title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 6 July 2015, following the Greek bailout referendum, trading in Monte dei Paschi shares was suspended after they fell 5.7%. Eventually Banca MPS achieved a net profit of €388 million in 2015. but mainly due to the effect of the restatement as a CDS derivative of the Alexandria transaction. The CET1 capital ratio of the bank was 12%, mainly due to another capital increase during the year, which the European Central Bank required Banca MPS to have a minimum of 10.75% from 31 December 2016 onward, or 10.2% in the transitional period. Moreover, both the gross (34%) and net non-performing loan to total loan ratio (22%) were still higher than the Italian average (18.1% in gross and 10.8% in net at December 2015) and the Italian average itself was higher than the European Union average.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 21 January 2016 MPS securitized €1.6 billion performing lease receivables portfolio for a value of €1.4173 billion. The bank repurchased €656 million of the securities (tranches B to D) and sold €761.3 million of the securities to the market (tranche A).


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: In April 2016 German Bundesbank board member Andreas Dombret commented that many Greek and Italian banks were zombie banks that were kept for political reasons. He urged that European Central Bank should deal with banks with high level of non-performing loans. However, he did not state specifically if BMPS was one of the zombie banks or not.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 23 June a gross value of €290 million bad loan portfolio was disposed of without recourse to Kruk Group. On 4 July the bank confirmed that a request of reducing non-performing loans from European Central Bank was received. In 2015 the bank had €46.9 billion NPLs in gross and €24.2 billion in net. The bank targeted to reduce the gross NPLs to total loans ratio to 20% in 2018. However, this was still higher than the Italian average at 31 December 2015.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 29 July 2016, 2016 European Union bank stress test was announced. Among the 51 banks in the test, BMPS was the only bank that CET1 ratio (in full Basel III basis) was forecast as negative in the adverse scenario in 2018. If setting CET1 Ratio and Total Capital Ratio (fully loaded basis) targets at 8% and 11.5% respectively even in the adverse scenario in 2018, it would mean the bank would have a capital shortfall of €8.8 billion (core tier 1, additional tier 1 and tier 2 capitals combined), according to European Central Bank publication on 29 December 2016.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On the same day, the plan to recapitalize the bank for €5 billion was announced; the bank also planned to securitize the entire bad loan portfolio for a target of €9.2 billion, which had a net book value of €10.2 billion as at 31 March 2016. The junior tranche would be allocated to the shareholders of the bank (for a proposed €1.6 billion); the mezzanine tranche would be sold to Atlante for €1.6 billion (revised to purchase junior mezzanine tranche for €1.526 billion in December 2016); the senior tranches would be sold to the market with some of them being eligible to state guarantee (Garanzia sulla Cartolarizzazione delle Sofferenze) for €6 billion. It was expected to reduce the gross NPLs ratio to 17.8%, on par with Italian average but still higher than many European peers. In December 2016, the disposal plan was modified: a senior mezzanine tranche (for €1.171 billion) was added—to be underwritten by the bank itself.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: In September 2016, CEO Fabrizio Viola and chairman Massimo Tononi resigned. They were replaced by Marco Morelli and Alessandro Falciai, respectively.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: and, on 2 December 2016, AXA and BMPS announced a renewal of their partnership bancassurance—an agreement intended to prevail until 2027.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: In December 2016, BMPS successfully made debt-to-equity swap for part of their subordinated debt and Tier 1 capital instrument, for a maximum price of €24.9 per new share (on top of €5 billion new shares issue). In mid-December, BMPS reopened the offer for the swap, which reached approx. €2.451 billion. However, due to the failure to issue €5 billion new shares, the swap offer and disposal of NPLs were voided. Although J.P. Morgan, Mediobanca, Banco Santander, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs had signed a pre-underwriting agreement with BMPS in July. No banks and no anchor investor entered into contracts with BMPS.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: At 01:20am, on 23 December 2016, the midnight after the failed recapitalisation, BMPS requested a precautionary recapitalisation by the Italian Government in order to bail out the bank by excising Article 32(4) of EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (The EU-wide banking resolution law, which restricted state aid to a mean of last resort). On 20 December the Italian Government had already raised €20 billion to set up a save-savings () fund in order to subscribe a possible recapitalisation of UniCredit, BMPS, Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Veneto Banca and Banca Carige, as well as banks that need recapitalisation in the near future.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: It was reported that the subordinate bond would be mandatorily converted to shares by the resolution authority of Italy (which is Bank of Italy) as a "bail-in". However, the bank had requested a Tier 2 subordinate capital instrument "Fresh 2008" excluded from such bail-in, as many investors were retail investors.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 25 January 2017 BMPS issued bonds with €7 billion face value. The bonds would mature from 1 to 3 years, with the state guarantee from the aforementioned government fund. The bank said the bond would be sold to the market or used as a collateral in borrowing process.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 3 February 2017 BMPS sold its card business to Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) for €520 million. Other leading banks of Italy, such as Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit had already sold their division in 2016.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 9 February 2017 BMPS announced their 2016 financial results subject to the approval of general shareholders' meeting. The bank 2016 revenue, net interest income and pre-provision profit were decreased, compared to 2015. Combined with the write-down and provisions for NPLs, the net loss of the year was €3.380 billion. The CET1 ratio was reaching the legal minimal threshold of 8.0% (below ECB requirement in individual basis on the bank for 10.75%)


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 1 June 2017 European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager agreed in-principle for the state aid of the bank. On 5 July, the industrial plan of the bank was approved, which the bank would be re-capitalized for €8.1 billion, but only €3.9 billion would be underwritten by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (excluding additional shares that would be buyback from retail bondholders by the government), with the rest were the "bail-in" of bondholders, mandatorily converted the bond of the bank to shares.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: On 29 July, the bank announced that the issue price of the new shares to the government was €6.49, with €8.65 for debt-to-equity shares.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: MPS headquarters in the Palazzo Salimbeni in Siena hosts an art collection and a large number of priceless historical documents spanning the centuries of its existence. However, this collection is not usually open to the public. The most recent publicly known acquisition of art, a gold-plated panel by Segna di Bonaventura, cost the bank nearly one million Euro. It is also internationally known as the primary sponsor of Italian basketball club Mens Sana Basket of Siena, currently in Lega A and a regular participant in the Euroleague.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: In 2010, the bank was funding the expansion of a small airport in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, Siena–Ampugnano Airport, to become an international airport. Both international and local groups had raised objections to this expansion on the grounds it would damage the natural beauty of the area, the environment and the attraction of the countryside to tourism. Eventually, Aeroporto di Siena S.p.A., the company incorporated for the project, was liquidated .


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: Until the euro-crisis, profits from the bank financed the Palio di Siena, Siena's historic-building renovations and "biotech programs" intended to turn the Tuscan plain into a research hub. Nearly all that money – $150 million a year, on average, from 1996 to 2010 – has "evaporated" since 2010.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: According to the annual report of the banking foundation, which acted as both the largest shareholders of the bank and the charity organization for Tuscan area, the foundation suffered a sharp decrease in revenue from the bank in 2009, which dropped from €340 million to just €62.5 million, thus affecting the endowment to other organizations. Along with other loss related and not related to the bank since 2010, the foundation had to suspend all the endowment to other organizations.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: Concerning the share percentage hold by the Italian government, Banca MPS is the second statally-owned Italian bank after the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. The share owned by Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena dropped from over 55% on 31 December 2009 to below CONSOB requirement to disclose (<2%) in 2015.


