Name | Jo Stafford |
---|---|
Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Jo Elizabeth Stafford |
Born | November 12, 1917Coalinga, California, USA |
Died | July 16, 2008Century City, California, USA |
Genre | Traditional Pop |
Years active | 1930s–1977 (until 1944, as part of vocal groups) |
Label | Capitol, Columbia, Dot, Corinthian |
Website | Jo Stafford bio presented by Corinthian Records }} |
Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Stafford was greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era. She was also viewed as a pioneer of modern musical parody, having won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1961 (with husband Paul Weston) for their album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris. She was also the first woman to have a No 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Stafford's work in radio, television and music is recognized by three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The sisters managed to find work in the film industry as backup vocalists, and Jo went straight from her high school graduation into working on film soundtracks. The Stafford Sisters made their first recording with Louis Prima in 1936. In 1937 she worked behind the scenes with Fred Astaire on the soundtrack of A Damsel in Distress, while subsequently creating the arrangements and, along with her sisters, the backing vocals for "Nice Work If You Can Get It". She claimed that her arrangement had to be adapted as Astaire had difficulty with some of the syncopation, in her words: "The man with the syncopated shoes couldn't do the syncopated notes".
After Weston persuaded Dorsey to audition the group in 1938, the nine drove cross-country to New York together for the chance. Dorsey liked them enough to sign them for ten weeks, but after the second broadcast the sponsor heard them and disliked them, firing the group. They stayed in New York for several months, but landed only a single job that paid them just $3.60 each, though they did record four sides for RCA Victor Records. Paul Weston later said that he and Axel Stordahl felt a type of responsibility for the group, since it was Weston who had made the arrangements for their audition with Tommy Dorsey. The two men also felt some embarrassment when running into the Pied Pipers in New York because of this and also because they both were still employed by Dorsey, so they tried avoiding the group.
The Pied Pipers returned to Los Angeles. Soon after getting home, Stafford received a phone call from Dorsey, saying he could use the group, but four members of it only. Half of the group, including their only female vocalist, arrived in Chicago in 1939; this led to success, especially for Stafford, who was also featured in solo performances. The group also backed Frank Sinatra in some of his early recordings.
In 1942, the group had an argument with Dorsey and left. By this time, it was successful enough in its own right; The Pied Pipers appeared on the radio shows of Sinatra, Bob Crosby and Johnny Mercer. It became one of the first groups signed to Johnny Mercer's new label, Capitol Records. Paul Weston was Capitol's music director; he had left Tommy Dorsey's band to work with Dinah Shore shortly after Dorsey re-hired the smaller version of the Pied Pipers.
Beginning in late 1945, she hosted the Tuesday and Thursday broadcasts of an NBC musical variety radio program — The Chesterfield Supper Club. Stafford moved from New York to California in November 1946, but continued to host Chesterfield Supper Club from Hollywood. She also had her own radio show which went on the air later on Tuesday nights when she joined the "Supper Club". In 1948, she cut her "Supper Club" appearances to once a week (Tuesdays), with Peggy Lee becoming the host of the Thursday broadcasts. During her time with Chesterfield Supper Club, she remembered and revisited some of the folk music she had heard and enjoyed as a child. Paul Weston, who was the conductor of her "Supper Club" broadcasts, suggested using some of them on the program. With the rediscovery of the folk tunes came an interest in folklore; Stafford established a prize which was awarded to the best collection of American folklore submitted by a college student. The awards were handled by the American Folklore Society.
In 1948 Stafford and Gordon MacRae had a million-seller with their version of "Say Something Sweet to Your Sweetheart" and in 1949 repeated their success with "My Happiness". Stafford also recorded the "Whispering Hope" of her childhood memories with MacRae in the same year. Stafford began hosting a weekly Radio Luxembourg radio program in 1950, recording the voice portions of the shows in Hollywood. She contributed her disk jockey talents without pay. At the time, she was also hosting Club 15 for CBS radio, sharing those duties with Bob Crosby much as was done with Perry Como on Chesterfield Supper Club. By 1951, Stafford was also doing weekly radio work for Voice of America. Collier's magazine published an article about the program in its April 21, 1951 issue entitled: Jo Stafford: Her Songs Upset Joe Stalin; this earned Stafford the wrath of the Communist newspaper, the Daily Worker. The newspaper published a column critical of Stafford and VOA.
