Coordinates: 54°13′57″N 1°20′35″W / 54.23256°N 1.34293°W / 54.23256; -1.34293

Thirsk
Thirsk  Thirsk shown within North Yorkshire
Population	4,703 [1]
OS grid reference	SE429820
- London	227 miles (365 km)
Civil parish	Thirsk
District	Hambleton
Shire county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	THIRSK
Postcode district	YO7
Dialling code	01845
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
EU Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament	Thirsk and Malton (formerly Vale of York)
Website	http://www.thirsk.org.uk/
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Thirsk is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The parish has a population of 4,703 according to the 2001 Census.^[1] Thirsk is a popular tourist destination, known for the Thirsk Racecourse, the North York Moors, and as the home of author James Herriot.

History[link]

The town is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1089 as Tresche, derived from the Viking (Old Norse) word þresk = "marsh". It is surrounded by a number of villages also having names of Danish origin, such as Thirlby, Boltby, Borrowby and Sowerby (the -by suffix (Danish in origin) meaning village or farmstead).

Thomas Lord, who founded Lord's Cricket Ground in London, was born in a house which now houses the Thirsk Museum. Another local attraction is the Kilburn White Horse, a chalk horse carved into the hillside about four miles (6 km) east of the town in 1857.

Thirsk's chief modern claim to fame is as the home of the veterinary surgeon and author James Herriot,^[2] although it was renamed "Darrowby" in the books. The veterinary practice at 23 Kirkgate, in which he was a partner along with Donald Sinclair (Siegfried Farnon in the books) now houses a museum dedicated to his life and works, The World of James Herriot.^[3]

Townscape[link]

The town lies in the Vale of Mowbray, 23 miles (37 km) north of York. Cod Beck runs through the centre of Thirsk - the area to the east of the river is called Old Thirsk.

Thirsk is built around a large medieval market square, which still hosts an open-air market each Monday and Saturday. Thirsk has a museum and the 15th century church of St Mary's. It is commonly said that Thirsk also has a hospital, cinema, town hall and swimming pool, but all four are actually located in the adjoining village of Sowerby.

The Ritz Cinema on Westgate, Sowerby is a small 200 seat (100 stalls, 100 balcony) cinema run by volunteers. It dates back to 1912 and is one of Britain's oldest operating cinemas.^[4] It shows in a period setting most of the current films and is run for residents and visitors to Thirsk and the local villages by a dedicated team of volunteers. In March 2012, the Ritz installed Digital projection equipment, purchased under a Digital Print Scheme through the Cinema Exhibitors Association CEA.

The racecourse at Thirsk is a leading venue for horseracing on the flat in the spring and summer months.

The market square adjacent to the clock tower was featured in the artwork to Pulps 1995 album "Different Class".

• Ritzfront.jpg

  Ritz Cinema

• 

  The Darrowby Inn, Thirsk

• 

  St Mary's Church

• 

  The veterinary surgery (office) of James Herriot, now the World of James Herriot museum, is a popular attraction

Transport[link]

The local travel links are located a mile from the town centre to Thirsk railway station and 20 miles (32 km) to Durham Tees Valley Airport. Local bus services to and from York, Ripon and Northallerton and nearby villages and long distance National Express Coaches call at the bus stop in the market place. Also, the main road running through the town is the A61, connecting Thirsk to Ripon. The A19 road now, after a bypass was built in the 1960s, passes Thirsk to the east; the former route of the A19 through the town is the A61 to the north to South Kilvington and the A170 to the south at the junction where the A19 joins the original route to the south.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thirsk

• Thirsk Town Council website
• Visit Thirsk website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

James Herriot was the pen name of James Alfred Wight, OBE, FRCVS, also known as Alf Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), a British veterinary surgeon and writer, who used his many years of experiences as a veterinarian to write a series of books of stories about animals and their owners. He is best known for these semi-autobiographical works, which are often referred to collectively as All Creatures Great and Small, a title used in some editions and in film and television adaptations.

