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A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper.

British comics are usually comics anthologies which are typically aimed at children, and are published weekly, although some are also published on a fortnightly or monthly schedule. The top three longest-running comics in the world, The Dandy, The Beano and Comic Cuts are all British, although in modern times British comics have been largely superseded by American comic books and Japanese manga.

Overview[link]

The description comics derived from the names of popular titles such as Comic Cuts, and from the fact that in the beginning all the titles presented only comic (humorous) content.

British comics typically differ from the American comic book. Although historically they shared the same format size, based on a sheet of imperial paper folded in half, British comics have moved away from this size, with The Beano and The Dandy the last to adopt a standard magazine size in the late 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Until that point, the British comic was also usually printed on newsprint, with black or a dark red used as the dark colour and the four colour process used on the cover. The Beano and The Dandy both switched to an all-colour format in 1993.

Originally aimed at the semi-literate working class, the comic eventually came to be seen as childish, and hence was marketed towards children. In today's market in the UK, comics intended for teenagers or adults are considered^[who?] to be stretching the medium beyond its primary audience.

Historically, strips were of one or two pages in length, with a single issue of a comic containing upwards of a dozen separate strips, featuring different characters, although strips now last longer and tend to continue over a number of issues and period of time.

Whilst some comics contained only strips, other publications^[specify] have had a slightly different focus, providing readers with articles about, and photographs of, pop stars and television/film actors, plus more general articles about teenage life, whilst throwing in a few comic strips for good measure.

Since the 1930s, it has been traditional that the most popular comics have annuals, 150 or more pages bound in hardback, usually published just in time for Christmas, and summer special editions of 96 pages or more in softback.^{[citation needed]}

In British comics history, there are some extremely long-running publications such as The Beano and The Dandy published by D. C. Thomson & Co., a newspaper company based in Dundee, Scotland. The Dandy began in 1937 and The Beano in 1938. They are both still going today. The Boys' Own Paper lasted from 1879 to 1967.

The intellectual span of British comics over the years has stretched all the way from the cheerfully moronic obscenities of Viz (adult) to the political awareness of Crisis (adolescent to adult) and the sound educational values of Look and Learn (children's).^{[original research?]} There has also been a continuous tradition of black and white comics, published in a smaller page size format, many of them war titles like Air Ace inspiring youngsters with tales of the exploits of the army, navy and Royal Air Force mainly in the two world wars, also some romance titles and some westerns in this format.

On March 19, 2012, the British postal service, the Royal Mail, released a set of stamps depicting British comic-book characters and series.^[1] The collection featured The Beano, The Dandy, Eagle, The Topper, Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, Buster, Valiant, Twinkle and 2000 AD.

History[link]

19th century[link]

The Boy's Own Paper, front page,
11 April 1891.

In the 19th century, story papers (containing illustrated text stories), known as "penny dreadfuls" from their cover price, served as entertainment for British children. Full of close-printed text with few illustrations, they were essentially no different from a book, except that they were somewhat shorter and that typically the story was serialised over many weekly issues in order to maintain sales.

These serial stories could run to hundreds of instalments if they were popular. And to pad out a successful series, writers would insert quite extraneous material such as the geography of the country in which the action was occurring, so that the story would extend into more issues. Plagiarism was rife, with magazines pirating competitors' successes under a few cosmetic name changes. Apart from action and historical stories, there was also a fashion for horror and the supernatural, with epics like Varney the Vampire running for years. Horror, in particular, contributed to the epithet "penny dreadful". Stories featuring criminals such as 'Spring-Heeled Jack', pirates, highwaymen (especially Dick Turpin), and detectives (including Sexton Blake) dominated decades of the Victorian and early 20th-century weeklies.

Comic strips—stories told primarily in strip cartoon form, rather than as a written narrative with illustrations—emerged only slowly. Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884) is reputed to be the first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character, and the first British comic that would be recognised as such today. This strip cost one penny and was designed for adults. Ally, the recurring character, was a working class fellow who got up to various forms of mischief and often suffered for it.

In 1890 two more comic magazines debuted before the British public, Comic Cuts and Illustrated Chips, both published by Amalgamated Press. These magazines notoriously reprinted British and American material, previously published in newspapers and magazines, without permission. The success of these comics was such that Amalgamated's owner, Alfred Harmsworth, was able to launch The Daily Mirror and The Daily Mail newspapers on the profits.

20th century[link]

Over the next thirty years or so, comic publishers saw the juvenile market as the most profitable, and thus geared their publications accordingly, so that by 1914 most comics were aimed at eight to twelve year olds.

The period between the two wars is notable mainly for the publication of annuals by Amalgamated Press, and also the emergence of DC Thomson, launching both The Beano and The Dandy in the late 1930s, as previously noted. During the Second World War the Beano and Dandy thrived, due to the wartime paper shortage which forced many rival comics to close.^{[citation needed]} It is these two titles, more than any other, that have come to define a comic in the British public's mind. Their successful mix of irreverence and slapstick led to many similar titles, notably Buster, Topper and Beezer. However the originators of this format have outlasted all rivals, and are still published today.

In the early 1950s, "lurid American 'crime' and 'horror comics' reached Britain", prompting what in retrospect has been characterised as a moral panic.^[2] Copies of Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, which arrived as ballast in ships from the United States, were first only available in the "environs of the great ports of Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast and London", but by "using blocks made from imported American matrices", British versions of Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror were printed in London and Leicester and sold in "small back-street newsagents."^[2] The ensuing outcry was heard in Parliament, and at the urging of the Most Reverend Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Major Gwilym Lloyd George, the Home Secretary and Minister of Welsh Affairs, and the National Union of Teachers, Parliament passed the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955;^[3] it prohibited "any book, magazine or other like work which is of a kind likely to fall into the hands of children or young persons and consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures (with or without the addition of written matter), being stories portraying (a) the commission of crimes; or (b) acts of violence or cruelty; or (c) incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature; in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall."^[4] Although the act had a sunset clause, in 1969 the Act was made permanent,^[5] and continues to be in force today, represented, for example, in the Royal Mail prohibition against mailing horror comics and the matrices used to print them.^[6]

During the 1950s and 1960s the most popular comic magazine for older age-group boys was the Eagle published by Hulton Press. The Eagle was published in a more expensive format, and was a gravure-printed weekly. This format was one used originally by Mickey Mouse Weekly during the 1930s. The Eagle's success saw a number of comics launched in a similar format, TV Century 21, Look and Learn and TV Comic being notable examples. Comics published in this format were known in the trade as "slicks". At the end of the 1960s these comics moved away from gravure printing, preferring offset litho due to cost considerations arising from decreasing readership.

However, the boys adventure comic was still popular, and titles such as Valiant and Tiger published by IPC saw new adventure heroes become stars, including Roy of the Rovers who would eventually gain his own title. Odhams Press was a company which mainly printed new material that was adventure oriented, although it also reprinted American Marvel Comics material in its Power Comics titles including Smash! and Fantastic.

