title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Kenshin returns to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Dojo, revealing to Kamiya Kaoru, Sanosuke, Myojin Yahiko and Takani Megumi that fifteen years ago when he worked for the Imperialists he married Tomoe, who unbeknownst to him was a spy for the Shogunate. Her original intention was to kill Kenshin to avenge Akira Kiyosato, the one who gave Kenshin his first scar and Tomoe's late fiancé. However, the two fell in love, and got married. When the assassins whom she allied with tried to ambush Kenshin, Tomoe sacrificed herself to protect Kenshin, but was accidentally killed by Kenshin himself. Before her last breath, Tomoe held a knife and gave him his other scar, resulting in cross shaped scars he carries.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Oniwabanshu members Shinomori Aoshi and Makimachi Misao arrive in Tokyo to assist Kenshin while also bringing Tomoe's diary which had been left in a temple in Kyoto for safekeeping. Saito, and his police troops were sent on a trap set by Cho Sawagejo, revealed to be working with the Shanghai mafia. Hot air balloons are seen at the sky, spreading newspapers with "jinchū" written on them. Subsequently, Enishi's troops begin bombing various areas of Tokyo. During the attacks, Shinomori is wounded trying to shield people from an explosion, while Kenshin fights and defeats one of Enishi's allies, the man responsible for attacking the Akabeko restaurant. Meanwhile, Enishi arrives at the Kamiya Kasshin Dojo, beating up the dojo students and Sanosuke, then kidnapping Kaoru thereafter. Enishi is unable to kill Karou as she reminds him of his sister and the trauma of his sister's death.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Kenshin prepares to face Enishi and to redeem himself for Tomoe's death. Kenshin struggles as the mafia appears. Misao, Saito comes together with the police and the wounded Sanosuke to help Kenshin. Kenshin then enters Enishi's mansion where he encounters Wu Heishin and his guards, to whom Enishi has passed over the leadership of the Shanghai mafia. His former enemy Seta Sojiro appears, as he helps Kenshin instead, as he reveals that he has become a wanderer after losing to Kenshin. With Sojiro's help, Kenshi reaches Enishi. His enemy wants him to commit suicide for his sister's death and his sins as a former assassin. Kenshin relents, he will stop Enishi for his friends' and Tomoe's sake rather in order to repay for his sins. The two continue their battle with Kenshin besting Enishi. Heishin then appears and tries to kill Kenshin with a gun but Kaoru intervenes. Enishi protects Kaoru until Kenshin stops him, thanking him for protecting Kaoru.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: In the aftermath, Enishi is arrested and breaks down in prison while reading Tomoe's diary sent by Kaoru as he finally understands his sister's final resolve. At the end, Kenshin and Kaoru visit Tomoe's grave to thank her, while holding each other's hands as they leave.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: With the exception of Kaito Ōyagi (Yahiko), all previous characters have the same actors from previous movies.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Following the "Kyoto arc" duology films from the series, director Keishi Otomo noted there are also circumstances in which my own projects were progressing in various ways. So, first of all, they had the staff take the lead and proceed. Otomo started around the spring of 2018. He may have had to enter for a while. The script was quite difficult according to the director. In order to do that, I thought that in "The Final", he had to draw Yukishiro Tomoe firmly. On the other hand, in this "The Final", a doll that resembles Kaoru appears. He added it makes Kaoru think she is dead and pushes Kenshin into despair. Otomo think that it can be expressed without problems if it is a manga, but it is very difficult when it comes to live-action video. When thinking about it, Otomo thought that Enishi and Kenshin would fight for a woman named Tomoe, and that feeling was very strong. For Kenshin, Tomoe is a destined person and the only woman he loves which raised the tragic relationship between Kenhsin and Enishi. With such a part as the axis, a series of transcendental actions. Otomo's writing the script while having the idea of "let's compete with action as much as possible". In contrast to "The Beginning", "The Final" has a Japanese-Western eclectic feel in the Meiji era, so the places with that atmosphere are a little limited.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Although based on the Jinchu arc from "Rurouni Kenshin", Takeru Satoh explained in December 2020 that the movie would be different from the source material. He stated that he was worried whether manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki would like the film since it contains an original story. However, Watsuki sent him a letter in response that he was able to feel fully immersed in the world of the film. Satoh was relieved to hear Watsuki's thoughts on the film. The main theme of "The Final" is how Kenshin will live in the future. Satoh stated it was important for the movie to settle the fight against the edge, in regard to Kenshin's redemption. He further claims the highlight is the way of life of Kenshin.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Plans for another sequel had been revealed by Daily.co.jp on September 4, 2017, in connection the main actress Emi Takei's breach of contract due to her marriage with Exile band member Takahiro, as well as her pregnancy. Takei had agreements with up to 10 companies for commercials, including JTB and Yōfuku no Aoyama, and it was reported that her agreement with SSP might be terminated, with her commercial agreements with other companies being affected. Oscar Promotion, Takei's agency, apologized to its clients, and was negotiating penalties for breach of contract. The penalty for her breach of contract could have reached up to 1 billion yen (about US$9.11 million). The film was then planned to premiere in Japanese cinemas on July 3, 2020, but it was postponed to April 23, 2021, due to the recent COVID-19. Otomo commented the studio shut down after the government declared a state of emergency, so the entire production came to a halt. As a result, the staff could not do post-production work, prepare for the film's release, and other tasks. With the new release date, Otomo aims to raise the level of quality even more than before.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Rock band One Ok Rock provided the soundtrack song "Renegades" for the film. In an interview with "J Rock News", Moriuchi would express how the song connects to being the main theme for "The Final", in which he would say that "Renegades" relates more to the protagonist than the overarching plot of the film.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: This fourth entry was produced at the same period of time with the fifth entry. The film started shooting on November 4, 2018, and finished on June 28, 2019. Large-scale shooting for more than 7 months was carried out at 43 locations nationwide, including Kyoto, Nara, Shiga, Mie, Hyogo, Kumamoto, Hiroshima, Tochigi, Saitama, Shizuoka, Osaka, and Nagano. It utilized a total of 6,000 extras. During shooting of the film, Satoh faced the major difficulty of doing scenes where Kenshin battles a large amount of enemies by himself. There were several turns of the camera as these fights occurred in order to make the battles more appealing which made it more tiring than one on one battles but at the cost of becoming more tired. The final battle between Kenshin and Enishi had to be remade several times because Satoh got exhausted of moving four times in total. Satoh praised Arata's work as Enishi as he made the antagonist terrifying to the point the comical Kenshin acts with more tension in response to his threats which made him drop the signature sound effect "Oro". Arata also praised Satoh's works as he carried the franchise across several years in the live-action films.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Emi Takei took a diet to keep her body properly for Kaoru's character. Mackenyu, a fan of the "Rurouni Kenshin" installment, he could not hide his surprise when offered to play Enishi. Enishi is described as the series’ most feared enemy. To match his physique, Mackenyu worked out, but he focused on his mentality. As an actor he really happy that he was able to be part of a set where he can fully showcase his abilities. While performing the action scenes with Tanigaki and his team, sometimes he suggested his own ideas for Enishi's movements. Other than the scenes with Kenshin, the scenes with Kaoru are a highlight. Mackenyu thinks the audience can see another side of Enishi. When they exchanged conversations, and his actions around her might show the character's depths as he revives his trauma of losing Tomoe. In regards to "Rurouni Kenshin" villains, he also wanted Enishi to look more menacing than the previous antagonist, Shishio Makoto. Ryūnosuke Kamiki returned to act as Seta Sojiro which surprised the media in general because his character was not present in the original manga.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: The film premiered on April 23, 2021, in Japanese theaters. All five films in the "Rurouni Kenshin" series were screened on the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), which was held on June 11–20, 2021. "Rurouni Kenshin" was the first Japanese live action series invited to be screened in Movie Franchise Section in Shanghai International Film Festival, which was newly established in 2016, while only Hollywood blockbuster franchises have been invited before. This was also the international premiere of "The Final" and "The Beginning". "The Final" was released on Netflix on June 18, 2021, which included an English dub.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: In Japan, the film was released on digital platforms on September 22, 2021, and on Blu-ray and DVD on October 13, 2021.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: The work was released on 480 screens in 362 theaters nationwide from April 23, 2021. Due to the state of emergency, 63 buildings in Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto were closed from the 25th (64 in total from 26th and 67 in total from 27th). Despite that, the box office revenue of over 535 million yen (over 371,000 spectators) was recorded in the opening two days which became the No. 1 weekend opening box office in a live-action movie category released this year.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: The film grossed 745 million yen (approximately US$6.9 million) the first three days of screening. In total, the film has grossed 4.34 billion yen (approximately US$37.8 million) at the Japanese box office.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Critical response to "The Final" has generally positive. The Japan Times gave it three stars and a half with comments focused on its fight sequences and the conclusion it gives to Kenshin's arc. Decider also enjoyed the fight sequences and acting though he felt that Sanosuke's weak side might come across an unintentional hilarious during the final act. Nevertheless, the inclusion of Seta Sojiro was praised for Ryunosuke Kamiki's performance as the character became an aid to Kenshin and wants to see his resolution to his life as a pacifist while also enjoying the bigger focus on Misao and Saito. The romance between Kenshin and Kaoru was criticized though as being underdeveloped. Asian Movie Web felt the movie initially suffered from a slow pacing and that some characters have little roles in comparison to their previous works. Nevertheless, while there were changes in the script, the reviewer liked how Misao and Shinomori have more screen time and that the choreographer Kenji Tanigaki outdid himself in the making of the fights, most notably the ones involving Kenshin, Enishi and Sojiro. Fiction Horizon also noted while that there were several changes to the narrative, the essential themes focused on the manga were properly followed by the movie, most notably Kenshin's quest for redemption.


