title: Tholi Prema (2018 film)

text: "Tholi Prema" was released theatrically on 10 February 2018. The film later was dubbed in Hindi under the same title and Tamil as "Manathil Nindraval" - both in 2019.


title: Tholi Prema (2018 film)

text: Hemanth Kumar in his review for the "Firstpost", gave 4 out of 5 stars and felt that the film is "not just a love story, but an experience", thereby praising the performances of the lead actors and lauded Venky Atluri in his directorial debut. Janani K in her review for "India Today" gave 3 out of 5 stars calls the film "refreshing to watch" and quoted the performances of Tej and Khanna as "incredible". Neeshita Nyayapati in her review for the "Times of India", gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and called the film "an easy-breezy ride and purely for the romantic millennials. Give it a chance this weekend, it might just impress you with its big ol’ dose of reality".


title: Tholi Prema (2018 film)

text: "The Hindu" critic Sangeetha Devi Devi appreciated the film for its 'solid performances' and 'nuanced writing.' "The film is a win in many ways, and lingers long after it’s over," she added. Karthik Kumar of "Hindustan Times", wrote: "It takes a lot for a first time director to make a love story, within the quintessential rom-com template followed in mainstream cinema, and yet, succeed in giving audiences the feeling of watching something fresh, something which is not a rehashed product." "The Indian Express" journalist Manoj Kumar R stated that the film has "nothing new to offer." However, he appreciated Atluri for right casting and keeping the audience entertained despite relying on the "overused plot devices of the romantic comedy genre."


title: Tholi Prema (2018 film)

text: The film has collected a total share of 54.0 million rupees in Nizam, 17.0 million in ceded, 04.3 million in Nellore, 11.4 million in Guntur, 10.7 million in Krishna, 0.93 in West, 11.8 million in East, 21.5 million in Uttar Andhra, 12.0 million in Karnataka and 23.0 million in the USA. The rest of the world is estimated around 08.0 million rupees.


title: Tholi Prema (2018 film)

text: The total Andhra Pradesh and Nizam gross is said to be 318 million while the share is 185.5 million. The gross in the USA, Karnataka and the rest of India is said to be 71 million, 3.6 and 26 million. The share in USA, Karnataka and the rest of India is 32 million, 13 million, 09 million respectively. The total worldwide gross is 451 million and the share is 239.5 million.


The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is a government organisation in India that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is an autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission and headquartered in Bangalore.


title: National Assessment and Accreditation Council

text: NAAC was established in 1994 in response to recommendations of National Policy in Education (1986). This policy was to "address the issues of deterioration in quality of education", and the Programme of Action (POA-1992) laid out strategic plans for the policies including the establishment of an independent national accreditation body. Consequently, the NAAC was established in 1994 with its headquarters at Bengaluru.


text: NAAC published a consolidated list of higher education institutions with valid accreditation as of 11 March 2020. The outcome of the recent cycles of accreditation process is tabulated below.


title: Government debt

text: A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occurs when a government's expenditures exceed revenues.


title: Government debt

text: In 2020, the value of government debt worldwide was $87.4 US trillion, or 99% measured as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). Government debt accounted for almost 40% of all debt (which includes corporate and household debt), the highest share since the 1960s. The rise in government debt since 2007 is largely attributable to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, and the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Government debt

text: The ability of government to issue debt has been central to state formation and to state building. Public debt has been linked to the rise of democracy, private financial markets, and modern economic growth.


title: Government debt

text: Government debt is typically measured as the "gross debt" of the "general government" sector that is in the form of liabilities that are debt instruments. A "debt instrument" is a financial claim that requires payment of interest and/or principal by the debtor to the creditor in the future. Examples include debt securities (such as bonds and bills), loans, and government employee pension obligations.


title: Government debt

text: International comparisons usually focus on "general government" debt because the level of government responsible for programs (for example, health care) differs across countries and the general government comprises central, state, provincial, regional, local governments, and social security funds. The debt of public corporations (such as post offices that provide goods or services on a market basis) is not included in general government debt, following the International Monetary Fund's "Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014" ("GFSM"), which describes recommended methodologies for compiling debt statistics to ensure international comparability.


title: Government debt

text: The "gross debt" of the general government sector is the total liabilities that are debt instruments. An alternative debt measure is "net debt", which is gross debt minus financial assets in the form of debt instruments. Net debt estimates are not always available since some government assets may be difficult to value, such as loans made at concessional rates.


title: Government debt

text: Debt can be measured at "market value" or "nominal value". As a general rule, the "GFSM" says debt should be valued at "market value", the value at which the asset could be exchanged for cash. However, the "nominal value" is useful for a debt-issuing government, as it is the amount that the debtor owes to the creditor. If market and nominal values are not available, "face value" (the undiscounted amount of principal to be repaid at maturity) is used.


title: Government debt

text: A country's general government debt-to-GDP ratio is an indicator of its debt burden since GDP measures the value of goods and services produced by an economy during a period (usually a year). As well, debt measured as a percentage of GDP facilitates comparisons across countries of different size. The OECD views the general government debt-to-GDP ratio as a key indicator of the sustainability of government finance.


title: Government debt

text: An important reason governments borrow is to act as an economic "shock absorber". For example, deficit financing can be used to maintain government services during a recession when tax revenues fall and expenses rise (for unemployment benefits, say). Government debt created to cover costs from major shock events can be particularly beneficial. Such events would include a major war, like World War II; a public health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic; or a severe economic downturn as with the financial crisis of 2007–2008. In the absence of debt financing, when revenues decline during a downturn, a government would need to raise taxes or reduce spending, which would exacerbate the negative event.


title: Government debt

text: While government borrowing may be desirable at times, a "deficits bias" can arise when there is disagreement among groups in society over government spending. To counter deficit bias, many countries have adopted balanced budget rules or restrictions on government debt. Examples include the "debt anchor" in Sweden; a "debt brake" in Germany and Switzerland; and the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact agreement to maintain a general government gross debt of no more than 60% of GDP.


title: Government debt

text: The ability of government to issue debt has been central to state formation and to state building. Public debt has been linked to the rise of democracy, private financial markets, and modern economic growth. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries England established a parliament that included creditors, as part of a larger coalition, whose authorization had to be secured for the country to borrow or raise taxes. This institution improved England's ability to borrow because lenders were more willing to hold the debt of a state with democratic institutions that would support debt repayment, versus a state where the monarch could not be compelled to repay debt.


title: Government debt

text: As public debt came to be recognized as a safe and liquid investment, it could be used as collateral for private loans. This created a complementarity between the development of public debt markets and private financial markets. Government borrowing to finance public goods, such as urban infrastructure, has been associated with modern economic growth.


title: Government debt

text: Written records point to public borrowing as long as two thousand years ago when Greek city-states such as Syracuse borrowed from their citizens. But the founding of the Bank of England in 1694 revolutionised public finance and put an end to defaults such as the "Great Stop of the Exchequer" of 1672, when Charles II had suspended payments on his bills. From then on, the British Government would never fail to repay its creditors. In the following centuries, other countries in Europe and later around the world adopted similar financial institutions to manage their government debt.


title: Government debt

text: In 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, British government debt reached a peak of more than 200% of GDP, nearly 887 million pounds sterling. The debt was paid off over 90 years by running primary budget surpluses (that is, revenues were greater than spending after payment of interest).


title: Government debt

text: In 1900, the country with the most total debt was France (£1,086,215,525), followed by Russia (£656,000,000) then the United Kingdom (£628,978,782); on a per-capita basis, the highest-debt countries were New Zealand (£58 12s. per person), the Australian colonies (£52 13s.) and Portugal (£35).


title: Government debt

text: In 2018, global government debt reached the equivalent of $66 trillion, or about 80% of global GDP, and by 2020, global government debt reached $87US trillion, or 99% of global GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic caused public debt to soar in 2020, particularly in advanced economics that put in place sweeping fiscal measures.


title: Government debt

text: Government debt accumulation may lead to a rising interest rate, which can crowd out private investment as governments compete with private firms for limited investment funds. Some evidence suggests growth rates are lower for countries with government debt greater than around 80 percent of GDP. A World Bank Group report that analyzed debt levels of 100 developed and developing countries from 1980 to 2008 found that debt-to-GDP ratios above 77% for developed countries (64% for developing counties) reduced future annual economic growth by 0.017 (0.02 for developing countries) percentage points for each percentage point of debt above the threshold.


title: Government debt

text: Excessive debt levels may make governments more vulnerable to a debt crisis, where a country is unable to make payments on its debt, and it cannot borrow more. Crises can be costly, particularly if a debt crisis is combined with a financial/banking crisis which leads to economy-wide deleveraging. As firms sell assets to pay off debt, asset prices fall which risks an even greater fall in incomes, further depressing tax revenue and requiring governments to drastically cut government services. Examples of debt crises include the Latin American debt crisis of the early 1980s, and Argentina's debt crisis in 2001. To help avoid a crisis, governments may want to maintain a "fiscal breathing space". Historical experience shows that room to double the level of government debt when needed is an approximate guide.


title: Government debt

text: Government debt is built up by borrowing when expenditure exceeds revenue, so government debt generally creates an "intergenerational transfer." This is because the beneficiaries of the government's expenditure on goods and services when the debt is created typically differ from the individuals responsible for repaying the debt in the future.


