name	The Times
type	Daily newspaper
format	Compact
price	UK£0.90 (Monday–Friday)£2 (Saturday) £1.30(Sat., Scotland)
foundation	1 January 1785
owners	News Corporation
sister newspapers	''The Sunday Times''
political	Moderate Conservative
headquarters	Wapping, London, UK
editor	James Harding
issn	0140-0460
website	www.thetimes.co.uk
circulation	502,436 March 2010 }}

''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper published in London since 1785, when it was known as ''The Daily Universal Register''.

''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' are published by Times Newspapers Limited, since 1981 a subsidiary of News International. News International is entirely owned by the News Corporation group, headed by Rupert Murdoch. Though traditionally a moderately centre-right newspaper and a supporter of the Conservatives, it supported the Labour Party in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. In 2004, according to MORI, the voting intentions of its readership were 40% for the Conservative Party, 29% for the Liberal Democrats, 26% for Labour.

''The Times'' is the original "Times" newspaper, lending its name to many other papers around the world, such as ''The New York Times'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''The Seattle Times'', ''The Daily Times (Malawi)'', Jimma Times (Ethiopia), ''The Times of India'', ''The Straits Times'', ''Polska The Times'' ''The Times of Malta'' and ''The Irish Times''. For distinguishing purposes it is therefore sometimes referred to, particularly in North America, as the 'London Times' or 'The Times of London'. The paper is also the originator of the ubiquitous Times Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of ''The Times'' in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation for its legibility in low-tech printing.

The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, but switched to compact size in 2004 partly in an attempt to appeal to younger readers and partly to appeal to commuters using public transport. An American edition has been published since 6 June 2006.

Today

The newspaper's cover price in the United Kingdom is £1 on weekdays (30p for students at some university campus shops) and £1.50 on Saturday. ''The Times's'' sister paper, ''The Sunday Times'', is a broadsheet and priced at £2.20. Although ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' are both owned by News International, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, they do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have shared the same owner only since 1967. In November 2006 ''The Times'' began printing headlines in its new font, Times Modern.

History

''The Times'' was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as ''The Daily Universal Register'', with Walter in the role of editor. Walter changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to ''The Times''. In 1803, John Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name. John Walter Sr. had already spent sixteen months in Newgate prison for libel printed in ''The Times'', but his pioneering efforts to obtain Continental news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers.

''The Times'' used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of ''The Times'' were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers.

In 1809, John Stoddart was appointed general editor, replaced in 1817 with Thomas Barnes. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of ''The Times'' rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for ''The Times'' the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.").The increased circulation and influence of the paper was based in part to its early adoption of the steam driven rotary printing press. Distribution via steam trains to rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence.

''The Times'' was the first newspaper to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War, was immensely influential with his dispatches back to England. In other events of the nineteenth century, ''The Times'' opposed the repeal of the Corn Laws until the number of demonstrations convinced the editorial board otherwise, and only reluctantly supported aid to victims of the Irish Potato Famine. It enthusiastically supported the Great Reform Bill of 1832 which reduced corruption and increased the electorate from 400 000 people to 800 000 people (still a small minority of the population). During the American Civil War, ''The Times'' represented the view of the wealthy classes, favouring the secessionists, but it was not a supporter of slavery.

The third John Walter (the founder's grandson) succeeded his father in 1847. The paper continued as more or less independent. From the 1850s, however, ''The Times'' was beginning to suffer from the rise in competition from the penny press, notably ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Morning Post''.

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach ''The Times'' and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.

''The Times'' faced financial extinction in 1890 under Arthur Fraser Walter, but it was rescued by an energetic editor, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell. During his tenure (1890–1911), ''The Times'' became associated with selling the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' using aggressive American marketing methods introduced by Horace Everett Hooper and his advertising executive, Henry Haxton. However, due to legal fights between the ''Britannica's'' two owners, Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson, ''The Times'' severed its connection in 1908 and was bought by pioneering newspaper magnate, Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe.

In editorials published on 29 and 31 July 1914 Wickham Steed, the ''Times'''s Chief Editor argued that the British Empire should enter World War I. On 8 May 1920, under the editorship of Wickham Steed, the ''Times'' in an editorial endorsed the anti-Semitic forgery ''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion'' as a genuine document, and called Jews the world's greatest danger. In the leader entitled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Steed wrote about ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'':

What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?".

The following year, when Philip Graves, the Constantinople (modern Istanbul) correspondent of the ''Times'', exposed ''The Protocols'' as a forgery, the ''Times'' retracted the editorial of the previous year.

In 1922, John Jacob Astor, a son of the 1st Viscount Astor, bought ''The Times'' from the Northcliffe estate. The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement; then-editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with those in the government who practised appeasement, most notably Neville Chamberlain.

Kim Philby, a Soviet double agent, served as a correspondent for the newspaper in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Philby was admired for his courage in obtaining high-quality reporting from the front lines of the bloody conflict. He later joined MI6 during World War II, was promoted into senior positions after the war ended, then eventually defected to the Soviet Union in 1963.

Between 1941 and 1946, the left-wing British historian E.H. Carr was Assistant Editor. Carr was well known for the strongly pro-Soviet tone of his editorials. In December 1944, when fighting broke out in Athens between the Greek Communist ELAS and the British Army, Carr in a ''Times'' editorial sided with the Communists, leading Winston Churchill to condemn him and that leader in a speech to the House of Commons. As a result of Carr's editorial, the ''Times'' became popularly known during World War II as the threepenny ''Daily Worker'' (the price of the ''Daily Worker'' was one penny)

In 1967, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson, and on 3 May 1966 it started printing news on the front page for the first time. (Previously, the paper's front page featured small advertisements, usually of interest to the moneyed classes in British society.) The Thomson Corporation merged it with ''The Sunday Times'' to form Times Newspapers Limited.

An industrial dispute prompted the management to shut the paper for nearly a year (1 December 1978 – 12 November 1979).

