Moshi
—  Municipality  —
Moshi panorama with Mt Kilimanjaro in the background
Moshi Map Moshi Map
Moshi Location of Moshi
Coordinates: 3°20′05.58″S 37°20′25.37″E / 3.3348833°S 37.3403806°E / -3.3348833; 37.3403806Coordinates: 3°20′05.58″S 37°20′25.37″E / 3.3348833°S 37.3403806°E / -3.3348833; 37.3403806
Country	Tanzania
Wards	List Bombambuzi Bondeni Kaloleni Karanga Kiboriloni Kilimanjaro Kiusa Korongoni Longuo Majengo Mawenzi Miembeni Mji Mpya Msaranga Ngangamfumuni Ng'ambo Njoro Pasua Rau Shirimatunda Soweto
Government
• Moshi Municipal Director	Bernadette Kinabo
• Moshi Municipal Mayor	Japhery R. Michael
Area[1]
• Total	59 km2 (23 sq mi)
Highest elevation	950 m (3,120 ft)
Lowest elevation	700 m (2,300 ft)
Population (2002)[2]
• Total	144,739
• Density	2,453/km2 (6,350/sq mi)
Time zone	East Africa Time (UTC+03)
Area code(s)	+255
Website	Moshi Municipal Council

Moshi is a Tanzanian municipality^[3] with a population of 144,739 according to the 2002 census^[2] and an estimated 2011 population of 206,728.^[4] The municipality is in the Kilimanjaro Region and is situated on the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano that is the highest mountain in Africa. The municipality covers about 59 km² and is the smallest municipality in Tanzania by area.^[4]

Many people from the Chagga and Pare ethnic groups live in Moshi, which lies on the A23 Arusha–Himo east–west road connecting Arusha and Voi, Kenya. Just to the east of Moshi is the intersection with the B1 north–south road eventually connecting with Tanga and Dar es Salaam. Moshi is often considered the cleanest town in Tanzania.^[1]

History and administration[link]

By force, Germany established a military camp in Moshi in August 1893.^[5] Moshi attained the status of a town in 1956. In 1988, it became a municipality under Tanzanian law and is planned to become a city by 2016.^[4]

Moshi is divided administratively into 21 wards and then subdivided into 60 hamlets.^[4]

The municipal budget of Moshi in fiscal year 2010/2011 was estimated to be 18.2 billion Tanzanian shillings or US$11.5 million at an exchange rate of 1,587 shillings per dollar.^[4]

Education[link]

Like all of Tanzania, Moshi has universal primary education. According to the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2010, the Kilimanjaro Region, which includes Moshi, had the second highest female literacy rate and the third highest male literacy rate among Tanzania's then-existing 26 regions.^[6] According to the Tanzania Poverty and Human Development Report 2005, the Moshi urban district had the highest literacy rate for persons over 15 years of age when compared to any of the 128 other districts in Tanzania.^[7]

Moshi hosts a number of higher education facilities. Those include the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College (KCMCo), the Stefano Moshi Memorial University College (SMMUCo), the Mwenge University College of Education (MUCE), the Moshi University College of Co-operative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS), the College of African Wildlife Management (CAWM), and the Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy (KSP).