title: Government debt

text: An alternative view of government debt, sometimes called the Ricardian equivalence proposition, is that government debt has no impact on the economy if individuals are altruistic and internalize the impact of the debt on future generations. According to this proposition, while the quantity of government purchases affects the economy, debt financing will have the same impact as tax financing because with debt financing individuals will anticipate the future taxes needed to repay the debt, and so increase their saving and bequests by the amount of government debt. Such higher individual saving means, for example, that private consumption falls one-for-one with the rise in government debt, so the interest rate would not rise and private investment is not crowded out.


title: Government debt

text: Historically, there have been many cases where governments have defaulted on their debts, including Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries, which nullified its government debt several times; the Confederate States of America, whose debt was not repaid after the American Civil War; and revolutionary Russia after 1917, which refused to accept responsibility for Imperial Russia's foreign debt.


title: Government debt

text: If government debt is issued in a country's own fiat money, it is sometimes considered risk free because the debt and interest can be repaid by money creation. However, not all governments issue their own currency. Examples include sub-national governments, like municipal, provincial, and state governments; and countries in the eurozone. In the Greek government-debt crisis, one proposed solution was for Greece to leave the eurozone and go back to issuing the drachma (although this would have addressed only future debt issuance, leaving substantial existing debt denominated in what would then be a foreign currency).


title: Government debt

text: Debt of a sub-national government is generally viewed as less risky for a lender if it is explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by a regional or national level of government. When New York City declined into what would have been bankrupt status during the 1970s, a bailout came from New York State and the United States national government. U.S. state and local government debt is substantial — in 2016 their debt amounted to $3 trillion, plus another $5 trillion in unfunded liabilities.


title: Government debt

text: A country that issues its own currency may be at low risk of default in local currency, but if a central bank provides finance by buying government bonds (sometimes referred to as debt monetization), this can lead to price inflation. In an extreme case, in the 1920s Weimar Germany suffered from hyperinflation when the government used money creation to pay off the national debt following World War I.


title: Government debt

text: While U.S. Treasury bonds denominated in U.S. dollars may be considered risk-free to an American purchaser, a foreign investor bears the risk of a fall in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to their home currency. A government can issue debt in foreign currency to eliminate "exchange rate risk" for foreign lenders, but that means the borrowing government then bears the exchange rate risk. Also, by issuing debt in foreign currency, a country cannot erode the value of the debt by means of inflation. Almost 70% of all debt in a sample of developing countries from 1979 through 2006 was denominated in U.S. dollars.


title: Government debt

text: Most governments have "contingent liabilities", which are obligations that do not arise unless a particular event occurs in the future. An example of an "explicit" contingent liability is a public sector loan guarantee, where the government is required to make payments only if the debtor defaults. Examples of "implicit" contingent liabilities include ensuring the payment of future social security pension benefits, covering the obligations of subnational governments in the event of a default, and spending for natural disaster relief.


title: Government debt

text: Explicit contingent liabilities and net implicit social security obligations should be included as memorandum items to a government's balance sheet, but they are not included in government debt because they are not contractual obligations. Indeed, it is not uncommon for governments to change unilaterally the benefit structure of social security schemes, for example (e.g., by changing the circumstances under which the benefits become payable, or the amount of the benefit). In the U.S. and in many countries, there is no money earmarked for future social insurance payments — the system is called a "pay-as-you-go" scheme. According to the 2018 annual reports from the trustees for the U.S. Social Security and Medicare trust funds, Medicare is facing a $37 trillion unfunded liability over the next 75 years, and Social Security is facing a $13 trillion unfunded liability over the same time frame. Neither of these amounts are included in the U.S. gross general government debt, which in 2020 was $28 trillion.


title: Government debt

text: In 2010 the European Commission required EU Member Countries to publish their debt information in standardized methodology, explicitly including debts that were previously hidden in a number of ways to satisfy minimum requirements on local (national) and European (Stability and Growth Pact) level.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR (C297) is a GT1 sports car built and produced by Mercedes-Benz in conjunction with their then motorsport partner AMG. Intended for racing in the new FIA GT Championship series in 1997, the CLK GTR was designed primarily as a race car, with the road cars necessary in order to meet homologation standards being secondary in the car's design, i.e. it was a homologation special.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Following its successful campaign in the 1997 FIA GT Championship, the race car would be entered in the first two rounds of the 1998 FIA GT Championship, before being replaced for the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its successor, the 1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK LM, would conclude Mercedes' GT1 program, being replaced by the Mercedes-Benz CLR Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype (LMGTP), a purpose-built racecar that did not have to abide by the homologation rules of the previous GT1 cars.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, Mercedes-Benz as a works outfit had withdrawn from all motorsport activities, including the upper echelons of sportscar racing. Mercedes would gradually reintroduce itself to motorsport, returning to the top level of sportscar racing in 1985, first as an engine supplier to Sauber, later as a full-time works partner. Despite Mercedes winning the World Sportscar Championship twice in 1989 and 1990, they would eventually withdraw at the end of 1991 following disappointing results.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Mercedes would see success elsewhere, with a burgeoning touring car program in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, where the 190 E and its Evolution I and II siblings were climbing up the ranks. The 1991 season would see the 190 E Evo II take the honours in the constructors' championship. Klaus Ludwig would pilot the car to the 1992 drivers' championship, and would be replaced by the W202 C-Class in 1994. The C-Class would dominate both championships from 1994 to 1996, and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/International Touring Car Championship would fold in late 1996, with both remaining competitors Opel and Alfa Romeo withdrawing due to the rising costs.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Without a top series to compete in, Mercedes-Benz would look towards the BPR Global GT Series, which had recently become an FIA-sanctioned championship, the FIA GT Championship, and Mercedes-Benz saw an opportunity to go against manufacturers such as Porsche and McLaren. The McLaren F1 GTR was the dominant car in this series, and in order to defeat it Porsche would build a dedicated racecar to fight the McLarens. Porsche's challenger, the 911 GT1, would become the first homologation special, with Norbert Singer modifying a Porsche 962 chassis to accommodate the front fascia of a Porsche 993, leaving other things such as the suspension and engine largely intact. Only two units of the 993-based 911 GT1 would actually be completed by the end of 1996, seeing this, AMG was tasked by Mercedes-Benz with creating a car akin to the 911 GT1, an almost purebred racing machine with a resemblance to a road car. The CLK GTR would be the end result, which would share nothing mechanically except the headlights, rear taillights and grille with the road-going Mercedes-Benz CLK.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The CLK GTR was developed in a mere 128 days, this development time hastened by the purchase of McLaren F1 GTR chassis #11R from then-reigning FIA GT Championship champions Larbre Compétition. The car would serve as AMG's mule, the F1's bodywork was replaced by AMG's own, and the BMW S70 would be replaced by Mercedes' own powerplant, a M120 V12. The car was eventually restored to its original mechanical condition, and was auctioned off in Monaco in 2000 by RM Sotheby's to a British owner.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The chassis of the CLK GTR was a carbon-fibre monocoque mated to an aluminium honeycomb frame, constructed by Lola Composites, a division of Lola Cars. The engine was a derivative of the M120 engine found in the R129 SL-Class and W140 S-Class, retitled the LS600, or GT 112. The bore and stroke were kept the same at and , however, the connecting rods were manufactured from titanium, and the compression ratio was increased from 10.0:1 to 12.0:1. These modifications boosted power to at 7,000 rpm, and torque to at 3,900 rpm, allowing the car to reach a top speed of . The engine (which also served as a stressed member) was mounted amidships behind the driver, and sent power to the rear wheels via a 6-speed sequential manual that gave the car a time of 3.8 seconds. Several driving aids such as traction control, ABS, active suspension, drive by wire throttle control, were banned, with fore-aft brake bias the only aid allowed. The front and rear suspension were identical, consisting of double wishbones, with pull-rod actuated coil springs with adjustable shocks and dampers.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The CLK GTR would debut at Mercedes' home track, the Hockenheimring, at the 1997 FIA GT Hockenheim 4 Hours. Bernd Schneider would qualify on pole and take the fastest lap, but would retire due to braking problems. The sister #10 CLK GTR would only muster a 27th place finish, also battling mechanical woes. Still, the pace of the car was promising, and after intense development over the summer break, Mercedes would score their first 1-2 finish at the 1997 FIA GT Nürburgring 4 Hours with Schneider and Klaus Ludwig taking the win.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The rest of the season would see the CLK GTR take three more 1-2 finishes, and wins at the 1997 FIA GT Sebring 3 Hours and 1997 FIA GT Laguna Seca 3 Hours would secure Mercedes the constructors' and drivers' championship with Schneider in their maiden season. Mercedes opted not to enter that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as AMG understood that the V12 in the CLK GTR was better tailored to the 4-hour sprints of the FIA GT Championship rather than the 24-hour gruel of the Circuit de la Sarthe. Instead, Mercedes and AMG decided to develop a bespoke car for next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, which would be dubbed the CLK LM, LM for Le Mans.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The road-legal homologated version of the CLK-GTR would simply gain the suffix Straßenversion, German for Street version. In a similar fashion to the 911 GT1 in 1996, only a singular road car was completed in 1997 and was shown in that year Frankfurt Motor Show, the rest of the road cars would be built at Affalterbach by AMG in collaboration with HWA over 1998, and production would cease in mid-1999. Many components of the road car were lifted directly from the racecar, including the suspension, the sequential transmission, and the carbon-fibre monocoque. Of the 28 produced, 2 were prototypes, 6 were roadsters, and 20 were coupés, 2 of which left the factory in "SuperSport" specification. Two cars, one coupé and one roadster, would also leave the factory as right-hand drive for the 29th Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Paul Frère, former racing driver and motoring journalist, writing for Road & Track magazine drove the CLK GTR around the Hockenheimring, saying that the car had good , despite its immense power. He also mentions the effort put in by Mercedes-Benz to make the car more user-friendly, including large amounts of soundproofing to reduce the mechanical noise from the transmission and engine, although critiqued the cramped cockpit space despite the large width of the car, and its driveability in city conditions, due to its non-synchronous transmission and large amount of torque available from low RPMs. He ended his review describing the car as a "real work of art".


