A pair of trousers

Trousers are an item of clothing worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth stretching across both as in skirts and dresses). The word trousers is used in the UK and Ireland, but some other English-speaking countries such as Canada, South Africa, and the United States can also refer to such items of clothing as pants. Additional synonyms include slacks, strides, kegs or kex, breeches (sometimes britches  /ˈbrɪtʃɨz/), or breeks. Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower than the knee depending on the style of the garment.

In most of the Western world, trousers have been worn since ancient times and throughout the Medieval period, becoming the most common form of lower body clothing for males in the modern period, although shorts are also widely worn, and kilts and other garments may be worn in various regions and cultures. Since the 20th century, trousers have become prevalent for females as well. Shorts are often preferred in hot weather or for some sports, and also often by children. Trousers are worn at the hips or waist, and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt, or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and spandex.

Terminology[link]

In the United Kingdom and Ireland most people use trousers or slacks as the general category term, whereas pants usually refers to underwear but is used, interchangeably with trousers, in some northern dialects. In Scotland, trousers are known as trews, which is the historic root of the word 'trousers'. Trousers are known as breeks in Scots.

In North America pants is the general category term (though Ambrose Bierce found the word "vulgar exceedingly" and recommended trousers^[1]), whereas trousers (sometimes slacks in Australia and the United States) often refer more precisely to tailored garments with a waistband, belt-loops, and a fly-front. For instance, informal elastic-waist knitted garments would be called pants, but not slacks.

North Americans call undergarments underwear, underpants, "long johns" or panties (the last are women's garments specifically) to distinguish them from other pants that are worn on the outside. The term drawers normally refers to undergarments, but in some dialects, may be found as a synonym for "breeches", that is, trousers. In these dialects, the term underdrawers is used for undergarments. In Australia, men's undergarments are called underwear, underpants, undies, under-dacks, dacks or jocks.

Various people in the fashion industry use the word pant instead of pants. This is nonstandard usage. The word "pants" is a plurale tantum, always in plural form—much like the words "scissors" and "tongs". However, the singular form of the word is used in some compound words, such as trouser-leg, trouser-press and trouser-bottoms.^[2]

History[link]

Prehistory[link]

There is some evidence, from figurative art, of trousers being worn in the Upper Paleolithic. An example are the figurines found at the Siberian sites of Mal'ta and Buret'.^[3]

Antiquity[link]

Scythian archer. Interior from an Ancient Greek Attic red-figure plate, ca. 520–500 BC, from Vulci. British Museum, London.

Germanic trousers of the 4th century found in the Thorsberg moor, Germany

Trousers first enter recorded history in the 6th century BCE, with the appearance of horse-riding Iranian peoples in Greek ethnography. At this time, not only the Persians, but also allied Eastern and Central Asian peoples such as the Bactrians, Armenians, and the Tigraxauda Scythians, Xiongnu Hunnu (nowadays Mongolia) are known to have worn them.^[4][5] Trousers are believed to have been worn by both sexes among these early users.^[6]

The ancient Greeks used the term "ἀναξυρίδες" (anaxyrides) for the trousers worn by eastern nations^[7] and "σαράβαρα" (sarabara) for the loose trousers worn by the Scythians.^[8] However, they did not wear trousers since they thought them ridiculous,^[9][10] using the word "θύλακες" (thulakes), pl. of "θύλακος" (thulakos), "sack", as a slang term for the loose trousers of Persians and other orientals such as a Altaic.^[11]

Republican Rome viewed the draped clothing of Greece, and Minoan (Crete) culture as an emblem of civilization and disdained trousers as the mark of barbarians.^[12] As the Empire expanded beyond the Mediterranean basin, however, the greater warmth provided by trousers led to their adoption.^[13] Two types of trousers eventually saw widespread use in Rome; the Feminalia, which fit snugly and usually fell to knee or mid-calf length,^[14] and the Braccae, a loose fitting trouser which was closed at the ankles.^[15] Both garments were adopted originally from the Celts of Europe, although later familiarity with the Persian Near East, and the Teutons increased acceptance. Feminalia and Braccae both began use as military garments, spreading to civilian dress later and were eventually made in a variety of materials including leather, wool, cotton and silk.^[16]

Medieval Europe[link]

