with a broken jaw and punctured lungs. Almina nursed him back to health at Highclere but the Earl was now a semi-invalid, relying on a stick to walk and suffering from debilitating migranes. They had two children together, a son and heir to Highclere, Henry, the 6th Earl of Carnarvon and a daughter Evelyn.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3j27Jc-PDUMl_2xPXvXKPkIaN3Qt4SCWLbZP6ITM86gIXHYXbRnvvZOJ0SSlYSH-_kAzCZITpCD2QHJGnGS7XeX-BZsMxtQ7PHagGZFydm0HHuO_WiXzHX7s2JKcVIBt5RES67qGkD0o/s1600/lord+carnarvon+at+the+races.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3j27Jc-PDUMl_2xPXvXKPkIaN3Qt4SCWLbZP6ITM86gIXHYXbRnvvZOJ0SSlYSH-_kAzCZITpCD2QHJGnGS7XeX-BZsMxtQ7PHagGZFydm0HHuO_WiXzHX7s2JKcVIBt5RES67qGkD0o/s320/lord+carnarvon+at+the+races.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Countess Almina and Lord Carnarvon - A Day at the Ascot Races</b></span></div><br />
The Earl developed another passion - aviation. So did Almina. Hurt and frustrated, in true Lady Chatterley style, she required the regular services of one of Highclere's gardeners. Fortunately the Earl's doctor recommended he spend the damp winter months in a drier climate, so he decided to exercise his interest in egyptology. Travelling to Luxor he soon sponsored local egyptologist Howard Carter's digging exploits, a famous partnership that resulted in the historic discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5X5MqNaMFwx_Jn7bUnUNaZtPZrflbFlx2Iy3DBh93-HdV-VBGCS5VXVmC_I7ngLEXFdpL3gUKL0LG5z_UumwiX47xzbOr-7_7pmOhbmm6FcL5kC_JiZErSwlr8snPwBz1UOiI2nRTf-GI/s1600/lord+carnarvon+at+luxor+station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5X5MqNaMFwx_Jn7bUnUNaZtPZrflbFlx2Iy3DBh93-HdV-VBGCS5VXVmC_I7ngLEXFdpL3gUKL0LG5z_UumwiX47xzbOr-7_7pmOhbmm6FcL5kC_JiZErSwlr8snPwBz1UOiI2nRTf-GI/s320/lord+carnarvon+at+luxor+station.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Lord Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn are greeted by Howard Carter at Luxor Railway Station</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">During this time World War 1 had started and Britain's young men were coming home maimed and incapacitated. Almina converted Highclere Castle into a luxurious military hospital, recruiting teams of pretty nurses. The 200-room castle housed operating theatres, exquisite salons became casualty wards and the grounds saw teams of nurses pushing wheelchairs around. She established another hospital in London for the officers who needed to be near specialist doctors. During their long recuperations they were waited on by butlers and footmen.<br />
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Almina's generosity drained even her resources. On the edge of financial collapse and very conveniently, her benefactor Alfred de Rothschild died, his huge legacy saving her from bankruptcy. Temporarily.<br />
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The discovery of the boy pharaoh's tomb brought the Earl fame and recognition. He also died as a result. In 1923, whilst staying at the Winter Palace hotel in Luxor, the Earl was bitten by a mosquito. The bite became infected and he was rushed to Cairo. Almina hired a de Havilland biplane and flew to Cairo with one of Britain's best doctors but they could not save him. His death started the "curse of the pharaohs" cult.<br />
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Almina's mourning did not last long. That same year she married Colonel Ian Dennistoun, an army officer permanently wounded in the war. He died in 1938 and Almina took a lover 20 years her junior.<br />
Her conduct was such that she was no longer welcome in high society and royal circles.<br />
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Her son Henry, the 6th Earl, inherited Highclere, but she ensured he did not receive any of the Rothschild money keeping it all to maintain her lifestyle. Henry was a renowned "womaniser" and with very little interest and income, the grand house soon succumbed to a lack of maintenance, with whole wings being closed and abandoned.<br />
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Almina continued to spend her fortune until in 1951 it was all but exhausted. Shunned from society she was forced to move to a modest terrace house in Bristol with only her housekeeper. After a full life of triumphs and scandals that makes the Downton Abbey scripts look very tame, she died in 1969, aged 93.<br />
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Its interesting to note that the famous composer/stage producer Andrew Lloyd Webber currently lives on an adjoining estate to Highclere Castle and he is reportedly upset about the increased traffic and fuss created by the Downton Abbey production. On the upside some of the funds generated as location fees will help to restore this magnificent castle for future generations.</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-66819308525332683252011-08-14T17:46:00.000-07:002011-08-14T17:47:29.636-07:0057 Chevy Dreams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CrVoOs0SjxKOY1eTd27Ff8sWzuayNIioaxHdEREnS9da5CmCeg6D_okSqACa0fLnGWo9i-ZlDrQj0mepaJJs77MOQLvlTjvO2Rjchg8pwvLsNBlyderjJkE1yEiCi0ihdnvgRCcsylix/s1600/57+Chevy1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CrVoOs0SjxKOY1eTd27Ff8sWzuayNIioaxHdEREnS9da5CmCeg6D_okSqACa0fLnGWo9i-ZlDrQj0mepaJJs77MOQLvlTjvO2Rjchg8pwvLsNBlyderjJkE1yEiCi0ihdnvgRCcsylix/s320/57+Chevy1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>1957 Chevrolet Bel Air</b></span></div><br />
Like most people I have always admired Hot Rods and Custom Cars from afar but never really had the chance to get in one. That all changed when a friend of mine introduced me to his new toy. Now I'm really hooked. I guess I was expecting a beast that shaked, rattled and rolled. Lot's of excitement but very unpredictable to drive. I could not have been more wrong.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXbz6HAHcqiSeudnw-5qXwybvNKoslc0jEyknckCY8fbXZLsXv604F8HcdNWw33w-fo3bw6WAYcYK0heG_HPsr9t1mVGfoPBwEOLiFedHaAtD5XcCDJeMFCOZvYP1gWlrU0oparVQnLem/s1600/57+Chevy2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXbz6HAHcqiSeudnw-5qXwybvNKoslc0jEyknckCY8fbXZLsXv604F8HcdNWw33w-fo3bw6WAYcYK0heG_HPsr9t1mVGfoPBwEOLiFedHaAtD5XcCDJeMFCOZvYP1gWlrU0oparVQnLem/s320/57+Chevy2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Big Bore Block. 600hp. A slight improvement from the 283hp factory original.</span></b></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcA0_KxY-0o23VPqRHOVOpgHwvyf3wAySBCS-4BRf1GQoF9Zg7zCE-Gu8TJRJYKGINwORCr4sH8btjqtoIWbJ1tCqao740rqyBKos-SmaAsVNxcT7sspiK5rX_NC_eS_v1b1OBg-sak0G/s1600/57Chevy5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcA0_KxY-0o23VPqRHOVOpgHwvyf3wAySBCS-4BRf1GQoF9Zg7zCE-Gu8TJRJYKGINwORCr4sH8btjqtoIWbJ1tCqao740rqyBKos-SmaAsVNxcT7sspiK5rX_NC_eS_v1b1OBg-sak0G/s320/57Chevy5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Sure this beauty is incredibly powerful. It's also tight, stops on a dime and sits flat going around corners. I don't recommend you try this at home but there are an incredible array of kit parts available ex U.S. to turn the most meek and mild sedan into Mr Hyde. That is if you have the $$$ to spend. I can't tell you what happened when we let this Chevy out, but I promise it was worth every cent!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMQklSunvIfDb5odYJ-y1f7s9ENQ44Eae5ldH0rcOkIgSa1f0FpXC_l7ARa1oexGuvWTz7l3RQ4XQHw9TThbpHcjNwAS_eRcMmTINDpAu8pNoUBvZM-aMauZZ-i27qc0rhpiU9A2dD2GH/s1600/57+Chevy3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMQklSunvIfDb5odYJ-y1f7s9ENQ44Eae5ldH0rcOkIgSa1f0FpXC_l7ARa1oexGuvWTz7l3RQ4XQHw9TThbpHcjNwAS_eRcMmTINDpAu8pNoUBvZM-aMauZZ-i27qc0rhpiU9A2dD2GH/s320/57+Chevy3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The 1957 Chev Bel Air is among the most recognisable American cars of all time.</b></span></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-22346401860041273832011-08-04T18:28:00.000-07:002011-08-05T14:59:52.830-07:00Native Americans the Only Heroes at Little Big Horn Battle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OJWHfr30i45wCe2ydcuhFqRKmF1n6cnkyIKuXXJ8r5tJJPD35bfUZpPOrM8C89BGIdkUj3RZnr3IXoLO05GR0pKX5owvtFw_L4fRnftxYVBOmIcQgxI4t7klJpv0l68zSDubqEo-4KIS/s1600/little+big+horn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OJWHfr30i45wCe2ydcuhFqRKmF1n6cnkyIKuXXJ8r5tJJPD35bfUZpPOrM8C89BGIdkUj3RZnr3IXoLO05GR0pKX5owvtFw_L4fRnftxYVBOmIcQgxI4t7klJpv0l68zSDubqEo-4KIS/s320/little+big+horn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Graveyard on Last Stand Hill above Little Big Horn Flats</span></b></div><br />
The battle of Little Big Horn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, was the most famous action of the Great Sioux War. On June 25th and 26th, 1876, the forces of the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples decimated the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army, near the Little Big Horn River in Eastern Montana.<br />
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Led by Chief Crazy Horse, 1,800 Native American tribesmen surrounded General Custer and his 5 divisions of troops and gradually annihilated 268 of the soldiers, leaving another 55 wounded. Some deserted and escaped. 136 braves were killed.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0IZtFl1AnA0bkzvhEMfOoLOwz2XBLo9M9os2b0S84TdIj1Z_FIzzjH2q5Gx2ZWUHuD5SdVCQyjVaVGlkryhQEmYcezYefn3liSdYaya_Esaa_8O6TcjvwiVrHrCxBIU982NPoex5pRDc/s1600/Crazy+Horse+America.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0IZtFl1AnA0bkzvhEMfOoLOwz2XBLo9M9os2b0S84TdIj1Z_FIzzjH2q5Gx2ZWUHuD5SdVCQyjVaVGlkryhQEmYcezYefn3liSdYaya_Esaa_8O6TcjvwiVrHrCxBIU982NPoex5pRDc/s320/Crazy+Horse+America.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Oglala Chief Crazy Horse</b></span></div><br />