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The engine was stroked out to by Ilmor, resulting in a power and torque bump to @ 6,500 rpm and @ 5,250 rpm. Sending this power to the rear wheels was a 6-speed sequential manual transmission with a four-plate carbon fibre clutch. This gave the GTR a of 3.8 seconds, and a claimed top speed of over , depending on gearing. The 18-inch centrelocking wheels were shod in 295/35ZR18 Bridgestone tyres at the front and 345/35ZR18 at the rear. Stopping power was provided by 6-piston calipers and carbon-composite rotors measuring at the front and at the rear.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: The road car received several amenities such as ABS, air-conditioning and an audio system. Bins for luggage were located under each door, as was the control for the fire suppression system on the driver side. Owners had the option of fitting their seats with tartan, leather, or Alcantara, with four-point harnesses for safety. Like the race car, the CLK GTR only shared the headlights, taillights and grille with the roadgoing CLK, and many exterior design elements such as the roof-mounted air dams, and NACA ducts on the sills were retained. Mercedes decided not to modify the CLK GTR to comply with United States safety regulations, and all examples imported to the U.S were under Show or Display exemptions.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: When the first production run of 20 CLK GTR coupés ended in 1999, one roadster was also produced and held onto by AMG until 2002, when it was purchased by Mark Johnston. Johnston attempted to sue DaimlerChrysler in 2006, claiming that when he had taken it for a test drive with a customer, the oil gauge lit up and the transmission promptly failed. The next five would be converted from coupés to roadsters based off existing GTR chassis by HWA, and were made available in 2006.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Modifications to the coupé included moving the engine intake from the roof to the sides, door-mounted mirrors, an integrated rollbar behind the seats, a revised front grille and rear wing which resembled the fixed rear wing of the race cars. Of the six roadsters built, one was painted black and sold in 2015 by Bonhams, and now resides at Dutton Garage in Melbourne. Another was painted dark silver with a purple interior, for the Sultan of Brunei, and was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya in 2009.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Two chassis would also leave the AMG factory in SuperSport specification. The original E69 engine would be replaced with a larger, more powerful E73 M297, the same engine found in the Pagani Zonda and Mercedes-Benz R129, producing @ 6,500 rpm and @ 5,250 rpm.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Visual changes included a speedometer that was etched to and a redesigned front splitter. The increased power and torque figures lowered the to 3.5 seconds. One of the factory SuperSport chassis (which was a roadster), was also notable for being painted red initially, but would later be repainted silver. Three other chassis would later receive the E73 engine and SuperSport package, with the later models having higher power figures at .


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: At the time of manufacture, the Guinness Book of World Records would name the CLK Straßenversion and its siblings the world's most expensive production car, retailing for US$1,547,620. This record would stand until the introduction of the Ferrari FXX-K in 2015.


title: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

text: Along with its GT1 siblings, the Porsche 911 GT1 and McLaren F1 GTR, the trio were known as the "holy trinity" of Group GT1, and formed what several publications deemed a "golden era" or "pinnacle" of 90s sportscar racing.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: The flag of South Africa from 1928 to 1994 was originally used by the Union of South Africa from 1928 to 1961 and later the Republic of South Africa until 1994. It was also used in South West Africa (today Namibia) until 1990 when the territory was under South African rule. Based on the Dutch Prince's Flag, it contained the flag of the United Kingdom, the flag of the Orange Free State and the flag of the South African Republic in the centre. A nickname for the flag was "Oranje, Blanje, Blou" (Afrikaans for: "orange, white, blue").


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: It was adopted in 1928 by an act of Parliament from the first Afrikaner majority government. In 1948, after their election victory, the National Party unsuccessfully tried to amend the flag design to remove what they called the "Blood Stain" (the flag of the United Kingdom). After South Africa became a republic in 1961, the flag was retained as the national flag, despite the country having left the Commonwealth. In 1968, Prime Minister John Vorster proposed that a new national flag for South Africa be adopted in 1971 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the declaration of a republic. However, Vorster's idea did not gain parliamentary support and the flag change never happened. As a result, it was the national flag during the Apartheid era of 1948-1994, and it is also known as 'the Apartheid flag'. It was replaced by the current flag of South Africa in 1994 with the commencement of the country's transitional constitution and the end of apartheid.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: Following its retirement in 1994, the flag has been controversial within South Africa, with some people viewing it as historic and a symbol of Afrikaner heritage, while others view it as a symbol of apartheid and white supremacy. In 2019, the Equality Court ruled that public displays of the flag would be classed as hate speech, although exceptions would be allowed for "cases of journalistic, academic and artistic expression" and for museums & places of historical interest.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: Before 31 May 1928 the only flag that had official status in the Union of South Africa was the United Kingdom's Union Jack as South Africa was part of the British Empire. The South African Red Ensign was used as an unofficial flag. In 1925, discussion rose about creating a new flag for South Africa as many descendants of Boers found the Union Jack unacceptable after the Second Boer War. In 1926 the Balfour Declaration granted South Africa legislative autonomy, opening the possibility of a new flag. British South Africans wanted the Union Jack in the new flag as part of the British Empire while the Afrikaners did not. The majority British Natal Province threatened to secede from the Union if the Union Jack was removed. A compromise was reached whereby the new flag would consist of the "Prinsenvlag" as this was the first flag raised on South Africa and a badge in the centre consisting of the Union Jack with the flags of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. The Union Jack was mirrored in the new flag with the hoist on the right so that it did not take precedence over the others. This was denounced by D. F. Malan, then the South African Minister of Home Affairs, who described the group of miniature flags "a scab... which will one day fall off". The South Africa Red Ensign would be retained as South Africa's merchant ensign until 1951.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: In 1927, the Afrikaner-majority Parliament of South Africa passed the Union Nationality and Flag Act, which stated that the Union Jack and the new flag of the Union of South Africa were to have equal status as the flag of South Africa. The act came into force in 1928 when both flags were raised over the Houses of Parliament, Cape Town and the Union Buildings in Pretoria. This dual status was ended in 1957 with the passing of the Flags Amendment Act which declared that the Oranje, Blanje, Blou would be the sole flag of South Africa, with the act also declaring that "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" would be the country's sole anthem and dropping "God Save the Queen".


