title: History of agriculture

text: Sumerian farmers grew the cereals barley and wheat, starting to live in villages from about 8000 BC. Given the low rainfall of the region, agriculture relied on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Irrigation canals leading from the rivers permitted the growth of cereals in large enough quantities to support cities. The first ploughs appear in pictographs from Uruk around 3000 BC; seed-ploughs that funneled seed into the ploughed furrow appear on seals around 2300 BC. Vegetable crops included chickpeas, lentils, peas, beans, onions, garlic, lettuce, leeks and mustard. They grew fruits including dates, grapes, apples, melons, and figs. Alongside their farming, Sumerians also caught fish and hunted fowl and gazelle. The meat of sheep, goats, cows and poultry was eaten, mainly by the elite. Fish was preserved by drying, salting and smoking.


title: History of agriculture

text: The civilization of Ancient Egypt was indebted to the Nile River and its dependable seasonal flooding. The river's predictability and the fertile soil allowed the Egyptians to build an empire on the basis of great agricultural wealth. Egyptians were among the first peoples to practice agriculture on a large scale, starting in the pre-dynastic period from the end of the Paleolithic into the Neolithic, between around 10,000 BC and 4000 BC. This was made possible with the development of basin irrigation. Their staple food crops were grains such as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as flax and papyrus. Archaeological evidence also suggests that the spread of agriculture was facilitated by the influx of farming communities from the tropical Sahara 6,500 years ago.


title: History of agriculture

text: Jujube was domesticated in the Indian subcontinent by 9000 BC. Barley and wheat cultivation – along with the domestication of cattle, primarily sheep and goats – followed in Mehrgarh culture by 8000–6000 BC. This period also saw the first domestication of the elephant. Pastoral farming in India included threshing, planting crops in rows – either of two or of six – and storing grain in granaries. Cotton was cultivated by the 5th–4th millennium BC. By the 5th millennium BC, agricultural communities became widespread in Kashmir. Irrigation was developed in the Indus Valley civilization by around 4500 BC. The size and prosperity of the Indus civilization grew as a result of this innovation, leading to more thoroughly planned settlements which used drainage and sewers. Archeological evidence of an animal-drawn plough dates back to 2500 BC in the Indus Valley Civilization.


title: History of agriculture

text: Records from the Warring States, Qin dynasty, and Han dynasty provide a picture of early Chinese agriculture from the 5th century BC to 2nd century AD which included a nationwide granary system and widespread use of sericulture. An important early Chinese book on agriculture is the Qimin Yaoshu of AD 535, written by Jia Sixie. Jia's writing style was straightforward and lucid relative to the elaborate and allusive writing typical of the time. Jia's book was also very long, with over one hundred thousand written Chinese characters, and it quoted many other Chinese books that were written previously, but no longer survive. The contents of Jia's 6th century book include sections on land preparation, seeding, cultivation, orchard management, forestry, and animal husbandry. The book also includes peripherally related content covering trade and culinary uses for crops. The work and the style in which it was written proved influential on later Chinese agronomists, such as Wang Zhen and his groundbreaking "Nong Shu" of 1313.


title: History of agriculture

text: For agricultural purposes, the Chinese had innovated the hydraulic-powered trip hammer by the 1st century BC. Although it found other purposes, its main function to pound, decorticate, and polish grain that otherwise would have been done manually. The Chinese also began using the square-pallet chain pump by the 1st century AD, powered by a waterwheel or oxen pulling an on a system of mechanical wheels. Although the chain pump found use in public works of providing water for urban and palatial pipe systems, it was used largely to lift water from a lower to higher elevation in filling irrigation canals and channels for farmland. By the end of the Han dynasty in the late 2nd century, heavy ploughs had been developed with iron ploughshares and mouldboards. These slowly spread west, revolutionizing farming in Northern Europe by the 10th century. (Thomas Glick, however, argues for a development of the Chinese plough as late as the 9th century, implying its spread east from similar designs known in Italy by the 7th century.)


title: History of agriculture

text: Asian rice was domesticated 8,200–13,500 years ago in China, with a single genetic origin from the wild rice "Oryza rufipogon", in the Pearl River valley region of China. Rice cultivation then spread to South and Southeast Asia.


title: History of agriculture

text: The major cereal crops of the ancient Mediterranean region were wheat, emmer, and barley, while common vegetables included peas, beans, fava, and olives, dairy products came mostly from sheep and goats, and meat, which was consumed on rare occasion for most people, usually consisted of pork, beef, and lamb. Agriculture in ancient Greece was hindered by the topography of mainland Greece that only allowed for roughly 10% of the land to be cultivated properly, necessitating the specialised exportation of oil and wine and importation of grains from Thrace (centered in what is now Bulgaria) and the Greek colonies of Pontic Greeks near the Black Sea. During the Hellenistic period, the Ptolemaic Empire controlled Egypt, Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Cyrenaica, major grain-producing regions that mainland Greeks depended on for subsistence, while the Ptolemaic grain market also played a critical role in the rise of the Roman Republic. In the Seleucid Empire, Mesopotamia was a crucial area for the production of wheat, while nomadic animal husbandry was also practiced in other parts.


title: History of agriculture

text: In the Greco-Roman world of Classical antiquity, Roman agriculture was built on techniques originally pioneered by the Sumerians, transmitted to them by subsequent cultures, with a specific emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade and export. The Romans laid the groundwork for the manorial economic system, involving serfdom, which flourished in the Middle Ages. The farm sizes in Rome can be divided into three categories. Small farms were from 18 to 88 iugera (one iugerum is equal to about 0.65 acre). Medium-sized farms were from 80 to 500 iugera (singular iugerum). Large estates (called latifundia) were over 500 iugera. The Romans had four systems of farm management: direct work by the owner and his family; slaves doing work under the supervision of slave managers; tenant farming or sharecropping in which the owner and a tenant divide up a farm's produce; and situations in which a farm was leased to a tenant.


title: History of agriculture

text: Agricultural history took a different path from the Old World as the Americas lacked large-seeded, easily domesticated grains (such as wheat and barley) and large domestic animals that could be used for agricultural labor. Rather than the practice which developed in the Old World of sowing a field with a single crop, pre-historic American agriculture usually consisted of cultivating many crops close to each other utilizing only hand labor. Moreover, agricultural areas in the Americas lacked the uniformity of the east–west area of Mediterranean and semi-arid climates in southern Europe and southwestern Asia, but instead had a north–south pattern with a variety of different climatic zones which fostered the domestication of many different plants.


title: History of agriculture

text: At the time of first contact between the Europeans and the Americans, the Europeans practiced "extensive agriculture, based on the plough and draught animals," with tenants under landlords, but also forced labor or slavery, while the Indigenous peoples of the Americas practiced "intensive agriculture, based on human labour." Europeans wanted control of land for the grazing of their livestock and property rights for the control of production. Though they were impressed with the productivity of traditional farming techniques, they saw no connection to their system and were dismissive of Native American practices as "gardening" rather than a commercializable enterprise. The hemisphere's most important crop, maize, became more productive than Old World grain crops, after several thousand years of selective breeding, producing two and one half times more calories per acre than wheat and barley.


title: History of agriculture

text: The earliest known areas of possible agriculture in the Americas dating to about 9000 BC are in Colombia, near present-day Pereira, and by the Las Vegas culture in Ecuador on the Santa Elena peninsula. The plants cultivated (or manipulated by humans) were leren ("Calathea allouia"), arrowroot ("Maranta arundinacea"), squash ("Cucurbita" species), and bottle gourd ("Lagenaria siceraria"). All are plants of humid climates and their existence at this time on the semi-arid Santa Elena peninsula may be evidence that they were transplanted there from more humid environments. In another study, this area of South America was identified as one of the four oldest places of origin for agriculture, along with the Fertile Crescent, China, and Mesoamerica, dated between 6200 BC and 10000 BC. (To facilitate comprehension by readers, Radiocarbon calibrated BP dates in the above sources have been converted to BC.)


title: History of agriculture

text: In the Andes region, with civilizations including the Inca, the major crop was the potato, domesticated between 8000 and 5000 BC. Coca, still a major crop to this day, was domesticated in the Andes, as were the peanut, tomato, tobacco, and pineapple. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC. Animals were also domesticated, including llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. The people of the Inca Empire of South America grew large surpluses of food which they stored in buildings called Qullqas.


title: History of agriculture

text: The most important crop domesticated in the Amazon Basin and tropical lowlands was probably cassava, (Manihot esculenta), which was domesticated before 7000 BCE, likely in the Rondônia and Mato Grosso provinces of Brazil. The Guaitecas Archipelago in modern Chile was the southern limit of Pre-Hispanic agriculture near 44° South latitude, as noted by the mention of the cultivation of Chiloé potatoes by a Spanish expedition in 1557.


title: History of agriculture

text: In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was transformed through human selection into the ancestor of modern maize, about 7,000 BC. It gradually spread across North America and to South America and was the most important crop of Native Americans at the time of European exploration. Other Mesoamerican crops include hundreds of varieties of locally domesticated squash and beans, while cocoa, also domesticated in the region, was a major crop. The turkey, one of the most important meat birds, was probably domesticated in Mexico or the U.S. Southwest.


title: History of agriculture

text: In Mesoamerica, the Aztecs were active farmers and had an agriculturally focused economy. The land around Lake Texcoco was fertile, but not large enough to produce the amount of food needed for the population of their expanding empire. The Aztecs developed irrigation systems, formed terraced hillsides, fertilized their soil, and developed chinampas or artificial islands, also known as "floating gardens". The Mayas between 400 BC to 900 AD used extensive canal and raised field systems to farm swampland on the Yucatán Peninsula.


