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Western literature refers to the literature written in the languages of Europe, including the ones belonging to the Indo-European language family as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque, Hungarian, and so forth. Western literature is considered one of the defining elements of Western civilization.

The best of Western literature is considered to be the Western Canon. The list of works in the Western Canon varies according to the critic's opinions on Western culture and the relative importance of its defining characteristics.

Western literature includes literature in many languages:

• American literature
• Catalan literature
• Czech literature
• Danish literature
• Dutch literature
• English literature
• German literature
• Greek literature
• French literature
• Irish literature
• Italian literature
• Latin literature
• Polish literature
• Portuguese literature
• Russian literature
• Spanish literature
• Welsh literature

See also[link]

• Persian literature in Western culture

This literature-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Heather James (also known as Heather Moray) is a British television actress.^[1] She has appeared in a number of television series including Cribb, The Black Tower, One by One and Columbo.

References[link]

1. ^ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/84678?view=credit

Heather James at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a British television actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (May 2009)

Syed Zaiduzzaman Hamid, better known as Zaid Hamid, is a Pakistani security consultant and political commentator.^[1][2] His byline in newspaper articles has been Zaid Zaman.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Zaid was born in Karachi, in 1964. His father, Col. Zaman Hamid (Retd), served in the Pakistan Army. Zaid spent his early life in Karachi. He received a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Computer Systems Engineering from NED University, Karachi in 1980's.^[3]

Political views[link]

Through his TV programmes, Hamid has claimed that a nexus between India's RAW, the CIA and is responsible for the destabilization of Pakistan. He also claims that the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, were part of a plan hatched by "Hindu Zionists"", and that it was an attempt by the Indians to stage an attack just like the Americans executed the September 11 attacks.^[1][2][4][3]

Criticism[link]

A number of noted Pakistani journalists, writers and Islamic scholars^[5] have criticized Hamid and have described his views on politics and security as conspiracy theories.^[6][7][8][9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• BrassTacks website
• Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid

Peter Craven
File:Peter craven.jpg
Personal information
Nationality	England
Date of birth	(1934-06-21)21 June 1934
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Date of death	24 September 1963(1963-09-24) (aged 29)
Current club information
British league	-
Career history
Liverpool Chads Belle Vue Aces	1951 1952–63
Individual honours
World Champion British Champion	1955, 1962 1962, 1963
Team honours

Peter Theodore Craven^[1] (21 June 1934 – 24 September 1963)^[2] was an English motorcycle racer. He was a finalist in each FIM Speedway World Championship from 1954 to 1963 and he won the title twice (in 1955 and 1962). He was British Champion in 1962-63.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Craven was born in Liverpool and had four sisters and an older brother, Brian. He also had a twin brother who died at an early age. He got his first racing experience when he started participating in cycle speedway.^[2]

Career[link]

Peter Craven got his first taste of motorcycle speedway racing in 1949 at the Stanley Park Stadium. He visited the stadium a day after his sixteenth birthday and drove a few laps on his brother's bike, before hitting the safety fence and sustaining a concussion. He was later given another chance to show his abilities to the Liverpool Chads, but after just one lap he hit the fence again. Despite this, he was included as a reserve in the team's away match against the Leicester Hunters.^[1]

He made eight league appearances for the Liverpool Chads in Division II during 1951, scoring eight points.^[1] and he was with the Chads when they finished thirteenth in Division Two.^[4] He also rode for the Fleetwood Flyers.^[2] The next year, he made 10 league appearances equally divided between Manchester’s Belle Vue and the Liverpool Chads.^[1]

Craven made his Belle Vue debut on 17 May 1952 when he scored two points in a race against the visiting Norwich Stars. That season, he made four more league appearances for Belle Vue, but he only managed to score one point in those races combined.^[2]

In 1953, Peter became a regular Aces rider and scored 70 points in 12 matches, but the British Army required his services, and he missed several matches.^[2]

He continued racing for Belle Vue during his national service. During 1954 he made 24 league appearances and top-scored for his club. He qualified for his first Wembley World final and scored one point more than the brilliant Swedish rider Ove Fundin. About this time as a young man he owned his Jowett Jupiter road car which still exists. In 1955, on his second try, Peter sensationally won the first of his two FIM World Championships at Wembley.^[2]

In 1958, Peter captained the English team against Sweden in Sweden, finishing top scorer; he also top-scored in the five-test series against Australasia.

In 1959 he took on Ove Fundin and won the Golden Helmet Match Race Championship, the Champions of Champions Cup at Poole; the Northern Cup at Belle Vue; the Internationale Derby at Ipswich; the Pride of the East at Norwich; the Tom Farndon Memorial Trophy at New Cross; the Champagne Derby again at Belle Vue, the CTS Trophy at Norwich and the Pride of the Midlands at Leicester.