Trousers of various design were worn throughout the Middles Ages in Europe, especially by males. Loose fitting trousers were worn in Byzantium under long tunics,^[17] and were worn by many of the barbarian tribes specially Xiongnu Hun that migrated through Europe in the Early Middle Ages, as evidenced by both artistic sources and the such relics as the Fourth Century costumes recovered from the Thorsberg bog.^[18] (See illustration.) Trousers in this period, generally called brais, varied in length and were often closed at the cuff or even have attached feet covering, although open legged pants were also seen.^[19]

By the Eighth Century there is evidence of the wearing in Europe of two layers of trousers, especially among upper class males.^[20] This under layer is today referred to by costume historians as “drawers,” although that usage did not emerge until the late 16th Century. Over the drawers were worn trousers of wool or linen, which in the 10th Century began to be referred to as breeches in many places. Tightness of fit and length of leg varied by period, class, and geography. (Open legged trousers can be seen on the Norman soldiers of the Bayeux Tapestry.)^[21]

Although Charlemagne (742–814) is recorded to have habitually worn his trousers, donning the Byzantine tunic only for ceremonial occasions,^[22][23] the influence of the Roman past and the example of Byzantium led to the increasing use of long tunics by men, hiding most of the trousers from view and eventually rendering it an undergarment for many. As undergarments, these trousers became briefer or longer as the length of the various medieval outer-garments changed and were met by, and usually attached to another garment variously called hose or stockings.

In the 14th Century it became common among the men of the noble and knightly classes to connect the hose directly to their pourpoints^[24] (the padded under jacket worn with armored breastplates that would later evolve into the doublet) rather than to their drawers. In the 15th Century, rising hemlines led to ever briefer drawers^[25] until they were dispensed with altogether by the most fashionable elites who joined their skin tight hose back into trousers.^[26] These trousers, which we would today call tights but which were still called hose or sometimes joined hose at the time, emerged late in the 15th Century and were conspicuous by their open crotch which was covered by an independently fastening front panel, the codpiece. The exposure of the hose to the waist was consistent with 15th Century trends which also brought pourpoint/doublet and the shirt, previous undergarments, into view,^[27] but the most revealing of these fashions were only ever adopted at court and not by the general population.

Men's clothes in Hungary in the 15th century consisted of a shirt and trousers as underwear, and a dolman worn over them, as well as a short fur-lined or sheepskin coat. Hungarians generally wore simple trousers, only their colour being unusual; the dolman covered the greater part of the trousers.^[28]

Medieval Korea[link]

The Korean word for trousers baji (originally paji) first appears in recorded history around the turn of the 15th century, but pants may have been in use by Korean society for some time. From at least this time pants were worn by both sexes in Korea. Men wore trousers both outer garments or beneath skirts while it was unusual for adult women to wear their pants (termed sokgot) without a covering skirt. As in Europe, a wide variety of styles came to define regions and time periods and age and gender groups, from the unlined gouei to the padded sombaji.^[29]

Modern Europe[link]

Around the turn of the 16th century it became convention to separate hose into two pieces, one from the waist to the crotch which fastened around the top of the legs, called Trunk Hose, and the other running beneath it to the foot. The trunk hose soon reach down the thigh to fasten below the knee and were now usually called "breeches" to distinguish them from the lower leg coverings still called hose or, sometimes stockings. By the end of the 16th century, the codpiece had also been incorporated into breeches which featured a fly or fall front opening.

During the French Revolution, the male citizens of France adopted a working-class costume including ankle-length trousers, or pantaloons, (from a Commedia dell'Arte character named Pantalone)^[30] in place of the aristocratic knee-breeches. The new garment of the revolutionaries differed from that of the ancien regime upper classes in three ways: It was loose where the style for breeches had most recently been form-fitting, it was ankle length where breeches had generally been knee-length for more than two centuries, and they were open at the bottom while breeches were fastened. This style was introduced to England in the early 19th century, possibly^{[original research?]} by Beau Brummell, and by mid-century had supplanted breeches as fashionable street wear.^[31] At this point, even knee length pants adopted the open bottoms of trousers (See Shorts) and were worn by young boys, for sports, and in tropical climates. Breeches proper survived into the 20th century as Court Dress, and also in baggy mid-calf (or three-quarter length) version known as plus-fours or knickers worn for active sports and by young school-boys. Types of breeches are still worn today by baseball and American football players.

Sailors may have played a role in the worldwide dissemination of trousers as a fashion. In the 17th and 18th centuries, sailors wore baggy trousers known as galligaskins. Sailors also pioneered the wearing of jeans, trousers made of denim.^{[citation needed]} These became more popular in the late 19th century in the American West because of their ruggedness and durability.

Women's trousers[link]

Amazon wearing trousers and carrying a shield with an attached patterned cloth and a quiver. Ancient Greek Attic white-ground alabastron, ca. 470 BC, British Museum, London

Although women began wearing men's trousers for outdoor work a hundred years earlier in Western countries, it was taboo for women to wear trousers. It was only in the 1960s, that trousers became acceptable for Western women to wear.^[32]

Starting around the mid 19th Century, Wigan pit brow girls scandalized Victorian society by wearing trousers for their work at the local coal mines. They wore skirts over their trousers and rolled them up to their waist to keep them out of the way. Although pit brow lasses worked above-ground at the pit-head, their task of sorting and shovelling coal involved hard manual labour, so wearing the usual long skirts of the time would have greatly hindered their movements.

Women working the ranches of the 19th century American West also wore trousers for riding. In the early 20th century aviatrices and other working women often wore trousers. Frequent photographs from the 1930s of actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn in trousers helped make trousers acceptable for women. During World War II, women working in factories and doing other forms of "men's work" on war service wore trousers when the work demanded it. In the post-war era, trousers became acceptable casual wear for gardening, the beach, and other leisurely pursuits.

In Britain during the Second World War, because of the rationing of clothing, many women took to wearing their husbands' civilian clothes, including their trousers, to work while their husbands were away from home serving in the armed forces. This was partly because they were seen as practical garments of workwear and partly to allow women to keep their clothing allowance for other uses. As this practice of wearing trousers became more widespread and as the men's clothing wore out, replacements were needed. By the summer of 1944, it was reported that sales of women's trousers were five times more than they had been in the previous year.^[33]

In the 1960s, André Courrèges introduced long trousers for women as a fashion item, leading to the era of the pantsuit and designer jeans and the gradual eroding of social prohibitions against girls and women wearing trousers in schools, the workplace and in fine restaurants.

Parts of trousers[link]

Parts of trousers

Pleats[link]

Pleats just below the waistband on the front typify many styles of formal and casual trousers, including suit trousers and khakis. There may be one, two, three, or no pleats, which may face either direction. When the pleats open towards the pockets they are called reverse pleats (typical of most trousers today) and when they open toward the fly they are known as forward pleats.

Cuffs[link]

Trouser-makers can finish the legs by hemming the bottom to prevent fraying.^{[citation needed]} Trousers with turn-ups (cuffs in American English), after hemming, are rolled outward and sometimes pressed or stitched into place. The main reason for the turn-ups is to add weight to the bottom of the leg, to help the drape of the trousers.^{[original research?]}

Fly[link]

A fly is a covering over an opening join concealing the mechanism, such as a zipper, velcro or buttons, used to join the opening. In trousers, this is most commonly an opening covering the groin, which makes the pants easier to put on or take off. The opening also allows men to urinate without lowering their pants.

Trousers have varied historically in whether or not they have a fly. Originally, hose did not cover the area between the legs. This was instead covered by a doublet or by a codpiece. When breeches were worn, during the Regency period for example, they were fall-fronted (or broad fall). Later, after trousers (pantaloons) were invented, the fly-front (split fall) emerged.^[34] The panelled front returned as a sporting option, such as in riding breeches, but is now hardly ever used, a fly being by far the most common fastening. Most flies now use a zipper, though button-fly pants such as Levi's 501 jeans continue to be available.

Trouser support[link]

At present, most trousers are held up through the assistance of a belt which is passed through the belt loops on the waistband of the trousers. However, this was traditionally a style acceptable only for casual trousers and work trousers; suit trousers and formal trousers were suspended by the use of braces (suspenders in American English) attached to buttons located on the interior or exterior of the waistband. Today, this remains the preferred method of trouser support amongst adherents of classical British tailoring. Many men claim this method is more effective and more comfortable because it requires no cinching of the waist or periodic adjustment.

