text: The experience of the Weimar Republic had resulted in a widespread public perception that the principles of representative democracy and of the rule of law ("Rechtsstaat") were inherently in conflict with one another, and the Parliamentary Council drafting the Basic Law were well aware that their militantly pro-democratic ideals were far from generally shared in the bleak context of Germany in 1949. Hence they built into the Basic Law a strong instrument for guardianship of the "free democratic basic order" of the Federal Republic, in the form of the Federal Constitutional Court, representing a 'staggering conferral of judicial authority'. Unlike the United States Supreme Court the Federal Constitutional Court not only has jurisdiction in constitutional matters, but also exclusive jurisdiction in such matters; all other courts must refer constitutional cases to it. The intention of the framers of the Basic Law was that this court would range widely against any tendency to slip back toward non-democratic ways: "a strict but benevolent guardian of an immature democracy that cannot quite trust itself". As such the Federal Constitutional Court had the power to ban political parties whose objectives or actions threatened the 'free democratic basic order".


title: Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

text: The Basic Law places at its head a guarantee of inviolable fundamental rights. Initially it was intended to limit these to classic formulations of civil freedoms, as with equality before the law, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of occupation and freedom of religious conscience. In the event particular interests pushed for additional consideration: the Catholic Church (through CDU/CSU representatives) succeeded in inserting protection both for 'Marriage and the Family" and for parental responsibility for children's education, SPD representatives then amended this to protect additionally the rights of children born outside marriage, and Elisabeth Selbert (one of only four women on the 70-strong panel) was eventually successful in a largely lone campaign to gain constitutional protection for sex equality. Notwithstanding this, there was a striking disjunction between the social context of two-parent, family households assumed in the Basic Law, and the everyday reality of German society in 1949, where over half of adult women were unmarried, separated or widowed, where the effective working population was overwhelmingly female, and where millions of expellees, refugees and displaced families were still without permanent accommodation. It was not until 1994 that constitutional protection was extended against discrimination on grounds of disability, while discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation is still not disallowed within the Basic Law.


text: As adopted by West Germany in 1949 as an interim constitution, the preamble of the Basic Law looked forward explicitly to a future free and united German state: "The entire German people is called upon to accomplish, by free self-determination, the unity and freedom of Germany." This was understood as embedding in the Basic Law both the proposition that Germany in 1949 was neither unified nor free, and also as binding the new Federal Republic to a duty to pursue the creation of such a free and unified Germany "on behalf of those Germans to whom participation was denied". The Basic Law potentially provided two routes for the establishment of a reborn and unified German state: either under Article 23 whereby 'other parts of Germany' over and above the named States of the Federal Republic ("Bundesländer") could subsequently declare their accession, or under Article 146 where constituent power ("pouvoir constituant") could be exercised by elected representatives of the entirety of the German people in creating a new permanent constitution that would replace the Basic Law. Adoption of a constitution under Article 146 would have implied that the legal validity of a unified German State would rest on "a free decision by the German people" as a whole.


text: Following the surrender of the German High Command and the dissolution of the Flensburg Government in May 1945, no effective national government of any sort existed in Germany and all national military and civil authority and powers were thereon exercised by the four Allies. The Allies maintained in fact that sovereign authorities wielding state powers no longer existed in the former German Reich; so, as the 'highest authority' for Germany, they were entitled to assume all sovereign powers without limitation of duration or scope, and could legitimately impose whatever measures on the German people within German national territory as any government could legally do on its own people—including validly ceding parts of that territory and people to another country. They argued furthermore that international conventions constraining occupying powers in wartime from enforcing fundamental changes of governmental system, economic system or social institutions within the territory under their control—the Hague Regulations of Land Warfare and the Geneva Conventions—did not apply, and could not apply, as the termination of Nazi Germany and the total Denazification of German institutions and legal structures had been agreed by the Allies as absolute moral imperatives. Consequently, the Potsdam Agreement envisaged that an eventual self-governing state would emerge from the wreckage of WWII covering 'Germany as a whole', but that this new state would have no claim to sovereignty other than as derived from the sovereignty then being assumed by the Allies, and its constitution would also require the approval of all the Allies. From the 1950s onwards, however, a school of German legal scholars developed the alternative view that the Allies had only taken custody of German sovereignty while the former German state had been rendered powerless to act, and that consequently, once a freely constituted German government had come into being in the form of the Federal Republic, it could resume the identity and legal status of the former German Reich without reference to the Allied Powers.


text: From the 1950s, the claim that there was a single continuing German Reich, and that in some sense the Federal Republic and the Federal Republic alone could represent that Reich, was adopted both by the Federal Government itself and by the Federal Constitutional Court. Initially, the 1949 constitution of the German Democratic Republic adopted a mirror image version of this claim, being framed in anticipation of a future all-German constitution on its own political terms, but it was replaced with a new constitution in 1968 that made no references to a wider national German nation, and from that date the GDR maintained that from 1949 there had existed two entirely separate sovereign German states. The Federal Republic's Cold-war Allies supported its claims in part, as they acknowledged the Federal Republic as the sole legitimate democratically organised state within former German territory (the GDR being held to be a Soviet puppet state), but they did not accept the associated arguments for the Reich's continuing 'metaphysical' existence "de jure" within the organs of the Federal Republic alone. Subsequently, under the "Ostpolitik", the Federal Republic in the early 1970s sought to end hostile relations with the countries of the Eastern Bloc, in the course of which it negotiated in 1972 a Basic Treaty with the GDR, recognising it as one of two German states within one German nation, and relinquishing any claim to "de jure" sovereign jurisdiction over East Germany. The Treaty was challenged in the Federal Constitutional court, as apparently contradicting the overriding aspirations of the Basic Law for a unified German state; but the Treaty's legality was upheld by the Court, heavily qualified by a reassertion of the claim that the German Reich continued to exist as an 'overall state' such that the duty to strive for future German unity could not be abandoned while East and West Germany remained disunited, albeit that without any institutional organs of itself the 'overall' Reich was currently not capable of action.


text: According to the 1973 decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, Article 23 of the Basic Law required the Federal Republic to be "legally open" to the accession of those former parts of Germany who were then organised into the German Democratic Republic, and they noted that this implied that the Federal Republic could recognise the capability of the GDR state, as then constituted, of so declaring its accession. In this sense, the Basic Treaty's recognition of the GDR as a "de jure" German State and as a valid state in international relations (albeit without then according it within West Germany with the status of a separate sovereign state) could be interpreted as furthering the long-term objective of eventual German unification, rather than as contradicting it. On 23 August 1990 the "Volkskammer" of the GDR did indeed declare its accession to the Federal Republic under Article 23 of the Basic Law, but postdated to come into effect on 3 October 1990, and conditional on fundamental amendments being made to the Basic Law in the interim. These amendments were required to implement the series of constitutional changes to the Basic Law that had been agreed both in the Unification Treaty between the GDR and the Federal Republic, and in the 'Two Plus Four Treaty' (Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany), and had the general effect of removing or rewording all the clauses (including Article 23) on which the Federal Constitutional Court had relied in support of its claim to the continued legal identity of the German Reich as an 'overall state'. Specifically too, the Basic Law was then amended such that the constitutional duty of the German people to strive for unity and freedom was stated as now fully realised, and consequently that the expanded 'Berlin Republic' could no longer be "legally open" to further accessions of former German territories.


text: The Basic Law established Germany as a parliamentary democracy with separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches.


text: The executive branch consists of the largely ceremonial Federal President as head of state and the Federal Chancellor, the head of government, normally (but not necessarily) the leader of the largest grouping in the Bundestag.


text: The legislative branch is represented by the Bundestag, elected directly through a mixed-member proportional representation, with the German "Länder" participating in legislation through the Bundesrat, reflecting Germany's federal structure.


text: The judicial branch is headed by the Federal Constitutional Court, which oversees the constitutionality of laws.


text: In Germany's parliamentary system of government, the Federal Chancellor runs the government and the day-to-day affairs of state. However, the German President's role is more than merely ceremonial. By his or her actions and public appearances, the Federal President represents the state itself, its existence, its legitimacy, and unity. The President's office has an integrative role and the controlling function of upholding the law and the constitution. It has also a "political reserve function" for times of crisis in the parliamentary system of government. The Federal President gives direction to general political and societal debates and has some important "reserve powers" in case of political instability (such as those provided for by Article 81).


text: Under Article 59 paragraph 1, the Federal President represents the Federal Republic of Germany in matters of international law, concludes treaties with foreign states on its behalf and accredits diplomats. Furthermore, all federal laws must be signed by the President before they can come into effect; however, he/she can only veto a law that he believes to violate the constitution.


text: The Chancellor is the head of government and the most influential figure in German day-to-day politics, as well as the head of the Federal Government, consisting of ministers appointed by the Federal President on the Chancellor's suggestion. While every minister governs his or her department autonomously, the Chancellor may issue overriding policy guidelines. The Chancellor is elected for a full term of the Bundestag and can only be dismissed by parliament electing a successor in a "constructive vote of no confidence".


text: The guardian of the Basic Law is the German Federal Constitutional Court ("Bundesverfassungsgericht") which is both an independent constitutional organ and at the same time part of the judiciary in the sectors of constitutional law and public international law. Its judgements have the legal status of ordinary law. It is required by law to declare statutes as null and void if they are in violation of the Basic Law. Although judgements of the Federal Constitutional Court are supreme over all other counts, it is not a court of appeal; the FCC only hears constitutional cases, and maintains sole jurisdiction in all such cases, to the exclusion of all other courts.