The Thomson Corporation management were struggling to run the business due to the 1979 Energy Crisis and union demands. Management were left with no choice but to save both titles by finding a buyer who was in a position to guarantee the survival of both titles, and also one who had the resources and was committed to funding the introduction of modern printing methods.

Several suitors appeared, including Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland and Lord Rothermere; however, only one buyer was in a position to meet the full Thomson remit. That buyer was the Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch

In 1981, ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' were bought from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International. The acquisition followed three weeks of intensive bargaining with the unions by company negotiators, John Collier and Bill O'Neill.

Murdoch soon began making his mark on the paper, replacing its editor, William Rees-Mogg, with Harold Evans in 1981. One of his most important changes was the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. In March–May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print ''The Times'' since the 19th century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photo-composition. This allowed print room staff at ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' to be reduced by half. However, direct input of text by journalists ("single stroke" input) was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, when ''The Times'' moved from New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street) to new offices in Wapping.

In June 1990, ''The Times'' ceased its policy of using courtesy titles ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes for living persons) before full names on first reference, but it continues to use them before surnames on subsequent references. The more formal style is now confined to the "Court and Social" page, though "Ms" is now acceptable in that section, as well as before surnames in news sections.

In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. On 13 September 2004, the weekday broadsheet was withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland. Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format.

The Conservative Party announced plans to launch litigation against ''The Times'' over an incident in which the newspaper claimed that Conservative election strategist Lynton Crosby had admitted that his party would not win the 2005 General Election. ''The Times'' later published a clarification, and the litigation was dropped.

On 6 June 2005, ''The Times'' redesigned its Letters page, dropping the practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. Published letters were long regarded as one of the paper's key constituents. Author/solicitor David Green of Castle Morris Pembrokeshire has had more letters published on the main letters page than any known contributor – 158 by 31 January 2008. According to its leading article, "From Our Own Correspondents", removal of full postal addresses was in order to fit more letters onto the page.

In a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, which was investigating media ownership and the news, Murdoch stated that the law and the independent board prevented him from exercising editorial control.

In May 2008 printing of ''The Times'' switched from Wapping to new plants at Broxbourne on the outskirts of London, and Merseyside and Glasgow, enabling the paper to be produced with full colour on every page for the first time.

Controversy and image

Long considered the UK's newspaper of record, ''The Times'' is generally seen as a serious publication with high standards of journalism. It is not without trenchant critics: Robert Fisk, seven times British International Journalist of the Year, resigned as foreign correspondent in 1988 over what he saw as "political censorship" of his article on the shooting-down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988. He wrote in detail about his reasons for resigning from the paper due to meddling with his stories, and the papers' pro-Israel stance.

Some allege that ''The Times''' partisan opinion pieces also damage its status as 'paper of record,' particularly when attacking interests that go against those of its parent company – News International. In 2010 it published an opinion piece attacking the BBC for being 'one of a group of' signatories to a letter criticising BSkyB share options in October 2010.

Readership profile and image

The British Business Survey 2005 named ''The Times'' as the UK's leading daily newspaper for business people. This independent survey was sponsored by ''The Financial Times'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Economist'', and ''The Times''.

The latest figures from the national readership survey show ''The Times'' to have the highest number of ABC1 25–44 readers and the largest numbers of readers in London of any of the "quality" papers. The certified average circulation figures for November 2005 show that The Times sold 692,581 copies per day. This was the highest achieved under the last editor, Robert Thomson, and ensured that the newspaper remained ahead of ''The Daily Telegraph'' in terms of full-rate sales, although the ''Telegraph'' remains the market leader for broadsheets, with a circulation of 905,955 copies. Tabloid newspapers, such as ''The Sun'' and middle-market newspapers such as the ''Daily Mail'', at present outsell both papers with a circulation of around 3,005,308 and 2,082,352 respectively. By March 2010 the paper's circulation had fallen to 502,436 copies daily and the ''Telegraph's'' to 686,679, according to ABC figures.

Format and supplements

''The Times'' features news for the first half of the paper with the leading articles on the second page, the Opinion/Comment section begins after the first news section, the world news normally follows this. The business pages begin on the centre spread, and are followed by The Register, containing obituaries, Court & Social section, and related material. The sport section is at the end of the main paper.

''Literary Supplement''

''The Times Literary Supplement'' (TLS) is a separately-paid-for weekly literature and society magazine.

''Science Reviews''

Between 1951 and 1966 ''The Times'' published a separately-paid-for quarterly science review, ''The Times Science Review''. Remarkably, in 1953 both the newspaper and its science supplement failed to report on the discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge, which was reported on by both the ''News Chronicle'' and ''The New York Times''.

''The Times'' started another new (but free) monthly science magazine, ''Eureka'', in October 2009.

''Times2''

''The Times'''s main supplement was the ''times2'', featuring various lifestyle columns. It was discontinued on 1 March 2010, most of its regular features being absorbed into the main paper, the puzzles into a new supplement called ''Mind Games''. Its previous incarnation began on 5 September 2005, before which it was called ''T2'' and previously ''Times 2''. Regular features included columns by a different columnist each weekday. There was a column by Marcus du Sautoy each Wednesday, for example. The back pages were devoted to puzzles and contain sudoku, "Killer Sudoku", "KenKen", word polygon puzzles, and a crossword simpler and more concise than the main "Times Crossword". The penultimate page was "Young Times", with puzzles and news for children. All these features are now found in ''Mind Games''.

The supplement also contained arts and lifestyle features, TV and radio listings and reviews which have now become their own weekly supplements.

''The Game''

''The Game'' is included in the newspaper on a Monday, and details all the weekend's football activity (Premier League and Football League Championship, League One and League Two.) The Scottish edition of ''The Game'' also includes results and analysis from Scottish Premier League games.