title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

text: Since the 1936 statute 16 members of the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena were appointed by local authorities: 8 members by the Municipality of Siena, 5 by the Province of Siena, 1 by the University of Siena, 1 by the Tuscany Region and the latter by Archdioceses of Siena, Colle Val d’Elsa and Montalcino. The Foundation appoints the MPS governing body whose governance and operativity has been highly influenced by the Italian politic since the 20th century. Further searches are needed to clarify the degree of this relationship, which involved some exponents of the governing body who were closely connected to the Italian Freemasonry.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Nancy Drew is a 2007 American mystery comedy film loosely based on the series of mystery novels about the titular teen detective of the same name by Edward Stratemeyer. It stars Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew, with Josh Flitter and Max Thieriot. Set in Los Angeles, it was directed by Andrew Fleming. The film was released in theaters on June 15, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Critical reactions were mixed, but the film grossed $30 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Nancy Drew, an amateur sleuth, and her widowed father, Carson Drew, move from their quaint hometown River Heights to California, where Carson has a temporary job. Carson encourages Nancy to focus on living like a normal teenager, instead of getting herself into trouble with crime- and mystery-solving. However, unbeknownst to Carson, Nancy chose their California house because of its famously unsolved mystery of the death of the movie star Dehlia Draycott. Nancy struggles to fit in at her new school, only befriending a younger boy, Corky. She wears 1950s outfits and penny loafers, becoming subject to teasing from Corky's older sister and her best friend. After discovering many clues about the Draycott mystery, she begins secretly sleuthing behind her father's back. Nancy eventually finds Draycott's lost child, Jane Brighton, who turns out to be the sole beneficiary of Draycott's will, which has disappeared. Nancy contacts her father's business associate, Dashiel Biedermeyer, the lawyer of the Draycott estate, to assist her with the case.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Meanwhile, as an early birthday present, Ned Nickerson, Nancy's good friend with implied romantic interest, visits from River Heights. Corky becomes jealous of Nancy and Ned's close relationship and tries his best to get Nancy's attention. Nancy begins experiencing worsening attacks against her as she learns that someone does not want her to solve the case. One afternoon, a tearful Jane arrives on Nancy's doorstep and announces that her daughter has been taken away from her. While watching a Dehlia Draycott film, Nancy realizes that Draycott has hidden her will in a prop from one of her last movies. After retrieving the will, Nancy is kidnapped by the villain's henchmen. Nancy escapes with the will but gets into a car crash. Her father arrives and demands to know what is going on. After explaining her sleuthing, Biedermeyer offers them a ride home so he can finalize the legacy to Jane.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Nancy concludes that Biedermeyer was Dehlia Draycott's supposed love who stands to lose money if the will goes to Jane. However, when he questions Nancy about the will, she manages to jump out of the car. She is caught by Biedermeyer who threatens her; when Nancy asks him why he killed Dehlia, he replies that Dehlia went crazy after she put Jane up for adoption, and wanted to leave to be with her caretaker Leshing. Nancy escapes but is once again cornered. Leshing arrives and knocks the henchmen unconscious as Nancy reveals that she secretly recorded Biedermeyer's confession. While the police arrive to arrest Biedermeyer, Nancy reveals to Leshing that Jane is his daughter. The will is restored to Jane, who is able to get her daughter back and convert the Draycott mansion into a home for single mothers.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Back at River Heights, Nancy visits Ned as he repairs her car and they share a kiss. She receives a long-distance phone call regarding a new mystery in Scotland.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Several well-known actors make uncredited guest appearances in the film. Bruce Willis appears as himself, shooting a crime film in Los Angeles; Adam Goldberg plays Willis' director Andy; Chris Kattan plays one of the burglars Nancy catches in the opening sequence of the film; Lindsay Sloane plays a saleslady in a clothing boutique; Eddie Jemison appears as an adoption clerk; and Geraint Wyn Davies makes a brief appearance as a drama teacher.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: The film was shot in Los Angeles from January 30, 2006, to April 3, 2006. At that time, Emma Roberts did not have her driver's license. Though she was in possession of a permit, by law she was unable to drive the roadster for the car chase scenes all by herself. The movie was filmed in several California cities, including South Pasadena, Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, Long Beach, La Canada Flintridge and Burbank.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Before Roberts was cast, actress Amanda Bynes was considered to portray Nancy, but her schedule prevented her from taking the role. Skye Sweetnam also auditioned for the role.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: U.S. cable networks, such as ABC Family and the Disney Channel, acquired the rights to the 2007 film version of "Nancy Drew".


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Opening at #7 in the U.S. box office, the film grossed $6,832,318 on its opening weekend and has since grossed $25,612,520 in the US and $5,054,410 internationally for a total of $30,666,930 worldwide.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 49% from 138 critics, with the site's consensuses reading, "Emma Roberts is bubbly and charming as Nancy Drew, the junior detective. But despite her best efforts, "Nancy Drew" still lacks excitement, surprise, and compelling secondary characters." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The culture-clash procedural, which brings the small-town teen to big bad Hollywood, feels more perfunctory than inspired."


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: Lael Loewenstein of Variety magazine, said the film "serves up stale mystery-movie cliches and overcooked red herrings in a thoroughly wooden adaptation" and "the cast is as stiff as the dialogue".


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: "Plugged In" said that "the film has all of the oversimplifications of a teen mystery novel with a little—but not enough—humorous self-awareness tossed in to make the story satisfying for adults".


title: Nancy Drew (2007 film)

text: A novelization of the movie was written by Daniela Burr the year of the film's release and published by Simon Spotlight. Plus, books in the "Nancy Drew, Girl Detective" and "Nancy Drew Clue Crew" series both had movie-themed books.


title: Guevarism

text: Guevarism is a theory of communist revolution and a military strategy of guerrilla warfare associated with Marxist–Leninist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a leading figure of the Cuban Revolution who believed in the idea of Marxism–Leninism and embraced its principles.


title: Guevarism

text: After the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution led by a militant foco under Fidel Castro, his Argentine-born, cosmopolitan and Marxist colleague, Guevara parlayed his ideology and experiences into a model for emulation (and at times, direct military intervention) around the globe. While exporting one such "focalist" revolution to Bolivia, leading an armed vanguard party there in October 1967, Guevara was captured and executed, becoming a martyr to both the world communist movement and socialism in general.


title: Guevarism

text: His ideology promotes exporting revolution to any country whose leader is supported by the empire (United States) and has fallen out of favor with its citizens. Guevara talks about how constant guerrilla warfare taking place in non-urban areas can overcome leaders. He introduces three points that are representative of his ideology as a whole, namely that the people can win with proper organization against a nation's army; that the conditions that make a revolution possible can be put in place by the popular forces; and that the popular forces always have an advantage in a non urban setting.


title: Guevarism

text: Guevara had a particularly keen interest in guerrilla warfare, with a dedication to foco techniques, also known as focalism (or "foquismo" in Spanish), which is vanguardism by small armed units, frequently in place of established communist parties, initially launching attacks from rural areas to mobilize unrest into a popular front against a sitting regime. Despite differences in approach—emphasizing guerrilla leadership and audacious raids that engender general uprising, rather than consolidating political power in military strongholds before expanding to new ones—Guevara took great inspiration from the Maoist notion of a "protracted people's war" and sympathized with Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China in the Sino-Soviet split. This controversy may partly explain his departure from Castro's pro-Soviet Cuba in the mid-1960s. Guevara also drew direct parallels with his contemporary communist comrades in the Viet Cong, exhorting a multi-front guerrilla strategy to create "two, three, many Vietnams".


title: Guevarism

text: In Guevara's final years, after leaving Cuba he advised communist paramilitary movements in Africa and Latin America, including a young Laurent-Désiré Kabila, future ruler of Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo. Finally, while leading a small focalist band of guerrilla cadres in Bolivia, Guevara was captured and killed. His death and the short-term failure of his Guevarist tactics may have interrupted the component guerrilla wars within the larger Cold War for a time and even temporarily discouraged Soviet and Cuban sponsorship for focalism.


title: Guevarism

text: The emerging communist movements and other fellow traveler radicalism of the time either switched to urban guerrilla warfare before the end of the 1960s and/or soon revived the rural-based strategies of both Maoism and Guevarism, tendencies that escalated worldwide throughout the 1970s, by and large with the support from the communist states and the Soviet Union in general as well as Castro's Cuba in particular.


title: Guevarism

text: Another proponent of Guevarism was the French intellectual Régis Debray, who could be seen as attempting to establish a coherent, unitary theoretical framework on these grounds. Debray has since broken with this.


title: Guevarism

text: Che Guevara developed a series of ideas and concepts that has become known as "Guevarism". His thinking took Marxism–Leninism and anti-imperialism as a basic element, adding reflections on how to carry out a revolution and create a socialist society that gave him its own identity.


title: Guevarism

text: Che Guevara gave a fundamental role to the armed struggle. From his own experience he developed a whole theory about the guerrilla warfare which has been defined as foco. For him, when there were "objective conditions" for a revolution in a country, a small "focus" guerrilla as a vanguard could create the "subjective conditions" and unleash a general population uprising.


title: Guevarism

text: He argued that there was a close link between the guerrillas, the peasants and the land reform. This position differentiated his thinking from Purely labor-industrial socialism and brought him closer to Maoist ideas.


title: Guevarism

text: His book "Guerilla Warfare" is a manual where tactics and strategies used in Cuban guerrilla warfare are discussed.


title: Guevarism

text: However, Che claimed that in certain contexts the armed struggle had no place so it was necessary to use peaceful mechanisms such as participation within representative democracy. Although Che stated that this line should be peaceful but "very combative, very brave" and that it could only be abandoned if its orientation in favor of representative democracy was undermined within the population.


title: Guevarism

text: The fundamental axis on which he guided his political-theoretical-military action was the beginning of Marxist humanism. In other words, Che suggests that it is essential to distinguish between Marx's humanism and bourgeois humanism, traditional Christian, philanthropic, etc. Against all abstract humanism that claims to be "above class" (and which is, in the last analysis, bourgeois), Che's, like the liberation of man of Marx's, is explicitly engaged in a proletarian class perspective. Thus radically opposing "bad humanism" he declares that: and the realization of their potentialities can only be realized by the revolution of the workers, peasants and other exploited classes that eliminates the exploitation of man by man and establishes rational domination and collective of men (proletarians) on their process of social life.


title: Guevarism

text: Guevarism has been criticized from a revolutionary anarchist perspective by Abraham Guillén, one of the leading tacticians of urban guerrilla warfare in Uruguay and Brazil. Guillen claimed that cities are a better ground for the guerrilla than the countryside (Guillen was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War). He criticized Guevarist movements of national liberation (like the Uruguayan Tupamaros, one of the many groups that he helped as a military advisor).


