title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Science writer Richard Martin states that nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg, who was director at Oak Ridge and primarily responsible for the new reactor, lost his job as director because he championed development of the safer thorium reactors. Weinberg himself recalls this period:


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Martin explains that Weinberg's unwillingness to sacrifice potentially safe nuclear power for the benefit of military uses forced him to retire:


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Despite the documented history of thorium nuclear power, many of today's nuclear experts were nonetheless unaware of it. According to "Chemical & Engineering News", "most people—including scientists—have hardly heard of the heavy-metal element and know little about it", noting a comment by a conference attendee that "it's possible to have a Ph.D. in nuclear reactor technology and not know about thorium energy." Nuclear physicist Victor J. Stenger, for one, first learned of it in 2012:


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Others, including former NASA scientist and thorium expert Kirk Sorensen, agree that "thorium was the alternative path that was not taken". According to Sorensen, during a documentary interview, he states that if the US had not discontinued its research in 1974 it could have "probably achieved energy independence by around 2000". On 18 May 2022 US Senate bill S.4242 – "A bill to provide for the preservation and storage of uranium-233 to foster development of thorium molten-salt reactors", the 'Thorium Energy Security Act' was introduced for the first time. Sorensen had urged this measure since 2006.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Summarizing some of the potential benefits, Martin offers his general opinion: "Thorium could provide a clean and effectively limitless source of power while allaying all public concern—weapons proliferation, radioactive pollution, toxic waste, and fuel that is both costly and complicated to process." Moir and Teller estimated in 2004 that the cost for their recommended prototype would be "well under $1 billion with operation costs likely on the order of $100 million per year", and as a result a "large-scale nuclear power plan" usable by many countries could be set up within a decade.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: A report by the Bellona Foundation in 2013 concluded that the economics are quite speculative. Thorium nuclear reactors are unlikely to produce cheaper energy, but the management of spent fuel is likely to be cheaper than for uranium nuclear reactors.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Nobel laureate in physics and former director of CERN Carlo Rubbia has long been a fan of thorium. According to Rubbia, "In order to be vigorously continued, nuclear power must be profoundly modified".


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Hans Blix, former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said "Thorium fuel gives rise to waste that is smaller in volume, less toxic and much less long lived than the wastes that result from uranium fuel".


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Research and development of thorium-based nuclear reactors, primarily the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR), MSR design, has been or is now being done in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, India, Indonesia, China, France, the Czech Republic, Japan, Russia, Canada, Israel, Denmark and the Netherlands. Conferences with experts from as many as 32 countries are held, including one by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2013, which focuses on thorium as an alternative nuclear technology without requiring production of nuclear waste. Recognized experts, such as Hans Blix, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, calls for expanded support of new nuclear power technology, and states, "the thorium option offers the world not only a new sustainable supply of fuel for nuclear power but also one that makes better use of the fuel's energy content."


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: CANDU reactors are capable of using thorium, and Thorium Power Canada has, in 2013, planned and proposed developing thorium power projects for Chile and Indonesia. The proposed 10 MW demonstration reactor in Chile could be used to power a 20 million litre/day desalination plant. In 2018, the New Brunswick Energy Solutions Corporation announced the participation of Moltex Energy in the nuclear research cluster that will work on research and development on small modular reactor technology.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: At the 2011 annual conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was announced that "China has initiated a research and development project in thorium MSR technology." In addition, Dr. Jiang Mianheng, son of China's former leader Jiang Zemin, led a thorium delegation in non-disclosure talks at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, and by late 2013 China had officially partnered with Oak Ridge to aid China in its own development. The World Nuclear Association notes that the China Academy of Sciences in January 2011 announced its R&D program, "claiming to have the world's largest national effort on it, hoping to obtain full intellectual property rights on the technology." According to Martin, "China has made clear its intention to go it alone," adding that China already has a monopoly over most of the world's rare earth minerals.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In March 2014, with their reliance on coal-fired power having become a major cause of their current "smog crisis", they reduced their original goal of creating a working reactor from 25 years down to 10. "In the past, the government was interested in nuclear power because of the energy shortage. Now they are more interested because of smog", said Professor Li Zhong, a scientist working on the project. "This is definitely a race", he added.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In early 2012, it was reported that China, using components produced by the West and Russia, planned to build two prototypes, one of them a molten salt-cooled pebble-bed reactor by 2015, and a research molten salt reactor by 2017, had budgeted the project at $400 million and requiring 400 workers. China also finalized an agreement with a Canadian nuclear technology company to develop improved CANDU reactors using thorium and uranium as a fuel.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: By 2019 two of the reactors were under construction in the Gobi desert, with completion expected around 2025. China expects to put thorium reactors into commercial use by 2030. At least one of the 2 MW thorium prototypes, either a molten salt reactor, or a molten salt-cooled reactor, is nearing completion, with startup in September 2021.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: As of 24 June 2021, China has reported that the Gobi molten salt reactor will be completed on schedule with tests beginning as early as September 2021. The new reactor is a part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's drive to make China carbon-neutral by 2060. China hopes to complete the world's first commercial thorium reactor by 2030 and has planned to further build more thorium power plants across the low populated deserts and plains of western China, as well as up to 30 nations involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative. In August 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment informed the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) that its commissioning plan for the LF1 had been approved.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: The German THTR-300 was a prototype commercial power station using thorium as fertile and highly enriched U-235 as fissile fuel. Though named thorium high temperature reactor, mostly U-235 was fissioned. The THTR-300 was a helium-cooled high-temperature reactor with a pebble-bed reactor core consisting of approximately 670,000 spherical fuel compacts each 6 centimetres (2.4 in) in diameter with particles of uranium-235 and thorium-232 fuel embedded in a graphite matrix.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: It fed power to Germany's grid for 432 days in the late 1980s, before it was shut down for cost, mechanical and other reasons.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: India has the largest supplies of thorium in the world, with comparatively poor quantities of uranium. India has projected meeting as much as 30% of its electrical demands through thorium by 2050.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In February 2014, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai, India, presented their latest design for a "next-generation nuclear reactor" that burns thorium as its fuel ore, calling it the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR). They estimated the reactor could function without an operator for 120 days. Validation of its core reactor physics was underway by late 2017.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: According to Dr R K Sinha, chairman of their Atomic Energy Commission, "This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, mostly imported, and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change." Because of its inherent safety, they expect that similar designs could be set up "within" populated cities, like Mumbai or Delhi.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Indian government is also developing up to 62 reactors, mostly thorium-based, which it expects to be operational by 2025. India is the "only country in the world with a detailed, funded, government-approved plan" to focus on thorium-based nuclear power. The country currently gets under 2% of its electricity from nuclear power, with the rest coming from coal (60%), hydroelectricity (16%), other renewable sources (12%) and natural gas (9%). It expects to produce around 25% of its electricity from nuclear power. In 2009 the chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission said that India has a "long-term objective goal of becoming energy-independent based on its vast thorium resources to meet India's economic ambitions."


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In late June 2012, India announced that their "first commercial fast reactor" was near completion, making India the most advanced country in thorium research. "We have huge reserves of thorium. The challenge is to develop technology for converting this to fissile material," stated their former Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission. That vision of using thorium in place of uranium was set out in the 1950s by physicist Homi Bhabha. India's first commercial fast breeder reactor—the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)—is approaching completion at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: As of July 2013 the major equipment of the PFBR had been erected and the loading of "dummy" fuels in peripheral locations was in progress. The reactor was expected to go critical by September 2014. The Centre had sanctioned Rs. 5,677 crore for building the PFBR and "we will definitely build the reactor within that amount," Mr. Kumar asserted. The original cost of the project was Rs. 3,492 crore, revised to Rs. 5,677 crore. Electricity generated from the PFBR would be sold to the State Electricity Boards at Rs. 4.44 a unit. BHAVINI builds breeder reactors in India.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In 2013 India's 300 MWe AHWR (pressurized heavy water reactor) was slated to be built at an undisclosed location. The design envisages a start up with reactor grade plutonium that breeds U-233 from Th-232. Thereafter, thorium is to be the only fuel. As of 2017, the design was in the final stages of validation.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Delays have since postponed the commissioning [criticality?] of the PFBR to September 2016, but India's commitment to long-term nuclear energy production is underscored by the approval in 2015 of ten new sites for reactors of unspecified types, though procurement of primary fissile material—preferably plutonium—may be problematic due to India's low uranium reserves and capacity for production.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: P3Tek, an agency of the Indonesia Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource, has reviewed a thorium molten salt reactor by Thorcon called the TMSR-500. The study reported that building a ThorCon TMSR-500 would meet Indonesia's regulations for nuclear energy safety and performance.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In May 2010, researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York began to collaborate on the development of thorium reactors, aimed at being self-sustaining, "meaning one that will produce and consume about the same amounts of fuel," which is not possible with uranium in a light water reactor.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In June 2012, Japan utility Chubu Electric Power wrote that they regard thorium as "one of future possible energy resources".


