Name	Saint Bede the Venerable
Birth date	ca. 673
Death date	May 26, 735
Feast day	25 May (Western Churches) 27 May (Orthodox Church and General Roman Calendar, between 1899–1969)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church
Birth place	not recorded, possibly Monkton.
Death place	Jarrow, Northumbria
Titles	Doctor of the Church, Monk, Historian
Canonized date	1899 recognised as Doctor of the Church
Canonized place	Rome
Canonized by	Pope Leo XIII
Patronage	English writers and historians; Jarrow
Major shrine	Durham Cathedral.
Issues	}}

Bede ( ; ; 672/673 – 26 May 735), also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede (), was an English monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow (see Monkwearmouth-Jarrow), both in the Kingdom of Northumbria. Bede's monastery had access to a superb library which included works by Eusebius and Orosius among many others.

He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'' (''The Ecclesiastical History of the English People'') gained him the title "The Father of English History". In 1899, Bede was made a Doctor of the Church by Leo XIII, a position of theological significance; he is the only native of Great Britain to achieve this designation (Anselm of Canterbury, also a Doctor of the Church, was originally from Italy). Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons.

Life

Almost everything that is known of Bede's life is contained in the last chapter of his ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a likely birth date of about 672–673. A minor source of information is the letter by his disciple Cuthbert which relates Bede's death. Bede, in the ''Historia'', gives his birthplace as "on the lands of this monastery". He is referring to the twinned monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, near modern-day Newcastle, claimed as his birthplace, there is also a tradition that he was born at Monkton, two miles from the monastery at Jarrow. Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do. Bede's first abbot was Benedict Biscop, and the names "Biscop" and "Beda" both appear in a king list of the kings of Lindsey from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family. The name "Bede" was not a common one at the time. The ''Liber Vitae'' of Durham Cathedral includes a list of priests; two are named Bede, and one of these is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the ''Life of Cuthbert'', one of Bede's own works, mention that Cuthbert's own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the ''Liber Vitae''. These occurrences, along with a ''Bieda'' who is mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' under the year 501, are the only appearances of the name in early sources. The name probably derives from the Old English ''bēd'', or prayer; if Bede was given the name at his birth, then his family had probably always planned for him to enter the clergy.

At the age of seven, he was sent to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith. Bede does not say whether it was already intended at that point that he would be a monk. It was fairly common in Ireland at this time for young boys, particularly those of noble birth, to be fostered out; the practice was also likely to have been common among the Germanic peoples in England. Monkwearmouth's sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year. The dedication stone for the church has survived to the present day; it is dated 23 April 685, and as Bede would have been required to assist with menial tasks in his day-to-day life it is possible that he helped in building the original church. In 686, plague broke out at Jarrow. The ''Life of Ceolfrith'', written in about 710, records that only two surviving monks were capable of singing the full offices; one was Ceolfrith and the other a young boy, who according to the anonymous writer had been taught by Ceolfrith and was "now a priest of the same monastery". After a week of singing the psalms without the usual antiphons, Ceolfrith "could not bear it any longer", and the two managed to restore the usual service, "with no little labour". The young boy was almost certainly Bede, who would have been about 14.

When Bede was about 17 years old, Adomnan, the abbot of Iona Abbey, visited Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. Bede would probably have met the abbot during this visit, and it may be that Adomnan sparked Bede's interest in the Easter dating controversy. In about 692, in Bede's nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by his diocesan bishop, John, who was bishop of Hexham. The canonical age for the ordination of a deacon was 25; Bede's early ordination may mean that his abilities were considered exceptional, but it is also possible that the minimum age requirement was often disregarded. There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices.|group=notes}} In Bede's thirtieth year (about 702) Bede became a priest, with the ordination again performed by Bishop John.

In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, the ''De Arte Metrica'' and ''De Schematibus et Tropis''; both were intended for use in the classroom. He continued to write for the rest of his life, eventually completing over 60 books, most of which have survived. Not all of his output can be easily dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years. His last surviving work is a letter to Ecgbert of York, a former student, written in 734. A 6th-century Greek and Latin manuscript of ''Acts'' that is believed to have been used by Bede survives and is now in the Bodleian Library; it is known as the Codex Laudianus. Bede may also have worked on one of the Latin bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which is now held by the Laurentian Library in Florence. Bede was a teacher as well as a writer; he enjoyed music, and was said to be accomplished as a singer and as a reciter of poetry in the vernacular. It is possible that he suffered a speech impediment of some kind, but this depends on a phrase in the introduction to his verse life of Saint Cuthbert. Translations of this phrase differ, and it is quite uncertain whether Bede intended to say that he was cured of a speech problem, or merely that he was inspired by the saint's works.

In 708, some monks at Hexham accused Bede of having committed heresy in his work ''De Temporibus''. The standard theological view of world history at the time was known as the six ages of the world; in his book, Bede calculated the age of the world for himself, rather than accepting the authority of Isidore of Seville, and came to the conclusion that Christ had been born 3,952 years after the creation of the world, rather than the figure of over 5,000 years that was commonly accepted by theologians. The accusation occurred in front of the bishop of Hexham of the time, Wilfrid, who was present at a feast when some drunken monks made the accusation. Wilfrid did not respond to the accusation, but a monk present relayed the episode to Bede, who replied within a few days to the monk, writing a letter setting forth his defence and asking that the letter be read to Wilfrid also. Bede had another brush with Wilfrid, for the historian himself says that he met Wilfrid, sometime between 706 and 709, and discussed Æthelthryth, the abbess of Ely. Wilfrid had been present at the exhumation of her body in 695, and Bede questioned the bishop about the exact circumstances of the body and asked for more details of her life, as Wilfrid had been her advisor. In 733, Bede travelled to York, to visit Ecgbert, who was then bishop of York. The see of York was elevated to an archbishopric in 735, and it is likely that Bede and Ecgbert discussed the proposal for the elevation during his visit. Bede hoped to visit Ecgbert again in 734, but was too ill to make the journey. Bede also travelled to the monastery of Lindisfarne, and at some point visited the otherwise unknown monastery of a monk named , a visit that is mentioned in a letter to that monk. Because of his widespread correspondence with others throughout the British Isles, and due to the fact that many of the letters imply that Bede had met his correspondents, it is likely that Bede travelled to some other places, although nothing further about timing or locations can be guessed. It seems certain that he did not visit Rome, however, as he would have mentioned it in the autobiographical chapter of his ''Historia Ecclesiastica''. Nothhelm, a correspondent of Bede's who assisted him by finding documents for him in Rome, is known to have visited Bede, though the date cannot be determined beyond the fact that it was after Nothhelm's visit to Rome.

Bede died on Thursday, 26 May 735 (Ascension Day) and was buried at Jarrow. Cuthbert, a disciple of Bede's, wrote a letter to a Cuthwin (of whom nothing else is known), describing Bede's last days and his death. According to Cuthbert, Bede fell ill "with frequent attacks of breathlessness but almost without pain", before Easter. On the Tuesday before Acension Day (26 May) his breathing became worse, and his feet swelled. He continued to dictate to a scribe, however, and despite spending the night awake in prayer he dictated again the following day. At three o'clock, according to Cuthbert, he asked for a box of his to be brought, and distributed among the priests of the monastery "a few treasures" of his: "some pepper, and napkins, and some incense". That night he dictated a final sentence to the scribe, a boy named Wilberht, and died soon afterwards. Cuthbert's letter also relates a five-line poem in the vernacular that Bede composed on his deathbed, known as "Bede's Death Song". It is the most widely copied Old English poem, and appears in 45 manuscripts, but its attribution to Bede is not absolutely certain—not all manuscripts name Bede as the author, and the ones that do are of later origin than those that do not. Bede's remains may have been transferred to Durham Cathedral in the 11th century; his tomb there was looted in 1541, but the contents were probably re-interred in the Galilee chapel at the cathedral.

One further oddity in his writings is that in one of his works, the ''Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles'', he writes in a manner that gives the impression he was married. The section in question is the only one in that work that is written in first-person view. Bede says: "Prayers are hindered by the conjugal duty because as often as I perform what is due to my wife I am not able to pray." Another passage, in the ''Commentary on Luke'', also mentions a wife in the first person: "Formerly I possessed a wife in the lustful passion of desire and now I possess her in honourable sanctification and true love of Christ." The historian Benedicta Ward argues that these passages are Bede employing a rhetorical device.

Works

Bede wrote scientific, historical and theological works, reflecting the range of his writings from music and metrics to exegetical Scripture commentaries. He knew patristic literature, as well as Pliny the Elder, Virgil, Lucretius, Ovid, Horace and other classical writers. He knew some Greek and Hebrew. His Latin is generally clear, but his Biblical commentaries are more technical.

Bede's scriptural commentaries employed the allegorical method of interpretation and his history includes accounts of miracles, which to modern historians has seemed at odds with his critical approach to the materials in his history. Modern studies have shown the important role such concepts played in the world-view of Early Medieval scholars.

He dedicated his work on the Apocalypse and the ''De Temporum Ratione'' to the successor of Ceolfrid as abbot, Hwaetbert.

Modern historians have completed many studies of Bede's works. His life and work have been celebrated by a series of annual scholarly lectures at St. Paul's Church, Jarrow from 1958 to the present. The historian Walter Goffart says of Bede that he "holds a privileged and unrivalled place among first historians of Christian Europe".

Although Bede is mainly studied as a historian now, in his time his works on grammar, chronology, and biblical studies were as important as his historical and hagiographical works. The non-historical works contributed greatly to the Carolingian renaissance.

''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''

Bede's best-known work is the ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'', or ''An Ecclesiastical History of the English People''. Completed in about 731,, Bede was aided in writing this book by Albinus, abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. The first of the five books begins with some geographical background, and then sketches the history of England, beginning with Caesar's invasion in 55 BC. A brief account of Christianity in Roman Britain, including the martyrdom of St Alban, is followed by the story of Augustine's mission to England in 597, which brought Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons. The second book begins with the death of Gregory the Great in 604, and follows the further progress of Christianity in Kent and the first attempts to evangelise Northumbria. These ended in disaster when Penda, the pagan king of Mercia, killed the newly Christian Edwin of Northumbria at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in about 632. The setback was temporary, and the third book recounts the growth of Christianity in Northumbria under kings Oswald of Northumbria and Oswy. The climax of the third book is the account of the Council of Whitby, traditionally seen as a major turning point in English history. The fourth book begins with the consecration of Theodore as Archbishop of Canterbury, and recounts Wilfrid's efforts to bring Christianity to the kingdom of Sussex. The fifth book brings the story up to Bede's day, and includes an account of missionary work in Frisia, and of the conflict with the British church over the correct dating of Easter. Bede wrote a preface for the work, in which he dedicates it to Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria. The preface mentions that Ceolwulf received an earlier draft of the book; presumably Ceolwulf knew enough Latin to understand it, and he may even have been able to read it. The preface makes it clear that Ceolwulf had requested the earlier copy, and Bede had asked for Ceolwulf's approval; this correspondence with the king indicates that Bede's monastery had excellent connections among the Northumbrian nobility.

Sources

The monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow had an excellent library. Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had acquired books from the Continent, and in Bede's day the monastery was a renowned centre of learning. It has been estimated that there were about 200 books in the monastic library.

