name	Games of the VII Olympiad
host city	Antwerp, Belgium
logo	1920_olympics_poster.jpg
size	250px
nations participating	29
athletes participating	2,626(2,561 men, 65 women)
events	154 in 22 sports
opening ceremony	20 August 1920
closing ceremony	12 September 1920
officially opened by	Albert I of Belgium | Athlete's Oath Victor Boin | Judge's Oath
stadium	Olympisch Stadion }}

The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honor the people of that city after the suffering they endured during World War I. The initial choice for the site of the Games had been Budapest, Hungary. Though the majority of events took place in Belgium, there was a single sailing event which took place in Dutch waters and as such, the games were officially in both countries.

The 1916 Summer Olympics, to be held in Berlin, capital of the German Empire, were canceled due to the war. The aftermath of the war and the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 affected the Olympic Games not only due to new states being created, but also by sanctions against the nations that lost the war and were blamed for starting it.

Budapest had initially been selected to host the Games over Amsterdam and Lyon, but as the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been a German ally in the First World War, the Games were transferred to Antwerp in April 1919. Hungary, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey were also banned from competing in the Games. Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the Winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics).

Highlights

These Olympics were the first in which the Olympic Oath was voiced, the first in which doves were released to symbolize peace, and the first in which the Olympic Flag was flown.

The USA won 41 Gold, 27 Silver, and 27 Bronze medals, the most won by any of the 29 nations attending. Sweden, Great Britain, Finland and Belgium rounded out the five most successful medal-winning nations.

The Games also featured a week of winter sports, with figure skating and ice hockey making their Olympic debut.

Duke Kahanamoku retained the 100 m swimming title he won before the war.

Nedo Nadi won 5 gold medals in the fencing events.

At the age of 72, Sweden's 100 metre running deer double-shot event champion Oscar Swahn won in the team event to become the oldest Olympic champion ever.

23-year-old Paavo Nurmi won the 10,000 m and 8,000 m cross country races, took another gold in team cross country, and a silver in 5,000 m run. His contributions for Finland broke the U.S. dominance record in track and field with 9 medals.

In a unique moment in Olympic history, the 12-foot dinghy event in sailing was held in two different countries. The final two races in the event were held in the Netherlands, as the only two competitors in the event were Dutch.

Sport shooter Guilherme Paraense won Brazil's first ever Gold Medal at the Olympic Games.

Medals awarded

{| |

Archery

Athletics

Boxing

Cycling

Diving

Equestrian

Fencing

Figure skating

Football

Gymnastics

Hockey

Ice hockey

|width=20| |valign=top|

Modern pentathlon

Polo

Rowing

Rugby

Sailing

Shooting

Swimming

Tennis

Tug of war

Water polo

Weightlifting

Wrestling

|}

Demonstration sport

Korfball

Venues

Antwerp - Cycling (road)

Antwerp Zoo - Boxing, Wrestling

Beerschot Tennis Club - Tennis

Beverloo Camp - Shooting (pistol/ rifle)

Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal - Rowing

Buiten Y (Amsterdam) - Sailing (12 foot dinghy)

Gardens de la Palace d'Egmont - Fencing

Hoogboom Military Camp - Shooting (trap shooting, running target)

Jules Ottenstadion (Ghent) - Football

Nachtegalen Park - Archery

Olympisch Stadion - Athletics, Equestrian, Field hockey, Football, Gymnastics, Modern pentathlon, Rugby union, Tug of war, and Weightlifting.

Ostend - Polo, Sailing

Palais de Glace d'Anvers - Figure skating, Ice hockey

Stade Joseph Marien (Brussels) - Football

Stade Nautique d'Antwerp - Diving, Swimming, Water polo

Stadion Broodstraat - Football

Vélodrome d'Anvers Zuremborg - Cycling (track)

Participating nations

A total of 29 nations participated in the Antwerp Games, only one more than in 1912, as Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were not invited, having lost World War I. From the newly created European states, only Estonia took part, and Czechoslovakia, succeeding Bohemia which had sent athletes prior to World War I as part of the Austrian Empire. Poland was busy with the Polish-Soviet War and therefore was unable to form an Olympic team. Argentina, Finland, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Brazil, Monaco competed as nations at the Olympic Games for the first time. New Zealand, which had competed as part of a combined team with Australia in 1908 and 1912, competed on its own for the first time.

{| |- |valign=top| |width=40| |valign=top| |width=40| |valign=top| |}

As the local Olympic Organizing Committee went bankrupt during the Antwerp 1920 Games, no official report of the Games was ever produced. The documents of the Games were archived at the Belgium Olympic Committee headquarters in Brussels. Official name of Yugoslavia was the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes before 1929.

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1920 Games. {| |- |1||align=left| ||41||27||27||95 |- |2||align=left| ||19||20||25||64 |- |3||align=left| ||15||15||13||43 |- |4||align=left| ||15||10||9||34 |- style="background:#ccf;" |5||align=left| (host nation) ||14||11||11||36 |- |6||align=left| ||13||9||9||31 |- |7||align=left| ||13||5||5||23 |- |8||align=left| ||9||19||13||41 |- |9||align=left| ||4||2||5||11 |- |10||align=left| ||3||9||1||13 |}

See also

Notes

References

External links

Flanders Today article on the 1920 Antwerp Olympics

O Category:Sport in Antwerp

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The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that started in 1904. The Winter Olympics were also created due to the success of the summer Olympics.

The olympics have increased from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male athletes to a 300-event sporting celebration with over 10,000 competitors from 205 nations. Organizers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expected approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the program for the games.

The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics Games, more than any other nation. The United Kingdom will have hosted three Summer Olympics Games when they return to the British capital in 2012, all of them have been (and will be) in London, making it the first city to hold the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the summer Olympics are Belgium, Canada, Finland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union and Sweden. China hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time in Beijing in 2008. In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro will host the first Summer Games in South America. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Los Angeles, London, Paris and Athens. Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics—which they are usually listed as jointly hosting. Events at the summer Olympics have also been held in Hong Kong and the Netherlands (both represented by their own NOCs), with the equestrian events at the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Hong Kong and two sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics being held in the Netherlands.

Five countries – Greece, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Australia (twice combined with New Zealand as Australasia) – have been represented at all Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain, ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908.

Qualification

Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations (IFs) that governs that sport's international competition.

For individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. National Olympic committees may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered. Many events provide for a certain number of wild card entries, given to athletes from developing nations.

Nations qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. The host nation is generally given an automatic qualification.

History

Early years

The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850.

The first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organized before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying "[i]f the committee doesn’t let me compete I will go after them regardless".

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress.

Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.

After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures including Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the 1906 Intercalated Games, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 11 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over 5 months. It is still disputed which events exactly were ''Olympic'', since few or maybe even none of the events were advertised as such at the time.

Numbers declined for the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, due in part to the lengthy transatlantic boat trip required of the European competitors, and the integration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair, which again spread the event out over an extended period. In contrast with Paris 1900, the word ''Olympic'' was used for practically every contest, including those exclusively for school boys or for Irish-Americans.

A series of smaller games were held in Athens in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognize these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do. The 1906 Athens alternating series of games to be held in Athens, but the series failed to materialize. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 900 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games.

The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The winner of the first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was Spiridon "Spiros" Louis, a Greek water-carrier. He won at the Olympics in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards) was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances.

At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but later he was disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes, who had trailed him by around 30 seconds.

The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this breach of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfill Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896 were all continents represented with athletes competing in the same stadium.

The scheduled Berlin Games of 1916 were canceled following the onset of World War I.

Interwar era

The 1920 Antwerp games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games would involve 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. "The Flying Finn", won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500 and 5,000 meter runs, the latter two on the same day.

The 1928 Amsterdam games were notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from Coca-Cola. The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC choosing Giuseppe Cassioli's depiction of greek goddess Nike and a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design would be used up until 1972.

The 1932 in Los Angeles games were affected by the Great Depression, which contributed to the fewest competitors since the St. Louis games. The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, ''Olympia'', was a masterpiece, despite Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by "non-Aryan" athletes. In particular, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals. The tale of Hitler snubbing Owens at the ensuing medal ceremony is a fabrication. The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the reintroduction of the Torch Relay.

Due to World War II, the Games of 1940 (due to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of war) were canceled. The Games of 1944 were due to be held in London but were also canceled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of the war, in 1948.

After World War II

The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin.

At the 1952 Games in Helsinki the USSR team competed for the first time and immediately became one of the dominant teams. Finland made a legend of an amiable Czech army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000 and 5,000 meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.

The 1956 Melbourne Games were largely successful, barring a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which political tensions caused to end as a pitched battle between the teams. Due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm.

At the 1960 Rome Games a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, arrived on the scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town, Louisville, Kentucky. Soviet women's artistic gymnastics team members won 15 of 16 possible medals. Other performers of note in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph, a gold medalist in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 meters relay events.

The 1964 Games held in Tokyo are notable for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. These games were the first to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. The 1964 Games were thus a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics.