In 1950, she left Capitol for Columbia Records, later returning to Capitol with Weston in 1961. While at Columbia she was the first recording artist to sell 25 million records for that company. Also now at Columbia was Paul Weston, who moved to the label from Capitol. Weston and Stafford were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony on February 26, 1952. Stafford converted to Catholicism prior to the marriage. Stafford and Weston left for Europe for their combination honeymoon-business trip; Stafford had an engagement at the London Palladium. They went on to have two children, Tim and Amy.
In the 1950s, she had a string of popular hits with Frankie Laine, six of which charted; their duet of Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'" making the top ten in 1951. It was also at this time that Stafford scored her best known hits with huge records like "Jambalaya," "Shrimp Boats," "Make Love to Me," and "You Belong to Me". The last song was Stafford's all-time biggest hit, topping the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom (the first song by a female singer to top the UK chart).
Stafford hosted the 15-minute The Jo Stafford Show on CBS-TV from 1954 to 1955 with Weston as her conductor and music arranger. While doing her CBS television show, Stafford was named to the 1955 list of Best Dressed Women by the New York Fashion Academy. She appeared as a guest on NBC's Club Oasis and on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, as did many of the popular singers of the late 1950s. In the early 1960s, she hosted a series of television specials called The Jo Stafford Show, centered around music. The shows were produced in England and featured guests, both British and American, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé and Rosemary Clooney.
In 1960, Stafford related there were good and bad points to working closely with her husband. She said that Weston's knowing her so well made it easy for him to arrange music for her, but that it also made it difficult at times, as Weston knew her abilities and would either write or arrange music that was elaborate because he was aware she was capable of performing the song ably. She also said she did not believe she could perform in Broadway musicals as she believed her voice was not powerful enough for stage work.
During her second stint at Capitol, Stafford also recorded for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label. These albums were released between 1961 and 1964, and were mostly retrospective in nature. Stafford left the label when Sinatra sold it to Warner Brothers. In late 1965, both Stafford and Weston left Capitol again, this time for Dot Records.
Throughout the 1950s, Stafford and Paul Weston would entertain guests at parties by putting on a skit in which they assumed the identities of a bad lounge act. Stafford would sing off-key in a high pitched voice; Weston played an untuned piano off key and with bizarre rhythms. It was Paul who innocently began the act at a Columbia Records sales convention, "filling time" with his impression of a dreadful lounge pianist. His audience was very appreciative and continued to ask for more even after the convention was over. Columbia Records executive George Avakian gave the character Weston played the name of Jonathan Edwards, a Calvinist preacher, and asked him to record an album under this alias. As Weston thought, he worried that he might not be able to come up with enough material for an entire album alone. He asked his wife to join the project and Stafford then became Darlene Edwards, the off-key vocalist.
Finding that she had time left over following a 1957 recording session, Stafford, as a gag, recorded a track as Darlene Edwards. Those who heard bootlegs of the recording responded positively, and later that year, Stafford and Weston recorded an entire album of songs as Jonathan and Darlene, entitled Jo Stafford and Paul Weston Present: The Original Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards, Vocals by Darlene Edwards. As a publicity stunt, Stafford and Weston claimed that the Edwardses were a New Jersey lounge act that they had discovered, and denied any personal connection.
The ruse triggered a national sensation as the public tried to identify the brazenly off-key singer and the piano player of dubious ability. (Some guessed Margaret and Harry Truman, Time magazine noted.) The 1957 Time article exposed that they were in fact the Edwardses. The album was followed up with a "pop standards" album, on which the pair intentionally butchered popular music.