By 1970 the British comics market was in a long term decline, as comics lost popularity in the face of the rise of other popular pastimes for children. Initially the challenge was the rising popularity of television, a trend which the introduction of colour television to Britain during 1969 set in stone. In an effort to counter the trend, many publishers switched the focus of their comics towards television-related characters. The television shows of Gerry Anderson such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons had begun this in 1966 with the launch of tie-in comics such as TV21 and Lady Penelope that included only strips related to Anderson's TV shows. Polystyle Publications already published a TV-related comic for young children called TV Comic, and in 1971 moved into the older market with Countdown (later retitled TV Action). The teenage market saw Look-In magazine feature strips solely based on popular television programmes. Another strand of the reaction to television was the launch of comics focused entirely on football (soccer being as popular as television amongst boys), with titles such as Shoot and Scorcher and Score. Those comics which didn't address the issue of television began to close, merging with the few survivors.

In the 1970s very few boys' comics in the "slick" format were launched, although Countdown was one exception, launching in 1971 with content similar to TV 21 (which had closed by then) and TV Comic. Vulcan, a reprint title, was another, in 1976. Girls' titles which had launched in the "slick" format in the 1960s continued in that format into the 1970s; and others, such as Diana and Judy, changed to become slicks. They found themselves in the same market as teenage titles for girls such as Boyfriend and Blue Jeans, which had changed their content and were featuring mainly product-related articles and photo-strips.

In 1972, Marvel set up a publishing arm in the UK, Marvel UK, reprinting American superhero strips. These proved extremely popular, and a range of weekly titles were being published by 1975. So much so that in 1976 the company briefly published a minimal amount of new material; The Daredevils and Captain Britain were the two most notable. But the American reprint material proved to be more successful, and continued to appear into the 1980s, at which stage Marvel UK began diversifying into television-based material, initially with Dr Who Weekly, launched in 1979.

In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, the underground comics movement inspired two new comics in the UK: Oz and Nasty Tales were launched with the Underground premise of counter-culture rebellion. Oz notoriously featured the children's character Rupert the Bear performing sexual acts. Both magazines were tried at the Old Bailey under the Obscene Publications Act because of their content. The Oz defendants were convicted, although the conviction was overturned on appeal. The Nasty Tales defendants were cautioned. However, both these comics ceased publication soon after their trial, as much due to the social changes at the end of the counter-culture movement as any effect of the court cases. These were always adult magazines, not titles aimed at the mainstream children's market.

In the mid 1970s, comics became more action oriented. The first such title to be launched was Warlord in 1974. Published by DC Thomson, it proved to be a success, and led to its then rival, IPC Magazines Ltd, producing Battle Picture Weekly, a comic notably grimmer in style than its competitor. Battle's success led to IPC launching another, similarly styled title, Action, which became a success too, but also became controversial, due to its content. Complaints about its tone eventually led to questions being asked in the House of Commons. Although an extremely popular title, IPC decided nonetheless to change the content, which neutered the comic's appeal, whereupon the title quickly declined and merged with Battle.

Action's position as the most popular title was taken over by 2000 AD, launched in 1977 by IPC. Created as a comic for older boys and girls, it also held appeal for teenage and even adult readers. In the 1960s IPC began to source comic art from Spain, mainly for financial reasons. This trend was continued through to the launch of 2000AD. Carlos Ezquerra is the most notable Spanish artist to have worked in British comics, having worked on both Battle and 2000 AD, and is credited with the creation of the look of Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD titles have been published in a tabloid form known as a "programme", or "prog" for short.

The Star Wars magazine lasted into the late 1980s, although it changed its name in line with each movie release.^{[citation needed]} In 1982 The Eagle was relaunched, this time including photo-strips, but still with Dan Dare as the lead story. The comic moved him from the front page to the centre pages to allow a more magazine-style cover.

Dez Skinn launched Warrior, possibly the most notable comic of the period, as it contained both the Marvelman and V for Vendetta strips, by Alan Moore. Warrior was a British equivalent of Heavy Metal magazine. Marvelman was a Captain Marvel clone that Skinn acquired, although the legality of that acquisition has been questioned. In Moore's hands the strip became an "adult" style superhero, and was later reprinted, with the story continued, in an American full-colour comic, with the name changed from "Marvelman" to "Miracleman" to avoid any lawsuits that Marvel Comics may have considered.

Adult comics also witnessed a slight resurgence first^{[citation needed]} with psst!, an attempt to market a French style monthly bande dessinée, and then with Escape Magazine, published by Paul Gravett, former psst! promotions man. Escape is the other notable comic from this period, featuring early work from Eddie Campbell and Paul Grist, amongst others. Neither comic managed to survive in the vagaries of the comics market, Warrior beset by copyright issues and Escape by lack of publisher interest. During this period a number of smaller publishers were formed to provide inventive publications appealing to niche markets. Congress Press was one of these companies, providing titles such as Birthrite, Heaven & Hell and a graphic novel, Spookhouse.

Most of the surviving titles published by IPC, Fleetway and DC Thompson were merged into each other in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the popularity of comics waned further in response to a surge in the popularity of television (with the introduction in the UK of the domestic video cassette recorder, a ubiquitous feature of every home by the mid-1980s^{[citation needed]}) and of video games (due to the arrival of early home computers, particularly the Sinclair ZX-Spectrum and the Atari^{[citation needed]}). Although new titles were launched in this period, none seemed to find any sustainable audience. Notable comics from this period included Deadline, Toxic!, Crisis, and Revolver.

Deadline was conceived by Steve Dillon and Brett Ewins, and mixed original strips with reprints of U.S. strips, notably Love & Rockets, and articles and interviews on the British independent music scene of the time. Tank Girl was its most notable strip. Crisis was published by Fleetway Publications, a company formed from IPC's comics holdings. It was aimed at readers who had outgrown 2000 AD, and featured first works by Garth Ennis and Sean Phillips amongst others.

One publication of that period did, however, find an audience. Viz began life in 1979 as a fanzine style publication, before, in 1989, becoming the biggest selling magazine in the country. Based upon bad taste, crude language, crude sexual innuendo, and the parodying of strips from The Dandy (among them Black Bag – the Faithful Border Bin Liner, a parody of The Dandy's Black Bob series about a Border Collie), the popularity of Viz depended entirely upon a variant of Sixties counter-culture; and it promptly inspired similarly themed titles, including Smut, Spit!, Talking Turkey, Elephant Parts, Gas, Brain Damage, Poot!, UT and Zit, all of which failed to achieve Viz's longevity and folded. Whilst Viz no longer sells as well as it did at the height of its popularity, it is still one of the United Kingdom's top selling magazines.^{[citation needed]}

21st century[link]

Since the year 2000, the British market appears^{[citation needed]} to have arrested its long decline. However, there is no sign of any great growth in circulation for the few remaining titles, and certainly no sign of any new launches from mainstream publishers into the comics arena.^[7] An ever-increasing number of small press and fanzine titles are being produced, such as Solar Wind or FutureQuake, aided by the cheapness and increasingly professional appearance of desktop publishing programs. It is from this scene that the UK's new talents now tend to emerge (e.g. Al Ewing, Henry Flint or Simon Spurrier).