text: The court is famous for nullifying several high-profile laws, passed by large majorities in the parliament. An example is the "Luftsicherheitsgesetz", which would have allowed the Bundeswehr to shoot down civilian aircraft in case of a terrorist attack. It was ruled to be in violation of the guarantee of life and human dignity in the Basic Law.


text: The Federal Constitutional Court decides on the constitutionality of laws and government actions under the following circumstances:


text: The Weimar Constitution did not institute a court with similar powers. When the Basic Law is amended, this has to be done explicitly; the concerning article must be cited. Under Weimar the constitution could be amended without notice; any law passed with a two-thirds majority vote was not bound by the constitution. Under the Basic Law the fundamentals of the constitution in Articles 1 and 20, the fundamental rights in Articles 1 to 19, and key elements of the federalist state, cannot be removed. Especially important is the protection of the division of state powers into the legislative, executive and judicial branches. This is provided by Article 20. A clear separation of powers was considered imperative to prevent measures like an over-reaching Enabling act, as happened in Germany in 1933. This act had given the government legislative powers which effectively finished the Weimar Republic and led to the dictatorship of Nazi Germany.


text: Article 95 establishes the Federal Court of Justice, the Federal Administrative Court, the Federal Finance Court, the Federal Labour Court and the Federal Social Court as supreme courts in their respective areas of jurisdiction.


text: Article 96 authorises the establishment by federal law of the Federal Patent Court, of federal military criminal courts having jurisdiction only in a state of defence or on soldiers serving abroad, and of a federal disciplinary court. Article 92 establishes that all courts other than the federal courts established under the Basic Law are courts of the "Länder".


text: Article 97 provides for judicial independence. Article 102 abolishes capital punishment. Article 103 mandates a fair trial, forbids retroactive criminal legislation and multiple punishment for the same criminal act. Article 104 mandates that deprivation of personal liberty must be provided for by statute and authorised by a judge before the end of the day following the arrest (analogous to the common law concept of Habeas corpus), and that a relative or a person in the confidence of the prisoner must be notified of a judicial decision imposing detention. The German Constitution (i.e. the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany) unmistakably outlines the presumption of innocence.


text: The main body of the legislative branch is Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, which enacts federal legislation, including the budget. Each member of the Bundestag has the right to initiate legislation, as do the cabinet and the Bundesrat. The Bundestag also elects the Chancellor, the head of government, usually (but not necessarily) the leader of the majority party or the party with a plurality of seats in the Bundestag, and takes part in the election of the Federal President.


text: The Bundesrat represents the "Länder" (states) and participates in federal legislation. The Bundesrat's power has grown over the years, as the fields of federal legislation were extended at the expense of state legislation. In return, the number of laws requiring the assent of the Bundesrat was also extended.


text: The Basic Law contains no clear provision to call early elections. Neither the chancellor nor the Bundestag has the power to call elections, and the president can do so only if the chancellor so requests after losing a vote of confidence. This was designed to avoid the chronic instability of Weimar Republic governments. However, early elections have been called three times (1972, 1982, and 2005). The last two occasions were considered controversial moves and were referred to the constitutional court for review.


text: In 1972, Chancellor Willy Brandt's coalition had lost its majority in the Bundestag, so that the opposition (CDU/CSU) tried to pass a constructive vote of no confidence, thus electing Rainer Barzel as new chancellor. Surprisingly, two representatives of CDU/CSU voted for SPD's Willy Brandt so that the vote failed. Nevertheless, the coalition had no majority in the Bundestag, so that a new election was necessary. It was later revealed that the East German Ministry for State Security had bribed the two dissenting representatives.


text: In 1982, Chancellor Helmut Kohl intentionally lost a confidence vote in order to call an early election to strengthen his position in the Bundestag. The constitutional court examined the case, and decided that the vote was valid, but with reservations. It was decided that a vote of confidence could be so engineered only if it were based on an actual legislative impasse.


text: In 2005, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder engineered a defeat in a vote of confidence after a power shift in the "Bundesrat". President Horst Köhler then called elections for 18 September 2005. The constitutional court agreed to the validity of this procedure on 25 August 2005, and the elections duly took place.


text: In contrast to Weimar, political parties are explicitly mentioned in the constitution, i.e., officially recognized as important participants in politics. Parties are obliged to adhere to the democratic foundations of the German state. Parties found in violation of this requirement may be abolished by the constitutional court. In the Weimar Republic, the public image of political parties was clearly negative and they were often regarded as vile. At the same time there was no obligation to adhere to democratic standards (in contrast, the Basic Law stipulates that parties' "... internal organisation must conform to democratic principles", which precludes any party using the Führerprinzip, even internally).


text: From the outset, the Basic Law guaranteed the right of conscientious objection to war service (Article 4), and prohibited the Federal Republic from activities preparing for or engaging in aggressive war (Article 26). These provisions remain in force. Also in the 1949 Basic Law, Article 24 empowered the federal government to join international systems for mutual collective security; but made no specific provision for West German rearmament.


text: The Basic Law was amended in 1955 with Article 87a allowing the creation from new of federal armed forces, the "Bundeswehr". The "Bundeswehr" therefore has no constitutional or legal continuity with either the "Reichswehr" of the Weimar Republic, or with the "Wehrmacht" of WWII Germany.


text: The Weimar Constitution had contributed to the Reichswehr becoming a state within a state, outside of the control of the parliament or the public. The army directly reported to the President who himself was not dependent on the parliament. Under the Basic Law, during times of peace, the Bundeswehr is under the command of the Minister of Defence, and during war-time under the Federal Chancellor. The Chancellor is directly responsible to the parliament, the Minister is indirectly responsible to the parliament because it can remove the entire Cabinet by electing a new chancellor.


text: The Basic Law also institutes the parliamentary post of the "Wehrbeauftragter" ("defense commissioner"), reporting once a year to parliament, not to the executive. The "Wehrbeauftragter" is a soldiers' ombudsman who can be petitioned directly by soldiers, bypassing the chain of command. Disciplinary measures against soldiers petitioning the "Wehrbeauftragter" are prohibited. From eleven defense commissioners until 2013 eight performed military or war services. Six hold an officer's rank (or reserve officer's rank), two of them, as Vizeadmiral Hellmuth Heye, were high-ranking and decorated admirals or generals of the Wehrmacht.


text: Although this is not explicitly spelled out in the Basic Law, a number of Constitutional Court cases in the 1990s established that the military may not be deployed by the government outside of NATO territory without a specific resolution of parliament, which describes the details of the mission and limits its term. There are also strict restrictions on the intervention of the military within Germany (i.e. a ban of the military being used for police-type duties), which generally only allow the military to act in unarmed roles within Germany (such as disaster relief).


text: Unlike the Weimar Constitution, the Basic Law only names referendums, concerning the federal level of legislation, on a single issue: a new delimitation of the federal territory. Baden-Württemberg was founded following a 1952 referendum that approved the fusion of three separate states. In a 1996 referendum the inhabitants of Berlin and Brandenburg rejected a proposed merger of the two states. After referendums on reestablishing to Länder borders as existed in the Weimar Republic all failed, this institution has not been used, as minor border changes can be done by state contract.


text: The denial of referendums in other cases was designed to avoid the kind of populism that allowed the rise of Hitler. Yet Article 20 states that "All state authority is derived from the people. It shall be exercised by the people through elections and other votes ["Abstimmungen"] and through specific legislative, executive and judicial bodies". These "other votes"—the words are to be understood meaning votes on legislative issues—are, by now, common practice on the level of the Länder. Claims of extending this practice also to the federal level have an undisputed constitutional basis in the Article 20, being "the" general and unchangeable article on state structure. However, this could only be conferred by a constitutional amendment nevertheless.


text: Article 79 states the Basic Law may be amended by an absolute two-thirds majority of both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Such a vote may not remove any of the principles underlying Articles 1 and 20 as defined by the eternity clause, or remove or otherwise affect the essence of, any of the fundamental rights originally specified in Articles 1 to 19, but may clarify, extend or refine those original principles and fundamental rights. Where however Articles 1 to 20 have subsequently been amended or extended, any additional words and phrases are not protected by the eternity clause but may be further amended or removed through the normal constitutional process.


text: The Basic Law has been amended 50 times as of 2003. Important changes to the Basic Law were the re-introduction of conscription and the establishment of the Bundeswehr in 1956. Therefore, several articles were introduced into the constitution, e.g., Articles 12a, 17, 45a-c, 65a, 87a-c. Another important reform was the introduction in 1968 of emergency competencies, for example Article 115 paragraph (1). This was done by a grand coalition of the two main political parties (CDU/CSU and SPD) and was accompanied by heated debate. In the following year there were changes to the articles regarding the distribution of taxes between federal government and the states of Germany.


text: During reunification, the two states discussed the possibility of drafting a new common constitution followed by a plebiscite, as envisioned in Article 146, but this path was ultimately not taken. Instead the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic decided to keep the Basic Law, amended in accordance with the terms of the Two plus Four Treaty, because it had proved to be effective in West Germany. To facilitate reunification and to reassure other states, the FRG made some changes to the Basic Law. Article 23 was fulfilled by reunification itself, and then withdrawn to indicate that there were no other parts of Germany that existed outside of the unified territory.