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: When South Africa became a republic in 1961, the flag remained the same. The Afrikaner voting majority disliked the flag retaining the Union Jack in the centre. Repeated calls were made for it to be removed or for a new flag but no action was taken by the ruling National Party until 1968. Prime Minister B. J. Vorster convened a commission in that year to create a new flag in time for the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the republic in 1971, but no changes were eventually made.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: The flag was treated with respect by Afrikaners, with daily flag salutes in schools. It was also used as part of celebrations of the inauguration of the State President. The flag even had an ode dedicated to it, "Vlaglied" (), written by Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven and composed by F.J. Joubert.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: Due to variances in manufacturing, many flags were manufactured with their blue a dark shade akin to that found on the flag of the UK, as many early flags were made in the UK. Because of this discrepancy, in 1982, the South African government specified that "Solway blue", a lighter shade of blue, be used on the flags as was originally intended.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: The flag was featured on the cantons of the flags of government agencies such the military, prisons service, and police. After the flag was retired in 1994, the new South African flag replaced it on those flags' cantons.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: Despite the flag's origins and adoption pre-dating the National Party's ascension to power by twenty years, the flag gradually became associated with the apartheid regime. Movements like the Black Sash and uMkhonto we Sizwe started protesting against it with their own symbols. Often, the flag of South Africa would be removed from public display and replaced with the banned ANC flag. The flag would also be the subject of public burnings during anti-apartheid protests.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: After 1989, F. W. de Klerk became state president and immediately unbanned the African National Congress (ANC) and released their leader, Nelson Mandela, from prison. De Klerk instigated negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa with Mandela's ANC. One of the ANC's demands was that the flag gradually decrease in usage in South African life and that a new flag be created, as black South Africans associated the current one with apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: The negotiations led to the 1992 South African apartheid referendum where the white part of the South African populace (all other groups still being disenfranchised) voted to end apartheid. The referendum decision resulted in the International Rugby Football Board allowing the South African rugby team to play test matches again. The ANC agreed to endorse the team on the condition that the flag not be used to represent South Africa. During the return test, the Conservative Party handed out numerous flags to the majority white crowd as a symbol of defiance against the ANC. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the South African team performed under a specially designed flag for the National Olympic Committee of South Africa, although white South African spectators at the games waved the then national flag, despite attempts by officials to stop them.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: In 1994, the State Herald of South Africa, Fred Brownell, was approached to design a new national flag for South Africa to replace the flag in time for the first elections after apartheid. He designed the new flag of South Africa with a combination of the old flag and the colours of the ANC flag. The new flag design was approved personally by both de Klerk and Mandela before being unanimously approved by the Transitional Executive Council on 15 March 1994.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: De Klerk made the public proclamation of the replacement of the old flag on 20 April, seven days before the 1994 South African general election on 27 April 1994. When the flag was lowered for the last time at the parliament building in Cape Town, anti-apartheid onlookers approvingly shouted "Down, down!" as it was removed.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: Following its official retirement as the flag of South Africa, the flag was adopted by some white South Africans as being a symbol of Afrikaner heritage and history. Many South Africans still view it as a symbol of apartheid and therefore have strongly discouraged its use. Despite the negative associations, it was never banned by the Government of South Africa post-1994, and the right to display it in South Africa was protected under Chapter Two of the Constitution of South Africa as an expression of free speech until 2019. In the 21st century, the flag experienced use as a symbol by white supremacists in and outside South Africa. A particular awareness of this followed the shooting of black parishioners at a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015, as the perpetrator, Dylann Roof, had previously been pictured wearing a jacket bearing both this flag and the flag of Rhodesia (1968–1979). This association with apartheid and racism often led to calls for the flags that were used in a historical context to be removed from display. An example of this is in Cooma, Australia, where it is flown to commemorate South African workers in the Snowy Mountains Scheme alongside the Canadian Red Ensign, 49-star US flag, and other flags from 1959 when the Avenue was dedicated.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: The flag has also been used as a symbol of protest post-1994. In 2005, a statue of Venda King Makhado was vandalised in Louis Trichardt with the colours of the flag as a protest against a proposal to change the name of the town to Makhado. Some South Africans in the 21st century started to fly the flag as a protest against what they perceived as the failure of the ANC to make progress in governing South Africa as a democracy.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: At Cape Town's Castle of Good Hope, the flag was flown from the castle alongside the Union Jack, flag of the Netherlands and the current flag of South Africa to display the powers that ruled South Africa through history. In 1994, it was agreed that they would remain on the castle parapet as historical reference. However, in 2012, following complaints from the ANC member of parliament Nomfunelo Mabedla, all the flags apart from the current flag of South Africa were removed from the parapet, and the removed flags were placed in the castle's museum. The flag is also collected in some other museums in South Africa, including the South African Naval Museum.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: In 2008, the flag was mistakenly put on posters in Ghana advertising that year's Africa Cup of Nations, sparking indignation among some South Africans.


title: Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)

text: The flag was declared illegal for public display in South Africa in August 2019, when the Equality Court classified it as hate speech, with heavy enforcing penalties. Exceptions were made for academic, journalistic & artistic expression and museums & places of historical interest. Judge declared that "Displaying [the apartheid flag] is destructive of our nascent non-racial democracy… it is an affront to the spirit and values of botho / ubuntu, which has become a mark of civilized interaction in post-apartheid South Africa". When AfriForum appealed the ban in the SCA in 2022, respondents represented by advocate Ngcukaitobi argued that the flag was meant to unite white South Africans against the native population, and that it was invented by the architects of Apartheid to represent racial segregation. Mark Oppenheimer, a lawyer for AfriForum, argued that use of the flag is not necessarily an endorsement of apartheid.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The Nissan Armada is a full-size SUV manufactured by Nissan for the North American market. From 2003 to 2015, the first-generation Armada was assembled in Canton, Mississippi based on the Nissan Titan. From mid-2016 onwards, the second-generation Armada has been built in Yukuhashi, Kyushu, Japan and shares the same platform as the Nissan Patrol, with American-specific modifications, and went on sale in late mid-2016 as a 2017 model. A luxury version of the Armada has been sold as the Infiniti QX80 (originally QX56).


title: Nissan Armada

text: The 2004 model Pathfinder Armada was unveiled on April 17, 2003, at the New York Auto Show. Developed under Carlos Ghosn's NRP (Nissan Revival Plan), development was done in September 1999 to 2003 under lead designers Shiro Nakamura and Diane Allen and chief engineers Yuzo Sakita and Larry Dominique. In January 2001, a final exterior design by Giovanny Arroba had been approved by Sakita, Allen, Nakamura, and Nissan executive management, with the final design freeze being completed in July 2001. It is assigned the platform code TA60.


title: Nissan Armada

text: Prototypes based on the Y61 Patrol were hand-assembled as mules from 2001, with the first TA60-specific prototypes being completed and sent to testing in early 2002. Design patents were filed in 2003, with production starting on August 14, 2003, and going on sale on October 1, 2003.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The Armada had a 5.6 L "VK56DE" V8 engine that made and of torque. This was mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission, and the Armada had a choice of either rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. There are some Armadas that are capable of using E85. It has a towing capacity of up to .


title: Nissan Armada

text: The rear door handles are installed on the "C" pillar as part of a Nissan design tradition that started with the 1986 Nissan Pathfinder. When the four-door Pathfinder was introduced, Nissan chose to conceal the door handles as a part of the "C" pillar trim to visually make it appear like a two-door truck with a camper shell, with conventional door handles on the front doors.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The switch to the Armada name occurred in September 2004, where it received new badges without "Pathfinder."


title: Nissan Armada

text: The updated VK56DE V8 engine now produces 317 hp (236 kW) and of torque with an improved towing capacity of up to 9,100 lb (4,127 kg) when equipped with towing package.


title: Nissan Armada

text: Standard features now include an 8.0 inch infotainment screen, a new front fascia and rear fascia, new headlamp and fog lamp designs, and a new one-piece roof rack design.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The latest Nissan Armada Platinum edition features a 9.3 GB hard drive for storing music, and a CF (Compact Flash) memory card reader. The Platinum edition also features a power liftgate and third-row seats that fold electronically.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The 2011 model year Armada removed the SE and Off-Road trim levels and moved to a tiered system: SV (base trim), SL (middle trim), and Platinum (top trim). Nissan discontinued the use of the Armada platform for the Infiniti QX56 produced in Japan.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The 2013 model year added Bluetooth and satellite radio as standard on all models and a Platinum Reserve trim package. Navigation added NavWeather capability, Zagat Survey, Bluetooth audio streaming, one USB port, and a 40 GB disk drive. The Nissan DVD Entertainment System mounted screens in the back of the front head restraints.


title: Nissan Armada

text: The Nissan Armada (TA60) was sold in the United States (including all US territories), Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East in left-hand-drive only.


title: Nissan Armada

text: Nissan unveiled the second-generation Armada at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show, and it went on sale in August 2016 as a 2017 model. This version is based on the Nissan Patrol, the platform also used for the Infiniti QX80, as moving the Armada and Patrol to the same global platform instead of the Armada sharing the platform of the American-built Titan saves considerable development cost. Apart from the Endurance V8 engine, which is assembled in Decherd, Tennessee, the vehicle is built in Japan. The Armada grew in length and width, but the wheelbase and height were moderately reduced.


title: Nissan Armada

text: In addition to the Endurance V8, a seven-speed transmission was introduced to improve fuel economy, acceleration, and torque, along with an increase in horsepower from at 5200 rpm. The exterior moderately differs from the updated Patrol, which was introduced in early 2014. As with the previous generation, the Armada continued to offer 2WD and 4WD and available in SV, SL, and Platinum trims. It has been described as a large-sized, low-volume, but high-profit model for Nissan.


title: Nissan Armada

text: An updated version of the Nissan Armada was revealed in December 2020. The front end was redesigned, with a larger grille and "C"-shaped LED headlights along with two new exterior colors. The taillights were redesigned as well, and are also LED. Inside, the center console was redesigned, with a wider infotainment screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto along with a wireless smartphone charger standard. Nissan's "Safety Shield 360" became standard. Trim levels and powertrain remained the same with the SV getting leatherette seating with silky carbon trim, SL retains leather-appointed seating with wood-tone trim and new 20-inch wheels, and the top-of-the-line Platinum getting new quilted leather-appointed seating with birdseye maple wood tone trim, along with new 22-inch wheels and the base S will be available at a later date, although the 5.6 L V8 gained and of torque. A Midnight Edition, which treats the exterior to an under-the-radar, blacked-out color scheme, was also added. The updated Armada went on sale in North America in late January 2021.


