Coordinates: 50°47′06″N 1°04′12″W / 50.785°N 1.07°W / 50.785; -1.07

Southsea
South Parade Pier
Southsea  Southsea shown within Hampshire
Population	18,514 (2001)
OS grid reference	SZ6499
Unitary authority	Portsmouth
Ceremonial county	Hampshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SOUTHSEA
Postcode district	PO4 - PO5
Dialling code	023
Police	Hampshire
Fire	Hampshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Portsmouth South
List of places: UK • England • Hampshire

Southsea Front and Common c. 1905

Southsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire in England. Southsea is within a mile of Portsmouth's city centre. Southsea has a thriving commercial area which includes two national department stores and many other well-known high street chains. It combines these large stores with numerous independent traders which includes charity shops, food retailers and furniture/household goods shops.

Southsea also has a vibrant social scene with numerous bars and eateries which cater for a range of budgets and tastes.

History[link]

In 1544 Henry VIII built the fort which became known as Southsea Castle. Although it would not have been called that at the time it is recorded as "Southsea Castle" in a map of 1724.

In 1809 a new suburb began to grow. It became known as Southsea after the castle. The first houses were built for skilled workers in the 'mineral' streets (Silver Street, Nickel Street etc.). These mineral streets were the most bombed areas of Portsmouth in the Second World War.

Around 1810 Hampshire Terrace, Landport Terrace, King’s Terrace, Jubilee Terrace and Bellevue Terrace were built adjacent to the town walls. Nowadays they form an almost continuous road between the City Centre and the beach.

Southsea remained small until 1835. The area between Castle Road and Victoria Road South was built up between 1835 and 1860 as housing for middle class families. A prominent architect during this period was Thomas Ellis Owen who built properties in Kent Road, Queen’s Terrace, Sussex Terrace, Beach Road, Grove Road South, Clarendon Road, Osborne Road and Portland Terrace.

By the 1860s the suburb of Southsea had grown along Clarendon Road as far as Granada Road. In 1857 Southsea gained its own Improvement Commissioners responsible for paving, cleaning and lighting the streets.

After the 1870s, east of Victoria Road, there was new building in the Campbell Road / Outram Road area..

As building proceeded most was put up in the cramped manner typical of much of Portsmouth, a city where space is at a premium.

Southsea suffered badly from bombing in World War II. In particular the main shopping centre, Palmerston Road, was almost completely destroyed.

Recent history[link]

On June 6, 1994 a drumhead service was held on Southsea Common in front of the War Memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The service was attended by all the heads of the states which had participated in the allied landings, notably US President Bill Clinton, HM Queen Elizabeth II and most notably, several members of the American Secret Service. The service was also witnessed by over 100,000 members of the public. Historically, a blessing before battle was offered during a drumhead service which is conducted in the field with the drums forming the altar and the colours serving as the altar cloth.

In 15 September 2000 parts of Southsea were flooded when the pumping station which pumps surface water out to sea was itself flooded during a particularly heavy storm.

On 28 June 2005 Southsea Common was used as a venue for the Trafalgar 200 celebrations. Southsea seafront was an ideal point from which to witness the International Fleet Review and evening fire work display.

On 9 August 2011 a fire broke out at the old Joanna's nightclub, a derelict building situated opposite South Parade Pier. Police sectioned off most of the area and guests at the nearby Best Western Royal Beach Hotel were evacuated as a precaution.^[1] Despite rumours circulating on social network sites, the incident was reportedly not linked to the riots taking place.^[1]

Architecture[link]

Much of Southsea was designed by the architect Thomas Ellis Owen. Although some of his buildings were destroyed in World War 2 and some have since been unsympathetically modernised, his work still shapes the architecture of modern Southsea. The majority of Owen's Southsea is now protected by a number of Conservation Areas or by being Listed Buildings. Queens Hotel is a good example of the Edwardian baroque style, built in 1903.

Southsea Common[link]

Southsea Common is a large expanse of mown grassland parallel to the shore from Clarence Pier to Southsea Castle. The Common owes its existence to the demands of the military in the early nineteenth century for a clear range of fire from the harbour defences at any enemy ships which dared to approach Portsmouth and its dockyard.

