Holiday name	New Year's Day
Type	International
Observedby	Users of the Gregorian calendar and others
Date	January 1
Celebrations	Making New Year's resolutions, parades, additional sporting events, fireworks
Significance	The first day of the Gregorian year
Relatedto	New Year's Eve, the preceding day }}

New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome. With most countries using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, New Year's Day is the closest thing to being the world's only truly global public holiday, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts. January 1 on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year.

History

The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. The month of January was named after Janus, who had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward. This suggests that New Year's celebrations are founded on pagan traditions. Some have suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the two annual consuls (after whose names the years were identified) entered into office on that day, though no consensus exists on the matter. Dates in March, coinciding with the spring equinox, or commemorating the Annunciation of Jesus, along with a variety of Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages, though calendars often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December.

Among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts at the New Year. This was a pagan custom deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemings and Dutchmen, "(Do not) make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom]." The quote is from the ''vita'' of Eligius written by his companion, Ouen.

Most countries in Western Europe officially adopted January 1 as New Year's Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. In England, the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, was the first day of the new year until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. The March 25 date was known as ''Annunciation Style''; the January 1 date was known as ''Circumcision Style'', because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the eighth day counting from December 25 when Christ was believed to be born. This day was christened as the beginning of the New Year by Pope Gregory as he designed the Liturgical Calendar.

New Year's Days in other calendars

In cultures which traditionally or currently use calendars other than the Gregorian, New Year's Day is often also an important celebration. Some countries concurrently use the Gregorian and another calendar. New Year's Day in the alternative calendar attracts alternative celebrations of New year.

Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is the first day of the lunar calendar and is corrected for the solar every three years. The holiday normally falls between 20 January and 20 February. The holiday is celebrated with plenty of good food, families, lucky red envelopes (filled with money), and many other red things to resembles good luck. Lion and dragon dances, drums, fireworks, firecrackers, and other types of entertainment fill the streets on this day. It is the favorite holiday for many adults and children who celebrate it.

Hindu New Year falls at the time and date the Sun enters Aries on the Hindu calendar. Normally on 13 April or 14 April depending on the Leap year. The new year is celebrated children (young and old) by paying respect to their parents and other elders and by seeking their blessings. They also exchange tokens of good wishes for a healthy and prosperous year ahead.

(Nowruz) marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3,000 years by the related cultural continent. The holiday is also celebrated and observed by many parts of Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, Crimea and some groups in the Balkans. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in the Indian sub-continent as the new year. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.

Islamic New Year moves from year to year because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar.

Israel is one country that uses the Gregorian calendar but does not formally celebrate the New Year's holiday — mainly due to objections by religious parties on the holiday's non-Jewish origins. However, there are Israeli Jews who partake in some sort of celebration. The date of the Jewish new year is celebrated on Rosh Hashanah no matter where the location.

Japanese New Year in Japan is celebrated on January 1 because the Gregorian calendar is now used instead of the Chinese calendar.

Korean New Year called Seolnal is the first day of the lunar calendar. Koreans also celebrate solar New Year's Day on January 1 each year, following the Gregorian Calendar. People get a day off that day while have minimum three days off on Lunar New Year. People celebrate New Year's Day by preparing food for the ancestors' spirits, visiting ancestors' groves, then playing Korean games such as Yutnol'i {say: yun-no-ree} with families. Young children give respect to their parents, grandparents, relatives, and other elders by bowing down in a traditional way and are given good wishes and some money by the elders. Families enjoy the new years also by counting down until 12:00 a.m., which would be New Year's Day.

Traditional and modern celebrations and customs

New Year's Eve

January 1 represents the fresh start of a new year after a period of remembrance of the passing year, including on radio, television and in newspapers, which starts in early December in countries around the world. Publications have year-end articles that review the changes during the previous year. There are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year.

This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has become an occasion to celebrate the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve. There are fireworks at midnight at the moment the new year arrives.

Regional celebrations

In European countries, the New Year is greeted with private fireworks. This day is also the occasion to make bonfires of discarded Christmas trees in some countries.

On New Year's Day, people in certain countries gather on beaches and run into the water to celebrate the new year. In Canada, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands this is very popular. These events are sometimes known as polar bear plunges, and are sometimes organized by groups to raise money for charity. Polar Bear Clubs in many Northern Hemisphere cities near bodies of water, have a tradition of holding organized plunges on New Year's Day.

National celebrations

In the United Kingdom there are many celebrations across the towns and cities, particularly in Scotland.

* In London, England, thousands gather along the Embankment on the River Thames to watch the fireworks around the London Eye.

* In Scotland, there are many special customs associated with the New Year. These are a part of the Scottish celebration Hogmanay, the Scots name for New Year's Eve. The famous street party in Princes Street in Edinburgh is one example.

* In Wales, Calennig is celebrated, with celebrations attracting thousands of people in the capital, Cardiff.

In Greece and Cyprus, families and relatives switch off the lights at midnight, then celebrate by cutting the "vassilopita" (Basil's pie) which usually contains one coin or equivalent. Whoever wins expects luck for the whole year. After the pie, a traditional game of cards called "triantaena" (31) follows.

In Nassau, Bahamas, the Junkanoo parade takes place.

In the Philippines, fireworks, booming sound system as well as make a lot of noise with the belief that the noises would scare evil spirits away, preventing them from bringing bad luck to the coming new year. The tables are laden with food for the Media Noche or midnight meal, and there is a basket of 12 different round fruits to symbolize prosperity in each of the coming year's 12 months. Public new year parties like those in New York and Sydney are also available to the people and very well attended.

In Russia and the other 14 former republics of the Soviet Union, the celebration of Old New Year or Novi God is greeted by fireworks and drinking champagne. The New Year is considered a family celebration, with a lavish dinner tables and gifts. In Moscow, the president of Russia normally counts down the final seconds of the "old year", as it is called in Russia. The Kremlin's landmark Spassky Clock Tower chimes in the new year, and it is customary to make a wish with each chime.

In Davos, Switzerland, the final match of the Spengler Cup ice hockey Tournament is usually held on this day by tradition.

In the United States, it is traditional to spend this occasion together with loved ones. A toast is made to the new year, with kisses, fireworks and parties among the customs. It is popular to make a New Year's resolution, although that is optional. In the country's most famous New Year celebration in New York City, the 11,875-pound (5,386-kg), 12-foot-diameter (3.7-m) Times Square Ball located high above Times Square is lowered starting at 11:59 p.m., with a countdown from :10 seconds until :01, when it reaches the bottom of its tower. The arrival of the new year is announced at the stroke of midnight with fireworks, music and a live celebration that is broadcast worldwide.

New Year's Day

The celebrations held world-wide on January 1 as part of New Year's Day commonly include the following:

Parades

American football: In the United States, January 1 is the traditional date for many post-season college football bowl games, which are usually accompanied by parades and other activities to celebrate the events.

Football: In Europe, Association Football, where a Full Fixture programme is usually played throughout the Premier League and the rest of the League/Non League system in England.

Ice hockey, most famously the Winter Classic in North America, a National Hockey League game that is played outdoors.

Concerts

Entertainment, usually enjoyed from the comfort of home.

Family time

Traditional meals

Church services

An annual dip in ice-cold water by hearty individuals, most famously by members of the Polar Bear Club.

New Year's babies

In Brittany, a common image used is that of an incarnation of Father Time (or the "Old Year") wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year printed on it passing on his duties to the Baby New Year (or the "New Year"), an infant wearing a sash with the new year printed on it.

In modern time and world-wide, the association of parenthood is with a baby's arrival, with New Year's Eve a father and mother together presenting their newborn child as the new year arrives and is celebrated.

People born on New Year's Day are commonly called ''New Year babies''. Hospitals, such as the Dyersburg Regional Medical Center in the U.S., give out prizes to the first baby born in that hospital in the new year. These prizes are often donated by local businesses. Prizes may include various baby related items such as baby formula, baby blankets, diapers, and gift certificates to stores which specialize in baby related merchandise.

Other celebrations on January 1

Some churches celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on January 1, based on the belief that if Jesus was born on December 25, then according to Jewish tradition, his circumcision would have taken place on the eighth day of his life (January 1). The Catholic Church now calls this holy day of obligation the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

See also

First Night

New Year

Famous New Year's Babies

Winter holiday season

References

External links

New Year's Around the World - slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Category:New Year celebrations Category:January observances Category:Holidays in Canada Category:Holidays in New Zealand Category:Holiday-related topics Category:Holidays in the United Kingdom Category:Holidays in the United States Category:Winter holidays Category:Summer holidays Category:Annual events

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{{operational plan | name = Operation Sea Lion | partof = Western Front of the Second World War | image = | caption = | scope = Normandy, the Belgian coast line, the English Channel and the English coast line from Kent to Dorset, Isle of Wight and parts of Devon, but principally in Sussex and Kent. | type = Amphibious Invasion | location = | coordinates = | map_type = | latitude = | longitude = | map_size = | map_caption = | map_label = | planned = September 1940 | planned_by = OKW | objective = Elimination of the English home country as a base of military operations against the German Reich | target = | date = | time = | time-begin = | time-end = | timezone = | executed_by = | outcome = Eventual cancellation and diversion of German forces for Operation Barbarossa | casualties = | fatalities = | injuries = }}

Operation Sea Lion () was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during the Second World War, beginning in 1940. To have had any chance of success, however, the operation would have required air and naval supremacy over the English Channel. With the German defeat in the Battle of Britain, Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely on 17 September 1940 and never carried out.