Biography[link]

James Alfred Wight was born on 3 October 1916, in Sunderland, County Durham, England, to James (1890–1960) and Hannah Bell (1890–1980) Wight. Shortly after their wedding, the Wights moved from Brandling Street, Sunderland^[1] to Glasgow in Scotland, where James took work as both a ship plater and pianist for a local cinema, while Hannah was a singer, as well as a dressmaker.^[1] For Alf's birth, his mother returned to Sunderland, bringing him back to Glasgow when he was three weeks old. He attended Yoker Primary School and Hillhead High School. From his father he gained a passion for Sunderland Football Club and remained a lifelong fan. In 1992 he was named a Life President of the club.

In 1939, at the age of 23, he qualified as a veterinary surgeon with Glasgow Veterinary College. In January 1940, he took a brief job at a veterinary practice in Sunderland, but moved in July to work in a rural practice based in the town of Thirsk, Yorkshire, close to the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. On 5 November 1941, he married Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury. The couple had two children, James Alexander (Jim), born 1943, who also became a vet and was a partner in the practice, and Rosemary (Rosie), born 1947, who became a physician in general practice.

Wight served in the Royal Air Force in 1942. His wife moved to her parents' house during this time and, upon being discharged from the RAF as a Leading Aircraftman, Wight joined her. They lived there until 1946, at which point they moved back to 23 Kirkgate, staying until 1953.

Herriot’s former surgery at 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk is now the World of James Herriot tourist attraction.

Later, he moved with his wife to a house on Topcliffe Road, Thirsk, opposite the secondary school. The original practice is now a museum, "The World of James Herriot", while the Topcliffe Road house is in private ownership and not open to the public. He later moved with his family to the village of Thirlby, about four miles from Thirsk, where he resided until his death.

Wight intended for years to write a book, but with most of his time consumed by veterinary practice and family, his writing ambition went nowhere. Challenged by his wife, in 1966 (at the age of 50), he began writing. After several rejected stories on other subjects like football, he turned to what he knew best. In 1969 Wight wrote If Only They Could Talk, the first of the now-famous series based on his life working as a vet and his training in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Owing in part to professional etiquette, which at that time frowned on veterinary surgeons and other professionals from advertising their services, he took a pen name, choosing "James Herriot" after seeing the Scottish goalkeeper Jim Herriot play for Birmingham City F.C. in a televised game against Manchester United. If Only They Could Talk was published in the United Kingdom in 1970 by Michael Joseph Ltd, but sales were slow until Thomas McCormack, of St. Martin's Press in New York City, received a copy and arranged to have the first two books published as a single volume in the United States. The resulting book, titled All Creatures Great and Small, was a huge success, spawning numerous sequels, movies and a successful television adaptation.

Wight was found to have prostate cancer in 1991,^[1] and underwent treatment in the Lambert Memorial Hospital in Thirsk. He died on 23 February 1995, aged 78, at home in Thirlby.^[2]

On 29 July 2009, UK-based open-access rail operator Grand Central Railway, which operates train services from Wight's birthplace of Sunderland to London King's Cross (calling at Thirsk), named Class 180 DMU No. 180112 (British Rail Class 180) "James Herriot" in his honour. The ceremony was carried out jointly by Alf Wight's daughter Rosie and son Jim.^[3]

Author[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (April 2010)

In his books, Wight calls the town where Herriot lives and works, "Darrowby", which he based largely on the towns of Thirsk^[4] and Sowerby. He also renamed Donald Sinclair and his brother Brian Sinclair as Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, respectively, and used the name "Helen Alderson" for Joan Danbury.

Contrary to popular belief, Wight's books are only partially autobiographical, with many of the stories being only loosely based on real events or people. Wight's son, Jim, states that a lot of the stories, although set in the 1930s, 40s or 50s in the books, were actually inspired by cases that Wight attended in the 1960s and 70s.^[1]

From an historical standpoint, the stories help document a transitional period in the veterinary industry; agriculture was moving from the traditional use of beasts of burden (in Britain, primarily the draught horse) to reliance upon the mechanical tractor and medical science was just on the cusp of discovering the antibiotics and other drugs that eliminated many of the ancient remedies still in use. These and other sociological factors, like increased affluence, prompted a large-scale shift in veterinary practice over the course of the 20th century; at its start, virtually all of a vet's time was spent working with large animals: horses (motive power in both town and country), cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. By the year 2000, the majority of vets practised mostly on dogs, cats, and other companion animals belonging to a population having a larger disposable income, people who could afford, and had the leisure time, to keep animals merely for pleasure. Wight (as Herriot) occasionally steps out of his narrative to comment, with the benefit of hindsight, on the primitive state of veterinary medicine at the time of the story he is relating; for example, he describes his first hysterectomy on a cat and his first (almost disastrous) Caesarean section on a cow.