title: History of agriculture

text: The indigenous people of the Eastern U.S. domesticated numerous crops. Sunflowers, tobacco, varieties of squash and "Chenopodium", as well as crops no longer grown, including marsh elder and little barley. Wild foods including wild rice and maple sugar were harvested. The domesticated strawberry is a hybrid of a Chilean and a North American species, developed by breeding in Europe and North America. Two major crops, pecans and Concord grapes, were used extensively in prehistoric times but do not appear to have been domesticated until the 19th century.


title: History of agriculture

text: The indigenous people in what is now California and the Pacific Northwest practiced various forms of forest gardening and fire-stick farming in the forests, grasslands, mixed woodlands, and wetlands, ensuring that desired food and medicine plants continued to be available. The natives controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology which prevented larger, catastrophic fires and sustained a low-density agriculture in loose rotation; a sort of "wild" permaculture.


title: History of agriculture

text: A system of companion planting called the Three Sisters was developed in North America. Three crops that complemented each other were planted together: winter squash, maize (corn), and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans). The maize provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants use, and the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the sunlight, helping prevent the establishment of weeds. The squash leaves also act as a "living mulch".


title: History of agriculture

text: Indigenous Australians were predominately nomadic hunter-gatherers. Due to the policy of "terra nullius", Aboriginals were regarded as not having been capable of sustained agriculture. However, the current consensus is that various agricultural methods were employed by the indigenous people.


title: History of agriculture

text: In two regions of Central Australia, the central west coast and eastern central Australia, forms of agriculture were practiced. People living in permanent settlements of over 200 residents sowed or planted on a large scale and stored the harvested food. The Nhanda and Amangu of the central west coast grew yams ("Dioscorea hastifolia"), while various groups in eastern central Australia (the Corners Region) planted and harvested bush onions ("yaua" – "Cyperus bulbosus"), native millet ("cooly, tindil" – "Panicum decompositum") and a sporocarp, "ngardu" ("Marsilea drummondii").


title: History of agriculture

text: Indigenous Australians used systematic burning, fire-stick farming, to enhance natural productivity. In the 1970s and 1980s archaeological research in south west Victoria established that the Gunditjmara and other groups had developed sophisticated eel farming and fish trapping systems over a period of nearly 5,000 years. The archaeologist Harry Lourandos suggested in the 1980s that there was evidence of 'intensification' in progress across Australia, a process that appeared to have continued through the preceding 5,000 years. These concepts led the historian Bill Gammage to argue that in effect the whole continent was a managed landscape.


title: History of agriculture

text: The Middle Ages saw further improvements in agriculture. Monasteries spread throughout Europe and became important centers for the collection of knowledge related to agriculture and forestry. The manorial system allowed large landowners to control their land and its laborers, in the form of peasants or serfs. During the medieval period, the Arab world was critical in the exchange of crops and technology between the European, Asia and African continents. Besides transporting numerous crops, they introduced the concept of summer irrigation to Europe and developed the beginnings of the plantation system of sugarcane growing through the use of slaves for intensive cultivation.


title: History of agriculture

text: By AD 900, developments in iron smelting allowed for increased production in Europe, leading to developments in the production of agricultural implements such as ploughs, hand tools and horse shoes. The carruca heavy plough improved on the earlier scratch plough, with the adoption of the Chinese mouldboard plough to turn over the heavy, wet soils of northern Europe. This led to the clearing of northern European forests and an increase in agricultural production, which in turn led to an increase in population. At the same time, some farmers in Europe moved from a two field crop rotation to a three field crop rotation in which one field of three was left fallow every year. This resulted in increased productivity and nutrition, as the change in rotations permitted nitrogen-fixing legumes such as peas, lentils and beans. Improved horse harnesses and the whippletree further improved cultivation.


title: History of agriculture

text: Watermills were introduced by the Romans, but were improved throughout the Middle Ages, along with windmills, and used to grind grains into flour, to cut wood and to process flax and wool.


title: History of agriculture

text: Crops included wheat, rye, barley and oats. Peas, beans, and vetches became common from the 13th century onward as a fodder crop for animals and also for their nitrogen-fixation fertilizing properties. Crop yields peaked in the 13th century, and stayed more or less steady until the 18th century. Though the limitations of medieval farming were once thought to have provided a ceiling for the population growth in the Middle Ages, recent studies have shown that the technology of medieval agriculture was always sufficient for the needs of the people under normal circumstances, and that it was only during exceptionally harsh times, such as the terrible weather of 1315–17, that the needs of the population could not be met.


title: History of agriculture

text: From the 8th century to the 14th century, the Islamic world underwent a transformation in agricultural practice, described by the historian Andrew Watson as the Arab agricultural revolution. This transformation was driven by a number of factors including the diffusion of many crops and plants along Muslim trade routes, the spread of more advanced farming techniques, and an agricultural-economic system which promoted increased yields and efficiency. The shift in agricultural practice changed the economy, population distribution, vegetation cover, agricultural production, population levels, urban growth, the distribution of the labour force, cooking, diet, and clothing across the Islamic world. Muslim traders covered much of the Old World, and trade enabled the diffusion of many crops, plants and farming techniques across the region, as well as the adaptation of crops, plants and techniques from beyond the Islamic world. This diffusion introduced major crops to Europe by way of Al-Andalus, along with the techniques for their cultivation and cuisine. Sugar cane, rice, and cotton were among the major crops transferred, along with citrus and other fruit trees, nut trees, vegetables such as aubergine, spinach and chard, and the use of imported spices such as cumin, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon. Intensive irrigation, crop rotation, and agricultural manuals were widely adopted. Irrigation, partly based on Roman technology, made use of noria water wheels, water mills, dams and reservoirs.


title: History of agriculture

text: After 1492, a global exchange of previously local crops and livestock breeds occurred. Maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes and manioc were the key crops that spread from the New World to the Old, while varieties of wheat, barley, rice and turnips traveled from the Old World to the New. There had been few livestock species in the New World, with horses, cattle, sheep and goats being completely unknown before their arrival with Old World settlers. Crops moving in both directions across the Atlantic Ocean caused population growth around the world and a lasting effect on many cultures in the Early Modern period.


title: History of agriculture

text: Maize and cassava were introduced from Brazil into Africa by Portuguese traders in the 16th century, becoming staple foods, replacing native African crops. After its introduction from South America to Spain in the late 1500s, the potato became a staple crop throughout Europe by the late 1700s. The potato allowed farmers to produce more food, and initially added variety to the European diet. The increased supply of food reduced disease, increased births and reduced mortality, causing a population boom throughout the British Empire, the US and Europe. The introduction of the potato also brought about the first intensive use of fertilizer, in the form of guano imported to Europe from Peru, and the first artificial pesticide, in the form of an arsenic compound used to fight Colorado potato beetles. Before the adoption of the potato as a major crop, the dependence on grain had caused repetitive regional and national famines when the crops failed, including 17 major famines in England between 1523 and 1623. The resulting dependence on the potato however caused the European Potato Failure, a disastrous crop failure from disease that resulted in widespread famine and the death of over one million people in Ireland alone.


title: History of agriculture

text: Between the 17th century and the mid-19th century, Britain saw a large increase in agricultural productivity and net output. New agricultural practices like enclosure, mechanization, four-field crop rotation to maintain soil nutrients, and selective breeding enabled an unprecedented population growth to 5.7 million in 1750, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped drive the Industrial Revolution. The productivity of wheat went up from per acre in 1720 to around by 1840, marking a major turning point in history.


title: History of agriculture

text: Advice on more productive techniques for farming began to appear in England in the mid-17th century, from writers such as Samuel Hartlib, Walter Blith and others. The main problem in sustaining agriculture in one place for a long time was the depletion of nutrients, most importantly nitrogen levels, in the soil. To allow the soil to regenerate, productive land was often let fallow and in some places crop rotation was used. The Dutch four-field rotation system was popularised by the British agriculturist Charles Townshend in the 18th century. The system (wheat, turnips, barley and clover), opened up a fodder crop and grazing crop allowing livestock to be bred year-round. The use of clover was especially important as the legume roots replenished soil nitrates.


title: History of agriculture

text: The mechanisation and rationalisation of agriculture was another important factor. Robert Bakewell and Thomas Coke introduced selective breeding, and initiated a process of inbreeding to maximise desirable traits from the mid 18th century, such as the New Leicester sheep. Machines were invented to improve the efficiency of various agricultural operation, such as Jethro Tull's seed drill of 1701 that mechanised seeding at the correct depth and spacing and Andrew Meikle's threshing machine of 1784. Ploughs were steadily improved, from Joseph Foljambe's Rotherham iron plough in 1730 to James Small's improved "Scots Plough" metal in 1763. In 1789 Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies was producing 86 plough models for different soils. Powered farm machinery began with Richard Trevithick's stationary steam engine, used to drive a threshing machine, in 1812. Mechanisation spread to other farm uses through the 19th century. The first petrol-driven tractor was built in America by John Froelich in 1892.


title: History of agriculture

text: John Bennet Lawes began the scientific investigation of fertilization at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in 1843. He investigated the impact of inorganic and organic fertilizers on crop yield and founded one of the first artificial fertilizer manufacturing factories in 1842. Fertilizer, in the shape of sodium nitrate deposits in Chile, was imported to Britain by John Thomas North as well as guano (birds droppings). The first commercial process for fertilizer production was the obtaining of phosphate from the dissolution of coprolites in sulphuric acid.


title: History of agriculture

text: Dan Albone constructed the first commercially successful gasoline-powered general purpose tractor in 1901, and the 1923 International Harvester Farmall tractor marked a major point in the replacement of draft animals (particularly horses) with machines. Since that time, self-propelled mechanical harvesters (combines), planters, transplanters and other equipment have been developed, further revolutionizing agriculture. These inventions allowed farming tasks to be done with a speed and on a scale previously impossible, leading modern farms to output much greater volumes of high-quality produce per land unit.