text: The question of "using″ Article 146 to draw a new constitution, and hold a referendum, was left to the twelfth (and first all-German) Bundestag, which after consideration decided against a new draft. However, the Bundestag passed the constitutional reform of 1994, a minor change, but still fulfilling the constitutional question together with some other amendments between 1990 and 1994. For example, affirmative action was allowed in women's rights under Article 3, and environmental protection was made a policy objective of the state in the new Article 20a. Article 3 was also reworded to ban discrimination on grounds of disability. In 1992, membership in the European Union was institutionalised (new Article 23). For the privatisation of the railways and the postal service, amendments were necessary as well.


text: Since then, there have only been minor amendments, with the exception of the Balanced Budget Amendment added in 2009, which became fully effective in 2016. In 2002, the protection of animals was explicitly mentioned in Article 20a.


text: The most controversial debate arose concerning the limitation of the right to asylum in 1993 as in the current version of Article 16a. This change was later challenged and confirmed in a judgment by the constitutional court. Another controversy was spawned by the limitation of the right to the invulnerability of the private domain ("Unverletzlichkeit der Wohnung") by means of acoustic observation ("Großer Lauschangriff"). This was done by changes to Article 13 paragraph (3) and Article 6. The changes were challenged in the constitutional court, but the judges confirmed the changes. Other changes took place regarding a redistribution of competencies between federal government and the "Länder".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Saint Paul, the cathedral was perhaps the fourth church at Ludgate Hill.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Work on the cathedral began after a fire in 1087. Work took more than 200 years, and was delayed by another fire in 1135. The church was consecrated in 1240, enlarged in 1256 and again in the early 14th century. At its completion in the mid-14th century, the cathedral was one of the longest churches in the world, had one of the tallest spires and some of the finest stained glass.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The presence of the shrine of Saint Erkenwald made the cathedral a site of pilgrimage. In addition to serving as the seat of the Diocese of London, the building developed a reputation as a social hub, with the nave aisle, "Paul's walk", known as a business centre and a place to hear the gossip on the London grapevine. After the Reformation, the open-air pulpit in the churchyard, St Paul's Cross, became the place for radical evangelical preaching and Protestant bookselling.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The cathedral was already in severe structural decline by the early 17th century. Restoration work begun by Inigo Jones in the 1620s was temporarily halted during the English Civil War (1642–1651). In 1666, further restoration was in progress under Sir Christopher Wren when the cathedral was devastated in the Great Fire of London. At that point, it was demolished, and the present cathedral was built on the site.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Old St Paul's Cathedral was perhaps the fourth church at Ludgate Hill dedicated to St Paul. A devastating fire in 1087, detailed in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", destroyed much of the cathedral. King William I (William the Conqueror) donated the stone from the destroyed Palatine Tower on the River Fleet towards the construction of a Romanesque Norman cathedral, an act sometimes said to be his last before death.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Bishop Maurice oversaw preparations, although it was primarily under his successor, Richard de Beaumis, that construction work fully commenced. Beaumis was assisted by King Henry I, who gave the bishop stone and asked that all material brought up the River Fleet for the cathedral should be free from toll. To fund the cathedral, Henry I gave Beaumis rights to all fish caught within the cathedral neighbourhood and tithes on venison taken in the County of Essex. Beaumis also gave a site for the original foundation of St Paul's School.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: After Henry I's death, a civil war known as "The Anarchy" broke out. Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, was appointed to administer the affairs of St Paul's. Almost immediately, he had to deal with the aftermath of a fire at London Bridge in 1135. It spread over much of the city, damaging the cathedral and delaying its construction. During this period, the architectural style was changed from heavy Romanesque to Early English Gothic. Although the base Norman columns were left alone, lancet pointed arches were placed over them in the triforium and some heavy columns were substituted with clustered pillars. The steeple was erected in 1221 and the cathedral was rededicated by Bishop Roger Niger in 1240.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: After a succession of storms, in 1255 Bishop Fulk Basset appealed for money to repair the roof. The roof was rebuilt in wood, which ultimately ruined the building. At this time, the east end of the cathedral church was lengthened, enclosing the parish church of St Faith, which was now brought within the cathedral. The eastward addition was referred to as "The New Work".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: After complaints from the dispossessed parishioners of St Faith's, the east end of the west crypt was allotted to them as their parish church. The congregation were also allowed to keep a detached tower with a peal of bells east of the church which had historically been used to peal the summons to the Cheapside Folkmote. The parish later moved to the Jesus chapel during the reign of Edward VI and was merged with St Augustine Watling Street after the 1666 fire.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: This "New Work" was completed in 1314, although the additions had been consecrated in 1300. Excavations in 1878 by Francis Penrose showed the enlarged cathedral was long (excluding the porch later added by Inigo Jones) and wide ( across the transepts and crossing).


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The cathedral had one of Europe's tallest church spires, the height of which is traditionally given as , surpassing all but Lincoln Cathedral. The King's Surveyor, Christopher Wren (1632–1723), judged that an overestimate and gave . In 1664, Robert Hooke used a plumb-line to calculate the height of the tower as "two hundred and four feet very near, which is about sixty feet higher than it was usually reported to be." William Benham noted that the cathedral probably "resembled in general outline that of Salisbury, but it was a hundred feet longer, and the spire was sixty or eighty feet higher. The tower was open internally as far as the base of the spire, and was probably more beautiful both inside and out than that of any other English cathedral."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: According to the architectural historian John Harvey, the octagonal chapter house, built about 1332 by William de Ramsey, was the earliest example of Perpendicular Gothic. This is confirmed by Alec Clifton-Taylor, who notes that the chapter house and St Stephen's Chapel at the medieval Westminster Palace predate the early Perpendicular work at Gloucester Cathedral by several years. The foundations of the chapter house were recently made visible in the redeveloped south churchyard of the new cathedral.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The finished cathedral of the Middle Ages was renowned for the beauty of its interior. Canon William Benham wrote in 1902: "It had not a rival in England, perhaps one might say in Europe."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The nave's length was particularly notable, with a Norman triforium and vaulted ceiling. The length earned it the nickname "Paul's walk". The cathedral's stained glass was reputed to be the best in the country, and the east-end rose window was particularly exquisite. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer used the windows as a metaphor in "The Miller's Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales", knowing that other Londoners at that time would understand the comparison:


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: From the cathedral's construction until its destruction, the shrine of Erkenwald was a popular pilgrimage site. Under Bishop Maurice, reports of miracles attributed to the shrine increased, with the shrine attracting thousands of pilgrims. The alliterative Middle English poem "St Erkenwald" (sometimes attributed to the 14th-century "Pearl Poet") begins with a description of the construction of the cathedral, referring to the building as the "New Werke".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The shrine was adorned with gold, silver and precious stones. In 1339, three London goldsmiths were employed for a whole year to rebuild the shrine to a higher standard. William Dugdale records that the shrine was pyramidal in shape with an altar table placed in front for offerings.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Monarchs and other notables were often in attendance at the cathedral, and the court occasionally held sessions there. The building was also the place of several incidents. In 1191, whilst King Richard I was in Palestine, his brother John summoned a council of bishops to St Paul's to denounce William de Longchamp, Bishop of Ely – to whom Richard had entrusted government affairs – for treason.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Later that year, William Fitz Osbern gave a speech against the oppression of the poor at Paul's Cross and incited a riot which saw the cathedral invaded, halted by a plea from Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury. Osbern barricaded himself in St Mary-le-Bow and was executed, after which Paul's Cross was silent for many years.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII, married Catharine of Aragon in St Paul's on 14 November 1501. Chroniclers are profuse in their descriptions of the decorations of the cathedral and city on that occasion. Arthur died five months later, at the age of 15, and the marriage was later proved contentious during the reign of his brother, Henry VIII.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Several kings of the Middle Ages lay in state in St Paul's before their funerals at Westminster Abbey, including Richard II, Henry VI and Henry VII. In the case of Richard II, the display of his body in such a public place was to dispel rumours that he was not dead. The walls were lined with the tombs of bishops and nobility. In addition to the shrine of Erkenwald, two Anglo-Saxon kings were buried inside: Sebbi, King of the East Saxons, and Æthelred the Unready.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: A number of figures such as John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp de Warwick had particularly large monuments constructed within the cathedral, and the building later contained the tombs of the Crown minister Nicholas Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, and John Donne. Donne's monument survived the 1666 fire, and is on display in the present building.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The first historical reference to the nave, "Paul's walk", being used as a marketplace and general meeting area is recorded during the 1381–1404 tenure of Bishop Braybrooke. The bishop issued an open letter decrying the use of the building for selling "wares, as if it were a public market" and "others ... by the instigation of the Devil [using] stones and arrows to bring down the birds, jackdaws and pigeons which nestle in the walls and crevices of the building. Others play at ball ... breaking the beautiful and costly painted windows to the amazement of spectators." His decree goes on to threaten perpetrators with excommunication.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: By the 15th century, the cathedral had become the centre of the London grapevine. "News mongers", as they were called, gathered there to pass on the latest news and gossip. Those who visited the cathedral to keep up with the news were known as "Paul's walkers".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: It was the fashion of those times ... for the principal gentry, lords, courtiers, and men of all professions not merely mechanic, to meet in Paul's Church by eleven and walk in the middle aisle till twelve, and after dinner from three to six, during which times some discoursed on business, others of news. Now in regard of the universal there happened little that did not first or last arrive here ... And those news-mongers, as they called them, did not only take the boldness to weigh the public but most intrinsic actions of the state, which some courtier or other did betray to this society.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: St Paul's became the place to go to hear the latest news of current affairs, war, religion, parliament and the court. In his play "Englishmen for my Money", William Haughton (d. 1605) described Paul's walk as a kind of "open house" filled with a "great store of company that do nothing but go up and down, and go up and down, and make a grumbling together".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Infested with beggars and thieves, Paul's walk was also a place to pick up gossip, topical jokes, and even prostitutes. In his "Microcosmographie" (1628), a series of satirical portraits of contemporary England, John Earle (1601–1665), described it thus:


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: [Paul's walk] is the land's epitome, or you may call it the lesser isle of Great Britain. It is more than this, the whole world's map, which you may here discern in its perfectest motion, justling and turning. It is a heap of stones and men, with a vast confusion of languages; and were the steeple not sanctified, nothing liker Babel. The noise in it is like that of bees, a strange humming or buzz mixed of walking tongues and feet: it is a kind of still roar or loud whisper ... It is the great exchange of all discourse, and no business whatsoever but is here stirring and a-foot ... It is the general mint of all famous lies, which are here like the legends of popery, first coined and stamped in the church.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: By the 16th century the building was deteriorating. Under Henry VIII and Edward VI, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Chantries Acts led to the destruction of interior ornamentation and the cloisters, charnels, crypts, chapels, shrines, chantries and other buildings in the churchyard.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Many of these former religious sites in St Paul's Churchyard, having been seized by the crown, were sold as shops and rental properties, especially to printers and booksellers, such as Thomas Adams, who were often Protestants. Buildings that were razed often supplied ready-dressed building material for construction projects, such as the Lord Protector's city palace, Somerset House.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Crowds were drawn to the northeast corner of the Churchyard, St Paul's Cross, where open-air preaching took place. It was there in the Cross Yard in 1549 that radical Protestant preachers incited a mob to destroy many of the cathedral's interior decorations. In 1554, in an attempt to end inappropriate practices taking place in the nave, the Lord Mayor decreed that the church should return to its original purpose as a religious building, issuing a writ stating that the selling of horses, beer and "other gross wares" was "to the great dishonour and displeasure of Almighty God, and the great grief also and offence of all good and well-disposed persons".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: On 4 June 1561, the spire caught fire and crashed through the nave roof. According to a newsheet published days after the fire, the cause was a lightning strike. In 1753, David Henry, a writer for "The Gentleman's Magazine", revived a rumour in his "Historical description of St. Paul's Cathedral," writing that a plumber had "confessed on his death bed" that he had "left a pan of coals and other fuel in the tower when he went to dinner." However, the number of contemporary eyewitnesses to the storm and a subsequent investigation appears to contradict this.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Whatever the cause, the subsequent conflagration was hot enough to melt the cathedral's bells and the lead covering the wooden spire "poured down like lava upon the roof", destroying it. This event was taken by both Protestants and Catholics as a sign of God's displeasure at the other faction's actions. Queen Elizabeth I contributed £1,000 in gold towards the cost of repairs as well as timber from the royal estate and the Bishop of London Edmund Grindal gave £1200, although the spire was never rebuilt. The repair work on the nave roof was sub-standard, and only fifty years after the rebuilding was in a dangerous condition.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Concerned at the decaying state of the building, King James I appointed the classical architect Inigo Jones to restore the building. The poet Henry Farley records the king comparing himself to the building at the commencement of the work in 1621: ""I" have had more sweeping, brushing and cleaning than in forty years before. My workmen looke like him they call Muldsacke after sweeping of a chimney."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: In addition to cleaning and rebuilding parts of the Gothic structure, Jones added a classical-style portico to the cathedral's west front in the 1630s, which William Benham notes was "altogether incongruous with the old building ... It was no doubt fortunate that Inigo Jones confined his work at St Paul's to some very poor additions to the transepts, and to a portico, very magnificent in its way, at the west end."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Work stopped during the English Civil War, and there was much defacement and mistreatment of the building by Parliamentarian forces during which old documents and charters were dispersed and destroyed, and the nave used as a stable for cavalry horses. Much of the detailed information historians have of the cathedral is taken from William Dugdale's 1658 "History of St Pauls Cathedral", written hastily during The Protectorate for fear that "one of the most eminent Structures of that kinde in the Christian World" might be destroyed.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Indeed, a persistent rumour of the time suggested that Cromwell had considered giving the building to London's returning Jewish community to become a synagogue. Dugdale embarked on his project due to discovering hampers full of decaying 14th and 15th century documents from the cathedral's early archives. In his book's dedicatory epistle, he wrote:


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: ... so great was your foresight of what we have since by wofull experience seen and felt, and specially in the Church, (through the Presbyterian contagion, which then began violently to breake out) that you often and earnestly incited me to a speedy view of what Monuments I could, especially in the principall Churches of this Realme; to the end, that by Inke and paper, the Shadows of them, with their Inscriptions might be preserved for posteritie, forasmuch as the things themselves were so neer unto ruine.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Dugdale's book is also the source for many of the surviving engravings of the building, created by Bohemian etcher Wenceslaus Hollar. In July 2010, an original sketch for Hollar's engravings was rediscovered when it was submitted to Sotheby's auction house.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: After the restoration of the monarchy, King Charles II appointed Sir Christopher Wren to the position of Surveyor to the King's Works. He was given the task of restoring the cathedral in a style matching Inigo Jones' classical additions of 1630. Wren instead recommended that the building be completely demolished; according to his first biographer, James Elmes, Wren “expressed his surprise at the carelessness and want of accuracy in the original builders of the structure”; Wren's son described the new design as "The Gothic rectified to a better manner of architecture".


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Both the clergy and citizens of the city opposed such a move. In response, Wren proposed to restore the body of the gothic building, but replace the existing tower with a dome. He wrote in his 1666 "Of the Surveyor's Design for repairing the old ruinous structure of St Paul's":


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: It must be concluded that the Tower from Top to Bottom and the adjacent parts are such a heap of deformaties that no Judicious Architect will think it corrigible by any Expense that can be laid out upon new dressing it.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Wren, whose uncle Matthew Wren was Bishop of Ely, admired the central lantern of Ely Cathedral and proposed that his dome design could be constructed over the top of the existing gothic tower, before the old structure was removed from within. This, he reasoned, would prevent the need for extensive scaffolding and would not upset Londoners ("Unbelievers") by demolishing a familiar landmark without being able to see its "hopeful Successor rise in its stead."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The matter was still under discussion when the restoration work on St Paul's finally began in the 1660s but soon after being sheathed in wooden scaffolding, the building was completely gutted in the Great Fire of London of 1666. The fire, aided by the scaffolding, destroyed the roof and much of the stonework along with masses of stocks and personal belongings that had been placed there for safety. Samuel Pepys recalls the building in flames in his diary:


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: September 3rd – I went and saw the whole south part of the City burning from Cheapeside to the Thames, and ... was now taking hold of St. Paule's Church, to which the scaffolds contributed exceedingly.September 7th – I went this morning on foote from White-hall as far as London Bridge, thro' the late Fleete-streete, Ludgate Hill, by St. Paules ... At my returne I was infinitely concern'd to find that goodly Church St. Paules now a sad ruine, and that beautiful portico ... now rent in pieces, flakes of vast stone split asunder, and nothing now remaining intire but the inscription in the architrave, shewing by whom it was built, which had not one letter of it defac'd. It was astonishing to see what immense stones the heate had in a manner calcin'd, so that all the ornaments, columns, freezes, capitals, and projectures of massie Portland-stone flew off, even to the very roofe, where a sheet of lead covering a great space (no less than six akers by measure) was totally mealted; the ruines of the vaulted roofe falling broke into St. Faith's, which being fill'd with the magazines of bookes belonging to the Stationers, and carried thither for safety, they were all consum'd, burning for a weeke following. It is also observable that the lead over the altar at the East end was untouch'd, and among the divers monuments, the body of one Bishop remain'd intire. Thus lay in ashes that most venerable Church, one of the most antient pieces of early piety in the Christian world.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Temporary repairs were made to the building. While it might have been salvageable, albeit with almost complete reconstruction, a decision was taken to build a new cathedral in a modern style instead, a step which had been contemplated even before the fire. Wren declared that it was impossible to restore the old building.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The following April, the Dean William Sancroft wrote to him that he had been right in his judgement: "Our work at the west end," he wrote, "has fallen about our ears." Two pillars had collapsed, and the rest was so unsafe that men were afraid to go near, even to pull it down. He added, "You are so absolutely necessary to us that we can do nothing, resolve on nothing without you."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Following this declaration by the Dean, demolition of the remains of the old cathedral began in 1668. Demolition of the Old Cathedral proved unexpectedly difficult as the stonework had been bonded together by molten lead. Wren initially used the then-new technique of using gunpowder to bring down the surviving stone walls. Like many experimental techniques, the use of gunpowder was not easy to control; several workers were killed and nearby residents complained about noise and damage. Eventually, Wren resorted to using a battering ram instead. Building work on the new cathedral began in June 1675.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Wren's first proposal, the "Greek cross" design, was considered too radical by members of a committee commissioned to rebuild the church. Members of the clergy decried the design as being too dissimilar from churches that already existed in England at the time to suggest any continuity within the Church of England. Wren's approved "Warrant design" sought to reconcile the Gothic with his "better manner of architecture", featuring a portico influenced by Inigo Jones' addition to the old cathedral. However, Wren received permission from the king to make "ornamental changes" to the submitted design, and over the course of the construction made significant alterations, including the addition of the famous dome.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: The topping out of the new cathedral took place in October 1708 and the cathedral was declared officially complete by Parliament in 1710. The consensus on the finished building was mixed; James Wright (1643–1713) wrote "Without, within, below, above the eye/ Is filled with unrestrained delight." Meanwhile, others were less approving, noting its similarity to St Peter's Basilica in Rome: "There was an air of Popery about the gilded capitals, the heavy arches ... They were unfamiliar, un-English."