Background

By early November 1939, Adolf Hitler had decided on forcing a decision in the West by invading Belgium, the Netherlands and France. With the prospect of the Channel ports falling under ''Kriegsmarine'' (German Navy) control and attempting to anticipate the obvious next step that might entail, Grand Admiral (''Großadmiral'') Erich Raeder (head of the ''Kriegsmarine'') instructed his Operations officer, Kapitän Hans Jürgen Reinicke, to draw up a document examining "the possibility of troop landings in England should the future progress of the war make the problem arise." Reinicke spent five days on this study and set forth the following prerequisites:

Elimination or sealing off of Royal Navy forces from the landing and approach areas.

Elimination of the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Destruction of all Royal Navy units in the coastal zone.

Prevention of British submarine action against the landing fleet.

In December 1939, the German Army issued its own study paper (designated ''Nordwest'') and solicited opinions and input from both the ''Kriegsmarine'' and ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force). The paper outlined an assault on England's eastern coast between The Wash and the River Thames by troops crossing the North Sea from Low Country ports. ''Reichsmarschall'' Hermann Göring, head of the ''Luftwaffe'', responded with a single-page letter in which he stated: "...a combined operation having the objective of landing in England must be rejected. It could only be the final act of an already victorious war against Britain as otherwise the preconditions for success of a combined operation would not be met." The ''Kriegsmarine'' response was rather more restrained but equally focused on pointing out the many difficulties to be surmounted if invading England was to be a viable option.

On 16 July 1940, following Germany's swift and successful occupation of France and the Low Countries and growing impatient with Britain's indifference towards his recent peace overtures, Hitler issued Directive No. 16, setting in motion preparations for a landing in Britain. He prefaced the order by stating: "As England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, still shows no signs of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English Motherland as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if necessary, to occupy the country completely."

Hitler's directive set four pre-conditions for the invasion to occur:

The RAF was to be "beaten down in its morale and in fact, that it can no longer display any appreciable aggressive force in opposition to the German crossing".

The English Channel was to be swept of British mines at the crossing points, and the Straits of Dover must be blocked at both ends by German mines.

The coastal zone between occupied France and England must be dominated by heavy artillery.

The Royal Navy must be sufficiently engaged in the North Sea and the Mediterranean so that it could not intervene in the crossing. British home squadrons must be damaged or destroyed by air and torpedo attacks.

This ultimately placed responsibility for Sea Lion's success squarely on the shoulders of Raeder and Göring, neither of whom had the slightest enthusiasm for the venture and, in fact, did little to hide their opposition to it. Nor did Directive 16 provide for a combined operational headquarters under which all three service branches (Army, Navy, Air Force) could work together under a single umbrella organisation to plan, coordinate and execute such a complex undertaking (similar to the Allies' creation of SHAEF for the later Normandy landings).

Upon hearing of Hitler's intentions, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, through his Foreign Minister Count Ciano, quickly offered up to ten divisions and thirty squadrons of Italian aircraft for the proposed invasion. Hitler initially declined any such aid but eventually allowed a small contingent of Italian fighters and bombers, the Italian Air Corps (''Corpo Aereo Italiano'' or CAI), to assist in the ''Luftwaffe's'' aerial campaign over Britain in October/November 1940.

German land forces

Air Power

Battle of Britain

Beginning in August 1940, the German ''Luftwaffe'' began a series of concentrated aerial attacks (designated ''Unternehmen Adlerangriff'' or Operation Eagle Attack) on targets throughout the British Isles in an attempt to destroy the RAF (Royal Air Force) and establish air superiority over Great Britain. The campaign later became known as the Battle of Britain. However, the change in emphasis of the bombing from RAF bases to bombing London turned ''Adler'' into a strategic bombing operation. The impact of the switch in strategy is disputed. Some argue that the change in strategy lost the Luftwaffe the opportunity of winning the air battle, or air superiority. Others argue the Luftwaffe achieved little in the air battle and the RAF was not on the verge of collapse, as often claimed. Another perspective has also been put forward, which suggests the Germans could not have gained air superiority before the weather window closed. Others have pointed out that it was unlikely the Luftwaffe was ever able to destroy RAF Fighter Command. If British losses became severe, the RAF could simply have withdrawn northward and regrouped. It could then deploy when, or if, the Germans launched an invasion. Some also venture to argue Sea Lion would have failed regardless because of the weaknesses of German sea power.

The view of those that believe, regardless of a potential German victory in the air battle, that ''Sea Lion'' was still not going to succeed included a number of German General Staff members. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz believed air superiority was "not enough". Dönitz stated, "we possessed neither control of the air or the sea; nor were we in any position to gain it". Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the ''Kriegsmarine'' in 1940 argued:

".....the emphatic reminder that up until now the British had never thrown the full power of their fleet into action. However, a German invasion of England would be a matter of life and death for the British, and they would unhesitatingly commit their naval forces, to the last ship and the last man, into an all-out fight for survival. Our Air Force could not be counted on to guard our transports from the British Fleets, because their operations would depend on the weather, if for no other reason. It could not be expected that even for a brief period our Air Force could make up for our lack of naval supremacy.

When Franz Halder, the Chief of the Army General Staff, heard of the state of the ''Kriegsmarine'', and its plan for the invasion, he noted in his diary, on 28 July 1940; "If that [the plan] is true, all previous statements by the navy were so much rubbish and we can throw away the whole plan of invasion".

Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations in the OKW, argued, after Raeder argued that the ''Kriegsmarine'' could not meet the operational requirements of the Army; "then a landing in England must be regarded as a sheer act of desperation".

Limitations of the Luftwaffe

The track record of the Luftwaffe against naval combat vessels up to that point in the war was less than impressive. In the Norwegian Campaign, despite eight weeks of continuous air supremacy, the Luftwaffe sank only two British warships. The German aircrews were not trained or equipped to attack fast moving naval targets, particularly agile naval destroyers or motor torpedo boats (MTBs). The Luftwaffe also lacked armour-piercing bombs or aerial torpedo capabilities that were essential to defeating larger warships. The Luftwaffe made 21 deliberate attacks on small torpedo boats during the Battle of Britain, sinking none. The British had between 700 and 800 of these vessels in service, making it a critical threat if the Luftwaffe could not deal with the force. Only nine MTBs were lost to air attack out of 115 sunk by various means throughout the Second World War. Only nine destroyers were sunk by air attack in 1940, out of a force of over 100 operating in British waters at the time. Five were sunk while withdrawing British forces from Dunkirk despite large periods of German air superiority, thousands of sorties flown, and hundreds of tons of bombs dropped against them. The Luftwaffe's record against merchant shipping was also not impressive. It sank only one in every 100 British vessels passing through British waters in 1940. Moreover, most of this total was achieved using mines.

Navy

The most daunting problem for Germany in protecting an invasion fleet was the small size of its navy. The ''Kriegsmarine'', already numerically far inferior to Britain's Royal Navy, had lost a sizable portion of its large modern surface units in April 1940 during the Norwegian Campaign, either as complete losses or due to battle damage. In particular, the loss of two light cruisers and ten destroyers was crippling, as these were the very warships most suited to operating in the Channel Narrows where the invasion would likely take place. Most U-boats, the most powerful arm of the , were built for use in the open ocean and simply not suitable for operations in the relatively shallow and restricted waters of the English Channel.

Although the Royal Navy could not bring to bear the whole of its naval superiority (most of the fleet was engaged in the Atlantic and Mediterranean), the British Home Fleet still had a very large advantage in numbers. It was debatable whether British ships were as vulnerable to enemy air attack as the Germans hoped. During the Dunkirk evacuation few warships were actually sunk, despite being stationary targets. The overall disparity between the opposing naval forces made the amphibious invasion plan risky, regardless of the outcome in the air. In addition, the ''Kriegsmarine'' had allocated its few remaining larger and modern ships to diversionary operations in the North Sea.

The French fleet, one of the most powerful and modern in the world, might have tipped the balance against Britain. However, the preemptive destruction of the French fleet by the British by an attack on Mers-el-Kébir and the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon two years later ensured that this could not happen.

Even if the Royal Navy had been neutralised, the chances of a successful amphibious invasion across the channel were remote. The Germans had no specialised landing craft, and had to rely primarily on river barges to lift troops and supplies for the landing. This would have limited the quantity of artillery and tanks that could be transported and restricted operations to times of good weather. The barges were not designed for use in open sea and even in almost perfect conditions, they would have been slow and vulnerable to attack. There were also not enough barges to transport the first invasion wave nor the following waves with their equipment. The Germans would have needed to immediately capture a port, an unlikely circumstance considering the strength of the British coastal defences around the south-eastern harbours at that time. The British also had several contingency plans, including the use of poison gas.

Landing craft

One of the more glaring deficiencies in the German Navy for mounting large-scale amphibious assaults was an almost complete lack of purpose-built landing craft. The Navy had already taken some small steps in remedying this situation with construction of the ''Pionierlandungsboot 39'' (Engineer Landing Boat 39), a self-propelled shallow-draft vessel which could carry 45 infantrymen, two light vehicles or 20 tons of cargo and land on an open beach (unloading via a pair of clamshell doors at the bow). But by late September 1940, only two prototypes had been delivered. Recognising the need for an even larger craft capable of landing both tanks and infantry onto a hostile shore, the Navy began development of the 220-ton ''Marinefährprahm'' (MFP) but these too were unavailable in time for a landing on English soil in 1940, the first of them not being commissioned until April 1941.