For the period prior to Augustine's arrival in 597, Bede drew on earlier writers, including Solinus. He had access to two works of Eusebius: the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', and also the ''Chronicon'', though he had neither in the original Greek; instead he had a Latin translation of the ''Historia'', by Rufinus, and Saint Jerome's translation of the ''Chronicon''. He also knew Orosius's ''Adversus Paganus'', and Gregory of Tours' ''Historia Francorum'', both Christian histories, as well as the work of Eutropius, a pagan historian. He used Constantius's ''Life of Germanus'' as a source for Germanus's visits to Britain. Bede's account of the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons is drawn largely from Gildas's ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae''. Bede would also have been familiar with more recent accounts such as Eddius Stephanus's ''Life of Wilfrid'', and anonymous ''Lives'' of Gregory the Great and Cuthbert. He also drew on Josephus's ''Antiquities'', and the works of Cassiodorus, and there was a copy of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in Bede's monastery. Bede quotes from several classical authors, including Cicero, Plautus, and Terence, but he may have had access to their work via a Latin grammar rather than directly. However, it is clear he was familiar with the works of Virgil and with Pliny the Elder's ''Natural History'', and his monastery also owned copies of the works of Dionysius Exiguus. He probably drew his account of St. Alban from a life of that saint which has not survived. He acknowledges two other lives of saints directly; one is a life of Fursa, and the other of St. Æthelburh; the latter no longer survives. He also had access to a life of Ceolfrith. Some of Bede's material came from oral traditions, including a description of the physical appearance of Paulinus of York, who had died nearly 90 years before Bede's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' was written.

Bede also had correspondents who supplied him with material. Albinus, the abbot of the monastery in Canterbury, provided much information about the church in Kent, and with the assistance of Nothhelm, at that time a priest in London, obtained copies of Gregory the Great's correspondence from Rome relating to Augustine's mission. Almost all of Bede's information regarding Augustine is taken from these letters. Bede acknowledged his correspondents in the preface to the ''Historia Ecclesiastica''; he was in contact with Daniel, the Bishop of Winchester, for information about the history of the church in Wessex, and also wrote to the monastery at Lastingham for information about Cedd and Chad. Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, and Bishop Cynibert for information about Lindsey.

The historian Walter Goffart argues that Bede based the structure of the ''Historia'' on three works, using them as the framework around which the three main sections of the work were structured. For the early part of the work, up until the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels that Bede used Gildas's ''De excidio''. The second section, detailing the Gregorian mission of Augustine of Canterbury was framed on the anonymous ''Life of Gregory the Great'' written at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels were modelled on Stephen of Ripon's ''Life of Wilfrid''. Most of Bede's informants for information after Augustine's mission came from the eastern part of Britain, leaving significant gaps in the knowledge of the western areas, which were those areas likely to have a native Briton presence.

Models and style

Bede's stylistic models included some of the same authors from whom he drew the material for the earlier parts of his history. His introduction imitates the work of Orosius, and his title is an echo of Eusebius's ''Historia Ecclesiastica''. Bede also followed Eusebius in taking the ''Acts of the Apostles'' as the model for the overall work: where Eusebius used the ''Acts'' as the theme for his description of the development of the church, Bede made it the model for his history of the Anglo-Saxon church. Bede quoted his sources at length in his narrative, as Eusebius had done. Bede also appears to have taken quotes directly from his correspondents at times. For example, he almost always uses the terms "Australes" and "Occidentales" for the South and West Saxons respectively, but in a passage in the first book he uses "Meridiani" and "Occidui" instead, as perhaps his informant had done. At the end of the work, Bede added a brief autobiographical note; this was an idea taken from Gregory of Tours' earlier ''History of the Franks''.

Bede's work as a hagiographer, and his detailed attention to dating, were both useful preparations for the task of writing the ''Historia Ecclesiastica''. His interest in computus, the science of calculating the date of Easter, was also useful in the account he gives of the controversy between the British and Anglo-Saxon church over the correct method of obtaining the Easter date.

Bede's Latin has been praised for its clarity, but his style in the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' is not simple. He knew rhetoric, and often used figures of speech and rhetorical forms which cannot easily be reproduced in translation, depending as they often do on the connotations of the Latin words. However, unlike contemporaries such as Aldhelm, whose Latin is full of difficulties, Bede's own text is easy to read. In the words of Charles Plummer, one of the best-known editors of the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', Bede's Latin is "clear and limpid ... it is very seldom that we have to pause to think of the meaning of a sentence ... Alcuin rightly praises Bede for his unpretending style."

Intent

Bede's primary intention in writing the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' was to show the growth of the united church throughout England. The native Britons, whose Christian church survived the departure of the Romans, earn Bede's ire for refusing to help convert the Saxons; by the end of the ''Historia'' the English, and their Church, are dominant over the Britons. This goal, of showing the movement towards unity, explains Bede's animosity towards the British method of calculating Easter: much of the ''Historia'' is devoted to a history of the dispute, including the final resolution at the Synod of Whitby in 664. Bede is also concerned to show the unity of the English, despite the disparate kingdoms that still existed when he was writing. He also wants to instruct the reader by spiritual example, and to entertain, and to the latter end he adds stories about many of the places and people about which he wrote.

Bede's extensive use of miracles is disconcerting to the modern reader who thinks of Bede as a more or less reliable historian, but men of the time accepted miracles as a matter of course. However, Bede, like Gregory the Great whom Bede quotes on the subject in the ''Historia'', felt that faith brought about by miracles was a stepping stone to a higher, truer faith, and that as a result miracles had their place in a work designed to instruct.

Omissions and biases

Bede is somewhat reticent about the career of Wilfrid, a contemporary and one of the most prominent clerics of his day. This may be because Wilfrid's opulent lifestyle was uncongenial to Bede's monastic mind; it may also be that the events of Wilfrid's life, divisive and controversial as they were, simply did not fit with Bede's theme of the progression to a unified and harmonious church.

Bede's account of the early migrations of the Angles and Saxons to England omits any mention of a movement of those peoples across the channel from Britain to Brittany described by Procopius, who was writing in the sixth century. Frank Stenton describes this omission as "a scholar's dislike of the indefinite"; traditional material that could not be dated or used for the Bede's didactic purposes had no interest for him.

Bede was a Northumbrian, and this tinged his work with a local bias. The sources he had access to gave him less information about the west of England than for other areas. He says relatively little about the achievements of Mercia and Wessex, omitting, for example, any mention of Boniface, a West Saxon missionary to the continent of some renown and of whom Bede had almost certainly heard, though Bede does discuss Northumbrian missionaries to the continent. He also is parsimonious in his praise for Aldhelm, a West Saxon who had done much to convert the native Britons to the Roman form of Christianity. He lists seven kings of the Anglo-Saxons whom he regards as having held ''imperium'', or overlordship; only one king of Wessex, Ceawlin, is listed, and none from Mercia, though elsewhere he acknowledges the secular power several of the Mercians held.

Bede relates the story of Augustine's mission from Rome, and tells how the British clergy refused to assist Augustine in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. This, combined with Gildas's negative assessment of the British church at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, led Bede to a very critical view of the native church. However, Bede ignores the fact that at the time of Augustine's mission, the history between the two was one of warfare and conquest, which, in the words of Barbara Yorke, would have naturally "curbed any missionary impulses towards the Anglo-Saxons from the British clergy."

Use of ''Anno Domini''

At the time Bede wrote the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', there were two common ways of referring to dates. One was to use indictions, which were 15-year cycles, counting from 312 AD. There were three different varieties of indiction, each starting on a different day of the year. The other approach was to use regnal years—the reigning Roman emperor, for example, or the ruler of whichever kingdom was under discussion. This meant that in discussing conflicts between kingdoms, the date would have to be given in the regnal years of all the kings involved. Bede used both these approaches on occasion, but adopted a third method as his main approach to dating: the ''anno domini'' method invented by Dionysius Exiguus. Although Bede did not invent this method, his adoption of it, and his promulgation of it in ''De Temporum Ratione'', his work on chronology, is the main reason why it is now so widely used.

Assessment

The ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' was copied often in the Middle Ages, and about 160 manuscripts containing it survive. About half of those are located on the European continent, rather than on the British Isles. Most of the 8th- and 9th-century texts of Bede's ''Historia'' come from the northern parts of the Carolingian Empire. This total does not include manuscripts with only a part of the work, of which another 100 or so survive. It was printed for the first time between 1474 and 1482, probably at Strasbourg, France. Modern historians have studied the ''Historia'' extensively, and a number of editions have been produced. For many years, early Anglo-Saxon history was essentially a retelling of the ''Historia'', but recent scholarship has focused as much on what Bede did not write as what he did. The belief that the ''Historia'' was the culmination of Bede's works, the aim of all his scholarship, a belief common among historians in the past, is no longer accepted by most scholars.

Modern historians and editors of Bede have been lavish in their praise of his achievement in the ''Historia Ecclesiastica''. Stenton regarded it as one of the "small class of books which transcend all but the most fundamental conditions of time and place", and regarded its quality as dependent on Bede's "astonishing power of co-ordinating the fragments of information which came to him through tradition, the relation of friends, or documentary evidence ... In an age where little was attempted beyond the registration of fact, he had reached the conception of history."

The ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' has given Bede a high reputation, but his concerns were different from those of a modern writer of history. His focus on the history of the organisation of the English church, and on heresies and the efforts made to root them out, led him to exclude the secular history of kings and kingdoms except where a moral lesson could be drawn or where they illuminated events in the church. Besides the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the medieval writers William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, and Geoffrey of Monmouth used his works as sources and inspirations. Early modern writers, such as Polydore Virgil and Matthew Parker, the Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury, also utilised the ''Historia'', and his works were used by both Protestant and Catholic sides in the Wars of Religion.

Some historians have questioned the reliability of some of Bede's accounts. One historian, Charlotte Behr, thinks that the ''Historia's'' account of the arrival of the Germanic invaders in Kent should not be considered to relate what actually happened, but rather relates myths that were current in Kent during Bede's time.

It is likely that Bede's work, because it was so widely copied, discouraged others from writing histories and may even have led to the disappearance of manuscripts containing older historical works.

Other historical works

Chronicles

As Chapter 66 of his ''On the Reckoning of Time'', in 725 Bede wrote the ''Greater Chronicle'' (''chronica maiora''), which sometimes circulated as a separate work. For recent events the ''Chronicle'', like his ''Ecclesiastical History'', relied upon Gildas, upon a version of the Liber pontificalis current at least to the papacy of Pope Sergius I (687–701), and other sources. For earlier events he drew on Eusebius's ''Chronikoi Kanones.'' The dating of events in the ''Chronicle'' is inconsistent with his other works, using the era of creation, the anno mundi.

Lives

His other historical works included lives of the abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, as well as verse and prose lives of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, an adaptation of Paulinus of Nola's ''Life of St Felix'', and a translation of the Greek ''Passion of St Anastasius''. He also created a listing of saints, the ''Martyrology''.

Theological works

In his own time, Bede was as well known for his biblical commentaries and exegetical, as well as other theological works. The majority of his writings were of this type, and covered the Old Testament and the New Testament. Most survived the Middle Ages, but a few were lost. It was for his theological writings that he earned the title of ''Doctor Anglorum'', and why he was made a saint.