Performances at the 1968 Mexico City games were affected by the altitude of the host city. No event was affected more than the long jump. American athlete Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters, setting a new world record and, in the words of fellow competitor and then-reigning champion Lynn Davies, "making the rest of us look silly." Beamon's world record would stand for 23 years. The 1968 Games also introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop, a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal. Politics took center stage in the medal ceremony for the men's 200 meter dash, where Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a protest gesture on the podium against the segregation in the United States; their political act was condemned within the Olympic Movement, but was praised in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Politics again intervened at Munich in 1972, with lethal consequences. A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation. They killed two Israelis and held 9 others as hostages. The terrorists demanded that Israel release numerous prisoners. When the Israeli government refused their demand, a tense stand-off ensued while negotiations continued. Eventually the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. In the firefight that followed, 15 people, including the nine Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists, were killed. After much debate, it was decided that the Games would continue, but proceedings were obviously dominated by these events. Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz, Lasse Virén (of Finland)'s back-to-back gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters (defeating American distance great Steve Prefontaine in the former), and the winning of three gold medals by 16-year-old Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut. Korbut failed to win the all-around, losing to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva.

There was no such tragedy in Montreal in 1976, but bad planning and fraud led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget. The Montreal Games were the most expensive in Olympic history, until the 2008 Summer Olympics, costing over $5 billion (equivalent to $20 billion in 2006). For a time, it seemed that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. In retrospect, the belief that contractors (suspected of being members of the Montreal Mafia) skimmed large sums of money from all levels of contracts while also profiting from the substitution of cheaper building materials of lesser quality, may have contributed to the delays, poor construction and excessive costs. In 1988, one such contractor, Giuseppe Zappia "was cleared of fraud charges that resulted from his work on Olympic facilities after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial." There was also a boycott by African nations to protest against a recent tour of apartheid-run South Africa by a New Zealand rugby side. The Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci won the women's individual all around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores, thus giving birth to a gymnastics dynasty in Romania. Another female gymnast to earn the perfect score and three gold medals there was Nellie Kim of the USSR. Lasse Virén repeated his double gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, making him the only athlete to ever win the distance double twice.

End of the 20th century

Following the Soviet Union's participation in the Afghan Civil War, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany and Japan, boycotted the 1980 games held in Moscow. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country.

In 1984 the Soviet Union, and 13 Soviet Allies, reciprocated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. The games were again viable, but had become more commercial. Again, without the participation of the Eastern European countries, the 1984 Games were dominated by their host country. The game was also the first time Mainland China (People's Republic) participated.

The 1988 games, in Seoul, were very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner Ben Johnson, failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.

On the bright side, drug testing and regulation authorities were catching up with the cheating that had been endemic in athletics for some years. The 1992 Barcelona Games were cleaner, although not without incident . In evidence there was increased professionalism amongst Olympic athletes, exemplified by US basketball's "Dream Team". 1992 also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been incorporated into the Soviet Union since World War II. These games also saw gymnast Vitaly Scherbo equal the record for most individual gold medals at a single Games set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Games, with five.

By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had itself become a commercial concern; allegations of corruption rocked the International Olympic Committee, in particular with reference to Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was also widely rumored that The Coca-Cola Company, a key IOC sponsor, was highly influential in the 1996 Summer Olympics being hosted by its home city of Atlanta. In the stadium in 1996, the highlight was 200 meters runner Michael Johnson annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savored Donovan Bailey's record-breaking gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place not at the boxing ring but in the basketball arena, at the demand of US television. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, was arrested.

New millennium

The 2000 Games were held in Sydney, Australia, and showcased individual performances by local favorite Ian Thorpe in the pool, Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Cathy Freeman, an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 meters united a packed stadium. Eric "the Eel" Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, had a memorably slow 100 meter freestyle swim that showed that, even in the commercial world of the twentieth century, some of de Coubertin's original vision still remained. The Sydney Games were also memorable for the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent (to a standing ovation) at the opening ceremonies, even if they competed as different countries. Controversy did not escape the 2000 Games in Women's Artistic Gymnastics, in which the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All Around Competition. Several athletes faltered, including Russian Svetlana Khorkina, who had been favored to win gold after qualifying for the competition in first place.

In 2004 the Games returned to their birthplace in Athens, Greece. Greece spent at least $7.2 billion on the Games, including $1.5 billion on security alone. Nonetheless, the Men's Gymnastics events were mired in controversy when it was discovered that Korean gymnast Yang Tae Young had been incorrectly credited with a lower start value, which placed him third behind American Paul Hamm, who won the competition. Later in the event finals, fans halted the Men's High Bar competition with chants of disapproval following the release of the score for Russian Alexei Nemov. Allegations of corrupt judging also marred the event finals in men's still rings. Although unfounded and wildly sensationalized reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions of first weekend of the games (14–15 August), attendance picked up as the games progressed. Still, a third of the tickets failed to sell. The Athens Games witnessed all 202 NOCs participate with over 11,000 participants.

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This Olympics was the subject of much controversy, especially following the March Tibetan riots. Human rights activists unsuccessfully called for a boycott, and some even compared the 2008 Olympics to the 1936 ones held in Nazi Germany. Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. For the first time, women competed in the steeplechase. The fencing program was expanded to include all six events for both men and women. Women had not previously been able to compete in team foil or saber events (although women's team épée and men's team foil were dropped for these Games). Marathon swimming events, over the distance of 10 kilometers, were added. In addition, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events. American swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of Heiden and Scherbo for most individual golds at a single Games. Another major star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games.

London, United Kingdom will hold the 2012 Summer Olympics, making it the first city to host the Games three times. The International Olympic Committee has removed baseball and softball from the 2012 program. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first South American city to host either the Summer or Winter Games. Also, this will be the first games held in a lusosphere country (a Portuguese speaking country).

List of Olympic sports

43 different sports, spanning 56 different disciplines, have been part of the Olympic program at one point or another. 28 sports have comprised the schedule for the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics, though baseball and softball have been removed to give a list of 26 for the 2012 Games.

The Summer Olympic Sports or Federations are regrouped under a common umbrella association, called the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" |valign="top"| {| class=wikitable ! Sport || Years |- | Archery || 1900–1912, 1920, since 1972 |- | Athletics || all |- | Badminton || since 1992 |- | Baseball || 1992–2008 |- | Basketball || since 1936 |- | Basque pelota || 1900 |- | Boxing || 1904, 1908, since 1920 |- | Canoeing and kayaking || since 1936 |- | Cricket || 1900 |- | Croquet || 1900 |- | Cycling || all |- | Diving || since 1904 |- | Equestrian || 1900, since 1912 |- | Fencing || all |- | Football || 1900–1928, since 1936 |- | Golf || 1900, 1904, 2016 |- | Gymnastics || all |- | Handball || 1936, since 1972 |- | Hockey (field) || 1908, 1920, since 1928 |- | Jeu de paume || 1908 |- | Judo || 1964, since 1972 |- | Lacrosse || 1904, 1908 |} |valign="top"| {| class=wikitable ! Sport || Years |- | Modern pentathlon || since 1912 |- | Polo || 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936 |- | Rackets || 1908 |- | Roque || 1904 |- | Rowing || since 1900 |- | Rugby union || 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924 |- | Rugby sevens || 2016 |- | Sailing || 1900, since 1908 |- | Shooting || 1896, 1900, 1908–1924, since 1932 |- | Softball || 1996–2008 |- | Swimming || all |- | Synchronized swimming || since 1984 |- | Table tennis || since 1988 |- | Taekwondo || since 2000 |- | Tennis || 1896–1924, since 1988 |- | Triathlon || since 2000 |- | Tug of war || 1900–1920 |- | Volleyball || since 1964 |- | Water motorsports || 1908 |- | Water polo || 1900, since 1908 |- | Weightlifting || 1896, 1904, since 1920 |- | Wrestling || 1896, since 1904 |} |}

List of modern Summer Olympic Games

241 997 651 2008 2407 2626 3089 2883 1332 3963 4104 4955 3314 5338 5151 5516 7134 6084 5179 6829 8391 9356 10318 10651 10625 10942

Games	Year	Host	Dates	Nations	Competitors	Sports	Events	Ref
Total	! Men	! Women
1896 Summer Olympics	I	1896	align=left		14	241	|	0	9	43
	1900	align=left		24	|	975	22	18	95
	1904	align=left		12	|	645	6	17	91
	1908	align=left		22	|	1971	37	22	110
	1912			28	|	2359	48	14	102
	''1916''
	1920			29	|	2561	65	22	154
	1924	align=left		44	|	2954	135	17	126
	1928			46	|	2606	277	14	109
	1932			37	|	1206	126	14	117
	1936	align=left		49	|	3632	331	19	129
	''1940''
	''1944''
	1948			59	|	3714	390	17	136
	1952			69	|	4436	519	17	149
	1956			72	|	2938	376	17	145
	1960			83	|	4727	611	17	150
	1964			93	|	4473	678	19	163
	1968			112	|	4735	781	18	172
	1972			121	|	6075	1059	21	195
	1976			92	|	4824	1260	21	198
	1980			80	|	4064	1115	21	203
	1984			140	|	5263	1566	21	221
	1988			160	|	6197	2194	23	237
	1992			169	|	6652	2704	25	257
	1996			197	|	6806	3512	26	271
	2000			199	|	6582	4069	28	300
	2004			201	|	6296	4329	28	301
	2008			204	|	6305	4637	28	302
	2012
	2016
	2020
	2024
	2028

''Note: Although the Games of 1916, 1940, and 1944 had been cancelled, the Roman numerals for those Games were still used because the Summer Games' official titles count Olympiads, not the Games themselves; those Olympiads occurred anyway per the Olympic Charter. This is in contrast to the Roman numerals in the official titles of the Winter Olympic Games, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 & 1944; those titles count Games instead of Olympiads.''

