Frank Parker Website Archives - Page 15 of 18

Peace

I am a peaceful person and will always try to keep the peace if I can, however, due to my mental health it took me a long time to find my inner peace and to learn to love myself. That has changed now and when I look in the mirror I am proud of who looks back at me.

Sharing inspirational and motivational words and pictures is always a good way to help anyone’s inner peace and boost their confidence. You will find such things on this page.

When we can find our inner peace then, like a pebble that has been thrown into the sea, the outer peace ripples will spread far and wide. Love is so much better for you than hate.

Blog Posts

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 1.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 2.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 3.

Peace: Buddhism – Part One.

Peace: Buddhism – Part Two.

Peace: Buddhism – Part Three.

Links

Brainy Quotes – If you are looking for inspirational and famous quotes by authors you know and love then check out Brainy Quote for their vast collection.

E-Books

Although I love the feel and smell of real books in my hands I am not against e-books. They are a convenience for many and you have the advantage of being able to store lots of them on the media of your choice.

I have sold them in the past and I plan to sell them again. I have also given away plenty of free ones in my time and you will find free ones on my website too. They will be shown via Blog Posts below.

You can get lots more free e-books via Free-eBooks.net by becoming a member by clicking the link below.

Another fantastic source for free e-books is Project Gutenberg (link below).

About E-Books

An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as “an electronic version of a printed book”, some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, but also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

In the 2000s, there was a trend of print and e-book sales moving to the Internet, where readers buy traditional paper books and e-books on websites using e-commerce systems. With print books, readers are increasingly browsing through images of the covers of books on publisher or bookstore websites and selecting and ordering titles online; the paper books are then delivered to the reader by mail or another delivery service. With e-books, users can browse through titles online, and then when they select and order titles, the e-book can be sent to them online or the user can download the e-book. By the early 2010s, e-books had begun to overtake hardcover by overall publication figures in the U.S.

The main reasons for people buying e-books are possibly lower prices, increased comfort (as they can buy from home or on the go with mobile devices) and a larger selection of titles. PC Magazine Encyclopedia says “electronic bookmarks make referencing easier, and e-book readers may allow the user to annotate pages.” Although fiction and non-fiction books come in e-book formats, technical material is especially suited for e-book delivery because it can be digitally searched for keywords. In addition, for programming books, code examples can be copied. The amount of e-book reading is increasing in the U.S.; by 2014, 28% of adults had read an e-book, compared to 23% in 2013; and by 2014, 50% of American adults had an e-reader or a tablet, compared to 30% owning such devices in 2013.

E-Books Terminology

E-books are also referred to as “ebooks”, “eBooks”, “Ebooks”, “e-Books”, “e-journals”, “e-editions”, or “digital books”. A device that is designed specifically for reading e-books is called an “e-reader”, “ebook device”, or “eReader”.

The History Of E-Books

The Readies (1930)

Some trace the concept of an e-reader, a device that would enable the user to view books on a screen, to a 1930 manifesto by Bob Brown, written after watching his first “talkie” (a movie with sound). He titled it The Readies, playing off the idea of the “talkie”. In his book, Brown says movies have outmanoeuvred the book by creating the “talkies” and, as a result, reading should find a new medium:

“A simple reading machine which I can carry or move around, attach to any old electric light plug and read hundred-thousand-word novels in 10 minutes if I want to, and I want to.”

Brown’s notion, however, was much more focused on reforming orthography and vocabulary, than on medium (“It is time to pull out the stopper” and begin “a bloody revolution of the word.”): introducing huge numbers of portmanteau symbols to replace normal words, and punctuation to simulate action or movement; so it is not clear whether this fits into the history of “e-books” or not. Later e-readers never followed a model at all like Brown’s; however, he correctly predicted the miniaturization and portability of e-readers. In an article, Jennifer Schuessler writes, “The machine, Brown argued, would allow readers to adjust the type size, avoid paper cuts and save trees, all while hastening the day when words could be ‘recorded directly on the palpitating ether.” Brown believed that the e-reader (and his notions for changing the text itself) would bring a completely new life to reading. Schuessler correlates it with a DJ spinning bits of old songs to create a beat or an entirely new song, as opposed to just a remix of a familiar song.

Inventors

The inventor of the first e-book is not widely agreed upon. Some notable candidates include the following:

Roberto Busa (1946–1970)

The first e-book may be the Index Thomisticus, a heavily annotated electronic index to the works of Thomas Aquinas, prepared by Roberto Busa, S.J. beginning in 1946 and completed in the 1970s. Although originally stored on a single computer, a distributable CD-ROM version appeared in 1989. However, this work is sometimes omitted; perhaps because the digitized text was a means for studying written texts and developing linguistic concordances, rather than as a published edition in its own right. In 2005, the Index was published online.

Ángela Ruiz Robles (1949)

In 1949, Ángela Ruiz Robles, a teacher from Ferrol, Spain, patented the Enciclopedia Mecánica, or the Mechanical Encyclopedia, a mechanical device that operated on compressed air where text and graphics were contained on spools that users would load onto rotating spindles. Her idea was to create a device that would decrease the number of books that her pupils carried to school. The final device was planned to include audio recordings, a magnifying glass, a calculator and an electric light for night reading. Her device was never put into production but a prototype is kept in the National Museum of Science and Technology in A Coruña.

Douglas Engelbart And Andries Van Dam (1960s)

Alternatively, some historians consider electronic books to have started in the early 1960s, with the NLS project headed by Douglas Engelbart at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), and the Hypertext Editing System and FRESS projects headed by Andries van Dam at Brown University. FRESS documents ran on IBM mainframes and were structure-oriented rather than line-oriented; they were formatted dynamically for different users, display hardware, window sizes, and so on, as well as having automated tables of contents, indexes, and so on. All these systems also provided extensive hyperlinking, graphics, and other capabilities. Van Dam is generally thought to have coined the term “electronic book”, and it was established enough to use in an article title by 1985.

FRESS was used for reading extensive primary texts online, as well as for annotation and online discussions in several courses, including English Poetry and Biochemistry. Brown’s faculty made extensive use of FRESS; for example the philosopher Roderick Chisholm used it to produce several of his books. Thus in the Preface to Person and Object (1979) he writes “The book would not have been completed without the epoch-making File Retrieval and Editing System…” Brown University’s work in electronic book systems continued for many years, including US Navy funded projects for electronic repair-manuals; a large-scale distributed hypermedia system known as InterMedia; a spinoff company Electronic Book Technologies that built DynaText, the first SGML-based e-reader system; and the Scholarly Technology Group’s extensive work on the Open eBook standard.

Michael S. Hart (1971)

Despite the extensive earlier history, several publications report Michael S. Hart as the inventor of the e-book. In 1971, the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the University of Illinois gave Hart extensive computer time. Seeking a worthy use of this resource, he created his first electronic document by typing the United States Declaration of Independence into a computer in plain text. Hart planned to create documents using plain text to make them as easy as possible to download and view on devices.

Read more about The History Of E-Books here.

E-Books Formats

Read about E-Books Formats here.

The Production Of E-Books

Some e-books are produced simultaneously with the production of a printed format, as described in electronic publishing, though in many instances they may not be put on sale until later. Often, e-books are produced from pre-existing hard-copy books, generally by document scanning, sometimes with the use of robotic book scanners, having the technology to quickly scan books without damaging the original print edition. Scanning a book produces a set of image files, which may additionally be converted into text format by an OCR program. Occasionally, as in some projects, an e-book may be produced by re-entering the text from a keyboard. Sometimes only the electronic version of a book is produced by the publisher. It is possible to release an e-book chapter by chapter as each chapter is written. This is useful in fields such as information technology where topics can change quickly in the months that it takes to write a typical book. It is also possible to convert an electronic book to a printed book by print on demand. However, these are exceptions as tradition dictates that a book be launched in the print format and later if the author wishes an electronic version is produced. The New York Times keeps a list of best-selling e-books, for both fiction and non-fiction.