title: History of agriculture

text: The Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate represented a major breakthrough and allowed crop yields to overcome previous constraints. It was first patented by German chemist Fritz Haber. In 1910 Carl Bosch, while working for German chemical company BASF, successfully commercialized the process and secured further patents. In the years after World War II, the use of synthetic fertilizer increased rapidly, in sync with the increasing world population.


title: History of agriculture

text: Collective farming was widely practiced in the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc countries, China, and Vietnam, starting in the 1930s in the Soviet Union; one result was the Soviet famine of 1932–33. Another consequence occurred during the Great Leap Forward in China initiated by Mao Tse-tung that resulted in the Great Chinese Famine from 1959 to 1961 and ultimately reshaped the thinking of Deng Xiaoping.


title: History of agriculture

text: In the past century agriculture has been characterized by increased productivity, the substitution of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for labour, water pollution, and farm subsidies. Other applications of scientific research since 1950 in agriculture include gene manipulation, hydroponics, and the development of economically viable biofuels such as ethanol.


title: History of agriculture

text: The number of people involved in farming in industrial countries fell radically from 24 percent of the American population to 1.5 percent in 2002. The number of farms also decreased and their ownership became more concentrated; for example, between 1967 and 2002, one million pig farms in America consolidated into 114,000, with 80 percent of the production on factory farms. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs are produced this way.


title: History of agriculture

text: Famines however continued to sweep the globe through the 20th century. Through the effects of climatic events, government policy, war and crop failure, millions of people died in each of at least ten famines between the 1920s and the 1990s.


title: History of agriculture

text: The Green Revolution was a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, between the 1940s and the late 1970s. It increased agriculture production around the world, especially from the late 1960s. The initiatives, led by Norman Borlaug and credited with saving over a billion people from starvation, involved the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers.


title: History of agriculture

text: Synthetic nitrogen, along with mined rock phosphate, pesticides and mechanization, have greatly increased crop yields in the early 20th century. Increased supply of grains has led to cheaper livestock as well. Further, global yield increases were experienced later in the 20th century when high-yield varieties of common staple grains such as rice, wheat, and corn were introduced as a part of the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution exported the technologies (including pesticides and synthetic nitrogen) of the developed world to the developing world. Thomas Malthus famously predicted that the Earth would not be able to support its growing population, but technologies such as the Green Revolution have allowed the world to produce a surplus of food.


title: History of agriculture

text: Although the Green Revolution at first significantly increased rice yields in Asia, yield then levelled off. The genetic "yield potential" has increased for wheat, but the yield potential for rice has not increased since 1966, and the yield potential for maize has "barely increased in 35 years". It takes only a decade or two for herbicide-resistant weeds to emerge, and insects become resistant to insecticides within about a decade, delayed somewhat by crop rotation.


title: History of agriculture

text: For most of its history, agriculture has been organic, without synthetic fertilisers or pesticides, and without GMOs. With the advent of chemical agriculture, Rudolf Steiner called for farming without synthetic pesticides, and his Agriculture Course of 1924 laid the foundation for biodynamic agriculture. Lord Northbourne developed these ideas and presented his manifesto of organic farming in 1940. This became a worldwide movement, and organic farming is now practiced in many countries.


title: Pâté

text: Pâté ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often served on or with bread or crackers.


title: Pâté

text: Pâté can be served either hot or cold, but it is considered to develop its best flavors after a few days of chilling.


title: Pâté

text: Pâté is believed to have originated in medieval France. The word pâté derives from the Old French word patete, which referred to any sort of paste. It was used to refer to the filling of any sort of pastry. Pâté is believed to have developed as a means of preserving the meat of game that could not be kept fresh. In the 16th century, it became popular with French royalty, and in the 17th century, the first recorded pâtés appeared. The first pâtés were made from a mixture of beef and chicken with various spices. By the 19th century, pâté was a staple in French cuisine.


title: Pâté

text: In French or Belgian cuisine, "pâté" may be baked in a crust as pie or loaf, in which case it is called "pâté en croûte", or baked in a terrine (or other mold), in which case it is known as "pâté en terrine". Traditionally, a forcemeat mixture cooked and served in a terrine is also called a terrine. The most famous pâté is probably "pâté de foie gras", made from the livers of fattened geese.


title: Pâté

text: "Pâté en croûte" is baked with the insertion of "chimneys" on top: small tubes or funnels that allow steam to escape, thus keeping the pastry crust from turning damp or soggy. Baked "pâté en croûte" usually develops an air bubble under the crust top as the meat mixture shrinks during baking; this is traditionally dealt with by infusing semi-liquid aspic in the hollow space before chilling.


title: Pâté

text: In Poland, "pasztet" is made from poultry, fish, venison, ham, or pork with eggs, flour, bread crumbs, and a varied range of additions, such as pepper, tomato sauce, mushrooms, spices, vegetables, ginger, nutmeg, cheese, or sugar.


title: Pâté

text: In Russia, the dish is mostly prepared with beef, goose or chicken liver and thus is commonly known as "pechyonochniy pashtet" (, "liver pâté"); however, other meats also can be used. Unlike the Western European method, the liver is first cooked (boiled or fried) and mixed with butter or fat and seasoning such as fresh or fried onion, carrots, spices and herbs. It can be further cooked (usually baked), but most often is used without any other preparation. In Russia, the pâté is served on a plate or in a bowl, and is often molded into the shapes of animals, such as hedgehogs.


title: Pâté

text: A similar recipe is known as chopped liver in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, with schmaltz used instead of butter and hard-boiled eggs usually added. Another common type of pâté in Jewish cuisine, also popular in Russia and Ukraine, is "vorschmack" or "gehakte herring" (chopped herring).


title: Pâté

text: In the former Yugoslavia, "pašteta" or "паштета" (a thinly pureed pâté) is a popular bread spread usually made from liver, chicken, pork, ham, beef, turkey or less commonly tuna or salmon.


title: Pâté

text: In Vietnamese cuisine, pâté is commonly used on "bánh mì" "baguette"-type sandwiches. Pâté of this type is more commonly made from liver.


title: Pâté

text: In much of northern and central Europe, there are soft, spreadable sausages made primarily with liver and sometimes confused with pâté.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Reflex syncope is a brief loss of consciousness due to a neurologically induced drop in blood pressure and/or a decrease in heart rate. Before an affected person passes out, there may be sweating, a decreased ability to see, or ringing in the ears. Occasionally, the person may twitch while unconscious. Complications of reflex syncope include injury due to a fall.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Reflex syncope is divided into three types: vasovagal, situational, and carotid sinus. Vasovagal syncope is typically triggered by seeing blood, pain, emotional stress, or prolonged standing. Situational syncope is often triggered by urination, swallowing, or coughing. Carotid sinus syncope is due to pressure on the carotid sinus in the neck. The underlying mechanism involves the nervous system slowing the heart rate and dilating blood vessels, resulting in low blood pressure and thus not enough blood flow to the brain. Diagnosis is based on the symptoms after ruling out other possible causes.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Recovery from a reflex syncope episode happens without specific treatment. Prevention of episodes involves avoiding a person's triggers. Drinking sufficient fluids, salt, and exercise may also be useful. If this is insufficient for treating vasovagal syncope, medications such as midodrine or fludrocortisone may be tried. Occasionally, a cardiac pacemaker may be used as treatment. Reflex syncope affects at least 1 in 1,000 people per year. It is the most common type of syncope, making up more than 50% of all cases.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Episodes of vasovagal syncope are typically recurrent and usually occur when the predisposed person is exposed to a specific trigger. Before losing consciousness, the individual frequently experiences early signs or symptoms such as lightheadedness, nausea, the feeling of being extremely hot or cold (accompanied by sweating), ringing in the ears, an uncomfortable feeling in the heart, fuzzy thoughts, confusion, a slight inability to speak or form words (sometimes combined with mild stuttering), weakness and visual disturbances such as lights seeming too bright, fuzzy or tunnel vision, black cloud-like spots in vision, and a feeling of nervousness can occur as well. The symptoms may become more intense over several seconds to several minutes before the loss of consciousness (if it is lost). Onset usually occurs when a person is sitting up or standing.


title: Reflex syncope

text: When people lose consciousness, they fall down (unless prevented from doing so) and, when in this position, effective blood flow to the brain is immediately restored, allowing the person to regain consciousness. If the person does not fall into a fully flat, supine position, and the head remains elevated above the trunk, a state similar to a seizure may result from the blood's inability to return quickly to the brain, and the neurons in the body will fire off and generally cause muscles to twitch very slightly but mostly remain very tense.


title: Reflex syncope

text: The autonomic nervous system's physiological state (see below) leading to loss of consciousness may persist for several minutes, so


title: Reflex syncope

text: Reflex syncope occurs in response to a trigger due to dysfunction of the heart rate and blood pressure regulating mechanism. When heart rate slows or blood pressure drops, the resulting lack of blood to the brain causes fainting.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Pressing upon a certain spot in the neck. This may happen when wearing a tight collar, shaving, or turning the head.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Regardless of the trigger, the mechanism of syncope is similar in the various vasovagal syncope syndromes. The nucleus tractus solitarii of the brainstem is activated directly or indirectly by the triggering stimulus, resulting in simultaneous enhancement of parasympathetic nervous system (vagal) tone and withdrawal of sympathetic nervous system tone.


title: Reflex syncope

text: In addition to the mechanism described above, a number of other medical conditions may cause syncope. Making the correct diagnosis for loss of consciousness is difficult. The core of the diagnosis of vasovagal syncope rests upon a clear description of a typical pattern of triggers, symptoms, and time course.


title: Reflex syncope

text: It is pertinent to differentiate lightheadedness, seizures, vertigo, and low blood sugar as other causes.


title: Reflex syncope

text: In people with recurrent vasovagal syncope, diagnostic accuracy can often be improved with one of the following diagnostic tests:


title: Reflex syncope

text: Treatment for reflex syncope focuses on avoidance of triggers, restoring blood flow to the brain during an impending episode, and measures that interrupt or prevent the pathophysiologic mechanism described above.