title: Nissan Armada

text: For the 2022 model year, one-touch power-folding third row seats were added as standard equipment for the Armada Platinum.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: The Beechcraft Baron is a light twin-engined piston aircraft designed and produced by Beechcraft. The aircraft was introduced in 1961. A low-wing monoplane developed from the Travel Air, it remains in production.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: The direct predecessor of the Baron was the Beechcraft 95 Travel Air, which incorporated the fuselage of the Bonanza and the tail control surfaces of the T-34 Mentor military trainer. To create the new airplane, the Travel Air's tail was replaced with that of the Beechcraft Debonair, the engine nacelles were streamlined, six-cylinder engines were added, and the aircraft's name was changed. In 1960, the Piper Aztec was introduced, using two 250 hp Lycoming O-540 engines; Cessna too had improved its 310 with two Continental IO-470 D, producing 260 hp. Meanwhile, Beechcraft's Bonanza had been improved with a Continental IO-470-N. But the answer to competition was to make a true twin-engined variant of the Bonanza. The first model, the 55, was powered by two six-cylinder IO-470-L engines producing 260 hp at 2,625rpm each; it was introduced in 1961. The first Baron included the fully-swept vertical stabilizer of the Debonair while still retaining the four to four+five place seating of the Travel Air.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: Barons come in three basic types: the Baron 55 (short body), Baron 56 (short body) and Baron 58 (long body), with several sub-variants each.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: The early Baron 55, A55 and B55 were fitted with Continental IO-470 engines and had gross weights of 4880 to 5100 lb (2,200 to 2,300 kg). These had a typical cruise speed of 190 knots (350 km/h) at 7000 ft (2100 m), and came with 116 or 136 US gallon (440 or 515 L) fuel tanks. Although its performance was eclipsed by the later variants, the B55 continued to be offered as the basic economy model until the end of the Baron 55 model run, and it would ultimately capture about half of total 55-series sales.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: The C55, D55 and E55 models used Continental IO-520 engines, increasing cruise speed to . Gross weight increased to and the forward fuselage was lengthened by to increase baggage space in the nose. 136, 142, or 166 US gallon (515 or 628 L) fuel tanks were offered.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: The Baron 55 was sold with four seats in two rows as standard equipment; a third-row fifth seat was optional initially, and a sixth seat became optional on the A55. However, the lack of a rear passenger door or a second-row pass-through hampers access to the third-row seats, and adults often find the rear fuselage taper confining. Additionally, the aircraft tend to exceed the aft center of gravity (CG) limit with all six seats occupied and no baggage in the nose compartment to act as counterbalance. Owners often remove the third-row seats and use the rear fuselage as additional baggage space.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: Model 55 Barons were produced from 1961 to 1983, with 3,651 manufactured. All use the ICAO aircraft type designator "BE55".


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: In 1967, Beechcraft had begun development of a faster, pressurized twin, the Model 60 Duke; the Duke was to go head-to-head with Cessna's 320 Skyknight. The Duke was to use two turbocharged 380-hp Lycoming TIO-541-E1A4 engines, therefore, Beech wanted experience working with, and flying the new engine. The engine was fitted to a modified Baron C55, becoming the 56TC (that prototype, EG-1, was later retired after certification). The results of the 56TC were as planned, it proved a good testbed and experience building model for the Duke's development. However, it was a noticeably loud airplane, especially so for a Beechcraft. Along with its increased noise, the 56TC had an increase in structural strength and thus empty weight to compensate for the higher power. When introduced in 1967, it was the fastest Beech aircraft, rivaling even the early King Airs sold at the time. 93 Baron 56TC aircraft were built between 1967 and 1971 and all use the ICAO type designator "BE56".


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: Introduced for the model year 1969, the larger, more powerful Baron 58 was developed from the Baron 55, with an increased gross weight of 5,400 lbs. Depending on the variant, the Baron 58 is fitted with either Continental IO-520 or IO-550 300-hp engine. The Baron 58 can cruise at 200 knots (370 km/h) at 7000 ft (2100 m). The most significant change was a fuselage stretch of and the introduction of double rear fuselage doors and reversible club seats in the center row, eliminating the need for passengers to climb over the center seats or through the rear baggage door to access the rear seats. The entire fuselage was repositioned forward on the wing to address the aft CG issue that plagued the short-body models. The longer 58 fuselage has four side windows while the 55 and 56 fuselages have three. The larger fuselage and improved rear-cabin access have made the 58 far more popular with commercial air charter and cargo operators than the smaller 55 and 56.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: In 1976, the turbocharged Baron 58TC and pressurized Baron 58P were introduced. These variants were powered by turbocharged Continental TIO-520s of 310–325 hp (230–240 kW), had an increased 6100–6200 lb (about 2800 kg) gross weight, and were certified under FAR23 with a new type certificate. The Baron 58P/58TC models were capable of cruising at 200 knots (370 km/h) at 8000 ft (2400 m) and 220 knots (410 km/h) at 20000 ft (6100 m), and were typically equipped with 190 US gallon (719 L) fuel tanks.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: In 1984, the instrument panel was redesigned to eliminate the large central control column and engine controls mounted high on the instrument panel to clear it. In pre-1984 aircraft with the optional dual control yokes, the arm to the right-hand yoke partially blocks the radios and some cockpit switchgear. The redesign provides a more industry-standard control arrangement and increases instrument panel space, but the aircraft lost the option of having a single yoke, which enhanced comfort for a passenger or relief pilot in the right-hand seat.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: Although the turbocharged 58TC/58P variants were discontinued in 1984 and 1985, respectively, the normally aspirated Baron 58 was still in production as of 2021. The current production version is the G58, featuring a glass cockpit, improved passenger cabin and changes to selected airframe details.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: The T-42A Cochise is a military version of the Baron 95-B55 for use by the United States Army as an instrument training aircraft. The Army Aviation School took delivery of 65 aircraft, a further five were bought for delivery to the Turkish Army.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: By 1993, the Army's remaining T-42 aircraft had been transferred to the Army Reserve and the National Guard and were no longer in standard use.