The Common is a popular recreation ground, and also serves as the venue for a number of annual events, including the Southsea Show, Para Spectacular, Military Vehicle Show, Kite Festival and a variety of circuses including the Moscow State Circus and Chinese State Circus. It was also the place where fans of Portsmouth F.C gathered to celebrate their victory in the 2008 FA Cup Final.

In August 2010, a life-size (52 ft high) model of an ultrasaurus dinosaur was erected on the common in conjunction with the local Aspex gallery.^[2] The sculpture was destroyed by a fire, probably caused by an electrical fault, on 1 October.^[3]

Trees[link]

Southsea Beach

Peter Sellers's birthplace on the corner of Castle Road and Southsea terrace. The blue plaques read "Peter Sellers, Actor and Comedian was born here"

The Naval War Memorial, Southsea

The Common is home to a remarkable collection of mature elm trees, believed to be the oldest and largest surviving in Hampshire, which have escaped Dutch elm disease owing to their isolation. The majority of the larger trees are Huntingdon Elms planted in the 1920s, but nearer the entrance to the Skate Park there is a fine example of a hybrid of the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila. Huntingdon Elms once lined the Ladies' Mile avenue through the centre of the Common, but many were lost to the Great Storm of 1987 and replaced by the Dutch elm cultivar 'Lobel'.

The Ladies' Mile is also home to several semi-mature Canary Island Date Palms Phoenix canariensis. Planted in 1996, these palms are now some of the largest in the UK and for the last few years have fruited and produced viable seed, the first time this species of palm has been recorded doing so in the UK. Other palms growing close to the common include Trachycarpus fortunei, (Ladies Mile, Rock Gardens & Rose Garden), Chamaerops humilis (in front of the Pyramids Centre), Butia capitata (in Burguoyne Gardens) and Brahea armata, (Canoe Lake & D-Day Island). Many Cordyline australis are also planted in the area, though these are not true palms, but more closely related to Yuccas and Agaves.

Tourist attractions[link]

Southsea beach is mostly flint gravel, but with sand exposed at low tide. There are two piers: South Parade Pier and Clarence Pier; both house amusement arcades. South Parade Pier also contains a ballroom and a bar area. Clarence Pier is adjacent to a permanent funfair.

A prominent sight out to sea is the four large forts created in the 1860s as part of an attempt to fortify the city against the threat of invasion. From the shore they look oval but are, in fact, round. They were part of defences which included land-based forts all around the city but as they were never used in action, they became known as Palmerston’s Folly, after the Prime Minister who initiated them.

To commemorate the millennium, a scenic walk was created extending to Gunwharf Quays from Southsea seafront. The route is marked on the pavement, and is lined by distinctive blue street lanterns.

There are a number of miniature golf courses, a skateboard park and public grass and clay tennis courts. During winter 2008 three beach volleyball courts were added to these attractions.

The D-Day museum (which holds the Overlord embroidery) is located on the seafront in Southsea, very close to Southsea castle.

At the end of Palmerston Road where it joins the Ladies Mile a plaque on a house records that it was once the home of Fred Jane, the creator of the standard naval reference book Jane’s Fighting Ships.

Cumberland House is a natural history museum, butterfly house and aquarium located close to Canoe Lake just off Southsea seafront.

The Blue Reef Aquarium is also situated on the seafront.

Throughout the summer, there are regular open air concerts and events at the bandstand and on Castle Field.

Just off the seafront is Southsea Model Village^[4] which is a 1/12 scale model village with forty miniature buildings, houses, forts, castles and a miniature railway. It was opened in 1956 on the site of a Victorian fort. Another part of the fort has been converted into Southsea Rose Garden.

Canoe Lake is the last remnant of an area of marsh and open water known as the Great Morass, drained in 1886, on which much of Southsea now sits. The lake is topped up from the sea by opening a sluice at high tide. Crabs and fish find their way in, and attract children fishing equipped with a piece of bacon on a string.

When undisturbed there are regularly swan and mallard, with less frequent visits from tufted duck, mediterranean gull, cormorant, little Grebe and occasionally a lone black swan. In summer pedalos can be rented on the lake.

