Tristram Dalton
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1791
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	George Cabot
Personal details
Born	(1738-05-28)May 28, 1738 Newburyport, Massachusetts
Died	May 30, 1817(1817-05-30) (aged 79) Boston, Massachusetts
Political party	Pro-Administration
Alma mater	Harvard University
Profession	Law

Tristram Dalton (May 28, 1738 – May 30, 1817) was an American politician who served as a Senator from Massachusetts.

Early life[link]

Dalton was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He attended Dummer Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard College in 1755. Afterwards, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but did not practice, instead pursuing a career as a merchant. He later served as a delegate from Massachusetts to the convention of committees of New England provinces, which met in Providence, Rhode Island on December 25, 1776.

Career[link]

Dalton served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1782 to 1785, and served as speaker in 1784.

He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1783 and 1784, but did not attend. He served as a Massachusetts state senator from 1785 to 1788, and was appointed to the United States Senate in 1788. He served from March 4, 1789 to March 4, 1791. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1790.

Later life[link]

He served as surveyor of the port of Boston from November 1814 until his death on May 30, 1817. He is interred in the churchyard of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newburyport.

References[link]

• Tristram Dalton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

v t e United States Senators from Massachusetts Class 1 Dalton Cabot Goodhue Mason Adams Lloyd Gore Ashmun Mellen Mills Webster Choate Webster Winthrop Rantoul Sumner Washburn Dawes Lodge, Sr. Butler Walsh Lodge, Jr. J. Kennedy Smith E. Kennedy Kirk Brown Class 2 Strong Sedgwick Dexter Foster Pickering Varnum Otis Lloyd Silsbee Davis Bates Davis Everett Rockwell Wilson Boutwell Hoar Crane J. Weeks Walsh Gillett Coolidge Lodge, Jr. S. Weeks Saltonstall Brooke Tsongas Kerry

Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman in 2003.
Background information
Birth name	Richard Christopher Wakeman
Born	(1949-05-18) 18 May 1949 (age 63) Perivale, London, England
Genres	Rock, progressive rock, pop, electronica, jazz fusion, classical, Christian music
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Keyboards, piano, synthesiser
Years active	1969–present
Labels	A&M, Charisma, President Records, Voiceprint, Griffin, EMI, Music Fusion, Hot Productions, Studio T
Associated acts	Yes, Strawbs, ABWH, David Bowie, Warhorse, Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens
Website	www.rwcc.com

Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for his solo albums, contributing to the BBC comedy series Grumpy Old Men and for Rick's Place, his former radio show on Planet Rock that aired until December 2010.

Wakeman was born in West London. He purchased his first electronic keyboard at 12 years of age. In 1968, he studied the piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music at the Royal College of Music before leaving after a year in favour of session music work. He went on to feature on songs by artists including Black Sabbath,^[1] David Bowie, T. Rex, Elton John and Cat Stevens. Wakeman joined the folk group Strawbs in 1969 and played on three of their albums. He first joined Yes in 1971 to replace Tony Kaye, and left the group in 1974 to work on his solo career. He returned in 1976 before leaving with lead vocalist Jon Anderson in 1980. Wakeman was part of the side project Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, a group of ex-Yes members formed in 1989, and the eight-member Yes line-up that followed until his third departure in 1992. He returned for two years in 1995 and once more in 2002, where he was part of the band's 35th anniversary tour until its end in 2004.

Wakeman began his solo career during his first run with Yes. His perhaps most known records being his first three, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973), Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975). He has produced over 100 solo albums that have sold more than 50 million copies.^[2] In November 2010, Wakeman was awarded the Spirit of Prog award at the annual Marshall Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards.^[3]

Early life[link]

Rick Wakeman was born on 18 May 1949 in the west London suburb of Northolt to Cyril Frank and Mildred Helen Wakeman.^[4][5] He attended Wood End Infants School in 1954, followed by Drayton Manor Grammar School in 1959.^[6] He started playing the piano at the age of 5 and purchased his first electronic keyboard at the age of 12.^[7] In 1968, Wakeman secured a place at the Royal College of Music, where he studied piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music. He left a year later in favour of session music work.