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In late 2012, Norway's privately owned Thor Energy, in collaboration with the government and Westinghouse, announced a four-year trial using thorium in an existing nuclear reactor. In 2013, Aker Solutions purchased patents from Nobel Prize winning physicist Carlo Rubbia for the design of a proton accelerator-based thorium nuclear power plant.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In Britain, one organisation promoting or examining research on thorium-based nuclear plants is The Alvin Weinberg Foundation. House of Lords member Bryony Worthington is promoting thorium, calling it "the forgotten fuel" that could alter Britain's energy plans. However, in 2010, the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) concluded that for the short to medium term, "...the thorium fuel cycle does not currently have a role to play," in that it is "technically immature, and would require a significant financial investment and risk without clear benefits," and concluded that the benefits have been "overstated." Friends of the Earth UK considers research into it as "useful" as a fallback option.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: In its January 2012 report to the United States Secretary of Energy, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Future notes that a "molten-salt reactor using thorium [has] also been proposed". That same month it was reported that the US Department of Energy is "quietly collaborating with China" on thorium-based nuclear power designs using an MSR.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Some experts and politicians want thorium to be "the pillar of the U.S. nuclear future". Then-Senators Harry Reid and Orrin Hatch supported using $250 million in federal research funds to revive ORNL research. In 2009, Congressman Joe Sestak unsuccessfully attempted to secure funding for research and development of a destroyer-sized reactor [reactor of a size to power a destroyer] using thorium-based liquid fuel.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Alvin Radkowsky, chief designer of the world's second full-scale atomic electric power plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, founded a joint US and Russian project in 1997 to create a thorium-based reactor, considered a "creative breakthrough". In 1992, while a resident professor in Tel Aviv, Israel, he founded the US company, Thorium Power Ltd., near Washington, D.C., to build thorium reactors.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: The primary fuel of the proposed HTR research project near Odessa, Texas, United States, will be ceramic-coated thorium beads. The reactor construction has not yet begun. Estimates to complete a reactor were originally set at ten years in 2006 (with a proposed operational date of 2015).


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: On the research potential of thorium-based nuclear power, Richard L. Garwin, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Georges Charpak advise further study of the Energy amplifier in their book "Megawatts and Megatons" (2001), pp. 153–63.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Thorium is mostly found with the rare earth phosphate mineral, monazite, which contains up to about 12% thorium phosphate, but 6–7% on average. World monazite resources are estimated to be about 12 million tons, two-thirds of which are in heavy mineral sands deposits on the south and east coasts of India. There are substantial deposits in several other countries "(see table "World thorium reserves")". Monazite is a good source of REEs (rare earth elements), but monazites are currently not economical to produce because the radioactive thorium that is produced as a byproduct would have to be stored indefinitely. However, if thorium-based power plants were adopted on a large-scale, virtually all the world's thorium requirements could be supplied simply by refining monazites for their more valuable REEs.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: Another estimate of reasonably assured reserves (RAR) and estimated additional reserves (EAR) of thorium comes from OECD/NEA, Nuclear Energy, "Trends in Nuclear Fuel Cycle", Paris, France (2001). "(see table "IAEA Estimates in tons")"


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: The preceding figures are reserves and as such refer to the amount of thorium in high-concentration deposits inventoried so far and estimated to be extractable at current market prices; millions of times more total exist in Earth's 3 tonne crust, around 120 trillion tons of thorium, and lesser but vast quantities of thorium exist at intermediate concentrations. Proved reserves are a good indicator of the total future supply of a mineral resource.


title: Thorium-based nuclear power

text: According to the World Nuclear Association, seven types of reactors can use thorium fuel. Six have entered into service at some point:


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: Yafeu Akiyele Fula (October 9, 1977 – November 10, 1996), better known by his stage name Yaki Kadafi, was an American rapper and a founder and member of the hip hop groups Outlawz and Dramacydal.


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: Yafeu Fula was born in the Bronx, New York City, on October 9, 1977, to Sekou Odinga and Yaasmyn Fula. When he was four years old his father Sekou Odinga was arrested and imprisoned; he was raised by his mother and adopted her surname.


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: Kadafi's parents were both members of the Black Panther Party. Yaasmyn Fula and Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, were close friends, and Kadafi and Tupac were friends until their respective deaths in 1996. Kadafi has two daughters.


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: In 1994, Fula met up again with his childhood friend Mutah "Napoleon" Beale. Yaasmyn Fula, the mother of Yafeu, introduced Napoleon to Tupac Shakur, and all three created Dramacydal. Yafeu, only 16, took on the stage name "Young Hollywood". The group appeared on Tupac's album "Me Against the World".


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: In 1995, upon Tupac's release from prison, Kadafi met with him to sign with Death Row. He guest-starred on Tupac's "All Eyez on Me" and was featured on three songs. The Outlawz recorded frequently with Tupac throughout 1996.


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: Fula also teamed up with fellow Outlawz member Hussein Fatal to record material under the name "Fatal-N-Felony".


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: On September 13, 1996, Tupac died after being shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on September 7. Kadafi was in the car directly behind Tupac, and claimed to have seen a white Cadillac pull up alongside him and open fire.


title: Yaki Kadafi

text: On November 10, 1996, Fula was shot dead in Orange, New Jersey. Police found his body in the hallway of a friend's apartment building upon responding to a report of gunfire. He was 19 years old. Fellow Outlawz rapper Napoleon, whose cousin Rashad "Roddy" Beale had killed Fula, said in a 2017 interview that Beale had called the shooting accidental and turned himself in to police, and served "7 or 8 years" in prison. Fula's mother responded that his death was intentional as Beale had threatened Fula beforehand, and claimed that Beale's family had also threatened witnesses. Fula is buried at Glendale Cemetery, Bloomfield.


title: Angiography

text: Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins, and the heart chambers. Modern angiography is performed by injecting a radio-opaque contrast agent into the blood vessel and imaging using X-ray based techniques such as fluoroscopy.


title: Angiography

text: The word itself comes from the Greek words ἀγγεῖον "angeion" 'vessel' and γράφειν "graphein" 'to write, record'. The film or image of the blood vessels is called an "angiograph", or more commonly an "angiogram". Though the word can describe both an arteriogram and a venogram, in everyday usage the terms angiogram and arteriogram are often used synonymously, whereas the term venogram is used more precisely.


title: Angiography

text: The term angiography has been applied to radionuclide angiography and newer vascular imaging techniques such as CO angiography, CT angiography and MR angiography. The term "isotope angiography" has also been used, although this more correctly is referred to as isotope perfusion scanning.


title: Angiography

text: The technique was first developed in 1927 by the Portuguese physician and neurologist Egas Moniz at the University of Lisbon to provide contrasted X-ray cerebral angiography in order to diagnose several kinds of nervous diseases, such as tumors, artery disease and arteriovenous malformations. Moniz is recognized as the pioneer in this field. He performed the first cerebral angiogram in Lisbon in 1927, and Reynaldo dos Santos performed the first aortogram in the same city in 1929. In fact, many current angiography techniques were developed by the Portuguese at the University of Lisbon. For example, in 1932, Lopo de Carvalho performed the first pulmonary angiogram via venous puncture of the superior member. In 1948 the first cavogram was performed by Sousa Pereira. Radial access technique for angiography can be traced back to 1953, where Eduardo Pereira first cannulated the radial artery to perform a coronary angiogram. With the introduction of the Seldinger technique in 1953, the procedure became markedly safer as no sharp introductory devices needed to remain inside the vascular lumen.


title: Angiography

text: Depending on the type of angiogram, access to the blood vessels is gained most commonly through the femoral artery, to look at the left side of the heart and at the arterial system; or the jugular or femoral vein, to look at the right side of the heart and at the venous system. Using a system of guide wires and catheters, a type of contrast agent (which shows up by absorbing the X-rays), is added to the blood to make it visible on the X-ray images.


title: Angiography

text: The X-ray images taken may either be still, displayed on an image intensifier or film, or motion images. For all structures except the heart, the images are usually taken using a technique called digital subtraction angiography or DSA. Images in this case are usually taken at 2–3 frames per second, which allows the interventional radiologist to evaluate the flow of the blood through a vessel or vessels. This technique "subtracts" the bones and other organs so only the vessels filled with contrast agent can be seen. The heart images are taken at 15–30 frames per second, not using a subtraction technique. Because DSA requires the patient to remain motionless, it cannot be used on the heart. Both these techniques enable the interventional radiologist or cardiologist to see stenosis (blockages or narrowings) inside the vessel which may be inhibiting the flow of blood and causing pain.


title: Angiography

text: After the procedure has been completed, if the femoral technique is applied, the site of arterial entry is either manually compressed, stapled shut, or sutured in order to prevent access-site complications.


title: Angiography

text: One of the most common angiograms performed is to visualize the blood in the coronary arteries. A long, thin, flexible tube called a catheter is used to administer the X-ray contrast agent at the desired area to be visualized. The catheter is threaded into an artery in the forearm, and the tip is advanced through the arterial system into the major coronary artery. X-ray images of the transient radiocontrast distribution within the blood flowing inside the coronary arteries allows visualization of the size of the artery openings. The presence or absence of atherosclerosis or atheroma within the walls of the arteries cannot be clearly determined.


title: Angiography

text: Coronary angiography can visualize coronary artery stenosis, or narrowing of the blood vessel. The degree of stenosis can be determined by comparing the width of the lumen of narrowed segments of blood vessel with wider segments of adjacent vessel.


title: Angiography

text: Cerebral angiography provides images of blood vessels in and around the brain to detect abnormalities, including arteriovenous malformations and aneurysms. One common cerebral angiographic procedure is neuro-vascular digital subtraction angiography.


title: Angiography

text: Angiography is also commonly performed to identify vessels narrowing in patients with leg claudication or "cramps", caused by reduced blood flow down the legs and to the feet; in patients with renal stenosis (which commonly causes high blood pressure) and can be used in the head to find and repair stroke. These are all done routinely through the femoral artery, but can also be performed through the brachial or axillary (arm) artery. Any stenoses found may be treated by the use of balloon angioplasty, stenting, or atherectomy.


title: Angiography

text: Fluorescein angiography is a medical procedure in which a fluorescent dye is injected into the bloodstream. The dye highlights the blood vessels in the back of the eye so they can be photographed. This test is often used to manage eye disorders.