The Herriot books are described often as "animal stories", (Wight himself was known to refer to them as his "little cat-and-dog stories".^[5]) and given that they are about the life of a country veterinarian, animals certainly play a significant role in most of the stories. Yet animals play a lesser, sometimes even a negligible, role in many of Wight's tales: the overall theme of his stories is Yorkshire country life, with its people and their animals as primary elements, which provide their distinct character. Furthermore, it is Wight's shrewd observations of persons, animals, and their close inter-relationship, which give his writing much of its flavour. Wight was just as interested in their owners as he was in his patients and his writing is, at root, an amiable but keen comment on the human condition. The Yorkshire animals provide the elements of pain and drama; the role of their owners is to feel and express joy, sadness, and, sometimes, triumph. The animal characters also prevent Wight's stories from becoming twee or melodramatic; animals, unlike some humans, do not pretend to be ailing, nor have they imaginary complaints and needless fears. Their ill-health is real, not the result of flaws in their character, which they avoid mending. In an age of social uncertainties, when there seem to be no remedies for anything, Wight's stories of resolute grappling with mysterious bacterial foes or severe injuries have an almost heroic quality, giving the reader a sense of assurance, even hope. Best of all, James Herriot has an abundant humour about himself and his difficulties. He never feels superior to any living thing and is ever eager to learn — about animal doctoring and about his fellow human creature.

Part of the BBC TV set for All Creatures Great and Small on permanent display at the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

The books have been adapted for film and television, including a 1975 film titled All Creatures Great and Small and a long-running BBC television programme of the same title.

At the time of his death, the Reader's Digest Condensed Book volume containing All Creatures Great And Small (Volume 96, 1973 #5) was the most popular book in that series' history.^[5] His last book, Every Living Thing, immediately went into the top 10 bestseller list in Britain, and had an 865,000 copy first edition printing in the United States.^[5]

Herriot's fame has generated a thriving tourist economy in Thirsk. Local businesses include the "World of James Herriot" museum (located at 23 Kirkgate, the original practice surgery) and a pub called the "Darrowby Inn". Many of the original contents of his surgery can be found at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming in Murton, York. Parts of the BBC TV series set, including the living room and the dispensary (see picture, right), are on display at the James Herriot museum in Thirsk, which is also open to the public.

In July 2010 it was announced that Koco Drama,^{[6][not in citation given]}, a subsidiary of Shed Media, would be producing a three-part drama called Young James Herriot for the BBC, inspired by the true story of James Herriot/James Wight and how he learnt his trade in Scotland. This series will draw on archives and exclusive access to the diaries and case notes he kept during his student days in Glasgow, as well as the biography written by his son.^[7] The book to accompany the BBC series, Young Herriot, was written by the historian and author John Lewis-Stempel. The first episode was shown on BBC1 on 18 December 2011.

In September 2010, the Gala Theatre in Durham presented the world premiere professional stage adaptation of All Creatures Great & Small.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography[link]

Books for adults[link]

• If Only They Could Talk (1970) ISBN 0-330-23783-7
• It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1972) ISBN 0-330-23782-9
• All Creatures Great and Small (1972)
• Let Sleeping Vets Lie (1973) ISBN 978-0-7181-1115-1
• Vet in Harness (1974) ISBN 0-330-24663-1
• All Things Bright and Beautiful (1974)
• Vets Might Fly (1976) ISBN 0-330-25221-6
• Vet in a Spin (1977) ISBN 0-330-25532-0
• All Things Wise and Wonderful (1977)
• James Herriot's Yorkshire (1979) ISBN 0-7181-1753-0
• The Lord God Made Them All (1981) ISBN 0-7181-2026-4
• Every Living Thing (1992) ISBN 0-7181-3637-3
• James Herriot's Cat Stories (1994) ISBN 0-7181-3852-X
• James Herriot's Favourite Dog Stories (1995) ISBN 0-7181-4062-1