title: Reflex syncope

text: Brief periods of unconsciousness usually cause no lasting harm to health. Reflex syncope can occur in otherwise healthy individuals, and has many possible causes, often trivial ones such as prolonged standing with the legs locked.


title: Reflex syncope

text: The main danger of vasovagal syncope (or dizzy spells from vertigo) is the risk of injury by falling while unconscious. Medication therapy could possibly prevent future vasovagal responses; however, for some individuals medication is ineffective and they will continue to have fainting episodes.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Paula Prentiss (née Ragusa; born March 4, 1938) is an American actress. She is best known for her film roles in "Where the Boys Are" (1960), "What's New Pussycat?" (1965), "Catch-22" (1970), "The Parallax View" (1974), and "The Stepford Wives" (1975).


title: Paula Prentiss

text: From 1967 to 1968, Prentiss co-starred with her husband Richard Benjamin in the CBS sitcom "He & She", for which she received a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Prentiss was born Paula Gardner Ragusa in San Antonio, Texas, the elder daughter of Paulene (née Gardner) and Thomas J. Ragusa, a social sciences professor at San Antonio's University of the Incarnate Word. Her father was of Sicilian descent, and Prentiss was raised Roman Catholic. She had a younger sister, Ann Prentiss, who was also an actress.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Before high school, Paula, who grew to , was always the tallest person in class. She attended Lamar High School in Houston, Texas. In 1958, while studying drama at Northwestern University, she met future husband Richard Benjamin, who impressed her with his sophistication and height (he was taller than she was). While attending Northwestern she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was offered a film contract.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Prentiss leapt to fame playing the role of Tuggle in "Where the Boys Are" (1960). Her co-star was Jim Hutton. The film was a hit and response to Prentiss and Hutton was very favorable, so MGM decided to reteam them in three more comedies, promoting them as a new William Powell and Myrna Loy: "The Honeymoon Machine" (1961) with Steve McQueen, "Bachelor in Paradise" (1961) with Bob Hope, and "The Horizontal Lieutenant" (1962). They were the two tallest male and female contract players at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Hutton and Prentiss were also meant to be in "Follow the Boys" (1963), a "Where the Boys Are"-style comedy, but he dropped out, and so Prentiss' co-star became Russ Tamblyn.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Howard Hawks cast her as the female lead opposite Rock Hudson in "Man's Favorite Sport?" (1963) at Universal, her first film outside MGM. Hawks would later say: "Paula Prentiss was good, but she couldn't remember what she was doing from one shot to the next. Her shots never matched".


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Prentiss appeared on stage in a production of "As You Like It" in 1963 at the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: She had notable roles in "The World of Henry Orient" (1964) and "In Harm's Way" (1965) and made a cameo as herself in "Looking for Love" (1964). She also had a strong supporting role in "What's New, Pussycat?" (1965) with Peter Sellers. However, on the set of that film she had a nervous breakdown. "One day during shooting," she told "People" in 1976, "I just climbed up the ropes to the catwalk and started walking the beams. Very loudly and clearly I called down to everyone on the set, 'I'm going to jump.' A French technician grabbed me, and there I was, hanging by one arm." She was hospitalized for nine months.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: For one season (1967–1968), Prentiss co-starred with her husband, Richard Benjamin, in the CBS sitcom "He & She". For her role, Prentiss was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: In 1969 she appeared Off-Broadway in the double production, "Arf" and "The Great Airplane Snatch", directed by Benjamin.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Prentiss returned to films with a small role in "Catch-22" (1970). She had the female lead in "Move" (1970) with Elliott Gould and "Born to Win" (1971) with George Segal. She was one of the leads in "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" with Alan Arkin. Next, Prentiss was in the made-for-television film, "The Couple Takes a Wife" (1972).


title: Paula Prentiss

text: She was the female lead in "Crazy Joe" (1974) and had a small but pivotal part in "The Parallax View" (1974) with Warren Beatty. She was second lead in "The Stepford Wives" (1975), alongside Katharine Ross.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: In 1976, Prentiss and Benjamin appeared on Broadway in "The Norman Conquests". After that, they traveled to Australia to make "No Room to Run" (1977).


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Prentiss was in "Having Babies II" (1977), "Friendships, Secrets and Lies" (1979), and "Top of the Hill" (1980). She had a starring role in "The Black Marble" (1980), but it was not widely seen.


title: Paula Prentiss

text: She did "Saturday the 14th" (1981) with her husband and was in director Billy Wilder's last film, "Buddy Buddy" (1981), with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. She then made "Packin' It In" (1983) with her husband and did the made-for-television film, "M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers" (1983).


title: Paula Prentiss

text: Except for brief cameo roles, Prentiss had not appeared in a feature film for more than 30 years, until 2016's "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House", a horror film directed by Oz Perkins. It premiered September 10, 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival.


title: Warren Oates

text: Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including "The Wild Bunch" (1969) and "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" (1974). Another of his most acclaimed performances was as officer Sam Wood in "In the Heat of the Night" (1967). Oates starred in numerous films during the early 1970s that have since achieved cult status, such as "The Hired Hand" (1971), "Two-Lane Blacktop" (1971), and "Race with the Devil" (1975). Oates also portrayed John Dillinger in the biopic "Dillinger" (1973) and as the supporting character U.S. Army Sergeant Hulka in the military comedy "Stripes" (1981). Another notable appearance was in the classic New Zealand film "Sleeping Dogs" (1977), in which he played the commander of the American forces in the country.


title: Warren Oates

text: Warren Oates was born and reared in Depoy, a tiny rural community in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, located just a few miles west of Greenville, the county seat. According to the federal census of 1940, he was the younger of two sons born to Sarah Alice ("née" Mercer) and Bayless Earle Oates, who owned a general store. His brother, Gordon, was five years his senior. On his father's side, Warren was of English, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. He attended Louisville Male High School in Louisville, Kentucky, until 1945, but did not graduate from that institution. He did, however, later earn a high-school equivalency diploma. After high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps for two years (1946-1948), serving in its air wing as an aircraft mechanic and reaching the rank of corporal. Oates became interested in theater while attending the University of Louisville, where in 1953, he starred in several plays produced by the school's Little Theater Company. Four years later, in New York City, he got an opportunity to star in a live production of the television series "Studio One".


title: Warren Oates

text: Oates moved to Los Angeles, where in the 1950s, he began to establish himself in guest roles in weekly television Westerns, including "Wagon Train", "Tombstone Territory", "Buckskin", "Rawhide", "Trackdown", "Tate", "The Rebel", "Wanted Dead or Alive", "The Virginian", "Have Gun – Will Travel", "Lawman", "The Big Valley", "Bat Masterson", and "Gunsmoke". Oates first met Peckinpah when he played a variety of guest roles in "The Rifleman" (1958–1963), a popular television series sometimes directed by Peckinpah. He also played a supporting role in Peckinpah's short-lived series "The Westerner" in 1960. The collaboration continued as he worked in Peckinpah's early films "Ride the High Country" (1962) and "Major Dundee" (1965).


title: Warren Oates

text: "There were 40 [Western] series, and I went from one to the other. I started out playing the third bad guy on a horse and worked my way up to the number-one bad guy," Oates once quipped.


title: Warren Oates

text: In the episode "Subterranean City" (October 14, 1958) of the syndicated "Rescue 8", Oates played a gang member, Pete, who is the nephew of series character Skip Johnson (Lang Jeffries). In the story line, rescuers Johnson and Wes Cameron (Jim Davis) search for a lost girl in the sewer tunnels and encounter three criminals hiding out underground. Pete soon breaks with his gang companions and joins the firemen Wes and Skip in locating the missing child.


title: Warren Oates

text: In 1961, Oates guest-starred in the episode "Artie Moon" in NBC's "The Lawless Years" crime drama about the 1920s. In 1962, he appeared as Ves Painter in the short-lived ABC series "Stoney Burke", co-starring Jack Lord, a program about rodeo contestants.


title: Warren Oates

text: Oates also played in a number of guest roles on "The Twilight Zone" (in "The Purple Testament" and "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms", in which he costarred with Randy Boone and Ron Foster), "The Outer Limits" ("The Mutant" [1964]), "Combat! "("The Pillbox" [1964]) and "Lost in Space" ("Welcome Stranger" [1965]). During the 1960s and 1970s, he guest-starred on such shows as "Twelve O'Clock High" ("The Hotshot" [1965]), "Lancer", and "The Virginian".


title: Warren Oates

text: In addition to Peckinpah, Oates worked with several major directors of his era, including Leslie Stevens in the 1960 film "Private Property", his first starring role; Norman Jewison in "In the Heat of the Night" (1967); Joseph L. Mankiewicz in "There Was a Crooked Man..." (1970); John Milius in "Dillinger" (1973); Terrence Malick in "Badlands" (1973); Philip Kaufman in "The White Dawn" (1974); William Friedkin in "The Brink's Job" (1978); and Steven Spielberg in "1941" (1979).


title: Warren Oates

text: He appeared in the Sherman Brothers' musical version of "Tom Sawyer" (1973), as Muff Potter, the town drunk. He also starred in "The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond" (1960), "Return of the Seven" (1966), "The Shooting" (filmed in 1965, released in 1968), "The Split" (1968), "The Thief Who Came to Dinner" (1973), "Cockfighter" (1974), "Drum" (1976), and "China 9, Liberty 37" (1978), and played the title role in a 1971 crime drama, "Chandler". Oates costarred three times with friend Peter Fonda in "The Hired Hand" (1971), "Race with the Devil" (1975), and "92 in the Shade" (1975).