Saturday supplements

The Saturday edition of ''The Times'' contains a variety of supplements. These supplements were relaunched in January 2009 as: ''Sport'', ''Weekend'' (including travel and lifestyle features), ''Saturday Review'' (arts, books, and ideas), ''The Times Magazine'' (columns on various topics), and ''Playlist'' (an entertainment listings guide).

''Saturday Review'' is the first regular supplement published in broadsheet format again since the paper switched to a compact size in 2004.

At the beginning of Summer 2011 ''Saturday Review'' switched to the tabloid format

''The Times Magazine'' features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Giles Coren, Food And Drink Writer of the Year in 2005.

Online presence

The ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' have had an online presence since March 1999, originally at ''the-times.co.uk'' and ''sunday-times.co.uk'', and later at ''timesonline.co.uk''. In April 2009, the ''timesonline'' site had a readership of 750,000 readers per day.

Paywall

Rupert Murdoch argued that readers should pay for online content, and since July 2010, News International requires readers that do not already subscribe to the print edition to pay £1 per day or £2 per week to access ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' content.

There are now two websites, instead of one: ''thetimes.co.uk'' is aimed at daily readers, and the ''thesundaytimes.co.uk'' site at providing weekly magazine-like content.

According to figures released in November 2010 by ''The Times'', 100,000 people had paid to use the service in its first four months of operation, and another 100,000 received free access because they subscribe to the printed paper. Visits to the websites have decreased by 87% since the paywall was introduced, from 21 million unique users per month to 2.7 million.

Typeface

''The Times'' commissioned the serif typeface ''Times New Roman'', created by Victor Lardent at the English branch of Monotype, in 1931. It was commissioned after Stanley Morison had written an article criticizing ''The Times'' for being badly printed and typographically antiquated. The font was supervised by Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of ''The Times''. Morison used an older font named Plantin as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space. ''Times New Roman'' made its debut in the 3 October 1932 issue of ''The Times'' newspaper. After one year, the design was released for commercial sale. ''The Times'' stayed with ''Times New Roman'' for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused the newspaper to switch font five times since 1972. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman font:

''Times Europa'' was designed by Walter Tracy in 1972 for The Times, as a sturdier alternative to the Times font family, designed for the demands of faster printing presses and cheaper paper. The typeface features more open counter spaces.

''Times Roman'' replaced Times Europa on 30 August 1982. ''Times Millennium'' was made in 1991, drawn by Gunnlaugur Briem on the instructions of Aurobind Patel, composing manager of News International. ''Times Classic'' first appeared in 2001. Designed as an economical face by the British type team of Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, it took advantage of the new PC-based publishing system at the newspaper, while obviating the production shortcomings of its predecessor Times Millennium. The new typeface included 120 letters per font. Initially the family comprised ten fonts, but a condensed version was added in 2004. ''Times Modern'' was unveiled on 20 November 2006, as the successor of ''Times Classic''. Designed for improving legibility in smaller font sizes, it uses 45-degree angled bracket serifs. The font was published by Elsner + Flake as ''EF Times Modern''; it was designed by Research Studios, led by Ben Preston (deputy editor of The Times) and designer Neville Brody.

Sponsored events

''The Times'', along with the British Film Institute, sponsors the London Film Festival (or more specifically, The Times ''bfi'' London Film Festival). As of 2005, it is Europe's largest public event for motion pictures.

''The Times'' also sponsors the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House, London.

Political allegiance

''The Times'' was a traditional Conservative Party supporter, even after its 18-year rule in government was ended by the Labour landslide of 1997, but for the 2001 general election the paper declared its support for Tony Blair's Labour government, which was re-elected by a landslide. It supported Labour again in 2005, when it achieved a third successive election win, though with a reduced majority. For the 2010 general election, however, the newspaper declared its support for the Tories once again; the election ended in the Tories taking the most votes and seats but having to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to form a government as they had failed to gain an overall majority.

The Times had declared its support for Clement Attlee's Labour at the 1945 general election; the party went on to win the election by a landslide over Winston Churchill's Conservative government. However, the newspaper reverted to the Tories for the next election five years later. It would not switch sides again for more than 50 years.

Ownership

John Walter (1785–1803)

John Walter, 2nd (1803–1847)

John Walter, 3rd (1847–1894)

Arthur Fraser Walter (1894–1908)

Lord Northcliffe (1908–1922)

Astor family (1922–1966)

Roy Thomson (1966–1981)

News International (subsidiary of News Corporation), run by Rupert Murdoch (1981– )

Editorship

!Editor's name	!Years
	1785–1803
	1803–1812
John Stoddart	1812–1816
	1817–1841
John Delane	1841–1877
Thomas Chenery	1877–1884
George Earle Buckle	1884–1912
George Geoffrey Dawson	1912–1919
	1919–1922
George Geoffrey Dawson	1923–1941
Robert McGowan Barrington-Ward	1941–1948
William Francis Casey	1948–1952
William Haley	1952–1966
William Rees-Mogg	1967–1981
Harold Evans	1981–1982
	1982–1985
	1985–1990
Simon Jenkins	1990–1992
Peter Stothard	1992–2002
	2002–2007
	2007–

Columnists and journalists

Murad Ahmed

Michael Atherton

Guillem Balague

Simon Barnes

Alice Bowe

Peter Brookes, leader-page cartoonist

David Brown

Kaya Burgess

Rachel Campbell-Johnston

Sam Coates

Giles Coren

Robert Crampton

Ginny Dougary

Stephen Farrell

Daniel Finkelstein

Richard Ford

Adam Fresco

Joanna Geary

Frances Gibb

Brian Glanville

Ruth Gledhill

Michael Gove

Nico Hines

Anthony Howard

Philip Howard

Ben Hoyle

Mick Hume

Anatole Kaletsky

Patrick Kidd

Magnus Linklater

Richard Lloyd Parry

Anthony Loyd, war correspondent on retainer

Ben Macintyre

Sam Marlowe, theatre reviewer

Stefanie Marsh

Hugh McIlvanney

Alice Miles

Caitlin Moran

Michael Moran

Morten Morland, political cartoonist

Richard Morrison

Kate Muir

Matthew Parris

Grayson Perry

Catherine Philp

Libby Purves

Lord Rees-Mogg

Peter Riddell

Hugo Rifkind

Aki Riihilahti

Nick Robinson

Alyson Rudd

Dan Sabbagh

Sathnam Sanghera

Marcus du Sautoy

David Sinclair

Graham Stewart

Andrew Sullivan

Richard Susskind

Ann Treneman

Janice Turner

Philip Webster

Tom Whipple

Tom Whitwell

Tony Halpin

Alexander Williams, cartoonist

Jeremy Clarkson

Other publications

(Times Books Group Ltd)

