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Coordinates: 51°29′07″N 0°22′44″W / 51.4852°N 0.3788°W / 51.4852; -0.3788

Heston
Heston  Heston shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ125775
London borough	Hounslow
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HOUNSLOW
Postcode district	TW5
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Feltham and Heston
London Assembly	South West
List of places: UK • England • London

Heston is a place in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is a suburban development area, based on a former farming village 10.8 miles (17.4 km) west south-west of Charing Cross.

History[link]

The village of Heston lies towards the north of Hounslow, and has been settled since Saxon times. A charter of Henry II gives the name as Hestune, meaning "enclosed settlement", which is justified by its location in what was the Warren of Staines, between the ancient Roman road to Bath, and the Uxbridge Road to Oxford.

Prior to 1229, Heston was part of the parish of Gistleworth (Isleworth) before being taken by Henry III, who subsequently granted it to the Earl of Cornwall. Following Henry's death in 1316, Heston was owned by the Crown, and later to the wardens of St Giles Hospital, prior to being surrendered to Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Elizabeth I granted Heston to Sir Thomas Gresham, and, after eating some bread made from locally grown wheat, insisted on a supply for her own personal use.

The separation from Isleworth in the 14th century gave the locals a sense of independence from their southern neighbours, with whom they frequently quarrelled. The practice of “beating the bounds” was practised annually when the inhabitants went in procession around the parish boundaries, to show locals the extent of their lands. A contemporary account of such a procession describes an occasion when the parishioners of Heston came across some from Isleworth, and the ensuing "quarrel" saw men from Heston throwing the others across a ditch.

Churches[link]

St Leonard's Church (Church of England) dates from the 14th century, though there are records of a priest in Heston in the 7th century. The church tower survived the necessary rebuilding works in the 19th century, as did the lychgate. The grave of Private Frederick John White, who was flogged to death at Hounslow Barracks in 1846, can be found in the graveyard. The outcry at the manner of his death brought about a reduction in the maximum number of lashings that could be given as punishment, and eventually the banning of the practice altogether.

Naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was laid to rest at St Leonard's Church.

Our Lady Queen of Apostles is the Catholic Church in the area. Built in the 20th century, it is smaller than St Leonard's, though has a larger congregation, and is popular among families who send their children to the local Rosary RC Junior School. Notably, all the altar-servers from Our Lady Queen of Apostles are specially chosen by the parish priest from the Rosary RC Junior School. As of 2006, with the replacement of the parish priest Father Michael Tuck, for the first time in the parish's history, females may be chosen to be altar-servers.

Schools[link]

There are five primary schools in Heston: Berkley, the Rosary Catholic school, Westbrook Primary, Springwell Junior School, Heston Primary School and Heston Community School. Heston Community school is also a secondary and sixth form school.

Transport and locale[link]

Heston Aerodrome[link]

Heston Aerodrome was operational between 1929 and 1947. In September 1938, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew from Heston to Germany three times in two weeks for talks with Adolf Hitler, and he returned to Heston from the Munich Conference with the paper referred to in his later "Peace for our time" speech from 10 Downing Street.^[1]

Housing and industrial estates have been built on some of the area that was Heston Aerodrome, and the M4 motorway with its large service area (Heston services) cuts across the former aerodrome site east-west, but a substantial area to the north of the M4 is host to the Airlinks 18-hole golf course. Many of the roads in the area have aviation-related names: Alcock Road (Alcock and Brown), Brabazon Road (Brabazon), Bleriot Road (Louis Blériot), Cobham Road (Sir Alan Cobham), De Havilland Road (de Havilland), Norman Crescent (Nigel Norman), Phoenix Way (Heston Phoenix), Sopwith Road (Thomas Sopwith), Spitfire Way (Supermarine Spitfire), Whittle Road (Frank Whittle), and Wright Road (the Wright brothers).^[1]

Road network[link]

The Great West Road was completed in 1925, and the farming and market garden land around the village was snapped up for housing developments.^[1]

Nearest places[link]

• Hounslow
• North Hyde
• Norwood Green
• OsterleyEd

Nearest tube station[link]

• Hounslow West tube station
• Osterley tube station

Notable people[link]

• Oarsman Don Allum (1937-1992), first man to row the Atlantic Ocean in both directions, lived in Heston
• Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, of rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow, grew up in Heston
• Anthony Collins (1676-1729), philosopher friend of John Locke, was born in Heston
• Composer Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) was born in Heston
• Guitarist Jimmy Page, of rock band Led Zeppelin, was born in Heston
• Horticulturist Ellen Willmott (1858-1934) was born in Heston.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Sherwood, Tim. 1999. Coming in to Land: A Short History of Hounslow, Hanworth and Heston Aerodromes 1911-1946. Heritage Publications (Hounslow Library) ISBN 1-899144-30-7