Society[link]

In modern Western society, males customarily wear trousers and not skirts or dresses. There are exceptions, however, such as the ceremonial Scottish kilt and Albanian fustanella, as well as robes or robe-like clothing like the cassocks of clergy and the academic robes, both rarely worn today in daily use. (See also Men's skirts.)

Convertible Ventilated Trousers shown with one leg cover removed

Based on Deuteronomy 22:5 in the Bible ("The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man"), some groups, such as Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, some Baptists, a few churches of Christ, most Orthodox Jews, and a few others believe that women should not wear trousers, but only skirts and dresses. These groups do permit women to wear underpants as long as they are hidden.

Among certain groups, low-rise, baggy trousers exposing underwear became fashionable; for example, among skaters and in 1990s hip hop fashion. This fashion is called sagging or, alternatively, "busting slack."^[35]

Cut-offs are homemade shorts made by cutting the legs off trousers, usually after holes have been worn in fabric around the knees. This extends the useful life of the trousers. The remaining leg fabric may be hemmed or left to fray after being cut.

Pants Day, an internet holiday celebrating the role of pants in the formation of current society, has been proposed for the last Friday of September (opposite No Pants Day on the first Friday of May).^[36]

Law[link]

In May 2004 in Louisiana, state legislator Derrick Shepherd proposed a bill that would make it a crime to appear in public wearing trousers below the waist and thereby exposing one's skin or "intimate clothing".^[37] The Louisiana bill did not pass.

In February 2005, Virginia legislators tried to pass a similar law that would have made punishable by a $50 fine: "any person who, while in a public place, intentionally wears and displays his below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person's intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner". (It is not clear whether, with the same coverage by the trousers, exposing underwear was considered worse than exposing bare skin, or whether the latter was already covered by another law.) The law passed in the Virginia House of Delegates. However, various criticisms to it arose. For example, newspaper columnists and radio talk show hosts consistently said that since most people that would be penalized under the law would be young African-American men, the law would thus be a form of discrimination against men. Virginia's state senators voted against passing the law.^[38][39]

See also[link]

Look up trousers in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trousers

• Capri pants
• Churidar
• No Pants Day
• Oxford bags
• Pantalettes
• Thai fisherman pants
• Trouser clips
• Breeches
• Clothing sizes

References[link]

Paul Alborough, more often known as Professor Elemental, is a steampunk and chap hop musical artist.^[1] After being approached to do a concept album of hip-hop as it would sound in different time periods, Emcee Elemental created the character of Professor Elemental. While the album never came to fruition, the character stuck.^[2] Professor Elemental has since been seen performing as a solo act or in theatre acts such as Come Into My Parlour. He is also popular at steampunk events and has been a headliner at the Steampunk World's Fair and the Waltz on the Wye.

The Professor Elemental character first gained notoriety with his music video for "Cup of Brown Joy," (Directed by Moog) which got the attention of notable celebrities such as Warren Ellis. Since then he has released a new album, continued his work in the community and performed live. He is currently in a feud with fellow "chap-hop" artist Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer.^[3]

Discography[link]

The Indifference Engine[link]

1. "Splendid", 2:39
2. "Animal Magic", 2:41
3. "Fighting Trousers", 3:03
4. "Sweet Cold Colation (Feat. Miss Sadie Bell)" - 2:22
5. "The Quest For The Golden Frog" - 4:06
6. "Elixir" - 1:47
7. "A Fete Worse Than Death" - 2:23
8. "Steam Powered (Feat. Mr. Jon Clark)" - 2:00
9. "Penny Dreadful" - 4:32
10. "Cup Of Brown Joy (Tea Bag Remix)" - 3:09

More Tea?[link]

1. "Intro", 0:40
2. "The Quest For The Golden Frog (Tom Caruana remix)", 3:49
3. "Splendid (Tom Caruana remix)", 3:02
4. "Fighting Trousers (Mr Simmonds remix)" - 2:58
5. "Alright (Suhov remix)" - 3:18
6. "Fred's Amazing Animal Band" - 1:17
7. "Animal Magic (Tom Caruana remix)" - 2:41
8. "Animals (Helen Arney feat. Professor Elemental) (Mr Simmonds remix)" - 4:00
9. "Pay Me A Visit (Ajuda remix feat. Count Bass D)" - 4:39
10. "Player Hater" - 3:34
11. "Hard Act To Follow (Tom Caruana remix)" - 2:53
12. "Livin' In The 90s (Tom Caruana remix)", 3:21
13. "Moon Monkeys", 1:15
14. "0800 Sickie (Crespo remix)", 3:55
15. "Steampowered (Tom Caruana remix feat. Mr Jon Clark)", 2:16
16. "Lets Get It Done", 3:09