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge Antilles is a fictional character in the "Star Wars" franchise. He is a supporting character portrayed by Denis Lawson in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. He is also featured in the "Star Wars" expanded universe, most notably as the lead character in most of the "" novels. Wedge has also appeared in the sequel trilogy film "" (2019), with Lawson reprising his role, and the 2014 animated series "Star Wars Rebels", voiced by Nathan Kress.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Before defecting to the Rebel Alliance, Antilles was an Imperial cadet (callsign: TIE SS25) of the Skystrike Academy. Antilles founded Rogue Squadron with his friend Luke Skywalker. His superior piloting skills, in-depth knowledge of Imperial military doctrine, and tactical leadership quickly propelled him though the ranks to become Marshal of the Alliance Starfighter Corps. Wedge is notable for having participated in more starfighter battles ending with decisive victories than any other character: he led the allied assault during the Battle of Exegol; he piloted a snowspeeder in the defense of Echo Base on Hoth; and is the only Rebel starfighter pilot to have survived both attack runs on the Death Stars at the battles of Yavin and Endor.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge Antilles was first seen in the 1977 film "A New Hope" in the Rebels' Death Star attack briefing. In this scene Wedge was portrayed by Colin Higgins and voiced by David Ankrum, who dubbed the character throughout the film. For the remaining scenes filmed in the X-wing cockpit, the character was played by Denis Lawson. Higgins was originally cast in the role of Wedge Antilles but reportedly had difficulty remembering his lines, and was consequently replaced by Lawson for subsequent scenes, but Higgins' scene remained in the final cut of the film. The discrepancy became a popular subject in "Star Wars" fandom, and Higgins acquired the nickname "Fake Wedge", a moniker that caused him some embarrassment.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Lawson reprised the role of Wedge Antilles in "The Empire Strikes Back", "Return of the Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker". Lawson used his own voice in these films, masking his natural Scottish accent with an imitation of an American accent. Ankrum reprised his role as the voice of Wedge in "Rogue One." Coincidentally, Denis Lawson is the maternal uncle of Ewan McGregor, who made his first appearance in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge appears towards the end of "Star Wars" as "Red Two", an X-wing pilot and a member of Red Squadron. His considerable dogfighting prowess is shown in the Battle of Yavin when he saves Luke Skywalker by shooting down a TIE fighter that Luke had been unable to shake off with a head-on, high deflection angle shot. Along with Luke and Biggs Darklighter, he is one of only three X-wing pilots to survive until the final attack runs along the Death Star's trench. However, his X-wing is damaged, and he is forced to disengage before the Death Star is destroyed. He and Luke are the only two X-wing pilots to survive the battle, along with a Y-wing and the "Millennium Falcon".


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge appears in "The Empire Strikes Back" as a member of the newly formed Rogue Squadron. He flies a snowspeeder under the callsign "Rogue Three" against the Empire's AT-AT ground assault with Wes Janson as his harpoon gunner. Their snowspeeder inflicts the first casualty against the AT-AT attack group by firing a harpoon trailing a tow cable into one of the walker's legs and circling the walker several times, causing it to trip and fall and allowing Rebel forces to destroy the walker. After the battle, Wedge is seen and heard wishing Luke a safe trip.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge appears towards the end of "Return of the Jedi" as the leader of Red Squadron in the Battle of Endor. Along with Lando Calrissian, who pilots the "Millennium Falcon" with Nien Nunb, he leads the fighter attack on the second Death Star. His dogfighting prowess is shown again in this battle, as Wedge personally shoots down a number of Imperial TIE fighters, and appears to easily navigate the narrow and treacherous flight spaces inside the Death Star that lead to its core. When he and Lando reach the Death Star's core, Wedge destroys the power regulator on the core's north tower, while Lando destroys the core itself. He later appears at the victory celebration at the Ewok village on Endor.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge appears, once again played by Denis Lawson, in the final installment of the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, "". He is seen manning a gun turret on the "Millennium Falcon" during the battle between the Resistance and the Sith Eternal, shortly after the death of his stepson Snap. Lawson had previously been asked to appear as Wedge in "", in the narrative role the character Poe Dameron was ultimately created for, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge is not seen on screen in the spinoff film "Rogue One", but his voice is briefly heard over the intercom in the Rebel base on Yavin 4. He was intentionally omitted from the film's climactic battle in order to avoid a continuity error with the first "Star Wars" film, which takes place immediately after "Rogue One". In that film, he utters the phrase "Look at the size of that thing!" which would have made less sense if he had already seen the Death Star at Scarif.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: In the television series "Star Wars Rebels", Wedge is voiced by Nathan Kress. He first appeared in the episode "The Antilles Extraction", the fourth episode of the third season. The episode establishes Wedge's canon backstory as an Imperial TIE fighter pilot who with the help of Sabine Wren defected from the Empire, and joined the Rebel Alliance. Wedge later appeared in the episode "Double Agent Droid," the nineteenth episode of the third season, and again in both parts of the third season finale "Zero Hour", the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes, respectively. Wedge's last appearance in "Rebels" was in the first part of "In the Name of the Rebellion", the third episode of the fourth season.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge is featured in the "Star Wars: Aftermath" trilogy by Chuck Wendig, consisting of the novels "" (2015), "Life Debt" (2016), and "Empire's End" (2017). In this series, Wedge establishes a new unit called Phantom Squadron, which sees action on the planets Kashyyyk and Jakku. Following the Battle of Jakku, which ends the Galactic Civil War, Wedge relocates to Hosnian Prime, where he serves as a flight instructor.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge makes a brief appearance in Claudia Gray's 2015 novel "", in which he recruits Thane Kyrell, one of the novel's protagonists, into the Rebel Alliance.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge later moves to the planet Akiva where he retires with Norra Wexley. The two appear in the 2019 novel "" where they join a Resistance mission to save some political prisoners on Corellia. He is the stepfather of Resistance fighter pilot Snap Wexley, played in the sequel trilogy by Greg Grunberg.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: In April 2014, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film "Star Wars" were rebranded by Lucasfilm as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge appears in the 1983 Marvel "Star Wars" comic "Hoth Stuff!", in which it is revealed that he went missing during the Battle of Hoth. Aboard his ship, Luke and Leia listen to his log tape recounting how he survived the Imperial invasion by hiding with Janson in the AT-AT Luke took down. They were prevented from contacting the Rebellion from orbiting TIE fighters and had to face wampas and other dangers. Janson was eventually killed by scavengers; Wedge then stole one of their ships to escape the planet and contact the Rebellion. He suddenly appears outside one of the windows, after working on the ship from space. Leia also states that Wedge and Luke grew up together on Tatooine, which Wedge seems to confirm in his log by mentioning a girlfriend he had there.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: "Star Wars Legends" literature explains that Wedge's parents were killed when their starship-refueling depot exploded. He piloted a freighter before joining the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot.


title: Wedge Antilles

text: Wedge is the lead character in most of the "" novels by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston, set in the "Star Wars" expanded universe. Several Dark Horse Comics series focus on Wedge and Rogue Squadron, and the character also appears in other expanded universe works including "The New Jedi Order" and "Legacy of the Force" novels. Wedge is one of two main player characters in the "" video game series (Luke Skywalker is the other), and Wedge appears as a minor character in "", helping the player during one mission. He is also a playable character in "".


title: Dick Trickle

text: Richard Leroy Trickle (October 27, 1941 – May 16, 2013) was an American race car driver. He raced for decades around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the way. Trickle competed in the ASA, ARTGO, ARCA, All Pro, IMCA, NASCAR, and USAC.


title: Dick Trickle

text: In more than an estimated 2,200 races, Trickle logged one million laps and is believed to have won over 1,200 feature races. He was billed as the winningest short track driver in history. Trickle's career highlights include racing to 67 wins in 1972, winning seven ARTGO Championships in nine years between 1979 and 1987, winning back to back ASA AC-Delco Challenge championships in 1984 and 1985, the 1968 USAC Stock Car rookie of the year, and winning the 1989 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award in the Winston Cup Series. Trickle was nicknamed the "White Knight" as referenced by his sponsored SuperAmerica paint scheme, when he raced in Wisconsin.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Eight-year-old Dick Trickle was playing tag with his cousin Verlon on the rafters in a house under construction when he fell two floors to the basement and broke his hip. He was transferred from a local hospital to the University of Wisconsin Hospital and continued his slow recovery. His recovery was so slow that the doctors gave up and sent him home, presuming that he would be an invalid for the rest of his life. Trickle later began to walk, although he walked with a slight limp for the rest of his life. He spent three years in a cast from his waist to his foot. While he was recovering as a nine-year-old, a friend took him to his first races at Crown Speedway in his hometown of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. "When I got there I was flabbergasted," Trickle said. "I thought it was the neatest thing. Free shows were nothing compared to it. That race never left my mind until I was 16. I knew I was going to drive a race car when I was 16."


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle married Darlene in 1961. They originally lived at his grandmother's house for a while before they bought a trailer on someone else's property. His nephew, Chris Trickle, was a race car driver before dying in a drive-by shooting.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle's family lived on welfare, so there was no money available for racing. Trickle spent his summers working for area farmers, starting as a 13-year-old. He also spent a lot of time at the Rudolph Blacksmith shop that his father was a partner in. While his father was ill, his uncle Leonard ran the shop.


title: Dick Trickle

text: "I worked part time at the shop to earn a nickel or dime," Trickle said. "At that age, it was mostly sweeping the shop, but I started to play with the welder and soon I could make an arc and then weld. I started junking machinery. I save some things getting a head start for when I would go racing at 16. I didn't have any money, but I had this pile of stuff to build a race car with. It was a hope chest."


title: Dick Trickle

text: "When I turned 16, I let the farmer I was working for keep most the money I earned until fall. That fall I collected my money and went down Main Street wheeling and dealing. I finally bought a 1950 Ford in good condition for $100. It was going to be my street car, but the urge to race got too strong and I cut up and made a stock car out of it."


title: Dick Trickle

text: "I did run the car a little bit before I cut it up and I ended up drag racing a classmate, Melvin Hunsinger, who had a 1949 Ford. He beat me. It seems kind of dumb when I already knew there was a car that could beat me. Eventually, I bought Hunsinger's 1949 Ford for $32.50 and put the motor in my car".