Since 2006 Canoe Lake has been used as a venue for the annual Lake of Lights Memorial Service. This happens in December where thousands of lights are floated on the lake to commemorate loved ones in the local community who have been lost to cancer.^[5]

Towards the eastern end of the seafront is the Royal Marines Museum. Based in the lavishly decorated former Officers' Mess of Eastney Barracks (built in the 1860s for the Royal Marine Artillery), the Museum includes The Making of the Royal Marines Commando exhibition, opened in 2008, and a refurbished Medal Room with over 8,000 medals earned by Royal Marines - including all 10 Victoria Crosses won by them.

The Kings Theatre, situated in Albert Road, is a venue that hosts a variety of performances, including productions by the local amateur group the Southsea Shakespeare Actors.

A recently created attraction has been the now annual "Love Albert Road Day" which is held along one of Southsea's main roads. The event features live music, street art and theatre, stalls, food from around the world, an outdoor cinema, competitions and skate demos. All the businesses from the road remain open for the day.

This event was first held in 2007 when it was expected 2,000 visitors would attend and 20,000 turned up on the day. The second "Love Albert Road Day" was held on 28 September 2008 when 40,000 visitors attended.

Southsea Town Council[link]

Southsea Parish Council was created in 1999 following a successful submission to the UK Government under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997. The parish council later became the Southsea Town Council.

The existence of the town council was controversial from the outset. The initial creation of the town council was opposed by Portsmouth City Council. There was a long-standing campaign to disband the town council.^{[citation needed]} In a poll of local residents in February 2010, 66.3% voted to abolish it.^{[citation needed]} Southsea Town Council was abolished on 23 April 2010.^[6]

The town council had limited powers and a small budget funded by the local precept. It campaigned on local issues, seeking to influence the unitary authority Portsmouth City Council; awarded funds to local causes; and funded infrastructure improvements in the local area. Until 2007 it had a small office open to the public in Southsea town centre, but this was subsequently closed.

Transport links[link]

Hovertravel operate a regular hovercraft service to Ryde on the Isle of Wight which runs from Southsea seafront.

In 1898 a railway branch called the Southsea Railway was opened from Fratton Station, terminating at East Southsea Station (near to The Strand). Two unstaffed halts were added at Albert Road and Jessie Road/Devonshire Avenue. The line was not able to compete with the Portsmouth corporation tram services. It was closed in 1914 and never re-opened. The line itself and the station have since been demolished and replaced with houses; however it is possible to walk the approximate route. Southsea is now served by stations at Fratton and Portsmouth and Southsea station and on to Portsmouth Harbour (also called The Hard), with regular trains to London Waterloo.

There is currently a ferry service Hayling Island Ferry^[7] linking Eastney and Ferry Point, on Hayling Island. Owing to minimal use, the service has to be subsidised by the local authorities, leaving it under constant threat of closure.

Guest Houses[link]

Southsea has traditionally offered many Bed and Breakfast establishments, also known as Guest Houses. In the early 21st century, many were sold off to developers who converted them to residential accommodation.

Education[link]

• University of Portsmouth
• Portsmouth Grammar School
• Portsmouth High School
• Mayville High School
• St John's College (Portsmouth)
• Priory School
• City of Portsmouth Boys' School (formerly Portsmouth Technical High School for Boys)
• Southern Grammar School
• St Swithun's RC Primary School
• Owen Street Primary School

Notable residents[link]

• Charles Dickens
• Arthur Conan Doyle
• Robert Gittings
• Brian Howe (singer)
• Félicien Kabuga
• Jim Al-Khalili
• Rudyard Kipling
• Peter Sellers
• H.G. Wells
• Dame Frances Amelia Yates DBE

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website Visitor Website for Portsmouth (incl. Southsea)
• Clarence Pier Southsea
• University of Portsmouth
• D Day Museum
• Southsea Town Council
• Thomas Ellis Owen
• Southsea Village
• Southsea Business and Community Directory
• Lovealbertroad.co.uk
• Cumberland House Natural History Museum, Southsea
• Blue Reef Aquarium, Portsmouth
• Royal Marines Museum, Southsea
• Arts and archive project looking at memories of Southsea seafront
• Information and photo galleries

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. (June 2008)

John Fortune (born John Wood; 30 June 1939) is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John Bird.

