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The Real Deal
Silverstone, 11 June 2006. With England in the grip of World Cup fever, the crowd for the British Grand Prix is expected to be down on recent years. There is little likelihood of any home success in the main event. Still, the stands and spectator banks are starting to fill up slowly as the GP2 race starts at 9 AM. Lewis Hamilton has started down in eighth place, but he is working his way through the field with characteristic aggressive driving. He is soon closing on the squabble for second place. Brazil's Nelson Piquet, Jr. and the Monegasque driver Clivio Piccione go through Copse side by side at around 140 mph, but, as they accelerate out of the corner, they are suddenly three wide as Hamilton draws alongside. Into the five sweeping bends that make up the daunting Becketts complex they go, with Piquet on the inside. Hamilton carries huge momentum around the outside of the first left-hander to claim the racing line and second place as the road goes right then left again; Piquet drives straight through a temporary advertising hoarding. The cheers from the crowd are by far the loudest of the weekend as the young driver, then known only to hardcore petrolheads, picks off the leader and cruises to victory. Unknown he no longer is: 'Lewis Hamilton + Silverstone' is now one of the most popular searches on YouTube. Had Britain's latest sporting hero-in-waiting heard the excitement of the crowd? "I didn't, no," he said afterwards. "It all went silent at that point because we were so close, and I don't know if my body was preparing for something. You know when, if you're going to crash, your body gets ready to protect itself? I felt my body and the adrenaline all building up ready for something, and when I came out it all relaxed, kind of saying, "Phew, thank God for that.'" "I'm working my arse off," he continued, "not only to do the best job possible, but also to get that seat at McLaren. I really want that. It's an opportunity not many people get. If I can get that seat then I think - and I feel very confident - that I can make best use of it.'
A little under a year later, Hamilton not only has that seat at McLaren but, when we meet soon after his second place in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, he is leading the Formula One drivers' championship. Today, however, he is back doing the unseen graft of testing. Along with the other 10 teams that contest the world championship, McLaren have moved on from Barcelona to the Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille in the south of France. The former home of the French Grand Prix is now simply a test track, albeit about the most sophisticated in the world - as you would expect from a facility owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire ringmaster of Formula One. Everything is of the highest standard and, just as the proprietor would like, the team vehicles are lined up so precisely they would do justice to the contents of David Beckham's fridge.
At the back of a grey McLaren bus, sheltered from the warm Mistral wind, sits Lewis Hamilton. It is 12 hours since testing began and he has driven 98 laps, posted the fastest time by more than a second and been through a two-and-a-half-hour debrief with his engineers. For a short while he is alone, staring at a computer screen with a diagram of the circuit and a screed of data on it. Not all his work is at 190mph and in front of 140,000 people.
After the excitement of a grand prix, testing must seem like a chore. Does it make him a better racer?
'I don't think so,' he says, preparing to close the laptop. 'You get that crafting from karting, the wheel-to-wheel racing you have there.' Karting is where most successful racing drivers first turn a wheel in anger; the competition is ferocious.
'The more racing you do the more you learn,' Hamilton continues. 'I'm a racer naturally, so that's why I believe I'm good in the races. In the race it's all about consistency, and to get consistency you need to learn about the car and that comes from testing. But the test is mainly to build your awareness of what is around you, that you are understanding the car and to fine tune the car and yourself. Sometimes I don't make any changes to the car and I find half a second in myself. Some people find it really difficult, like the engineers, they say, "What can we do?" and I say, "Don't do anything. I quite like the car as it is, I just need to improve myself."'
Hamilton is seeking to improve skills that have seen him make a record-breaking start to his F1 career. He finished third in his first race, the Australian Grand Prix, then second in Malaysia and Bahrain - a record run on the podium for a rookie, which he extended in Spain to become the youngest driver to lead the world championship.
At last Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton finished second yet again, this time behind his McLaren team-mate, double world champion Fernando Alonso. But there were signs of frustration from the young Englishman at a victory missed, as he slipped to second in the title race. Hamilton was called in for his first pit stop earlier than he expected, just as he was preparing to put in some really quick laps to extend his advantage over Alonso, who had already stopped.
'I was actually quite surprised because I was fuelled to do five laps, maybe six laps, longer than Fernando and they stopped me with three laps to go,' Hamilton said after the race. 'There wasn't much time to pull out a gap or improve my time; I wasn't really given much time for it. I came in two or three laps after him [Alonso]. That was unfortunate, but that's the way it goes. I've got number two on my car, I am the number two driver, it is something I have to live with.'
McLaren's team principal, Ron Dennis, rebutted allegations of team orders and race manipulation, strictly against F1 rules since 2002 when Ferrari instructed Rubens Barrichello to allow Michael Schumacher past to win the Austrian Grand Prix. 'We are scrupulously fair at all times in how we run this grand prix team,' he said. 'We will never favour one driver, no matter who it is. We don't have team orders, we had a strategy to win this race. There will be places where they will be absolutely free to race, but this isn't one of them.'
That last line attracted the attention of the FIA, the sport's governing body, who started investigating 'incidents' concerning the McLaren team during the race.
Since his debut in Melbourne on 18 March, Hamilton has transformed the popularity of grand-prix racing, not least because he is young, British, good looking and thrillingly fast. He is also mixed race in a sport that is overwhelmingly white; inevitably, he has been compared with Tiger Woods. 'I've never seen a rookie as good as him,' says Damon Hill. 'Nobody has. He's coped with everything he's faced. He's been superb.'
Triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart is equally impressed. 'I think Lewis is going to rewrite the book,' he said recently. 'We'll see a new generation of what I call properly prepared, professional racing drivers. I'm talking about fully rounded; [Michael] Schumacher became that, but even Schumacher wasn't as good as he should have been, not in terms of the driving but the total package. I believe Lewis will create the benchmark for a whole generation of drivers. Niki Lauda and James Hunt changed the culture of racing drivers, but they weren't role models. They said nothing, didn't give a damn. Lewis Hamilton can become a role model.'
Even the unflappable Bernie Ecclestone is excited by Hamilton. 'He's got a lot of talent,' he says. 'The guy's a winner. It became clear pretty quickly that he will win a grand prix some time - sooner rather than later. He'll win the championship - but I don't think this year. It would be asking a bit much and be a lot of pressure to expect that. It would be fantastic if he did, but I don't think we should talk about that at this stage.'
It is impossible when meeting Hamilton not <to be impressed or struck by just how young and fresh-faced he is, even when dressed up in McLaren T-shirt and jacket. He is courteous, intelligent, engaged and never loses eye contact, even if you sense that, as we talk, he would rather be getting on with some hardcore data analysis. He speaks of his time on the practice circuit with relish. 'It is quite satisfying when you go out and you know that you needed to brake 10 metres later … building up the courage to brake those 10 metres later, not lock up the tyres, and really pull it off. Sometimes you go into a corner and you think, "I'm not going to make it," but you say, "OK, we're going to do it." And you do it and you think, "Shoot, what was the big fuss in the first place," but you think about the advantage you've gained when you exit the corner - you're like, "Yeah, that was good." It's an amazing feeling.'