title: Warren Oates

text: While making a guest appearance on a segment of the Western television series "Dundee and the Culhane", Oates managed to steal the show with his off-camera antics and bloopers that had everyone on the set rolling. After a long day of filming, he headed over and set his footprints in concrete along with all the other stars who appeared at Apacheland Movie Ranch. During this time in mid-1967, "In the Heat of the Night" became a blockbuster summer movie. Oates had played Officer Sam Wood, a peeping-tom policeman.


title: Warren Oates

text: Oates was cast in Roger Donaldson's 1977 New Zealand film "Sleeping Dogs" together with New Zealand actor Sam Neill. A political thriller with action film elements, "Sleeping Dogs" follows the lead character "Smith" (Neill) as New Zealand plunges into a police state, as a fascist government institutes martial law after industrial disputes flare into violence. Smith gets caught between the special police and a growing resistance movement, and reluctantly becomes involved. Oates plays the role of Willoughby, commander of the American forces stationed in New Zealand and working with the New Zealand fascist government to find and subdue "rebels" (the resistance movement).


title: Warren Oates

text: His partnership with Peckinpah resulted in two of his most famous film roles. In the 1969 Western classic "The Wild Bunch", he portrayed Lyle Gorch, a long-time outlaw who chooses to die with his friends during the film's violent conclusion. According to his wife at the time, Teddy, Oates had the choice of starring in "Support Your Local Sheriff!", to be filmed in Los Angeles, or "The Wild Bunch" in Mexico. "He had done "Return of the Seven" in Mexico; he got hepatitis, plus dysentery, but off he went again with Sam [Peckinpah]. He loved going on location. He loved the adventure of it. He had great admiration for Sam. Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman were the two directors with whom Warren would work anytime, anywhere." In "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", the dark 1974 action/tragedy also filmed in Mexico, Oates played the lead role of Bennie, a hard-drinking, down-on-his-luck musician and bartender hoping to make a final score. The character was reportedly based on Peckinpah. For authenticity, Oates wore the director's sunglasses while filming scenes of the production.


title: Warren Oates

text: Although the Peckinpah film roles are his best-known, his most critically acclaimed role is GTO in Monte Hellman's 1971 cult classic "Two-Lane Blacktop". The film, although a failure at the box office, is studied in film schools as a treasure of the 1970s, in large part due to Oates' heartbreaking portrayal of GTO. Film critic Leonard Maltin remarked that Oates' performance in this film was as good as any he had seen and should have won the Oscar.


title: Warren Oates

text: A year before his death, Oates costarred with Bill Murray in the 1981 military comedy "Stripes". In the role of the drill sergeant, Sgt. Hulka, Oates played the straight man to Murray's comedic character. The film was a huge financial success, earning $85 million at the box office. In 1982, he costarred opposite Jack Nicholson in director Tony Richardson's "The Border".


title: Warren Oates

text: In 1981, Oates also costarred as a fanatical Southern preacher-turned-Confederate officer in "The Blue and the Gray", a CBS TV miniseries that aired in November 1982. His last two films were not released until 1983: "Blue Thunder" and "Tough Enough", both filmed in late 1981. Both films are dedicated to him, along with Monte Hellman's 1988 film "Iguana", which ends with the titles "For Warren".


title: Warren Oates

text: Oates was ill with influenza in the weeks before his death. On April 3, 1982, at the age of 53, he died of a heart attack while taking an afternoon nap at his home in Los Angeles, after having experienced chest pains and shortness of breath earlier that day. An autopsy determined that he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After his funeral, in accordance with Oates' wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at his ranch in Montana.


title: Warren Oates

text: Oates has a dedicated cult following because of his performances in not only Peckinpah's films, but also in Monte Hellman's independent works, his films with Peter Fonda, and in a number of B movies from the 1970s. During a screening of Hellman's "Two-Lane Blacktop", Richard Linklater introduced the film, and gave 16 reasons why viewers should love it. The sixth was: "Because there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates."


title: Warren Oates

text: The documentary film "Warren Oates: Across the Border" was produced by Tom Thurman in 1993 as a tribute to the actor's career.


title: Grey parrot

text: The grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), also known as the Congo grey parrot, Congo African grey parrot or African grey parrot, is an Old World parrot in the family Psittacidae. The Timneh parrot "(Psittacus timneh)" once was identified as a subspecies of the grey parrot, but has since been elevated to a full species.


title: Grey parrot

text: The grey parrot was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae". He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus "Psittacus" and coined the binomial name "Psittacus erithacus". Linnaeus erroneously specified the type locality as "Guinea": the locality was later designated as Ghana in West Africa. The genus name is Latin for "parrot". The specific epithet "erithacus" is Latin and is derived from the Ancient Greek εριθακος ("erithakos") for an unknown bird that was said to mimic human sounds, perhaps the black redstart. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.


title: Grey parrot

text: The Timneh parrot was formerly treated as a subspecies of the grey parrot but is now considered to be a separate species based mainly on the results from a genetic and morphological study published in 2007. Although Linnaeus placed all the parrots known to him in the genus "Psittacus", only the grey parrot and the Timneh parrot are now assigned to this genus.


title: Grey parrot

text: The grey parrot is a medium-sized, predominantly grey, black-billed parrot. Its typical weight is , with an approximate length of , and a wingspan of . The grey colour on the head and wings is generally darker than its body. The head and body feathers have slight white edges. The tail feathers are red.


title: Grey parrot

text: Due to selection by parrot breeders, some grey parrots are partly or completely red. Both sexes appear similar. The colouration of juveniles is similar to that of adults, but typically their eyes are dark grey to black, in comparison to the yellow irises around dark pupils of the adult birds, and their undertail coverts are tinged with grey. Adults weigh .


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey parrots may live for 40–60 years in captivity, although their mean lifespan in the wild appears to be shorter—approximately 23 years. They start breeding at an age of 3–5 years and lay 3-5 eggs per brood.


title: Grey parrot

text: The grey parrot is native to equatorial Africa, including Angola, Cameroon, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. The species is found inside a range from Kenya to the eastern part of the Ivory Coast. Current estimates for the global population are uncertain and range from 630,000 to 13 million birds. Populations are decreasing worldwide. The species seems to favor dense forests, but can also be found at forest edges and in more open vegetation types, such as gallery and savanna forests.


title: Grey parrot

text: A population study published in 2015 found that the species had been "virtually eliminated" from Ghana with numbers declining 90 to 99% since 1992. They were found in only 10 of 42 forested areas, and three roosts that once held 700–1200 birds each, now had only 18 in total. Local people mainly blamed the pet trade and the felling of timber for the decline. Populations are thought to be stable in Cameroon. In the Congo, an estimated 15,000 are taken every year for the pet trade, from the eastern part of the country, although the annual quota is stated to be 5,000.


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey parrots have escaped or been deliberately released into Florida, U.S., but no evidence indicates that the population is breeding naturally.


title: Grey parrot

text: Little is known about the behaviours and activities of these birds in the wild. In addition to a lack of research funding, it can be particularly difficult to study these birds in wild situations due to their status as prey animals, which leads them to have rather secretive personalities. It has been shown that wild greys may also imitate a wide variety of sounds they hear, much like their captive relatives. Two greys were recorded while roosting in Zaire and researchers reported that they had a repertoire of over 200 different sounds, including nine imitations of other wild bird songs and one of a bat.


title: Grey parrot

text: They are mostly frugivorous as most of their diet consists of fruit, nuts, and seeds. The species prefers oil palm fruit and they eat flowers and tree bark, as well as insects and snails. In the wild, the grey parrot is partly a ground feeder. In captivity, they may be fed bird pellets, a variety of fruits such as pear, orange, pomegranate, apple, and banana, and vegetables such as carrot, cooked sweet potato, celery, fresh kale, peas, and green beans. They also need a source of calcium.


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey parrots are monogamous breeders who nest in tree cavities. Each mated pair of parrots needs their own tree for their nest. The hen lays three to five eggs, which she incubates for 30 days while being fed by her mate. The adults defend their nesting sites.


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey parrot chicks require feeding and care from their parents in the nest. The parents take care of them until 4–5 weeks after they are fledged. Young leave the nest at the age of 12 weeks. Little is known about the courtship behavior of this species in the wild. They weigh at hatching and when they leave their parents.


title: Grey parrot

text: Young grey parrots are more commonly infected by psittacine beak and feather disease than adults. Infected birds may show symptoms such as loss of appetite, fluffy feathers, sluggishness, and reduced walking abilities due to brittle bones.


title: Grey parrot

text: Natural predators for this species include palm-nut vultures and several raptors. Monkeys target eggs and the young for food. Grey parrots in captivity have been observed to be susceptible to fungal infections, bacterial infections, nutritional insufficiency, malignant tumors, psittacine beak and feather disease, tapeworms, and blood-worms.


title: Grey parrot

text: Humans are by far the largest threat to wild grey populations. Between 1994 and 2003, more than 359,000 grey parrots were traded on the international market. Approximately 21% of the wild population was being harvested every year. Mortality rates are extremely high between the time they are captured and they reach the market, ranging from 60 to 66%. This species also is hunted for its meat and for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicines. As a result of the extensive harvest of wild birds, in addition to habitat loss, this species is believed to be undergoing a rapid decline in the wild and therefore, has been rated as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.


title: Grey parrot

text: In October 2016, the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Fauna and Flora (CITES) extended the highest level of protection to grey parrots by listing the species under Appendix 1, which regulates international trade in the species.


title: Grey parrot

text: In 2021, the Kenyan government held a short amnesty, during which grey parrot owners could pay a fee to obtain a permit for their birds and facilitate legal ownership. Following the expiry of this time period, it is now illegal to own this species without a permit.


title: Grey parrot

text: The species is common in captivity and regularly kept by humans as a companion parrot, prized for its ability to mimic human speech, which makes it one of the most popular avian pets. An escaped pet in Japan was returned to his owner after repeating the owner's name and address.