Bede was not an innovative religious thinker. He made no original writings or thoughts on the beliefs of the church, instead working to synthesise and transmit the learning from his predecessors. In order to do this, he learned Greek, and attempted to learn Hebrew. He spent time reading and rereading both the Old and the New Testaments. He mentions that he studied from a text of Jerome's Vulgate, which itself was from the Hebrew text. He also studied both the Latin and the Greek Fathers of the Church. In the monastic library at Jarrow were a number of books by theologians, including works by Basil, Cassian, John Chrysostom, Isidore of Seville, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, Pope Gregory I, Ambrose of Milan, Cassiodorus, and Cyprian. He used these, in conjunction with the Biblical texts themselves, to write his commentaries and other theological works. He had a Latin translation by Evagrius of Athanasius's ''Life of Antony'', and a copy of Sulpicius Severus' ''Life of St. Martin''. He also used lesser known writers, such as Fulgentius, Julian of Eclanum, Tyconius, and Prosperius. Bede was the first to refer to Jerome, Augustine, Pope Gregory and Ambrose as the four Latin Fathers of the Church. It is clear from Bede's own comments that he felt his job was to explain to his students and readers the theology and thoughts of the Church Fathers.

Bede also wrote homilies, works written to explain theology used in worship services. Bede wrote homilies not only on the major Christian seasons such as Advent, Lent, or Easter, but on other subjects such as anniversaries of significant events.

Both types of Bede's theological works circulated widely in the Middle Ages. A number of his biblical commentaries were incorporated into the ''Glossa Ordinaria'', an 11th-century collection of biblical commentaries. Some of Bede's homilies were collected by Paul the Deacon, and they were used in that form in the Monastic Office. Saint Boniface used Bede's homilies in his missionary efforts on the continent.

Bede sometimes included in his theological books an acknowledgement of the predecessors on whose works he drew. In two cases he left instructions that his marginal notes, which gave the details of his sources, should be preserved by the copyist, and he may have originally added marginal comments about his sources to others of his works. Where he does not specify, it is still possible to identify books that he must have had access to by quotations that he uses. A full catalogue of the library available to Bede in the monastery cannot be reconstructed, but it is possible to tell, for example, that Bede was very familiar with the works of Virgil. There is little evidence that he had access to any other of the pagan Latin writers–he quotes many of these writers but the quotes are almost all to be found in the Latin grammars that were common in his day, one or more of which would certainly have been at the monastery. Another difficulty is that manuscripts of early writers were often incomplete: it is apparent that Bede had access to Pliny's ''Encyclopedia'', for example, but it seems that the version he had was missing book xviii, as he would almost certainly have quoted from it in his ''De temporum ratione''.

Works on the Old Testament

The works dealing with the Old Testament included ''Commentary on Samuel'', ''Commentary on Genesis'', ''Commentaries on Ezra and Nehemiah'', ''On the Temple'', ''On the Tabernacle'', ''Commentaries on Tobit'', ''Commentaries on Proverbs'', ''Commentaries on the Song of Songs'', ''Commentaries on the Canticle of Habakkuk'', The works on Ezra, the Tabernacle and the Temple were especially influenced by Gregory the Great's writings. He was also the one responsible for replacing the title God in the Hebrew texts to read 'Lord of Hosts.'

Works on the New Testament

Bede's works included ''Commentary on Revelation'', ''Commentary on the Catholic Epistles'', ''Commentary on Acts'', ''Reconsideration on the Books of Acts'', ''On the Gospel of Mark'', ''On the Gospel of Luke'', and ''Homilies on the Gospels''. At the tme of his death he was working on a translation of the Gospel of St. John into English.

Works on historical and astronomical chronology

''De temporibus'', or ''On Time'', written in about 703, provides an introduction to the principles of Easter computus. This was based on parts of Isidore of Seville's ''Etymologies'', and Bede also include a chronology of the world which was derived from Eusebius, with some revisions based on Jerome's translation of the bible. In about 723, Bede wrote a longer work on the same subject, ''On the Reckoning of Time'', which was influential throughout the Middle Ages. He also wrote several shorter letters and essays discussing specific aspects of computus.

''On the Reckoning of Time'' (''De temporum ratione'') included an introduction to the traditional ancient and medieval view of the cosmos, including an explanation of how the spherical earth influenced the changing length of daylight, of how the seasonal motion of the Sun and Moon influenced the changing appearance of the New Moon at evening twilight, and a quantitative relation between the changes of the Tides at a given place and the daily motion of the moon. Since the focus of his book was calculation, Bede gave instructions for computing the date of Easter and the related time of the Easter Full Moon, for calculating the motion of the Sun and Moon through the zodiac, and for many other calculations related to the calendar. He gives some information about the months of the Anglo-Saxon calendar in chapter XV. Any codex of Bede's Easter cycle is normally found together with a codex of his "De Temporum Ratione".

For calendric purposes, Bede made a new calculation of the age of the world since the creation, which he dated as 3952 BC. Due to his innovations in computing the age of the world, he was accused of heresy at the table of Bishop Wilfrid, his chronology being contrary to accepted calculations. Once informed of the accusations of these "lewd rustics," Bede refuted them in his Letter to Plegwin.

In addition to these works on astronomical timekeeping, he also wrote ''De natura rerum'', or ''On the Nature of Things'', modelled in part after the work of the same title by Isidore of Seville. His works were so influential that late in the 9th century Notker the Stammerer, a monk of the Monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, wrote that "God, the orderer of natures, who raised the Sun from the East on the fourth day of Creation, in the sixth day of the world has made Bede rise from the West as a new Sun to illuminate the whole Earth".

Educational works

Bede wrote some works designed to help teach grammar in the abbey school. One of these was his ''De arte metrica'', a discussion of the composition of Latin verse, drawing on previous grammarians work. It was based on Donatus' ''De pedibus'' and Servius' ''De finalibus'', and used examples from Christian poets as well as Virgil. It became a standard text for the teaching of Latin verse during the next few centuries. Bede dedicated this work to Cuthbert, apparently a student, for he is named "beloved son" in the dedication, and Bede says "I have laboured to educate you in divine letters and ecclesiastical statutes" Another textbook of Bede's is the ''De orthographia'', a work on orthography, designed to help a medieval reader of Latin with unfamiliar abbreviations and words from classical Latin works. Although it could serve as a textbook, it appears to have been mainly intended as a reference work. The exact date of composition for both of these works is unknown.

Another educational work is ''De schematibus et tropis sacrae scripturae'', which discusses the Bible's use of rhetoric. Bede was familiar with pagan authors such as Virgil, but it was not considered appropriate to teach grammar from such texts, and in ''De schematibus ...'' Bede argues for the superiority of Christian texts. Similarly, his text on poetic metre uses only Christian poetry for examples.

Vernacular poetry

According to his disciple Cuthbert, Bede was also ''doctus in nostris carminibus'' ("learned in our songs"). Cuthbert's letter on Bede's death, the ''Epistola Cuthberti de obitu Bedae'', moreover, commonly is understood to indicate that Bede also composed a five line vernacular poem known to modern scholars as ''Bede’s Death Song''

: And he used to repeat that sentence from St. Paul “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and many other verses of Scripture, urging us thereby to awake from the slumber of the soul by thinking in good time of our last hour. And in our own language,—for he was familiar with English poetry,—speaking of the soul’s dread departure from the body:

{| cellpadding="10" style="margin:auto;" |- | Facing that enforced journey, no man can be More prudent than he has good call to be, If he consider, before his going hence, What for his spirit of good hap or of evil After his day of death shall be determined. | Fore ðæm nedfere nænig wiorðe ðonc snottora ðon him ðearf siæ to ymbhycgenne ær his hinionge hwæt his gastæ godes oððe yfles æfter deað dæge doemed wiorðe.: |}

As Opland notes, however, it is not entirely clear that Cuthbert is attributing this text to Bede: most manuscripts of the letter do not use a finite verb to describe Bede's presentation of the song, and the theme was relatively common in Old English and Anglo-Latin literature. The fact that Cuthbert's description places the performance of the Old English poem in the context of a series of quoted passages from Sacred Scripture, indeed, might be taken as evidence simply that Bede also cited analogous vernacular texts. On the other hand, the inclusion of the Old English text of the poem in Cuthbert’s Latin letter, the observation that Bede "was learned in our song," and the fact that Bede composed a Latin poem on the same subject all point to the possibility of his having written it. By citing the poem directly, Cuthbert seems to imply that its particular wording was somehow important, either since it was a vernacular poem endorsed by a scholar who evidently frowned upon secular entertainment or because it is a direct quotation of Bede’s last original composition.

Veneration

There is no evidence for cult being paid to Bede in England in the 8th century. One reason for this may be that he died on the feast day of Augustine of Canterbury. Later, when he was venerated in England, he was either commemorated after Augustine on 26 May, or his feast was moved to 27 May. However, he was venerated outside England, mainly through the efforts of Saint Boniface and Alcuin, both of whom promoted the cult on the Continent. Boniface wrote repeatedly back to England during his missionary efforts, requesting copies of Bede's theological works. Alcuin, who was taught at the school set up in York by Bede's pupil Egbert, praised Bede as an example for monks to follow and was instrumental in disseminating Bede's works to all of Alcuin's friends. Bede's cult became prominent in England during the 10th-century revival of monasticism, and by the 14th century had spread to many of the cathedrals of England. Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester (c. 1008–1095) was a particular devotee of Bede's, dedicating a church to him in 1062, which was Wulfstan's first undertaking after his consecration as bishop.

His body was stolen from Jarrow and transferred to Durham Cathedral around 1020, where it was placed in the same tomb with Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Later they were moved to a shrine in Galilee Chapel at Durham Cathedral in 1370. The shrine was destroyed during the English Reformation, but the bones were reburied in the chapel. In 1831 the bones were dug up and then reburied in a new tomb, which is still there. Other relics were claimed by York, Glastonbury and Fulda.

His scholarship and importance to Catholicism were recognised in 1899 when he was declared a Doctor of the Church, and was declared a sanctus in 1935. He is the only Englishman named a Doctor of the Church. He is also the only Englishman in Dante's Paradise (''Paradiso'' X.130), mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church in the same canto as Isidore of Seville and the Scot Richard of St. Victor.

His feast day was included in the General Roman Calendar in 1899, for celebration on 27 May rather than on his date of death, 26 May which was then the feast day of Pope Saint Gregory VII; however, the 1969 calendar reforms allowed Bede's feast day to move to its proper day. He is venerated in both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Church, with a feast day of 25 May.

Bede became known as ''Venerable Bede'' (Lat.: Beda Venerabilis) by the 9th century, but this was not linked to consideration for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. According to a legend the epithet was miraculously supplied by angels, thus completing his unfinished epitaph. It is first utilised in connection with Bede in the 9th century, where Bede was grouped with others who were called "venerable" at two ecclesiastical councils held at Aix in 816 and 836. Paul the Deacon then referred to him as venerable consistently. By the 11th and 12th century, it had become commonplace. However, there are no descriptions of Bede by that term right after his death.

