Coordinates: 51°28′15″N 0°02′01″W / 51.4709°N 0.0337°W / 51.4709; -0.0337

New Cross
New Cross  New Cross shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ365765
London borough	Lewisham
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SE14
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Lewisham Deptford
London Assembly	Greenwich and Lewisham
List of places: UK • England • London

New Cross is a district and ward of the London Borough of Lewisham, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Charing Cross. The ward covered by London post town and the SE 14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich. New Cross is home to Goldsmiths, University of London, Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College and Addey and Stanhope School.

New Cross Gate, on the west of New Cross, is named after the New Cross tollgate, established in 1718 by the New Cross Turnpike Trust. It is the location of New Cross Gate station. New Cross Gate corresponds to the manor and district formerly known as Hatcham.^[1]

History[link]

The area was originally known as Hatcham (the name persists in the title of the Anglican parishes of St. James, Hatcham along with its school, and All Saints, Hatcham Park). The earliest reference to Hatcham is the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hacheham. It was held by the Bishop of Lisieux from the Bishop of Bayeux. According to the entry in the Domesday Book Hatcham's assets were: 3 hides; 3 ploughs, 6 acres (24,000 m²) of meadow, woodland worth 3 hog and rendered £2.^[2]

Hatcham tithes were paid to Bermondsey Abbey from 1173 until the dissolution of the monasteries. A series of individuals then held land locally before the manor was bought in the 17th century by the Haberdashers' Company, a wealthy livery company that was instrumental in the area's development in the 19th century. Telegraph Hill was for many years covered by market gardens also owned by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. Until the creation of the London County Council in 1889, the area was a part of the counties of Kent and Surrey.

New Cross is believed to have taken its name from a coaching house originally known as the Golden Cross which stood close to the current New Cross House pub. The diarist John Evelyn, who lived in Deptford, wrote in 1675 that he met a friend at 'New Crosse' in his coach before travelling down through Kent and on to France.

The electoral ward of New Cross (red) within the London Borough of Lewisham (orange)

In the later nineteenth century, the area became known as the New Cross Tangle on account of its numerous railway lines, workshops and two stations — both originally called New Cross (one was later renamed New Cross Gate).

Hatcham Iron Works in Pomeroy Street was an important locomotives factory, the scene of a bitter confrontation in 1865 between its manager, George England, and the workers. The Strike Committee met at the Crown and Anchor pub in New Cross Road, now the site of Hong Kong City Chinese restaurant. George England’s house, Hatcham Lodge, is now 56 Kender Street.

New Cross bus garage was formerly the largest tram depot in London, opening in 1906. During the 1926 General Strike in support of the miners, strikebreakers were brought in to drive trams from the depot. On 7 May, police baton charges were launched to clear a crowd of 2-3,000 pickets blockading the entrance (reported as "Rowdyism in New Cross" by the Kentish Mercury).

The last London tram, in July 1952, ran from Woolwich to New Cross. It was driven through enormous crowds, finally arriving at its destination in the early hours of 6 July.^[3]

On 25 November 1944 a V-2 Rocket exploded at the Woolworth's store in New Cross Road (on the site later occupied by an Iceland supermarket), 168 people were killed, and 121 were seriously injured. It was the most devastating V-bombing of the entire war. On Wednesday 25 November 2009 a new commemorative plaque was unveiled on the site by the Mayor of Lewisham, marking the 65th anniversary of the explosion.

In August 1977 the area saw the Battle of Lewisham, during which the far right British National Front were beaten off by militant anti-fascists and local people.^[4]

On January 18, 1981 13 young black people were killed in the New Cross Fire at a party at 439 New Cross Road. Suspicions that the fire was caused by a racist attack, and apparent official indifference to the deaths, led to the largest ever political mobilisation of black people seen in Britain.

Culture[link]

Music[link]

During the 1980s, the Goldsmiths Tavern hosted alternative cabaret nights, organised by Nikky Smedley.^{[citation needed]} Playing host to fledgling acts including The Cholmondeleys, Julian Clary and Vic Reeves.^{[citation needed]} Goldsmiths' Students' Union also had a reputation for putting on established and up and coming bands of the era including The B-52's, The Pogues, The Monochrome Set, Simply Red, Wet Wet Wet and Wild Willy Barrett.^{[citation needed]}. The Irish owners of the Harp Club let The Flim Flam run a regular Friday night club there.^{[citation needed]} The Flim Flam, with their wide music interest, recruited two DJs from Goldsmiths (Alison ? and Mimi Kerns) to put on a punk and indie night on Saturdays A Million Rubber Bands (later "Totally Wired").