Omnibus editions[link]

In the United States, Herriot's novels were considered too short to publish independently, and so several pairs of novels were collected into omnibus volumes. The title All Creatures Great and Small was taken from the second line of the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful, and inspired by a punning suggestion from Herriot's daughter, who thought the book should be called Ill Creatures Great and Small.

• All Creatures Great and Small (1972) (incorporating If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet) ISBN 0-330-25049-3
• All Things Bright and Beautiful (1974) (incorporating Let Sleeping Vets Lie and Vet in Harness) ISBN 0-330-25580-0
• All Things Wise and Wonderful (1977) (incorporating Vets Might Fly and Vet in a Spin) ISBN 0-7181-1685-2

Dog Stories: fly leaf lists publishing dates of 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1986.

Books for children[link]

• Blossom Comes Home (1969) ISBN 0-7181-3060-X
• Moses the Kitten (1984) ISBN 0-312-54905-9
• Only One Woof (1985) ISBN 0-312-09129-X
• The Christmas Day Kitten (1986) ISBN 0-312-13407-X
• Bonny's Big Day (1987) ISBN 0-312-01000-1
• The Market Square Dog (1989) ISBN 0-312-03397-4
• Oscar, Cat-About-Town (1990) ISBN 0-312-05137-9
• Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb (1991) ISBN 0-312-06404-7
• James Herriot's Treasury for Children (1992) ISBN 0-312-08512-5

Biographies[link]

• Lord, Graham. James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet (1997) ISBN 0-7472-1975-3
• Wight, Jim. The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography (1999) ISBN 0-7181-4290-X
• Lewis-Stempel, John. "Young Herriot: The Early Life and Times of James Herriot" (2011) ISBN 1-84990-271-2

See also[link]

• All Creatures Great and Small (film)
• All Creatures Great and Small (TV series)
• Young James Herriot (TV series)
• Donald Sinclair
• Brian Sinclair

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: James Herriot

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Herriot

• Official James Herriot Website (worldofjamesherriot.org)
• James Alfred Wight OBE (thirsk.org.uk)
• Information on days out in Herriot Country and where to stay
• James Herriot at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

Matthew Jonathan "Matt" Darey (born 29 November 1968, Leicester, England)^[1] has been a trance music producer since 1994 and is also a member of Lost Tribe. He is perhaps best known for his work in the Euphoria trance series and for 'Gamemaster' (as Lost Tribe) and his remixes of Agnelli & Nelson's "El Niño". In 2005, his first major U.S. albums, an EP, Point Zero (featuring the Li Kwan song of the same name), and a double album, Upfront Trance, were released.^[2] His works have sold a total of over two million copies.^{[citation needed]} Marcella Woods, is often a guest vocalist on his recordings.

Career[link]

Darey frequently performs his trance sets at UK clubs such as Gatecrasher and Slinky, and over the internet through a monthly show on Digitally Imported's European Trance station. On 13 August 2005, he debuted a new show on Digitally Imported called Nocturnal, which became a weekly show in April 2006.^[3][4]

The Nocturnal Podcast was nominated for the best podcast at Winter Music Conference in Miami in 2008. Darey was nominated in 2009 for Best Radio Mix Show DJ, at the International Dance Music Awards.

His single "Beautiful Day", featuring Antoine & Marcia Juell, became a club hit in the US, reaching the Top 25 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music Club Play and hitting the Top 20 on the Hot Dance Airplay chart.

Darey owns a record label, Darey Products, featuring releases from himself and upcoming artists.^[5]

Darey wrote and produced the raga house track by Orgasmatron entitled "Rock The Disco", which was released on Universal Records in 1997.