A grand-prix team can take more than 100 personnel to a race and that doesn't include the test team who work away from the public gaze. Hamilton is eager to acknowledge that there are others who contribute to his success. 'Sometimes you don't even notice the changes the engineer has made,' he says. 'My engineer is so smart and he understands what I say and the way I communicate - that's a great feeling. When someone understands what you're talking about and is able to translate that into your car, it runs better.'
Hamilton has been supported by McLaren since Ron Dennis recruited him into the team's driver development programme as a 13-year-old in 1998. The team contributed as much as £5m to his career, and offered technical support and advice as he worked his way up to the junior formulas. He graduated to racing cars in 2001 and has won the championship in every series he has driven. The step to F1 was a natural progression and everything was done - including keeping him distant from the media - to ensure that Hamilton was as prepared as possible. He has appeared at the obligatory press conferences, but has never before done an interview.
'I am amazed and proud to be here,' he says now, 'and I'm learning all the time. As soon as I signed for the team they sent a steering wheel round to my house so I could learn all the controls and the sequences for the start. I just kept it in my lap. When I got to the first race, I wasn't nervous about the start because I knew everything.'
McLaren made sure Hamilton was physically prepared and it is hard to imagine anyone looking fitter. Countless trips to the gym ensured that he would develop the strength and stamina to cope with the rigours of racing an F1 car for up to two hours in extreme heat.
'It was extremely exciting to do all the training,' Hamilton says. 'There was a point where we were doing all the same things over and over again, but then we started changing things and it became exciting again. You wouldn't believe what it's like in the car, the forces that are on you. I finish every race with a black …' - he pauses, half smiles and then continues - ' …a darker line down my side where I've been pushed against the seat. But the race is the most exciting part, the first corner, the first pit stop. I am just going to get stronger and stronger. I'm not yet at my best.'
Hamilton, who was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, has been immersed in motor racing since the age of eight. His parents, Carmen and Anthony, separated when he was two, and he lived with his mother until he was 10, before moving in with his father and stepmother Linda. A day out with his dad to Rye House kart track, a few miles south of Stevenage, changed the path of his life. He had already been karting and proved to be a natural, soon lapping his father, but now he decided that racing was what he wanted to do. A deal was struck between father and son: if Lewis worked hard at school, Anthony would support his son's karting.
Anthony was working as an IT manager as Lewis began making a name for himself on the kart circuit. Taking time off became a problem as his son's racing and testing took him all over the country and overseas. Eventually Anthony took redundancy so he could spend more time at the track. He did contract work and was sometimes doing two or three jobs at a time, including putting up estate agents' signs. In time, he set up his own computer company, which now employs 25 people, but his main role in life is working as his son's manager on a daily basis.
This article is more than 17 years old The real deal This article is more than 17 years old Oliver Owen Sat 2 Jun 2007 19.08 EDT
Silverstone, 11 June 2006. With England in the grip of World Cup fever, the crowd for the British Grand Prix is expected to be down on recent years. There is little likelihood of any home success in the main event. Still, the stands and spectator banks are starting to fill up slowly as the GP2 race starts at 9am. Lewis Hamilton has started down in eighth place, but he is working his way through the field, with characteristic aggressive driving.
He is soon closing on the squabble for second place. Brazil's Nelson Piquet Junior and the Monegasque driver Clivio Piccione go through Copse side by side at around 140mph, but, as they accelerate out of the corner, they are suddenly three wide as Hamilton draws alongside. Into the five sweeping bends that make up the daunting Becketts complex they go, with Piquet on the inside. Hamilton carries huge momentum around the outside of the first left-hander to claim the racing line and second place as the road goes right then left again; Piquet drives straight through a temporary advertising hoarding. The cheers from the crowd are by far the loudest of the weekend as the young driver, then known only to hardcore petrolheads, picks off the leader and cruises to victory. Unknown he no longer is: 'Lewis Hamilton + Silverstone' is now one of the most popular searches on YouTube.
Had Britain's latest sporting hero-in-waiting heard the excitement of the crowd?
'I didn't, no,' he said afterwards. 'It all went silent at that point because we were so close, and I don't know if my body was preparing for something. You know when, if you're going to crash, your body gets ready to protect itself? I felt my body and the adrenaline all building up ready for something, and when I came out it all relaxed, kind of saying, "Phew, thank God for that".
'I'm working my arse off,' he continued, 'not only to do the best job possible, but also to get that seat at McLaren. I really want that. It's an opportunity not many people get. If I can get that seat then I think - and I feel very confident - that I can make best use of it.'
A little under a year later, Hamilton not only has that seat at McLaren but, when we meet soon after his second place in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, he is leading the Formula One drivers' championship. Today, however, he is back doing the unseen graft of testing. Along with the other 10 teams that contest the world championship, McLaren have moved on from Barcelona to the Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille in the south of France. The former home of the French Grand Prix is now simply a test track, albeit about the most sophisticated in the world - as you would expect from a facility owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire ringmaster of Formula One. Everything is of the highest standard and, just as the proprietor would like, the team vehicles are lined up so precisely they would do justice to the contents of David Beckham's fridge.
At the back of a grey McLaren bus, sheltered from the warm Mistral wind, sits Lewis Hamilton. It is 12 hours since testing began and he has driven 98 laps, posted the fastest time by more than a second and been through a two-and-a-half-hour debrief with his engineers. For a short while he is alone, staring at a computer screen with a diagram of the circuit and a screed of data on it. Not all his work is at 190mph and in front of 140,000 people.
After the excitement of a grand prix, testing must seem like a chore. Does it make him a better racer?
'I don't think so,' he says, preparing to close the laptop. 'You get that crafting from karting, the wheel-to-wheel racing you have there.' Karting is where most successful racing drivers first turn a wheel in anger; the competition is ferocious.
'The more racing you do the more you learn,' Hamilton continues. 'I'm a racer naturally, so that's why I believe I'm good in the races. In the race it's all about consistency, and to get consistency you need to learn about the car and that comes from testing. But the test is mainly to build your awareness of what is around you, that you are understanding the car and to fine tune the car and yourself. Sometimes I don't make any changes to the car and I find half a second in myself. Some people find it really difficult, like the engineers, they say, "What can we do?" and I say, "Don't do anything. I quite like the car as it is, I just need to improve myself."'
Hamilton is seeking to improve skills that have seen him make a record-breaking start to his F1 career. He finished third in his first race, the Australian Grand Prix, then second in Malaysia and Bahrain - a record run on the podium for a rookie, which he extended in Spain to become the youngest driver to lead the world championship.
At last Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton finished second yet again, this time behind his McLaren team-mate, double world champion Fernando Alonso. But there were signs of frustration from the young Englishman at a victory missed, as he slipped to second in the title race. Hamilton was called in for his first pit stop earlier than he expected, just as he was preparing to put in some really quick laps to extend his advantage over Alonso, who had already stopped.
'I was actually quite surprised because I was fuelled to do five laps, maybe six laps, longer than Fernando and they stopped me with three laps to go,' Hamilton said after the race. 'There wasn't much time to pull out a gap or improve my time; I wasn't really given much time for it. I came in two or three laps after him [Alonso]. That was unfortunate, but that's the way it goes. I've got number two on my car, I am the number two driver, it is something I have to live with.'