In the 1990s New Cross club, The Venue was central to the Indie Rock and Brit Pop scenes and played host to gigs by many of their finest purveyors including Oasis, Radiohead, Pulp, Squeeze, Levellers, Cast, Shed Seven, Sleeper, Cornershop, Bluetones, Suede, PJ Harvey, Catherine Wheel, Belly, Ocean Colour Scene, Lush, Chumbawamba, Ash, Mudhoney, and Hole.^{[citation needed]} Urban music magazine, Touch, and The Platform Magazine, an Islamic Hip-Hop journal are based in New Cross.^{[citation needed]}

New Cross was noted as the birth place of New Rave^{[citation needed]}, and is fast gaining ground with London's fashion and music journalists,^{[citation needed]} some even coming to regard it as South London's answer to Shoreditch in the wake of its commercialisation.^{[citation needed]} The New Rave scene began with a tightly connected movement of artists, DJ’s, bands and squatters called !WOWOW! who have staged parties since 2003 in New Cross.^{[citation needed]} New Rave champions Klaxons spent their formative years in New Cross and released their début single, Gravity's Rainbow, in April 2006 on Angular Recording Corporation, a label set up by two ex-Goldsmiths students.^{[citation needed]} The area supports a fledgling student opera company, Opera Gold, run by Goldsmiths, University of London.

Sport[link]

Millwall Football Club, founded by mainly Scottish workers at J.T. Morton, a cannery and food processing plant in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs in 1885, was based at The Den in Cold Blow Lane from 1910 to 1993. The ground attracted crowds of more than 45,000 at its peak, but by the 1980s was notorious for the club's incidents of football hooliganism.

Millwall moved a short distance to The New Den, off Ilderton Road and just within Bermondsey, at the start of the 1993–94 season.

Speedway racing was staged at the New Cross Speedway and Greyhound Stadium, situated at the end of Hornshay Street, off Ilderton Road. The venue became home to the New Cross Rangers in 1934 when the Crystal Palace promotion moved en bloc. The track, reputed to be one of the shortest and known as "The Frying Pan Bowl", operated until 1939 and re-opened in 1946 running until the early 1950s. The track re-opened for a short spell 1959 - 1961 and closed its doors to the sport for the last time mid season 1963. The stadium was also the scene of the UK's first stock car race at Easter 1954, with 26,000 in the crowd and thousands more locked outside. The site of the Stadium is now an open space, Bridge House Meadows. The 1949 speedway film Once a Jolly Swagman, starring Dirk Bogarde, was filmed at New Cross.

Buildings[link]

The proximity of New Cross to Deptford and Greenwich, both of which have strong maritime connections, led to the establishment of the Royal Naval School in New Cross in 1843 (designed by architect John Shaw Jr, 1803–1870) to house "the sons of impecunious naval officers". The school relocated further south-east to Mottingham in 1889, and the former school building was bought by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, who opened the Goldsmiths’ Company’s Technical and Recreative Institute in 1891. This was in turn handed over to the University of London in 1904 and is now Goldsmiths, University of London.

Ben Pimlott Building

The former Deptford Town Hall building in New Cross Road, now also used by Goldsmiths, University of London, was built in the Edwardian Baroque style by Lanchester and Rickards, 1903-5. Nautical references include carvings of Tritons, statues of admirals and a sailing ship weathervane on the clock turret.^[5]

Goldsmith's Library

The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was the South East London Synagogue until it closed in 1985. The present building, which dates from the 1950s, replaced another destroyed in a German air raid in 1940.

The Venue nightclub in New Cross Road has a long history as a place of entertainment. It opened as the New Cross Super Kinema in 1925, with a cinema on the ground floor and the New Cross Palais de Danse above, as well as a cafe. The name was shortened to New Cross Kinema from 1927, the plain Kinema in 1948, and finally Gaumont in 1950. It closed in August 1960, and remained derelict for some time. Part of the building was demolished before the old dancehall became The Harp Club and then The Venue in the late 1980s.^[6]

Also, the Duke of Albany public house (converted to flats in 2008) was the facade for The Winchester pub in the film Shaun of the Dead.