The obvious solution for the Navy to assemble a large sea-going invasion fleet in the short time allotted was to convert inland river barges to the task. Towards that end, the ''Kriegsmarine'' collected approximately 2,400 barges from throughout Europe (860 from Germany, 1,200 from the Netherlands and Belgium and 350 from France). Of these, only about 800 were powered (some insufficiently). The rest required towing by tugs.

Len Deighton and some other writers have called the German amphibious plans a "Dunkirk in reverse".

Specialised landing equipment

As part of a Navy competition, prototypes for a prefabricated "heavy landing bridge" or jetty (similar in function to later Allied Mulberry Harbours) were designed and built by Krupp Stahlbau and Dortmunder Union and successfully overwintered in the North Sea in 1941/42. Krupp's design won out, as it only required one day to install as opposed to twenty-eight days for the Dortmunder Union bridge. The Krupp bridge consisted of a series of 32m-long connecting platforms, each supported on the seabed by four steel columns. The platforms could be raised or lowered by heavy-duty winches in order to accommodate the tide. The German Navy initially ordered eight complete Krupp units composed of six platforms each. This was reduced to six units by the Autumn of 1941, and eventually cancelled altogether when it became apparent Sea Lion would never take place.

In mid-1942, both the Krupp and Dortmunder prototypes were shipped to the Channel Islands and installed together off Alderney, where they were used for unloading materials needed to fortify the island. Referred to as the "German jetty" by local inhabitants, it remained standing for the next thirty-six years until demolition crews finally removed it in 1978/79, a testament to its durability.

The German Army developed a portable landing bridge of its own nicknamed ''Seeschlange'' (Sea Snake). This "floating roadway" was formed from a series of joined modules that could be towed into place to act as a temporary jetty. Moored ships could then unload their cargo either directly onto the roadbed or lower it down onto waiting vehicles via their heavy-duty booms. The ''Seeschlange'' was successfully tested by the Army Training Unit at Le Havre in the fall of 1941 and later slated for use in ''Operation Herkules'', the proposed Italo-German invasion of Malta. It was easily transportable by rail.

Specialised vehicles slated for Sea Lion included the ''Landwasserschlepper'' (LWS). Under development since 1935, this amphibious tractor was originally intended for use by Army engineers to assist with river crossings. Three of them were assigned to Tank Detachment 100 as part of the invasion and it was intended to use them for pulling ashore unpowered assault barges and towing vehicles across the beaches. They would also have been used to carry supplies directly ashore during the six hours of falling tide when the barges were grounded. This involved towing a Kässbohrer amphibious trailer (capable of transporting 10-20 tons of freight) behind the LWS. The LWS was demonstrated to General Halder on 2 August 1940 by the Reinhardt Trials Staff on the island of Sylt and, though he was critical of its high silhouette on land, he recognised the overall usefulness of the design. It was proposed to build enough tractors that each invasion barge could be assigned one or two of them but the late date and difficulties in mass-producing the vehicle prevented implementation of that plan.

Broad vs. narrow front

The German Army High Command (, ''OKH'') originally planned an invasion on a vast scale, extending from Dorset to Kent. This was far in excess of what ''Kriegsmarine'' could supply, and final plans were more modest, calling for nine divisions to make an amphibious landing with around 67,000 men in the first echelon and an airborne division to support them. The chosen invasion sites ran from Rottingdean in the west to Hythe in the east.

The German Navy wanted a front as short as possible as they regarded this as more defensible. Admiral Raeder wanted a front stretching from Dover to Eastbourne, stressing that shipping between Cherbourg/Le Havre and Dorset would be exposed to attacks from the Navy based in Portsmouth and Plymouth. General Halder rejected this, saying, "From the army`s point of view I regard it as complete suicide, I might just as well put the troops that have landed straight through the sausage machine."

The battle plan called for German forces to be launched from Cherbourg to Lyme Regis, Le Havre to Ventnor and Brighton, Boulogne to Eastbourne, Calais to Folkestone, and Dunkirk and Ostend to Ramsgate. ''Fallschirmjägern'' (paratroopers) would land near Brighton and Dover. Once the coast was secured, they would push north, taking Gloucester and encircling London. There is reason to believe that the Germans would not attempt to assault the city but besiege and bombard it. German forces would secure England up to the 52nd parallel (approximately as far north as Northampton), anticipating that the rest of the United Kingdom would then surrender.

German coastal guns

With Germany's occupation of the Pas-de-Calais region in northern France, the possibility of closing the Strait of Dover to Royal Navy warships and merchant convoys by use of land-based heavy artillery became readily apparent, both to the German High Command and to Hitler. Even the ''Kriegsmarine’s'' Naval Operations Office deemed this a plausible and desirable goal, especially given the relatively short distance, , between the French and English coasts. Orders were therefore issued to assemble and begin emplacing every Army and Navy heavy artillery piece available along the French coast, primarily at Pas-de-Calais. This work was assigned to ''Organisation Todt'' and commenced on 22 July 1940.

By early August, four traversing turrets were fully operational as were all of the Army’s railway guns. Seven of the railway guns, six 28 cm K5 guns and a single K12 gun with a range of , could only be used against land targets. The remainder, thirteen 28 cm guns and five guns, plus additional motorised batteries comprising twelve 24 cm guns and ten 21 cm guns, could be fired at shipping but were of limited effectiveness due to their slow traverse speed, long loading time and ammunition types.

Better suited for use against naval targets were the four heavy naval batteries installed by mid-September: ''Friedrich August'' with three guns; ''Prinz Heinrich'' with two 28 cm guns; ''Oldenburg'' with two 24 cm guns and, largest of all, ''Siegfried'' (later renamed ''Batterie Todt'') with a pair of guns. Fire control for these guns was provided by both spotter aircraft and by DeTeGerät radar sets installed at Blanc Nez and Cap d’Alprech. These units were capable of detecting targets out to a range of , including small British patrol craft inshore of the English coast. Two additional radar sites were added by mid-September: a DeTeGerät at Cap de la Hague and a FernDeTeGerät long-range radar at Cap d’Antifer near Le Havre.

To strengthen German control of the Channel Narrows, the Army planned to quickly establish mobile artillery batteries along the English shoreline once a beachhead had been firmly established. Towards that end, 16th Army’s ''Artillerie Kommand 106'' was slated to land with the second wave to provide fire protection for the transport fleet as early as possible. This unit consisted of 24 guns and 72 guns. About one third of them were to be deployed on English soil by the end of Sea Lion’s first week.

The presence of these batteries was expected to greatly reduce the threat posed by British destroyers and smaller craft along the eastern approaches as the guns would be sited to cover the main transport routes from Dover to Calais and Hastings to Boulogne. They could not entirely protect the western approaches, but a large area of those invasion zones would still be within effective range.

The British military was well aware of the dangers posed by German artillery dominating the Dover Strait and on 4 September 1940 the Chief of Naval Staff issued a memo stating that if the Germans "...could get possession of the Dover defile and capture its gun defences from us, then, holding these points on both sides of the Straits, they would be in a position largely to deny those waters to our naval forces". Should the Dover defile be lost, he concluded, the Royal Navy could do little to interrupt the flow of German supplies and reinforcements across the Channel, at least by day, and he further warned that "...there might really be a chance that they (the Germans) might be able to bring a serious weight of attack to bear on this country". The very next day the Chiefs of Staff, after discussing the importance of the defile, decided to reinforce the Dover coast with more ground troops.

Cancellation

On 17 September 1940, Hitler held a meeting with ''Reichsmarschall'' Hermann Göring and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. Hitler became convinced the operation was not viable. Control of the skies was lacking, and coordination among three branches of the armed forces was out of the question. Later that day, Hitler ordered the postponement of the operation. He ordered the dispersal of the invasion fleet in order to avert further damage by British air and naval attacks.

The postponement coincided with rumours that there had been an attempt to land on British shores on or about 7 September, which had been repulsed with large German casualties. The story was later expanded to include false reports that the British had set the sea on fire using flaming oil. Both versions were widely reported in the American press, and in William L. Shirer's ''Berlin Diary'' but officially denied by Britain and Germany. Author James Hayward has suggested that the whispering campaign around the 'failed invasion' was a successful example of British black propaganda to bolster morale at home and in occupied Europe, and convince America that Britain was not a lost cause.

After the London Blitz, Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union, and lapsed, never to be resumed. However, not until 13 February 1942, after the invasion of Russia, were forces earmarked for the operation released to other duties.

Chances of success

The great majority of military historians believe Operation Sea Lion would not have succeeded. Kenneth Macksey asserts it would have only been possible if the Royal Navy had refrained from large scale intervention and the Germans had assaulted in July 1940 (although Macksey conceded they were unprepared at that time), while others such as Peter Fleming, Derek Robinson and Stephen Bungay believe the operation would have most likely resulted in a disaster for the Germans.

Adolf Galland, commander of fighters at the time, claimed invasion plans were not serious and that there was a palpable sense of relief in the when it was finally called off. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt also took this view and thought that Hitler never seriously intended to invade Britain and the whole thing was a bluff, to put pressure on the British Government to come to terms. In fact in November 1939 the German Naval staff produced a study (on the possibility of an invasion of Britain) and concluded that it required two preconditions, air ''and'' naval superiority, neither of which Germany ever had.