See also

List of participating nations at the Summer Olympic Games

All-time Olympic Games medal count

Olympic Games scandals

Winter Olympic Games

Olympic Stadium

Multi-sport event

Olympic Games ceremony

Summer Paralympic Games

Notes

External links

Official Site of the Olympic Movement

Summer Olympic Games medalists and records (German)

Candidate Cities for future Olympic Games

LA84 Foundation archive of Official Reports

Category:1896 establishments

af:Olimpiese Somerspele ar:ألعاب أولمبية صيفية az:Yay Olimpiya Oyunları bn:গ্রীষ্মকালীন অলিম্পিক গেম্‌স zh-min-nan:Hā-kùi Olympia Ūn-tōng-hoē be:Летнія Алімпійскія гульні be-x-old:Летнія Алімпійскія гульні bcl:Olimpikong Karawat sa Tig-init bs:Ljetne olimpijske igre bg:Летни олимпийски игри ca:Jocs Olímpics d'estiu cs:Letní olympijské hry da:Sommer-OL de:Olympische Sommerspiele et:Suveolümpiamängud el:Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες es:Juegos Olímpicos de Verano eo:Someraj Olimpikoj eu:Udako Olinpiar Jokoak fa:بازی‌های المپیک تابستانی fr:Jeux olympiques d'été ko:하계 올림픽 id:Olimpiade Musim Panas it:Giochi olimpici estivi la:Olympia Aestiva lv:Vasaras Olimpiskās spēles lt:Vasaros olimpinės žaidynės mr:उन्हाळी ऑलिंपिक क्रीडा स्पर्धा mn:Зуны олимп nl:Olympische Zomerspelen ja:夏季オリンピック no:Olympiske sommerleker nn:Olympiske sommarleikar pa:ਓਲੰਪਿਕ ਖੇਡਾਂ pl:Letnie igrzyska olimpijskie ro:Jocuri Olimpice de vară ru:Летние Олимпийские игры simple:Summer Olympic Games sk:Letné olympijské hry sl:Poletne olimpijske igre sv:Olympiska sommarspelen tl:Palarong Olimpiko sa Tag-init th:โอลิมปิกฤดูร้อน tr:Yaz Olimpiyat Oyunları uk:Літні Олімпійські ігри vi:Thế vận hội Mùa hè zh:夏季奥林匹克运动会

name	The Mayor of Casterbridge
author	Thomas Hardy
illustrator	Robert Barnes
pub date	1886
country	United Kingdom
language	English }}

''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' (1886), subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England. The novel is often considered one of Hardy's greatest works.

Plot summary

At a country fair near Casterbridge, Wessex, a young hay-trusser named Michael Henchard overindulges in rum-laced furmity and quarrels with his wife, Susan. Spurred by alcohol, he decides to auction off his wife and baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, to a sailor, Mr. Newson, for five guineas. Once sober the next day, he is too late to recover his family, particularly since his reluctance to reveal his own bad conduct keeps him from conducting an effective search. When he realizes that his wife and daughter are gone, probably for good, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far (twenty-one).

Eighteen years later, Henchard, now a successful grain merchant, is the eponymous Mayor of Casterbridge, known for his staunch sobriety. He is well respected for his financial acumen and his work ethic, but he is not well liked. Impulsive, selfish behavior and a violent temper are still part of his character, as are dishonesty and secretive activity.

All these years, Henchard has kept the details surrounding the "loss" of his wife a secret. The people in Casterbridge believe he is a widower, although he never explicitly says that his first wife died. He lies by omission instead, allowing other people to believe something false. Over time he finds it convenient to believe Susan probably is dead. While traveling to the island of Jersey on business, Henchard falls in love with a young woman named Lucette Le Sueur, who nurses him back to health after an illness. The book implies that Lucette (Lucetta, in English) and Henchard have a sexual relationship, and Lucetta's reputation is ruined by her association with Henchard. When Henchard returns to Casterbridge he leaves Lucetta to face the social consequences of their fling. In order to rejoin polite society she must marry him, but there is a problem: Henchard is already technically married. Although Henchard never told Lucetta exactly how he "lost" his wife to begin with, he does tell her he has a wife who "is dead probably dead, but who may return". Besotted, Lucetta develops a relationship with him despite the risk. Yet just as Henchard is about to send for Lucetta, Susan unexpectedly appears in Casterbridge with her daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, who is now fully grown. Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are both very poor. Newson appears to have been lost at sea, and without means to earn an income Susan is looking for Henchard again. Susan, who is not a very intelligent or sophisticated woman, believed for a long time that her "marriage" to Newson was perfectly legitimate. Only recently, just before Newson's disappearance, had Susan begun to question whether or not she was still legally married to Henchard.

Just as Susan and Elizabeth-Jane arrive in town, a tidy Scotsman, Donald Farfrae, is passing through on his way to America. The energetic, amiable Farfrae happens to be in Henchard's line of work. He has experience as a grain and corn merchant, and is on the cutting edge of agricultural science. He befriends Henchard and helps him out of a bad financial situation by giving him some timely advice. Henchard persuades him to stay and offers him a job as his corn factor, rudely dismissing a man named Jopp to whom he had already offered the job. Hiring Farfrae is a stroke of business genius for Henchard, who although hardworking is not well educated. Henchard also makes Farfrae a close friend and confides in him about his past history and personal life.

Henchard is also reunited with Susan and the fully grown Elizabeth-Jane. To preserve appearances, Henchard sets Susan and Elizabeth-Jane up in a nearby house. He pretends to court Susan, and marries her. Both Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane's mother keep their past history from their daughter. Henchard also keeps Lucetta a secret. He writes to her, informing her that their marriage is off. Lucetta is devastated and asks for the return of her letters. Henchard attempts to return them, but Lucetta misses the appointment owing to a family emergency that is not explained until later in the book.

The return of his wife and daughter sets in motion a decline in Henchard's fortunes. Yet Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are not the root cause of Henchard's fall. Henchard alone makes the decisions that bring him down, and much of his bad luck is the delayed and cumulative consequence of how Henchard treats other people. His relationship with Farfrae deteriorates gradually as Farfrae becomes more popular than Henchard. In addition to being more friendly and amiable, Farfrae is better informed, better educated, and in short everything Henchard himself wants to be. Henchard feels threatened by Farfrae, particularly when Elizabeth-Jane starts to fall in love with him.

The competition between Donald Farfrae and Henchard grows. Eventually they part company and Farfrae sets himself up as an independent hay and corn merchant. The rivalry and resentment for the most part is one-sided, and Farfrae conducts himself with scrupulous honesty and fair dealing. Henchard meanwhile makes increasingly aggressive, risky business decisions that put him in financial danger. The business rivalry leads to Henchard standing in the way of a marriage between Donald and Elizabeth-Jane, until after Susan's death at which point Henchard learns he is not Elizabeth-Jane's father, and realizes that if she marries Farfrae, he will be rid of her. The Elizabeth-Jane he auctioned off died in infancy; this second Elizabeth-Jane is Newson's daughter. He learns this secret, however, after Susan's death when he reads a letter which Susan, on her deathbed, marked to be opened only after Elizabeth-Jane's marriage. Feeling ashamed and hard done by, Henchard conceals the secret from Elizabeth-Jane, but grows cold and cruel towards her.

In the meantime, Henchard's former mistress, Lucetta, arrives from Jersey and purchases a house in Casterbridge. She has inherited money from a wealthy relative who died: in fact it was this relative's death that had kept her from picking up her letters from Henchard. Initially she wants to pick up her relationship with him where it left off, but propriety requires that they wait a while. She takes Elizabeth-Jane into her household as a companion thinking it will give Henchard an excuse to come to visit, but the plan backfires because of Henchard's hatred of Elizabeth-Jane. She also learns a little bit more about Henchard. Specifically, the details of how he sold his first wife become public knowledge when the furmity vendor who witnessed the sale makes the story public. Henchard does not deny the story, but when Lucetta hears a little bit more about what kind of man Henchard really is she stops rationalizing his conduct in terms of what she wants to believe. For the first time, she starts to see him more clearly, and she no longer particularly likes what she sees.