Discography[link]

This section may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (March 2011) Click [show] on right for more details. No reason has been cited for the Wikify tag on this article.You can insert a reason using the |reason= parameter, like this: {{Wikify|reason=Your reason here}} Please replace HTML markup with wiki markup where appropriate. Add wikilinks. Where appropriate, make links to other articles by putting "[[" and "]]" on either side of relevant words (see WP:LINK for more information) and check that your links work as expected. Please do not link terms that most readers are familiar with, such as common occupations, well-known geographical terms, and everyday items. Format the lead. Create or improve the lead paragraph. Arrange section headers as described at Wikipedia:Guide to layout. Add an infobox if it is appropriate for the article. Clean up / format the references and footnotes, using citation templates when appropriate. Remove this tag.

Albums and EPs[link]

These are the albums that Matt Darey has released under his own name, as opposed to the albums by 'various artists' that he has mixed.

• Voice of an Angel EP (2004, Incentive Records)

1. Voice of an Angel (Michael Woods vs. Matt Darey Remix)
2. Electro Buzz
3. Nocturnal Delight

• Point Zero EP (2005, Water Music Records)

1. Li Kwan – Point Zero (Matt Darey Mix)
2. Liberation 2004 (Darey vs. Woods Mix) (Listed as track 4)
3. Lost Tribe – Possessed (Matt Darey Mix) (Listed as track 5)
4. Lost Tribe – Gamemaster (Michael Woods Mix) (Listed as track 2)
5. Marcella Woods – Beautiful (Original Mix) (Listed as track 3)
6. Nocturnal Delight (Sandler Mix)

This EP also includes videos for "Beautiful" and "U Shine On".

• Decade (2004; also released a 200-copy limited-edition version)

1. Li Kwan – Point Zero (2004 remake)
2. Moody
3. Nocturnal Delight (Sandler Remix)
4. Lost Tribe – Gamemaster (Michael Woods Mix)
5. Electro Buzz
6. Lost Tribe – Possessed (Matt Darey Vocoder Mix)
7. Nocturnal Delight (Matt Darey Mix)
8. Adam White – Ballerina (Duberina Mix)
9. DSP – Intoxicate
10. DSP – From Russia With Love (Solar Stone Mix)
11. Matt Darey & Marcella Woods – Beautiful (Matt Darey Original Mix)
12. Matt Darey & Marcella Woods – Liberation (Ferry Corsten Mix)
13. Matt Darey & Marcella Woods – Voice of an Angel
14. Matt Darey & Marcella Woods – Liberation (2004 Chilled Mix)

• Urban Astronauts – EP1 (31 March 2008; Koch Records) The debut EP from Matt Darey's new rocktronica project Urban Astronauts is to be released featuring 3 singles:

1. This Way
2. No Submission
3. Animal

• Matt Darey pres. Urban Astronauts feat. Kate Louise Smith - See The Sun (Remixes) (9 November 2009; Nocturnal Global) The first release on Matt Darey's new label called Nocturnal Global, which is an extension of his Nocturnal radio show:

1. See The Sun (Aurosonic Remix)
2. See The Sun (Schodt Remix)
3. See The Sun (Moonbeam Remix)

Singles[link]

Note: Most of these are currently out of print.