During the period 19–26 September 1940, sea and wind conditions on and over the Channel where the invasion was set to take place were good overall and a crossing (even using converted river barges) was feasible provided the sea state remained at less than 4 (which, for the most part, it did). Beginning the night of 27 September, strong northerly winds prevailed, making passage more hazardous, but calm conditions returned on 11–12 October and again on 16–20 October. After 20 October, light easterly winds prevailed which would have actually assisted any invasion craft travelling from the Continent towards the invasion beaches. But by the end of October, according to British Air Ministry records, very strong southwest winds (force 8) would have prohibited any non-seagoing craft from risking a Channel crossing.

There were a number of errors in German intelligence, and whilst some of these might not have caused problems, there were others (such as the inclusion of bridges that no longer existed or misunderstanding the usefulness of minor British roads) that would have been detrimental to German operations, and would have only added to the confusion caused by the layout of Britain's cities and the removal of road signs.

Post-war wargaming of the plan

In the wargame conducted at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1974, which assumed the had ''not'' yet won air supremacy, the Germans were able to establish a beachhead in England by using a minefield screen in the English Channel to protect the initial assault. However, the German ground forces were delayed at the "Stop Lines" (e.g. the GHQ Line), a layered series of defensive positions that had been built, each a combination of Home Guard troops and physical barriers. At the same time, the regular troops of the British Army were forming up. After only a few days, the Royal Navy was able to reach the Channel from Scapa Flow, cutting off supplies and blocking further reinforcement. Isolated and facing regular troops with armour and artillery, the invasion force was forced to surrender.

Planned occupation of Britain

Administration

According to the most detailed plans created for the planned post-invasion administration, Britain and Ireland were to be divided into six military-economic commands, with headquarters in London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow and Dublin. Hitler decreed that Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of Winston Churchill, was to serve as the overall headquarters of the German occupation government.

The OKW, RSHA and Foreign Ministry compiled lists of those they thought could be trusted to form a new government along the lines of that in occupied Norway. The list was headed by Oswald Mosley. The RSHA also felt that Harold Nicolson might prove useful in this role. OKW also expected to face armed civilian resistance.

After the war rumours also emerged about the selection of two candidates for the "viceregal" office of ''Reichskommissar für Großbritannien'' (Reichskommissar for Great Britain), which in other occupied territories (such as Norway and the Netherlands) actually entailed the granting of near-dictatorial powers to its officeholders (Josef Terboven and Arthur Seyss-Inquart, respectively). The first of these was Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister and previously an ambassador to Great Britain, and the second Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, an undersecretary in the Foreign Office and the Gauleiter of the NSDAP/AO. However, no establishment by this name was ever approved by either Hitler or the Reich government during the Second World War, and was also denied by Bohle when he was interrogated by the victorious Allies (von Ribbentrop not having been questioned on the matter). After the Second Armistice at Compiègne with France, when he expected an imminent British capitulation, Hitler did however assure Bohle that he would be the next German ambassador to the Court of St. James's "if the British behave[d] sensibly".

British monarchy

A Channel 5 documentary broadcast on 16 July 2009 claimed that the Germans intended to restore Edward VIII to the throne in the event of a German occupation. Many senior Nazi officials believed the Duke of Windsor to be highly sympathetic to the Nazi government, a feeling that was reinforced by his and Wallis Simpson's 1937 visit to Germany. However, it was revealed that (despite German approaches and inferences that 'some harm' might come to him otherwise) the former king had willingly allowed himself to be 'smuggled' (at personal risk) aboard a US warship to take up his new post as Governor of The Bahamas - and therefore beyond Hitler's reach. Despite rumours, the British Foreign Office later issued a statement to the effect that, "The Duke never wavered in his loyalty to Great Britain during the war".

Security

Had Operation Sea Lion succeeded, under Dr. Franz Six were to follow the invasion force to Great Britain to establish the New Order. Six's headquarters were to be in London, with regional task forces in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. They were provided with a list (known as The Black Book) of 2,820 people to be arrested immediately. The Einsatzgruppen were also tasked with liquidating what remained of Britain's Jewish population, which numbered over 300,000. Six had also been entrusted with the task of securing "aero-technological research result and important equipment" as well as "Germanic works of art". There is also a suggestion that he toyed with the idea of moving Nelson's Column to Berlin.

The RSHA planned to take over the Ministry of Information, to close the major news agencies and to take control of all of the newspapers. Anti-German newspapers were to be closed down.

It appears, based on the German police plans, that the occupation was to be only temporary, as detailed provisions for the post-occupation period are mentioned.

Deportation

According to captured German documents, the commander-in-chief of the German Army, Walther von Brauchitsch, directed that “The able-bodied male population between the ages of 17 and 45 will, unless the local situation calls for an exceptional ruling, be interned and dispatched to the Continent”. This represented about 25% of the surviving population. The UK was then to be plundered for anything of financial, military, industrial or cultural value, and the remaining population terrorised. Civilian hostages would be taken, and the death penalty immediately imposed for even the most trivial acts of resistance.

The deported male population would have most likely been used as industrial slave labour in areas of the Reich such as the factories and mines of the Ruhr and Upper Silesia. Although they may have been treated less brutally than slaves from the East (whom the Nazis regarded as sub-humans, fit only to be worked to death), working and living conditions would still have been severe.

In late February 1943 Otto Bräutigam of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories claimed he had the opportunity to read a personal report by General Wagner about a discussion with Heinrich Himmler, in which Himmler had expressed the intention to kill about 80% of the populations of France and England by special forces of the SS after the German victory. In an unrelated event, Hitler had on one occasion called the English lower classes "racially inferior".

In fiction

There is a large corpus of works set in an alternate history where the German invasion of Britain is attempted or successfully carried out (see also Axis victory in World War II). These include:

Novels and short stories

*''Against the Day'', ''Through the Night'' and ''In the Morning'' by Michael Cronin

*''Collaborator'' by Murray Davies

*''SS-GB'' by Len Deighton

*''Invasion: Alternative History of the German Invasion of England, July 1940'', by Kenneth Macksey

*''Weaver: Time's Tapestry'', by Stephen Baxter

*''Peace In Our Time'' (1946 - first performance 1947) by Noel Coward

*C. S. Forester's volume of short stories ''Gold from Crete'' (1971) includes ''If Hitler had invaded England''. This follows the progress of a German invasion fleet from its embarkation in France to its destruction in the fields of Kent, and closely follows the sequence of events reported in the Sandhurst wargame three years later.

*''Resistance'' by Owen Sheers, which sets the successful invasion in 1944 after a failed invasion of Normandy rather than in 1940

*The Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde are set in an alternate universe in which Operation Sea Lion was successful. The German occupying force is eventually driven out, and by the time of ''The Eyre Affair'' England is a republic.

Film and television

*''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'' (1971)

*''It Happened Here'' (1966)

''An Englishman's Castle''

''When Hitler Invaded Britain'' (2004)

''Hitler's Britain'' (2002)

*Alberto Cavalcanti's 1942 film ''Went the Day Well?'' is centred on a German radar-jamming mission for ''Sea Lion'' being eventually repulsed by the efforts of the civilian population of a remote village.

*In the 1971 film ''Dad's Army'', German paratroopers with photographs vital to the invasion crash land in England.

*''Jackboots on Whitehall'' (2010)

Video and board games

*''Axis & Allies'': while playing as the Axis powers in campaign mode (which has the Axis powers winning the war), Operation Sea Lion is the mission following the failed invasion of Normandy.

*''Britain Stands Alone: Operation Sealion, 1940'', GMT Games (1994), boardgame

*''Empire Earth'': the last mission of the German campaign is to carry out Operation Sea Lion

*''Panzer General'', SSI (1994), video game; strategic simulation game: Sea Lion '40 and Sea Lion Plus (the latter with prestige points used to take over Gibraltar allowing Italian naval assistance) scenarios are available given major victories in early operations, or the Sea Lion '43 after initial delays and later major victories in North Africa or Russia.

*''Seelöwe'', Simulations Publications, Inc. (1974), boardgame: featuring July/September scenarios (army and navy plans).

*''Silent Storm''

*''Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain and Operation Sea Lion'', GDW (1982), boardgame: part of GDW's Europa system.

*''Turning Point: Fall of Liberty''

*''War Front: Turning Point''

See also

British anti-invasion preparations of World War II

RAF Fighter Command Order of Battle 1940

Operation Sealion Order of Battle

Operation ''Herkules'' - The planned German invasion of Malta

Operation ''Tannenbaum'' - The planned German invasion of Switzerland

Operation ''Felix'' - The planned German invasion of Gibraltar

Operation ''Grün'' - The planned German invasion of Ireland.

Alien space bats - a discussion how Operation Sea Lion relates to the plausibility of alternate histories

References

Bibliography

Burdick, Charles, Jacobsen, Hans-Adolf. (1988). ''The Halder War Diary 1939-1942''. Navatop Press, California. ISBN 1-85367-022-7

Corum, James. ''The Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918-1940''. Kansas University Press. 1997. ISBN 9780700608362

ISBN 0-89141-015-5

Dönitz, Karl. ''Ten years and Twenty Days''. New York: Da Capo Press, First Edition, 1997. ISBN 0-306-80764-5.