v t e London Borough of Hounslow Districts Brentford Brentford End Chiswick Cranford East Bedfont Feltham Grove Park Gunnersbury Hanworth Hatton Heston Hounslow Hounslow West Isleworth Lampton Lower Feltham North Feltham North Hyde Osterley Spring Grove Woodlands Attractions Boston Manor Chiswick House Griffin Park football stadium Hogarth's House Holland Gardens Kew Bridge Steam Museum Osterley Park and House (NT) Syon House Tabard Theatre Watermans Arts Centre Parks and open spaces Duke's Meadows Gunnersbury Park Hanworth Park Hounslow Heath Inwood Park Lampton Park Osterley Park Other topics People Public art Schools Bridges Barnes Railway Bridge Chiswick Bridge Kew Bridge Kew Railway Bridge Tube and rail stations Boston Manor Brentford railway station Chiswick railway station Feltham railway station Gunnersbury Hounslow railway station Hounslow Central Hounslow East Hounslow West Isleworth railway station Kew Bridge railway station Osterley Stamford Brook Syon Lane railway station Turnham Green Parks and open spaces in Hounslow

Heston Blumenthal
OBE

Heston Blumenthal, London, June 2010
Born	(1966-05-27) 27 May 1966 (age 46) London, England, United Kingdom
Education	Self-taught
Current restaurant(s) The Fat Duck The Hind's Head Dinner by Heston Blumenthal The Crown at Bray
Television show(s) Kitchen Chemistry In Search of Perfection Big Chef Takes on Little Chef Heston's Feasts How To Cook Like Heston
Official website
http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/

Heston Marc Blumenthal, OBE ( /ˈbluːmənθɔːl/;^[1] born 27 May 1966 in London, raised in Buckinghamshire)^[2] is an English chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, Berkshire which has been voted Best Restaurant in the UK and received a perfect score of 10/10 every year since 2007 by The Good Food Guide. Additionally, it was voted best restaurant in the world in 2005 by Restaurant magazine.^[3] Since that date, it was awarded 2nd place in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, 3rd in 2010 and 5th in 2011.^[4]

Biography[link]

Heston Blumenthal attended the Latymer Upper School^[5] in London for one year^{[citation needed]} before transferring to Lacey Green Church of England School until 12.^{[citation needed]} Blumenthal completed his studies at age 18^{[citation needed]} at John Hampden Grammar School, High Wycombe.^[6]

Blumenthal is entirely self-taught. His first paid job as a curry chef was when he opened his own restaurant, The Fat Duck. Prior to this, his only experience in a professional kitchen was a one week long work experience at Marco Pierre White's restaurant and 10 days' unpaid experience in Raymond Blanc's kitchen.^{[citation needed]}

According to an interview with The Observer in 2004, he has been cooking "seriously" since the mid-1990s.^{[Full citation needed]} In 1992, three years before opening The Fat Duck, he created his first ever dish, the now famous and often imitated, triple cooked chips. In 2002 he invested in the Riverside Brasserie with former Arsenal FC footballer Lee Dixon and Alfie Hitchcock, but two years later he sold his shares in the business to his former head chef, Garrey Dawson.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, The Fat Duck was awarded its third Michelin star. Blumenthal is only one of three British chefs to receive 3 Michelin stars.

Restaurants[link]

The Fat Duck

The Fat Duck is Blumenthal’s first restaurant which he opened in 1995 in Bray, Berkshire. It has won many awards and has consistently been rated as one of the top restaurants in the world. Blumenthal is a proponent of multi-sensory dining, which is evident in many of his dishes at The Fat Duck.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Heston’s first restaurant outside of Bray, opened at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London in January 2011 to great accolades from critics and diners alike. The Times food critic, Giles Coren, called it the “best restaurant in the whole wide world”. Blumenthal and his team worked with historians to develop the restaurant’s dishes which are inspired by historic British recipes.

Hinds Head

The Hinds Head is in Bray, a short distance from The Fat Duck. Blumenthal acquired the Hinds Head in 2004. It is located in a 15th century former tavern and serves traditional seasonal cuisine and historic British dishes. It has received many awards for its food. In 2011, it was named the Michelin Pub Guide’s “Pub of the Year”.

The Crown at Bray

The Crown at Bray is a Blumenthal’s version of a British village pub. Blumenthal acquired it in June 2010. It is located in a 16th century former inn and serves traditional pub food.

Books[link]

Blumenthal has had numerous books published. His first book was Family Food: A new approach to cooking in 2000. His second book was Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection in 2006 (in which he attempts to find the best way of preparing classic dishes, including fish and chips and Black Forest gateau). Heston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In Search of Perfection was published in 2007 and The Big Fat Duck Cook Book in 2008 published by Bloomsbury. "Heston Blumenthal at Home" was published in late 2011 and is currently in the top 10 in the food and drink category on Amazon's bestseller's list.

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook is a 532 page cookbook written by Blumenthal and published in 2008 . The book is divided into 3 parts. The first part contains an essay by Blumenthal recounting his history and that of The Fat Duck. The story is interspersed with semi-abstract illustrations by artist Dave McKean, relating to the story. The second part contains recipes, all of which were at one point on the menu at The Fat Duck, as well as a short story explaining the inspiration behind each dish. The third part is devoted to the science of cooking, with essays contributed by his collaborators.