The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 2007 ISBN 978-0-00-780150-3

Biography

Harold Evans, ''Good Times, Bad Times''. Includes sections of black-and-white photographic plates, plus a few charts and diagrams in text pages.

In fiction

In the dystopian future world of George Orwell's ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', ''The Times'' has been transformed into the organ of the totalitarian ruling party, its editorials—of which several are quoted in the book—reflecting Big Brother's pronouncements.

Rex Stout's fictional detective Nero Wolfe is described as fond of solving the London ''Times'' crossword puzzle at his New York home, in preference to those of American papers.

In the James Bond series, written by Ian Fleming, the title character, James Bond, reads ''The Times''. As described by Fleming in ''From Russia, with Love'': "The Times was the only paper that Bond ever read."

See also

List of newspapers by date

References

External links

The Sunday Times site

Times World Atlases official website including a History and Heritage section detailing landmark Times atlases

Archive from 1785 to 1985 – full text and original layout, searchable (not free of charge, registration required)

The Times editor Robert Thomson lecture online: From the editorial desk of ''The Times'', RMIT School of Applied Communication Public Lecture series

Anthony Trollope's satire on the mid-nineteenth century Times

Journalism Now: The Times Winchester University Journalism History project on the Times in the nineteenth century

Category:Newspapers published in the United Kingdom Category:News Corporation subsidiaries * Category:Publications established in 1785 Category:1785 establishments in Great Britain

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name	Markus Schulz
landscape	yes
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
origin	Eschwege, Germany
birth name	Markus Schulz
genre	Trance
years active	1990–present
label	Coldharbour Recordings, Armada Music, Ultra Records
associated acts	Dakota, Himmel
website	http://www.markusschulz.com }}

Markus Schulz born February 03, 1975 is a German trance music DJ and producer who resides in Miami, Florida, USA. He is best-known for his weekly radio show titled Global DJ Broadcast that airs on Digitally Imported radio, After Hours FM and other online stations. He is also the founder of the EDM label Coldharbour Recordings.

Producing

Schulz has released six mix compilations and three artist albums under his own name. He has also released productions and albums, Thoughts Become Things and Thoughts Become Things II, under the alias Dakota. Through his work with remixing tracks, he has had the opportunity to work with such artists as: Depeche Mode, Madonna, Everything But The Girl, Jewel, Oceanlab, Gabriel & Dresden, Télépopmusik, Fat Boy Slim, Miro, Book Of Love, Blue Amazon, and PQM. His remixes of "Intuition" and "Stand" by Jewel both hit #1 on the Billboard club chart.

Performing

When not in the studio working on new mixes, Schulz maintains an extensive international touring schedule. He originally held a seven-year residency at The Works in Phoenix, Arizona, where he developed his style. Since then, he has performed at clubs all over the world and has DJ'ed at some of the largest festivals and events, including: Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo, Monster Massive, Together As One, Ultra Music Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event, Nature One, Dance Valley, Love Parade, Global Gathering, ETD Pop, Trance Energy 2010, Bang Music Festival, Future Music Festival, Bal en Blanc and at the Episodes 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, and 500 of A State Of Trance.

On October 28, 2010, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, placing Schulz at #8 DJ in the world.

Discography

Albums

''Without You Near'' (2005, Armada Music) ''Progression'' (2007, Armada Music)

''Progression Progressed - The Remixes'' (2008, Armada Music)

''Dakota - Thoughts Become Things'' (2009, Armada Music) ''Do You Dream?'' (2010, Armada Music)

''Do You Dream? - The Remixes (2011, Armada Music)''

''Markus Schulz presents Dakota – Thoughts Become Things II (1 July 2011, Armada Music)''

Compilations

''Coldharbour Sessions'' (2004, Armada Music) ''Miami '05'' (2005, Moist Music) ''Ibiza '06'' (2006, Moist Music) ''Amsterdam '08'' (2008, Armada Music) ''Toronto '09'' (2009, Armada Music) ''Las Vegas '10'' (2010, Armada Music) ''Prague '11'' (2011, Armada Music)