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey parrots are notorious for mimicking noises heard in their environment and using them tirelessly. They are highly intelligent birds, needing extensive behavioral and social enrichment as well as extensive attention in captivity or else they may become distressed. Feather plucking is a common symptom seen among such distressed grey parrots, affecting up to 40% of captive individuals. They may also be prone to behavioural problems due to their sensitive nature. Social isolation hastens stress and aging.


title: Grey parrot

text: The grey parrot is a highly social species which relies on a flock-type structure, even when raised in captivity. Because they are so dependent on the other birds within their flock, much of their speech and vocal ability is acquired through interaction with the humans with whom they reside. Both wild and captive parrots have been shown to use contact calls, which allow them to interact with their flock mates and communicate information about their location, detection of predators, availability of food, and safety status. In addition, contact calls are used to form strong social bonds with their flock mates, or in the case of captive greys, with their human housemates. In captivity, they have been shown to display communicative competence, meaning they not only use human language correctly, but also in such a way that is appropriate for the social situation which they are in.


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey parrots are highly intelligent and are considered by many to be one of the most intelligent species of psittacines. Many individuals have been shown to perform at the cognitive level of a four- to six-year-old human child in some tasks. Several studies have been conducted, indicating a suite of higher-level cognitive abilities. Experiments have shown that grey parrots can learn number sequences and can learn to associate human voices with the faces of the humans who create them. It has been reported that grey parrots are capable of using existing known English words to create new labels for objects which the bird does not know the name. For example "banerry" ("banana" + "cherry") for "apple", "banana crackers" for "dried banana chips" or "yummy bread" for "cake".


title: Grey parrot

text: The American scientist Irene Pepperberg's research with Alex the parrot showed his ability to learn more than 100 words, differentiating between objects, colours, materials and shapes. Pepperberg spent several decades working with Alex, and wrote numerous scientific papers on experiments performed, indicating his advanced cognitive abilities. One such study found that Alex had the ability to add numbers as well as having a zero-like concept, similar to that of young children and apes.


title: Grey parrot

text: In addition to their striking cognitive abilities, grey parrots have displayed altruistic behavior and concern for others. Researchers found that while blue-headed macaws were unlikely to share a nut with other members of their own species, grey parrots would actively give their conspecific partner a nut, even if it meant that they would not be able to get one themselves. When the roles were reversed, their partners were overwhelmingly likely to return the favor, foregoing their own nut to their partner's benefits. This indicates not only a display of selflessness but also an act of reciprocity.


title: Grey parrot

text: A 2012 study demonstrated that captive grey parrots have individual musical preferences. When presented with the opportunity to choose between two different pieces of music via a touch screen monitor located in their cage, the two birds in the test consistently chose different songs, to which they then danced and sang along. Some pet grey parrots have also been observed using the music feature of smart speakers (such as Alexa or Amazon Echo) to verbally request playback of specific favored songs.


title: Grey parrot

text: Some research has shown that foot preference can be linked to the number of words a particular parrot may know and use. Researchers found that grey parrots who prefer to use their right foot showed a marked increase in the number of words within their lexicon as compared to parrots who were left-footed. Scientists postulate that parrots may have lateralization of brain function, much like mammals do.


title: Grey parrot

text: Grey mutations occur naturally in the wild, such as the Blue Ino (albino), the Incomplete Ino, and the Blue varietals. The Blue Ino is all white. The Incomplete Ino has light pigmentation. The Blue has a white tail.


title: Grey parrot

text: Breeders from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia have bred greys intensively since the 1800s. These bred varieties include the Red Pied, F2 Pied, Grizzles, Ino, Incomplete, Parino, Lutino, Cinnamon, and Red Factor. South African bird breeder Von van Antwerpen and New Zealand partner Jaco Bosman selected F2 Pieds and created the first Red Factor Greys. They are rare, may be predominantly red-pigmented, and vary in price depending upon the extent of the red plumage displayed.


title: 2000 in film

text: The top grosser worldwide was "". Domestically in North America, "Gladiator" won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor (Russell Crowe). "Dinosaur" was the most expensive film of 2000 and a box-office success.


title: 2000 in film

text: 2000 saw the releases of the first installment of popular film series "X-Men", "Final Destination", "Scary Movie", and "Meet the Parents".


title: 2000 in film

text: Among the films based on TV shows are "", "Traffic", "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle", "Charlie's Angels" and ""


title: 2000 in film

text: The most acclaimed films of the year are "Gladiator"; "Traffic"; "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"; "American Psycho"; "Almost Famous, Requiem for a Dream," and "Erin Brockovich".


title: Vera Lynn

text: Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the "Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England".


title: Vera Lynn

text: She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the United Kingdom and the United States, and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" and her UK number-one single "My Son, My Son". Her last single, "I Love This Land", was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart with the compilation album "". In 2014, she released the collection "Vera Lynn: National Treasure" and in 2017, she released "Vera Lynn 100", a compilation album of hits to commemorate her centenary—it was a No. 3 hit, making her the first centenarian performer to have a Top 10 album in the charts. By the time of her death in 2020 she had been active in the music industry for 96 years.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She was held in great affection by Second World War veterans and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Vera Margaret Welch was born in East Ham, Essex, now part of the London Borough of Newham, on 20 March 1917. She was the daughter of plumber Bertram Samuel Welch (1883–1955) and wife dressmaker Anne "Annie" Martin (1889–1975), who had married in 1913. In 1919, when Lynn was two years old, she fell ill with diphtheritic croup and nearly died. She was sent to an isolation unit and was discharged after three months there. As a result of her hospitalisation, her mother was very protective of her and did not allow her to visit friends or play in the street for a long time afterwards. Lynn recalled her mother was not as strict with her elder brother Roger as she was with her.


title: Vera Lynn

text: She began performing publicly at the age of seven and adopted her maternal grandmother Margaret's maiden name "Lynn" as her stage name when she was eleven. Aged 11, she joined a juvenile troupe called Madame Harris's Kracker Kabaret Kids and early in 1933 she was spotted by Howard Baker who invited her to join his band. In turn, she was taken on by Billy Cotton and briefly toured with his band in 1934 before returning to Howard Baker.


title: Vera Lynn

text: It was with Baker that she made her first record, on 17 February 1935, with a song called "It's Home". Her first radio broadcast, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, was made on 21 August 1935. At this point she appeared on records released by dance bands including those of Loss and of Charlie Kunz. In 1936, her first solo record was released on the Crown label, "Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire". This label was absorbed by Decca Records in 1938. She supported herself by working as an administrative assistant to the head of a shipping management company in London's East End. After a short stint with Loss she stayed with Kunz for a year or so during which she recorded several standard musical pieces. She joined the Ambrose band in 1937, and remained with him until 1940, when she went solo.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn's wartime contribution began when she would sing to people who were using London's tube station platforms as air raid shelters. She would drive there in her Austin 10 car. Between 1937 and 1940, she also toured with the aristocrat of British dance bands, Bert Ambrose as part of the Ambrose Octet; the group appeared in broadcasts for the BBC and for Radio Luxembourg. She left Ambrose in 1940.


title: Vera Lynn

text: During the Phoney War, the "Daily Express" asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performers: Vera Lynn came out on top and as a result became known as "the Forces' Sweetheart". On 1 July 1940, Lynn made her first appearance as a "fully fledged solo act" at the New Hippodrome in Coventry.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Vera Lynn appeared in the revue "Applesauce!" with Max Miller, which commenced on 22 August 1940 at the Holborn Empire and ran until 9 September 1940. Its run was curtailed due to a bomb destroying the theatre. The revue continued at the London Palladium from 5 March 1941 and ended on 29 November that year. Lynn had to leave the show for a while in July 1941 to have her appendix removed.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn is best known for the popular song "We'll Meet Again", written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. She first recorded it in 1939 with Arthur Young on Novachord, and later again in 1953 accompanied by servicemen from the British Armed Forces. The nostalgic lyrics ("We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day") were very popular during the war and made the song one of its emblematic hits. Amongst her other well-known wartime hits was "The White Cliffs of Dover", with words by Nat Burton, music by Walter Kent.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Her continuing popularity was ensured by the success of her weekly 30-minute radio programme "Sincerely Yours", which began airing at 9:30 p.m. on 9 November 1941, with messages to British troops serving abroad. Described as "to the men of the forces – a letter in words and Music", she was accompanied by Fred Hartley and his music. Lynn and her quartet performed songs most requested by the soldiers. Lynn also visited hospitals to interview new mothers and send personal messages to their husbands overseas. However, in the aftermath of the fall of Singapore in February 1942 the programme was taken off air after the broadcast on 22 March 1942 for 18 months out of fear that the sentimental nature of her songs would undermine the "virile" nature of British soldiers. Instead, "more traditionally martial classical music" was promoted. Lynn returned with a regular show called "It's Time for Vera Lynn" on the BBC's Forces programme on 31 October 1943, when she was accompanied by Peter Yorke and His Orchestra. The show was broadcast at 8 p.m. on Sunday nights and ran for twenty minutes.