McLaren's team principal, Ron Dennis, rebutted allegations of team orders and race manipulation, strictly against F1 rules since 2002 when Ferrari instructed Rubens Barrichello to allow Michael Schumacher past to win the Austrian Grand Prix. 'We are scrupulously fair at all times in how we run this grand prix team,' he said. 'We will never favour one driver, no matter who it is. We don't have team orders, we had a strategy to win this race. There will be places where they will be absolutely free to race, but this isn't one of them.'
That last line attracted the attention of the FIA, the sport's governing body, who started investigating 'incidents' concerning the McLaren team during the race.
Since his debut in Melbourne on 18 March, Hamilton has transformed the popularity of grand-prix racing, not least because he is young, British, good looking and thrillingly fast. He is also mixed race in a sport that is overwhelmingly white; inevitably, he has been compared with Tiger Woods. 'I've never seen a rookie as good as him,' says Damon Hill. 'Nobody has. He's coped with everything he's faced. He's been superb.'
Triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart is equally impressed. 'I think Lewis is going to rewrite the book,' he said recently. 'We'll see a new generation of what I call properly prepared, professional racing drivers. I'm talking about fully rounded; [Michael] Schumacher became that, but even Schumacher wasn't as good as he should have been, not in terms of the driving but the total package. I believe Lewis will create the benchmark for a whole generation of drivers. Niki Lauda and James Hunt changed the culture of racing drivers, but they weren't role models. They said nothing, didn't give a damn. Lewis Hamilton can become a role model.'
Even the unflappable Bernie Ecclestone is excited by Hamilton. 'He's got a lot of talent,' he says. 'The guy's a winner. It became clear pretty quickly that he will win a grand prix some time - sooner rather than later. He'll win the championship - but I don't think this year. It would be asking a bit much and be a lot of pressure to expect that. It would be fantastic if he did, but I don't think we should talk about that at this stage.'
It is impossible when meeting Hamilton not <to be impressed or struck by just how young and fresh-faced he is, even when dressed up in McLaren T-shirt and jacket. He is courteous, intelligent, engaged and never loses eye contact, even if you sense that, as we talk, he would rather be getting on with some hardcore data analysis. He speaks of his time on the practice circuit with relish. 'It is quite satisfying when you go out and you know that you needed to brake 10 metres later … building up the courage to brake those 10 metres later, not lock up the tyres, and really pull it off. Sometimes you go into a corner and you think, "I'm not going to make it," but you say, "OK, we're going to do it." And you do it and you think, "Shoot, what was the big fuss in the first place," but you think about the advantage you've gained when you exit the corner - you're like, "Yeah, that was good." It's an amazing feeling.'
A grand-prix team can take more than 100 personnel to a race and that doesn't include the test team who work away from the public gaze. Hamilton is eager to acknowledge that there are others who contribute to his success. 'Sometimes you don't even notice the changes the engineer has made,' he says. 'My engineer is so smart and he understands what I say and the way I communicate - that's a great feeling. When someone understands what you're talking about and is able to translate that into your car, it runs better.'
Hamilton has been supported by McLaren since Ron Dennis recruited him into the team's driver development programme as a 13-year-old in 1998. The team contributed as much as £5m to his career, and offered technical support and advice as he worked his way up to the junior formulas. He graduated to racing cars in 2001 and has won the championship in every series he has driven. The step to F1 was a natural progression and everything was done - including keeping him distant from the media - to ensure that Hamilton was as prepared as possible. He has appeared at the obligatory press conferences, but has never before done an interview.
'I am amazed and proud to be here,' he says now, 'and I'm learning all the time. As soon as I signed for the team they sent a steering wheel round to my house so I could learn all the controls and the sequences for the start. I just kept it in my lap. When I got to the first race, I wasn't nervous about the start because I knew everything.'
McLaren made sure Hamilton was physically prepared and it is hard to imagine anyone looking fitter. Countless trips to the gym ensured that he would develop the strength and stamina to cope with the rigours of racing an F1 car for up to two hours in extreme heat.
'It was extremely exciting to do all the training,' Hamilton says. 'There was a point where we were doing all the same things over and over again, but then we started changing things and it became exciting again. You wouldn't believe what it's like in the car, the forces that are on you. I finish every race with a black …' - he pauses, half smiles and then continues - ' …a darker line down my side where I've been pushed against the seat. But the race is the most exciting part, the first corner, the first pit stop. I am just going to get stronger and stronger. I'm not yet at my best.'
Hamilton, who was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, has been immersed in motor racing since the age of eight. His parents, Carmen and Anthony, separated when he was two, and he lived with his mother until he was 10, before moving in with his father and stepmother Linda. A day out with his dad to Rye House kart track, a few miles south of Stevenage, changed the path of his life. He had already been karting and proved to be a natural, soon lapping his father, but now he decided that racing was what he wanted to do. A deal was struck between father and son: if Lewis worked hard at school, Anthony would support his son's karting.
Anthony was working as an IT manager as Lewis began making a name for himself on the kart circuit. Taking time off became a problem as his son's racing and testing took him all over the country and overseas. Eventually Anthony took redundancy so he could spend more time at the track. He did contract work and was sometimes doing two or three jobs at a time, including putting up estate agents' signs. In time, he set up his own computer company, which now employs 25 people, but his main role in life is working as his son's manager on a daily basis.
'If I didn't love it, I'm sure I wouldn't be as good as I am today because I'd have put half the effort in and just have done the races,' Lewis says, recalling the time he spent testing in his early karting days. 'I think you find drivers who just rely on their racing ability and don't do the hard yards. When you're young you don't really understand that philosophy: work hard and see the result. You think, "I can't be bothered to work hard now," and when you get there you struggle and complain. But if you really put the effort in you see the result. Even if you don't do well you know you've done the work, so next time you can improve on it.'
As soon as Hamilton started competing, the results were spectacular. Adam Jones, a journalist and ex-racer who now runs 100ccPR, an agency that deals in public relations for kart racers, remembers meeting Hamilton in 1994. 'Martin Howell, who owned the Playscape indoor kart track in Clapham, introduced us. He said, "Adam, this is Lewis - he's going to be a Formula One world champion." I shook his hand and said, "You're going to be a grand-prix champion, eh?" and Lewis looked at me and said, "Yes, I am." I thought, "Yeah, right." What struck me wasn't Lewis's steely determination but Martin's tone. He wasn't patronising Lewis or me; he meant what he said. Every magazine or newspaper article about Lewis mentions his karting background, but what they fail to say is just how good he was back in those days. Lewis hasn't just suddenly arrived; he's been around a long time.'
Michael Eboda is editor of the New Nation, the newspaper aimed at Britain's black community. He recalls arriving at Buckmore Park kart track in Kent to interview Hamilton and his father for The Observer in 1997. 'I got there and asked someone where I could find Lewis Hamilton. They said, "He's the only black kid here and he'll be about three laps ahead of everyone else." He was.' Eboda remembers the 12-year-old Hamilton as being polite and assured as they chatted in the back of a beaten-up old Peugeot hire car. He didn't want his father with him as they talked, but Eboda was more than a little surprised by the answer when he asked how Hamilton drives a kart so fast. 'I don't know why I'm so quick,' Lewis had said. 'When I come to a corner the answer just comes. I take what the answer says and it makes me take it as quickly as possible.'