• KCMCo is a campus of Tumaini University. It was started in 1997 and offers a number of medical courses. The college is located within the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre complex, about 6 km from Moshi.
• SMMUCo is also a campus of Tumaini University. It was developed from the Masoka Management Training Institute and the Mwika Lutheran Bible College. It belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania - Northern Diocese, and it is a multi-campus university college. Currently, SMMUCo has campuses in Masoka, Mwika and Moshi, with future campuses planned for Machame, Siha, and Karatu.
• MUCE is a constituent college of the Saint Augustine University of Tanzania. It offers a model of professional excellence, as a center for training teachers and students to become clear thinkers while providing a holistic approach to learning and teaching through promotion of flexible teacher training programmes focused on appropriate methodologies. MUCE is located 10 km north of Moshi.
• Since May 2004, MUCCoBS has been a constituent college of the Sokoine University of Agriculture. Formerly known as the Ushirika College, it is the oldest training institution in Tanzania and is located along Sokoine Road in Moshi. MUCCoBS has accumulated 43 years' experience in the fields of co-operative accounting, co-operative management and rural development has of recently turned into other expertise in accounting, management, marketing, auditing and cooperative development employed in different institutions within and outside Tanzania. MUCCoBS grew from a college enrolling only 150 students, conducting tailored courses, to a university college with a capacity of 1500 students.
• CAWM is commonly known as Mweka College. It was established in 1963 following the Arusha Manifesto (1961) as a pioneer institution for the training of African wildlife managers. Since this time, the College has been a leader in providing quality wildlife management training in Africa, and has trained over 4,000 wildlife managers from 28 African countries and 18 non-African countries. The majority of the CAWM's students come from the SADC region, although the College opens its doors to all students with an interest in African Wildlife Management.
• KSP is owned by the Saint Luke Foundation, a registered trust founded to provide broad spectrum services to an African population that faces serious deficiencies in pharmaceutical and health systems. KSP is currently the only pharmacy school providing competence based training for different levels of pharmaceuticals cadres to a diploma level.

Moshi also has several secondary schools. The government schools are Mawenzi Secondary School, Moshi Technical School, Moshi Secondary School, and J. K. Nyerere Secondary School. The private schools are Majengo Secondary School, Northern Highland Secondary School, International School Moshi, and Kibo Secondary School. In addition, each ward of Moshi has a community-established secondary school, such as Rau Secondary School and Kiboriloni Secondary School.

• Mawenzi Secondary School started as the Indian School of Moshi in 1956. It is now a thriving school of 1,100 pupils. All A-Level students are female boarders and come from all over Tanzania. The school specialises at A-Level in Kiswahili, geography, history, and English. The school operates a double shift system for junior pupils (Form 1–4). All subjects are taught in English, apart from Kiswahili and French. Mawenzi School has had a link with Buckie High School in Scotland since 1987. Pupils and teachers have travelled between Tanzania and Scotland many times.

• International School Moshi (ISM) was established in 1969 to serve the needs of the expatriate and local communities. ISM has about 400 students from nearly 40 different nationalities on two campuses in Moshi and Arusha.^[8] The Moshi campus has about 190 students, including 90 boarders, from 25 nationalities and offers a full range of courses from early childhood to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.^[9] ISM has been an International Baccalaureate World School since 1977.^[10] ISM is one of only two world schools in Tanzania to offer the primary years, middle years, and diploma programmes.^[11]

There are also various English academic schools with pre-primary, primary, and secondary education, such as the Eden Garden schools.

There are a number of non-governmental organizations in Moshi assisting with education. One of them is Give a Heart to Africa,^[12] which offers free education to adult women and assists several of them with starting their own businesses.

Medical care[link]

The main private referral hospital in the area is the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC). This huge complex has more than 450 beds and serves a population of over 11 million individuals. The Good Samaritan Foundation of Tanzania founded KCMC in March 1971.^[13]

Next to KCMC is the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO), which was founded in 2001 and is co-directed by Dr. Paul Courtright and Dr. Susan Lewallen. A new three-story building for KCCO was finished in 2007, funded by several individuals and non-governmental organizations.^[14] The KCCO is "dedicated to the elimination of avoidable blindness through programmes, training, and research focusing on the delivery of sustainable and replicable community ophthalmology services".^[15] The KCCO has an "official memorandum of understanding ... with the Department of Ophthalmology and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College under which the KCCO assumes or shares responsibility (subject to specific funding grants) for many teaching activities, running workshops and seminars, supervising the ... [Ophthalmic Resource Centre for Eastern Africa], serving in an advisory capacity for planning Eye Department services, conducting epidemiologic and clinical research in prevention or treatment of vision loss or related fields, and serves on committees".^[16]

Moshi also hosts the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), which is the research arm of KCMC. KCRI evolved from the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Centre (KCRC) in 2009. KCRC was established in 2006 with the support of the Dutch government through the Netherlands-African partnership for Capacity development and Clinical interventions Against Poverty-related disease (NACCAP).^[17][18]