See also

List of works by Bede

List of manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica

Bede's World museum in Jarrow

Works of Bede on Wikisource

Notes

References

Sources

Primary sources

Bede, ''Hist. eccl. · Venerabilis Baedae opera historica'', ed. C. Plummer, 2 vols. (1896)

(Parallel Latin text and English translation with English notes.)

Secondary sources

Dorey, T.A. (ed.) (1966). ''Latin Historians''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

External links

Bede's World: the museum of early medieval Northumbria at Jarrow

The Venerable Bede from In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)

''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', Books 1–5, L.C. Jane's 1903 Temple Classics translation. From the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Continuation of Bede (pdf), at CCEL, edited & translated by A.M. Sellar.

Saint Bede, complete works, in Latin, with historical works also in English at ''The Online Library of Liberty''

Category:670s births Category:735 deaths Category:8th-century Christian saints Category:8th-century historians Category:8th-century writers Category:Anglo-Saxon monks Category:Anglo-Saxon poets Category:Anglo-Saxon saints Category:Anglo-Saxon writers Category:English Benedictines Category:Benedictine Biblical scholars Category:Benedictine scholars Category:Benedictine theologians Category:Benedictine writers Category:Bible translators Category:Burials at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey Category:Christian theologians Category:Chronologists Category:English chroniclers Category:Doctors of the Church Category:Early medieval Latin writers Category:English theologians Category:Hagiographers Category:Northumbrian saints Category:Old English poetry Category:People from Jarrow Category:People from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Category:Renewers of the church Category:Roman Catholic Biblical scholars Category:Roman Catholic saints Category:Roman Catholic theologians Category:Anglican saints Category:Trope theorists

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Name	Dom Bede Griffiths OSB Cam
Birth name	Alan Richard Griffiths
Birth date	December 17, 1906
Birth place	Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
Death date	May 13, 1993
Death place	Shantivanam, Tamil Nadu, India
Resting place coordinates
Nationality	English
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Citizenship	Indian
Other names	Swami Dayananda
Known for	Integral thought
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford
Occupation	Camaldolese monk, mystic, theologian
Religion	Roman Catholic}}

Bede Griffiths OSB Cam (17 December 1906 – 13 May 1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known, by the end of his life, as Swami Dayananda ("bliss of compassion"), was a British-born Indian Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams in South India and became a noted yogi. He has become a leading thinker in the development of the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism. Griffiths was a part of the Christian Ashram Movement.

Biography

Early years

Griffiths was born at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England at the end of 1906, the youngest of three children of a middle class family. Shortly after that, his father was betrayed by his business partner and left penniless. His mother took the children and established residence in a smaller home, which she maintained, though she had to find work to support herself and the children. At age 12, Griffiths was sent to Christ's Hospital, a school for poor boys. The students of this school were nicknamed "bluecoats". He excelled in his studies and earned a scholarship to the University of Oxford where, in 1925, he began his studies in English literature and philosophy at Magdalen College. In his third year at university he came under the tutelage of the professor and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis who became a lifelong friend. Griffiths graduated from Oxford in 1929 with a degree in journalism.

Shortly after graduation, Griffiths and two friends settled in a cottage in the Cotswold region and began what he called an "experiment in common living". They followed a lifestyle attuned to nature milking cows and selling the milk to support themselves. They would read the Bible together as a form of literature. Griffiths noted a strong connection with the teachings of Scripture with the rhythm of the nature around them. The experiment lasted less than a year, as one of the friends found the life too demanding. Nevertheless the experience had a strong effect on Griffiths.

As a result of this experience, Griffiths decided to seek Holy Orders in the Church of England. He was advised, however, to gain some experience in the slums of London. This advice was so contrary to what Griffiths felt to be his vocation that it drove him to a crisis of faith, which nearly drove him to a emotional breakdown. Guided by the writings of Cardinal Newman, he reached a point in this struggle where he had a spiritual breakthrough. He recounts the story of his conversion in his autobiography ''The Golden String''.

In November 1931, Griffiths went to stay at the Benedictine monastery of Prinknash Abbey where he was impressed by the life. Despite the strong anti-Roman Catholic sentiments of his mother, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church and made his First Communion at Christmas Eve Mass at the abbey.

Benedictine monastic life

Griffiths was received by the abbey as a postulant a month after his reception into the Catholic Church. On 29 December 1932, he entered the novitiate and was given the monastic name of "Bede". He made his solemn profession in 1937 (a year before the death of his mother in a car accident) and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1940.

In 1947 the abbey sent a group of 25 monks to give support to two monasteries in the United Kingdom which had been founded by monks from France. Griffiths was chosen to be the obedientiary prior for the monastery at Farnborough in Hampshire. He led that house for four years, but was unable to generate sufficient financial support to keep the community going. The abbot then sent him to the other monastery, Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland. It was there that he wrote his autobiography.

During Griffiths' time at Farnborough, he had come to know Father Benedict Alapatt, a European-born monk of Indian descent who was greatly interested in establishing a monastery in his homeland. Griffiths had already been introduced to Eastern thought, yoga and the Vedas and took interest in this proposed project. The abbot at first refused permission. Later, however, he changed his mind and authorised Griffiths to go to India with the Indian member of the community. There was one condition, though, Griffiths was not to be there as a member of the abbey, but as a priest subject to a local bishop, which meant that he would be giving up his vows.

Christian yogi

After some painful inner debate, Griffith agreed to this and, in 1955, he embarked for India with Alapatt. At the time, he wrote to a friend: "I am going to discover the other half of my soul." After arriving and visiting some spiritual centres in the country, they settled in Kengeri in Bangalore, considered the garden spot of India, with the goal of building a monastery there. That project was eventually unsuccessful as Griffiths left the location in 1958, saying that he found it "too Western".

Griffiths then joined with a Belgian monk, Father Francis Acharya OCSO, to establish Kristiya Sanyasa Samaj, Kurisumala Ashram (Mountain of the Cross), a Syriac Rite monastery of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Kerala. They sought to develop a form of monastic life based in the Indian tradition, adopting the saffron garments of an Indian ''sannyasi'' (an ascetic or monk). At that point, Griffiths took the Sanskrit name "Dayananda" ("bliss of compassion"). During that time he continued his studies in the religions and cultures of India, writing ''Christ in India'' while there. He also visited the United States during the period, giving a number of talks about East-West dialogue and was also interviewed by CBS television.

Later, in 1968, he moved to ''Shantivanam'' ("Forest of Peace") ashram in Tamil Nadu, which had been founded in 1950 by the French Benedictine monk Abhishiktananda (Dom Henri Le Saux OSB), from the Abbey of Kergonan, along with another Frenchman, the Abbé Jules Monchanin. The two had developed a religious lifestyle which was completely expressed in authentic Indian fashion, using English, Sanskrit and Tamil in their religious services. They had built the ashram buildings by hand, in the style of the poor of the country. Monchanin had died in 1957, though, and Le Saux wanted to devote himself to a hermit's life. Griffiths came with two other monks to assume life there and to allow Le Saux his wish.

Griffiths resumed his studies of Indian thought, trying to relate it to Christian theology. At this point, he became known as "Swami Dayananda" ("bliss of compassion"). He wrote 12 books on Hindu-Christian dialogue. During this period, Griffiths desired to reconnect himself with the Benedictine Order and sought a monastic congregation which would accept him in the way of life he had developed over the decades. He was welcomed by the Camaldolese monks and he and the ashram became a part of their congregation.

Griffiths was a proponent of integral thought, which attempts to harmonise scientific and spiritual world views. In a 1983 interview he stated,

Final years

In January 1990, Griffiths suffered a stroke in his room at the ashram. A month later, to the day, he was declared healed. The following year, he began a period of extensive travel, making annual visits to the United States, then later to Europe, where he met the Dalai Lama. He noted to a friend, "I do believe that he liked me." He continued his journey, giving lectures in Germany and England. He arrived back at the ashram in October 1992, where an Australian film crew were awaiting him to make a documentary about his life, which was released as ''A Human Search''.

Three days after the completion of filming, on his 86th birthday, Griffiths had a major stroke. The following month, he had a further series of strokes. He died at Shantivanam on 13 May 1993, aged 86.

Legacy

The archives of the Bede Griffiths Trust are located at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. His contributions are promoted and developed by the Bede Griffiths Trust and by the Camaldolese Institute for East-West Dialogue based at the American Camaldolese hermitage of New Camaldoli, located in Big Sur, California.

Bibliography

Primary

''The Golden String: An Autobiography'', (1954), Templegate Publishers, 1980 edition: ISBN 0-87243-163-0, Medio Media, 2003: ISBN 0-9725627-3-7

''Christ in India: Essays Towards a Hindu-Christian Dialogue'' (1967), Templegate Publishers, 1984, ISBN 0-87243-134-7

''Return to the Center'', (1976), Templegate Publishers, 1982, ISBN 0-87243-112-6

''Marriage of East and West: A Sequel to The Golden String'', Templegate Publishers, 1982, ISBN 0-87243-105-3

''Cosmic Revelation: The Hindu Way to God'', Templegate Publishers, 1983, ISBN 0-87243-119-3

''A New Vision of Reality: Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith'', Templegate Publishers, 1990, ISBN 0-87243-180-0

''River of Compassion: A Christian Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita'', (1987), Element Books, 1995 reprint: ISBN 0-8264-0769-2

''Bede Griffiths'', Templegate Publishers, 1993, ISBN 0-87243-199-1

''The New Creation in Christ: Christian Meditation and Community'', Templegate Publishers, 1994, ISBN 0-87243-209-2

(co-editor with Roland R. Ropers), ''Psalms for Christian Prayer'', Harpercollins, 1996, ISBN 0-00-627956-2

John Swindells (editor), ''A Human Search: Bede Griffiths Reflects on His Life: An Oral History'', Triumph Books, 1997, ISBN 0-89243-935-1 (from 1992 Australian television documentary)

Bruno Barnhart, O.S.B. Cam. (editor), ''The One Light: Bede Griffiths' Principle Writings'', Templegate Publishers, 2001, ISBN 0-87243-254-8

Thomas Matus, O.S.B. Cam. (editor), ''Bede Griffiths: Essential Writings'', Orbis Books, 2004, ISBN 1-57075-200-1

"The Relation of Ultimate Truth to the Life of the World." Arunodayam (Sep. 1962) 7-9; (Nov. 1962) 5-8.

"God and the Life of the World: A Christian View." Religion and Society 9/3 (Sep. 1962) 50-58.

''India and the Sacrament''. Ernakulam: Lumen Institute, 1964.

''Christian Ashram: Essays towards a Hindu-Christian Dialogue''. London: DLT, 1966. 249 pp.

Secondary

Kathryn Spink, ''A Sense of the Sacred: A Biography of Bede Griffiths'', Orbis Books, 1989. ISBN 0-88344-442-9

Beatrice Bruteau (ed.), ''The Other Half of My Soul: Bede Griffiths and the Hindu-Christian Dialogue'', Quest Books, 1996. ISBN 0-8356-0717-8 (Essays in honor of Griffiths by Matthew Fox, Thomas Keating, Rupert Sheldrake, Thomas Berry, Judson Trapnell, Wayne Teasdale, and others).

