Look up rex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Rex is Latin for king and may also refer to:

People[link]

• Rex (given name), for people with the given name "Rex"
• Rex (surname), for people with the surname "Rex"

Places[link]

• Rex, Georgia, an unincorporated community in Clayton County, United States
• Rex, North Carolina, a census-designated place in Robeson County, United States
• Rex River, a river in the U.S. state of Washington
• Mount Rex, an isolated mountain in Antarctica

Literature and performing arts[link]

• Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex in Latin), a Greek tragedy (Oedipus Tyrannus) written by Sophocles
• Oedipus rex (opera), an opera by Igor Stravinsky
• Rex (musical), a stage musical, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Fictional characters[link]

Film[link]

• Rex Lewis, a character from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• Rex (Toy Story), a toy character from Disney/Pixar's Toy Story series
• Rex, the sheepdog from the 1995 Academy Award winning film Babe
• Rex, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, character in animated film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (film)

Animated television series[link]

• Rex Banner, a one-time character in The Simpsons appearing in the episode "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment"
• Rex Raptor, a character in the seriesYu-Gi-Oh!
• Rex, the titular character in the series Generator Rex
• Rex, the titular character in the claymation series Rex the Runt
• Rex, the clone trooper captain who served as General Anakin Skywalker's first-in-command in the series Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Live-action television series[link]

• Rex Balsom, a character on the soap opera One Life to Live
• Inspector Rex, an Austrian police dog in the series of the same name
• Rex (Primeval), a Coelurosauravus-like reptile in the series Primeval
• Rex Van de Kamp, a character in the series Desperate Housewives

Other fiction[link]

• Rex, a locomotive in The Railway Series books
• Rex (NX Files), a character in the action adventure web-show NX Files
• Metal Gear REX, a mecha from the video game, Metal Gear Solid
• Rex the Wonder Dog, a DC Comics superhero dog
• Rex Morgan, M.D., titular character of a comic strip of the same name

Biology[link]

Animals

• Cornish Rex, a breed of cat
• Devon Rex, a breed of cat
• Mini Rex, a breed of rabbit
• Standard Rex, a breed of rabbit
• Rex (dog), a dog once owned by Ronald Reagan
• Rex (horse), aka Rex the Wonder Horse, star of 15 Hollywood motion pictures
• Rex sole (Glyptocephalus zachirus), a flatfish species
• Nuralagus rex, extinct giant rabbit
• Tyrannosaurus rex, the iconic dinosaur species

Other species ending in "rex" include:

Latin binomial abbreviations for species

Transportation[link]

Land[link]

• Subaru Rex, a Japanese Kei car
• Subaru Impreza WRX, a car referred to as "Rex"

Sea[link]

• SS Rex, an Italian luxury ship, sunk by Allied bombers off the coast of Slovenia in 1944

Air[link]

• Regional Express Airlines (aka Rex), an Australian airline
• The IATA airport code for the General Lucio Blanco International Airport in Reynosa, Mexico

Energy and fuels[link]

• Rockies Express Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline built across the United States
• Rex Energy, an independent energy company

Music[link]

• Rex (band), an alternative rock band
• Rex (Live at the Fillmore), a 2008 album by Keller Williams, Keith Moseley and Jeff Austin
• Rex Records, the name of several record companies
• T. Rex (band), British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan.

Computing and technology[link]

• The REX prefix used by the x86-64 instruction encoding
• rex (language), a programming language used for teaching purposes at Harvey Mudd College
• REXX (originally named Rex), a computer programming language
• REX 5000, a series of personal digital assistants
• REX 6000, a series of personal digital assistants
• Rex (video game), a 1988 game for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC
• REX, an audio file format; see REX2
• REX OS, a real-time operating system developed by Qualcomm

Other[link]

• Rex (king), etymological cognate of Raja
• Rex parade, the de facto monarch of the Carnival Season in New Orleans
• Rex Architecture P.C., an architecture and design firm based in New York City.
• Rex 84, a plan by the United States to test their ability to detain large numbers of American citizens
• Rex (chair), a foldable chair
• The Rex Streak, a streak of 20 consecutive shows on The Jim Rome Show in which a person named "Rex" was interviewed
• Rex, the dinosaur mascot of the Calgary Dinos athletic teams at the University of Calgary
• Rexism, a fascist political movement and ideology in Belgium
• Rex, title of the kings of ancient Rome
• Rex, a title on coins of British kings
• the MP412 REX, a Russian handgun