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle started out as the slowest car in a 100-car field at a Stratford, Wisconsin short track race. He raced that car at the end of the 1958 season and throughout the 1959 season, after which time he built a 1956 Ford into a race car using all of the knowledge that he had acquired. In his first time out with the new car, he finished second in the feature event at Griffith Park at Wisconsin Rapids. His competitors checked the rules and found out that Trickle was too young to race, even though he had already raced there for two years. He had to race at other tracks for a year until he was old enough to race at his hometown track. He raced for several years before deciding to race full-time. After working at several jobs after high school, he had worked for two years for a local telephone company. He had been uncomfortable climbing telephone poles as he was afraid of heights. He transferred to a different part of the company. Two or three years later he discussed racing full-time with his wife for he felt that he could be profitable, and they decided to make the change.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle raced at over 100 events each year for over 15 years. He was racing at the Tomah-Sparta Speedway when Francis Kelly noticed that Trickle was always in contention for winning the races, but he lost a lot of them because he had an inferior motor. One day Kelly approached Trickle and asked him what it would cost for Trickle to win. Trickle told him a new motor; Kelly asked Trickle to compile a list of parts that he needed. When Kelly asked who would assemble the motor, Trickle responded that he could but he was a junkyard mechanic. Trickle suggested that Alan Kulwicki's father Jerry Kulwicki, who was building motors for Norm Nelson's USAC stock cars, should build the engine.


title: Dick Trickle

text: A turning point in Trickle's career happened at the National Short Track Championship race at Rockford Speedway in 1966. Trickle said, "The cars in that area were fancier and looked like they were ahead of us. They didn't treat us bad, but they sort of giggled at us kids with the rat cars. After two days, they look differently at those rat cars. I won and pocketed $1,645. Before, I questioned spending the money to travel that far. But if you could win, that was a different story." Trickle started the 1967 season by winning at State Park Speedway and ended the season with 25 feature victories including wins at Wisconsin Dells Speedway (now Dells Raceway Park) and Golden Sands Speedway (near Wisconsin Rapids).


title: Dick Trickle

text: He toured on the Central Wisconsin Racing Association (CWRA) tracks in 1971. The circuit consisted of larger asphalt track racing on most nights of the week. The CWRA regular drivers were able to run over 100 events in a year, and most did the tour with one car and one engine. Drivers would drive on Wednesday nights at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, Thursday nights at State Park Speedway near Wausau, Friday nights at Capitol Speedway (now Madison International Speedway) near Madison, La Crosse, or Adams-Friendship, Saturday nights at Wisconsin Dells Speedway, and Sunday nights at Griffith Park. Tuesday nights were available for special events.


title: Dick Trickle

text: On Thursday nights at the quarter mile State Park Speedway, he won seven features and lowered his July 1 14.27 second track record to 14.09 seconds on the following week. On Friday nights he raced primarily at Capitol Speedway, winning most nights that it did not rain and his car did not break. Trickle went to Adams-Friendship on July 23 and won the feature after setting the track record. He held the track record at six tracks: Adams-Friendship, Capitol, Wausau, Wisconsin Dells, and La Crosse. He raced at the newly opened third mile Wisconsin Dells Speedway on Saturday nights. By the end of the year, Trickle had won 58 feature events.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle started his 1972 season by winning at Golden Sands Speedway near Wisconsin Rapids. Wisconsin's short track racing season starts in April. By May 13, he had twelve wins in thirteen events. He got this fifteenth win in twenty starts on May 27. Trickle became the winningest short track driver that year when he won his 67th race.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle won numerous special events outside of Wisconsin in 1973, including a 200-lap feature at Rolla, Missouri in April, followed by winning a 50-lap feature the following day at I-70 Speedway near Odessa, Missouri. In May he won a 50-lapper at Springfield, Missouri and two more features at I-70 Speedway. Trickle used his purple 1970 Ford Mustang to win at the Minnesota Fair and at Rockford Speedway in September. He had a total of 57 wins in 1973.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Sanctioning bodies put in a weight-per-cubic-inch rule, and Trickle's career had problems in 1974 and 1975. "Fords almost broke me. I couldn't get any pieces for racing at my level. It took two years of hard labor and depleting my funds to realize I couldn't do this anymore. I told myself either I had to change my program or get out of racing." Therefore, Trickle decided to use a General Motors car and engine. He bought a car for $13,000 on his word that he would pay for it by September. He won 35 or 40 races that year and paid for the car by July.


title: Dick Trickle

text: In 1982, Trickle won track championship at State Park Speedway in Wausau where he started out the season by winning the first two features and seven total. He also won the track championship at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway after winning three events in August. That season he won his first Miller 200 special event at the Milwaukee Mile. Trickle started racing out of state a lot more in 1983. Of all of Trickle's victories, his best memory was winning the 1983 World Crown 300 in Georgia. "It took three weeks of preparation and a lot of determination," he said. "It was the biggest payday of my career up to that point ($50,000)." He beat Jim Sauter by two car-lengths at the season opener, and won three straight races in May. After winning on June 1, LaCrosse business raised a $700 bounty for anyone who could beat him. Trickle skipped the following week, and returned the week after to lose to Steve Burgess. He did not win as much at State Park, but he did win the track championship. Trickle won ASA races at Coeburn, Virginia and Cayuga, Ontario in 1984, as well as the Red, White, and Blue state championship series at WIR and the Slinger Nationals at Slinger.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle raced in United States Automobile Club (USAC) stock cars in 1968, and he won the series' rookie of the year award.


title: Dick Trickle

text: In 1989, Trickle made his full schedule debut driving the No. 84 Miller High Life Buick for Stavola Brothers Racing. He had raced occasionally during the 1970s and 1980s. He was rookie of the year in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series at age 48 (and a grandfather), becoming the oldest driver in Winston Cup history to do so. After being given the rookie of the year trophy at the NASCAR awards banquet, he quipped "I guess I’d just like to thank everyone who gave a young guy like me a chance". His best career Winston Cup finish was third (five times). He started 303 races, with 15 top five and 36 top ten finishes.


title: Dick Trickle

text: In 1990, he won the "Winston Open" (the qualifying race to fill out the field of "The Winston", which is now the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race) in the No. 66 TropArtic Pontiac. The Open was a non-points event for drivers who did not win in the previous year. He beat Rob Moroso by 8 inches, the smallest margin of victory at the event. He also won his only career Cup pole, at Dover Downs International Speedway. In the middle of the 1991 season, he went to drive the No. 24 Team III Racing Pontiac. His best finish was sixth at Dover International Speedway. In 1992, he teamed up once again with the Stavola Brothers, driving the No. 8 Snickers Ford. In 1993, he drove the No. 75 Carolina Pottery Ford for Butch Mock Motorsports and then the No. 41 Manheim Auctions Chevy for Larry Hedrick Motorsports.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Part of his popularity stemmed from his unusual, double-entendre name. ESPN's Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann often made it a point to mention where he finished whenever NASCAR highlights were featured on "SportsCenter". He was also widely noted for having drilled a hole in his safety helmet so that he could smoke while racing, and for installing cigarette lighters in his race cars. Trickle was allowed by NASCAR to smoke in the race car during yellow flag periods, and in the 1990 Winston 500 (now the Aaron's 499), Trickle was seen on live television by the in-car camera lighting up and smoking a cigarette.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle even made fun of his lack of success in NASCAR's top-level series in a 1997 TV commercial for NAPA Auto Parts. In it, Trickle announces a contest where fans can win $100,000 if they pick the winner of that year's NAPA 500 race. "A little tip...it's gonna be me," he says, as an on-screen graphic points out "Dick is 0 for 243 in Cup races". "I think we get champagne (after winning)," says Trickle.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Dick also raced in the Busch Series, where he won two races. He had 158 career starts, with 24 top five and 42 top ten finishes. He made his Busch Series debut in 1984.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Through the 2000s, Trickle continued to race in occasional events in Wisconsin, including the 2001 and 2007, Slinger Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway and in the ASA Midwest Tour.


title: Dick Trickle

text: The La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway created the Dick Trickle 99 race, a 99 lap super late model event during its annual Oktoberfest race weekend. Wisconsin International Raceway has named a building in turn two the "Dick Trickle Pavilion". Trickle served as the de facto grand marshal of the Slinger Nationals after he retired until his death.


title: Dick Trickle

text: His crashes at the Lake Placid bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track at the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge (in which NASCAR and NHRA drivers raised funds for the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, owned by Bodine, to build sleds for the United States Olympic bobsled team) resulted


title: Dick Trickle

text: The main character of 1990 NASCAR feature film "Days of Thunder" played by Tom Cruise is named Cole Trickle as a homage to Dick.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle died May 16, 2013, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The incident occurred at 12:02 pm at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City, North Carolina. The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call, apparently from the victim, saying that "there's going to be a dead body. Suicide." When the 911 operator asked who was about to commit suicide, Trickle responded: "I'm the one." Police attempted to call his phone back, but there was no response. Trickle was found dead beside his pickup truck. His granddaughter, who died in a car accident, is buried in the same cemetery.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle's family later released a statement which in part said: "He had been suffering for some time with severe chronic pain, had seen many doctors, none of which could find the source of his pain. His family as well as all those who knew him find his death very hard to accept, and though we will hurt from losing him for some time, he’s no longer suffering and we take comfort knowing he’s with his very special angel."