Special School: The Album[link]

1. "So Special", 2:55
2. "A Scolding", 2:36
3. "Too Much Info (featuring Longusto)", 3:06
4. "Joey and Marie", 2:16
5. "Pie (featuring Legs)", 2:50
6. "Wilbur and Orville", 2:38
7. "The Antidote", 2:28
8. "Hungry (featuring Vecks)", 3:51
9. "Second to None", 2:50
10. "Graveyard Shifts (featuring Dizrali)", 4:08

Forthcoming releases[link]

• "Elemental and Jon Clark are Special School" (due out July 2011)
• "The Menagerie - Hopeful Monsters" (due out September 2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Professor Elemental

• Official website
• Professor Elemental on Twitter
• Elemental page on Tea Sea Records

Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a British series consisting of four animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The characters are made from moulded plasticine modelling clay on metal armatures, and filmed with stop motion clay animation.

Wallace, an absent-minded inventor living in Wigan, Lancashire, is a cheese enthusiast who is especially fond of Wensleydale. His companion, Gromit, is an anthropomorphic intelligent dog. Wallace is voiced by veteran actor Peter Sallis; Gromit remains silent, communicating only through facial expressions and body language.

Because of their endearing (if quirky) personalities and widespread popularity, the characters have been described as positive international icons of both modern British culture in particular and the British people in general. BBC News has called them "some of the best-known and best-loved stars to come out of the UK".^[1] Icons has said they have done "more to improve the image of the English world-wide than any officially appointed ambassadors".^[2] The short films The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave and the full length feature The Curse of the Were-Rabbit all received Academy Awards. The first short film, A Grand Day Out, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but lost to Creature Comforts, another animated creation of Nick Park. The most recent short film A Matter of Loaf and Death was likewise nominated in 2010. The films have received critical acclaim, with all four of the short films having 100% positive ratings on aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and the feature film having a 95% rating, placing it in the top 20 animated feature films on the site.

The two characters appear in the monthly BeanoMAX comic and daily in The Sun. They are also heavily featured in 'Aardmag', the free online magazine that is unofficial but supported by Aardman Animations.^[3]

Wallace & Gromit: The Thrill-O-Matic is due to open at Pleasure Beach Blackpool in 2013.

Wallace[link]

Voiced by Peter Sallis (and by Ben Whitehead in Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures)^[4] Wallace is the main protagonist and can usually be found wearing a white shirt, brown wool trousers, a green knitted pullover, and a red tie. He is best known for his love of cheese, especially Wensleydale,^[5] and crackers. His birthday is 7 August. The thought of Lancashire hotpot keeps him from going into crisis. He enjoys tea or a drop of Bordeaux red for special occasions. He reads the Morning, Afternoon and Evening Post.

Wallace is an inveterate inventor, creating elaborate contraptions that often do not work as intended. He is a self-proclaimed genius, evident from his exclamation when he discovers Hutch's borrowed skill, a talent for all things mechanical. Most of Wallace's inventions look not unlike the designs of W. Heath Robinson and Rube Goldberg, and Nick Park has said of Wallace that all his inventions are designed around the principle of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Wallace's official job varies; in A Close Shave he is a window washer. In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Wallace runs a humane pest extermination service, keeping the captured creatures (nearly all of which are rabbits) in the basement of his house. In the most recent short he is a baker.

Some of Wallace's contraptions are based on real inventions. For example, his method of getting up in the morning incorporates a bed that tips over to wake up its owner, an invention that was exhibited at The Great Exhibition of 1851 by Theophilus Carter, and is similar to a device sold in Japan that is used to ensure the sleeper awakens on time by inflating a pillow under their normal pillow and rolling the person, thus waking them up.

He has a kindly nature, and is perhaps a little over-optimistic. At times he can be a little selfish and inconsiderate, but he has a good heart and always means well. Nick Park, his creator, says: "He's a very self-contained figure. A very homely sort who doesn't mind the odd adventure." He is loosely based on Nick Park's father,^[6] whom Nick described in a radio interview as "an incurable tinkerer". He described one of his father's constructions, a combination beach hut and trailer, as having curtains in the windows, bookshelves on the walls, and full-sized furniture bolted to the floor. The way he dresses and his love for cheese is based on an eccentric school teacher.

In the first photo shown on The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it was revealed that once, when Gromit was little, Wallace had much more hair and a beard. On the photo that shows Gromit's graduation at Dogwarts, he had lost his beard, but still had a little hair, in the form of little patches just above his ears. The reason behind Wallace's loss of hair is unknown. As shown in The Wrong Trousers, he still uses a hair-dryer. In a "Matter of Loaf and Death", when Wallace is talking to Gromit, a picture is seen behind Gromit of Wallace with a brown beard and brown hair.

Wallace has had three love interests. The first was Wendolene Ramsbottom,^[7] which ended quickly when Wallace realised that she was allergic to cheese. The second was Lady Tottington in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, whom Wallace fondly calls "Totty." In A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wallace becomes engaged to Piella Bakewell,^[8] but this ended when she turned out to be a murderess who hated bakers, and was eaten by crocodiles upon trying to escape justice.

Gromit[link]

Gromit is Wallace's pet dog and also is generally more intelligent than Wallace, also the main protagonist. His birthday is 12 February.^[9] Gromit graduated from "Dogwarts University" ('Dogwarts' being a pun on 'Hogwarts', the wizard school from the Harry Potter books) with a double first in Engineering for Dogs.^[10] He likes knitting, playing chess, reading the newspaper and cooking. His prized possessions include his alarm clock, bone, brush, and a framed photo of himself with Wallace. He is also very handy with electronic equipment and an excellent aeroplane pilot. Though not mentioned a lot but according to Wallace or any other person he is a beagle.^[11]

Gromit is the deuteragonist and has no visible mouth and he does not express himself with spoken words, but his facial expressions and body language speak volumes. Original plans were that Peter Hawkins was going to voice him, but Nick dropped the idea of it when he realized how clear Gromit's expressions could be just through small movements.^[12][13] Many critics believe that Gromit's silence makes him the perfect straight man with a pantomime expressiveness that drew favourable comparisons to Buster Keaton.^[14] He does at times make dog-like noises, such as yelps and growling.^[15] Nick Park says: "We are a nation of dog-lovers and so many people have said: 'My dog looks at me just like Gromit does!'" Gromit enjoys eating "KornFlakes" and reading many books, including The Republic, by Pluto (a nod to the Disney character of the same name and a pun on Plato); Crime and Punishment, by Fido Dogstoyevsky (a pun on Fyodor Dostoyevsky); and a "how-to" guide entitled, Electronics for Dogs. In A Matter of Loaf and Death, a copy of Pup fiction is seen in the bin, a pun on Pulp Fiction. He also listens to Bach, knits, and solves puzzles with ease.

Sometimes, Gromit refuses to take (or simply ignores) Wallace's orders, such as in A Close Shave and Shopper 13, wherein Wallace orders him to get rid of Shaun, but Gromit doesn't.

On April 1, 2007, HMV announced that Gromit would stand in for Nipper for a three month period, promoting children's DVDs in its UK stores.^[16]

NASA has named one of its new prototype Mars explorer robots after Gromit.^[17]

Unlike his master, Gromit has only had one love interest: Fluffles, a poodle and pet to Piella. Fluffles does not share her mistress's hatred of bakers and joined Wallace and Gromit delivering bread at the end of A Matter of Loaf and Death. At the end of it, she is seen with Gromit making a delivery, while listening to "Puppy Love".