The primary public hospital in Moshi is the Mawenzi Regional Hospital, which started sometime before 1920 as a small dispensary for German soldiers and became a hospital in 1956. The hospital has about 300 beds but is severely underfunded. In late 2010, its surgical services were suspended indefinitely by the Government and Private Hospitals Inspection Committee of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The head of the committee, Dr. Pamella Sawa, said, "During our inspection, we inspected the theatre room of Mawenzi Hospital and found it very dirty, with no[t] enough ventilation, the situation which is dangerous not only to the patient but also to his/her attendant...."^[19] The hospital includes a Care and Treatment Centre for people living with HIV/AIDS. The hospital's physical therapy department has a student learning program in cooperation with Norway, in which Norwegian physiotherapy students in their second and third years come as short term apprentices.

Other institutions and establishments[link]

Moshi municipality has other institutions and establishments, such as the Small Industries Development Organization, the Kilimanjaro Industrial Development Trust, the Furniture Industry Training Institute, the Moshi Memorial Stadium, and a small airport.

The main market in Moshi is known as Soko La Kati. Moshi also has a large, open-air market known as Kiboriloni. The market, which is loosely structured, has been for decades a regional hub for commodities such as clothing, merchandise, fresh food, and household items. It operates four days a week. Most of the operators are local residents.

Moshi has scheduled airline connections to the rest of Tanzania and other countries through Kilimanjaro International Airport, which is operated by the Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company and located in Hai District along the Moshi-Arusha Highway. Several international and domestic airlines operate there, including KLM, Condor Flugdienst, RwandAir, Fly540, Ethiopian Airways, Kenya Airways, Precision Air Services,^[20] and, beginning 25 July 2012, Qatar Airways.^[21]

Tourism[link]

Askari monument in Moshi

Moshi is often overlooked as a tourist destination, with many visitors to northern Tanzania staying in Arusha instead.

Moshi, however, hosts several cultural tourism programs operating on the lower slopes of nearby Mt Kilimanjaro. Moshi also serves as the base for many expeditions up the mountain, with climbers staying in nearby hotels and employing local residents as guides, porters, and cooks.

To promote tourism in the municipality, the Kilimanjaro Marathon was established in 2002 and is now held annually at the end of February or beginning of March. The race is a member of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races. In 2012, 232 persons finished the 42.2 km full marathon,^[22] and 1,609 persons finished the 21.1 km half marathon.^[23] The race also includes a 5 km fun run. Apart from promoting tourism, the race promotes the sport in Tanzania and has the official backing of the Tanzania Tourist Board, Athletics Tanzania, and the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Industry[link]

There are also a number of manufacturing industries including TPC Ltd (sugar cane and sugar), Bonite Bottlers (carbonated drinks), Serengeti Breweries (beer), Tanzania Breweries Maltings (malt for breweries), Interchem Pharmaceuticals, Kibo match, African Mosfly Industries Ltd, Union Service Stores (grain flour and animal feeds) and Imara (furniture). There are several metalworking workshops such as Simon Engineering, Press Forge and CFW Moshi. Moshi plays a host to a number of agri-industry activities that includes a number of green house farms for flowers and vegetables. Moreover Moshi, host a coffee factory (Milcafe LTD) that specialized in the blending and packaging of tea along with the curing, grinding, and packing of coffee.

Agriculture[link]

Moshi's lower altitude and drier climate mean that the main crops grown on the higher slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, coffee^[24] and bananas,^{[citation needed]} do not thrive there. The outskirts of Moshi are known for extensive farms of maize and beans, grown once per year during the long rainy season (known as "masika" in Kiswahili). In addition, the Tanganyika Planting Company operates a very large sugar cane plantation and company town 20 km. south of Moshi.^[25]

Roman Catholic missionaries introduced Arabica coffee cultivation to the Moshi region at the end of the 19th century.^[26] The Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union was established in 1929^[24] by the district commissioner, Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas.^[26] Its purpose was to enable Chagga coffee growers to compete on equal terms in world markets with European growers.^[26] KNCU collects coffee from 96 village societies, representing over 150,000 small-scale farmers.^[24] KNCU handles between 50 and 70 percent of the coffee grown in the area and trades over 5,250 tons of Arabica coffee, or about 11% of national production.^[24]

Climate[link]