title: Dick Trickle

text: NASCAR chairman Brian France released a statement saying "Dick was a legend in the short track racing community, particularly in his home state of Wisconsin, and he was a true fan favorite. Personalities like Dick Trickle helped shape our sport. He will be missed." Former competitor Rusty Wallace battled Trickle for championships at several levels. "I'm in 100 percent shock. Dick Trickle was my mentor," Wallace said. "When I was short track racing, I would call him every Monday morning and he would always help me with race setups and stuff. He and I had such a good time telling little stories, but he was the guy that taught me almost everything in the American Speed Association. And he was the guy that I battled right to the end for my 1983 ASA championship. I barely beat the guy that taught me everything. I'd not seen Dick as much as I'd like to of late. He was a legend. A man that'd won over a thousand short track races, was one of the most winning short trackers in America, was a role model to many short track racers coming up. Could just do magic with the race car and he taught me so much about racing. My success in the ASA and what Trickle taught me is what got me into NASCAR. That's what got me hired by Cliff Stewart back in '84. Between Larry Phillips and Dick Trickle, they taught me everything."


title: Dick Trickle

text: A moment of silence was observed for Trickle during the start of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 17. A tribute was held for Trickle at the July 2013 Slinger Nationals race with his family telling stories about his career.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Trickle's Wisconsin friends and competitors, including Tom Reffner and Marv Marzofka, began organizing a Dick Trickle memorial fund to build a memorial statue at Rudolph Community Park. The group is collecting money including securing the title sponsorship of a super late model race at Golden Sands Speedway.


title: Dick Trickle

text: Various Midwestern short tracks have Trickle Memorial races, with most being 99 laps for his car number. The most famous of the Dick Trickle Classic races is at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in Wisconsin, which was started in 2007. The Trickle Classic there consists of three 33-lap races, with scoring similar to Vermont's Milk Bowl. Winners have included Skyler Holzhausen and Johnny Sauter, both of whose fathers raced against Trickle in his career.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: The Liberty Flames football program represents Liberty University, a private Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia, in college football. The Flames compete in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as an independent. The program, which previously competed in Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), announced it would start a transition to the top level of NCAA football in July 2017. The Flames became a provisional FBS member in 2018, and became a full FBS member with bowl eligibility in 2019. In 2020, Liberty entered the rankings in the AP Poll at 25 for the first time in program history.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: In 2021, Liberty University announced the Flames would become full members of Conference USA effective for the 2023 football season.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: In 2007, the Flames captured their first Big South Conference Football championship with a 31–0 victory over Gardner-Webb. The Flames capped off their second year under head coach Danny Rocco with an 8–3 record and an unblemished 4–0 Big South record to claim the title.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Liberty ran its unbeaten Big South streak to 11-straight games, finishing back-to-back conference championship seasons with a 30–10 victory over Gardner-Webb. The Flames finished with a 10–2 record on the year and finished the conference slate unbeaten at 5–0. The Flames to become the first team in Big South history to win five conference games in a season and joined Gardner-Webb as the only two teams to post consecutive unbeaten seasons. Liberty finished ranked 15th in the FCS Coaches Poll and 14th in the Sports Network Poll.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Undefeated in Big South play for 2009, the Flames just needed to capture a win over Stony Brook in the season finale to secure a 3rd straight Big South Conference Championship. Stony Brook who had only lost one game in Big South play (a 30–27 overtime loss to Charleston Southern the previous week) for 2009 could claim half of the Big South Championship with a win over Liberty. The Seawolves won the game 36–33 to share the 2009 Big South Championship with the Flames.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Liberty again became conference co-champions again in 2010. Coastal beat Liberty for the first time since 2006 then the Flames bounced back the next week to secure a win over Stony Brook and a share of the conference championship (three-way tie with Coastal Carolina and Stony Brook).


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Liberty became the conference co-champion for the third time in 2012. After starting off 2–0 in conference play, Liberty traveled to Coastal Carolina, where they lost to the Chanticleers 36–12, bringing their overall record to 3–5. Liberty would then play then ninth ranked Stony Brook, beating them 28–14, also extending their at home conference win streak which dates back to 2006. In order to win a share at the Big South title, they would have to beat the Virginia Military Institute Keydets. Liberty won the game 33–14, and won a share of the title along with Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina with a record of 6–5 (5–1 in conference play).


title: Liberty Flames football

text: The 2013 Flames shared the conference championship for a second consecutive year in 2013. Liberty opened up conference play at home against Coastal Carolina, where they let a 19-point lead slip away in the second half as the Chanticleers rallied to win in double overtime, 55–52. The Flames would rebound with a shutout victory at Gardner-Webb to mark the first shutout in Turner Gill's eight seasons as a head coach. After victories at home over VMI and Presbyterian, the Flames captured a share of the Big South title with a 56–14 victory at Charleston Southern who has previously beaten Coastal Carolina. Liberty shared the title with Coastal Carolina, each with identical 4–1 conference marks, though Coastal Carolina received the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Liberty became the conference co-champion for the third consecutive year in 2014. Liberty started Big South Conference play against Gardner-Webb with a 34–0 shutout victory. After three consecutive conference victories, the Flames fell at home to Charleston Southern, 38–36. The loss to Charleston Southern would be Liberty's only loss in Big South play. The Flames rebounded with a 15–14 win over rival Coastal Carolina (ranked No. 1 in the FCS polls at the time), and Liberty clinched a share of the Big South Conference championship. Liberty also earned its first ever FCS playoff berth in school history. Liberty defeated James Madison in the first round of the playoffs, 26–21, before losing to Villanova in the second round, 29–22.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Liberty earned a conference co-championship again in 2016, marking their eighth conference championship. They finished the season 6–5, 4–1 in Big South play to share the conference championship with Charleston Southern. Despite the conference title, the Flames were not invited to the FCS playoffs.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Citing the need to care for his wife, Gill announced his retirement from coaching after the 2018 season.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Seventeen months after resigning from Ole Miss Rebels football, Hugh Freeze was named as Liberty's ninth head coach on December 7, 2018. For the 2019 season, the Liberty Flames would finish 8–5. They would make and win their first bowl game as an FBS program. In 2020, after a 6–0 start, Liberty made it in the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time in their program history, making it at No. 25. Liberty would go on to finish 10–1 in 2020 and finish the season ranked 17th in the AP Top 25 Poll. Freeze departed Liberty on November 28, 2022, to be the head coach at Auburn University after a few weeks of negotiations, discussions, and rumors.


title: Liberty Flames football

text: Future non-conference opponents announced as of September 16, 2022. Most of the games schedule from 2024 to 2026 were scheduled before the program announced joining Conference USA, which will take place in 2023. As a result, some games in those three seasons will be canceled to accommodate the new conference schedule.


title: George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster

text: George Augustus Frederick FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster (29 January 179420 March 1842), was an English peer and soldier.


text: The eldest illegitimate son of William IV of the United Kingdom and his long-time mistress Dorothea Jordan, he was well-educated, although his written English was poor (as was that of several of his royal uncles). Like his siblings, he had little contact with his mother after his parents separated in 1811, preferring to rely on his expectations from his father. He served as an army officer during the Peninsular War and subsequently in India. His father, though proud of his military record, was deeply concerned about his drinking and gambling, vices to which many of William's brothers were prone.


text: He was created Earl of Munster, Viscount FitzClarence and Baron Tewkesbury on 4 June 1831, and made a Privy Councillor in 1833. "Earl of Munster" had been a title held by his father before his accession to the British throne. George, like his siblings, was dissatisfied with the provisions made for him and this, combined with his increasing mental instability, caused a series of quarrels with his father, which ended in a complete breach in relations between them. The estrangement caused the King great distress, but those close to him thought it better that there be as little contact as possible, since Munster's visits invariably upset his father. Even the death of Munster's sister Sophia de L'Isle, the King's favourite child, in April 1837, did not bring about a reconciliation.


text: He gained the rank of major-general in the British Army and held the office of "aide-de-Camp" to his father King William IV between 1830 and 1837. He held the office of Lieutenant of the Tower of London between 1831 and 1833, was Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle between 1833 and 1842 and "aide-de-Camp" to Queen Victoria between 1837 and 1841. He was elected president of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1841.


text: FitzClarence married Mary Wyndham (29 August 1792 – 3 December 1842), daughter of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont, and his mistress Elizabeth Fox, on 18 October 1819. They had seven children:


text: FitzClarence committed suicide at the age of 48 in London. He shot himself with a pistol presented to him by King George IV when Prince of Wales. The first shot only wounded his hand; while his footman went for help, having been told there had been an accident, Lord Munster put the gun in his mouth with his left hand and shot himself in the head. His suicide came as no surprise to his family who had long been concerned about his mental condition; his father's biographer attributes it to "a paranoiac sense of persecution." At his inquest, his doctor and a surgeon told the coroner that they believed he was going mad, and in recent years there has been speculation that he suffered from the probably hereditary malady of porphyria which had afflicted his grandfather and several other members of the family.


title: Adelphi University

text: Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher education in suburban Long Island. It enrolls 7,520 undergraduate and graduate students.


title: Adelphi University

text: Adelphi University began with the Adelphi Academy, founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 1863. The academy was a private preparatory school located at 412 Adelphi Street, in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, but later moved to Clinton Hill. It was formally chartered in 1869 by the board of trustees of the City of Brooklyn for establishing "a first class institution for the broadest and most thorough training, and to make its advantages as accessible as possible to the largest numbers of our population." One of the teachers at the Adelphi Academy was Harlan Fiske Stone, who later served as the Chief Justice of the United States.