Blog Posts

Books: The Allcott’s By Jeffrey Allen.

Books: The Oz Series By L. Frank Baum.

E-Books: Free Fantasy E-Books.

E-Books: Free Horror E-Books.

Links

BruceEmmerling on Pixabay – The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of BruceEmmerling. You can find more great work from the photographer Bruce and lots more free stock photo’s at Pixabay.

Free-eBooks.net – Official website. Free-eBooks.net is the internet’s number one source for free e-book downloads, e-book resources & e-book authors. Read and download e-books for FREE – anytime.

Use the link above to sign up and enjoy five free e-books each and every month with a Standard Account or upgrade to V.I.P. status for unlimited e-book and audiobook downloads.

Project Gutenberg – Project Gutenberg is an online library of free e-books and was the first provider of free electronic books. Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg, invented e-books in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of them and related content today.

Pool

When I left school in 1982 I used to play pool (and snooker) with a friend at the time, Dominic Duffy. He lived down the road from me. I used to enjoy playing on his six-foot table with him in his back garden. It was even better on lovely, hot summer days. It was fun.

In the 2010’s I used to play pool mainly at the Emerald Club in Green Lane, Small Heath and The Hunters Moon in Coleshill Road, Hodge Hill with my granddaughter Kasey’s dad, Andy Sayers. He is yet another friend that used to be. You see I am the same person I have always been, it is just everyone else who seems to end up not giving a shit and/or end up being so far up their own arse thinking they are better than me and become total twats for one reason or another. Guess what? THEY AREN’T!

About Pool

Pool is a classification of cue sports played on a table with six pockets along the rails, into which balls are deposited. Each specific pool game has its own name; some of the better-known include eight-ball, blackball, nine-ball, ten-ball, seven-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, and bank pool.

The generic term pocket billiards is sometimes also used, and favoured by some pool-industry bodies, but is technically a broader classification, including games such as snooker, Russian pyramid, and Kaisa, which are not referred to as pool games. In most parts of the world, it is commonly referred to as just “billiards”, analogous to the term “bowling” is commonly used to refer to the game of ten-pin bowling.

There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such as American four-ball billiards, bottle pool, cowboy pool, and English billiards.

Read more here.

The Etymology Of Pool

The etymology of “pool” is uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary speculates that “pool” and other games with collective stakes is derived from the French poule (literally translated “hen”), in which the poule is the collected prize; alternatively, it could derive from the verb to pool in the sense of combining objects or stakes. The oldest use of the word “pool” to describe a billiards-like game was made in 1797 in a Virginia newspaper. The OED defines it as generally “any of various types of billiards for two or more players” but goes on to note that the first specific meaning of “a game in which each player uses a cue ball of a distinctive colour to pocket the balls of the other player(s) in a certain order, the winner taking all the stakes submitted at the start of the contest” is now obsolete, and its other specific definitions are all for games that originate in the United States. In the British Empire for most of the nineteenth through the early twentieth century, pool referred specifically to the game of life pool.

Although skittle pool is played on a pocketless carom billiards table, the term pool later stuck to all new games of pocket billiards as the sport gained in popularity in the United States, and so outside the cue sports industry, which has long favoured the more formal term pocket billiards, the common name for the sport has remained pool. The OxfordDictionaries.com definition no longer even provides the obsolete meaning found in the print edition and refers only to the typical game “using two sets [each] of seven coloured and numbered balls … with one black ball and a white cue ball” on a table with pockets.

The History Of Pool

With the exception of one pocket, games typically called “pool” today are descended from two English games imported to the United States during the 19th century. The first was English billiards which became American four-ball billiards, essentially the same game but with an extra red object ball to increase scoring opportunities. It was the most popular billiards game in the mid-19th century until dethroned by the carom game straight rail. American four-ball tournaments tried switching to carom tables in the 1870s but this did not save it from being doomed to obscurity, the last professional tournament was held in 1876. Cowboy pool is a surviving member of this group of games.

The second and more influential game was pyramid pool. By 1850 a variant called fifteen-ball pool became popular. Both games were supplanted by continuous pool in 1888, the immediate forerunner of straight pool (1910). New games introduced at the turn of the 20th century include Kelly pool and eight-ball. The distinctive appearance of pool balls with their many colours and division between solid and striped balls came about by 1889. Prior to this, object balls were uniformly deep-red and differentiated only by numbers. English pyramid pool and life pool players were the first to adopt balls with different colours. The stripes were the last addition.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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SouthcottC’s page on Wikipedia – The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of SouthcotC and here you can see his contributions to Wikipedia.

Snooker

I used to watch snooker in the 70’s when Pot Black was on the telly, in all its black and white glory because my family didn’t have a colour telly until the 80’s from a friend at the time, Dominic Duffy. He lived down the road from me and I can remember me and him carrying it to mine and stopping often because it weighed a bloody ton!

I think it was 1983 when I brought this bulky wooden beast home.

It was during my mid-teens, at secondary school, that I fell in love with the sport properly, playing at a couple of friends at the time, Christopher Eaton and Mark Siletoe’s houses, with others, on their six-foot tables in their living rooms. There wasn’t a lot of room but we all had a laugh.

Finally, when I left school in 1982, I got my first six-foot snooker table from my sister Julie’s catalogue. It went into my bedroom and I had great times playing on it with my Brother-In-Law to be Ken although there wasn’t much room there either, ha ha. As time went on, when he and Julie got married, we used to play on a full-sized 12-foot table at The British Legion (now called The Crown but it will always be “The Legion” to me) in Shard End which was over the road from my house.

I used to enjoy playing snooker and pool with D. D. on his six-foot table in his back garden. It was even better on lovely, hot summer days. It was fun. Me and him used to go to The Local snooker club in Arran Way, Chelmsley Wood as well sometimes. I was never too great at playing on a full-sized snooker table but, like anything else, I always enjoy taking part. It should never be about you being better than anyone, or indeed if anyone is better than you in any sport (or anything in life for that matter). It should be about taking part and good sportsmanship (or mutual respect). Those are morals I had when I was growing up and still have to this day.

My happiest snooker memory was sitting up till the early hours of the morning watching the 1985 World Snooker Championship final with my dad and you can read about that thrilling classic below.

About Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that was first played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the white cue ball to pot the other twenty-one snooker balls in the correct sequence, accumulating points for each pot. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points. A snooker match ends with one of the players having won a predetermined number of frames.

Snooker gained its identity in 1875 when army officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, stationed in Ootacamund, Madras, and Jubbulpore, devised a set of rules that combined black pool and pyramids. The word snooker was a well-established derogatory term used to describe inexperienced or first-year military personnel. In the early 20th century, snooker was predominantly played in the United Kingdom where it was considered a “gentleman’s sport” until the early 1960s, before growing in popularity as a national pastime and eventually spreading overseas. The standard rules of the game were first established in 1919 when the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed. As a professional sport, snooker is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

Read more here.

The History Of Snooker

Snooker was given its first definite reference in England in an 1887 issue of the Sporting Life newspaper, which led to a growth in popularity. Chamberlain was revealed to be the game’s inventor, 63 years after the fact, in a letter to The Field magazine published on 19 March 1938. Snooker became increasingly popular across the Indian colonies of the British Raj, and in the United Kingdom, but it remained a game mainly for military officers and the gentry, and many gentlemen’s clubs that had a snooker table would not allow non-members inside to play. To cater for the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed. The Billiards Association (formed 1885) and the Billiards Control Club (formed 1908) merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) and a new, standardised set of rules for snooker was first established in 1919. Before this, there were local rules, but these were codified and a drawn game was abolished by the use of a re-spotted black. These rules are similar to the ones used today, although rules for a minimal point penalty was imposed later.