• Li Kwan – "Point Zero" (1994)
• Space Baby - "Free Your Mind" (1995) #55 UK^[6]
• Lost Tribe – The Distant Voices EP (1997 – Hooj Choons)
• Lost Tribe – "Gamemaster" (1999 – Hooj Choons) #24 UK^[7]
• "Liberation" (1999) #19 UK^[8]
  • This is the first track that Darey released under his own name. This version of "Liberation (Fly Like an Angel)" included two mixes by Ferry Corsten, one by Darey, and the original mix. Darey has since made new mixes of the song almost annually, and he includes the year of the remix in the title.
• M3 - "Bailamos" (1999) #40 UK^[9]
• Melt featuring Little Ms Marcie - "Hard House Music" (2000) #59 UK^[10]
• Sunburst - "Eyeball (Eyeball Paul's Theme)" (2000) #48 UK^[11]
• Matt Darey presents DSP – "From Russia with Love" (2000 – Liquid Asset) #40 UK^[8]
• MDM - "Mash It Up" #66 UK^[12]
• "Liberation (Fly Like An Angel)" (2001)
• "Beautiful" (2002, with Marcella Woods) #10 UK^[8]
• "U Shine On" / "Moody" (2002, with Marcella Woods – Incentive Records) #34 UK^[8]
• Lost Tribe – "Gamemaster" (2003 remake of the 1999 single – Liquid Asset) #61 UK^[7]
• Lost Tribe – "Possessed" (2004 – Darey Products)
• "Electro Buzz" (2003 – Incentive Records)
• "Voice of An Angel" (2003 – Incentive Records)
• "Nocturnal Delight" (2004 – Incentive Records)
• "Liberation 2005" (2005; 2 CDs with 13 remixes of the song – Darey Products)
• Headstrong & Tiff Lacey – "Close Your Eyes" (2005 – Darey Products)
• "Eternity" (2005 – Darey Products)
• "Beautiful Day" (2007, (featuring Antoine and Marcia Juell)
• "Sum of All Fears" (2007, featuring Tiff Lacey – Darey Products
• "Animal" (2008, with Urban Astronauts)
• "Hold Your Breath" featuring Leah - Armada Music (2012)
• "I Will Follow You" with Stan Kolev featuring Aelyn - Armada Music (2012)

Remixes[link]

Matt Darey is a prolific remixer using a number of aliases. His mixes have featured on many chart releases including, but not limited to:

• Agnelli & Nelson - "El Niño"
• ATB - "9pm (Till I Come)"
• Binary Finary - "1998" / "1999"
• Blockster - "Grooveline"
• Delerium - "Heaven's Earth"
• Gabrielle - "Rise"
• Kim Wilde - "Breaking Away"
• Kim Wilde - "Heaven"
• Kim Wilde - "Shame"
• Johnna - "Do What You Feel"
• Magners - "Shlurgen"
• Moloko - "The Time is Now"
• Planet Perfecto Feat. Grace - "Not Over Yet"
• The Space Brothers - "Legacy"
• Tin Tin Out - "Sometimes"
• Tin Tin Out - "Strings for Yasmin"
• Westbam - "Wizards of the Sonic"

Compilation albums[link]

These are some of the compilation albums that Darey has mixed, aside from the ones that he released under his own name.

• Ibiza Euphoria (1999)
• Pure Euphoria
• The Very Best of Euphoria (2002, mixed by Darey)
• Upfront Trance double album (2005, Water Music Records)
• Ultimate Trance (Mixed by Darey) (2005)
• Nocturnal album (Mixed by Darey) (September 2007)
• Nocturnal 2010 double album (Mixed by Darey) (May 2010)

Video games[link]

• N-Gen Racing Game soundtrack

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website (also the site for his record label, Darey Products)
• [http://www.facebook.com/mattdarey Facebook)
• Matt Darey discography at Discogs
• Nocturnal radio show website

Kristy Thirsk is a platinum selling Canadian singer-songwriter best known for her work with Delerium.

Rose Chronicles[link]

She was the singer and a co-writer for the band Rose Chronicles, which was signed to Nettwerk in the 1990s. Rose Chronicles released two full-length albums: Shiver (1994), which won a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album, and Happily Ever After (1996). The band split up in 1997.

Collaborations[link]

In the years that followed, Thirsk was featured as a guest vocalist and co-writer on albums by Delerium and Balligomingo. She sang the vocals in Front Line Assembly's cover of Madonna's "Justify My Love" and Mystery Machine's cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass."

According to Kristy in an Auralgasms interview, Garrett Schwarz allegedly borrowed samples from her Delerium song, "Incantation" and then released his own song on the Balligomingo album, Beneath The Surface. This, she explained, was the reason she discontinued any further collaboration with Garrett.^[1]

Thirsk was also involved in the initial stages of Adrian White's side project Silent Alarm. The Sleepthief album The Dawnseeker, released June 2006, features Thirsk's vocals in the songs "Sublunar (Sweet Angel)". Sleepthief's follow-up The Chauffeur - The Remix - EP features Kristy on "Send Me an Angel", a remake of the Scorpions' 1990 power ballad. She also sings on "Overkill" for the D:Fuse & Mike Hiratzka album Skyline Lounge (July 2007).