title: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

text: Several writers focused on Mackenyu's and Satoh's roles. Polygon as he claims that Mackenyu "brings tangible charisma to his screen persona" and how contrasting is his chaotic personality to the caring and relaxed Kenshin, giving further depths to the rivalry as they represented the chaos from the Meiji era. However, Anime News Network felt that Sanosuke and Enishi had little development when compared to their original manga personas. Fiction Horizon also noted Kenshin and Enishi's fight was well choreographed and served as a proper ending. Anime News Network liked the concept of Enishi's characterization due the new type of threat he brings to Kenshin not only due to his skills but whether or not the latter can bring him a solution to redeem himself for killing Tomoe during the events of "Beginning". However, he lamented some cast members having minor roles in the narrative. Medium compared the threat provided to the Meiji era between Enishi and Shishio but felt that the latter was given a bigger threat to the peace in contrast to Enishi's schemes as it was more personal as a result of wanting revenge towards Kenshin. Kasumi Arimura and Mackenyu were also regarded by GamerFocus as the best actors in the movie due to how strong are their presence in the main character as well as their characterization. He praised the quality of the movie, regarding the original scenes as strong as the original narrative created by Watsuki and that Kenshin's character reached a proper ending after several films thanks to Satoh's performance.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The 2018 Malaysian General Election, formally known as the 14th Malaysian General Election (), was held on Wednesday, 9 May 2018, for members of the 14th Parliament of Malaysia. At stake were all 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat (the legislature's lower house) and 505 seats in 12 out of the 13 state legislative assemblies of Malaysia. The 13th Parliament of Malaysia was dissolved by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 7 April 2018. It would have been automatically dissolved on 24 June 2018, five years after the first meeting of the first session of the 13th Parliament of Malaysia on 24 June 2013.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: In an unprecedented victory, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which had been the country's federal Opposition prior to the election, won a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat together with the Sabah Heritage Party (WARISAN), with PH and WARISAN cumulatively securing 121 seats. This is the first time in Malaysia's history that the ruling party has been voted out of power, after the election saw a regime change. The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition had previously enjoyed an uninterrupted reign over the country since Malaya's independence in 1957, but this came to an end following this election. PH's leader, Mahathir Mohamad, who previously served as Malaysia's Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003, was sworn in for the second time on 10 May, a day after the election. At 93 years of age, Mahathir was also the world's oldest elected head of government. Barisan Nasional (BN), led by Najib, held onto 79 seats and became the new federal opposition, along with Gagasan Sejahtera (GS), which won 18 seats. The United Sabah Alliance (USA) won one seat, while three seats were won by independent politicians. The election was widely regarded as one of the greatest political upsets worldwide in 2018.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: In the simultaneous state elections held for 12 of the state legislative assemblies, PH retained Penang and Selangor with larger majorities, while gaining Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor, Kedah and Perak from BN. WARISAN also seized Sabah from BN, which retained only two states – Perlis and Pahang. GS held onto Kelantan while gaining Terengganu from BN. State-level elections were not held in Sarawak, as the state had held its elections separately in 2016. However, as a consequence of the election, Sarawak-based BN component parties left the coalition to form Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), thereby taking over the state from BN.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Following the election, Mahathir secured a royal pardon for the jailed PH leader, Anwar Ibrahim, and indicated that he would give way to the latter within the next few years. Meanwhile, Najib resigned as BN's chairman on 12 May and was succeeded as Leader of the Opposition by his party colleague, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Investigations within Malaysia into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, which had been halted during Najib's tenure, were resumed in the aftermath of the election, resulting in several ongoing criminal indictments against the former Prime Minister. However, PH only ruled for 22 months before being replaced by a new Government named Perikatan Nasional, a coalition led by Muhyiddin Yassin after BERSATU left the Pakatan Harapan coalition together with ex-PKR members to join with Barisan Nasional (BN), Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and again replaced back to Barisan Nasional led by Ismail Sabri Yaakob 17 months later.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: In the previous general election in 2013, the incumbent Barisan Nasional government won re-election for the 13th consecutive time, but with a decreased mandate and losing the majority vote. Barisan Nasional chairman, Najib Razak, was re-elected as Prime Minister to a second term. The main opposition, Pakatan Rakyat, led by Anwar Ibrahim, won the majority vote but was unable to win enough seats to form the government due to Malaysia's first-past-the-post voting system and alleged gerrymandering. The election marked the first time Barisan Nasional lost the majority vote in the party's history.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Elections in Malaysia exists at two levels: the federal level and the state level. Federal elections are held to elect members of the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of Parliament, while state elections are held to elect members of the 13 State Legislative Assemblies of Malaysia. The heads of executive branch at both the federal and state levels, the Prime Minister and Menteri Besar/Chief Ministers respectively, are indirectly elected, usually filled by a member of the majority party/coalition in the respective legislatures


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The Dewan Rakyat is made up of 222 members of parliament, elected for a five-year term; these seats are distributed between the thirteen Malaysian states in proportion to the states' voting population. Members are elected from single-member constituencies that each elects one representative to the Dewan Rakyat using the first-past-the-post voting system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government, with its leader as Prime Minister. If the election results in no single party having a majority, there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition. Malaysia does not practice compulsory voting and automatic voter registration. The voting age is above 21 although the age of majority in the country is 18.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The redistribution of electoral boundaries for the entire country had been presented to and passed by the "Dewan Rakyat", and subsequently gazetted on 29 March 2018 after obtaining the royal consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong ahead of the 14th general election. Elections are conducted by the Election Commission of Malaysia (EC), which is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The Constitution of Malaysia requires a general election to be held at the end of five (5) years from the date of the first Parliament of Malaysia proceeding after a general election unless it is dissolved earlier by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong due to a motion of no-confidence or at the request of the Prime Minister. Whenever Parliament (Dewan Rakyat) is dissolved, a general election shall be held within sixty (60) days from the date of the dissolution and Parliament shall be summoned to meet on a date not later than one hundred and twenty (120) days from that date (Article 55 of the Constitution of Malaysia).


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The cost to the taxpayer of organising the election was RM500 million – RM100 million more than the previous general election.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Part of the spending was spent on indelible ink, which costed around RM4.8 million for a total of 100,000 bottles of 60mL ink imported from Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited in India.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Before the campaign, there were no limits to what a political party, candidate, or third party (corporations, unions, special interest groups, etc.) can spend: spending rules are only in force after the writs have been dropped and the campaign has begun. Malaysian election law set election spending limit at RM200,000 for each parliamentary candidate and half of the latter for each state legislature candidate.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: While any state may dissolve its assembly independently of the Federal Parliament, the traditional practice is for most state assemblies to be dissolved at the same time as Parliament. In accordance with Malaysian law, the parliament as well as the legislative assemblies of each state ("Dewan Undangan Negeri") would automatically dissolve on the fifth anniversary of the first sitting, and elections must be held within sixty days of the dissolution, unless dissolved prior to that date by their respective Heads of State on the advice of their Heads of Government.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was not dissolved as the last election was held in 2016 and the term of the state assembly is due to end in 2021.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Altogether 53 parties were eligible to contest in the election and get on the ballot and can therefore elect a representative in the Dewan Rakyat. Furthermore, there are several independent candidates running in single-member constituencies.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The leader of the party commanding a majority of support in the Dewan Rakyat is the person who is called on by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to form a government as Prime Minister, while the leader of the largest party not in government becomes the Leader of the Opposition.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The previous General Election witnessed 133 governmental seats and 89 non-governmental seats filled the Dewan Rakyat. The government side has 44 safe seats and 34 fairly safe seats, while the other side has 33 safe seats and 18 fairly safe seats.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Note also that in the 2013 general election, the current component parties of Pakatan Harapan and Gagasan Sejahtera were competing together under an informal coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. In 2015, disagreements between those component parties over the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and their desire to implement hudud law prompted a split, with PAS leaving to form the Gagasan Sejahtera coalition. The remaining parties in Pakatan Rakyat, together with PAS splinter party Amanah and former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's PPBM, formed the Pakatan Harapan coalition. Hence, while Pakatan Rakyat won the popular vote in 2013, the component parties forming Pakatan Harapan did not.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Newspapers, organisations and individuals have endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The Election Commission (EC) has invited 14 countries to participate in the polls as foreign observers, comprising representatives of election management bodies from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Commonwealth of Nations, Asian and European countries as well as a study and support centre for the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Seven countries agreed to send representatives to observe the elections, namely Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Thailand and Timor-Leste. The invitation was also extended to India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan of which nine countries observers arrived on 7 May. The EC also appointed 1,236 election observers from 14 local non-governmental organisations.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: All 222 parliamentary seats (and 505 seats of 12 state legislative assemblies) were contested in this election. The nationwide counting of votes began at 17:00 Malaysian time on 9 May. The decision to close the polling stations at 17:00 was met with protests by disgruntled would-be voters who contended that, given the longer-than-usual queues, the Election Commission (EC) could have extended the polling hours, as had been done in the previous elections.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The first unofficial result came from the constituency of Baram in Sarawak, which was won by Barisan Nasional (BN). Despite BN's early lead, by 20:30, Pakatan Harapan (PH) and BN were almost neck and neck. The states of Sarawak and Sabah, long regarded as BN's ""fixed deposits"", witnessed a significant swing in favour of PH and the Sabah Heritage Party (WARISAN) respectively. In a further blow to BN's chances, several leaders of BN's component parties, such as Subramaniam Sathasivam (MIC), Liow Tiong Lai (MCA) and Mah Siew Keong (Gerakan), were defeated in their respective constituencies by PH candidates. Mahathir Mohamad, PH's Prime Ministerial candidate, secured the constituency of Langkawi by 21:45. As the night wore on, it was reported that PH also retained the states of Penang and Selangor with larger majorities.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Stunned by the rapidly deteriorating turn of events, federal authorities attempted to stymie the release of unofficial election results. At 21:13, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) ordered Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block Malaysiakini and its sister websites, which were providing live updates of the poll counting, on the grounds that the updates ""may affect national stability, public order and harmony, and economic stability"". Meanwhile, unmarked cars, allegedly carrying fake ballot boxes, were spotted entering some of the counting stations. Enraged onlookers tried to stop the cars, leading to sporadic rioting. The most serious rioting occurred in the town of Ayer Hitam in Johor; the rioters in the town were eventually dispersed by the Royal Malaysia Police's Federal Reserve Unit (FRU).