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

John Lasseter
Lasseter at the Austin Film Festival on October 22, 2011. Photograph taken by Vanessa Lua.
Born	John Alan Lasseter (1957-01-12) January 12, 1957 (age 55) Hollywood, California
Occupation	Animator, film director, Chief Creative Officer, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Principal Creative Advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Nancy Lasseter (1979–present)

John Alan Lasseter (born January 12, 1957) is an American animator, film director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.^[1]

Lasseter's first job was with The Walt Disney Company, where he became an animator. Next, he joined Lucasfilm, where he worked on the then-groundbreaking use of CGI animation. After the Graphics Group of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar in 1986, Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer and he directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2. Lasseter is also the creator of Cars.

He has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film (for Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (for Toy Story).^[2]

Early years[link]

Lasseter was born in Hollywood, California. His mother, Jewell Mae (née Risley), was an art teacher at Bell Gardens High School, and his father, Paul Eual Lasseter, was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership.^[3][4][5] Lasseter grew up in Whittier, California. His mother's profession contributed to his growing preoccupation with animation. He often drew cartoons during church services at the Church of Christ his family attended. As a child, Lasseter would race home from school to watch Chuck Jones cartoons on television. While in high school, he read The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas. The book covered the history of Disney animation and the making of a book about Sleeping Beauty, which made Lasseter realize he wanted to do animation himself. When he saw Disney's 1963 film The Sword in the Stone, he finally made the decision that he should become an animator.^[6]

His education began at Pepperdine University. It was the alma mater of both his parents and his siblings. However, he heard of a new program at California Institute of the Arts and decided to leave Pepperdine to follow his dream of becoming an animator. His mother further encouraged him to take up a career in animation, and in 1975 he enrolled as the second student in a new animation course at the California Institute of the Arts. Lasseter was taught by three members of Disney's "Nine Old Men" team of veteran animators – Eric Larson, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston – his classmates included Brad Bird, John Musker, Henry Selick and Tim Burton.^[7] During his time there, he produced two animated shorts; Lady and the Lamp (1979) and Nitemare (1980), which both won the student Academy Award for Animation.^[8]

Disney (first time)[link]

On graduation, Lasseter joined The Walt Disney Company, and was promoted quickly up the ranks to a Jungle Cruise skipper at Disneyland in Anaheim.^[9] Lasseter later obtained a job as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation, but felt something was missing; after 101 Dalmatians, which in his opinion was the film where Disney had reached its highest plateau, the studio had lost momentum and was criticized for often repeating itself without adding any new ideas or innovations.^[10][11]

In 1980 or 1981, he coincidentally came across some video tapes from one of the then new computer-graphics conferences, who showed some of the very beginnings of computer animation, primarily floating spheres and such, which he experienced as a revelation.^[12] But it wasn't until shortly after, when he was invited by his friends Jerry Rees and Bill Kroyer, while working on Mickey's Christmas Carol, to come and see the first lightcycle sequences for an upcoming film entitled Tron, featuring (then) state-of-the-art computer generated imagery, that he really saw the huge potential of this new technology in animation. Up to that time, the studio had used a multiplane camera to add depth to its animation. Lasseter realized that computers could be used to make films with three dimensional backgrounds where traditionally animated characters could interact to add a new, visually stunning depth that had not been conceived before.

Later, he and Glen Keane talked about how great it would be to make an animated feature where the background was computer animated, and then showed Keane the book The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas Disch, which he thought would be a good candidate for the film. Keane agreed, but first they decided to do a short test film to see how it worked out, and chose Where the Wild Things Are, a decision based on the fact that Disney had considered producing a feature based on the works of Maurice Sendak. Satisfied with the result, Lasseter, Keane and Thomas L. Wilhite went on with the project, especially Lasseter who dedicated himself to it, while Keane eventually went on to work with The Great Mouse Detective.^[13]

Lasseter and his colleagues unknowingly stepped on some of their direct superiors' toes by circumventing them in their enthusiasm to get the project into motion. During a pitch meeting for the film to two of them, animation administrator Ed Hansen, and head of Disney studios, Ron W. Miller, the project was cancelled, due to lack of perceived cost benefits for the mix of traditional and computer animation.^[14] A few minutes after the meeting, Lasseter was summoned by Hansen to his office, where John was told that his employment in the Walt Disney Studios had been terminated. The Brave Little Toaster would later become a 2D animated feature film directed by one of John's friends, Jerry Rees, and some of the staff of Pixar would be involved in the film alongside Lasseter.

