title: K. Kamaraj

text: In 1942, Kamaraj attended the All-India Congress Committee in Bombay and returned to spread propaganda material for the Quit India Movement. The police issued orders to all the leaders who attended this Bombay session. Kamaraj did not want to be arrested before he took the message to all district and local leaders. finishing his work and sent a message to the local police that he was ready to be arrested. He was arrested in August 1942. He was under detention for three years and was released in June 1945. This was his last prison term. Kamaraj was imprisoned six times by the British for his pro-Independence activities, that added up to more than 3,000 days in jail.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: During the anti-cow slaughter agitation in 1966, Kamaraj's house near the parliament was burnt down by Hindutva groups. The agitation was incited by Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). They also surrounded his house with an intent to attack him. Kamaraj had a narrow escape.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: On 13 April 1954, Kamaraj became the Chief Minister of Madras Province. To everyone's surprise, Kamaraj nominated C. Subramaniam , who had contested his leadership, to the newly formed cabinet.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: As Chief Minister, Kamaraj removed the family vocation based Modified Scheme of Elementary education 1953 introduced by Rajaji. He reopened 6000 schools closed in the previous government by C. Rajagopalachari citing financial reasons and reopened 12,000 more schools. The State made immense strides in education and trade. New schools were opened, so that poor rural students had to walk no more than three kilometres to their nearest school. Better facilities were added to existing ones. No village remained without a primary school and no panchayat without a high school. Kamaraj strove to eradicate illiteracy by introducing free and compulsory education up to the eleventh standard. He introduced the Midday Meal Scheme to provide at least one meal per day to the lakhs of poor school children. He introduced free school uniforms to weed out caste, creed and class distinctions among young minds.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: During the colonial era, the local education rate was at 7%; after Kamaraj's reforms, it reached 37%. Apart from increasing the number of schools, steps were taken to improve standards of education. To improve standards, the number of working days was increased from 180 to 200; unnecessary holidays were reduced; and syllabi were prepared to give opportunity to various abilities. Kamaraj and Bishnuram Medhi (Governor) took efforts to establish IIT Madras in 1959.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: Major irrigation schemes were planned in Kamaraj's period. Dams and irrigation canals were built across higher Bhavani, Mani Muthar, Aarani, Vaigai, Amaravathi, Sathanur, Krishnagiri, Pullambadi, Parambikulam and Neyyaru among others. The Lower Bhavani Dam in Erode district brought of land under cultivation. of land benefited from canals constructed from the Mettur Dam. The Vaigai and Sathanur systems facilitated cultivation across thousands of acres of lands in Madurai and North Arcot districts respectively. Rs 30 crores were planned to be spent for Parambikulam River scheme, and 150 lakhs of acres of lands were brought under cultivation; one third of this (i.e. 56 lakhs of acres of land) received a permanent irrigation facility. In 1957–61 1,628 tanks were de-silted under the Small Irrigation Scheme, and 2,000 wells were dug with outlets. Long-term loans with 25% subsidy were given to farmers. In addition farmers who had dry lands were given oil engines and electric pump sets on an instalment basis.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: Industries with huge investments in crores of Rupees were started in his period: Neyveli Lignite Corporation, BHEL at Trichy, Manali Refinery, Hindustan raw photo film factory at Ooty, surgical instruments factory at Chennai, and a railway coach factory at Chennai were established. Industries such as paper, sugar, chemicals and cement took off during the period.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: Kamaraj remained Chief Minister for three consecutive terms, winning elections in 1957 and 1962. Kamaraj noticed that the Congress party was slowly losing its vigour.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: On Gandhi Jayanti day 2 October 1963, he resigned from the post of the Chief Minister. He proposed that all senior Congress leaders should resign from their posts and devote all their energy to the re-vitalization of the Congress.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: In 1963 he suggested to Nehru that senior Congress leaders should leave ministerial posts to take up organisational work. This suggestion came to be known as the Kamaraj Plan, which was designed primarily to dispel from the minds of Congressmen the lure of power, creating in its place a dedicated attachment to the objectives and policies of the organisation. Six Union Ministers and six Chief Ministers including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Biju Patnaik and S.K. Patil followed suit and resigned from their posts. Impressed by Kamaraj's achievements and acumen, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru felt that his services were needed more at the national level. In a swift move he brought Kamaraj to Delhi as the President of the Indian National Congress. Nehru realised that in addition to wide learning and vision, Kamaraj possessed enormous common sense and pragmatism. Kamaraj was elected the President of Indian National Congress on 9 October 1963.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: After Nehru's death in 1964, Kamaraj successfully navigated the party through turbulent times. As the president of INC, he refused to become the next Prime Minister himself and was instrumental in bringing to power two Prime Ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi 1966. For this role, he was widely acclaimed as the "kingmaker" during the 1960s.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: When the Congress split in 1969, Kamaraj became the leader of the Indian National Congress (Organisation) (INC(O)) in Tamil Nadu. The party fared poorly in the 1971 elections amid allegations of fraud by the opposition parties. He remained the leader of INC(O) until his death in 1975.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: The death of A. Nesamony in 1968 led to the by-election in Nagercoil Lok Sabha constituency. Realising the popularity of Kamaraj in this constituency and the potential danger posed by Kamaraj's election after the Indian National Congress party's debacle in 1967 election, C. Rajagopalachari wrote in "Swarajya", the magazine of the Swatantra Party, about the need to defeat him and appealed to C. N. Annadurai to support M. Mathias, the Swatantra Party candidate. Annadurai deputed M. Karunanidhi, the then Minister for Public Works, to Nagercoil to work in support of Mathias. Despite the efforts, Kamaraj won decisively with a 1,28,201-vote margin on 8 January 1969.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: During his tenure as Chief Minister, when the municipality of Virudhunagar provided a direct water connection to his house in his hometown, Kamarajar ordered it to be disconnected immediately as he did not want any special privileges. He refused to use the Z-level security that was provided to him as the CM of Tamil Nadu and instead travelled with just one police patrol vehicle. He did not marry, did not own any property and was never tempted by power. When he died, he left behind 130 rupees, 2 pairs of sandals, 4 shirts, 4 dhotis and a few books.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: Kamaraj died at his home, on Gandhi Jayanti day (2 October 1975), which also was the 12th anniversary of his resignation. He was aged 72 and died in his sleep due to a heart attack.


title: K. Kamaraj

text: In 2004 a Tamil-language film titled "Kamaraj" was made based on the life history of Kamaraj. The English version of the film was released on DVD in 2007.


title: European badger

text: The European badger (Meles meles), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to almost all of Europe. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List as it has a wide range and a large stable population size, and is thought to be increasing in some regions. Several subspecies are recognized with the nominate subspecies ("M. m. meles") predominating in most of Europe. In Europe, where no other badger species commonly occurs, it is generally just called the "badger".


title: European badger

text: The European badger is a powerfully built, black, white, brown, and grey animal with a small head, a stocky body, small, black eyes, and short tail. Its weight varies, being 7–13 kg (15–29 lb) in spring, but building up to 15–17 kg (33–37 lb) in autumn before the winter sleep period. It is nocturnal and is a social, burrowing animal that sleeps during the day in one of several setts in its territorial range. These burrows have multiple chambers and entrances, and are extensive systems of underground passages of length. They house several badger families that use these setts for decades. Badgers are fussy over the cleanliness of their burrow, carrying in fresh bedding and removing soiled material, and they defecate in latrines strategically situated outside their setts or en route to other setts.


title: European badger

text: Although classified as a carnivore, the European badger feeds on a wide variety of plant and animal foods, feeding on earthworms, large insects, small mammals, carrion, cereals, and tubers. Litters of up to five cubs are produced in spring. The young are weaned a few months later, but usually remain within the family group. The European badger has been known to share its burrow with other species such as rabbits, red foxes, and raccoon dogs, but it can be ferocious when provoked, a trait which has been exploited in the now-illegal blood sport of badger-baiting. Badgers can be carriers of bovine tuberculosis, which also affects cattle. In England, culling of badger populations is used to attempt to reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, although the efficacy of this practice is highly disputed, and badger culls are widely considered cruel and inhumane.


title: European badger

text: The source of the word "badger" is uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary states it probably derives from "badge" + "-ard", referring to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead, and may date to the early 16th century. The French word ('digger') has also been suggested as a source. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, and a young badger is a cub. A badger's home is called a sett. Badger colonies are often called clans.


title: European badger

text: The far older name "brock" (), () is a Celtic loanword (cf. Gaelic and Welsh , from Proto-Celtic ) meaning 'grey'. The Proto-Germanic term was (cf. German , Dutch , Norwegian ; Early Modern English "dasse"), probably from the PIE root 'to construct', so the badger would have been named after its digging of setts (tunnels); the Germanic term became or , in Latin glosses, replacing ('marten' or 'badger'), and from these words the common Romance terms for the animal evolved (Italian , French —now is more common—, Catalan , Spanish , Portuguese ) except Asturian .


title: European badger

text: Until the mid-18th century, European badgers were variously known in English as brock, pate, grey, and bawson. The name "bawson" is derived from "bawsened", which refers to something striped with white. "Pate" is a local name which was once popular in northern England. The name "badget" was once common, but restricted to Norfolk, while "earth dog" was used in southern Ireland. The badger is commonly referred to in Welsh as a ('earth pig').


title: European badger

text: "Ursus meles" was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the badger in his work "Systema Naturae".