Jesu Rajan, ''Bede's Journey to the Beyond'', Bangalore, India: Asian Trading Corporation, 1997. ISBN 81-7086-211-6

Judson B. Trapnell, ''Bede Griffiths. A Life of Dialogue'', Albany: State University of New York Press (=SUNY Press), 2001. (Collection: SUNY Series in Religious Studies). ISBN 0-7914-4871-1

Wayne Teasdale, ''Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thought'', Skylight Paths Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-893361-77-2

Shirley du Boulay, ''Beyond the Darkness: A Biography of Bede Griffiths'', Alresford, UK: O Books, 2003. ISBN 1-903816-16-5.

Albano Fernandes, ''The Hindu Mystical Experience: A Comparative Study of the Approaches of R. C. Zaehner and Bede Griffiths''. New Delhi, India: Intercultural Publications, 2004.

Dion Forster, ''Christ at the centre: Discovering the Cosmic Christ in the spirituality of Bede Griffiths''. Kempton Park: AcadSA Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-1-920212-24-7.

Pandikattu, Kuruvilla, ''Religious dialogue as hermeneutics: Bede Griffith's advaitic approach to religions, Cultural heritage and contemporary change''. (Series IIIB, South Asia). Washington, D.C.: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2001. ISBN 1-56518-1395. Available online.

Ivo Coelho and Banzelao Julio Teixeira, Review of Albano Fernandes, ''The Hindu Mystical Experience: A Comparative Study of the Approaches of R. C. Zaehner and Bede Griffiths''. ''Divyadaan: Journal of Philosophy and Education'' 17/1 (2006) 109-112.

References

External links

"Christian yogi Bede Griffiths" by Arthur Jones, ''National Catholic Reporter'', April 5, 2008

Hindu-Christian Dialogue between [Ram Swarup and Griffiths]

"The M-word", Griffiths about authority in the Church and the ''Magisterium''

"The Swami from Oxford" by Robert Fastiggi and Jose Pereira, (a negative critique of Griffiths from a traditionalist Catholic website)

"Bede Griffiths, Henri Le Saux and Jules Monchanin Sangha" Russian site

Category:1906 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Camaldolese Order Category:C. S. Lewis Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:English Christian missionaries Category:English Benedictines Category:English religious writers Category:Indian religious writers Category:English Roman Catholic priests Category:Indian Roman Catholic priests Category:Integral thought Category:Roman Catholic writers Category:Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Category:Benedictine mystics Category:Benedictine theologians Category:People from Walton-on-Thames Category:People educated at Christ's Hospital Category:English expatriates in India Category:Hindu mystics Category:Roman Catholic mystics Category:English Roman Catholic theologians Category:Indian Roman Catholic theologians Category:Hindu theology Category:Indian Benedictines

de:Bede Griffiths es:Bede Griffiths pl:Bede Griffiths sv:Bede Griffiths

Name	Burt Rutan
Birth date	June 17, 1943
Birth place	Estacada, Oregon,United States
Occupation	Aerospace Engineer
Spouse	Tonya Rutan
Children	}}

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He is famous for his design of the record-breaking Voyager, which was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, and the sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 for becoming the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space twice within a two week period. He has five aircraft on display in the National Air and Space Museum: SpaceShipOne, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, Voyager, Quickie, and the VariEze.

Life and career

Born in 1943 in Estacada, Oregon, 30 miles southeast of Portland, and raised in Dinuba, California, Rutan displayed an early interest in aircraft design. By the time he was eight years old he was designing and building model aircraft. His first solo flight piloting an airplane was in an Aeronca Champ in 1959. In 1965 he graduated third in his class from the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly-SLO) with a BS degree in aeronautical engineering.

From 1965 to 1972 Rutan was a civilian flight test project engineer for the U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base, working on nine separate projects including the LTV XC-142 VSTOL transport and spin tests of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom fighter. He left to become Director of Development of the BD-5 aircraft for Bede Aircraft in Newton, Kansas, a position he held until 1974.

Rutan returned to California in June 1974, to create the Rutan Aircraft Factory. In this business he designed and developed prototypes for several aircraft, mostly intended for amateur builders. His first design, executed while he was still at Bede, was the VariViggen, a two-seat pusher single-engine craft of canard configuration. The canard would become a feature of many Rutan designs, notably the very popular VariEze and Long-EZ.

In April 1982, Burt Rutan founded Scaled Composites, LLC, which has become one of the world's pre-eminent aircraft design and prototyping facilities. Scaled Composites is headquartered in Mojave, California, at the Mojave Air & Space Port. In 2005 he received the NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering from the National Academy of Sciences.

In 1982, Beechcraft contracted Rutan's Scaled Composites to refine the design and build the prototype Beechcraft Starship.

In a 2010 interview, Rutan articulated his motivation for developing suborbital technology projects with SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo. He was developing suborbital spaceflight technology because in this "we can achieve some breakthroughs," making such flight "orders of magnitude safer and orders of magnitude more affordable. I'm taking this step because I think achieving something that has never existed in manned spaceflight – and that is ''high volume'' and ''public access'' – I think it is important to do that and to do it as soon as possible."

Rutan is married to Tonya Rutan. He retired from Scaled Composites in April, 2011.

Air and space craft designs

Rutan has left an aircraft design legacy from 45 years of work, designing aircraft that are often quite dissimilar from their predecessors. "His airplanes and spacecraft take on all types of sleek shapes and sizes, looking more like the work of a sculptor than an engineer. In all, Rutan has come up with 367 individual concepts — of which 45 have flown."

Homebuilts

VariViggen and VariViggen SP

His first design, the VariViggen, which he began building in his garage in 1968, first flew in April 1972. It had the rear wing, forward canard, and pusher configuration design elements which became his trademarks. In lieu of wind tunnel testing, Rutan developed the aerodynamic parameters for the VariViggen using a model rigged atop his station wagon, and measuring the forces while driving on empty roads.

The VariViggen was the Rutan model 27. A new set of outer wings, with winglets, was later developed by Rutan for the VariViggen, producing the VariViggen SP, Rutan model 32. The VariViggen was named in honor of the Saab 37 Viggen, a canard-configured fighter jet developed in Sweden. One VariViggen, built in France and named Micro Star, was powered by two Microturbo TRS-18 jet engines in lieu of the usual piston engine.

VariEze and Long-EZ

The VariViggen design led to the successful Rutan VariEze (pronounced "very easy") homebuilt experimental aircraft designs, in which he pioneered the use of moldless glass-reinforced plastic construction in homebuilts. In 1975 his brother Dick Rutan set a world distance record in the under-500 kg (1100 lb) class in the VariEze, and these aircraft went on to set other world records in this class. They were also the first aircraft to fly with NASA-developed winglets. The Long-EZ had a range of , over twice that of the VariEze. The original VW-powered VariEze used by Dick Rutan to set the aforementioned records was the Rutan model 31. The later, standard homebuilt VariEze was the Rutan model 33. Most VariEzes have been powered by Continental O-200 engines. Rutan later revised the VariEze design, providing more volume for fuel and cargo, resulting in the Rutan model 61 Long-EZ, designed to be powered by a Lycoming O-235, although some have used Lycoming O-320s or Lycoming O-360s. The Long-EZ also has a revised wing spar design that is not subject to the 2.5g positive, 1.5g negative, maximum load factor limit applied to the VariEze after the discovery of problems with some VariEze wings.

Ames AD-1

In the 1980s NASA issued a contract to Ames Industrial Company of Bohemia, New York to develop a small, low-cost aircraft to investigate Robert T. Jones's (a NASA researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center) oblique wing concept. Ames turned to Rutan, who designed a small, fiberglass airframe, powered by two Microturbo TRS-18 jet engines. This was the Rutan model 35, the Ames AD-1. After completion of the test program, the AD-1 was retired and is now on exhibit in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California.

Quickie

Rutan was approached by Gene Sheehan and Tom Jewett to develop a single-seat personal sport aircraft. A tandem wing configuration resulted from their collaboration. The aircraft was powered by an 18 hp Onan industrial engine. The prototype was the Rutan model 49. Quickie Aircraft then marketed a slightly improved version as the Quickie. This was the Rutan model 54 Quickie.

Two derivatives of the Quickie were subsequently developed, both expanded to include two seats. Quickie Aircraft had Gary LaGare develop the Q2, while Viking Aircraft developed the Viking Dragonfly.

Grizzly

Rutan designed the model 72 Grizzly to investigate the possibility of a STOL canard aircraft. It was retired after testing.

Voyager

Rutan was approached by his brother Dick about designing an airplane that could fly nonstop, unrefueled around the world, something that had never been done before. Around-the-world flights had been accomplished by military crews using in-flight refueling.

Rutan developed a twin-engined (piston engines, one pusher and one tractor) canard-configured design, the Rutan model 76 Voyager. The pusher engine ran continuously, the tractor engine was used for take-off and initial climb to altitude, then was shut down.

The aircraft was first flown with two Lycoming O-235 engines. After development work, it was reengined with a Continental O-200 (modified to include liquid cooling) as the pusher engine and a Continental O-240 as the tractor engine.

As a proving flight, Dick and his partner Jeana Yeager made a record setting endurance flight off the coast of California. In December 1986, they took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California and flew around the world (westward) in nine days, fulfilling the aircraft's design goals. The Voyager was retired and now has the honor of hanging in the ''Milestones of Flight'' exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) main exhibit hall, with the Wright ''Flyer'', ''Spirit of St. Louis'' and Bell X-1.

Solitaire

The Sailplane Homebuilders Association (Now the Experimental Soaring Association) opened a competition for a homebuilt, self-launching sailplane. Rutan designed the model 77 Solitaire for this competition, which it won. The sailplane was canard-configured, with a retractable engine ahead of the cockpit.

Catbird

Desiring a new personal airplane, Rutan designed a five-seat, single-engined pressurized airplane, the Model 81 Catbird. The airplane was configured as a three-surface aircraft (canard, main wing, and tail). After serving as Rutan's personal airplane, it was retired. The Catbird is notable for winning the CAFE Challenge aircraft efficiency prize in 1993.

Lotus Microlight

Rutan was approached by Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Racing, to design a single-seat ultralight aircraft. Again, a canard configuration was developed, the Rutan model 91. Colin Chapman's untimely death brought this project to an end, after the aircraft had flown.

Pond Racer

Concerned about the dwindling numbers of World War II aircraft, with many being consumed by use as Unlimited Class racers at the Reno Air Races, Bob Pond contracted Scaled to design an Unlimited Class racer. The result was the Pond Racer. After design studies, a twin-engined, conventional configured layout was chosen. The aircraft was powered by two 1000 hp Electromotive-Nissan VG-30 3-liter GTP piston engines running on methanol. The aircraft was built and tested before delivery to the customer. It appeared at the Reno Air Races in 1991, 1992 and 1993. The aircraft was destroyed in a forced landing crash on September 14, 1993, killing pilot Rick Brickert.

Boomerang

A departure from the canard design was the Rutan Boomerang, perhaps one of the unconventional designer's most unconventional aircraft. The aircraft, the model 202 Boomerang, is an asymmetric twin-engine tractor configuration aircraft with one engine on the fuselage and another mounted on a pod. A November 1996 ''Popular Mechanics'' feature article said it "looks more like a trimotor that lost its right boom and engine".