After they were purchased by Rebellion, both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine have seen rises in circulation^{[citation needed]} and the release of more adaptations and trade paperbacks, including complete reprint collections of the entire runs of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Nemesis the Warlock. Starting in 2006 the Megazine began a regular small press section^[8] which usually features an article on a title by Matthew Badham or David Baillie and a small press story.

There have also been changes in comics market with a growth in home-grown graphic novels and manga.^{[citation needed]}

While British companies and creators have helped create the market for collected volumes there have, with a few exceptions like Raymond Briggs, been very few British original graphic novels published.^[9] Briggs himself has said "On the Continent, graphic novels have been as accepted as films or books for many years, but England has had a snobby attitude towards them. They've always been seen as something just for children".^[10] However, thanks to the strong sales for Briggs' Ethel and Ernest, and Jimmy Corrigan winning The Guardian's best first novel award, publishers have started expanding into this area. Random House UK's imprint Jonathan Cape has tripled its graphic novel output and Random House has also established Tanoshimi to publish manga. Other publishers have also been increasing their output, which, as well as producing original works like Alice in Sunderland, have also been included adaptations of works of literature.^[9] There are a number of new publishers who are specifically targeting this area,^[11] including Insomnia Publications, Classical Comics^[12][13] and Self Made Hero, the latter having an imprint focused on manga adaptations of the works of Shakespeare.^[14]

This highlights another recent change, as there has been an increase in British original English-language manga. Self Made Hero's 'Manga Shakespeare' imprint draws on talent discovered in Tokyopop's UK/Irish version of Rising Stars of Manga, including members of the UK collective Sweatdrop Studios,^[15] who have also contributed to other British-based efforts like ILYA's Mammoth Book of Best New Manga and MangaQuake.

Released at the start of the 21st century was Toxic a comic which mixed comic strips alongside game reviews and other articles. This comic proved very successful and began in 2002 and is still running. It's influence can be felt on other comics as well most notably when The Dandy, Britain's longest running comic, became the Dandy Xtreme in August 2007 it borrowed many of the features prevalent in Toxic mixing articles alongside comic strips. However The Dandy eventually moved away with this Toxic strategy in October 2010 when the comic was revamped however the BeanoMAX (which also started in 2007 and is the Beano's version of the Dandy Xtreme, although it continued alongside The Beano instead of replacing it), is still running and also borrows some of Toxic's features.

The DFC launched at the end of May 2008 drawing together creators from the small press and manga, as well as well as figures from mainstream British comics and other fields,^[16] including author Philip Pullman.^[17] Unfortunately, it didn't make it to its first birthday, ending with issue 43. However a new comic The Phoenix began in January 2012 which is a successor to The DFC.^[18]

Reprint market[link]

The comics reading public in the UK were not always able to get reliable supplies of American comic books and yet have always enjoyed the different approach to comics writing from the other side of the Atlantic. So the lack of reliable supplies was supplemented by a variety of black and white reprints of Marvel's 1950s monster comics, Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and some other characters such as Sheena, Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom etc. Several reprint companies were involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter.

Thorpe & Porter published similar formatted titles under various names. They were also re-publishing Dell's Four Color series and Classics Illustrated in the UK. Their material also included some work never before published in the US. Thorpe & Porter published many black & white reprints of American comics in the 1950s. Thorpe & Porter/Stratos published a long-running Marvel series, Kid Colt Outlaw, which contained black-and-white reprints from both Atlas and DC. They also published Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid in a smaller black-and-white format, though these were usually the entire contents of various American issues reprinted.

Alan Class is another notable name in this market: his company Alan Class & Co. Ltd published b/w reprint anthologies of U.S. comics stories from the 1940s – 1960s from 1958. The company purchased L. Miller & Son's holdings in 1963, and continued to produce black & white reprints until 1989.^{[citation needed]}

When Captain Marvel ceased publication in the United States because of a lawsuit, the British reprint company, L. Miller & Son, copied the entire Captain Marvel idea in every detail, and began publishing their own knock-off under the names Marvelman and Young Marvelman, taking advantage of different copyright laws. These clone versions continued for a few years and, as seen above, were revived years later in Warrior. L. Miller also reprinted many other American series including the early 1950s Eerie and Black Magic in black and white format. These usually contain the American stories which relate to the cover but also contain other additional gems toward the back of the comic to fill-up the 64 pages.

An oddity^{[citation needed]} of the trans-atlantic comics trade is Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. This female version of Tarzan (with an element of H. Rider Haggard's "She who must be obeyed" – She... Na!) was licensed from Will Eisner's Eisner-Iger studio for a British and Australasian tabloid, Wags, in 1937. The success of this character led to the Wags artwork being repackaged for publication by Fiction House magazines in the United States, thus exporting the character back to her country of origin.

The reprint market really took off in the 1980s with Titan Books releasing collections of British material, as well as signing deals with DC Comics to release American comic books in the UK. Igor Goldkind was Titan's, and Forbidden Planet's, marketing consultant at the time and helped popularise the term "graphic novel" for the softcover trade paperbacks they were releasing, which generated a lot of attention from the mainstream press.^[19]

As well as Marvel UK reprints, Panini Comics reprint many of Marvel's titles. These include Ultimate Spider-Man (originally holding two issues of either Ultimate Spider-Man or Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, now existing as a double feature with Ultimate X-Men) and also produce a Collector's Edition line of comics, featuring a cardboard cover, three stories and a letters page on the inside back cover. Titles printed include many Marvel comics, including Astonishing Spider-Man, Essential X-Men and Mighty World of Marvel which reprints a variety of Marvel Comics. They also printed one DC comic, Batman Legends, reprinting various Batman adventures (e.g. two parts of a multi-title crossover and an issue of Batman: Year One), though currently this title is published by Titan Magazines

Since 2005, a small selection of American translations of the most popular Japanese comics have been reprinted in the UK by major publishers such as Random House, through their Tanoshimi imprint, and the Orion Publishing Group. Unfortunately both no longer publish Japanese comics in British versions, for Orion, the reprints they were handling have been switched to having the original American versions imported, however all Japanese comic publishings by Random House were abandoned in early 2009. Simultaneously, the very small press Fanfare has published a few UK-exclusive English-language editions of alternative Japanese manga and French bande dessinée, both sublicenced from the Spanish publisher Ponent Mon.

Thorpe & Porter and American comics[link]

In the 1950s and 1960s American comics typically arrived in the UK as ballast on ships. In 1959, Thorpe & Porter (widely known as 'T & P') became the sole UK distributor of Marvel comics. These were printed on Marvel's American printing presses, along with a special cover giving the British price instead of the price in cents, and shipped across the Atlantic. For years the standard UK price was 9d.^{[citation needed]} Inside the front cover, with the indicia, a sentence mentioned Thorpe & Porter as sole distributor in the UK market. Thus it was that brand new American-printed copies of Fantastic Four #1, Amazing Fantasy #15, The Amazing Spider-Man #1, and countless others, appeared in the UK.