title: European badger

text: The species likely evolved from the Chinese "Meles thorali" of the early Pleistocene. The modern species originated during the early Middle Pleistocene, with fossil sites occurring in Episcopia, Grombasek, Süssenborn, Hundsheim, Erpfingen, Koneprusy, Mosbach 2, and Stránská Skála. A comparison between fossil and living specimens shows a marked progressive adaptation to omnivory, namely in the increase in the molars' surface areas and the modification of the carnassials. Occasionally, badger bones are discovered in earlier strata, due to the burrowing habits of the species.


title: European badger

text: In the 19th and 20th centuries, several badger type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies. , eight subspecies were recognized as valid taxa, but four ("canescens", "arcalus", "rhodius", "severzovi") are now considered to belong to a distinct species, the Caucasian badger ("M. canescens").


title: European badger

text: European badgers are powerfully built animals with small heads, thick, short necks, stocky, wedge-shaped bodies and short tails. Their feet are plantigrade or semidigitigrade and short, with five toes on each foot. The limbs are short and massive, with naked lower surfaces on the feet. The claws are strong, elongated and have an obtuse end, which assists in digging. The claws are not retractable, and the hind claws wear with age. Old badgers sometimes have their hind claws almost completely worn away from constant use. Their snouts, which are used for digging and probing, are muscular and flexible. The eyes are small and the ears short and tipped with white. Whiskers are present on the snout and above the eyes.


title: European badger

text: Boars typically have broader heads, thicker necks and narrower tails than sows, which are sleeker, have narrower, less domed heads and fluffier tails. The guts of badgers are longer than those of red foxes, reflecting their omnivorous diet. The small intestine has a mean length of and lacks a cecum. Both sexes have three pairs of nipples but these are more developed in females. European badgers cannot flex their backs as martens, polecats and wolverines can, nor can they stand fully erect like honey badgers, though they can move quickly at full gallop.


title: European badger

text: Adults measure in shoulder height, in body length, in tail length, in hind foot length and in ear height. Males (or boars) slightly exceed females (or sows) in measurements, but can weigh considerably more. Their weights vary seasonally, growing from spring to autumn and reaching a peak just before the winter. During the summer, European badgers commonly weigh and in autumn.


title: European badger

text: The average weight of adults in the Białowieża Forest was in spring but up to in autumn, 46% higher than the spring low mass. In Woodchester Park, England, adults in spring weighed on average and in fall average . In Doñana National Park, average weight of adult badgers is reported as , perhaps in accordance with Bergmann's rule, that its size decreases in relatively warmer climates. Sows can attain a top autumn weight of around , while exceptionally large boars have been reported in autumn. The heaviest verified was , though unverified specimens have been reported to and even (if so, the heaviest weight for any terrestrial mustelid). If average weights are used, the European badger ranks as the second largest terrestrial mustelid, behind only the wolverine. Although their sense of smell is acute, their eyesight is monochromatic as has been shown by their lack of reaction to red lanterns. Only moving objects attract their attention. Their hearing is no better than that of humans.


title: European badger

text: European badger skulls are quite massive, heavy and elongated. Their braincases are oval in outline, while the facial part of their skulls is elongated and narrow. Adults have prominent sagittal crests which can reach 15 mm tall in old males, and are more strongly developed than those of honey badgers. Aside from anchoring the jaw muscles, the thickness of the crests protect their skulls from hard blows. Similar to martens, the dentition of European badgers is well-suited for their omnivorous diets. Their incisors are small and chisel-shaped, their canine teeth are prominent and their carnassials are not overly specialized. Their molars are flattened and adapted for grinding. Their jaws are powerful enough to crush most bones; a provoked badger was once reported as biting down on a man's wrist so severely that his hand had to be amputated. The dental formula is .


title: European badger

text: Scent glands are present below the base of the tail and on the anus. The subcaudal gland secretes a musky-smelling, cream-coloured fatty substance, while the anal glands secrete a stronger-smelling, yellowish-brown fluid.


title: European badger

text: In winter, the fur on the back and flanks is long and coarse, consisting of bristly guard hairs with a sparse, soft undercoat. The belly fur consists of short, sparse hairs, with skin being visible in the inguinal region. Guard hair length on the middle of the back is in winter. Prior to the winter, the throat, lower neck, chest and legs are black. The belly is of a lighter, brownish tint, while the inguinal region is brownish-grey. The general colour of the back and sides is light silvery-grey, with straw-coloured highlights on the sides. The tail has long and coarse hairs, and is generally the same colour as the back. Two black bands pass along the head, starting from the upper lip and passing upwards to the whole base of the ears. The bands sometimes extend along the neck and merge with the colour of the upper body. The front parts of the bands are , and widen to in the ear region. A wide, white band extends from the nose tip through the forehead and crown. White markings occur on the lower part of the head, and extend backwards to a great part of the neck's length. The summer fur is much coarser, shorter and sparser, and is deeper in colour, with the black tones becoming brownish, sometimes with yellowish tinges. Partial melanism in badgers is known, and albinos and leucists are not uncommon. Albino badgers can be pure white or yellowish with pink eyes, while leucistic ones are the same but with normal eyes instead. Erythristic badgers are more common than the former, being characterized by having a sandy-red colour on the usually black parts of the body. Yellow badgers are also known.


title: European badger

text: The European badger is native to most of Europe. Its range includes Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.


title: European badger

text: The distributional boundary between the ranges of European and Asian badgers is the Volga River, the European species being situated on the western bank. The boundary between the ranges of the European and Caucasian badgers is in the North Caucasus, but a clear boundary has not been defined, and they are sympatric in some regions, potentially forming a hybrid zone. They are common in European Russia, with 30,000 individuals having been recorded there in 1990. They are abundant and increasing throughout their range, partly due to a reduction in rabies in Central Europe. In the UK, badgers experienced a 77% increase in numbers during the 1980s and 1990s. The badger population in Great Britain in 2012 is estimated to be 300,000.


title: European badger

text: The European badger is found in deciduous and mixed woodlands, clearings, spinneys, pastureland and scrub, including Mediterranean maquis shrubland. It has adapted to life in suburban areas and urban parks, although not to the extent of red foxes. In mountainous areas it occurs up to an altitude of .


title: European badger

text: European badgers are the most social of badgers, forming groups of six adults on average, though larger associations of up to 23 individuals have been recorded. Group size may be related to habitat composition. Under optimal conditions, badger territories can be as small as , but may be as large as in marginal areas. Badger territories can be identified by the presence of communal latrines and well-worn paths. It is mainly males that are involved in territorial aggression. A hierarchical social system is thought to exist among badgers and large powerful boars seem to assert dominance over smaller males. Large boars sometimes intrude into neighboring territories during the main mating season in early spring.


title: European badger

text: Sparring and more vicious fights generally result from territorial defense in the breeding season. However, in general, animals within and outside a group show considerable tolerance of each other. Boars tend to mark their territories more actively than sows, with their territorial activity increasing during the mating season in early spring. Badgers groom each other very thoroughly with their claws and teeth. Grooming may have a social function. They are crepuscular and nocturnal in habits. Aggression among badgers is largely associated with territorial defence and mating. When fighting, they bite each other on the neck and rump, while running and chasing each other and injuries incurred in such fights can be severe and sometimes fatal. When attacked by dogs or sexually excited, badgers may raise their tails and fluff up their fur.


title: European badger

text: European badgers have an extensive vocal repertoire. When threatened, they emit deep growls and, when fighting, make low kekkering noises. They bark when surprised, whicker when playing or in distress, and emit a piercing scream when alarmed or frightened.


title: European badger

text: Like other badger species, European badgers are burrowing animals. However, the dens they construct (called setts) are the most complex, and are passed on from generation to generation. The number of exits in one sett can vary from a few to fifty. These setts can be vast, and can sometimes accommodate multiple families. When this happens, each family occupies its own passages and nesting chambers. Some setts may have exits which are only used in times of danger or play. A typical passage has a wide base and a height. Three sleeping chambers occur in a family unit, some of which are open at both ends. The nesting chamber is located from the opening, and is situated more than a underground, in some cases . Generally, the passages are long. The nesting chamber is on average , and are high.


title: European badger

text: Badgers dig and collect bedding throughout the year, particularly in autumn and spring. Sett maintenance is usually carried out by subordinate sows and dominant boars. The chambers are frequently lined with bedding, brought in on dry nights, which consists of grass, bracken, straw, leaves and moss. Up to 30 bundles can be carried to the sett on a single night. European badgers are fastidiously clean animals which regularly clear out and discard old bedding. During the winter, they may take their bedding outside on sunny mornings and retrieve it later in the day. Spring cleaning is connected with the birth of cubs, and may occur several times during the summer to prevent parasite levels building up.


title: European badger

text: If a badger dies within the sett, its conspecifics will seal off the chamber and dig a new one. Some badgers will drag their dead out of the sett and bury them outside. A sett is almost invariably located near a tree, which is used by badgers for stretching or claw scraping. Badgers defecate in latrines, which are located near the sett and at strategic locations on territorial boundaries or near places with abundant food supplies.


title: European badger

text: In extreme cases, when there is a lack of suitable burrowing grounds, badgers may move into haystacks in winter. They may share their setts with red foxes or European rabbits. The badgers may provide protection for the rabbits against other predators. The rabbits usually avoid predation by the badgers by inhabiting smaller, hard to reach chambers.