Played in 1926 and 1927, the first World Snooker Championship—then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker—was won by Joe Davis. As a professional English billiards and snooker player himself, Davis raised the game from being simply a recreational pastime to becoming also a professional sporting activity. Entirely dominant, he won every tournament until 1946, when he retired from taking part in the championships. The 1952 World Snooker Championship was only contested by two players and was replaced by the World Professional Match-play Championship, but was also discontinued in 1957. Feeling that the popularity of the game was waning, Davis introduced a variation known as “snooker plus”, with the addition of two extra colours, but this failed to attract attention and was very short-lived. A Women’s Professional Snooker Championship (now the World Women’s Snooker Championship) was created in 1934 for top female players, whilst a world championship for top amateur players, now known as the IBSF World Snooker Championship was founded in 1963.

Read more here.

Pot Black

About Pot Black

Pot Black was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single frame, where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points but played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game of snooker. The event was first held in 1969 with a field of eight players and ran annually until 1986. The event resurfaced for three years in both 1991 and 2005. The series was followed by events for other categories of players, with juniors and seniors events, and a celebrity version held in 2006.

Read more here.

The History Of Pot Black

The BBC began broadcasting in colour in 1967 and was looking for programmes that could exploit the new technology. The idea of broadcasting snooker, then still a minor sport, was the brainchild of David Attenborough who was the controller of BBC2 at the time. The game of snooker is based on coloured balls, and was deemed a good way to sell the new technology. The first Pot Black event was held in 1969 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham, and the programme was aired on BBC2 on 23 July 1969. This first contest featured eight players: Gary Owen, Jackie Rea, John Pulman, Ray Reardon, Fred Davis, Rex Williams, Kingsley Kennerley and John Spencer, with Reardon the eventual winner. The event continued until 1986, by which time an increasing number of snooker events were being televised and the Pot Black format was becoming outdated. The programme returned in 1990, but was discontinued after the 1993 event.

A one-day Pot Black tournament, held on 29 October 2005, was broadcast on the BBC’s Grandstand. The event featured eight players: Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Stephen Maguire, Matthew Stevens, Paul Hunter, John Higgins, Jimmy White and Shaun Murphy, with Stevens beating Murphy in the final. The 2006 edition of the tournament took place at the Royal Automobile Club in Central London on 2 September 2006. Mark Williams defeated John Higgins in the final, achieving the highest break in the history of the tournament with a 119 clearance. The 2007 edition, the final Pot Black to date, was aired on Saturday 6 October 2007, with Ken Doherty beating Shaun Murphy 71–36 in the final.

There have been six century breaks at the event. Eddie Charlton compiled the first century in 1973, a break of 110, which stood as the event record for many years until overtaken by Shaun Murphy’s 111 against Jimmy White in 2005, and Williams’s 119 clearance in 2006.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final

About The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final

The 1985 World Snooker Championship final, also known as the black ball final, was played on the weekend of 27–28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The final of the 1985 World Snooker Championship was between defending world champion Steve Davis and 1979 runner-up Dennis Taylor. It was Davis’s fourth appearance in a final, and Taylor’s second. The best-of-35-frame match was split into four sessions. Davis won every frame in the first session to lead 7–0, but only led 9–7 and 13–11 after the second and third sessions. Until the final frame, Taylor was never ahead in frames, but he tied the match three times at 11–11, 15–15 and 17–17. The deciding frame culminated over several shots on the final ball – the black. Taylor potted the ball to win his only world championship. Media outlets reported this as a major shock; Davis had been widely predicted to win the match, having won three of the previous four world championships.

The final took place during the eighth year of the BBC’s daily coverage of the championship and climaxed in the early hours of Monday 29 April. It was viewed by 18.5 million people in the United Kingdom, which as of 2021 remains a record viewing figure for BBC2, and as of 2020 is still the record for a post-midnight audience for any British television channel. The total match time of 14 hours and 50 minutes is the longest ever recorded for a best-of-35-frames match. It is the only final at this venue to contain no century breaks.

The final is one of the most famous matches in snooker history and part of the reason for the surge in the sport’s popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Two hour-long BBC documentaries, When Snooker Ruled the World from 2002 and Davis v Taylor: The ’85 Black Ball Final made in 2010, commemorated the event. The final frame was released in full on home video as “The Greatest Snooker Final of All Time”. The post-match single-word responses to the press from Davis would later be used as a basis for a recurring caricature of him in the television show Spitting Image.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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MasterTux on Pixabay – The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of MasterTux. You can find more great work from the photographer and lots more free stock photo’s at Pixabay.

Football

I am ENGLISH and I have grown up with football being a game of 11 v 11 kicking a ball and NOT Soccer, American football or whatever variation of it. You can call it what you like!

I have been a Birmingham City fan since the late 1970’s. Other teams I used to take a keen interest in were my national team, England, of course, and Nottingham Forest, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers as my Dad supported them, as such..

These days I just have a passion, as ever for Blues and, it goes without saying, I always want England to do well but I don’t watch every match.

About Football

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football (known as soccer in North America and Oceania); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby union and rugby league; and Gaelic football. These various forms of football share to varying extent common origins and are known as football codes.

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games played in many different parts of the world. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the 19th century. The expansion and cultural influence of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside the directly controlled Empire. By the end of the 19th century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football associations. During the 20th century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.

The Common Elements Of Football

The various codes of football share certain common elements and can be grouped into two main classes of football: carrying codes like American football, Canadian football, Australian football, rugby union and rugby league, where the ball is moved about the field while being held in the hands or thrown, and kicking codes such as Association football and Gaelic football, where the ball is moved primarily with the feet, and where handling is strictly limited.

Common rules among the sports include:

Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players; some variations that have fewer players (five or more per team) are also popular.

A clearly defined area in which to play the game.

Scoring goals or points by moving the ball to an opposing team’s end of the field and either into a goal area or over a line.

Goals or points result from players putting the ball between two goalposts.

The goal or line being defended by the opposing team.

Players using only their bodies to move the ball.

In all codes, common skills include passing, tackling, evasion of tackles, catching and kicking. In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts.

The Etymology Of Football

There are conflicting explanations of the origin of the word “football”. It is widely assumed that the word “football” (or the phrase “foot ball”) refers to the action of the foot kicking a ball. There is an alternative explanation, which is that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot. There is no conclusive evidence for either explanation.

The History Of Football

Ancient China

The Chinese competitive game cuju resembles modern association football. Descriptions appear in a military manual dated to the second and third centuries BC. It existed during the Han dynasty and possibly the Qin dynasty, in the second and third centuries BC. The Japanese version of cuju is kemari and was developed during the Asuka period. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari several people stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie).

Ancient Greece And Rome

The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a Greek team game known as Episkyros or phaininda, which is mentioned by a Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388–311 BC) and later referred to by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215 AD). These games appear to have resembled rugby football. The Roman politician Cicero (106–43 BC) describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber’s shop. Roman ball games already knew the air-filled ball, the follis. Episkyros is recognised as an early form of football by FIFA.

Native Americans

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games, played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named John Davis, went ashore to play a form of football with Inuit people in Greenland. There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team’s line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey, a colonist at Jamestown, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman. Pasuckuakohowog, a game similar to modern-day association football played amongst Amerindians, was also reported as early as the 17th century.

Games played in Mesoamerica with rubber balls by indigenous peoples are also well-documented as existing since before this time, but these had more similarities to basketball or volleyball, and no links have been found between such games and modern football sports. Northeastern American Indians, especially the Iroquois Confederation, played a game which made use of net racquets to throw and catch a small ball; however, although it is a ball-goal foot game, lacrosse (as its modern descendant is called) is likewise not usually classed as a form of “football.”