Moshi has a tropical wet and dry climate. Its weather is dominated year round by monsoonal flow. The northeast monsoon prevails December through March and is accompanied by the highest temperatures of the year. The southeast monsoon prevails from June through September. Unique among the world's monsoons, both monsoons in Tanzania are divergent in the low levels, shallow (averaging only 2 km. in depth), and capped by inversion and dry, subsiding air. These factors result in light or insignificant rainfall year round except during the transitional periods between the monsoons.^[27][28]

Moshi's altitude keeps temperatures lower than surrounding cities, even without the maritime effects that a coastal city enjoys. Nighttime temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the year, averaging from 15 to 17 degrees Celsius. Moshi has noticeably warmer daytime temperatures from October through March, when average high temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius, and noticeably cooler daytime temperatures from May through August, when average high temperatures are 25 to 26 degrees Celsius.

Moshi's wettest months are March through May, when around 71 percent of its annual precipitation falls.

Politics[link]

Moshi has been the base of opposition politics since the struggle for independence.

The last Mangi Mkuu (Paramount Chief) of the Chagga, Thomas Lenana Marealle II, whose palace was located in Moshi, worked for the independence of Tanganyika when it was still a United Nations trust territory under British administration. In his speech to the United Nations Trusteeship Council on 17 June 1957, he said that Tanganyika could become self-governing within ten to fifteen years.^[30] This speech occurred one day before Julius Nyerere addressed the same body.^[31]

Several presidential candidates and chairpersons of opposition parties, including Chadema (Party for Democracy and Progress), the National Convention for Construction and Reform - Mageuzi, the Tanzania Labour Party, and Demokrasia Makini, hail from the Kilimanjaro Region^{[citation needed]} that has Moshi as its capital.

In 2010, the unsuccessful Chadema presidential candidate, Willibrod Peter Slaa, received 55.6% of the popular vote in the Moshi Urban District compared to 43.5% for the nationwide winner, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the Chama cha Mapinduzi party.^[32]

The Moshi Urban District parliamentary seat is one of the few seats in the country to be held continuously by an opposition political party since the first multiparty election of 1995.^{[citation needed]} In 2010, the Chadema parliamentary candidate, Philemon Kiwelu Ndesamburo, was elected to office with 62.3% of the vote.^[33]

As of May 2012, six of the seven special seats on the Moshi Municipal Council are held by Chadema party members.^[34]

See also[link]

• Kilimanjaro Region
• Railway stations in Tanzania

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Moshi

• Moshi Municipal Council
• Stefano Moshi Memorial University College
• Moshi University College of Co-operative and Business Studies
• The College of African Wildlife Management
• International School Moshi
• KCMC Hospital Moshi
• Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute
• Kiliweb – Information site on Moshi and Kilimanjaro
• Kilimanjaro Centre for Orphans and Street Children
• Mwenge University College of Education
• Stefano Moshi Memorial University College
• Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy

The Up Series is a series of documentary films produced by Granada Television that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. The documentary has had eight episodes spanning 49 years (one episode every seven years) and the documentary has been broadcast on both ITV and BBC. In a 2005 Channel 4 programme, the series topped the list of The 50 Greatest Documentaries.

The children were selected to represent the range of socio-economic backgrounds in Britain at that time, with the explicit assumption that each child's social class predetermines their future. Every seven years, the director, Michael Apted, films new material from as many of the fourteen as he can get to participate. The purpose is also stated at the beginning of "7 Up," as, "Why do we bring these children together? Because we want to get a glimpse of England in the year 2000. The union leader and the business executive of the year 2000 are now 7 years old."

56 Up consisted of 3 x 1 hour parts, the first of which premiered on 14 May 2012.

Creation[link]

The first film in the series, Seven Up!, was directed by Paul Almond, and commissioned by Granada Television as a programme in the World in Action series broadcast in 1964. From 7 Plus Seven onward the films have been directed by Michael Apted, who had been a researcher on Seven Up! and chose the original children with Gordon McDougall. The premise of the film was taken from the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man", which is based on a quotation by Ignatius Loyola. The 1998 programme was commissioned by BBC One, although still produced for them by Granada Television.