He has always gone as quickly as possible. Kieran Crawley is boss of M-Sport, one of Britain's leading kart teams, and worked with the Hamiltons as Lewis made his way up through the karting levels. He remembers a race in Belgium, when Lewis was competing in the Junior Intercontinental A class, that proved just how quick he could be. 'Lewis was always stalling the kart, but you were allowed to wait by the side of the track with an engine starter. As they rolled on to the grid I could see Lewis looking for me. I thought, "Oh no, he's stalled it." I got the starter into the side pod just as the lights went to green. Lewis went off from the back of the grid and was already half a lap down. He caught the pack and went through it to finish fourth. He was up against some very good drivers - including Robert Kubica, the Pole who is now an F1 driver for BMW - and beat them. In F1 we haven't seen him come from the back, but that's when he's at his most dangerous. When he makes mistakes, just watch him go. I want to see him make some mistakes - then you'll see just how good he is.'
Does Hamilton relish the thought of charging through from the back after a mistake? It must happen one day soon in F1, as it did in Istanbul last year, in GP2, when he spun and worked his way up from 16th to second.
'I rarely make mistakes in races,' he says. 'In Istanbul that was one of the few mistakes I've ever made.'
But surely it was worth it?
'It was,' he says, smiling. 'It was great, but I was struggling in the car. The rear end was not right. Straight after that [the spin] I somehow extracted a little bit more from the tyres and I had this boost and everything's right, the car was great and things need to be …'
Momentarily he is lost in the memory of that epic drive. 'Look at Kimi [Raikkonen] in Japan in 2005, when he came from the back. Everything was right, the car was fantastic and he got out of trouble when he did some of the most amazing moves you've ever seen. He was buzzing, he enjoyed it and he won. I love those experiences. I love coming from the back.'
Hamilton's physical gifts don't just belong behind the wheel of a racing car. He took up karate after he caught the eye of the school bully. By the age of 12, he was a black belt. He was also a more-than-useful footballer at John Henry Newman School in Stevenage and played in the same team there as Ashley Young, the England under-21 midfielder who joined Aston Villa from Watford in January for £9.65m. 'I was quicker than Ashley Young, stronger than him, so I had that with me. But he was very skilled and very neat and would dribble the ball round people very nicely. I was very powerful in the team, I was always a midfielder and in my team I was the fittest by far because of my racing and the training I did. I'd run up and down and up and down and if someone tackled me I'd get them back. I'd always get them back because I never gave up, whereas a lot of people would get tackled then just leave it for the next stage of the game. I'd never let that happen.'
Like all top sportsmen, Hamilton is hugely competitive, whether in a racing car or out ten-pin bowling with his mother. Do all the fun things in life involve keeping score?
'I think at a young age everything I did competitively I wanted to win, and I hated not being the best at any sport I did. When I competed against anyone I thought, "I've got to win." But I've got to a point now that I play golf and I lose, and I can deal with it. It's not a negative energy, I can control that energy.'
So does he let his mother win at bowling?
'I don't ever let anyone win if I'm honest,' he says. 'I should let my brother win at some things, but it's very hard for me to do that.'
He is referring to his half-brother, Nicholas, who is 15 and has cerebral palsy. The two are extremely close. 'I always wanted a brother and I remember when my parents [as he always refers to his father and step-mother] first told me they were going to have a boy, I was well excited. It's quite a cool feeling to watch someone grow up, to see the difficulties and troubles he's had, the experience he's had. To go through them with him and see how he pulls out of them. I think he's just an amazing lad and I really love to do things for him. This weekend we're going racing remote-control cars. We bought him a new one, then I bought one so we can race together. I've been a couple of times and I get hassled a little bit now, but I had my dad to take me and he doesn't have time, so when I do have time I love to just take my brother down to the track. He loves a challenge and he's got a lot steeper challenges.'
The future for Lewis Hamilton has limitless possibilities. He will win many grands prix and world championships, perhaps even more than the seven titles that Michael Schumacher won before he retired at the end of 2006. He will very soon be improbably wealthy, even if, for now, his salary is reported to be £500,000 a season (team-mate Fernando Alonso is rumoured to earn 20 times as much). Dominic Curran, a director of Karen Earl Sponsorship, believes Hamilton has the potential to earn hundreds of millions of pounds. 'He has arrived with about as big a bang as possible,' Curran says. 'He's got something different - he's the first black F1 driver - which opens up a whole new market for him. Plus, he has charisma and star quality, he's a good-looking guy who speaks well, which is attractive to sponsors. And he's clean-cut.'
What does Hamilton think of all this? How does he see himself in the future? 'I think when I'm done I'd just like to go back to living a normal life and have a family and no worries,' he says. 'Just enjoy doing things with my brother. There's a lot of experiences in life which I haven't had yet, and doing that with him and doing that with my friends and not having the worries, just enjoying. It's such an important thing.'
How does he account for being so calm and grounded?
'It comes from my parents, yeah, and being taught to appreciate things. I was like every kid, you know. You get in trouble … I liked living life on the edge but I was always taught to appreciate things and say "thank you". I got that from my dad but also from my mum. A lot of my personality comes from my mum. It's a real half and half.'
At McLaren there is nothing but praise for their record-breaking recruit. 'I could launch into a whole range of eulogies,' says Ron Dennis. 'You just need to look at the history of F1 to see how his debut compares. How could anyone expect a start like this? And it's not just what he does on the track but it's what he says and how he says it. You have the impression that here is a guy who will keep his feet on the ground. He has enough Brownie points to avoid criticism if something goes wrong - which it will. It's inevitable for any driver. But you have the feeling that Lewis will be able to cope with that too.'
The team's chief executive, Martin Whitmarsh, knows exactly just how good Hamilton is. 'Since I joined McLaren in 1989, I've worked with a lot of great drivers, including [Alain] Prost, [Ayrton] Senna, Mika Hakkinen and now Fernando Alonso. It's pretty clear that Lewis ticks all the necessary boxes. It's too early to analyse, but if the trend continues there is no reason why he could not become the greatest driver ever.'
Hamilton's influence is extending far beyond the insular world of F1. Michael Eboda, of New Nation, can already see the impact he is having on black Britons. 'He's incredibly popular and, for the want of a better expression, he's a fantastic role model, as is his dad. It sends out a message to people that that is the way to bring up a kid.'
McLaren are excessively protective of their new star, in a manner reminiscent of how Alex Ferguson once chaperoned the young Ryan Giggs at Manchester United. This interview took many months to negotiate, and there were many stipulations on what I could and could not ask Hamilton - such as about race and ethnicity or indeed whether he intended, like most F1 drivers, to become a tax exile. At the Spanish Grand Prix meeting last month Hamilton had mentioned that he might one day have to move to Switzerland for tax reasons, but his father quickly killed the story.