title: European badger

text: Estrus in European badgers lasts four to six days and may occur throughout the year, though there is a peak in spring. Sexual maturity in boars is usually attained at the age of twelve to fifteen months but this can range from nine months to two years. Males are normally fecund during January–May, with spermatogenesis declining in summer. Sows usually begin ovulating in their second year, though some exceptionally begin at nine months. They can mate at any time of the year, though the main peak occurs in February–May, when mature sows are in postpartal estrus and young animals experience their first estrus. Matings occurring outside this period typically occur in sows which either failed to mate earlier in the year or matured slowly. Badgers are usually monogamous; boars typically mate with one female for life, whereas sows have been known to mate with more than one male. Mating lasts for fifteen to sixty minutes, though the pair may briefly copulate for a minute or two when the sow is not in estrus. A delay of two to nine months precedes the fertilized eggs implanting into the wall of the uterus, though matings in December can result in immediate implantation. Ordinarily, implantation happens in December, with a gestation period lasting seven weeks. Cubs are usually born in mid-January to mid-March within underground chambers containing bedding. In areas where the countryside is waterlogged, cubs may be born above ground in buildings. Typically, only dominant sows can breed, as they suppress the reproduction of subordinate females.


title: European badger

text: The average litter consists of one to five cubs. Although many cubs are sired by resident males, up to 54% can be fathered by boars from different colonies. Dominant sows may kill the cubs of subordinates. Cubs are born pink, with greyish, silvery fur and fused eyelids. Neonatal badgers are in body length on average and weigh , with cubs from large litters being smaller. By three to five days, their claws become pigmented, and individual dark hairs begin to appear. Their eyes open at four to five weeks and their milk teeth erupt about the same time. They emerge from their setts at eight weeks of age, and begin to be weaned at twelve weeks, though they may still suckle until they are four to five months old. Subordinate females assist the mother in guarding, feeding and grooming the cubs. Cubs fully develop their adult coats at six to nine weeks. In areas with medium to high badger populations, dispersal from the natal group is uncommon, though badgers may temporarily visit other colonies. Badgers can live for up to about fifteen years in the wild.


title: European badger

text: Badgers begin to prepare for winter sleep during late summer by accumulating fat reserves, which reach a peak in October. During this period, the sett is cleaned and the nesting chamber is filled with bedding. Upon retiring to sleep, badgers block their sett entrances with dry leaves and earth. They typically stop leaving their setts once snow has fallen. In Russia and the Nordic countries, European badgers retire for winter sleep from late October to mid-November and emerge from their setts in March and early April. In areas such as England and Transcaucasia, where winters are less harsh, badgers either forgo winter sleep entirely or spend long periods underground, emerging in mild spells.


title: European badger

text: European badgers are among the least carnivorous members of the Carnivora; they are highly adaptable and opportunistic omnivores, whose diet encompasses a wide range of animals and plants. Earthworms are their most important food source, followed by large insects, carrion, cereals, fruit and small mammals, including rabbits, mice, rats, voles, shrews, moles and hedgehogs. Insect prey includes chafers, dung and ground beetles, caterpillars, leatherjackets, and the nests of wasps and bumblebees. They are able to destroy wasp nests, consuming the occupants, combs, and envelope, such as that of "Vespula rufa" nests, since their thick skin and body hair protect the badgers from stings. Cereal food includes wheat, oats, maize and occasionally barley. Fruits include windfall apples, pears, plums, blackberries, bilberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, acorns, beechmast, pignuts and wild arum corms.


title: European badger

text: Occasionally, they feed on medium to large birds, amphibians, fish, small reptiles including tortoises and lizards, snails, slugs, fungi, tubers and green food such as clover and grass, particularly in winter and during droughts. Badgers characteristically capture large numbers of one food type in each hunt. Generally, they do not eat more than of food per day, with young specimens yet to attain one year of age eating more than adults. An adult badger weighing eats a quantity of food equal to 3.4% of its body weight. Badgers typically eat prey on the spot, and rarely transport it to their setts. Surplus killing has been observed in chicken coops.


title: European badger

text: Badgers prey on rabbits throughout the year, especially during times when their young are available. They catch young rabbits by locating their position in their nest by scent, then dig vertically downwards to them. In mountainous or hilly districts, where vegetable food is scarce, badgers rely on rabbits as a principal food source. Adult rabbits are usually avoided, unless they are wounded or caught in traps. They consume them by turning them inside out and eating the meat, leaving the inverted skin uneaten. Hedgehogs are eaten in a similar manner. In areas where badgers are common, hedgehogs are scarce. Some rogue badgers may kill lambs, though this is very rare; they may be erroneously implicated in lamb killings through the presence of discarded wool and bones near their setts, though foxes, which occasionally live alongside badgers, are often the culprits, as badgers do not transport food to their setts. They typically kill lambs by biting them behind the shoulder. Poultry and game birds are also taken only rarely. Some badgers may build their setts in close proximity to poultry or game farms without ever causing damage. In the rare instances in which badgers do kill reared birds, the killings usually occur in February–March, when food is scarce due to harsh weather and increases in badger populations. Badgers can easily breach bee hives with their jaws, and are mostly indifferent to bee stings, even when set upon by swarms.


title: European badger

text: European badgers have few natural enemies. While normally docile, badgers can become extremely aggressive and ferocious when cornered, making it dangerous for predators to target them. Grey wolves ("Canis lupus"), Eurasian lynxes ("Lynx lynx") and brown bears ("Ursus arctos"), Europe's three largest remaining land predators, and large domestic dogs ("C. familiaris") can pose a threat to adult badgers, though deaths caused by them are quantitatively rare as these predators are often limited in population due to human persecution and usually prefer easier, larger prey like ungulates, while badgers may fight viciously if aware of a predator and cornered without an escape route. They may live alongside red foxes ("Vulpes vulpes") in isolated sections of large burrows. The two species possibly tolerate each other out of commensalism; foxes provide badgers with food scraps, while badgers maintain the shared burrow's cleanliness. However, cases are known of badgers driving vixens from their dens and destroying their litters without eating them. In turn, red foxes are known to have killed badger cubs in spring. Golden eagles ("Aquila chrysaetos") are known predators of European badgers and attacks by them on badger cubs are not infrequent, including cases where they have been pulled out directly from below the legs of their mothers, and even adult badgers may be attacked by this eagle species when emerging weak and hungry from hibernation. Eurasian eagle owls ("Bubo bubo") may also take an occasional cub and other large raptors such as white-tailed eagles ("Haliaeetus albicilla") and greater spotted eagle ("Clanga clanga") are considered potential badger cub predators. Raccoon dogs may extensively use badger setts for shelter. There are many known cases of badgers and raccoon dogs wintering in the same hole, possibly because badgers enter hibernation two weeks earlier than the latter, and leave two weeks later. In exceptional cases, badger and raccoon dog cubs may coexist in the same burrow. Badgers may drive out or kill raccoon dogs if they overstay their welcome.


title: European badger

text: Bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB) caused by "Mycobacterium bovis" is a major mortality factor in badgers, though infected badgers can live and successfully breed for years before succumbing. The disease was first observed in badgers in 1951 in Switzerland where they were believed to have contracted it from chamois ("Rupicapra rupicapra") or roe deer ("Capreolus capreolus"). It was detected in the United Kingdom in 1971 where it was linked to an outbreak of bovine TB in cows. The evidence appears to indicate that the badger is the primary reservoir of infection for cattle in the southwest of England, Wales and Ireland. Since then there has been considerable controversy as to whether culling badgers will effectively reduce or eliminate bovine TB in cattle.


title: European badger

text: Badgers are vulnerable to the mustelid herpesvirus-1, as well as rabies and canine distemper, though the latter two are absent in Great Britain. Other diseases found in European badgers include arteriosclerosis, pneumonia, pleurisy, nephritis, enteritis, polyarthritis and lymphosarcoma.


title: European badger

text: Internal parasites of badgers include trematodes, nematodes and several species of tapeworm. Ectoparasites carried by them include the fleas "Paraceras melis" (the badger flea), "Chaetopsylla trichosa" and "Pulex irritans" (the human flea), the lice "Trichodectes melis" and the ticks "Ixodes ricinus", "I. canisuga", "I. hexagonus", "I. reduvius" and "I. melicula". They also suffer from mange. They spend much time grooming, individuals concentrating on their own ventral areas, alternating one side with the other, while social grooming occurs with one individual grooming another on its dorsal surface. Fleas tried to avoid the scratching, retreating rapidly downwards and backwards through the fur. This was in contrast to fleas away from their host, which ran upwards and jumped when disturbed. The grooming seems to disadvantage fleas rather than merely having a social function.


title: European badger

text: The International Union for Conservation of Nature rates the European badger as being of least concern. This is because it is a relatively common species with a wide range and populations are generally stable. In Central Europe it has become more abundant in recent decades due to a reduction in the incidence of rabies. In other areas it has also fared well, with increases in numbers in Western Europe and the United Kingdom. However, in some areas of intensive agriculture it has reduced in numbers due to loss of habitat and in others it is hunted as a pest.


title: European badger

text: Badgers play a part in European folklore and are featured in modern literature. In Irish mythology, badgers are portrayed as shape-shifters and kinsmen to Tadg, the king of Tara and foster father of Cormac mac Airt. In one story, Tadg berates his adopted son for having killed and prepared some badgers for dinner. In German folklore, the badger is portrayed as a cautious, peace-loving Philistine, who loves more than anything his home, family and comfort, though he can become aggressive if surprised. He is a cousin of Reynard the Fox, whom he uselessly tries to convince to return to the path of righteousness.


title: European badger

text: In Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows", Mr. Badger is depicted as a gruff, solitary figure who "simply hates society", yet is a good friend to Mole and Ratty. As a friend of Toad's now-deceased father, he is often firm and serious with Toad, but at the same time generally patient and well-meaning towards him. He can be seen as a wise hermit, a good leader and gentleman, embodying common sense. He is also brave and a skilled fighter, and helps rid Toad Hall of invaders from the wild wood.