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: Nicholas Stone's 1631 monument to John Donne survived the fire. It depicts the poet, standing upon an urn, dressed in a winding cloth, rising for the moment of judgement. This depiction, Donne's own idea, was sculpted from a painting for which he posed.


title: Old St Paul's Cathedral

text: No further memorials or tombs survive of the many famous people buried at Old St Paul's. In 1913 the letter-cutter MacDonald Gill and Mervyn MacCartney created a new tablet with the names of lost burials which was installed in Wren's cathedral:


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In law, ' (Latin for "ignorance of the law excuses not"), or ' ("ignorance of law excuses no one"), is a legal principle holding that a person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law merely by being unaware of its content.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: European-law countries with a tradition of Roman law may also use an expression from Aristotle translated into Latin: ' ("nobody is thought to be ignorant of the law") or ' ("not knowing the law is harmful").


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: The rationale of the doctrine is that if ignorance were an excuse, a person charged with criminal offenses or a subject of a civil lawsuit would merely claim that one was unaware of the law in question to avoid liability, even if that person really does know what the law in question is. Thus, the law imputes knowledge of all laws to all persons within the jurisdiction no matter how transiently. Even though it would be impossible, even for someone with substantial legal training, to be aware of every law in operation in every aspect of a state's activities, this is the price paid to ensure that willful blindness cannot become the basis of exculpation. Thus, it is well settled that persons engaged in any undertakings outside what is common for a normal person will make themselves aware of the laws necessary to engage in that undertaking. If they do not, they cannot complain if they incur liability.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: The doctrine assumes that the law in question has been properly promulgated—published and distributed, for example, by being printed in a government gazette, made available over the Internet, or printed in volumes available for sale to the public at affordable prices. In the ancient phrase of Gratian, "Leges instituuntur cum promulgantur" ("Laws are instituted when they are promulgated"). In order that a law obtain the binding force which is proper to a law, it must be applied to the men who have to be ruled by it. Such application is made by their being given notice by promulgation. A law can bind only when it is reasonably possible for those to whom it applies to acquire knowledge of it in order to observe it, even if actual knowledge of the law is absent for a particular individual. A secret law is no law at all.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In criminal law, although ignorance may not clear a defendant of guilt, it can be a consideration in sentencing, particularly where the law is unclear or the defendant sought advice from law enforcement or regulatory officials. For example, in one Canadian case, a person was charged with being in possession of gambling devices after they had been advised by customs officials that it was legal to import such devices into Canada. Although the defendant was convicted, the sentence was an absolute discharge.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In addition, there were, particularly in the days before satellite communication and cellular phones, persons who could genuinely be ignorant of the law due to distance or isolation. For example, in a case in British Columbia, four hunters were acquitted of game offenses where the law was changed during the period they were in the wilderness hunting. Another case, in early English law, involved a seaman on a clipper before the invention of radio who had shot another. Although he was found guilty, he was pardoned, as the law had been changed while he was at sea.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: Although ignorance of the law, like other mistakes of law, is not a defence, a mistake of fact may well be, depending on the circumstances: that is, the false but sincerely held belief in a factual state of affairs which, had it been the case, would have made the conduct innocent in law.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: The doctrine, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse," first shows up in the Bible in Leviticus 5:17: "If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible." An alternate explanation of the origin of the maxim, though not particularly relevant to the modern context, can be found in the philosophy of the Greeks and Romans. Such were cultures heavily influenced by customary legal systems. Within such a system, law is learned as a person participates in the culture and customs of the community. Thus it is unreasonable to believe a person could have avoided learning them. These rules and customs were also interwoven with ethical and religious dialogue so that laws expressed what is right and that which is not. We find that Cicero wrote the following in "De re publica" (On the Republic):


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: There is a true law, right reason, agreeable to nature, known to all men, constant and eternal, which calls to duty by its precepts, deters from evil by its prohibition. This law cannot be departed from without guilt. Nor is there one law at Rome and another at Athens, one thing now and another afterward; but the same law, unchanging and eternal, binds all races of man and all times.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: Presumed knowledge of the law is the principle in jurisprudence that one is bound by a law even if one does not know of it. It has also been defined as the "prohibition of ignorance of the law".


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: The essential public character of a law requires that the law, once properly promulgated, must apply to anyone in the jurisdiction where the law applies. Thus, no one can justify his conduct on the grounds that he was not aware of the law.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: Generally, a convention exists by which the laws are issued and rendered accessible by methods, authors and means that are simple and well known: the law is readable in certain places (some systems prescribe that a collection of the laws is copied in every local city council), is made by certain authorities (usually sovereign, government, parliament, and derivative bodies), and enters into effect in certain ways (many systems for instance prescribe a certain number of days - often 15 - after issue). This is commonly intended as a constitutional regulation, and in fact many constitutions or statutes exactly describe the correct procedures.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: However, some recent interpretations weaken this concept. Particularly in civil law, regard can be had to the difficulty of being informed of the existence of a law considering the lifestyle of the average citizen. On the penal side, the quality of the knowledge of the law can affect the evaluation of the animus nocendi or the mens rea, in that certain subjective conditions can weaken personal responsibility.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: The theme was widely discussed, also for political reasons, at the time of the Enlightenment and in the 18th century, given the heavy proportion of illiterate citizens in European countries (who would have some difficulties being aware of all the laws in a country). It was then argued that both the presumed knowledge and the heavily increasing corpus of national legislation were working in favour of lawyers rather than citizens.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In recent times, some authors have considered this concept as an extension of (or at least as analogous to) the other ancient concept (typical of criminal law) that no one can be punished under a law that was issued after the action was committed (non-retroactivity of the law. See ex post facto). This interpretation is however disputed, given that the matter would hierarchically more properly refer to a constitutional doctrine rather than to a civil or penal one.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: Some modern criminal statutes contain language such as stipulating that the act must be done "knowingly and wittingly" or "with unlawful intent," or some similar language. However, this does not refer to ignorance of laws, but having criminal intent.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In some jurisdictions, there are exceptions to the general rule that ignorance of the law is not a valid defense. For example, under U.S. Federal criminal tax law, the element of "willfulness" required by the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code has been ruled by the courts to correspond to a "voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty" under which an "actual good faith belief based on a misunderstanding caused by the complexity of the tax law" is a valid legal defense. See "Cheek v. United States".


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In "Lambert v. California" (1957), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a person who is unaware of a "malum prohibitum" law cannot be convicted of violating it if there was no probability he could have known the law existed. It was subsequently ruled in "United States v. Freed" (1971) that this exception does not apply when a reasonable person would expect their actions to be regulated, such as when possessing narcotics or dangerous weapons.


title: Ignorantia juris non excusat

text: In "Heien v. North Carolina" (2014), the Supreme Court held that even if a police officer incorrectly believes that a person has violated the law due to a mistaken understanding of the law, the officer's "reasonable suspicion" that a law was being broken does not violate the Fourth Amendment.


title: SPEAR 3

text: The Select Precision Effects At Range (SPEAR) Capability 3 is a future British air-to-ground and possibly anti-ship missile. It had been planned to be operational in 2025. However, in November 2021, Defence Procurement Minister Jeremy Quin told the House of Commons Select Defence Committee that full operating capability for SPEAR-3 on F-35 might not occur until 2028.


title: SPEAR 3

text: MBDA UK was awarded an Assessment Phase contract for SPEAR 3, a standoff attack weapon. This is specified to have a range of at least 100 km, although current figures for SPEAR indicate a range over 130 km (80+mi). The weapon will make substantial reuse of technologies from the Brimstone precision strike missile that is used for engagements at shorter ranges. The weapon will fly at high-subsonic speed using a turbojet and wing kit, and will feature a multimode seeker with INS/GPS guidance and datalink. The assessment phase concluded with flight trials in 2014 on the Eurofighter Typhoon. The missile is set to use the same Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-150 turbojet as the JSOW-ER. MBDA has shown artwork of a three-missile launcher on a single Typhoon weapon station, and four will fit with a Meteor air-to-air missile in each internal weapons bay of the F-35B. In May 2016, the MOD awarded a £411 million contract to MBDA for the development of the air-launched SPEAR 3 missile. SPEAR 3 will be integrated with the F-35 Block 4 software package and is also planned to be used on the Eurofighter Typhoon.


title: SPEAR 3

text: In March 2016, a SPEAR trials missile was launched from a Eurofighter Typhoon trials aircraft operated by BAE Systems at the QinetiQ Aberporth range in Wales. The missile transitioned through separation from the aircraft to powered flight before completing a series of manoeuvres, ending in a terminal dive to the desired point of impact. The missile accurately followed the planned trajectory and was well within simulation predictions; all trial objectives were achieved.