McLaren need not worry excessively, because Hamilton will not let the team down. He has not been fazed by what he has achieved so far in his career, let alone in F1, where he has placed the superstars, including his team-mate, the double world champion Fernando Alonso, under intense pressure. The Lewis Hamilton story is much nearer the beginning than the end and the world is still waking up to just what is possible.
Is this what worries McLaren then, that they fear their new superstar might start to feel and act like one?
Perhaps Hamilton should answer that for himself. 'I've never read about something I've said, because I know what I've said,' he says before we part. 'My parents might say, "There's a good piece in the paper, do you want to read it?", but I won't read it. It's a good way of keeping your feet on the ground because when you read stuff like that you think, "Wow, it's great," and you feel yourself floating. As I don't read the stuff about me, I don't feel like a superstar. I don't understand people who do have that mentality, "I'm a superstar!" It's just a job. It's a fantastic job, and people just perceive you for some reason as a superstar, but at the end of the day I'm just Lewis. I've always been Lewis, and it's important to me to stay like that because people will take me like that.'
#lewis hamilton#f1#formula 1#monaco gp 2007#flashback fic ref#flashback fic ref 2007#monaco#monaco 2007#monaco 2007 day unknown#monaco 2007 sunday#flashback fic ref 2006#britain#britain 2006#britain 2006 sunday#gp2#gp2 2006#nelson piquet jr#jackie stewart#damon hill#tw bernie ecclestone
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Finsbury Park, London; 3.7.2006
#photography#photographers on tumblr#dubmill#London#Finsbury Park#England#UK#Britain#original photography#original photograph#2006#03072006
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it’s always gonna haunt me that Like Minds did the
*character says something really unimpressive using a vocabulary description that could perhaps be simplified into a different term*
secondary character: “english, please”
thing, but i’ll always worship greg for making the decision to delete that convo.
#that shit is SO CORNYYYY#ew get it away#two fucking seconds away from nigel hacking into a computer and senselessly clicking away at a keyboard before telling alex he just needs-#-to get past the firewall they have in place#‘‘he’s… right behind me isn’t he?’’#girl. nah#like minds#LITERALLY ALL SHE SAID WAS ‘‘GESTALT RELATIONSHIP’’#see this is your fucking problem#you’ve got the dumbest motherfucker in all of Great Britain working on this case and you still consider him a productive member of the team#and don’t even get me started on sally fumbles-a-lot. girl wouldn’t know a wise decision if it smacked her upside the head#…if either of them ever had an intelligent thought- it died alone and afraid#i haven’t slept in 19 hours#murderous intent#like minds 2006#sally rowe#martin mckenzie
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Northern Ireland ceased to be part of the Irish Free State on December 8, 1922.
#Northern Ireland#8 December 1922#anniversary#Irish history#landscape#travel#Carnlough#Carnlough Harbour#belfast#Albert Memorial Clock Tower#Glenariff Forest Park#great britain#united kingdom#summer fog#forest#Belfast City Hall#Bank Building#atlantic ocean#sea#coast#streetscene#summer 2006#vacation#cruise#original photography#tourist attraction#landmark#cityscape#architecture#seascape
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7 March 2006 | Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales arrive at Buckingham Palace for a State Banquet thrown by The Queen for the President of the Federal Republic of Brazil, His Excellency Mr Luiz Inacio da Silva and his wife Senhora Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva during their State Visit to the UK in London, England. The Brazilian couple are staying at the Brazilian Residence and Buckingham Palace during their stay as guests of HM The Queen. (c) Chris Jackson/Getty Images
#Prince Charles#Prince of Wales#King Charles III#Camilla#Duchess of Cornwall#Queen Camilla#Greville Tiara#Britain#tiara#2006#Chris Jackson#Getty Images
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Eminem featuring Nate Dogg - 'Till I Collapse 2002
"'Till I Collapse" is a song by American rapper Eminem featuring American singer Nate Dogg, released from his fourth studio album The Eminem Show (2002). Despite never being released as a single, the song has managed to chart numerous times worldwide and was the most streamed non-single of all time on Spotify as of June 2022. In 2012, it was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 2,000,000 copies in the US. This was followed by quintuple-platinum in 2018 and octuple-platinum in 2022.
When Eminem's single "Shake That" (also featuring Nate Dogg) was released in 2006, several Eminem songs re-charted that same week, including "'Till I Collapse". It charted in the UK at number 192 on April 15, 2006. In 2009, it was used in an advertisement for the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It raised digital download sales of the song worldwide considerably, but in Britain the song sold so many copies after the ad aired that it re-charted at number 73, a new peak.
"'Till I Collapse" received a total of 63,7% yes votes! Previous Eminem polls: #27 "Rabbit Run".
youtube
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by POTKIN AZARMEHR
‘Pro-Palestine’ protests have become a near-weekly occurrence across Britain. Since Hamas’s 7 October massacre, regular marches have been drawing in a growing number of young people, marked by passionate advocacy and fervent slogans. Yet despite their zeal, many of these protesters lack a fundamental understanding of the conflict they are so vociferously decrying.
In the past six months, I have attended many of these marches. Having engaged with numerous protesters, I have noticed a startling disconnect between their strong opinions on the Gaza conflict and their shaky grasp of basic facts about it. Among the most perplexing are the LGBT and feminist groups (the ‘Queers for Palestine’ types) who flirt with justifying Hamas’s atrocities. This is a bewildering alliance, given that Hamas’s Islamist ideology is clearly antithetical to the rights and values these groups claim to champion. Its reactionary agenda is profoundly hostile to women’s rights and LGBT individuals.
Protesters seem eager to make excuses for Hamas, but are conspicuously uninformed about exactly what or who this terrorist group represents. On 18 May, during a protest at Piccadilly Circus in London, I spoke to demonstrators who firmly believed that Hamas represents all Palestinians. When I questioned a well-educated participant about the last Palestinian election, she was unaware that none had occurred since 2006, when Hamas gained power in Gaza.
It wasn’t just young people who were uninformed. An older woman with an American accent, seemingly a veteran protester, admitted she knew that Hamas was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, but had no deeper knowledge of its ideology or history. Others, such as members of revolutionary socialist groups, displayed similar gaps in understanding, unaware of critical events like the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
That revolution gave birth to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a theocratic regime that brutally oppresses its own citizens. It also sponsors Islamist groups like Hamas. I left Iran for the UK not long after that regime began and have spent years resisting its religious extremism and ruthless political intolerance. Protesters were not only unaware of these facts about the Iranian regime, but also ill-informed about the struggle against it, such as the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests against the government that began in 2022.
One particularly telling conversation involved a man advocating for a ‘Global Intifada’ to replace capitalism with socialism. When asked about successful socialist models, he was unfamiliar with the Israeli kibbutzim, one of history’s few successful egalitarian experiments. His ignorance of these communal settlements in Israel, built by socialist Jewish immigrants, was all too typical.
Perhaps the most telling moment was captured by commentator Konstantin Kisin earlier this year, when he encountered a young man holding a ‘Socialist Intifada’ placard. The protester admitted he had no idea what this meant and that he had taken the sign simply because it was handed to him.