The album was a commercial and critical success and proved to be the first commercially successful musical parody album, laying the groundwork for the careers of later "full time" musical parodists such as Mrs. Miller (famous for her off-key rendition of then-popular songs on her Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits album, along with "Weird Al" Yankovic.
In 1958, the Westons brought the pair to the television screen for a Jack Benny Shower of Stars and to The Garry Moore Show in 1960.
They continued recording Jonathan and Darlene albums, with their 1960 album, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris winning that year's Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album (they "tied" with Bob Newhart, as the Grammys decided, in a rare move, to issue two comedy awards that year. Newhart was given an award for "Spoken Word Comedy.") It was the only major award that Stafford ever won.
The couple continued to release the albums for several years, and in 1979 released a cover of The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" backed with "I Am Woman." The same year also saw a brief resurgence in the popularity of Jonathan and Darlene albums when their cover of "Carioca" was featured as the opening and closing theme to The Kentucky Fried Movie. Their "sing-along" album was blamed by Mitch Miller for putting an end to his sing-along television show and record albums.
Their last release, Darlene Remembers Duke, Jonathan Plays Fats, was issued in 1982.
Saying she no longer found it "fun", Stafford went into semi-retirement in the mid 1960s, retiring completely from the music business in 1975. Except for the Jonathan and Darlene Edwards material and a recording of her favorite "Whispering Hope" with her daughter Amy, also a singer, Stafford did not perform again until 1990, at a ceremony honoring Frank Sinatra. The Westons then devoted more of their time to a charity that aids those with developmental disabilities; the couple had been active in the organization for many years. Concord Records attempted to get Stafford to change her mind and come out of retirement, but she remained adamant.
Stafford won a breach-of-contract lawsuit against her former record label in the early 1990s, which won her the rights to all of her old recordings, including the Jonathan and Darlene recordings. Following the lawsuit, Stafford, along with son Tim, reactivated the Corinthian Records label, which began life as a religious label, that the devout Paul Weston had started. With Paul Weston's help, she compiled a pair of Best of Jonathan and Darlene albums, which were released in 1993.
Stafford began suffering congestive heart failure in October 2007, from which she died on July 16, 2008. She was interred with her husband Paul Weston at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.
Year | Title | Chart Positions | |
! width="60" | ! width="60" | ||
"The Trolley Song" (w/ Pied Pipers) | |||
"Old Acquaintance" | |||
"How Sweet You Are" | |||
"Long Ago (and Far Away)" | |||
"That's for Me" | |||
"Let's Take The Long Way Home" | |||
"There's No You" | |||
"Out Of This World" | |||
"On The Sunny Side Of The Street" | |||
"Symphony" | |||
"Day By Day" | |||
"This Is Always" | |||
"You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" | |||
"The Things We Did Last Summer" | |||
"Sonata" | |||
"Ivy" | |||
"A Sunday Kind Of Love" | |||
"Temptation (Tim-tayshun)" with Red Ingle & the Natural Seven# | |||
"I'm So Right Tonight" | |||
"Feudin' And Fightin'"A | |||
"The Stanley Steamer" | |||
"Love And The Weather" | |||
"The Gentleman Is A Dope" | |||
"Serenade Of The Bells" | |||
"The Best Things in Life Are Free" | |||
"I Never Loved Anyone" | |||
"I'm My Own Grandmaw" | |||
"Haunted Heart" | |||
"Suspicion" | |||
"Better Luck Next Time" | |||
"Every Day I Love You (Just A Little Bit More)" | |||
"Congratulations" | |||
"Here I'll Stay" | |||
"Once And For Always" | |||
"Homework" | |||
"Just One Way To Say I Love You" | |||
"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" | |||
"The Last Mile Home" | |||
"If I Ever Love Again" | |||
"Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" | |||
"Play A Simple Melody" | |||
"Sometime" | |||
"If You've Got The Money, I've Got The Time" | |||
"Goodnight, Irene" | |||
"If" | |||
"It is No Secret" | |||
"Somebody" | |||
"In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening"(w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"Kissing Bug Boogie" | |||