In 2010, Empire Magazine placed Gromit first in their list of "The 50 best animated movie characters" Gromit beat such characters as Homer Simpson, Wall-E and Woody from Toy Story to the top spot. Empire wrote that; "Gromit doesn't ever say a word, but there has never been a more expressive character (animated or otherwise) to grace our screens." ^[18]

Filmography[link]

30-minute films[link]

• A Grand Day Out (1989)
• The Wrong Trousers (1993)
• A Close Shave (1995)
• A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)

Feature-length films[link]

• The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Spin-offs[link]

• Shaun the Sheep (2007–2010) - TV series
• Timmy Time (2009–present) - TV series

Other appearances[link]

• Cracking Contraptions (2002)
• Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention (2010)^[19]

In 2003, Aardman produced a cinematic commercial for the Renault Kangoo starring Wallace and Gromit. The ad played in front of several summer blockbusters in top British cinemas. The commercial, entitled "The Kangoo-matic", was Wallace and Gromit's first advertisement. Later Wallace and Gromit commercials were made for Jacob's Cream Crackers, energy supplier Npower and beverage PG Tips. The characters also appeared in a commercial for Children In Need in 2009, as well as in the Christmas advert for Marks and Spencer.

On March 28, 2009, The Science Museum in London, opened an exhibition called "Wallace & Gromit present a World of Cracking Ideas." The family-oriented show hopes to inspire children to be inventive.^[20] Official Page,Science Museum Page, The exhibit was open until 1 November 2009.^[21] Wallace and Gromit were featured in many exhibition-exclusive videos, as well as one announcing the opening of the exhibition.(viewable on the Aardman YouTube channel)

In 2010, the Royal Mail announced that a series of Wallace and Gromit images would feature on the 2010 Christmas postage stamps^[22]

On the 19th April it was announced that Wallace and Gromit will appear in a short for the BBC Proms in July.

Wallace and Gromit will appear in a 1 minute special for the queens Diamond Jubilee called Jubilee Bunt-a-thon.^[23]

Location[link]

While not overtly setting the series in any particular town, Nick Park had previously hinted that its milieu was inspired by thoughts of 1950s Wigan, reinforced by an A-Z Wigan being displayed on Wallace's Anti-Pesto van in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.^[24] In The Wrong Trousers, Gromit picks up a letter at the Wallace and Gromit residence addressed to "62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan".^[24] The address includes a postcode of WG7 7FU, though this does not match any street in Wigan, whose postcodes begin with the letters WN.^{[25][original research?]} Wallace's accent (voiced by Peter Sallis) comes from the Holme Valley of West Yorkshire. Near the beginning of A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wigan is referenced on the newspaper Wallace is reading, and near the end, while looking for somewhere appropriate to dispose of a bomb, Gromit sees the Yorkshire border from their home (a joke referencing the rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire).

In the Cracking Contraptions episode "The Soccamatic", Wallace says to Gromit, "How do you like my Preston North End soccamatic, Gromit?". Whether this is the team they support, or rather where they live, is unknown.

Both Ramsbottom and Tottington are small towns near Bury, and both are the names of love interests of Wallace.

At the end of Wallace and Gromit A Grand Day Out, Wallace tells Gromit to set coordinates for "62 West Wallaby Street" as they are returning to Earth.

Other people have said that Wallace's home town is not unlike Beanotown.^[26]

Stop-motion technique[link]

The Wallace and Gromit movies are shot using the stop motion animation technique.^[27] After detailed storyboarding, set and plasticine model construction, the movie's shot one frame at a time, moving the models of the characters slightly to give the impression of movement in the final film. In common with other animation techniques, the stop motion animation in Wallace and Gromit may duplicate frames if there is little motion, and in action scenes sometimes multiple exposures per frame are used to produce a faux motion blur. Because a second of film constitutes 24 separate frames, even a short half-hour film like A Close Shave takes a great deal of time to animate well. General quotes on the speed of animation of a Wallace and Gromit film put the filming rate at typically around 30 frames per day — i.e. just over one second of film photographed for each day of production. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is an example for how long this technique takes to produce quality animation; it took 15 months to make.

As with Park's previous movies, the special effects achieved within the limitations of the stop motion technique were quite pioneering and ambitious. In A Close Shave, for example, consider the soap suds in the window cleaning scene, and the projectile globs of porridge in Wallace's house. There was even an explosion in "The Auto Chef", part of the Cracking Contraptions shorts. Some effects (particularly fire, smoke, and floating bunnies) in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit proved impossible to do in stop motion and so were rendered on computer.

Park has consistently turned down requests for an ongoing television series due to the time and effort that would be required for even a single episode.