title: SPEAR 3

text: MBDA is also proposing a SPEAR Electronic Warfare version (SPEAR EW), a SEAD attack version for the RAF.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Westley Nathan Morgan (born 21 January 1984) is a former professional footballer who made over 750 professional appearances as a defender for Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and the Jamaican national team, as well as a brief loan spell at Kidderminster Harriers.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan spent the first ten years of his career with his boyhood club, Nottingham Forest, playing 402 matches and scoring 14 goals. He was their longest-serving player when he transferred to Leicester City in January 2012.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan became Leicester's captain later that year, and captained the club for 9 years until his retirement in 2021. He captained the club during its most successful ever period, captaining them to the Championship title in 2014, their first Premier League title two years later in 2016 and their first FA Cup win in 2021, in which he made his final ever professional appearance coming on as a substitute in the 2021 FA Cup Final.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Born and raised in England, Morgan chose to represent Jamaica at international level, making his debut for them in 2013 and was part of their teams that competed in two Copa América tournaments and finished runners-up at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was also the first Jamaican player to score in a UEFA Champions League game.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan was born in Nottingham. Having been rejected by Nottingham Forest's near neighbours Notts County at the age of 15, he went to study business at South Notts College while playing semi-professionally in central midfield for Dunkirk in the Midland Football Alliance. His performances were tracked by non-League teams and Forest, who took him as an apprentice while he continued studying. There was no transfer fee, but Dunkirk received two Forest kits. Their clubhouse has his Forest and Leicester shirts on the wall.


title: Wes Morgan

text: In February 2003, with manager Paul Hart considering him close to a first-team breakthrough after his reserve performances, Morgan was loaned to Kidderminster Harriers of the Third Division. He made his professional debut on 1 March, playing the full 90 minutes of a 3-1 loss to Scunthorpe United at Aggborough, deflecting a 25-yard Peter Beagrie shot for the first goal. Morgan totalled five appearances for the Worcestershire side, scoring his first goal two weeks after his debut, heading to confirm a 2–0 victory at Cambridge United.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Hart wanted Morgan to lose weight before joining the first team, which became a priority as the team had lost several players after losing in the last season's play-offs. He made his debut at left-back on 12 August 2003 away to Port Vale at the age of 19; after a goalless draw, Forest won a penalty shoot-out to advance to the second round of the League Cup. Four days later he made his First Division debut in a 3–0 loss to Reading; Hart considered him the man of the match. On 18 October, he scored his first goal for Forest, heading Eoin Jess' cross to finish a 6–0 win over bottom team Wimbledon at the City Ground. He totalled 32 games across the season, also scoring an equaliser on 3 December in the home game against Ipswich Town, and was sent off twice over the campaign.


title: Wes Morgan

text: In the 2007–08 campaign, Morgan missed only four games all season, as he helped Forest finish second in the league and gain promotion from League One to the Championship. His only goal of the season came in a 2–0 victory at Tranmere Rovers, while Forest kept a season-record 24 clean sheets.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan found it hard adapting to life back in the Championship during the first half of the 2008–09 season, with Forest languishing in the relegation zone by Christmas. Following the dismissal of Colin Calderwood on Boxing Day 2008, and the arrival of Billy Davies soon after, Morgan and the Forest defence looked far more solid as the season progressed which eventually led to the Reds retaining their Championship status. At the end of the 2008–09 season he had made a total of 274 appearances in all competitions, including 255 starts.


title: Wes Morgan

text: October 2011 saw Wes Morgan make his 400th appearance for Nottingham Forest against Hull City in a match in which he was also handed the captaincy.


title: Wes Morgan

text: On 20 January 2012, Nottingham Forest announced they rejected a bid for Morgan from local rivals Leicester City.


title: Wes Morgan

text: On 30 January 2012, Morgan joined East Midland rivals Leicester City for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £1 million. As a result of his performances towards the end of the 2011–12 season, he was rewarded with the Leicester City captaincy ahead of the 2012–13 season. His impressive performances early on earned him a nomination for Championship Player of the Month for September.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Leicester won the 2013–14 Championship, in which he missed only one game. Afterwards, the club used a clause in his would-be expired contract to keep him for another season; he eventually signed a new three-year deal.


title: Wes Morgan

text: In the Premier League for the 2014–15 season, Morgan scored his first goal of the season in a 4–3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on 21 March 2015, and another in 3–0 win over Newcastle on the 5 May. On 19 April 2015, Morgan was selected in the "Football Manager Team of the Decade" at the Football League Awards.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan kept his place for the 2015–16 season, playing in every minute of all 38 Premier League matches, one of only 4 players to achieve that accolade (including teammate Kasper Schmeichel) in that season. On 3 April 2016, he scored the only goal against Southampton, despite feeling ill. On 1 May, he equalised with a header in a 1–1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford, and the next day Leicester won the title, with Morgan becoming the first Jamaican to win a Premier League medal. After captaining Leicester City to the title, Morgan was included in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year, alongside teammates Jamie Vardy, N'Golo Kanté and Riyad Mahrez. He also became the third outfield player in Premier League history to play every minute of a title-winning season after Gary Pallister in 1992–93 and John Terry in 2014–15.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Manager Claudio Ranieri said "Wes Morgan is Baloo off "The Jungle Book". He is a big gentle bear who looks after all the lads. He does not speak so much but when he does speak, everybody listens. He is the perfect captain. I never knew anything about him before I came here. But I watched all the matches, I watched how solid, strong and intelligent he was". On 25 February 2017, reports emerged alleging that Morgan was among several teammates who met with chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha following their 2–1 Champions League defeat at Sevilla on 22 February, which led to Ranieri being sacked.


title: Wes Morgan

text: On 14 March 2017, he scored the first goal in Leicester's 2–0 win against Sevilla, contributing to a 3–2 aggregate score which allowed the club to qualify for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. This also made him the first Jamaican player to score in a Champions League game.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan later came on in the 82nd minute of the 2021 FA Cup Final to help Leicester win their first ever FA Cup.


title: Wes Morgan

text: On 1 September 2013, Morgan was called up to the Jamaican squad for the first time. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Panama at the Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panama City on 7 September 2013. Morgan captained the "Reggae Boyz" for the first time in the 3–1 defeat to Canada on 9 September 2014.


title: Wes Morgan

text: Morgan was part of the Jamaican squad invited to the 2015 Copa América in Chile. He played every minute of their campaign, in which they were eliminated in last place in their group. Weeks later, he was again in the team at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States and Canada, helping them to their first final. Jamaica lost 3–1 to Mexico at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.


title: Pippin Took

text: Peregrin Took, commonly known simply as Pippin, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel "The Lord of the Rings". He is closely tied with his friend and cousin, Merry Brandybuck, and the two are together during most of the story. Pippin and Merry are introduced as a pair of young hobbits of the Shire who become ensnared in their friend Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the One Ring. Pippin joins the Fellowship of the Ring. He and Merry become separated from the rest of the group at the breaking of the Fellowship and spend much of "The Two Towers" with their own story line. Impetuous and curious, Pippin enlists as a soldier in the army of Gondor and fights in the Battle of the Morannon. With the other hobbits, he returns home, helps to lead the Scouring of the Shire, and becomes "Thain" or hereditary leader of the land.


title: Pippin Took

text: Commentators have noted that the actions of Merry and Pippin serve to throw light on the characters of the good and bad Germanic lords Théoden of Rohan and Denethor of Gondor, while their simple humour acts as a foil for the higher romance involving kings and the heroic Aragorn.


title: Pippin Took

text: Pippin was the only son and heir of Paladin Took II, the aristocratic and independent Thain of the Shire, who farmed at Whitwell near the Three Farthing Stone in the Tookland, and his wife Eglantine Banks. He had three older sisters, Pearl Took, Pimpernel Took, and Pervinca Took. His best friend Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck, was his cousin; another good friend was Frodo Baggins.


title: Pippin Took

text: Pippin was the youngest of the four Hobbits who set out from the Shire, and the only one who had not yet come of age. At Rivendell, Elrond reluctantly chose Merry and Pippin as the last two members of the Company of the Ring.


title: Pippin Took

text: While crossing the Misty Mountains through the tunnels of Moria, Pippin decided to drop a stone down a deep hole. It seemed to waken something far below, which signalled by tapping with a hammer; Gandalf called Pippin a "fool of a Took". The Company is later pursued by dangerous enemies including orcs, trolls, and a balrog. The Company recuperated in Lothlórien; Pippin was given a brooch by the elf-queen Galadriel.


title: Pippin Took

text: After going downriver on the Anduin to Parth Galen with the Fellowship, Merry and Pippin were captured by Orcs. While held captive, he purposefully dropped his elven brooch as a sign for Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, who were in pursuit. During a skirmish among his captors, Pippin and Merry escaped, and met the tree-giant Treebeard, leader of the Ents. They roused the Ents against the wizard Saruman and saw his stronghold of Isengard destroyed. Treebeard's "Ent-draught" made Merry and Pippin grow to become the tallest hobbits in history.


title: Pippin Took

text: Gríma Wormtongue, Saruman's spy among the Rohirrim, threw Saruman's "palantír", a stone of seeing, at members of the Company. Pippin, without asking permission, looked into it and saw Sauron himself. To keep Pippin safe from Sauron's forces, the wizard Gandalf took him to the city of Minas Tirith, separating him from his friends. The effect on Sauron was important, as Sauron wrongly assumed that Pippin was the hobbit with the One Ring, and that he was Saruman's prisoner.


title: Pippin Took

text: In Minas Tirith, Pippin was brought to the city's Steward Denethor, and volunteered to serve him, out of respect for Denethor's son Boromir, who had died trying to defend Merry and Pippin from the Orcs. According to Gandalf, this gesture touched Denethor, who accepted the hobbit's offer and made him one of the Guards of the Citadel. Later, when Denethor despaired and set out to burn his son Faramir and himself alive in Rath Dínen, Pippin fetched Gandalf, saving Faramir's life.