"Shrimp Boats" | |||
"Pretty-Eyed Baby" (w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"Gambella (The Gamblin' Lady)" (w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"Hey, Good Lookin'" (w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"A-Round The Corner" | |||
"Tonight We're Settin' the Woods on Fire" (w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"Keep It A Secret" | |||
"Chow Willy" (w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" | |||
"Without My Lover" | |||
"Just Another Polka" | |||
"Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (w/ Frankie Laine) | |||
"Make Love to Me!" | |||
"Indiscretion" | |||
"Thank You for Calling" | |||
"Teach Me Tonight" | |||
"Suddenly There's a Valley" | |||
"All Night Long" | |||
"It's Almost Tomorrow" | |||
"Love Me Good" | |||
"With a Little Bit of Luck" | |||
"On London Bridge" | |||
1957 | "Wind in the Willow" | ||
1959 | "Pine Top's Boogie" |
Category:1917 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American female singers Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Fresno County, California Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Category:Torch singers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Women in jazz
cy:Jo Stafford da:Jo Stafford de:Jo Stafford es:Jo Stafford ko:조 스태포드 nl:Jo Stafford pl:Jo Stafford ru:Стаффорд, Джо fi:Jo Stafford sv:Jo StaffordThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
It's thought Stafford was founded in about 700 AD by Mercian prince called Bertelin who, according to legend, established a hermitage on the peninsular named Betheney or Bethnei. Until recently it was thought that the remains of a wooden preaching cross from this time had been found under the remains of St Bertelin's chapel, next to the later collegiate Church of St Mary in the centre of the town. Recent re-examination of the evidence shows this was a misinterpretation – it was a tree trunk coffin placed centrally in the first, timber, chapel at around the time Æthelflæd founded the burh, in 913 AD. The tree trunk coffin may have been placed there as an object of commemoration or veneration of St Bertelin.
Already a centre for the delivery of grain tribute during the Dark Ages, Stafford was commandeered in July 913 AD by Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia and daughter of King Alfred the Great, after the death of her father and of her husband, Æthelred, then ealdorman of Mercia in 911, in order to construct a burh there. This new burh was fortified and provided with an industrial area for the centralised production of Roman-style pottery ("Stafford Ware") which was supplied to the chain of west midlands burhs.
She and her younger brother King Edward the Elder of Wessex, both children of King Alfred the Great and Ealhswith, wife of Æthelred, ealdorman of the Angles of Mercia, were attempting to complete their father King Alfred the Great's programme of unifying England into a single kingdom. Æthelflæd was a formidable military leader and tactician, and she sought to protect and extend the northern and western frontiers of her overlordship of Mercia against the Danish Vikings, by fortifying burhs, including Tamworth and Stafford in 913, and Runcorn on the River Mersey in 915 among others, while King Edward the Elder concentrated on the east, wresting East Anglia and Essex from the Danes. Anglo-Saxon women could play powerful roles in society. Her death effectively ended the relative independence of Mercia. Edward the Elder of Wessex took over her fortress at Tamworth and accepted the submission of all who were living in Mercia, both Danish and English. In late 918, Aelfwynn, Æthelflæd's daughter, was deprived of her authority over Mercia and taken to Wessex. The project for the unification of England took another step forward.
Stafford was one of Æthelflæd's military campaign bases and extensive archaeological investigations, and recent re-examination and interpretation of that evidence now shows her new burh was producing, in addition to the Stafford Ware pottery, food for her army (butchery, grain processing, baking), coinage and weaponry, but apparently no other crafts and there were few imports.
The Lady of Mercia, Æthelflæd, ruled Mercia for five years after the death of her father and husband, dying in Tamworth in 918.
At around this time the county of Staffordshire was formed. Stafford lay within the Pirehill hundred.