Participants[link]

We are first introduced to the subjects on a group visit to London Zoo, where the narrator announces "We brought these 20 children together for the very first time." The series, however, only follows fourteen: Bruce Balden, Jackie Bassett, Symon Basterfield, Andrew Brackfield, John Brisby, Peter Davies, Susan Davis, Charles Furneaux, Nicholas Hitchon, Neil Hughes, Lynn Johnson, Paul Kligerman, Suzanne Lusk and Tony Walker.

The participants were chosen in an attempt to represent different social classes in Britain in the 1960s. Apted admits in the commentary track of the 42 Up DVD that he was asked to find children at the extremes. Because the show was not originally intended to become a repeating series, no long-term contract was signed with the participants. The interviews since Seven Up! have been voluntary, although the participants have been paid an unknown sum for their appearance in each film, as well as equal parts of any prize the film may win, says Apted. Each subject is filmed in about two days, and the interview itself takes more than six hours. In an interview with the BBC's Will Gompertz shortly before the broadcast of 56 Up, Michael Apted admitted that it had been a poor decision to include only four female participants.^[1]

Andrew[link]

Andrew was one of three boys chosen from the same pre-preparatory school in the wealthy London suburb of Kensington (the other two being Charles and John). The three are introduced in Seven Up! singing "Waltzing Matilda" in Latin. At the age of seven, when asked what newspaper he reads, if any, Andrew stated that he reads The Financial Times (although he later revealed he was in fact just repeating what his father had told him when asked the same question), and all three could say which prep schools, public schools and universities they planned to attend (Oxford/Cambridge in all cases); two named the specific Oxbridge college they intended to join.

Andrew Brackfield's academic career culminated in his studying at Trinity College, Cambridge. Andrew subsequently became a solicitor, married, and raised a family. He is the only one out of the three to have been in all the Up films.

Charles[link]

Charles Furneaux did not make it into Oxford, although at 21 he said he was glad to have avoided the "prep school-Marlborough-Oxbridge conveyor belt" by going to Durham University instead, later attending Oxford as a post-graduate student. Charles has worked in journalism in varying capacities over the years, including as a producer for the BBC, and in the making of documentary films, including Touching the Void. He chose not to appear in the series after 21 Up, other than the contribution of an occasional photograph. During an on-stage interview at London's National Film Theatre in December 2005, Apted revealed that Charles had attempted to sue him when he refused to remove Charles's likeness from the archive sequences in 49 Up. Apted also commented on the irony that as a documentary maker himself, Charles was the only one who refused to continue.^[2]

By the time of 56 Up, all references to Charles had been removed, other than in fleeting glimpses of joint shots with Andrew and John, suggesting that his threat to sue Apted was taken seriously. It is not clear why and when Charles's reluctance to appear turned into active action to be removed.

John[link]

John Brisby, who was vocal on politics by 14, attended Oxford and became a barrister.^[3] He married the daughter of an ambassador to Bulgaria and devotes himself to charities related to Bulgaria, and hopes to reclaim family land there that had been nationalized. He said in 35 Up that he only does the films to give more publicity to his chosen charities. In 56 Up, John criticized Apted's decision to originally portray him as part of the "privileged upper class". He related that his father had died when he was 9, and his mother had to work to put him through private school. He attended Oxford University on scholarship.

Suzy[link]

Suzanne (Suzy) Lusk comes from a wealthy background, and was first filmed at a boarding school. Her parents divorced around the time of 7 Plus Seven. She then dropped out of school at the age of 16, deciding to travel to Paris. By 21, she had formed a strong negative opinion about marriage. Her husband Rupert Dewey is a successful solicitor in Bath and they have three children; two boys and a girl. She became a bereavement counsellor.

Jackie, Lynn and Sue[link]

These three girls were chosen from the same primary school in a working class neighbourhood of London. Jackie Bassett and Susan (Sue) Davis eventually went to a comprehensive school, while Lynn Johnson attended a grammar school. Jackie and Lynn both married at 19, Sue at 24. Lynn became a children's (and later, school) librarian at 21 and has remained in that career since then. Jackie went through several different jobs, got divorced, and raised children as single parents. Sue had two children, divorced, and has now been engaged for 14 years. She works as a university administrator for Queen Mary's university, despite not having gone to university herself.

Tony[link]

Tony Walker was chosen from a primary school in the East End of London who is introduced along with his girlfriend Michelle. He wanted to be a jockey at 7, and was at a stable training as one by 14. By 21 his chance had come and gone, after riding in three races before giving it up, and he was proud to have competed against Lester Piggott. He then "did 'The Knowledge'" and made a comfortable life for himself and his family as a London taxi driver. His later dream of becoming an actor has met with modest success; he has had small parts as an extra (almost always playing a cabbie) in several TV programmes since 1986, including Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, The Bill, and twice in EastEnders, most recently in 2003. In 35 Up Tony admitted that being in a monogamous relationship was becoming a strain, and by 42 Up he had actually committed adultery, though he and his wife have got past it and are still together. By 42 Up, he had moved to Essex and by 49 Up, owned two homes, including a holiday home in Spain.

Paul[link]

Paul Kligerman was at a charity-based boarding school at 7, his parents having divorced and he having been left with his father. Soon after Seven Up! his father and stepmother moved the family to Australia, where he has remained in the Melbourne area ever since. By 21, he had more presence, long hair, and a girlfriend whom he later married and remains with today. After leaving school he was employed as a bricklayer and later set up his own business. In 49 Up he is working for a sign-making company. In both 21 Up and 49 Up, Paul was reunited with Symon, who had attended the same boarding school; portions of their time together are included in both films.

Symon[link]

The only participant with a non-white background is mixed-race. Symon Basterfield was chosen from the same charity home as Paul. He was an illegitimate child, who apparently never got to know his black father, and had left the charity home to live with his white mother by the time of the 7 Plus Seven filming; her depression is alluded to as the cause for him being in the home. As the filming for 35 Up was taking place, he was going through a divorce from his first wife and mother of his five children, and he elected not to take part in that film. Symon returned for 42 Up and 49 Up, remarried with one son and one stepdaughter. In 49 Up, he and his wife had become foster parents.

Nick[link]

William Nicholas (Nick) Hitchon was raised on a small farm in Arncliffe, a tiny village in the Yorkshire Dales. He was educated in a one-room school four miles walk from his home, and later at a boarding school. He went to Oxford University and then moved to the United States to work as a nuclear physicist. He married another British ex-pat, who participated in 28 Up but was displeased with how her comments were received by viewers, many of whom apparently concluded that the marriage was doomed. She declined to appear in 35 Up and 42 Up. By 49 Up the couple had divorced and Nick had remarried, this time to Cryss Brunner, who is ten years his senior and teaches in Minneapolis. Nick is currently a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.^[4]

Peter[link]

Peter Davies went to the same middle-class Liverpool suburban school as Neil, who like Peter wanted to be an astronaut. Peter drifted through university, and by age 28 he was an underpaid and seemingly uninspired school teacher. Peter dropped out of the series after 28 Up, when he lost his job as a teacher following a tabloid press campaign against him after he criticised the government of Margaret Thatcher in his interview. In the director's commentary for 42 Up it is stated that he later divorced, took up study of the law, has become a lawyer, re-married, had children and moved back to Liverpool. He made a surprise return to the series in 56 Up to promote his band, the Liverpool-based country-influenced The Good Intentions.^[5]

Neil[link]

From a 'Liverpool suburb' Neil Hughes turned out to be the most unpredictable of the entire group. At seven he was funny, full of life and hope. By the time of 21 Up he was homeless in London, having dropped out of Aberdeen University after one term, and was living in a squat and finding work as he could on building sites. During the interview he is clearly in an agitated state, and it becomes apparent that he has mental health issues and is struggling to cope with life. At 28 he was still homeless, although now in Scotland; by 35 he was living in a council house on the Shetland Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, writing and appearing in the local pantomime. By the time of 42 Up he had finally found some stability in his life (with some help from Bruce — he was living in Bruce's apartment in London and Bruce had become a source of emotional support) and was involved in local council politics, as a Liberal Democrat in the London Borough of Hackney. By the time of 49 Up, he is a District Councillor in the Eden district of Cumbria, in North West England.^[6] Neil stood in the 2010 general election as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Carlisle where he finished third, receiving 6,567 votes.^[7]

