title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The main rivalry heading into the event was between Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog over the WWF Championship. At , Michaels defended the title against Bulldog in a match that resulted in a no contest as both men's shoulders were down on the mat. Although the referee Earl Hebner awarded Michaels the victory, Bulldog's wife Diana Smith, brother-in-law Hart and manager Jim Cornette handed Bulldog the belt. The on-screen WWF President Gorilla Monsoon declared the match a no contest. On the June 3 episode of "Raw", Monsoon announced that Michaels would defend the title against Bulldog in a rematch at King of the Ring and allowed Camp Cornette to choose a special guest referee for the match. On the June 17 episode of "Raw", Jim Cornette announced that Mr. Perfect would be the guest referee for the match.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: Another predominant feud heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Mankind. On the April 1 episode of "Raw", Mankind made his WWF debut and defeated Bob Holly. Later that night, Mankind attacked The Undertaker during his match with Justin Bradshaw. On the May 13 episode of "Raw", Vince McMahon conducted an in-ring interview segment with The Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Mankind attacked The Undertaker, who was distracted by Goldust and his valet Marlena. At In Your House 8, Mankind helped Goldust in retaining the WWF Intercontinental Championship against The Undertaker in a Casket match. This led to a match between The Undertaker and Mankind at King of the Ring.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: On the May 27 episode of "Raw", Warrior wrestled the WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust to a double count-out in a King of the Ring qualifying match when Goldust tried to leave ringside and was attacked in the aisle by Warrior. After the match ended, Jerry "The King" Lawler tried to retrieve a director's chair for Goldust's valet Marlena, but Warrior grabbed the chair and destroyed it. Lawler had been critical of a comic book released by Warrior and made statements about how it would have been better if he did the artwork. On the June 10 episode of "Raw", Lawler interviewed Warrior and apologized to him for costing him his qualifying match against Goldust and offered a portrait of Warrior as a present. Warrior rejected the apology and the present. Lawler attacked Warrior, leading to a match between the two at King of the Ring. In an interview on the DVD "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior", Lawler was very unhappy with the setup of the incident, as Warrior unexpectedly arrived in the ring wearing a baseball cap to promote his comic book.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: On the May 27 episode of "Raw", Ahmed Johnson got into an altercation with Goldust in a backstage segment after losing a King of the Ring qualifying match to Vader. On the June 3 episode of "Raw", WWF President Gorilla Monsoon announced that Goldust would defend the title against Johnson at King of the Ring.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: At In Your House 8, The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) defeated The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. As a result of the Godwinns losing the titles, their valet Sunny became the manager of the Gunns. Due to the betrayal of Sunny, the Godwinns continued their rivalry with the Gunns, leading to a tag title match between the two teams at King of the Ring.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) wrestled The New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy) in a match that aired live on "Free for All". Bodydonnas won when Skip pinned Cassidy after Bodydonnas' manager Cloudy kissed Cassidy. The match was followed by a non-televised match in which Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Aldo Montoya.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: As the event concluded, the semi-final round of the King of the Ring tournament started. The first semi-final match pitted Marc Mero against Stone Cold Steve Austin. During the match, Austin's mouth was badly injured. Mero whipped Austin through the ropes and then backdropped Austin. Austin attacked Mero with a Boot in the corner and tried to throw Mero out of the ring but Mero tossed Austin outside the ring. Mero delivered a Plancha to Austin causing Austin to bleed from his mouth. Mero returned to the ring and hit a Suicide Dive on Austin. Mero tried to pin Austin after a Missile Dropkick but got a near-fall. Austin regained his momentum and tried to pin Mero after a Hotshot but Mero kicked out of it. Austin followed by hitting Mero with a Stone Cold Stunner to win the match.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The next semi-final match was between Jake Roberts and Vader. Vader dominated Roberts with a Body Press and a Running Splash. Roberts booted Vader and hit a Swinging Knee Lift. Roberts tried to finish the match by attempting a DDT on Vader but Vader backed him into the corner and tried to hit a Short-arm Clothesline. Roberts countered and hit a Short-arm Clothesline of his own. Roberts ran through the ropes but Vader hit him with a Running Splash and tried to charge Roberts into the corner. Roberts avoided the charge and tried to hit a DDT on Vader but Vader used the referee as a human shield to prevent himself from getting a DDT. As a result of using the referee, Vader was disqualified. Vader assaulted Roberts after the match and injured him by hitting a Vader Bomb.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: In the next match, The Smoking Gunns defended the WWF Tag Team Championship against The Godwinns. The Gunns got the earlier advantage in the match when Billy distracted Phineas and Bart attacked Phineas from behind. However, Godwinns got advantage and dominated most part of the match. In the closing moments of the match, Bart hit a Boot to Phineas, allowing Billy to pin Phineas with a roll-up.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The fourth match was between The Ultimate Warrior and Jerry Lawler. Lawler brought a scepter to the ring during his entrance. As Warrior was making his entrance, Lawler started attacking Warrior with the scepter and used many dirty tactics to weaken Warrior. Lawler tried to finish the match with a Piledriver but Warrior did not sell and began dominating Lawler with a series of clotheslines. Warrior hit Lawler with a Running Shoulder Block and pinned him to win the match.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The fifth match was between The Undertaker and Mankind. The Undertaker started the match by attacking Mankind with a Flying Clothesline. Undertaker followed with the "Old School". Mankind gained momentum by a Bodyslam. The action continued until it was carried onto outside. Mankind grabbed a chair to nail Undertaker with it but Undertaker kicked Mankind into the chair. The Undertaker backdropped Mankind into the ring and the two returned to the ring. Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer distracted the referee, allowing Undertaker to attack Mankind with a chair. Undertaker followed by a Big Boot and tried to finish the match by attempting a Tombstone Piledriver. Mankind slipped out of the move and hit a Swinging Neckbreaker. Mankind tried to finish The Undertaker with a Mandible Claw, but The Undertaker blocked the move and was kicked by Mankind. The action returned to the floor where Mankind smashed his elbow on Undertaker against the steel steps. He tried to attack Undertaker with a Diving Elbow Drop through the apron but Undertaker blocked the move with the chair. Mankind returned to the ring and hit Undertaker with a Piledriver. Mankind grabbed Undertaker's urn and tried to attack him with it, but Bearer snatched the urn from Mankind. Mankind focused on Undertaker and applied a Mandible Claw on Undertaker. Bearer tried to hit Mankind with the urn but Mankind pulled Undertaker to prevent from being hit and Undertaker was hit with the urn. This allowed Mankind to apply another Mandible Claw on Undertaker. As a result, Mankind was awarded the victory by TKO.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: In the sixth match of the event, Goldust defended the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Ahmed Johnson. Johnson dominated most of the match. Goldust had nearly won the match after applying a Sleeper Hold, which he called "Good Night Sweet Charlotte" but did not pin Johnson and tried to further assault him but Johnson countered and hit Goldust with a Sitout Pearl River Plunge to win the match and the Intercontinental Championship.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: Next was the final round match of the King of the Ring tournament pitting Stone Cold Steve Austin against Jake Roberts. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon came to the ring before the match and offered Roberts to stop the match due to his rib injury suffered in his semifinal match against Vader. Roberts regrouped and refused to forfeit. He began attacking Austin and attempted to hit a DDT, but Austin avoided the move and began focusing on Roberts' injured ribs. In the end of the match, Austin hit a Stone Cold Stunner to win the match and the King of the Ring tournament. After the match, Austin mocked Roberts' Bible-preacher gimmick during his coronation as King of the Ring by uttering a quote:


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The main event featured Shawn Michaels defending the WWF Championship against the British Bulldog. Mr. Perfect was scheduled to referee the match but at the last minute President Gorilla Monsoon decided that Perfect would be refereeing outside the ring (due to Perfect's controversial refereeing at WrestleMania X) while Earl Hebner would be the inside referee. The match went back and forth with Bulldog's wife Diana and manager Cornette interfering on Bulldog's behalf on many occasions during the match. Bulldog's brother-in-law and teammate Owen Hart served as the guest commentator for the entire pay-per-view. In the closing moments of the match, Michaels attempted to hit Bulldog a Hurricanrana but Bulldog countered it into a Sitout Powerbomb. Michaels regained his momentum and hit Bulldog a Flying Forearm Smash, a Diving Elbow Drop and a Superkick, which he called "Sweet Chin Music" and attempted to pin Bulldog. Hebner and Perfect both began counting the pinfall. Hart left the commentary table and pulled Perfect out of the ring to prevent him from counting the pin but Hebner counted to three, allowing Michaels to win the match and retain the WWF Championship. After the match, Bulldog and Hart attacked Michaels. Johnson came to rescue Michaels until Bulldog and Hart's teammate Vader joined Bulldog and Hart to attack Michaels and Johnson. Warrior came out to rescue Michaels and Johnson from Bulldog, Hart and Vader and this ended the show.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: Following the formation of an alliance of Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson and Warrior after Michaels' title defense at King of the Ring, the three were scheduled to compete against Camp Cornette (British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Vader) at . However, after his match with Hart on July 8 edition of "Raw", Warrior was released from his WWF contract due to missing several house shows. As a result, Warrior was replaced by Sycho Sid as Michaels and Johnson's tag team partner. At In Your House 9, Camp Cornette defeated Michaels, Johnson and Sid.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The Undertaker continued his rivalry with Mankind after King of the Ring. Mankind interfered in Undertaker's match with Goldust at In Your House 9, causing Goldust to get disqualified. After the match, Undertaker and Mankind brawled with each other and their fight reached the locker room. This led to the first-ever Boiler Room Brawl between the two at SummerSlam which Mankind won after Paul Bearer turned on Undertaker and helped Mankind in winning the match.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: After winning the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, Austin quickly rose to stardom and his catchphrase "Austin 3:16" became the most popular catchphrase in professional wrestling history. Austin was pushed as a main eventer as he constantly challenged the inactive Bret "Hitman" Hart to a match. On the October 21 edition of "Raw", Hart returned to WWF and made his first in-ring appearance since losing the WWF Championship to Michaels at WrestleMania XII. Hart accepted Austin's challenge to a match and defeated Austin at Survivor Series.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: This would be Ultimate Warrior's final PPV match. His final WWF match was a victory against Owen Hart by DQ. His next appearance in a WWE ring was in a non-wrestling role at WrestleMania XXX in 2014 (almost 18 years later) the day after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He appeared on "Raw" for the first time since his final match on Raw in nearly 18 years, the night after WrestleMania, and died on the next day.