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: At about 23:20, Mahathir claimed during a press conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya that PH had already exceeded the simple majority of 112 seats needed to form the federal government. He added that PH had successfully wrested the states of Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor and Kedah from BN. However, Mahathir alleged that some EC officers were refusing to sign Form 14 in their respective constituencies, which is required for the results to be announced. He further warned that although ""Malaysians are not violent people, they should not take this lying down"".


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Following the press conference, the EC started releasing the official election results just after midnight. However, the official results were continuously delayed and announced only gradually, as the counting of votes was said to be still ongoing in several places. At about 02:30, right after unofficial results had confirmed PH's simple majority, Mahathir, flanked by several PH leaders, gave another press conference, announcing that the Istana Negara ("National Palace") had summoned the leader of the People's Justice Party (PKR) - the party whose logo was used by PH in the polls - and that he would be sworn in as the nation's seventh Prime Minister later that day.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Tellingly, BN's victory celebrations at Kuala Lumpur's Putra World Trade Centre, which had been customary in the event of a BN electoral victory, did not materialise. Instead, BN's top echelons held a closed door meeting at the private residence of the outgoing Prime Minister and BN chief, Najib Razak. This sparked fears that the defeated incumbent government would resort to martial law to cling to federal power. When informed of the coalition's impending defeat, a distraught Najib asked ""do people really hate me that much?"", while another BN politician told the press after the meeting that ""whatever it is, we need to respect the will of the people"". In any event, martial law was never touched upon in the meeting.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The EC announced the full official election results shortly before 05:00, where it was revealed that the states of Sabah and Perak were left with hung legislative assemblies. Meanwhile, the Gagasan Sejahtera (GS) coalition, led by the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), was not only able to retain Kelantan, it also captured the state of Terengganu from BN. Najib finally conceded defeat during a press conference at 11:00.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Pakatan's victory triggered nationwide celebrations, marking the end of a 61-year rule by Barisan Nasional (and preceding Alliance Party). Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as the Prime Minister on the night of 10 May at the Istana Negara by Yang di Pertuan Agong Muhammad V, triggering more nationwide celebrations.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The general election resulted in a hung parliament in the 60-seat Sabah State Legislative Assembly, after Barisan Nasional and the Warisan-Pakatan pact both won 29 seats in the election. This made the Homeland Solidarity Party (STAR) as the 'kingmakers', as the party won two state seats, giving them the power to give either bloc the mandate to form the state government. Considering that STAR is an opposition party, it was wildly expected for them to support a Warisan-led government. However, the party's leadership chose to support a Barisan government instead, sparking mass protests across the state by opposition supporters. As such, Barisan Nasional, with the support of STAR, formed the next Sabah state government, with Musa Aman chosen as Chief Minister. However, the formation of government didn't last long after one of Barisan's component parties, the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO), which won five state seats, withdrew from the coalition and announced support for a Warisan-led government in Sabah. Warisan president, Shafie Apdal, was later sworn in as the new Sabah Chief Minister the day after. On the same day, another Sabah-based Barisan Nasional component party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also announced their withdrawal from the coalition, citing their poor performance in the election, losing in every constituency they contested in.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The day afterwards, another two Sabah-based Barisan Nasional component party, the United Sabah People's Party (PBRS) and the United Sabah Party (PBS), also announced that they had left Barisan. PBRS stated that they will seek an alliance with Pakatan Harapan and will apply for membership in the ruling party coalition, while PBS stated that they are seeking to form a new Sabah-based coalition, compromising of all Sabah Opposition parties.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Meanwhile, the general election also resulted in a hung parliament in the 59-seat Perak State Legislative Assembly, in which Pakatan won 29 seats, two short of a majority, while Barisan and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) each won 27 and 3 seats. This would mean neither of the three parties would have enough seats to form the Perak state government. PAS proposed the formation of a unity government compromising of all sides in the State Legislative Assembly, but was rejected by Pakatan. However, Pakatan succeeded in forming the state government after two Barisan assemblymen announced their support for Pakatan to form the state government, thus ending the hung parliament status-quo. Their action resulted in the two assemblymen having their UMNO membership dropped, meaning they'll have to stand as an Independent in the Perak State Legislative Assembly. Perak Pakatan chairman, Ahmad Faizal Azumu, was later sworn in as the new Menteri Besar of Perak on 12 May.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: On the same day, three Johor BN assemblymen announced that they have left the coalition to join PPBM. Their defection gives Pakatan a total of 39 seats, giving them a two-thirds majority in the 56-seat State Legislative Assembly. Subsequently, two Independent MPs, Lubok Antu MP, Jugah Muyang, and Julau MP, Larry Sng Wei Shien, announced that they have joined PKR. Jugah Muyang won in a three-cornered fight against both Barisan and PKR, while the latter was endorsed by Pakatan against Barisan Nasional. A third Independent MP, Prabakaran Parameswaran, who won in the constituency of Batu, announced that he had joined PKR in the day afterwards, thus increasing Pakatan's total tally in the Dewan Rakyat to 125. He was endorsed by Pakatan Harapan during the general election after the coalition's original candidate, Tian Chua, was disqualified from contesting due to a RM2,000 fine. On the following day, an Independent Perak assemblyman, Zainol Fadzi Paharudin, who was one of the two Barisan assemblymen who had their UMNO membership dropped for supporting a Pakatan government, announced that he had joined PPBM, His defection from Barisan to Pakatan increases the coalition's tally in the Perak State Legislative Assembly to 30 seats, enough to form a simple majority.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: On 19 May, the disputed president of the People's Progressive Party (myPPP), M. Kayveas, declared that the party has left Barisan Nasional. However, Kayveas' statement was denied by the party's deputy secretary-general, Simon Sabapathy, who insisted that the party was still part of the coalition and that Kayveas' announcement was invalid as he was no longer the president of the party, after he was supposedly sacked by the party on April. This resulted in a party leadership crisis, as the party's leadership was split between the party's former president, M. Kayveas, who's pursuing to make the party leave Barisan, and the party's current president, Maglin Dennis D'Cruz, who wants the party to remain in Barisan. Eventually, Kayveas won the struggle, and announced that myPPP has left Barisan. The party would eventually be de-registered by the Registrar of Societies in January 2019, amid the leadership dispute.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Nearly a month after the General Election, on 12 June, another four BN component parties, the United Bumiputera Heritage Party (PBB), the Sarawak People's Party (PRS), the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) announced their withdrawal from Barisan Nasional and the formation of a new Sarawak-based coalition, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). The four parties altogether has 19 seats in the Dewan Rakyat and 72 seats in the 82-seat Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, thus decreasing Barisan's seat tally even further. Two weeks later, on 24 June, the Malaysian People's Movement Party (Gerakan) became the latest party to leave Barisan Nasional.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The election resulted in a mass defection of UMNO MPs from the party, mostly becoming independents, some eventually changing their alliance and joining PH. On 24 June, the MP of Bagan Serai, Noor Azmi Ghazali, announced his withdrawal from the coalition to become an Independent Member of Parliament, and expressed interest to join the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM), a component party of Pakatan Harapan. Three days later, UMNO's Bukit Gantang MP, Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, announced his departure from the party to also become an Independent Member of Parliament. Further on 1 July, UMNO's Masjid Tanah MP, Mas Ermieyati Samsudin left the party to become an Independent Parliamentarian after disappointment with the party's election result. Two more defections occurred in the month of September. UMNO's Jeli MP, Mustapa Mohamed, left the party on 18 September, proceeded by UMNO's Kimanis MP, Anifah Aman, the day after. On 11 October, UMNO's Labuan MP, Rozman Isli, left the party and joined Warisan, citing for the benefit of Labuan. Another series of defections occurred in December. On 12 December, five Sabah UMNO MPs and nine of the state assemblypersons left the party to become independents, pledging support for Pakatan. On 14 December, six UMNO MPs, Hamzah Zainudin (Larut), Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (Tanah Merah), Abdul Latiff Ahmad (Mersing), Rosol Wahid (Hulu Terengganu), Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (Sabak Bernam) and Shabudin Yahaya (Tasik Gelugor) altogether left the party due to disappointment with UMNO's current leadership. The series of defections and parties withdrawing from Barisan Nasional leaves the coalition with only three component parties, UMNO, MCA and MIC (the original three parties that formed the Alliance Party), a decrease of ten parties from the 13 they had prior to the election, and 40 seats, a substantial decrease from the 79 seats they won in the election.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: After facing a defeat in the election, losing nearly a third of its seats in the Dewan Rakyat, former Prime Minister Najib Razak announced his resignation as president of UMNO and chairman of Barisan Nasional on 12 May. Party deputy president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi took over the role as acting president of UMNO and chairman of Barisan Nasional, while vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein took over the duties of acting deputy president and deputy chairman of Barisan. Najib's resignation resulted in a party leadership election, in which seven candidates eyed to become the party's new president. The result was that Zahid won the party leadership elections. He and former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan are now president and vice president of UMNO respectively.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: PH government, however, served just 22 months before the take over of administration by PN, led by Muhyiddin Yassin, who was sworned in as the 8th Prime Minister on 1 March 2020. This came after PH lost its majority in the Dewan Rakyat following the withdrawal of Muhyiddin's party PPBM from PH, as well as defection of MPs led by Azmin Ali from PKR. Change in government of states of Johor, Malacca and Perak, followed suit. Kedah, on the other hand, is still governed by PH in spite of PPBM's withdrawal from PH until 17 May 2020 when PN took over of state government.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: There had been many controversies even before the general election began, mostly regarding gerrymandering and the electoral boundary re-delineation in favour of the Barisan Nasional coalition. The body regulating elections in Malaysia, the Election Commission of Malaysia (which is under the control of the Prime Minister's Department), has been criticised by election watchdogs, including Bersih, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia and various other organisations for electoral malpractices, arbitrary decisions and a lack of transparency.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Opposition parties, non-governmental organisations and even politicians from the ruling party have accused the government of gerrymandering, manipulating the composition of electoral seats in favour of Barisan Nasional. The opposition claims that the manipulation primarily involves merging opposition-dominated areas into large, single seats and dividing BN-favouring areas among several, smaller seats so as to favour rural voters who are more inclined to support the ruling party. An analyst with electoral reform group Tindak Malaysia estimates that this latest redelineation process would allow Barisan Nasional to regain control with just 33% of the vote.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The Electoral Integrity Project (EIP), an independent academic project based at Harvard University and the University of Sydney that studies election integrity and assigns PEI scores (Global Perceptions of Electoral Integrity) to countries across the world, had in its most recent research paper published in November 2017, ranked Malaysia's election integrity at 142nd out of 158 countries, just above Zimbabwe (143th), Vietnam (147th) and Afghanistan (150th).