The confrontation came after a series of systematic, murderous raids on the native tribes by the U.S. Army and in particular General Custer, who boasted he would drive the "red devils" from their land and slaughter any that resisted. Finally, humiliated and degraded, Crazy Horse and the other Native American Chiefs consulted the wise chief Sitting Bull [Thathanka Iyotanka], who predicted "the soldiers would fall into their camps like grasshoppers from the sky."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-MBFziofqcADCOjgTZqaHt4WXadOzo3Lj2MpCUNA5GqD_7e96CF0lxp8hBOImbeVs9whHG0ZCuTU0yQRVB-QL82EgzWaZ-ZCARqDV5ziXfafSknXGoTBppEqO0h3-xmKlS8UXT3d4zLV/s1600/Crazy+Horse.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-MBFziofqcADCOjgTZqaHt4WXadOzo3Lj2MpCUNA5GqD_7e96CF0lxp8hBOImbeVs9whHG0ZCuTU0yQRVB-QL82EgzWaZ-ZCARqDV5ziXfafSknXGoTBppEqO0h3-xmKlS8UXT3d4zLV/s1600/Crazy+Horse.jpeg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Crazy Horse <i>Thasunke Witko</i> [Lakota translation: "<i>his horse is spirited</i>"]</b></span></div><br />
The Chiefs acknowledged their survival was under threat. Grazing lands were being over-run with white settlers and buffalo were being butchered by profiteering white hunters, who skinned the herds they killed for their hides and left the meat to rot on the plains. Their very existence was being threatened and it was time to come together in an all-out assault for survival against the U.S. Army.<br />
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Inspired by Sitting Bull's prediction, The Cheyenne, Lakota, Arapaho and Sioux all gathered at Little Big Horn to plan their next move. Army scouts, tracking their movements, reported the gathering of tribes and the Generals ordered a three-pronged attack on the camp. Custer's Calvary divisions arrived on the scene before dawn, but rather than wait for his re-inforcements as planned, he decided to attack and seize the glorious victory for himself.<br />
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Modern battle strategists now say Custer's cowardly assault was ill-conceived. He totally under-estimated the strength of the Indians, thinking they would panic, turn and run. And Custer had refused to take the new, deadly Gatling guns with him, a weapon that would have turned the tide of battle.<br />
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At dawn, Custer sent a small party of his best men to a culvert at the back of the camp, where hundreds of horses were being tendered by young Indian boys. The soldiers cut the boy's throats and stampeded the horses into the teepees.<br />
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The surprised braves leapt from their beds, gathered their horses and mounted a counter attack driving Custer's retreating soldiers up onto Last Stand Hill. The brutal battle lasted all day and it was here that most of the casualties were incurred - on both sides, until Chief Crazy Horse personally led a charge surrounding the soldiers.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSSBPAd_wZPa7xGlCpYcAk3GNaAjmePcQs2XVFDr1XNYRkDG2icxC7QfTo7u5EPrHv6qH5uCTYUt2lwSPtAze_QGG85YTBZgw_UGkkZkZrk6oJ7X8E3FskfWKBCYX3IdRPZxNAiXTV1Tr/s1600/Little+Big+Horn+Custer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSSBPAd_wZPa7xGlCpYcAk3GNaAjmePcQs2XVFDr1XNYRkDG2icxC7QfTo7u5EPrHv6qH5uCTYUt2lwSPtAze_QGG85YTBZgw_UGkkZkZrk6oJ7X8E3FskfWKBCYX3IdRPZxNAiXTV1Tr/s320/Little+Big+Horn+Custer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Fanciful images of popular culture: General Custer - the "last man standing"</span></b></div><br />
White historians propagate this myth of "red savages descending on the innocent soldiers who fought bravely until on General Custer stood alone, his golden locks flowing in the setting sun." Nothing could be further from the truth.<br />
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The Lakota survivors reported Custer's soldiers threw down their weapons and scattered when they realised they were surrounded. The Cheyenne and Sioux warriors ran them down and despatched them routinely with their lances, coup sticks and quits. The warriors fittingly described it as a "buffalo run." Custer was shot in the head and chest and died on the field with the rest.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOq_r4mkywejgAzIqqJnTbUgd_L3ouJ4zj071KYrkSEFVHYO-BM7ioTrkmSaNAdY5ng83NiuFxhfcZL-yVbaDq_QJQw9A4-T9nipJ-lEkoskFPKHC2ye1bvq7fMmI9-lothYcydR8KOqy/s1600/custer1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOq_r4mkywejgAzIqqJnTbUgd_L3ouJ4zj071KYrkSEFVHYO-BM7ioTrkmSaNAdY5ng83NiuFxhfcZL-yVbaDq_QJQw9A4-T9nipJ-lEkoskFPKHC2ye1bvq7fMmI9-lothYcydR8KOqy/s320/custer1.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Arrogant, self-absorbed and egotistical. "Yellow Hair" General George Armstrong Custer</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately the U.S. Army reprisals that followed Little Big Horn were severe. The American native revolt led directly to the Wounded Knee Massacre, where the white Cavalry stormed into a native village and killed 146 men, women and children, bringing the Indian wars to an end. Sick of the slaughter and starvation, and nearing extinction the Chiefs decided to surrender and settle their remaining peoples on the white government's Indian reservations.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Crazy Horse and other Oglala chiefs, including He Dog Little Big Man and Iron Crow, arrived at the Red Cloud Agency in Nebraska, May 5th, 1877, They met with First Lieutenant William P. Clark to formally surrender. Crazy Horse lived on the Red Cloud reservation for four months until he was falsely accused of a plot to escape and wreak revenge on the U.S. Cavalry.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Under house arrest, for his own protection, and after being transferred from Red Cloud to the Spotted Tail camp, Crazy Horse and his party finally ended up in Camp Robinson Divisional Headquarters. Chief Crazy Horse and Little Big Man were involved in a scuffle with a post guard who stabbed Crazy Horse with his bayonet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The old Chief died later that night and it is thought that his body was sent to Fort Sheridan to be put on public display, but Crazy Horse was secreted away by his parents to be buried at an undisclosed location at Wounded Knee.</div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-83570807231920559812011-07-21T01:54:00.000-07:002011-07-26T16:30:02.414-07:00Hangin' With Howard Carter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrTVsfcrKaso561j1OF4YtNbg-el1m1RCUNnHWJGwZy4Se96HLqTOkoyExincApriQ0t_DeJGopyP5vkIgVj-fbLxHxgsSCTmFNf7tX3D6vV_JYDSCznkgrM355e0lhTm2opupJZP8vnY/s1600/sheik+hussein+abd-er+rassul.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrTVsfcrKaso561j1OF4YtNbg-el1m1RCUNnHWJGwZy4Se96HLqTOkoyExincApriQ0t_DeJGopyP5vkIgVj-fbLxHxgsSCTmFNf7tX3D6vV_JYDSCznkgrM355e0lhTm2opupJZP8vnY/s1600/sheik+hussein+abd-er+rassul.jpeg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sheik Hussein abd-er Rassul in 1999</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">holding a photo of him, as a boy in 1922, wearing Tutankhamen's Scarab Necklace</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">On my earliest trips to Egypt, I lived on the West Bank in Luxor and was a regular at the Ramesseum Resthouse, a comfortable lunchtime oasis located directly opposite Rameses 11's Mortuary Temple, the Ramesseum. At the time, the Resthouse proprietor was an old gentleman Sheik Hussein, an original from the Qurna Village which nestled in the foothills of the Tombs of the Nobles. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Sheik was a descendant of the Rassul family and it was his infamous uncles who found the famous cache of Pharaoh's mummies at Deir el-Bahari. In 1874, the three Rassul brothers found the royal mummies of virtually every 18th dynasty pharaoh in a tomb shaft, where they had been hidden from marauding grave-robbers thousands of years before. Their find was only discovered after precious items from the mummies started to turn up on the illegal antiquities market some time after.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">For some reason Sheik Hussein took a shine to me and I was invited to stay at his house, meet his family and enjoy many meals and social occasions in their company. I am still good friends with his sons and their families.<br />
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Sheik Hussein had a million stories but my favourite was his description of being present at the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in the Kings Valley in 1922. As a 12 year old he was working, as a house-boy, in Howard Carter's house, which is located on the entrance road to the Valley and he often told me how Carter would bring pieces home to photograph, in a studio they had set up in the house.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRX5xGv9uli-1qr08fw8E2Lw-RW4aLgXIupJILGOOllnOspjnDJClFUVKkfkX2PkwNJ1w-xG4PeQ_fmhIkXNw4FUCVPGb-lmiUq5iGeWc6HNQcHrXvbSzVtJHjYK9_kQuB-sKrfGwsdAJW/s1600/Scarab_Necklace_Tutankhamun_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRX5xGv9uli-1qr08fw8E2Lw-RW4aLgXIupJILGOOllnOspjnDJClFUVKkfkX2PkwNJ1w-xG4PeQ_fmhIkXNw4FUCVPGb-lmiUq5iGeWc6HNQcHrXvbSzVtJHjYK9_kQuB-sKrfGwsdAJW/s320/Scarab_Necklace_Tutankhamun_.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Tutankhamen's Pectoral Scarab Necklace, now in the Cairo Museum collection</span></b><br />