In 1069, a rebellion by Eadric the Wild against the Norman conquest culminated in the Battle of Stafford. Two years later, another rebellion, this time led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, culminated in Edwin's assassination. This meant his lands were distributed amongst the followers of William the Conqueror. Robert de Tonei was granted the manor of Bradley and one third of the king's rents in Stafford. The Norman Conquest in Stafford was therefore particularly brutal, and resulted not only in the imposition of a castle, but in the destruction and suppression of every other activity except the intermittent minting of coins for about a hundred years.
Redevelopment began in the late 12th century, and while the church, the main north to south street (Greengate) and routes through the late Saxon industrial quarter to the east remained, in other ways the town plan changed. A motte was constructed on the western side of the peninsula, overlooking a ford, and facing the site of the main castle of Stafford, on the hill at Castle Church, west of the town. Tenements were laid out over the whole peninsula and trade and crafts flourished until the early 14th century, when there was another upset probably associated with the plague of Black Death, which was followed in the mid 16th century by another revival.
Stafford Castle was built by the Normans on the nearby hilltop to the west in about 1090. It was first made of wood, and later rebuilt of stone. It has been rebuilt twice since, and the ruins of the 19th century gothic revival castle on the earthworks incorporate much of the original stonework.
In 1206, King John granted a Royal Charter which created the Borough of Stafford. In the Middle Ages, Stafford was a market town mainly dealing in cloth and wool. In spite of being the shire town, from Æthelflæd to Queen Elizabeth I, Stafford required successive surges of external investment. King Richard II was paraded through the town's streets as a prisoner in 1399, by troops loyal to Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV). When James I visited Stafford, when he was said to be so impressed by the town's Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it 'Little London'. Charles I visited Stafford shortly after the out-break of the English Civil War. He stayed for three days at the Ancient High House. The town was later captured by the Parliamentarians, while a small-scale battle was fought at nearby Hopton Heath. Stafford later fell to the Parliamentarians, as did Stafford Castle, following a six-week siege. The town's most famous son is Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler. He was a staunch Royalist.
In 1658, Stafford elected John Bradshaw, the man who judged the trial of King Charles I, to represent the town in Parliament. During the reign of Charles II, William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford became implicated in the Popish Plot, in which Titus Oates whipped up anti-Catholic feelings with his claims that there was a plot to have the king killed. Viscount William Howard was among those accused and he was unfortunate to be the first to be tried and was beheaded in 1680. The charge was false and over five years later, on 4 June 1685, the bill of attainder against Viscount Stafford was reversed.
The town was represented in Parliament by the famous playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan in the eighteenth century. During the same era, the town's mechanised shoe industry was founded, the most well-known factory owner being William Horton. The industry gradually died out, with the last factory being redeveloped in 2008.
In 1837 the Grand Junction Railway built the first railway line (Birmingham to Warrington) and station in the town, and at Warrington this linked, via another line, with the Liverpool to Manchester railway. Birmingham provided the first connection to London. Other lines followed, Stafford became a significant junction and this helped attract a number of industries to the town.
On 31 March 2006 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited the town to join in the 800th anniversary civic celebrations.
In 2013 Stafford will celebrate its 1,100 th anniversary year with a number of history-based exhibitions, while local historian Nick Thomas and write Roger Butters are set to produce a two volume 'A Compleat History of Stafford'(sic).
The Elizabethan Ancient High House in the town centre is the largest timber-framed town house in England. It is now a museum, with changing exhibitions.
Stafford Castle was built by the Normans on the nearby hilltop to the west in about 1090, replacing the post-Conquest fort in the town. It was first made of wood, and later rebuilt of stone. It has been rebuilt twice since, and the ruins of the 19th century gothic revival castle crowning the earthworks incorporate much of the original stonework. The castle has a visitor centre, with audio visual displays and hands-on items. There's also a recreated medieval herb garden and Shakespeare productions take place in the castle grounds each Summer. The castle forms a landmark for drivers, as it is highly visible from the M6 motorway.