Reflecting on past movements, such as the American anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and the British Anti-Apartheid Movement of the 1980s, one can’t help but note a stark contrast. Protesters then were generally well-informed about their causes. Today’s pro-Palestine protests, however, seem to be driven more by unthinking fervour than by an understanding of the issues at hand.
Throughout all these protests, I am yet to encounter a single participant who condemns Hamas or carries a placard denouncing its terrorism. This not only undermines the protesters’ cause, but also risks aligning them with groups whose values fundamentally oppose the very rights and freedoms they claim to support. It appears that today’s young protesters are high on ideology, but woefully thin on facts.
Potkin Azarmehr is an Iranian activist and journalist who left Iran for the UK after the revolution of 1979.
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𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗞𝗲𝘁𝘂-𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮
warnings: mentions of drug abuse and suicide.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 (2006)
A Ketu film related to one's roots, ancestry, heirdom, and hunger for power. All themes which I have touched on to be Ketu, and will be further exploring in the future.
It stars Magha Moon Steven Strait as the protagonist and Mula ASC Sebastian Stan as the antagonist.
Magha Moon Steven Strait plays Caleb who is grappling with the legacy of his ancestors. He is the leader of the covenant.
Sebastian Stan portrays the power hungry force who wants to will the power of the covenant's members. The other characters are portrayed by Moon nakshatra natives. All of them are warlocks who have supernatural powers inherited from their powerful ancestors. Sebastian Stan's character is “a teenage warlock who is the descendant of the long-banished fifth family of witches from the Ipswich Colony, who formed a covenant of silence to protect them.”
Rohini Sun, Mula Moon Toby Hemingway & Rohini Moon Taylor Kitsch play the other members of the covenant.
Moon nakshatras, along with Ketu nakshatras, are constantly seen in witch roles; such as almost the entire witch cast of AHS: Coven being portrayed by Ketu nakshatra natives!!!
𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘺𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘴 (1978)
Another Ketu film about one's ancestry roots and their pressure around legacy – this time starring an Ashwini native.
The story follows Dave, played by Ashwini Sun Eric Roberts, the grandson of a powerful clan leader.
The Stepanowicz family represents a deep connection to Romani traditions and their way of life, emphasizing the importance of lineage and cultural identity. The clan leader, recognizing the importance of preserving their traditions, seeks to pass on his leadership role to his Ashwini grandson who he deems worthy.
𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨-𝘊𝘩𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘯 𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 (2021)
In this film, the Ketu native is depicted as running away from his roots, meaning to forge a new life separate from his past. Shang-Chi is played by Ashwini Sun Simu Liu. And his father is a powerful leader of the Ten Rings terrorist organization.
Instead of Shang-Chi rejecting his roots entirely, he learns to embrace his strength, face his past and accept his lineage, choosing to redefine it on his own terms.
𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘳 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 (2007)
When the King of Far, Far Away dies, Arthur Pendragon learns that he is next in line to the throne. But he doesn't want to rule, as he lacks the confidence and fears he isn't capable of being a king. But due to his roots, though unknown, he has no choice. He is voiced by Magha ASC, Mula Moon Justin Timberlake.
According to legends, King Arthur Pendragon is a folk hero who ruled Britain. I find it so f*cking awesome that he has been portrayed by Ketu natives through movies/TV shows. And being already voiced by Justin Timberlake, who is especially Magha Ascendant, validates my other observations even more of this heirdom theme in Ketu nakshatras. It really all started with my The Spoiled Brat Archetype post, which turned to providing more old money character examples. Now, Magha nakshatra is literally symbolized by a throne, representing heirdom, authority, power, and especially ancestral lineage.
Magha Moon Clive Owen portrays Arthur Pendragon in the film King Arthur (2004) while possible Mula Moon Bradley James plays the folk hero in the show Merlin.
Mula ASC Alexandre Astier plays King Arthur in the show Kaamelott. And then Mula ASC Graham Chapman is King Arthur in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Ashwini Moon Iain De Caestecker is King Arthur in the series The Winter King. Mula ASC Boris Karloff played King Arthur in the video production of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
Ashwini Moon Sean Patrick Flanery is King Arthur in the show Guinevere. Magha Sun Mel Ferrer played King Arthur in Knights of the Round Table. Mula ASC Kenneth More is King Arthur in the film Unidentified Flying Oddball. Mula Moon James Faulkner is King Arthur in the mini series "Wizards" Battle Royal.
Also, in the series Succession, the character Kendall Roy is pretty much the heir to the media empire of his powerful father. He is portrayed by Mula Sun Jeremy Armstrong.
In the series Royal Pains, Mula Moon Andrew McCarthy plays Marshall Bryant who is the heir to the blender fortune. While Ashwini ASC Ezra Miller plays his son, Tucker Bryant, now the great-grandson of the inventor of the blender.
I've given a lot of examples of Ketu female characters who exhibit a lot of power-hungry tendencies first, especially to the point of instability. This is not uncommon at all, though I see it less with Ketu male characters. But it's interesting how much power they all gather, magnetize or internalize.
I talk more about their dynamic with Rahuvians in this post, and it's interesting how they interact.
While Rahuvians struggle with Maya while they rise in power, Ketuvians struggle more internally. The trope of the rich kid who struggles with extreme mental issues or drug abuse tends to be Ketuvian. In the film The Gentleman (2019), Ashwini ASC Eliot Sumner plays Laura Pressfield who comes from old money. Laura struggles with drug abuse and wants to escape from the culture. In the series Political Animals, Mula ASC Sebastian Stan plays T.J. Hammond who is the first openly gay child of a U.S. president, struggling with drugs and alcohol as a way to numb himself. In the film Franklyn, Magha ASC and Ashwini Moon Eva Green plays Emilia Bryant who comes from a wealthy family but is an unstable artist who has deep emotional struggles which lead to her suicide. In the film American Psycho, Ashwini Moon Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman who comes from wealth but he is deeply mentally ill and internally miserable. In the series Succession, Mula Sun Jeremy Armstrong plays Kendall Roy who comes from wealth but he suffers from drug addiction. In the Spanish series Elite, Ashwini Moon María Pedraza plays Marina Osuna who is top in her class and is from an extremely wealthy family — yet she is deeply troubled, ill and spirals out of control, going against her family. In the Indian version of this series, Class, Ashwini Moon Anjali Sivaraman plays the same character. In the film Cruel Intentions, Ashwini Sun Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Kathryn Merteuil who is another Ketuvian rich kid with a drug addiction. Magha Sun Amy Adams played the same character in Cruel Intentions 2; and in the 2024 series remake of the story, Ashwini Sun Sarah Catherine Hook plays the same character but with a different name, Caroline Merteuil.
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Originally I had attached these tags about British imperial forestry to a post about United States treatment of forests, Indigenous peoples, and land administration from 1900-ish to 1935-ish, during a transition period when clear-cutting logging was threatening profit so the US turned to a German- and British-influenced "sustained yield" forestry paradigm:
And in response, someone added:
In the midst of the first Empire Forestry Conference of scientists, academics, and administrators in 1920, the chairman of the Forestry Commission of Britain, Lord Lovat, said that forests were "grown for use and not for mere ornament ... Forests are national assets only so far as they supply the raw material for industrial development."