Biography[link]

Fortune was born in Bristol. His early career included contributions to Peter Cook's Establishment Club team, which included Eleanor Bron and John Bird in 1962. Fortune and Bird also worked together on the TV show A Series of Birds in 1967, and Fortune and Bron wrote and performed a series of sketches for TV in Where Was Spring in 1969. In 1971, with John Wells, he published the comedy classic A Melon for Ecstasy, about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree.

He appeared with Peter Sellers in a Barclays Bank advertisement in 1980 shortly before Sellers' death; the infamous Monty Casino ads.

Along with writing several series for the BBC, in 1982 he appeared in an episode of the BBC situation comedy Yes Minister as an army officer who brings the minister's attention to British-made weapons getting into the hands of terrorists.

In 1999, Fortune starred with Warren Mitchell and Ken Campbell in 'Art' at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. He has also appeared in the films Maybe Baby and Saving Grace, and had a guest part in the sitcom Joking Apart.

Arguably the most notable example of his work with John Bird is their series of satirical sketches The Long Johns, in which one of the Johns interviews the other in the guise of a senior figure such as a politician, businessman or government consultant, in one episode which they were two of the very first to predict the Financial crisis of 2007–2010 during an episode of The South Bank Show broadcast on 14 October 2007.^[1][2] In these sketches the 'expert' is invariably named "George Parr" (after the English cricketer^{[citation needed]}, rather than the US politician).

In recent years, he has featured in the award-winning Radio 4 sitcom Ed Reardon's Week, in which he plays the head of a literary agency.

References[link]

1. ^ "The Marx Renaissance". http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/james22. 
2. ^ "The Last Laugh: John Bird and John Fortune Reviews". http://www.tv.com/the-south-bank-show/the-last-laugh-john-bird-and-john-fortune/episode/1157860/reviews.html. 

Further reading[link]

• Bird, John and Fortune, John (1996). The Long Johns. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-180216-4. 

External links[link]

• John Fortune at Vivienne Clore
• Bremner, Bird and Fortune, "Best Political Satire -Television, 2003" - Political Studies Association Awards 2003
• Bird and Fortune: A Life in Television BAFTA filmed event, March 2009

George Berham Parr (March 1, 1901 - April 1, 1975) was a member of the Parr political family, which controlled a Democratic Party political machine that dominated Duval County and, to a lesser extent, Jim Wells County, Texas. He was known as "The Duke of Duval."

Parr family machine[link]

The Parr machine functioned on bribery, graft, and illegal donations. Political support came from the southern most counties in Texas. The Parr machine could produce large numbers of votes, both legal and illegal, from both the impoverished and uneducated, and the working class Mexican-American majority population. As a result, the county saw its largely marginalized but large numbers of native Texan yeoman farmers slowly disappear leaving the county commission to be controlled by the Parr family and its cronies. While the Parr Machine had always asserted undue influence over the county's affairs, it was not until Archer Parr that its leadership felt safely secure to overwhelm the remaining independent white farmers by appealing directly to county's new Mexican-American majority by offering them jobs (and in some cases cash directly from the county coffers) in exchange for political support.

The alliance between the Parr controlled commission and the Hispanic populace made the county a bastion of Democratic strength. By 1940, the white educated population had been reduced to a tiny minority amongst a large Mexican-American population. Parr garnered popular support with his charisma, his ability to speak Spanish, and Robin Hood tendencies with sharing the Duval County and Benavides School District coffers. After Archer's death, George inherited the Parr polictical machine, and the populace passed on the name, "El Patron", to him as they did his father.

The discovery of oil in Duval County also created ample opportunities for patronage, allowing Parr to amass a small fortune. To this day, the family's network has limited influence in Texas politics giving its patronage to both Democratic and Republican beneficiaries. James Albon Mattox, successfully relied on the old Parr network in his run as the Democratic Party nominee for Texas Attorney General, garnering a majority of the vote in the county despite running against a Mexican-American.

Parr political crimes[link]

Parr engaged in the graft, bribery and fraud that are often associated with political machines. Along with other large landowners and managers of landed estates owned by prominent Eastern businessmen, Parr helped develop the practice of working illegal aliens and later using them for advancing political interests. More importantly, his own political career included serving as both the Duval County Judge and Sheriff. He also owned the San Diego State Bank, and the famous Dobie Ranch, including the Parr's Horcones Ranch. He was also a partner and silent partner of dozens of businesses in South Texas.