Proteus

The Model 281 Proteus is a tandem-wing high-endurance aircraft designed by Burt Rutan to investigate the use of aircraft as high altitude telecommunications relays. The aircraft's requirements were designed by Angel Technologies and Broadband.com. Its first flights were in 1998. It holds several altitude records, set in 2000.

Spacecraft

Rutan made headlines again in June of 2004 with SpaceShipOne, which became the first privately built, flown, and funded manned craft to reach space. On October 4, SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X Prize, completing two flights within two weeks, flying with the equivalent weight of 3 persons, and doing so while reusing at least 80% of the vehicle hardware. The project team was honored with the 2004 Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association for "greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America." The craft embodies Rutan's unique style, and is another of the "icons of flight" displayed in the NASM ''Milestones of Flight'' exhibit.

Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, announced that it would begin space tourism flights in 2008 using craft based on the designs of SpaceShipOne. Dubbed SpaceShipTwo, these new craft, also designed by Burt Rutan, are intended to allow six "experience optimized" passengers to glimpse the planet from 70–80 miles up in suborbital space. Production of the first of five planned SpaceShipTwo craft has started, but commercial flights did not begin in 2008 as planned. An explosion at the Scaled Composite factory at the Mojave Spaceport on July 26, 2007, which killed three engineers and seriously injured three others, may have contributed to the delay. They were testing components for SpaceShipTwo, but Scaled Composites remained dedicated to perfecting the design of SpaceShipTwo. Virgin continues to work on developing SpaceShipTwo, but it has stopped predicting when commercial spaceflights will begin.

Burt Rutan is also working with t/Space in the development of an air launched, two-stage-to-orbit, manned spacecraft. It is intended to have a taxi capacity to carry passengers to the International Space Station. In June 2005, air drop tests of quarter scale mockups verified the practicality of air release and rotation to vertical.

White Knight Two

On July 28, 2008, Richard Branson unveiled Scaled Composites White Knight Two "Eve," at the Mojave Spaceport. Flight tests were set to begin in September 2008. The launch customer of White Knight Two is Virgin Galactic, which will have the first 2 units, and exclusive rights to the craft for the first few years. Branson predicts the maiden space voyage will take place in 18 months: "It represents... the chance for our ever-growing group of future astronauts and other scientists to see our world in a completely new light." Virgin Galactic contracted aerospace designer Burt Rutan to build the mothership and spacecraft.

GlobalFlyer

On March 3, 2005, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, an aircraft similar to the Voyager design, but built by Rutan's new company Scaled Composites, with stiffer materials and a single jet engine, completed the first solo non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world with adventurer Steve Fossett as pilot. Reducing weight was critical to the design, and Rutan is quoted as facetiously telling his staff that when they finish building a part, they must throw it up in the air for a weight test, and "If it comes down, it's too heavy". Between February 7, 2006 – February 11, 2006, Fossett and the GlobalFlyer set a record for the longest flight in history: , the third absolute world record set with this aircraft before being flown to the NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Global Flyer is the sixth vehicle designed by Burt Rutan in the NASM collection.

BiPod

Rutan's final design, BiPod, is a hybrid flying car. Announced in July 2011, the twin-pod vehicle has a wingspan of 31 feet 10 inches; with the wings reconfigured (stowed between the pods), the car has a width of 7 feet 11 inches and fits in a single-car garage. The design has two 450 cc four-cycle engines, one in each pod, which power a pair of generators that in turn power the electric motors used for propulsion. "Lithium-ion batteries in the nose of each pod will provide power during take off and an emergency backup for landing. With a cruising speed of , Scaled Composites says the BiPod 367 would have a range of ." The plane can fly at which reduces the range to . "Out on the road, this roadable aircraft, which carries of fuel, is expected to have a driving range of 820 miles. It has a claimed electric-only range of 35 miles." Flight controls are in the right pod, road controls (steering wheel and brakes) in the left.

Climate change

On July 29, 2009, Burt Rutan drew a full house for his presentation at the Experimental Aircraft Association's EAA Airventure 2009 Oshkosh Conference entitled "Non-Aerospace Research Quests of a Designer/Flight Test Engineer" where he discussed his thoughts on his hobby of climate change. Although he admitted in his presentation that he was not a climate scientist, he stated he spent most of his career on data analysis and interpretation and how it is used or misused.

"I put myself in the (Those who fear expansion of Government control) group, and do not hide the fact that I have a clear bias on [ Anthropogenic global warming (AGW)]. My bias is based on fear of Government expansion and the observation of AGW data presentation fraud - not based on financial or any other personal benefit. I merely have found that the closer you look at the data and alarmists’ presentations, the more fraud you find and the less you think there is an AGW problem... For decades, as a professional experimental test engineer, I have analyzed experimental data and watched others massage and present data. I became a cynic; My conclusion – “if someone is aggressively selling a technical product whose merits are dependent on complex experimental data, he is likely lying”. That is true whether the product is an airplane or a Carbon Credit."

He describes his interest on the climate change topic as deriving from his "interest in technology, not tree hugging". Burt Rutan's house was featured in a November 1, 1989 article in ''Popular Science'' entitled: "21st Century Pyramid: The Ultimate Energy-efficient House".

Rutan will also not interview with Scientific American, as he claimed that the magazine has "...improperly covered man-made global warming. They drink Kool-Aid instead of doing research. They parrot stuff from the IPCC and Al Gore."

Retirement

On November 3, 2010, Scaled Composites announced the retirement of Burt Rutan:

"Burt Rutan, founder of aerospace research firm Scaled Composites in 1982, has announced his plans to retire in April 2011. He currently serves as Scaled’s Chief Technical Officer and following his retirement, Burt will assume the title of founder and chairman emeritus.

Burt has worked in California's Antelope Valley for more than 45 years, initially as Flight Test Project Engineer for the Air Force and in 1974 he founded the Rutan Aircraft Factory to develop experimental aircraft for homebuilders.

“Burt is known worldwide as a legendary genius in aircraft design in the aviation world. I am very fortunate and proud to have worked by his side for the past 28 years,” says President Douglas B. Shane. “We wish Burt and his wife, Tonya, the very best the future holds for them.”

On April 1, 2011, Rutan retired from Scaled Composites to his home in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He said that he is working on one more innovative design. In July 2011, this was revealed to be a hybrid flying car, the Model 367 BiPod.

Also see

Rutan Defiant witn twin push-pull engines & 4 seats

Black Sky: The Race For Space A documentary about him and spaceship one.

References

External links

The Ultimate Online Resource on Every Known Rutan Project

Chrysler Design Award webpage

Online biography

Biography from House Committee on Science

Video of Burt Rutan at the TED Conference discussing NASA and space entrepreneurs. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 20 mins)

SpaceShip One

Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:People from Estacada, Oregon Category:American aerospace engineers Category:American aviators Category:Aviation inventors Category:Collier Trophy recipients Category:Aviation pioneers Category:California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo alumni Category:People from Dinuba, California Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Category:National Academy of Sciences laureates

de:Burt Rutan es:Burt Rutan eo:Burt Rutan fa:برت روتان fr:Burt Rutan it:Burt Rutan he:ברט רוטאן ja:バート・ルータン pl:Burt Rutan pt:Burt Rutan ru:Рутан, Бёрт fi:Burt Rutan sv:Burt Rutan zh:伯特·鲁坦

{{infobox person | name

Anthony "Tony" Wilson | image Anthony H Wilson hosting After Dark in 1988.jpg | image_size 200px | caption Hosting TV discussion ''After Dark'' in 1988 | birth_date February 20, 1950 | birth_place Salford, Lancashire, England | death_date August 10, 2007 | death_place Withington, Manchester, England | resting_place Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester | education BA in English (University of Cambridge) | occupation Journalist | nationality British | known_for Factory Records, Madchester impresario, The Haçienda nightclub | occupation Journalist, TV presenter | spouse | parents | employer Granada TV, BBC North West | children }}

Anthony Howard Wilson known as Tony Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007), was an English record label owner, radio presenter, TV show host, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC.

Wilson was the music mogul behind some of Manchester's most successful bands. He was the founder and manager of The Haçienda nightclub, and was one of the five co-founders of Factory Records (Joy Division's label). Wilson was also known as Mr. Manchester, dubbed as such for his work in promoting the greater cultural status of Manchester throughout his career. He was portrayed by actor Steve Coogan in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film ''24 Hour Party People'', and by Craig Parkinson in Anton Corbijn's 2007 film ''Control''.

Early life

Wilson was born 20 February 1950 in Hope Hospital, Salford, Lancashire to Sydney Wilson and Doris Knupfer (who was 20 years her husband's senior), and moved to Marple, Stockport at the age of 5. His maternal grandfather was German. After passing his Eleven plus exam, Wilson attended the De La Salle Grammar School in Weaste Lane, Pendleton, Salford. He developed a love of literature and language, ignited by a performance of ''Hamlet'' at Stratford upon Avon. Wilson started his professional career in 1968 at the age of 17, working as an English and Drama teacher at Blue Coat School in Oldham. He later graduated with a degree in English from Jesus College, Cambridge.

Broadcasting career

After his graduation in 1971, Wilson began as a trainee news reporter for ITN, before moving to Manchester in 1973, where he secured a post at Granada Television. He went on to present Granada's culture, music and events programme, ''So It Goes''. Through the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the main anchors on ''Granada Reports'', a regional evening news programme, where he worked with Richard and Judy among others. He continued in this line of work even at the height of his success in the music industry.

In 1989, Wilson hosted ''The Other Side of Midnight'', another Granada weekly regional culture slot, covering music, literature and the arts in general. Its Sunday night slot made it one of the UK's first experiments in late night weekend TV. He reported for ITV's celebrated current affairs series, ''World in Action'' in the early 1980s and also hosted Channel 4's ''After Dark'', the UK's first open-ended, late night chat show, in which he chaired loose discussions in a darkened studio between intellectuals and celebrities of various descriptions, often in various stages of inebriation. Wilson co-anchored the BBC's coverage of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1992. He hosted the short-lived TV quiz shows ''Topranko!'' and MTV Europe's ''Remote Control'' in the 1990s, as well as the Manchester United themed quiz, ''Masterfan'', for MUTV.

In 2006 he became the regional political presenter for the BBC's ''The Politics Show''. He presented a weekly radio show on Xfm Manchester - ''Sunday Roast'' - and a show on BBC Radio Manchester. In October he joined Blur bassist Alex James, Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq and previously unknown presenter Emily Rose to host the 21st century version of the iconic 80s music programme, "The Tube", for Channel 4 Radio which ran until 2 March 2007. His final music TV show was filmed in December 2006 for Manchester's Channel M. Only one episode of the programme - entitled 'The New Friday' - was recorded before Wilson became ill.

Music career

Wilson's involvement in popular music stemmed from hosting Granada's culture and music programme "''So It Goes''". Wilson, who intensely disliked the music scene of the mid 1970s, saw the Sex Pistols at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall, in June 1976, an experience which he described as "nothing short of an epiphany". He booked them for the last episode of the first series, probably the first television showing of the then-revolutionary British strand of punk rock.

He was the manager of many bands, including A Certain Ratio and The Durutti Column, and was part owner and manager of Factory Records, home of the Happy Mondays, Joy Division, and New Order - the band managed by friend and business partner Rob Gretton. He also founded and managed The Haçienda nightclub and Dry bar, together forming a central part of the music and cultural scene of Manchester. The scene was termed "Madchester".