Rajan (in Modernizing Nature) directly quotes professor of forestry at Oxford, R.S. Troup, who had been influential in the Indian forest service; at the same forestry conference in 1920, Troup promoted sustained yield like this: "Conservation was a 'wise and necessary measure' but it was 'only a stage towards the problem of how best to utilise the forest resources of the empire'. The ultimate ideal was economic management [...], which regarded forests as capital assets, fixed annual yields in such a manner as to exploit 'to the full interest on this capital [...]' and aimed for equal annual yields so as to sustain the market and provide regular supplies of timber to industry."
One of the big - and easily accessible/readable - summaries of the shift to sustained yield and rise of US and British administrators embracing "economic management" of forests:
Modernizing Nature: Forestry and Imperial Economic Development, 1800-1950. S. Ravi Rajan. 2006.
Concise look at the trajectory from East India Company and Royal Navy timber reserves; to British foresters training in Germany and/or in German traditions (including sustained yield) before joining as officers in the powerful British-Indian land administration bureaucracy; to US scientists being trained by those British administrators; to 1920s/1930s Empire Forestry Conferences promoting industry while identifying forests as essential to power.
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This has also been covered by:
Vinita Damodaran, Richard Grove, Jeyamalar Kathirithamby-Wells, Jonathan Saha, Gregory Barton, Rohan D'Souza.
More summaries of the situation (shorter length, accessible):
"Imperial Environmentalism or Environmental Imperialism? European Forestry, Colonial Forests and the Agenda of Forest Management in the British Empire, 1800-1900". S. Ravi Rajan, In: Nature and Orient: Essays on Environmental History of South and South East Asia, 1998.
"'Dominion over palm and pine': the British Empire forestry conferences, 1920-1947". J.M. Powell, Journal of Historical Geography, Volume 33, Issue 4, October 2007.
Elsewhere, Elizabeth DeLoughrey and George Handley described it like this: 'These forest reserves [...] did not necessarily represent "an atavistic interest in preserving the 'natural' [...]" but rather "a more manipulative and power-conscious interest in constructing new landscapes [...]."' While Sharae Deckard adds: '[T]he subversive potential of the "green" critique [...] was defused by the extent to which growing environmental sensibilities enabled imperialism to function more efficiently by appropriating botanical knowledge and indigenous conservation methods [...].'
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And the book:
Commonwealth Forestry and Environmental History: Empire, Forests and Colonial Environments in Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and New Zealand.
Edited by Damodaran and D'Souza, with work from conferences hosted by Grove, in 19 chapters including:
"Worlds Apart? The Scottish Forestry Tradition and the Development of Forestry in India" (K. Jan Ootheok); "Redeeming Wood by Destroying the Forest: Shola, Plantations and Colonial Conservancy on the Nilgiris in the Nineteenth Century" (Deborah Sutton); "Nature's Tea Bounty: Plant Colonialism and 'Garden' Capitalism in the British Empire" (Jayeeta Sharma); "Industrialized Rainforests: The Ecological Transformation of the Sri Lankan Highlands, 1815-1900"; "Forestry and Social Engineering in the Miombo Woodlands of South-Eastern Tanganyika" (Thaddeus Sunseri)
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Rajan also points out (again in Modernizing Nature):
"[An] extremely important aspect to the repackaging [of forestry science and management] [...] [and] a critical principle that stands out here is that of sustained yield, or sustainability (Nachhaltigekeit). This concept was fundamental [...]. By the turn of the [twentieth] century a large pan-colonial [British-United States] scientific community was in existence, trained in the German and French tradition of forestry [...]. Following the revolt of 1857, the government of [British] India sought to pursue active interventionist policies [...]. Experts were deployed as 'scientific soldiers' [...]. Dietrich Brandis [...], considered the founder of Indian forestry [...] married Rachel Marshman, who was [...] also the sister of the wife of General Havelock, a close friend of Lord Dalhouse, the then governor-general of India. On Havelock's recommendation, Brandis was put in charge of the forests of [...] Burma [...] and was subsequently appointed inspector-general of forests of India. [...] He also trained prospective foresters of the forest department of the USA, including Gifford Pinchot. [...] Chancellor Bismarck gave the visiting British Prime Minister Gladstone an oak sapling [...]. Prussia prided itself on helping devise [...] modern forest management. [...] [T]he Forestry Commision [...], [or] [t]he Imperial Visionaries, as they became known, believed that an increase in primary production in the tropical dependent empire would result in the growth of the British economy. [...] They deemed their own job to be serving the imperial economy."
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And also:
Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism. GA Barton, 2002.
"Colonialism and Green Science: History of Colonial Scientific Forestry in South India, 1820-1920". VM Ravikumar Vejendala, Indian Journal of History of Science, 47:2, pages 241-259, 2012.
"Imperialism, Intellectual Networks, and Environmental Change: Unearthing the Origins and Evolution of Global Environmental History." Vinitia Damodaran and Richard Grove, in Nature's End: History and the Environment, 2009.
"The Reconfiguration of Scientific Career Networks in the Late Colonial Period: The Case of Food and Agriculture Organization and the British Colonial Forestry Service" by Jennifer Gold, and "A Network Approach to the Origins of Forestry Education in India, 1855-1885" by Brett M. Bennett. Both chapters are form Science and Empire, 2011.
Triumph of the Expert: Agrarian Doctrines of Development and the Legacies of British Colonialism. Joseph Morgan Hidge, in Series in Ecology and History, 2007.
Nature and Nation: Forests and Development in Peninsular Malaysia. Jeyamalar Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005. And also: "Peninsular Malaysia in the context of natural history and colonial science." Jeyamalar Kathirithamby-Wells, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 11, Number 1, 2009.
"Empires of Forestry: Professional Forestry and State Power in Southeast Asia, Part 1". Peter Vandergeest and Nancy Lee Peluso, Environment and History 12, no. 1, pages 31-64, February 2006.
#tidalectics#ecologies#multispecies#geographic imaginaries#indigenous#elizabeth deloughrey#british imperial forestry#british empire in south asia#indigenous pedagogies#kathryn yusoff#black methodologies
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do you know any texts on the connection between fascism/the right and cleanliness/hygiene (purity) rhetoric? anything that goes a bit in depth on the topic?
Getting Under Our Skin: The Cultural and Social History of Vermin (2021). Sarasohn, Lisa Tunick. ISBN: 9781421441382
Dirt: New Geographies of Cleanliness and Contamination (2007). Campkin, Ben & Cox, Rosie (Eds.). ISBN: 9781845116729
The Sanitation of Brazil: Nation, State, and Public Health, 1889-1930 (2016). Hochman, Gilberto. ISBN: 9780252099052
Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States (2015). Zimring, Carl A. ISBN: 9781479826940
Colonial Pathologies: American Tropical Medicine, Race, and Hygiene in the Phillipines (2006). Anderson, Warwick H. ISBN: 0822338041
Bacteriology in British India: Laboratory Medicine and the Tropics (2017). Chakrabarti, Pratik. ISBN: 9781580465908
The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (2018). Vann, Michael G. & Clarke, Liz. ISBN: 9780190602697
Soap and Water: Cleanliness, Dirt and the Working Classes in Victorian and Edwardian Britain (2010). Kelley, Victoria. ISBN: 9781848850521
Contagion: Disease, government, and the “social question” in 19th-century France (1999). Aisenberg, Andrew R.