Transport[link]

The area is served by two railway stations, New Cross and New Cross Gate.

Both stations are served by London Overground from New Cross Gate passengers can travel to Crystal Palace and West Croydon to the south and Highbury & Islington to the north. New Cross acts as the terminus for the service from Dalston Junction. Trains sometimes continue to Highbury & Islington but this is more common during engineering works. Passengers can easily make a brief interchange at Dalston Junction for trains to Highbury and Islington

New Cross also has mainline suburban services operated by Southeastern. Trains generally run north to Cannon Street or Charing Cross to the north and south-east to Lewisham, Bexleyheath, and Dartford in Kent.

New Cross Gate has mainline suburban services operated by Southern. Trains here generally run north to London Bridge and south to London Victoria, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport Surrey and Sussex.

Notable residents[link]

Music connections[link]

• Bands such as Art Brut, Bloc Party, Blur, The Hancocks, Luxembourg, Indigo Moss and Athlete have all originated and been associated with the 'New Cross scene'.
• British hip hop artist Blade did most of his recording in the area, selling his records personally on the streets there and often name checking it in his songs.
• 1970s glam rocker Steve Harley grew up in Fairlawn Mansions, New Cross, going to Edmund Waller and Haberdashers' Aske's schools.
• Music hall star Marie Lloyd lived in Lewisham Way from 1887 to 1893
• Nathan Cooper and Chi-Tudor Hart, out of the electro group Matinée Club grew up in New Cross.
• RnB group Damage. Front man Jade Jones who is from the area is the father of Emma Bunton's baby and is due to marry the Spice Girl some time this year. Two members of the group attended St James Hatcham C of E Primary School situated on St James in New Cross Gate
• The folk noir band Songdog lived in New Cross for a year or so after first moving to London from Wales. The transition period was difficult for the band members as they suffered from acute homesickness and for a time had rats, no hot water and no money, but frontman Lyndon Morgans says they took heart from the motto "Take Courage" (Courage being a brewery) which was emblazoned across the front of the Amersham Arms, a pub overlooking New Cross Station.
• Dire Straits lived in Deptford and performed some of their earliest gigs in New Cross pubs
• Jools Holland performed and practised in pubs in New Cross at the beginning of his career

Other local links[link]

• Poet Robert Browning lived in Telegraph Cottage near New Cross Road during the 1840s
• Playwright and author Terence Frisby of the 1960s play and movie There's a Girl in My Soup was born in New Cross in 1932 but spent the majority of his childhood in Welling.
• Politician Sir Isaac Hayward, leader of the London County Council, represented the Deptford division
• Actress Laila Morse (and Gary Oldman's sister) who plays 'Mo Harris' in EastEnders lives in New Cross.
• Harry Mullan, boxing writer, lived in New Cross from the late 1960s to 1990s.
• Wrestler Mick McManus was born in New Cross.
• Actor Gary Oldman was born and raised in New Cross, attending Monson Primary School. His film Nil By Mouth is loosely based on his life growing up in South East London and was largely filmed in the area.
• Footballer Kieran Richardson who currently plays for Sunderland FC spent some of his childhood in New Cross Gate
• Fr. Arthur Tooth SSC, an Anglican priest, was the Vicar of St. James', Hatcham in the 1870s and, whilst he was there, was prosecuted for ritualist practices — an event which became nationally famous at the time.
• Sir Barnes Wallis lived at 241 New Cross Road (on the corner of Nettleton Road) from 1892 to 1909.^[7]
• Artist Edward Henry Windred lived at 352 New Cross Road during the 1930s
• Steve Wright (radio presenter)
• Former Goldsmiths students include Graham Sutherland, John Cale, Mary Quant, Malcolm McLaren, Damien Hirst, Sam Taylor-Wood, Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley, Julian Opie, Hisham Matar, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Neil Innes, Brian Molko, Alex James, and Graham Coxon.
• Princess Beatrice of York attends Goldsmiths College as a BA History student, although she does not actually reside in New Cross.
• Design4D who were nominated for Young Architect of the Year 2009 are based in New Cross.