title: Pippin Took

text: Pippin was the only hobbit to join the Army of the West, led by Aragorn, as it assaulted the Black Gate of Mordor: this was a feint to distract Sauron from the One Ring's journey towards Mount Doom. During the resulting battle, Pippin killed a troll, who fell on him. Gimli noticed his feet under the troll and dragged him out, saving his life.


title: Pippin Took

text: Returning home, he and Merry roused the hobbits of the Shire to destroy Saruman's forces during the Scouring of the Shire, achieving greater fame in their homeland than Frodo. He married Diamond of Long Cleeve; they had a son, Faramir. He later became the Took, head of his clan, and Thain of the Shire. Like Merry, he was buried as a hero alongside King Aragorn in Gondor.


title: Pippin Took

text: The critic Jane Chance Nitzsche discusses the role of Pippin and his friend Merry, another hobbit, in illuminating the contrast between the "good and bad Germanic lords Theoden and Denethor". She writes that the two leaders receive the allegiance of a hobbit, but very differently: Denethor, Steward of Gondor, undervalues Pippin because he is small, and binds him with a formal oath, whereas Theoden, King of Rohan, treats Merry with love, which the hobbit responds to.


title: Pippin Took

text: The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that Tolkien uses the two hobbits and their low simple humour as foils for the much higher romance to which he was aspiring with the more heroic and kingly figures of Theoden, Denethor, and Aragorn: an unfamiliar and old-fashioned writing style that might otherwise, Shippey writes, have lost his readers entirely. He notes that Pippin and Merry serve, too, as guides to introduce the reader to seeing the various non-human characters, letting the reader know that an ent looks an old tree stump or "almost like the figure of some gnarled old man". The two apparently minor hobbits have another role, too, Shippey writes: it is to remain of good courage when even strong men start to doubt whether victory is possible, as when Pippin comforts the soldier of Gondor, Beregond, as the hordes of Mordor approach Minas Tirith.


title: Pippin Took

text: A fourth purpose, notes the Tolkien critic Paul Kocher, is given by Tolkien himself, in the words of the wizard Gandalf: "the young hobbits ... were brought to Fangorn, and their coming was like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains." Kocher observes that Tolkien is describing Merry and Pippin's role in the same terms as he spells out Gollum's purpose and Gandalf's "reincarnation"; in Kocher's words, the "finger of Providence" can be glimpsed: "All are filling roles written for them by the same great playwright."


title: Pippin Took

text: Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson's "The Hobbit and Philosophy" notes that Pippin, who starts out on the quest playful and childish, is radically, and in their view unusually for Tolkien rapidly, altered by his experience of seeing Sauron in the "palantír": before it he is "thoughtless and immature"; the "terrifying encounter" shocks him into a "rapid ethical makeover".


title: Pippin Took

text: In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of "The Lord of the Rings", Pippin was voiced by Dominic Guard. In the 1980 Rankin/Bass animated version of "The Return of the King", made for television, the character was voiced by Sonny Melendrez. In the 1981 BBC radio serial of "The Lord of the Rings", Pippin was played by John McAndrew. Jari Pehkonen played Peregrin Took in the 1993 Finnish miniseries "Hobitit". In Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, Pippin is played by Scottish actor Billy Boyd.


title: Amber Gray

text: Amber Renae Gray (born April 2, 1981) is an American actress and singer. She is known for portraying Hélène Bezukhova in the 2016 Broadway musical "Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812" and for originating the role of Persephone in the musical "Hadestown", both off and on Broadway. For the latter 2019 role, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, additionally earning the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.


title: Amber Gray

text: Gray was born on April 2, 1981, in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She is a military brat and spent her early childhood across Europe and the United States. She later settled in Wayland, Massachusetts where she attended Wayland High School.


title: Amber Gray

text: She attended Boston University where she received a BFA in acting and New York University where she received an MFA in acting.


title: Amber Gray

text: In 2007, she began her screen career by appearing in an episode of "", titled "Haystack", as a character named Raye. She also worked as a photographer on "Canada's Top Model" in 2009 on the episode "Bright Lights: No Pity". In 2012, Gray first became involved with "Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812". Gray portrayed Countess Hélène Bezukhova in the musical's performances at the Off-Off-Broadway Ars Nova Theater. Gray continued with "Great Comet" when it moved to Kazino Meatpacking in 2013, Kazino Times Square in 2014, and when it opened on Broadway in late 2016. Gray was awarded a 2017 Theatre World Award for her performance as Hélène.


title: Amber Gray

text: In 2014, Gray reprised her leading role as Zoe in "An Octoroon" at Soho Repertory Theatre "An Octoroon" utilized the plot of "The Octoroon", an 1859 melodrama, but turned it into a contemporary new play that discusses America's slave history and both past and present racism. In an interview with "The New York Times" , Gray spoke of the part's difficulty due to many intense racial scenes/ Gray remained with the production when it went on to play at Theatre for a New Audience in 2015.


title: Amber Gray

text: In 2016, Gray portrayed Persephone in New York Theatre Workshop's production of the new musical "Hadestown", based on Anaïs Mitchell's album of the same name and the tragic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Gray was again directed by Rachel Chavkin, whom she collaborated with during "Great Comet". Gray was praised by critics, who were impressed by her "vocal dexterity," "charisma," and "powerhouse voice". She reprised this role in the Edmonton Citadel Theatre, London National Theatre, and Broadway productions. For the Broadway production, she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.


title: Amber Gray

text: In 2021, Gray debuted her first leading role in the Amazon limited series "The Underground Railroad" as Gloria Valentine.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Magic is a 1978 American psychological horror film starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith. The film, which was directed by Richard Attenborough, is based on a screenplay by William Goldman, who wrote the novel upon which it was based. The score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: After Charles "Corky" Withers (Hopkins) fails in his first attempt at professional magic, his mentor Merlin (E. J. André) says that he needs to have a better gimmick. A year later, Corky comes back as a combination magician and ventriloquist with a foul-mouthed dummy named Fats, becoming a huge success. Corky's powerful agent, Ben Greene (Meredith), is on the verge of signing him for his own television show, but Corky bails out for the Catskills, where he grew up. His talent agent thinks that Corky is "afraid of success." In truth, Corky does not want to take the TV network's required medical examination because the doctors might find out that he suffers from severe mental issues, and that even off-stage he cannot control Fats (a manifestation of Corky's id).


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: In the Catskills, Corky reunites with his high school crush, Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret), who is stuck in a passionless marriage with Duke (Ed Lauter), Corky's friend from high school. A magic trick with a deck of cards charms Peggy into thinking they are soulmates, leading to them having sex. This sparks the jealousy not only of Duke, but also the dummy Fats. In the midst of an argument "between" Corky and Fats, Greene arrives unexpectedly and confronts Corky, discovering the truth about Corky's state of mind. Corky pleads that nothing is wrong with him and that he is just rehearsing, so Greene puts him to the test, saying "Make Fats shut up for 5 minutes." Corky puts aside Fats, but is unable to last 5 minutes without delivering a rapid stream of speech through Fats. Greene demands that Corky get help and leaves to make some calls to the doctors, but Fats convinces Corky to kill his agent. Corky chases after Greene in the woods and bludgeons him with Fats' hard, wooden head and then attempts to drag the body into a lake. However, a still-living Greene suddenly lunges at him, causing Corky to drown him.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: The next morning, Fats becomes even more possessive and jealous when Corky says that he plans to elope with Peggy and leave the dummy behind. Duke returns from his trip earlier than expected. Suspecting his wife has cheated on him, he wants to have a talk with Corky by the lake. Rather than confront him, Duke awkwardly confides to Corky that he loves Peggy and is worried about losing her. Duke suddenly spots Greene's body on the edge of the lake. Duke, believing Greene could still be alive, sends Corky to get help. Curious, he decides to search Corky's cabin, where Fats stabs him with a knife with "help" from Corky.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: An increasingly deranged Corky manages to pull himself together and persuade Peggy to run away with him, but she insists on waiting to tell Duke face to face. She thinks everything is fine until Fats "comes alive" and reveals that Corky's card trick is only a ruse he uses to seduce women and that Peggy is only the latest of his conquests. Repulsed, she rejects Corky and locks herself in her bedroom. Fats says that, from this point on, "he" will make the decisions in Corky's life, immediately asserting this new authority by ordering Corky to kill Peggy.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Corky, turning on the charm and using Fats' voice, apologizes to Peggy through her locked door and leaves her a wooden heart that he carved. A short while later, Corky returns with a bloodstained knife. Fats seems pleased — until it is revealed that the blood on the knife is Corky's, who has fatally stabbed himself so that he will not kill anyone else. As a result, Fats also feels faint. They wonder which one of them will die first. Moments later, Peggy returns to the cabin, happily calling out that she has changed her mind and has decided to run away with Corky after all. As she speaks, she playfully changes her voice to impersonate Fats.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: In March 1976, Joseph E. Levine had purchased the film rights to Goldman's novel for $1 million, with Goldman hired to write the screenplay. By June 1976, Norman Jewison had been hired to direct the film. Jewison wanted Jack Nicholson to star, but Nicholson turned it down, claiming he did not want to wear a hairpiece. Steven Spielberg expressed interest in directing the film and considered casting Robert De Niro for Corky. Richard Attenborough, who had directed "A Bridge Too Far" with Goldman and Levine, then agreed to direct.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Laurence Olivier was offered the role of the agent but was unable to do it, and then Burgess Meredith was cast. Meredith landed the role after walking into the 21 Club one night when Levine was there – Levine cast him on the spot. Meredith modelled his performance on the agent Swifty Lazar, even shaving his head to look like Lazar. "I tried to get his cool, understated manner, his sharp clothes, and most of all, his way of speaking softly so that you've got to lean over to hear what he's saying", said Meredith. Goldman later wrote about the film that "Burgess Meredith was perfect and Tony Hopkins...was so wonderful here. But running stride for stride with him was Miss Olsson. I think Ann-Margret is the least appreciated emotional actress anywhere."