title: Vera Lynn

text: During the war years, she joined the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for British troops. In March 1944, she went to Shamshernagar airfield in Bengal to entertain the troops before the Battle of Kohima. Her host and lifelong friend Captain Bernard Holden recalled "her courage and her contribution to morale". In 1985, she received the Burma Star for entertaining British guerrilla units in Japanese-occupied Burma.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Between 1942 and 1944, she appeared in three movies with wartime themes. Firstly, she starred in a film called "We'll Meet Again", in 1943 which was based on her own life story, that of a dancer who becomes a radio star. She went on to make two more films during the war, "Rhythm Serenade" (1943) and "One Exciting Night" (1944). In "Rhythm Serenade" she played a school teacher. After her school is closed, she tries to join up. However, she is persuaded to organise a nursery for a munitions factory. "One Exciting Night" (also known as "You Can't Do Without Love") was a dramatic musical comedy in which she helps thwart a gang of art thieves.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn's daughter and her only child, Virginia Penelope Ann Lewis, was born on 10 March 1946. After the war, Lynn had wanted to concentrate on being a mother and wife. However, her unfulfilled contract with Decca Records and financial pressures meant that she was lured back into showbusiness in 1947. She started a new radio show called "Vera Lynn Sings" on the BBC's Light Programme on 16 February 1947. This was broadcast on Sunday evenings from 9:30-10:00 p.m. with Robert Farnon leading the musical accompaniment. Her husband became her manager. Her record label, Decca, astutely promoted her records in the U.S. during the musicians' strike of 1948 and she had a U.S. Top Ten hit with "You Can't Be True, Dear". In 1949, the BBC dropped her radio show because it claimed that there was no demand for her "sob stuff"; they wanted her to sing in a more lively style, so she made shows for Radio Luxembourg instead.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn kept touring and recording, and in 1952 Lynn's British recording of a German song, "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart", became her best selling record. It became the first record by a British performer to top the charts in the United States, remaining there for nine weeks. In Britain, the song was the best-selling record of the year. She also appeared regularly for a time on Tallulah Bankhead's US radio programme "The Big Show". "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart", along with "The Homing Waltz" and "Forget-Me-Not", gave Lynn three entries on the first UK Singles Chart in November 1952.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Vera Lynn was in the "London Laughs" revue at the Adelphi Theatre, London from 12 April 1952 to 6 February 1954 with Tony Hancock and Jimmy Edwards. Her popularity continued in that decade, peaking with "My Son, My Son", a number-one hit in 1954 written by Gordon Melville Rees, Bob Howard and Eddie Calvert. It also reached No. 28 on "Billboard" magazine's singles charts in the USA.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1956, Lynn began her first television series for Associated-Rediffusion. During the same year, she signed an exclusive contract with the BBC for two years of radio and television work.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1960, she left Decca Records (after nearly 25 years) and joined EMI. She recorded for EMI's Columbia, MGM and HMV labels. She also recorded Lionel Bart's song "The Day After Tomorrow" for the 1962 musical "Blitz!"; she did not appear onstage in the play, but the characters in the play hear the song on the radio while they shelter from the bombs. In 1967, she recorded "It Hurts To Say Goodbye", a song which hit the top 10 on the "Billboard" Easy Listening chart.


title: Vera Lynn

text: She hosted her own variety series on BBC1 in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was a frequent guest on other variety shows such as the 1972 "Morecambe & Wise" Christmas Show. In 1972, she was a key performer in the BBC anniversary programme "Fifty Years of Music". In 1976, she hosted the BBC's "A Jubilee of Music", celebrating the pop music hits of the period 1952–1976 to commemorate the start of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee year. For ITV, she presented a 1977 TV special to launch her album "Vera Lynn in Nashville", which included pop songs of the 1960s and country songs.


title: Vera Lynn

text: The Royal Variety Performance included appearances by Vera Lynn on seven occasions: 1951, 1952, 1957, 1960, 1975, 1986 and 1990. Lynn was also interviewed about her role in entertaining the troops in the India-Burma Theatre, for "The World at War" series in 1974. Lynn is also notable for being the only artist to have a chart span on the British single and album charts reaching from the chart's inception to the 21st century – in 1952 having three singles in the first ever singles chart, compiled by "New Musical Express", and later having a 1 album with "We'll Meet Again – The Very Best of Vera Lynn".


title: Vera Lynn

text: Vera Lynn made her solo recording debut with the song "The General's Fast Asleep" on 3 October 1935, accompanied by the Rhythm Rascals (a pseudonym for Jay Wilbur's orchestra). The 9" 78 rpm single was issued on the Crown Records label, which went on to release a total of 8 singles recorded by Vera Lynn and Charles Smart on organ. Early recordings include "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "Red Sails in the Sunset".


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1938, the Decca label took over control of the British Crown label and the UK-based Rex label; they had also issued early singles from Lynn in 1937, including "Harbour Lights". In late September 1939, Vera Lynn first recorded a song that continues to be associated with her: "We'll Meet Again" was originally recorded with Arthur Young on the Novachord.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the Decca label issued all of Lynn's records, including several recorded with Mantovani and His Orchestra in 1942, and with Robert Farnon from the late 1940s. These were only available as 78 rpm singles, which contained only two songs as an A and a B-side. In the mid-1950s, Decca issued several EP singles, which comprised between two and four recordings per side, such as "Vera Lynn's Party Sing Song" from 1954. Lynn was the first British artist to have a number one in U.S. charts, achieved with "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart", which stayed at the top for nine weeks in 1952. Singles were now issued on two formats: the known 78 rpm 10" shellac discs, and the recently introduced 45 rpm 7" vinyl single. In the late 1950s, Lynn recorded four albums at Decca, the first; "Vera Lynn Concert" remains her only live recording ever issued on vinyl.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1960, after more than 20 years at Decca Records, Lynn signed to the US based MGM Records. In the UK, her recordings were distributed by the His Master's Voice label, later EMI Records. Several albums and stand-alone singles were recorded with Geoff Love and His Orchestra. Norman Newell also took over as Lynn's producer in this period and remained with her until her 1976 album "Christmas with Vera Lynn". Recording at EMI Records up until 1977, Lynn released thirteen albums with material as diverse as traditional hymns, pop and country songs, as well as re-recording many of her known songs from the 1940s for the albums "Hits of the Blitz" (1962), "More Hits of the Blitz" and "Vera Lynn Remembers – The World at War" (1974). In the 1980s, two albums of contemporary pop songs were recorded at the Pye Records label, both including covers of songs previously recorded by artists such as ABBA and Barry Manilow.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1982, Lynn released the stand-alone single "I Love This Land", written by André Previn, to mark the end of the Falklands War. Lynn's last recordings before her retirement were issued in 1991 via the "News of the World" newspaper, with proceeds in aid of the Gulf Trust.


title: Vera Lynn

text: The United Kingdom's VE Day ceremonies in 2005 included a concert in Trafalgar Square, London, in which Lynn made a surprise appearance. She made a speech praising the veterans and calling upon the younger generation always to remember their sacrifice, and joined in with a few bars of "We'll Meet Again". This would be Lynn's final vocal performance at a VE Day anniversary event.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Following that year's Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance Lynn encouraged the Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins to assume the mantle of "Forces' Sweetheart". In her speech Lynn said: "These boys gave their lives and some came home badly injured, and for some families life would never be the same. We should always remember, we should never forget, and we should teach the children to remember".


title: Vera Lynn

text: In September 2008, Lynn helped launch a new social history recording website, "The Times of My Life", at the Cabinet War Rooms in London. Lynn published her autobiography, "Some Sunny Day", in 2009. She had written two previous memoirs: "Vocal Refrain" (1975) and "We'll Meet Again" (1989).


title: Vera Lynn

text: In February 2009, it was reported that Lynn was suing the British National Party (BNP) for using "The White Cliffs of Dover" on an anti-immigration album without her permission. Her lawyer claimed the album seemed to link Lynn, who did not align with any political party, to the party's views by association.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In September 2009, at the age of 92, Lynn became the oldest living artist to make it to No. 1 in the British album chart. Her compilation album "" entered the chart at number 20 on 30 August, and then climbed to No. 2 the following week before reaching the top position, outselling both the Arctic Monkeys and the Beatles. With this achievement, she surpassed Bob Dylan as the oldest artist to have a number one album in the UK.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In August 2014, Lynn was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue. In May 2015, she was unable to attend "," in London but was interviewed at home by the "Daily Mirror".


title: Vera Lynn

text: Three days before her 100th birthday on 17 March 2017, a new LP entitled "Vera Lynn 100" was released through Decca Records. The album, setting Lynn's original vocals to new re-orchestrated versions of her songs, also involves several duet partners including Alfie Boe, Alexander Armstrong, Aled Jones and the RAF Squadronaires. Parlophone, which owns Lynn's later recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, released a collection of her songs recorded at Abbey Road Studios entitled "Her Greatest from Abbey Road" on 10 March 2017, including five previously unreleased original recordings. By October 2017, she was the best-selling female artist of the year in the UK, having sold more albums than contemporary artists like Dua Lipa and Lana Del Rey.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn received two nominations at the 2018 Classic Brit Awards for Female Artist of the Year and Album of the Year and was also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In January 2020, a new painted portrait of Lynn was given as a gift from London Mint Office to the Royal Albert Hall in connection with the 75th anniversary of the peace in 1945. The portrait is painted by Ross Kolby and was unveiled by Lynn's daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones and Britain's Got Talent winner Colin Thackery.


title: Vera Lynn

text: On 5 April 2020 the song "We'll Meet Again" was echoed by Queen Elizabeth II in a television address she delivered addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. For the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Lynn and Katherine Jenkins duetted virtually (Jenkins singing next to a hologram) at the Royal Albert Hall, which was empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1976, Lynn received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Memorial University of Newfoundland. She received the Freedom of the City of London in 1978. In 2000, she received a "Spirit of the 20th Century" Award in a nationwide poll in which she won 21% of the vote. A street named in her honour, Vera Lynn Close, is situated in Forest Gate, London. She was awarded the honorary degree of Master of Music (M.Mus.) in 1992 by the University of London.


title: Vera Lynn

text: She was the subject of "This Is Your Life" on two occasions, in October 1957 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre, and again in December 1978, for an episode which was broadcast on 1 January 1979, when Andrews surprised her at the Café Royal, London.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 2018, Lynn received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the Classic Brit Awards. In January 2019, it was reported that The London Mint Office had commissioned acclaimed Norwegian artist Ross Kolby to paint a portrait of Dame Vera. The painting was unveiled on 13 January 2020 and hangs in the Royal Albert Hall in London where Dame Vera performed on 52 occasions.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn's visit to the Burma front during the Second World War was included in the British television documentary series "The World at War" in 1974 and narrated by Laurence Olivier. A short interview made for the documentary is included in Episode 14, "It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow: Burma 1942–1944".