Places nearby[link]

• Bermondsey
• Brockley
• Deptford
• Greenwich
• Lewisham
• Rotherhithe
• Southwark
• Nunhead
• Peckham
• Telegraph Hill (Part of New Cross)
• Crofton Park

In song[link]

• Carter USM wrote a song called "The Only Living Boy in New Cross" (1992). The song lists the diverse youth tribes that bought their records whilst the title is a play on a Simon & Garfunkel song "The Only Living Boy in New York".

• The tragic New Cross Fire was commemorated in a number of reggae songs and poems at the time, including Johnny Osbourne’s "13 dead and nothing said", Benjamin Zephaniah’s "13 dead", UB40's "Don't let it pass you by" and Linton Kwesi Johnson’s "New Crass Massakkah".

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Lanyado, Benji (22 March 2009). "In London, New Cross and Deptford Attract the Hip". [3].

• Gordon-Orr, Neil (2004). Deptford Fun City: a ramble through the history and music of New Cross and Deptford. London: Past Tense Publications.

External links[link]

• New Cross Photographs
• New Cross Online (includes history)
• New Cross Guide (includes history)
• Transpontine (includes New Cross music and history)

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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. (July 2010)

Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (frequently shortened to Carter USM) are an English indie rock band formed in 1988 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les "Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style of power pop, fusing samples, sequenced basses and drum machines with rock 'n' roll guitars and off-beat wordplay-loaded lyrics. They reached the height of their fame in 1992. Over the following years the band took on new members, topping out as a six-piece, but struggled to regain their earlier popularity. They initially split up in 1998 after releasing seven albums.

Starting out: 1988-1990[link]

Based in Lambeth in South London, England, Fruitbat and Jim Bob originally played in an indie band called Jamie Wednesday, which released two singles - "Vote For Love" and "We Three Kings of Orient Aren't". Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine was formed in 1988, when Fruitbat and Jim Bob were the only band members to turn up for a charity gig at the London Astoria, and went on stage to perform as a duo with backing tapes.^[1] The debut single "A Sheltered Life" was released later in 1988 on the Big Cat label, but it was not until the second single "Sheriff Fatman" in 1989 that the band began to receive recognition. The song was written about a South London slumlord and was followed by the album 101 Damnations – a critical account of life south of the River Thames, full of black humour, cynicism, wordplay and puns. The album went straight to the top of the indie charts.

The band's gigs became well known for a wall of white stage lights that threw off enormous heat and contributed to the sweaty, stage-diving crowd scenes that became part of the band's image. Such scenes are depicted in the video In Bed With Carter, filmed at the Brixton Academy.

Rough Trade: 1991[link]

In 1991 – having signed to Rough Trade Records – Carter USM released the album 30 Something which, thanks to non-stop touring, entered the UK Albums Chart at number eight. The accompanying '30 Something' long-sleeved t-shirt became a defining image of the early 1990s indie generation. One of the singles released from the album, "Bloodsport For All", an attack on racism and bullying in the army, was released at the start of the Gulf War and consequently banned by the BBC. Spurred on by infamy, Jim Bob and Fruitbat toured Japan, Yugoslavia and the United States (with EMF) and made a second-on-the-bill appearance at the Reading Festival, where some people feel they upstaged the headline act, James. The band also made its first Top Of The Pops appearance with the single "After the Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way)", a song about child abuse that would become more famous for its subsequent legal battle with The Rolling Stones' publisher over the use of the lyrics "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday" in the chorus. The band also hit the headlines when Fruitbat rugby tackled the children's TV presenter Phillip Schofield in front of millions of television viewers at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party in 1991.

Chrysalis Records: 1992-1995[link]

The demise of Rough Trade records necessitated a change of label, and Carter made the switch to Chrysalis Records to work on their third album. That album, 1992 - The Love Album, went straight to number one in the UK charts, propelling the band to pop stardom. Also, in 1992, the band headlined the Glastonbury Festival where Fruitbat, annoyed at the shortening of their headline set due to other bands overrunning insulted Michael Eavis and was subsequently banned from the festival forever. The band was unhappy, however, and this came across in the anger and cynicism of their next record, Post Historic Monsters.

In 1994, Carter's friend Wez, from former support band Resque, joined the band on drums and the newly inspired trio played America, Japan and Europe, including a major concert in Croatia which was recorded and later released on video. The recording was also given away as a free live album with Carter's fifth studio LP, Worry Bomb - a punk-pop album with upbeat material such as "Let's Get Tattoos" and slow acoustic songs such as "My Defeatist Attitude".