title: Beechcraft Baron

text: A twin Astazou X turboprop modification of the Baron first flown in 1961 developed from SFERMA's 1960 Astazou IIA turboprop conversion of a Model 95 Travel Air (SFERMA PD-146 Marquis). At least ten converted to follow on from eight converted Travel Airs.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP; also called fibre-reinforced polymer, or in American English "fiber") is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass (in fibreglass), carbon (in carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer), aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, or asbestos have been used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, though phenol formaldehyde resins are still in use.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: FRPs are commonly used in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and construction industries. They are commonly found in ballistic armour and cylinders for self-contained breathing apparatuses.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: A polymer is generally manufactured by step-growth polymerization or addition polymerization. When combined with various agents to enhance or in any way alter the material properties of polymers, the result is referred to as a plastic. Composite plastics refers to those types of plastics that result from bonding two or more homogeneous materials with different material properties to derive a final product with certain desired material and mechanical properties. Fibre-reinforced plastics are a category of composite plastics that specifically use fibre materials to mechanically enhance the strength and elasticity of plastics.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: The original plastic material without fibre reinforcement is known as the matrix or binding agent. The matrix is a tough but relatively weak plastic that is reinforced by stronger stiffer reinforcing filaments or fibres. The extent that strength and elasticity are enhanced in a fibre-reinforced plastic depends on the mechanical properties of both the fibre and matrix, their volume relative to one another, and the fibre length and orientation within the matrix. Reinforcement of the matrix occurs by definition when the FRP material exhibits increased strength or elasticity relative to the strength and elasticity of the matrix alone.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Bakelite was the first fibre-reinforced plastic. Leo Baekeland had originally set out to find a replacement for shellac (made from the excretion of lac bugs). Chemists had begun to recognize that many natural resins and fibres were polymers, and Baekeland investigated the reactions of phenol and formaldehyde. He first produced a soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac called "Novolak" that never became a market success, then turned to developing a binder for asbestos which, at that time, was moulded with rubber. By controlling the pressure and temperature applied to phenol and formaldehyde, he found in 1905 he could produce his dreamed-of hard mouldable material (the world's first synthetic plastic): bakelite. He announced his invention at a meeting of the American Chemical Society on 5 February 1909.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: The development of fibre-reinforced plastic for commercial use was being extensively researched in the 1930s. In the UK, considerable research was undertaken by pioneers such as Norman de Bruyne. It was particularly of interest to the aviation industry.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Mass production of glass strands was discovered in 1932 when Games Slayter, a researcher at Owens-Illinois accidentally directed a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and produced fibres. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented "fibreglas" (one "s") in 1936. Originally, fibreglas was a glass wool with fibres entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator, especially at high temperatures.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: A suitable resin for combining the "fibreglas" with a plastic to produce a composite material, was developed in 1936 by du Pont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamid's resin of 1942. Peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fibreglas and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic. This reduced the insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Confusingly, many glass fibre composites continued to be called "fibreglass" (as a generic name) and the name was also used for the low-density glass wool product containing gas instead of plastic.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937, but did not proceed further at the time due to the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 Russia was reported to have constructed a passenger boat of plastic materials, and the United States a fuselage and wings of an aircraft. The first car to have a fibre-glass body was the 1946 Stout Scarab. Only one of this model was built. The Ford prototype of 1941 could have been the first plastic car, but there is some uncertainty around the materials used as it was destroyed shortly afterwards.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: The first fibre-reinforced plastic plane was either the Fairchild F-46, first flown on 12 May 1937, or the Californian built Bennett Plastic Plane. A fibreglass fuselage was used on a modified Vultee BT-13A designated the XBT-16 based at Wright Field in late 1942. In 1943, further experiments were undertaken building structural aircraft parts from composite materials resulting in the first plane, a Vultee BT-15, with a GFRP fuselage, designated the XBT-19, being flown in 1944. A significant development in the tooling for GFRP components had been made by Republic Aviation Corporation in 1943.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Carbon fibre production began in the late 1950s and was used, though not widely, in British industry beginning in the early 1960s. Aramid fibres were being produced around this time also, appearing first under the trade name Nomex by DuPont. Today, each of these fibres is used widely in industry for any applications that require plastics with specific strength or elastic qualities. Glass fibres are the most common across all industries, although carbon-fibre and carbon-fibre-aramid composites are widely found in aerospace, automotive and sporting good applications. These three (glass, carbon, and aramid) continue to be the important categories of fibre used in FRP.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Global polymer production on the scale present today began in the mid 20th century, when low material and productions costs, new production technologies and new product categories combined to make polymer production economical. The industry finally matured in the late 1970s when world polymer production surpassed that of steel, making polymers the ubiquitous material that they are today. Fibre-reinforced plastics have been a significant aspect of this industry from the beginning.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: FRP involves two distinct processes, the first is the process whereby the fibrous material is manufactured and formed, the second is the process whereby fibrous materials are bonded with the matrix during moulding.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Fibre preforms are how the fibres are manufactured before being bonded to the matrix. Fibre preforms are often manufactured in sheets, continuous mats, or as continuous filaments for spray applications. The four major ways to manufacture the fibre preform is through the textile processing techniques of weaving, knitting, braiding and stitching.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: A rigid structure is usually used to establish the shape of FRP components. Parts can be laid up on a flat surface referred to as a "caul plate" or on a cylindrical structure referred to as a "mandrel". However, most fibre-reinforced plastic parts are created with a mould or "tool". Moulds can be concave female moulds, male moulds, or the mould can completely enclose the part with a top and bottom mould.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: The moulding processes of FRP plastics begins by placing the fibre preform on or in the mould. The fibre preform can be dry fibre, or fibre that already contains a measured amount of resin called "prepreg". Dry fibres are "wetted" with resin either by hand or the resin is injected into a closed mould. The part is then cured, leaving the matrix and fibres in the shape created by the mould. Heat and/or pressure are sometimes used to cure the resin and improve the quality of the final part.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Individual sheets of prepreg material are laid up and placed in a female-style mould along with a balloon-like bladder. The mould is closed and placed in a heated press. Finally, the bladder is pressurized forcing the layers of material against the mould walls.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: When the raw material (plastic block, rubber block, plastic sheet, or granules) contains reinforcing fibres, a compression moulded part qualifies as a fibre-reinforced plastic. More typically the plastic preform used in compression moulding does not contain reinforcing fibres. In compression moulding, a "preform" or "charge", of SMC, BMC is placed into mould cavity. The mould is closed and the material is formed & cured inside by pressure and heat. Compression moulding offers excellent detailing for geometric shapes ranging from pattern and relief detailing to complex curves and creative forms, to precision engineering all within a maximum curing time of 20 minutes.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Individual sheets of prepreg material are laid-up and placed in an open mould. The material is covered with release film, bleeder/breather material and a vacuum bag. A vacuum is pulled on part and the entire mould is placed into an autoclave (heated pressure vessel). The part is cured with a continuous vacuum to extract entrapped gasses from laminate. This is a very common process in the aerospace industry because it affords precise control over moulding due to a long, slow cure cycle that is anywhere from one to several hours. This precise control creates the exact laminate geometric forms needed to ensure strength and safety in the aerospace industry, but it is also slow and labour-intensive, meaning costs often confine it to the aerospace industry.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Sheets of prepreg material are wrapped around a steel or aluminium mandrel. The prepreg material is compacted by nylon or polypropylene cello tape. Parts are typically batch cured by vacuum bagging and hanging in an oven. After cure, the cello and mandrel are removed leaving a hollow carbon tube. This process creates strong and robust hollow carbon tubes.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Wet layup forming combines fibre reinforcement and the matrix as they are placed on the forming tool. Reinforcing fibre layers are placed in an open mould and then saturated with a wet resin by pouring it over the fabric and working it into the fabric. The mould is then left so that the resin will cure, usually at room temperature, though heat is sometimes used to ensure a proper cure. Sometimes a vacuum bag is used to compress a wet layup. Glass fibres are most commonly used for this process, the results are widely known as fibreglass, and is used to make common products like skis, canoes, kayaks and surf boards.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Continuous strands of fibreglass are pushed through a hand-held gun that both chops the strands and combines them with a catalysed resin such as polyester. The impregnated chopped glass is shot onto the mould surface in whatever thickness and design the human operator thinks is appropriate. This process is good for large production runs at economical cost, but produces geometric shapes with less strength than other moulding processes and has poor dimensional tolerance.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Machines pull fibre bundles through a wet bath of resin and wound over a rotating steel mandrel in specific orientations. Parts are cured either room temperature or elevated temperatures. Mandrel is extracted, leaving a final geometric shape but can be left in some cases.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Fibre bundles and slit fabrics are pulled through a wet bath of resin and formed into the rough part shape. Saturated material is extruded from a heated closed die curing while being continuously pulled through die. Some of the end products of pultrusion are structural shapes, i.e. I beam, angle, channel and flat sheet. These materials can be used to create all sorts of fibreglass structures such as ladders, platforms, handrail systems tank, pipe and pump supports.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Also called resin infusion. Fabrics are placed into a mould into which wet resin is then injected. Resin is typically pressurized and forced into a cavity which is under vacuum in resin transfer moulding. Resin is entirely pulled into cavity under vacuum in vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding. This moulding process allows precise tolerances and detailed shaping, but can sometimes fail to fully saturate the fabric leading to weak spots in the final shape.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: FRP allows the alignment of the glass fibres of thermoplastics to suit specific design programs. Specifying the orientation of reinforcing fibres can increase the strength and resistance to deformation of the polymer. Glass reinforced polymers are strongest and most resistive to deforming forces when the polymers fibres are parallel to the force being exerted, and are weakest when the fibres are perpendicular. Thus, this ability is at once both an advantage or a limitation depending on the context of use. Weak spots of perpendicular fibres can be used for natural hinges and connections, but can also lead to material failure when production processes fail to properly orient the fibres parallel to expected forces. When forces are exerted perpendicular to the orientation of fibres, the strength and elasticity of the polymer is less than the matrix alone. In cast resin components made of glass reinforced polymers such as UP and EP, the orientation of fibres can be oriented in two-dimensional and three-dimensional weaves. This means that when forces are possibly perpendicular to one orientation, they are parallel to another orientation; this eliminates the potential for weak spots in the polymer.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: A thermoset polymer matrix material, or engineering grade thermoplastic polymer matrix material, must meet certain requirements in order to first be suitable for FRPs and ensure a successful reinforcement of itself. The matrix must be able to properly saturate, and preferably bond chemically with the fibre reinforcement for maximum adhesion within a suitable curing period. The matrix must also completely envelop the fibres to protect them from cuts and notches that would reduce their strength, and to transfer forces to the fibres. The fibres must also be kept separate from each other so that if failure occurs it is localized as much as possible, and if failure occurs the matrix must also debond from the fibre for similar reasons. Finally, the matrix should be of a plastic that remains chemically and physically stable during and after the reinforcement and moulding processes. To be suitable as reinforcement material, fibre additives must increase the tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of the matrix and meet the following conditions; fibres must exceed critical fibre content; the strength and rigidity of fibres itself must exceed the strength and rigidity of the matrix alone; and there must be optimum bonding between fibres and matrix