title: Adelphi University

text: In 1893, Dr. Charles Herbert Levermore was appointed as the head of Adelphi Academy. Seeking to establish a liberal arts college for the City of Brooklyn, Levermore received a charter from the Board of Regents of the State of New York, officially establishing Adelphi College on June 24, 1896. The college received its charter through the efforts of Timothy Woodruff, former Lieutenant Governor of New York and future first president of the board of trustees. Adelphi was one of the first coeducational institutions to receive a charter from the State of New York. At the time of its foundation, the college numbered only 57 students and 16 instructors. The Adelphi Academy continued to exist as a separate but nonetheless connected entity to the college. The new college was located in a building behind the Adelphi Academy, on the corner of St. James's Place and Clifton Place, in Brooklyn. The building that originally housed Adelphi is now used by Pratt Institute for their School of Architecture.


title: Adelphi University

text: In 1912, Adelphi became a women's college. In 1922, the school raised over one million dollars to expand the overcrowded facilities in Brooklyn. In 1925, Adelphi College severed its ties with the Adelphi Academy, the latter closing in 1930. In 1929, the college moved from its founding location in Brooklyn to the current location of its main campus in Garden City, New York. The original "academy" continues to function as a P–12 school in Brooklyn. The original three buildings of the Garden City campus, Levermore Hall, Blodgett Hall and Woodruff Hall, were designed by McKim, Mead and White.


title: Adelphi University

text: In 1938, the Dance Program was founded by the world-famous dancer Ruth St. Denis. In 1943, the School of Nursing was established in response to the need for nurses due to American involvement in World War II. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt presided over the opening of two federally funded residence halls on campus, in a speech entitled "The Challenge of Nursing for Young Women Today."


title: Adelphi University

text: In 1946, after World War II ended, Adelphi reverted to a coeducational college and started admitting new students on the federal GI Bill. New sports teams were created following the readmission of men to the school. In 1952, the first program for clinical psychology was established at the school; it was the forerunner to the Institute for Advanced Psychological Studies, now the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology.


title: Adelphi University

text: In 1963, the New York State Board of Regents granted the college university status, and the name was changed to Adelphi University. In 1964, the School of Business was founded. In 1966, the Institute for Advanced Psychological Studies was founded. In 1973, the university established ABLE (Adult Baccalaureate Learning Experience) for the education of adults. Now known as the College of Professional and Continuing Studies, it was one of the earliest programs created for nontraditional students. In 1984, the Institute for Teaching and Educational Studies was founded; it became the School of Education in 1990. In 1993, the Society of Mentors was established, giving students faculty advisors that they could consult on an as-needed basis to assist them in their studies. In 1995, the Honors College was founded.


title: Adelphi University

text: In January 1963, Adelphi Suffolk College (which had started out in 1955 offering extension courses in Suffolk County, New York) purchased the former W.K. Vanderbilt estate in Oakdale, New York. In 1968 it was spun off to Dowling College after its chief benefactor, Robert Dowling.


title: Adelphi University

text: Adelphi faced a serious scandal in 1996, as the school celebrated its 100th anniversary. University president Peter Diamandopoulos and the board of trustees were accused of neglect of duty, misconduct and failure to carry out the educational purposes of Adelphi. The New York State Board of Regents was called in to investigate; Diamandopoulos, along with all but one of the board of trustees, was dismissed from office. The university was in dire financial straits until Dr. Robert A. Scott was installed in the position of President in 2000. Scott saved the school by decreasing tuition, increasing scholarships offered for the students, and launching an advertising campaign to increase enrollment. Since that time, the school has surpassed many of its previous gains, and is said to be undergoing a new renaissance. Adelphi University has been ranked as a "Best Buy" college by the Fiske Guide to Colleges for the last ten years for its quality education offered at a comparatively affordable price. Adelphi University also participates in the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities's (NAICU) University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN).


title: Adelphi University

text: The university's School of Social Work is home to the Adelphi New York Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline and Support Program, which marks its 30th anniversary in 2010. The program began in 1980 as the Woman-to-Woman Hotline, a free and confidential service to help women with breast cancer. It is the second oldest breast cancer hotline in the United States; over 100 trained volunteers offer information and emotional support for women and men suffering from breast cancer. There are professional social workers, bi-lingual Spanish-speaking staff and support staff, along with support groups, educational programs and individual counseling.


title: Adelphi University

text: On February 27, 2012, president Robert A. Scott announced a gift of $9.5 million from Adelphi Board of Trustees Chairman Robert B. Willumstad '05 (Hon.). The Adelphi University School of Business, established in 1964, was renamed the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business in his honor.


title: Adelphi University

text: Adelphi has partnerships with outside providers who offer study abroad opportunities to students in approximately 120 countries.


title: Adelphi University

text: For semester and academic year direct exchanges with Adelphi partners, students can use 100% of their federal and institutional aid. For programs that are not directly associated with Adelphi, but are from accredited institutions and are approved by the Center for International Education, students can use all of their federal aid, and 75% of their Adelphi institutional aid—all while remaining enrolled there on campus.


title: Adelphi University

text: Many of the buildings on the Garden City campus are symmetrical in nature. This is likely because garden cities are typically planned symmetrically. For example, Woodruff Hall has a second chimney solely to preserve the symmetry of the building.


title: Adelphi University

text: The Adelphi Panthers are the athletic teams of Adelphi University. The Panthers compete at the NCAA Division II level for all sports and have been a member of the Northeast-10 Conference since 2009.


title: Adelphi University

text: The Panthers have won 18 NCAA Division II National Championships in three different sports. The men's lacrosse team has won seven national crowns, their last coming in 2001. The women's lacrosse team has won an NCAA Division II-record ten, including three consecutive National Championships in 2009, 2010, 2011 and back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015; and most recently in 2019. In 1974, the men's soccer team were the National Champions. They have also won numerous individual national championships in track and field.


title: Adelphi University

text: Since transitioning to the Northeast-10, the Adelphi Panthers have become a powerhouse in the East Region. In 2013, just their fourth year in the conference, the Panthers were awarded the 2013 Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup. The Presidents' Cup is presented annually to signify overall athletic excellence in the Northeast-10. The honor is awarded to the institution that compiles the most total points from all of its programs competing in league championships.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Turning his interests abroad Trevithick also worked as a mining consultant in Peru and later explored parts of Costa Rica. Throughout his professional career he went through many ups and downs and at one point faced financial ruin, also suffering from the strong rivalry of many mining and steam engineers of the day. During the prime of his career he was a well-known and highly respected figure in mining and engineering, but near the end of his life he fell out of the public eye.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Richard Trevithick was born at Tregajorran (in the parish of Illogan), between Camborne and Redruth, in the heart of one of the rich mineral-mining areas of Cornwall. He was the youngest-but-one child and the only boy in a family of six children. He was very tall for the era at , as well as athletic and concentrated more on sport than schoolwork. Sent to the village school at Camborne, he did not take much advantage of the education provided; one of his school masters described him as "a disobedient, slow, obstinate, spoiled boy, frequently absent and very inattentive". An exception was arithmetic, for which he had an aptitude, though arriving at the correct answers by unconventional means.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick was the son of mine "captain" Richard Trevithick (1735–1797) and of miner's daughter Ann Teague (died 1810). As a child he would watch steam engines pump water from the deep tin and copper mines in Cornwall. For a time he was a neighbour of William Murdoch, the steam carriage pioneer, and would have been influenced by his experiments with steam-powered road locomotion.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick first went to work at the age of 19 at the East Stray Park Mine. He was enthusiastic and quickly gained the status of a consultant, unusual for such a young person. He was popular with the miners because of the respect they had for his father.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Jane's father, John Harvey, formerly a blacksmith from Carnhell Green, formed the local foundry, Harveys of Hayle. His company became famous worldwide for building huge stationary "beam" engines for pumping water, usually from mines. Up to this time such steam engines were of the condensing or atmospheric type, originally invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, which also became known as low-pressure engines. James Watt, on behalf of his partnership with Matthew Boulton, held a number of patents for improving the efficiency of Newcomen's engine—including the "separate condenser patent", which proved the most contentious.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick became engineer at the Ding Dong Mine in 1797, and there (in conjunction with Edward Bull) he pioneered the use of high-pressure steam. He worked on building and modifying steam engines to avoid the royalties due to Watt on the separate condenser patent. Boulton & Watt served an injunction on him at Ding Dong, and posted it "on the minestuffs" and "most likely on the door" of the Count (Account) House which, although now a ruin, is the only surviving building from Trevithick's time there.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: He also experimented with the plunger-pole pump, a type of pump—with a beam engine—used widely in Cornwall's tin mines, in which he reversed the plunger to change it into a water-power engine.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: As his experience grew, he realised that improvements in boiler technology now permitted the safe production of high-pressure steam, which could move a piston in a steam engine on its own account, instead of using pressure near to atmospheric, in a condensing engine.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: He was not the first to think of so-called "strong steam" or steam of about . William Murdoch had developed and demonstrated a model steam carriage, initially in 1784, and demonstrated it to Trevithick at his request in 1794. In fact, Trevithick lived next door to Murdoch in Redruth in 1797 and 1798. Oliver Evans in the U.S. had also concerned himself with the concept, but there is no indication that his ideas had ever come to Trevithick's attention.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Independently of this, Arthur Woolf was experimenting with higher pressures whilst working as the Chief Engineer of the Griffin Brewery (proprietors Meux and Reid). This was an Engine designed by Hornblower and Maberly, and the proprietors were keen to have the best steam engine in London. Around 1796, Woolf believed he could save substantial amounts of coal consumption.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: According to his son Francis, Trevithick was the first to make high-pressure steam work in England in 1799, although other sources say he had invented his first high-pressure engine by 1797. Not only would a high-pressure steam engine eliminate the condenser, but it would allow the use of a smaller cylinder, saving space and weight. He reasoned that his engine could now be more compact, lighter, and small enough to carry its own weight even with a carriage attached. (Note this did not use the "expansion" of the steam, so-called "expansive working" came later)