Lucasfilm/Pixar[link]

John Lasseter with George Lucas in 2009.

While putting together a crew for the planned feature, he had made some contacts in the computer industry, among them Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull at Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group. After being fired, Lasseter visited a computer graphics conference at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where he met and talked to Catmull again. Before the day was over, Lasseter had made a deal to work with Catmull and his colleagues on a project that resulted in their first computer animated short: The Adventures of André and Wally B. Because Catmull was not allowed to hire animators, he was given the title "Interface Designer";^[15] "Nobody knew what that was but they didn’t question it in budget meetings".^[16] The short turned out to be more revolutionary than Lasseter first had visualized before he joined Lucasfilm. His original idea had been to create only the backgrounds on computers, but in the final short everything was computer animated, including the characters. After this short CGI film, things would continue to grow until it became Toy Story, the first ever computer-animated feature film.

Due to George Lucas's financially crippling divorce, he was forced to sell off Lucasfilm Computer Graphics. It was acquired by Steve Jobs in 1986, and became Pixar. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer. He also personally directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2.

He has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film (Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (Toy Story).^[2] Lasseter has been nominated on four other occasions – in the category of Animated Feature, for both Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Cars (2006), in the Original Screenplay category for Toy Story (1995) and in the Animated Short category for Luxo, Jr. (1986), while the short Knick Knack (1989) was selected by Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time.^[17]

Lasseter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California on November 1, 2011.^[18]

Back at Disney[link]

Disney purchased Pixar in April 2006, and Lasseter was named chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was also named principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he helps design attractions for Disney's theme parks. He reports directly to Disney President and CEO Robert Iger, bypassing Disney's studio and theme park executives. He also received green-light power on films with Roy E. Disney's consent.

In December 2006, he announced that Disney will start producing animated shorts that will be released theatrically once more. Lasseter said he sees this medium as an excellent way to train and discover new talent in the company as well as a testing ground for new techniques and ideas. The shorts will be in 2D, CGI or a combination of both.^[19]

Lasseter is a close friend and admirer of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, and has been executive producer on several of Miyazaki's films for their release in the United States, also overseeing the dubbing of the films for their English language soundtrack. The gentle forest spirit Totoro from Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro makes an appearance as a plush toy in Toy Story 3.

Other work[link]

Lasseter drew the most widely known versions of the BSD Daemon, a cartoon mascot for the BSD Unix operating system.^[20]

He owns the "Marie E." steam locomotive, which is an H.K. Porter engine. The "Marie E." was once owned by Ollie Johnston, who was one of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men". In May 2007 and again in June 2010, the locomotive visited, and was run by Lasseter at the Pacific Coast Railroad in Santa Margarita, CA alongside the original Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad "Retlaw 1" coaches.^[21]

Personal life[link]

John Lasseter with his wife Nancy Lasseter at the 2006 Annie Awards red carpet at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California.

Lasseter lives in Glen Ellen, California with his wife Nancy, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, whom he met at a computer graphics conference. He has five sons, their ages ranging from 14 to 33. The family has a Dachshund named Frank and a cat named Moocher.^[22]

The Lasseters own Lasseter Family Winery, located in Glen Ellen, CA.^[23]

John is an avid NASCAR fan and loves to attend the races at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.^[7]

On May 2, 2009, Lasseter received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Pepperdine University.^[24] He gave a commencement address where he encouraged the graduating class of more than 500 students never to let anyone tarnish their dreams.

Filmography[link]

Feature films[link]

Short films[link]

See also[link]

• List of Pixar films
• List of Pixar shorts

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Lasseter

• John Lasseter at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Verrier and Dawn C. Chmielewski, Fabled Film Company May Get a Reanimator, Los Angeles Times, January 25, 2006
• Fortune Magazine interview with John Lasseter – includes biographic information
• KCRW's The Treatment: John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton (02/04)
• KCRW's The Treatment: John Lasseter (06/06)

Hayden Allen
Position	Point Guard Shooting Guard
Height	1.90 m
Weight	92 kg
Team	Auckland Pirates
Nationality	New Zealand
Born	(1979-11-10) 10 November 1979 (age 32) Dunedin, New Zealand
Debut	1998
Championships	2002, 2012

Hayden Allen (born 10 November 1979 in Dunedin) is a New Zealand professional basketball player for the Auckland Pirates of the New Zealand National Basketball League.