Oceania

On the Australian continent, several tribes of indigenous people played kicking and catching games with stuffed balls which have been generalised by historians as Marn Grook (Djab Wurrung for “game ball”). The earliest historical account is an anecdote from the 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, in which a man called Richard Thomas is quoted as saying, in about 1841 in Victoria, Australia, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: “Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it.” Some historians have theorised that Marn Grook was one of the origins of Australian rules football.

The Māori in New Zealand played a game called Ki-o-rahi consisting of teams of seven players playing on a circular field divided into zones, and scoring points by touching the ‘pou’ (boundary markers) and hitting a central ‘tupu’ or target.

These games and others may well go far back into antiquity. However, the main sources of modern football codes appear to lie in western Europe, especially England.

Turkic Peoples

Mahmud al-Kashgari in his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, described a game called “tepuk” among Turks in Central Asia. In the game, people try to attack each other’s castle by kicking a ball made of sheep leather.

Medieval And Early Modern Europe

The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in the popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. An early reference to a ball game played in Britain comes from the 9th-century Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius, which describes “a party of boys… playing at ball”. References to a ball game played in northern France known as La Soule or Choule, in which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks, date from the 12th century.

The early forms of football played in England, sometimes referred to as “mob football”, would be played in towns or between neighbouring villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams who would clash en masse, struggling to move an item, such as inflated animal’s bladder to particular geographical points, such as their opponents’ church, with play taking place in the open space between neighbouring parishes. The game was played primarily during significant religious festivals, such as Shrovetide, Christmas, or Easter, and Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).

The first detailed description of what was almost certainly football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174–1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:

“After lunch, all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.”

Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of “ball play” or “playing at ball”. This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.

An early reference to a ball game that was probably football comes from 1280 at Ulgham, Northumberland, England: “Henry… while playing at ball.. ran against David”. Football was played in Ireland in 1308, with a documented reference to John McCrocan, a spectator at a “football game” at Newcastle, County Down being charged with accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard. Another reference to a football game comes in 1321 at Shouldham, Norfolk, England: “during the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his… ran against him and wounded himself”.

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Calcio Fiorentino

In the 16th century, the city of Florence celebrated the period between Epiphany and Lent by playing a game which today is known as “calcio storico” (“historic kickball”) in the Piazza Santa Croce. The young aristocrats of the city would dress up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent form of football. For example, calcio players could punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military training exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de’ Bardi di Vernio wrote Discorso sopra ‘l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino. This is sometimes said to be the earliest code of rules for any football game. The game was not played after January 1739 (until it was revived in May 1930).

Official Disapproval And Attempts To Ban Football

There have been many attempts to ban football, from the middle ages through to the modern-day. The first such law was passed in England in 1314; it was followed by more than 30 in England alone between 1314 and 1667. Women were banned from playing at English and Scottish Football League grounds in 1921, a ban that was only lifted in the 1970s. Female footballers still face similar problems in some parts of the world.

American football also faced pressure to ban the sport. The game played in the 19th century resembled mob football that developed in medieval Europe, including a version popular on university campuses known as Old division football, and several municipalities banned its play in the mid-19th century. By the 20th century, the game had evolved to a more rugby style game. In 1905, there were calls to ban American football in the U.S. due to its violence; a meeting that year was hosted by American President Theodore Roosevelt led to sweeping rules changes that caused the sport to diverge significantly from its rugby roots to become more like the sport as it is played today.

The Establishment Of Modern Codes In Football

English Public Schools

While football continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, its public schools (equivalent to private schools in other countries) are widely credited with four key achievements in the creation of modern football codes. First of all, the evidence suggests that they were important in taking football away from its “mob” form and turning it into an organised team sport. Second, many early descriptions of football and references to it were recorded by people who had studied at these schools. Third, it was teachers, students, and former students from these schools who first codified football games, to enable matches to be played between schools. Finally, it was at English public schools that the division between “kicking” and “running” (or “carrying”) games first became clear.

The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools – mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes – comes from the Vulgaria by William Herman in 1519. Herman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester colleges and his Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase “We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde”.

Richard Mulcaster, a student at Eton College in the early 16th century and later headmaster at other English schools has been described as “the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football”. Among his contributions is the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster’s writings refer to teams (“sides” and “parties”), positions (“standings”), a referee (“judge over the parties”) and a coach “(trayning maister)”. Mulcaster’s “footeball” had evolved from the disordered and violent forms of traditional football:

“Some smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously… may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges.^“

In 1633, David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of modern football games in a short Latin textbook called Vocabula. Wedderburn refers to what has been translated into modern English as “keeping goal” and makes an allusion to passing the ball (“strike it here”). There is a reference to “get hold of the ball”, suggesting that some handling was allowed. It is clear that the tackles allowed included the charging and holding of opposing players (“drive that man back”).

A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby’s Book of Games, written in about 1660. Willughby, who had studied at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield, is the first to describe goals and a distinct playing field: “a close that has a gate at either end. The gates are called Goals.” His book includes a diagram illustrating a football field. He also mentions tactics (“leaving some of their best players to guard the goal”); scoring (“they that can strike the ball through their opponents’ goal first win”) and the way teams were selected (“the players being equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness”). He is the first to describe a “law” of football: “they must not strike [an opponent’s leg] higher than the ball”.

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Clubs

Sports clubs dedicated to playing football began in the 18th century, for example, London’s Gymnastic Society which was founded in the mid-18th century and ceased playing matches in 1796.

The first documented club to bear in the title a reference to being a ‘football club’ were called “The Foot-Ball Club” which were located in Edinburgh, Scotland , during the period 1824–41. The club forbade tripping but allowed pushing and holding and the picking up of the ball.

In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football. This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game.

The earliest known matches involving non-public school clubs or institutions are as follows:

13th February 1856: Charterhouse School v. St Bartholemew’s Hospital.

7th November 1856: Bedford Grammar School v. Bedford Town Gentlemen.

13th December 1856: Sunbury Military College v. Littleton Gentlemen.

December 1857: Edinburgh University v. Edinburgh Academical Club.

24th November 1858: Westminster School v. Dingley Dell Club.

12th May 1859: Tavistock School v. Princetown School.

5th November 1859: Eton School v. Oxford University.

22nd February 1860: Charterhouse School v. Dingley Dell Club.

21st July 1860: Melbourne v. Richmond.

17th December 1860: 58th Regiment v. Sheffield.

26th December 1860: Sheffield v. Hallam.

Read lots more about Football here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Birmingham City: Kits For The 2023/24 Season.

Birmingham City: First Team Squad For The 2023/24 Season.

Birmingham City: Staff For The 2023/24 Season.

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Sport

I never watched loads of sport growing up. I mainly watched football, especially my beloved team, Birmingham City and watched and played Snooker and Pool. I used to watch a fair bit of athletics when I left school and when I was at my secondary school I enjoyed taking part in it. I played shitty Rugby at said school and I HATED it with a passion. As most boys growing up I enjoyed having a game of football either in the school playground, a kick around at my local park or wherever. I even enjoyed kicking a ball on my own against a wall or in the yard at my old childhood house in Shard End.

I enjoyed playing the odd game of Tennis (if you can call them proper games) with others and again enjoyed hitting a tennis ball against a wall. In other words Squash for one but I didn’t care for watching them on the TV.

The only other sports I enjoyed watching on the telly was indoor bowls and when my kids were growing up I enjoyed watching wrestling with them.

Memories of the above, and more, will also be mentioned in my decades section. Check them out and the blog posts that go with them.

About Sport

Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, through casual or organized participation, improve one’s physical health. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, simultaneously or consecutively, with one winner; in others, the contest (a match) is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a “tie” or “draw”, in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.