He was convicted of tax evasion in 1936, but was granted a pardon restoring his civil rights by President Harry S. Truman in 1946. He accomplished this through political maneuvering by ousting his congressional obstacle, U.S. Congressman Richard M. Kleberg of the famous King Ranch, with Major John E. Lyle, Jr. while Lyle was serving in the European Theater during World War II. By this time Parr had total control of the county, soon acquiring the nickname "Duke of Duval County."

Illegally helped Lyndon Johnson win U.S. Senate seat[link]

Parr's most infamous act of political corruption was browbeating election officials in nearby Jim Wells County into ensuring the primary victory of Lyndon B. Johnson in the U.S. senatorial election of 1948. The incident went down in Alice, Texas history as "Box 13." This is a reference to the precinct in which the Parr machine created 203 more votes for Johnson, many from allegedly dead Mexican voters.

Johnson received 99.1% of the votes. Before an official investigation was finished, the votes were accidentally burned. Johnson's plurality in the 1948 U.S. Senate election was eighty-seven out of a possible one million votes cast.^[1]

Struggles and demise of political machine[link]

In 1950, Parr had become a thorn in the side of Governor Allan Shivers and Attorney General John Ben Shepperd. Federal officials began to investigate the machine. Some 650 indictments were brought forth against machine members, 300 of them at the state level. Parr, however, eluded indictment, and his conviction for fraud was later dismissed. Under the protection of Lyndon Johnson, Parr eluded all attempts to investigate and convict him for fraud, bribery, corruption, racketeering, and murder. Ironically, Shepperd was a political advisor to Johnson even as he attempted to bring indictments against Parr. The Parr Machine was challenged by the Freedom Party in Alice, Texas, led by Jake Floyd. The Parrs lost control of that district court, an important office the Parr Machine was used to controlling all over South Texas. The botched assassination of Buddy Floyd, Jake's son, mistakenly shot and killed by Mario Sapet, on September 8, 1952, also signaled turbulent times for the Parr Machine.

However, political candidates would time to time make him an object of their reforming campaigns. In 1954 Governor Allen Shrivers declared war on the Parr Faction and sent down a team of Texas Rangers and state investigators. He was charged with embezzlement but beat the case. The Parr Machine maintained control of Jim Wells and Duval Counties despite the legal and political backlash.

With the collapse of the Johnson Administration in 1968, Parr lost his primary political protector. Under advice from Johnson and other prominent figures, he relinquished control of his machine to his nephew Archer III, by the early 1970s. The law finally caught up with Parr in 1974 when he was convicted of income tax evasion and given a ten year prison term. He was found dead at his ranch on April 1, 1975, the apparent victim of suicide. When Parr's machine collapsed soon after his death, Duval County's small white large landowning minority attempted to retain control of the county politically but was unable to halt the Democratic take-over of the county by the now overwhelmingly large Mexican-American population. Nonetheless, the family and its network remains influential so that although the county has remained one of the strongest and most consistently Democrat localities in Texas, frequently giving both national and local candidates margins greater than 70 percent.

George's father was Archie Parr who began the Dynasty of Duval County, Archer Parr is the third Duke of the Duval County Dynasty.

References[link]

External links[link]

• George Berham Parr from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Duval County from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Boss Rule from the Handbook of Texas Online

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. (July 2010)

Daniel Dhers (born March 25, 1985, in Caracas, Venezuela) is a professional BMX rider. He is currently sponsored by Red Bull, POC, DC Shoes, KHE Bikes, Albe's Mailorder, and Verizon. Dhers resides in Greenville, North Carolina, known as Protown USA because of the strong concentration of BMX riders that live there, including Dave Mirra.^[1]

Career[link]

Daniel started riding BMX when he was twelve, just to hang out with his friends. In 1998, he went to his first skate park and rode around. When he was sixteen he and his parents moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he really started riding in parks and with better riders. In 2003 he entered his first contest, and in 2006, he entered the Dew Action Sports Tour. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 Dhers has won the AST Dew Tour.^[2][3] Daniel Dhers won gold medals at the X Games in 2007,^[4] 2008,^[5] and 2010,^[6] and he was featured on several episodes of the American TV program Nitro Circus. Dhers is a very skilled rider and a lot of young riders look up to him. They wish to be just like him and to do so they look at his riding style and his choice of bike and decide to go get the same bikes and try to ride like he does.