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Most of the exterior shots were shot at Le Trianon resort on the Blue Lake in Upper Lake, California.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: The score was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. The complete soundtrack was released on CD through Varèse Sarabande in April 2003 and features 22 tracks score at a running time of 42 minutes. It was subsequently reissued by La-La Land Records.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Because Disney via 20th Century Studios never owned complete rights to this film, other companies (especially Embassy and, currently MGM) have been able to release home video versions of "Magic" under different licenses. However, legal complications kept the film from being formally reissued on VHS and DVD in the last decade due in part to Embassy Pictures' corporate holdings being split among different entities. Recently, the rights were acquired by the American Movie Classics division of AMC Film Holdings, LLC, and the TV rights are handled for syndication by Trifecta Entertainment & Media (under Paramount Television Studios). An unedited version is available on widescreen DVD and Blu-ray.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film a complete four-star review, explaining it was because "[the film] scared me, because I admired Hopkins' performance as much as any in this year, and because it would have been so easy for a film such as this to fail." He later ranked it at number 9 on his list of the 10 best films of 1978. On the syndicated film review program "Sneak Previews", Roger Ebert admired Hopkins' and Burgess Meredith's performances, and Attenborough's direction but expressed disappointment at the final act, stating "I don't think the screenplay does justice to the talent of the people who get into the picture."


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote that ""Magic" is neither eerie nor effective. It is, however, very heavy of hand." He praised Hopkins' performance, but criticized the screenplay for spending "too much time on irrelevant details, including flashbacks and jumps forward that neither inform nor amuse but simply look trendy in the dated fashion of that word." Similarly, Dale Pollock of "Variety" wrote: "The dilemma of 'Magic' is that the results never live up to the standards established in the film's opening half-hour. Through flashbacks and claustrophobic editing by John Booth, the relationship between Hopkins and his eerily-realistic dummy, Fats, is well-documented. So is the introduction of Burgess Meredith, well cast as a Swifty Lazar-type of superagent ...It's this stereotyped plotting and conclusion that robs 'Magic' of its initial, special quality". Judith Martin, reviewing for "The Washington Post", ended her review, writing "the thrills of a conventional horror story have been blown up so pretentiously that they're no more scary than balloon monsters."


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: However, "The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review" 1990 writeup of the film remarks that Hopkins appears stiff in the lead role, but praised the supporting cast: "Ann-Margret...invests her role with a considerable sparkle. Particularly good is the great and underrated Burgess Meredith whose sharp and alert Hollywood agent is a real plum of a performance. Jerry Goldsmith also adds a fine nervy carnivalesque score." The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of . On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Goldman received a 1979 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. Hopkins received both Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for his role as the tragically disturbed Corky. Meredith received the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Magic (1978 film)

text: Madness resulting from one person living two personas through a ventriloquist's dummy has been portrayed several times before in film and television, most notably:


title: Bird anatomy

text: Bird anatomy, or the physiological structure of birds' bodies, shows many unique adaptations, mostly aiding flight. Birds have a light skeletal system and light but powerful musculature which, along with circulatory and respiratory systems capable of very high metabolic rates and oxygen supply, permit the bird to fly. The development of a beak has led to evolution of a specially adapted digestive system.


title: Bird anatomy

text: Birds have many bones that are hollow (pneumatized) with criss-crossing struts or trusses for structural strength. The number of hollow bones varies among species, though large gliding and soaring birds tend to have the most. Respiratory air sacs often form air pockets within the semi-hollow bones of the bird's skeleton. The bones of diving birds are often less hollow than those of non-diving species. Penguins, loons, and puffins are without pneumatized bones entirely. Flightless birds, such as ostriches and emus, have pneumatized femurs and, in the case of the emu, pneumatized cervical vertebrae.


title: Bird anatomy

text: The bird skeleton is highly adapted for flight. It is extremely lightweight but strong enough to withstand the stresses of taking off, flying, and landing. One key adaptation is the fusing of bones into single ossifications, such as the pygostyle. Because of this, birds usually have a smaller number of bones than other terrestrial vertebrates. Birds also lack teeth or even a true jaw and instead have a beak, which is far more lightweight. The beaks of many baby birds have a projection called an egg tooth, which facilitates their exit from the amniotic egg. It falls off once the egg has been penetrated.


title: Bird anatomy

text: The cervical vertebrae provide structural support to the neck and number between 8 and as many as 25 vertebrae in certain swan species (Cygninae) and other long-necked birds. All cervical vertebrae have ribs attached except the first one. This vertebra (C1) is called the atlas which articulates with the occipital condyles of the skull and lacks the foramen typical of most vertebrae. The neck of a bird is composed of many cervical vertebrae enabling birds to have increased flexibility. A flexible neck allows many birds with immobile eyes to move their head more productively and center their sight on objects that are close or far in distance. Most birds have about three times as many neck vertebrae as humans, which allows for increased stability during fast movements such as flying, landing, and taking-off. The neck plays a role in head-bobbing which is present in at least 8 out of 27 orders of birds, including Columbiformes, Galliformes, and Gruiformes. Head-bobbing is an optokinetic response which stabilizes a bird's surroundings as it alternates between a thrust phase and a hold phase. Head-bobbing is synchronous with the feet as the head moves in accordance with the rest of the body. Data from various studies suggest that the main reason for head-bobbing in some birds is for the stabilization of their surroundings, although it is uncertain why some but not all bird orders show head-bob.


title: Bird anatomy

text: The thoracic vertebrae number between 5 and 10, and the first thoracic vertebra is distinguishable due to the fusion of its attached rib to the sternum while the ribs of cervical vertebrae are free. Anterior thoracic vertebrae are fused in many birds and articulate with the notarium of the pectoral girdle.


title: Bird anatomy

text: The synsacrum consists of one thoracic, six lumbar, two sacral, and five sacro-caudal vertebrae fused into one ossified structure that then fuse with the ilium. When not in flight, this structure provides the main support for the rest of the body. Similar to the sacrum of mammals, the synsacrum lacks the distinct disc shape of cervical and thoracic vertebrae.


title: Bird anatomy

text: The free vertebrae immediately following the fused sacro-caudal vertebrae of the synsacrum are known as the caudal vertebrae. Birds have between 5 and 8 free caudal vertebrae. The caudal vertebrae provide structure to the tails of vertebrates and are homologous to the coccyx found in mammals lacking tails.


title: Bird anatomy

text: In birds, the last 5 to 6 caudal vertebrae are fused to form the pygostyle. Some sources note that up to 10 caudal vertebrae may make up this fused structure. This structure provides an attachment point for tail feathers that aid in control of flight.


title: Bird anatomy

text: Birds are the only living vertebrates to have fused collarbones and a keeled breastbone. The keeled sternum serves as an attachment site for the muscles used in flying or swimming. Flightless birds, such as ostriches, lack a keeled sternum and have denser and heavier bones compared to birds that fly. Swimming birds have a wide sternum, walking birds have a long sternum, and flying birds have a sternum that is nearly equal in width and height. The chest consists of the furcula (wishbone) and coracoid (collar bone) which, together with the scapula, form the pectoral girdle; the side of the chest is formed by the ribs, which meet at the sternum (mid-line of the chest).


title: Bird anatomy

text: Birds have uncinate processes on the ribs. These are hooked extensions of bone which help to strengthen the rib cage by overlapping with the rib behind them. This feature is also found in the tuatara ("Sphenodon").


title: Bird anatomy

text: The skull consists of five major bones: the frontal (top of head), parietal (back of head), premaxillary and nasal (top beak), and the mandible (bottom beak). The skull of a normal bird usually weighs about 1% of the bird's total body weight. The eye occupies a considerable amount of the skull and is surrounded by a sclerotic eye-ring, a ring of tiny bones. This characteristic is also seen in their reptile cousins.


title: Bird anatomy

text: Broadly speaking, avian skulls consist of many small, non-overlapping bones. Pedomorphosis, maintenance of the ancestral state in adults, is thought to have facilitated the evolution of the avian skull. In essence, adult bird skulls will resemble the juvenile form of their theropod dinosaur ancestors. As the avian lineage has progressed and as pedomorphosis has occurred, they have lost the postorbital bone behind the eye, the ectopterygoid at the back of the palate, and teeth. The palate structures have also become greatly altered with changes, mostly reductions, seen in the ptyergoid, palatine, and jugal bones. A reduction in the adductor chambers has also occurred These are all conditions seen in the juvenile form of their ancestors. The premaxillary bone has also hypertrophied to form the beak while the maxilla has become diminished, as suggested by both developmental and paleontological studies. This expansion into the beak has occurred in tandem with the loss of a functional hand and the developmental of a point at the front of the beak that resembles a "finger". The premaxilla is also known to play a large role in feeding behaviours in fish.