The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad's Church, dating back into the twelfth century. The main part of the church is richly decorated. Carvings in the church's archways and pillars may have been made by a group of stonemasons from the Middle East who came to England during the Crusades. A great deal of the stonework was covered up during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the church took on a neo-classical style. In the early 19th century restoration work was carried out on the church and the Norman decoration was rediscovered. The Church hosts "Timewalk", a computer generated display which relates the journey of history and mystery within the walls of the church.
St Mary's, the collegiate church formerly linked to St Bertelin's chapel, was completely rebuilt in the early 13th century in a cruciform layout with an aisled nave and chancel typical of the period. It has an impressive octagonal tower, once topped by a tall steeple, which can be picked out in Gough's plan shown above. The church was effectively two churches in one, divided by a screen, with the parish using the nave and the collegiate canons using the chancel. St Mary's was restored in 1842 by Giles Gilbert Scott.
The Shire Hall Gallery was built in 1798 as a court house and office of the Mayor and Clerk of Stafford. It houses the Art Gallery, which shows changing exhibitions. It also contains a café and the town's library. The Shire Hall used to be the town's court house, and is a Grade II listed building. It still retains two courtrooms. One of them is open to the general public and has a permanent exhibition showing the history of the building and details of some high profile cases that were heard there. An old 'holding cell' is also open to public viewing.
The Shugborough Hall country estate is outside town. It previously belonged to the Earls of Lichfield, and is now owned by the National Trust and maintained by the leaseholder, Staffordshire County Council. The 19th century Sandon Hall is northeast of Stafford. It is set in of parkland, and is the seat of the Earl of Harrowby. Weston Hall stands east of Stafford, in the Trent valley, with a large park and it was once part of the Chartley estate. It is believed that the main part of the Hall was built around 1550 as a small dower house, however the architectural evidence suggests that it is Jacobean. Weston Hall was extended in 1660 into a three-gable structure with high-pitched roofs.
Victoria Park, opened in 1908, is a 13 acre (53,000 m2) Edwardian riverside park with an open-air paddling pool, bowling green, bird cages and greenhouses; Victoria Park has recently undergone a major re-development in places, incorporating a new children's play area, new sand and water jet area which has replaced the previous open-air paddling pool and also a brand new bmx / skateboard area which has attracted a lot of attention from the youth who had been requested in recent surveys.
The three screen Apollo Cinema, showing mainstream releases, is in the centre of town. Stafford Film Theatre is based at the Gatehouse Theatre, and shows independent and alternative films. There are £500 million plans to build a new multiplex cinema as part of a new retail and leisure complex on the site of the old Riverside Leisure Centre. There is also a tenpin (10 Pin)bowling alley located at Greyfriars Place,Stafford which is provided by a national company "Tenpin Bowling"
Nightlife in the town consists of smaller bar and club venues such as Casa, The Grapes, The Littern Tree, The Picturehouse, Apres, and the new super nightclub Couture and Noir et Blanc, most of which are in walking distance of each other. There is a big student patronage, with coaches bringing students from Stoke-on-Trent, Cannock and Wolverhampton.
The new £15 million Stafford Leisure Centre opened on 12 April 2008 in Lammascote Road. It replaces the old Riverside Recreation Centre, which has been demolished to make way for a £50 million housing, leisure and retail complex along the River Sow.
Stafford is also home to a 9 hole golf course Stafford Castle Golf Club which has a great view and is located near to the Stafford Castle, Stafford Railway Station and also Stafford Town Centre.
Since 1903, a major activity in the town has been heavy electrical engineering, particularly producing power station transformers. The works have been successively owned by Siemens, English Electric, GEC and GEC Alsthom. Alstom T&D; was sold in 2004 to Areva. At the end of 2009, Areva Ltd was split between former owner Alstom and Schneider Electric. Each transformer weighs several hundred tons and so a road train is used for transportation. In the 1968 Hixon rail crash, one such road train was struck by an express train when it was crossing the railway at a level crossing.