Music career[link]

Rick Wakeman photographic portrait by Augusto De Luca

Session work and the Strawbs (1969–1971)[link]

Wakeman became an active session musician. In June 1969, he played Mellotron on David Bowie's single "Space Oddity" for a session fee of £9.^[8] He went on to play piano for Bowie's "Life on Mars?", "Changes" and "Oh! You Pretty Things" in April 1971 and "Absolute Beginners" in 1985. He also played the piano on the Cat Stevens' hit "Morning Has Broken". In 1971 he acquired an early Minimoog synthesiser, purchasing it at half price from actor Jack Wild who believed that it was defective because it only played one note at a time.^[7][9]

In 1970 and 1971, Wakeman was part of the folk rock group Strawbs. His first appearance on an album sleeve was on Dragonfly, the group's second studio album released in February 1970. The band held a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 11 July 1970 where Wakeman performed a solo piano piece named "Temparament of Mind". He received a standing ovation for his performance, and the track appeared on the band's live record released that year, Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios.^[10] Wakeman appeared on the front page of Melody Maker soon after, which called him "Tomorrow's Superstar",^[11] and composed the theme music to the television show Ask Aspel.^[12] He remained in the Strawbs for a third album, From the Witchwood, but left the group in mid-1971.

Joining Yes and start of solo career (1971–1975)[link]

In 1971, Wakeman joined the progressive rock band Yes, replacing their organist Tony Kaye. His first concert with the group took place in Leicester on 30 September 1971.^[13] He worked on the group's fourth, fifth and sixth studio albums – Fragile (1971), Close to the Edge (1972), and Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). Wakeman, however, felt Tales from Topographic Oceans was pretentious and – despite its ambition – insubstantial. He disliked performing the album on tour, feeling the length of the songs prevented the band from playing their more popular tracks. Following the tour, as the band began work on what would become Relayer (1974), Wakeman felt further alienated from the group. Disenchanted with the direction in which Yes was going, and already into a successful solo career, he left.^{[citation needed]}

Wakeman produced his first three solo albums during his first run with Yes. On 23 January 1973,^[14] he released The Six Wives of Henry VIII, an instrumental concept album based on his interpretations of the musical characteristics of the wives of Henry VIII, using keyboard instruments. The album was overall well received by critics. TIME magazine named the record one of the best pop albums of 1973.^[15] In October 1975, the album was certified Gold.^[16]

On 18 January 1974, Wakeman performed Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a forty-minute piece based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Combining rock with an orchestra and choir, the concert was recorded and released on 18 May, where it topped the UK album charts on entry for one week. The record became a multi-million dollar seller in six weeks.^[17] The album was certified Gold in September 1974.^[16]

In May 1975, Wakeman released The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, with the album was performed live at the Empire Pool on ice. The show was well received but expensive to produce, consuming much of the income from sales of the album.^[7][18] The album was also a worldwide success, reaching No.21 in the United States while going Gold (the third time a Wakeman record had achieved this) in Brazil, Japan and Australia.^[19] The album has sold 12 million copies.^[20]

In 1975, Wakeman produced the first of two soundtracks for films by Ken Russell, that being Lisztomania; Wakeman would go on to create the soundtrack for Crimes of Passion in 1984. In 1976, Wakeman produced and created the album No Earthly Connection in France.

Rejoining Yes (1976–1980)[link]

Wakeman returned to Yes for their 1977 album Going for the One. He remained until their next album, Tormato, a year later. He is reputed to have given the album its name by throwing a tomato at a showing of the art used for the album's cover.^[21][22]

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Yes (1989–1992)[link]

In 1989, he joined with three fellow ex-Yes members to form Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe ("ABWH"). After ABWH's first album, some of the completed tracks for a planned second album were merged with tracks from an in-progress Yes album to create the album Union. Wakeman, along with the combined members of both bands then joined to form a Yes supergroup (made up of past and present members of Yes) for the subsequent tour in 1991. When the tour ended a year later, Wakeman left again.

Fourth run with Yes (1995–1997)[link]

He then returned in 1996 for the Keys to Ascension albums but left before the band could tour.

Fifth run with Yes and Hampton Court (2002–2009)[link]

In 2002, he rejoined Yes and stayed with the band until their 2008 In The Present Tour. For the group's 40th anniversary tour, Wakeman was replaced by his son, Oliver Wakeman.