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick began building his first models of high-pressure (meaning a few atmospheres) steam engines – first a stationary one and subsequently one attached to a road carriage. A double-acting cylinder was used, with steam distribution by means of a four-way valve. Exhaust steam was vented via a vertical pipe or chimney straight into the atmosphere, thus avoiding a condenser and any possible infringements of Watt's patent. The linear motion was directly converted into circular motion via a crank instead of using a more cumbersome beam.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick built a full-size steam road locomotive in 1801, on a site near present-day Fore Street in Camborne. (A steam wagon built in 1770 by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot may have an earlier claim.) Trevithick named his carriage "Puffing Devil" and on Christmas Eve that year, he demonstrated it by successfully carrying six passengers up Fore Street and then continuing on up Camborne Hill, from Camborne Cross, to the nearby village of Beacon. His cousin and associate, Andrew Vivian, steered the machine. It inspired the popular Cornish folk song "Camborne Hill".


title: Richard Trevithick

text: During further tests, Trevithick's locomotive broke down three days later after passing over a gully in the road. The vehicle was left under some shelter with the fire still burning whilst the operators retired to a nearby public house for a meal of roast goose and drinks. Meanwhile, the water boiled off, the engine overheated and the machine burned, destroying it. Trevithick did not consider this a serious setback, but rather operator error.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1802 Trevithick took out a patent for his high-pressure steam engine. To prove his ideas, he built a stationary engine at the Coalbrookdale Company's works in Shropshire in 1802, forcing water to a measured height to measure the work done. The engine ran at forty piston strokes a minute, with an unprecedented boiler pressure of .


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1802 the Coalbrookdale Company in Shropshire built a rail locomotive for him, but little is known about it, including whether or not it actually ran. The death of a company workman in an accident involving the engine is said to have caused the company to not proceed to running it on their existing railway. To date, the only known information about it comes from a drawing preserved at the Science Museum, London, together with a letter written by Trevithick to his friend Davies Giddy. The design incorporated a single horizontal cylinder enclosed in a return-flue boiler. A flywheel drove the wheels on one side through spur gears, and the axles were mounted directly on the boiler, with no frame. On the drawing, the piston-rod, guide-bars and cross-head are located directly above the firebox door, thus making the engine extremely dangerous to fire while moving. Furthermore, the first drawing by Daniel Shute indicates that the locomotive ran on a plateway with a track gauge of .