Rome, Pollution, and Propriety: Dirt, Disease, and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity (2012). Bradley, Mark & Stow, Kenneth R. ISBN: 9781107014435
Sanitizing South Africa: Race, Racism and Germs in the Making of the Apartheid State, 1880-1980 (2015). Fabio Terence Palmi Zoia. PhD. Dissertation, Indiana University. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1682266398)
there are also a few theoretical texts in social / cultural anthropology that will be frequent touchstones here, including norbert elias's 'the civilising process' (first published 1939) and mary douglas's 'purity and danger' (1966). i don't honestly think it's worth it or necessary to read these directly, both because they're dated in certain ways and because i think the historical studies are generally more useful. but you will probably notice these two texts & a handful of others repeatedly cropping up in introductory footnotes on this topic.
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A chat with Lewis Hamilton
22 JUNE 2006
Lewis Hamilton's dominance in the GP2 series continued at Silverstone and took him ever closer to the tantalizing prospect of the young British driver jumping straight into a McLaren F1 seat next year.
The GP2 Championship leader captured the imagination of his home crowd as he romped to his second victory of the weekend, earning a standing ovation. After the race, fans were queuing up to give their congratulations, the praise always the same: "The Formula 1 was boring compared to you," as much a testament to F1's much more racing-friendly support series as to Hamilton's racing ability. However, there is no denying that Hamilton's breathtaking three abreast move on Clivio Piccione and championship rival Nelson Piquet, Jr. as they went into Becketts was a sign of raw talent, and one that made the home fans sit up and freshen up hopes of a new British star in F1.
Being in front of the adoring fans also whetted Hamilton's appetite for success.
"On the in-lap as I was coming in, I really could feel the buzz from the crowd; the amazing support," he says. "I couldn't hear the fans or anything but it just felt amazing, and you know they're all British, you can see all the flags. It's the best feeling to see that support, because usually you go to Europe and it's just not the same. They might cheer you on but it's nowhere near as immense as it is here."
Having dominated another round in GP2 and with Ron Dennis saying "There's no question that he'll be in F1 next season," the press is starting to think about the young Briton driving in F1 next year, especially as Jenson Button (who has been built up for so long) has yet to deliver the wins that they want. Hamilton says that he knew as early as during pre-season testing that racing in F1 in 2007 was a very real prospect:
"It wasn't that I was that confident but it was what I wanted to do. I knew that I had to win GP2 and dominate it as best as I can, like I did in Euro Formula 3 last year. Your results speak for themselves. Nico [Rosberg] and Heikki [Kovalainen] did it last season and if I can do it and do it better than them, then there's got to be a place for me in F1."
It could be said that Hamilton's strong finishes are a result of ART Grand Prix having the dominant car, but the second ART driver Alexandre Premat faired a lot better against Nico Rosberg last year than he has against the rookie Hamilton so far this season. When you consider also that Premat has much more experience in GP2 and that Rosberg has gone on to impress at Williams in F1, then the early signs suggest that Hamilton is ready for Formula 1. But will he hold out for a race drive?
"That's my goal, that's what I want. I am a racing driver. Testing doesn't really interest me, but if I didn't have an opportunity to race, a test seat on the Friday practice session would be perfect. That would be a good position to be in."
There's nothing wrong with starting out at a small team, like Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber did at Minardi. It allowed them to quietly get on with their business, away from any real expectation, and vitally they got to prove their ability, as any driver's pace is only ever judged by how they compare to their teammate. However, Hamilton is adamant that his aim is to drive at McLaren alongside the ever dominant and seemingly unbeatable Alonso. That would expose him at a time when he is learning. His argument, however, is that the stronger the teammate, the better it is for him.
Nothing seems to faze the 21 year old, and it appears his unique long-term relationship with McLaren-Mercedes that started when he was just twelve years old has given him an extraordinary inner belief, while high expectations have long ago taught him how to deal with pressure:
"They've had a major input into my career. Ron (Dennis) has paid very close attention to how I'm doing. He's not so much put pressure on me, but there is that pressure there as he wants me to succeed. He's proud, and I think he's quite emotionally involved in it, which is a good thing. He was out on the podium watching me today, and that's a great feeling. We've been friends and together for nine years now, so it's quite a long partnership considering I'm only 21. I just hope he gives me the opportunity to race for him next year."
Dennis has usually preferred to pay big fees for drivers, but he might be keen to show his rival, Sir Frank Williams, who was done very well out of taking chances on rookies-particularly Brits such as Damon Hill, David Coulthard, and Jenson Button-that he, too, can spot talent.
Williams has always enjoyed making champions out of drivers, where Dennis has gone for proven talent. Having secured the services of hottest property in Alonso, it seems like a very small risk to put a very talented youngster in the car next to him. His "emotional involvement," as Hamilton calls it, might just make him go with his heart on this one.
#lewis hamilton#f1#formula 1#flashback fic ref#flashback fic ref 2006#not a race#2006 not a race#between britain and france 2006#gp2#gp2 2006#tw nico
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Been thinking “what would Psych be like if it was made in Britain” and I don’t have a fully formed vision of it, but I can tell you with absolute certainty who would’ve played Shawn Spencer in a UK version of Psych in 2006:
#shawn spencer#shaun of the dead#simon pegg#psych 2006#fancast#psych tv#I should rewatch this movie it’s been a while#Jessica Stevenson/Hynes as Jules?? but that might be my Spaced bias showing
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Prince William's Royal Night Out
Published Jun 21, 2024 at 4:49 AM EDT | Updated Jun 21, 2024 at 9:44 AM EDT
Prince William visited Germany on Thursday to attend a high-profile soccer match on the evening before his 42nd birthday.
The prince was photographed alongside European royalty at the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament group stage match between England and Denmark. He attended in his capacity as president of the Football Association in Britain, a role he was given by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006.
[…]
William not only met European royalty at the game but also pop royalty, in the form of former One Direction band member Louis Tomlinson.
Footage of the prince and the singer chatting behind the scenes at the stadium has gone viral online. It is not the first time the two have met. The pair were photographed together at the Royal Variety charity performance in 2014 and 2017.
In 2018 when William and Kate named their youngest son Louis, Tomlinson posted a lighthearted social media message dedicated to the prince, including the line: "Young Louis welcome to the world. I'll take you under my wing lad."
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The Partition of Ireland on May 3, 1921: The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is passed, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
#Partition of Ireland#Government of Ireland Act 1920#Northern Ireland#Southern Ireland.#Ireland#Blarney Castle#United Kingdom#Great Britain#Trinity College#Dublin#Cathedral Church of St Colman#landscape#cityscape#St Colman's Cathedral#Carnlough Harbour#Glenariff Forest Park#Carnlough#Belfast City Hall#street scene#Albert Memorial Clock Tower#summer 2006#travel#photography#original photography#vacation#tourist attraction#landmark#architecture#anniversary#Irish history
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Lewis Hamilton in Great Britain, 2006.
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