Cooking Vinyl: 1996-1998[link]

In 1996 Carter left Chrysalis Records and joined Cooking Vinyl. With Salv from the band S*M*A*S*H on bass, Wez's brother Steve on guitar, and teenager Ben Lambert on keyboards, Carter became a six-piece band.

After signing to Cooking Vinyl they released a mini-album, A World Without Dave, and started their longest ever UK tour. The band then went back to Canada and the U.S. They decided to split shortly after their 10th anniversary, and their final studio album, I Blame The Government, was released in January 1998. Two further albums, Live! and BBC Sessions, were released in the same year, in June and October respectively.

Post-USM projects: 1999-present[link]

Les Carter currently plays with the band Abdoujaparov as well as appearing as a presenter on the Brentwood radio station Phoenix FM. James Morrison's projects included the band Jim's Super Stereoworld before moving on to solo albums including Angelstrike!. He has also written two books, Goodnight, JimBob, detailing his experiences on the road with Carter USM, and a novel - 'Storage Stories'. He also appeared in Gutted - A Revengers Musical that debuted at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

EMI released Anytime Anyplace Anywhere, a "best of" record featuring tracks from the band's birth until their switch to Cooking Vinyl. This reportedly annoyed the band as they were not consulted or even made aware of the release of the record. In 2004 two new Carter CDs were released: a live album of BBC concerts from the early 1990s, and Brixton Mortars, a compilation album of tracks from their final two studio albums. In 2006, Carter released a new compilation of unreleased tracks and rarities called The Good, The Bad, The Average And Unique. Echoing the earlier Starry Eyed And Bollock Naked, the sleeve features a Volkswagen Beetle - this time a bright green new model convertible. Autumn 2007 saw the release of a band-authorised best of compilation album spanning their entire career on EMI, under the title, You Fat Bastard. The title came from a chant performed by the crowd at gigs. It originated from MC (and lighting man) Jon "Fat" Beast's topless on stage band introductions.

Reunions[link]

In 2001 and 2002, Jim Bob and Fruitbat toured as Who's The Daddy Now? The pair's two bands, Jim's Super Stereoworld and Abdoujaparov, would play a set each, after which the pair combined to perform a number of Carter USM songs. Until 2006, Who's The Daddy Now? was the closest thing to a Carter USM regrouping after their split in 1997.

On 4 March 2007, almost 10 years after the band last performed, Carter USM's original two-man line-up played a set of four songs as part of a gig to celebrate the life of Darren 'Wiz' Brown, former frontman of the Mega City Four, who had died in December 2006. The band had been booked to play acoustically but surprised the audience by playing a traditional electric set at the last moment.

Due to the success of this performance, Carter reunited for two 'farewell' gigs later that year. The first show took place on 2 November 2007 at London's Brixton Academy with support from Sultans of Ping. This sell-out prompted another concert to be arranged, which took place at Glasgow Barrowlands on 20 October 2007. This was another sell-out show and was recorded for the "Back In Bed With Carter" DVD that contained the whole gig, along with an interview and rehearsal footage. This is the only Carter DVD to be recorded in 5.1 surround sound. Support at The Barrowlands came from The Frank and Walters and Chris T-T.

The re-union celebrated twenty years since the band's foundation and ten years since their split. The gigs were performed as the original two-piece of Fruitbat and Jim Bob, who kept their promise to play "all the hits and all the favourites" with sets that lasted almost two hours (a lot longer than their standard seventy minute headline sets of the nineties).

To coincide with the re-union EMI released a two CD anthology, You Fat Bastard. All 36 songs and running order were decided by Jim Bob and Fruitbat. The artwork was also approved and developed with the band. The songs were digitally remastered at Abbey Road studios. This was released in conjunction with the majority of their back catalogue (albums and promo videos) being made available digitally for the first time by EMI.

On 6 February 2008 Jim Bob and Fruitbat hinted at the possibility of further Carter USM gigs when they sent an e-mail to members of the band's mailing list. Two dates were then announced for Birmingham Academy and Brixton Academy for 21 and 22 November 2008. Support came from EMF at both gigs. Both gigs sold out as Carter played to 8000 people over two nights. Carter also performed at a secret warm-up gig on 17 November at the Southampton Joiners. This sell out show was a tribute for promoter Mint Burston, a friend of the band who helped give them a break in the early 1990s.