Bruce[link]

Bruce Balden was an idealist who was concerned with poverty and racial discrimination and wanted to become a missionary. He was attending a prestigious boarding school. At the age of seven, he said that his greatest desire was to see his father, who was a soldier in Rhodesia, and he seemed a little abandoned. Bruce studied mathematics at Oxford University and used his education to teach children in the East End of London and Sylhet, Bangladesh. Before 42 Up, he married, and Apted broke the seven-year structure of the films to film Bruce's wedding, which was also attended by Neil. Eventually becoming burned out with teaching in the East End, Bruce currently teaches at St Albans School, Hertfordshire, a prestigious public school. Between 42 Up and 49 Up, he had two sons, and is happily married to a fellow teacher.

Participation record[link]

		7 Up (1964)	14 Up (1970)	21 Up (1977)	28 Up (1984)	35 Up (1991)	42 Up (1998)	49 Up (2005)	56 Up (2012)
1	Andrew	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
2	Charles	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
3	John	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y
4	Suzy	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
5	Jackie	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
6	Lynn	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
7	Sue	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
8	Tony	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
9	Paul	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
10	Symon	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
11	Nick	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
12	Peter	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y
13	Neil	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
14	Bruce	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Influence[link]

The series has received extraordinary praise over the years, the epitome of which may be Roger Ebert's comments that it is "an inspired, even noble, use of the film medium", that the films "penetrate to the central mystery of life",^[8] and that the series is among his top ten films of all time. Attempts have been made to repeat the series with subjects in the United States, the Soviet Union, Japan, and South Africa. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, 28 Up was placed 26th. The series has also been satirised; The Simpsons' 2007 episode "Springfield Up" is narrated by an Apted-like filmmaker who depicts the past and current lives of a group of Springfield residents he has revisited every eight years.

The original hypothesis of Seven Up! was that class structure is so strong in the UK that a person's life path would be set at birth. The producer of the original programme had at one point thought to line the children up on the street, have three of them step forward and narrate "of these twenty children, only three will be successful" (an idea which was not used). The idea of class immobility held up in most, but not all, cases as the series has progressed. The children from the working classes have by and large remained in those circles, though Tony seems to have become more middle class. Apted has said that one of his regrets is that they did not take feminism in to account, and consequently had fewer girls in their study and did not select them on the basis of any possible careers they might choose.

Although it began as a political documentary, the series has become a film of human nature and existentialism. In the director's commentary for 42 Up, Apted comments that he did not realise the series had changed tone from political to personal until 21 Up, when he showed the film to American friends who encouraged him to submit it (successfully) to American film festivals. Apted also comments that this realisation was a relief to him and allowed the films to breathe a little more.

Criticism[link]

The Up series has been criticised by both ethnographers and the subjects themselves for its editing style. Mitchell Duneier has pointed out that Apted has the ability to create causal relationships between a character's past and present that might not actually exist.^[9] Apted has acknowledged this fact, pointing out that in 21 Up he believed Tony would soon be in prison so he filmed him around dangerous areas for use in later films.^[10]

Influence on participants[link]

Over the course of the project the programme has in varying degrees had a direct effect on the lives of its participants. The series became popular enough that the participants often speak of being recognised in public. Their opinions of being involved in the series are often mentioned, and vary greatly among the participants. John refers to the programme as a poison pill that he is subjected to every seven years, while Paul's wife credits the series for keeping their marriage together. Michael Apted has commented that one of the big surprises between filming 42 Up and 49 Up was the impact of reality television. The subjects really wanted to talk about how they saw their contribution to the series in the light of reality TV.

Paul and Nick were flown back to England at Granada's expense for the filming of 35 Up and 42 Up respectively. Paul was flown back again for 49 Up and visited Symon. Bruce was affected by Neil's plight and offered him temporary shelter in his home shortly before 42 Up, allowing Neil time to get settled in London. Despite Neil's eccentricities during his two-month stay, they clearly remained friends, with Neil later giving a reading at Bruce's wedding.