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</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">This led to to him showing me a prized photo of him wearing one of Tutankhamen's iconic Scarab necklaces. The Sheik had many other stories about Howard Carter and what life was like back then, some more believable than others, but all were very entertaining.<br />
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</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhJ04nab-FCVfD5W62O-LIxFn-jfi-vao5XkmZGUEqcbE-MyJWAihvlpCFzutdzKutBMRFjQQDBvFDkJ8d-fp4Pys25_faPLJh9DFy2cu-7bB1Ib1tyFnQ6o3sMrbAX8gHYRfBBavlCOM/s1600/HowardCarter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhJ04nab-FCVfD5W62O-LIxFn-jfi-vao5XkmZGUEqcbE-MyJWAihvlpCFzutdzKutBMRFjQQDBvFDkJ8d-fp4Pys25_faPLJh9DFy2cu-7bB1Ib1tyFnQ6o3sMrbAX8gHYRfBBavlCOM/s320/HowardCarter.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Howard Carter in 1930</span></b><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"></span></span></b></span></b></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"></span></b></span></b><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sadly Sheik Hussein passed on eventually taking all those memories with him. When he died the abandoned Carter house had been securely closed for many years and almost in a effort to collaborate his stories I went to the derelict house one evening and persuaded the guardian to let me in for as few minutes. Sure enough it was all there exactly as the Sheik had described. I felt guilty at ever having doubted him.</span></span></span></b></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Not long after, at a New Years Eve function, I was talking to a Tourism minister and suggested they should restore the Carter house as it was back then and the obvious attraction it would be for tourists. I'm sure I was not the first person to have such an idea, but I took some satisfaction from attending the official opening of the restored Carter Dig House last year.</span></span></span></b></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></span></b></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7Oictk2MwDv4cMbrlvFlvvsKeajDcWajGJb_P7JWY0nL1O-NQpBz0_lHWfo4hrGfpbsqP2Ou_wLiz1wTv6QHhzoTrqnPFEp8r6FnqKF9M9ZdI2bQN565NV7A1t7Y3VqolnM2IGk9fcWL/s1600/Carters+Office.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7Oictk2MwDv4cMbrlvFlvvsKeajDcWajGJb_P7JWY0nL1O-NQpBz0_lHWfo4hrGfpbsqP2Ou_wLiz1wTv6QHhzoTrqnPFEp8r6FnqKF9M9ZdI2bQN565NV7A1t7Y3VqolnM2IGk9fcWL/s320/Carters+Office.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Carter's Office in his King's Valley Dig House</span></b><br />
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</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Of even greater interest was the bedroom quarters of Lord Carnarvon, Carter's benefactor. I can't imagine how the Lord adjusted to such spartan conditions after being accustomed to the grand proportions of Highclere Castle, his magnificent home in Scotland. [recently featured in the television series Downton Abbey.]</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXr46gMnS1jD8KAWmAOiWhyEaLhTS7ZaO2XKCaM2XQoQwVgC8PyJ0dvYc3nLMhzn9BC7U1X6k7bojyLxVdSp_hjm9Am3iUAvVSjDWjy4JrwPC4dNFweDlMfn2CH_x1DC5D7ONZ-aNFHLN/s1600/Carnarvon+Bedroom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXr46gMnS1jD8KAWmAOiWhyEaLhTS7ZaO2XKCaM2XQoQwVgC8PyJ0dvYc3nLMhzn9BC7U1X6k7bojyLxVdSp_hjm9Am3iUAvVSjDWjy4JrwPC4dNFweDlMfn2CH_x1DC5D7ONZ-aNFHLN/s320/Carnarvon+Bedroom.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Lord Carnarvon's Bedroom in the Carter Dig House</span></b></div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-57462839150093930192011-07-08T00:49:00.000-07:002011-07-18T15:52:05.916-07:00Bolan Boogie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpawCy5AT-eE5HH7TjZXjUU1Agu8bsLdc-iuNKsP5IOLl_06kQxZZUFUpKG8a4gwUJ-eGXXBXbXZoVk6tT7RsJoZsfsPepmkAzROeKjgycroRtXDV-r4jk9_Sq4OHW-WBnC5BoEbqi62Hd/s1600/Marc+Bolan2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpawCy5AT-eE5HH7TjZXjUU1Agu8bsLdc-iuNKsP5IOLl_06kQxZZUFUpKG8a4gwUJ-eGXXBXbXZoVk6tT7RsJoZsfsPepmkAzROeKjgycroRtXDV-r4jk9_Sq4OHW-WBnC5BoEbqi62Hd/s320/Marc+Bolan2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Marc Bolan - Glam Rock Never Looked So Good</span></b></div><br />
Even though he invented the "Glam" genre, Marc Bolan was a lot more than our perception of the typical Glam Rocker. He was a self-made pop icon. He was a superstar with his band T-Rex. Best of all his music is timeless. T-Rex transcends all music genres. T-Rex is still fresh. T-Rex still has grunt.<br />
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Marc Bolan [Mark Feld] was born 30th September, 1947 in East London. At the age of 9 he was given a guitar and in 1959 formed a skiffle band called <i>Suzie and the Hula-Hoops</i>, with a female vocalist - 12 year old Helen Shapiro. He left school at 14, claiming they didn't teach him the things he wanted to know. He was signed to a management contract by Allan Warren. Six months later Warren "sold" the contract to property mogul David Kirch for 200 pounds, in lieu of 3 months unpaid rent.<br />
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Undeterred by such a inglorious start, Marc bounced around making demos and formed a band called Tyrannosaurus Rex. But it wasn't until 1969 when he was noticed by producer Tony Visconti that it all came together for him. In 1970 he released <i>Ride a White Swan</i>. He expanded his line-up to a quartet and called the band T-Rex, following up with recording songs <i>Hot Love</i> and <i>Get It On, </i>which reached Number 10 in the U.S. charts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimr0UItDfA-tYW5S_g1alPkcd6sq_2s07nDhL0jXS7ylKVaGqKQJByRbrkc31Ej2ALGZSa8U3oI05TgN3XLCe4iwSTFjTiGWr9ZCeFxiOkBnvwRKjI8GyLbZ0VP-e8mU-Zpy1qj8D_2Ims/s1600/Marc+Bolan+t-rex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimr0UItDfA-tYW5S_g1alPkcd6sq_2s07nDhL0jXS7ylKVaGqKQJByRbrkc31Ej2ALGZSa8U3oI05TgN3XLCe4iwSTFjTiGWr9ZCeFxiOkBnvwRKjI8GyLbZ0VP-e8mU-Zpy1qj8D_2Ims/s320/Marc+Bolan+t-rex.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">"Bolan likes to rock now. Yes he does yes he does."</span></b></i></div><br />
In November 1971, T-Rex signed with EMI and recorded <i>Telegram Sam</i> and <i>Metal Guru</i>, both topping the U.K. charts, followed by <i>Children of the Revolution</i> which reached Number Two. Although no T-Rex single ever became a million-seller, in 1972 their record sales accounted for 6% of total British record sales, selling a massive 100,000 records a day.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtH_JBXVLga_LBwuy4aL6WXqfDqS13wUlr6vvfs7i616ZZTLB5PSO_nj9zJlOKVZh_wBqjaN4008yZbOv-UlXrmE09hCbuy08PlGw33Y-QuxU_tGFDoT651fUqhifzt2pPOuzl77P4sghj/s1600/Marc+Bolan3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtH_JBXVLga_LBwuy4aL6WXqfDqS13wUlr6vvfs7i616ZZTLB5PSO_nj9zJlOKVZh_wBqjaN4008yZbOv-UlXrmE09hCbuy08PlGw33Y-QuxU_tGFDoT651fUqhifzt2pPOuzl77P4sghj/s320/Marc+Bolan3.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">"Metal Guru has it been</span></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Just like a silver-studded sabre-tooth dream."</span></b></i></div><br />
Some say Marc Bolan and T-Rex did not reach their full potential. However two of his albums <i>T-Rex</i> <i>The Slider</i> and <i>Bolan Boogie </i>are still regarded as epitomising the "Sound of the Seventies."<br />
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And Marc's unique guitar sound was highly admired, imitated and sought after. Ringo Starr asked him to play on his <i>Ringo</i> album and Marc played on Ike and Tina Turner's<i> Nutbush City Limits.</i><br />
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Marc mostly played on Gibson Les Paul guitars and occasionally picked up a black Gibson Flying V and who can forget his Veleno all aluminium guitar, which was in the Hard Rock Cafe Sydney collection and on the wall before the venue closed in 2009.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9QmdKEf_A5rWFDDGDbBhU_GleQhSsUAz8vsx9t16nPTlyw_3T-yryLRgrkZkWmI3_pacKWalwDX0F2iZLuuhd3REqjwC8Y0_HRbkO4aJQR87JzhbpHx40Ywmok5FX3i8DlPr6LqXK_AE/s1600/Marc+bolan4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9QmdKEf_A5rWFDDGDbBhU_GleQhSsUAz8vsx9t16nPTlyw_3T-yryLRgrkZkWmI3_pacKWalwDX0F2iZLuuhd3REqjwC8Y0_HRbkO4aJQR87JzhbpHx40Ywmok5FX3i8DlPr6LqXK_AE/s1600/Marc+bolan4.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"What can I do. We just live in a zoo.</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>All I do is play the spaceball ricochet."</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On September 16th, 1977, Marc had dinner at Morton's Club in London with his love Gloria Jones, with who he had a two year old son Rolan. Marc did not drive, so after a few drinks, at about 4am, Gloria and Marc climbed into her purple Mini GT and Gloria drove them home. On the way, travelling on Queens Ride, South London, Gloria lost control in thick fog, the car left the road and hit a tree. The impact was all on the passenger side and Marc was killed. A genius lost.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Marc's funeral was attended by Rod Stewart, Elton John and David Bowie. His ashes were scattered under a bush in the Keats Rose Bed, at Golders Green.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"And when I'm sad <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>I slide <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Watch me now I'm gonna slide."</i></b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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</div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-12198130710204292242011-07-01T01:05:00.000-07:002011-07-01T19:39:14.103-07:00Sphinx Avenue of the Gods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPchuUpCqQMmQCNrDSAH9mVK91hu7xEjEgg5IvzkhINtQ6OPV5fimdl8PVVrSP2NbtL09BGVGEf0rP7QmZ-19g9BdFE98ii-XGe5XNCM3k19dDUKjOFU38zi5JmZmnpBc1nRmf1G0rjuD/s1600/Sphinx+Avenue+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPchuUpCqQMmQCNrDSAH9mVK91hu7xEjEgg5IvzkhINtQ6OPV5fimdl8PVVrSP2NbtL09BGVGEf0rP7QmZ-19g9BdFE98ii-XGe5XNCM3k19dDUKjOFU38zi5JmZmnpBc1nRmf1G0rjuD/s320/Sphinx+Avenue+3.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Once again basking in the Egyptian sun after 3,000 years buried under the sand</span></b></div><br />