Perkins Engines has a factory making diesel engines in Littleworth. Adhesives manufacturer Bostik has a large factory in the town. Stafford is also a major dormitory town for workers commuting to Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham.
The public sector provides a lot of local employment, with Staffordshire County Council, Stafford Borough Council and Staffordshire Police all headquartered in the town. Stafford Prison, Stafford Hospital and MoD Stafford are other sources of local public sector employment.
The town is also home to the computer science and IT campus of Staffordshire University. The Beaconside Campus houses the Faculty of Computing Engineering and Technology and part of the Business School, and the adjacent Blackheath Lane campus houses the School of Health, which teaches nursing. The main campus in Stoke-on-Trent is located about north.
The town centre Guildhall shopping centre is the town's main shopping venue, housing more than 40 retail outlets such as HMV, Topman Topshop, River Island and JJB. There are 3 major superstores that surround the main town centre, an Asda superstore, a Tesco Extra and a Sainsbury's store. They are open 24 hours with the exception of Sainsbury's.
Stafford railway station was once a major hub on the railway network, but Beeching's closure of the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway, and the Shropshire Union Railway to Shrewsbury and beyond completely halted east-west traffic via Stafford. The years up to 2008 saw cross-country trains stopping at Stafford less and less. Since the CrossCountry trains franchisee change, more CrossCountry trains are now stopping at Stafford Station, However if you require services to Carlisle, Preston or Glasgow a change at Crewe railway station is required; Stafford railway station is still a stop for some Virgin Trains services on the West Coast Main Line enabling easy commuting to the cities of Birmingham, London Euston, Wolverhampton and Liverpool. If you require services to the cities of Stoke-on-trent or Manchester CrossCountry trains operate a regular service to Manchester Piccadilly normally every 30 Mins during the weekdays; Since December 2008 London Midland have operated a service stopping at Stafford which also serves Tamworth, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London and also a Birmingham - Liverpool Lime Street service which departs Stafford Station normally every 30 mins during the weekdays.
Junctions 13 (Stafford South & Central) and 14 (Stafford North) of the M6 motorway provide access to the town, therefore the major cities of Birmingham and Manchester and beyond are easily reached. The A34 road runs through the centre of the town, linking it to Stone and Stoke-on-Trent to the north and Cannock and the West Midlands conurbation to the south. The A518 road connects Stafford with Telford to the south west and Uttoxeter to the north east, and therefore is the main route to the major theme park at Alton Towers. The A449 runs south from the town centre and connects with the nearby town of Penkridge and Wolverhampton. Finally, the A513 runs east from Stafford to the local towns of Rugeley and Lichfield.
Local bus travel within the town is provided by Arriva Midlands, D & G Coach and Bus Ltd and also some small bus companies who provide to mainly rural communites, while services to Stone and Stoke-on-Trent are handled by First PMT and Baker Bus.
Stafford is served by four large taxi companies: Aerobrights, Anthony's AJ's, Kaminski Hire and Westside. There are also a large number of independent operators who work from the ranks at the station, Bridge Street, Broad Street and Salter Street.
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal runs close to the Baswich and Wildwood areas, and was previously linked to the River Sow by the River Sow Navigation.
The town's main hospital is Stafford Hospital, previously known as Staffordshire General Hospital and also Stafford District General Hospital. The hospital is operated and managed by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and provides a wide range of non-specialist medical and surgical services. Stafford Hospital's Accident and Emergency unit is the only such facility in the town. Wards at Stafford Hospital are numbered, with the exception of the children's wards (known as the "Anson Suite"), which are named after local towns and landmarks (e.g. Shugborough Ward). This hospital was built on the site of Coton Hill private psychiatric hospital which opened in 1851 and closed 1975 and was demolished with only the old chapel and gatehouse still visible. The hospital made the national news in March 2009, with the release of a Healthcare Commission report detailing the facility's appalling shortcomings.