ISBN 0-582-77294-X ISBN 0-330-24211-3

Greiner, H. 'Operation Seelowe and Intensified Air Warfare Against England up to the 30 October 1940', in Detweiler, D. ''World War II German Military Studies'', Volume 7 of 24 (New York, 1979)

ISBN 1-86105-750-4

Hooton, E.R.. Hooton, E.R. ''The Luftwaffe: A Study in Air Power, 1933-1945''. Classic Publications, London. 2010. ISBN 978-1-90653-718-0

ISBN 978-3-86755-000-0

Larew, Karl. ''The Royal Navy in the Battle of Britain''. The Historian 54:2 (1992: Winter), pp. 243–254

ISBN 0-02-578030-1 ISBN 0-679-50756-6

Raeder, Erich. ''Erich Rader, Grand Admiral'': The Personal Memoir of the Commander in Chief of the German Navy From 1935 Until His Final Break With Hitler in 1943''. New York: Da Capo Press. United States Naval Institute, 2001. ISBN 0-306-80962-1.

ISBN 0-85177-548-9

External links

British Invasion Defences

Why Sealion is not an option for Hitler to win the war (essay)

Second Why Operation Sealion Wouldn't Work (essay)

''Sealion'': an orthodox view (includes quotes from participants)

Sea Lion vs. Overlord (comparison)

Operation Sealion

Operation Sealion

historisches-marinearchiv.de Marinefährprähme (German)

Category:Cancelled military operations involving Germany Category:Invasions of England Category:World War II Western European Theatre Category:German World War II special forces Category:Code names Category:Cancelled invasions Category:Cancelled military operations of World War II

ar:أسد البحر (عملية عسكرية) bg:Операция Морски лъв cs:Operace Seelöwe da:Operation Seelöwe de:Unternehmen Seelöwe es:Operación León Marino eo:Operaco Seelöwe fr:Opération Seelöwe ko:바다사자 작전 hr:Operacija Morski lav id:Operasi Singa Laut it:Operazione Seelöwe he:מבצע ארי-הים lt:Jūrų liūtas (operacija) hu:Seelöwe hadművelet nl:Operatie Seelöwe ja:アシカ作戦 no:Operasjon Sjøløve pl:Operacja Lew Morski pt:Operação Leão Marinho ru:Операция «Морской лев» simple:Operation Sea Lion sk:Operácia Seelöwe sl:Operacija Morski lev sr:Операција Морски лав fi:Operaatio Seelöwe sv:Operation Seelöwe ta:சீ லயன் நடவடிக்கை tr:Denizaslanı Harekâtı uk:План «Зеельове» vi:Kế hoạch Sư tử biển zh:海獅計劃

The New Year is the day that marks the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner.

The New Year of the Gregorian calendar, today in worldwide use, falls on 1 January, continuing the practice of the Roman calendar. There are numerous calendars that remain in regional use that calculate the New Year differently.

The order of months in the Roman calendar has been January to December since King Numa Pompilius in about 700 BC, according to Plutarch and Macrobius. According to the Christian tradition, 1 January is the day of the circumcision of Jesus (on the eighth day of his birth), when the name of Jesus was given to him (Luke 2:21). Since then, 1 January has been the first day of the year, except during the Middle Ages when several other days were the first (1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, 25 December).

With the expansion of Western culture to the rest of the world during the twentieth century, the 1 January date became global, even in countries with their own New Year celebrations on other days (such as China and Pakistan).

In the culture of Latin America there are a variety of traditions and superstitions surrounding these dates as omens for the coming year. January remains a symbol of the New Year's celebration.

Other new year celebrations

Many cities and countries across the world celebrate the New Year. The celebrations usually include a fireworks display and other festivities, as well as other traditions varying by culture and country.

The most common modern dates of celebration are listed below, ordered and grouped by their appearance relative to the conventional Western calendar.

The Gregorian calendar is now used by many countries as the official calendar. This has meant that celebrations for the New Year have become much larger than before. Some countries (e.g. the Czech Republic) even consider 1 January to be a national holiday.

January

1 January: The first official day of the year in the Gregorian calendar used by most countries. Eight of the twelve biggest Eastern Orthodox Churches which have adopted the Revised Julian calendar - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Romania, Syria and Turkey - also celebrate 1 January as the New Year.

14 January: The Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year (Declaration Bill 2008) was introduced in the House by the Tamil Nadu DMK Government on 29 January 2008. According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year (Declaration) Act 2008, the Governor in his address to the House had announced that in view of the consensus amongst some Tamil scholars that the first day of the month of Thai is the first day of the Tamil year, the Government had decided to declare the first day of Thai as the Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year Day. This legislative enactment of the DMK government was not without controversy. It abolished the Tamil calendar for purportedly secular reasons and reaffirmed the use of the Tiruvalluvar era created in the 20th century as the official calendar. The order abolishes the use of traditional Tamil Years in the 60 year cycle. It proposes that 14 January of every year be celebrated as Tamil New Year in addition to the famous harvest/farmer festival Pongal. But the said resolution has been met with resistance. and has been challenged in court. The opposition AIADMK and MDMK in Tamil Nadu condemned the decision of the DMK Government in that state and urged their supporters to continue celebrating the traditional date in mid-April. Tamils in Sri Lanka and in other diaspora communities worldwide continue to observe the new year in mid-April. as they are outside of the jurisdiction of the Tamil Nadu State of India.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the civil New Year falls on Gregorian 14 January (1 January in the Julian calendar). Many in the countries where Eastern Orthodoxy predominates celebrate both the Gregorian and Julian New Year holidays, with the Gregorian day celebrated as a civic holiday, and the Julian date as the "Old New Year", a religious holiday. The orthodox churches of Georgia, Jerusalem, Russia, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine still use the Julian Calendar.

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, occurs every year on the new moon of the first lunar month, about four to eight weeks before spring (Lichun). The exact date can fall anytime between 21 January and 21 February (inclusive) of the Gregorian Calendar. Traditionally, years were marked by one of twelve Earthly Branches, represented by an animal, and one of ten Heavenly Stems, which correspond to the five elements. This combination cycles every 60 years. It is the most important Chinese celebration of the year.

The Vietnamese New Year is the Tết Nguyên Đán which is for most times the same day as the Chinese New Year.

The Tibetan New Year is Losar and falls from January through March.

March

Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox. Ancient celebrations lasted for eleven days.

Nava (new) Varsha (year) is celebrated in India in various regions in March–April.

New Year's Day in the Sikh Nanakshahi calendar is on 14 March.

The Iranian New Year, called Nowruz, is the day containing the exact moment of the vernal equinox, which usually occurs on 20 or 21 March, commencing the start of the spring season. The Zoroastrian New Year coincides with the Iranian New Year of Nowruz, and is celebrated by the Parsis in India and by Zoroastrians and Persians across the world. In the Bahá'í calendar, the new year occurs on the vernal equinox on 21 March, and is called Naw-Rúz. The Iranian tradition was also passed on to Central Asian countries, including Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Uighurs, and there is known as Nauryz. It is usually celebrated on 22 March.

The Balinese New Year, based on the Saka Calendar (Balinese-Javanese Calendar), is called Nyepi, and it falls on Bali's Lunar New Year (26 March in 2009). It is a day of silence, fasting, and meditation: observed from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. Although Nyepi is a primarily Hindu holiday, non-Hindu residents of Bali observe the day of silence as well, out of respect for their fellow citizens. Even tourists are not exempt; although free to do as they wish inside their hotels, no one is allowed onto the beaches or streets, and the only airport in Bali remains closed for the entire day. The only exceptions granted are for emergency vehicles carrying those with life-threatening conditions and women about to give birth.

The Telugu New Year generally falls in the months of March or April. The people of Andhra Pradesh, India celebrate the advent of New Year's Day in these months. This day is celebrated across entire Andhra Pradesh as UGADI (meaning the start of a new Year). The first month is Chaitra Masam. Masam means month.

Kashmiri Calendar, Navreh (New Year): 5083 Saptarshi/2064 Vikrami/2007–08 AD, 19 March. This holy day of Kashmiri Brahmins has been celebrated for several millennia.

Gudi Padwa is celebrated as the first day of the Hindu year by the people of Maharashtra, India. This day falls in March or April and coincides with Ugadi. (see: Deccan)

Ugadi, the Kannada New Year is celebrated by the people of Karnataka, India as the beginning of a new year according to the Hindu Calendar. The first month of the New Year is Chaitra.

Sindhi festival of Cheti Chand is celebrated on the same day as Ugadi/Gudi Padwa to mark the celebration of the Sindhi New Year.

The Thelemic New Year on 20 March is usually celebrated with an invocation to Ra-Hoor-Khuit, commemorating the beginning of the New Aeon in 1904. It also marks the start of the twenty-two day Thelemic holy season, which ends at the third day of the writing of The Book of the Law. This date is also known as The Feast of the Supreme Ritual. There are some that believe the Thelemic New Year falls on either 19, 20 or 21 March, depending on the vernal equinox, this is The Feast for the Equinox of the Gods which is held on the vernal equinox of each year to commemorate the founding of Thelema in 1904. In 1904 the vernal equinox was on a 21st and it was the day after Aleister Crowley ended his Horus Invocation that brought on the new Æon and Thelemic New Year.

April

The Assyrian New Year, called Rish Nissanu, occurs on the first day of April.

Mid-April (Northern Spring)

The new year of many South and Southeast Asian calendars falls between 13 and 15 April, marking the beginning of spring.