3,500 years ago when the Egyptian city of Luxor was known as Thebes, the female pharaoh of the day, Hapshepsut [1502-1482 BC] built a ceremonial avenue between the ancient temple complex at Karnak and the now Temple of Luxor. The 18th dynasty Queen Hapshepsut lined the 2,700 metre long avenue with over 600 Sphinx statues on plinths, all with faces fashioned to her likeness.<br />
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100 years later, the boy king Tutankhamen, who was renovating the Luxor Temple, continuing the work started by his grand-father Amenhophis 111, also renovated the Sphinx Avenue by paving its way with sparkling white alabaster. Tutankhamen then re-dedicated the Sphinxes and staged another opening ceremony to coincide with the annual Ophet Festival.<br />
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In what must have been an amazing spectacle, Tutankhamen and his entourage paraded the full length of the Sphinx Avenue, strewn with garlands of flowers for the occasion.<br />
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Twelve dynasties later, Pharaoh Nectanebo 1 rebuilt the Avenue and replaced the sphinxes to carry his likeness. He also added temples and rest stops along the way and re-dedicated the strip with great ceremony.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mMDWNJxm_Psm5TIuQRj2gRw_MSkvzOnd6ZdwEzdE6-MzaQ6F2kC6bM0ZluNJ3uZDcJOlOD9sV4Aq5eCCsdMIBv5jKqHEwRFsIAjx56NHVDjEqAicIBBSxKSu-EzyrzAjYLAf8T5ruLuJ/s1600/Sphinx+Avenue+Aerial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mMDWNJxm_Psm5TIuQRj2gRw_MSkvzOnd6ZdwEzdE6-MzaQ6F2kC6bM0ZluNJ3uZDcJOlOD9sV4Aq5eCCsdMIBv5jKqHEwRFsIAjx56NHVDjEqAicIBBSxKSu-EzyrzAjYLAf8T5ruLuJ/s320/Sphinx+Avenue+Aerial.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Avenue of Sphinxes. Work continues to be ready for October 2011. </span></b></div><br />
Sadly, however, over the next 2,000 years the Avenue was lost. The Greco-Romans cleared a section of the area, building wine factories and workshops using the paving stones as materials. Then centuries of encroaching sand gradually buried what was left. Medieval squatters built houses over the top, some using the Sphinx sandstone blocks as foundation stones and streets constructed to criss-cross the area.<br />
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Ten years ago the Luxor Governornate embarked on an ambitious and highly controversial plan to convert the city of Luxor into the world's greatest Open Air Museum. Built up areas around all temples and sites were to be cleared and Luxor was to be restored to look like it did in Ancient times.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-V-_wO3Itzn3XN9OnLnULXbI_Sed7KjnXemoSwPeppJez4SomHfIqwj1m5g2fvrQmMgC3O4TilALJnNpQqz2ZvW2uU3zRxxZJXJ2vpRZloiYQ2IGsvGpHHf7UOpCqVPY4rz92MDyJ1JbT/s1600/Sphinx+Avenue+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-V-_wO3Itzn3XN9OnLnULXbI_Sed7KjnXemoSwPeppJez4SomHfIqwj1m5g2fvrQmMgC3O4TilALJnNpQqz2ZvW2uU3zRxxZJXJ2vpRZloiYQ2IGsvGpHHf7UOpCqVPY4rz92MDyJ1JbT/s320/Sphinx+Avenue+1.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
The plan called for the mass demolition of historically significant 18th and 19th century era residential housing, every major street widened and thousands of people to be compensated and relocated. Entire villages were torn down. People were forced out of houses their descendants had occupied for generations and the compensation paid did not allow them to re-settle into suitable alternate situations.<br />
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Excavating the Sphinx Avenue seemed an impossible task as it lay under one of the most densely populated areas. The main road to the airport ran parallel for a distance and more importantly a very old mosque had to be re-located. And the archeologists were not sure what they would find. Fortunately, after the houses were cleared and they sand removed, they discovered the remnants of enough sphinxes to make restoration worthwhile. Some were complete, some sawn into blocks and able to be resurrected, others destroyed with just the plinths remaining.<br />
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The end result will be worth it - if you prefer history presented as a "theme park" The local egyptians who paid the price don't think so and neither do the regular visitors to Luxor who liked the "quaint" vibrant village life that gave the city a soul.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The good news is the restored Sphinx Avenue is scheduled to be completed in October this year. An amazing feat and a wonderful sight to see the statues exposed after all this time. I for one cannot wait to make the walk from Luxor to the Karnak in the footsteps of the ancients. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-627260550968948742011-06-30T01:03:00.000-07:002011-06-30T01:03:20.949-07:00Nanjing - City of Life and Death<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rLEZTVPbIZQYZtp8w5z4JOl5BUc3rZHVhfrI4SReC0evfglpcrRU-1dQue0p3O1hwnAe0mfALRhd513HQ1zkllQOkpufNLNVZtKC9XDRNo0fv_devYzyYTg-iioGguZAcfgdGBMU3Td5/s1600/nanjing+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rLEZTVPbIZQYZtp8w5z4JOl5BUc3rZHVhfrI4SReC0evfglpcrRU-1dQue0p3O1hwnAe0mfALRhd513HQ1zkllQOkpufNLNVZtKC9XDRNo0fv_devYzyYTg-iioGguZAcfgdGBMU3Td5/s1600/nanjing+2.jpeg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Historical images of breathtaking yet unspeakable horror you need to see</span></b></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUh7aOqt-C1-Syef0Hd1aawk2TAAauKf9N3jUE4DpymIiULNpgCAk1NO_OILNQKTO68Kpq3r8PnjTMovsSoE9Zrj6idFvpCNdw_28im6GIAgQT-mbDNQ4ZLuLYEsU_Qe_AjZoVsJ0nexe/s1600/nanjing+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUh7aOqt-C1-Syef0Hd1aawk2TAAauKf9N3jUE4DpymIiULNpgCAk1NO_OILNQKTO68Kpq3r8PnjTMovsSoE9Zrj6idFvpCNdw_28im6GIAgQT-mbDNQ4ZLuLYEsU_Qe_AjZoVsJ0nexe/s320/nanjing+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<i>Nanjing Nanjing - City of Life and Death</i> is a film made in 2009 by director Chuan Lu. It documents the Rape of Nanking in 1937, when the Japanese Imperial Army swept into China wreaking unprecedented atrocities, mutilations and sexual assaults on Chinese civilians. In this masterpiece, director Chuan Lu recreates groundbreaking scenes in a heartbreaking context unlike anything seen in other films of this "holocaust" genre, such as <i>The Pianist</i>, <i>Schindler's List </i>or<i> Defiance.</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaMmH-5V_K1qQWua12cGLma7RkbBB2WHvGk2-gdDmi70ZG_uhofoB2LvqtHlfsRPsBablkpxWOgK8ODN7JsbgiQYcl-1eLyg6qkEEWZGWLQE1FxtYCgN-CXPkzaAILfLXa0HN2RYWhtECd/s1600/nanjing+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaMmH-5V_K1qQWua12cGLma7RkbBB2WHvGk2-gdDmi70ZG_uhofoB2LvqtHlfsRPsBablkpxWOgK8ODN7JsbgiQYcl-1eLyg6qkEEWZGWLQE1FxtYCgN-CXPkzaAILfLXa0HN2RYWhtECd/s320/nanjing+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The shambolic, cruel and opportunistic Japanese invaders</span></b></div><br />
Shot in black and white, Chuan Lu cleverly adjusts the grain and grading of the film for maximum impact. Sometimes it drifts into sepia for warmth but never colour as if not to glorify the horror.<br />
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This is not Chinese propaganda. It is not an account of efficient, organised genocide as perpetrated by the Nazis. Its a factual account of cold, arbitrary murder with a vengeance that could only be mustered after drawing on generations of hate, jealousy and retribution. The Japanese soldiers are portrayed as erratic, unreasonable, undisciplined and mentally unstable. There is no honour in war here.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRUbV1E5HTw1TP3WBXkrCsHZ4Id6A8oGKOOGNCGjuycOsKLoDmtEAUaj-vpUlaAsTpiE2xjg3KOlgsSQRbyy72DyZuOFFWSAFmc07vxCQTDHl0HxqqYFavehbCieawQuhsKCV2EZPhB3q/s1600/nanjing+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRUbV1E5HTw1TP3WBXkrCsHZ4Id6A8oGKOOGNCGjuycOsKLoDmtEAUaj-vpUlaAsTpiE2xjg3KOlgsSQRbyy72DyZuOFFWSAFmc07vxCQTDHl0HxqqYFavehbCieawQuhsKCV2EZPhB3q/s320/nanjing+4.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Xiaodouzi</i> [Bin Lui] the young survivor who keeps us optimistic when all seems lost</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Throughout history every nationality, especially the Chinese, have had their own shameful episodes of cruelty they inflicted on their "enemies', but in this case you cannot help but sympathise with the plight of these hapless, helpless peasants and the ferocity of the intent the Japanese have to annihilate them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before watching this film I only had high school history exposure to the events that took place in Nanking. But now after seeing it I feel we all should be more aware of this tragedy. Almost like we owe it to those that died and those that survived. Especially the women who were forced to "comfort" Japanese soldiers on an industrial scale. Many of these comfort women were Korean POW's and some are still alive today. Still fighting the Japanese government for recognition and compensation for their suffering.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I see a lot of movies, but rarely have I been so moved and emotionally involved as when I saw <i>Nanjing Nanjing. </i>Full credit to Chuan Lu for his achievement and his contribution. I urge you to seek out this movie on DVD and add it to your collection. It deserves to be there.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-68179003840921945602011-06-28T16:10:00.000-07:002011-06-28T16:14:58.718-07:00Golden Breed's Keep Your Balance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjooxR2lICWq6leFNR-9XWxwulxa3Vve_NRlGzHhU2_1GJIYa1-IN3bPgM9mWrOi_Dk3_ipk2L3efwPZE96OFzV2jkq2XYnTuHCOf9sYFuBZrPsmlBK2L8mXR6QEOpzf5mNcliOMsOc8i8o/s1600/GBbalance-7_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjooxR2lICWq6leFNR-9XWxwulxa3Vve_NRlGzHhU2_1GJIYa1-IN3bPgM9mWrOi_Dk3_ipk2L3efwPZE96OFzV2jkq2XYnTuHCOf9sYFuBZrPsmlBK2L8mXR6QEOpzf5mNcliOMsOc8i8o/s320/GBbalance-7_big.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the Golden Breed say</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Keep Your Balance</b><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Keep Your Balance was the last Golden Breed poster in the series. It represented a yin and yang approach to the temptations and attractions presented to the youth of the day. The artwork is exquisite and shows our young protagonist stepping from the dark side, wearing his Golden Breed striped polo.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