Sport is generally recognised as a system of activities based on physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition. Other organisations, such as the Council of Europe, preclude activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports: bridge, chess, draughts (checkers), Go and xiangqi, and limits the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

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The Etymology Of Sport

The word “sport” comes from the Old French desport meaning “leisure”, with the oldest definition in English from around 1300 being “anything humans find amusing or entertaining”.

Other meanings include gambling and events staged for the purpose of gambling; hunting; and games and diversions, including ones that require exercise. Roget’s defines the noun sport as an “activity engaged in for relaxation and amusement” with synonyms including diversion and recreation.

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The History Of Sport

The history of sports extends back to the ancient world. The physical activity that developed into sports had early links with ritual, warfare and entertainment.

The study of the history of sport can teach lessons about social changes and about the nature of sport itself, as sport seems involved in the development of basic human skills (compare play). As one delves further back in history, dwindling evidence makes theories of the origins and purposes of sport more and more difficult to support.

As far back as the beginnings of sport, it was related to military training. For example, competition was used as a means to determine whether individuals were fit and useful for service. Team sports were used to train and to prove the capability to fight in the military and also to work together as a team (military unit).

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The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Doctor Who

I started watching Doctor Who back in the late 70’s when John Pertwee was the 3rd Doctor. After him, it was the 4th Doctor played by Tom Baker. I watched him up until 1981. After that, the show started going downhill with the 5th Doctor played by Peter Davinson, the 6th played by Colin Baker and the 7th played by Sylvester McCoy. I never watched that many with them in it and it got cancelled in 1989. None of the Doctor’s after Tom Baker entertained me.

I started watching it again when it came back for a TV Movie in 1996 with Paul McGann as 8th Doctor. It was OK, watchable. Then, in 2005, the series was back properly with Russel T. Davies as the showrunner and I enjoyed watching Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor but more so David Tennant as the 10th Doctor a year after him. In 2008 a new showrunner, Steven Moffat took over and Matt Smith became the 11th Doctor. He was was good, as was the 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi in 2013. The show under Moffat was good but often at times lacked decent writers and was far from as exciting as the Davies years. Then Moffat left and Chris Chibnall was replaced as the new showrunner bringing in Jodie Whittiker as the first female Doctor, Doctor number 13 and then the show started going tits up. I had no problems with it being a female Doctor, although my preference is with a male as the lead role, as long as the writing was good. It was clearly virtue-signalling from the BBC which the seeds were sown under Moffat. when the Master was changed to Missy. Little did we know it was the start of worse things to come. Under Chibnall the show became typical BBC woke shit and he has fucked up the show by retconning everything. Now the 1st Doctor is not the 1st one at all!

For almost 60 years Doctor Who has been a much-loved show for die-hard fans, like me, and we have every right to be upset over the fact that Chibnall and Whittaker have ruined it. Both are leaving in 2021 and good riddance to them.

Davies returns in 2022 as showrunner, which is good news, but I can’t see it ever being as good as it was in the past. I can’t see the BBC allowing anything to change from the woke bollocks we have to suffer now. Sadly I see it as the beginning of the end but we shall see in time.

About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television programme broadcast by BBC One since 1963. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling spaceship called the TARDIS. The TARDIS exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. With various companions, the Doctor combats foes works to save civilisations and helps people in need.

Beginning with William Hartnell, thirteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor, and in 2017 Jodie Whittaker became the first woman to play the role. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the show with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which a Time Lord “transforms” into a new body when the current one is too badly harmed to heal normally. Each actor’s portrayal is unique, but all represent stages in the life of the same character, and together, they form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling feature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet.

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The History Of Doctor Who

Doctor Who first appeared on BBC TV at 17:16:20 GMT on Saturday, 23 November 1963; this was eighty seconds later than the scheduled programme time, because of the assassination of John F. Kennedy the previous day. It was to be a regular weekly programme, each episode 25 minutes of transmission length. Discussions and plans for the programme had been in progress for a year. The head of drama Sydney Newman was mainly responsible for developing the programme, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the head of the script department (later head of serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series.

The programme was originally intended to appeal to a family audience as an educational programme using time travel as a means to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history. On 31 July 1963, Whitaker commissioned Terry Nation to write a story under the title The Mutants. As originally written, the Daleks and Thals were the victims of an alien neutron bomb attack but Nation later dropped the aliens and made the Daleks the aggressors. When the script was presented to Newman and Wilson it was immediately rejected as the programme was not permitted to contain any “bug-eyed monsters”. According to Lambert, “We didn’t have a lot of choice—we only had the Dalek serial to go … We had a bit of a crisis of confidence because Donald [Wilson] was so adamant that we shouldn’t make it. Had we had anything else ready we would have made that.” Nation’s script became the second Doctor Who serial – The Daleks (also known as The Mutants). The serial introduced the eponymous aliens that would become the series’ most popular monsters and was responsible for the BBC’s first merchandising boom.

The BBC drama department’s serials division produced the programme for 26 seasons, broadcast on BBC 1. Due to his increasingly poor health, the first actor to play the Doctor, William Hartnell, was replaced by the younger Patrick Troughton in 1966. In 1970 Jon Pertwee replaced Troughton and the series at that point moved from black and white to colour. In 1974 Tom Baker was cast as the Doctor. His eccentric style of dress and quirky personality became hugely popular, with viewing figures for the show returning to a level not seen since the height of “Dalekmania” a decade earlier. In 1981, after a record seven years in the role, Baker was replaced by Peter Davison, at 29 by far the youngest actor to be cast as the character in the series’ first run, and in 1984 Colin Baker replaced Davison. In 1985 the channel’s controller Michael Grade attempted to cancel the series, but this became an 18-month hiatus instead. He also had Colin Baker removed from the starring role in 1986. The role was recast with Sylvester McCoy, but falling viewing numbers, a decline in the public perception of the show and a less-prominent transmission slot saw production ended in 1989 by Peter Cregeen, the BBC’s new head of series. Although it was effectively cancelled with the decision not to commission a planned 27th season, which would have been broadcast in 1990, the BBC repeatedly affirmed, over several years, that the series would return.

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The Doctors

The First Doctor (1963 -1966)

The First Doctor was played by William Hartnell and his portrayal of the character was initially a stubborn and abrasive old man who was distrustful of humans, but he mellowed out into a much friendlier, grandfatherly figure who adored his travels with his companions. The First Doctor’s original companions were his granddaughter Susan, played by Carole Ann Ford, and her schoolteachers Ian Chesterton, played by William Russell and Barbara Wright, played by Jacqueline Hill. In later episodes, he travelled alongside 25th-century orphan Vicki, played by Maureen O’Brien, space pilot Steven, played by Peter Purves, Trojan handmaiden Katarina played by Adrienne Hill, and sixties flower child Dodo Chaplet, played by Jackie Lane. His final on-screen companions were the sailor Ben, played by Michael Craze and the posh and sophisticated Polly played by Anneke Wills. Of the 134 episodes, Hartnell appeared in as a regular, 44 are missing. He reprised the role once, in the tenth-anniversary story The Three Doctors (1973). The character occasionally appeared in the series after Hartnell’s death, most prominently in 1983’s The Five Doctors where he was played by Richard Hurndall, and two episodes in 2017, in a cameo in “The Doctor Falls” and in the Christmas special, “Twice Upon a Time”, played by David Bradley.