In 1960 Peter came third in the World Championship final staged at Wembley when Ove Fundin beat Ronnie Moore into second place after a thrilling run off, all three riders having scored an equal number of points after their five rides. During 1961 he captained the Lions on a tour to Austria. He came third in the first F.I.M. Internationale individual championship meeting at the Harringay Stadium and was second in the British Final at Wembley.

Craven's son Robert was also a speedway rider.^[5]

World final appearances[link]

• 1954 - London, Wembley Stadium - 15th - 3pts
• 1955 - London, Wembley Stadium - Winner - 13pts
• 1956 - London, Wembley Stadium - 4th - 11pts + 2pts
• 1957 - London, Wembley Stadium - 3rd - 11pts + 3pts
• 1958 - London, Wembley Stadium - 4th - 11pts + 2pts
• 1959 - London, Wembley Stadium - 9th - 7pts
• 1960 - London, Wembley Stadium - 3rd - 14pts + 1pt
• 1961 - Malmö, Malmö Stadion - 10th - 6pts
• 1962 - London, Wembley Stadium - Winner - 14pts
• 1963 - London, Wembley Stadium - 10th - 6pts^[6]

Death[link]

1962 was another good year for Peter. He followed his three British Championship victories by carrying off his second World Individual Championship at Wembley in front of 62,000 fans. But in 1963 he died as a result of a freak racing accident at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Stadium on 20 September 1963. While taking evasive action to avoid hitting fallen race leader George Hunter who suffered engine failure, Peter hit a fence. The unconscious Craven was rushed to hospital where his family remained at his bedside until he died at 21:10 on Tuesday 24 September 1963.

There are allegations made that Peter Craven had started ten yards behind the other riders by way of a handicap. However Peter was actually at the tapes with the other riders but allowed the others to pull away ahead of him to make the racing more exciting. Every year there is a Peter Craven Memorial meeting held at Belle Vue in honour of his memory.

References[link]

v t e Speedway World Champions     1936 - L. Van Praag 1937 - J Milne 1938 - B. Wilkinson 1949 - T. Price 1950 - F. Williams 1951 - J. Young 1952 - J. Young 1953 - F. Williams 1954 - R. Moore 1955 - P. Craven 1956 - O. Fundin 1957 - B. Briggs 1958 - B. Briggs 1959 - R. Moore 1960 - O. Fundin 1961 - O. Fundin 1962 - P. Craven 1963 - O. Fundin 1964 - B. Briggs 1965 - B. Knutsson 1966 - B. Briggs 1967 - O. Fundin 1968 - I. Mauger 1969 - I. Mauger 1970 - I. Mauger 1971 - O. Olsen 1972 - I. Mauger 1973 - J. Szczakiel 1974 - A. Michanek 1975 - O. Olsen 1976 - P. Collins 1977 - I. Mauger 1978 - O. Olsen 1979 - I. Mauger 1980 - M. Lee 1981 - B. Penhall 1982 - B. Penhall 1983 - E. Müller 1984 - E. Gundersen 1985 - E. Gundersen 1986 - H. Nielsen 1987 - H. Nielsen 1988 - E. Gundersen 1989 - H. Nielsen 1990 - P. Jonsson 1991 - J. Pedersen 1992 - G. Havelock 1993 - S. Ermolenko 1994 - T. Rickardsson 1995 - H. Nielsen 1996 - B. Hamill 1997 - G. Hancock 1998 - T. Rickardsson 1999 - T. Rickardsson 2000 - M. Loram 2001 - T. Rickardsson 2002 - T. Rickardsson 2003 - N. Pedersen 2004 - J. Crump 2005 - T. Rickardsson 2006 - J. Crump 2007 - N. Pedersen 2008 - N. Pedersen 2009 - J. Crump 2010 - T. Gollob 2011 - G. Hancock

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was the author of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Many of his novels and stories were written under the pseudonyms Harrington Strong, Raley Brien, George Drayne, Monica Morton, Rowena Raley, Frederic Phelps, Walter Pierson, and John Mack Stone, among others.

McCulley started as a police reporter for The Police Gazette and served as an Army public affairs officer during World War I. An amateur history buff, he went on to a career in pulp magazines and screenplays, often using a Southern California backdrop for his stories.

Aside from Zorro, McCulley created many other pulp characters, including Black Star, The Spider, The Mongoose, and Thubway Tham. Many of McCulley's characters—The Green Ghost, The Thunderbolt, and The Crimson Clown—were inspirations for the masked heroes that have appeared in popular culture from McCulley's time to the present day.

Born in Ottawa, Illinois and raised in Chillicothe, Illinois, he died in 1958 in Los Angeles, California aged 75.

Works[link]

Some of McCulley's tales are available from Wildside Press and Altus Press. Pulp Adventures Inc. has published two oversized trade paperback volumes reprinting many of the original Zorro stories.

McCulley's characters[link]

Zorro[link]

The cover of "The Curse of Capistrano"

McCulley's Zorro character, reminiscent of Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel, was first serialized in the story "The Curse of Capistrano" in 1919 in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly in 1919.