Writing[link]

Blumenthal has written columns for The Guardian, T2, The Times and GQ. Along with the scientists on the faculty of Reading University, he co-wrote an academic paper on the taste and flavour of tomatoes called “Differences in Glutamic Acid and 5'-Ribonucleotide Contents between Flesh and Pulp of Tomatoes and the Relationship with Umami Taste” ^[7]

Television shows[link]

In 2005 he produced a series of six half-hour television programmes called Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal which were transmitted on Discovery Science along with a book Kitchen Chemistry, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry and distributed to six thousand schools in the UK and Ireland. To date, it is the most successful book ever produced by the Society. He was ranked third chef by caterersearch.com in that year.^[8]

This was followed by two BBC series called Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection and Heston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In Search of Perfection. These series had higher production values, and followed Blumenthal's research and varied re-creation of classics of British cuisine and World Cuisine. The first series had seven episodes and included bangers and mash, fish and chips and spaghetti Bolognese; the second ran to eight episodes, and featured chicken tikka masala, hamburgers and Peking duck.

In the "Chili Con Carne" episode of the series In Search of Perfection he said that he was unable to participate in the MRI study of chili's effect on the brain as he had a metal plate inserted in his back after hurting it falling off a roof at the age of ten.^[9]

In the Christmas special of the second series of In Search of Perfection, Blumenthal milked a reindeer in Siberia to make ice cream and harvested Frankincense in Oman.^[10]

Blumenthal signed a two-year deal with Channel 4 in March 2008, joining the channel's roster of celebrity chefs which already included Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gordon Ramsay. In January 2009 a three-part series of television programmes on Channel 4 covered his efforts to revamp the menu at a Little Chef motorway restaurant on the A303 road at Popham^[11] in the hope that his recipe ideas would be introduced in all 193 outlets.^[12] A follow-up programme was broadcast in October 2009. Following Blumenthal's revamp of the menu, the Popham Little Chef earned and entry in the Good Food Guide. The Little Chef group extended Blumenthal's menu to 12 branches and are now planning a major expansion across the sites.

In March 2009 Blumenthal began a short series of hour long programmes, called Heston's Feasts, showing Victorian, Medieval, Tudor, Christmas (including dormouse and venison) and Roman themed dinner banquets with various celebrities as guests. A second series of this was commissioned and began a few days after Easter 2010. In this series he created, among others, a Charlie and The Chocolate Factory-style feast,^[13] a Fairytale feast and an Edwardian style feast based on the last meal eaten on the Titanic.

From 22 February 2011, Channel 4 began airing Heston's new show, titled Heston's Mission Impossible, in which Heston targets lackluster food served in various industries and aims to update the food to things people enjoy to eat. So far broadcast are Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Cineworld, British Airways and The Royal Navy (aboard the HMS Turbulent).^[14]

Blumenthal has appeared on two episodes of Masterchef Australia, in series 2 and in series 3 called (Pressure Test 4)—Craig, Michael, Shannon and Rachel faced a Heston Blumenthal creation: a seemingly simple burger with chips and milkshake.

On 4 January 2012, Blumenthal's new television program, How To Cook Like Heston, premiered on Channel 4. The programme is aimed at home cooks, and features some of the more approachable techniques employed by Blumenthal.

Cooking methods[link]

Blumenthal is a proponent of modern cooking; he opened his own research and development kitchen in early 2004. It could be said that he is a molecular gastronomist, though he dislikes the term, believing it makes the practice sound "complicated" and "elitist."^[15] He holds multiple honorary degrees in recognition of his scientific approach to cooking.^[16][17]

One of his signature techniques is the use of a vacuum jar to increase expansion of bubbles during food preparation. This is used in such dishes as an aerated chocolate soufflé–like dessert. The reduction in air pressure inside the jar causes bubbles to grow to a larger size. He has experimented with amplification to enhance the sounds, such as the crunch, created while eating various foods.

Blumenthal is a proponent of low temperature, ultra–slow cooking, whereby a joint of meat is cooked for up to 24 hours so as to contain the fat content while preventing collagen molecules from re-forming within the meat. In his In Search of Perfection series, he cooks a Bresse chicken at 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit). Ultra-slow cooking does not melt the fat or release many juices, making the creation of gravy impossible, but Blumenthal says that gravy is unnecessary as the meat itself is sufficiently moist.

Blumenthal is also a proponent of the sous-vide cooking technique. Sous-vide, which means under vacuum in French, is a technique that entails cooking something that has been vacuum sealed in a plastic bag. The sealed bag is placed in a thermostatically controlled water bath and held at a relatively low temperature for long periods of time. In the case of beef steak cooked using the sous-vide method, the steak is held at around 60 °C (140 °F) for a minimum of thirty minutes. The steak is then removed from the bag and is then seared in a very hot pan. Searing the outside of the steak not only improves the flavour and texture of the meat, it also kills the harmful bacteria on the outside of the steak that survived the water bath.