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Many Malaysians protested the Election Commission's decision to set the Polling Day on midweek (Wednesday, 9 May) rather than to set it on a weekend (i.e. Saturday) as it had been in the previous General Elections. Some of them, including Pakatan Harapan chairman Mahathir Mohamad, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and Bersih chairperson Maria Chin, viewed such a decision to be unfair, undemocratic, and an attempt to discourage people overseas or interstate from returning to their hometowns to vote. In response, Najib Razak declared Wednesday a national holiday.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Since the 2013 elections, overseas voting has been open to the majority of Malaysian registered voters living abroad. However, registered overseas Malaysian voters were reported to have received their ballots late, some even on election day, despite the election commission requiring their ballots to be returned before the close of polling stations to be counted as valid. As a result, many of these overseas voters organised on social media to bring theirs and other ballots back through casual couriers. The Election Commission of Malaysia currently denies trying to stop overseas Malaysians to vote.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Controversies have erupted after six candidates for the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, were disqualified from running under suspicious circumstances on Nomination Day (Saturday 28 April 2018). The most prominent disqualification was that of PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang, who the local returning officer prevented from defending his Batu parliamentary seat due to an earlier court conviction, despite a High Court judgement which made clear he was eligible to continue as an MP. A subsequent High Court appeal was thrown out, under the claim that they did not have jurisdiction over election-related matters. Chua and his party are consequently endorsing independent candidate, 22-year-old P. Prabakaran, for the seat.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Meanwhile, in Rantau, Negeri Sembilan, the state's Chief Minister Mohamad Hasan was re-elected unopposed after opposition candidate Dr. Streram Sinnasamy was prevented from entering the nomination centre, ostensibly as he did not have an entry pass, despite his claim that he was never issued one and despite the fact that there are no laws requiring candidates to have entry passes. Four other opposition candidates were barred for being undischarged bankrupts, despite claims that earlier checks with the authorities had confirmed their ability to participate.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Lawyers and other political analysts have criticised these returning officers for a "gross abuse of power" that went beyond their primary role (to assist with filing nomination papers) and deprived several candidates of the chance to exercise their democratic right. They claim that incidents like this contribute to the perception that Malaysian elections are inherently unfair and weaken the rule of law. Pakatan Harapan chairman Mahathir Mohamad has confirmed that he will appeal these decisions to the courts, alleging an "abuse of power" by "officers who are willing to do illegal things on orders".


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, has faced criticism for alleged vote-buying. The Nikkei Asian Review has noted that measures like cash bonuses being handed out to civil servants and pensioners, key components of its support base, occurred just before the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament, with other measures announced during the campaign trail including "special aid" of RM500 (US$127) and reserved social housing units for employees of government-linked company DRB-HICOM as well as minimum wage increases.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Within constituencies, Barisan Nasional MPs have come under significant criticism from electoral watchdog Bersih, with seven out of ten individuals named in their "Election Offenses Hall of Shame" being from Barisan Nasional component parties. Musa Aman, Noh Omar, Hamzah Zainudin and Shahanim Mohd Yusuf (BN-UMNO) as well as P. Kamalanathan and Jaspal Singh (BN-MIC) were publicly reprimanded for handing out free food, petrol, furniture, groceries and motorcycles in their respective constituencies, in what was widely seen as an attempt to sway the vote in favour of them.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Controversy has also erupted over Barisan Nasional's battle for the Sekinchan constituency, considered a marginal seat held by opposition party DAP, where an election event organised by Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos (the UMNO chief for Sungai Besar) in support of local candidate Lee Yee Yuan (BN-MCA) included an all-you-can-eat buffet, chances to win a motorcycle and a RM25,000 (US$6,345) cash prize, as well as a promise of a RM2,000 (US$508) payment for every voter if they are elected. All payments, along with a claimed RM150,000 in donations and a Mercedes-Benz C200 to be offered at the next event, were claimed to have been donated by "successful businessmen" in the small fishing village (population: 20,000) who wanted to show their "gratitude" to BN. While Yunos denies any wrongdoing, claiming that he is not a candidate but is "only conveying contributions from certain individuals," the Sekinchan DAP branch has lodged a police report against him for alleged vote-buying.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Yunos has also faced controversy for being caught on video handing out RM50 (US$13) notes from a bag at a function in the Sungai Leman Bendang Utara village, which is also part of Sekinchan. He has claimed that those being paid were "party workers" responsible for "putting up flags, buntings and other materials," a claim that media were unable to independently verify. Media outlet Malaysiakini noted that most of those being paid were not dressed in Barisan Nasional colours, and that significant numbers of senior citizens and children were present at the event.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: The main opposition alliance, Pakatan Harapan, has also not been immune to allegations of vote-buying. Pakatan Harapan's manifesto, particularly, lists as a key promise the abolition of Malaysia's 6% GST and increasing minimum wages, which journalists and financial analysts claim amounts to pork-barrel populism that could negatively affect Malaysian government finances. Bersih also included Afif Bahardin (PH-PKR) on their Election Offenses Hall of Shame for utilising Penang state government programmes to give handouts such as hampers to voters in his constituency of Seberang Jaya.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: Additionally, Ahmad Yakob, the Menteri Besar of Kelantan, was singled out for criticism after "repeatedly using Kelantan state government resources" to benefit the campaign of his party, PAS (competing as the main component of the Gagasan Sejahtera coalition), including by handing out cash to religious leaders in a state government hall covered in PAS flags.