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: "Fibreglass reinforced plastics" or FRPs (commonly referred to simply as fibreglass) use textile grade glass fibres. These textile fibres are different from other forms of glass fibres used to deliberately trap air, for insulating applications (see glass wool). Textile glass fibres begin as varying combinations of SiO, AlO, BO, CaO, or MgO in powder form. These mixtures are then heated through direct melting to temperatures around 1300 degrees Celsius, after which dies are used to extrude filaments of glass fibre in diameter ranging from 9 to 17 µm. These filaments are then wound into larger threads and spun onto bobbins for transportation and further processing. Glass fibre is by far the most popular means to reinforce plastic and thus enjoys a wealth of production processes, some of which are applicable to aramid and carbon fibres as well owing to their shared fibrous qualities.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Roving is a process where filaments are spun into larger diameter threads. These threads are then commonly used for woven reinforcing glass fabrics and mats, and in spray applications.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Fibre fabrics ( glass cloth, etc) are web-form fabric reinforcing material that has both warp and weft directions. Fibre mats are web-form non-woven mats of glass fibres. Mats are manufactured in cut dimensions with chopped fibres, or in continuous mats using continuous fibres. Chopped fibre glass is used in processes where lengths of glass threads are cut between 3 and 26 mm, threads are then used in plastics most commonly intended for moulding processes. Glass fibre short strands are short 0.2–0.3 mm strands of glass fibres that are used to reinforce thermoplastics most commonly for injection moulding.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Carbon fibres are created when polyacrylonitrile fibres (PAN), Pitch resins, or Rayon are carbonized (through oxidation and thermal pyrolysis) at high temperatures. Through further processes of graphitizing or stretching, the fibres strength or elasticity can be enhanced respectively. Carbon fibres are manufactured in diameters analogous to glass fibres with diameters ranging from 4 to 17 µm. These fibres wound into larger threads for transportation and further production processes. Further production processes include weaving or braiding into carbon fabrics, cloths and mats analogous to those described for glass that can then be used in actual reinforcements.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Aramid fibres are most commonly known as Kevlar, Nomex and Technora. Aramids are generally prepared by the reaction between an amine group and a carboxylic acid halide group (aramid);. Commonly, this occurs when an aromatic polyamide is spun from a liquid concentration of sulphuric acid into a crystallized fibre. Fibres are then spun into larger threads in order to weave into large ropes or woven fabrics (aramid). Aramid fibres are manufactured with varying grades based on strength and rigidity, so that the material can be adapted to meet specific design requirements, such as cutting the tough material during manufacture.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Fibre-reinforced plastics are best suited for any design program that demands weight savings, precision engineering, definite tolerances, and the simplification of parts in both production and operation. A moulded polymer product is cheaper, faster, and easier to manufacture than a cast aluminium or steel product, and maintains similar and sometimes better tolerances and material strengths.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Aluminium windows, doors and façades are thermally insulated by using thermal insulation plastics made of glass fibre reinforced polyamide. In 1977 Ensinger GmbH produced first insulation profile for window systems.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: FRP can be applied to strengthen the beams, columns, and slabs of buildings and bridges. It is possible to increase the strength of structural members even after they have been severely damaged due to loading conditions. In the case of damaged reinforced concrete members, this would first require the repair of the member by removing loose debris and filling in cavities and cracks with mortar or epoxy resin. Once the member is repaired, strengthening can be achieved through wet, hand lay-up of fibre sheets impregnated with epoxy resin, applied to the cleaned and prepared surfaces of the member.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Two techniques are typically adopted for the strengthening of beams, depending on the strength enhancement desired: flexural strengthening or shear strengthening. In many cases it may be necessary to provide both strength enhancements. For the flexural strengthening of a beam, FRP sheets or plates are applied to the tension face of the member (the bottom face for a simply supported member with applied top loading or gravity loading). Principal tensile fibres are oriented parallel to the beam's longitudinal axis, similar to its internal flexural steel reinforcement. This increases the beam strength and its stiffness (load required to cause unit deflection), but decreases the deflection capacity and ductility.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: For the shear strengthening of a beam, the FRP is applied on the web (sides) of a member with fibres oriented transverse to the beam's longitudinal axis. Resisting of shear forces is achieved in a similar manner as internal steel stirrups, by bridging shear cracks that form under applied loading. FRP can be applied in several configurations, depending on the exposed faces of the member and the degree of strengthening desired, this includes: side bonding, U-wraps (U-jackets), and closed wraps (complete wraps). Side bonding involves applying FRP to the sides of the beam only. It provides the least amount of shear strengthening due to failures caused by de-bonding from the concrete surface at the FRP free edges. For U-wraps, the FRP is applied continuously in a 'U' shape around the sides and bottom (tension) face of the beam. If all faces of a beam are accessible, the use of closed wraps is desirable as they provide the most strength enhancement. Closed wrapping involves applying FRP around the entire perimeter of the member, such that there are no free ends and the typical failure mode is rupture of the fibres. For all wrap configurations, the FRP can be applied along the length of the member as a continuous sheet or as discrete strips, having a predefined minimum width and spacing.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Slabs may be strengthened by applying FRP strips at their bottom (tension) face. This will result in better flexural performance, since the tensile resistance of the slabs is supplemented by the tensile strength of FRP. In the case of beams and slabs, the effectiveness of FRP strengthening depends on the performance of the resin chosen for bonding. This is particularly an issue for shear strengthening using side bonding or U-wraps. Columns are typically wrapped with FRP around their perimeter, as with closed or complete wrapping. This not only results in higher shear resistance, but more crucial for column design, it results in increased compressive strength under axial loading. The FRP wrap works by restraining the lateral expansion of the column, which can enhance confinement in a similar manner as spiral reinforcement does for the column core.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: In June 2013, KONE elevator company announced Ultrarope for use as a replacement for steel cables in elevators. It seals the carbon fibres in high-friction polymer. Unlike steel cable, Ultrarope was designed for buildings that require up to 1,000 meters of lift. Steel elevators top out at 500 meters. The company estimated that in a 500-meter-high building, an elevator would use 15 per cent less electrical power than a steel-cabled version. As of June 2013, the product had passed all European Union and US certification tests.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: FRP is used in designs that require a measure of strength or modulus of elasticity for which non-reinforced plastics and other material choices are ill-suited, either mechanically or economically. The primary design consideration for using FRP is to ensure that the material is used economically and in a manner that takes advantage of its specific structural characteristics, but this is not always the case. The orientation of fibres creates a material weakness perpendicular to the fibres. Thus the use of fibre reinforcement and their orientation affects the strength, rigidity, elasticity and hence the functionality of the final product itself. Orienting the fibres either unidirectionally, 2-dimensionally, or 3-dimensionally during production affects the strength, flexibility, and elasticity of the final product. Fibres oriented in the direction of applied forces display greater resistance to distortion from these forces, thus areas of a product that must withstand forces will be reinforced with fibres oriented parallel to the forces, and areas that require flexibility, such as natural hinges, will have fibres oriented perpendicular to the forces.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: Orienting the fibres in more dimensions avoids this either-or scenario and creates objects that seek to avoid any specific weakness due to the unidirectional orientation of fibres. The properties of strength, flexibility and elasticity can also be magnified or diminished through the geometric shape and design of the final product. For example, ensuring proper wall thickness and creating multifunctional geometric shapes that can be moulded as a single piece enhances the material and structural integrity of the product by reducing the requirements for joints, connections, and hardware.


title: Fibre-reinforced plastic

text: As a subset of plastic, FR plastics are liable to a number of the issues and concerns in plastic waste disposal and recycling. Plastics pose a particular challenge in recycling because they are derived from polymers and monomers that often cannot be separated and returned to their virgin states. For this reason not all plastics can be recycled for re-use, in fact some estimates claim only 20% to 30% of plastics can be recycled at all. Fibre-reinforced plastics and their matrices share these disposal and environmental concerns. Investigation of safe disposal methods has led to two main variations involving the application of intense heat: in one binding agents are burned off - in the process recapturing some of the sunk material cost in the form of heat - and incombustible elements captured by filtration; in the other the incombustible material is burned in a cement kiln, the fibres becoming an integral part of the resulting cast material. In addition to concerns regarding safe disposal, the fact that the fibres themselves are difficult to remove from the matrix and preserve for re-use means FRP's amplify these challenges. FRP's are inherently difficult to separate into base materials, that is into fibre and matrix, and the matrix is difficult to separate into usable plastics, polymers, and monomers. These are all concerns for environmentally-informed design today. Plastics do often offer savings in energy and economic savings in comparison to other materials. In addition, with the advent of new more environmentally friendly matrices such as bioplastics and UV-degradable plastics, FRP will gain environmental sensitivity.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Tintagel Castle () is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (Trevena), North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Romano-British period, as an array of artefacts dating from this period have been found on the peninsula, but as yet no Roman-era structure has been proven to have existed there. It was settled during the early medieval period, when it was probably one of the seasonal residences of the regional king of Dumnonia. A castle was built on the site by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall in the 13th century, during the High Middle Ages. It later fell into disrepair and ruin.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Archaeological investigation into the site began in the 19th century as it became a tourist attraction, with visitors coming to see the ruins of Richard's castle. In the 1930s, excavations revealed significant traces of a much earlier high status settlement, which had trading links with the Mediterranean world during the Late Roman period. Two digs in 2016 and 2017 at Tintagel Castle uncovered the outlines of a palace from the 5th or early 6th century (the early medieval period), with evidence of writing and of articles brought in from Spain and from the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. The Cornwall Archaeological Unit has a five-year project at this site, with a final report expected in 2021. The items found in the digs have spurred interest before this final report, with two television programmes initially aired in 2018 or 2019, one in the UK by the BBC and another in the US by PBS.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: The castle has a long association with legends related to King Arthur. This was first recorded in the 12th century when Geoffrey of Monmouth described Tintagel as the place of Arthur's conception in his mythological account of British history, "Historia Regum Britanniae". Geoffrey told the story that Arthur's father, King Uther Pendragon, was disguised by Merlin's sorcery to look like Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, the husband of Igraine, Arthur's mother.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Tintagel Castle has been a tourist destination since the mid-19th century. Owned by William, Prince of Wales as part of the landholdings of the Duchy of Cornwall, the site is managed by English Heritage.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: In the 1st century AD, southern Britain was invaded and occupied by the Roman Empire. The territory of modern Cornwall was assigned to the Roman administrative region of "civitas Dumnoniorum", named after the local British tribal group whom the Romans called the Dumnonii. At the time, this south-westerly point of Britain was "remote, under-populated ... and therefore also unimportant [to the Roman authorities] until, during the 3rd century AD, the local tin-streaming industry attracted attention." Archaeologists know of five milestones or route-markers in Cornwall erected in the Romano-British period. Two of these are in the vicinity of Tintagel, indicating that a road passed through the locality.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Cornish historian and archaeologist Charles Thomas noted in 1993: "So far, no structure excavated on Tintagel Island... can be put forward as a Roman-period settlement, native-peasant or otherwise." Despite this, a quantity of apparently Romano-British pottery has been unearthed on the site, as has a Roman-style drawstring leather purse containing ten low denomination Roman coins dating between the reigns of Tetricus I (270–272) and Constantius II (337–361). This suggests that "at face-value ... either the Island or the landward area of the later Castle (or both...) formed the scene of third-fourth century habitation" even if no evidence has been found of any buildings dating from this period. Thomas also noted that some of the post-Roman finds in the excavations of 1933–38 were close to the wall known as the Iron Gate which guards access to the plateau from the adjacent cove. He suggests that the vessels bringing such goods might have come to unload at this cove rather than on the dangerous beach of Tintagel Haven.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Roman control collapsed in southern Britain following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the early 5th century and it split into various different kingdoms, each with its own respective chief or king. The former Roman district of "civitas Dumnoniorum" apparently became the Kingdom of Dumnonia, which would have been ruled over by its own monarchy during this early medieval period between the 5th and 8th centuries. It was in this regional background that settlement continued at Tintagel Castle, with the creation of what is known by archaeologists as Period II of the site. However, there has been some dispute amongst archaeologists as to what the site of Tintagel Island was used for in this period. In the mid-20th century, it was typically thought that there was a Celtic Christian monastery on the site, but "since about 1980... [this] thesis... has... had to be abandoned", with archaeologists now believing that it was instead an elite settlement inhabited by a powerful local warlord or even Dumnonian royalty.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: The Devon archaeologist Ralegh Radford excavated at the site from 1933 through to 1938, and he pioneered the hypothesis that Tintagel Castle had been a monastery during Period II. He came to this conclusion based upon some similarities in the structures of the early medieval elements of Tintagel Castle and the 7th-century monastery at the site of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Archaeologists no longer accept this viewpoint, however. Instead, they now believe that this was an elite settlement in the early medieval period that was inhabited by Dumnonian royalty and their entourage. Archaeologist and historian Charles Thomas believed that they did not stay at Tintagel year-round but that they moved around: "A typical king with his family, relatives, dependants, resident hostages, officials and court-followers, and a private militia or war-band—in all, probably between a hundred and three hundred souls at least—moved around with his cumbersome entourage; at least, when not busy with inter-tribal campaigning or in repelling invaders and raiders." The site was also made more defensible during this period with a large ditch at the entrance to the peninsula, leaving only a narrow trackway that had to be traversed by anyone approaching the peninsula.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Various luxury items dating from this period have been found at the site, namely African and Phocaean red slip, which had been traded all the way from the Mediterranean. Examining this pottery, Charles Thomas remarked that "the quantity of imported pottery from Tintagel [was]... dramatically greater than that from any other single site dated to about 450–600 in either Britain or Ireland". Carrying on from this, he noted that the quantity of imported pottery from Tintagel was "larger than the combined total of "all" such pottery from "all" known sites [of this period in Britain and Ireland]; and, given that only about 5 per cent of the Island's accessible surface has been excavated or examined, the original total of imports may well have been on a scale of one or more complete shiploads, with individual ships perhaps carrying a cargo of six or seven hundred amphorae." This evidence led him to believe that Tintagel was a site where ships docked to deposit their cargo from southern Europe in the early medieval period.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Archaeological digs by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit funded by English Heritage in 2016 and 2017 at Tintagel Castle uncovered the outlines of a palace from the 5th or 6th century, more amphora shards, and slate with writing on it, dispelling notions that no one knew how to read and write in this era following the collapse of the Roman Empire. The five-year project expects to finish and publish a report in 2021. One find is described briefly in an article; it has been put on display at the site by English Heritage. The findings have stirred much interest for their implications about the Dark Ages in Cornwall after the Roman Empire collapsed. The dig site is described in a television programme with new theories about Early medieval Britain that first aired in the US in 2019. A list of the programme's episodes from 2019 is found in Secrets of the Dead#Season 17 (2017-19). BBC Two aired a documentary in 2018 about the findings at this dig site.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: In 1225, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall traded with Gervase de Tintagel, swapping the land of Merthen (originally part of the manor of Winnianton) for Tintagel Castle. A castle was built on the site by Earl Richard in 1233 to establish a connection with the Arthurian legends that were associated by Geoffrey of Monmouth with the area and because it was seen as the traditional place for Cornish kings. The castle was built in a more old-fashioned style for the time to make it appear more ancient. However, the dating to the period of Earl Richard has superseded Ralegh Radford's interpretation which attributed the earliest elements of the castle to Earl Reginald de Dunstanville and later elements to Earl Richard. Sidney Toy suggests an earlier period of construction in "Castles: a short history of fortifications from 1600 B.C. to A. D. 1600" (London: Heinemann, 1939).