Singles

1998 Markus Schulz - You Won’t See Me Cry

1999 Dakota - Swirl

2002 Dakota - Frozen Time

2002 Dakota - Lost in Brixton

2002 Dakota - Jah Powah

2002 Dakota - Zero Gravity

2002 Dakota - Sunshine Yellow

2003 Dakota - Abandoned in Queens

2003 Markus Schulz presents Elevation - Clear Blue

2004 Markus Schulz presents Elevation - Largo

2004 Markus Schulz presents Elevation - Somewhere

2005 Markus Schulz featuring Anita Kelsey - First Time

2005 Markus Schulz and Departure with Gabriel & Dresden - Without You Near

2006 Markus Schulz featuring Carrie Skipper - Never be the Same Again

2007 Markus Schulz vs. Chakra - I Am

2007 Markus Schulz - Fly to Colors

2007 Dakota - Amsterdam

2007 Dakota - Progression

2008 Dakota - Hypnotic

2008 Markus Schulz featuring Departure - Cause You Know

2008 Markus Schulz featuring Dauby – Perfect

2008 Markus Schulz vs. Andy Moor - Daydream

2008 Markus Schulz - The New World

2009 Dakota - Chinook

2009 Dakota - Johnny the Fox

2009 Dakota - Sin City

2009 Markus Schulz - Do You Dream

2009 Dakota - Roxy ’84

2009 Dakota - Koolhaus

2009 Dakota - Steel Libido

2009 Dakota - Mr. Cappuccino

2010 Markus Schulz featuring Khaz - Dark Heart Waiting

2010 Markus Schulz featuring Justine Suissa - Perception

2010 Markus Schulz - Rain

2010 Markus Schulz - Future Cities

2011 Dakota - Sinners

2011 Markus Schulz & Jochen Miller - Rotunda

2011 Dakota - Sleepwalkers

Remixes

1993 Sagat - Why Is It? Fuk Dat

1993 The Movement - Shake That

1994 Glenn "Sweet G" Toby - I Can Tell

1994 Sweet Sable - Old Times' Sake

1994 Transglobal Underground - Temple Head

1994 2 Unlimited - Throw The Groove Down

1994 Sandra Bernhard - You Make Me Feel

1995 Amber McFadden - Do You Want Me

1995 Truce - Pump It

1995 Real McCoy - Come And Get Your Love

1995 Bette Midler - To Deserve You

1995 Backstreet Boys - We've Got It Going On

1996 Lina Santiago - Feels So Good (Show Me Your Love)

1996 Backstreet Boys - Get Down (You're The One For Me)

1996 Technotronic - Move It To The Rhythm

1996 Madonna - Love Don't Live Here Anymore

1996 Liz Torres - Set Yourself Free

1996 Armand Van Helden - The Funk Phenomena

1996 James Newton Howard - Theme From ER

1996 Backstreet Boys - We've Got It Going On

1997 RuPaul - A Little Bit Of Love

1997 Groove Junkies -

1997 Poe - Hello

1997 e-N Feat. Ceevox - That Sound

1997 Tilly Lilly - Roller Coaster

1997 Electronic - Second Nature

1997 Blue Amazon - No Other Love

1997 LNR - Work It To The Bone

1998 Cynthia - If I Had The Chance

1998 Vertigo Deluxe - Out Of My Mind

1998 The B-52's - Debbie

1999 Everything But The Girl - Lullaby Of Clubland

1999 Dream Traveler - Time

2000 Himmel - Celebrate Life

2000 Masters Of Balance - Dreamworld

2000 Pablo Gargano - Eurogoal

2000 PQM - The Flying Song

2000 Aaron Lazarus - Your Time Will Come

2001 Pablo Gargano - Absolution

2001 Carissa Mondavi - Solid Ground

2001 Rouge - Jingalay

2001 Daniel Ash - Burning Man

2001 Fatboy Slim - Sunset (Bird Of Prey)

2001 Luzon - Manilla Sunrise

2001 Book Of Love - I Touch Roses

2002 Miro - By Your Side

2003 Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes

2003 Jewel - Intuition

2003 Karada - Last Flight

2003 Billy Paul Williams - So In Love

2003 Jewel - Stand

2004 Aly & Fila - Spirit Of Ka

2004 George Hales - Autumn Falls

2004 Solid Globe - Sahara

2004 Filterheadz - Yimanya

2004 Plastic Angel - Distorted Reality

2004 Clubbervision - Dream Off

2004 Kobbe & Austin Leeds - Fusing Love

2004 Airwave - Ladyblue

2004 Myth - Millionfold

2004 OceanLab - Satellite

2004 Piece Process - Solar Myth

2004 Space Manoeuvres - Stage One

2004 Deepsky - Talk Like A Stranger

2004 Whirlpool - Under The Sun

2004 Mark Otten – Tranquility

2005 Tomonari & Tommy Pi - C Sharp 2005

2005 Ridgewalkers - Find

2005 Departure - She Turns

2005 Nalin & Kane - Open Your Eyes (The Child You Are)

2006 Kyau & Albert - Are You Fine?

2006 Eluna - Severence

2006 Yoshimoto - Du What U Du

2007 Kamera - Lies

2007 Andrew Bennett - Menar

2007 Joop - The Future

2008 Destination X - Dangerous

2008 John O'Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher - Big Sky

2008 Rank 1 - Airwave

2008 Sia - Buttons

2008 Mike Foyle - Bittersweet Nightshade

2009 Dance 2 Trance - Power of American Natives

2009 Jester Music feat. Lavoie - Dressed In White

2009 Cosmic Gate - Sign Of The Times

2009 Ferry Corsten - Brain Box

2010 Cosmic Gate - The Drums

External links

Official Website

Markus Schulz Facebook Page

Markus Schulz MySpace Page

Markus Schulz Twitter Page

Markus Schulz YouTube Page

References

Category:Electronic music radio shows Category:German trance musicians Category:Remixers Category:Living people Category:Armada Music artists Category:1966 births

bg:Маркус Шулц cs:Markus Schulz de:Markus Schulz es:Markus Schulz fa:مارکوس شولتز fr:Markus Schulz it:Markus Schulz lt:Markus Schulz hu:Markus Schulz nl:Markus Schulz pl:Markus Schulz pt:Markus Schulz ru:Шульц, Маркус sl:Markus Schulz tr:Markus Schulz