Two further sell out gigs followed in London in November 2009, titled "The Drum Machine Years". Over the course of two nights the band played their first four albums in their entirety, plus encores.

They headlined the Beautiful Days festival in Devon on Saturday 20 August 2011.

Further sell-out reunion concerts followed in November 2011, with the band playing Manchester Academy on Friday 18 November and London O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday 19 November.

In February 2012, yet more reunion concerts were announced, in Leeds O2 Academy on 9th November and London O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday 10th November. EMI have also announced re-mastered versions of classic albums 30 Something and 1992: A Love Album to coincide with these concerts.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Compilation and live albums[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Carter USM website - Maintained by Fruitbat
• Carter USM's AMG entry
• An essay on Carter from Freakytrigger
• An essay on Carter USM from Rob Townsend
• An interview with Fruitbat about the 2008 shows from Culturedeluxe

This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (October 2009)

Alex Cross is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of books by novelist James Patterson.

Character overview[link]

Cross is a detective and psychologist living and working in the Southeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. He worked in the homicide division of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD), but eventually becomes a Senior Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After his stint with the FBI, Alex returns to private psychology practice, but continues to consult for the MPD and the FBI as needed, ultimately rejoining the MPD as a special consultant to the Major Case Squad.

As portrayed by Patterson, Cross is a hopeful but rational man of generally deep emotions. He is a model father and quite empathetic in dealing with the public. Despite the fact that he is well-educated and makes a decent living, he chooses to live in the Southeast quadrant of D.C. He is very involved in the community, most notably volunteering at St. Anthony's Parish in his neighborhood.

Character biography[link]

Cross's mother died of lung cancer a year after his father. Cross was sent to Washington to live with his grandmother, whom he calls Nana Mama. He received a doctorate in psychology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon graduation, he worked as a migrant farm worker for a year. He started a private practice and worked as a psychologist for two years. He eventually decided to become a policeman after he became disillusioned with the politics of the medical community (from Violets Are Blue).

Cross joined the police force because the people in his neighborhood could not afford his services, while white people would not see a "black shrink". He never expected to like it, but he became hooked on solving crimes. He remembers the first case he solved was that of two men who were shot in southeast Washington, and their killing was written off as drug-related. Alex knew the men and began to investigate on his own. One of the men was dating a woman the local drug dealer thought he owned and had the men killed. Once he solved that case he left private practice (from Violets Are Blue).

He lives with his grandmother (Nana Mama) and three children, Damon, Janelle (Jannie), and Alex Jr (Little Alex). His wife Maria Simpson Cross, a social worker, was murdered. Alex fathered Damon and Jannie with Maria. He fathered Alex Jr with his ex-fiancée Christine Johnson. Alex Jr comes to live with Alex, Nana Mama and the kids in Roses are Red^{[citation needed]}

Cross initially carries a revolver in Along Came a Spider, but then changes sidearms to a Glock pistol.^{[citation needed]} He drives a 1974 Porsche and bought a Mercedes-Benz R350 as a replacement for Maria's old Toyota, which served as the family car.Template:From the novel "Cross" He plays the piano to relaxTemplate:From the novel "Cross" and owns an Abyssinian cat named Rosie, who showed up one day and never left.^{[citation needed]} In Jack and Jill, villain Gary Soneji telephones Cross saying that it was he who left the cat. Cross teaches his two elder children boxing in his home's basement(from Pop Goes The Weasel).

Cross volunteers at St Anthony's soup kitchen frequently, where he is known as the "Peanut Butter Man". He began doing this with Maria. His partner in the PD, John Sampson, also volunteers there. Sampson calls Cross "Sugar" as a term of endearment. Cross calls Sampson "Man-Mountain" or "Two-John". They have been best friends since the age of 10(from Pop Goes The Weasel).