In 2008, Wakeman toured with a solo show named Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show, featuring an evening of music and stories.

In May 2009, Wakeman performed The Six Wives of Henry VIII live at Hampton Court Palace for the first time, for two nights. The performance was recorded and released as The Six Wives of Henry VIII Live at Hampton Court Palace.

Instruments[link]

Wakeman performing at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Performing Right Society for Music Members' Benevolent Fund in 2009.

Although Wakeman is a noted player of the grand piano, electric piano, Hammond organ, Minimoog and many later models of synthesiser, he is well known as an exponent (for a time) of the Mellotron – an analogue electronic musical instrument that uses a bank of pre-recorded magnetic tape strips, each of which is activated by a separate key on its keyboard and lasts approximately 8 seconds. Wakeman featured playing this instrument, to varying degrees, on the David Bowie track "Space Oddity", the Yes albums Fragile, Close to the Edge and Tales From Topographic Oceans, as well as the solo albums The Six Wives of Henry VIII and White Rock. It proved too unwieldy and unreliable for regular touring, and he eventually doused the last Mellotron that he owned in petrol and set fire to it in a field.^[23] Undeterred, he worked with David Biro to develop the Birotron, which used the then popular 8-track cassette format rather than tape strips. Because of the advent of digital keyboards at that time, and also because the cassette tape format could not reproduce the attack and decay of musical notes (which the tape strips of the Mellotron could reproduce), the Birotron was never a commercial or technical success. Only 35 Birotrons were produced, and Wakeman eventually threw his across the stage after it broke down mid-concert, an action he now regrets as there are only six remaining examples.^[23]

Recent years[link]

Wakeman's track "Arthur" has been used as the theme tune to the BBC's Election Night Coverage since 1979, with the exception of 2001 and 2010. Wakeman's album Fields of Green '97 features the track "Election '97/Arthur" which was used by the BBC for their coverage of the 1997 General Election. The music was revamped for the BBC's 2005 general election night coverage.

His TV career was launched in 1982 when he hosted Gastank on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The show featured a mix of interviews with 1970s musicians and impromptu performances where the guest artist would join Wakeman and his house band in playing re-arranged versions of their classic songs or entirely new pieces created for the show. Wakeman hosted the ITV comedy show Live at Jongleurs for 8 years.

Wakeman is a contributor to the BBC Two show Grumpy Old Men. He has also appeared in a number of episodes of Countdown. He has also appeared on the satirical panel shows Never Mind the Buzzcocks (4 appearances) and Have I Got News For You. Between September 2005 and December 2010, Wakeman presented Rick's Place, a weekly radio show on Planet Rock with David 'Kid' Jensen. Wakeman appeared as himself in "Journey to the Centre of Rick Wakeman", the season two finale of Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music, a BBC Radio 4 comedy programme. The episode detailed a fictional war between England and Wales in 2009 which only Wakeman could stop. Wakeman provided piano for Benn's 2008 single "Sing Like an Angel", which was released on iTunes. In December 2006, Wakeman was the guest host for an episode of The Personality Test on Radio 4. He also appeared on Top Gear and set a race track lap time of 1'55.26. Wakeman made his debut appearance on Just a Minute on Radio 4 on 7 February 2011.^[24]

In October 2007, Wakeman commenced a new tour 'Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show', where he accompanies video performers such as Gordon Giltrap and the English Rock Ensemble (Ashley Holt, Lee Pomeroy, Dave Colquhoun and Tony Fernandez). A Freemason, he is a member of Chelsea Lodge No. 3098, the membership of which is made up of entertainers.^[25] In 2009, Wakeman became a Patron of Tech Music Schools.

In 2011, Wakeman, alongside Fiaba's drummer Bruno Rubino, has been recording and arranging the debut full-length studio album of the Italian singer Valentina Blanca.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2012, Wakeman appeared as part of a group backing Jasper Carrott on BBC 1's The One Jasper Carrott.

Personal life[link]

On 28 March 1970, Wakeman married his first wife Rosaline Woolford at twenty years of age^[26] and had two sons, Oliver (b. 26 February 1972) and Adam (b. 11 March 1974). Rick and Rosaline divorced in 1977, and Wakeman married studio secretary Danielle Corminboeuf in January 1980 in the West Indies,^[27] with whom he had one son, Benjamin (b. 1978).^[28] He had a daughter, Jemma Kiera (b. 21 February 1983), with former Page 3 model Nina Carter^[29] and the two married in 1984 followed by the birth of their son, Oscar (b. 14 May 1986).^[30] He has had a renewal of his Christian faith,^[31] which began around the time of his marriage to Nina Carter.^[32] Nina and Rick divorced in December 2004.^[33]

Rick Wakeman had a daughter Manda (b. 9 May 1986) with his long time friend, designer and seamstress Denise Gandrup, whom he first met in 1972. Denise designed much of Wakeman's stage outfits including his famous capes.^[34][35]

In his twenties, Wakeman suffered three heart attacks.^[21] The first occurred after a performance of Journey to the Centre of the Earth at the Crystal Palace Bowl on 27 July 1974.

In 1980 he was mis-diagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. He only found out in 2008 that the pain he was suffering was just due to sudden overwork after a period of lack of keyboard practice.^[36]

A passionate football fan, Wakeman has supported Brentford F.C. since he was a child, and later on he also became a director of the West London club. After a disagreement with the board^{[citation needed]}, he moved on to Manchester City F.C. but maintained his allegiance to Brentford. He was involved in the ownership of the American soccer club Philadelphia Fury in the late '70s, along with other rock celebrities such as Peter Frampton and Paul Simon.

He is a strong supporter of the UK's Conservative Party, and performed a concert in September 2004 for the benefit of the party.^{[citation needed]}

Wakeman has been president of the show business charity The Heritage Foundation. The charity erects blue plaques on the homes and/or work-places of late entertainers and sportspeople. He is also Honorary President of the Classic Rock Society, a UK-based organisation helping to promote classic and progressive rock.

Discography[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Wakeman, Rick (1995). Say Yes! An Autobiography. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-62151-6. 
• Wakeman, Rick (2008). Grumpy Old Rockstar: and Other Wondrous Stories. Preface Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84809-004-0. 
• Wakeman, Rick (2010). Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rockstar. Arrow. ISBN 978-1-84809-176-4. 

References[link]

• Wooding, Dan (1979). Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader. Granada Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-586-04853-5. 
• Wakeman, Rick (1995). Say Yes! An Autobiography. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-62151-6. 
• Welch, Chris (2008). Close to the Edge - The Story of Yes. Music Sales. ISBN 978-1-84772-132-7. 

External links[link]

• Rick Wakeman's Communication Centre
• Rick Wakeman's Official Press Photos
• Rick Wakeman at the Internet Movie Database

Thelma Todd
in Corsair (1931)
Born	Thelma Alice Todd (1906-07-29)July 29, 1906 Lawrence, Massachusetts
Died	December 16, 1935(1935-12-16) (aged 29) Pacific Palisades, California
Cause of death	accidental carbon monoxide poisoning
Other names	Alison Loyd
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1926-1935
Spouse	Pat DiCicco (m.1932-1934; divorced)

Thelma Alice Todd^[1] (July 29, 1906 - December 16, 1935) was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily. She also had roles in Wheeler and Woolsey farces, several Laurel and Hardy films, the last of which (The Bohemian Girl) featured her in a part that was truncated by her death.

Early life[link]

Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts to John and Alice Todd, and was a bright student who achieved good academic results. She intended to become a school teacher. However, in her late teens, she began entering beauty pageants, winning the title of Miss Massachusetts in 1925. While representing her home state, she was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout and began her career in film.

Career[link]

in Corsair (1931)

During the silent era, Todd appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. With the advent of the talkies, Todd was given opportunity to expand her roles when producer Hal Roach signed her to appear with such comedy stars as Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy. In 1931 she was given her own series, teaming with ZaSu Pitts (pronounced "Zay-soo," also her character's name) for slapstick comedies. This was Roach's attempt to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy. When Pitts left Roach in 1933, she was replaced by Patsy Kelly. The Todd shorts often cast her as a working girl having all sorts of problems, and trying her best to remain poised and charming despite the embarrassing antics of her sidekick.

In 1931, Todd became romantically involved with director Roland West,^[1][2] and starred in his film Corsair.

Thelma Todd became highly regarded as a capable film comedian, and Roach loaned her out to other studios to play opposite Wheeler & Woolsey, Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown, and the Marx Brothers. She also appeared successfully in such dramas as the original 1931 film version of The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade, in which she played Miles Archer's treacherous widow. During her career she appeared in 119 films although many of these were short films, and was sometimes publicized as "The Ice Cream Blonde."

In August 1934, she opened a successful cafe at Pacific Palisades, called Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe, attracting a diverse clientele of Hollywood celebrities as well as many tourists.^[3]

Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935, and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl. This was her last film; she died after completing all of her scenes, but most of them were re-shot. Producer Roach deleted all of Todd's dialogue and limited her appearance to one musical number.^[4]

Death[link]

On the morning of Monday, December 16, 1935, Thelma Todd was found dead in her car inside the garage of Jewel Carmen, a former actress and former wife of Todd's lover and business partner, Roland West. Carmen's house was approximately a block from the topmost side of Todd's restaurant. Her death was determined to have been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Todd had a wide circle of friends and associates as well as a busy social life; police investigations revealed that she had spent the last night of her life at the Trocadero, a popular Hollywood restaurant, at a party hosted by entertainer Stanley Lupino and his actress daughter, Ida. At the restaurant, she had had a brief but unpleasant exchange with her ex-husband, Pat DeCicco. However, her friends stated that she was in good spirits, and were aware of nothing unusual in her life that could suggest a reason for committing suicide.

The detectives of the LAPD concluded at first that Todd's death was accidental, the result of her either warming up the car to drive it or using the heater to keep herself warm. Other evidence, however, pointed to foul play. The Grand Jury ruled her death as suicide. Since her body was cremated, a second, more thorough autopsy could not be carried out. It was believed that she was the target of extortion, but refused to pay. It is also possible that she was locked in the garage by her assailant after she started the car. Blood from a wound was found on her face and dress, leading some to believe that she was knocked unconscious and placed in the car so that she would succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Todd's death certificate states her cause of death as accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. She was cremated; after her mother's death, her remains were placed in her mother's casket and buried in Bellevue Cemetery in her home town of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Complicating matters, there was an apparent murder two years later involving Todd's ex-husband Pat DiCicco and another movie actor as the victim. According to E.J. Fleming's book The Fixers (about MGM's legendary "fixers" Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling), Wallace Beery (one of MGM's top stars), gangster Pat DiCicco, and Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli (who was also DiCicco's cousin and eventual producer of the James Bond films) allegedly beat comedian and movie actor Ted Healy to death in the parking lot of the Trocadero nightclub on December 21, 1937. The book claims that Beery was sent to Europe by the studio for a few months, while a story was concocted that three college students had killed Healy. Immigration records confirm a four-month-long trip to Europe on Beery's part immediately after Healy's death, ending April 17, 1938.^[5] A pencil drawing of Beery survives that was done on a film set by Healy, an amateur artist as well as the organizer and original leader of the Three Stooges.

Legacy[link]

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Thelma Todd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected filmography[link]

See also[link]

• Pitts and Todd

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Edmonds, Andy (1989). Hot Toddy: The True Story of Hollywood's Most Sensational Murder. New York: William Morrow and Co. Inc. ISBN 0-688-08061-8. 
• James Robert Parish and William T. Leonard; Gregory W. Mank and Charles Hoyt (1979). The Funsters. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. ISBN 0-87000-418-2. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thelma Todd

• Thelma Todd at the Internet Movie Database
• Thelma Todd at AllRovi
• Thelma Todd at the TCM Movie Database
• Thelma Todd Photo Gallery
• Paulist Productions Page For Todd Building Contains pic and brief text concerning her death and the building her cafe was located in, still standing today.
• The Mysterious Death of Thelma Todd. Los Angeles: Past, Present and Future Project, USC.
• Photographs and literature

• WELKOS, ROBERT W. (May 29, 2002). "A Mystery Revisited A building that figured in the unsolved death of actress Thelma Todd is for sale.". Los Angeles Times. http://www.hollywood-underground.com/toddarticle.htm. 
• The Death of Thelma Todd
• Thelma Todd's ex-husband and Ted Healy's death
• Thelma Todd's ex-husband Pat DiCicco
• Thelma Todd and Pat DiCicco photos