title: 2018 Malaysian general election

text: On polling night, the announcement of results took longer than usual, as it was alleged that the Election Commission officers were delaying their signing of Form 14 for announcing the results. This was later revealed in an interview between Mahathir and The Mekong Review, where he revealed that there were attempts to get winning PH candidates to cross over to BN and PAS, fearing that PH "were not going to respect the position of Islam as much as the previous government had". He added that they had already won as early as 8.30 pm but did not receive the official announcement until 2 AM.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was kidnapped and subsequently sold into enslavement at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: On a 1773 trip to London with her enslaver's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Wheatley was emancipated by her enslavers shortly after the publication of her book. They soon died, and she married John Peters, a poor grocer. They lost three children, who died young. Wheatley-Peters died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Although the date and place of her birth are not documented, scholars believe that Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753 in West Africa, most likely in present-day Gambia or Senegal. She was sold by a local chief to a visiting trader, who took her to Boston in the British Colony of Massachusetts, on July 11, 1761, on a slave ship called "The Phillis". It was owned by Timothy Fitch and captained by Peter Gwinn.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: On arrival in Boston, she was bought by the wealthy Boston merchant and tailor John Wheatley as a slave for his wife Susanna. John and Susanna Wheatley named her Phillis, after the ship that had transported her to America. She was given their last name of Wheatley, as was a common custom if any surname was used for enslaved people.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: The Wheatleys' 18-year-old daughter, Mary, was Phillis's first tutor in reading and writing. Their son, Nathaniel, also helped her. John Wheatley was known as a progressive throughout New England; his family afforded Phillis an unprecedented education for an enslaved person, and one unusual for a woman of any race. By the age of 12, she was reading Greek and Latin classics in their original languages, as well as difficult passages from the Bible. At the age of 14, she wrote her first poem, "To the University of Cambridge [Harvard], in New England". Recognizing her literary ability, the Wheatley family supported Phillis's education and left household labor to their other domestic enslaved workers. The Wheatleys often showed off her abilities to friends and family. Strongly influenced by her readings of the works of Alexander Pope, John Milton, Homer, Horace, and Virgil, Phillis began to write poetry.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1773, at the age of 20, Phillis accompanied Nathaniel Wheatley to London in part for her health (she suffered from chronic asthma), but largely because Susanna believed Phillis would have a better chance of publishing her book of poems there. She had an audience with Frederick Bull, who was the Lord Mayor of London, and other significant members of British society. (An audience with King George III was arranged, but Phillis returned to Boston before it could take place.) Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, became interested in the talented young African woman and subsidized the publication of Wheatley's volume of poems, which appeared in London in the summer of 1773. As Hastings was ill, she and Phillis never met.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: After her book was published, by November 1773, the Wheatleys emancipated Phillis. Her former enslaver Susanna died in the spring of 1774, and John in 1778. Shortly after, Wheatley met and married John Peters, a free black grocer. They lived in poor conditions and two of their babies died.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: John was improvident and was imprisoned for debt in 1784. With a sickly infant son to provide for, Phillis became a scullery maid at a boarding house, work she had not done before. She died on December 5, 1784, at the age of 31. Her infant son died soon after.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Phillis Wheatley wrote a letter to Reverend Samson Occom, commending him on his ideas and beliefs stating that enslaved people should be given their natural-born rights in America. Wheatley also exchanged letters with the British philanthropist John Thornton, who discussed Wheatley and her poetry in correspondence with John Newton. Along with her poetry, she was able to express her thoughts, comments and concerns to others.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1775, she sent a copy of a poem entitled "To His Excellency, George Washington" to the then-military general. The following year, Washington invited Wheatley to visit him at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which she did in March 1776. Thomas Paine republished the poem in the "Pennsylvania Gazette" in April 1776.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1779 Wheatley issued a proposal for a second volume of poems but was unable to publish it because she had lost her patrons after her emancipation; publication of books was often based on gaining subscriptions for guaranteed sales beforehand. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was also a factor. However, some of her poems that were to be included in the second volume were later published in pamphlets and newspapers.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1768, Wheatley wrote "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty", in which she praised King George III for repealing the Stamp Act. As the American Revolution gained strength, Wheatley's writing turned to themes that expressed ideas of the rebellious colonists.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1770 Wheatley wrote a poetic tribute to the evangelist George Whitefield. Her poetry expressed Christian themes, and many poems were dedicated to famous figures. Over one-third consist of elegies, the remainder being on religious, classical, and abstract themes. She seldom referred to her own life in her poems. One example of a poem on slavery is "On being brought from Africa to America":


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Many colonists found it difficult to believe that an African slave was writing "excellent" poetry. Wheatley had to defend her authorship of her poetry in court in 1772. She was examined by a group of Boston luminaries, including John Erving, Reverend Charles Chauncey, John Hancock, Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, and his lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver. They concluded she had written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation, which was included in the preface of her book of collected works: "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," published in London in 1773. Publishers in Boston had declined to publish it, but her work was of great interest to influential people in London.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: There, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, and the Earl of Dartmouth acted as patrons to help Wheatley gain publication. Her poetry received comment in "The London Magazine" in 1773, which published her poem "Hymn to the Morning" as a specimen of her work, writing: "[t]hese poems display no astonishing power of genius; but when we consider them as the productions of a young untutored African, who wrote them after six months casual study of the English language and of writing, we cannot suppress our admiration of talents so vigorous and lively." "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" was printed in 11 editions until 1816.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1778, the African-American poet Jupiter Hammon wrote an ode to Wheatley ("An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley"). His master Lloyd had temporarily moved with his slaves to Hartford, Connecticut, during the Revolutionary War. Hammon thought that Wheatley had succumbed to what he believed were pagan influences in her writing, and so his "Address" consisted of 21 rhyming quatrains, each accompanied by a related Bible verse, that he thought would compel Wheatley to return to a Christian path in life.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1838 Boston-based publisher and abolitionist Isaac Knapp published a collection of Wheatley's poetry, along with that of enslaved North Carolina poet George Moses Horton, under the title "Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, A Native African and a Slave. Also, Poems by a Slave". Wheatley's memoir was earlier published in 1834 by Geo W. Light but did not include poems by Horton.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Thomas Jefferson, in his book "Notes on the State of Virginia," was unwilling to acknowledge the value of her work or the work of any black poet. He wrote:Misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in poetry. Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry. Love is the peculiar oestrum of the poet. Their love is ardent, but it kindles the senses only, not the imagination. Religion indeed has produced a Phyllis Whately but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Wheatley believed that the power of poetry was immeasurable. John C. Shields, noting that her poetry did not simply reflect the literature she read but was based on her personal ideas and beliefs, writes:


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: "Wheatley had more in mind than simple conformity. It will be shown later that her allusions to the sun god and to the goddess of the morn, always appearing as they do here in close association with her quest for poetic inspiration, are of central importance to her."This poem is arranged into three stanzas of four lines in iambic tetrameter, followed by a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC. Shields sums up her writing as being "contemplative and reflective rather than brilliant and shimmering."


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: She repeated three primary elements: Christianity, classicism, and hierophantic solar worship. The hierophantic solar worship was part of what she brought with her from Africa; the worship of sun gods is expressed as part of her African culture, which may be why she used so many different words for the sun. For instance, she uses Aurora eight times, "Apollo seven, Phoebus twelve, and Sol twice." Shields believes that the word "light" is significant to her as it marks her African history, a past that she has left physically behind. He notes that Sun is a homonym for Son, and that Wheatley intended a double reference to Christ. Wheatley also refers to "heav'nly muse" in two of her poems: "To a Clergy Man on the Death of his Lady" and "Isaiah LXIII," signifying her idea of the Christian deity.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Classical allusions are prominent in Wheatley's poetry, which Shields argues set her work apart from that of her contemporaries: "Wheatley's use of classicism distinguishes her work as original and unique and deserves extended treatment." Particularly extended engagement with the Classics can be found in the poem "To Maecenas", where Wheatley uses references to Maecenas to depict the relationship between her and her own patrons, as well as making reference to Achilles and Patroclus, Homer and Virgil. At the same time, Wheatley indicates to the complexity of her relationship with Classical texts by pointing to the sole example of Terence as an ancestor for her works:


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: While some scholars have argued that Wheatley's allusions to classical material are based on the reading of other neoclassical poetry (such as the works of Alexander Pope), Emily Greenwood has demonstrated that Wheatley's work demonstrates persistent linguistic engagement with Latin texts, suggesting good familiarity with the ancient works themselves. Both Shields and Greenwood have argued that Wheatley's use of classical imagery and ideas was designed to deliver "subversive" messages to her educated, majority white audience, and argue for the freedom of Wheatley herself and other enslaved people.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Black literary scholars from the 1960s to the present in critiquing Wheatley's writing have noted the absence in it of her sense of identity as a black enslaved person. A number of black literary scholars have viewed her work—and its widespread admiration—as a barrier to the development of black people during her time and as a prime example of Uncle Tom syndrome, believing that Wheatley's lack of awareness of her condition of enslavement furthers this syndrome among descendants of Africans in the Americas.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Some scholars thought Wheatley's perspective came from her upbringing. Writing in 1974, Eleanor Smith argued that the Wheatley family took interest in her at a young age because of her timid and submissive nature. Using this to their advantage, the Wheatley family was able to mold and shape her into a person of their liking. The family separated her from other slaves in the home and she was prevented from doing anything other than very light housework. This shaping prevented Phillis from ever becoming a threat to the Wheatley family or other people from the white community. As a result, Phillis was allowed to attend white social events and this created a misconception of the relationship between black and white people for her.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: The matter of Wheatley's biography, "a white woman's memoir", has been a subject of investigation. In 2020, American poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers published her "The Age of Phillis", based on the understanding that Margaretta Matilda Odell's account of Wheatley's life portrayed Wheatley inaccurately, and as a character in a sentimental novel; the poems by Jeffers attempt to fill in the gaps and recreate a more realistic portrait of Wheatley.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: With the 1773 publication of Wheatley's book "Poems on Various Subjects," she "became the most famous African on the face of the earth." Voltaire stated in a letter to a friend that Wheatley had proved that black people could write poetry. John Paul Jones asked a fellow officer to deliver some of his personal writings to "Phillis the African favorite of the Nine (muses) and Apollo." She was honored by many of America's founding fathers, including George Washington, who wrote to her (after she wrote a poem in his honor) that "the style and manner [of your poetry] exhibit a striking proof of your great poetical Talents."