Zorro became his most enduring character, appearing in four novels (the last three were all serialized in Argosy Magazine, which had absorbed All-Story). The first appeared in 1919, the second in 1922, then there was a significant gap before the appearance of the third novel Zorro Rides Again in 1931. The appearance of the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks silent movie The Mark of Zorro, based on the first novel, was the direct cause for McCulley reviving what had originally been a one-time hero plot. The appearance of the character (black mask and hat) was actually defined by Fairbanks' movie version rather than McCulley's original story,^{[citation needed]} and McCulley copied the Fairbanks incarnation for subsequent stories, as did the many film and television variations that followed.

The popularity of the character led to three novellas appearing in Argosy in 1932, 1933, and 1934. In between he wrote many other novels and stories set in early Spanish California which did not have Zorro as the lead character. The last full length novel "The Sign of Zorro" appeared in 1941, and was very likely also written in response to the popularity of the character in the movies. Republic optioned the character for a serial Zorro's Fighting Legion which was released in 1939 and was well received. Over the coming decade Republic released three other serials connected in some way with the Zorro character. In 1940, The Mark of Zorro remake starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell made the character much wider known to the public at large, and McCulley decided to bring Zorro back with new stories.

McCulley made an arrangement with the pulp West Magazine to produce a brand new Zorro short story for every issue. The first of these stories appeared in July 1944 and the last one appeared in July 1951, the final issue of the publication. Fifty-three adventures in all were published in West. An additional story (possibly a story originally written for West which went unpublished when West folded) appeared in Max Brand's Western Magazine in the May 1954 issue. The final Zorro story appeared in Short Story Magazine April 1959, after McCulley's death and after Walt Disney's Zorro television program starring Guy Williams had become nationally popular.

Black Star[link]

Probably his second most popular character from the pulps was "The Black Star", a criminal mastermind who is pursued by Roger Verbeck-Flagellum and Muggs, a millionaire bachelor and his ex-thug partner. Black Star first appeared in the Street & Smith pulp Detective Story Magazine on 5 March 1916.

Black Star was what was once termed a "gentleman criminal", in that he does not commit murder, nor does he permit any of his gang to kill anyone, not even the police or his arch enemy Roger Verbeck. He does not threaten women, always keeps his word, and is invariably courteous, nor does he deal with narcotics in any of his stories. He is always seen in a black cloak and a black hood on which is embossed a jet black star. The Black Star and his gang used "vapor bombs" and "vapor guns" which rendered their victims instantly unconscious, a technique which pre-dated the Green Hornet's gas gun by several decades.

These stories were very popular with the readership of Detective Story Magazine and some of them were reprinted by Chelsea House, a division of Street & Smith, in a series of inexpensive hardback books. The character lasted through the end of 1930.

The Spider[link]

The Spider was another long running villain character, and considered by some a significant pulp supervillain. The Spider appeared in 11 short stories and three short story collections between 1918 and 1930. He was injured as a young man and used a wheelchair, but he used his mental abilities to run an international crime ring from his office, 'The Spider's Den'.

The Crimson Clown[link]

The Crimson Clown appeared in Detective Story Magazine beginning in 1926, and immediately attracted reader interest, so much so that Street & Smith published two hardback collections of his adventures. The Crimson Clown (1927) was rushed to press just as soon as there was enough material available to fill a hardback volume. This was followed by The Crimson Clown Again (1928).

The Crimson Clown is Delton Prouse, a wealthy young bachelor, able veteran of The Great War, explorer, and all around adventurer who functions as a modern Robin Hood, stealing from the unjustly rich and returning money to helpless victims or worthy organizations. He dresses in a mostly white clown suit and uses a tear gas pistol (later this became a "gas gun").

By the end of 1931 McCulley had permanently retired the character.

Filmography[link]

Many of Johnston McCulley's stories were made into motion pictures. McCulley also wrote for motion pictures. Here is a brief filmography.

• Ruth of the Rockies, 1920, story
• Ride for Your Life, 1924, story
• The Ice Flood, 1926, story
• The Red Rope, 1937, story
• The Trusted Outlaw, 1937, story
• Rose of the Rio Grande, 1938, story
• Doomed Caravan, 1941, writer
• Overland Mail, 1942, story
• Don Ricardo Returns, 1946, story

Death[link]

Johnston McCulley died on November 23, 1958 in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Times obituary gives an address in Los Angeles of 6533 Hollywood Blvd. at the time of his death, an address which is confirmed in the Marquis volume and places McCulley in the Hillview Hollywood Apartments. There is no record of when he moved there, although the Marquis article may have been originally prepared in the late 1940s/early 1950s, with additional material appended on in the late 1950s. The New York Times obituary mentions that he died "after a series of operations" a phrase echoed in other newspaper obits from other parts of the country, most likely taken from a New York Times feed.

McCulley is entombed in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, Los Angeles, California.

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Johnston McCulley

• Works by Johnston McCulley (public domain in Canada and the rest of the world.)