Hayden debuted as a teenager for Otago Nuggets in 1998 and has played every season over the past 14 years. He enjoyed his best season in 2001, when he averaged 20 points a game and was named to the All-Star Five, but so far, his only title came the following year with the Waikato Titans. This is his second season with the Auckland NBL franchise as he previously played for the Stars in 2009.^[1]

Hayden's dad Glen represented New Zealand in 1973 and although Hayden himself has come very close to pulling on the black singlet over his career, he has never quite earned a Tall Blacks selection.

Allen was schooled at Dunedin's Kings High School.

References[link]

External Links[link]

• ANBL Stats 2007-2008
• ANBL Stats 2004-2005

This biographical article relating to a New Zealand basketball figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Coordinates: 50°42′00″N 2°26′00″W / 50.7°N 2.433333°W / 50.7; -2.433333

Dorchester
Dorchester  Dorchester shown within Dorset
Population	20,101
OS grid reference	SY690906
District	West Dorset
Shire county	Dorset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DORCHESTER
Postcode district	DT1
Dialling code	01305
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	West Dorset
Website	http://www.dorchester-tc.gov.uk
List of places: UK • England • Dorset

Dorchester ( /ˈdɔrtʃɛstər/ DOR-ches-tər) is the county town of Dorset, England. A historic market town, Dorchester lies on the banks of the River Frome, in the Frome Valley, just south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway, that separates the area from Weymouth, 8 miles (13 km) south.

Dorchester is noted as being home and inspiration to the author Thomas Hardy, whose novels Tess of the d'Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge were both based on the town.

In the 2001 Census the official population of Dorchester was 16,171, although by 2010 this was estimated to have risen to 18,280.^[1]

History[link]

Prehistory and Romano-British[link]

Dorchester's roots stem back to prehistoric times. Settlements were first based around Maiden Castle, a large Iron Age hill fort that was one of the most powerful settlements in pre-Roman Britain, with varying tribes having existed there since 4000 BC. The Durotriges were likely to have been there at the arrival of the Romans in 43 AD.

The Romans defeated the local tribes by 70 AD. After possibly being converted from a garrison to a town, the Romans named the settlement Durnovaria. This was a Brythonic name meaning 'place with fist-sized pebbles' and appears to have taken part of its name from the local Durotriges tribe who inhabited the area. Durnovaria was first recorded in the 4th century Antonine Itinerary and became a market centre for the surrounding countryside, and an important road junction and staging post,^[2] and eventually one of the twin capitals of the Celtic Durotriges tribe.^[3]

The Romans walled the town and the remains can still be seen today. The walls were largely replaced with walks that form a square inside modern Dorchester. Known as 'The Walks' a small segment of the original Roman wall still exists today near the Top 'o Town roundabout.

Roman town house ruins in Dorchester

The town still has some Roman features, including part of the town walls and the foundations of a Roman town house, which are freely accessible near the County Hall. There are many Roman finds in the County Museum. The Romans built an 8-mile (13 km) aqueduct to supply the town with water, lengths of the terrace on which it was constructed still remain in parts. Near the town centre is Maumbury Rings, an ancient British henge earthwork converted by the Romans for use as an amphitheatre, and to the north west is Poundbury Hill, another pre-Roman fortification.

Little evidence exists to suggest continued occupation after the withdrawal of the Roman administration from Britain. Historians have suggested that the town became known as Caer Durnac, mistakenly recorded by Nennius as Caer Urnac.^[4][5] The area remained in British hands until the mid-7th century and there was certainly continuity of use of the Roman cemetery at nearby Poundbury. Dorchester has therefore been suggested as the centre of a sub-kingdom of Dumnonia or other regional power base.^[6]

Anglo-Saxon[link]