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Critics consider her work fundamental to the genre of African-American literature, and she is honored as the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry and the first to make a living from her writing.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: In 1892 a Phyllis Wheatley Circle was formed in Greenville, Mississippi. and in 1896 the Phyllis Wheatley Circle.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: She is commemorated on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail. The Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Washington, D.C., and the Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas, are named for her, as was the historic Phillis Wheatley School in Jensen Beach, Florida, now the oldest building on the campus of American Legion Post 126 (Jensen Beach, Florida). A branch of the Richland County Library in Columbia, South Carolina, which offered the first library services to black citizens, is named for her. Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, New Orleans, opened in 1954 in Tremé, one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in the US. The Phillis Wheatley Community Center opened in 1920 in Greenville, South Carolina, and in 1924 (spelled "Phyllis") in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: On July 16, 2019, at the London site where A. Bell Booksellers published Wheatley's first book in September 1773 (8 Aldgate, now the location of the Dorsett City Hotel), the unveiling took place of a commemorative blue plaque honoring her, organized by the Nubian Jak Community Trust and Black History Walks.


title: Phillis Wheatley

text: Wheatley is the subject of a project and play by British-Nigerian writer Ade Solanke entitled "Phillis in London", which was showcased at the Greenwich Book Festival in June 2018.


title: Great Stink

text: The Great Stink was an event in Central London during July and August 1858 in which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames. The problem had been mounting for some years, with an ageing and inadequate sewer system that emptied directly into the Thames. The miasma from the effluent was thought to transmit contagious diseases, and three outbreaks of cholera before the Great Stink were blamed on the ongoing problems with the river.


title: Great Stink

text: The smell, and fears of its possible effects, prompted action from the national and local administrators who had been considering possible solutions for the problem. The authorities accepted a proposal from the civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette to move the effluent eastwards along a series of interconnecting sewers that sloped towards outfalls beyond the metropolitan area. Work on high-, mid- and low-level systems for the new Northern and Southern Outfall Sewers started at the beginning of 1859 and lasted until 1875. To aid the drainage, pumping stations were placed to lift the sewage from lower levels into higher pipes. Two of the more ornate stations, Abbey Mills in Stratford and Crossness on the Erith Marshes, with architectural designs from the consultant engineer, Charles Driver, are listed for protection by English Heritage. Bazalgette's plan introduced the three embankments to London in which the sewers ran—the Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Embankments.


title: Great Stink

text: Bazalgette's work ensured that sewage was no longer dumped onto the shores of the Thames and brought an end to the cholera outbreaks; his actions are thought to have saved more lives than the efforts of any other Victorian official. His sewer system operates into the 21st century, servicing a city that has grown to a population of over eight million. The historian Peter Ackroyd argues that Bazalgette should be considered a hero of London.


title: Great Stink

text: Brick sewers had been built in London from the 17th century when sections of the Fleet and Walbrook rivers were covered for that purpose. In the century preceding 1856, over a hundred sewers were constructed in London, and at that date the city had around 200,000 cesspits and 360 sewers. Some cesspits leaked methane and other gases, which often caught fire and exploded, while many of the sewers were in a poor state of repair. During the early 19th century improvements had been undertaken in the supply of water to Londoners, and by 1858 many of the city's medieval wooden water pipes were being replaced with iron ones. This, combined with the introduction of flushing toilets and the rising of the city's population from just under one million to three million, led to more water being flushed into the sewers, along with the associated effluent. The outfalls from factories, slaughterhouses and other industrial activities put further strain on the already failing system. Much of this outflow either overflowed, or discharged directly, into the Thames.


title: Great Stink

text: The scientist Michael Faraday described the situation in a letter to "The Times" in July 1855: shocked at the state of the Thames, he dropped pieces of white paper into the river to "test the degree of opacity". His conclusion was that "Near the bridges the feculence rolled up in clouds so dense that they were visible at the surface, even in water of this kind. ... The smell was very bad, and common to the whole of the water; it was the same as that which now comes up from the gully-holes in the streets; the whole river was for the time a real sewer." The smell from the river was so bad that in 1857 the government poured chalk lime, chloride of lime and carbolic acid into the river to ease the stench.


title: Great Stink

text: The prevailing thought in Victorian healthcare concerning the transmission of contagious diseases was the miasma theory, which held that most communicable diseases were caused by the inhalation of contaminated air. This contamination could take the form of the odour of rotting corpses or sewage, but also rotting vegetation, or the exhaled breath of someone already diseased. Miasma was believed by most to be the vector of transmission of cholera, which was on the rise in 19th-century Europe. The disease was deeply feared by all, because of the speed with which it could spread, and its high fatality rates.


title: Great Stink

text: London's first major cholera epidemic struck in 1831 when the disease claimed 6,536 victims. In 1848–49 there was a second outbreak in which 14,137 London residents died, and this was followed by a further outbreak in 1853–54 in which 10,738 died. During the second outbreak, John Snow, a London-based physician, noticed that the rates of death were higher in those areas supplied by the Lambeth and the Southwark and Vauxhall water companies. In 1849 he published a paper, "On the Mode of Communication of Cholera", which posited the theory of the water-borne transmission of disease, rather than the miasma theory; little attention was paid to the paper. Following the third cholera outbreak in 1854, Snow published an update to his treatise, after he focused on the effects in Broad Street, Soho. Snow had removed the handle from the local water pump, thus preventing access to the contaminated water, with a resulting fall in deaths. It was later established that a leaking sewer ran near the well from which the water was drawn.


title: Great Stink

text: The civic infrastructure overseeing the management of London's sewers had gone through several changes in the 19th century. In 1848 the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers (MCS) was established at the urging of the social reformer Edwin Chadwick and a Royal Commission. The Commission superseded seven of the eight authorities that had managed London's sewers since the time of Henry VIII; it was the first time that a unitary power had full control over the capital's sanitation facilities. The Building Act 1844 had ensured that all new buildings had to be connected to a sewer, not a cesspool, and the commission set about connecting cesspools to sewers, or removing them altogether. Because of the fear that the miasma from the sewers would cause the spread of disease, Chadwick and his successor, the pathologist John Simon, ensured that the sewers were regularly flushed through, a policy that resulted in more sewage being discharged into the Thames.


title: Great Stink

text: In August 1849 the MCS appointed Joseph Bazalgette to the position of assistant surveyor. He had been working as a consultant engineer in the railway industry until overwork had brought about a serious breakdown in his health; his appointment to the commission was his first position on his return to employment. Working under the chief engineer, Frank Foster, he began to develop a more systematic plan for the city's sewers. The stress of the position was too much for Foster and he died in 1852; Bazalgette was promoted into his position, and continued refining and developing the plans for the development of the sewerage system. The Metropolis Management Act 1855 replaced the commission with the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW), which took control of the sewers.


title: Great Stink

text: By June 1856 Bazalgette completed his definitive plans, which provided for small, local sewers about in diameter to feed into a series of larger sewers until they drained into main outflow pipes high. A Northern and Southern Outfall Sewer were planned to manage the waste for each side of the river. London was mapped into high-, middle- and low-level areas, with a main sewer servicing each; a series of pumping stations was planned to remove the waste towards the east of the city. Bazalgette's plan was based on that of Foster, but was larger in scale, and allowed for more of a rise in population than Foster's – from 3 to 4.5 million. Bazalgette submitted his plans to Sir Benjamin Hall, the First Commissioner of Works. Hall had reservations about the outfalls—the discharge points of waste outlets into other bodies of water—from the sewers, which he said were still within the bounds of the capital, and were therefore unacceptable. During the ongoing discussions, Bazalgette refined and modified his plans, in line with Hall's demands. In December 1856 Hall submitted the plans to a group of three consultant engineers, Captain Douglas Strutt Galton of the Royal Engineers, James Simpson, an engineer with two water companies, and Thomas Blackwood, the chief engineer on the Kennet and Avon Canal. The trio reported back to Hall in July 1857 with proposed changes to the positions of the outfall, which he passed on to the MBW in October. The new proposed discharge points were to be open sewers, running beyond the positions proposed by the board; the cost of their plans was to be over £5.4 million, considerably more than the maximum estimate of Bazalgette's plan, which was £2.4 million. In February 1858 a general election saw the fall of Lord Palmerston's Whig government, which was replaced by Lord Derby's second Conservative ministry; Lord John Manners replaced Hall, and Benjamin Disraeli was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Exchequer.


title: Great Stink

text: By mid-1858 the problems with the Thames had been building for several years. In his novel "Little Dorrit"—published as a serial between 1855 and 1857—Charles Dickens wrote that the Thames was "a deadly sewer ... in the place of a fine, fresh river". In a letter to a friend, Dickens said: "I can certify that the offensive smells, even in that short whiff, have been of a most head-and-stomach-distending nature", while the social scientist and journalist George Godwin wrote that "in parts the deposit is more than six feet deep" on the Thames foreshore, and that "the whole of this is thickly impregnated with impure matter". In June 1858 the temperatures in the shade in London averaged —rising to in the sun. Combined with an extended spell of dry weather, the level of the Thames dropped and raw effluent from the sewers remained on the banks of the river. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert attempted to take a pleasure cruise on the Thames, but returned to shore within a few minutes because the smell was so terrible. The press soon began calling the event "The Great Stink"; the leading article in the "City Press" observed that "Gentility of speech is at an end—it stinks, and whoso once inhales the stink can never forget it and can count himself lucky if he lives to remember it". A writer for "The Standard" concurred with the opinion. One of its reporters described the river as a "pestiferous and typhus breeding abomination", while a second wrote that "the amount of poisonous gases which is thrown off is proportionate to the increase of the sewage which is passed into the stream". The leading article in "The Illustrated London News" commented that:


title: Great Stink

text: By June the stench from the river had become so bad that business in Parliament was affected, and the curtains on the river side of the building were soaked in lime chloride to overcome the smell. The measure was not successful, and discussions were held about possibly moving the business of government to Oxford or St Albans. "The Examiner" reported that Disraeli, on attending one of the committee rooms, left shortly afterwards with the other members of the committee, "with a mass of papers in one hand, and with his pocket handkerchief applied to his nose" because the smell was so bad. The disruption to its legislative work led to questions being raised in the House of Commons. According to "Hansard", the Member of Parliament (MP) John Brady informed Manners that members were unable to use either the Committee Rooms or the Library because of the stench, and asked the minister "if the noble Lord has taken any measures for mitigating the effluvium and discontinuing the nuisance". Manners replied that the Thames was not under his jurisdiction. Four days later a second MP said to Manners that "By a perverse ingenuity, one of the noblest of rivers has been changed into a cesspool, and I wish to ask whether Her Majesty's Government intend to take any steps to remedy the evil?" Manners pointed out "that Her Majesty's Government have nothing whatever to do with the state of the Thames". The satirical magazine "Punch" commented that "The one absorbing topic in both Houses of Parliament ... was the Conspiracy to Poison question. Of the guilt of that old offender, Father Thames, there was the most ample evidence".