He made little money from Factory Records or the Haçienda, despite the enormous popularity and cultural significance of both endeavours. Both Factory Records and the Haçienda came to an abrupt end in the late 1990s.

A semi-fictionalised version of his life and of the surrounding era was made into the 2002 film, ''24 Hour Party People'', which stars the comedian Steve Coogan as Wilson. After the film was produced, Wilson wrote a novelization based on the screenplay. He played a minor role (playing himself) in the 2005 film, ''A Cock and Bull Story'', in which his character interviews Steve Coogan. Wilson also co-produced the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic, ''Control'' (his character this time being played by Craig Parkinson). He died a few months before its release.

Wilson was a partner in the annual "In The City" music festival and industry conference, and also F4 Records, the fourth version of Factory Records, which was set up to be an online distributor for Wilson's long term protégé Vini Reilly, of The Durutti Column. F4 also released music by Manchester based bands RaW-T and The Young Offenders Institute.

Politics

Wilson was an outspoken supporter of regionalism. Along with others including Ruth Turner, he started a campaign for North West England to be allowed a referendum on the creation of a regional assembly, called "The Necessary Group" after a line in the United States Declaration of Independence. Although his campaign was successful, with the Government announcing that a vote would take place, this was later abandoned when North East England voted against the introduction of a regional tier of government. Wilson later spoke at several political events on this subject. He was also known for using Situationist ideas.

Relationships

Wilson was married twice, first to Lindsay Reade and then to Hilary, with whom he had a son, Oliver, and a daughter, Isabel. In 1990 he started a relationship with Yvette Livesey, a former Miss England and Miss UK, who was his girlfriend until his death in 2007 Livesey has since co-operated with a biography of Wilson's life – called ''You're Entitled To An Opinion ...'' – written by David Nolan and published in 2009.

Illness

After developing renal cancer, and having one kidney removed in 2007, Wilson wished to take the drug sunitinib (aka Sutent), the £3,500 per month cost of which was not funded by the Manchester Primary Care Trust. He was turned down by the NHS, while patients being treated alongside him at the Christie Hospital and living just a few miles away in Cheshire received funding for the medication, for other conditions.

A number of Wilson's music industry friends, including former Happy Mondays manager Nathan McGough and their current manager, Elliot Rashman and TV stars Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan, formed a fund to help pay for Wilson's medical treatment.

Wilson said: "This [Sutent] is my only real option. It is not a cure but can hold the cancer back, so I will probably be on it until I die. When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in this industry who famously has never made any money. I used to say some people make money and some make history, which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive. I've never paid for private healthcare because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a scandal." This forced the postponement of plans to create a southern hemisphere version of the In The City festival. Despite the surgery, the cancer progressed and a course of chemotherapy was not effective. Wilson died of a heart attack in Manchester's Christie Hospital on 10 August 2007 aged 57. Following the news of his death, the Union Flag on Manchester Town Hall was lowered to half mast as a mark of respect. As with everything else in the Factory empire, Tony Wilson's coffin was also given a Factory catalogue number - FAC 501. He is buried at the Southern Cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. His black granite headstone, erected in October 2010, was designed by Peter Saville and Ben Kelly of Factory Records and features a quotation, chosen by Wilson's family, from G Linnaeus Banks's 1876 novel ''The Manchester Man'', set in Rotis serif font. The quotation reads: "Mutability is the epitaph of worlds/ Change alone is changeless/ People drop out of the history of a life as of a land though their work or their influence remains."

Probate documents reveal his estate was valued at £484,747 after tax. That figure includes the value of his city centre apartment on Little Peter Street. The will, signed by Wilson on 4 July 2007, gave Yvette Livesey, 39, his girlfriend of 17 years, the proceeds from their home. He also left her his share of six businesses. His son Oliver and daughter Isabel share the rest of his estate.

References

External links

Keeping it Real Last documentary on Tony Wilson

Story of his death

Tony Wilson hosting "After Dark" on television

Return to the Hacienda - BBC News article, dated Friday, 5 April 2002

Fourth Time Lucky - Spike Magazine interview with Tony Wilson about F4, the latest incarnation of Factory Records

Tony Wilson's "love letter" to the National Health Service

Anthony H Wilson - Excerpts from the Interview with Eyewitness in Manchester 30 April 1998

Oliver Wood's Factory Page.

The Other Side of Midnight

Obituary and Public Tributes

"Anthony Wilson: The Last Interview" by Gareth Grundy, ''The Q Daily'', 13 August 2007.

http://www.tonywilsonexperience.com - 24 Hours of Lectures and workshops dedicated to Tony Wilson organized by Manchester City Council.

Find-a-Grave.com entry for Tony Wilson

Category:1950 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Category:British music industry executives Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Impresarios Category:English journalists Category:English music managers Category:English radio presenters Category:History of Manchester Category:English television presenters Category:ITV regional newsreaders and journalists Category:People from Salford, Greater Manchester Category:People from Manchester Category:Madchester Category:British people of German descent Category:British people of Irish descent

de:Tony Wilson (Musikmanager) es:Tony Wilson fr:Anthony Wilson gl:Tony Wilson it:Tony Wilson nl:Tony Wilson (journalist) pl:Tony Wilson pt:Tony Wilson ru:Уилсон, Тони fi:Tony Wilson sv:Tony Wilson th:โทนี่ วิลสัน

James R. "Jim" Bede is an aircraft designer, who is often credited with the creation of the modern kitplane market. He has designed well over a dozen aircraft since the 1960s, but a string of business failures have kept most of these designs out of widespread use.

Bede Aviation

Bede was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from West Technical School in Cleveland in 1952 and attended Fenn College and the University of Wichita receiving his Aeronautical Engineer Bachelor of Science Degree in 1957. He started work as a performance engineer with North American Aviation that year, where he worked on the FJ-4 and A3J projects for the US Navy.

He stayed at North American only briefly, returning home to Cleveland in 1961 to form Bede Aviation with his father James, in order to produce a kitbuilt aircraft of his design, the Bede BD-1. At the time, as it is today, the general aviation market was priced beyond the means of the average consumer. Bede believed the way to solve this problem was to have prospective pilots build their own aircraft, as labor costs were a major part of the overall price of a delivered aircraft.

The BD-1 was a simple and fairly conventional low-wing two-seat design that used some of the latest techniques in aircraft construction that larger companies such as Cessna generally ignored. The fuselage was built primarily of aluminum honeycomb adhesively bonded together instead of riveted. This not only made the plane light, but also very strong; it was to be fully aerobatic and stressed to 9''g''. Performance would likewise be excellent, estimated at 135 knots (250 km/h) with a 108 hp Lycoming O-235 engine, compared to a Cessna 152 which reached about 110 knots (165 km/h) with a similar engine.

In order to make the plane more practical for the average owner, the wings could be folded and the aircraft towed behind a car, allowing it to be stored at home in a garage and towed to the airport. The kit, including a rebuilt 65 hp engine, would list for US$2,500. Versions with the more powerful O-235 were also offered, listed at $4,200.

Development dragged on and a lot of money was expended without delivering a final design. A few local Cleveland businessmen took control of the company in 1968 and renamed it American Aviation in order to produce the design in complete factory-built form as the American AA-1. A number of changes were later introduced into the design to make it more stable, notably a larger horizontal tail, and then a more forgiving airfoil on the main wing. The AA-1 and follow-on designs became fairly popular, notably the four-seat AA-5 ''Traveller''. The company was later purchased by Grumman, becoming Grumman American.

Record flights and experiments

During the BD-1 design Bede also worked on a number of other designs. One of these was the XBD-2, an experimental boundary layer control design based on a system designed by the Aerophysics Department of Mississippi State University. The system used 164,000 holes drilled into the surface of the wing to suck air from the boundary layer into the interior of the wing, thereby reducing skin friction for better performance, as well as keeping the boundary layer "attached" over a wider variety of angle of attacks and thereby increasing lift during high-angle flight and doubling maximum lift as a result. Other interesting design features were the use of two engines driving a common pusher propeller, aluminum honeycomb panels, and fiberglass landing gear struts. After 50 hours of testing the aircraft was donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association.

The basic layout of the XBD-2 was also used in the BD-3 pusher design, but this did not progress beyond paper studies. An "executive version" was also designed as the BD-7, again without progressing past the early design stage.

After being forced from what became American Aviation, Bede tried his hand at a record breaking around-the-world flight in a specially modified Schweizer 2-32 powered glider he called the BD-2. He nicknamed the airplane "LOVE", a contraction of "Low Orbit, Very Efficient". The aircraft was modified to dramatically increase fuel tankage to 565 gallons (2,140 l), which included the addition of two large tanks in the fuselage, sealing the wings to turn them into tanks, and adding tankage on the wing-tips as well. It was completed in April 1966 (although other sources say 1968), and while he did not attempt its two-hop-around-the-world trip, Bede set several distance and endurance records, including a 70-hour endurance record in October 1969. This flight only ended after an electrical failure, just under 9,000 miles (14,500 km) being covered by that point.

Bede Aircraft

Bede remained convinced of the validity of the kit built market, and re-formed his company as Bede Aircraft. Here he started the design of an even simpler-to-build aircraft, the Bede BD-4.

The BD-4 used more conventional construction techniques, based on a simple high-wing design, and had few curved surfaces. Most of the fuselage was flat aluminum sheeting, the only major components with compound curves being the engine cowling and landing gear spats which were made of fiberglass. One real innovation was the "panel-rib" construction which reduced building time of the wing. Basically the wing was constructed in sections consisting of a rib whose upper edge was "extended" horizontally to become one section of the wing surface as well. The wing was built up by sliding these sections together over the circular spar and fastening them together where they met.

Like the BD-1, the BD-4 offered excellent performance; using the same 108 hp Lycoming O-235 as the AA-1 it could reach 130 knots. It could also be equipped with engines up to 220 hp, which was to top out at 190 knots (350 km/h) with a 170 kt (315 km/h) low-power cruise. The aircraft could be completed with either tricycle or tail-dragger configurations.

The BD-4 first appeared in 1968 and became a "hit". Thousands of plans were sold, hundreds were built, and many are still flying today. Early performance estimates were overstated; even with the large engines speeds were more typically 130-150 kt (240–280 km/h). The aircraft has proven to be very strong, and has an excellent safety record.

The BD-5

Even while the BD-4 was maturing, Bede turned to a more ambitious design, the BD-5 ''Micro''.

The Micro was an extremely small one-seat design that looked more like a jet fighter than prop plane, with the pilot sitting in a semi-reclined position under a large fighter-like plexiglas canopy. The fuselage was originally meant to be constructed primarily from fiberglass panels over an aluminum frame, housing a two-cylinder air-cooled 40 hp engine driving a pusher propeller. The aircraft featured retractable gear, split flaps, spoilers to slow down for landing, and a V-tail for decreased drag in cruise. Two versions were planned, the BD-5A with "short" wings tuned for high speeds, and the BD-5B with 4 ft (1.2 m) longer wings for longer range and powered glider use. Performance of the BD-5A was predicted to be 210 mph (340 km/h) in cruise.