By 864, the area around Durnovaria/Caer Durnac was dominated by the newly established Saxons, who came to refer to themselves as Dorsaetas ('People of the Dor' - Durnovaria). In their own language, they referred to the town as Dornwaraceaster or Dornwaracester, combining the original name 'Dor/Dorn' from the Latin and Celtic languages with the word 'cester', which was an Anglo-Saxon word used for 'walled town'.^[7] The name would further change to Dorncester/Dornceaster until modern Dorchester emerged some time later. It continued as a thriving commercial and political centre for south Dorset with a textile trading and manufacturing industry continuing until the 17th century.^[8]

Early modern history[link]

"The town is populous, tho' not large, the streets broad, but the buildings old, and low; however, there is good company and a good deal of it; and a man that coveted a retreat in this world might as agreeably spend his time, and as well in Dorchester, as in any town I know in England". -- Daniel Defoe, in his A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-1726).^[9]

In 1613 and 1725 great fires destroyed large parts of the town, but some of the mediaeval buildings, including Judge Jeffreys' lodgings, and the Tudor almshouse survive in the town centre, amongst the replacement Georgian buildings, many of which are built in Portland limestone.

In the 17th century the town was at the centre of the Puritan emigration to America, and the local rector, John White, organised the settlement of Dorchester, Massachusetts. For his efforts on behalf of Puritan dissenters, White has been called the unheralded founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Some observers have attributed the oversight to the fact that White, unlike John Winthrop, never came to America.)^[10]

In 1642, just prior to the English Civil War, Hugh Green, a Catholic chaplain was executed here. After his execution, Puritans played football with his head.^[11] The town was heavily defended against the Royalists in the Civil War.

In 1685 the Duke of Monmouth failed in his invasion attempt, the Monmouth Rebellion, and almost 300 of his men were condemned to death or transportation in the "Bloody Assizes", held in the Oak Room of the Antelope Hotel, Dorchester and presided over by Judge Jeffreys.

Modern history[link]

In 1833, the Tolpuddle Martyrs formed the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. Trade unions were legal, but due to them swearing an oath of allegiance, they were arrested and tried in the Shire Hall in Dorchester. This building still remains and is preserved as it was at the time. Under the court are the cells where the prisoners were held while waiting for their court appearance. Dorchester Prison was constructed in the town during the 19th century and the prison is still in use today, holding convicted and remanded inmates from the local courts.

Dorchester remained a compact town within the boundaries of the old town walls until the latter part of the 19th century due to the ownership of all land immediately adjacent to the west, south and east by the Duchy of Cornwall. This land composed the Manor of Fordington, and a select few developments had encroached onto it:

• The Marabout Barracks, to the north of Bridport Road, in 1794
• The Dorchester Union Workhouse, to the north of Damer's Road, in 1835
• The Southampton and Dorchester Railway and its station east of Weymouth Avenue, in 1847
• The Great Western Railway and its station to the south of Damer's Road, in 1857
• The Waterworks, to the north of Bridport Road, in 1854
• A new cemetery, to the west of the new railway and east of Weymouth Avenue, in 1856
• The Dorset County Constabulary police station in 1860, west of the Southampton railway, east of Weymouth Avenue and north of Maumbury Rings.

A map of Dorchester in 1937

This remaining Duchy land was farmed under the open field system until 1874 when the land was enclosed - or consolidated - into three large farms by the landowners and residents.^[12] Soon afterwards followed a series of key developments for the town: the enclosing of Poundbury hillfort for public enjoyment in 1876, the 'Fair Field' (new site for the market, off Weymouth Avenue) in 1877, the Recreation Ground (also off Weymouth Avenue) opening in 1880, and the imposing Eldridge Pope Brewery of 1881, adjacent to the railway line to Southampton. Salisbury Field was retained for public use in 1892, with land being purchased in 1895 for the formal Borough Gardens, between West Walks and Cornwall Road.^[12] The clock and bandstand were added in 1898.^[13]

Meanwhile, land had begun to be developed for housing outside the walls. This included the Cornwall Estate, between the Borough Gardens and the Great Western Railway, from 1876 and the Prince of Wales Estate, centred on Prince of Wales Road, from 1880. Land for the Victoria Park Estate was bought in 1896 and building began in 1897, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. The lime trees in Queen's Avenue were planted in February 1897.^[12]

Recent developments[link]

Dorchester High West Street

Poundbury is the well-known western extension of the town, constructed on Duchy of Cornwall land (owned by Charles, Prince of Wales) according to urban village principles since 1993. Being developed over 25 years, it will eventually be composed of four phases with a total of 2,500 dwellings and a population of about 6,000. Since 2008, Poundbury is now home to Dorset Fire and Rescue Service headquarters and Dorchester fire station. Prince Charles designed the estate (as well as the local Tesco supermarket) and makes several visits throughout the year.