By 1978, the Lizard Feathers consultancy was morphing into sports marketing activities, on behalf of a small group of youth-orientated companies like South Australian sportswear manufacturer Golden Breed. In three years Golden Breed had grown into a major lifestyle brand with an enviable grass-roots image that kids wanted to wear.<br />
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Now that Golden Breed had an established image we moved onto creating activities that kids wanted to be a part of. Together we created and sponsored action events like Skateboard Expression Sessions, Junior Surfing contests and Motocross events that wrote the rules of how extreme sports are marketed today.<br />
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The Golden Breed posters kept coming but from here were more focussed on promoting the sponsored events.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
art by Richard Zaloudek.</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-38630746091078036502011-06-27T21:02:00.000-07:002011-06-28T22:50:04.318-07:00Sal Mineo The SwitchBlade Kid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDJEAj2e07rjYqzmS6D03N4jwxmEpBUffXoSjMRV0r4qZB46qwpV3fWsnBfJ1fyt7523rProEtvMb4kz_Z37V-XQLf8VWGfBCKTOd11L81j137n7MbL9u5SPgA9SHVo_hT2eNWjJ-jTt7/s1600/sal+mineo+portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDJEAj2e07rjYqzmS6D03N4jwxmEpBUffXoSjMRV0r4qZB46qwpV3fWsnBfJ1fyt7523rProEtvMb4kz_Z37V-XQLf8VWGfBCKTOd11L81j137n7MbL9u5SPgA9SHVo_hT2eNWjJ-jTt7/s320/sal+mineo+portrait.jpg" width="273" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sal Mineo - "The Switchblade Kid"</span></b></div><br />
Born of Sicilian emigrant parents in Harlem in 1939, Sal Mineo spent his early years running with the local tough Bronx street gangs. By the age of 8 he was thrown out of parochial school, so his mother enrolled him in acting and dancing classes. In 1950 he excelled in his first stage appearance, <i>The Rose Tattoo</i> by Tennessee Williams and starring Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach. He also played a young prince opposite Yul Brynner in <i>The King and I, </i>and later, a young boy in Tony Curtis's <i>Six Bridges To Cross</i>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCFMQFqzaw1fdaB3C2hRIszy71yTVlzIKKjVzmLllSWoEEmBDoEgvRckzkaJw3r3wKzwtqfq28pdOwcz09C0zW4D-_HrKhKX_VvKZTIXvcQacFQ9fPLx03zqBmZOZAvXAII7EdGX3YmNf/s1600/sal+mineobefore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCFMQFqzaw1fdaB3C2hRIszy71yTVlzIKKjVzmLllSWoEEmBDoEgvRckzkaJw3r3wKzwtqfq28pdOwcz09C0zW4D-_HrKhKX_VvKZTIXvcQacFQ9fPLx03zqBmZOZAvXAII7EdGX3YmNf/s320/sal+mineobefore.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">From the Bronx to Hollywood</span></b></div><br />
After a few lesser films his breakthrough was <i>Rebel Without A Cause</i> [1955], in which he gave an impressive performance as a gay teen smitten with James Dean's character, a role that saw him nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwHwLviWrEp8WjhgzLbs9-ZWhy-dFC1XI0_xXqzt5PfCpeFL78RE1PKuxLLpDZrJDlrYz3vjf5FGzTbKi6Jr6PPma8n8jyMO66vHs27C__Q1RtveclQnRJ6nR5ucsZswO2p4Bc18JLu3H/s1600/sal+mineo+rebel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwHwLviWrEp8WjhgzLbs9-ZWhy-dFC1XI0_xXqzt5PfCpeFL78RE1PKuxLLpDZrJDlrYz3vjf5FGzTbKi6Jr6PPma8n8jyMO66vHs27C__Q1RtveclQnRJ6nR5ucsZswO2p4Bc18JLu3H/s320/sal+mineo+rebel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
In <i>Rebel Without A Cause,</i> the interaction between Jimmy Dean and sixteen year old Sal Mineo scandalised a homophobic Hollywood. These magic moments set fire to a rumour mill that is still burning 56 years later. They also gave hope and hero-worship to millions of confused misunderstood teens who no longer wanted to live between the straight lines drawn by previous generations.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKJB7NSMxBJwOZ4YZyExcLny4wszVE2dn30qYA-dSb7ZWg87Tzhm8pxQ0c4Y9BrVco00He9DBVRyK80En7ArSu5kEaRBPCA9ETajnP8FRVfyJOoUWolAgdVVu20X87Mz-pI5ssasXHkex/s1600/Sal+Mineo+and+James.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKJB7NSMxBJwOZ4YZyExcLny4wszVE2dn30qYA-dSb7ZWg87Tzhm8pxQ0c4Y9BrVco00He9DBVRyK80En7ArSu5kEaRBPCA9ETajnP8FRVfyJOoUWolAgdVVu20X87Mz-pI5ssasXHkex/s320/Sal+Mineo+and+James.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">James Dean's </span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Jim Stark</span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> and Sal Mineo's </span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Plato Crawford</span></b></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> in </span></b><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Rebel Without A Cause</span></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>James Dean and Sal were briefly re-united in <i>Giant</i> [1956], when Sal appeared in a few scenes with Jimmy, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. But shortly after James Dean was killed in a car accident. Sal Mineo was devastated and turned to Natalie Wood, another member of their "brat pack," in a very public display of confused sexuality.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoz988gCqeubvToesHAxvRk07bsqvvJdFeRPH9_8J5Rh9EmYgDEnbqRgp8iFo3voidMs2J8w5NIbs-TTmIquT9fZ0Y8BejI6U2dr7MwfWIx3jTbbPLbyaDRO-6j0cV4uKyxgvkqZuY6ebG/s1600/sal+mineo+natalie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoz988gCqeubvToesHAxvRk07bsqvvJdFeRPH9_8J5Rh9EmYgDEnbqRgp8iFo3voidMs2J8w5NIbs-TTmIquT9fZ0Y8BejI6U2dr7MwfWIx3jTbbPLbyaDRO-6j0cV4uKyxgvkqZuY6ebG/s320/sal+mineo+natalie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood</b></span></div><br />
But Natalie, who had also received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work on <i>Rebel Without A Cause, </i>quickly<i> </i>moved on as she developed into one of the most beautiful women ever to grace the big screens in Hollywood.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1oh5xeNTYWamhu3J-hdbY9qw1cfaLw2Q2RR_CO9pZXbBB34w-L5JM36t9QXm0Ir0U7HzeBFk7Kh8y_UNS0YLFcNqI88vzly_-XlGDJC4Q8m6AK-tRVI5F8VI3kIFJzHvUqB2cdQ7aDBOW/s1600/Sal-Mineo-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1oh5xeNTYWamhu3J-hdbY9qw1cfaLw2Q2RR_CO9pZXbBB34w-L5JM36t9QXm0Ir0U7HzeBFk7Kh8y_UNS0YLFcNqI88vzly_-XlGDJC4Q8m6AK-tRVI5F8VI3kIFJzHvUqB2cdQ7aDBOW/s320/Sal-Mineo-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Looking like a real</span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Sicilian, Sal steps out in Hollywood</span></b></div><br />
Sal Mineo's other stand-out performance was in Exodus [1960], earning him another Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as Dov Landau, a Jewish holocaust survivor, who wants to join a radical Zionists underground network after the war. He is accepted into the group when Dov finally admits he was a <i>Sonderkommando</i> in Auschwitz and raped by the Nazis.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6H-QiApWD2EuUlccGheGfWGJSwsCJyOQt3X4B-QSxz8Pa75_8OOBEWFtVSxKivjU5xu_XlJpo9seRMz-xtTETEVBbrkW5qwgT9uf5LQs5B_8oAGxWPJJuJx1Z3MS-qsg6rQtcCVNNn0r/s1600/sal-mineo-and-jill-haworth-in-exodus-december-12-1960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6H-QiApWD2EuUlccGheGfWGJSwsCJyOQt3X4B-QSxz8Pa75_8OOBEWFtVSxKivjU5xu_XlJpo9seRMz-xtTETEVBbrkW5qwgT9uf5LQs5B_8oAGxWPJJuJx1Z3MS-qsg6rQtcCVNNn0r/s320/sal-mineo-and-jill-haworth-in-exodus-december-12-1960.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br />
Sal had a reputation for getting way too close to his movie co-stars including James Dean and director Nicholas Ray in <i>Rebel Without A Cause</i> and <i>Exodus</i> co-star Jill Haworth, who was 15 years old at the time. They went on to have a long affair which confused the gossip media and casting agents.<br />
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Even though Sal Mineo appeared in dozens of other films including <i>The Longest Day, Tonka, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Young Don't Cry</i> and <i>Escape from the Planet of the Apes, </i>his behaviour was increasingly becoming out and proud. Not a popular position in Hollywood at the time.<br />
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Sal Mineo went on to become a stage director receiving recognition for his work on the internationally successful play <i>Fortune in Men's Eyes.</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wMHAFyNm0-BUU96qJ9UvePZVHww75OkffJJ45YTHf7XNJfF0vXNr_eXwSyuXZXfjCG3W6Km9IMb_zaGSkhmutB4_oOMW65rm8GEFU50er12E96iD0xHNGBCLWZx0_J67WvoyCmTAgC95/s1600/Sal+Mineo+headstone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wMHAFyNm0-BUU96qJ9UvePZVHww75OkffJJ45YTHf7XNJfF0vXNr_eXwSyuXZXfjCG3W6Km9IMb_zaGSkhmutB4_oOMW65rm8GEFU50er12E96iD0xHNGBCLWZx0_J67WvoyCmTAgC95/s320/Sal+Mineo+headstone.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Outside Sal Mineo's Hollywood apartment, on the night of February 12th, 1976, a neighbour heard Sal calling for help and then found him in the gutter, stabbed to death at the age of 37.<br />
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He had not been robbed and a white male with long hair was seen running from the scene. His accused killer, Lionel Ray Williams was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1979. With no apparent motive for the murder, the conviction remains controversial. Williams claims he was innocent and that homophobia impeded the search for Sal's real murderer.<br />
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He is buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, New York.<br />
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With the news James Franco has just acquired the rights to make a biopic called "<i>Sal</i>" to be released in 2013, we about to get a better behind the scenes look at the proud life of Sal Mineo.<br />
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I wonder what Sal thinks of all this. Looking down on us, smoking filtered Kool cigarettes and sipping his umpteenth black coffee and sugar.<br />
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He famously said in 1975, "I'll never be mistaken for Pat Boone."Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-86754398446223380642011-06-21T01:05:00.000-07:002012-12-13T19:31:20.274-08:00Trapped in Khufu's Great Pyramid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7C5RyzddjDqbF1Nv2muxbWL0V98fPia-wgfVMcy7VCHpQ6GYxuqdZoOSOW6-U2lOpwVBKB-7k5_dVIz4488AX7ehgDOvngu9pLI9qRGjaNnbFbT-Xz5cCXKV03LejcmO6RRh6Mn8HG2mI/s1600/Pyramid+Red2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7C5RyzddjDqbF1Nv2muxbWL0V98fPia-wgfVMcy7VCHpQ6GYxuqdZoOSOW6-U2lOpwVBKB-7k5_dVIz4488AX7ehgDOvngu9pLI9qRGjaNnbFbT-Xz5cCXKV03LejcmO6RRh6Mn8HG2mI/s320/Pyramid+Red2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Great Pyramid of Giza - King Khufu [2589 - 2566 B.C.]</span></b></div>
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Forty years ago, entering the Great Pyramid at Giza and making the long, steep ascent up into the King's burial chamber was adventurous and quite difficult. There was no ventilation, the stairs were unstable and the lighting in the burial chamber consisted of one bare light bulb, lying vulnerable on the floor.<br />
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Back then, whenever I made the climb up to the pyramid's entrance, the old guard at the outside door would give me a condescending look and a sigh as if to say "not you again" and then begrudgingly pull an electricity cable out from a piece of conduit, expose the two bare wires and twist them together to make a contact and so turn on the light up in the chamber.<br />
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Now days its civilised and as a result a lot more tourists make the trek. Not only is the lighting adequate, they now have a security camera to keep an eye on visitors.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGky1q1Ydl322It0iKF4kBGKwRifk1-v6M1WA7C9oT9OZy-xrbbAl3dHdCjhALzkwmZU2ggtFAIXHQfCDYkq7nuHueTrxuvGa0KiKPCKoDRN5BlfFaoGRYeX56eQ4mTwxyvpS33kx2e_G/s1600/Khufu+Chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGky1q1Ydl322It0iKF4kBGKwRifk1-v6M1WA7C9oT9OZy-xrbbAl3dHdCjhALzkwmZU2ggtFAIXHQfCDYkq7nuHueTrxuvGa0KiKPCKoDRN5BlfFaoGRYeX56eQ4mTwxyvpS33kx2e_G/s320/Khufu+Chamber.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Inside the King's Burial Chamber and Sarcophagus</span></b> </div>
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Back in the Seventies, I was in the habit of getting up early to be at the pyramid before it opened. I would slip the guard a few Egyptian pounds and he would let me up into the King's chamber, where I would sit on the floor and read my book for an hour or so, until the tourists start to arrive.<br />
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One morning, as usual, I climbed up into the centre of the Pyramid, reached the burial chamber, looked around the empty room and took up my position on the floor. Just as I reached for my book, the light bulb flickered and went out. The chamber was pitch black. The electricity had failed. [blackouts across Egypt were a part of daily life and still are]<br />
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I figured the wise thing to do was just sit there and wait it out. No way could I negotiate my way out of the chamber and back down the Grand Gallery in the dark. It was dangerous enough when you could see where you were going. That's when I heard the heavy breathing!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQNSXXJZEQaHYn-aodfvOlV-EgdWx7Gc9-XVAgNU4uo9nq19VAhk5GcGIpQnl8j5M4lHjKrURT7CRbraEjhYCdLU_F3vHxsr3dzp_AVqtWNnBjVrGCvGeKvG065FiQ3AjLs2bLyaBhKwOv/s1600/khufu+gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQNSXXJZEQaHYn-aodfvOlV-EgdWx7Gc9-XVAgNU4uo9nq19VAhk5GcGIpQnl8j5M4lHjKrURT7CRbraEjhYCdLU_F3vHxsr3dzp_AVqtWNnBjVrGCvGeKvG065FiQ3AjLs2bLyaBhKwOv/s320/khufu+gallery.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Great Pyramid Grand Gallery to the Burial Chamber</span></b><br />
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There I was, alone in the dark, in the middle of the Great Pyramid, and I can hear somebody breathing and moaning. Now I really panicked. It's amazing what visions flash through your mind. I was scared.</div>
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After what seemed like an eternity the light spluttered back on. My eyes adjusted and I looked around. Nobody there. The heavy breathing started again so I got up and walked behind the huge granite sarcophagus and finally saw a guy lying flat, out of sight, behind the sarcophagus. He was pale, gasping for air and pointing to his shirt pocket. Sure enough I found his little tin box of small white pills and put one under his tongue, which he was just about to swallow.</div>
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Eventually he recovered enough to tell me he was a Brazilian tourist and the climb up into the Chamber was too strenuous for him. Shortly before I had arrived he started having a heart attack and I had saved his life. That was OK for him. He took ten years off mine!</div>
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Its those sorts of experiences that kept me coming back to Egypt. You just never know and everyday is an adventure.</div>
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Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-30511191406425052362011-06-17T17:53:00.000-07:002012-01-23T22:42:58.724-08:00Brandon De Wilde - Not Forgotten<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCu54_kpqYSeBl47KZ3paKKkWf8dFwmTVeJQ5hyphenhyphenYr6EsAuT-G9PfL8I7KsCJXLDipU_xn44OH3JSFRMMNQigaCjBycL960eWzweNBHrTvQNjmai9N36RDQMqN9Qlrf815_5w1FF66KEp-f/s1600/brandon-de-wilde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCu54_kpqYSeBl47KZ3paKKkWf8dFwmTVeJQ5hyphenhyphenYr6EsAuT-G9PfL8I7KsCJXLDipU_xn44OH3JSFRMMNQigaCjBycL960eWzweNBHrTvQNjmai9N36RDQMqN9Qlrf815_5w1FF66KEp-f/s320/brandon-de-wilde.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Brandon De Wilde - a magnetic, riveting child prodigy</span></b></div><br />
April 9, 1942, Brandon De Wilde was born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, Brandon became a national phenomenon, completing 492 performances of <i>The Member of the Wedding</i> and was considered by experts as a true child prodigy. He later starred in the film version of this play in 1952 and won the Donaldson Award - a special Golden Globe Award for Best Juvenile Talent.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5bVqV2n-iUO0a2Z4P0rlv3xgZVTBUm1_7D9HG-Uh6a-U6petlEKfd51-0GCEUkdQBnYPp9Hkoz1Apu95HELisNW-EctHhchjYBGWgqbDaFdfKc4dkBGwbnMjczwG98AbCsgZEi-lv9tA-/s1600/BrandondeWilde1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5bVqV2n-iUO0a2Z4P0rlv3xgZVTBUm1_7D9HG-Uh6a-U6petlEKfd51-0GCEUkdQBnYPp9Hkoz1Apu95HELisNW-EctHhchjYBGWgqbDaFdfKc4dkBGwbnMjczwG98AbCsgZEi-lv9tA-/s320/BrandondeWilde1.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The first child actor awarded the Donaldson Award</span></b></div><br />
Hedda Hopper dubbed Brandon <i>The King of Child Actors. </i>His most memorable film role was as young Joey Starrett in the film <i>Shane </i>[1953] where he was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor [he lost to Frank Sinatra in "<i>From Here To Eternity</i>"]. As <i>Shane</i>, with his blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, and playing opposite the strange surly gunman [Alan Ladd], he stole the show.<br />
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Brandon appeared on the front cover of <i>Lif</i>e Magazine on March 10, 1952, for his Broadway play <i>Mrs McThing, </i>and had his own sitcom television series<i> Jamie</i> on ABC [1953-1954]<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDn5chghG4MCZWXJ-v8-5-vswufpFko6gwuXzb1P4baAdyQgXQVzbhpeTDPZdwxQGGbeKUisQ48hIizFe9XPQGPnvP-dqzN64xdz5wxrdHqWS-XG5TWjBbadUPiYFSsWip6Ow0B88r1ei/s1600/Brandon_De_Wilde_14439_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDn5chghG4MCZWXJ-v8-5-vswufpFko6gwuXzb1P4baAdyQgXQVzbhpeTDPZdwxQGGbeKUisQ48hIizFe9XPQGPnvP-dqzN64xdz5wxrdHqWS-XG5TWjBbadUPiYFSsWip6Ow0B88r1ei/s320/Brandon_De_Wilde_14439_1.jpg" width="267" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">"Small for his age and a bit too pretty".</span></b></div><br />