title: Angiography

text: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a technology using near-infrared light to image the eye, in particular penetrate the retina to view the micro-structure behind the retinal surface.


title: Angiography

text: ocular OCT angiography (OCTA) is a method leveraging OCT technology to assess the vascular health of the retina.


title: Angiography

text: Post mortem CT angiography for medicolegal cases is a method initially developed by the Virtopsy group. Originating from that project, both watery and oily solutions have been evaluated.


title: Angiography

text: While oily solutions require special deposition equipment to collect waste water, watery solutions seem to be regarded as less problematic. Watery solutions also were documented to enhance post mortem CT tissue differentiation whereas oily solutions were not. Conversely, oily solutions seem to only minimally disturb ensuing toxicological analysis, while watery solutions may significantly impede toxicological analysis, thus requiring blood sample preservation before post mortem CT angiography.


title: Angiography

text: After an angiogram, a sudden shock can cause a little pain at the surgery area, but heart attacks and strokes usually don't occur, as they may in bypass surgery.


title: Angiography

text: Major complications in cerebral angiography such as in digital subtraction angiography or contrast MRI are also rare but include stroke, an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic other medication or the contrast medium, blockage or damage to one of the access veins in the leg, pseudoaneurysm at the puncture site; or thrombosis and embolism formation. Bleeding or bruising at the site where the contrast is injected are minor complications, delayed bleeding can also occur but is rare.


title: Angiography

text: The contrast medium that is used usually produces a sensation of warmth lasting only a few seconds, but may be felt in a greater degree in the area of injection. If the patient is allergic to the contrast medium, much more serious side effects are inevitable; however, with new contrast agents the risk of a severe reaction is less than one in 80,000 examinations. Additionally, damage to blood vessels can occur at the site of puncture/injection, and anywhere along the vessel during passage of the catheter. If digital subtraction angiography is used instead, the risks are considerably reduced because the catheter does not need to be passed as far into the blood vessels; thus lessening the chances of damage or blockage.


title: Angiography

text: Antibiotic prophylaxis may be given in those procedures that are not clean, or clean procedures that results in generation of infarcted or necrotic tissues such as embolisation. Routine diagnostic angiography is often considered a clean procedure. Prophylaxis is also given to prevent infection from infected space into blood stream.


title: Angiography

text: There are six risk factors causing thrombosis after arterial puncture: low blood pressure, small arterial diameter, multiple puncture tries, long duration of cannulation, administration of vasopressor/inotropic agents, and the usage of catheters with side holes.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, toffs and bounders, using his distinctive voice; his costume and props tended to include a monocle, waistcoat and cigarette holder. His striking dress sense was set off by a gap between his two upper front teeth.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Born in London, Terry-Thomas made his film debut, uncredited, in "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (1933). He spent several years appearing in smaller roles, before wartime service with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and Stars in Battledress. The experience helped sharpen his cabaret and revue act, increased his public profile and proved instrumental in the development of his successful comic stage routine. On his demobilisation, he starred in "Piccadilly Hayride" on the London stage and was the star of the first comedy series on British television, "How Do You View?" (1949). He appeared on various BBC Radio shows, and made a successful transition into British films. His most creative period was the 1950s when he appeared in "Private's Progress" (1956), "The Green Man" (1956), "Blue Murder at St Trinian's" (1957), "I'm All Right Jack" (1959) and "Carlton-Browne of the F.O." (1959).