Dorchester became Dorset's first Official Transition Initiative in 2008 as part of the Transition Towns concept.^[14] Transition Town Dorchester is a Dorchester community response to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change.^[15]

The town's Woolworths shop closed in January 2009 after the high-street retail chain entered administration. The store manager, however, secured investment to re-open the store in March 2009, under the name Wellworths,^[16] although due to legal reasons it was later renamed Wellchester. In May 2009, a skatepark was opened in Dorchester after 12 years of planning and construction.^[17]

The catchment population for major food retail outlets in Dorchester is 38,500 (2001 estimate). The catchment area extends eight miles west, north and east of the town, and two miles south.^[1] Brewery Square is a new development in the heart of the town, and is planned to include a multitude of retail outlets, residential units, bars, restaurants and various cultural facilities, plus the regeneration of Dorchester South station to make it the UK's first solar powered rail station.^[18] The Charles Street development, being built on the site of the former Charles Street car park, is the newest project in Dorchester, and will include 23 new shops, a 485-space underground car park, an hotel, affordable housing, new public toilets, a public library and adult education centre provided and paid for by Dorset County Council, and offices and separate parking occupied and paid for by West Dorset District Council. The Charles Street development is predicted to create 660 new jobs (not including jobs within the council).^[19]

There is a new leisure centre being built on Coburg Road to replace the old Thomas Hardye School Leisure Centre, costing over £8 million, and will consist of a new swimming pool and sports equipment.^[20]

Government[link]

Dorchester is represented by three tiers of government. Dorchester town council, West Dorset District Council and Dorset County Council, all of whom are based within the town. The Member of Parliament for West Dorset is Oliver Letwin.

The town's coat of arms depicts the old castle that used to stand where the prison now does. The royal purple background signifies Dorchester's status as part of the private estates of the king since before Domesday. The shield within the castle depicts lions, copied from the shields of Dorset men who fought at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, and fleur-de-lys. The fleur-de-lys on the shield are scattered (or "semée") rather than the more traditional triangular arrangement. Doing so, shows that the town had the right to bear the arms of France before 1405, when they were altered by King Henry VI. Dorchester's seal is the only one in the UK to use the fleur-de-lys in this way. The inscription 'Sigillum Bailivorum Dorcestre' means 'The Seal of the Bailiffs of Dorchester'.

In 2011 Dorchester was one of more than 20 towns across the country to apply for city status to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee,^[21] although in March 2012 it was revealed that Dorchester's bid was unsuccessful.

Media[link]

Dorchester is served by two local radio stations: Wessex FM and BBC Radio Solent (BBC Dorset). The county hospital has its own station named 'Ridgeway Radio'. Local television news coverage is by South Today or Spotlight (BBC News). Dorchester's regular print media comprise Dorset Echo and a free weekly periodical.

Transport[link]

Dorchester South railway station

The town has two railway stations. Dorchester South railway station on the South Western Main Line to Bournemouth, Southampton and London is operated by South West Trains. Dorchester West railway station on the Heart of Wessex Line is operated by First Great Western and serves Yeovil, Bath and Bristol The building at Dorchester West railway station is the original building designed and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. As part of the regeneration project taking place at the Brewery Site in the town centre, Dorchester South railway station will become the first solar powered railway station in the UK.

A bypass road was completed in 1988 by construction company Mowlem to the south and west of the town, diverting through traffic using the A35 and A37 from the town.^[22]

Education[link]

Dorchester has one private school, several first schools, two middle schools and one upper school. The upper school, The Thomas Hardye School, can trace its origins back to 1569, when it was founded by a merchant of that name, not the writer Thomas Hardy as commonly believed. Nineteen schools in the Dorchester area form the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP).

Kingston Maurward College is a land-based studies college based on the outskirts of the town.