The St George's Hospital, part of the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Health Care Trust, is actually a combination of two historical hospitals—the Kingsmead Hospital (previously an elderly care facility) and the St George's psychiatric hospital. This hospital provides mental health services, including an intensive care unit, secure units, an eating disorder unit, an EMI unit for the elderly and mentally frail, drug and alcohol addiction services and open wards. There is a small outpatient facility, and this is the location of the town's AA meeting. Wards at St George's Hospital are named after local villages and termed "houses" (e.g. Brocton House, Chebsey House).
Stafford College is a large College of Further Education. Stafford College also provides some Higher Education courses on behalf of Staffordshire University and focuses heavily on computing and engineering.
South Staffordshire College has a base in the village of Rodbaston, on the edge of Stafford. It is an agricultural college and provides most of its training in this sector.
Staffordshire University has a large campus in the east of the town and focuses heavily on computing, engineering and media technologies (Film, Music and Computer Games). It also runs teacher training courses. The University has 2 halls of residence opposite the campus, the smaller Yarlet with 51 rooms and the larger Stafford Court with 554 Rooms. Stafford Court is divided into 13 'houses' named after local villages.
The town also has two Rugby Union clubs though again they do not play at a high level.
There is also a local Hockey team with eight adult teams.
Stafford Cricket and Hockey Club was founded in 1864, which almost certainly makes it the oldest sports club in Stafford. The club appears to have originally played at The Lammascotes before being offered a field at The Hough (Lichfield Road/GEC site) in 1899 which belonged to the Grammar school (The new ground there was opened by the mayor, a Mr Mynors in May of that year). In 1984 the club negotiated a move to Riverway in 1984 as The Hough came under the ownership of GEC. They currently own at Riverway and host numerous sports all year round - they have 2 cricket pitches in the summer and in the winter host football, mini football, rugby and hockey.
In 1999 they were awarded a £200K lottery grant towards a new pavilion completed in 2000. The pavilion has 6 changing rooms and a lounge/function room for members and guests. The clubroom may also be hired for all kinds of functions and celebrations, as well as business meetings and charity events.
The Cricket Section always welcome new players of all abilities There are four senior sides that play on a Saturday. The 1st & 2nd XI's play in The North Staffs and South Cheshire Premier Cricket League. The 3rd and 4th XI's play in the Stone & District Cricket League. They also have a senior team on a Sunday that plays in the Lichfield Sunday League. They have five junior sides in the following age groups; Under 9, Under 11, Under 13, Under 15, & Under 17's. They are an ECB Clubmark Accredited Club and promote sport for all in the local community.
In the early 1900s, the village of Little Haywood near Stafford was home to the wife of famous The Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien. He stayed with his wife, Edith, in her cottage in the village during the winter of 1916, and the surrounding areas were said to be an inspiration for some of his early works. The science fantasy author Storm Constantine is a long-time resident.
British poet, playwright and freelance writer Carol Ann Duffy, although born in Glasgow, Scotland, grew up in Stafford and attended Stafford Girls' High School. She was awarded an OBE in 1995, and a CBE in 2002. Many of her poems describe experiences and places in Stafford. She has been the Poet laureate since 2009 and now lives in Manchester.
Championship footballer Anthony Gardner, who plays for Hull City, and Chris Birchall, who plays for Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Galaxy, were both born in Stafford. Former Aston Villa, Derby County and Watford winger Nigel Callaghan lives and DJs in the town. Former Aston Villa player and manager Brian Little also lives in the town.
Category:Towns in Staffordshire Category:County towns in England Category:Railway towns in England
ang:Stæfford bg:Стафорд ca:Stafford (Anglaterra) cs:Stafford de:Stafford es:Stafford fr:Stafford (Angleterre) it:Stafford ro:Stafford nl:Stafford (Engeland) no:Stafford (England) nn:Stafford pl:Stafford (Anglia) sv:Stafford vo:Stafford (Staffordshire) zh:斯塔福德This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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