title: King of the Ring (1996)

text: The tournament took place between May 27 and June 23, 1996 (the entire first two rounds were actually done on May 27 and 28, two of the three quarterfinal matches actually occurred "before" the first round was completed). The tournament brackets were:


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The Birmingham pub bombings were carried out on 21 November 1974, when bombs exploded in two public houses in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The Provisional Irish Republican Army never officially admitted responsibility for the Birmingham pub bombings, although a former senior officer of the organisation confessed to their involvement in 2014. In 2017, one of the alleged perpetrators, Michael Hayes, also claimed that the intention of the bombings had not been to harm civilians, and that their deaths had been caused by an unintentional delay in delivering an advance telephone warning to security services.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Six Irishmen were arrested within hours of the blasts, and in 1975 sentenced to life imprisonment for the bombings. The men—who became known as the Birmingham Six—maintained their innocence and insisted police had coerced them into signing false confessions through severe physical and psychological abuse. After 16 years in prison, and a lengthy campaign, their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory, and quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1991. The episode is seen as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The Birmingham pub bombings were one of the deadliest acts of the Troubles, and the deadliest act of terrorism to occur in England between the Second World War and the 2005 London bombings.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In 1973, the Provisional IRA extended its campaign to mainland Britain, attacking military and symbolically important targets to both increase pressure on the British government, via popular British opinion, to withdraw from Northern Ireland, and to maintain morale amongst their supporters. By 1974, mainland Britain saw an average of one attack—successful or otherwise—every three days. These attacks included five explosions which had occurred in Birmingham on 14 July, one of which had occurred at the Rotunda. Prior to any attack upon civilian targets, a code of conduct was followed in which the attacker or attackers would send an anonymous telephone warning to police, with the caller reciting a confidential code word known only to the Provisional IRA and to police, to indicate the authenticity of the threat.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: On 14 November, James McDade, a 28-year-old UK-based member of the Provisional IRA, was killed in a premature explosion as he attempted to plant a bomb at a telephone exchange and postal sorting office in Coventry. Another man, Raymond McLaughlin, was arrested near the scene; he was charged with unlawfully killing McDade and causing an explosion. The republican movement in England had planned to bury McDade in Birmingham, with a paramilitary guard of honour. These plans were altered after the British Home Secretary vowed that such a funeral, and any associated sympathy marches, would be prevented. Councils in the West Midlands chose to ban any processions linked to the death of McDade under the Public Order Act 1936.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: McDade's body was driven to Birmingham Airport and flown to Ireland on the afternoon of 21 November 1974. Initially, his body had been scheduled to be flown to Belfast Airport; however, upon learning that staff at the airport had refused to handle the coffin, McDade's body was instead flown to Dublin. All police leave was cancelled on this date, with an extra 1,300 officers drafted into Birmingham to quell any unrest as the hearse carrying McDade's coffin was driven to the airport. McDade's body was buried in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast on 23 November. According to a senior Provisional IRA figure, tensions within the Birmingham IRA unit were "running high" over the disrupted funeral arrangements for James McDade.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In the early evening hours of 21 November, at least three bombs connected to timing devices were planted inside two separate public houses and outside a bank located in and around central Birmingham. It is unknown precisely when these bombs were planted; if official IRA protocol of preceding attacks upon non-military installations with a 30-minute advance warning to security services was followed, and subsequent eyewitness accounts are accurate, the bombs would have been planted at these locations after 19:30 and before 19:47.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: According to testimony delivered at the 1975 trial of the six men wrongly convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings, the bomb planted inside the "Mulberry Bush" was concealed inside either a duffel bag or briefcase, whereas the bomb planted inside the "Tavern in the Town" was concealed inside a briefcase or duffel bag (possibly concealed within a large, sealed plastic bag) and Christmas cracker boxes. The remnants of two alarm clocks recovered from the site of each explosion leaves the possibility that two bombs had been planted at each public house; the explosion crater at each location indicates that if two bombs had been planted at each public house, they would each have been placed in the same location and likely the same container.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Reportedly, those who planted these bombs then walked to a preselected phone box to telephone the advance warning to security services; however, the phone box had been vandalised, forcing the caller to find an alternative phone box and thus shortening the amount of time police had to clear the locations.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At 20:11, an unknown man with a distinct Irish accent telephoned the "Birmingham Post" newspaper. The call was answered by an operator named Ian Cropper. This caller said: "There is a bomb planted in the Rotunda and there is a bomb in New Street at the tax office. This is Double X", before terminating the call. ("Double X" was an IRA code word given to authenticate any warning call.) A similar warning was also sent to the "Birmingham Evening Mail" newspaper, with the anonymous caller(s) again giving the code word, but again failing to name the public houses in which the bombs had been planted.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The Rotunda is a 25-storey office block that housed the "Mulberry Bush" pub on its lower two floors. Within minutes of the warning, police arrived and began checking the upper floors of the Rotunda, but they did not have sufficient time to clear the crowded pub at street level. At 20:17, six minutes after the first telephone warning had been delivered to the "Birmingham Post", the bomb—which had been concealed inside either a duffel bag or briefcase located close to the rear entrance to the premises—exploded, devastating the pub. The explosion blew a 40-inch (100 cm) crater in the concrete floor, collapsing part of the roof and trapping many casualties beneath girders and concrete blocks. Many buildings near the Rotunda were also damaged, and passersby in the street were struck by flying glass from shattered windows. Several of the fatalities were killed outright, including two youths who had been walking past the premises at the moment of the explosion.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Ten people were killed in this explosion and dozens were injured, including many who lost limbs. Several casualties had been impaled by sections of wooden furniture; others had their clothes burned from their bodies. A paramedic called to the scene of this explosion later described the carnage as being reminiscent of a slaughterhouse; one fireman said that, upon seeing a writhing, "screaming torso", he had begged police to allow a television crew inside the premises to film the dead and dying at the scene, in the hope the IRA would see the consequences of their actions; however, the police refused this request, fearing the reprisals would be extreme.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: One of those injured was a 21-year-old woman named Maureen Carlin, who had such extensive shrapnel wounds to her stomach and bowel she told her fiancé, Ian Lord (himself badly wounded in the explosion): "If I die, just remember I love you". Carlin was given the last rites, with surgeons initially doubtful she would live, although she recovered from her injuries.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The "Tavern in the Town" was a basement pub on New Street located a short distance from the Rotunda and directly beneath the New Street Tax Office. Patrons there had heard the explosion at the "Mulberry Bush", but did not believe that the sound (described by one survivor as a "muffled thump") was an explosion.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Police had begun attempting to clear the "Tavern in the Town" when, at 20:27, a second bomb exploded there. The blast was so powerful that several victims were blown through a brick wall. Their remains were wedged between the rubble and live underground electric cables that supplied the city centre. One of the first police officers on the scene, Brian Yates, later testified that the scene which greeted his eyes was "absolutely dreadful", with several of the dead stacked upon one another, others strewn about the ruined pub, and several screaming survivors staggering aimlessly amongst the debris, rubble, and severed limbs. A survivor said the sound of the explosion was replaced by a "deafening silence" and the smell of burnt flesh.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Rescue efforts at the "Tavern in the Town" were initially hampered as the bomb had been placed at the base of a set of stairs descending from the street which had been destroyed in the explosion, and the premises had been accessible solely via this entrance. The victims whose bodies had been blown through a brick wall and wedged between the rubble and underground electric cables took up to three hours to recover, as recovery operations were delayed until the power could be isolated. A passing West Midlands bus was also destroyed in the blast.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: This bomb killed nine people outright, and injured everyone in the pub—many severely; two later died of their injuries: 28-year-old barman Thomas Chaytor on 28 November, and 34-year-old James Craig on 10 December.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: After the second explosion, police evacuated all pubs and businesses in Birmingham city centre and commandeered all available rooms in the nearby City Centre Hotel as an impromptu first-aid post. All bus services into the city centre were halted, and taxi drivers were encouraged to transport those lightly injured in the explosions to hospital. Prior to the arrival of ambulances, rescue workers removed critically injured casualties from each scene upon makeshift stretchers constructed from devices such as tabletops and wooden planks. These severely injured casualties would be placed on the pavement and given first aid prior to the arrival of ambulance services.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At 21:15, a third bomb, concealed inside two plastic bags, was found in the doorway of a Barclays Bank on Hagley Road, approximately two miles from the site of the first two explosions. This device consisted of of Frangex connected to a timer, and was set to detonate at 23:00. The detonator to this device activated when a policeman prodded the bags with his truncheon, but the bomb did not explode. The device was destroyed in a controlled explosion early the following morning.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Altogether, 21 people were killed and 182 injured in the Birmingham pub bombings, making them the deadliest terrorist attack in mainland Britain during the Troubles. Residents of Birmingham have referred to the Birmingham pub bombings as the "darkest day" in their city's history.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Many of those wounded were left permanently disabled, including one young man who lost both legs, and a young woman who was blinded by shrapnel. The majority of the dead and wounded were between the ages of 17 and 30, including a young couple on their first date, a young woman whose boyfriend had intended to propose to her on the evening of her death, and two Irishmen, brothers Desmond and Eugene Reilly (aged 21 and 23 respectively). The widow of Desmond Reilly gave birth to his first child four months after his death. One of the victims, 18-year-old Maxine Hambleton, had only entered the "Tavern in the Town" to hand out tickets to friends for her housewarming party. She was killed seconds after entering the pub and had been standing directly beside the bomb when it exploded, killing her instantly. Her friend, 17-year-old Jane Davis, was one of two 17-year-olds killed in the bombings, and had entered the "Tavern in the Town" to view holiday photographs she had developed that afternoon.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The bombings stoked considerable anti-Irish sentiment in Birmingham, which then had an Irish community of 100,000. Irish people were ostracised from public places and subjected to physical assaults, verbal abuse and death threats. Both in Birmingham and across England, Irish homes, pubs, businesses and community centres were attacked, in some cases with firebombs. Staff at thirty factories across the Midlands went on strike in protest at the bombings, while workers at airports across England refused to handle flights bound for Ireland. Bridget Reilly, the mother of the two Irish brothers killed in the "Tavern in the Town" explosion, was herself refused service in local shops.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The bombings were immediately blamed on the IRA, despite the organisation not having claimed responsibility. Due to anger against Irish people in Birmingham after the bombings, the IRA's Army Council placed the city "strictly off-limits" to IRA active service units. In Northern Ireland, loyalist paramilitaries launched a wave of revenge attacks on Irish Catholics: within two days of the bombings, five Catholic civilians had been shot dead by loyalists.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Two days after the bombings, the Provisional IRA issued a statement in which they denied any responsibility. This statement stressed that a detailed internal investigation was underway to determine the possibility of any rogue members' involvement, although the Provisional IRA emphasised that the methodology of the attacks contradicted the official IRA code of conduct when attacking non-military targets, whereby adequate warnings would be sent to security services to ensure the safety of civilians. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, then-president of Sinn Féin, conducted an internal investigation which he stated confirmed the bombings had not been sanctioned by the IRA leadership.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Within four days of the bombings, Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary, announced that the Irish Republican Army was to be proscribed within the UK. Two days later, on 27 November, Jenkins introduced the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974, which granted the police in mainland Britain the right to arrest, detain, and question people for up to seven days if they were suspected of the commission or preparation of an act of terrorism on the British mainland, and their subsequent deportation to either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland if culpability was proven. Jenkins later described the measures of this Act as being "draconian measures unprecedented in peacetime".