Signature Dishes[link]

Blumenthal's signature dishes include snail porridge, bacon and egg ice cream and parsnip cereal, mock turtle soup (which combines a multi-sensory experience with historical references), Meat Fruit and his Sweet Shop petit fours.^[18]

He has pioneered the use of sound as part of the dining experience with his Sound of the Sea dish where diners listen to a recording of the seaside - crashing waves with occasional sounds of distant seagulls, children's laughter and the horn of a ship, while they eat a dish of king fish, konbu cured halibut, balloting of mackerel with 5 different seaweeds, sea jelly beans and monks beard served on "sand" made from tapioca starch, toasted Japanese breadcrumbs, miso paste and dried seaweeds.^{[citation needed]}

Blumenthal is also known for his use of scented dry ice.^{[citation needed]}

Blumenthal and his restaurant "The Fat Duck" have been credited as instigators of the bacon dessert "craze". He was preparing sweet and savoury bacon-and-egg ice cream as early as 2004, and news "about the intriguingly odd confection quickly spread through the food world."^[19]

Historic influences[link]

This biographical section of an 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 2012)

Blumenthal is known for using British history in his dishes, television work, and books. He first became interested in British culinary history in 2000 when he was writing his book “Family Food”. The first dish he created based on a historic recipe was Quaking Pudding, which is on the menu at the Hinds Head.

British culinary history formed the basis for Blumenthal’s Feast Series. One of Blumenthal’s signature dishes at his restaurant, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, is Meat Fruit which he first developed for the Feast Medieval episode. Blumenthal said in the programme,” When I first started looking at historic recipes, particularly recipes from medieval times, there was one dish that really attracted my attention, just because it was completely mad: Meat fruit. Literally, you took some meat and literally turned it into fruit. People in the Middle Ages believed fruit and vegetable were considered to have diseases unless cooked. With a typically wicked sense of humor, medieval chefs played on this fear by forming and painting meat to make it look like raw fruit. The idea being to shock and delight their diners.”

Blumenthal has worked extensively with historian Ivan Day and then those at Hampton Court Palace to research British culinary history.

Blumenthal is writing and researching a book based entirely on historic recipes.

Collaborations[link]

Blumenthal has collaborated with scientists, including:

• Professor Peter Barham, Professorial Teaching Fellow in Physics at Bristol University and author of the book The Science of Cooking
• Professor Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford, with whom he collaborated in experiments with the use of headphones during eating
• Professor Andy Taylor at the University of Nottingham with whom Blumenthal has sponsored a PhD studentship
• Professors Don Mottram and Margot Gosney of the University of Reading, which in 2006 awarded Blumenthal an honorary degree.^[20]

Heston is also a mentor for the British Airways Great Britons Programme,^[21] and will mentor an up and coming chef to produce a dish served on board flights in the run up to the London 2012 Games.

Honorary Degrees and Recognition[link]

This biographical section of an 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 2012)

Blumenthal holds multiple honorary degrees in recognition of his scientific approach to cooking.

In January 2006, he was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen in the New Years Honours List for his services to British Gastronomy.

In July 2006, Blumenthal was presented with an honorary Doctor of Science degree by Reading University in recognition of his unique scientific approach to food and long-standing relationship with the University’s School of Food Biosciences. Also in July 2006, Blumenthal was the first chef to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Blumenthal received an honorary Master of Science from Bristol University in 2007.

Blumenthal is the first ever professional chef in the United Kingdom to be offered a Coat of Arms.[citation needed]

Awards[link]

This biographical section of an 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 2012)

Personal awards[link]

• GQ Chef of the Year - GQ Man of the Year Awards 2010, 2011
• Trophy Gourmand - Austria 2010
• GQ Personality of the year - GQ Glenfiddich Awards 2007
• Chefs Chef - San Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurant Awards April 2007
• Honorary Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship for “… distinguished person whose activities have been of significant development to the chemical community..” - July 2006
• Honorary Doctor of Science degree awarded by Reading University for recognition for his unique scientific approach to food and long-standing relationship with the University’s School of Food Biosciences.
• Summer graduation ceremony - July 2006
• Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen - January 2006 New Years Honours List
• GQ Magazine Chef of the Year - GQ Magazine Man of the Year awards 2004
• Chef of the Year - Good Food Guide, 2001
• Catey Awards Restaurateur of the year Award - Caterer & Hotelkeeper Magazine 2003
• Best Restaurant of the Year Award - Decanter Magazine, 1998
• Food & Wine Personality of the Year Award - GQ Magazine, Glenfiddich Awards 2004
• AA Guide chef’s chef of the year Award - AA Guide Publications 2002

Television and book awards[link]

• BAFTA nomination in the Features category for "FEAST" - British Academy Television Awards 2010
• The Features and Lifestyle Award for Heston's Victorian Feast - The Royal Television Society Awards 2009
• Food Book of the Year for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook - Guild of Food Writers Awards 2009
• Winner of Design and Production Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook - British Book Industry Awards 2009
• Winner of Photography Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook - James Beard Foundation Awards 2009
• Winner of Design Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook - International Association of Culinary Professionals Awards 2009
• BAFTA nomination in the Features category for “Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection”- British Academy Television Awards 2008
• Best Cookbook of the year Worldwide for Family Food “a new approach to cooking” - Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2004
• Best Children Cookbook for Family Food “a new approach to cooking” - Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2004
• Best Production “Heston Blumenthal – In Search of Perfection” BBC2 - GQ Glenfiddich Awards 2007