Thorpe & Porter was purchased by the distribution arm of DC Comics, then known as IND., in 1964, going on to publish an official Superman/Batman reprint book, DC Special.

List of British comics[link]

There have been hundreds of comics in the UK over the years, including:

See also[link]

	United Kingdom portal
	Comics portal
	Children's literature portal

• List of British comic strips
• List of DC Thomson publications
• List of comic creators in the UK
• British small press comics
• The British Invasion of American comics, that took pace during the late eighties
• Comics Britannia, BBC Four documentary series on the history of British comics presented by Jonathan Ross
• Welsh comics

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Help for Researchers: British Comics Collection from the British Library
• Comics UK
• History of British Comics from britishcomics.com
• downthetubes.net (British Comics News, Interviews and other features)
• IndieReview (UK Indie Comics News and Reviews)
• BBC Cult presents: 2000AD and British Comics from BBC Online (last updated September 2005)

Gina Obedapo Yashere (born 6 April 1974) is a British comedian of Nigerian descent.^[1][2][3]

Early life[link]

Yashere was born in Bethnal Green, London, England. Her mother was an immigrant from Nigeria. Before becoming a comedian, she worked as a lift maintenance technician.

Career as performer[link]

Yashere was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1996.

She has appeared in many television programmes. She may be best known for appearing in the comedy series The Lenny Henry Show, where she played Tanya and Mrs. Omokorede, the pushy Mum. She voiced Keisha on Bromwell High. In 2005, she appeared in the reality television series, Comic Relief does Fame Academy, in aid of Comic Relief, and she co-hosted the 2006 and 2007 MOBO Awards alongside 2 face and Coolio. She has made numerous appearances on Mock the Week, and appears on the CBBC show Gina's Laughing Gear.

In 2007, Yashere was featured on the reality show Last Comic Standing, auditioning in Sydney, Australia. She was among the ten finalists, but on 1 August 2007, she and Dante were the first two finalists eliminated.

She was the first-ever British person to be on Def Comedy Jam, performing in 2008. On 3 September 2009, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and performed a stand-up comedy routine. On 24 December 2009, she appeared on Live at the Apollo. She appeared twice on the short-lived primetime show The Jay Leno Show: on 21 October 2009, a video of Yashere showed her giving free fortune-telling readings to passersby, and on 25 November 2009, she operated a walk-in psychic booth. Since 2010, she has appeared semi-regularly on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a sketch comedy series called "Madame Yashere: The Surly Psychic". In the sketches, she continues to give fake psychic readings to unsuspecting people on the street.

In 2010, she appeared as Flo in several episodes of the ITV drama Married Single Other.^[4][5] In April 2010 Gina's one-hour comedy special, Skinny B*tch, premiered on Showtime, a US cable channel.

She appeared on Watch TV show Scream If You Know the Answer in 2010 with contestant Emily Green from Portsmouth. She helped Emily win the show with prize fund of £2,000.

Personal life[link]

Yashere resides in Los Angeles. She has stated that she feels there are far more opportunities for black performers to succeed in the United States than Great Britain.^[6][7][8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Gina Yashere at the Internet Movie Database
• Gina Yashere at AllRovi
• Gina Yashere on Myspace
• Gina Yashere on Facebook
• Gina Yashere on Twitter
• Gina Yashere's channel on YouTube

Dalai Lama
Gendun Drup, 1st Dalai Lama
Reign	1391–1474
Tibetan	ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་
Wylie transliteration	taa la'i bla ma
Pronunciation	[taːlɛː lama]
THDL	Dalai Lama
Pinyin Chinese	Dálài Lǎmā
Royal House	Dalai Lama / Takla

The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Sino-Mongolian word далай (dalai) meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ bla-ma (with a silent "b") meaning "chief, high priest".^[1]

In religious terms, the Dalai Lama is believed by his devotees to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus who are considered to be manifestations of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara. Traditionally, the Dalai Lama is thought of as the latest reincarnation of a series of spiritual leaders who have chosen to be reborn in order to enlighten others. The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the leader of the Gelug School, but this position belongs officially to the Ganden Tripa, which is a temporary position appointed by the Dalai Lama who, in practice, exerts much influence. The line of Dalai Lamas began as a lineage of spiritual teachers; the 5th Dalai Lama assumed political authority over Tibet.

For certain periods between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lamas sometimes directed the Tibetan government, which administered portions of Tibet from Lhasa. The 14th Dalai Lama remained the head of state for the Central Tibetan Administration ("Tibetan government in exile") until his retirement on March 14, 2011. He has indicated that the institution of the Dalai Lama may be abolished in the future, and also that the next Dalai Lama may be found outside Tibet and may be female.^[2] The Chinese government was very quick to reject this and claimed that only it has the authority to select the next Dalai Lama.^[3]

[edit] The original use of the name Dalai Lama

In 1578 the Mongol ruler Altan Khan bestowed the title Dalai Lama on Sonam Gyatso. The title was later applied retrospectively to the two predecessors in his reincarnation line, Gendun Drup and Gendun Gyatso. Gendun Gyatso was also Sonam Gyatso's predecessor as abbot of Drepung monastery. However, the 14th Dalai Lama asserts that Altan Khan did not intend to bestow a title as such and that he intended only to translate the name "Sonam Gyatso" into Mongolian.

... many writers have mistranslated Dalai Lama as "Ocean of Wisdom". The full Mongolian title, "the wonderful Vajradhara, good splendid meritorious ocean", given by Altan Khan, is primarily a translation of the Tibetan words Sonam Gyatso (sonam is "merit").^[4]

The 14th Dalai Lama commented:

The very name of each Dalai Lama from the Second Dalai Lama onwards had the word Gyatso [in it], which means "ocean" in Tibetan. Even now I am Tenzin Gyatso, so the first name is changing but the second part [the word "ocean"] became like part of each Dalai Lama's name. All of the Dalai Lamas, since the Second, have this name. So I don't really agree that the Mongols actually conferred a title. It was just a translation.^[5]

Whatever the intention may have been originally, the Mongolian "Dalai", which does not have any meaning as a Tibetan term, came to be understood commonly as a title.

The name or title Dalai Lama in Mongolian may also have derived originally from the title taken by Temüjin or Genghis Khan when he was proclaimed emperor of a united Mongolia during 1206. Temüjin took the name Čingis Qāghan or "oceanic sovereign", the anglicized version of which is Genghis Khan.^[6]

Tibetans address the Dalai Lama as Gyalwa Rinpoche ("Precious Victor"), Kundun ("Presence"), Yishin Norbu ("Wish fulfilling Gem") and so on.^[7]

Sonam Gyatso was an abbot at the Drepung Monastery who was considered widely as one of the most eminent lamas of his time. Although Sonam Gyatso became the first lama to have the title "Dalai Lama" as described above, since he was the third member of his lineage, he became known as the "Third Dalai Lama". The previous two titles were conferred posthumously upon his supposed earlier incarnations.