name	Steve Davis
birth date	August 22, 1957
birth place	Plumstead, London
sport country
nickname
professional	1978–present
high ranking	1
current rank	48
prize money	£5,614,630 (up to the end of 2008/2009) is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire. He has won 28 ranking events in total, second only to Stephen Hendry. Davis' achievements also include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. In 1988 he became the first player to complete snooker's Triple Crown in a single season. He is also a former four-time World Doubles champion with Tony Meo and won the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England. In 1982, he became the first player to compile a televised maximum break and is one of four players to have compiled over 300 competitive century breaks. Though he has not won a major tournament since 1997, he continues to play snooker at a high level and reached the quarter-finals at the 2010 World Championship. He was still ranked in the world's top 16 at the age of 50, and is ranked number 48. Outside of snooker Davis is a known writer, pool and poker player. He played at the Mosconi Cup between 1994 and 2004 as a member of Team Europe, winning the event in 1995 and 2002. He was made an MBE in 1998 and an OBE in 2001. He now combines his playing career with his role as an established television analyst and occasional commentator for the BBC's snooker coverage. Career In the book ''Masters of the Baize'', a detailed comparison and ranking of snooker pros, authors Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby rated Davis as the third greatest snooker player of all time behind Joe Davis and Stephen Hendry. , Davis has won a record 80 professional titles from 115 finals, 28 of them in ranking events. His record of six world titles in the modern era has been bettered only by Hendry and no player has yet matched his tally of six UK titles. Davis has also compiled over 300 competitive centuries during his career. In 2011 he was inducted to World Snooker's newly created Hall of Fame along with seven former World Champions. Early career Davis was introduced to snooker by his father Bill, a keen player, who took him to play at his local working men's club at the age of 12. He started playing at the Lucania Snooker Club in Romford, where at the age of 18 the manager of the club brought his talent to the attention of Barry Hearn, chairman of the Lucania chain of snooker halls. Hearn became Davis' friend and manager. Paid £25 a match by Hearn, Davis toured the country, taking part in challenge matches against established professionals such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer and Alex Higgins. Around this time he was given the nickname "Nugget" because, according to Hearn, "you could put your case of money on him and you knew you were going to get paid." Davis won the English Under-19 Billiards Championship in 1976. One of his last wins as an amateur was against another future professional Tony Meo in the final of the Pontin's Spring Open of 1978. A year later he successfully defended his title, this time defeating another of his future rivals, Jimmy White, 7–4 in the final. Davis turned professional on 17 September 1978 and made his professional television debut on Pot Black, where he played against Fred Davis. He made his World Championship debut in 1979, losing 11–13 to Dennis Taylor in the first round. Dominance of snooker Davis came to public prominence after his performance at the 1980 World Championship, where he reached the quarter-finals, defeating defending champion Terry Griffiths en route, before losing to Alex Higgins. Davis won his first major title in the same year – the UK Championship – during which he beat Griffiths 9–0 in the semi-finals and Higgins 16–6 in the final. This began an 18-month period of dominance. He won the Classic and then the International Masters and English Professional titles in 1981, and became the bookmakers' favourite to win the 1981 World Championship, despite being seeded only 15. Davis reached the final by defeating Jimmy White in the first round, Higgins in the second round, Griffiths in the quarter-finals and defending champion Cliff Thorburn in the semi-final. Davis's 18–12 victory over Doug Mountjoy in the final confirmed bookmakers' early predictions, and in celebration his manager Barry Hearn charged across the arena to lift him up in the air. He would go on to reach seven out of the next eight world finals. He followed up his world title win with a 9–0 final victory over Dennis Taylor in the International Open and then retained the UK Championship with a 9–0 whitewash over White in the semi-finals and a 16–3 win over Griffiths in the final. This began a period of six months in which Davis and Griffiths contested almost all the major tournament finals. During this run, in January 1982, Davis made television sporting history when he compiled the first televised maximum break at the Classic at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham, against John Spencer,though he subsequently lost 8–9 in the final against Griffiths. In 1982 Davis won his first Masters title, defeating Griffiths 9–6 in the final. Davis's 18-month period of dominance ended at the 1982 World Championship, when he succumbed to the so-called "Crucible Curse", suffering a 1–10 loss to Tony Knowles in the first round. Later that year, he couldn't win a third consecutive UK title as he lost in the quarter-finals against Griffiths. Following those two setbacks, he won the World Doubles Championship title with partner Tony Meo. In 1983 Davis regained the world title with a session to spare in the final, defeating an overwhelmed Thorburn 18–6; Thorburn had seen his previous three matches go to a deciding frame and a late finish. Davis lost 15–16 to Higgins in the 1983 UK Championship final, despite having led 7–0 at one point of the match. In 1984, he became the first player to retain his world title at the Crucible Theatre by beating Jimmy White 18–16 in the final. He also regained the UK title in 1984 defeating Higgins 16–8. Black ball final At the 1985 World Championship, Davis dropped only 23 frames en route to the final, where his opponent was Dennis Taylor. He looked set for a third consecutive world title after an opening session of near-faultless snooker gave him a 7–0 lead, which he extended to 8–0 in the evening session, but Taylor recovered to trail only 7–9. From 11–11 the pair traded frames before Davis forged ahead to lead 17–15. Taylor won the next two frames to level the match at 17–17 and force a deciding frame. With the scores close, Taylor potted the final colours to leave the black as the winner-takes-all ball. After a series of safety shots and attempts at potting it, Davis over-cut the black, leaving Taylor with a reasonably straightforward pot to secure the championship. The "nailbiting" finale drew 18.5 million viewers, a record post-midnight audience on British television and a record audience for BBC Two. The finish was voted the ninth greatest sporting moment of all time in a 2002 Channel 4 poll. Davis and Taylor met again in the final of the 1985 Grand Prix, but this time Davis won in the deciding frame. At 10 hours 21 minutes, it remains the longest one-day final in snooker history. In the 1985 UK Championship final Davis trailed 8–13 against Willie Thorne, who missed a blue off the spot which would have given him a 14–8 lead. Davis won the frame and then seven of the next eight to win 16–14. At the 1986 World Championship, Davis defeated White 13–5 in the quarter-finals and Thorburn 16–12 in the semi-finals, Davis's opponent in the final was Joe Johnson, who had started the tournament as a 150–1 outsider. Davis lost the match 12–18. The result did not affect his position at the top of the world rankings, as he had won the UK Championship, the Grand Prix and the British Open in the 1985/1986 season. At the end of 1986 he beat Neal Foulds 16–7 to retain the UK Championship. Davis started 1987 by winning the Classic, beating defending champion Jimmy White 13–12. At the World Championship, he defeated Griffiths 13–5 in the quarter-final, and White 16–11 in the semi-final. In the final he again met Johnson, and established a 14–10 lead after the third session. Johnson won the first three frames of the last session, but Davis won four of the last five frames to win the match 18–14 and regain the title. In beating Johnson he became the first player to win the UK Championship, Masters and World Championship in the same year. In December he retained his UK title with a 16–14 final win against White. In 1988 retained the Classic, and the Masters title with a 9–0 final whitewash of Mike Hallett, won the World Cup with England and won his fourth Irish Masters title. In the World Championship Davis defeated Hallett 13–1, Tony Drago 13–4 and Thorburn 16–8 en route to the final, where he met Griffiths. Davis established a 5–2 lead after the first session, but Griffiths levelled at 8–8 after the second. On the second day of the match Davis took ten out of thirteen frames to win 18–11 and claim his fifth world title. Davis won the first ranking event of the 1988/1989 season with a 12–6 win over White in the International Open; in the same match, he became the first player to make three consecutive century breaks in a major tournament. In October, Davis won the Grand Prix, beating Alex Higgins 10–6 in the final to hold the World, UK, Masters, Grand Prix, Classic and Irish Masters titles simultaneously. However, his four year unbeaten run at the UK Championship came to an end in December with a 3–9 semi-final loss to Hendry. He did not win another major title that season until the 1989 World Championship, where he beat Hendry 16–9 in the semi-finals before going on to complete the heaviest victory in a world final of the modern era with an 18–3 win over John Parrott, his last world championship to date. In October he retained the Grand Prix, beating Dean Reynolds 10–0 in the final, the first whitewash in a ranking event final. By the end of the 1980s, Davis was snooker's first millionaire. 1990–2005 In the 1990 World Championship, Davis was denied an eighth consecutive appearance in the final by Jimmy White, who won their semi-final 16–14. Davis was replaced as world number one by Stephen Hendry at the end of the 1989/90 season. He was ranked number 2 for the 1990/1991, 1991/1992, 1994/1995 and 1995/1996 seasons. He reached the semi-finals of the World Championships in 1991 and 1994. He also won the Irish Masters in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994, the Classic and the Asian Open in 1992, the European Open in 1993, and consecutive Welsh Open titles in 1994 and 1995. His successful defence of his Welsh Open title in 1995 is to date his last ranking title. Davis's last victory in a major tournament came at the 1997 Masters. Trailing his opponent Ronnie O'Sullivan 4–8 in the final, he won the next six frames to secure a 10–8 win. Davis dropped out of the top 16 for the 2000/2001 season, and failed to qualify for the World Championship for the next two years. After failing to qualify for the World Snooker Championship for the first time in his professional career in 2001, Davis felt that retiring would be the easy thing to do, but as he still liked the challenge of snooker, he continued playing, and regained his place back in the top 16 for the 2003/2004 season. He was runner-up in the 2004 Welsh Open to O'Sullivan, losing 8–9 after having led 8–5. In 2005 he reached the quarter finals of the World Championship, losing to eventual winner Shaun Murphy. 2005–present At the 2005 UK Championship, held in York, Davis reached his 100th major career final, and made his first appearance in the UK final since 1990. En route he beat defending champion Stephen Maguire 9–8, a win which included a 145 break; and then Stephen Hendry 9–6 in the semi-finals to reach the final, where he lost 6–10 against Ding Junhui. Before the World Championships Davis brushed off suggestions of retirement, and he reached the second round, where he lost to Murphy. Davis's performances through the 2006/2007 season, including reaching the UK Championship quarter-finals and the Welsh Open semi-finals, ensured he was still a top 16 player at the age of 50. He dropped out of the top sixteen a year later, but showed form in the 2008/2009 season by reaching the quarter-finals of both the Shanghai Masters and Grand Prix, the first time he had reached consecutive ranking event quarter-finals since 1996. At the World Championship Davis lost in the first round 2-10 Neil Robertson. After the match he again dismissed talk of his retirement. In the first two tournaments of the 2009/2010 season Davis failed to qualify for the televised stages as he lost 4–5 against Matthew Selt in the Shanghai Masters and 0–5 against Mark Davis in the Grand Prix. In the next tournament, the UK Championship, he defeated Michael Judge 9–7 to set up a first round match against Hendry, which he lost 6–9. Davis started 2010 by failing to qualify for the Welsh Open and the China Open, losing 2–5 against Dominic Dale and 3–5 against Mike Dunn respectively in the final qualifying round. In March he qualified for the World Championship for a record 30th time by defeating Adrian Gunnell 10–4. In the first round Davis defeated Mark King 10–9, becoming the oldest player to win a match at the Crucible since Eddie Charlton beat Cliff Thorburn in 1989. In the second round against defending champion John Higgins, a 1–20 favourite, Davis led 6–2 after the first session, 9–7 after the second session, and ultimately won 13–11, a win Clive Everton described as "the greatest upset in the 33 years the Crucible has been hosting the championship." This made him the oldest world quarter-finalist since Charlton in 1983. In the quarter-final match against Australian Neil Robertson, Davis recovered from a 2–12 deficit to force the match into the third session, eventually losing 5–13. On 29 April 2010, to mark the 25th anniversary of their black-ball final of 1985, Davis appeared with Dennis Taylor before the beginning of the first semi-final, to stage a humorous re-enactment of their historic final frame. Taylor entered the arena wearing a pair of comically oversized glasses, while Davis arrived sporting a red wig. Davis started the 2010/2011 season by qualifying to the televised stages of Shanghai Masters, whitewashing Rod Lawler 5–0, but lost in the first round 3–5 against Jamie Cope. He lost his qualifying matches in the next two tournaments, he lost 1–3 against Peter Ebdon in the last 64 of the World Open and 2–9 against Mark Joyce in the last 48 of the UK Championship. Davis reached the third qualifying round of the German Masters, but was whitewashed by Ryan Day 0–5. Davis lost his first qualifying matches of the next two tournaments. He was beaten by Joe Jogia 3–4 in the Welsh Open and 4–5 by James Wattana in the China Open. Davis narrowly