Restaurant awards[link]

• Third Best Restaurant in the World - San Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2010
• Second Best Restaurant in the World - San Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2009,2008,2007,2006
• Best Restaurant in the UK and 10/10 score - Good Food Guide 2008, 2009,2010,2011, 2012
• Conde Nast Traveller Innovation Award for “Chocolate Wine” 2008
• Best Overall Service - Restaurant Magazine Front of House Awards 2007
• Best Restaurant in the UK - Good Food Guide 2007
• Grand Prix de L’Art de la Cuisine - International Academy of Gastronomy 2007
• Gault Millau, 19/20 rating
• Gault Millau Guide January 2005
• 3 Michelin Stars - Michelin Travel Publications 2004
• Square Meal/BMW Best out of Town Restaurant - Square Meal Magazine, BMW Awards 2004
• Tatler Magazine Best Out of Town Restaurant - Tatler Magazine Awards 2004
• Catey Awards Chef of the Year - Catering & Hotelkeeper Magazine 2004
• Second Best restaurant in the World Award - Restaurant Magazine Worlds 50 Best Restaurant awards 2004
• Restaurant Magazine Best European Restaurant Award - Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2004
• Restaurant Magazine highest New Entry Award - Worlds Best 50 Restaurants Awards 2004
• Best Restaurant Award - Observer Food Monthly Awards 2004
• Good Food Guide accreditation 9/10 - 2004
• 2 Michelin Stars - Michelin Travel Publications 2001
• 5 AA rosettes - AA Publications 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
• AA wine list of the year - AA Publications 2002
• AA Sherry List of the year - AA Sherry Publications 2002
• AA Restaurant of Year Award - AA Publications 2001
• Best of the year in Modern European category - Hotel and Restaurant Magazine, 2000
• 1 Michelin Star - Michelin Travel Publications 1998

Bibliography[link]

• Family Food: A New Approach to Cooking (2002)
• In Search of Perfection (2006)
• Further Adventures in Search of Perfection (2007)
• The Fat Duck Cookbook (2008)
• Total Perfection:In Search of Total Perfection (2009)
• Heston's Fantastical Feasts (2010)
• Heston Blumenthal At Home (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of the Fat Duck restaurant
• Blumenthal's biography
• Heston Blumenthal's column in The Times
• Heston Blumenthal recipes at www.bbc.co.uk

Charlton Heston
Heston at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington
Born	John Charles Carter (1923-10-04)October 4, 1923 No Man's Land, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 5, 2008(2008-04-05) (aged 84) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Residence	Beverly Hills, California
Nationality	American
Education	New Trier High School
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Occupation	Actor, film director, activist
Years active	1941–2008
Home town	St. Helen, Michigan
Spouse	Lydia Clarke (1944–2008, his death)

Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor of film, theatre and television.^[1][2][3] Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes. He also is well known for his roles in the films The Greatest Show on Earth and Touch of Evil.

Heston was also known for his political activism. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Initially a moderate Democrat, he later supported conservative Republican policies and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003.

Early years[link]

Heston was born John Charles Carter, the son of Lilla (née Charlton; 1899–1994) and Russell Whitford Carter (1897–1966), a sawmill operator.^[4] Most sources state that he was born in Evanston, Illinois.^[5][6][7][8] Heston's autobiography,^[9] however, and some other sources place his birth in No Man's Land, Illinois, which usually refers to a then-unincorporated area now part of Wilmette, a wealthy northern suburb of Chicago. Heston said in a 1995 interview that he was not very good at remembering addresses or his early childhood.^[10]

Heston was of partial Scottish descent and was a member of the Fraser clan. The majority of Heston's ancestry was English.^[11]

In his autobiography, Heston refers to his father participating in his family's construction business.^[9] When Heston was an infant his father's work moved the family to St. Helen, Michigan.^[12] It was a rural, heavily forested part of the state, and Heston lived an isolated yet idyllic^{[citation needed]} existence spending much time hunting and fishing in the backwoods of the area.

When Heston was 10 years old, his parents divorced. Shortly thereafter, his mother married Chester Heston. The new family moved back to Wilmette. Heston (his new surname) attended New Trier High School.^[13]

Throughout Heston's life he was known by friends as "Chuck" although his wife always called him "Charlie." His stage name Charlton Heston is drawn from his mother's maiden surname (Charlton) and his stepfather's surname (Heston), and was used for his first film, Peer Gynt.

Career[link]

Heston frequently recounted that, while growing up in northern Michigan in a sparsely populated area, he often wandered in the forest, "acting" out the characters from books he had read.^[14] Later, in high school, Heston enrolled in New Trier's drama program, playing in the silent 16 mm amateur film adaptation of Peer Gynt, from the Ibsen play, by future film activist David Bradley released in 1941.^[15] From the Winnetka Community Theatre (Or, the Winnetka Dramatist's Guild as it was then known) in which he was active, he earned a drama scholarship to Northwestern University. Several years later Heston teamed up with Bradley to produce the first sound version of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which Heston played Mark Antony.