List of films and premiere dates[link]

Similar documentaries[link]

• A new version was started in 2000, 7Up 2000 (2000, Julian Farino), continuing with 14 Up 2000 in 2007.
• Australia – by Gillian Armstrong
  • Smokes and Lollies (1975)
  • 14's Good, 18's Better (1980)
  • Bingo, Bridesmaids & Braces (1988)
  • Not Fourteen Again (1996)
  • Love, Lust & Lies (2009)
• Belgium
  • Jambers, 1980–1990. Two part documentary by TV journalist Paul Jambers on Flemish public TV channel about secondary school students in Kapellen, near Antwerp.
• Canada
  • Talk 16 (1991) and Talk 19 (1993), directed and written by Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell of Back Alley Film Productions.
• Czech Republic – by Helena Třeštíková.
  • René, a single episode portrait of a man over 20 years, starting in the late 1980s. René at the Internet Movie Database
• France
  • Que deviendront-ils ? from Michel Fresnel (1984 to 1996).
• Germany
  • Die Kinder von Golzow by Winfried Junge, set in former East Germany as well as in unified Germany after 1990 (1961 to 2006).
  • Berlin - Ecke Bundesplatz by Detlef Gumm and Hans-Georg Ullrich. The documentary follows individuals, families or groups of related people in separate episodes each around one hour. Broadcast in four seasons on 3sat.
    • 1999: Der Prominenten-Anwalt, Bäckermeister im Kiez, Wilmersdorfer Witwen, Die nächste Generation, Die Alleinerziehende, Der Aussteiger
    • 2001: Grenzgänger, Solisten
    • 2004: Kinder! Kinder!, Alte Freunde, Vereinigungen, Recht und Ordnung
    • 2009: Mütter und Töchter, Die Aussteiger, Schön ist die Jugend..., Die Köpcke-Bande, Der Yilmaz-Clan
• Denmark
  • Årgang 0 by TV2 (2000) – The show follows the children, born in the year 2000, from birth.
• Japan – follows thirteen children living in different parts of Japan.
  • 7 Up Japan (1992)
  • 14 Up Japan (1999)
  • 21 Up Japan (2006)
• The Netherlands
  • Bijna volwassen (1982) – follows a group of 17–18-year-olds.
  • Bijna 30 (1994)
  • Bijna 40 (2005)
• South Africa – by Angus Gibson
  • 7 Up in South Africa (1992)
  • 14 Up in South Africa (1999)
  • 21 Up South Africa (2007)
• Sweden by Rainer Hartleb. About a group of children from Jordbro, a suburb of Stockholm.^[11]
  • Från en barndomsvärld (1973)
  • Barnen från Jordbro (1982)
  • Tillbaka till Jordbro (1988)
  • Det var en gång... en liten flicka (1992)
  • En pizza i Jordbro (1994)
  • Nya barn i Jordbro (2001)
  • Alla mår bra (2006)
• USSR/Former Soviet republics – by Sergei Miroshnichenko and Jemma Jupp.
  • Age 7 in the USSR (1990)
  • 14 Up Born in the USSR (1998) (this won an International Emmy)
  • Born in the USSR: 21 Up (2005)
  • Born in the USSR: 28 Up (2012)
• United States
  • Age 7 in America (1991) directed by Phil Joanou
  • 14 Up in America (1998)
  • 21 Up in America (2006) directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn
• Married in America (2002) also by Michael Apted

Bibliography[link]

• Stella Bruzzi (2007), Seven Up. London: British Film Institute.

See also[link]

• Boyhood, a film that will follow a boy from the age of six through to eighteen in real time over twelve years.
• Child of Our Time is a BBC/The Open University documentary which follows the lives of 25 children who were born around the turn of the millennium.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Seven Up! at the Internet Movie Database
• 7 Plus Seven at the Internet Movie Database
• 21 Up at the Internet Movie Database
• 28 Up at the Internet Movie Database
• 35 Up at the Internet Movie Database
• 42 Up at the Internet Movie Database
• 49 Up at the Internet Movie Database
• 56 Up at the Internet Movie Database
• Transcript of a British Film Institute appearance and interview with Apted
• P.O.V. 49 Up - PBS's site dedicated to the film