title: European badger

text: The "Frances" series of children's books by Russell and Lillian Hoban depicts an anthropomorphic badger family.


title: European badger

text: In T. H. White's Arthurian series "The Once and Future King", the young King Arthur is transformed into a badger by Merlin as part of his education. He meets with an older badger who tells him "I can only teach you two things – to dig, and love your home."


title: European badger

text: A villainous badger named Tommy Brock appears in Beatrix Potter's 1912 book "The Tale of Mr. Tod". He is shown kidnapping the children of Benjamin Bunny and his wife Flopsy, and hiding them in an oven at the home of Mr. Tod the fox, whom he fights at the end of the book. The portrayal of the badger as a filthy animal which appropriates fox dens was criticized from a naturalistic viewpoint, though the inconsistencies are few and employed to create individual characters rather than evoke an archetypical fox and badger. A wise old badger named Trufflehunter appears in C. S. Lewis' "Prince Caspian", where he aids Caspian X in his struggle against King Miraz.


title: European badger

text: A badger takes a prominent role in Colin Dann's "The Animals of Farthing Wood" series as second in command to Fox. The badger is also the house symbol for Hufflepuff in the "Harry Potter" book series. The "Redwall" series also has the Badger Lords, who rule the extinct volcano fortress of Salamandastron and are renowned as fierce warriors. The children's television series "Bodger & Badger" was popular on CBBC during the 1990s and was set around the mishaps of a mashed potato-loving badger and his human companion.


title: European badger

text: An unnamed badger is part of Bosnian Serb writer Petar Kočić's satirical play "Badger on Tribunal" in which local farmer David Štrbac attempts to sue a badger for eating his crops. It is actually highly critical towards Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the beginning of the 20th century. In honor of Kočić and his Badger, satirical theater in Banja Luka is named Jazavac (Badger).


title: European badger

text: European badger appears on the coat of arms of the municipality of Luhanka in Central Finland, referring to the former importance of the fur trade in the locality. The badger is also the title animal of the Nurmijärvi municipality in Uusimaa, Finland, where it is a very common mammal.


title: European badger

text: European badgers are of little significance to hunting economies, though they may be actively hunted locally. Methods used for hunting badgers include catching them in jaw traps, ambushing them at their setts with guns, smoking them out of their earths and through the use of specially bred dogs such as Fox Terriers and Dachshunds to dig them out. Badgers are, however, notoriously durable animals; their skins are thick, loose and covered in long hair which acts as protection, and their heavily ossified skulls allow them to shrug off most blunt traumas, as well as shotgun pellets.


title: European badger

text: Badger-baiting was once a popular blood sport, in which badgers were captured alive, placed in boxes, and attacked with dogs. In the UK, this was outlawed by the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835 and again by the Protection of Animals Act of 1911. Moreover, the cruelty towards and killing of the badger constitute offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, and further offences under this act are inevitably committed to facilitate badger-baiting (such as interfering with a sett, or the taking or the very possession of a badger for purposes other than nursing an injured animal to health). If convicted, badger-baiters may face a sentence of up to six months in jail, a fine of up to £5,000, and other punitive measures, such as community service or a ban from owning dogs.


title: European badger

text: Many badgers in Europe were gassed during the 1960s and 1970s to control rabies. Until the 1980s, badger culling in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the form of gassing, to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Limited culling resumed in 1998 as part of a 10-year randomized trial cull which was considered by John Krebs and others to show that culling was ineffective. Some groups called for a selective cull, while others favoured a programme of vaccination, and vets support the cull on compassionate grounds as they say that the illness causes much suffering in badgers. In 2012, the government authorized a limited cull led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), however, this was later deferred with a wide range of reasons given. In August 2013, a full culling programme began where about 5,000 badgers were killed over six weeks in West Somerset and Gloucestershire by marksmen with high-velocity rifles using a mixture of controlled shooting and free shooting (some badgers were trapped in cages first). The cull caused many protests with emotional, economic and scientific reasons being cited. The badger is considered an iconic species of the British countryside, though is not endangered. It was claimed by shadow ministers that "The government's own figures show it will cost more than it saves...", and Lord Krebs, who led the Randomised Badger Culling Trial in the 1990s, said the two pilots "will not yield any useful information". A scientific study of culling from 2013 to 2017 has shown a reduction of 36–55% incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle.


title: European badger

text: There are several accounts of European badgers being tamed. Tame badgers can be affectionate pets, and can be trained to come to their owners when their names are called. They are easily fed, as they are not fussy eaters, and will instinctively unearth rats, moles and young rabbits without training, though they do have a weakness for pork. Although there is one record of a tame badger befriending a fox, they generally do not tolerate the presence of cats and dogs, and will chase them.


title: European badger

text: Badger meat is eaten in some districts of the former Soviet Union, though in most cases it is discarded. Smoked hams made from badgers were once highly esteemed in England, Wales and Ireland.


title: European badger

text: Some badger products have been used for medical purposes; badger expert Ernest Neal, quoting from an 1810 edition of "The Sporting Magazine", wrote;


title: European badger

text: The flesh, blood and grease of the badger are very useful for oils, ointments, salves and powders, for shortness of breath, the cough of the lungs, for the stone, sprained sinews, collachs etc. The skin being well dressed is very warm and comfortable for ancient people who are troubled with paralytic disorders.


title: European badger

text: The hair of the European badger has been used for centuries for making sporrans and shaving brushes. Sporrans are traditionally worn as part of male Scottish highland dress. They form a bag or pocket made from a pelt and a badger or other animal's mask may be used as a flap. The pelt was also formerly used for pistol furniture.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four specified periods of armed conflict or national emergency from June 27, 1950 through the present. Combat or "in theater" service is not a requirement for the award.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) was first intended to be a "blanket campaign medal" awarded to service members who served honorably during a designated time period of when a "national emergency" had been declared during a time of war or conflict. It may also be issued to active military members for any other period that the Secretary of Defense designates.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: To date, the NDSM has been awarded for four specific time periods, which roughly correspond to the Korean (1950-1954), Vietnam (1961-1974), Gulf (1990-1995), and the Global War on Terrorism (2001 to 2022).


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The NDSM was established by , issued by President Dwight Eisenhower, on April 22, 1953. While no document is known which explains the rationale for the award, it was apparently established to recognize all service members who served during the Korean War, to include those who did not serve in the war zone. (Service members who served in the war zone received the Korean Service Medal, established by President Harry S Truman in 1950.) Originally, awards of the NDSM were restricted to personnel serving on active duty and were retroactive to June 27, 1950 - the date the Korean War began.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The Heraldic Division, Quartermaster General’s Office, of the U.S. Army was requested to provide designs for the NDSM. A design developed by T. H. Jones was submitted to the U.S. Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel (G1) on 26 May 1953. A committee appointed by the Department of Defense, which included representatives of all services, met on 27 May 1953 and 3 June 1953 and selected Jones' design for final approval. An eagle holding a sword and an olive branch (on the obverse), together with the shield of the Coat of Arms of the United States (on the reverse), was used to symbolize the defense of the United States. The combination of oak and palm leaves around the shield signify strength and preparedness.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: Executive Order 11265, dated January 11, 1966, extended eligibility for the NDSM to service members "who served during any period after December 31, 1960, which the Secretary of Defense designates as being a period for which active military service merits special recognition." The closing date of this period of eligibility was later set at August 14, 1974 by a letter from the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, subject: Termination of Eligibility for the National Defense Service Medal, dated June 30, 1974.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The NDSM was again authorized by a memorandum, dated 20 February 1991, from Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney for active service on or after 2 August 1990 with no termination date established. Executive Order 12776 of October 8, 1991 extended eligibility for the NDSM to members of the Reserve Components during the period of the Gulf War. This eligibility period was later defined as from August 2, 1990 to November 30, 1995.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: A memorandum from the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, dated April 26, 2002, authorized the reinstatement of the NDSM for all active duty personnel retroactive to September 11, 2001. Executive Order 13293, dated March 28, 2003, amended EO 10448 to extend eligibility to all Selected Reserve personnel (i.e. actively drilling members of the reserve components to include the National Guard). As EO 13293 amended the EO which established the NDSM, this made Selected Reserve personnel from all previous eligibility periods eligible for the NDSM, to include those who served during the Korean and Vietnam eras.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: On August 30, 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memorandum stating that issue of the NDSM would be suspended after December 31, 2022.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The National Defense Service Medal is the oldest service medal (as opposed to decorations for particular achievements such as valor or meritorious service and Good Conduct Medals) awarded by all branches of the United States Armed Forces. The only two older awarded service medals are the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, established in 1919, and the Navy Expeditionary Medal, established in 1936. The oldest awarded combat decoration is the Medal of Honor, which was established in 1862, and the oldest awarded non-combat decoration is the Army's Distinguished Service Medal, established in 1918. The Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Army Good Conduct Medals were established in 1869, 1896, 1923 and 1941 respectively. The Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal was established in 1925.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: As the NDSM has been awarded to all military personnel during four wartime periods spanning 43 years, it has millions of recipients and is the most widely awarded medal in the history of the United States Armed Forces.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The National Defense Service Medal is authorized for all active duty and Selected Reserve United States military personnel, regardless of length of service, with no requirement for overseas or combat service, for the following time periods:


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is awarded to anyone who has served on active duty, or as an active reservist, in the United States Armed Forces during any of four specified time periods. Originally, reserve component service during the Korean and Vietnam periods of eligibility, other than those Reserve Component personnel in a full-time status or on active duty greater than 89 days, did not qualify for award of the NDSM. This was changed by Executive Order 13293, signed on 28 March 2003, to include Selected Reserve personnel (i.e. drilling reservists) during all periods of eligibility.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: For service in the Persian Gulf War, members of the Reserve Components, to include the National Guard, were initially awarded the NDSM when called to active duty service, but this was later expanded to include all members of the Reserve or National Guard in good standing in the Selected Reserve during the eligibility period.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: For service in the Global War on Terrorism, Selected Reserve and National Guard members need only to have been in good standing to receive the NDSM and no active duty service is required. Inactive Ready Reserve and Retired Reserve are not eligible to be awarded the NDSM unless called to active duty.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The medal is authorized to cadets and midshipmen at the military service academies after they are sworn into service, as well as pre-commission officer candidates/trainees at the Officer Candidate Schools or Officer Training Schools of the various U.S. Armed Forces; but is not granted to discharged or retired military personnel who did not serve in one of the above time periods; nor is it authorized for Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets and midshipmen at colleges and universities who enlisted in the inactive reserve (i.e., Obligated Reserve Section or ORS) during qualifying periods.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: The NDSM ranks fourth out of twenty-nine in the order of precedence of service medals. There is no time requirement for the medal's issuance, meaning that someone who joins the United States Armed Forces for simply a few days, and then receives an entry level discharge, would technically be entitled to the NDSM; in practice, however, military clerks will not add the NDSM on a DD Form 214 if the service member performed duty for less than 90 days from the completion of their initial entry training. This accounts for the medal's omission from many "uncharacterized" and "entry level" separation documents. Veterans who have this medal so omitted may apply to the military service departments to have the NDSM added to records via a DD Form 215.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: Additional awards of the National Defense Service Medal are authorized for members of the military who served in more than one of the eligible time periods. Each additional award is denoted by a -inch bronze service star attached to the ribbon. A second award of the medal is not granted for reenlisting during the same time period or transferring between branches of service.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: Starting in 1966, when the NDSM was authorized for service in the Vietnam era, members of the U.S. Army who had received two NDSMs (i.e. for both the Korean and Vietnam eras), wore an oak leaf cluster on the ribbon, rather than a star (as was done by the other branches of service).


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: Recipients of three NDSMs are uncommon, with a career exceeding 36 years, inclusive of the periods from 1954-1990 or 1974-2001.


title: National Defense Service Medal

text: A recipient of the maximum of four NDSMs would have a career exceeding 47 years, inclusive of the years 1954-2001.


title: Boléro

text: Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement.


title: Boléro

text: The work's creation was set in motion by a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel for an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz's set of piano pieces, "Iberia". While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós had already orchestrated the movements, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement from being made. When Arbós heard of this, he said he would happily waive his rights and allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces. But Ravel decided to orchestrate one of his own works instead, then changed his mind and decided to compose a completely new piece based on the "bolero", a Spanish dance musical form.


title: Boléro

text: While on vacation at St Jean-de-Luz, Ravel went to the piano and played a melody with one finger to his friend Gustave Samazeuilh, saying, "Don't you think this theme has an insistent quality? I'm going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can." Idries Shah argues that the main theme is adapted from a melody composed for and used in Sufi training. Bruce L. Miller, Director of the Memory and Aging Center of the Weill Institute for Neurosciences at UCSF has, with colleagues, suggested that the repetition in the piece was caused by the onset of progressive aphasia in Ravel, as a result of frontotemporal dementia.


title: Boléro

text: The composition was a sensational success when it premiered at the Paris Opéra on 22 November 1928, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs and scenario by Alexandre Benois. The orchestra of the Opéra was conducted by Walther Straram. Originally, Ernest Ansermet had been engaged to conduct the entire ballet season, but the musicians refused to play under him. A scenario by Rubinstein and Nijinska was printed in the program for the premiere:


title: Boléro

text: Inside a tavern in Spain, people dance beneath the brass lamp hung from the ceiling. [In response] to the cheers to join in, the female dancer has leapt onto the long table and her steps become more and more animated.


title: Boléro

text: "Boléro" became Ravel's most famous composition, much to the surprise of the composer, who had predicted that most orchestras would refuse to play it. It is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely staged as a ballet. According to a possibly apocryphal story from the premiere performance, a woman was heard shouting that Ravel was mad. When told about this, Ravel is said to have remarked that she had understood the piece.


title: Boléro

text: The piece was first published by the Parisian firm Durand in 1929. Arrangements were made for piano solo and piano duet (two people playing at one piano), and later, Ravel arranged a version for two pianos, published in 1930.


title: Boléro

text: The first recording was made by Piero Coppola for the Gramophone Company on 8 January 1930. Ravel attended the recording session. The next day, he conducted the Lamoureux Orchestra in his own recording for Polydor. That same year, further recordings were made by Serge Koussevitzky with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.


title: Boléro

text: Conductor Arturo Toscanini gave the American premiere of "Boléro" with the New York Philharmonic on 14 November 1929. The performance was a great success, bringing "shouts and cheers from the audience" according to a "New York Times" review, leading one critic to declare that "it was Toscanini who launched the career of the Boléro", and another to claim that Toscanini had made Ravel into "almost an American national hero".


title: Boléro

text: On 4 May 1930, Toscanini performed the work with the New York Philharmonic at the Paris Opéra as part of that orchestra's European tour. Toscanini's tempo was significantly faster than Ravel preferred, and Ravel signaled his disapproval by refusing to respond to Toscanini's gesture during the audience ovation. An exchange took place between the two men backstage after the concert. According to one account, Ravel said, "It's too fast", to which Toscanini responded, "You don't know anything about your own music. It's the only way to save the work". According to another report, Ravel said, "That's not my tempo". Toscanini replied, "When I play it at your tempo, it is not effective", to which Ravel retorted, "Then do not play it". Four months later, Ravel attempted to smooth over relations with Toscanini by sending him a note explaining that "I have always felt that if a composer does not take part in the performance of a work, he must avoid the ovations" and, ten days later, inviting Toscanini to conduct the premiere of his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, an invitation that was declined.


title: Boléro

text: The Toscanini affair became a "cause célèbre" and further increased the fame of "Boléro". Other factors in the work's renown were the large number of early performances, gramophone records, including Ravel's own, transcriptions and radio broadcasts, together with the 1934 motion picture "Bolero" starring George Raft and Carole Lombard, in which the music plays an important role.


title: Boléro

text: The instrumentation calls for a sopranino saxophone in F, which never existed (modern sopraninos are in E). At the first performance, both the sopranino and soprano saxophone parts were played on the B soprano saxophone, a tradition that continues to this day.


title: Boléro

text: "Boléro" is "Ravel's most straightforward composition in any medium". The music is in C major, time, beginning "pianissimo" and rising in a continuous crescendo to "fortissimo possibile" (as loud as possible). It is built over an unchanging ostinato rhythm played 169 times on one or more snare drums that remains constant throughout the piece:


title: Boléro

text: On top of this rhythm two melodies are heard, each 18 bars long, and each played twice alternately. The first melody is diatonic, and the second introduces more jazz-influenced elements, with syncopation and flattened notes (technically it is mostly in the Phrygian mode). The first melody descends through one octave, the second through two octaves. The bass line and accompaniment are initially played on pizzicato strings, mainly using rudimentary tonic and dominant notes. Tension is provided by the contrast between the steady percussive rhythm, and the "expressive vocal melody trying to break free". Interest is maintained by constant reorchestration of the theme, leading to a variety of timbres, and by a steady crescendo. Both themes are repeated eight times. At the climax, the first theme is repeated a ninth time, then the second theme takes over and breaks briefly into a new tune in E major before finally returning to the tonic key of C major.


title: Boléro

text: The melody is passed among different instruments: (1) flute, (2) clarinet, (3) bassoon, (4) Eclarinet, (5) oboe d'amore, (6) trumpet and flute (latter is not heard clearly and in higher octave than the first part), (7) tenor saxophone, (8) soprano saxophone, (9) horn, piccolos and celesta; (10) oboe, English horn and clarinet; (11) trombone, (12) some of the wind instruments, (13) first violins and some wind instruments, (14) first and second violins together with some wind instruments, (15) violins and some of the wind instruments, (16) some instruments in the orchestra, and finally (17) most but not all of the instruments in the orchestra (with bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam).


title: Boléro

text: While the melody continues to be played in C throughout, from the middle onward other instruments double it in different keys. The first such doubling involves a horn playing the melody in C, while a celeste doubles it 2 and 3 octaves above and two piccolos play the melody in the keys of G and E, respectively. This functions as a reinforcement of the first, second, third, and fourth overtones of each note of the melody (though the "G major" is 2 cents flat, and the "E major" is 14 cents sharp). The other significant "key doubling" involves sounding the melody a 5th above or a 4th below, in G major. Other than these "key doublings", Ravel simply harmonizes the melody with diatonic chords.


title: Boléro

text: The accompaniment becomes gradually thicker and louder until the whole orchestra is playing at the very end. Just before the end (rehearsal number 18 in the score), there is a sudden change of key to E major, but C major is reestablished after just eight bars. Six bars from the end, the bass drum, cymbals, and tam-tam make their first entry, and the trombones play raucous glissandi while the whole orchestra beats out the rhythm that has been played on the snare drum from the very first bar. Finally, the work descends from a dissonant B minor over F minor chord to a C major chord.