Punjabi/Sikh New Year is celebrated on the 14th of April in Punjab.

Nepali New Year is celebrated on the 1st of Baisakh ''Baisākh'' (12–15 April) in Nepal. (Not to be confused with Nepal Era New year)

Assamese New Year (''Rongali Bihu'' or ''Bohag Bihu'') is celebrated on 14–15 April in the Indian state of Assam.

Bengali New Year ( ''Pôhela Boishakh'' or ''Bangla Nôbobôrsho'') is celebrated on the 1st of Boishakh (14–15 April) in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.

Oriya New Year (''Vishuva Sankranti'') is celebrated on 14 April in the Indian state of Orissa.

[(Manipuri people)] New Year or CHeirouba is celebrated on 14 April in the Indian State of Manipur with much festivities and feasting.

Sinhalese New Year is celebrated with the harvest festival (in the month of Bak) when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya (House of Pisces) to the Mesha Rashiya (House of Aries). Sri Lankans begin celebrating their National New Year "Aluth Avurudhu" in Sinhala and "Puththandu (புத்தாண்டு)" in Tamil. However, unlike the usual practice where the new year begins at midnight, the National New Year begins at the time determined by the astrologers. Not only the beginning of the new year but the conclusion of the old year is also specified by the astrologers. And unlike the customary ending and beginning of new year, there is a period of a few hours in between the conclusion of the Old Year and the commencement of the New Year, which is called the "nona gathe" (neutral period). During this time one is expected to keep off from all types of work and engage solely in religious activities. It will fall on 13 April for the year 2009.

Tamil New Year (''Puthandu'') is celebrated in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the first of ''Chithrai'' (சித்திரை). In the temple city of Madurai, the Chithrai Thiruvizha is celebrated in the Meenakshi Temple. A huge exhibition is also held, called Chithrai Porutkaatchi. In some parts of Southern Tamil Nadu, it is also called Chithrai Vishu. The day is marked with a feast in Hindu homes and the entrance to the houses are decorated elaborately with kolams. While the holiday generally falls on 13 or 14 April, this may no longer be the case (officially at least) in Tamil Nadu in the future, as a bill declaring the first day of the Tamil month 'Thai' (January 14) as the new Tamil New Year day was unanimously passed in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly.

Malayali New Year (''Vishu'') is celebrated in the South Indian state of Kerala.

In some parts of Karnataka, the new year may be celebrated in mid-April, although it is most commonly celebrated on the day of Gudi Padwa, the Maharashtrian new year.

The Water Festival is the form of similar new year celebrations taking place in many Southeast Asian countries, on the day of the full moon of the 11th month on the lunisolar calendar each year. The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed on 13–15 April. Traditionally people gently sprinkled water on one another as a sign of respect, but as the new year falls during the hottest month in Southeast Asia, many people end up dousing strangers and passersby in vehicles in boisterous celebration. The festival has many different names specific to each country:

In Myanmar it is known as ''Thingyan'' ()

Songkran () in Thailand

* ''Pi Mai Lao'' (Lao:ປີໃໝ່ ''Songkan'') in Laos

''Chaul Chnam Thmey'' ( ) in Cambodia.

* It is also the traditional new year of the Dai peoples of Yunnan Province, China. Religious activities in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism are also carried out, a tradition which all of these cultures share.

June

The Kutchi people celebrate Kutchi New Year on ''Ashadi Beej'', that is 2nd day of Shukla paksha of Aashaadha month of Hindu calendar. As for people of Kutch, this day is associated with beginning of rains in Kutch, which is largely a desert area. Hindu calendar month of Aashaadh usually begins on 22 June and ending on 22 July.

Northern fall

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew for 'head of the year') is a Jewish holiday commemorating the culmination of the seven days of Creation, and marking God's yearly renewal of His world. The day has elements of festivity and introspection, as God is traditionally believed to be assessing His creation and determining the fate of all men and creatures for the coming year. In Jewish tradition, honey is used to symbolize a sweet new year. At the traditional meal for that holiday, apple slices are dipped in honey and eaten with blessings recited for a good, sweet new year. Some Rosh Hashanah greetings show honey and an apple, symbolizing the feast. In some congregations, small straws of honey are given out to usher in the new year.

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the New Year, called Neyrouz, coincides with 11 September in the Gregorian calendar between 1900 and 2099, with the exception of the year before Gregorian leap years, when Neyrouz occurs on 12 September. The Coptic year 1723 began in September 2005. The Ethiopian Orthodox New Year, called Enkutatash, falls on the same date as Neyrouz; the Ethiopian calendar year 1999 thus began on 11 September 2006.

The Marwari New Year is celebrated on the day of the festival of Diwali, which is the last day Krishna Paksha of Ashvin month & also last day of the Ashvin month of Hindu calendar.

The Gujarati New Year is celebrated the day after the festival of Diwali (which occurs in mid-fall - either October or November, depending on the Lunar calendar). The Gujarati New Year is synonymous with ''sud ekam'' i.e. first day of Shukla paksha of the ''Kartik'' month -, which is taken as the first day of the first month of Gujarati lunar calendar. Most other Hindus celebrate the New Year in early spring. Gujarati community all over the world celebrates the New Year after Diwali to mark the beginning of a new fiscal year.

The Nepal Era New year (see Nepal Sambat) is celebrated in regions encompassing original Nepal. The new year occurs in the fourth day of Diwali. The calendar was used as an official calendar until the mid 19th century. However, the new year is still celebrated by citizens of original Nepal, the Newars.

Some neo-pagans celebrate Samhain (a festival of the ancient Celts, held around 1 November) as a New Year's Day representing the new cycle of the Wheel of the Year, although they do not use a different calendar that starts on this day.

The now deceased Murador Aboriginal tribe of Western Australia celebrates New Years on what is known on present day calendars to be the 30th of October. A time of reconciliation and celebration of friendship, the Murador tribe were said to have placed great importance on the past as well as the year that was coming

Variable

The Islamic New Year occurs on 1 Muharram. Since the Muslim calendar is based on 12 lunar months amounting to about 354 days, the Muslim New Year occurs about eleven days earlier each year in relation to the Gregorian calendar, with two Muslim New Years falling in Gregorian year 2008.

Christian liturgical year

Since the 17th century, the Roman Catholic ecclesiastic year has started on the first day of Advent, the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew's Day (30 November). According to the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the liturgical year begins at 4:00 p.m. on the Saturday preceding the fourth Sunday prior to 25 December. The same liturgical calendar is followed by churches descended from it, including the Anglican and Lutheran Churches.

The Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar begins on 1 September — proceeding annually from the celebration of Jesus' birth in the winter (Christmas), through his death and resurrection in the spring (Pascha / Easter), to his Ascension and the Assumption of his mother (Dormition of the Theotokos / Virgin Mary) in the summer.

Historical Christian new year dates

The year used in dates during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was the consular year, which began on the day when consuls first entered office — probably 1 May before 222 BC, 15 March from 222 BC to 154 BC, but this event was moved to 1 January in 153 BC. In 45 BC, Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar, continuing to use 1 January as the first day of the new year.

In the Middle Ages in Europe a number of significant feast days in the ecclesiastical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church came to be used as the beginning of the Julian year:

In ''Christmas Style'' dating the new year started on 25 December. This was used in Germany and England until the thirteenth century, and in Spain from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.

In ''Annunciation Style'' dating the new year started on 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation. This was used in many parts of Europe in the Middle Ages. Annunciation Style continued to be used officially in the Kingdom of Great Britain until 1 January 1752, except Scotland which changed to ''Circumcision Style'' dating on 1 January 1600, the Act being passed on 17 December 1599. The rest of Great Britain changed to ''Circumcision Style'' on the 1 January preceding the conversion in Great Britain from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar on 3/14 September 1752. The UK tax year still starts on 6 April which is 25 March + 12 days, eleven for the conversion from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar plus a dropped leap day in 1900.

In ''Easter Style'' dating, the new year started on Easter Saturday (or sometimes on Good Friday). This was used all over Europe, but especially in France, from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. A disadvantage of this system was that because Easter was a movable feast the same date could occur twice in a year; the two occurrences were distinguished as "before Easter" and "after Easter".

In ''Circumcision Style'' dating, the new year started on 1 January, the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ.

Adoption of 1 January

It took quite a long time before 1 January again became the universal or standard start of the civil year. The years of adoption of 1 January as the new year are as follows:

Country	Start year
Venice	1522
Sweden	1529
Holy Roman Empire (~Germany)	1544
Spain, Portugal, Poland	1556
Prussia, Denmark and Norway	1559
France (Edict of Roussillon)	1564
Southern Netherlands	1576
Lorraine (province)	Lorraine	1579
Dutch Republic	1583
Scotland	1600
Russia	1700
Tuscany	1721
Kingdom of Great Britain	Britain, Ireland and British Empire except Scotland	1752
Thai solar calendar	Thailand	1941

1 March was the first day of the numbered year in the Republic of Venice until its destruction in 1797, and in Russia from 988 until 1492 (AM 7000). 1 September was used in Russia from 1492 until the adoption of the Christian era in 1700 via a December 1699 decree of Tsar Peter I (previously, Russia had counted years since the creation of the world—Anno Mundi).

Autumnal equinox day (usually 22 September) was "New Year's Day" in the French Republican Calendar, which was in use from 1793 to 1805. This was ''primidi Vendémiaire'', the first day of the first month.