title: Terry-Thomas

text: From the early 1960s Terry-Thomas began appearing in American films, coarsening his already unsubtle screen character in films such as "Bachelor Flat" (1962), "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963) and "How to Murder Your Wife" (1965). From the mid-1960s on he also frequently starred in European films, in roles such as Sir Reginald in the successful French film "La Grande Vadrouille". In 1971 Terry-Thomas was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which slowly brought his career to a conclusion; his last film role was in 1980. He spent much of his fortune on medical treatment and, shortly before his death, was living in poverty, existing on charity from the Actors' Benevolent Fund. In 1989, a charity gala was held in his honour, which raised sufficient funds for him to live his remaining time in a nursing home.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas was born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens at 53 Lichfield Grove, Finchley, North London. He was the fourth of five children born to Ernest Frederick Stevens, managing director of a butcher's business at Smithfield Market and part-time amateur actor, and his wife Ellen Elizabeth Stevens (née Hoar). As a child, Terry-Thomas was often referred to as Tom, the diminutive used by his family. He led a generally happy childhood, but believed his parents secretly desired a daughter in his place. By the time he reached adolescence, his parents' marriage had failed and both became alcoholics. In an attempt to bring them together, he often entertained them by performing impromptu slapstick routines, reciting jokes and singing and dancing around the family home. The performances seldom worked, and his father became increasingly distant from his family.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1921 Terry-Thomas began to nurture his distinctive, well-spoken voice, reasoning that "using good speech automatically suggested that you were well-educated and made people look up to you". He used the speech of the actor Owen Nares as a basis for his own delivery. Terry-Thomas became fascinated by the stage, and regularly attended the Golders Green Hippodrome to see the latest shows. It was there that he developed an interest in fashion, and adopted the debonair dress-sense of his hero Douglas Fairbanks. He attended Fernbank School in Hendon Lane, Finchley, which was a welcome escape from the stresses of his parents' break-up. When he was 13, he transferred to Ardingly College, a public school in Sussex. He excelled in Latin and geography, and briefly took up drama. The latter subject later led to his expulsion from the school, after his frequent and inappropriate use of ad lib during lessons. He also took up a position in the school jazz band, first playing the ukulele and then percussion. He also often performed comedy dance routines to the band's music.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas enjoyed his time at Ardingly, and relished his association with upper middle class school friends. His academic abilities were modest, and he came to the notice of staff only through his frequent tomfoolery. Although he initially felt intimidated by his school surroundings, his confidence grew as he put on "a bold, undiluted and sustained show of "chutzpah"", according to his biographer, Graham McCann. On his return home to Finchley in 1927, his more mature manner impressed the family's housekeeper Kate Dixon, who seduced him at the family home. He stayed at Ardingly for one more term and returned home to London, but made no plans to further his education or start long-term work. Instead, he accepted a temporary position at Smithfield Market, where he earned 15 shillings a week as a junior transport clerk for the Union Cold Storage Company.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: By his own admission, he never stopped "farting around" and often kept his colleagues entertained with impersonations of the Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Erich von Stroheim. He invented various characters, including Colonel Featherstonehaugh-Bumleigh and Cora Chessington-Crabbe, and frequently recited comic stories involving them to his colleagues. His characterisations soon came to the notice of the company's management who prompted him to enrol in the company's amateur drama club. He made his début with the drama company as Lord Trench in "The Dover Road" which was staged at the Fortune Theatre, London. The production was popular with audiences, and he subsequently became a regular performer in amateur productions.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas made his professional stage début on 11 April 1930 at a social evening organised by the Union of Electric Railwaymen's Dining Club in South Kensington. He was billed as Thos Stevens, but only appeared as a minor turn. His performance brought heckles from the drunken audience, but earned him a commission of 30 shillings. After this, he played a few minor roles in Gilbert and Sullivan productions by the Edgware Operatic Society at the Scala Theatre. In 1933, he left Smithfield Market to work briefly with a friend at an electrical shop before he became travelling salesman of electrical equipment. He enjoyed the job and relished being able to dress up in elaborate clothing in order to make his pitch. In his spare time, he began playing the ukulele with a local jazz band called the Rhythm Maniacs. He took up dancing and formed a partnership with a sister of Jessie Matthews. The act starred in local exhibitions and at minor venues, and they earned well from it. News soon travelled of the couple's talent, and they were engaged as ballroom dancers at a hall in Cricklewood. He found the dance-style too restrictive and he left the act to try other aspects of entertainment.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: By 1933 Terry-Thomas had moved out of Finchley and into a friend's flat; the friend was a film extra who introduced him to the idea of working in the industry. Terry-Thomas made his uncredited film debut in the 1933 film, "The Private Life of Henry VIII", which starred Charles Laughton in the title role. Between 1933 and 1941 Terry-Thomas appeared in 16 films, as an uncredited extra in all but one; he later said that "this work suited me down to the ground. It wasn't really like work to me. I got an enormous kick out of it". His first speaking role came in the 1935 Buddy Rogers comedy "Once in a Million" where he shouted "A thousand!" during an auction. During the 1936 musical comedy "This'll Make You Whistle", starring Jack Buchanan, he permanently damaged his hearing as a result of jumping into a water tank. In between his film work, he developed his cabaret act and was employed as a dance teacher at the Aida Foster School of Dancing in Golders Green.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: During this period, he billed himself as Thomas (or Thos) Stevens. He briefly used its backward spelling, Mot Snevets, then changed it to Thomas Terry. He soon realised people were mistaking him as a relative of Dame Ellen Terry, so he inverted the name to Terry Thomas. He did not add the hyphen until 1947, and later explained that it was "not for snob reasons, but to tie the two names together. They didn't mean much apart; together they made a trade name". He said the hyphen was also "to match the gap in his front teeth". By now he was developing a unique sense of style on and off stage. To avoid staining his fingers with nicotine, he used a cigarette holder and later purchased "the most irresistible holder in Dunhill's. It was slightly outré because it was made of lacquered, black whangee ... with a gold band twisting neatly round it". Adding to his look were a "monocle, raffish waistcoat and red carnation". He later wrote that "sartorially I was an eccentric. But I knew that underneath the clothes I was very much a conservative Englishman who would have loved to have been a genuine eccentric".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1937 he met South African dancer and choreographer Ida Florence Patlansky, who used the stage-name Pat Patlanski, while she was auditioning in London for a partner for her flamenco dancing act. Patlanski was keen to employ Terry-Thomas as a comedian rather than a dancer, and they established a cabaret double-act, "Terri and Patlanski", which was immediately popular. They became romantically involved, married on 3 February 1938 at Marylebone Register Office, and moved to 29 Bronwen Court in St John's Wood. Despite their success, the act lasted only three months and they took on small engagements on the cabaret circuit.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: On 6 June 1938 Terry-Thomas made his first radio broadcast on the BBC London Regional dance programme "Friends to Tea". He later recounted that "I didn't give a very good performance ... I was a dismal failure". At the end of the summer of 1938 they were hired by the bandleader Don Rico, who incorporated them into his orchestra, with Patlanski playing the piano and Terry-Thomas acting as the compère.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was formed in 1938 to provide entertainment to the British Armed Forces. Terry-Thomas and Patlanski signed up in 1939 and during the Phoney War were posted to France, where they appeared in a variety show. From early in their marriage, Patlanski had affairs, which prompted Terry-Thomas to reciprocate; he made sure he was sent on tour to France where a girlfriend was due to perform, although Patlanski accompanied him on the trip. During the tour, Terry-Thomas ensured Patlanski was sent back to Britain to enable him to continue his affair. On his return to Britain, he continued with his solo variety act, while also acting as the head of the cabaret section of ENSA at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he clashed regularly with his counterparts running the drama sections, Sir Seymour Hicks and Lilian Braithwaite. Terry-Thomas aimed to produce "good shows, sophisticated, impeccable and highly polished", which included the violinist Eugene Pini playing light classical music, and the Gainsborough Girls chorus line.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In April 1942 Terry-Thomas received his call-up papers; he later wrote that "it would have seemed rather rude and ungrateful to refuse"; as a result, he left ENSA and reported to the Royal Corps of Signals training depot in Ossett, West Riding of Yorkshire. Within two weeks of his arrival he hired Ossett Town Hall and staged a concert, which included a freshly written sketch about his feet, which had been suffering in his army boots. After basic training he was promoted to the rank of corporal and applied for a commission. He was turned down because training had caused a duodenal ulcer, and his hearing was still problematic; as a result he was downgraded from A1 to B1 fitness at the start of 1943.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas continued to appear in cabaret and variety shows while in the army, including at the Astoria Cinema in York, where he was seen by George Black. Black established the entertainment troupe, Stars in Battledress, which was composed of entertainers who were serving in the forces, and he invited Terry-Thomas to join. In February 1943 he appeared in his first Stars in Battledress show at London's Olympia, where he introduced the sketch "Technical Hitch". This involved him portraying a harassed BBC announcer introducing records that are missing. In order to cover up for the absent records he would use his vocal range of four and a half octaves to mimic the singers; he included "impersonations of Britain's clipped crooner Noël Coward, the African-American bass-baritone Paul Robeson, the Peruvian songbird Yma Sumac, the Austrian tenor Richard Tauber and ... the entire Luton Girls Choir". The show went on a national tour, with the stand-up comedian Charlie Chester as compere, during which Terry-Thomas refined and polished his act and finished as "one of the most prominent and influential members of Stars in Battledress".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas, along with his Stars in Battledress unit, travelled through Britain and Europe on a tour that lasted several months. After the tour, and with his demobilisation approaching, he took compassionate leave to have free time while still receiving army pay. During his absence he went on a tour of the UK organised by George Black, accompanied on the piano by a former colonel, Harry Sutcliffe. Terry-Thomas finished the war as a sergeant, and was finally demobbed on 1 April 1946.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: The ENSA and Stars in Battledress tours of Britain and Europe had raised Terry-Thomas's profile and, by October 1946, he was appearing alongside Sid Field in "Piccadilly Hayride" at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London. The show was described by Graham McCann as "the West End's biggest money-spinner for years". Terry-Thomas compered the show as well as appearing in some of the sketches, including his own "Technical Hitch" routine. In 1959 he described the effect of "Piccadilly Hayride" on his career, saying "This show made me overnight. I'd arrived". Ivor Brown, writing in "The Observer", remarked on the "glorious rag of BBC modes, moods and intonations by Mr. Terry Thomas, a grand discovery". Within three weeks of starting his run, Terry-Thomas was invited to appear at the Royal Command Performance on 4 November 1946 at the London Palladium.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: "Piccadilly Hayride" ran for 778 performances and ended on 17 January 1948. The show was seen by over a million people and earned £350,000 at the box office. In conjunction with "Piccadilly Hayride", Terry-Thomas undertook a number of other additional one-off appearances in cabaret and private functions. He also appeared in editions of "Variety Bandbox" and "Workers' Playtime" on BBC Radio. His ever-evolving act consisted of imitations, including that of his friend, the musician Leslie Hutchinson (known as "Hutch"); sketches, including "Technical Hitch"; urbane monologues, and "languid shaggy dog stories". At the end of his run with "Piccadilly Hayride", Terry-Thomas took a three-week break to recover from nervous exhaustion and a recurrence of his peptic ulcer. He went back to cabaret and acted as a compere at the London Palladium before making his radio breakthrough on 12 October 1948 with his own series on the BBC Home Service. Consisting of a "mixture of sketches, solo routines, musical interludes and a range of popular and topical star guests", "To Town with Terry" was broadcast weekly and ran for 24 episodes until 28 March 1949. He was disappointed with the series, saying "I was never totally satisfied with [it] ... The perfectionist in me always made me aware of anything that was less than first class". He also appeared in his first post-war film, "A Date with a Dream", in 1949, alongside his wife.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: On 26 October 1949 Terry-Thomas wrote and starred in a new series on the BBC Television Service, "How Do You View?", noted for being the first comedy series on British television. The programme was based around an on-screen persona of Terry-Thomas as "a glamorous, mischievous and discreetly cash-strapped man-about-town", introducing a series of sketches in which he appeared alongside Peter Butterworth as his chauffeur; Janet Brown (Butterworth's real-life wife); Avril Angers; H.C. Walton as the family retainer, Moulting; and Diana Dors. The programme was broadcast live and often included Terry-Thomas walking through control rooms and corridors of the BBC's Lime Grove and Alexandra Palace studios. The author and historian Mark Lewisohn described the series as being "inventive ... truly televisual and not just a radio programme in costume". The series ran until 21 December 1949; a second series followed between April and May 1950, with Sid Colin taking over the scripting duties and Terry-Thomas providing additional material. By the third series, which was broadcast between November 1950 and February 1951, the audience reached four million viewers. In total there were five series of "How Do You View?"; the final episode was broadcast on 11 June 1952. Writing about Terry-Thomas on television, Wilfred Greatorex observed that "he has ... physical attributes that make him a gift to visual entertainment: a large, rather gaunt face, pre-fabricated for close-ups; the notorious space of one-third of an inch between his two most prominent top teeth; a mouth that is full of expression. Add to these pictoral advantages his eight-inch cigarette holder and Eddie Cantor eyes".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In between filming "How Do You View?", Terry-Thomas continued performing on radio as well as in cabaret, in Britain and increasingly the US. In October and November 1949 he appeared at the Palmer House Night Club, Chicago; in June 1951 he appeared at The Wedgwood Room, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, and between 22 December 1951 and 29 February 1952 he returned to the London Palladium for 109 performances in "Humpty Dumpty". In September 1952 he travelled to the Federation of Malaya to entertain British troops in a series of concert parties, before returning to the UK to appear in the "Royal Variety Performance" in November. He finished the year in South Africa, as Honourable Idle Jack in "Dick Whittington", which finished in January 1953; he considered the pantomime to be "so tatty and unrehearsed it was pathetic".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In June 1953 Terry-Thomas broadcast the pilot episode of the radio show, "Top of the Town"; the show was successful and the BBC commissioned a series of 16 episodes, which ran between November 1953 and February 1954. In between recording sessions, he appeared at the London Palladium in the revue "Fun and the Fair", with George Formby and the Billy Cotton band, from October 1953. "Fun and the Fair" was unsuccessful at the box office and closed on 19 December 1953, after 138 performances. Terry-Thomas then reprised his role of Idle Jack for a run of performances in the Granada theatres of Sutton and Woolwich, and the Finsbury Park Empire, which ran to the end of January 1954. That year, he separated from Patlanski following an increase in domestic tension and the plethora of affairs in which they had both indulged. Patlanski moved out of the shared home, and the couple lived separate lives; the press did not report the separation until 1957.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas spent the 1954 summer season performing at the Winter Gardens Pavilion, Blackpool before starring in a second series of "Top of the Town", which ran from October 1954 to February 1955. At the end of the series he appeared as Hubert Crone in the play "Room for Two", which had a UK tour prior to a run at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London. The last stop on the UK tour was at the Brighton Hippodrome, where Terry-Thomas broke his arm on stage; he returned to the show five days later when the tour reached London. He later joked that "the audience roared with laughter when I fell and made horrible faces, so much so that I considered breaking the other arm for an encore". The London run was not a success and the show closed after 48 performances.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In February 1956 Terry-Thomas appeared on "Desert Island Discs", and chose two songs from his "Technical Hitch" routine as part of his selection. Later that year he appeared in his first major film roles: Charles Boughtflower in "The Green Man", and Major Hitchcock, "a charlatan military officer on the take", in "Private's Progress", directed by the Boulting brothers. Terry-Thomas appeared in the latter film only briefly, with a total screen time of about ten minutes, but his biographer Graham McCann thought the actor "came close to stealing the show from the central character", Windrush played by Ian Carmichael. Terry-Thomas's depiction of the character was not how he wished to play it: his desired choice was that of a "silly-ass" sergeant major, but the role was written as a strict, alcohol and prescription drug-dependent Army officer. He was initially disappointed with the role, and turned it down but, after being persuaded to accept it by his agent, he embraced its possibilities. One of his lines, delivered in his clipped upper class voice, was "You're an absolute shower", which became a catchphrase for him. The Boulting brothers were so impressed with Terry-Thomas's performance that they signed him up to a five-film deal.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: The first of the five films was "Brothers in Law", in which Terry-Thomas played the spiv Alfred Green, a performance which was based on Sid Field's characterisation in "Piccadilly Hayride". Roy Boulting later recounted that one short scene with Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough and Ian Carmichael took 107 takes because of Terry-Thomas's unfamiliarity with filming techniques; he initially struggled to hit his marks, or give his line and move on, while still acting. Filming the scene took two days and Boulting described it as "an unique experience for him, and had a wonderful after-effect". Following "Brothers in Law" he was cast as Romney Carlton-Ricketts in "Blue Murder at St Trinian's" by producers Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, before again appearing for the Boulting brothers in the cameo role of a local policeman in "Happy Is the Bride". Terry-Thomas starred in two further films in 1957. The first was as Bertrand Welch in "Lucky Jim", an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Kingsley Amis. Although Amis thought Terry-Thomas has been "totally miscast as Bertrand, the posturing painter and leading shit" of the book, the critic for "The Manchester Guardian" considered Terry-Thomas as being "the nearest to a complete success" in the film, in a portrayal that "suggests possibilities for more serious roles". His final part of 1957 was Lord Henry Mayley in "The Naked Truth"; this brought him together with Peter Sellers for the first time, and the two of them appeared frequently together over the next few years in scenes in which, Graham McCann considered that each actor's performance "highlight[ed] what was special about the other". During one scene Terry-Thomas was dumped in a near-freezing lake, and his health was affected for some time afterwards.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1958 Terry-Thomas received the first of his two film award nominations, the BAFTA Award for the "Best British Actor in 1959" for the part of Ivan in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film "tom thumb". He later described the film as his second favourite; he appeared opposite Sellers for much of his screen time, and later said that "my part was perfect, but Peter's was bloody awful. He wasn't difficult about it, but he knew it". Terry-Thomas was still suffering with poor health following the filming of "The Naked Truth" when he suffered an attack of lumbago; filming went on for 85 days during 1957–58, and he took painkillers to enable him to continue. The role was physically demanding, and required him to ride a horse, run long distances and fight in a duel. He said he fought and ran "just as [he] had seen Douglas Fairbanks Snr do in "The Mark of Zorro"". Towards the end of filming, Terry-Thomas went to a Christmas party at the Trocadero, where he drank champagne, as well as taking codeine tablets, and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. He considered the arresting policemen to have been rude, and "their attitude made me extremely angry and when I get angry ... I just go completely off my nut". The case came to court on 14 March 1958 and his legal team from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer provided a medical report which showed Terry-Thomas had been on a course of prescription painkillers due to a gruelling filming schedule; along with inconsistencies in the arresting policemen's notes, the case proved inconclusive and was dismissed. For much of the rest of 1958, Terry-Thomas appeared on stage at the London Palladium in "Large as Life", alongside Harry Secombe, Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques. He played one of the Three Musketeers in one sketch and had another turn called "Filling the Gap"; the show ran for a total of 380 performances between May and December 1958. He also released his first record, "Strictly T-T", a collection of comic songs and sketches.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1959 Terry-Thomas published his first autobiography, "Filling the Gap", named after his spot in "Large as Life"; he explained that "everything that has been printed about me is lies. I'm not suggesting the writers were lying, I was". During the year he also appeared in two further instalments of the Boultings brothers' series of institutional satires, having appeared in the previous three. The first, in which he was joined again by Sellers, was "Carlton-Browne of the F.O.", in which he played Cadogan de Vere Carlton-Browne, a character he described as being "rubble from the nostrils up", "a certain type of Englishman, the Englishman who reads "The Times" and no other newspaper. A brolly carrier. A squash player. A bowler hat wearer. White collar, stiff, of course". Film writer Andrew Spicer thought Terry-Thomas's role "was the quintessential upper-class 'silly-ass', a sad relic of a vanished world". The film was initially chosen as Britain's entry for the 1959 Moscow International Film Festival until the Foreign Office petitioned the British Film Producers' Association for it to be withdrawn on the basis that the Russians might consider the film to accurately portray British diplomatic behaviour.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas's final film with the Boulting brothers was "I'm All Right Jack", a post-war follow-up to "Private's Progress" with Terry-Thomas reprising the role of Major Hitchcock in an industrial setting, as the "tetchily incompetent" personnel manager. Many of the other cast from "Private's Progress" also returned, including Attenborough, Carmichael and Dennis Price; they were joined by Peter Sellers, who took most of the plaudits from the critics, although Stanley Kauffman, writing in "The New Republic" also delighted in Terry-Thomas's "finesse" and "extraordinary skill". The "Los Angeles Times" retrospectively considered "I'm All Right Jack" and "Carlton-Browne of the F.O." to have been Terry-Thomas's best works. His final film of 1959 was as William Delany Gordon in "Too Many Crooks". Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" thought Terry-Thomas provided "some of the fieriest conniptions to be seen on the contemporary screen", going on to say the actor's "skill is exercised in demonstrating how magnificently and completely a mad-cap comedian can completely blow his top. His eyes flash, his lips curl, his sibilants whistle and he glares like a maniac". Filming took place during the daytime; in the evenings he appeared at the London Palladium, something he found trying on his nervous system.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1960 Terry-Thomas appeared as Raymond Delauney in "School for Scoundrels", a film his biographer, Robert Ross, called "the definitive screen presentation of his frightfully well-mannered, well-read and well-educated lounge lizard: T-T the man as T-T the film star". He again appeared opposite Ian Carmichael, and they were joined by Alastair Sim and Janette Scott. Michael Brooke, writing for the British Film Institute, thought Terry-Thomas was "outstanding as a classic British bounder". CNN would list the performance among the top 10 British villains, stating, "generally found twirling his cigarette holder while charming the ladies — at least, when not swindling, cheating or behaving like an absolute rotter." Later the same year he appeared in "Make Mine Mink" as Major Albert Rayne, a veteran of the Second World War who forms a gang of mink coat thieves with his female co-lodgers. When he made an appearance at a screening of the film in Dalston, north-east London, he was presented with a white mink waistcoat by a local furrier.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1961 Terry-Thomas played Archibald Bannister in "A Matter of WHO", which he described as "my first (fairly) serious role". He was joined in the film by his cousin's son Richard Briers, with Terry-Thomas noting that he provided "no nepotic help" in getting Briers the part. The film was not well received by the critics; an internal BBC memo described that in the UK the film was "murdered by the critics", although it was "something of a success" in America. By this time Terry-Thomas had decided to stop being a stand-up comedian and compere and instead concentrate solely on making films. He stopped appearing on television and radio shows of his own, declaring "it was the cinema for me and me for the cinema!" Having accumulated considerable experience by appearing in British films, he decided to try Hollywood, and moved to America.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas spent part of 1961 in America, filming the role of Professor Bruce Patterson in "Bachelor Flat"—his first Hollywood role—before flying to Gibraltar to film "Operation Snatch", in which he teamed up with Lionel Jeffries. By the end of 1961 Terry-Thomas was appearing on radio, such as the December broadcast of "The Bing Crosby Show" and in guest spots on American television shows; he was frequently the subject of US newspaper interviews. In 1962 "Bachelor Flat" and "Operation Snatch" were both released, and were followed by two more films: a large-budget biopic from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer called "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm", in which Terry-Thomas shared his scenes with the American comedian Buddy Hackett, and "Kill or Cure", in which he appeared with Sykes, a friend since they worked together in "Large as Life".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: On 1 February 1962 Terry-Thomas and Pat Patlanski divorced, having spent the previous eight years estranged. He had by then split from his mistress of the previous few years, Lorrae Desmond, who returned to Australia shortly afterwards and married a surgeon; Terry-Thomas resumed his bachelor lifestyle. The break-up with Desmond caused him great upset, and he sought solace with Belinda Cunningham, a 21-year-old whom he had met on holiday in Majorca two years previously. The couple began a romance, and married in August 1963 at Halstead Registry Office near Colchester, Essex. The following year she gave birth to their first son—Timothy Hoar—at the Princess Beatrice Hospital in London.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1962 Terry-Thomas was offered the role of Lt-Colonel J. Algernon Hawthorne in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", and turned it down before leaving for the UK. By the time his flight arrived in London he had changed his mind, so he telephoned producer Stanley Kramer from the airport and "popped back on a plane to be fitted for the part" the same day. He was not comfortable with many of the other actors on set, later commenting that "I was the only non-American, and I found it exhausting and embarrassing because they never relaxed. They were always 'on'." One of the American stars was Spencer Tracy, whom Terry-Thomas considered "an extra-special man"; Tracy and Buster Keaton—who also appeared in the film—were described by Terry-Thomas as "the only two people who ever produced in me this awe of greatness".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Later in 1963 he picked up his second film nomination, the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Actor for his portrayal of Spender in "The Mouse on the Moon". He also tried his hand at production, with three 15-minute travelogues: "Terry-Thomas in Tuscany", "Terry-Thomas in the South of France" and "Terry-Thomas in Northern Ireland". He did not enjoy the producer's role, complaining that "for some extraordinary reason that I could never understand, everybody was always out to do the producer of any film whoever he was. I had to be on the watch the whole time". He worked consistently during 1963, appearing in television programmes on both sides of the Atlantic; these included "Terry-Thomas", a one-off variety show on BBC Television in July that included Donald Sutherland.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1964 Terry-Thomas started filming the role of Charles Furbank in "How to Murder Your Wife", a part which brought him £100,000, his largest fee to that point. He said it was his favourite to make, "because I felt that I did a very good job". He enjoyed working with Jack Lemmon, the film's star, partly because Lemmon would play jazz and sing while the scenes were being lit: the two became friends and Terry-Thomas was invited to Lemmon's wedding. Throughout the rest of the year Terry-Thomas continued to appear on US television, again in "Burke's Law", but also on "What's My Line?" and "An Hour with Robert Goulet", both on CBS; he also released another record, "Terry-Thomas Discovers America", a collection of songs and sketches, described by "Billboard" as "a "funny", "funny" comedy masterpiece". His earlier record, "Strictly T-T", was also released in the US.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Alongside "How to Murder Your Wife", there were two further releases for Terry-Thomas in 1965: "Strange Bedfellows", in which he played the part of a mortician, and "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines". In the latter, he played Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, a character the film historian Andrew Spicer calls "a cartoon version" of his usual persona in a "bloated mid-Atlantic comed[y]". In the film, Terry-Thomas appeared again with Sykes, an experience Sykes later described as magical. The roles of Ware-Armitage and his sidekick were written especially for Terry-Thomas and Sykes at the behest of the director Ken Annakin.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: By the mid-1960s Terry-Thomas was tiring of the Hollywood lifestyle, and, during the latter half of the 1960s, he worked with European filmmakers, returning occasionally to the US when he was filming there. In one of his French-produced films, "La Grande Vadrouille", he played Sir Reginald, a stranded Royal Air Force pilot travelling through occupied France with characters played by Bourvil and Louis de Funès. The film, released in 1966, held the record for highest box-office takings in France until 2004, and it remains "one of the most popular films with television audiences in France". Terry-Thomas undertook a number of roles with the Italian cinema industry. For one of the Italian-produced films, the 1967 farce "Arabella", he played four parts and used "the help of wigs, moustaches and lashings of Max Factor" to help achieve the different characterisations, which were all with the Italian actress Virna Lisi.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Although the European films allowed him to travel and gave him a constant source of income, he received bigger fees from his less-frequent engagements in US films, which he continued to appear in, joking that he "knew the fat cheques in the pipe-line were endless". One of the bigger fees came with Gene Kelly's 1967 film "A Guide for the Married Man"; he was disappointed by Kelly's direction, later saying "I found him a very prudish director, not as imaginative or experimental as I would have liked". Terry-Thomas had more time for the actress with whom he shared his short scene, Jayne Mansfield, commenting that "I found her rather intelligent to talk to and felt quite shattered when I read about the gruesome car accident that killed her". An actress he had difficulties in working with was Doris Day: in the 1968 film "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?", which was produced by her husband Martin Melcher. Day would instruct Terry-Thomas how he should act in a scene (he would "listen ... politely, then do it my own way, as if the conversation had never taken place"). She would also launch into improvisations while filming; director Hy Averback would mimic a scissor action behind her back to signal to Terry-Thomas that the material would be duly cut from the final print.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1967 Terry-Thomas met his long-time friend Denholm Elliott in Bel Air and the pair talked about Elliott's new villa in Santa Eulària des Riu on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Terry-Thomas was intrigued by the possibility of a Mediterranean retreat and visited the island on the way to sing in the television special "" (1968), a musical tour of Monte Carlo hosted by Princess Grace of Monaco. Although he initially struggled to find the right plot of ground for the right price, he eventually settled on an appropriate location; declaring he was "allergic to architects", he designed the house himself. His former wife Pat moved to the nearby island of Majorca, and Terry-Thomas's relationship with her became warm and friendly; Patlanski also had a firm friendship with Terry-Thomas's wife.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In between films Terry-Thomas appeared on television on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US in March–April 1967 he was in "The Five Daughters Affair", a two-part story in the TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", and on 22 May he appeared on "The Red Skelton Hour". On British television, in an episode of the "Comedy Playhouse" called "The Old Campaigner", he played James Franklin-Jones, a salesman for a plastics company who was continually searching for love affairs while travelling on business. This character was "yet another variation on his rakish cad persona", according to Mark Lewisohn. The episode was well-received, and a six-part series was commissioned that ran over December 1968 and January 1969. Although the series performed well in the ratings, a second series was not commissioned. In between the pilot and the series of "The Old Campaigner", in April 1968, Terry-Thomas appeared on the British ITV network in a one-off variety special, "The Big Show", which combined musical numbers and his urbane monologues. Robert Ross commented that Terry-Thomas "seemed to delight in resurrecting his vintage sophisticated patter after years in movies ... the top raconteur was back where he belonged". In 1969 he again teamed up with Eric Sykes and director Ken Annakin for a joint Italian, French and British production "Monte Carlo or Bust!". The film was "the only copper-bottomed sequel to ... "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines"", according to Richard Ross. Terry-Thomas played Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, the "thoroughly bad egg son of flying ace Sir Percy Ware-Armitage", his role in "Those Magnificent Men". Terry-Thomas secured four other roles in minor films that year, including "Arthur? Arthur!" (which he joked had "never been shown anywhere—as far as I know!"), as well as on television in the UK, US and Australia.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: The 1970s began well for Terry-Thomas; television appearances in the UK and US were augmented by filming for "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", which became what author Bruce Hallenbeck called a "camp classic", despite being described by "Time Out" critic David Pirie, as "the worst horror film made in England since 1945"; the film was released in 1971. On 1 August 1970 Terry-Thomas made his second appearance on "Desert Island Discs"; his luxury item was a case of brandy, chosen because it lasted longer than champagne.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: While appearing in "Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!" at the Metro Theatre, Sydney in 1971, Terry-Thomas felt unwell and visited a doctor, who noticed his patient's left hand was shaking slightly. The doctor suggested he visit a specialist on his return to the UK, who diagnosed him with Parkinson's disease. Fearing the condition would affect offers of work, Terry-Thomas did not make the news public, but as the symptoms began to manifest themselves in tremors, a shuffling gait, stooped posture and affected speech, he made the news known—partly to stop rumours of on-set drunkenness.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas continued to work as much as possible, although—as the film historian Geoff Mayer pointed out—the situation "reduced his film career to supporting roles and cameos". The lucrative voice-over role of Sir Hiss in the 1973 Walt Disney film "Robin Hood" was one notable part, while others were less well-known, such as "The Vault of Horror", a film described by Richard Ross as a "cornball terror", in which he starred with Curd Jürgens, Tom Baker and Denholm Elliott. He also continued to appear on television shows in both the US and UK, as well as advertisements, including appearing with June Whitfield for Birds Eye fish fingers, a series of vermouth advertisements filmed in Italy, and an award-winning series for Benson & Hedges along with Eric Sykes.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: During the 1970s he starred in a series of low-budget British films, including two in 1975, "Spanish Fly"—called a "gruesome smutfest" by the writer Christopher Fowler—and "The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones", described by the "Film Review Digest" as a "cheap, crude, sexed-up rehash" of the other film adaptations of Henry Fielding's source novel.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: In 1977 he starred in "The Last Remake of Beau Geste" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles", the latter starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as Holmes and Watson; Terry-Thomas thought "it was the most outrageous film I ever appeared in ... there was no magic ... it was bad!" By then he had exhibited a decrease in bodily movement, a sign of how serious his condition had become. His distinctive voice had developed a softer tone and his posture was contorted. Between 1978 and 1980, he spent much time with medical consultants. Despite this he was offered a few engagements and was voted the most recognisable Englishman among Americans in a poll which also featured Laurence Olivier, Robert Morley and Wilfrid Hyde-White. As a result, he secured a lucrative advertising contract with the Ford Motor Company. Derek Jarman offered Terry-Thomas a role in his 1979 film "The Tempest", but the actor was forced to pull out because of his deteriorating health.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas undertook his final film role in 1980 in "Febbre a 40!", a German-Italian co-production that was "nondescript and barely screened", according to Robert Ross, and did not even have a theatrical release in its two domestic markets. He continued his involvement in the film industry, where he funded three films during the early 1980s (noted by Ross to be "destined from the outset for B-picture status or straight-to-video exposure"); he commented that "I have made a loss of one hundred per cent". In 1982, with his condition worsening, Terry-Thomas appeared in two episodes of the BBC series "The Human Brain", which examined his condition; his frank interview brought much public awareness of the disease and raised £32,000 for the Parkinson's Disease Society. Privately, he was becoming more depressed; his London flat had been sold to provide badly needed funds, and his work offers were decreasing.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: By 1983, with his medical bills at £40,000 a year and no longer able to work, Terry-Thomas's financial resources were dwindling. He and his wife sold their dream house and moved into the small cottage in Spain once owned by his former wife Pat Patlanski, which she left to him in her will on her death in June that year. Shortly afterwards he worked with ghostwriter Terry Daum on an autobiography, "Terry-Thomas Tells Tales". Although the first draft was completed by late summer 1984, Terry-Thomas refused to release the manuscript and continued making alterations, but never completed his copyediting: the book was finally published after his death.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: By 1984 Terry-Thomas was increasingly depressed by his condition. When he was interviewed that year, he said that "one doctor said I've got about four more years to live. God forbid! I shall probably blow my brains out first". In 1987 the couple could no longer afford to live in Spain and moved back to London. They lived in a series of rented properties before ending up in a three-room, unfurnished charity flat, where they lived with financial assistance from the Actors' Benevolent Fund. Richard Briers was one of his first visitors there, and was shocked by the change he saw: "Sitting there, motionless, he was just a mere shadow. A crippled, crushed, shadow. It was really bloody awful."


title: Terry-Thomas

text: On 9 April 1989 the actor Jack Douglas and Richard Hope-Hawkins organised a benefit concert for Terry-Thomas, after discovering he was living in virtual obscurity, total poverty and ill health. The gala, held at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, ran for five hours, and featured 120 artists with Phil Collins topping the bill and Michael Caine as the gala chairman. The show raised over £75,000 for Terry-Thomas and Parkinson's UK. The funds from the charity concert allowed Terry-Thomas to move out of his charity flat and into Busbridge Hall nursing home in Godalming, Surrey. He died there on 8 January 1990, at the age of 78. The funeral service was held at St. John the Baptist Church, Busbridge, where the theme from "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" was played; he was cremated at Guildford Crematorium.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Although there were exceptions, Terry-Thomas's screen characters were generally similar; Geoff Mayer wrote that "although there would be variations, he would remain the 'rotter', a pretentious, elitist, seedy, sometimes lecherous cad with an eye for quick money and the easy life". Eric Sykes, with whom Terry-Thomas shared a number of screen moments, said it was "always the same character and always funny". Andrew Spicer, writing for the British Film Institute, called him "the definitive postwar cad or rotter". Terry-Thomas himself agreed with the view he presented, writing in the 1980s that "T-T with his permanent air of caddish disdain ... bounder ... aristocratic rogue ... upper-class English twit ... genuine English eccentric ... one of the last real gentlemen ... wet, genteel Englishman ... high-bred idiot ... cheeky blighter ... camel-haired cad ... amiable buffoon ... pompous Englishman ... twentieth-century dandy ... stinker ... king of the cads ... All those descriptions added up to my image as Terry-Thomas".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas identified himself as a comedy actor, but regarded himself "first and foremost, as a comedian with a built-in ability to inject humour into situations". He worked hard at the humour element, especially during his days in cabaret and revue; he wrote that he "spent an enormous amount of time studying how to write humour and reading books on the philosophical approach to it, but it didn't get me very far. I decided that humour was like a good watch. It would go well if left to do its job but the moment one started poking around, it went wonky". While working on his television series "How do you View?", he would change lines around to ensure the scene worked well, even if he gave the best lines to others; it was a quality which was appreciated by a number of others, including Jack Lemmon, who appeared with Terry-Thomas in "How to Murder Your Wife". Lemmon commented that "like most really good professionals he was generous to fellow actors. He worked with you, not at you".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Before starting filming or making an entrance on stage, Terry-Thomas had a routine he would undertake: "my own technique to get myself going was ... to jump in the air and execute a few dance steps". His approach for much of his film work was to underplay many of his reactions. Filming a scene in a cinema in "Private's Progress", a close-up was needed showing his character "registering shock, fury, indignation and anything else I could stuff in"; he "just looked into the camera and kept my mind blank. It's a trick I've used often since. In this way, the audience does the work". Terry-Thomas said "I like to do my own stunts", which he did for films such as "A Matter of WHO" and "Bachelor Flat". This included some dangerous work; for example, during "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines", he ran along the roof of a moving train.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Following Terry-Thomas's death, Lionel Jeffries called him "the last of the great gentlemen of the cinema", while the director Michael Winner commented that "no matter what your position was in relation to his, as the star he was always terribly nice. He was the kindest man and he enjoyed life so much". Reviewing his career in "The Guardian", Adrian Turner considered that "we took him for granted and he was ideal for his time. Not to put too serious a point on it, his portrayal of crass stupidity and blatant deviousness struck a chord with British audiences during the fifties as they experienced the clumsy dismemberment of the Empire and the 'never had it so good' ethos of the Macmillan era. During the sixties he became a glorious anachronism, much in demand in America, who saw in him the irrelevant pageantry of Britain"; he also said Terry-Thomas was "a national treasure". Gilbert Adair, writing in "The Independent", considered that "for three decades, and in literally scores of films, he personified the Englishman as amiable bounder"; Adair wrote that "the characterisation he was to assume represented the very essence of patrician, double-barrelled caddishness". Terry-Thomas's friend Jack Lemmon called him "a consummate professional ... he was a gentleman, a delight to be with personally, let alone professionally, and above all as an actor he had one of the qualities that I admire so much—he made it look simple".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas's image of an English cad was used by others. The personification started in the 1960s when the voice actor Ivan Owen, who had worked alongside Terry-Thomas in "Stars in Battledress", based the voice for Basil Brush on that of Terry-Thomas, in a characterisation which also copied Terry-Thomas's "penchant for bad, self-satisfied, golf-club-bore jokes". The 1960s also witnessed the fictional cartoon character Dick Dastardly in two Hanna-Barbera cartoon series ("Wacky Races" and "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines"), who was inspired by Terry-Thomas.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Other actors have used Terry-Thomas's persona as an inspiration for their characters: Dustin Hoffman acknowledged that he based his interpretation of Captain Hook in "Hook" on him; Rupert Everett disclosed that when he provided the voice for Prince Charming in "Shrek 2" Terry-Thomas "was vocally my role model while I was doing it"; and Paul Whitehouse's character, the 13th Duke of Wybourne, from "The Fast Show" was also modelled on Terry-Thomas's on-screen persona.


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Terry-Thomas's popularity continued after his death. In February 1999 the National Film Theatre ran a season of his films; an NFT spokesman described how attendees turned up "in evening dress, with false moustaches and carrying cigarettes in long holders ... everyone has been trying to steal the cardboard cutouts of Terry ... We've never had a response like it. To be honest, we are rather unprepared. Nobody expected Terry-Thomas Fever".


title: Terry-Thomas

text: Some of the innovations Terry-Thomas brought into his earlier television programmes were later copied by others; "How Do You View?" provided the "prologue" format of "Up Pompeii!", and was the first to use regular BBC announcers as foils in comic sketches—a practice continued later, particularly with the shows of Morecambe and Wise. Terry-Thomas's anecdotes, stringing several stories together, later inspired Ronnie Corbett in his monologue spot in his series "The Two Ronnies". In 2014, BBC Radio 4 broadcast "Memories of a Cad", a comedy drama by Roy Smiles about the relationship between Terry-Thomas and Richard Briers, played by Martin Jarvis and Alistair McGowan respectively.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: The Pannonian Avars () were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai (), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine sources, and the Apar () to the Göktürks (). They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late 6th to the early 9th century.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: The name Pannonian Avars (after the area in which they settled) is used to distinguish them from the Avars of the Caucasus, a separate people with whom the Pannonian Avars might or might not have had links. Although the name "Avar" first appeared in the mid-5th century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th century, on the Pontic–Caspian steppe as a people who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks. They are probably best known for their invasions and destruction in the Avar–Byzantine wars from 568 to 626 and influence on the Slavic migrations to the Balkans. Recent archaeogenetic studies indicate that the ruling class of the Pannonian Avar population had varying degrees of Northeast Asian ancestry similar to those of modern-day people from Mongolia and the Amur River region in Manchuria, while the average commoner population resembled surrounding European groups. Linguistic evidence may also point to the presence of an Iranian component among the migrating Avars, based on Iranian loanwords in local Slavic languages.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: The earliest clear reference to the Avar ethnonym comes from Priscus the Rhetor, who recounts that in c. 463 the Šaragurs and Onogurs were attacked by the Sabirs, who had been attacked by the Avars. In turn, the Avars had been driven off by people fleeing "man-eating griffins" coming from "the ocean" ("Priscus Fr 40"). Whilst Priscus' accounts provide some information about the ethno-political situation in the Don-Kuban-Volga region after the demise of the Huns, no unequivocal conclusions can be reached. Denis Sinor has argued that whoever the "Avars" referred to by Priscus were, they differed from the Avars who appear a century later, during the time of Justinian (who reigned from 527 to 565).


title: Pannonian Avars

text: The next author to discuss the Avars, Menander Protector, appeared during the 6th century and wrote of Göktürk embassies to Constantinople in 565 and 568 AD. The Turks appeared angry at the Byzantines for having made an alliance with the Avars, whom the Turks saw as their subjects and slaves. Turxanthos, a Turk prince, calls the Avars "Varchonites" and "escaped slaves of the Turks", who numbered "about 20 thousand" ("Menander Fr 43").


title: Pannonian Avars

text: Many more, but somewhat confusing, details come from Theophylact Simocatta, who in c. 629, describes the final two decades of the 6th century. In particular, he claims to quote a triumph letter from Turxanthos:


title: Pannonian Avars

text: According to the interpretation of Dobrovits and Nechaeva, the Turks insisted that the Avars were only "pseudo-Avars", so as to boast that they were the only formidable power in the Eurasian steppe. The Göktürks claimed that the "real Avars" remained loyal subjects of the Turks, farther east. A political name *"(A)Par" 𐰯𐰻 was indeed mentioned in inscriptions honoring Kul Tigin and Bilge Qaghan, yet in Armenian sources (Egishe Vardapet, Ghazar Parpetsi, and Sebeos) "Apar" seemingly indicated "a geographical area (Khorasan), which might also intimate a political formation once there"; additionally, "'Apar-shar', that is, "the country of the Apar"" was named after possibly Hephthalites, who were known as 滑 MC *"ɦˠuɛt̚" > Ch."Huá" in Chinese sources. Even so, *"Apar" could not be linked to the European Avars, notwithstanding any link, if there were, between the Hephthalites and Rourans. Furthermore, Dobrovits has questioned the authenticity of Theophylact's account. As such, he has argued that Theophylact borrowed information from Menander's accounts of Byzantine–Turk negotiations to meet political needs of his time – i.e. to castigate and deride the Avars during a time of strained political relations between the Byzantines and Avars (coinciding with Emperor Maurice's northern Balkan campaigns).