Most of the models were destroyed in the 2005 Aardman studio fire, but a set from A Matter of Loaf and Death is presently on display at the At-Bristol science centre.^[28]

Video games[link]

A Wallace and Gromit interactive CD-ROM game from circa 1995, named W&G: Cracking Contraptions, has been released for the PC, containing mini games based on the three original animated shorts as well as brief video clips, wallpapers, screen savers, and sounds that could be assigned as system sounds.^[29]

In September 2003, Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Windows.^[30] This separate story sees the duo take on Feathers McGraw (of The Wrong Trousers) again. Still obsessed with diamonds, he escapes from the penguin enclosure of West Wallaby Zoo, where he was "imprisoned" at the end of The Wrong Trousers, and takes over the entire zoo, kidnapping young animals and forcing their parents to work for him, helping him turn the zoo into a diamond mine.^[30]

Wallace and Gromit, meanwhile, have adopted one of the zoo's baby polar bears, named Archie. As they go to visit the zoo to celebrate his birthday, they find the zoo closed. A quick spot of inventing back at the house, and they prepare to embark on their latest adventure. Hiding inside a giant wooden penguin, a parody of the famous Trojan Horse, they infiltrate the zoo, and set about rescuing the animals and undoing Feathers' work.

In 2005, a video game of The Curse of The Were-Rabbit was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, following the plot of the film as Wallace and Gromit work as vermin-catchers, protecting customers' vegetable gardens from rabbits, using a "BunGun".^[31]

Gameplay for the Project Zoo involve players exclusively controlling Gromit, as Wallace functions as a helper non-player character, but in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, gameplay shifts between the two, and even includes two-player cooperative play.^[32]

Both games were developed by Frontier Developments with the assistance of Aardman, with Peter Sallis reprising his role as Wallace. Project Zoo was published by BAM! Entertainment, while The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was published by Konami.^[32]

In July 2008, developer Telltale Games announced a new series of episodic video games based on the characters, called Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures.^[33] The first episode in Grand Adventures, "Fright of the Bumblebees", was released on 23 March 2009.^[34] The second episode, "The Last Resort", was released on 5 May 2009.^[35] 2 more episodes, "Muzzled!" and "The Boogey Man" were released in later 2009. The four episodes have separately been released on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360.

Comic[link]

British publisher Titan Magazines started producing a monthly Wallace and Gromit comic after the debut of Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The characters still run Anti-Pesto, and both Shaun and Feathers McGraw have appeared in the comic.^[36]

A comic based on the spin-off series, Shaun the Sheep, is being published, also by Titan Magazines. The first issue was released on 29 March 2007.

The Wallace and Gromit comic strip also appears in BeanoMAX. Nick Park guest-edited the 70th birthday issue of The Beano weekly, and so this issue contained numerous Wallace & Gromit references.^[37]

On 17 May 2010, they started appearing in The Sun.^[38] It is credited to Titan and Aardman, with art by Mychailo Kazybrid. It replaced George and Lynne.

The comic is now available as a series of apps on iPod Touch and iPhone.

Popular culture[link]

Wallace and Gromit were used to promote a Harvey Nichols store that opened in Bristol (where Aardman is based) in 2008. The pictures show them, and Lady Tottington from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, wearing designer clothes and items.^[39] The duo have been used in numerous advertising campaigns down the years. Wallace and Gromit have also been used as the TV Station Ident for Christmas periods for the BBC, in both 1995 and 2008. They were also used to prevent a Wensleydale cheese factory from shutting down due to financial difficulties after a member of staff came up with the idea to use Wallace and Gromit as mascots, as Wensleydale is one of Wallace's favourite cheeses.^[40][41]

The duo were parodied as Willis and Crumble in an episode of The Simpsons entitled Angry Dad: The Movie. Nick Park also made a voice cameo as himself in the same episode.

The theme song was used to wake up astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-132 in May 2010.^[42] It has been suggested on BBC Radio 4's 'PM' that the theme should become the England football supporters' song, instead of the Great Escape.^[43]

In December 2010, while appearing on Desert Island Discs, Nick Park announced that he was working with Pleasure Beach Blackpool to build a theme park ride based on the characters.^[44]

Music[link]

The music featured in all the films was written by Julian Nott, a British film composer.

References[link]