Time zones

Because of the division of the globe into time zones, the new year moves progressively around the globe as the start of the day ushers in the New Year. The first time zone to usher in the New Year is just west of the International Date Line. At that time the time zone to the east of the Date Line is 23 hours behind, still in the previous day. The central Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati claims that its easternmost landmass, uninhabited Caroline Island, is the first to usher in the New Year.

See also

Baby New Year

Chinese New Year

Diwali

Hogmanay

Islamic New Year

Japanese New Year

Khmer New Year

Korean New Year

Twelve Grapes

Matariki

New Year's Eve

Nowruz

Old Style and New Style dates

Rosh Hashanah

Sinhalese New Year

Telugu New Year

Tamil New Year

Thai New Year

Vietnamese New Year

References

Category:Calendars Category:New Year celebrations

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name	Carole King
background	solo_singer
birth name	Carol Klein
birth date	February 09, 1942
origin	New York City, United States
instrument	PianoVocalsGuitar
genre	Folk rock, Pop
occupation	Singer-songwriter
years active	1958–present
label	RockingaleOde/Epic/CBS RecordsPriority/EMI Records
associated acts	James TaylorThe CityDanny KortchmarNeil Sedaka
website	CaroleKing.com }}

Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King's album ''Tapestry'' topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks, in 1971, and remained on the charts for more than six years.

She was most successful as a performer in the first half of the 1970s, although she was a successful songwriter long before and long after. She had her first No. 1 hit as a songwriter in 1961, at age 18, with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which she wrote with Gerry Goffin. In 1997, she co-wrote "The Reason" for Celine Dion.

In 2000, Joel Whitburn, a ''Billboard Magazine'' pop music researcher, named her the most successful female songwriter of 1955–99, because she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being ''Tapestry''. Her most recent non-compilation album is ''Live at the Troubadour'', a collaboration with James Taylor, which reached No.4 on the charts in its first week, and has sold over 400,000 copies.

She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. In 2009, Carole King was inducted into the "Hit Parade" Hall of Fame. She holds the record for the longest time for an album by a female to remain on the charts and the longest time for an album by a female to hold the No.1 position, both for ''Tapestry''.

Early life

Born Carol Klein (she added the "e" to her first name) in 1942 to a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York, King grew up in Brooklyn. She learned the piano, then began singing with a vocal quartet called the Co-Sines at James Madison High School. As a teenager dreaming of having a successful entertainment career, she decided to give herself a new last name, stumbling upon "King" in a telephone directory. She attended Queens College, where she was a classmate (and girlfriend) of Neil Sedaka and inspired Sedaka's first hit, "Oh! Carol." She responded with "Oh! Neil." At Queens College, she befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin.

Partnership with Gerry Goffin

Goffin and King formed a songwriting partnership for Aldon Music at 1650 Broadway in New York. Their partnership's first success was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", recorded by The Shirelles. It topped the American charts in 1961, becoming the first No. 1 hit by a girl group. It was later recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Ben E. King, Dusty Springfield, Laura Branigan, Little Eva, Roberta Flack, The Four Seasons, Bryan Ferry, Dave Mason, Dionne Warwick, and Melanie Safka as well as by King herself, and Amy Winehouse.

Goffin and King married in September 1960 and had two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin. Both are musicians.

In 1965, Goffin and King wrote a theme song for Sidney Sheldon's television series, ''I Dream of Jeannie,'' but an instrumental by Hugo Montenegro was used instead. Goffin and King's 1967 song, "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a No.3 for The Monkees, was inspired by their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey. Goffin and King also wrote "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" for ''Head'', the Monkees' film. (King also co-wrote "As We Go Along" with Toni Stern for the same film soundtrack.)

Goffin and King divorced in 1968 but Carole consulted Goffin on music she was writing. King lost touch with Goffin because of his declining mental health and the effect it had on their children.

Solo career

In 1967, King had a hit "Windy Day" with The Executives. In 1968, she was hired with Toni Stern to write for Strawberry Alarm Clock – "Lady of the Lake" and "Blues for a Young Girl Gone"—which appeared on the album, ''The World in a Seashell''.

King sang backup vocals on the demo of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion". She had had a modest hit in 1962 singing one of her own songs, "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (22 in the US and top 10 in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary and Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made 94 in 1963, it took King eight years to reach the Hot 100 singles chart again as a performer. As the '60s waned, King helped start Tomorrow Records, divorced Goffin and married Charles Larkey (of the Myddle Class), with whom she had two children (Molly and Levi). Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King and Danny Kortchmar formed The City, which made one album, ''Now That Everything's Been Said'', a commercial failure. King made ''Writer'' (1970), also a commercial failure.

King followed ''Writer'' in 1971 with ''Tapestry'', featuring new folk-flavored compositions, as well as reinterpretations of two of her songs, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." ''Tapestry'' was an instant success. With numerous hit singles – including a Billboard No.1 with "It's Too Late" – ''Tapestry'' held the No.1 spot for 15 consecutive weeks, remained on the charts for nearly six years, sold 10 million copies in the United States, and 25 million worldwide. The album garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late," lyrics by Toni Stern); and Song of the Year, become the first woman to win the award ("You've Got a Friend"). The album signalled the era of platinum albums, though it was issued prior to the invention of the platinum certification by the RIAA. It would eventually be certified Diamond.

''Tapestry'' was the top-selling solo album until Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' in 1982. The album was later placed at 36 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. In addition, "It's Too Late" was placed at No.469 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

''Carole King: Music'' was released in December 1971, certified gold on December 9, 1971. It entered the top ten at 8, becoming the first of many weeks ''Tapestry'' and ''Carole King: Music'' would occupy the top 10 simultaneously. The following week, it rose to 3, and finally No.1 on January 1, 1972, staying there for three weeks. The album also spawned a top 10 hit, "Sweet Seasons" (US No.9 and AC #2). ''Music'' stayed on the Billboard pop album charts for 44 weeks. ''Carole King: Music'' was eventually certified platinum.

''Rhymes and Reasons'' (1972), and ''Fantasy'' (1973) followed, each earning gold certifications. ''Rhymes and Reasons'' produced another hit, "Been to Canaan" (US No.24 and AC #1), and ''Fantasy'' produced two hits, "Believe in Humanity" (US #28) and "Corazon" (US No.37 and AC #5), as well as another song that charted on the Hot 100, "You Light Up My Life" (US No.68 and AC #6).

In 1973, King performed a free concert in New York City's Central Park with 100,000 attending.

In September 1974, King released her album ''Wrap Around Joy,'' which was certified gold on October 16, 1974 and entered the top ten at 7 on October 19, 1974. Two weeks later it reached 1 and stayed there one week. She toured to promote the album. ''Wrap Around Joy'' spawned two hits. Jazzman was a single and reached 2 on November 9 but fell out of the top ten the next week. Nightingale, a single on December 17, went to No.9 on March 1, 1975.

In 1975, King scored songs for the animated TV production of Maurice Sendak's ''Really Rosie'', released as an album by the same name, with lyrics by Sendak.

''Thoroughbred'' (1976) was the last studio album she made under the Ode label. In addition to enlisting her long-time friends such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel, King reunited with Gerry Goffin to write four songs for the album. Their partnership continued intermittently. King also did a promotional tour for the album in 1976.

In 1977, King collaborated with another songwriter Rick Evers on ''Simple Things'', the first release with a new label distributed by Capitol Records. Shortly after that King and Evers were married; he died of a heroin overdose one year later. ''Simple Things'' was her first album that failed to reach the top 10 on the Billboard since ''Tapestry'', and it was her last Gold-certified record by the RIAA, except for a compilation entitled ''Her Greatest Hits'' the following year. Neither ''Welcome Home'' (1978), her debut as a co-producer on an album, nor ''Touch the Sky'' (1979), reached the top 100.

''Pearls – The Songs of Goffin and King'' (1980) yielded a hit single, an updated version of "One Fine Day." ''Pearls'' marked the end of King's career as a hitmaker and a performer, no subsequent single reaching the top 40.

Later life and work

King moved to Atlantic Records for ''One to One'' (1982), and ''Speeding Time'' in 1983, which was a reunion with Tapestry-era producer Lou Adler. In 1983, she played piano in "Chains and Things" on the B.B. King album ''Why I Sing The Blues''. After a well-received concert tour in 1984, journalist Catherine Foster of the Christian Science Monitor dubbed King as "a Queen of Rock." She also called King's performing as "all spunk and exuberance."

In 1985, she wrote and performed "Care-A-Lot," theme to ''The Care Bears Movie''. Also in 1985, she scored and performed (with David Sanborn) the soundtrack to the Martin Ritt-directed movie ''Murphy's Romance''. The soundtrack, again produced by Adler, included the songs "Running Lonely" and "Love For The Last Time (Theme from 'Murphy's Romance')," although a soundtrack album was apparently never officially released. King made a cameo appearance in the film as Tillie, a town hall employee.

In 1989, she returned to Capitol Records and recorded ''City Streets'', with Eric Clapton on two tracks and Branford Marsalis on one, followed by ''Color of Your Dreams'' (1993), with an appearance by Slash of Guns N' Roses. Her song, "Now and Forever," was in the opening credits to the 1992 movie ''A League of Their Own'', and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 1988, she starred in the off-Broadway production ''A Minor Incident'', and in 1994, she played Mrs Johnstone on Broadway in ''Blood Brothers''. In 1996, she appeared in ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' in Ireland, directed by Peter Sheridan. In 1991, she wrote with Mariah Carey the song "If It's Over", for Carey's second album ''Emotions''. In 1996, she wrote "Wall Of Smiles / Torre De Marfil" with Soraya for her 1997 album of the same title.