Culture[link]

Local author and poet Thomas Hardy based the fictional town of Casterbridge on Dorchester. Hardy's childhood home is to the east of the town, and his house in town, Max Gate, is owned by the National Trust and open to the public. William Barnes, the local dialect poet, was Rector of Winterborne Came, a small hamlet near Dorchester, for 24 years until his death in 1886,^[23] and ran a school in the town. Statues of both men stand in the town centre; Barnes is outside St Peter's Church and Hardy's beside the Top o' Town crossroads. Cecil Day Lewis is buried in Stinsford, one mile (1.6 km) from Dorchester. Hardy is buried in London, but his heart was removed and buried in Stinsford.

On the hills to the south west of the town, stands Hardy's Monument, a memorial to the other local Thomas Hardy, Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, who served with Lord Nelson, which overlooks the town with views of Weymouth, the Isle of Portland and Chesil Beach. Tom Roberts, Australian painter, was born in Dorchester in 1856.

Dorchester Arts, a regularly funded arts organisation based in a former school building runs a seasonal programme of music, dance and theatre events in the town as well as a range of participatory arts projects for socially excluded groups and the biannual Dorchester Festival. In 2011, Dorchester Arts became an Arts Council 'National Portfolio organisation' with enhanced funding until 2015.

Museums in Dorchester include the Roman Town House, The Dinosaur Museum, the Terracotta Warriors Museum, the Dorset Teddy Bear Museum, The Keep Military Museum, Dorset County Museum. and the Tutankhamun Exhibition. All of these museums took part in the "Museums at Night" event in May 2011 where museums across the UK opened after hours.^[24]

On 15 December 2004, Dorchester was granted Fairtrade Town status.^{[citation needed]}

Twinned towns[link]

Dorchester is twinned with three European towns:^[25]

• Bayeux in France since 1959, came about because the Dorset Regiment were the first soldiers to enter the town in 1944 as the Second World War came to an end
• Lübbecke in Germany since 1973, largely down to the special relationship between the Durnovaria Silver Band who met the Lübbecker Schutzenmusik Corps at an event in Bayeux when Bayeux was twinning with Lübbecke in 1968
• Holbæk in Denmark since 1992, resulted from a shared interest in community plays.^{[citation needed]}

Notable people[link]

• James Campbell (born 1988), cricketer
• Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), writer, was born near Dorchester and later lived at Max Gate in the town. Two of his novels were directly based on Dorchester.
• Paul Hillier (born 1949), classical singer and composer was born in Dorchester. He attended the Thomas Hardye School.

Sport[link]

Dorchester is represented by many sports teams, the most prominent of whom are Dorchester Town F.C., a football team currently playing in the Conference South.

Harry Redknapp and former England players Graham Roberts and Martin Chivers represented 'The Magpies' during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The club have historically been based along Weymouth Avenue in the south of the town. Having previously played at the old Avenue Ground since their inception, the club moved to a new purpose built 5,000 capacity Avenue Stadium in the early 1990s - designed and owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The site of the old Avenue ground is now a Tesco supermarket built at the same time as the Avenue stadium

Dorchester RFC are an amateur rugby union team who currently play in the Southern Counties South league.

Dorchester CC, are a cricket club, who play in the Dorset Premier League, being last crowned champions in 2009.

Aaron Cook, a taekwondo athlete who competed in the 2008 Olympic Games finishing in fifth place, was born in Dorchester.^[26]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bingham, A. (1987) Dorset : Ordnance Survey landranger guidebook , Norwich: Jarrold, ISBN 0-319-00187-3
• Chandler, J. H. (1990) Wessex images, Gloucester: Alan Sutton and Wiltshire County Council Library & Museum Service, ISBN 0-86299-739-9
• Draper, J. (1992) Dorchester : An illustrated history Wimborne: Dovecote Press, ISBN 1-874336-04-0
• Morris, J. and Draper, J. (1995) "The 'Enclosure' of Foridngton Fields and the Development of Dorchester, 1874–1903", Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society proceedings, v. 117, p. 5–14, ISSN 0070-7112
• Pitt-Rivers, M. (1966) Dorset, A Shell guide, New ed., London: Faber, ISBN 0-571-06714-X
• Taylor, C. (1970) Dorset, Making of the English landscape, London: Hodder & Stoughton, p. 197–201, ISBN 0-340-10962-9
• Waymark, J, (1997) "The Duchy of Cornwall and the Expansion of Dorchester, c. 1900–1997", Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society proceedings, v. 119, p. 19–32, ISSN 0070-7112

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dorchester, Dorset

• Census data
• Dorchester, Dorset at the Open Directory Project