Brandon's most challenging "adult" role was as Paul Newman's 17 year old nephew <i>Lonnie</i> in the Western <i>Hud</i> [1963]. In this story of alienated youth, Brandon holds his own opposite a ruthless <i>Hud Bannon</i> [Newman] who is out for kicks with no consequences. And both actors are well supported by co-star Patricia Neal who won an Academy Best Actress Award for her role.<br />
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Critics say Paul Newman's <i>Hud</i> was one of his better performances [along with <i>Cool Hand Luke],</i> but<i> </i>Brandon De Wilde is amazing in this film. His scenes with Newman are magnetic and definitely a match for the charismatic Hud. Brandon's quietly spoken Southern drawl and riveting eye contact, compete for attention in every frame.<br />
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During this time, Brandon had become interested in launching a music career. He was in the Bahamas in February 1965, at the same time The Beatles were filming <i>Help!</i> and hung out with the band, who got stoned on the pot De Wilde provided. Brandon sang a few demos and by all accounts was quite good, but a music career never eventuated.<br />
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Unfortunately for Brandon, being small for his age and a bit too pretty worked against him in later life. Overlooked for many movie roles he turned to television. Although he had regular work it was not the same. He even spoke of giving up acting and coming back when he was 40 years old, so people would regard him as an adult.<br />
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But he did not get the chance. Tragically, on July 6th 1972, while returning from Denver, Colorado where he had visited his wife who was recovering in hospital, Brandon, aged 30, was killed in an automobile accident at Lakewood, a suburb of Denver. Driving a camper van he crashed into a parked construction truck and died of multiple injuries. He was in the Denver area to co-star in a local production of the play "Butterflies are Free". He left behind a small son, Jessie.<br />
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The day after his death the <i>New York Times</i> wrote, <i>"The professionals he worked with praised him for an unpretentiousness that many found a surprising quality in one so celebrated from his earliest years".</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-59827307446515486532011-06-13T22:42:00.000-07:002011-07-07T00:16:31.690-07:00The Nicholas Brothers - Flash Dance Masters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy28tNjxyk7YCVTfJvPE1N076JftTE-SS95KJEIfgAmyqdx8dbfOydK_HdJffEhSCtUMaDdFZwAkTnDqbf4Tv4Fdu1W3t5c6j4khsLt3W8mT9OA1HnrExkAjZv6RDLeiAoW3cW53LxPzyd/s1600/nicholas+bros+jumpin-jive-cab_calloway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy28tNjxyk7YCVTfJvPE1N076JftTE-SS95KJEIfgAmyqdx8dbfOydK_HdJffEhSCtUMaDdFZwAkTnDqbf4Tv4Fdu1W3t5c6j4khsLt3W8mT9OA1HnrExkAjZv6RDLeiAoW3cW53LxPzyd/s320/nicholas+bros+jumpin-jive-cab_calloway.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> "The Greatest Movie Musical Dance Sequence I Have Ever Seen"- <i>Fred Astaire</i></span></b></div><br />
The Nicholas Brothers were undoubtably the greatest dance team that ever stepped onto a stage.<br />
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In an exhilarating hybrid of tap, ballet and acrobatics, sometimes called "flash dancing", no individual group surpassed the effect that the Nicholas Brothers had on audiences and on other dancers.<br />
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Their most famous performance was the breathtaking staircase routine from the "Jumpin' Jive" dance finale in the 1943 movie "Stormy Weather" with The Cab Calloway Orchestra. In this spectacular routine the Nicholas Brothers perform a series of fearless leapfrogs and "no-hands" splits down a staircase that has to be seen to be believed. [the clip is on YouTube]<br />
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Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov said they were the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-L2u4oBJPVmydCEcqSXNoQ5dR3O4Zk1HikYB0oPyzvTKa9ZpiQzvk9CHzWvY_JOZH_wfrLbmUe-jZfQ44FbtzO3z8b10iRelvHsZc7mMaaHJuyT5a3cbJbg7fLksSM-3Olvq93HHhkeq5/s1600/nicholas+bros+young.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-L2u4oBJPVmydCEcqSXNoQ5dR3O4Zk1HikYB0oPyzvTKa9ZpiQzvk9CHzWvY_JOZH_wfrLbmUe-jZfQ44FbtzO3z8b10iRelvHsZc7mMaaHJuyT5a3cbJbg7fLksSM-3Olvq93HHhkeq5/s320/nicholas+bros+young.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br />
Fayard Nicholas was born October 20, 1914 in Alabama and his younger brother Harold was born on March 17, 1921 in North Carolina. The children of pit orchestra musicians, they grew up surrounded by black vaudeville acts and the up-tempo jazz music of Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson.<br />
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At the age of three, Fayard was sitting in the front row while his parents worked and by the time he was ten he had seen most of the great vaudeville acts of the time. Backstage, between shows, Fayard and young Harold taught themselves to dance and were coached by the black performers on the same bill.<br />
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By 1932, when Fayard was 18 and Harold was 11 they became the feature act at Harlem's Cotton Club, working with orchestra leaders Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApnl2AfbMs1Ov8Ael3gCEQhdZLpfijZTe-jKxs_hUN9EKhP8hL_BYTONOQwzN12XXThAnAnWqLjPthI785dzP2I-S3D04UA7kY7WpzKwCqpKhPLYQmA1NX-5x5rsHWj62f-30ecPEzu5l/s1600/NICHOLAS+BROS1935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApnl2AfbMs1Ov8Ael3gCEQhdZLpfijZTe-jKxs_hUN9EKhP8hL_BYTONOQwzN12XXThAnAnWqLjPthI785dzP2I-S3D04UA7kY7WpzKwCqpKhPLYQmA1NX-5x5rsHWj62f-30ecPEzu5l/s320/NICHOLAS+BROS1935.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Check out the "Lucky Number" dance routine on YouTube. One of the earliest clips of the Nicholas Brothers singing and dancing in impeccable style, a sequence from the 1936 movie, "Stairway to the Stars."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI1smEOcKOZDCdQ2U9MUliuuHaSGU2S34EVy7aImF7LHZfmANmJA2VJjbkGsfzLSzfb0v4pDaymhhbopKYKs7IiIEjsBrIcQNDMXpsETDUidXibTumCtD7oCLLOpUTE32aTJg0HTpj-4an/s1600/Nicholas+Brothers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI1smEOcKOZDCdQ2U9MUliuuHaSGU2S34EVy7aImF7LHZfmANmJA2VJjbkGsfzLSzfb0v4pDaymhhbopKYKs7IiIEjsBrIcQNDMXpsETDUidXibTumCtD7oCLLOpUTE32aTJg0HTpj-4an/s320/Nicholas+Brothers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Fayard [18] and Harold [10] Nicholas</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By 1940, they were in Hollywood contracted to 20th Century Fox and made six films there. In all, they made over 30 films including "Stormy Weather", their last appearance on film as a routine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For several decades the Fayard and Harold alternated between movies, nightclubs, concerts, Broadway, television and extensive tours of Latin America, Africa and Europe.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The brothers then taught master classes in tap at Harvard University. Among their known students are Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtniiGsDAMCrImGpYvxACcj7MijCdlakQBfH76iVE93bPPbyEwBYxc_jADbfJFRuj84FihffXHUi2VssEUexQ6SRGSNtc-MDgrWj2RfSB6muSYiBLfMHmkfLiyIucK9NmIr5kCgfrQJVt/s1600/Nicholas+Bros+Chatanooga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtniiGsDAMCrImGpYvxACcj7MijCdlakQBfH76iVE93bPPbyEwBYxc_jADbfJFRuj84FihffXHUi2VssEUexQ6SRGSNtc-MDgrWj2RfSB6muSYiBLfMHmkfLiyIucK9NmIr5kCgfrQJVt/s320/Nicholas+Bros+Chatanooga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Magic Is There In Every Movement. </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Chatanooga Choo Choo" 1941. From the "Sun Valley Serenade" movie with Glenn Miller's Band.</i></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Harold died July 3, 2000 of a heart attack following minor surgery and Fayard died January 24, 2006, aged 91 of pneumonia after having a stroke.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The Great Nicholas Brothers - "We Sing and We Dance."</i></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-88242004566440909782011-06-10T18:26:00.000-07:002011-06-10T21:46:14.092-07:00The Golden Breed Smoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGmQoRQ-1Crk7AVHTZqJQL2sv7z4ZWTvuM27ONgqOIJXfhAZRUMnXP9yFNKqrT-uUMydAMXs9nMkI99gnMNqQ6gukki1nAggT1CKuPyb6yRgEAZRWjb9lcUW6tLs3Rtamsy9XddlxJr_X/s1600/GBCaterpillar1_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGmQoRQ-1Crk7AVHTZqJQL2sv7z4ZWTvuM27ONgqOIJXfhAZRUMnXP9yFNKqrT-uUMydAMXs9nMkI99gnMNqQ6gukki1nAggT1CKuPyb6yRgEAZRWjb9lcUW6tLs3Rtamsy9XddlxJr_X/s320/GBCaterpillar1_big.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the Golden Breed say</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>CATERPILLAR</b><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The adventures of Alice in Wonderland have inspired the imagination of many generations since the novel was written in 1865 by Charles Dogdson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Adaptations of his novel have resulted in ten movies and hundreds of cartoons, television documentaries and plays.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In one of the earliest examples of fantasy genre, Lewis Carroll created more than twenty memorable characters for his Alice In Wonderland tale. Including the wonderfully wise Caterpillar, sitting on top of a magic mushroom, smoking a strange brew from his hookah. Heady stuff for nearly 150 years ago.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">For our Golden Breed client, Lizard Feathers commissioned artist Richard Zaloudek to create his version of the Caterpillar for poster number five in the series. The Caterpillar is wearing a plush Golden Breed velour sweatshirt in keeping with the character.<br />