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In response to public pressure, a separate debate within the House of Commons as to whether those convicted of terrorist offences should face the death penalty was held on 11 December 1974. This motion drew the support of more than 200 MPs, although the majority of those in Parliament voted against the restoration of the death penalty, reportedly in part due to fear that such a move could have encouraged the IRA to use children to plant bombs.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The Prevention of Terrorism Act became law on 29 November, and remained in force until superseded by the Terrorism Act in July 2000.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: An analysis of the remnants of the bombs placed at the "Mulberry Bush" and the "Tavern in the Town" revealed these devices had been constructed in a similar manner to the bomb placed at Hagley Road. Each bomb placed inside the public houses would have weighed between 25 and 30 lbs, and had contained numerous shards of metal. The forensic analyst was able to state that the construction of these devices was very similar to that of seven other bombs and incendiary devices discovered at various locations in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton in the 16 days prior to the Birmingham pub bombings, and that the explosive material used to construct the bomb discovered at Hagley Road was of a brand solely manufactured in the Republic of Ireland which could not legally be imported into Britain. All these factors led the explosives expert to conclude that all three bombs had been manufactured by the same people, and that it was likely that whoever had constructed these bombs had also committed previous IRA attacks. This conclusion was further supported by the methodology of the attacks, and the official IRA code word given to the "Birmingham Evening Mail" and "Birmingham Post" newspapers minutes before the explosions.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At 19:55 on 21 November (scarcely 20 minutes before the first bomb had exploded), five men—Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—had boarded a train at Birmingham New Street station. These men—who, alongside Hugh Callaghan, would become known as the "Birmingham Six"—were originally from Northern Ireland. Five of the Birmingham Six hailed from Belfast, whereas John Walker had lived in Derry until age 16. All six men had lived in Birmingham for between 11 and 27 years respectively and, although they had known James McDade and/or his family to varying degrees, each man was adamant they had not known of his IRA affiliations.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: When the bombs exploded, the booking clerk from whom the men had purchased tickets informed police that a man with an Irish accent, dressed in a dust-covered purple suit, had purchased a ticket to travel to the coastal village of Heysham, en route to Belfast. The man had then run onto the train. A spot check on ticket sales that evening revealed that four further tickets to travel to Belfast via Heysham had also been issued. Within three hours of the bombings, each man had been detained at Heysham Port and taken to Morecambe police station to undergo forensic tests to eliminate them as suspects in the bombings. Each man expressed their willingness to assist in these inquiries, having informed the officers of a half-truth as to the reason they had been travelling to Belfast: that they intended to visit their families, although they also intended to attend McDade's funeral.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Between 03:00 and 06:10 the following morning, forensic scientist Frank Skuse conducted a series of Griess tests upon the hands, fingernails and belongings of the five men arrested at Heysham Port, to determine whether any of the men had handled the explosive nitroglycerine. He concluded with a 99% degree of certainty that both Patrick Hill and William Power had handled explosives, and remained uncertain as to the test results conducted on John Walker, whose right hand had tested positive, but whose left hand had tested negative. The test results upon Hunter and McIlkenny had been negative.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Each man was ordered to change his clothes. A search of Walker's possessions revealed several mass cards printed in reference to the upcoming funeral of James McDade. Upon discovering these mass cards, two officers led Walker into an adjacent room, where he was repeatedly punched, kicked and, later, burned with a lit cigarette by three officers as his arms were restrained by the two policemen who had escorted him into the room. Similar assaults were committed upon Power, Hunter, Hill and, to a lesser degree, McIlkenny; the officers who administered these beatings took great care to avoid marking the men's faces.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At 12:55 on the afternoon of 22 November, while detained at Morecambe police station, William Power signed a confession admitting his involvement in the Birmingham pub bombings. This confession was extracted after Power had been subjected to extreme physical and psychological abuse, which included repeated kicking in the stomach, head and legs, dragging by the hair, and the stretching of his scrotum.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The five men were transferred to the custody of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad on the afternoon of 22 November. At 22:45 that evening, Hugh Callaghan was arrested at his home in Birmingham and driven to Sutton Coldfield police station, where he was briefly questioned before being detained in a cell overnight, but intentionally denied sleep. The same evening Callaghan was arrested, the homes of all six men were extensively—and unsuccessfully—searched for explosives and explosive material.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Following their transfer to the custody of the West Midlands Crime Squad, three other members of the Birmingham Six (Callaghan, McIlkenny and Walker) signed false confessions on 23 November. In these three further false statements obtained by the West Midlands Crime Squad, Callaghan, McIlkenny and Walker each falsely claimed to be members of the IRA; to have conspired with McDade to cause explosions prior to his death; and to have planted the bombs at the "Mulberry Bush" and the "Tavern in the Town" public houses. As had been the case with William Power while detained at Morecambe police station, the three men later claimed that, before and during their transfer to Birmingham, officers had coerced them into signing these confessions through severe physical, psychological and emotional abuse. This mistreatment included beatings, deprivation of food and sleep, being subject to mock executions, intimidation, being burned with lit cigarettes, and being forced to stand or squat in various stress positions. In addition, each man had heard threats directed against their families. Hill and Hunter both claimed they had been subject to the same mistreatment, and although both men had refused to sign false confessions, police later claimed that both men had verbally confessed their guilt. On 24 November, each man was initially charged with the murder of 17-year-old Jane Davis, who had been killed in the "Tavern in the Town" explosion. All six were remanded in custody at Winson Green Prison, and they were only assigned solicitors the following day.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Inside Winson Green Prison, all six men were subject to the same mistreatment at the hands of prison officers as they had endured at the hands of police, with one of the men losing four teeth in one assault. At a further court hearing on 28 November, each man was observed to have extensive facial injuries; an examination by a prison doctor revealed each man had received extensive injuries not only to their faces, but across their bodies. (Following an independent investigation into this mistreatment, the British Director of Public Prosecutions recommended that 14 prison warders be charged with assault. These men were suspended from duty in December 1975; all 14 were found not guilty of 90 separate charges of misconduct and assault on 15 July 1976.)