World War II service[link]

In 1944, Heston enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He served for two years as a radio operator and aerial gunner aboard a B-25 Mitchell stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the Eleventh Air Force. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Heston married Northwestern University student Lydia Marie Clarke in the same year he joined the military. After his service and rise to fame, Heston was chosen as a narrator for highly classified Military and Department of Energy instructional films, particularly relating to nuclear weapons, and "for six years Heston [held] the nation's highest security clearance" or Q clearance."^[16]

Theater and television[link]

After the war, Heston and Clarke lived in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, where they worked as artists' models. Seeking a way to make it in theater, Heston and his wife Lydia decided to manage a playhouse in Asheville, North Carolina in 1947. They made $100 a week on the job. In 1948, they went back to New York where Heston was offered a supporting role in a Broadway revival of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, starring Katharine Cornell. Heston had success in television, playing a number of roles in CBS's Studio One, one of the most popular anthology dramas of the 1950s. Film producer Hal B. Wallis of Casablanca spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of Wuthering Heights and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded Heston they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."

Heston's most frequently played roles on stage include the title role in Macbeth, Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

In 1995, Heston starred with Peter Graves, Mickey Rooney and Deborah Winters in the Warren Chaney docudrama, America: A Call to Greatness.^[17] Then in 1998, he had a cameo role, playing himself, on the American television series Friends, in The One with Joey's Dirty Day.

Charlton Heston as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, 1950

Hollywood[link]

Heston earned recognition for his appearance in his first professional movie, Dark City, a 1950 film noir. His breakthrough came when Cecil B. DeMille cast him as a circus manager in The Greatest Show on Earth, which was named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. In 1953, Heston was Billy Wilder's first choice to play Sefton in Stalag 17. However, the role was given to William Holden, who won an Oscar for it. Heston became an icon for portraying Moses in the hugely successful film The Ten Commandments (1956), reportedly being chosen by director Cecil B. DeMille because he thought the muscular, 6 ft 3 in, square jawed Heston bore an uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo's statue of Moses. In 1955, he joined Jane Wyman in the film, Lucy Gallant, the story of a woman determined to maintain her dress shop in a small Texas oil-boom community. In 1958, Heston played a Mexican police officer named Ramon Miguel Vargas in Orson Welles's widely acclaimed film noir Touch of Evil.

From the film trailer of Ben-Hur

Heston poses for his wife Lydia at their hilltop Beverly Hills home, just after winning an Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur, 1960.

After Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson^[18] turned down the title role of Ben-Hur (1959), Heston accepted the role, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor, one of the unprecedented eleven Oscars the film earned. After Moses and Ben-Hur, Heston was identified with Biblical epics more than any other actor. He voiced the role of a cartoon version of the Lew Wallace novel in 2003.

Heston played leading roles in a number of fictional and historical epics: El Cid (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), as Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), and Khartoum (1966). Heston also played the eponymous role in the western movie, Will Penny (1968).

In 1965, Heston became president of the Screen Actors Guild. He remained in the position until 1971, the second longest tenure to date in that office.^[19]

In 1968, Heston starred in Planet of the Apes and in 1970, he was in a smaller supporting role in the sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Also in 1970, Heston portrayed Mark Antony again in another film version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. His co-stars included Jason Robards as Brutus, Richard Chamberlain as Octavius, Robert Vaughn as Casca, and English actors Richard Johnson as Cassius, John Gielgud as Caesar, and Diana Rigg as Portia. In 1971, he starred in the science fiction film, The Omega Man. Although critically panned, the film is now considered a classic of apocalyptic horror. In 1972, Heston made his directorial debut, and starred, as Mark Antony in an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play he performed earlier in his theater career, Antony and Cleopatra. Hildegarde Neil was Cleopatra, and English actor Eric Porter was Enobarbus. After receiving scathing reviews, the film never went to theaters, and rarely turns up on television. It was finally released on DVD in March 2011.^[20] He subsequently starred in successful films such as Soylent Green (1973) and Earthquake (1974).

Beginning with playing Cardinal Richelieu in 1973's The Three Musketeers, Heston was seen in an increasing number of supporting roles, cameos and theater. From 1985 to 1987, he starred in his only prime-time stint on series television with the soap, The Colbys. With his son Fraser, he produced and also starred in several TV movies, including remakes of Treasure Island and A Man For All Seasons. In 1992, Heston appeared in a short series of videos on the A&E cable network reading passages from the King James Version of the Bible, called Charlton Heston Presents the Bible. It was filmed in the Middle East and received excellent reviews, achieving great success on video and DVD. Never taking himself too seriously, he appeared in 1993 in a cameo role in Wayne's World 2 (in a scene wherein main character Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) requests that a small role be filled by a better actor). After the scene is reshot with Heston, Campbell weeps in awe. That same year, Heston hosted Saturday Night Live. He had cameos in the films Hamlet, Tombstone and True Lies. He starred in many theatre productions at the Los Angeles Music Center where he appeared in such plays as Detective Story, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and as Sherlock Holmes in The Crucifer of Blood opposite Jeremy Brett as Dr. Watson, later winning acclaim for his interpretation of the famous detective in a television version. In 2001, Heston made a cameo appearance as an elderly, dying chimpanzee in Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. Heston's last film role was as the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in My Father, Rua Alguem 5555, which had limited release (mainly to festivals) in 2003.^[21]

Heston's distinctive voice had also landed him roles as a film narrator, including Armageddon and Disney's Hercules.