title: Great Stink

text: At the height of the stink, of lime were being used near the mouths of the sewers that discharged into the Thames, and men were employed spreading lime onto the Thames foreshore at low tide; the cost was £1,500 per week. On 15 June Disraeli tabled the Metropolis Local Management Amendment Bill, a proposed amendment to the 1855 Act; in the opening debate he called the Thames "a Stygian pool, reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors". The Bill put the responsibility to clear up the Thames on the MBW, and stated that "as far as may be possible" the sewerage outlets should not be within the boundaries of London; it also allowed the Board to borrow £3 million, which was to be repaid from a three-penny levy on all London households for the next forty years. The terms favoured Bazalgette's original 1856 plan, and overcame Hall's objection to it. The leading article in "The Times" observed that "Parliament was all but compelled to legislate upon the great London nuisance by the force of sheer stench". The bill was debated in late July and was passed into law on 2 August.


title: Great Stink

text: Bazalgette's plans for the of additional street sewers (collecting both effluent and rainwater), which would feed into of main interconnecting sewers, were put out to tender between 1859 and 1865. Four hundred draftsmen worked on the detailed plans and sectional views for the first phase of the building process. There were several engineering challenges to be overcome, particularly the fact that parts of London—including the area around Lambeth and Pimlico—lie below the high-water mark. Bazalgette's plan for the low-level areas was to lift the sewage from low-lying sewers at key points into the mid- and high-level sewers, which would then drain with the aid of gravity, out towards the eastern outfalls at a gradient of .


title: Great Stink

text: Bazalgette was a proponent of the use of Portland cement, a material stronger than standard cement, but with a weakness when over-heated. To overcome the problem he instituted a quality control system to test batches of cement, that is described by the historian Stephen Halliday as both "elaborate" and "draconian". The results were fed back to the manufacturers, who altered their production processes to further improve the product. One of the cement manufacturers commented that the MBW were the first public body to use such testing processes. The progress of Bazalgette's works was reported favourably in the press. Paul Dobraszczyk, the architectural historian, describes the coverage as presenting many of the workers "in a positive, even heroic, light", and in 1861 "The Observer" described the progress on the sewers as "the most expensive and wonderful work of modern times". Construction costs were so high that in July 1863 an additional £1.2 million was lent to the MBW to cover the cost of the work.


title: Great Stink

text: The southern system, across the less populated suburbs of London, was the smaller and easier part of the system to build. Three main sewers ran from Putney, Wandsworth and Norwood until they linked together in Deptford. At that point a pumping station lifted the effluent into the main outflow sewer, which ran to the Crossness Pumping Station on the Erith Marshes, where it was discharged into the Thames at high tide. The newly built station at Crossness was designed by Bazalgette and a consultant engineer, Charles Driver, a proponent of the use of cast iron as a building material. The building was in a Romanesque style and the interior contains architectural cast ironwork which English Heritage describe as important. The power for pumping the large amount of sewage was provided by four massive beam engines, named Victoria, Prince Consort, Albert Edward and Alexandra, which were manufactured by James Watt and Co.


title: Great Stink

text: The station was opened in April 1865 by the Prince of Wales—the future King Edward VII—who officially started the engines. The ceremony, which was attended by other members of royalty, MPs, the Lord Mayor of London and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, was followed by a dinner for 500 within the building. The ceremony marked the completion of construction of the Southern Outfall Sewers, and the beginning of their operation.


title: Great Stink

text: With the successful completion of the southern outflow, one of the board members of the MBW, an MP named Miller, proposed a bonus for Bazalgette. The board agreed and were prepared to pay the engineer £6,000—three times his annual salary—with an additional £4,000 to be shared among his three assistants. Although the idea was subsequently dropped following criticism, Halliday observes that the large amounts discussed "at a time when parsimony was the dominant characteristic of public expenditure is a firm indication of the depth of public interest and approval that appears to have characterised the work."


title: Great Stink

text: The northern side of the Thames was the more populous, housing two-thirds of London's population, and the works had to proceed through congested streets and overcome such urban hurdles as canals, bridges and railway lines. Work began on the system on 31 January 1859, but the builders encountered numerous problems in construction, including a labourers' strike in 1859–60, hard frosts in winter, and heavier than normal rainfall. The rain was so heavy in June 1862 that an accident occurred at the works re-building the Fleet sewer. The deep excavations were running parallel to the excavation of a cutting at Clerkenwell for the Metropolitan Railway (now the Metropolitan line), and the wall dividing the two trenches collapsed, spilling the waters of the Fleet onto Victoria Street, damaging the gas and water mains.


title: Great Stink

text: The high-level sewer—the most northern of the works—ran from Hampstead Heath to Stoke Newington and across Victoria Park, where it joined with the eastern end of the mid-level sewer. The mid-level sewer began in the west at Bayswater and ran along Oxford Street, through Clerkenwell and Bethnal Green, before the connection. This combined main sewer ran to the Abbey Mills Pumping Station in Stratford, where it was joined by the eastern end of the low-level sewer. The pumps at Abbey Mills lifted the effluent from the low-level sewer into the main sewer. This main sewer ran —along what is now known as the Greenway—to the outfall at Beckton.


title: Great Stink

text: Like the Crossness Pumping Station, Abbey Mills was a joint design by Bazalgette and Driver. Above the centre of the engine-house was an ornate dome that, Dobraszczyk considers, gives the building a "superficial resemblance ... to a Byzantine church". The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner, in his "Buildings of England", thought the building showed "exciting architecture applied to the most foul purposes"; he went on to describe it as "an unorthodox mix, vaguely Italian Gothic in style but with tiers of Byzantine windows and a central octagonal lantern that adds a gracious Russian flavour".


title: Great Stink

text: To provide the drainage for the low-level sewers, in February 1864 Bazalgette began building three embankments along the shores of the Thames. On the northern side he built the Victoria Embankment, which runs from Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge, and the Chelsea Embankment, running from Millbank to the Cadogan Pier at Chelsea. The southern side contains the Albert Embankment, from the Lambeth end of Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall. He ran the sewers along the banks of the Thames, building up walls on the foreshore, running the sewer pipes inside and infilling around them. The works claimed over of land from the Thames; the Victoria Embankment had the added benefit of relieving the congestion on the pre-existing roads between Westminster and the City of London. The cost of building the embankments was estimated at £1.71 million, of which £450,000 was used for purchasing the necessary river-front properties, which tended to be for light industrial use. The Embankment project was seen as being nationally important and, with the Queen unable to attend because of illness, the Victoria Embankment was opened by the Prince of Wales in July 1870. The Albert Embankment had been completed in November 1869, while the Chelsea Embankment was opened in July 1874.


title: Great Stink

text: Bazalgette considered the Embankment project "one of the most difficult and intricate things the ... [MBW] have had to do", and shortly after the Chelsea Embankment was opened, he was knighted. In 1875 the work on the western drainage was completed, and the system became operational. The building work had required 318 million bricks and of concrete and mortar; the final cost was approximately £6.5 million.


title: Great Stink

text: In 1866 there was a further cholera outbreak in London that claimed 5,596 lives, although it was confined to an area of the East End between Aldgate and Bow. At the time that was a part of London which had not been connected to Bazalgette's system, and 93 per cent of the fatalities occurred within the area. The fault lay with the East London Water Company, who discharged their sewage half a mile () downstream from their reservoir: the sewage was being carried upstream into the reservoir on the incoming tide, contaminating the area's drinking water. The outbreak and the diagnosis of its causes led to the acceptance that cholera was water-borne, not transmitted by miasma. "The Lancet", relating details of the investigation into the incident by Dr William Farr, stated that his report "will render irresistible the conclusions at which he has arrived in regard to the influence of the water-supply in causation of the epidemic." It was the last outbreak of the disease in the capital.


title: Great Stink

text: In 1878 a Thames pleasure-steamer, the , collided with the collier "Bywell Castle" and sank, causing over 650 deaths. The accident took place close to the outfalls and questions were raised in the British press over whether the sewage was responsible for some of the deaths. In the 1880s further fears over possible health concerns because of the outfalls led to the MBW purifying sewage at Crossness and Beckton, rather than dumping the untreated waste into the river, and a series of six sludge boats were ordered to ship effluent into the North Sea for dumping. The first boat commissioned in 1887 was named the SS "Bazalgette"; the procedure remained in service until December 1998, when the dumping stopped and an incinerator was used to dispose of the waste. The sewers were expanded in the late 19th century and again in the early 20th century. The drainage network is, as at 2015, managed by Thames Water, and is used by up to eight million people a day. The company said in 2014 that "the system is struggling to cope with the demands of 21st-century London".