title: Vera Lynn

text: On their 1979 album "The Wall", Pink Floyd released a song titled "Vera", referencing Vera Lynn and the song "We'll Meet Again" with the lyrics "Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? / Remember how she said that / We would meet again / Some sunny day?". "We'll Meet Again" was also used as an intro to the live performances of "The Wall" in 1980 and 1981 (as can be heard on "Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81"). The 1982 film "Pink Floyd – The Wall" opens with "The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot" performed by Lynn.


title: Vera Lynn

text: On Gary Numan's 1982 album I, Assassin, the song "War Songs" has the chorus: "Old men love war songs / Love Vera Lynn / Old men love war songs / Now I'm Vera Lynn".


title: Vera Lynn

text: The ending of Stanley Kubrick's black comedy film about the triggering of World War III (and the nuclear annihilation of civilization), "Dr. Strangelove", shows several minutes of nuclear explosions, with a musical accompaniment of the 1953 version of We'll Meet Again with Vera Lynn and an armed services chorus.


title: Vera Lynn

text: A preserved example of the WD Austerity 2-10-0 class of steam locomotives at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is named "Dame Vera Lynn". One of two new boats for the Woolwich Ferry service, which were delivered via Tilbury in autumn 2018, was named "Dame Vera Lynn" in her honour.


title: Vera Lynn

text: On his 2018 album "Would You Still Be in Love", Anthony Green released a song titled "Vera Lynn" that referenced her songs "We'll Meet Again" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square".


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 1953, Lynn formed the cerebral palsy charity SOS (The Stars Organisation for Spastics) and became its chairperson. The Vera Lynn Charity Breast Cancer Research Trust was founded in 1976, with Lynn its chairperson and later its president.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In August 1985, she appeared on stage at Crystal Palace Bowl, with Hawkwind, Doctor and the Medics and several other rock bands, for the finale of a benefit concert for Pete Townshend's Double-O anti-heroin charity.


title: Vera Lynn

text: In 2002, Lynn became president of the cerebral palsy charity The Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy, and hosted a celebrity concert on its behalf at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. In 2008, Lynn became patron of the charitable Forces Literary Organisation Worldwide for ALL.


title: Vera Lynn

text: She became the patron of the Dover War Memorial Project in 2010; the same year she became patron of the British charity Projects to Support Refugees from Burma/Help 4 Forgotten Allies. In 2013 she joined a PETA campaign against pigeon racing, stating that the sport is "utterly cruel".


title: Vera Lynn

text: During the Second World War, Lynn lived with her parents in a house she had bought in 1938 at 24 Upney Lane, Barking.


title: Vera Lynn

text: After the Second World War, Lynn and Lewis moved to Finchley, north London. The couple lived in Ditchling, East Sussex, from the early 1960s onwards, living next door to their daughter.


title: Vera Lynn

text: The couple had one child in March 1946, Virginia Penelope Anne Lewis (now Lewis-Jones). Harry Lewis died in 1998.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn died on 18 June 2020 at her home in East Sussex, at the age of 103. Tributes to Lynn were led by the Royal Family, with Queen Elizabeth II sending private condolences to Lynn's family and Clarence House issuing tributes from the then Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, also led with tributes in Parliament, while musicians like Sir Paul McCartney and Katherine Jenkins and public figures like Captain Tom Moore discussed her profound impact. On the day of her death, regular programming on the BBC was stopped in order to air tributes to the singer. The Band of the Coldstream Guards convened the same day to play her song "We'll Meet Again". After Lynn's death, Jenkins began campaigning to erect a statue of her by the White Cliffs of Dover, a location referenced in another of her famous songs.


title: Vera Lynn

text: Lynn was given a military funeral, which was held on 10 July 2020 in East Sussex. The procession made its way from her home in Ditchling to the Woodvale Crematorium in Brighton; it was widely attended by the public. Ditchling was decorated with poppies, a symbol of military remembrance. Ahead of the funeral, the White Cliffs of Dover had images of Lynn projected onto them, as "We'll Meet Again" was being played across the English Channel. Her cortege was accompanied by members of the Royal Air Force, the British Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal British Legion, as well as the Battle of Britain Spitfire flypast, which followed the cortege and passed over Ditchling three times (10 July 2020 was the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain). Her coffin was draped in a Union Flag with a wreath. At the family service at the Woodvale Crematorium chapel, she was serenaded by a Royal Marine bugler. Her family have said a public memorial service will be organised for some time in the future. On 21 March 2022, a thanksgiving service for Lynn was held at Westminster Abbey.


title: Art Carney

text: Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the sitcom "The Honeymooners" (1955–1956).


title: Art Carney

text: His film roles include "Harry and Tonto" (1974), "The Late Show" (1977), "House Calls" (1978), "Going in Style" (1979) "Firestarter", "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (both 1984), and "Last Action Hero" (1993).


title: Art Carney

text: Carney, the youngest of six sons (his brothers were Jack, Ned, Robert, Fred, and Phil), was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward Michael Carney, a newspaperman and publicist. His family was Irish American and Catholic. He attended A.B. Davis High School.


title: Art Carney

text: Carney was drafted into the United States Army in 1943 as an infantryman and machine gun crewman during World War II. During the Battle of Normandy serving in the 28th Infantry Division, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. As a result of the injury, his right leg was ¾-inch (2 cm) shorter than his left. Carney was awarded a Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal, and was discharged as a private in 1945.


title: Art Carney

text: Carney was a comic singer with the Horace Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on radio during the 1930s, notably on the hugely successful "Pot o' Gold", the first big-money giveaway show in 1939–41. Carney's film career began with an uncredited role in "Pot o' Gold" (1941), the radio program's spin-off feature film, playing a member of Heidt's band. Carney, a gifted mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s, playing character roles and impersonating celebrities such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. He can be seen impersonating Roosevelt in a 1937 promotional film for Stewart-Warner refrigerators that is preserved by the Library of Congress. as well as during his appearance as a Mystery Guest on "What's My Line". In 1941, he was the house comic on the big band remote series "Matinee at Meadowbrook".


title: Art Carney

text: One of his radio roles during the 1940s was the first Red Lantern on "Land of the Lost". In 1943 he played Billy Oldham on "Joe and Ethel Turp", based on Damon Runyon stories. He appeared on "The Henry Morgan Show" in 1946–47. He impersonated Roosevelt on "The March of Time" and Dwight D. Eisenhower on "Living 1948". In 1950–51 he played Montague's father on "The Magnificent Montague". He was a supporting player on "Casey, Crime Photographer" and "Gang Busters".


title: Art Carney

text: On both the radio and television versions of "The Morey Amsterdam Show" (1948–50), Carney's character Charlie the doorman became known for his catchphrase, "Ya know what I mean?"


title: Art Carney

text: In 1950, Jackie Gleason was starring in the New York–based comedy-variety series "Cavalcade of Stars" and played many different characters. Gleason's regular characters included Charlie Bratten, a lunchroom loudmouth who insisted on spoiling a neighboring patron's meal. Carney, established in New York as a reliable actor, played Bratten's mild-mannered victim, Clem Finch. Gleason and Carney developed a good working chemistry, and Gleason recruited Carney to appear in other sketches, including the domestic-comedy skits featuring "The Honeymooners". Carney gained lifelong fame for his portrayal of sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's bus driver, Ralph Kramden. The success of these skits resulted in the famous situation comedy "The Honeymooners" and the "Honeymooners" revivals that followed. He was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and won six.


title: Art Carney

text: Between his stints with Gleason, Carney worked steadily as a character actor and occasionally in musical-variety. He guest-starred on NBC's "Henry Morgan's Great Talent Hunt" (1951), "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show", and many others, including as a mystery guest four times on "What's My Line?" which he attended (once) dressed as Ed Norton. Carney also had his own NBC television variety show from 1959 to 1960.


title: Art Carney

text: In 1958, he starred in an ABC children's television special "Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf", which featured the Bil Baird Marionettes. It combined an original story with a marionette presentation of Serge Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf". Some of Prokofiev's other music was given lyrics written by Ogden Nash. The special was a success and was repeated twice.


title: Art Carney

text: Carney starred in a Christmas episode of "The Twilight Zone", "The Night of the Meek", playing a dramatic turn as an alcoholic department store Santa Claus who later becomes the real thing. In 1964, he guest-starred in the episode "Smelling Like a Rose" along with Hal March and Tina Louise in the CBS drama "Mr. Broadway", starring Craig Stevens. In the season two opening episodes 35 and 36 of the "Batman" television series, titled "Shoot a Crooked Arrow" and "Walk the Straight and Narrow" (1966), Carney performed as the newly introduced villain "The Archer".


title: Art Carney

text: In 1970, Carney appeared as Skeet in "The Men from Shiloh" (the rebranded name of "The Virginian") in the episode titled "With Love, Bullets and Valentines." In the early 1970s, Carney sang and danced on several episodes of "The Dean Martin Show", took part in the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of his old co-star Jackie Gleason, and appeared as both Santa Claus and his wannabe kidnapper Cosmo Scam in the 1970 Muppets TV special "The Great Santa Claus Switch". He was also a guest star on "The Carol Burnett Show" in January 1971.


title: Art Carney

text: He starred as Police Chief Paul Lanigan in the 1976 television film "Lanigan's Rabbi", and in the short-lived series of the same name that aired in 1977 as part of the "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie" lineup.


title: Art Carney

text: In 1978, Carney appeared in "Star Wars Holiday Special", a television film that was linked to the "Star Wars" film series. In it, he played Trader Saun Dann, a member of the Rebel Alliance who helped Chewbacca and his family evade an Imperial blockade. The same year, he appeared as the father of Ringo Starr's alter ego "Ognir Rrats" in the made for television special "Ringo". Carney appeared on an episode of "Alice".