References[link]

External links[link]

• EXPN Bio
• AST Dew Tour Profile

Annette Kellerman
Annette Kellerman, Diving Venus, 1920
Born	Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman (1886-07-06)6 July 1886 Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia
Died	5 November 1975(1975-11-05) (aged 88) Southport, Queensland, Australia
Resting place	Great Barrier Reef
Nationality	Australian
Other names	Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman
Education	Mentone Girls' Grammar School
Occupation	Swimmer, Actress, Writer
Known for	Swimmer, Actress, Writer, Inventor of Synchronised Swimming, Pioneer of women's swimwear
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	James Raymond Louis Sullivan (m. 1912–1975) «start: (1912)–end+1: (1976)»"Marriage: James Raymond Louis Sullivan to Annette Kellerman" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Annette_Kellerman)
Website
www.annettekellerman.com

Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman (6 July 1886 – 6 November 1975) was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, and writer. She was one of the first women to wear a one-piece bathing costume, instead of the then accepted pantaloons, and inspired others to follow her example.^[1]

She is often credited for inventing the sport of synchronised swimming after her 1907 performance of the first water ballet in a glass tank at the New York Hippodrome. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life[link]

Annette Kellerman, early 1900s

Kellerman was born in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia, on 6 July 1886, to Australian-born violinist Frederick William Kellerman and his French wife, Alice Ellen Charbonnet, a pianist and music teacher.^[2]

At the age of 6, a weakness in Kellerman's legs necessitated the wearing of painful steel braces to strengthen them. In order to further overcome her disability, her parents enrolled her in swim classes at Cavill's baths in Sydney. By the age of 13, her legs were practically normal, and by 15, she had mastered all the swimming strokes and won her first race. At this time she was also giving diving displays.^[2]

In 1902, Kellerman decided to take her swimming seriously and subsequently won the ladies' 100 yards and mile championships of New South Wales in the record times of 1 minute, 22 seconds and 33 minutes, 49 seconds respectively. In that same year, her parents decided to move to Melbourne, and she was enrolled at Mentone Girls' Grammar School where her mother had accepted a music teaching position.^[2]

During her time at school, Kellerman gave exhibitions of swimming and diving at the main Melbourne baths, performed a mermaid act at Princes Court entertainment centre and did two shows a day swimming with fish in a glass tank at the Exhibition Aquarium. In June–July 1903 she performed sensational high dives in the Coogee scene of Bland Holt's spectacular, The Breaking of the Drought, at the Melbourne Theatre Royal.^[2]

Swimming career[link]

Kellerman in her famous one-piece bathing suit

On 24 August 1905, aged 18, Annette Kellerman was the first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel. After three unsuccessful swims she declared, "I had the endurance but not the brute strength."

Kellerman was famous for advocating the right of women to wear a one-piece bathing suit, which was controversial at the time. According to an Australian magazine, "In the early 1900s, women were expected to wear cumbersome dress and pantaloon combinations when swimming. In 1907, at the height of her popularity, Kellerman was arrested on Revere Beach, Massachusetts, for indecency - she was wearing one of her fitted one-piece costumes."^[3]

The popularity of her one-piece suits resulted in her own line of women's swimwear. The "Annette Kellermans", as they were known, were the first step to modern swimwear.

In 1908, after a study of 3000 women, Dr Dudley A. Sargent of Harvard University dubbed her the Perfect Woman because of the similarity of her physical attributes to the Venus de Milo.

Marriage[link]

Kellerman married her American-born manager, James Raymond Louis Sullivan, on or around 26 November 1912 at Danbury, Connecticut.^[2]

Movie career[link]

Kellerman in nude scene from 'A Daughter of the Gods'

In 1916, Kellerman became the first major actress to do a nude scene when she appeared fully nude in A Daughter of the Gods.^[4] Made by Fox Film Corporation, Daughter of the Gods was the first million-dollar film production. Like many of Kellerman's other films, this is now considered a lost film as no copies are known to exist.