Alex has had bad luck with women. His wife was murdered. His lover in Along Came a Spider, Jezzie Flanigan, is involved in the kidnapping of two children, for which she is executed by lethal injection. His fiancée, Christine Johnson, was kidnapped for almost a year by Geoffrey Shafer. An FBI agent with whom he had been partnered, Betsey Cavalierre, was murdered by a serial killer called The Mastermind. Cross also developed a deep friendship with Dr Kateyla "Kate" McTiernan, whom he met before Christine. There were hints of a possible romantic relationship, but they preferred to remain friends. Later he met a San Francisco Police Department inspector, Jamilla Hughes, with whom he struck up a relationship, but they ultimately parted company. He began a new relationship with Dr Kayla Coles, a resident physician at a local hospital in Southeast Washington D.C. They were both born in North Carolina but raised in Washington D.C. She has since moved back to North Carolina. His next romantic involvement is with a rising star in the PD, Detective Brianna (Bree) Stone, whom he married in the 2010 book Cross Fire.^{[citation needed]}

Maria was originally thought to have been killed by an antagonist named Michael "The Butcher" Sullivan. However, in Cross, Cross learns that his best friend, John Sampson, and another detective, Rakeem Powell, killed Maria's real murderer. Sampson couldn't bring himself to tell Cross because he knew that Cross would be unable to deal with the fact that he never did it himself.^{[citation needed]}

When Cross needs to talk to someone about his problems, he meets with another psychologist, Dr Adele. Ultimately, Cross goes to work for her as an analyst.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances in the Alex Cross series[link]

• In Along Came a Spider, Cross deals with the kidnapping of two wealthy children at the hands of Gary Soneji.
• In Kiss the Girls, Cross battles the serial killers Casanova and The Gentleman Caller, who "collects" beautiful women, including Cross' niece Naomi.
• In Jack & Jill, Cross goes up against three killers: two who kill high-profile people and one who kills children.
• In Cat and Mouse, Cross engages Gary Soneji again and after dealing with him crosses paths with another killer, Mr. Smith.
• In Pop Goes the Weasel, Cross matches wits with a serial killer named Geoffrey Shafer, a British man with diplomatic immunity.
• In Roses Are Red, Cross goes against a criminal calling himself The Mastermind, who commits several brutal bank robberies.
• In Violets Are Blue, Cross goes against a cult of vampires and learns the true identity of the Mastermind, whom he takes down.
• In Four Blind Mice, Cross and his friend, John Sampson, investigate three killers who are framing seemingly innocent soldiers from the Vietnam War.
• In The Big Bad Wolf, Cross, now a member of the FBI, tries to stop a Russian mobster known only as the Wolf.
• In London Bridges, Cross tries to stop the Wolf once and for all, but the Wolf has enlisted the Weasel, Geoffrey Shafer, to help him take Cross down.
• In Mary, Mary, Cross tries to stop Mary Smith, a psychopathic killer targeting Hollywood stars and powerbrokers.
• In Cross, Cross, who has left the FBI to open up a private psychology practice, and John Sampson try to stop The Butcher, a serial rapist/murderer who may be somehow connected to the murder of Alex's wife Maria.
• In Double Cross, Alex, still in private practice, rejoins the MPD as a special consultant to the Major Crimes Squad and is joined by John Sampson and new love interest, Det. Brianna Stone, in an effort to stop the DC Audience Killer, a serial killer with a flair for showmanship who may also have some connection to a previous Cross nemesis, The Mastermind.
• In Cross Country, Cross travels to Africa to investigate the death of an old friend, where he is brutally beaten several times. He ultimately unravels a conspiracy linking the killers with the US and African governments.
• In Alex Cross's Trial, Cross writes a novel based on the experiences of his great-uncle Abraham Cross, who in 1906 worked with attorney Ben Corbett (at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt) to investigate the lynching of Black citizens by the Ku Klux Klan in Eudora, Mississippi.
• In I, Alex Cross, Cross gets involved in the investigation of the death of a relative, which leads into a world of fantasy and violence. All leads points to a brutal murderer with White House connections known only as Zeus.
• In Cross Fire, Cross attempts to capture a sniper who is assassinating corrupt politicians. In the midst of the investigation, the Mastermind resurfaces.
• In Kill Alex Cross, The two children of the President of the United States have been kidnapped, with Det. Alex Cross being one of the first to attend the scene and investigate the crime. However, there's a shadowy figure who is using the CIA, FBI and Secret Service to stop him from being involved in the case and shedding light on the disappearances.