title: Boléro

text: The tempo indication in the score is "Tempo di Bolero, moderato assai" ("tempo of a bolero, very moderate"). In Ravel's copy of the score, the printed metronome mark of 76 per quarter is crossed out and 66 is substituted. Later editions of the score suggest a tempo of 72. Ravel's own recording from January 1930 starts at approximately 66 per quarter, slightly slowing down later on to 60–63. Its total duration is 15 minutes 50 seconds. Coppola's first recording, at which Ravel was present, has a similar duration of 15 minutes 40 seconds. Ravel said in an interview with "The Daily Telegraph" that the piece lasts 17 minutes.


title: Boléro

text: An average performance lasts about 15 minutes, with the slowest recordings, such as that by Ravel's associate Pedro de Freitas Branco, extending well beyond 18 minutes and the fastest, such as Leopold Stokowski's 1940 recording with the All American Youth Orchestra, approaching 12 minutes. In May 1994, with the Munich Philharmonic on tour in Cologne, conductor Sergiu Celibidache at the age of 82 gave a performance that lasted 17 minutes and 53 seconds, perhaps a record in the modern era.


title: Boléro

text: At Coppola's first recording, Ravel indicated strongly that he preferred a steady tempo, criticizing the conductor for getting faster at the end of the work. According to Coppola's own report:


title: Boléro

text: Maurice Ravel... did not have confidence in me for the "Boléro". He was afraid that my Mediterranean temperament would overtake me, and that I would rush the tempo. I assembled the orchestra at the Salle Pleyel, and Ravel took a seat beside me. Everything went well until the final part, where, in spite of myself, I increased the tempo by a fraction. Ravel jumped up, came over and pulled at my jacket: "not so fast", he exclaimed, and we had to begin again.


title: Boléro

text: Ravel's preference for a slower tempo is confirmed by his unhappiness with Toscanini's performance, as reported above. Toscanini's 1939 recording with the NBC Symphony Orchestra has a duration of 13 minutes 25 seconds.


title: Boléro

text: Ravel was a stringent critic of his own work. During the composition of "Boléro", he said to Joaquín Nin that the work had "no form, properly speaking, no development, no or almost no modulation". In a 1931 interview with "The Daily Telegraph," he spoke about the work as follows:It constitutes an experiment in a very special and limited direction, and should not be suspected of aiming at achieving anything different from, or anything more than, it actually does achieve. Before its first performance, I issued a warning to the effect that what I had written was a piece lasting seventeen minutes and consisting wholly of "orchestral tissue without music"—of one very long, gradual crescendo. There are no contrasts, and practically no invention except the plan and the manner of execution.


title: Boléro

text: In 1934, in his book "Music Ho!", Constant Lambert wrote: "There is a definite limit to the length of time a composer can go on writing in one dance rhythm (this limit is obviously reached by Ravel towards the end of "La valse" and towards the beginning of "Boléro")."


title: Boléro

text: Literary critic Allan Bloom commented in his 1987 bestseller "The Closing of the American Mind", "Young people know that rock has the beat of sexual intercourse. That is why Ravel's "Bolero" is the one piece of classical music that is commonly known and liked by them."


title: Boléro

text: In a 2011 article for "The Cambridge Quarterly", Michael Lanford wrote, "throughout his life, Maurice Ravel was captivated by the act of creation outlined in Edgar Allan Poe's "Philosophy of Composition"." Since, in his words, "Boléro" defies "traditional methods of musical analysis owing to its melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic repetitiveness," he offers an analysis that "corresponds to Ravel's documented reflections on the creative process and the aesthetic precepts outlined in Poe's "Philosophy of Composition"." Lanford also contends that "Boléro" was quite possibly a deeply personal work for Ravel. As evidence, Lanford cites Ravel's admissions that the rhythms of "Boléro" were inspired by the machines of his father's factory and melodic materials came from a berceuse Ravel's mother sang to him at nighttime. Lanford also proposes that "Boléro" is imbued with tragedy, observing that the snare drum "dehumanizes one of the most sensuously connotative aspects of the bolero", "instruments with the capacity for melodic expression mimic the machinery," and the melody consistently ends with a descending tetrachord.


title: Boléro

text: The piece gained new attention after it was prominently featured in the 1979 romantic comedy "10", costarring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. This resulted in massive sales, generated an estimated $1 million in royalties and briefly made Ravel the best-selling classical composer 40 years after his death.


title: Boléro

text: The ice dancing pair Torvill and Dean danced to a six-minute version of the work in winning the gold medal in ice dancing at the 1984 Winter Olympics, receiving perfect 6.0s for artistic merit.


title: Boléro

text: The eight-minute short film "Le batteur du Boléro" (1992) by Patrice Leconte concentrates on the drummer, played by Jacques Villeret, and the problems of his musical part. The film was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Boléro

text: The work is public domain in Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and many others where the copyright term is "Life + 50 years". It is also public domain in the European Union (where the term is Life + 70 years). In the U.S., "Boléro" remains under copyright until 1 January 2025 as it was first published in 1929 with the prescribed copyright notice. The last remaining rights owner, Evelyne Pen de Castel, has entered a number of claims that the work was in fact co-composed with the designer Alexandre Benois. The effect would be to extend the copyright until 2039. The claims have been rejected repeatedly by French courts and the French authors society Sacem.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Kevin Meade Williamson (born March 14, 1965) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is known for developing and writing the screenplay for slasher film "Scream" (1996)—which launched the "Scream" franchise—along with those for "Scream 2" (1997) and "Scream 4" (2011). He is also known for creating the WB teen drama series "Dawson's Creek" (1998–2003), the CW supernatural drama series "The Vampire Diaries" (2009–2017), the Fox crime thriller series "The Following" (2013–2015), the CBS crime drama series "Stalker" (2014–2015), and the CBS All Access thriller series "Tell Me a Story" (2018–2020).


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson also wrote the screenplays for the films "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997), "The Faculty" (1998), and "Cursed" (2005). He made his directorial debut with the black comedy film "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" (1999), which remains his only directorial work to date.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson was born in New Bern, North Carolina, the younger son of Faye and Wade Williamson, a fisherman. He spent his early years in Aransas Pass, Texas, near Corpus Christi, Texas. Williamson's family returned to North Carolina for his high school years. He then attended East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he received a BFA in Theatre Arts.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: He told "Entertainment Weekly" interviewer Melissa Maerz, "When I was growing up, my mom and dad took me to the Poe museum in Richmond, Virginia. It was a little house downtown, and "The Raven" was written on the walls. You had to move from room to room to read the whole story. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world."