title: Richard Trevithick

text: This is the drawing used as the basis of all images and replicas of the later "Pen-y-darren" locomotive, as no plans for that locomotive have survived.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: The "Puffing Devil" was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and would have been of little practical use. He built another steam-powered road vehicle in 1803, called the London Steam Carriage, which attracted much attention from the public and press when he drove it that year in London from Holborn to Paddington and back. It was uncomfortable for passengers and proved more expensive to run than a horse-drawn carriage, and was abandoned.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Also in 1803, one of Trevithick's stationary pumping engines in use at Greenwich exploded, killing four men. Although Trevithick considered the explosion to be caused by a case of careless operation rather than design error, the incident was exploited relentlessly by James Watt and Matthew Boulton (competitors and promoters of the low-pressure engine) who highlighted the perceived risks of using high-pressure steam.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick's response was to incorporate two safety valves into future designs, only one of which could be adjusted by the operator. The adjustable valve comprised a disc covering a small hole at the top of the boiler above the water level in the steam chest. The force exerted by the steam pressure was equalised by an opposite force created by a weight attached to a pivoted lever. The position of the weight on the lever was adjustable thus allowing the operator to set the maximum steam pressure. Trevithick also added a fusible plug of lead, positioned in the boiler just below the minimum safe water level. Under normal operation the water temperature could not exceed that of boiling water and kept the lead below its melting point. If the water ran low, it exposed the lead plug, and the cooling effect of the water was lost. The temperature would then rise sufficiently to melt the lead, releasing steam into the fire, reducing the boiler pressure and providing an audible alarm in sufficient time for the operator to damp the fire, and let the boiler cool before damage could occur. He also introduced the hydraulic testing of boilers, and the use of a mercury manometer to indicate the pressure.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1802 Trevithick built one of his high-pressure steam engines to drive a hammer at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan. With the assistance of Rees Jones, an employee of the iron works and under the supervision of Samuel Homfray, the proprietor, he mounted the engine on wheels and turned it into a locomotive. In 1803, Trevithick sold the patents for his locomotives to Samuel Homfray.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Homfray was so impressed with Trevithick's locomotive that he made a bet with another ironmaster, Richard Crawshay, for 500 guineas that Trevithick's steam locomotive could haul ten tons of iron along the Merthyr Tydfil Tramroad from Penydarren () to Abercynon (), a distance of . Amid great interest from the public, on 21 February 1804 it successfully carried 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men the full distance in 4 hours and 5 minutes, an average speed of approximately . As well as Homfray, Crawshay and the passengers, other witnesses included Mr. Giddy, a respected patron of Trevithick and an 'engineer from the Government'. The engineer from the government was probably a safety inspector and particularly interested in the boiler's ability to withstand high steam pressures.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: The configuration of the Pen-y-Darren engine differed from the Coalbrookdale engine. The cylinder was moved to the other end of the boiler so that the fire door was out of the way of the moving parts. This obviously also involved putting the crankshaft at the chimney end. The locomotive comprised a boiler with a single return flue mounted on a four-wheel frame. At one end, a single cylinder with very long stroke was mounted partly in the boiler, and a piston rod crosshead ran out along a slidebar, an arrangement that looked like a giant trombone. As there was only one cylinder, this was coupled to a large flywheel mounted on one side. The rotational inertia of the flywheel would even out the movement that was transmitted to a central cog-wheel that was, in turn connected to the driving wheels. It used a high-pressure cylinder without a condenser; the exhaust steam was sent up the chimney assisting the draught through the fire, increasing efficiency even more.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: The bet was won. Despite many people's doubts, it had been shown that, provided that the gradient was sufficiently gentle, it was possible to successfully haul heavy carriages along a smooth iron road using the adhesive weight alone of a suitably heavy and powerful steam locomotive. Trevithick's was probably the first to do so; however some of the short cast iron plates of the tramroad broke under the locomotive as they were intended only to support the lighter axle load of horse-drawn wagons and so the tramroad returned to horse power after the initial test run.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Homfray was pleased he won his bet. The engine was placed on blocks and reverted to its original stationary job of driving hammers.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In modern-day Merthyr Tydfil, behind the monument to Trevithick's locomotive lies a stone wall, the sole remainder of the former boundary wall of Homfray's Penydarren House.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: A full-scale working reconstruction of the Pen-y-darren locomotive was commissioned in 1981 and delivered to the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum in Cardiff; when that closed, it was moved to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. Several times a year it is run on a length of rail outside the museum.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Christopher Blackett, proprietor of the Wylam colliery near Newcastle, heard of the success in Wales and wrote to Trevithick asking for locomotive designs. These were sent to John Whitfield at Gateshead, Trevithick's agent, who in 1804 built what was probably the first locomotive to have flanged wheels. Blackett was using wooden rails for his tramway and, once again, Trevithick's machine was to prove too heavy for its track.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1808 Trevithick publicised his steam railway locomotive expertise by building a new locomotive called "Catch Me Who Can", built for him by John Hazledine and John Urpeth Rastrick at Bridgnorth in Shropshire, and named by Davies Giddy's daughter. The configuration differed from the previous locomotives in that the cylinder was mounted vertically and drove a pair of wheels directly without a flywheel or gearing. This was probably Trevithick's fourth locomotive, after those used at Coalbrookdale, Pen-y-darren ironworks, and the Wylam colliery. He ran it on a circular track just south of the present-day Euston Square tube station in London. The site in Bloomsbury has recently been identified archaeologically as that occupied by the Chadwick Building, part of University College London.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Admission to the "steam circus" was one shilling including a ride and it was intended to show that rail travel was faster than by horse. This venture also suffered from weak tracks and public interest was limited.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick was disappointed by the response and designed no more railway locomotives. It was not until 1812 that twin-cylinder steam locomotives, built by Matthew Murray in Holbeck, successfully started replacing horses for hauling coal wagons on the edge railed, rack and pinion Middleton Railway from Middleton colliery to Leeds, West Yorkshire.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Robert Vazie, another Cornish engineer, was selected by the Thames Archway Company in 1805 to drive a tunnel under the River Thames at Rotherhithe. Vazie encountered serious problems with water influx, and had got no further than sinking the end shafts when the directors called in Trevithick for consultation. The directors agreed to pay Trevithick £1000 (the equivalent of £ in ) if he could successfully complete the tunnel, a length of . In August 1807, he began driving a small pilot tunnel or driftway high tapering from at the top to at the bottom. By 23 December, after it had progressed , progress was delayed after a sudden inrush of water; and only one month later on 26 January 1808, at , a more serious inrush occurred. The tunnel was flooded; Trevithick, being the last to leave, was nearly drowned. Clay was dumped on the river bed to seal the hole, and the tunnel was drained, but mining was now more difficult. Progress stalled, and a few of the directors attempted to discredit Trevithick, but the quality of his work was eventually upheld by two colliery engineers from the North of England. Despite suggesting various building techniques to complete the project, including a submerged cast iron tube, Trevithick's links with the company ceased and the project was never actually completed.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: The first successful tunnel under the Thames was started by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel in 1823, upstream, assisted by his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel (who also nearly died in a tunnel collapse). Marc Brunel finally completed it in 1843, the delays being due to problems with funding.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick's suggestion of a submerged tube approach was successfully implemented for the first time across the Detroit River between Michigan in the United States and Ontario in Canada with the construction of the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, under the engineering supervision of The New York Central Railway's engineering vice president, William J Wilgus. Construction began in 1903 and was completed in 1910. The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel which was completed in 1930 for automotive traffic, and the tunnel under the Hong Kong Harbour were also submerged-tube designs.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick went on to research other projects to exploit his high-pressure steam engines: boring brass for cannon manufacture, stone crushing, rolling mills, forge hammers, blast furnace blowers as well as the traditional mining applications. He also built a barge powered by paddle wheels and several dredgers.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick saw opportunities in London and persuaded his wife and four children reluctantly to join him in 1808 for two and a half years lodging first in Rotherhithe and then in Limehouse.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1808 Trevithick entered a partnership with Robert Dickinson (businessman), a West India merchant. Dickinson supported several of Trevithick's patents. The first of these was the "Nautical Labourer"; a steam tug with a floating crane propelled by paddle wheels. However, it did not meet the fire regulations for the docks, and the Society of Coal Whippers, worried about losing their livelihood, even threatened the life of Trevithick.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Another patent was for the installation of iron tanks in ships for storage of cargo and water instead of in wooden casks. A small works was set up at Limehouse to manufacture them, employing three men. The tanks were also used to raise sunken wrecks by placing them under the wreck and creating buoyancy by pumping them full of air. In 1810 a wreck near Margate was raised in this way but there was a dispute over payment and Trevithick was driven to cut the lashings loose and let it sink again.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1809, Trevithick worked on various ideas on improvements for ships: iron floating docks, iron ships, telescopic iron masts, improved ship structures, iron buoys and using heat from the ships boilers for cooking.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In May 1810 Trevithick caught typhoid and nearly died. By September, he had recovered sufficiently to travel back to Cornwall by ship, and in February 1811 he and Dickinson were declared bankrupt. They were not discharged until 1814, Trevithick having paid off most of the partnership debts from his own funds.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In about 1812 Trevithick designed the ‘Cornish boiler’. These were horizontal, cylindrical boilers with a single internal fire tube or flue passing horizontally through the middle. Hot exhaust gases from the fire passed through the flue thus increasing the surface area heating the water and improving efficiency. These types were installed in the Boulton and Watt pumping engines at Dolcoath and more than doubled their efficiency.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Again in 1812, he installed a new 'high-pressure' experimental condensing steam engine at Wheal Prosper. This became known as the Cornish engine, and was the most efficient in the world at that time. Other Cornish engineers contributed to its development but Trevithick's work was predominant. In the same year he installed another high-pressure engine, though non-condensing, in a threshing machine on a farm at Probus, Cornwall. It was very successful and proved to be cheaper to run than the horses it replaced. It was in use for 70 years, and was then retired to an exhibit at the Science Museum.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In one of Trevithick's more unusual projects, he attempted to build a 'recoil engine' similar to the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria in about AD 50. Trevithick's engine comprised a boiler feeding a hollow axle to route the steam to a catherine wheel with two fine-bore steam jets on its circumference. The first wheel was in diameter and a later attempt was in diameter. To get any usable torque, steam had to issue from the nozzles at a very high velocity and in such large volume that it proved not to operate with adequate efficiency. Today this would be recognised as a reaction turbine.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1811 draining water from the rich silver mines of Cerro de Pasco in Peru at an altitude of posed serious problems for the man in charge, Francisco Uville. The low-pressure condensing engines by Boulton and Watt developed so little power as to be useless at this altitude, and they could not be dismantled into sufficiently small pieces to be transported there along mule tracks. Uville was sent to England to investigate using Trevithick's high-pressure steam engine. He bought one for 20 guineas, transported it back and found it to work quite satisfactorily. In 1813 Uville set sail again for England and, having fallen ill on the way, broke his journey via Jamaica. When he had recovered he boarded the Falmouth packet ship 'Fox' coincidentally with one of Trevithick's cousins on board the same vessel. Trevithick's home was just a few miles from Falmouth so Uville was able to meet him and tell him about the project.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: On 20 October 1816 Trevithick left Penzance on the whaler ship "Asp" accompanied by a lawyer named Page and a boilermaker bound for Peru. He was received by Uville with honour initially but relations soon broke down and Trevithick left in disgust at the accusations directed at him. He travelled widely in Peru acting as a consultant on mining methods. The government granted him certain mining rights and he found mining areas, but did not have the funds to develop them, with the exception of a copper and silver mine at Caxatambo. After a time serving in the army of Simon Bolivar he returned to Caxatambo but due to the unsettled state of the country and presence of the Spanish army he was forced to leave the area and abandon £5,000 worth of ore ready to ship. Uville died in 1818 and Trevithick soon returned to Cerro de Pasco to continue mining. However, the war of liberation denied him several objectives. Meanwhile, back in England, he was accused of neglecting his wife Jane and family in Cornwall.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: After leaving Cerro de Pasco, Trevithick passed through Ecuador on his way to Bogotá in Colombia. He arrived in Costa Rica in 1822 hoping to develop mining machinery. He spent time looking for a practical route to transport ore and equipment, settling on using the San Juan River, the Sarapiqui River, and then a railway to cover the remaining distance. In a biography his son wrote that Trevithick had in mind a steam-driven railway and not mule-driven.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: The initial party comprised Trevithick, Scottish mining projector James Gerard, two schoolboys: José Maria Montealegre (a future president of Costa Rica) and his brother Mariano, whom Gerard intended to enrol at a small boarding school at Lauderdale House in Highgate (where Trevithick later made his temporary London home), and seven natives, three of whom returned home after guiding them through the first part of their journey. The journey was treacherous – one of the party was drowned in a raging torrent and Trevithick was nearly killed on at least two occasions. In the first he was saved from drowning by Gerard, and in the second he was nearly devoured by an alligator following a dispute with a local man whom he had in some way offended. Still in the company of Gerard, he made his way to Cartagena where he chanced to meet Robert Stephenson who was himself on his way home from Colombia, following a failed three-year mining venture. It had been many years since they last met (when Stephenson was just a baby), and the two men were judged by witnesses to their meeting to have little in common. Despite this Stephenson gave Trevithick £50 to help his passage home. Whilst Stephenson and Gerard booked passage via New York, Trevithick took ship direct to Falmouth, arriving there in October 1827 with few possessions other than the clothes he was wearing. He never returned to Costa Rica.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Taking encouragement from earlier inventors who had achieved some successes with similar endeavours, Trevithick petitioned Parliament for a grant, but he was unsuccessful in acquiring one.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In 1830 he invented an early form of storage room heater. It comprised a small fire tube boiler with a detachable flue which could be heated either outside or indoors with the flue connected to a chimney. Once hot the hot water container could be wheeled to where heat was required and the issuing heat could be altered using adjustable doors.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: To commemorate the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 he designed a massive column to be high, being in diameter at the base tapering to at the top where a statue of a horse would have been mounted. It was to be made of 1500 10-foot-square (3 m) pieces of cast iron and would have weighed . There was substantial public interest in the proposal, but it was never built.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: About the same time he was invited to do some development work on an engine of a new vessel at Dartford by John Hall, the founder of J & E Hall Limited. The work involved a reaction turbine for which Trevithick earned £1200. He lodged at The Bull hotel in the High Street, Dartford, Kent.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: After he had been working in Dartford for about a year, Trevithick was taken ill with pneumonia and had to retire to bed at the Bull Hotel, where he was lodging at the time. Following a week's confinement in bed he died on the morning of 22 April 1833. He was penniless, and no relatives or friends had attended his bedside during his illness. His colleagues at Hall's works made a collection for his funeral expenses and acted as bearers. They also paid a night watchman to guard his grave at night to deter grave robbers, as body snatching was common at that time.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: Trevithick was buried in an unmarked grave in St Edmund's Burial Ground, East Hill, Dartford. The burial ground closed in 1857, with the gravestones being removed in 1956–57. A plaque marks the approximate spot believed to be the site of the grave. The plaque lies on the side of the park, near the East Hill gate, and an unlinked path.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In Camborne, outside the public library, a statue by Leonard Stanford Merrifield depicting Trevithick holding one of his small-scale models was unveiled in 1932 by Prince George, Duke of Kent, in front of a crowd of thousands of local people.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: On 17 March 2007, Dartford Borough Council invited the Chairman of the Trevithick Society, Phil Hosken, to unveil a Blue plaque at the Royal Victoria and Bull hotel (formerly The Bull) marking Trevithick's last years in Dartford and the place of his death in 1833. The Blue Plaque is prominently displayed on the hotel's front facade. There is also a plaque at Holy Trinity Church.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: The Cardiff University Engineering, Computer Science and Physics departments are based around the Trevithick Building which also holds the Trevithick Library, named after Richard Trevithick.


title: Richard Trevithick

text: In Gower Street in London, on the wall of the University College building, an elaborate wall plaque carries the legend: "Close to this place Richard Trevithick (Born 1771 – Died 1833) Pioneer of High Pressure Steam ran in the year 1808 the first steam locomotive to draw passengers." It was erected by "The Trevithick Centenary Memorial Committee".