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Dáithí Ó Conaill, then a member of the Provisional IRA's Army Council, had four days before the Birmingham pub bombings issued a statement declaring that the "consequences of war" would incessantly be felt not only in Northern Ireland, but on the British mainland, until the British government announced their intentions to "disengage from Ireland". One week after the Birmingham Six had been charged with the murder of Jane Davis, Ó Conaill issued a further statement emphasising that none of the Birmingham Six had ever been members of the IRA. Ó Conaill further stated:


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At a committal hearing in May 1975, each man was formally charged with 21 counts of murder, with additional charges of conspiracy to cause explosions. Due to the wave of public outrage towards the perpetrators of the Birmingham pub bombings within the Midlands, Judge Bridge conceded to defence motions to move the trial away from the Midlands, and the trial was set to be heard within the Shire Hall and Crown Court of Lancaster Castle the following month. Also to stand trial with the Birmingham Six were three men: Mick Murray (a known member of the Provisional IRA who had previously been convicted of a separate charge of conspiracy to cause explosions), James Francis Gavin (a.k.a. James Kelly, who had likewise been tried alongside the Birmingham Six and convicted of the possession of explosives), who had allegedly constructed each of the bombs, and Michael Sheehan. Murray was also charged with conspiracy to cause explosions across the Midlands, with Kelly and Sheehan charged with possession of explosives.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Prior to the trial, defence lawyers for the Birmingham Six applied for their clients to be tried separately from Sheehan, Kelly and, particularly, Murray, stating that their clients' presumptions of innocence and denials of association with the IRA would be tainted if they were tried alongside an admitted member of the Provisional IRA, who had been convicted of causing explosions. This application was rejected by Judge Bridge, who was to preside over the trial.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: On 9 June 1975, the Birmingham Six stood trial at Lancaster Crown Court before Judge Nigel Bridge. Each man was charged with 21 counts of murder and conspiring with the deceased James McDade to cause explosions across the Midlands between August and November 1974. Murray, Kelly and Sheehan were also charged with conspiracy to cause explosions across the Midlands, with Kelly and Sheehan facing the additional charges of possession of explosives.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: All six men emphatically maintained their innocence, stating they had never been members of the IRA; that they had not known James McDade had been a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army until his death; and reiterating their earlier claims of having been subject to intense physical and psychological abuse upon their arrest. Sheehan and Kelly also denied the charges brought against them, with Murray simply refusing to acknowledge or speak throughout the entire proceedings. (No direct evidence was offered to link Murray, Sheehan or Kelly with the Birmingham pub bombings. Nonetheless, the Crown alleged they were part of the same IRA unit as the Birmingham Six, and contended the Birmingham pub bombs may have been planted "in some illogical way" to avenge or commemorate the death of James McDade.)


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The primary evidence presented against the Birmingham Six linking them to the Birmingham pub bombings were their written confessions, the Griess tests conducted by Frank Skuse at Morecambe police station, and circumstantial evidence indicative of Irish republican sympathies which would be supported by character witnesses called to testify on behalf of the prosecution.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Skuse testified as to his conducting Griess tests upon the hands of the six men following their arrest, stating as to his being 99% certain that both Hill and Power had handled explosive materials, and to a possibility Walker may also have done so. Skuse conceded that he could not rule out the possibility that Walker's right hand could have been contaminated from his (Skuse's) own hands, as Walker was the last of the five men to be swabbed at Morecambe police station, and had at first tested negative to the Griess test, before a second swab had revealed faint, positive traces of ammonium and nitrates. This testimony was refuted by Dr. Hugh Kenneth Black, a former Chief Inspector of Explosives for the Home Office, who testified that a range of innocuous substances and objects one could handle on a daily basis containing nitrocellulose (such as varnishes and paints) would produce a positive result to a Griess test. Moreover, the tests conducted by Skuse had not succeeded in identifying nitroglycerine as the source of the positive results produced by the Griess tests, and the Crown had earlier conceded that an exhaustive search of the six men's homes had revealed no traces of nitroglycerine.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Several weeks into the trial, Judge Bridge overruled motions from the defence counsel that the four written confessions obtained from their clients should be omitted from evidence due to their being extorted under extreme physical and mental pressure, instead citing the statements as admissible evidence. These written confessions were presented in evidence at the trial following an eight-day hearing conducted without the presence of the jury. The judge refused to allow the jury to view the written confessions, which would have disclosed not only that each of the four written confessions contradicted details contained within the three other confessions, but that they also contradicted testimony from forensic scientists delivered earlier in the trial as to the devices used to conceal the bombs, and the locations in which they had been placed inside the public houses. For example, William Power had claimed in his written confession that he had placed the bomb which devastated the "Mulberry Bush" public house by a jukebox at the foot of a staircase to the premises; whereas a forensic scientist named Douglas Higgs had testified on the fourth day of the trial that the bomb which had detonated within these premises had been left by a wall located towards the rear of the premises.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The trial lasted 45 days, and saw one hundred witnesses testify on behalf of the prosecution and defence. On 14 August 1975, the jury retired to consider their verdicts. These deliberations continued until the following day. On the afternoon of 15 August, having deliberated for over six-and-a-half hours, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts in relation to the 21 murder charges against the Birmingham Six. Upon passing sentence, Judge Nigel Bridge informed the defendants: "You stand convicted of each of 21 counts, on the clearest and most overwhelming evidence I have ever heard, of the crime of murder." All six men were sentenced to life imprisonment. None of the Birmingham Six displayed any emotion upon hearing the verdict, although William Power saluted the judge.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At the same trial, Michael Murray and Michael Sheehan were each convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. James Kelly was found not guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions, but guilty of the possession of explosives and sentenced to one year's imprisonment; his counsel, Edwin Jowett, successfully argued that his client had already served the equivalent of a one-year sentence, and he was released from prison on 23 August.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: After sentencing all nine defendants, Judge Bridge summoned the Chief Constable of Lancashire and the Assistant Chief Constable of the West Midlands to hear a final address; both were commended for their collective efforts in interrogating and obtaining the four confessions presented in evidence. In addressing the defendants' assertions as to physical and psychological abuse while in the custody of both constabularies, Judge Bridge concluded: "These investigations both at Morecambe and Birmingham were carried out with scrupulous propriety by all your officers".


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Following their conviction, the Birmingham Six continued to steadfastly maintain their innocence. All six men submitted an application to appeal their convictions; this motion was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in March 1976. Two years later, in November 1978, the Birmingham Six were granted legal aid to sue the Lancashire and West Midlands Police forces, and the Home Office, through the Court of Appeal in relation to the injuries they had suffered in custody. This motion to appeal their convictions on these grounds was challenged by the West Midlands Police, and was stricken by Lord Denning in January 1980, thereby thwarting the attempts of the men to find legal redress for their grievances via these grounds. The Birmingham Six were initially refused permission to further appeal against their convictions. The following year, Patrick Hill embarked on a month-long hunger strike in an unsuccessful bid to have his case reopened.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In 1982, Patrick Hill was visited by civil rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, who agreed to act on his behalf. Peirce also encouraged Hill and his co-accused to continue to compile evidence attesting to their innocence and to write to media personnel such as journalist Chris Mullin, and politicians such as Sir John Farr in an effort to garner support for a review of their case. Farr responded to this correspondence in March 1983, and later thoroughly reviewed all documents relating to the men's conviction, concluding that the forensic evidence which existed against the six men was "not worth the paper it was written on".


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In 1985, the current affairs news programme "World in Action" presented the first of six episodes focusing upon the Birmingham pub bombings which seriously challenged the validity of the convictions of the six men. In this first episode broadcast, two distinguished forensic scientists conducted a series of Griess tests upon 35 separate common substances which the men had likely come into contact within their everyday lives.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Each forensic scientist confirmed that only substances containing nitrocellulose produced a positive result, and that the Griess test would only produce a positive reaction to nitrocellulose if conducted in a room at typical room temperature. When asked to comment on testimony delivered at the trial of the Birmingham Six, in which Dr. Skuse had stated that the temperature in a room in which the Griess test was conducted would need to be heated to 60 °C to produce a false positive reaction to nitrocellulose (thereby confusing the reading with nitroglycerine), one of the forensic scientists stated, "Frankly, I was amazed."