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The Second Doctor (1966 – 1969)

The Second Doctor was played by Patrick Troughton. While the P. T. era of Doctor Who is well-remembered by fans and in that era’s Doctor Who literature, it is difficult to appraise in full; of his 119 episodes, 53 remain missing. His Doctor was an outwardly scruffy, light-hearted and bumbling tramp nicknamed the Cosmic Hobo, who hid a more firm and slightly darker side he would often use to manipulate his enemies and allies alike for the greater good. His original “swinging sixties” companions were the sophisticated socialite Polly, played by Anneke Wills and working-class sailor Ben Jackson, played by Michael Craze, who travelled with his previous incarnation. They were later joined by 18th-century laird Jamie McCrimmon, played by Frazer Hines, who would become the Second Doctor’s most loyal and trusted companion. Following Ben and Polly’s departures, the Doctor and Jamie were joined by the Victorian orphan Victoria Waterfield, played by Deborah Watling and 21st-century astrophysicist Zoe Heriot, played by Wendy Padbury. Jamie and Zoe stayed with the Second Doctor until the Time Lords sent them back to their own times, with their memories of all but their first encounter with him wiped.

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The Third Doctor (1970 – 1974)

The Third Doctor was played by Jon Pertwee and he portrays him as a dapper man of action in stark contrast to his wily but less action-orientated predecessors. While previous Doctors’ stories had all involved time and space travel, for production reasons Pertwee’s stories initially depicted the Doctor stranded on Earth in exile, where he worked as a scientific advisor to the international military group UNIT. Within the story, the Third Doctor came into existence as part of a punishment from his own race, the Time Lords, who forced him to regenerate and also disabled his TARDIS. Eventually, this restriction is lifted and the Third Doctor embarks on more traditional time travel and space exploration stories.

His initial companion is UNIT scientist Liz Shaw, played by Caroline John, who unceremoniously leaves the Doctor’s company between episodes to be replaced by the more wide-eyed Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning, who then continues to accompany the Doctor after he regains use of his TARDIS. His final companion is intrepid journalist Sarah Jane Smith played by Elisabeth Sladen.

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The Fourth Doctor (1974 – 1981)

The Fourth Doctor is played by Tom Baker and he portrays him as a whimsical and sometimes brooding individual whose enormous personal warmth is at times tempered by his capacity for righteous anger. His initial companions were intrepid journalist Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, who had travelled alongside his previous incarnation, and Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan, played by Ian Marter of UNIT. His later companions were savage warrior Leela, played by Louise Jameson, robotic dog K9, Time Lady Romana played by Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward, teen genius Adric, played by Matthew Waterhouse, alien teenage aristocrat Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton, and Australian flight attendant Tegan played by Janet Fielding.

Baker portrayed the character for seven consecutive seasons, which remains the longest tenure of any actor to portray the lead, counting both the classic and modern series. He is considered to be one of the most recognisable and iconic incarnations of the Doctor both in the United Kingdom and internationally.

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The Fifth Doctor (1982 – 1984)

The Fifth Doctor is played by Peter Davison and he portrays the Fifth Doctor as having a vulnerable side and a tendency towards indecisiveness, dressed as a boyish Edwardian cricketer. He travelled with a host of companions, including boy genius Adric, played by Matthew Waterhouse, alien aristocrat Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton and Australian flight attendant Tegan Jovanka, played by Janet Fielding, whom he had travelled alongside in his previous incarnation. He also shared later adventures alongside devious schoolboy Vislor Turlough, played by Mark Strickson and American college student Peri Brown, played by Nicola Bryant.

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The Sixth Doctor (1984 – 1986)

The Sixth Doctor is played by Colin Baker and he portrays him as an arrogant, flamboyant character in brightly coloured, mismatched clothes whose brash, often patronising personality set him apart from all his previous incarnations.

Baker’s era was marked by the decision of the BBC controller Michael Grade to put the series on an 18-month “hiatus” between seasons 22 and 23, with only one new Doctor Who story, Slipback, made on the radio during the hiatus, broadcast as 6 parts (at 10 minutes each) on BBC Radio 4 from 25 July to 8 August 1985, as part of a children’s magazine show called Pirate Radio Four. Baker had been signed up for four years as the previous actor Peter Davison had left after only three years. Due to his decidedly short screen time, he appeared with only two companions, most notably the American college student Peri Brown, played by Nicola Bryant, before being briefly joined by Mel Bush, played by Bonnie Langford, a computer technician from his future he had yet to actually meet during his trial.

Prior to its postponement, season 23 was well advanced with episodes already drafted and in at least one case distributed to cast and production. Alongside “The Nightmare Fair”, “The Ultimate Evil”, “Mission to Magnus”, “Yellow Fever and How to Cure It”, the remaining stories were still under development in a 25-minute episode format after the season was postponed. These were all dropped with the reconception of the season in mid-1985 in favour of the 14-episode story arc The Trial of a Time Lord. The Sixth Doctor also appeared in the special Dimensions in Time. There are also novels and audio plays featuring the Sixth Doctor, and the character has been visually referenced several times in the revived 2000s production of the show.

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The Seventh Doctor (1987 – 1989)

The Seventh Doctor is played by Sylvester McCoy and he portrays him as a whimsical, thoughtful character who quickly becomes more layered, secretive, and manipulative. His first companion was Melanie Bush, played by Bonnie Langford, a computer programmer who travelled with his previous incarnation, and who is soon succeeded by troubled teenager and explosives expert Ace, played by Sophie Aldred, who becomes his protégée.

McCoy first appeared on TV in 1987. After the programme was cancelled at the end of 1989, the Seventh Doctor’s adventures continued in novels until the late 1990s. He made an appearance at the start of the 1996 movie before the character was replaced by the Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann.

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The Eighth Doctor (1996)

The Eighth Doctor is played by Paul McGann and he portrays him as a passionate, enthusiastic, and eccentric character. The character was introduced in the 1996 TV film Doctor Who, a back-door pilot produced in an unsuccessful attempt to relaunch the series following its 1989 cancellation. In 2013, the actor reprised the role in the mini-episode “The Night of the Doctor”, which depicts the Eighth Doctor’s final adventure and his regeneration into the War Doctor, played by John Hurt. His only companion in the television film is Grace Holloway, played by Daphne Ashbrook, a medical doctor whose surgery is partly responsible for triggering his regeneration. In the continued adventures of the character depicted in audio dramas, novels and comic books he travels alongside numerous other companions, including self-styled “Edwardian Adventuress” Charley, the alien Destrii and present-day humans Lucie and Sam.

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The War Doctor (2013)

The War Doctor was portrayed by John Hurt. Although he precedes Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor in the show’s fictional chronology, his first onscreen appearance came eight years after Eccleston’s; the War Doctor was retroactively created by showrunner Steven Moffat for productions celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary.

The War Doctor, not so named within the episodes in which he appears, is introduced as the incarnation of the Doctor who fought in the Time War of the show’s modern-day backstory. He was created as a result of a conscious decision of the Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann, to take up arms and become a warrior; in accepting this duty, the War Doctor disowned the title of “Doctor”, and after the war’s end is viewed with disdain by his subsequent incarnations, who reclaim the title that the character is known by. In the 50th anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor”, however, the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith revises his opinion of this incarnation after revisiting the final moments of the war.

In his original conception of the show’s anniversary special, Moffat had written the Ninth Doctor as having ended the Time War. However, he was “pretty certain” that Christopher Eccleston would decline to return to the role, which he did. As he also had reservations about making Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor the incarnation who had ended the war, he created a never-before-seen past incarnation of the Doctor, which allowed him “a freer hand” in writing the story, acknowledging that the success of doing this would be predicated on being able to cast an actor with a significant enough profile.

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The Ninth Doctor (2005)

The Ninth Doctor is played by Christopher Eccleston during the first series of the show’s revival in 2005. His Doctor was portrayed as a war-torn loner who disguises his trauma brought on by the Time War using a sense of humour and determination to protect the innocent. He was intentionally different from his predecessors, with Eccleston playing the character as being less eccentric.