Thirsk and fellow Delerium singer Shelley Harland were the two lead vocalists for Delerium's first US tour in 2003. She toured again as the singer with Delerium's European Tour in May 2008, playing in London, Antwerp, Budapest, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Athens, Thessaloniki, and Moscow.

Solo career[link]

Thirsk's first released solo track was "Bounds of Love" which was on the soundtrack of the movie Kissed in 1997. This song received a Genie Award nomination for Best Movie Theme.

She worked on her own material throughout this period and released her first full-length solo album, Souvenir, in 2003. Souvenir was produced by Eric Rosse (Tori Amos, Lisa Marie Presley).

In May 2008, Kristy released a limited edition 4-song EP called Under Cover EP with the songs "Hourglass", "Conspiracy", "What If I", and a cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" that features exclusive mixes of the four songs that will also be on her upcoming solo album. The EP will be sold on the tour only and online.

Her song "Out There" was released on the Sirènes compilation album in May 2008. Kristy designated the song as the theme song for Red Cross Canada in January 2005, in response to the 2004 Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake/Asian Tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Her sister Natasha Thirsk is also a musician, currently fronting the indie rock band Catlow.

Discography[link]

Rose Chronicles[link]

Kristy Thirsk[link]

Guest appearances[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Kristy Thirsk discography at Discogs
• Kristy performs Run Away and Truth Fantasy (QuickTime link) at a September 30, 2004 charity concert/fashion/performance art show.
• Kristy performs I Know You Are Out There (QuickTime link) as the singer of "Silent Alarm" at a 2005 live acoustic charity performance.

Bob Thirsk
NRC/CSA Astronaut
Nationality	Canadian
Status	Retired
Born	(1953-08-17) August 17, 1953 (age 58) New Westminster, British Columbia
Other occupation	Engineer, physician
Rank	Astronaut, CSA
Time in space	204d 18h 29m [1]
Selection	1983 NRC Group
Missions	STS-78, Soyuz TMA-15, Expedition 20/21
Mission insignia

Robert Brent "Bob" Thirsk (born August 17, 1953) is a Canadian engineer and physician, and a former Canadian Space Agency astronaut. He holds the Canadian records for the longest space flight (187 days 20 hours) and the most time spent in space (204 days 18 hours). The Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia announced on 17 May 2012 that he is the recipient of the Order of British Columbia (OBC).

Personal life[link]

Thirsk is from New Westminster, British Columbia and is married to Brenda Biasutti of Montreal, Quebec. They have three children. He enjoys spending time with his family as well as flying, hockey, squash, and playing the piano.

He is a member of the Professional Engineers Ontario, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, the Aerospace Medical Association, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. He is also a director of the Canadian Foundation for the International Space University.

He won the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta Gold Medal in 1976 and was the first recipient of the University of Calgary Distinguished Alumni Award (1985). In 1997, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and was awarded honorary membership in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.

Education[link]

He attended primary and secondary schools in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, graduating from Calgary's Lord Beaverbrook High School. His post-secondary education began with receiving a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Calgary in 1976, and continued with a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1978, an M.D. from McGill University in 1982, and his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1998 as a Sloan Fellow. He received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Calgary while on orbit on July 8, 2009. Fellow ISS crewmember Koichi Wakata had the honor of placing the convocation cape on Thirsk, which was later removed due to it constantly floating up to his face.^[2] This event made Thirsk the first person ever to receive a university degree from space.^[3]

CSA career[link]

Thirsk was in the family medicine residency program at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Montreal when he was selected in December 1983 by the National Research Council of Canada to join the Canadian astronaut program. He began astronaut training in February 1984 and served as backup payload specialist to Marc Garneau for space shuttle mission STS-41-G, which flew October 5 to 13, 1984. He has participated in several parabolic flight experiment campaigns on board NASA’s KC-135 aircraft and has been involved in various projects relating to space medicine, the International Space Station, mission planning, and education with the Canadian Space Agency. He led an international research team investigating the effect of weightlessness on the heart and blood vessels. His team designed and tested an experimental "anti-gravity suit" that may help astronauts withstand the effects of extended spaceflight on the cardiovascular system.