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Also appearing on this first "World in Action" episode broadcast was a former West Midlands policeman, who confirmed that each of the Birmingham Six had been subjected to beatings and threats while in the custody of the West Midlands Crime Squad. In addition, a former IRA Chief of Staff, Joe Cahill, on the same programme, acknowledged the IRA's role in the Birmingham pub bombings.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In 1986, British Labour politician and journalist Chris Mullin published "Error of Judgement: Truth About the Birmingham Bombings", which provided further evidence that the men had been wrongly convicted. The book included anonymous interviews with some of those who claimed to have been involved in the bombings, and who claimed the protocol 30-minute warning bomb warning had been delayed because the preselected telephone box had been vandalised, and that by the time another telephone box was found, the advance warning had been significantly delayed.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In January 1987, the Home Office referred the conviction of the Birmingham Six to the Court of Appeal. This motion resulted from the findings of forensic scientists working for the Home Office, who had expressed grave concerns as to the reliability of the Griess tests cited as forensic evidence of the defendants' guilt. In granting this motion, the Home Secretary himself emphasised that he had "little or no confidence" in the reliability of this test. This appeal was heard before three judges of the Court of Appeal in November 1987.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At this hearing, the defence counsels argued that the Birmingham Six were victims of a gross miscarriage of justice, that they had been convicted upon unreliable forensic evidence, and that the signed confessions were contradictory and had been obtained under extreme physical and mental duress. The allegations of physical mistreatment were corroborated by a former policeman named Thomas Clarke, who testified as to the defendants' mistreatment while incarcerated at Winson Green Prison.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: This appeal also heard evidence from Mullin, who testified in detail as to the contradictions in the written and verbal confessions obtained from the defendants, both with regards to the events of the day, and with regards to the content of the statements made by their fellow defendants—all purported by the Crown to be solid evidence. Mullin also testified as to the fundamental flaws in the forensic tests conducted upon the men's hands for traces of nitroglycerine.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: This evidence was contradicted by Igor Judge, QC, who informed the three judges of the Court of Appeal of the Crown's allegations that police had obtained false confessions by subjecting the men to severe physical and emotional abuse was "baseless", and of his belief that only film footage of the defendants planting the bombs would provide stronger evidence than that which already existed against the Birmingham Six. On 28 January 1988, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales again upheld the convictions of the Birmingham Six as safe.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In March 1990, ITV broadcast the Granada Television documentary drama, "Who Bombed Birmingham?"; a drama which recounted the events of the arrest of the Birmingham Six, the evidence presented at the trial and Mullins' then-ongoing efforts to prove Birmingham Six had been the victims of a miscarriage of justice. This documentary drama extensively detailed both the flaws in the forensic evidence against the men, and the extensive physical and psychological abuse to which they had been subjected. The programme named four of five members of the Provisional IRA as having organised and committed the Birmingham pub bombings.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: One of these men was Mick Murray, who had been tried alongside the Birmingham Six and convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions. Murray was named as having assisted in the selection of the targets, and had later placed the advance warning call to the "Birmingham Post" and "Birmingham Evening Mail" newspapers, which was delayed by a half-hour due to the fact that the pre-selected telephone had been vandalised and another needed to be located, leading to the fateful delay in the warning calls. The other three named in the documentary were Seamus McLoughlin, whom the programme asserted had also planned the atrocities; James Francis Gavin (a.k.a. James Kelly, who had likewise been tried alongside the Birmingham Six and convicted of the possession of explosives), who had allegedly constructed each of the bombs; and Michael Christopher Hayes, who had planted the bombs at the preselected locations.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The executive producer of "Who Bombed Birmingham?", Ray Fitzwalter, has stated that those involved in the production of this documentary drama are 100 percent certain that those named as the perpetrators of the Birmingham pub bombings had committed the atrocities.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: On 29 August 1990, as a result of further fresh evidence uncovered following the 1988 dismissal of appeal, the Home Secretary again referred the convictions of the Birmingham Six to the Court of Appeal. This appeal was heard by Lord Justice Lloyd between 4 and 14 March 1991. At the conclusion of this second appeal, the convictions of the Birmingham Six were quashed upon the bases of police fabrication of evidence, the suppression of evidence, and the unreliability of the scientific evidence presented at their 1975 trial. The tests conducted by Skuse upon the defendants' hands for nitroglycerine were deemed by the three Court of Appeal judges as being particularly unreliable and "demonstrably wrong ... even by the state of forensic science in 1974".


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The discrediting of this evidence was sufficient for the Crown to dismiss pleas from the prosecution to find the convictions "unsatisfactory but not unsafe". On the afternoon of 14 March, Lord Justice Lloyd announced his intentions to withdraw the Crown's case against the defendants. Upon announcing his intention to withdraw the convictions, Lord Justice Lloyd informed the Birmingham Six: "In the light of the fresh evidence which has been made available since the last hearing in this court, your appeals will be allowed and you are free to go."


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Emerging from the Old Bailey to an ecstatic public reception, each of the men addressed the press and public with varying statements including their concern for "many more people—both Irish and English—still wrongfully behind bars".


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In 2001, each of the Birmingham Six was subsequently paid between £840,000 and £1.2 million in compensation.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The West Midlands Police and then-Director of Public Prosecutions, Dame Barbara Mills, reopened their investigation into the Birmingham pub bombings following the release of the Birmingham Six. In April 1994, the Chief Constable of the West Midlands, Ron Hadfield, publicly stated: "The file, so far as we are concerned is now closed ... We have done everything we could possibly have done to bring the perpetrators to justice". Hadfield then emphasised that the Director of Public Prosecutions had found "insufficient evidence for [criminal] proceedings to be taken".


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: At the conclusion of the 1994 investigation, the Director of Public Prosecutions implemented a 75-year public-interest immunity certificate on documents relating to the Birmingham pub bombings—effectively preventing any release of documents relating to the reinvestigation until 2069. This court order forbids the disclosure of this evidence to the public on the grounds that any disclosure would be deemed to be damaging to the public interest.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: On 1 June 2016, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, Louise Hunt, announced renewed inquests into the Birmingham pub bombings, citing two occasions where evidence clearly indicated the West Midlands Police had received a minimum of two advance warnings of the impending attacks at the two pubs—one of which had been made by known IRA members who had unequivocally stated on 10 November that Birmingham was to be "hit next week". This conversation had been reported to police; no evidence is known to exist the West Midlands Police had taken any effective responsive action to this threat. A second warning had been given to police on the day of the bombings, yet no action is known to have been taken.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Although Hunt states that any claims that police were/are protecting an IRA mole are unfounded, and that the response of emergency services on the night of the blasts did not in any way contribute to the deaths, in one section of her report, she states: "I have serious concerns that advanced notice of the bombs may have been available to the police, and that they failed to take the necessary steps to protect public life."


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In September 2018, the Lord Chief Justice ruled that any suspects in the bombings were not due to be named at upcoming inquests into the bombings, the judges present at the hearing having upheld an earlier coroner's decision to omit issues pertaining to responsibility for the bombings in these inquests. The renewed inquests commenced on 11 February 2019.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: With permission from the current head of the IRA, an individual known only as "Witness O" testified at this inquest on 22 March, naming four men (one of whom was Mick Murray) as responsible for the bombings. He also testified as to his belief that security services had been given adequate time to evacuate both pubs. On 5 April, the jury of 11 found that a botched advance IRA telephone warning contributed to or caused the 21 deaths and that there had been no error or omission in the police response to the given warning call which might have limited the loss of life.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In 2011, Brian and Julie Hambleton, who lost their 18-year-old sister Maxine in the "Tavern in the Town" explosion, initiated a campaign called "Justice for the 21". The stated aims of this campaign are to highlight and resolve the fact that, although the inquiry is officially an open one, no efforts are being made to actively pursue the perpetrators of the Birmingham pub bombings unless significant new leads are to surface, and to resolve the issue that the families of the 21 victims have never seen true justice for the loss of their loved ones. "Justice for the 21" wants to see the criminal investigation into the bombings reopened and the perpetrators brought to justice or, if deceased, publicly named. When asked in 2012 why she and her brother had instigated this campaign, Julie Hambleton stated: "Someone has to fight for them; someone has to speak on their behalf, because they're not here to do it themselves ... It doesn't matter how much time has passed."


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Campaigners for "Justice for the 21" believe they have amassed evidence indicating that a British double agent was part of an IRA unit that had committed the pub bombings.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Following a 2014 meeting held at the West Midlands Police headquarters to discuss the findings of a two-year reassessment of all available evidence connected with the original 1974 inquiry, campaigners within "Justice for the 21" were informed that unless "new and significant information" was forthcoming, there would be no further inquiry into the Birmingham pub bombings. At this meeting, the Chief Constable of the West Midlands informed the campaigners that 35 pieces of evidence from the original 1974 inquiry were now missing, including the bomb which had been discovered at Hagley Road and safely destroyed in a controlled explosion.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: In November 2014, the "Justice for the 21" campaign implemented a fresh petition to pressure the British Government to form a new inquiry into the Birmingham pub bombings. This petition was signed by four retired West Midlands Police officers, and by Patrick Hill, who wrote of his desire that a fresh inquiry would "establish the true circumstances of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, and to order the release of all government, police, and Crown papers related to the case in order to bring truth and justice for the 21 innocent people who died, the 182 people who were injured, for the six innocent men who were wrongfully convicted, and for the families of all those affected."


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Patrick Hill has publicly backed the efforts of the "Justice for the 21" campaign, and would later state that, following their 1991 release from prison, the Birmingham Six had been informed of the names of the true perpetrators of the Birmingham pub bombings and that their identities are known among the upper echelons of both the IRA and the British government. Hill stated that, following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, he has been told that five members of the Provisional IRA have admitted to committing the Birmingham pub bombings, relying on a clause in the Good Friday Agreement offering immunity from prosecution. Two of these men have since died and a further two have been promised immunity, whereas a fifth man reportedly had not received any such assurances.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: A memorial plaque for the victims stands in the grounds of Birmingham's Saint Philip's Cathedral. This plaque is engraved with the names of the 21 people killed in the Birmingham pub bombings, and bears the inscription: "The people of Birmingham remember them and those who suffered."


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: A memorial commemorating those lost and wounded in the Birmingham pub bombings was unveiled on 21 November 2018. Commissioned by the Birmingham Irish Association and designed by a local artist named Anuradha Patel, this memorial consists of three steel trees, and is located outside the city's New Street Station.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: Several survivors and relatives of those killed in the Birmingham pub bombings have visited the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in the Republic of Ireland in an effort to come to terms with the events of 21 November 1974. The Glencree Centre is a charitable organisation whose stated aim is to promote peace and reconciliation in Britain and Ireland as a response to the Troubles. One of those who has visited the Glencree Centre, Maureen Carlin (who survived the "Mulbery Bush" bombing), said in 2009 that she had spoken with two former IRA members, who referred to the Birmingham pub bombings as a mistake for which the IRA would never publicly admit responsibility.


title: Birmingham pub bombings

text: The made-for-TV film "Who Bombed Birmingham?" was first broadcast in 1990. Directed by Mike Beckham, the film is directly inspired by the painstaking efforts of then-journalist Chris Mullin to prove the six men convicted of the bombing had been the victims of a miscarriage of justice, as detailed in his 1986 book "Error of Judgement: The Truth about the Birmingham Bombings". The film casts John Hurt as Mullin and Martin Shaw as Granada Television "World in Action" producer and fellow researcher Ian McBride, as they investigate the convictions of the "Birmingham Six."