The majority of Kellerman's films had themes of aquatic adventure. She performed her own stunts including diving from ninety-two feet into the sea and sixty feet into a pool of crocodiles. Many times she would play mermaids named Annette or variations of her own name. Her "fairy tale films", as she called them, started with The Mermaid (1911), in which she was the first actress to wear a swimmable mermaid costume on film, paving the way for future screen sirens such as Glynis Johns (Miranda), Esther Williams and Daryl Hannah (Splash). She designed her own mermaid swimming costumes and sometimes made them herself. Similar designs are still used by The Weeki Wachee Springs Mermaids, including her aquatic fairy costume first introduced in Queen of the Sea (1918).

Kellerman appeared in one of the last films made in Prizma Color, Venus of the South Seas (1924), a U.S./New Zealand co-production where one reel of the 55-minute film was in color and underwater. Venus of the South Seas was restored by the Library of Congress in 2004 and is the only feature film starring Annette Kellerman known to exist in its complete form.

Publications[link]

In addition to her film and stage career, Kellerman wrote several books including How To Swim (1918), Physical Beauty: How to Keep It (1919), a book of children's stories titled Fairy Tales of the South Seas (1926) and My Story, an unpublished autobiography. She also wrote numerous mail order booklets on health, beauty and fitness.

Later life[link]

A lifelong vegetarian, Kellerman owned a health food store in Long Beach, California. She and her husband returned to live in Australia in 1970, and in 1974 she was honoured by the International Swimming Hall of Fame at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.^[2] She remained active well into old age continuing to swim and exercise until a short time before her death.

Preceded by her husband in death, Annette Kellerman died in hospital at Southport, Queensland, Australia, on 5 November 1975, aged 88 and was cremated with Roman Catholic rites. Her remains were scattered in the Great Barrier Reef. She had no children.^[2]

Annette in her full length swimwear

Legacy[link]

Kellerman's large collection of costumes and theatrical memorabilia was bequeathed to the Sydney Opera House.^[2] Today, many of her original costumes and personal items are held by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.

She was portrayed by Esther Williams in the film Million Dollar Mermaid (1952). Her name is on a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on Hollywood Boulevard.

An award-winning Australian documentary called The Original Mermaid about Annette Kellerman was produced in 2002.

A brand new swimming complex in Marrickville opened December 2010 has been named after her.

Filmography[link]

Kellerman photographed in the United States, 1907

• The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland (1909)
• Jephtah's Daughter: A Biblical Tragedy (1909)
• The Gift of Youth (1909)
• Entombed Alive (1909)
• Siren of the Sea (1911)
• The Mermaid (1911)
• Neptune's Daughter (1914)
• A Daughter of the Gods (1916)
• National Red Cross Pageant (1917)
• Queen of the Sea (1918)
• What Women Love (1920)
• Venus of the South Seas (1924)

As herself[link]

• Miss Kellerman's Diving Feats (1907)
• Miss Annette Kellerman (1909)
• The Perfectly Formed Woman (1910)
• The Universal Boy (1914/I)
• The Art of Diving (1920)
• Annette Kellerman Performing Water Ballet (1925)
• Annette Kellerman Returns to Australia (1933)
• Water Ballet: Sydney (1940)
• Water Ballet (1941)

Archive footage[link]

• The Love Goddesses (1965)
• The Original Mermaid (2002)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Annette Kellerman

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Annette Kellerman

• Annette Kellerman Costume Collection at the Powerhouse Museum
• Hollywood Star Walk for Annette
• AnnetteKellerman.com
• ADB biography
• Article & Photo used in crucial trial on decency between Esquire and the Postmaster General
• Photo on the beach
• Photo: Head Profile circa 1926
• Photo: Face
• Article: Scroll Down to article on Neptune's Daughter and other of her lost films
• Annette Kellerman at the Internet Movie Database
• Annette Kellerman photo gallery at NYP Library
• Christine Schmidt, Second Skin: Annette Kellerman, the modern swimsuit, and an Australian contribution to global fashion, Queensland University of Technology PhD thesis, 2008.
• 1923 passport photo , Annette Kellerman