Donald Farfrae, who visits Lucetta's house to see Elizabeth-Jane and who becomes completely distracted by Lucetta, has no idea that Lucetta is the mysterious woman who was informally engaged to Henchard. Since Henchard is such a reluctant and secretive suitor who in no way reveals his attachment to Lucetta to anybody, Lucetta starts to question whether her engagement to Henchard is valid. She too is lying about her past: she claims to be from Bath, not Jersey, and she has taken the surname of her wealthy relative. Yet she came to Casterbridge seeking Henchard, and sent him letters after Susan's death indicating that she wanted to resume and legitimize the relationship. Although he was initially reluctant he gradually realizes that he wants to marry Lucetta, particularly since he is having financial trouble due to some speculations having gone bad. Lenders are unwilling to extend credit to him, and he believes that they would extend credit if they at least believed he was about to be married to a wealthy woman. Frustrated by her stalling, Henchard bullies Lucetta into agreeing to marry him. But by this point she is in love with Farfrae. The two run away one weekend and get married, and Lucetta does not have the nerve to tell Henchard until well after the fact. Henchard's credit collapses, he becomes bankrupt, and he sells all his personal possessions to pay creditors.

As Henchard's fortunes decline, Farfrae's rise. He buys Henchard's old business and employs Henchard as a journeyman day-laborer. Farfrae is always trying to help the man who helped him get started, whom he still regards as a friend and a former mentor. He does not realize Henchard is his enemy even though the town council and Elizabeth-Jane both warn him.

Lucetta, feeling safe and comfortable in her marriage with Farfrae, keeps her former relationship with Henchard a secret. This secret is revealed when Henchard foolishly lets his enemy Jopp deliver Lucetta's old love letters. Jopp makes the secret public and the townspeople publicly shame Henchard and Lucetta. Lucetta, who by this point is pregnant, dies of an epileptic seizure.

When Newson, Elizabeth-Jane's biological father, returns, Henchard is afraid of losing her companionship and tells Newson she is dead. Henchard is once again impoverished, and, as soon as the twenty-first year of his oath is up, he starts drinking again. By the time Elizabeth-Jane, who months later is married to Donald Farfrae and reunited with Newson, goes looking for Henchard to forgive him, he has died and left a will requesting no funeral or fanfare:

"That Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae be not told of my death, or made to grieve on account of me. "& that I be not bury'd in consecrated ground. "& that no sexton be asked to toll the bell. "& that nobody is wished to see my dead body. "& that no murners walk behind me at my funeral. "& that no flours be planted on my grave, "& that no man remember me. "To this I put my name.

Characters

Michael Henchard

The first of the two Mayors of Casterbridge discussed in this book, Michael Henchard starts his life as a poor journeyman hay-trusser. He rises above his humble beginnings to become a successful businessman, until his secrets catch up with him and combine with his inherent character flaws to bring him down. He belongs to what at the time was the working class, but aspires to genteel status. He is poorly educated and although he can read (the book shows him reading a ballad-sheet) he is not good at maths and is not up to date in the scientific or record-keeping aspect of his business.

Henchard is very physically strong and stands more than six feet tall. He is twenty-one years old at the start of the story and forty-two to forty-three at the end. The book describes him as being dark-haired, as well as making repeated references to his dark eyes.

In terms of temperament, Henchard is very impulsive although he also has a tendency to depression. He tends to take a sudden liking, or a sudden dislike, to other people and can be verbally abusive and aggressive even when sober. He is respected in Casterbridge, having built up a strong business almost literally from nothing, but he is not well liked. When he drinks, he can be vicious. In fact, one of the reasons he does so well in business is because, after he sells his wife and child, he swears off alcohol for twenty-one years. He can be short-sighted and selfish, and does not think much of consequences of action. When he decides Farfrae is his enemy, he wages an economic war that, at first, is extremely one-sided.

A risk-taker, Henchard eventually lets his personal grudge against Farfrae get in the way of his reasoning abilities. He takes too many risks, gambles too aggressively, and loses his credit, his business, and most of his fortune.

Henchard always has a way to rationalize his impulsive decision making. He also has no problem leaving other people to pay for the consequences of his bad decision making. His guilt about his past leads him to reunite with Susan even though he does not love her. When Lucetta marries Farfrae, Henchard initially wants to seek retaliation but eventually relents and gives back Lucetta her letters.

Donald Farfrae

A Scotsman named Donald Farfrae is the second character in the novel who becomes a mayor in Casterbridge. He is Michael Henchard's opposite in nearly every way. They are physical opposites. Whereas Henchard is tall, strong, and somewhat clumsy Farfrae is short, lithe, and well coordinated. Whereas Henchard is not well educated, Farfrae is intelligent and very well informed about the scientific and business aspects of the grain and corn industry. Henchard is aggressive and brutal, but Farfrae is gentle and likeable. Henchard is a laborer, but Farfrae is a well educated member of the merchant class. In short, Farfrae is everything Henchard would love to be, and loves to pretend that he is. This initially causes Henchard to admire and like Farfrae, but it eventually leads to jealousy and resentment.

Donald Farfrae arrives in town by chance and passes along a valuable technique for improving wheat, which saves Henchard a great deal of money and embarrassment. Henchard prevails upon him to stay in town, hiring him as his manager over the head of another man named Jopp to whom he had already made a job offer. He immediately brings Henchard's business up to date in terms of technology and business discipline, and he is charismatic enough to be a far better manager and leader than Henchard himself.

Farfrae takes an interest in Elizabeth-Jane Newson, who at the time is living as Henchard's stepdaughter. Both Mr. and Mrs. Henchard approve of the match, until Henchard's growing jealousy and resentment of Farfrae cause him to feel threatened. Yet Farfrae is too naïve to realize Henchard is competing with him. He shows Henchard up quite unintentionally by throwing a better party than Henchard himself, and Henchard fires him. Afterwards, Farfrae considers leaving town but stays for Elizabeth-Jane's sake until Henchard tells him to keep away from her. Henchard revokes that order later, after he reads Susan's deathbed confession and realizes Elizabeth-Jane is not really his daughter, at which point Farfrae attempts to start courting Elizabeth-Jane again and is distracted by Lucetta.

Farfrae does not realize he is competing with Henchard for Lucetta's attention, or that Lucetta is the woman his former boss wooed, abandoned, and is trying to reclaim. Farfrae marries her and does not learn of her association with Henchard until after Lucetta's first seizure. After Lucetta's death and Henchard's return to the bottle, followed by the return of Captain Newson, Farfrae marries Elizabeth-Jane.

Susan Henchard (Newson)

Susan is an honest but simple-minded woman who, as a young woman, is married to Michael Henchard but sold (along with her baby girl Elizabeth-Jane) at a drunken auction to a sailor by the name of Newson. She believes there is something legally binding about the sale, and goes to live with Newson as his wife. The baby Elizabeth-Jane dies three months later, and Susan has a daughter with Newson whom she names Elizabeth-Jane. It is this second Elizabeth-Jane whom she later passes off as Henchard's daughter.

After living for years with Newson in Canada, the family of three returns to England. One spring, Newson (who believes his wife is having second thoughts about the validity of their marriage) is lost at sea. The impoverished widow "Newson" returns with Elizabeth-Jane, who is now about eighteen years old. A reader who cares to do the math will realize immediately that there's something fishy about Elizabeth-Jane's age. In any case, Susan has never told Elizabeth-Jane about Henchard or her first marriage, and certainly never told her about the auction incident.

Because she has no way to earn a living, Susan approaches Henchard for help. She does not correct his assumption that he is Elizabeth-Jane's father, nor does she tell anyone about the auction incident. Henchard sends her a gift of five guineas (the amount for which he sold her to Newson, and which is no doubt substantially less than what he sent his mistress Lucetta when breaking off the affair) and sets her up as a genteel new arrival to town. He courts her and remarries her. She does not tell him the truth about Elizabeth-Jane until her death a year or two later, when she writes a deathbed confession and seals it in an envelope to be opened only on Elizabeth-Jane's wedding day.

Elizabeth-Jane Newson

About eighteen years old when she and her mother arrive in Casterbridge, Elizabeth-Jane is the daughter of Newson. She is a sweet, innocent young woman who is ignorant of the social graces required of a mayor's stepdaughter. She strives to improve herself, reading constantly and studying Latin and geography. Gradually she transforms herself into the kind of sophisticated young lady Henchard believes he ought to have as a daughter. When Henchard alternates between doting on her and verbally abusing her, she never understands why, especially when Henchard (mistakenly) reveals the "truth" about who her father was. She never really lives up to Henchard's expectations of her and is often unhappy.

Elizabeth-Jane is a fairly passive person who does not let sudden wealth (or the loss of it) affect her much. After her mother's death she accepts Lucetta's invitation to live with her as a companion or chaperone. She develops feelings for Donald Farfrae until Lucetta attracts him away from her, and is disappointed for a while but is ultimately happy when she is reunited with her father Newson (who turns out not to be lost at all) and marries Farfrae also.

Lucetta Templeman (Lucette Le Sueur)

A native of the island of Jersey, the Francophone Lucette Le Sueur is the daughter of a military officer. She lives a nomadic life, and after the death of her parents takes lodging in a boarding-house in Jersey. There she meets Michael Henchard, who is traveling on business and who is taken sick with a bout of severe depression. She becomes infatuated with him, and he indulges her affection for him without too much regard for appearances.

Lucetta is a few years older than Elizabeth-Jane and far more refined. She speaks fluent French as well as English, but conceals her knowledge of the language because she does not want her history in Jersey to become well known. She's impulsive, like Henchard, but not spiteful or mean although she lets money and status go to her head. After she marries, she slights Henchard and puts on airs, alienating Henchard and refusing to help Jopp (an old acquaintance of hers) obtain employment.

Exactly how far the affair between Lucetta and Henchard went is unclear. The book strongly suggests that the two of them have had sexual relations, but is ambiguous enough to not offend the sensibilities of 19th century readers. Whatever happened was enough for Lucetta's reputation to be so irreparably tarnished that the only solution for her is to leave Jersey and change her name. She takes the last name of her deceased relative, Templeman, and alters her first name to make it sound more English.

It is important to notice that scandal would not have broken out if all Lucetta and Henchard did was walk, talk, or dine together in a boarding house. They would have had to have spent a considerable amount of time alone together, or they would have to have been caught in a very compromising situation. In any case Henchard does propose marriage, stating that there was a risk his first wife would return. Lucetta accepts the proposal, so the two are engaged. Henchard returns to Casterbridge leaving Lucetta to bear the full brunt of the scandal until he is ready to bring her to town, and she writes him passionate letters on a daily basis. Of course, it is at this inopportune time that Susan arrives. Henchard cancels the engagement and sends Lucetta a substantial gift of money.

Lucetta is scheduled to stop and pick up her love letters to Henchard, but a family emergency (specifically, the death of her only living relative who was quite wealthy) intervenes. Lucetta is left with substantial means. When she learns of Susan's death, she moves to Casterbridge to determine whether she should pick up her association with Henchard where she left off. She's agreeable to the match at first, but as she learns more about Henchard she likes him less and her rosy outlook and tendency to rationalize away his cruel treatment of others decreases over time. Besides, she's attracted to Donald Farfrae instead.

Given that Henchard married somebody else, their original engagement to each other is null and void. Yet Henchard, who finds himself very interested in Lucetta particularly since she has come into money, bullies Lucetta into accepting his proposal again. Lucetta elopes with Farfrae, and incurs Henchard's wrath. He retrieves her love letters, toys with the idea of exposing her secret to her new husband, and eventually sends her love letters by way of Jopp, who has reason to hate both Henchard and Lucetta. The love affair becomes public, and the scandal eventually contributes to Lucetta's death.

Joshua Jopp

A relatively minor character, Jopp lived in Jersey until Henchard invited him to Casterbridge to work as his new manager and corn-factor. He was effectively hired by Henchard, subject to an interview that never happened because Henchard impulsively hired Farfrae instead, leaving Jopp without employment.

After being brushed off by Henchard, Jopp is unable to find regular employment and gradually sinks into poverty. Henchard hires him after he dismisses Farfrae, thinking to use him for his dirty work. But Jopp is not the manager Farfrae was and the business collapses, leaving Jopp out of work and Henchard bankrupt.

When Lucetta marries Donald Farfrae, Jopp (who knew her in Jersey) asks her, as an old acquaintance, to put in a good word for him with Farfrae so as to help him find work. Lucetta refuses for reasons that are not clear, but that could be read as reluctance to keep a potential blackmailer close by or a high-and-mighty refusal to help anybody. Henchard by this time is using Jopp to run errands, and charges him with the important task of returning Lucetta's love letters, which Jopp decides to publicly read first. He is instrumental in putting together the skimmington ride, which is a public procession designed to mock and humiliate people, in order to publicize the affair between Henchard and Lucetta so as to hurt both. It is during the skimmington ride that the pregnant Lucetta suffers her first seizure and becomes fatally ill.

Richard Newson

Newson starts out as a sailor of indeterminate rank. He does have ready money which he uses to buy Susan and Elizabeth-Jane at the beginning of the book, so he has clearly not been pressed into service and has money from some source. However he is not a gentleman from a family of independent means: when he is supposedly lost at sea after his return from Canada, he leaves Susan and Elizabeth-Jane nearly penniless. However, he finishes the story as a sea-captain. To do this in private enterprise (much less in the English Navy) he would have had to have been a man of great personal initiative.

Newson is described as having light-colored hair, a trait which Elizabeth-Jane shares and which initially causes some confusion for Henchard since his infant daughter had dark hair like Henchard's own. He appears to have been kind to Elizabeth-Jane, who loves him dearly. He also seems to be somewhat gullible, believing at first that his marriage to Susan is legally binding. When he returns after Susan's death looking for Elizabeth-Jane, he believes Henchard who tells him that Elizabeth-Jane died too. He doesn't even look for his daughter's grave, but leaves town quickly only to return, hopefully, once more. He is eventually reunited with Elizabeth-Jane. Newson must have had a gentle and forgiving temperament, because he bears no grudge against Henchard for trying to steal his daughter.

Modern day locations mentioned in the novel

Maumbury Rings Bowling Alley Walks Hardy's Monument The King's Arms Hotel Dorchester Market (opposite the Police Station)

The Corn Exchange

Adaptations

A 1921 silent film ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' directed by Sidney Morgan

In 2001 (broadcast on ITV 2003) by Georgina Lowe, with Ciarán Hinds as Henchard, Polly Walker as Lucetta, James Purefoy as Farfrae and Jodhi May as Elizabeth Jane.

A 1978 television film by Dennis Potter for the BBC starring Alan Bates as Henchard, Anna Massey as Lucetta, and Anne Stallybrass as Susan. - The 1978 version was broadcast in the U.S. by PBS as part of ''Masterpiece Theatre''. In 2008 Helen Edmundson adapted it into a three-episode radio play for BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial slot.

A version of the story was also filmed in 2000 as ''The Claim'', with the setting changed to a town (called Kingdom Come) in the American West of the 19th Century. The film was directed by Michael Winterbottom from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

In 1951 the novel was adapted as an opera by the British composer Peter Tranchell.

References

Bibliography

Menefee, Samuel P., ''Wives for Sale: An Ethnographic Study of British Popular Divorce'' (1981) ISBN 0-631-13301-1.

External links

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/casterbridge/

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/casterbridge/

Category:1886 novels Category:Novels by Thomas Hardy Category:Masterpiece Theatre Category:Culture in Dorchester Category:English novels Category:Novels set in Dorset

fa:شهردار کاستربریج (کتاب) he:ראש העיר קסטרברידג' nl:The Mayor of Casterbridge ru:Мэр Кэстербриджа

Competitor for Jamaica

Arthur Stanley Wint (May 25, 1920 – October 19, 1992) was the first Jamaican Olympic gold medalist, winning the 400 m at 1948 Summer Olympics.

Arthur Wint, known as the ''Gentle Giant'', was born in Plowden, Manchester, Jamaica. While at Calabar High School, he ran the sprints and did both the high jump and long jump. He later later transferred to Excelsior High School and finished his secondary education there. In 1937 he was the Jamaica Boy Athlete of the year, the following year he won a gold medal in the 800 m at the Central American Games in Panama.

In 1942 he joined the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and set the Canadian 400 m record while training there. He was sent to Britain for active combat during the World War II as a pilot. He left the Royal Air Force in 1947 to attend St Bartholomew's Hospital as a medical student.

In 1948 Wint won Jamaica’s first Olympic gold for the 400 m (46.2) in London, beating his team-mate Herb McKenley. In 800 m he won silver after American Mal Whitfield. He probably missed his third medal in London Games by pulling a muscle in the 4 x 400 m relay final.

In Helsinki 1952 he was part of the historic team setting the world record while capturing the gold in 4 x 400 m relay. He also won silver in 800 m, again coming second to Mal Whitfield.

He ran his final race in 1953 at Wembley Stadium, finished his internship, graduated as a doctor and the following year he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1955 Wint returned to Jamaica eventually settling in Hanover as the only resident doctor in the parish. In 1973 he was awarded the Jamaica honour of the Order of Distinction. He served as Jamaica's High Commissioner to Britain and ambassador to Sweden and Denmark from 1974 to 1978. He was inducted in the Black Athlete’s Hall of Fame in the US (1977), the Jamaica Sports Hall of Fame (1989) and the Central American & Caribbean Athletic Confederation Hall of Fame (2003).

Arthur Wint died on Heroes Day in Linstead, aged 72.

External links

Arthur Wint - A Jamaican Hero

Category:1920 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Jamaican sprinters Category:Jamaican middle distance runners Category:Jamaican physicians Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic athletes of Jamaica Category:Olympic gold medalists for Jamaica Category:Olympic silver medalists for Jamaica Category:Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Category:People from Manchester Parish Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

ca:Arthur Wint de:Arthur Wint fr:Arthur Wint it:Arthur Wint hu:Arthur Wint nl:Arthur Wint ja:アーサー・ウィント no:Arthur Wint pl:Arthur Wint pt:Arthur Wint fi:Arthur Wint sv:Arthur Wint

name	Gore Vidal
pseudonym	Edgar BoxCameron KayKatherine Everard
birth name	Eugene Luther Gore Vidal
birth date	October 03, 1925
birth place	West Point, New York, U.S.
occupation	Novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright
nationality	United States
Parents	Eugene Luther Vidal
genre	Drama, fictional prose, essay, literary criticism
period	1944–present
movement	Postmodernism
ideology	Fascism
influences	Petronius, Apuleius, Thomas Mann, Henry James, Mark Twain, Montaigne, Carson McCullers
influenced	William Kennedy, Clive James, Christopher Hitchens, Truman Capote, Bill Maher}}

Gore Vidal (; born October 3, 1925) is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. Early in his career he wrote ''The City and the Pillar'' (1948), which outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality. He also ran for political office twice and has been a longtime political critic.

Early years

Vidal was born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal in West Point, New York, the only child of 1st Lieutenant Eugene Luther Vidal (1895–1969) and Nina Gore (1903–1978). He was born in the Cadet Hospital of the United States Military Academy, where his father was the first aeronautics instructor, and was christened by the headmaster of St. Albans preparatory school, his future alma mater. According to "West Point and the Third Loyalty", an article Vidal wrote for ''The New York Review of Books'' (October 18, 1973), he later decided to be called Gore in honor of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Gore, Democratic senator from Oklahoma.

Vidal's father, a West Point football quarterback and captain, and an all-American basketball player, was director of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Air Commerce (1933–1937) in the Roosevelt administration, was one of the first Army Air Corps pilots and, according to biographer Susan Butler, was the great love of Amelia Earhart's life. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was a co-founder of three American airlines: the Ludington Line, which merged with others and became Eastern Airlines, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT, which became TWA), and Northeast Airlines, which he founded with Earhart, as well as the Boston and Maine Railroad. The elder Vidal was also an athlete in the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics (seventh in the decathlon; U.S. pentathlon team coach).

Gore Vidal's mother was an actress and socialite who made her Broadway debut in ''Sign of the Leopard'' in 1928. She married Eugene Luther Vidal, Sr. in 1922 and divorced him in 1935. She later married twice more; one husband, Hugh D. Auchincloss, was later the stepfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and, according to Gore Vidal, she had "a long off-and-on affair" with actor Clark Gable. She was an alternate delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention.

Vidal had four half-siblings from his parents' later marriages (the Rev. Vance Vidal, Valerie Vidal Hewitt, Thomas Gore Auchincloss, and Nina Gore Auchincloss Steers Straight) and four stepbrothers from his mother's third marriage to Army Air Forces Major General Robert Olds, who died in 1943, ten months after marrying Vidal's mother. Vidal's nephews include the brothers Burr Steers, writer and film director, and painter Hugh Auchincloss Steers (1963–1995).

Vidal was raised in Washington, D.C., where he attended Sidwell Friends School and then St. Albans School. Since Senator Gore was blind, his grandson read aloud to him and was his guide. The senator's isolationism contributed a major principle of his grandson's political philosophy, which is critical of foreign and domestic policies shaped by American imperialism. Gore attended High school in Exeter, New Hampshire at Phillips Exeter Academy, and after graduating in 1943 he joined the U.S. Army Reserve. He was deployed to the Aleutian Islands during World War II, where he served in the Transportation Corps as a Warrant Officer on an Army search and rescue boat and later on a supply vessel.

Personal life

Vidal has had affairs with both men and women. The novelist Anaïs Nin claimed an involvement with Vidal in her memoir ''The Diary of Anaïs Nin'' but Vidal denied it in his memoir ''Palimpsest''. Vidal has also discussed having dalliances with people such as actress Diana Lynn, and has alluded to the possibility that he may have a daughter. He was briefly engaged to Joanne Woodward, before she married Paul Newman; after eloping, the couple shared a house with Vidal in Los Angeles for a short time. In 1950, he met his long-term partner Howard Austen.

During the latter part of the twentieth century Vidal divided his time between Italy and California. In 2003, he sold his 5,000-square-foot (460 m²) Italian Villa, ''La Rondinaia'' (The Swallow's Nest), and moved to Los Angeles. Austen died in November 2003 and, in February 2005, was buried in a plot for himself and Vidal at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Writing career

Fiction

Vidal, whom a ''Newsweek'' critic called "the best all-around American man of letters since Edmund Wilson," began his writing career at nineteen, with the publication of the military novel ''Williwaw'', based upon his Alaskan Harbor Detachment duty. The novel was successful and the first novel about World War II. A few years later, ''The City and the Pillar'' caused a furor for its dispassionate presentation of homosexuality. The novel was dedicated to "J.T." Decades later, after a magazine published rumors about J.T.'s identity, Vidal confirmed they were the initials of his St. Albans-era love, James "Jimmy" Trimble III, killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 29, 1945; Vidal later said that Trimble was the only person he had ever loved.

Orville Prescott, the book critic for the ''New York Times'', found ''The City and the Pillar'' so objectionable that he refused to review or allow the ''Times'' to review Vidal's next five books. In response, Vidal wrote several mystery novels the early 1950s under the pseudonym "Edgar Box". Featuring public relations man Peter Cutler Sargeant II, their success financed Vidal for more than a decade.

He wrote plays, films, and television series. Two plays, ''The Best Man'' (1960) and ''Visit to a Small Planet (1955),'' were both Broadway and film successes.

In 1956, Vidal was hired as a contract screenwriter for Metro Goldwyn Mayer. In 1959, director William Wyler needed script doctors to re-write the script for ''Ben-Hur'', originally written by Karl Tunberg. Vidal collaborated with Christopher Fry, reworking the screenplay on condition that MGM release him from the last two years of his contract. Producer Sam Zimbalist's death complicated the screenwriting credit. The Screen Writers Guild resolved the matter by listing Tunberg as sole screenwriter, denying credit to both Vidal and Fry. This decision was based on the WGA screenwriting credit system which favors original authors. Vidal later claimed in the documentary film ''The Celluloid Closet'' that in order to explain the animosity between Ben-Hur and Messala, he had inserted a gay subtext suggesting that the two had had a prior relationship, but that actor Charlton Heston was oblivious. Heston denied that Vidal contributed significantly to the script.

In the 1960s, Vidal wrote three novels. The first, ''Julian'' (1964) dealt with the apostate Roman emperor, while the second, ''Washington, D.C.'' (1967) focused on a political family during the Franklin D. Roosevelt era. The third was the satirical transsexual comedy ''Myra Breckinridge'' (1968), a variation on Vidal's familiar themes of sex, gender, and popular culture. In the novel, Vidal showcased his love of the American films of the 30s and 40s, and he resurrected interest in the careers of the forgotten players of the time including, for example, that of the late Richard Cromwell, who, he wrote, "was so satisfyingly tortured in ''The Lives of a Bengal Lancer''."

After the staging of the plays ''Weekend'' (1968) and ''An Evening With Richard Nixon'' (1972), and the publication of the novel ''Two Sisters: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir'' (1970), Vidal focused on essays and two distinct themes in his fiction. The first strain comprises novels dealing with American history, specifically with the nature of national politics. Critic Harold Bloom wrote, "Vidal's imagination of American politics...is so powerful as to compel awe." Titles in this series, the Narratives of Empire, include ''Burr'' (1973), ''1876'' (1976), ''Lincoln'' (1984), ''Empire'' (1987), ''Hollywood'' (1990), ''The Golden Age'' (2000). Another title devoted to the ancient world, ''Creation'', appeared in 1981 and then in expanded form in 2002.

The second strain consists of the comedic "satirical inventions": ''Myron'' (1974, a sequel to ''Myra Breckinridge''), ''Kalki'' (1978), ''Duluth'' (1983), ''Live from Golgotha: The Gospel according to Gore Vidal'' (1992), and ''The Smithsonian Institution'' (1998).

Vidal occasionally returned to writing for film and television, including the television movie ''Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid'' with Val Kilmer and the mini-series ''Lincoln''. He also wrote the original draft for the controversial film ''Caligula'', but later had his name removed when director Tinto Brass and actor Malcolm McDowell rewrote the script, changing the tone and themes significantly. The producers later made an attempt to salvage some of Vidal's vision in the film's post-production.

Essays and memoirs

Vidal is—at least in the U.S.—even more respected as an essayist than as a novelist. The critic John Keats praised him as "[the twentieth] century's finest essayist." Even an occasionally hostile critic like Martin Amis admits, "Essays are what he is good at ... [h]e is learned, funny and exceptionally clear-sighted. Even his blind spots are illuminating."

For six decades, Gore Vidal has applied himself to a wide variety of sociopolitical, sexual, historical, and literary themes. In 1987, Vidal wrote the essays titled ''Armageddon?'', exploring the intricacies of power in contemporary America. He pilloried the incumbent president Ronald Reagan as a "triumph of the embalmer's art." In 1993, he won the National Book Award for his collection of essays, ''United States (1952–1992)'', the citation noting: "Whatever his subject, he addresses it with an artist's resonant appreciation, a scholar's conscience, and the persuasive powers of a great essayist." A subsequent collection of essays, published in 2000, is ''The Last Empire''. Since then, he has published such self-described "pamphlets" as ''Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace'', ''Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta'', and ''Imperial America'', critiques of American expansionism, the military-industrial complex, the national security state, and the George W. Bush administration. Vidal also wrote an historical essay about the U.S.'s founding fathers, ''Inventing a Nation''. In 1995, he published a memoir ''Palimpsest'', and in 2006 its follow-up volume, ''Point to Point Navigation''. Earlier that year, Vidal also published ''Clouds and Eclipses: The Collected Short Stories.''

Because of his matter-of-fact treatment of same-sex relations in such books as ''The City and The Pillar'', Vidal is often seen as an early champion of sexual liberation. ''Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings'', a representative sampling of his views, contains literary and cultural essays. Focusing on, in his view, the anti-sexual heritage of Judeo-Christianity, irrational and destructive sex laws, feminism, heterosexism, homophobia, gay liberation and pornography, the essays frequently return to a favorite Vidal motif: the fluidity of sexual identity. Vidal argues that "there are no homosexual people, only homosexual acts." Given the diversity of human desire, Vidal resists any effort to categorize him as exclusively "homosexual"—either as writer or human being.

In 2005, Jay Parini was appointed as Vidal's literary executor.

Acting and popular culture

In the 1960s, Vidal moved to Italy; he gave a cameo appearance in Federico Fellini's film ''Roma''. In 1992, Vidal appeared in the film ''Bob Roberts'' (starring Tim Robbins) and has appeared in other films, notably ''Gattaca'', ''With Honors'', and ''Igby Goes Down''. Vidal has voiced himself on both ''The Simpsons'' and ''Family Guy'' and appeared on the ''Da Ali G Show'', where Ali G (intentionally) mistakes him for Vidal Sassoon. He provided the narrative for the Royal National Theatre's production of Brecht's Mother Courage in the autumn of 2009.

Vidal was portrayed in ''Amelia'' (2009), as a child, by Canadian actor William Cuddy, and in ''Infamous'' (2006), the story of Truman Capote, as a young adult, by American actor Michael Panes.

Political views and activities

Besides his politician grandfather, Vidal has other connections with the Democratic Party: his mother, Nina, married Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr., who later was stepfather of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Gore Vidal is a fifth cousin of Jimmy Carter. Vidal may be a distant cousin of Al Gore.

As a political activist, in 1960, Gore Vidal was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress, losing an election in New York's 29th congressional district, a traditionally Republican district on the Hudson River, encompassing all of Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Schoharie, and Ulster Counties to J. Ernest Wharton, by a margin of 57% to 43%. Campaigning with a slogan of "You'll get more with Gore", he received the most votes any Democrat in 50 years received in that district. Among his supporters were Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward; the latter two, longtime friends of Vidal's, campaigned for him and spoke on his behalf.

On the December 15, 1971 taping of ''The Dick Cavett Show'', with Janet Flanner, Norman Mailer allegedly head-butted Vidal during an altercation prior to their appearance on the show.

From 1970 to 1972, Vidal was one of the chairmen of the People's Party. In 1971, he wrote an article in ''Esquire'' advocating consumer advocate Ralph Nader for president in the 1972 election.

In 1982 he campaigned against incumbent Governor Jerry Brown for the Democratic primary election to the United States Senate from California and this was documented in the film, ''Gore Vidal: The Man Who Said No'' directed by Gary Conklin. Vidal lost to Brown in the primary election.

Frequently identified with Democratic causes and personalities, Vidal wrote in the 1970s: }} Despite this, Vidal has said "I think of myself as a conservative." Vidal has a protective, almost proprietary attitude toward his native land and its politics: "My family helped start [this country]", he has written, "and we've been in political life... since the 1690s, and I have a very possessive sense about this country." At a 1999 lecture in Dublin, Vidal said:

He has suggested that President Roosevelt deliberately provoked the Japanese to attack the U.S. at Pearl Harbor to facilitate American entry to the war, and believes FDR had advance knowledge of the attack. During an interview in the 2005 documentary ''Why We Fight'', Vidal asserts that during the final months of World War II, the Japanese had tried to surrender to the United States, to no avail. He said, "They were trying to surrender all that summer, but Truman wouldn't listen, because Truman wanted to drop the bombs." When the interviewer asked why, Vidal replied, "To show off. To frighten Stalin. To change the balance of power in the world. To declare war on communism. Perhaps we were starting a pre-emptive world war."

During domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh's imprisonment, Vidal corresponded with McVeigh and concluded that he bombed the federal building as retribution for the FBI's role in the 1993 Branch Davidian Compound massacre in Waco, Texas.

Vidal was a member of the advisory board of the World Can't Wait organization, a left-wing organization seeking to repudiate the Bush administration's program, and advocating the impeachment of George W. Bush for war crimes.

In 1997, Vidal was one of 34 celebrities to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the ''International Herald Tribune'', which protested the treatment of Scientologists in Germany.

Vidal contributed an article to ''The Nation'' in which he expressed support for Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, citing him as "the most eloquent of the lot" and that Kucinich "is very much a favorite out there in the amber fields of grain".

In May 2008, Vidal proclaimed to Esquire magazine: "Everything’s wrong on Wikipedia."

In April 2009, Vidal accepted appointment to the position of honorary president of the American Humanist Association, succeeding Kurt Vonnegut.

On September 30, 2009, ''The Times'' of London published a lengthy interview with him headlined "We’ll have a dictatorship soon in the US - The grand old man of letters Gore Vidal claims America is ‘rotting away’ — and don’t expect Barack Obama to save it", which brings up-to-date his views on his own life, and a variety of political subjects.

Vidal versus Buckley

In 1968, ABC News invited Vidal and William F. Buckley, Jr. to be political analysts of the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions. Verbal and nearly physical combat ensued. After days of mutual bickering, their debates devolved to vitriolic, ad hominem attacks. During discussions of the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, the men were arguing about freedom of speech in regards to American protesters displaying a Viet Cong flag when Vidal told Buckley to "shut up a minute" and, in response to Buckley's reference to "pro-Nazi" protesters, went on to say "As far as I'm concerned, the only sort of pro-crypto-Nazi I can think of is yourself." The visibly livid Buckley replied, "Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered." After an interruption by anchor and facilitator Howard K. Smith, the men continued to discuss the topic in a less hostile manner. Buckley later expressed regret for having called Vidal a "queer," but nonetheless described Vidal as an "evangelist for bisexuality."

Later, in 1969, the feud was continued as Buckley further attacked Vidal in the lengthy essay, "On Experiencing Gore Vidal", published in the August 1969 issue of ''Esquire''. The essay is collected in ''The Governor Listeth'', an anthology of Buckley's writings of the time. In a key passage attacking Vidal as an apologist for homosexuality, Buckley wrote, "The man who in his essays proclaims the normalcy of his affliction [i.e., homosexuality], and in his art the desirability of it, is not to be confused with the man who bears his sorrow quietly. The addict is to be pitied and even respected, not the pusher."

Vidal responded in the September 1969 issue of ''Esquire'', variously characterizing Buckley as "anti-black", "anti-semitic", and a "warmonger". The presiding judge in Buckley's subsequent libel suit against Vidal initially concluded that "[t]he court must conclude that Vidal's comments in these paragraphs meet the minimal standard of fair comment. The inferences made by Vidal from Buckley's [earlier editorial] statements cannot be said to be completely unreasonable." However, Vidal also strongly implied that, in 1944, Buckley and unnamed siblings had vandalized a Protestant church in their Sharon, Connecticut, hometown after the pastor's wife had sold a house to a Jewish family. Buckley sued Vidal and ''Esquire'' for libel. Vidal counter-claimed for libel against Buckley, citing Buckley's characterization of Vidal's novel ''Myra Breckinridge'' as pornography.

The court dismissed Vidal's counter-claim; Buckley settled for $115,000 in attorney's fees and an editorial statement from ''Esquire'' magazine that they were "utterly convinced" of the untruthfulness of Vidal's assertion. However, in a letter to ''Newsweek'', the ''Esquire'' publisher stated that "the settlement of Buckley's suit against us" was not "a 'disavowal' of Vidal's article. On the contrary, it clearly states that we published that article because we believed that Vidal had a right to assert his opinions, even though we did not share them."

As Vidal's biographer, Fred Kaplan, later commented, "The court had 'not' sustained Buckley's case against ''Esquire''... [t]he court had 'not' ruled that Vidal's article was 'defamatory.' It had ruled that the case would have to go to trial ''in order to determine as a matter of fact whether or not it was defamatory.'' [italics original.] The cash value of the settlement with ''Esquire'' represented 'only' Buckley's legal expenses [not damages based on libel]... " Ultimately, Vidal bore the cost of his own attorney's fees, estimated at $75,000.

In 2003, this affair re-surfaced when ''Esquire'' published ''Esquire's Big Book of Great Writing'', an anthology that included Vidal's essay. Buckley again sued for libel, and ''Esquire'' again settled for $55,000 in attorney's fees and $10,000 in personal damages to Buckley.

After Buckley's death on February 27, 2008, Vidal summed up his impressions of his rival with the following obituary on March 20, 2008: "RIP WFB—in hell." In a June 15, 2008, interview with the ''New York Times'', Vidal was asked by Deborah Solomon, "How did you feel when you heard that Buckley died this year?" Vidal responded:

Criticism of the George W. Bush administration

Vidal was strongly critical of the George W. Bush administration, listing it among administrations he considered to have either an explicit or implicit expansionist agenda. He has described George W. Bush as "the stupidest man in the United States".

He is of the view that for several years the Bush administration and their associates aimed to control the petroleum of Central Asia (after gaining effective control of the petroleum of the Persian Gulf in 1991). In October 2006, Vidal derided NORAD for what he claimed was a conspiracy against the US public, perpetrated by an alliance of the US Air Force and the government of Canada at the time.

In May 2007, Vidal clarified his views, saying: }}

Bibliography

Essays and non-fiction

''Rocking the Boat'' (1963)

''Reflections Upon a Sinking Ship'' (1969)

''Sex, Death and Money'' (1969) (paperback compilation)

''Homage to Daniel Shays'' (1972)

''Matters of Fact and of Fiction'' (1977)

''Views from a Window'' Co-Editor (1981)

''The Second American Revolution'' (1982)

''Vidal In Venice'' (1985) ISBN 0-671-60691-3

''Armageddon?'' (1987) (UK only)

''At Home'' (1988)

''A View From The Diner's Club'' (1991) (UK only)

''Screening History'' (1992) ISBN 0-233-98803-3

''Decline and Fall of the American Empire'' (1992) ISBN 1-878825-00-3

''United States: essays 1952–1992'' (1993) ISBN 0-7679-0806-6

''Palimpsest: a memoir'' (1995) ISBN 0-679-44038-0

''Virgin Islands'' (1997) (UK only)

''The American Presidency'' (1998) ISBN 1-878825-15-1

''Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings'' (1999)

''The Last Empire: essays 1992–2000'' (2001) ISBN 0-375-72639-X (there is also a much shorter UK edition)

''Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace or How We Came To Be So Hated'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002, (2002) ISBN 1-56025-405-X

''Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta'', Thunder's Mouth Press, (2002) ISBN 1-56025-502-1

''Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson'' (2003) ISBN 0-300-10171-6

''Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia'' (2004) ISBN 1-56025-744-X

''Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir'' (2006) ISBN 0-385-51721-1

''The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal'' (2008) ISBN 0-385-52484-6

''Gore Vidal: Snapshots in History's Glare'' (2009) ISBN 0-810-95049-9

Plays

''Visit to a Small Planet'' (1957) ISBN 0-8222-1211-0

''The Best Man'' (1960)

''On the March to the Sea'' (1960–1961, 2004)

''Romulus'' (adapted from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1950 play ''Romulus der Große'') (1962)

''Weekend'' (1968)

''Drawing Room Comedy'' (1970)

''An Evening with Richard Nixon'' (1970) ISBN 0-394-71869-0

''On the March to the Sea'' (2005)

Novels

''Williwaw'' (1946) ISBN 0-226-85585-6

''In a Yellow Wood'' (1947)

''The City and the Pillar'' (1948) ISBN 1-4000-3037-4

''The Season of Comfort'' (1949) ISBN 0-233-98971-4

''A Search for the King'' (1950) ISBN 0-345-25455-4

''Dark Green, Bright Red'' (1950) ISBN 0-233-98913-7 (prophecy of the Guatemala coup d'état of 1954, see "In the Lair of the Octopus" ''Dreaming War'')

''The Judgment of Paris'' (1952) ISBN 0-345-33458-2

''Messiah'' (1954) ISBN 0-14-118039-0

''A Thirsty Evil'' (1956) (short stories)

''Julian'' (1964) ISBN 0-375-72706-X

''Washington, D.C.'' (1967) ISBN 0-316-90257-8

''Myra Breckinridge'' (1968) ISBN 1125979488

''Two Sisters'' (1970) ISBN 0-434-82958-7

''Burr'' (1973) ISBN 0-375-70873-1

''Myron'' (1974) ISBN 0-586-04300-4

''1876'' (1976) ISBN 0-375-70872-3

''Kalki'' (1978) ISBN 0-14-118037-4

''Creation'' (1981) ISBN 0-349-10475-1

''Duluth'' (1983) ISBN 0-394-52738-0

''Lincoln'' (1984) ISBN 0-375-70876-6

''Empire'' (1987) ISBN 0-375-70874-X

''Hollywood'' (1990) ISBN 0-375-70875-8

''Live from Golgotha: The Gospel according to Gore Vidal'' (1992) ISBN 0-14-023119-6

''The Smithsonian Institution'' (1998) ISBN 0-375-50121-5

''The Golden Age'' (2000) ISBN 0-375-72481-8

''Clouds and Eclipses: The Collected Short Stories'' (2006) (short stories, this is the same collection as ''A Thirsty Evil'' (1956), with one previously unpublished short story – ''Clouds and Eclipses'' – added)

Screenplays

''Climax!: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde'' (1954) (TV adaptation)

''The Catered Affair'' (1956)

''I Accuse!'' (1958)

''The Scapegoat'' (1959)

''Ben Hur'' (1959) (uncredited)

''Suddenly, Last Summer'' (1959)

''The Best Man'' (1964)

''Is Paris Burning?'' (1966)

''Last of the Mobile Hot Shots'' (1970)

''Caligula'' (1979)

''Dress Gray'' (1986)

''The Sicilian'' (1987) (uncredited)

''Billy the Kid'' (1989)

''Dimenticare Palermo'' (1989)

Works under pseudonyms

''A Star's Progress'' (aka ''Cry Shame!'') (1950) as Katherine Everard

''Thieves Fall Out'' (1953) as Cameron Kay

''Death Before Bedtime'' (1953) as Edgar Box

''Death in the Fifth Position'' (1952) as Edgar Box

''Death Likes It Hot'' (1954) as Edgar Box

Film & TV appearances

''Profile of a Writer: Gore Vidal'' – RM Productions (1979 documentary film)

''Gore Vidal: The Man Who Said No'' (1983 documentary film)

''Weekend In Wallop'' (1984)

''Vidal in Venice'' – Antelope Films for Channel Four Television (1987 documentary film)

''Bob Roberts'' – as Senator Brickley Paiste (1992 film)

''With Honors'' – Plays the pessimistic and right-wing Prof. Pitkannan (1994 film)

''The Celluloid Closet'' – (1995 documentary film)

''Gattaca'' – Plays Director Josef in science-fiction film (1997)

''The Education of Gore Vidal'' (2003) Documentary by ''Deborah Dickson'', aired in the US on ''PBS''

''Thinking XXX'' (2004 documentary)

''Da Ali G Show'' (2004 TV)

''Why We Fight'' (2005 film)

''Inside Deep Throat'' (2005 film)

''One Bright Shining Moment'' (2005 film)

''Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula'' (2005 spoof trailer)

''Foreign Correspondent'' – with former NSW premier Bob Carr

''The U.S. Versus John Lennon'' (2006 film)

Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra concert, August 2, 2007 – Narrated Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait (conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas) from a wheelchair.

''The Henry Rollins Show'' (2007 TV)

"The Simpsons" episode: "Moe'N'a Lisa"

"Family Guy" episode: "Mother Tucker"

Alex Jones radio show (2006)

''Terrorstorm: Final Cut Special Edition'' (2007)

''Lateline – ABC Television Australia Interview'' (May 2, 2008)

''Democracy Now'' – interview: on the Bush Presidency, History and the "United States of Amnesia" (May 14, 2008)

''The South Bank Show'' (May 18, 2008)

''Hardtalk – BBC News'' (May 22, 2008)

''The Andrew Marr Show (May 25, 2008)

''The US is not a republic anymore'' (June, 2008)

''Zero: An Investigation Into 9/11'' (June, 2008)

''Interview on the BBC's US Presidential Election Coverage with David Dimbleby (04/11/08)

"Writer Against the Grain": Gore Vidal in conversation with Jay Parini at the 2009 Key West Literary Seminar (audio, 59:09)

''Real Time with Bill Maher'' (April 10, 2009)

''Shrink'' (2009 film)

''"Gore Vidal's America"'' on The Real News Network (December 24, 2010)

See also

Politics in fiction

References

External links

The Gore Vidal Index, by Harry Kloman

The Gore Vidal Pages

Gore Vidal New York Review of Books author profile including a list of his reviews and essays from over 40 years, along with a bibliography

Audio recording: Gore Vidal at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2009: "Writer Against the Grain"

Gore Vidal's America - Seven part interview with Gore Vidal on The Real News - (video) July 5, 2009

Gore Vidal Interview with Melvyn Bragg in ''New Statesman'' Magazine - 11 October 2010

Category:1925 births Category:Living people Category:People from Orange County, New York Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:American essayists Category:American expatriates in Italy Category:American historical novelists Category:American humanists Category:American memoirists Category:American novelists Category:American political writers Category:American screenwriters Category:American tax resisters Category:Edgar Award winners Category:Bisexual actors Category:Bisexual writers Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:LGBT memoirists Category:American LGBT military personnel Category:LGBT screenwriters Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:Military brats Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:United States Army soldiers Category:National Book Award winners Category:Postmodern writers

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