title: Great Stink

text: Crossness Pumping Station remained in use until the mid-1950s when it was replaced. The engines were too large to remove and were left "in situ", although they fell into a state of disrepair. The station itself became a grade I listed building with the Ministry of Public Building and Works in June 1970 (since replaced by English Heritage). The building and its engines are, , under restoration by the Crossness Engines Trust. The president of the trust is the British television producer Peter Bazalgette, the great-great-grandson of Joseph. As at 2015 part of the Abbey Mill facility continues to operate as a sewage pumping station. The building's large double chimneys were removed during the Second World War following fears that they could be used by the Luftwaffe as landmarks for navigation, and the building became a grade II* listed building with the Ministry of Works in November 1974.


title: Great Stink

text: The provision of an integrated and fully functioning sewer system for the capital, together with the associated drop in cholera cases, led the historian John Doxat to state that Bazalgette "probably did more good, and saved more lives, than any single Victorian official". Bazalgette continued to work at the MBW until 1889, during which time he replaced three of London's bridges: Putney in 1886, Hammersmith in 1887 and Battersea in 1890. He was appointed president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in 1884, and in 1901 a monument commemorating his life was opened on the Victoria Embankment. When he died in March 1891, his obituarist in "The Illustrated London News" wrote that Bazalgette's "two great titles to fame are that he beautified London and drained it", while Sir John Coode, the president of ICE at the time, said that Bazalgette's work "will ever remain as monuments to his skill and professional ability". The obituarist for "The Times" opined that "when the New Zealander comes to London a thousand years hence ... the magnificent solidity and the faultless symmetry of the great granite blocks which form the wall of the Thames-embankment will still remain." He continued, "the great sewer that runs beneath Londoners ... has added some 20 years to their chance of life". The historian Peter Ackroyd, in his history of subterranean London, considers that "with [John] Nash and [Christopher] Wren, Bazalgette enters the pantheon of London heroes" because of his work, particularly the building of the Victoria and Albert Embankments.


title: Michael Brandon

text: Michael Brandon (born Michael Feldman; April 20, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as James Dempsey in the British drama series "Dempsey and Makepeace" (1985–1986). His theatre credits include the original Broadway production of "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" (1969), and playing Jerry Springer in the West End production of "" (2003–2004).


title: Michael Brandon

text: Brandon was born Michael Feldman in Brooklyn, New York, to Miriam (née Tumen) and Sol Feldman. At age nine, he and his family (brother Elliot and sister Debra Lynne) moved to Valley Stream, New York where he attended Memorial Junior High and graduated from Valley Stream Central High School. Brandon then attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made his debut on Broadway before turning to cinema. He is of Jewish extraction.


title: Michael Brandon

text: Brandon starred in the TV series "Dempsey and Makepeace" and "Dinotopia", the movies "Quattro mosche di velluto grigio" (1971), "F.M." (1978), "A Vacation In Hell" (1979) and "A Change of Seasons" (1980), and the plays "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" and "Jerry Springer - The Opera".


title: Michael Brandon

text: Since moving to the UK, Brandon has worked in television shows such as "The Bill", "Trial and Retribution", and "Dead Man Weds". He also played the title role in the musical "" for over a year in the National Theatre and after its transfer into the West End. Brandon starred in "Singin' in the Rain" in the summer of 2012.


title: Michael Brandon

text: In 2004, He became the fourth U.S. narrator of the children's television series "Thomas & Friends" from 2004 to 2012, replacing Alec Baldwin. In February 2008, he began his talk radio show on City Talk (now Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool & The North West), a new local radio station in Liverpool. In 2008, he appeared in the Series 4 finale of the BBC's "Doctor Who", as General Sanchez, a UNIT officer. Also in 2008, he appeared in the television series "Bones", as Roger Frampton, an American millionaire.


title: Michael Brandon

text: In 2011, Brandon guest-starred in an episode of the BBC1 con drama "Hustle" as Marcus Wendell (series 7, episode 3). Also in 2011, he was seen in a supporting role in the film "" as a politician who befriends the titular character. In September 2013 he appeared in the ITV dancing show "Stepping Out" with wife Glynis Barber. In 2017, he collaborated with producer/director Guy Masterson to create his autobiographical stand-up comedy, "Off Ramps" which hit at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2022, he appeared in an episode of "Casualty" on BBC1.


title: Michael Brandon

text: In the early 1970s, Brandon was in a relationship with the actress Kim Novak. Brandon was married to actress Lindsay Wagner from 1976 to 1979. He has been married to actress Glynis Barber, with whom he co-starred in "Dempsey & Makepeace", since 18 November 1989. They remain in the United Kingdom. The couple have a son, Alex.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: Jinny Hahn (née Sandhu, born 28 September 1987) is an English professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, performing under the ring name Jinny.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: She was born in London, England, where she grew up in Knightsbridge district of West London. She was trained by Progress Wrestling and was the first female graduate of Progress's "Projo". She graduated with a BSc in psychology from Birmingham City University in 2012.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: In January 2015 she had her first singles match at Progress ENDVR:8, defeating Pollyanna. At ENDVR:12, Jinny defeated Toni Storm. At ENDVR:15, Jinny defeated Leva Bates. At Chapter 28, Jinny defeated Toni Storm. At Chapter 34, Jinny and Marty Scurll defeated Laura Di Matteo and Mark Haskins. At Chapter 36, Jinny, Alex Windsor and Dahlia Black defeated Pollyanna, Nixon Newell and Laura Di Matteo. In August 2017, Jinny and Deonna Purrazzo defeated Dahlia Black and Dakota Kai. The next night Jinny and Purrazzo were defeated by Kai. At Chapter 66, Jinny and Mercedes Martinez defeated Toni Storm and Shazza McKenzie. Jinny and Austin Theory defeated Kay Lee Ray and Will Ospreay at Chapter 67. At Chapter 69, Jinny defeated Toni Storm to become Progress Women's Champion for her first time. Jinny successfully defended the championship against Dakota Kai. On 30 December, she lost the title to Jordynne Grace.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: Jinny made her debut for Pro Wrestling Chaos in 2015. At Pro Wrestling Chaos 20, she was defeated by Leva Bates. In 2017, Jinny and Jetta were defeated by Sierra Loxton and Melina. Jinny won the Maiden of Chaos Championship by defeating Martina, making her the inaugural champion.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: In 2016, Jinny made her Pro Wrestling EVE debut, being defeated by Jetta. On 15 July 2017, Jinny defeated Emi Sakura.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: Jinny as Jinny Couture made her Revolution Pro Wrestling debut in June 2016, defeating Addy Starr. In 2017, she defeated Veda Scott. Jinny became the inaugural Revpro Women's Champion after defeating Deonna Purrazzo in the RevPro British Women's Title Tournament finals. She successfully defended the title against Millie McKenzie and Bea Priestley. Jinny lost the title to Jamie Hayter in 2018.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: Jinny debuted for German promotion, Westside Xtreme Wrestling in 2016 defeating Dahlia Black. Later that same night she was defeated by Alpha Female in a four-way that also included Shanna and Melanie Gray. In 2017, Jinny defeated Thunder Rosa.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: In April 2017, Jinny took part in WWE's WrestleMania 33 Axxess, where she was defeated by Toni Storm on day two and three of the axxess. A little over a year later, in June 2018, it was announced that WWE had signed Jinny to a contract. Around that time, Jinny was announced as one of the four women who would compete in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship on day one of United Kingdom Championship Tournament. At the event, Jinny was injured during the match, forcing her out of it and the match was later reverted to a triple threat between Toni Storm, Killer Kelly and Isla Dawn.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: In July, Jinny took part of the 2018 Mae Young Classic, where she was defeated in the first round by her rival Toni Storm. Shortly after her participation in the Mae Young Classic, Jinny was announced as part of the women's roster in the newly created "NXT UK" brand. After a series of vignettes promoting her debut, Jinny made her television debut on 7 November episode, where she attacked Dakota Kai from behind after she lost a match against Toni Storm. Jinny would then enter a tournament for the inaugural NXT UK Women's Championship, where she would defeat Millie McKenzie in the first round only to be eliminated from the tournament by Toni Storm in the semi–finals.


title: Jinny (wrestler)

text: On the 15 May 2019 episode of WWE NXT UK, Jinny alongside the debuting Jazzy Gabert interrupting a match between Killer Kelly and Xia Brookside, attacking the two in the process and taking on Gabert as her enforcer. On the 19 June episode of NXT UK, Jinny, as well as other women, competed in a battle royal to determine who will get a future opportunity for the NXT UK Women's Championship. In the match, Jinny got eliminated by Brookside. On the 17 July episode of NXT UK, Jinny defeated Brookside, thanks to Gabert's interference. Following this, Jinny and Jazzy went on to feud with Rhea Ripley and Piper Niven, where they ultimately came out on the losing side of things in various tag and singles matches. Jinny defeated Amale on the 19 December episode of WWE NXT UK, where after the match Jazzy refused to continue to beat down Amale, which led to the two parting ways as they went into 2020. On 2 April 2020, Jinny teamed with Kay Lee Ray in a successful effort against Niven and Dani Luna.