To fit in with a 21st-century audience, the Doctor was given a primary companion, Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, who was designed to be as independent and courageous as himself. He also briefly travels with Adam Mitchell, played by Bruno Langley, a self-serving boy genius who acts as a foil to the companions but ultimately proves unworthy, and Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman) a reformed con man from the 51st century. The Doctor, Rose and Jack form a close team but are separated in the series finale in which each character has to make difficult choices and face sacrifice.

In 2006, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted Eccleston’s Doctor the third most popular Doctor. Both mainstream press and science fiction reviewers generally credit Eccleston and his incarnation of the character as helping to re-establish the show following its hiatus between 1996 and 2005. The character’s interactions with his arch-enemies, the Daleks, were particularly praised. Eccleston won several awards for his single series including the 2005 National Television Award for Best Actor.

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The Tenth Doctor (2005 – 2010)

The Tenth Doctor is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other Doctor Who spin-offs. Tennant’s time as the Tenth Doctor is still very popular among fans of the show and is generally regarded as one of the most iconic incarnations of the character often ranked alongside Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.

Tennant’s portrayal of the Doctor is of an outwardly charismatic and charming adventurer whose likeable and easygoing attitude can quickly turn to righteous fury when provoked.

This incarnation’s companions include working class shop assistant Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, medical student Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, and fiery temporary worker Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate. He eventually parts ways with them all by the end of the 2008 series finale, “Journey’s End”, after which he attempts to travel alone for the duration of the 2008–2010 specials before being accompanied by Donna’s grandfather Wilfred Mott, played by Bernard Cribbins on his final adventure in “The End of Time”.

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The Eleventh Doctor (2010 – 2013)

The Eleventh Doctor is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other Doctor Who spin-offs. The Eleventh Doctor has been very well received by fans of the show and critics often credit Smith’s portrayal of the character with achieving the “near-impossible” task of replacing David Tennant in the role.

Smith’s portrayal is a quick-tempered but compassionate character whose youthful appearance is at odds with his more discerning and world-weary temperament.

This incarnation’s main companions included feisty Scot Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan, her husband Rory Williams, played by Arthur Darvill and the mysterious Clara Oswald, played b, Jenna-Louise Coleman. He also frequently appeared alongside River Song, played by Alex Kingston, a fellow time traveller with whom he shared a romantic storyline, and he was the last Doctor to appear alongside the long-serving companion Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen prior to the actress’ death, featuring in two episodes of the spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures.

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The Twelfth Doctor (2014 – 2017)

The Twelfth Doctor is played by Peter Capaldi. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other Doctor Who spin-offs.

Capaldi’s portrayal of the Doctor is a spiky, brusque, contemplative, and pragmatic character who conceals his emotions in the course of making tough and sometimes ruthless decisions.

This incarnation’s companions include school teacher Clara Oswald, played by Jenna Coleman), canteen assistant and student Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie and alien Nardole, plyed by Matt Lucas. He also made a guest appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off series Class, appearing in the show’s first episode.

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The Thirteenth Doctor (2018 – Present day)

The Thirteenth Doctor is played by Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to play the character in the series. First appearing in the show’s eleventh series and continuing with the twelfth series, Whittaker is expected to leave the series as the Doctor following the thirteenth series and its associated specials.

Whittaker’s portayal is a light-hearted adventurer with a passion for building things, placing a high value on friendships and striving for non-violent solutions.

This incarnation’s companions include part-time warehouse worker Ryan Sinclair, played by Tosin Cole, retired bus driver and Ryan’s stepgrandfather Graham O’Brien, played by Bradley Walsh and probationary police officer Yasmin Khan, played by Mandip Gill, all of whom she met shortly after her regeneration. She later crosses paths with former companion, Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman, and is subsequently joined by cheerful Scouser and food bank volunteer Dan Lewis, played by John Bishop.

Read more here.

Doctor Who Universe Creatures And Aliens

Click here for a comprehensive list of fictional creatures and aliens from the Doctor Who universe, and spin-offs: Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Class, K-9 and K-9 and Company. Note that this list only covers alien races and other fictional creatures and not specific characters.

Doctor Who Villains

Click here for an extensive list of Doctor Who villains.

Doctor Who Henchmen

Click here for an extensive list of henchmen, fictional characters serving villains and/or monsters and aliens in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who Robots

Click here for an extensive list of many robots featured in Doctor Who. The Daleks and Cybermen are not listed as they are depicted as organic beings that become cyborgs as opposed to true robots.

Doctor Who Films (1965 – 1966: Non Canon)

The character, portrayed by the actor Peter Cushing, appeared in two films produced by AARU Productions; Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966). Plans for a third film were abandoned following the poor box office reception of the second film.

Cushing made no mention of the films in his autobiography although he kept a collection of newspaper clippings about them in a scrapbook.

The Doctor’s Personality

Whereas the contemporary television incarnation of the character was depicted as an abrasive, patronising and cantankerous extraterrestrial, as portrayed by Cushing Doctor Who is an eccentric inventor who claims to have created a time machine, named Tardis, in his back garden. He is a gentle, grandfatherly figure, naturally curious, sometimes absent-minded but not afraid to fight for justice. He is shown to have a keen and somewhat juvenile sense of humour, a strong sense of adventure, a will of iron and very strong morals.

Unlike his TV counterpart, for whom the character’s name is ambiguous, his surname is clearly stated to be “Who” in both films.

The Doctor’s Companions

In the first film, Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), the Doctor travels with his two granddaughters: Susan, played by Roberta Tovey, who is portrayed as a younger character than the Susan depicted in the TV series, and Barbara, played by Jennie Linden. They are joined by Ian Chesterton, played by Roy Castle, Barbara’s “new boyfriend”, who is depicted as a generally clumsy and comical figure (whereas the TV version of the character is more heroic, and his relationship with Barbara is amicable and professional rather than romantic.

In the sequel, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), Susan is joined by Doctor Who’s niece Louise, played by Jill Curzon and police constable Tom Campbell, played by Bernard Cribbins.

The Tardis

The exterior of Dr. Who’s Tardis (not “the TARDIS”, as referred to in the television series) resembles a British police box, although the films, unlike the TV series, offer no explanation as to why the machine has this appearance. Other than using the contrivance of the craft’s interior being larger than its exterior, the interior set bears no relation to the clean, high-tech TV version of the time. In the first film, it is filled with a chaotic jumble of wiring and electronic equipment, replaced in the second film by a number of simple consoles adorned with buttons, gauges and lights.

Read more here.

Doctor Who Word Searches

There are word searches here that relate more to the series’ return after its cancellation in 1989.

The above articles and Doctor’s images were sourced from Wikipedia and are subject to change. The Doctor’s images are the copyright of the BBC except for the image of Peter Cushing which is the copyright of StudioCanal.

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Sandwell

About Sandwell

Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, the borough comprises the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich, although these places consist of numerous smaller settlements and localities. Sandwell’s Strategic Town Centre is designated as West Bromwich, the largest town in the borough, while Sandwell Council House (the headquarters of the local authority) is situated in Oldbury. In 2019 Sandwell was ranked 12th most deprived of England’s 317 boroughs.

Bordering Sandwell is the City of Birmingham to the east, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley to the south and west, the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the north, and the City of Wolverhampton to the north-west. Spanning the borough are the parliamentary constituencies of West Bromwich West, West Bromwich East, Warley, and part of Halesowen and Rowley Regis, which crosses into the Dudley borough.

At the 2011 census, the borough had a population of 309,000 and an area of 86 square kilometres (33 sq mi).

History

The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell was formed on 1 April 1974 as an amalgamation of the county boroughs of Warley (ceremonially within Worcestershire) and West Bromwich (ceremonially within Staffordshire), under the Local Government Act 1972. Warley had been formed in 1966 by a merger of the county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Rowley Regis and Oldbury; at the same time, West Bromwich had absorbed the boroughs of Tipton and Wednesbury.