Antagonists[link]

Wolf[link]

The Wolf actually consists of several different people. Except for Klara Lodge, all of the individuals known as "Wolf" share common characteristics: they are Russian males of considerable height, build, strength, and athleticism, are currently mobsters in the Red Mafiya, and are former members of the Soviet Union's KGB security intelligence agency.

• In The Big Bad Wolf, Pasha Sorokin is initially believed to be the Wolf. He is known by several aliases, the best known one being Ari Manning, a businessman originally from Tel Aviv and now based in Miami, Florida, who is well-connected to the community's professional athletes and politicians. Detective Cross traces Sorokin's human smuggling and sex slave ring by taking down Sorokin's associates such as Potter (Homer O. Taylor) and Sterling (Lawrence Lipton), eventually leading to Sorokin's being arrested at his Palm Beach mansion, though Sorokin denies that he is the Wolf. While Sorokin is in custody, his or the Wolf's associates have Sterling and the rest of the Lipton family in Dallas murdered. Enroute to the courthouse for his first appearance, the police convoy transporting Sorokin is ambushed. A Russian mobster, who is also known as the Wolf, blows up Sorokin with a rocket launcher to prevent the latter from betraying their organization.

• In London Bridges, the Wolf threatens to bomb New York City, London, Paris, Frankfurt and Tel Aviv if his multi-billion dollar ransom demand is not met, bombing a small town in Nevada prove his point. There are three individuals who go by the alias, The Wolf.
  • One suspect who may be the Wolf gets facial surgery in order to elude the NYPD, but during the pursuit he gets fatally shot by Cross while attempting to jump from one rooftop to another.
  • The second Wolf is Klara Lodge, the Czech widow of the head of Scotland Yard, Martin Lodge, who holds Cross' family hostage in order to ensure that she receives the ransom money, so she can use it to stop the other terrorist "Wolves".
  • Cross later learns that the real Wolf is Anton Christyakov, who had been recruited by CIA Director Thomas Weir and brought out of Russia in 1990. Christyakov was transported to England to meet with agents, including Martin Lodge. Christyakov was then moved to Paris, where he was reunited with his family. However, his family was killed when their home blew up in 1994, which Christyakov blamed on the CIA. He is known to squeeze a black rubber ball his son had given him whenever he is angry or upset. When Cross finishes his meeting with Tolya Bykov, the man at or near the top of the Red Mafiya, he notices one of the bodyguards squeezing a black rubber ball. Alex chases him down and jumps into the car just as the Wolf starts the car, punching and breaking the Russian's nose. The Wolf admits defeat and congratulates Cross, committing suicide by taking a cyanide pill. Alex retrieves the ball as a trophy, telling himself that the Wolf is finally dead.^[1]

Weasel[link]

Geoffrey Shafer is a Colonel of the British Army who later received a posting in the MI6 Intelligence Service and then served as a diplomat in the British embassy in Washington, D.C. In Pop Goes the Weasel, he waives his diplomatic immunity to stand trial for the murder of Detective Patsy Hampton and is acquitted in a case marked by considerable sensationalism. Shafer survives his encounter with Cross in the Bahamas and under a disguise, returns to England to murder his wife Lucy. By the events of London Bridges, Shafer settles in Salvador, Brazil but he is caught by "The Wolf" and forced to work for him, being assigned to kill Cross. In London, England, Shafer held Cross at gunpoint but failed to anticipate that the latter would fight back; Detective Cross gets the upper hand in the scuffle and shoots Shafer dead.

The Mastermind[link]

The Mastermind aka FBI agent Kyle Craig is considered Cross's biggest nemesis. He was a close friend of Alex and worked with him to solve big cases, including the kidnapping of his niece in Kiss the Girls. The Mastermind is first introduced in Roses Are Red as the head of a local crime spree involving robberies and murder. At the end of the novel Alex's partner is raped and murdered and the reader is made aware that Kyle Craig is the culprit. In Violets are Blue Alex discovers his identity and the two have a physical confrontation but eventually Kyle is captured and taken to a maximum security prison in Colorado. Alex visits him often to consult with him on cases until Kyle eventually escapes in Double Cross. Craig continues to taunt Cross throughout the next few novels. In Cross Fire, Craig disguises himself as FBI agent Max Seigel, and gets himself assigned to a case that Cross is investigating. After the case is solved, Craig decides to go after Cross's family while on the beach. At the end, Craig shoots an oxygen tank, killing himself.