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Colindale, including Grahame Park, has been designated by the Mayor of London in his London Plan as a 'proposed area of intensification'. As a result, Barnet Council designated a 'Colindale Area Action Plan' (AAP) and carried out public consultation events. The Council has finalised its preferred plan in mid-2009, and it will be examined at a public hearing by the Planning Inspectorate, for anticipated approval by the Council in 2010. |
In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published a plan for an (unfunded) orbital light-rail service, the North and West London Light railway, through or near to Grahame Park. |
= = = Pavane (Fauré) = = = |
The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50, is a pavane by the French composer Gabriel Fauré written in 1887. It was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré's version for orchestra and optional chorus. Obtaining its rhythm from the slow processional Spanish court dance of the same name, the Pavane ebbs and flows from a series of harmonic and melodic climaxes, conjuring a haunting Belle Époque elegance. The piece is scored for only modest orchestral forces consisting of string instruments and one pair each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns. A typical performance lasts about six minutes. |
The original version of the "Pavane" was written for piano and chorus in the late 1880s. The composer described it as "elegant, but not otherwise important." Fauré intended it to be played more briskly than it has generally come to be performed in its more familiar orchestral guise. The conductor Sir Adrian Boult heard Fauré play the piano version several times and noted that he took it at a tempo no slower than 100 quarter notes per minute. Boult commented that the composer's sprightly tempo emphasised that the "Pavane" was not a piece of German romanticism, and that the text later added was "clearly a piece of light-hearted chaffing between the dancers". |
Fauré composed the orchestral version at Le Vésinet in the summer of 1887. He envisaged a purely orchestral composition, using modest forces, to be played at a series of light summer concerts conducted by Jules Danbé. After Fauré opted to dedicate the work to his patron, Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe, he felt compelled to stage a grander affair and at her recommendation he added an invisible chorus to accompany the orchestra (with additional allowance for dancers). The choral lyrics were based on some inconsequential verses, "à la" Verlaine, on the romantic helplessness of man, which had been contributed by the Countess's cousin, Robert de Montesquiou. |
The orchestral version was first performed at a Concert Lamoureux under the baton of Charles Lamoureux on November 25, 1888. Three days later, the choral version was premiered at a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique. In 1891, the Countess finally helped Fauré produce the version with both dancers and chorus, in a "choreographic spectacle" designed to grace one of her garden parties in the Bois de Boulogne. |
From the outset, the Pavane has enjoyed immense popularity, whether with or without chorus. With choreography by Léonide Massine a ballet version entered the repertoire of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1917, where it was alternatively billed as "Las Mininas" or "Les Jardins d'Aranjuez". For Massine, the music had "haunting echoes of Spain's Golden Age" parallelling the formality and underlying sadness he found in the paintings of Velázquez. Some critics found the ballet pallid, but Diaghilev retained a fondness for the piece, and kept it in the company's repertoire until the end of his life. |
Fauré's example was imitated by his juniors, who went on to write pavanes of their own: Debussy's Passepied in his "Suite bergamasque" and Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante défunte", and "Pavane de la belle au bois dormant" in "Ma mère l'oye". |
The lyrics, which are optional in the orchestral version, were written by the French Robert de Montesquiou. |
C'est Lindor, c'est Tircis et c'est tous nos vainqueurs! |
C'est Myrtille, c'est Lydé! Les reines de nos coeurs! |
Comme ils sont provocants! Comme ils sont fiers toujours! |
Comme on ose régner sur nos sorts et nos jours! |
Faites attention! Observez la mesure! |
Ô la mortelle injure! La cadence est moins lente! |
Et la chute plus sûre! Nous rabattrons bien leur caquets! |
Nous serons bientôt leurs laquais! |
Qu'ils sont laids! Chers minois! |
Qu'ils sont fols! (Airs coquets!) |
Et c'est toujours de même, et c'est ainsi toujours! |
On s'adore! On se hait! On maudit ses amours! |
Adieu Myrtille, Eglé, Chloé, démons moqueurs! |
Adieu donc et bons jours aux tyrans de nos coeurs! |
Et bons jours! |
It is Lindor, it is Tircis, and it is all our victors! |
It is Myrtille, it is Lyde! The queens of our hearts. |
As they are defying! As they are always proud! |
As we dare rule our fates and our days! |
Pay attention! Observe the measure! |
Oh mortal insult! The cadence is less slow! |
And the fall more certain! We'll make them sing a different tune! |
We will soon be their running dogs! |
They are ugly! Dear little face! |
They are madmen! (Quaint airs and tunes!) |
And it is always the same, and so forever! |
We love! We hate ! We curse our loves! |
Farewell Myrtille, Egle, Chloe, mocking demons! |
Farewell and good day to the tyrants of our hearts! |
And a good day! |
The BBC used the "Pavane" for their coverage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Norma Ray sampled "Pavane" for use in her 1999 song "Tous Les Maux D'Amour." In turn, the S Club 7 song "Natural," an English-language cover version, released in 2000, also sampled "Pavane". |
= = = Lisbellaw = = = |
Lisbellaw () is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, about east of Enniskillen. In 2008 it had an estimated population of 1,277 people. |
The village is built around the Church of Ireland parish church, which was built in the 18th century. The steep main street houses two grocery shop, a hairdressing salon, two pubs, a post office, a dentist's surgery, a beauty salon, a butcher, two mechanics, a pharmacy, a health store distributor, a chip shop, and a hardware store, as well as the Church of Ireland parish centre, the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. The Roman Catholic church building and a Plymouth Brethren gospel hall lie just off the main street. Just outside the village is Carrybridge, a marina on Upper Lough Erne. |
Lisbellaw railway station opened on August 16, 1858 and shut down on 1 October 1957. |
Lisbellaw is classified as a village by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. A census performed on April 29, 2001 revealed a population of 1,046 people living in Lisbellaw. Of these: |
On Census Day (27 March 2011) the usually resident population of Lisbellaw Settlement was 1,106 accounting for 0.06% of the NI total. |
= = = Sellasia = = = |
Sellasia (, before 1929: Βρουλιά - "Vroulia") is a village in Laconia, Greece. It was the seat of the former municipality Oinountas. Since 2011, it is part of the municipality of Sparta. Sellasia is situated on the edge of the Eurotas valley, 10 km north of Sparta. The Greek National Road 39 (Sparta - Tripoli) passes east of the village. Sellasia is known for the cultivation of olives. |
Sellasia was named after the ancient town "Vroulia", which controlled the entrance to Sparta from the north. It was the site of the 222 BC Battle of Sellasia between the Spartans under Cleomenes III and the Macedonian/Achaean coalition under Antigonus III Doson. Afterwards, Sellasia was destroyed and the population was sold as slaves. |
Sellasia is the birthplace of Pavlos and Thanasis Giannakopoulos, owners of pharmaceutical company Vianex and former owners of Panathinaikos A.O. sports club. It is the place of origin of the tennis player Pete Sampras. |
= = = Ijaz Butt = = = |
Mohammed Ijaz Butt (born 10 March 1938, Sialkot, Punjab, British India) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in eight Tests from 1959 to 1962. A wicket keeper and right-handed opening batsman, he scored 279 runs from his brief Test career at a modest batting average of 19.92, however he was a capable wicket keeper with a first-class cricket career for Lahore, Multan, Punjab and Rawalpindi where he scored 3,842 runs at 34.30 with a best of 161. For the next few decades, he worked as the director new projects at Service Industries Pakistan, expanding it to one of the largest manufacturer of footwear and motor cycle / cycle tyres and tubes. It is listed on the stock exchanges of Pakistan and has annual sales of Rs. 6 billion. he is a director on the board of Servis Tyres. |
On 6 October 2008 President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed Butt as chairman of the PCB. He has been involved in several controversies during his career, presiding over Pakistan during a time when security concerns—including a shooting incident involving the Sri Lankan tour bus—stripped the country of several international fixtures. He has made several attacks on current and former PCB officials and the Senate of Pakistan. |
Butt was born in Sialkot, Punjab in 1938. He began his first-class career against a touring Marylebone Cricket Club squad on 16 January 1956 while playing for Pakistan Universities. Batting at number three, he scored 35 and 97, falling three short of a debut century thanks to the bowling of Billy Sutcliffe and the catching hands of Ken Barrington. The match ended in a draw. A month later he faced the MCC once more, this time for Punjab: he scored 43 and 18 as the MCC triumphed by an innings and 29 runs. Butt went on to make several successful appearances in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy over the winter of 1956/57, scoring 225 runs at 56.25 including a maiden century of 147 runs. He promptly toured the West Indies but only featured in one first-class match before returning to the 1958/59 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where he had a less successful second season: 73 runs from three matches at 24.33, failing to pass 50. He nevertheless went straight into the Test team for the home series against the West Indies. |
Butt played Test cricket between 1959 and 1962. He made his Test debut at Karachi on 20 February 1959. The tourists, bowled out cheaply for 146 in the first innings, conceded a 10-wicket defeat with Butt scoring 14 and 41 not out as a specialist opener. He scored two, 21, 47* and two in the rest of the series. Between 26 March and 4 December he played two more Tests against Australia, scoring a career-best 58 in the second Test. He was then left out of the team until 1962, where he toured England for three Test matches. He struggled, scoring 10, 33, one, six, 10 and six before being dropped. |
Following the end of his international career, despite scoring over 1,000 first-class runs in the England tour including two centuries, he made only sporadic appearances in Pakistani domestic cricket. He appeared in only three Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches between 1963 and 1965; an invitational XI match for the Punjab Governor against Pakistan Universities in 1966; Pakistan versus The Rest in 1967; and lastly one appearance in the Ayub Trophy on 15 January 1968 where he scored 40 and 15 for the Lahore Reds. |
In 1982 Butt was appointed manager for the Pakistani winter tour of Australia, and in 1984 the secretary of the then Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan, a position he held until 1988 along with the presidency of the Lahore City Cricket Association. In October 2008 he was named chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. His initial actions were to suggest the possibility of neutral venues to preserve international cricket during a time of tenuous security conditions within Pakistan: "The holding of the Champions Trophy in Pakistan depends on the security condition of the country and if the current indefinite situation prevails further we may consider the option to play on alternate venues." He expressed relief when the 2009 Champions Trophy appeared to be going ahead in Pakistan despite security risks, and "made a series of startling revelations" about discussions with the International Cricket Council about merging with the Indian Premier League. |
Pakistan, however, received little support as potential hosts of the Champions Trophy, a fact on which Butt expressed surprise. He warned that a divide would occur in the world of cricket should sub-continent cricket tours be marginalised. India later cancelled their tour to Pakistan, though Butt was hoping to host Australia after the latter team expressed an interest. In October 2008 he also asked questions of the financial security of the previous PCB officials, and speculated on the removal of Geoff Lawson, then Pakistani coach, from his position. Two days later, however, he reversed his position by stating he was "duty-bound to fully back Lawson and to take care of all his liabilities." Shafqat Naghmi, PCB Chief Operating Officer, also threatened to sue Butt over allegations that the former was stealing official documents. |
Security concerns did not lessen, however, and Javed Miandad's resignation as director-general of the PCB resulted in traded accusations between himself and Butt at a Senate of Pakistan meeting. Butt refused to step down, and attacked the senate as a body with little actual legal power over the PCB. The senate nevertheless moved a resolution for a change in the PCB management. However, Butt remained in his position. Following an attack on a touring Sri Lanka cricket team in early 2009, Butt admitted in a public statement the difficulty international teams had in coming to the country, but accused ICC referee Chris Broad of exaggerating the problems. ICC President David Morgan, however, agreed with Broad's assessment. the 2011 Cricket World Cup was duly moved out of Pakistan. |
Butt continued to meet with the PCB board to regain the World Cup, to no avail, despite a legal battle which lasted until August. Eventually an out of court settlement of 18 million US dollars was agreed upon; Butt calling it "the best possible solution." Concurrently, the PCB under Butt dissolved the national selection panel and removed Saleem Altaf from his position as chief operating officer. The summer tour of Sri Lanka was also marred by match-fixing allegations over which the PCB sought legal advice. The ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit eventually cleared the Pakistan players of having had any contact with bookmakers. |
Towards the winter of 2009, Butt also came up against Younis Khan in a dispute over the captaincy, with Khan taking time out of the game. By January 2010, however, Butt ruled that a new captain would be chosen following the tour of Australia, with Khan quitting the captaincy. Further match fixing claims arose in February, and Butt promised action against the players involved following the report of an inquiry committee which investigated Pakistan's whitewash defeat during the tour of Australia. Further match fixing and financial corruption accusations followed for both Butt and the PCB in 2010. Nevertheless, the ICC announced on 11 February the awarding of a medal for Butt for services to cricket. |
Though Butt had deflected accusations of match fixing earlier in February 2010 during Pakistan's tour of Australia, the 2010 tour of England was publicly marred by controversial match fixing allegations involving a number of Pakistan players and their actions during the One Day Internationals against England and the Test series against the host nation and against Australia. Scotland Yard confirmed on 17 September that it had questioned Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz over allegations of accepting bribes, and that the police had passed evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service. Several Pakistani players were suspended. Initially, Ijaz Butt had supported the prosecution of Amir, stating that "his board will not make any appeals for leniency", however on 19 September he attacked the England cricket team during a press conference, accusing them of a conspiracy to "defraud Pakistan cricket" by accepting their own bribes. He stated that: |
"This is not a conspiracy to defraud bookies but a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket... We have taken it in hand to start our own investigations. We will shortly reveal the names of the people, the parties and the bodies involved in this sinister conspiracy and we also reserve the right to sue them for damages... There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players have taken enormous amounts of money to lose the match [the third ODI]. No wonder there was such a collapse." |
The remarks provoked a backlash from the England and Wales Cricket Board as well as England coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss. The ECB announced that it would be taking legal action against Butt for his allegations, though the tour would continue despite several England players' reluctance to participate. There were several calls for Butt to resign, however he refused. Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan's high commissioner, defended Butt, calling the disagreement "a very innocent argument" and denying relationships with the United Kingdom were adversely affected. The England team later made official their demand for an apology in a letter sent to Butt, promising legal action without further warning if their request went unfulfilled. Butt arrived in London in late September vowing not to retract his comments in the run up to a meeting with the lawyers of three suspended Pakistan players; however, he later reversed course and retracted his statement. He was nevertheless recalled by the PCB for an explanation, amid speculation that his future as chairman remained tenuous. The ICC board of directors discussed sacking him in a meeting in Dubai should he not accept new anti-corruption measures. |
= = = Franciscus Illenfeld = = = |
Franciscus Illenfeld (Slovak: "František Illenfeld", Hungarian: "Illenfeld Ferenc") of Olomouc was a famous Moravian founder of bells. He had worked in Košice and his workshop was one of the best foundries in the Kingdom of Hungary. |
Franciscus Illenfeld is the author of the St. Urban Bell (cast it in 1557) which was installed in the St. Urban Tower in Košice, today Slovakia. Its weight was 7 tones. In 1966 the St. Urban Bell was destroyed by fire. It was renovated and located in the front of the tower. In 1996 a copy of the St. Urban Bell was cast in a mould and installed in the tower. |
He is also the author of the St. John Bell that is exhibited at Zvonárska Street in Košice. The bell was founded in 1558. |
= = = Chocolate City speech = = = |
The Chocolate City speech is the nickname that some people have given to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech by Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 16, 2006. The speech concerned race politics in New Orleans several months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city. The reference is to the occurrence of the phrase "chocolate city" in Nagin's speech, which was one of several points in the speech that occasioned significant controversy and raised accusations of racism against Mr. Nagin. |
In African American culture, the term "chocolate city" refers to a city with a predominantly African American population and/or African American political leadership. The concept originated with radio DJs in Washington D.C. in the early 1970s and was popularized by the band Parliament, who released the album "Chocolate City" in 1975. The term has been used by scholar Cornel West in his 1993 book "Race Matters" and by comedian Chris Rock. |
In an interview with Public Radio International's Tavis Smiley (originally broadcast on January 13, 2006) Nagin used the phrase "chocolate city" in reference to New Orleans' future demographics, a term that would become troublesome for him just a few days later. |
At the end of August, 2005, New Orleans had been hit by Hurricane Katrina, and catastrophic failures of the city's Federal levees flooded the majority of the city. Only a small portion of the city's evacuated population had returned by January. Some commentators were suggesting that the city's demographics would change from majority African American to majority Caucasian. |
This speech put the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery process of New Orleans in the context of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Nagin's speech reflected on the problems of violence and crime in pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans. He also referred to the humanitarian plight of the largely African-American hurricane victims in the Louisiana Superdome and Morial Convention Center. |
At a Martin Luther King Day celebration at City Hall New Orleans on January 16, 2006, the mayor gave a speech. |
Nagin began the speech invoking spirits of Peace, Love, and Unity. He then described a talk he had with Martin Luther King, Jr. earlier that morning (as King was long dead, this was presumably a metaphor or rhetorical device). Nagin then described some of the problems and suffering New Orleans had been experiencing since the hurricane, with the repeated refrain that Dr. King says "I wouldn't like that". |
Shortly after, Nagin continued, "We as black people, it's time, it's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day." |
Nagin also stated that New Orleans "will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be." As most New Orleanians knew the city had been majority African American for decades before Katrina, Ned Sublette of The Nation found the implication of Nagin claiming to know God's will more troubling than the suggested return of pre-Katrina demographics. |
In the same speech, Nagin further stirred controversy by claiming that "God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country...Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves." Nagin then went on to relate an imagined conversation with the deceased Rev. Martin Luther King regarding both the response to Katrina and the modern problems of black America which he believes offended God. |
The speech generated an intense reaction, much of it negative. The "Chocolate City" metaphor was seized on and parodied by commentators, and cartoons depicting Nagin as Willy Wonka appeared in print and on the internet. A "Times-Picayune" commentator suggested that Nagin had just ruined his own chances at re-election. |
Political commentators point out that while this may just have been another example of Nagin speaking off the cuff, it will likely hurt his standing among white voters. |
Many people believed the word "uptown" to be a coded reference to wealthy whites, such as those who live in the old mansions on St. Charles Avenue or around Audubon Park. However, Uptown New Orleans actually is one of the most ethnically and economically diverse sections of the Metro area. Many of Nagin's original supporters live Uptown. As Uptown contains the largest section of unflooded high ground in the city's East Bank, at the time of the speech Uptown had the city's largest concentration of locals back in their homes, businesses back open, and displaced New Orleanians from other more severely damaged parts of town living there. Locals protested the Mayor's comment which some felt suggested he did not care about an important section of his city. |
Nagin later attempted to explain away his remarks by offering a more racially inclusive metaphor, saying "How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk and it becomes a delicious drink. That's the chocolate I'm talking about." |
Nagin said that his remarks were meant to be a call for African Americans to once again return to New Orleans despite the supposed belief that many of the people Uptown did not want them back. |
The Mayor apologized for the suggestion that people Uptown (a mixed neighborhood) were racist, noting the importance of that section of town in the city's recovery. He particularly stated regret for the statements about God. "I don't know what happened there," he said. "I don't know how that got jumbled up. That whole God thing, I don't know how that got mixed up in there." Nagin concluded "I need to be more aware and sensitive of what I'm saying... Anyone I've offended, I hope you forgive me." |
In his speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, comedian Stephen Colbert mocked Nagin by calling Washington D.C. the "chocolate city with a marshmallow center and a Graham cracker crust of corruption." |