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: Roy Thomas Baker (born 10 November 1946) is an English record producer, songwriter, arranger, and recording academy governor, who has produced rock and pop and songs since the 1970s.


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: Baker began his career at Decca Records at the age of 14 and later worked as an assistant engineer at Morgan Studios. Encouraged by music producer Gus Dudgeon, he soon moved to Trident Studios, where he worked with Dudgeon, Tony Visconti, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and Frank Zappa, as well as recording artists such as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Who, Gasolin', Nazareth, Santana, The Mothers of Invention, Jet, Be Bop Deluxe, Free and T. Rex.


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: After co-founding Neptune (Trident's record company), Baker met the rock band Queen. He began a working relationship that lasted for five albums ("Queen", "Queen II", "Sheer Heart Attack", "A Night at the Opera" and "Jazz") and a number of awards – including Grammy Awards and the Guinness World Records for the best hit song, "Bohemian Rhapsody".


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: Following his successes with Queen and other artists, Baker signed a multi-album production deal with CBS Music (Columbia Records, Sony Music, Epic Records, etc.). He then proceeded to move to the US and set up the RTB Audio Visual Productions' Offices in New York and Los Angeles. At this time under his new CBS deal RTB produced Journey, Starcastle, Reggie Knighton (The Grass Roots), Ian Hunter and Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones).


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: Baker, also at this time, committed to produce four albums for The Cars after being prompted by Elektra Records to see them perform in a Boston school gymnasium. The albums were certified platinum and The Cars were Grammy-nominated.


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: He was offered the post as the Senior Vice-President of "Artist and Repertoire" (A&R) for Elektra Records as executive and/or producer with recording artists Lindsey Buckingham, Mötley Crüe, Joe Lynn Turner, Josie Cotton and Dokken as well as continuing with Queen and The Cars. During his tenure, Elektra signed artists Metallica, Simply Red, Yello, Peter Schilling, The World and 10,000 Maniacs.


title: Roy Thomas Baker

text: Baker has also worked with artists Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, Foreigner, Pilot, Ozzy Osbourne, Devo, The Stranglers, Dusty Springfield, T'Pau, Local H, Cheap Trick and Lewis Furey. In 2005, he produced "One Way Ticket to Hell and Back" by The Darkness, The Smashing Pumpkins' 2007 album, "Zeitgeist", The Storm's 2008 album "When the Storm Meets the Ground", The Smashing Pumpkins' "American Gothic" and One Karma's 2011 album "Life Got in the Way". He also produced Yes's 2014 album "Heaven & Earth", 35 years after his previous experience with the band, working on sessions in Paris that did not lead to an album.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: The G32 BMW 6 Series is the fourth generation of the BMW Gran Turismo range of hatchback mid-size luxury cars launched in 2017 as the successor to the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: A facelifted version was unveiled alongside the new 5 Series on 27 May 2020.For 2021, a mild hybrid powertrain was introduced.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: Details of the 6 Series Gran Turismo were released online on June 14, 2017. The car was later officially unveiled at the 2017 Frankfurt International Auto Show in September. The exterior was designed by Hussein Al-Attar.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: Compared to the 5 Series Gran Turismo, the body of the 6 Series is longer, lower, and lighter. The rear load compartment is larger at . The 6 Series Gran Turismo is based on the modular Cluster Architecture (CLAR) platform and comes with self-levelling air suspension as a standard feature. The car automatically lowers by when travelling at speeds over .


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: Initial models include two petrol engines, the 630i and 640i as well as the 630d which is one of the two diesel engines. The 640d is the second diesel model, which was released later in September 2017. The newest and smallest engine for the 6 Series GT is the 620d. This engine is available since July 2018 and will be the entry-level version for this lineup. All models are available as an all-wheel drive (xDrive) version. The 640d model is available only with all-wheel drive.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: The 6 Series Gran Turismo comes with a 10.25-inch screen featuring the latest version of iDrive 6.0, and is available with gesture control. BMW Active Driving Assistant is a standard feature on all models, and includes safety features such as: blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning and speed limit information.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: The 6 Series GT also features adaptive headlights, and many sensors to assist parking and motorway driving.


title: BMW 6 Series (G32)

text: Also features manual sequential mode as well as sport shifting which holds the gears longer and spins the turbochargers.


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: Edward Felix Tudor-Pole (also known as Edward Tenpole, though he introduced himself as "Ed" on several episodes of "The Crystal Maze"; born 6 December 1955) is an English musician, television presenter and actor.


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: Originally gaining fame in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the punk rock band Tenpole Tudor, Tudor-Pole began an acting career following the group's split in 1982. Outside of his music career Tudor-Pole is probably best known in the UK as the presenter of the game show "The Crystal Maze" from 1993 to 1995 and in the US for his roles as Enaros in the 1997 fantasy film "Kull the Conqueror" and Mr Borgin in the Harry Potter film series.


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: Tudor-Pole was born on 6 December 1955 in Lambeth, London, to David W. and Shirley C. (née Brown) Tudor-Pole. The family's name derives from that of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (great-grandson of Geoffrey Chaucer), via Tudor-Pole's grandfather, spiritualist Wellesley Tudor Pole. Wellesley's mother was a descendant of Welsh courtier Owen Tudor, and added the 'Tudor' to her son's name.


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: Tudor-Pole was educated at Pennthorpe School, Rudgwick, Sussex and King Edward's School in Witley, Surrey. He later attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He lives in London and has one son. He was a keen biker for many years; his motorcycling skills can be witnessed in the 1997 film "Tunnel of Love", in which he played the lead role of Dodge.


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: Tudor-Pole formed the band Tenpole Tudor in 1977, and eventually came to prominence after appearing in the film "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" as a possible replacement for Johnny Rotten in the Sex Pistols. He sang "Who Killed Bambi?", "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" and a cover version of "Rock Around the Clock" in the film and on the soundtrack. Tenpole Tudor returned in 1980, signing to Stiff Records and releasing two successful albums, "Eddie, Old Bob, Dick and Gary" and "Let the Four Winds Blow". They had three hit singles, including UK Top 10 hit "Swords of a Thousand Men" which he performed on Top of the Pops in May 1981.


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: Tudor-Pole has appeared in numerous films and plays, and was the presenter on "The Crystal Maze", replacing Richard O'Brien from 1993 until the show's hiatus in 1995. He appeared in "Between the Lines" in 1992, playing a Liverpudlian villain. His film and play credits include "The Rocky Horror Show" (written by his Crystal Maze predecessor), Jim Cartwright's play "Road" at the "Royal Court Theatre", "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" (1980), "Absolute Beginners" (1986), "Drowning by Numbers" (1988), "White Hunter Black Heart" (1990) with Clint Eastwood, "Princess Caraboo" (1994), and several films by Alex Cox including "Sid and Nancy" (1986), "Straight to Hell" (1987) and "Walker" (1987).


title: Edward Tudor-Pole

text: In "Kull the Conqueror" (1997) he played Enaros, the antagonist of the film. The following year he appeared as a slumlord in the film version of "Les Misérables", and as a blind man in Russell Mulcahy's horror film "Tale of the Mummy". He also was seen in "Quills" (2000), "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" (2004) as Spike Milligan, and "The Queen's Sister" (2005). Most recently he had a small part in an episode of "Agatha Christie's Marple" entitled "A Pocket Full of Rye", shown in 2009. His appearance in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002) as Mr Borgin, the owner of Borgin and Burke's store, was cut from the theatrical release, but is included in the extended edition DVD. He also appeared as a ranting street preacher in season two of "Game of Thrones".


title: Poms (film)

text: Poms is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Zara Hayes, starring Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Pam Grier, Celia Weston, Alisha Boe, Phyllis Somerville (in her final film role), Charlie Tahan, Bruce McGill, and Rhea Perlman. The film follows a group of women from a retirement community who decide to start a cheerleading squad. It was theatrically released in North America on May 10, 2019, by STX Entertainment.


title: Poms (film)

text: Martha, a woman dying of cancer, decides to forego further treatment, and relocates from her apartment in New York to a retirement community called Sun Springs in Georgia. When Martha arrives at Sun Springs, she meets community supervisor Vicki, who gives Martha a tour of the community, where she explains that every resident must belong to one of the community's clubs.


title: Poms (film)

text: Martha moves into her new house and promptly meets her next door neighbor Sheryl. Later at night, Martha is unable to sleep due to loud noise coming from Sheryl's house, forcing her to call the community's security chief Carl to stop the noise. But Sheryl and her party sneak into Martha's house to evade Carl, where she convinces a reluctant Martha to allow them to hide there. From that night on, Sheryl becomes interested in being Martha's friend and invites her to various activities, but Martha resists.


title: Poms (film)

text: Martha watches a television program about fireworks being used for funerals, and makes plans to use fireworks for her own funeral. A few days later, she accepts Sheryl as a friend, and while getting to know each other, Sheryl learns that Martha was a cheerleader, where she had to quit before her first game to care for her ailing mother. Sheryl says that Martha should try to be a cheerleader again. After thinking about it, Martha goes to see Sheryl at a high school where she works as a substitute teacher and convinces Sheryl to help her start up a cheerleading club in Sun Springs.


title: Poms (film)

text: After convincing Vicki to allow them to start the club and to recruit the minimum requirement of eight members, Martha and Sheryl hold tryouts. Six women join: Olive, Alice, Ruby, Evelyn, Phyllis and Helen. Martha hires Sheryl's teenage grandson Ben to be their DJ. As the group commences practicing, it quickly becomes difficult for them due to their age and physical conditions. When Vicki tells them they have to find a new place to practice, Sheryl reacts by getting them a spot at a pep rally at the high school. In the locker room before the rally, they get teased by a group of younger cheerleaders, particularly Chloe, one of Sheryl's students. During the pep rally, Martha's group performs okay until Helen hurts her ankle. When Helen is taken to the hospital, they discover from Ben that a video of them at the pep rally has gone viral. In addition with Helen's overbearing son Tom threatening the group with a lawsuit due to her injury, Vicki and other members of the community vote unanimously to disband the club.