Yonten Gyatso (1589–1616), the 4th Dalai Lama, and a non-Tibetan, was the grandson of Altan Khan.

The tulku tradition of the Dalai Lama has evolved into, and been inaugurated as, an institution:

The institution of the Dalai Lama has become, over the centuries, a central focus of Tibetan cultural identity; "a symbolic embodiment of the Tibetan national character." Today, the Dalai Lama and the office of the Dalai Lama have become focal points in their struggle towards independence and, more urgently, cultural survival. The Dalai Lama is regarded as the principal incarnation of Chenrezig (referred to as Avalokiteshvara in India), the bodhisattva of compassion and patron deity of Tibet. In that role, the Dalai Lama has chosen to use peace and compassion in his treatment of his own people and his oppressors. In this sense the Dalai Lama is the embodiment of an ideal of Tibetan values and a cornerstone of Tibetan identity and culture.^[8]

Verhaegen mentions the trans-polity influence that the Institution of the Dalai Lama has had historically in areas such as western China, Mongolia, Ladakh in addition to the other Himalayan Kingdoms:

The Dalai Lamas have also functioned as the principal spiritual guide to many Himalayan kingdoms bordering Tibet, as well as western China, Mongolia and Ladakh. The literary works of the Dalai Lamas have, over the centuries, inspired more than fifty million people in these regions. Those writings, reflecting the fusion of Buddhist philosophy embodied in Tibetan Buddhism, have become one of the world's great repositories of spiritual thought.^[9]

The current Dalai Lama is often called "His Holiness" (HH) by Westerners (by analogy with the Pope), although this does not translate to a Tibetan title.

Before the 20th century, European sources often referred to the Dalai Lama as the "Grand Lama". For example, in 1785 Benjamin Franklin Bache mocked George Washington by terming him the "Grand Lama of this Country".^[10] Some in the West believed the Dalai Lama to be worshipped by the Tibetans as the godhead.^[11]

History[link]

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Kublai Khan

Güshi Khan

During 1252, Kublai Khan granted an audience to Drogön Chögyal Phagpa and Karma Pakshi, the 2nd Karmapa. Karma Pakshi, however, sought the patronage of Möngke Khan. Before his death in 1283, Karma Pakshi wrote a will to protect the established interests of his sect by advising his disciples to locate a boy to inherit the black hat. His instruction was based on the premise that Buddhist ideology is eternal, and that Buddha would send emanations to complete the missions he had initiated. Karma Pakshi's disciples acted in accordance with the will and located the reincarnated boy of their master. The event was the beginning of the teacher reincarnation system for the Black-Hat Line of Tibetan Buddhism. During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle bestowed the title Great Treasure Prince of Dharma, the first of the three Princes of Dharma, upon the Black-Hat Karmapa. Various sects of Tibetan Buddhism responded to the teacher reincarnation system by creating similar lineages.

Unification of Tibet[link]

In the 1630s, Tibet became entangled in power struggles between the rising Manchu and various Mongol and Oirat factions. Ligden Khan of the Chakhar, retreating from the Manchu, set out to Tibet to destroy the Yellow Hat sect. He died on the way to Qinghai (Koko Nur) in 1634.^[12] His vassal Tsogt Taij continued the fight, even having his own son Arslan killed after Arslan changed sides. Tsogt Taij was defeated and killed by Güshi Khan of the Khoshud in 1637, who would in turn become the overlord of Tibet, and act as a "Protector of the Yellow Church."^[13] Güshi helped the Fifth Dalai Lama to establish himself as the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet and destroyed any potential rivals. The time of the Fifth Dalai Lama was, however, also a period of rich cultural development.^{[citation needed]}

The Fifth Dalai Lama's death was kept secret for fifteen years by the regent (Tibetan: སྡེ་སྲིད།, Wylie: sde-srid), Sanggye Gyatso. This was apparently done so that the Potala Palace could be finished, and to prevent Tibet's neighbours taking advantage of an interregnum in the succession of the Dalai Lamas.^[14]

Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama, was not enthroned until 1697. Tsangyang Gyatso enjoyed a lifestyle that included drinking, the company of women, and writing love songs.^[15] In 1705, Lobzang Khan of the Khoshud used the sixth Dalai Lama's escapades as excuse to take control of Tibet. The regent was murdered, and the Dalai Lama sent to Beijing. He died on the way, near Koko Nur, ostensibly from illness. Lobzang Khan appointed a new Dalai Lama who, however was not accepted by the Gelugpa school. Kelzang Gyatso was discovered near Koko Nur and became a rival candidate.

The Dzungars invaded Tibet in 1717, and deposed and killed Lobzang Khan's pretender to the position of Dalai Lama. This was widely approved. However, they soon began to loot the holy places of Lhasa, which brought a swift response from Emperor Kangxi in 1718; but his military expedition was annihilated by the Dzungars, not far from Lhasa.^[16][17]

A second, larger, expedition sent by Emperor Kangxi expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720 and the troops were hailed as liberators. They brought Kelzang Gyatso with them from Kumbum to Lhasa and he was installed as the seventh Dalai Lama in 1721.^[18]

After him [Jamphel Gyatso the VIIIth Dalai Lama (1758–1804)], the IXth and Xth Dalai Lamas died before attaining their majority: one of them is credibly stated to have been murdered and strong suspicion attaches to the other. The XIth and XIIth were each enthroned but died soon after being invested with power. For 113 years, therefore, supreme authority in Tibet was in the hands of a Lama Regent, except for about two years when a lay noble held office and for short periods of nominal rule by the XIth and XIIth Dalai Lamas.

It has sometimes been suggested that this state of affairs was brought about by the Ambans—the Imperial Residents in Tibet—because it would be easier to control the Tibet through a Regent than when a Dalai Lama, with his absolute power, was at the head of the government. That is not true. The regular ebb and flow of events followed its set course. The Imperial Residents in Tibet, after the first flush of zeal in 1750, grew less and less interested and efficient. Tibet was, to them, exile from the urbanity and culture of Peking; and so far from dominating the Regents, the Ambans allowed themselves to be dominated. It was the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans that led to five successive Dalai Lamas being subjected to continuous tutelage.^[19]

Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of the present 14th Dalai Lama, describes these unfortunate events as follows:

It is perhaps more than a coincidence that between the seventh and the thirteenth holders of that office, only one reached his majority. The eighth, Gyampal Gyatso, died when he was in his thirties, Lungtog Gyatso when he was eleven, Tsultrim Gyatso at eighteen, Khadrup Gyatso when he was eighteen also, and Krinla Gyatso at about the same age. The circumstances are such that it is very likely that some, if not all, were poisoned, either by loyal Tibetans for being Chinese-appointed impostors, or by the Chinese for not being properly manageable.^[20]

Throne awaiting Dalai Lama's return. Summer residence of 13th Dalai Lama, Nechung, Tibet.

Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, assumed ruling power from the monasteries, which previously had great influence on the Regent, during 1895. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909, to escape the British invasion of 1904, and from 1910–1912 to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. After his return from exile in India and Sikkim during January 1913, he assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the Maharaja and the British Political officer in Sikkim and the king of Nepal rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it.^[21]

Thubten Gyatso issued a Declaration of Independence for his kingdom in Central Tibet from China during the summer of 1912 and standardised a Tibetan flag, though no other sovereign state recognized the independence.^[22] He expelled the Ambans and all Chinese civilians in the country, and instituted many measures to modernise Tibet. These included provisions to curb excessive demands on peasants for provisions by the monasteries and tax evasion by the nobles, setting up an independent police force, the abolishment of the death penalty, extension of secular education, and the provision of electricity throughout the city of Lhasa in the 1920s.^[23] Thubten Gyatso died in 1933.

The 14th Dalai Lama was not formally enthroned until 17 November 1950, during the People's Republic of China invasion of the kingdom. In 1951, he and the Tibetan government formally accepted the Seventeen Point Agreement by which Tibet was formally incorporated into the People's Republic of China. Fearing for his life in the wake of a revolt in Tibet in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India where he has led a government in exile since.^[24][25] With the aim of launching guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the CIA funded the Dalai Lama $1.7 million a year in the 1960s.^[26] In 2001, he ceded his absolute power over the government to an elected parliament of selected Tibetan exiles. His original goal was full independence for Tibet, but by the late 1980s, he was seeking high-level autonomy instead.^[27] He is still seeking greater autonomy from China, although Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile has stated "If the middle path fails in the short term, we will be forced to opt for complete independence or selfdetermination as per the UN charter".^[28]

Residence[link]

Starting with the 5th Dalai Lama and until the 14th Dalai Lama's flight into exile during 1959, the Dalai Lamas spent winters at the Potala Palace and summers at the Norbulingka palace and park. Both are in Lhasa and approximately 3 km apart.

Following the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge in India. The then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, allowed in the Dalai Lama and his coterie of Tibetan government officials. The Dalai Lama has since lived in exile in Dharamshala, in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, where the Central Tibetan Administration is also established. Tibetan refugees have constructed and opened many schools and Buddhist temples in Dharamshala.^[29]

Searching for the reincarnation[link]

The search for the 14th Dalai Lama took the High Lamas to Taktser in Amdo

By the Himalayan tradition, phowa (Tibetan) is the discipline that transfers the mindstream to the intended body. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama and consultation with the Nechung Oracle, a search for the Lama's reincarnation, or yangsi (yang srid), is conducted. Traditionally it has been the responsibility of the High Lamas of the Gelugpa Tradition and the Tibetan government to find his reincarnation. The process can take around two or three years to identify the Dalai Lama, and for the 14th, Tenzin Gyatso it was four years before he was found. The search for the Dalai Lama has usually been limited historically to Tibet, although the third tulku was born in Mongolia. Tenzin Gyatso, though, has stated that he will not be reborn in the People's Republic of China.^[30] In his autobiography, Freedom In Exile, he states that if Tibet is not free, he will reincarnate elsewhere."

The High Lamas used several ways in which they can increase the chances of finding the reincarnation. High Lamas often visit the holy lake, called Lhamo La-tso, in central Tibet and watch for a sign from the lake itself. This may be either a vision or some indication of the direction in which to search and this was how Tenzin Gyatso was found. It is said that Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, promised Gendun Drup, the 1st Dalai Lama in one of his visions "that she would protect the reincarnation lineage of the Dalai Lamas." Ever since the time of Gendun Gyatso, the 2nd Dalai Lama, who formalised the system, the Regents and other monks have gone to the lake to seek guidance on choosing the next reincarnation through visions while meditating there.^[31]

The particular form of Palden Lhamo at Lhamo La-tso is Gyelmo Maksorma, "The Victorious One who Turns Back Enemies". The lake is sometimes referred to as "Pelden Lhamo Kalideva", which indicates that Palden Lhamo is an emanation of the goddess Kali, the shakti of the Hindu God Shiva.^[32]

Lhamo Latso ... [is] a brilliant azure jewel set in a ring of grey mountains. The elevation and the surrounding peaks combine to give it a highly changeable climate, and the continuous passage of cloud and wind creates a constantly moving pattern on the surface of the waters. On that surface visions appear to those who seek them in the right frame of mind.^[33]

It was here that during 1935, the Regent, Reting Rinpoche, received a clear vision of three Tibetan letters and of a monastery with a jade-green and gold roof, and a house with turquoise roof tiles, which led to the discovery of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.^[34][35][36]

High Lamas may also have a vision by a dream or if the Dalai Lama was cremated, they will often monitor the direction of the smoke as an indication of the direction of the rebirth.^[30]

Once the High Lamas have found the home and the boy they believe to be the reincarnation, the boy undergoes a series of tests to affirm the rebirth. They present a number of artifacts, only some of which belonged to the previous Dalai Lama, and if the boy chooses the items which belonged to the previous Dalai Lama, this is seen as a sign, in conjunction with all of the other indications, that the boy is the reincarnation.

If there is only one boy found, the High Lamas will invite Living Buddhas of the three great monasteries together with secular clergy and monk officials, to confirm their findings and will then report to the Central Government through the Minister of Tibet. Later a group consisting of the three major servants of Dalai Lama, eminent officials and troops will collect the boy and his family and travel to Lhasa, where the boy would be taken, usually to Drepung Monastery to study the Buddhist sutra in preparation for assuming the role of spiritual leader of Tibet.^[30]

However, if there are several possibilities of the reincarnation, in the past regents and eminent officials and monks at the Jokhang in Lhasa, and the Minister to Tibet would decide on the individual by putting the boys' names inside an urn and drawing one lot in public if it was too difficult to judge the reincarnation initially.^[37]

List of Dalai Lamas[link]

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

There have been 14 recognised reincarnations of the Dalai Lama:

	Name	Picture	Lifespan	Recognised	Enthronement	Tibetan/Wylie	Tibetan pinyin/Chinese	Alternative spellings
1	Gendun Drup		1391–1474	–	N/A[38]	དགེ་འདུན་འགྲུབ་ dge 'dun 'grub	Gêdün Chub 根敦朱巴	Gedun Drub Gedün Drup Gendun Drup
2	Gendun Gyatso		1475–1542	–	N/A[38]	དགེ་འདུན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ dge 'dun rgya mtsho	Gêdün Gyaco 根敦嘉措	Gedün Gyatso Gendün Gyatso
3	Sonam Gyatso		1543–1588	?	1578	བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bsod nams rgya mtsho	Soinam Gyaco 索南嘉措	Sönam Gyatso
4	Yonten Gyatso		1589–1617	?	1603	ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ yon tan rgya mtsho	Yoindain Gyaco 雲丹嘉措	Yontan Gyatso, Yönden Gyatso
5	Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso		1617–1682	1618	1622	བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ blo bzang rgya mtsho	Lobsang Gyaco 羅桑嘉措	Lobzang Gyatso Lopsang Gyatso
6	Tsangyang Gyatso		1683–1706	1688	1697	ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ tshang dbyangs rgya mtsho	Cangyang Gyaco 倉央嘉措	Tsañyang Gyatso
7	Kelzang Gyatso		1708–1757	?	1720	བསྐལ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bskal bzang rgya mtsho	Gaisang Gyaco 格桑嘉措	Kelsang Gyatso Kalsang Gyatso
8	Jamphel Gyatso		1758–1804	1760	1762	བྱམས་སྤེལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ byams spel rgya mtsho	Qambê Gyaco 強白嘉措	Jampel Gyatso Jampal Gyatso
9	Lungtok Gyatso		1805–1815	1807	1808	ལུང་རྟོགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ lung rtogs rgya mtsho	Lungdog Gyaco 隆朵嘉措	Lungtog Gyatso
10	Tsultrim Gyatso		1816–1837	1822	1822	ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ tshul khrim rgya mtsho	Cüchim Gyaco 楚臣嘉措	Tshültrim Gyatso
11	Khendrup Gyatso		1838–1856	1841	1842	མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ mkhas grub rgya mtsho	Kaichub Gyaco 凱珠嘉措	Kedrub Gyatso
12	Trinley Gyatso		1857–1875	1858	1860	འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ 'phrin las rgya mtsho	Chinlai Gyaco 成烈嘉措	Trinle Gyatso
13	Thubten Gyatso		1876–1933	1878	1879	ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ thub bstan rgya mtsho	Tubdain Gyaco 土登嘉措	Thubtan Gyatso Thupten Gyatso
14	Tenzin Gyatso		born 1935	1937	1950 (currently in exile)	བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho	Dainzin Gyaco 丹增嘉措	Tenzing Gyatso

There has also been one nonrecognised Dalai Lama, Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso, declared 28 June 1707, when he was 25 years old, by Lha-bzang Khan as the "true" 6th Dalai Lama – however, he was never accepted as such by the majority of the population.^[17][39][40]

Future of the position[link]

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso in 2007

The main teaching room of the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India

In the mid-1970s, Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, told a Polish newspaper that he thought he would be the last Dalai Lama. In a later interview published in the English language press he stated, "The Dalai Lama office was an institution created to benefit others. It is possible that it will soon have outlived its usefulness."^[41] These statements caused a furor amongst Tibetans in India. Many could not believe that such an option could even be considered. It was further felt that it was not the Dalai Lama's decision to reincarnate. Rather, they felt that since the Dalai Lama is a national institution it was up to the people of Tibet to decide whether the Dalai Lama should reincarnate.^[42]

The government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed the power to approve the naming of "high" reincarnations in Tibet, based on a precedent set by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor instituted a system of selecting the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama by a lottery that used a golden urn with names wrapped in clumps of barley. This method was used a few times for both positions during the 19th century, but eventually fell into disuse. In 1995, the Dalai Lama chose to proceed with the selection of the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama without the use of the Golden Urn, while the Chinese government insisted that it must be used. This has led to two rival Panchen Lamas: Gyaincain Norbu as chosen by the Chinese government's process, and Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as chosen by the Dalai Lama.

During September 2007 the Chinese government said all high monks must be approved by the government, which would include the selection of the 15th Dalai Lama after the death of Tenzin Gyatso. Since by tradition, the Panchen Lama must approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, that is another possible method of control.

In response to this scenario, Tashi Wangdi, the representative of the 14th Dalai Lama, replied that the Chinese government's selection would be meaningless. "You can't impose an Imam, an Archbishop, saints, any religion...you can't politically impose these things on people," said Wangdi. "It has to be a decision of the followers of that tradition. The Chinese can use their political power: force. Again, it's meaningless. Like their Panchen Lama. And they can't keep their Panchen Lama in Tibet. They tried to bring him to his monastery many times but people would not see him. How can you have a religious leader like that?"^[43]

The Dalai Lama said as early as 1969 that it was for the Tibetans to decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama "should continue or not".^[44] He has given reference to a possible vote occurring in the future for all Tibetan Buddhists to decide whether they wish to recognize his rebirth.^[45] In response to the possibility that the PRC may attempt to choose his successor, the Dalai Lama has said he will not be reborn in a country controlled by the People's Republic of China or any other country which is not free.^[30][46] According to Robert D. Kaplan, this could mean that "the next Dalai Lama might come from the Tibetan cultural belt that stretches across northern India, Nepal, and Bhutan, presumably making him even more pro-Indian and anti-Chinese".^[47]

See also[link]

Buddhism portal

• Engaged Spirituality
• Tibet Autonomous Region

Notes and references[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Dowman, Keith. (1988). The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London. ISBN 0-7102-1370-0 (pbk).
• Laird, Thomas (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama. Grove Press, New York. ISBN 978080218271.
• Richardson, Hugh E. (1984). Tibet and its History. Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Shambhala. Boston & London. ISBN 0-87773-376-7 (pbk)
• Murray Silver, "When Elvis Meets the Dalai Lama," (Bonaventure Books, Savannah, 2005).
• Norbu, Thubten Jigme and Turnbull, Colin M. (1968). Tibet: An account of the history, the religion and the people of Tibet. Reprint: Touchstone Books. New York. ISBN 0-671-20559-5.
• Schulemann, Guenther: Geschichte der Dalai-Lamas, Harrassowitz, Leipzig, 1958.
• Sheel, R. N. Rahul. "The Institution of the Dalai Lama." The Tibet Journal, Vol. XIV No. 3. Autumn 1989.
• Stein, R. A. (1972). Tibetan Civilization. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-8047-0901-7 (paper).
• Diki Tsering, edited & introduced by Khedroob Thondop. (2000). Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story. Virgin Publishing Company, London. ISBN 0-7535-0571-1.
• Verhaegen, Ardy (2002). The Dalai Lamas: The Institution and Its History. Emerging Perceptions in Buddhist Studies, no. 15. New Delhi, India: D. K. Printworld (P) Ltd. ISBN 81-246-0202-6.
• Yá Hánzhāng 牙含章: The Biographies of the Dalai Lamas (Dálài Lǎmá chuán 达赖喇嘛传; Beijing, Foreign Languages Press 1993); ISBN 7-119-01267-3.

Further reading[link]

• Dalai Lama. (1991) Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama. San Francisco, CA.
• Goodman, Michael H. (1986). The Last Dalai Lama. Shambhala Publications. Boston, MA.
• Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, NM. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dalai Lamas

• Official website
• Dalai Lama at the Open Directory Project

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Russell Brand
Russell Brand at the premiere for Arthur in 2011
Birth name	Russell Edward Brand[1]
Born	(1975-06-04) 4 June 1975 (age 37) Grays, Essex, England, UK
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	British
Years active	1994–present
Genres	Observational comedy
Influences	Richard Pryor,[2] Bill Hicks,[2] Peter Cook, Lenny Bruce, Tony Hancock, Jack Kerouac, Stewart Lee[3]
Spouse	Katy Perry (m. 2010–2012)
Website	russellbrand.tv

Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975)^[4] is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.

Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinian's. He became known to American audiences when he got a major role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall which led to a starring role in 2010's Get Him to the Greek. He has also been a voice actor for animated films such as 2010's Despicable Me and the 2011 film Hop. He starred in the 2011 remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore film Arthur.

Brand is noted for his eccentricity and his controversies in the British media, including his dismissal from MTV for dressing up as Osama bin Laden and controversies while presenting at various award ceremonies, as well as his former substance abuse. The 2008 prank telephone calls he made to Andrew Sachs while co-hosting The Russell Brand Show with Jonathan Ross led to his resignation from the BBC and major policy changes in that organisation. His prior drug use, alcoholism and promiscuity influenced his comedic material and public image. He married American pop singer Katy Perry in October 2010, and filed for divorce from her in December 2011; the divorce was finalised in 2012.

Early life[link]

Brand was born in Orsett Hospital, Grays, Essex, England, the only child of Barbara Elizabeth (née Nichols) and photographer Ronald Henry Brand.^[5] Brand's parents separated when he was six months old, and he was raised by his mother; he has described his childhood as isolated and lonely.^[6] When Brand was seven, he was sexually abused by a tutor.^[7] When Brand was eight, his mother contracted uterine cancer; a year later she contracted breast cancer.^[8] Brand stayed with relatives while his mother underwent treatment.^[8] When Brand was 14, he suffered from bulimia nervosa. He left home at age 16 because of differences with his mother's live-in partner.^[8] His mother had lymphoma during this time and he began using illegal drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, LSD and ecstasy.^[8][9] According to an interview on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday Brand had "a strange relationship with his father, whom he saw sporadically and who took him to visit prostitutes during a trip to the Far East".^[10] After Brand's parents divorced, his father remarried twice.^[11]

Brand attended Grays School Media Arts College, a comprehensive. He made his theatrical debut at the age of 15, playing the role of Fat Sam in a school production of Bugsy Malone, which prompted him to become an actor. He began working as an extra, and applied to study at the Italia Conti Academy. He was accepted, and Essex council funded his tuition for an introductory year, with potential funding for three additional years. Brand joined the Academy in 1991, but was expelled during his introductory year for his bad behaviour and use of drugs. Afterward, Brand had small acting roles in children's show Mud and police drama The Bill.

In 1995, Brand applied for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Centre London and was accepted to Drama Centre. He was expelled in the final term of his last year for smashing a glass over his head and then stabbing himself in the chest and arms after his hearing a criticism of his performance. After leaving Drama Centre, Brand decided to focus on comedy, and began writing material with Karl Theobald.

Career[link]

Stand-up[link]

Brand's first significant stand-up appearance was at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000. Although he finished fourth, his performance attracted the attention of an agent, Nigel Klarfeld of Gagged and Bound Comedy Ltd.^[12] That year, he also made his Edinburgh debut as one-third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych, alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comic Shappi Khorsandi.

Brand performs stand-up at the London Roundhouse, 25 January 2008

In 2004, he took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an honest account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006. Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the tabloid press's treatment of him since he became famous. The show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live.

Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007, Brand performed for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.

His second nationwide tour, in 2007, was called Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life.

Brand began performing in the US, and recorded a special for Comedy Central titled Russell Brand in New York, which aired in March 2009.^[13] Brand began touring the UK, America and Australia from January to April 2009 on a tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous.^[14] In October, a further four dates that were performed in November were added to raise money for Focus 12, the drug charity for which Brand is a patron.^[15] Russell Brand: Scandalous was released on DVD on 9 November 2009.

Presenting[link]

Brand's first presenting role came in 2000 as a video journalist on MTV. He presented Dancefloor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted the tea-time request show Select. However, Brand was fired after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks and bringing his drug dealer to the MTV studios.^[16]

After leaving MTV, Brand starred in RE:Brand, a British documentary and comedy television programme that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written, and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner on many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now-defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.

In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. The show gave celebrity guests and the public the chance to have their say on the goings-on inside the Big Brother house. For Big Brother 6, the show's name changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following Celebrity Big Brother 5, Brand said he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth. In a statement, Brand thanked all the producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp" to front the show. Of his time presenting the show, he said, "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an unprecedented joy".^[17]

Brand hosted a one-off special called Big Brother According to Russell Brand, in which Brand took a surreal, sideways look at Big Brother through the ages. On 8 January 2008, Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house,^[18] in the E4 show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. Brand next returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show 1 Leicester Square, which initially aired at 8 pm on Sundays before being shifted to a post-watershed time of 10 pm on Mondays, allowing for a more adult-oriented theme. Guests have included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh, and Boy George. A second series began in September 2006 on MTV UK. After Big Brother 7 finished, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues, on digital channel E4. The viewing figures for the first episode were seen as disappointing, being beaten by nearly all of E4's main multi-channel rivals despite a big publicity and promotional campaign for the show. The poor ratings prompted the network to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4.^[19] The first episode was broadcast on 24 November on Channel 4,^[20] and it ran for five weeks.

Brand presented the 2006 NME Awards. At the ceremony Bob Geldof, who was accepting an award from Brand, said at the podium, "Russell Brand – what a cunt", to which Brand replied, "Really it's no surprise [Geldof]'s such an expert on famine. He has after all been dining out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years".^[21] Brand hosted the 2007 BRIT Awards and presented Oasis with an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the event.^[22] He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On 7 July 2007, he presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.

Brand speaking with Courtney Love in Los Angeles, 2008

On 12 December 2007, BBC Four aired Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary presented by Brand and Matt Morgan about the writer Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road. Brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he discussed topics like childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show first aired on 22 October 2007, and continued for the next five nights. A second series began on 30 October 2008, drawing more than a million viewers, and was broadcast every Thursday night for four weeks, plus a Christmas special that aired in December.

Brand was later announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, which drew scepticism from the American media, as he was relatively unknown to the American public. Brand's stint as host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was not without controversy.^[23] At one point, he said the night "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era", referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]". He also said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney".^[24] Brand implored the audience to elect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and later called then–U.S. President George W. Bush "a retarded cowboy fella", who, in England, "wouldn't be trusted with scissors".^[24][25] He made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but apologised for the comments later in the show.^[26] These comments led to Brand receiving death threats by some offended viewers.^[27] Brand claimed that MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20% up from the previous year.^[28] Also in 2008 Brand hosted a one off stand up comedy show called Comedy Live Presents: Russell Brand and Friends shown on Channel 4 on 25 January 2008. Brand hosted the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on 13 September 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.^[29][30] The ratings for the 2009 show were the best since the 2004 VMAs.^[31] On February 12, 2011, Brand guest hosted an episode of the hit American sketch comedy Saturday Night Live.

Acting[link]

In 2002, Brand appeared on the TV shows Cruise of the Gods and White Teeth. In 2005, he played Tommy in the BBC sitcom Blessed, which was written and directed by Young Ones creator Ben Elton. Brand auditioned for the part of Super Hans in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show; the role eventually went to Matt King.^[32]