Although Bede had apparently first looked at the design as early as 1967, work on the BD-4 meant he was not able put any serious effort into it until about 1970. Work on a prototype started in earnest late that year, and they published an information booklet about it in early 1971. Magazine articles appeared even at this early point, most notably a very well known article in Popular Science. On 24 February 1971 the first $200 deposit to reserve a "place in line" to receive a kit was accepted, with the target shipping date being 24 May 1972. By the end of the year, they had over 4,000 such orders, making it one of the most popular aircraft in modern history. The economics of mass production convinced the designer to switch to hydroformed all-metal aluminum components in place of the earlier fiberglass.

The prototype flew briefly on 12 September 1971, powered by a 36 hp Polaris Industries snowmobile engine. The stability of the aircraft with the original V-tail was marginal at best, and clearly needed a redesign. In early 1972 Bede hired Burt Rutan to head the flight test department, and he quickly introduced a number of improvements. Most notable was a new "conventional" tail design of somewhat larger size, and a slightly lengthened and "pointier" fuselage. Spoilers and split flaps also disappeared during this period.

A most serious problem was the continued failure of the engines. In order to meet weight limitations the design required an engine weighing in at under 100 lb (45 kg). This wouldn't have been too much of a problem given the original goal of using a 40 hp engine, but as the design matured it was realized that much more power would be needed, around 65 to 70 hp. This made the use of any "off-the-shelf" aircraft engine basically impossible. Instead Bede selected a two-stroke engine which offered much better power-to-weight ratios. The plane entered testing with the 440 cc Polaris design, but this was replaced with a similar one from Keikhaefer Aeromarine. This engine proved to be extremely unreliable, and was itself replaced by an engine from Hirth Motoren available in 40, 65 and 70 hp versions.

By this point the basic aircraft design was already long considered complete, and Bede offered the kit with the engine to follow. Many took the company up on the offer, allowing them, hopefully, to simply put the engine into a completed airframe. At that point, Hirth unexpectedly went bankrupt. Once again the design lacked a suitable engine, but this time the search for a replacement ended with a Xenoah design from Japan. Kits continued to ship, but the engine ran into lengthy delays and by the time 5,100 kits had been shipped the company was insolvent.

During this time Bede was also involved in a project to build an inexpensive BD-4-based aircraft for use in Africa, but this project petered out. He also worked on new aircraft designs, including the Bede BD-8, a single-place acrobatic aircraft. One example was being built when the company went bankrupt, and was purchased and completed by Mike Huffman who showed it during Oshkosh exhibit of 1980. Bede also worked on an ultralight aircraft design, the Bede BD-9 ''Super Demoiselle'', as well as an inflatable hang glider, the Bede Wing.

Although the company was effectively bankrupt at this point, work on the BD-5D continued for some time. The bankruptcy became official in 1979, by which point the BD-5 project was long dead. During the bankruptcy proceedings it was learned that the money ostensibly being used to build kits was instead being spent on a variety of projects, $9 million having disappeared in the process. As a result, Bede entered a consent decree with the FTC to no longer accept deposits on aircraft for a period of ten years.

BD-5J

While the new Xenoah engine was being tested, Bede decided to create an unconventional variant of the BD-5 with a small jet engine. The result was the BD-5J, a 300 mph (480 km/h) aircraft that looked fast while sitting on the ramp. The design used the Sermel TRS-18-046 turbojet (now Microturbo, a division of Turbomeca, in itself a division of Groupe Safran), which produced 225 lb of thrust. The original engines were produced under license by Ames Industrial in the US.

Bob Bishop had purchased 20 BD-5J kits as soon as they had appeared, and many of the flying examples started life in this batch of twenty. Many of these were completed over the years, and a number have been involved in crashes, usually due to lack of proper maintenance, insufficient training and knowledge of the systems and their operation, and in one case an incapacitating medical condition which led to a crash where investigators concluded the pilot must have died before the crash.

Versions from the original batch became a popular airshow fixture, and Bishop has gone on to log more than 1,500 hours in his jets, which he now operates for military customers as a cruise missile surrogate. Throughout the 1980s until 1991, Coors flew two of them as the "Silver Bullets." Budweiser also had a BD-5J called the Bud Light Jet, but that contract has long expired, the aircraft was lost after an incorrectly specified fuel flow sensor burst in mid-flight, causing a fire in the engine compartment (the pilot traded speed for altitude, bailed out and was unharmed; the aircraft was lost). The aircraft also appeared in the opening sequence of the James Bond film, ''Octopussy''.

The last BD-5J that remained on the airshow circuit, Scott Manning's Stinger Jet, crashed on June 16, 2006 at Ottawa/Carp Airport, Canada, while practicing for an air show, killing pilot Manning. The month of June 2006 was very bad for BD-5J's—an Acrojet Special BD-5J property of Aerial Productions, Inc. impacted trees the morning June 27 on final approach to the Ocean City Municipal Airport in Ocean City, Maryland, killing pilot Chuck Lischer, a highly experienced professional airshow pilot. The airplane was involved in radar testing as part of its services to the military as a certified cruise missile surrogate.

The BD-5J has also held the Guinness record for the World's Smallest Jet for more than 25 years. Bob Bishop originally garnered the record with one of his jets, and in November 2004 the record changed hands to Juan Jiménez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, whose BD-5J weighed in at 358.8 lbs (162.8 kg) empty weight, 80 lbs (36 kg) lighter than Bishop's jet. The primary difference that led to the decrease in weight is the use of an earlier Microturbo turbojet, the 022 Couguar, which weighs 68 lbs (31 kg), is simpler than the TRS-18 and does not require a high pressure fuel system with all of its associated hardware.

Bede Design

After Bede Aviation collapsed, Bede took on a number of engineering projects under Bede Design.

One of the first was a project with his cousin to produce a car. Simply called the Bede Car, the design used an 80 hp motorcycle engine driving a ducted fan for propulsion. Built primarily from fiberglass on aluminum, the car was to have weighed just under 1,000 lb (500 kg), less than half that of a normal four seater built of steel. The advantage to the design was a claimed 120 miles/gallon (2.0 L/100 km) fuel economy.

Bede Industries, his cousin's company, intended to introduce the car starting in 1982, but the prototype unit proved the concept infeasible. The engine had very low power at low speeds, so low that it could not even roll up an inclined driveway for parking without "gunning" it. There was some talk of adding electric motors for low speed operation and reversing, but it is not clear if these were fitted. The economy ratings also seemed hopelessly optimistic, based on fuel flow rates of the engine without the actual car. The fate of the prototype is unknown.

Another automobile project followed, this time a smaller motorcycle-like vehicle. The prototype was based on a production motorcycle, but "stretched" and surrounded with a fiberglass shell that looked somewhat like the BD-5. During its long gestation period it was known as the Autocycle or BD-200, and later as the LiteStar and Pulse. About 360 of these were produced and sold.

Bede Jet

Within weeks of the FTC Consent Decree expiring in 1989, Bede announced the design of a new two-seat high-speed jet, the Bede BD-10. The original idea appears to have come from a friend, Mike Van Wagenen. He formed a company specially for this project, Bede Jet at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, MO (just outside St. Louis).

Having learned from the BD-5 that using an untested engine was a bad idea, he selected the smallest ''production'' engine he could find in quantity, the General Electric J85, and wrapped an airframe around it. The resulting design bore some resemblance to the T-38 Talon/F-5 Freedom Fighter or the F/A-18 Hornet (by the tail arrangement), which were powered by two examples of the same engine. Performance estimates were fantastic: after brake release on the runway the 1,580 lb (715 kg) aircraft could climb to 10,000 feet (3050 m) in under 60 seconds, would cruise for 2,000 miles (3,200 km) at up to 45,000 ft (13,700 m) altitude in a 9 psi (465 mm Hg) pressurized cabin, and could reach supersonic speeds of up to Mach 1.4.

Bede's prototype was completed in 1992 and started testing, although it suffered from a number of minor teething problems. Over the design period the weight had ballooned from 1,600 lb (725 kg) to 2,800 lb (1,270 kg) and fuel tankage had to be cut, which dramatically reduced range from the original 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to a mere 400 to 500 (650 to 800 km). Speed was equally poor; even at full thrust the plane was barely able to reach the transonic, at Mach 0.83. It was sent to the Reno Air Races in 1994 to drum up sales, where it suffered from some wrinkling around the vertical stabilizers, indicated too much flex. A fix was designed, but by late in the year the project seems to have ground to a halt.

Van Wagenen had already planned to help kit buyers build the plane, and in December 1993 took over the civilian rights to the program, intending to sell completed versions (as opposed to kits) as the Fox 10. During testing of the first aircraft the vertical stabilizers broke off, killing Van Wagenen. Another example followed with a new owner at the controls, which suffered from a flap failure causing another deadly crash. All work at Fox, now known as Peregrine Flight International, ended. Meanwhile Bede had sold the military rights to Monitor Jet of Canada, but nothing ever came of this. Bede Jet declared bankruptcy in 1997. The only other completed aircraft disintegrated in flight in 2003.

Bede Aircraft, again

During the BD-10 project, Bede also started the design of updated BD-5's with two and four seats as the Bede BD-12 and Bede BD-14 respectively. They were designed under the reformed Bede Aircraft, also in Chesterfield.

Once again deposits were accepted and held in escrow in order to hold a "place in line" for kit delivery. The introductory price for orders placed before January 1995 was $18,900 with the smallest engine. Additionally Bede signed up dealers (reportedly at $250,000) who would help customers build their planes. A considerable amount of work was put into using the latest construction techniques in order to reduce construction time; the BD-12 consisted of only a few hundred parts in total. When built at one of the sites, it was claimed the plane could be completed and flown away in two weeks. Eventually something on the order of 250 small deposits were received.

By early 1995 the BD-12 prototype had still not flown, and work on the BD-14 had not even started. That summer the almost-complete BD-12 was shipped to Oshkosh, where it generated some buzz. By this time the prototype ended up being seriously tail heavy, and in order to move the center of gravity back to a reasonable position for a test flight, 170 lb (77 kg) of lead was added in the nose. The prototype finally flew in the fall of 1995, but was almost completely destroyed on its first flight due to marginal stability. The plane did not appear at the 1996 Oshkosh show, although it is still claimed the program is continuing.

Months later it became clear that Bede's company was once again in financial trouble. They were evicted from their hangar in Chesterfield, and moved to a new space in Alton, IL.

BedeCorp

Bede has once again re-formed a new design shop as BedeAmerica Aerosport. In 1998 he appeared at Oshkosh promoting a BD-16, a six-place version of the BD-4. However these plans apparently did not generate a lot of interest, and he has since moved on to the single-seat BD-17 ''Nugget'' and two-seat BD-18, both based on a layout similar to the original BD-1 but dramatically updated.

The BD-17 was first announced in 2000 and was even simpler than the BD-12, consisting of only 110 parts. It entered flight testing in 2003 and proved to have excellent flight qualities.

Notes

Bede re-used naming on several occasions which makes things somewhat confusing. The BD-2 name was used twice, on both the experimental boundary layer control design (XBD-2) as well as the later powered glider. BD-7 was also used twice, once for the earlier aircraft based on the XBD-2, and later for the two-seat BD-5.

References

External links

The Jim Bede Story – "Official" bio

Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:Aviation inventors Category:Cleveland State University alumni Category:Wichita State University alumni

es:Jim Bede