title: Poms (film)

text: With the group going back to their routine lives, Martha invites Sheryl to her house for a drink. When Sheryl watches the video of them, she hears a girl's voice and recognizes it as Chloe, leading her and Martha to blame Chloe for posting the video. They go to Chloe's house and berate her, but Chloe, who has become sympathetic for them, starts crying because she didn't know that her friends would post the video. When Chloe apologizes, Martha and Sheryl forgive her and tell her that they're reassembling the cheerleading squad and need Chloe's help. Chloe agrees to become their choreographer and their coach. Back at Sun Springs, Martha inspires her teammates to come back together so they can prove everybody wrong and show that they can be a team if they work together.


title: Poms (film)

text: With Chloe coaching them, the group improves greatly as they prepare for an upcoming cheerleading competition. Meanwhile, Martha's cancer, which she has kept secret from the group, has progressed. After leaving a group party, she collapses while walking home. In the hospital, she tells Sheryl that she's not going to the competition and is scared about dying. Sheryl urges Martha to continue her cheerleading despite her suffering.


title: Poms (film)

text: The next day, Martha and the group rescue Helen from Tom by springing her from her bedroom and escapes from a pursuing Vicki and a sympathetic Chief Carl as they make their way to the competition. Many men from the community, including Chief Carl, gladly attend the competition. The group performs successfully and wins the audience and the other cheerleading teams over. The next scene shows a firework going off, indicating that Martha has died and had her funeral.


title: Poms (film)

text: A year later, the group has added new members to their squad. They get ready to perform in another cheerleading competition, both as a charity benefit for cancer and in memory of Martha. During the end credits, video clips show other people doing the same kind of dancing that Martha and the group have done.


title: Poms (film)

text: In July 2016, it was announced Zara Hayes would direct the film, from a story written by Hayes and Shane Atkinson and a screenplay by Atkinson. Nick Meyer, Rose Ganguzza, Celyn Jones, Kelly McCormick and Andy Evans serve as producers on the film, while Meyer Schaberg and Marc Schaberg will serve as executive producers, under their Sierra/Affinity, Mad as Birds Films and Rose Pictures banners, respectively. In May 2017, Diane Keaton and Jacki Weaver joined the cast of the film. In July 2018, Pam Grier, Rhea Perlman, Celia Weston, Phyllis Somerville, Alisha Boe, Charlie Tahan and Bruce McGill joined the cast of the film.


title: Poms (film)

text: In November 2018, STX Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film for $8–9 million. It was released in the United States on May 10, 2019.


title: Poms (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Poms" was released alongside "Pokémon Detective Pikachu", "Tolkien" and "The Hustle", was projected to gross $7–10 million from 2,700 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $1.5 million on its first day, including $225,000 from Thursday night previews. It ended up under-performing, debuting to just $5.4 million and finishing in sixth. In its second weekend the film dropped 61% to $2.1 million, finishing ninth.


title: Poms (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "While the cast is something to cheer about, "Poms" squanders its talented stars on a clichéd comedy that disrespects the demographic it's trying to celebrate." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Poms (film)

text: Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported women over 25 (who made up 63% of the opening weekend demographic) gave it an 81% positive score.


title: The Cantos

text: The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a "canto". Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date from 1922 onwards. It is a book-length work, widely considered to present formidable difficulties to the reader. Strong claims have been made for it as the most significant work of modernist poetry of the twentieth century. As in Pound's prose writing, the themes of economics, governance and culture are integral to its content.


title: The Cantos

text: The most striking feature of the text, to a casual browser, is the inclusion of Chinese characters as well as quotations in European languages other than English. Recourse to scholarly commentaries is almost inevitable for a close reader. The range of allusion to historical events is very broad, and abrupt changes occur with little transition. There is also wide geographical reference; Pound added to his earlier interests in the classical Mediterranean culture and East Asia selective topics from medieval and early modern Italy and Provence, the beginnings of the United States, England of the seventeenth century, and details from Africa he had obtained from Leo Frobenius. References without explanation abound.


title: The Cantos

text: The section he wrote at the end of World War II, a composition started while he was interned by American occupying forces in Italy, has become known as "The Pisan Cantos", and is the part of the work most often considered to be self-sufficient. It was awarded the first Bollingen Prize in 1948. There were many repercussions, since this in effect honoured a poet who had been condemned as a traitor of his native country, and was also diagnosed with a serious and disabling mental illness.


title: The Cantos

text: "The Cantos" can appear on first reading to be chaotic or structureless because it lacks plot or a definite ending. R. P. Blackmur, an early critic, wrote, "The work of Ezra Pound has been for most people almost as difficult to understand as Soviet Russia … "The Cantos" are not complex, they are complicated". The issue of incoherence of the work is reflected by the equivocal note sounded in the final two more-or-less completed cantos; according to the William Cookson, the final two cantos show that Pound has been unable to "make" his materials cohere, while they insist that the world itself still does cohere. Pound and T. S. Eliot had previously approached the subject of fragmentation of human experience: while Eliot was writing, and Pound editing, "The Waste Land", Pound had said that he looked upon experience as similar to a series of iron filings on a mirror. Each filing is disconnected, but they are drawn into the shape of a rose by the presence of a magnet. "The Cantos" takes a position between the mythic unity of Eliot's poem and Joyce's flow of consciousness and attempting to work out how history (as fragment) and personality (as shattered by modern existence) can cohere in the "field" of poetry.


title: The Cantos

text: Nevertheless, there are indications in Pound's other writings that there may have been some formal plan underlying the work. In his 1918 essay "A Retrospect", Pound wrote "I think there is a 'fluid' as well as a 'solid' content, that some poems may have form as a tree has form, some as water poured into a vase. That most symmetrical forms have certain uses. That a vast number of subjects cannot be precisely, and therefore not properly rendered in symmetrical forms". Critics like Hugh Kenner who take a more positive view of "The Cantos" have tended to follow this hint, seeing the poem as a poetic record of Pound's life and reading that sends out new branches as new needs arise with the final poem, like a tree, displaying a kind of unpredictable inevitability.


title: The Cantos

text: Another approach to the structure of the work is based on a letter Pound wrote to his father in the 1920s, in which he stated that his plan was:


title: The Cantos

text: In the light of cantos written later than this letter, it would be possible to add other recurring motifs to this list, such as: "periploi" ('voyages around'); vegetation rituals such as the Eleusinian Mysteries; "usura", banking and credit; and the drive towards clarity in art, such as the 'clear line' of Renaissance painting and the 'clear song' of the troubadours.


title: The Cantos

text: The poem's symbolic structure also makes use of an opposition between darkness and light. Images of light are used variously, and may represent neoplatonic ideas of divinity, the artistic impulse, love (both sacred and physical) and good governance, amongst other things. The moon is frequently associated in the poem with creativity, while the sun is more often found in relation to the sphere of political and social activity, although there is frequent overlap between the two. From the "Rock Drill" sequence on, the poem's effort is to merge these two aspects of light into a unified whole.


title: The Cantos

text: "The Cantos" was initially published in the form of separate sections, each containing several cantos that were numbered sequentially using Roman numerals (except cantos 85–109, first published with Arabic numerals). The original publication dates for the groups of cantos are as given below. The complete collection of cantos was published together in 1987 (including a final short coda or fragment, dated 24 August 1966). In 2002 a bilingual edition of “Posthumous Cantos” ("Canti postumi") appeared in Italy. This is a concise selection from the mass of drafts (circa 1915–1965) uncollected or unpublished by Pound, and contains many passages that throw light on "The Cantos".


title: The Cantos

text: Pound was discussing the possibility of writing a long poem since around 1905, but work did not begin until sometime between 1912 and 1917, when the initial versions of the first three cantos of the proposed "poem of some length" were published in the journal "Poetry". In this version, the poem began very much as a direct address by the poet, not to the reader but to the ghost of Robert Browning. Pound came to realise that this need to be a controlling narrative voice was working against the revolutionary intent of his own poetic position, and these first three ur-cantos were soon abandoned and a new starting point sought. The answer was a Latin version of Homer's "Odyssey" by the Renaissance scholar Andreas Divus that Pound had bought in Paris sometime between 1906 and 1910. Using the metre and syntax of his 1911 version of the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Seafarer", Pound made an English version of Divus' rendering of the "nekuia" episode in which Odysseus and his companions sail to Hades in order to find out what their future holds. In using this passage to open the poem, Pound introduces a major theme; the excavating of the "dead" past to illuminate both present and future. He also echoes Dante's opening to "The Divine Comedy" in which the poet also descends into hell to interrogate the dead. The canto concludes with some fragments from the "Second Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite", in a Latin version by Georgius Dartona which Pound found in the Divus volume, followed by "So that:"—an invitation to read on.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto II opens with some lines rescued from the ur-cantos in which Pound reflects on the indeterminacy of identity by setting side by side four different versions of the troubadour poet Sordello: Browning's poem of that name, the actual Sordello of flesh and blood, Pound's own version of the poet and the Sordello of the brief life appended to manuscripts of his poems. These lines are followed by a sequence of identity shifts involving a seal, the daughter of Lir and other figures associated with the sea: Eleanor of Aquitaine who, through a pair of Homeric epithets that echo her name, shifts into Helen of Troy, Homer with his ear for the "sea surge", the old men of Troy who want to send Helen back over the sea, and an extended, imagistic retelling of the story of the abduction of Dionysus by sailors and his transformation of his abductors into dolphins. Although this last story is found in the "Homeric Hymn to Dionysus", also contained in the Divus volume, Pound draws on the version in Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses", thus introducing the world of ancient Rome into the poem.