title: Pannonian Avars

text: According to some scholars, the Pannonian Avars originated from a confederation formed in the Aral Sea region, by the Uar (also known as the "Ouar", "Warr" or "Var") and the Xionites. The Xionites had likely been speakers of Iranian and/or Turkic languages. The Hephthalites, affiliated previously to the Uar and Xionites, had remained in Central and northern South Asia. The Pannonian Avars were also known by names including "Uarkhon" or "Varchonites" – which may have been a portmanteau combining "Var" and "Chunni".


title: Pannonian Avars

text: The 18th-century historian Joseph de Guignes postulates a link between the Avars of European history with the Rouran Khaganate of Inner Asia based on a coincidence between Tardan Khan's letter to Constantinople and events recorded in Chinese sources, notably the "Wei Shu" and "Bei Shi". Chinese sources state that Bumin Qaghan, founder of the First Turkic Khaganate, defeated the Rouran, some of whom fled and joined the Western Wei. Later, Bumin's successor Muqan Qaghan defeated the Hephthalites as well as the Turkic Tiele. Superficially these victories over the Tiele, Rouran and Hephthalites echo a narrative in the "Theophylact", boasting of Tardan's victories over the Hephthalites, Avars and Oghurs. However, the two series of events are not synonymous: the events of the latter took place during Tardan's rule, c. 580–599, whilst Chinese sources referring to the Turk defeat of the Rouran and other Central Asian peoples occurred 50 years earlier, at the founding of the First Turkic Khaganate. It is for this reason that the linguist János Harmatta rejects the identification of the Avars with the Rouran.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: According to Edwin G. Pulleyblank, the name Avar is the same as the prestigious name Wuhuan in the Chinese sources. Several historians, including Peter Benjamin Golden, suggest that the Avars are of Turkic origin, likely from the Oghur branch. Another theory suggests that some of the Avars were of Tungusic origin. A study by Emil Heršak and Ana Silić suggests that the Avars were of heterogeneous origin, including mostly Turkic (Oghuric) and Mongolic groups. Later in Europe some Germanic and Slavic groups were assimilated into the Avars. They concluded that their exact origin is unknown but state that it is likely that the Avars were originally mainly composed of Turkic (Oghuric) tribes.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: Such views are mirrored by . "The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in a "single linear" fashion due to their great and constant mobility", with no ethnogenetic "point zero", theoretical "proto-people" or proto-language. Moreover, Avar identity was strongly linked to Avar political institutions. Groups who rebelled or fled from the Avar realm could never be called "Avars", but were rather termed "Bulgars". Similarly, with the final demise of Avar power in the early 9th century, Avar identity disappeared almost instantaneously.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: In contemporary art, Avars were sometimes depicted as mounted archers, riding backwards on their horses. According to mid-20th century physical anthropologists such as Pál Lipták, human remains from the early Avar (7th century) period had mostly "Europoid" features, while grave goods indicated cultural links to the Eurasian Steppe. Cemeteries dated to the late Avar period (8th century) included many human remains with physical features typical of East Asian people or Eurasians (i.e., people with both East Asian and European ancestry). Remains with East Asian or Eurasian features were found in about one third of the Avar graves from the 8th century. According to Lipták, 79% of the population of the Danube-Tisza region during the Avar period showed Europoid characteristics. However, Lipták used racial terms later deprecated or regarded as obsolete, such as "Mongoloid" for northeast Asian and "Turanid" for individuals of mixed ancestry. Several theories suggest that the ruling class of the Avars were of Tungusic East Asian origin or of partially Tungusic origin.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: A genetic study published in "Scientific Reports" in September 2016 examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 31 people buried in the Carpathian Basin between the 7th and 9th centuries. They were found to be mostly carrying European haplogroups such as H, K, T and U, while about 15% carried Asian haplogroups such as C, M6, D41c and F1a. Their mtDNA were found to be primarily characteristic of Eastern and Southern Europe.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: A genetic study published in the "American Journal of Physical Anthropology" in 2018 examined 62 individuals buried in the 8th and 9th centuries at an Avar-Slavic burial in Cífer‐Pác, Slovakia. Of the 46 samples of mtDNA extracted, 93% belonged to west Eurasian lineages, while 6% belonged to east Eurasian lineages. The amount of east Eurasian lineages was higher than among modern European populations, but lower than what has been found in other genetic studies on the Avars. The mtDNA of the examined individuals was found to be quite similar to medieval and modern Slavs, and it was suggested that the mixed population examined had emerged through intermarriage between Avar males and Slavic females.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: A genetic study published in "Scientific Reports" in November 2019 examined the remains of fourteen Avar males. Eleven of them were dated to the early Avar period, and three were dated to the middle and late Avar period. The eleven early Avar males were found to be carrying the paternal haplogroups N1a1a1a1a3 (four samples), N1a1a (two samples), R1a1a1b2a (two samples), C2, G2a, and I1. The three males dated to the middle and late Avar period carried the paternal haplogroups C2, N1a1a1a1a3 and E1b1b1a1b1a. In short, mostly carried "east Eurasian Y haplogroups typical for modern north-eastern Siberian and Buryat populations". The Avars studied were all determined to have had dark eyes and dark hair, and the majority of them were found to be primarily of East Asian origin.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: A genetic study published in "Scientific Reports" in January 2020 examined the remains of 26 individuals buried at various elite Avar cemeteries in the Pannonian Basin dated to the 7th century. The mtDNA of these Avars belonged mostly to East Asian haplogroups, while the Y-DNA was exclusively of East Asian origin and "strikingly homogenous", belonging to haplogroups N-M231 and Q-M242. The evidence suggests that the Avar elite were largely patrilineal and endogamous for a period of around one century, and entered the Pannonian Basin through migrations from East Asia involving both men and women. Another 2020 study, but of Xiongnu remains in East Asia, found that the Xiongnu shared certain paternal (N1a, Q1a, R1a-Z94 and R1a-Z2124) and maternal haplotypes with the Huns and Avars, and suggested on this basis that they were descended from Xiongnu, who they in turn suggested were descended from Scytho-Siberians.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: A genetic study published in scientific journal "Cell" in April 2022 analyzed 48 Pannonian Avar samples from early & middle & late period, and found them to be of nearly exclusively northeast Asian origin (with predominant paternal lineage N1a1a1a1a3a-F4205, with some Q1a, Q1b, R1a, R1b and E1b subclades), with strong affinity to modern peoples inhabiting the region from Mongolia to the Amur, including a historical Rouran Khaganate sample and those from Xiongnu-Xianbei periods in the eastern Asian steppe. The Avar individuals showed their highest genetic affinity with present-day Mongolic and Tungusic peoples, as well as Nivkhs.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: A genetic study published in scientific journal "Current Biology" in May 2022 examined 143 Avar samples from various periods, including elite and commoners. It confirmed the Northeast Asian paternal and maternal origin for the Avar elite, with N1a-F4205 being their predominant and characteristic paternal lineage, alongside incorporated Q1a2a1 and R1a-Z94 Hunnic-Iranian remnants, and the rest belonging to local haplogroups found among surrounding populations. Autosomally, the Elite Avar samples ""preserved very ancient Mongolian pre-Bronze Age genomes, with ca 90% [Ancient North-East Asian] ancestry"", shared deep ancestry with European Huns, but although since Early Avar period started mixing with local and immigrant Hunnic-Iranian related populations, ""people with different genetic ancestries were seemingly distinguished, as samples with Hun-related genomes were buried in separate cemeteries"". The majority of the Avar Khaganate population consisted of local European peoples (EU_core) but did not display Northeast Asian admixture, supporting a model of elite dominance of arriving horse nomads over a large sedentary population. Genetic data on later Avar elite samples showed an increase of Iranian associated ancestry, suggesting either further migration from the Western Steppe, or substructure among the initial Avars not observed before.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: In 557, the Avars sent an embassy to Constantinople, presumably from the northern Caucasus. This marked their first contact with the Byzantine Empire. In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly "gentes"" on behalf of the Byzantines: subsequently they conquered and incorporated various nomadic tribesKutrigurs and Sabirsand defeated the Antes.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: By 562 the Avars controlled the lower Danube basin and the steppes north of the Black Sea. By the time they arrived in the Balkans, the Avars formed a heterogeneous group of about 20,000 horsemen. After the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I bought them off, they pushed northwestwards into Germania. However, Frankish opposition halted the Avars' expansion in that direction. Seeking rich pastoral lands, the Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube in present-day Bulgaria, but the Byzantines refused, using their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. The Avars turned their attention to the Carpathian Basin and to the natural defenses it afforded. The Carpathian Basin was occupied by the Gepids. In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the Lombardsenemies of the Gepidsand together they destroyed much of the Gepid kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass-movement in the Migration Period.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines persuaded the Avars to attack the Sclavenes in Scythia Minor, a land rich with goods. After devastating much of the Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia after many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine emperor.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: By about 580, the Avar Khagan Bayan I had established supremacy over most of the Slavic, Bulgar and Germanic tribes living in Pannonia and the Carpathian Basin. When the Byzantine Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided their Balkan territories. According to Menander, Bayan commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked Dalmatia in 568, effectively cutting the Byzantine terrestrial link with northern Italy and western Europe.


title: Pannonian Avars

text: In the 580s and 590s, many of the imperial armies were busy fighting the Persians, and the remaining troops in the Balkans were no match for the Avars. By 582, the Avars had captured Sirmium, an important fort in Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount as requested by Bayan's son and successor Bayan II, the Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum (Belgrade) and Viminacium. They suffered setbacks, however, during Maurice's Balkan campaigns in the 590s.