title: Tintagel Castle

text: John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter was appointed constable of Tintagel Castle in 1389. After Richard, the following Earls of Cornwall were not interested in the castle, and it was left to the High Sheriff of Cornwall. Parts of the accommodation were used as a prison and the land was let as pasture. The castle became more dilapidated, and the roof was removed from the Great Hall in the 1330s. Thereafter, the castle became more and more ruinous and there was progressive damage from the erosion of the isthmus that joined the castle to the mainland. John Leland visited in the early 1540s and found that a makeshift bridge of tree trunks gave access to the Island. England was threatened with invasion from Spain in the 1580s, and the defences were strengthened at the Iron Gate. The manor of Tintagel was among those seized by the Commonwealth government of the 1650s as Duchy of Cornwall property, returning to the Duchy upon the Restoration of 1660. The letting for sheep pasture continued until the 19th century.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: There was a fascination with the Arthurian legends during the Victorian era, and the ruins of the castle became a tourist destination. The modern day village of Tintagel was known as Trevena until the 1850s when it was found convenient by the Post Office to use the name of the parish rather than the name of the village. Tintagel is only the name of the headland; Tintagel Head itself is the extreme southwest point of Castle Island and the castle ruins are partly on the 'island' and partly on the adjoining mainland. The head of the island pointing out to sea is Pen Diu ( "Black Head").


title: Tintagel Castle

text: The Rev. R. B. Kinsman (d. 1894) was honorary constable and built the courtyard wall and a guide was employed to conduct visitors into the castle. Until his time, the steps were unsafe on either side of the isthmus, though the plateau could be reached by those who grazed sheep there. From 1870, a lead mine was worked for a short time near Merlin's Cave. In the 20th century, the site was maintained by the Office of Works and its successors (from 1929 onwards). In 1975, the access across the isthmus was improved by the installation of a wooden bridge.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: In the late 19th and early 20th century, nothing had been excavated except the chapel, and so ideas were given currency such as the garden being a cemetery and King Arthur's Footprint being a place for King Arthur to leap to the mainland. "King Arthur's Footprint" is a hollow in the rock at the highest point of Tintagel Island's southern side. It is not entirely natural, having been shaped by human hands at some stage. It may have been used for the inauguration of kings or chieftains, as the site has a long history stretching back to the Dark Ages.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: In 1999 there was some controversy regarding Tintagel Castle and other sites in Cornwall under the management of English Heritage. Members of the pressure group Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament removed several signs because they objected to the use of the name "English Heritage", stating that Cornwall is rightfully a nation on its own. Three men involved in removing the signs were bound over for a year for £500 each and to pay English Heritage £4,500 compensation.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Over three months in 2015–16, artist Peter Graham carved a foot-high bearded face representing Merlin into a rock near a cave known as Merlin's Cave (after its mention in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King"). This was done as part of a project by English Heritage to "reimagine Tintagel's history and legends across the island site". The project also includes a compass sculpture referencing the Round Table and a larger-than-life statue called "Gallos", by Rubin Eynon. Gallos is Cornish for power and its meaning is deliberately ambiguous as the statue could represent King Arthur or Tintagel's older royal past. A local councillor accused English Heritage of degrading the site's archaeology and landscape, although many local people are content with the image. Plans for a cantilevered steel footbridge to link Tintagel Island and the mainland, designed (by Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates) to evoke Arthur's sword, were approved in 2017, and the bridge was opened to the public on 11 August 2019. Tintagel Castle Footbridge received an RIBA South West Award 2021, and was an RIBA Stirling Prize 2021 finalist.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Tintagel is one of English Heritage's top five attractions, with around 200,000 visitors a year and up to 3000 a day in the peak summer season. According to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, 154,996 people visited Tintagel Castle in 2019.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: Tintagel Castle was one of six identified by English Heritage in September 2022 as being at risk of destruction due to coastal erosion, the rate of which they said had worsened in the last few years due to rising sea levels and frequent storms. Portions of the Tintagel Castle complex have historically fallen into the sea but by 2022, erosion had reached the front of the visitor centre, and parts of a coastal footpath and a viewing area had fallen into the sea.


title: Tintagel Castle

text: In September 2022, English Heritage launched a fundraising campaign to protect and strengthen Tintagel Castle (and the five other at-risk sites).


title: Tintagel Castle

text: The castle has a long association with the Arthurian legends; it was first associated with King Arthur by Welshman Geoffrey of Monmouth in his book "Historia Regum Britanniae" ("History of the Kings of Britain'"), written around 1135–38, which includes a detailed account of the legend. According to Geoffrey and the legend, Arthur's father was Uther Pendragon, the king of all Britain. He goes to war against Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall, to capture Gorlois' wife Igraine, with whom Uther has fallen in love. Gorlois defends himself against Uther's armies at his fort of Dimilioc, but he sends Igraine to stay safely within Tintagel Castle which is his most secure refuge, according to the legend and "Historia Regum Britanniae". Uther besieges Dimilioc, telling his friend Ulfin how he loves Igraine, but Ulfin replies that it would be impossible to take Tintagel, for "it is right by the sea, and surrounded by the sea on all sides; and there is no other way into it, except that provided by a narrow rocky passage—and there, three armed warriors could forbid all entry, even if you took up your stand with the whole of Britain behind you." Geoffrey of Monmouth's story goes on to explain how the wizard Merlin is summoned and magically changes Uther's appearance to that of Gorlois to help get them into Tintagel Castle, while also changing his own and Ulfin's appearances to those of two of Gorlois' companions. Disguised thus, they are able to enter Tintagel where Uther goes to Igraine, and "in that night was the most famous of men, Arthur, conceived."