For its first 12 years of existence, Sandwell had a two-tier system of local government; Sandwell Council shared power with the West Midlands County Council. In 1986 the county council was abolished, and Sandwell effectively became a unitary authority. The borough is divided into 24 wards and is represented by 72 ward councillors on the borough council.

The borough was named after Sandwell Priory, the ruins of which are located in Sandwell Valley. The local council has considered changing its name in the past over confusion outside the West Midlands as to the whereabouts of the borough, and in June 2002 a survey of borough residents was carried out. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed favoured retaining the name Sandwell.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Links

The image shown at the top of this page is copyright unknown and was found on Wikipedia.

Sandwell College – Official website. Links to their social media sites are on there.

Dudley

About Dudley

Dudley has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, its name deriving from the Old English Duddan Leah, meaning Dudda’s clearing, and one of its churches being named in honour of the Anglo-Saxon King and Saint, Edmund.

Mentioned in the Domesday Book as Dudelei, in the hundred of Clent in Worcestershire, the town was listed as being a medium-sized manor in the possession of Earl Edwin of Mercia prior to the Norman Conquest, with William Fitz-Ansculf as Lord of the Manor in 1086. Dudley Castle, constructed in 1070 by William’s father Ansculf de Picquigny after his acquisition of the town, served as the seat of the extensive Barony of Dudley, which possessed estates in eleven different counties across England.

Of historical significance, the town was attacked by King Stephen in 1138, after a failed siege of the castle following the Baron’s decision to support Empress Matilda’s claim to the throne during The Anarchy.

History

Early History

Early Modern And Industrial Revolution

By the early 16th century the Dudley estate, now held by the Sutton family, had become severely in debt and was first mortgaged to distant relative John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, before being sold outright in 1535. Following Dudley’s execution in 1553, the estate returned to the Sutton family, during whose ownership the town was visited by Queen Elizabeth during a tour of England.

In 1605, conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot fled to Holbeche House in nearby Wall Heath, where they were defeated and captured by the forces of the Sheriff of Worcestershire.

During the English Civil, War Dudley served as a Royalist stronghold, with the castle besieged twice by the Parliamentarians and later partly demolished on the orders of the Government after the Royalist surrender. It is also from around this time that the oldest excavated condoms, found in the remains of Dudley Castle, were believed to have originated.

Dudley had become an incredibly impoverished place during the 16th and 17th centuries, but the advent of the Industrial Revolution began to reverse this trend. In the early 17th century, Dud Dudley, an illegitimate son of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley and Elizabeth Tomlinson, devised a method of smelting Iron ore using coke at his father’s works in Cradley and Pensnett Chase, though his trade was unsuccessful due to circumstances of the time. Abraham Darby was descended from Dud Dudley’s sister, Jane, and was the first person to produce iron commercially using coke instead of charcoal at his works in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire in 1709. Abraham Darby was born near Wrens Nest Hill near the town of Dudley and it is claimed that he may have known about Dud Dudley’s earlier work.

Dud Dudley’s discovery, together with improvements to the local road network and the construction of the Dudley Canal, made Dudley into an important industrial and commercial centre. The first Newcomen steam engine, used to pump water from the mines of the Lord Dudley’s estates, was installed at the Conygree coal works a mile east of Dudley Castle in 1712, though this is challenged by Wolverhampton, which also claims to have been the location of the first working Newcomen engine.

Read more here.

The above articles were sourced from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Downloads

The following Dudley Zoo & Castle leaflets are available to download in PDF format. There is a link to a free PDF reader below if you don’t have one.

Castle Leaflet Update 2019.

Coffin Race Leaflet.

Dudley Castle Booklet.

Dudley Castle Brochure.

Dudley Castle Keep Guide Book 1878.

Links

philwild on Pixabay – The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of philwild. You can find more great work from the photographer Phil and lots more free stock photo’s at Pixabay.

Dudley Zoo & Castle – Official website. The images shown above are copyright of Dudley Zoo And Castle. They run as a not for profit charity relying on ticket sales in order to operate and care for more than 1300 animals, and has nigh on 200 species, including some of the rarest creatures on Planet Earth. Please consider donating to them if you can as well as purchasing tickets to visit.

Note: I am not affiliated with Dudley Zoo & Castle whatsoever. I simply want to raise awareness to help in any way I can.

Adobe Acrobat DC Reader – This PDF reader from Adobe is the free global standard for reliably viewing, printing, and commenting on PDF documents.

Walsall

About Walsall

Walsall is a market town and administrative centre in West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Birmingham, 7 miles (11 km) east of Wolverhampton and 9 miles (14 km) from Lichfield.

Walsall is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. At the 2011 census, the town’s built-up area had a population of 67,594, with the wider borough having a population of 269,323. Neighbouring settlements in the borough include Darlaston, Brownhills, Pelsall, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge.

History

Early Settlement

The name Walsall is derived from “Walh halh”, meaning “valley of the Welsh”, referring to the British who first lived in the area. However, it is believed that a manor was held here by William FitzAnsculf, who held numerous manors in the Midlands. By the first part of the 13th century, Walsall was a small market town, with the weekly market being introduced in 1220 and held on Tuesdays. The mayor of Walsall was created as a political position in the 14th century.

The Manor of Walsall was held by the Crown and given as a reward to royal proteges. In 1525, it was given to the King’s illegitimate son, Henry Duke of Richmond, and in 1541 to the courtier Sir John Dudley, later Duke of Northumberland. It was seized by Queen Mary in 1553 after Northumberland had been found guilty of treason.

Queen Mary’s Grammar School was founded in 1554, and the school carries the queen’s personal badge as its emblem: the Tudor Rose and the sheaf of arrows of Mary’s mother Catherine of Aragon tied with a Staffordshire Knot.

The town was visited by Queen Elizabeth I, when it was known as ‘Walshale’. It was also visited by Henrietta Maria in 1643. She stayed in the town for one night at a building named the ‘White Hart’ in the area of Caldmore.

The Manor of Walsall was later sold to the Wilbrahim and Newport families and passed by inheritance to the Earls of Bradford. On the death of the fourth Earl in 1762, the estate was transferred to his sister Diana, Countess of Mountrath and then reverted to the Earls of Bradford until the estates were sold after World War II. The family’s connection with Walsall is reflected in local placenames, including Bridgeman Street, Bradford Lane, Bradford Street and Mountrath Street.

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution changed Walsall from a village of 2,000 people in the 16th century to a town of over 86,000 in approximately 200 years. The town manufactured a wide range of products including saddles, chains, buckles and plated ware. Nearby, limestone quarrying provided the town with much prosperity.

In 1824, the Walsall Corporation received an Act of Parliament to improve the town by providing lighting and gas works. The gas works were built in 1826 at a cost of £4,000. In 1825, the corporation built eleven tiled, brick almshouses for poor women. They were known to the area as ‘Molesley’s Almshouses’.

The ‘Walsall Improvement and Market Act’ was passed in 1848 and amended in 1850. The Act provided facilities for the poor, improving and extending the sewerage system and giving the commissioners the powers to construct new gas works. On 10 October 1847, a gas explosion killed one person and destroyed the west window of St Matthew’s Church.

Walsall finally received a railway line in 1847, 48 years after canals reached the town, Bescot having been served since 1838 by the Grand Junction Railway. In 1855, Walsall’s first newspaper, the Walsall Courier and South Staffordshire Gazette was published.

The Whittimere Street drill hall was completed in 1866.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

Blog Posts

Links

The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of Richard Gallagher and was found on Wikipedia.

The New Art Gallery Walsall – Official website. Links to their social media sites are on there.