In 1997, King wrote and recorded backing vocals on "The Reason" for Celine Dion on her album ''Let's Talk About Love''. The song sold worldwide, including one million in France. It went to number 1 in France, 11 in the UK, and 13 in Ireland. The pair performed a duet on the first VH1 Divas Live benefit concert. King also performed her "You've Got A Friend" with Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain as well as "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with Aretha Franklin and others, including Mariah Carey. In 1998, King wrote "Anyone at All", and performed it in ''You've Got Mail'', starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

In 2001, King appeared in a television ad for the Gap, with her daughter, Louise Goffin. She performed a new song, "Love Makes the World," which became a title track for her studio album in autumn 2001 on her own label, Rockingale, distributed by Koch Records. The album includes songs she wrote for other artists during the mid-1990s and features Celine Dion, Steven Tyler, Babyface and k.d. lang. ''Love Makes the World'' went to 158 in the US and No.86 in the UK. It also debuted on ''Billboard's'' Top Independent Albums chart and Top Internet Albums chart at #20. An expanded edition of the album was issued six years later called ''Love Makes the World Deluxe Edition''. It contains a bonus disc with five additional tracks, including a remake of "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" co-written with Toni Stern. The same year, King and Stern wrote "Sayonara Dance," recorded by Yuki, former lead vocalist of the Japanese band Judy and Mary, on her first solo album ''Prismic'' the following year. Also in 2001, King composed a song for ''All About Chemistry'' album by Semisonic, with the band's frontman Dan Wilson.

King launched her Living Room Tour in July 2004 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. That show, along with shows at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (Hyannis, Massachusetts) were recorded as ''The Living Room Tour'' in July 2005. The album sold 44,000 copies in its first week in the US, landing at 17 on the Billboard 200, her highest-charting album since 1977. The album also charted at 51 in Australia. It has sold 330,000 copies in the United States. In August 2006 the album reentered the Billboard 200 at 151. The tour stopped in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A DVD of the tour, called ''Welcome to My Living Room'', was released in October 2007.

In November 2007, King toured Japan with Mary J. Blige and Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas. Japanese record labels Sony and Victor reissued most of King's albums, including the works from the late 1970s previously unavailable on compact disc. King recorded a duet of the Goffin/King composition "Time Don't Run Out on Me" with Anne Murray on Murray's 2007 album ''Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends''. The song had previously been recorded by Murray for her 1984 album ''Heart Over Mind''.

In 2010, King and James Taylor staged their Troubadour Reunion Tour together, recalling the first time they played at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970. The pair had reunited two and a half years earlier with the band they used in 1970 to mark the club's 50th anniversary. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to take the band on the road. The touring band featured players from that original band: Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, and Danny Kortchmar. Also present was King's son-in-law, Robbie Kondor. King played piano and Taylor guitar on each others' songs, and they sang together some of the numbers they were both associated with. The tour began in Australia in March, returning to the United States in May. It was a major commercial success, with King playing to some of the largest audiences of her career. Total ticket sales exceeded 700,000 and the tour grossed over 59 million dollars, making it one of the most successful tours of the year.

During their Troubadour Reunion Tour, Carole King released two albums, one with James Taylor. The first, released on April 27, 2010, ''The Essential Carole King'', is a two-disc compilation album. The first disc features many songs Carole King has recorded, mostly her hit singles. The second disc features recordings by other artists of songs that King wrote, most of which made the top 40, and many of which reached #1. The second album was released on May 4, 2010 and is a collaboration of King and James Taylor called ''Live at the Troubadour'', which debuted at No.4 in the United States with sales of 78,000 copies. ''Live at the Troubadour'' has since received a gold record from the RIAA for shipments of over 500,000 copies in the US and has remained on the charts for 34 weeks, currently charting at No.170 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

On December 22, 2010, Carole King's mother, Eugenia Gingold, died in the Hospice Care unit at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida at the age of 94. King stated that the cause of death was congestive heart failure. Gingold's passing was reported by the Miami Herald on January 1, 2011.

The City

In 1968 King formed The City, a music trio consisting of Charles Larkey, bass, Danny Kortchmar, guitar and vocals, and King on piano and vocals. The trio was assisted by Jim Gordon on drums. The City produced one album, ''Now That Everything's Been Said'' in 1968, but King's reluctance to perform live meant sales were slow, and after a change of distributors it got deleted early, and the group disbanded in 1969. The album was re-released in 1999 as a CD, though despite a reappraisal by Kortchmar that the album sowed the seeds for ''Tapestry'' the CD was also deleted.

Acting career

King has appeared sporadically in acting roles, notably three appearances as guest star on the TV series ''Gilmore Girls'' as Sophie, the owner of the Stars Hollow music store. King's song "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" was also the theme song to the series, in a version sung with her daughter Louise.

Political and environmental activism

After relocating to Idaho in 1977, King became involved in environmental issues. Since 1990, she has been working with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups towards passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA). King has testified on Capitol Hill three times on behalf of NREPA: in 1994, 2007 and again in 2009.

King is also politically active in the United States Democratic Party. In 2003, she began campaigning for John Kerry, performing in private homes for caucus delegates during the Democratic primaries. On July 29, 2004, she made a short speech and sang at the Democratic National Convention, about two hours before Kerry made his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President. King continued her support of Kerry throughout the general election.

In 2008, King appeared on the March 18 episode of ''The Colbert Report'', touching on her politics once more. She stated that she was supporting Hillary Clinton and mentioned that the choice had nothing to do with gender. She also expressed that she would have no issues if Barack Obama were to win the election. Before the show's conclusion, she returned to the stage to perform "I Feel the Earth Move".

Tributes and covers

An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album ''Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King.'' From the album, Rod Stewart's version of "So Far Away" and Celine Dion's cover of "A Natural Woman" were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant ("It's Too Late"), Richard Marx ("Beautiful"), Aretha Franklin ("You've Got a Friend"), Faith Hill ("Where You Lead"), and the Bee Gees ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow?").

Former Monkee Micky Dolenz released ''King for a Day'', a tribute album consisting of songs written or co-written by King, in 2010. The album includes "Sometime in the Morning", a King-penned song originally recorded by the Monkees in 1967. Dolenz had previously recorded another of King's Monkees compositions, "Porpoise Song", on his lullaby-themed CD ''Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep''.

Many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash No.1 hit for James Taylor in 1971 and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Isaac Hayes recorded "It's Too Late" for his No.1 R&B; live album ''Live at the Sahara Tahoe''. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit in 1972 with "Where You Lead" twice – by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration." Streisand also covered "No Easy Way Down" in 1971, "Beautiful" and "You've Got A Friend" in 1972, and "Being At War With Each Other" in 1974. The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 ,and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Richard Carpenter produced a version of "You've Got A Friend" with then teen singer/actor Scott Grimes in 1989. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of I Feel the Earth Move, and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Oh No Not My Baby" in 1993. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album ''Let's Talk About Love'' with Carole King singing backup and it became a million-seller and was certified Diamond in France. "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern) became the title song of TV show ''Gilmore Girls''.

In 1996, a film very loosely based on her life, ''Grace of My Heart,'' was released. In the film an aspiring singer sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.

Awards and recognition

In 1987, Goffin and King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 1988, Goffin and King received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1990, King was inducted, along with Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category for her songwriting achievements.

In 2002, King was given the "Johnny Mercer Award" by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2004, Goffin and King were awarded the Grammy Trustees Award.

King was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Discography and certifications

The years given are the years in which the albums and singles were released and not necessarily the years in which they achieved their peak positions.

U.S. Billboard Top 10 Albums

1971 – ''Tapestry'' (#1)

1971 – ''Carole King: Music'' (#1)

1972 – ''Rhymes and Reasons'' (#2)

1973 – ''Fantasy'' (#6)

1974 – ''Wrap Around Joy'' (#1)

1976 – ''Thoroughbred'' (#3)

2010 – ''Live at the Troubadour'' (with James Taylor) (#4)

U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles

1971 – "I Feel the Earth Move" (#1)

1971 – "It's Too Late" (#1)

1971 – "Sweet Seasons" (#9)

1974 – "Jazzman" (#2)

1974 – "Nightingale" (#9)

Albums and singles certifications

!Song title	!Certification
"It's Too Late"	Gold
!Album title	!Certification
''Tapestry''	Diamond
''Carole King: Music''	Platinum
''Rhymes and Reasons''	Gold
''Fantasy''	Gold
''Wrap Around Joy''	Gold
''Thoroughbred''	Gold
''Simple Things''	Gold
''Live at the Troubadour''	Gold

See also

List of songwriter tandems

References

External links

www.caroleking.com

Articles on Carole King

Rachel Louis Snyder on Carole King, ''Salon,'' June 19, 1999

Franck Scheck on Carole King, ''Hollywood Reporter,'' July 15, 2005

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:A&M; Records artists Category:American female pop singers Category:American pop pianists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:E1 Music artists Category:Female rock singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:Musicians from New Jersey Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Long Island Category:People from West Orange, New Jersey Category:Queens College, City University of New York alumni Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees

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