title: The Cantos

text: The next five cantos (III–VII), again drawing heavily on Pound's Imagist past for their technique, are essentially based in the Mediterranean, drawing on classical mythology, Renaissance history, the world of the troubadours, Sappho's poetry, a scene from the legend of El Cid that introduces the theme of banking and credit, and Pound's own visits to Venice to create a textual collage saturated with neoplatonist images of clarity and light.


title: The Cantos

text: Cantos VIII–XI draw on the story of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, 15th-century poet, condottiero, lord of Rimini and patron of the arts. Quoting extensively from primary sources, including Malatesta's letters, Pound especially focuses on the building of the church of San Francesco, also known as the Tempio Malatestiano. Designed by Leon Battista Alberti and decorated by artists including Piero della Francesca and Agostino di Duccio, this was a landmark Renaissance building, being the first church to use the Roman triumphal arch as part of its structure. For Pound, who spent a good deal of time seeking patrons for himself, James Joyce, Eliot and a string of little magazines and small presses, the role of the patron was a crucial cultural question, and Malatesta is the first in a line of ruler-patrons to appear in "The Cantos".


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XII consists of three moral tales on the subject of profit. The first and third of these treat of the creation of profit "ex nihilo" by exploiting the money supply, comparing this activity with "unnatural" fertility. The central parable contrasts this with wealth-creation based on the creation of useful goods. Canto XIII then introduces Confucius, or Kung, who is presented as the embodiment of the ideal of social order based on ethics.


title: The Cantos

text: This section of "The Cantos" concludes with a vision of hell. Cantos XIV and XV use the convention of the "Divine Comedy" to present Pound/Dante moving through a hell populated by bankers, newspaper editors, hack writers and other 'perverters of language' and the social order. In Canto XV, Plotinus takes the role of guide played by Virgil in Dante's poem. In Canto XVI, Pound emerges from Hell and into an earthly paradise where he sees some of the personages encountered in earlier cantos. The poem then moves to recollections of World War I, and of Pound's writer and artist friends who fought in it. These include Richard Aldington, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Wyndham Lewis, Ernest Hemingway and Fernand Léger, whose war memories the poem includes a passage from (in French). Finally, there is a transcript of Lincoln Steffens' account of the Russian Revolution. These two events, the war and revolution, mark a decisive break with the historic past, including the early modernist period when these writers and artists formed a more-or-less coherent movement.


title: The Cantos

text: Originally, Pound conceived of Cantos XVII–XXVII as a group that would follow the first volume by starting with the Renaissance and ending with the Russian Revolution. He then added a further three cantos and the whole eventually appeared as "A Draft of XXX Cantos" in an edition of 200 copies. The major locus of these cantos is the city of Venice.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XVII opens with the words "So that", echoing the end of Canto I, and then moves on to another Dionysus-related metamorphosis story. The rest of the canto is concerned with Venice, which is portrayed as a stone forest growing out of the water. Cantos XVIII and XIX return to the theme of financial exploitation, beginning with the Venetian explorer Marco Polo's account of Kublai Khan's paper money. Canto XIX deals mainly with those who profit from war, returning briefly to the Russian Revolution, and ends on the stupidity of wars and those who promote them.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XX opens with a grouping of phrases, words and images from Mediterranean poetry, ranging from Homer through Ovid, Propertius and Catullus to the "Song of Roland" and Arnaut Daniel. These fragments constellate to form an exemplum of what Pound calls "clear song". There follows another exemplum, this time of the linguistic scholarship that enables us to read these old poetries and the specific attention to words this study requires. Finally, this "clear song" and intellectual activity is implicitly contrasted with the inertia and indolence of the lotus eaters, whose song completes the canto. There are references to the Malatesta family and to Borso d'Este, who tried to keep the peace between the warring Italian city states.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XXI deals with the machinations of the Medici bank, especially with the Medici's effect on Venice. These are contrasted with the actions of Thomas Jefferson, who is shown as a cultured leader with an interest in the arts. A phrase from one of Sigismondo Pandolfo's letters inserted into the Jefferson passage draws an explicit parallel between the two men, a theme that is to recur later in the poem. The next canto continues the focus on finance by introducing the Social Credit theories of C.H. Douglas for the first time.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XXIII returns to the world of the troubadours via Homer and Renaissance neo-platonism. Pound saw Provençal culture as a nexus of survival of the old pagan beliefs, and the destruction of the Cathar stronghold at Montsegur at the end of the Albigensian Crusade is held up as an example of the tendency of authority to crush all such alternative cultures. The destruction of Mont Segur is implicitly compared with the destruction of Troy in the closing lines of the canto. Canto XXIV then returns to 15th-century Italy and the d'Este family, again focusing on their Venetian activities and Niccolo d'Este's voyage to the Holy Land.


title: The Cantos

text: Cantos XXV and XXVI draw on the Book of the Council Major in Venice and Pound's personal memories of the city. Anecdotes on Titian and Mozart deal with the relationship between artist and patron. Canto XXVII returns to the Russian Revolution, which is seen as being destructive, not constructive, and echoes the ruin of Eblis from Canto VI. XXVIII returns to the contemporary scene, with a passage on transatlantic flight. The last two cantos in the series return to the world of "clear song". In Canto XXIX, a story from their visit to the Provençal site at Excideuil contrasts Pound and Eliot on the subject of Christianity, with Pound implicitly rejecting that religion. Finally, the series closes with a glimpse of the printer Hieronymus Soncinus of Fano preparing to print the works of Petrarch.


title: The Cantos

text: The first four cantos of this volume (Cantos XXXI–XXXVI) quote extensively from the letters and other writings of Jefferson, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and others to deal with the emergence of the fledgling United States and, particularly, the American banking system. Canto XXXI opens with the Malatesta family motto "Tempus loquendi, tempus tacendi" ("a time to speak, a time to be silent") to link again Jefferson and Sigismondo as individuals and the Italian and American "rebirths" as historical movements.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XXXV contrasts the dynamism of Revolutionary America with the "general indefinite wobble" of the decaying aristocratic society of Mitteleuropa. This canto contains some distinctly unpleasant expressions of anti-Semitic opinions. Canto XXXVI opens with a translation of Cavalcanti's canzone "Donna mi pregha" ("A lady asks me"). This poem, a lyric meditation of the nature and philosophy of love, was a touchstone text for Pound. He saw it as an example of the post-Montsegur survival of the Provençal tradition of "clear song", precision of thought and language, and nonconformity of belief. The canto then closes with the figure of the 9th-century Irish philosopher and poet John Scotus Eriugena, who was an influence on the Cathars and whose writings were condemned as heretical in both the 11th and 13th centuries. Canto XXXVII then turns to Jackson, Van Buren, Nicholas Biddle, Alexander Hamilton and the Bank War and also contains a reference to the Peggy Eaton affair.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XXXVIII opens with a quotation from Dante in which he accuses Albert of Germany of falsifying the coinage. The canto then turns to modern commerce and the arms trade and introduces Frobenius as "the man who made the tempest". There is also a passage on Douglas' account of the problem of purchasing power. Canto XXXIX returns to the island of Circe and the events before the voyage undertaken in the first canto unfolds as a hymn to natural fertility and ritual sex. Canto XL opens with Adam Smith on trade as a conspiracy against the general public, followed by another periplus, a condensed version of Hanno the Navigator's account of his voyage along the west coast of Africa. The book closes with an account of Benito Mussolini as a man of action and another lament on the waste of war.


title: The Cantos

text: Cantos XLII, XLIII and XLIV move to the Sienese bank, the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and to the 18th-century reforms of Pietro Leopoldo, Habsburg Arch Duke of Tuscany. Founded in 1624, the Monte dei Paschi was a low-interest, not-for-profit credit institution whose funds were based on local productivity as represented by the natural increase generated by the grazing of sheep on community land (the "BANK of the grassland" of Canto XLIII). As such, it represents a Poundian non-capitalist ideal.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XLV is a litany against "Usura" or usury, which Pound later defined as a charge on credit regardless of potential or actual production and the creation of wealth "ex nihilo" by a bank to the benefit of its shareholders. The canto declares this practice as both contrary to the laws of nature and inimical to the production of good art and culture. Pound later came to see this canto as a key central point in the poem. It contrasts what has gone before with the practices of institutions such as the Bank of England that are designed to exploit the issuing of credit to make profits, thereby, in Pound's view, contributing to poverty, social deprivation, crime and the production of "bad" art as exemplified by the baroque.


title: The Cantos

text: The poem returns to the island of Circe and Odysseus about to "sail after knowledge" in Canto XLVII. There follows a long lyrical passage in which a ritual of floating votive candles on the bay at Rapallo near Pound's home every July merges with the cognate myths of Tammuz and Adonis, agricultural activity set in a calendar based on natural cycles, and fertility rituals.


title: The Cantos

text: Canto XLVIII presents more instances of what Pound considers to be usury, some of which display signs of his anti-Semitic position. The canto then moves via Montsegur to the village of St-Bertrand-de-Comminges, which stands on the site of the ancient city of Lugdunum Convenarum. The destruction of this city represents, for the poet, the treatment of civilisation by those he considers barbarous.