Heston played the title role in Mister Roberts three times and cited it as one of his favorite roles. In the early 1990s, he tried unsuccessfully to revive and direct the show with Tom Selleck in the title role.^[22]

Political activism[link]

Charlton Heston (left) with James Baldwin, Marlon Brando, and Harry Belafonte at the Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 1963. Sidney Poitier is in the background.

Heston with President Ronald Reagan during a meeting for the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities in the White House Cabinet Room, 1981

Heston campaigned for Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.^[23] Reportedly, when an Oklahoma movie theater premiering his movie El Cid was segregated, he joined a picket line outside in 1961.^[24] Heston makes no reference to this in his autobiography, but describes traveling to Oklahoma City to picket segregated restaurants, much to the chagrin of Allied Artists, the producers of El Cid.^[25] During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom held in Washington, D.C. in 1963, he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. In later speeches, Heston said he helped the civil rights cause "long before Hollywood found it fashionable."^[26]

Following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Heston and actors Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and James Stewart issued a statement calling for support of President Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.^[27][28] He opposed the Vietnam War during its course (though he changed his opinion in the years following the war)^[29] and in 1969 was approached by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate. He agonized over the decision and ultimately determined he could never give up acting.^[30] He is reported to have voted for Richard Nixon in 1972, though Nixon is unmentioned in his autobiography.^[31]

By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democrat to Republican. When asked why he changed political alliances, Heston replied "I didn't change. The Democratic party changed."^[32] He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan,^[33] George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.^[34]

"Heston resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in Miss Saigon was 'obscenely racist'. He said CNN's telecasts from Baghdad were 'sowing doubts' about the allied effort in the 1990–91 Gulf War."^[18]

At a Time Warner stockholders' meeting, Heston castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album which included the song "Cop Killer", which depicted the killing of police officers.^[35]

While filming The Savage, Heston was initiated by blood into the Miniconjou Lakota Nation, but claimed no natural American Indian heritage. He claimed to be "native American" to reclaim the term from exclusion to American Indians.^[9]

In a 1997 Fighting the Culture War in America speech, Heston rhetorically deplored a culture war he said was being conducted by a generation of media, educators, entertainers and politicians against:

"...the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle-class Protestant – or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern – or even worse, rural, apparently straight – or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owning – or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff – or even worse, male working stiff – because, not only don’t you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?"^[36]

He went on:

"The Constitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of wise old dead white guys who invented our country! Now some flinch when I say that. Why! It's true-they were white guys! So were most of the guys that died in Lincoln's name opposing slavery in the 1860s. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is "Hispanic Pride" or "Black Pride" a good thing, while "White Pride" conjures shaven heads and white hoods? Why was the Million Man March on Washington celebrated by many as progress, while the Promise Keepers March on Washington was greeted with suspicion and ridicule? I’ll tell you why: Cultural warfare!"

In an address to students at Harvard Law School entitled Winning the Cultural War, Heston said, "If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys – subjects bound to the British crown."^[37]

He said to the students:

"You are the best and the brightest. You, here in this fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River. You are the cream. But I submit that you and your counterparts across the land are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that and abide it, you are, by your grandfathers' standards, cowards."^[37]

Heston later stated, "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."^[38]

In a speech to the National Press Club in 1997, Heston said, "Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."^[39]

Heston was the president and spokesman of the NRA from 1998 until he resigned in 2003. At the 2000 NRA convention, he raised a rifle over his head and declared that a potential Al Gore administration would take away his Second Amendment rights "from my cold, dead hands".^[40] In announcing his resignation in 2003, he again raised a rifle over his head, repeating the five famous words of his 2000 speech.^[41] He was an honorary life member.^[41]

In the 2002 film Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore interviewed Heston in his home, asking him about an April 1999 NRA meeting held shortly after the Columbine high school massacre, in Denver, Colorado. Moore criticized Heston for the perceived thoughtlessness in the timing and location of the meeting. Heston, on-camera, excused himself and walked out. Moore was later criticized for his ambush and for selectively editing footage which scrambled the sequence of questions and answers to make Heston appear to be giving responses that did not match the question asked.^[42][43][44]

Actor George Clooney made a controversial joke about Heston's failing health at a 2003 National Board of Review award ceremony, saying that Heston "announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's." When asked about the incident, Clooney said Heston deserved whatever was said about him for his involvement with the NRA.^[45] Heston responded by saying Clooney lacked class, and said he felt sorry for Clooney, as Clooney had as much of a chance of developing Alzheimer's as anyone else.^[46]