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Art by Richard Zaloudek. circa 1976</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-19438118315104600902011-06-10T16:21:00.000-07:002011-06-10T16:27:15.472-07:00The Golden Breed Surf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrJkqHfarvzG3BKwAk6n9s46Jw9NVzDLkCP9JAS3X6isZSEmT6FO4y16MhGEMSzcQ-EPyAeFcgwKTpU-C7-3_T5DMzuxcVieGwCPcQljJp2w0zSXXe-7p8HFO3PUIycmLuU8cc4boqcbj/s1600/GBsurf2_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrJkqHfarvzG3BKwAk6n9s46Jw9NVzDLkCP9JAS3X6isZSEmT6FO4y16MhGEMSzcQ-EPyAeFcgwKTpU-C7-3_T5DMzuxcVieGwCPcQljJp2w0zSXXe-7p8HFO3PUIycmLuU8cc4boqcbj/s320/GBsurf2_big.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the Golden Breed say</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Surf</b><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">This Lizard Feathers poster was number two in the series for our Surf-wear client Golden Breed. The artist was Peter Ledger, a brilliant, gregarious character who was preoccupied with girls, guns and comics, in no particular order. The only way to get Ledger to draw was to lock him in the front room of our house and push vast quantities of food and stimulants under the door, until he finished the artwork.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Our space surfer takes off on his favourite chrome mercury break, wearing a Golden Breed Silky hawaiian shirt.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Art by Peter Ledger. circa 1974. </div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-46487350319394874982011-06-10T01:18:00.000-07:002011-06-10T21:55:13.683-07:00Do You Believe In Magic?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmEw_eJ-q3y1piKJfn8VPiRswhirMrU8EJ5RuRaWuNBIpnX59rKq8roHjCqhO7ZITkwBDCDxNtfusagweWh4gnEE1GxHQS45sBD2ZSMdQTHpouVHtTsm7y2_3-4hH30f7ZKHYHGW9Bmvr/s1600/GBmagic1_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmEw_eJ-q3y1piKJfn8VPiRswhirMrU8EJ5RuRaWuNBIpnX59rKq8roHjCqhO7ZITkwBDCDxNtfusagweWh4gnEE1GxHQS45sBD2ZSMdQTHpouVHtTsm7y2_3-4hH30f7ZKHYHGW9Bmvr/s320/GBmagic1_big.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the Golden Breed say</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Do You Believe In Magi</b><b>c?</b><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Another Lizard Feathers Inc. inspired Golden Breed poster, number four in the series. This one recognises magical, mystical, religious symbolism. </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">One of the Golden Breed, with a head full of tumbling dice, wears a multi-panel, padded sweatshirt as he straddles the rising new Moons. The Sun is strategically placed as a life force. Ancient astrological symbols decorate dividers that are crested with the Holy Ghost. Jesus is surrounded by the Star signs. Buddah and Confucious look down on side panels of the Garden of Earthly Delights - Heaven and Hellscape, borrowed from Hieronymus Bosch. The Golden Breed logo is supported by Egyptian Gods.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When this poster was released back in the day, Lizard Feathers headquarters received lots of abusive letters from religious zealots of all persuasions wanting to debate the concepts shown. One particularly difficult lady demanded an explanation, so we posted her some seeds in an envelope.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Art by Richard Zaloudek. circa 1976.</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-79961539648115904372011-06-08T17:10:00.000-07:002011-06-09T15:29:32.667-07:00Space Is The Place<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoAwd4ZQiWjyLXdOTkUd7KMPX8rxUBjN6bBNYqtmXstf1H1uBnflfINHh2KbNRCCs5Ia0oFGQcuOucbdujbLWlej113-G7bn9h9cFvxv9AUlCd-gnSZg_qRIvqoGc-CrSRKcDpV5rU0ijR/s1600/GBMonster2_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoAwd4ZQiWjyLXdOTkUd7KMPX8rxUBjN6bBNYqtmXstf1H1uBnflfINHh2KbNRCCs5Ia0oFGQcuOucbdujbLWlej113-G7bn9h9cFvxv9AUlCd-gnSZg_qRIvqoGc-CrSRKcDpV5rU0ijR/s320/GBMonster2_big.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the Golden Breed say</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Space Is The Place</b><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">In 1975 the Lizard Feathers Inc. empire consisted of my business partner and I working as freelance advertising and marketing consultants from a home base. We approached an Adelaide-based Surf wear company called Golden Breed, promising to create a promotional campaign that would build the label into a national youth brand.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Lizard Feathers conceived a series of eight posters for display in retail outlets. The posters also doubled as full colour outside back cover advertisements in youth magazines. Each poster was devised to appeal to teen sub-cultures as they existed back then. Bikes. Surf. Skate. Comics. Cosmics. Stoners. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Space Is The Place is my favourite. Behold the Monster out there alone in space. His head on fire he lets out an almighty scream. Wearing his basic white t-shirt, the Golden Breed hear him loud and clear.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Artwork by Richard Zaloudek.</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892224579588269623.post-51776869749817343372011-06-05T16:10:00.000-07:002011-06-05T17:05:39.408-07:00Stoned On Three Wheels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjim7MqXaPlFOe7IVYeHFuVCx3fLp5Us3UuxwjReAGKMVjEhHU5imXuFCEZYtejiSFAjXtnhE4eujqM1Qb3ragXqYtcLaRtej33oDXXN5ljeGWE_0OHu8Wc9BC4_i94n1KxUi9aGBE5Q8WX/s1600/stone+sidecar1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjim7MqXaPlFOe7IVYeHFuVCx3fLp5Us3UuxwjReAGKMVjEhHU5imXuFCEZYtejiSFAjXtnhE4eujqM1Qb3ragXqYtcLaRtej33oDXXN5ljeGWE_0OHu8Wc9BC4_i94n1KxUi9aGBE5Q8WX/s320/stone+sidecar1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The World's Fastest Hearse </span></b></div><br />
Thirty eight years ago I was involved in the production of some stunt riding sequences for the Australian movie "Stone" - a cult Bikers film. The opening sequence of the film depicted a funeral ride up the Sydney to Newcastle Freeway. The deceased biker's coffin, mounted on a motorcycle sidecar, was being transported to the Cemetery escorted by 400 other riders.<br />
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It was my job to secure the sidecar for the scene and I managed to borrow a wickedly fast competition racing rig which was powered by a Kawasaki 900cc motor in a special road racing frame. On the morning of the shoot, the bike was delivered to the location and I asked the question, "OK who's going to ride it?" When I looked around everybody had stepped back and left me standing there!<br />
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Just to spite them I said, "No problem," and tried to work out how to start it, not daring to admit I had never ridden one of these things before. After all how hard could it be!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIt5_U0h-MfRKRs-sfErLHJkzRRz98Advkj39m2WgQpss4jm7eqGXGTdx6AGWbCDYbIiiqarHCIpIKyA-Jp6ZSCC5aegNnsVVU6kzej9o-nOeBLIB8BEv7lEKjZni1dJ6glFwnG7OX3MO3/s1600/stone+pipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIt5_U0h-MfRKRs-sfErLHJkzRRz98Advkj39m2WgQpss4jm7eqGXGTdx6AGWbCDYbIiiqarHCIpIKyA-Jp6ZSCC5aegNnsVVU6kzej9o-nOeBLIB8BEv7lEKjZni1dJ6glFwnG7OX3MO3/s320/stone+pipe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Movie Logo </b></span></div><br />
Before I got a chance to get nervous the director had shouted, "Action" and we were off. By the time I came to my senses, I realised I was sitting astride this racing beast doing 130 klms per hour up the Freeway, with a coffin on the side. When I looked behind me there were hundreds of rough-looking bikers, as far as the eye could see, all urging me to go faster and ready to run me over if I faltered.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOmlREOA1i7pZ51MgsKfstdpTwp8sw7eh3ICQJFRvb0-tYdDrwoBrvFvsBsYlwwfC530j93t2zu_NcH1UPAh03MYd1dEcXuA8QUPVa_7GljO8EXLEQIrFpF57eQE7r2ZR5K3UFcZv6e9Ws/s1600/stone2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOmlREOA1i7pZ51MgsKfstdpTwp8sw7eh3ICQJFRvb0-tYdDrwoBrvFvsBsYlwwfC530j93t2zu_NcH1UPAh03MYd1dEcXuA8QUPVa_7GljO8EXLEQIrFpF57eQE7r2ZR5K3UFcZv6e9Ws/s1600/stone2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Somehow I carried it off, pretending afterwards to be an expert!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTUgvDrq1VGxMGiuDy971ZnRh1ioJ2xJCW0GpTzJSwkGPGGx5lc-WkSWrXPKSCJMmp-SX-h1I5R9JFTrCx4jvlBeT62jZVQK5XLBDH9QXhEeKLku1s5BtMA72wJ1N8w8h55htWKeAy0GQ/s1600/Stone+Grave+diggers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTUgvDrq1VGxMGiuDy971ZnRh1ioJ2xJCW0GpTzJSwkGPGGx5lc-WkSWrXPKSCJMmp-SX-h1I5R9JFTrCx4jvlBeT62jZVQK5XLBDH9QXhEeKLku1s5BtMA72wJ1N8w8h55htWKeAy0GQ/s320/Stone+Grave+diggers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Gravediggers Logo Back Patch</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Later in the movie I also filled in as a stunt double in some action riding sequences for one of the characters, "Midnight". Including when the lead character "Stone" crashes his bike in a street race with "Midnight", I was on the other bike.</div></div>Lizard Feathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18303675473537146886noreply@blogger.com0