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: After graduation, he moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. Though he landed a part on the soap opera "Another World" in 1990, he moved to Los Angeles the following year where he had small parts in "In Living Color", a Roger Corman film, "Hard Run", and in music videos. While taking classes on screenwriting at UCLA he wrote his first script, "Killing Mrs. Tingle" (later retitled "Teaching Mrs. Tingle") which was bought by a production company in 1995 and put on the shelf.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Inspired by the March 9, 1994, episode of the newsmagazine "Turning Point" on Danny Rolling, a serial killer in Gainesville, Florida, who preyed on college students, Williamson wrote a horror movie script, originally titled "Scary Movie". Its characters had seen many classic horror movies (e.g. "Halloween", "A Nightmare on Elm Street") and knew all the clichés. Miramax bought the script for $400,000 for their new Dimension Films label in the spring of 1995. Directed by Wes Craven, the film was renamed "Scream", and released in The United States on December 20, 1996. It became a commercial blockbuster and critical success—ultimately drawing $173 million in ticket sales worldwide.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 1997, Dimension Films released "Scream 2", also written by Williamson. It, too, was a critical and box office hit and paved the way for two more installments, "Scream 3" (2000) and "Scream 4" (2011). The latter was written by Williamson.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Paul Stupin, an executive at Columbia TriStar Television, read "Scream" after the bidding war for the script and was convinced Williamson was just the man to create a television series for his company. The result was "Dawson's Creek", a semi-autobiographical tale set in a small coastal community not unlike Oriental. Williamson was the model for the title character, Dawson Leery, a hopeless romantic who is obsessed with movies—especially those of Steven Spielberg. Joey Potter, the platonic girl-next-door, was based on a real life friend of Williamson's when he was young.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In December 1995, the show was pitched to the Fox Network, where Stupin had been an executive, but it was rejected. Then in 1996, Stupin and Williamson went to, and struck a deal with, The WB. Williamson said, "I pitched it as "Some Kind of Wonderful", meets "Pump Up the Volume", meets "James at 15", meets "My So-Called Life", meets "Little House on the Prairie"." "Dawson's Creek" premiered on The WB on January 20, 1998, and was an immediate hit that helped launch the newly created television network.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 1999, Williamson left the show to focus on other endeavors, among them ABC's "Wasteland", which failed to attract a sizable audience and was canceled after its thirteen-episode first season. He later returned to "Dawson's Creek" to pen the two-part series finale in 2003.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 1997, Williamson penned his next film, "I Know What You Did Last Summer", based on a 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. Centered on four high school friends who accidentally run over a man and dump his body in an attempt to go on with their lives, the plot focuses on the four friends a year after the accident when they become the victims of a serial stalker. Despite receiving negative reviews from critics, the film helped launch the careers of actors Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe, going on to spawn two sequels, neither of which Williamson was involved with.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson gave up the job of writing the full script for "Scream 3" in order to direct his first penned script, originally titled "Killing Mrs. Tingle", a comedy thriller, inspired by an event he experienced in high school. "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" (as it was renamed after the Columbine High School massacre) followed a group of students getting even with their vindictive teacher.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 1999, Williamson created "Wasteland", a late-night, sexualized version of his earlier show, "Dawson's Creek". It aired for just 3 episodes in October 1999 before being canceled. The remaining 10 episodes were aired on Showtime's ShowNext channel in 2001.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 2001, Williamson created "Glory Days" as a mid-season replacement for The WB. The series followed a novelist returning to his hometown, a coastal community within Washington state, which was experiencing strange occurrences—seeming to mirror the plot ABC's "Twin Peaks". Debuting in January 2002, the series was canceled after the airing of nine episodes.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson penned another script which Wes Craven would go on to direct called "Cursed", after a failed first shoot starring an almost entirely different cast before re-writes and re-shoots turned the project into something new, it was finally released in 2005. Due to the many script changes, delays in production and low promotional budget due to all the re-shoots, the film failed to perform at the box office.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Later that same year, Dimension Films released Williamson's horror film, "Venom", about a group of teens stalked by a crazed killer in the bayous of Louisiana. Williamson is listed as a producer of the film, but not as a writer. The film opened to negative reviews and suffered at the box office, taking in less than $900,000 in gross revenue.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 2006, Williamson began production on a new teen drama, tentatively titled "Palm Springs", for The CW, the successor to the WB network. Later retitled "Hidden Palms", the series was a coming-of-age drama about a troubled teen who moves with his mother and new stepfather to a gated community in Palm Springs, California, where he uncovers dark secrets about his neighbors and his home's previous tenants. "Hidden Palms" was originally intended to be a midseason replacement set to air in March but its timeslot was filled by "" instead. The pilot eventually premiered on May 30, 2007, to favorable reviews. However, after eight episodes, the series was canceled due to low viewership ratings. The final episode aired on July 4, 2007.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson developed a new TV series for The CW entitled "The Vampire Diaries", which was adapted from a novel series of the same name by L. J. Smith. The series follows the life of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), who falls in love with vampire Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), and soon finds herself caught in a love triangle between Stefan and his older brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), while the brothers are also being haunted by the past they've had with Katherine Pierce (also played by Dobrev). The series also focuses on the lives of Elena's friends and other inhabitants of the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. "The Vampire Diaries" premiered on September 10, 2009, and has become a domestic and international hit.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson developed a new TV series for The CW entitled "The Secret Circle", which was from another book series of "Vampire Diaries" writer, L. J. Smith. The series revolves around six teenage witches who form a Circle coven on the fictional town of Chance Harbor, Washington.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: "The Secret Circle" premiered on September 15, 2011, just after the third-season premiere of "The Vampire Diaries". It was pickup for a full-season on October 12, 2011. It was eventually cancelled.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson was the writer and producer for "Scream 4", which began shooting in June 2010 and was released in theaters on April 15, 2011.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson created the TV series "The Following", which began airing on Fox in the 2012–13 television season. Starring critically acclaimed actor Kevin Bacon, the series follows an ex-FBI agent who finds himself in the middle of a network of serial killers. The series was cancelled by Fox on May 8, 2015, however it was reported the series was being shopped to Hulu for a possible fourth season.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: Williamson also created "Stalker", a psychological thriller centered on a pair of detectives who handle stalking incidents for the Threat Management Unit of the LAPD. The pilot was directed by Liz Friedlander and starred Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q. The series was cancelled on May 11, 2015, after one season. It was reported Warner Bros. would possibly shop the series around.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 2017, Williamson developed "Time After Time", based on the novel of the same name, with the plot reset in 2017 New York City. It failed to capture a large enough audience for ABC.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In 2018, Williamson created "Tell Me a Story", a psychological thriller based on the Mexican television series Érase una vez, who takes "the world's most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller". The pilot was also directed by Friedlander (who also directed episodes of "The Vampire Diaries", "The Following" and "Stalker" for Williamson) and starred James Wolk, Billy Magnussen, Dania Ramirez, Kim Cattrall, Danielle Campbell and Paul Wesley. The latter was one of the main actors in Williamson's previous show, "The Vampire Diaires". The show began airing on CBS All Access in October 31, 2018.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In March 2020, it was announced that Williamson would serve as executive producer for the fifth installment of the "Scream" franchise, which was directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. The film was released on January 14, 2022.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In January 2022, it was announced that Williamson would reunite with Julie Plec for an adaptation of the comic "Dead Day" for Peacock.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In February 2022, it was announced that a sequel to "Scream" (2022) had been greenlit, with a planned release date of March 31, 2023, with Williamson on board as an executive producer.


title: Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)

text: In June 2022, Julie Plec, who co-created "The Vampire Diaries" with Williamson, announced that she, Williamson, and another TVDU executive producer, Brett Matthews, were working on a fourth show in the universe together.


title: Red Tails

text: Red Tails is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) servicemen during World War II. The characters in the film are fictional, although based on real individuals. The film was produced by Lucasfilm and released by 20th Century Fox, and would be the last film Lucasfilm released before being purchased by The Walt Disney Company nine months later. This was Cuba Gooding Jr.'s first theatrically released film in five years since his starring role in 2007's "Daddy Day Camp".


title: Red Tails

text: John Ridley wrote the screenplay. Additional material was shot the following year with executive producer George Lucas as director and Aaron McGruder as writer of the reshoots. It was filmed in March and July 2009. "Red Tails" was a personal project for Lucas, one that he had originally conceived in 1988. It is the first Lucasfilm production since the 1994 film "Radioland Murders" that is not associated with the "Indiana Jones" or "Star Wars" franchises. Terrence Howard had previously portrayed a Tuskegee pilot in "Hart's War", and Cuba Gooding Jr. had previously starred in "The Tuskegee Airmen," an HBO made-for-television film about the same group of pilots.


title: Red Tails

text: In 1944, as the air war over Europe enters a deadly phase with increasing losses of Allied bombers, the 332d Fighter Group (the Tuskegee Airmen) consisting of young African-American USAAF fighter pilots, after enduring racism throughout their recruitment and training in the Tuskegee training program, are sent into combat in Italy. Flying worn-out Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft and chafing at their ground attack missions, the Tuskegee Airmen recognize that they may never fight the Luftwaffe. The tight-knit group of Captain Martin "Easy" Julian, 1st Lt. Joe "Lightning" Little, 2nd Lt. Ray "Ray Gun" Gannon, 2nd Lt. Andrew "Smokey" Salem, and 2nd Lt. Samuel "Joker" George under the guidance of Major Emanuel Stance and Col. A.J. Bullard, face a white military bureaucracy still resistant to accepting black flyers as equals.


title: Red Tails

text: Strife develops between friends Easy and Lightning, each of whom battles his own inner demons: Lightning is a hotheaded and reckless pilot, while Easy is an alcoholic prone to self-doubt. After returning to base, Lightning becomes infatuated with Sofia, an Italian woman, and starts a relationship. When Lightning punches a white man who uses a racial slur at a "whites only" officer's club, he is sent to the brig and reprimanded by Colonel Bullard.


title: Red Tails

text: Meanwhile, Bullard secures a chance to "light up the board" when the Tuskegee Airmen are chosen to support the Allied landings at Anzio, Italy known as Operation Shingle. There, they battle Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters led by a German ace pilot they nickname "Pretty Boy" and manage to raze the base that Pretty Boy retreats back to. Pretty Boy is stunned to see the pilots who damaged his plane and razed his base were African-Americans. During their first victory, Ray Gun is injured by anti-aircraft fire and suffers impaired vision in one eye. Easy reluctantly allows Ray Gun to continue flying.


title: Red Tails

text: Impressed with the Tuskegee Airmen's performance, the USAAF Bomber Command ask Bullard to use his fighters as escorts for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers because of unacceptably high casualties among bomber crews. Bullard accepts on the condition his unit be supplied with the new North American P-51 Mustang. The tails of the aircraft are painted bright red and become the unofficial name of the outfit. Noting the reckless aggression of previous escort fights, Bullard orders his pilots to stay with the bombers at all costs. Their first escort mission is a success, and the 332nd downs multiple Luftwaffe aircraft without the loss of a single bomber. Lightning even takes his chances to attack a Kriegsmarine destroyer before returning to base. However, Ray Gun is shot down and captured by a Wehrmacht patrol, while Deke crash-lands and nearly dies, but is rescued from his burning Mustang before the fuel tank explodes.


title: Red Tails

text: As a result of his injuries, Deke is discharged. Ray Gun is taken to Stalag 18, a German POW camp. A group of POWs recruit him, as they believe that he cannot be a German spy. Easy blames himself for Ray Gun's apparent departure, and spirals deeper into alcoholism. Worried, Lightning makes a deal with Easy: he will fly less recklessly as long as Easy remains sober. Meanwhile, attitudes against the Tuskegee Airmen begin to change as they earn the bomber crews' respect. Lightning proposes to Sofia, who accepts as long as he stays in Italy. Ray Gun and his group of POWs escape, but German guards spot several POWs; Ray Gun draws the Germans' attention while the others escape. One of the POWs reaches the 332nd's base and, assuming Ray Gun to be dead, informs them about his sacrifice.


title: Red Tails

text: The Tuskegee Airmen are tasked with escorting the first American bombers to attack Berlin, though for propaganda reasons they are only asked to escort the bombers on the first leg of their journey. When the fighter squadron meant to relieve them never arrives, Easy stays with bombers. They are attacked by Pretty Boy, now leading a flight of the revolutionary new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters. Despite being outclassed, the Tuskegee Airmen shoot down several enemies, and escort a wounded B-17 back to Allied airspace. Pretty Boy nearly shoots down Easy, but at the last moment, Lightning attacks and kills Pretty Boy in a head-on attack. Although victorious, Lightning is mortally wounded and dies, and his Mustang crashes. Easy then has to inform Sofia about Lightning's death, and consequently overcomes his alcoholism. At Lightning's funeral, Ray Gun returns, having survived his escape from German captivity, invoking Lightning's memory.


title: Red Tails

text: Ultimately, the Tuskegee Airmen are awarded the Presidential Unit Citation in honor of their achievements.


title: Red Tails

text: George Lucas began developing "Red Tails" around 1988, after hearing of the Tuskegee Airmen from his friend George Hall, a photographer. At the time, the film was scheduled for release in 1992, with Kevin Sullivan writing the screenplay and Thomas Carter directing. Lucas originally conceived of the film as a long, detailed narrative similar to "Lawrence of Arabia", and as a trilogy, but after multiple script drafts, he decided to focus on the combat portion of the story. He compared it to "" as "a story too good to be true". In researching the film, Lucasfilm invited some of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen to Skywalker Ranch, where they were interviewed about their experiences during World War II. Lucasfilm was also given access to the original mission logbooks used by some of the pilots. A number of writers worked on the project until John Ridley was hired in 2007 to write the screenplay. Lucas held discussions with Samuel L. Jackson regarding Jackson possibly directing and acting in the film. Although Jackson praised the script, he did not commit to either role. Anthony Hemingway, a former production assistant for Lucas' "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" TV series, was ultimately chosen to direct in 2008.


title: Red Tails

text: Pre-production began in January 2009, with location scouting having taken place in June 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic, Italy and Croatia. Lucas invited storyboard artist David Russell (son of Tuskegee Airman James C. Russell) to design key aerial combat sequences. Production began in March 2009 with high-definition Sony F35 cameras used for principal photography, which took place in the Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia and England over a period from August to December. While shooting in the Czech Republic, the actors also underwent a "boot camp" program, during which they lived in similar conditions to the actual Tuskegee Airmen.


title: Red Tails

text: Harkening back to his early work on "Star Wars" where he had studied World War II aerial footage to create the space aerobatics performed by Rebel X-wings and TIE fighters, Lucas was familiar with World War II aerial combat. The Lucas template for photographing computer-generated imagery (CGI) dogfighting "involved lots of action, continuous motion, moving camera, streaks, loops and rolls, and all of the things aerial photography allows you to do in live action." Aerial scenes in "Red Tails" involved actors sitting in a gimbal-mounted cockpits (and mock-up fuselages and wings), in front of a green screen, rocked back and forth by production crew members. In order to achieve a realistic reaction, actors were flown in actual P-51 Mustangs at the Planes of Fame in Chino, California, to experience the forces involved in dogfighting.


title: Red Tails

text: Editing began while the production was in Prague. Avid editing systems were used simultaneously in a Prague studio and at Lucasfilm. A vehicle was fitted with a "technical center" so that the production could quickly move between locations. "Red Tails" was the first film to use Barco's Auro-3D 11.1 surround sound system.


title: Red Tails

text: In March 2010, Lucas took over direction of reshoots, as Hemingway was busy working on episodes of the HBO series, "Treme". "The Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder was brought in late in production, after Hemingway's principal photography, to provide re-writes for the Lucas-directed reshoots.


title: Red Tails

text: In April 2009, Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer, Jr. was appointed an advisor for "Red Tails". He died in 2010 while the film was in post-production, and the final credits bear a tribute to him.


title: Red Tails

text: Lucas covered the cost of production with his own money, and provided a further US$35 million for distribution. In an interview on "The Daily Show" on January 9, 2012, Lucas stated that the long delay in the production of the film was because major film studios balked at financing and marketing a film with an "all-black" cast and "no major white roles." He went on to explain that studios receive "60% of their profit" from overseas, and the studios feel there is no market there for films with all-black casts. "Red Tails" is the last film Lucasfilm made independently before being acquired by The Walt Disney Company on October 30, 2012.


title: Red Tails

text: Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator reports that of surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was . The site's consensus reads: "Despite a worthy fact-based story and obvious good intentions, "Red Tails" suffers from one-dimensional characters, corny dialogue, and heaps of clichés." On Metacritic, the film also holds a score of 46 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Red Tails

text: The main criticism was directed to the tone of the film; Stephen Holden in "The New York Times" review, noted, "In structure and tone, "Red Tails" proudly harks back to the 1940s and '50s, when good guys were good, and bad guys bad." In rebuttal, co-writer Aaron McGruder commented on the film's tone: "Some people are going to like this tonal choice and some people are going to say, 'Oh it should've been heavier and it should've been more dramatic.' But there's a version of this that doesn't have to be "Saving Private Ryan". We can be "Star Wars", as crazy as it is." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, stating, ""Red Tails" (is) entertaining. Audiences are likely to enjoy it. The scenes of aerial combat are skillfully done and exciting." In a similar vein, aviation historian Budd Davison, in agreement with fellow historian Barrett Tillman, although cognizant of the "Hollywood treatment", had a caution to aviation enthusiasts looking for a faithful reenactment of the Tuskegee legend, "... buy some popcorn, lean back and enjoy, this is Hollywood telling a story, not making a documentary. Save your guffaws until afterward with your friends."


title: Red Tails

text: Ina Diane Archer, daughter of Lee Archer (Tuskegee airman and advisor for "Red Tails"), in writing for "Film Comment", criticizes the film's disconnect between aerial scenes and the rest of the film, saying, "One longs for more scenes between the ensemble on the ground, but the emphasis on aerial (and digital) technology leaves the characters without context. There's a particularly troubling absence of black women (but for a painting on Lightning's plane) who go unmentioned—no gal back home? no sisters, no Mamas?—nor do we ever see the African Americans who followed the squadron's adventures."


title: Red Tails

text: In the face of media criticism of the portrayals of the Tuskegee Airmen in "Red Tails", a number of activists took to social media to protest against what was thought to be a racially tinged effort to denigrate the contribution of the wartime fighting unit. Beginning with statements to support the film made by surviving Tuskegee Airmen who had seen the film in previews, and spurred by the comments made by Lucas in a candid interview on "The Daily Show" where the producer openly discussed the difficulties of trying to get "Red Tails" made over the past 23 years, a Facebook campaign was started. In the Oakland, California premiere, two sold-out screenings were a testament to the success of the campaign. Effie Tesfahun, one of the organizers, explained, "When [Lucas] said Hollywood does not want to touch black films, it really hit me ... I thought we should get together and all go and support [this film]. Regardless of what Hollywood thinks, we all want to see positive messages of black people in the movies ... We need to speak, and speak loud, and speak with our dollars, because that's where people pay attention, when you start talking with your money," Tesfahun said. "We are sending a message that this is what we want." Lucas commented on the film's reception: "It had an effect on a lot of kids and adults. Now it's the one thing that everyone comes up to me and says 'thank you' for – I'm proud of that." "We didn't get to a point when [the film studios] said, 'Oh let's just do black movies.' But every time you poke 'em, it makes an effect."


title: Red Tails

text: Adolph Reed, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, said the film "trivializes segregation in the military by reducing it to a matter of bad or outmoded attitudes. The ironic effect is significant understatement of both the obstacles the Tuskegee airmen faced and their actual accomplishments by rendering them as backdrop for a blackface, slapped-together remake of "Top Gun"".


title: Red Tails

text: "Red Tails" received a nomination at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards for "Choice Action Movie", and was also nominated at the 2012 BET Awards for "Best Movie".


title: Red Tails

text: Later, in February 2013, "Red Tails" won the NAACP Image Award in the categories of "Outstanding Motion Picture" and "Outstanding Independent Motion Picture" at the 44th NAACP Image Awards. In addition, George Lucas was honoured with the "Vanguard Award". The film was also nominated for "Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture" and "Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture", while Ne-Yo was nominated for "Outstanding Duo or Group".


title: Red Tails

text: "Red Tails" portrays largely fictional events based on the exploits of the Tuskegee airmen, although many viewers were left with the impression that the film was entirely historically accurate. Through a series of three webinars, entitled: "Tuskegee Airman Webinars – 'Was the Movie Accurate'?" sponsored by the Commemorative Air Force's Red Tail Squadron, surviving Tuskegee Airmen Colonel Charles McGee and Colonel Harold Brown provided perspectives related to the film's interpretation. Although discussions as to use of equipment and dates were mentioned, three claims made in the film were the most contentious: the number of losses suffered by bomber crews under escort, the encounters with Luftwaffe jet fighters and the overall record established by the Tuskegee Airmen.


title: Red Tails

text: According to period records, it was long believed that the Tuskegee Airmen did not lose a single bomber due to enemy fire, a statement made by a bomber pilot in the film. However, this claim has been proven inaccurate, and an Air Force report from 2006 showed that at least 25 bombers were lost to enemy fire. As depicted in the climactic scene, the Luftwaffe Me 262 interception of a Tuskegee Airmen escort mission did not result in the first victory over the vaunted jet fighters, credited to another U.S. unit much earlier in the war. The film also states in the epilogue that the Tuskegee Airmen established one of the best fighter records in the U.S. Air Force. The film notes, correctly, that 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses were awarded to the unit and 66 Tuskegee Airmen were killed in action. Officially, however, the Tuskegee Airmen did not produce a single fighter pilot ace, although Lee Archer's record is still in dispute.


title: Red Tails

text: At the end of webinars, host Brad Lang, the CAF Red Tail Squadron Leader, described the interaction as important to reconciling the historical record with the "Red Tails" film's essentially dramatic retelling of the Tuskegee Airmen saga. Both colonels also agreed that the discussions were important to resolving the controversy over the film.


title: Red Tails

text: The movie has also been criticized for portraying the unit's commander as only having a desk job when the actual commander, Lt. Col. (later Gen.) Benjamin O. Davis Jr. flew many combat missions (because both black and white commanders needed such on-the-job training).