In April 2003 Heston sent a message of support to US forces in the Iraq war, attacking opponents of the war as "pretend patriots".^[47]

Heston opposed abortion and gave the introduction to a 1987 pro-life documentary by Bernard Nathanson called Eclipse of Reason which focuses on late-term abortions. Heston served on the Advisory Board of Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog group founded by Reed Irvine.^[48]

Later life and death[link]

In 1996, Heston had a hip replacement. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998. Following a course of radiation treatment, the cancer went into remission. In 2000, he publicly disclosed that he had been treated for alcoholism at a Utah clinic in May–June of that year.^[49] On August 9, 2002, Heston publicly announced he was diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.^[50]

Heston by Jerry Avenaim in 2001

In July 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House from President George W. Bush. In March 2005, various newspapers reported that family and friends were shocked by the progression of his illness, and that he was sometimes unable to get out of bed.^[51]

Heston died on April 5, 2008, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, by his side. He was also survived by his son, Fraser Clarke Heston, and daughter, Holly Ann Heston. The cause of death was not disclosed by the family.^[52][53] A month later media outlets reported his death was due to complications with pneumonia.^[54] Heston's family released a statement, reading:^[55]

Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiselled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played. No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession and to his country.

— Family of Charlton Heston

Early tributes came in from leading figures; President George W. Bush called Heston "a man of character and integrity, with a big heart", adding, "He served his country during World War II, marched in the civil rights movement, led a labor union and vigorously defended Americans’ Second Amendment rights."^[55] Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said that she was "heartbroken" over Heston's death and released a statement, reading, "I will never forget Chuck as a hero on the big screen in the roles he played, but more importantly I considered him a hero in life for the many times that he stepped up to support Ronnie in whatever he was doing."^[55]

Heston's funeral was held a week later on April 12, 2008, in a ceremony which was attended by 250 people including Nancy Reagan and Hollywood stars such as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olivia de Havilland, Keith Carradine, Pat Boone, Tom Selleck, Oliver Stone, Rob Reiner, and Christian Bale.^[56][57][58]

The funeral was held at Episcopal Parish of St. Matthew's Church in Pacific Palisades, California, the church where Heston regularly worshipped and attended Sunday services since the early 1980s.^[59][60] He was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.^[61]

Legacy[link]

Richard Corliss wrote in TIME magazine, "From start to finish, Heston was a grand, ornery anachronism, the sinewy symbol of a time when Hollywood took itself seriously, when heroes came from history books, not comic books. Epics like Ben-Hur or El Cid simply couldn't be made today, in part because popular culture has changed as much as political fashion. But mainly because there's no one remotely like Charlton Heston to infuse the form with his stature, fire and guts."^[62]

In his obituary for the actor, film critic Roger Ebert noted "Heston made at least three movies that almost everybody eventually sees: Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments and Planet of the Apes."^[63]

Heston's cinematic legacy was the subject of Cinematic Atlas: The Triumphs of Charlton Heston, an eleven-film retrospective by the Film Society of the Lincoln Center that was shown at the Walter Reade Theater from August 29 to September 4, 2008.^[64]

On April 17, 2010, Heston was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers.^[65]

Filmography[link]

Bibliography[link]

Heston's books include autobiographies and religious books:

• The Actor's Life (ISBN 0-671-83016-3)
• In the Arena: An Autobiography (ISBN 1-57297-267-X)
• The Courage to be Free (ISBN 978-0-9703688-0-5)
• Beijing Diary (ISBN 0-671-68706-9)
• To Be a Man: Letters to My Grandson (ISBN 0-7432-1311-4)
• Charlton Heston Presents the Bible (ISBN 1-57719-270-2)
• Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years in American Film with Jean-Pierre Isbouts (ISBN 1-57719-357-1)

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	United States Army portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlton Heston

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlton Heston

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Charlton Heston

• Charlton Heston at the Internet Broadway Database
• Charlton Heston at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlton Heston at Yahoo! Movies
• Hollywood.com entry
• Reel Classics
• BBC News Obituary
• Obituary and public tribute
• 'From Our Files: An Interview with Charlton Heston' by Phil Elderkin, The Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 1959
• Charlton Heston, The Actor – French PDF (14 Mo)

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2009)

Statue of El Cid in Burgos, the capital of Sancho II's kingdom, and where El Cid served in his early years.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043 – July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador (Spanish pronunciation: [el ˈθið kampeaˈðor], "The lord-master of military arts"), was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat. Exiled from the court of the Spanish Emperor Alfonso VI of León and Castile, El Cid went on to command a Moorish force consisting of Muladis, Berbers, Arabs and Malians, under Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud, Moorish king of the northeast Al-Andalus city of Zaragoza, and his successor, Al-Mustein II.

After the Christian defeat at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086, El Cid was recalled to service by Alfonso VI, and commanded a combined Christian and Moorish army, which he used to create his own fiefdom in the Moorish Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia.

Rodrigo Díaz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alférez, the chief general, of Alfonso VI, and his most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors.