This photograph was taken by Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian photographer, when Winston Churchill came to Ottawa. The portrait of Churchill brought Karsh international fame. It is claimed to be the most reproduced photographic portrait in history. It also appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
"We have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."
—Canadian Parliament,
Yousuf Karsh was born of Armenian parents in Mardin, Turkey, on Dec. 23, 1908. He learned the dramatic use of artificial light that became the hallmark of his mature portrait style by studying theatrical lighting at the Ottawa Little Theater, of which he was a member. At the theater he met the son of Lord Bessborough, the Governor General of Canada, who persuaded his father to sit for Mr. Karsh, initiating a long and close relationship between the photographer and successive Canadian political figures. The next governor general, Lord Tweedsmuir, introduced him to Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who brought him in to photograph Winston Churchill during the latter's wartime visit to Canada in December 1941. The Churchill portrait was a turning point in Mr. Karsh's career. He was given only two minutes to take it. Accoriding to legend Karsh accomplished this expression by taking away Winston's cigar and even now some 60 years on the glowering expression comes thundering through the portrait - I have a large scale copy of this which makes this even more apparent and the image is mesmerising. Karsh was determined to not capture the sort of portraits so common of facsist leaders but instead something of the human side of his subjects - the fascist portraits were always perfectly posed power statements whilst this image, still undeniably echoing power as Churchill can is a softer look at a man carrying the weight of world on his serious shoulders. The portrait that resulted, showing the British prime minister glowering at the camera with a bulldoglike tenaciousness, seemed to epitomize the determination of the British to defeat Hitler, and catapulted Mr. Karsh into international fame.
Like many people of his time, the experience of the First World War convinced Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir of the horrors of armed conflict and he worked with both United States President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Mackenzie King in trying to avert the ever-growing threat of another world war. While shaving on February 6, 1940, Lord Tweedsmuir had a stroke and injured his head badly in the fall. He received the best possible care – Canada's famous Dr. Wilder Penfield operated twice – but the injury proved fatal. On February 11, just 10 months before his term of office was to expire, Lord Tweedsmuir died. Following the sudden death of Lord Tweedsmuir while in office, the Earl of Athlone, uncle of King George VI, was approached to assume the post of Governor General. Canada had been at war since 1939 and the country was adjusting to the difficulties of committing military personnel and materiel to the war against Nazi Germany. The Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice hosted Prime Minister Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt at La Citadelle in Québec on two separate occasions in 1943 and 1944. These meetings, known as the Quebec Conferences, helped decide the strategies of the Western Allies that would lead to victory over Nazi Germany and Japan in 1945.
The story is often told of how Karsh created his famous portrait of Churchill during the early years of World War II. Churchill, the British Prime Minister, had just addressed the Canadian Parliament and Karsh was there to record one of the Century's great leaders. "He was in no mood for portraiture and two minutes were all that he would allow me as he passed from the House of Commons Chamber to an Anteroom," Karsh wrote in Faces of Our Time. "Two niggardly minutes in which I must try to put on film a man who had already written or inspired a library of books, baffled all his biographers, filled the world with his fame, and me, on this occasion, with dread." Churchill marched into the room scowling, "regarding my camera as he might regard the German enemy." His expression suited Karsh perfectly, but the cigar stuck between his teeth seemed incompatible with such a solemn and formal occasion. "Instinctively, I removed the cigar. At this the Churchillian scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand placed on the hip in an attitude of anger." The image captured Churchill and the England of the time perfectly — defiant and unconquerable. Churchill later said to him, "You can even make a roaring Lyon stand still to be photographed." As such, Karsh titled the photograph, The Roaring Lion. However, Karsh's favourite photograph was the one taken immediately after this one where Churchill's mood had lightened considerably and is shown much in the same pose, but smiling. Karsh has influenced many other photographers in different styles to become more independent and further motivate other artists.
In September 1939, Canada joined Great Britain in declaring war on Germany. In August 1941, Churchill met with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, where they signed the Atlantic Charter. Shortly after the entry of the United States into the war in December 1941, Churchill addressed the Canadian House of Commons on December 30. Responding to the taunt of the French generals that Britain would soon have its neck wrung like a chicken, he countered boldly, "Some chicken!" and, when the laughter died down, "Some neck!" He returned to Canada in 1943 and 1944 for the two Quebec Conferences with President Roosevelt hosted by Prime Minister Mackenzie King. In a 1944 letter to Mackenzie King on the occasion of the Canadian Prime Minister's Silver Jubilee as leader of the Liberal Party, Churchill wrote, "Throughout these 25 years you and I have watched Canada advance along the road of liberty and progress with admiration and pride. Yet never, perhaps, has this country held Canada in higher esteem than in the last five years of bitter conflict." Canada's contribution in the Second World War was enormous. Of a population of eleven million, more than one million served in the armed forces. Of these, 42,000 were killed and 54,000 wounded. Canada spent $18 billion on the war and also gave $3.5 billion to Britain and the Allies - stupendous sums of money in those days. On his seventh and final visit to Canada in 1954, Churchill said, "I love coming to Canada. Canada is the master-link in Anglo-American unity, apart from her own glories. God bless your Country."
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Her Majesty The Queen given £3M to make Palace safe
7 February 2008, 10:02am - www.thisismoney.co.uk
Her Majesty The Queen has won her struggle with the Government for a 'critical' multi-million pound cash injection to make Buckingham Palace safe. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has agreed to increase the grant for maintenance of the 'occupied Royal palaces' by more than £1m a year. The settlement is one of the last to be agreed under the Treasury's Comprehensive Spending Review. It means the annual taxpayer subsidy for historic buildings such as Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Frogmore House will go up from £15m to £16.1m for the next three financial years. The increase will allow the Royal household to undertake essential repairs to keep the estate from falling apart. But it is only a partial victory as courtiers believe more is needed to clear a backlog of repairs. The award comes after a public appeal from palace financiers who warned some parts of the buildings were in such a bad state they were a danger to the public. They said an increase in funding was 'essential and critical' because the value of the grant had been eroded by inflation. It had been stuck at £15m for nine years and is only worth one third of the 1991-92 level in real terms. They said the situation was so bad that part of the masonry on the east wing of what has been dubbed Crumblingham Palace collapsed in 2006, narrowly missing Princess Anne's car. Last year's annual report on the Royal public finances revealed that without the 'essential' cash injection there will be a 'critical backlog in maintenance'. All projects costing £800,000 or more have been put on ice. Those that have been deferred include roof repairs at Buckingham Palace and Windsor, most urgently the roof above the Picture Gallery which houses works by Rubens, Rembrandt and Canaletto. Another £600,000 a year is needed for redecoration of the principal state rooms at the two palaces. The Royal Palaces are held in trust to the nation by the Queen. As well as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, the estate includes St James's Palace, Clarence House, the residential and office areas of Kensington Palace and the Royal Mews and Royal Paddocks at Hampton Court. Their maintenance and upkeep is one of the expenses met by the Government in return for the Queen giving up her estates' income.
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http://pages.interlog.com/~rakhshan/pmyth.html
2006 UN HD INDEX
source: UNOP.org
01. Norway - Monarchy
02. Iceland - Republic
03. Australia - Monarchy
04. Ireland - Republic
05. Sweden - Monarchy
06. Canada - Monarchy
07. Japan - Monarchy
08. USA - Republic
09. Switzerland - Republic
10. Netherlands - Monarchy
The majority are Monarchies. HDI (Human Development Index)ranking of Nations based on quality of life. Most of the best Nations in the World are Monarchies.
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Hospital Chaplains' Chief Appointed as new Chaplain to Her Majesty The Queen
The Rev Edward Lewis, chief executive of the Hospital Chaplaincies Council, has been appointed as a chaplain to the Queen, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday. In his ‘day job’, Fr Lewis supports the work of Anglican healthcare chaplains by co-ordinating training and information sharing between the network of 425 full-time and 3,000 part-time chaplains currently serving in the UK, most of whom are Anglican. He also serves as an honorary chief officer for the Multi-Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy, and sits on the committee of the European Network for Healthcare Chaplaincy. The honorary Appointment will add Fr Lewis to the 36 members of the College of Chaplains, which forms part of the Queen's Ecclesiastical Household. Each of the chaplains preach once a year in the Chapel Royal, in St James' Palace, London, and also join a rota of chaplains who are available to the Queen at any time. The Chair of the Hospital Chaplaincies Council and Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Michael Perham, said: “This is not only a great honour for Edward personally, but represents something of the value that people place on hospital and other healthcare chaplains. Edward is a tireless advocate for the immensely important work they do, night and day, across the country...
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- High-Church: attaching importance to the authority of the Priesthood and ministration according to ritual.
- Low-Church: that section of the Church of England which, in oppostion to the High Church party, is not exclusive in its assertion of church authority and observance, and, in opposition to the Broad Church, inclines to the principles of the Evangelicals.
- Broad Church: that section of the Protestant Church which inclines to liberal opinion, and is opposed to those who would narrow either spirit or form.
- Evangelical: one who professes or maintains evangelical (gospel) principles, especially the doctrine that salvation is by faith in the atonement of Christ; Low Church; Protestant.
- Anglican: a Member of the English Church; characteristic of the High Church party.
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