He served as Chief Astronaut of the Canadian Space Agency in 1993 and 1994. In February 1994, he was crew commander for the CAPSULS mission, a simulated 7-day space mission that involved the participation of several international investigators and three other Canadian astronauts. In 1994-95, Thirsk completed a sabbatical year in Victoria, British Columbia. During this year, he upgraded his skills in clinical practice, space medicine research and Russian language training.

Payload Specialist Robert Thirsk suiting up for the STS-78 mission.

On June 20, 1996, Thirsk flew aboard space shuttle mission STS-78 (the life and microgravity Spacelab mission) as a payload specialist. During this 17-day flight aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, he and his six crew mates performed 43 experiments devoted to the study of life and materials science. Most of these experiments were conducted within the pressurized Spacelab laboratory module situated in the orbiter’s payload bay. The life science experiments investigated changes in plants, animals and humans under spaceflight conditions. The materials science experiments examined protein crystallization, fluid dynamics and high-temperature solidification of multi-phase materials in microgravity.

While on STS-78, Thirsk wrote two columns for the Calgary Sun newspaper. This was the first occasion in which an astronaut wrote and filed a story to a newspaper—and had it published—while the astronaut was still in orbit.

In 1998, Thirsk was assigned by the Canadian Space Agency to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to pursue mission specialist training. This training program involves advanced instruction on both shuttle and space station systems, EVA (spacewalking), robotic operations, and Russian language. Within the NASA Astronaut Office, Dr. Thirsk served as a CapCom (capsule communicator) for the International Space Station (ISS) program. CapComs participate in actual and simulated space missions as a communication link between the ground team at Mission Control and the astronauts in orbit. CapComs speak directly with the space station crew, and assist with technical planning for the mission and last-minute troubleshooting.

In October 2004, Thirsk served as the commander of the NEEMO 7 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for eleven days.^[4][5] As a back-up crewmember, Thirsk replaced fellow CSA astronaut Dafydd Williams, who had previously served as an aquanaut on the NEEMO 1 mission, due to Williams undergoing review of a temporary medical issue.^[6][7][8] Williams eventually served as the commander of NEEMO 9 in April 2006.^[9]

In 2004, Thirsk trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow and became certified as a Flight Engineer for the Soyuz spacecraft. He served as backup Flight Engineer to European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Roberto Vittori for the Soyuz TMA-6 taxi mission to the ISS in April 2005. During the ten-day mission, Thirsk worked as Crew Interface Coordinator (European CapCom) at the Columbus Control Centre in Germany.

The Soyuz TMA-15 crew: Left to right: Thirsk, Roman Romanenko, Frank De Winne.

Thirsk was a member of the Expedition 21 crew on the International Space Station. He launched as a Flight Engineer on the Soyuz TMA-15 Soyuz mission on May 27, 2009, as a member of the Expedition 20 crew. He was the first Canadian astronaut to fly on a Soyuz. About this mission, Thirsk is quoted saying "It will be the supreme thrill of my life. Throughout the mission I will examine the long-term effects of zero gravity as both a test subject and a physician. My findings will undoubtedly contribute to the future understanding of space station living."^[10] He returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-15 in November 2009.^[11]

During the ISS 20/21 flight, he was visited by two other Canadians: Julie Payette (Space Shuttle Endeavour STS 127) and space tourist Guy Laliberté on Soyuz TMA-16 at the end of September 2009. The meeting between Thirsk and Payette in July 2009 was the first time two Canadians met in space.^[12] He and the Soyuz TMA-15 crew returned to earth December 1, 2009.

On 12 April 2011, Thirsk was awarded the Russian Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" - for outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in manned space flight.

References[link]

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links[link]

• Canadian Space Agency Official Biography
• Biography at NASA
• Spacefacts biography of Robert Thirsk
• Doctor Profile for Robert Thirsk (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario)

Wikinews has related news: Soyuz TMA-15 launches crew to International Space Station