reached the last qualifying round of the World Championship, by defeating Jack Lisowski 10–9, but lost against Stephen Lee 2–10. Davis started the 2011/2012 season at number 44, his lowest rank since turning professional. Other sports From 1994 to 2007, Davis played in professional nine-ball pool events regularly. He was instrumental in the creation of the Mosconi Cup, and has represented Europe in the tournament on eleven occasions, and was a member of the team's 1995 and 2002 wins; his victory against the US's Earl Strickland clinched the 2002 competition for Europe. In 2001, Davis nearly won his first singles title in pool at the World Pool League. However, Efren Reyes defeated him 9–5 the final. Sid Waddell gave him the nickname "Romford Slim" and said he was Britain's answer to the famous American pool player Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone. Davis dislikes eight-ball pool as played on English-style tables in British pubs and clubs, considering it a "Mickey Mouse game" because of its under-sized cue ball in relation to the other balls, but made it clear that he is only critical of the game when it is played with an undersized cue ball. Davis has also become a proficient poker player, with successful appearances at televised tournaments; one of these included an appearance at the final table of the 2003 Poker Million together with fellow snooker player Jimmy White, who eventually won. Later, at Event 41 of the 2006 World Series of Poker, Davis finished 579th, winning US$20,617. At Event 54 of the 2008 World Series of Poker he finished 389th, winning $28,950. At Event 56 of the 2010 World Series of Poker he finished 131st, winning $5,491. He is also a keen chess player and was, for a while, the President of the British Chess Federation. His initial lack of emotional expression and somewhat monotonous interviewing style earned him a reputation as boring. As a result, the satirical television series ''Spitting Image'' gave him the ironic nickname ''"Interesting"''. Davis himself now plays upon this image and says it helped him gain acceptance from the public. It led to him co-authoring the comedic book, ''How to Be Really Interesting'' (1988), with Geoff Atkinson, the front cover of which shows Davis mocking his perceived dullness, dressed in boxing regalia holding a cue. He has published numerous other books, five relating to snooker: ''Successful Snooker'' (1982), ''Frame and Fortune'' (1982), ''Steve Davis: Snooker Champion'' (1983), ''Matchroom Snooker'' (1988) and ''The Official Matchroom 1990''; two relating to chess in 1995 with David Norwood: ''Steve Davis Plays Chess'' and ''Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur''. He also authored three cookbooks in 1994: ''Simply Fix – the Steve Davis Interesting Cookbook No 1 – Interesting Things to Do With Meat'', ''Simply Fix – The Steve Davis Interesting Cookbook No 2 – Interesting Things to Make with Poultry'', and ''Simply Fix – the Steve Davis Interesting Cookbook No 3 – Interesting Things to Make Using Vegetables''. Davis appeared as a commentator for the BBC's snooker coverage and as a guest on television quizzes such as ''They Think It's All Over'' and ''A Question of Sport''. He appeared in a baked beans advertisement in the 1980s (featuring snooker commentator Ted Lowe with the pay-off line ''"really interesting"'' and Davis 'assessing' his beans on toast as if it were a snooker situation, and chalking his cutlery). In 2007, his image was used as the epitome of "reliability" in a series of advertisements for Irish Life. He featured in a spoof online viral promoting the Nintendo DS game ''World Snooker Championship Season 2007–08'', in which he parodied a Nicole Kidman Brain Training advert. In 2010 Davis made a cameo appearance in ''The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret'' as himself. In 1986 he joined musical duo Chas & Dave and several other snooker stars of the time (under the name "The Matchroom Mob") on the novelty record Snooker Loopy, which was a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. A year the later they released a follow-up single, the ''Romford Rap'', although this only reached #91 in the UK charts. Since 1996 he has presented a show dedicated to progressive rock and the Canterbury scene on his local radio station, Phoenix FM. Personal life In 1988, Davis was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and was made an MBE. He was awarded an OBE in 2001, and is currently honorary president of the Snooker Writers' Association. Davis is a big fan of the French progressive rock band Magma, and even organised a concert in London so he could watch them. Davis is on the board of Leyton Orient football club, which he has revealed to be more of a gimmick; Davis has been a Charlton Athletic fan most of his life, and Barry Hearn is the Orient chairman. He lives in Brentwood, Essex, and divorced from his wife Judith in 2005 after 15 years of marriage. Together, they have two sons called Greg (born 1991) and Jack (born 1993). Performance and rankings timeline
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Welsh Open
Style	"text-align:center; background:#white;"|LQ
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;"| China Open
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" |
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:thistle;"|F
style	"text-align:center; background:thistle;"|F
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#white;"|LQ
style	"text-align:center; background:#white;"|LQ
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#white;"|LQ
colspan	"34" | Non-ranking tournaments
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Masters
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|WR
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Premier League
colspan	"34" | Former ranking tournaments
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Classic
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" |
style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | British Open
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" |
style	"text-align:center; background:#00ff00;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:thistle;"|F
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Irish Masters
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Malta Cup
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#00ff00;"|W
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|A
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R
style	"text-align:center; color:#cccccc;"|NR
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | World Open
style	"text-align:center; color:#cccccc;"|NH
colspan	"34" | Former non-ranking tournaments
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" |
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Scottish Masters
Style	"background:#EFEFEF;" | Irish Masters
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- style	"background:#efefef;" ! colspan"4"|Performance Table Legend
style	"text-align:center; width:30px;"|LQ
style	"text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|#R
lost in the early rounds of the tournament(rr	round robin)
style	"text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF
style	"text-align:center; background:yellow;"|SF
style	"text-align:center; background:thistle;"|F
style	"text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|W
style	"text-align:center; width:30px;"|A
style	"text-align:center; width:30px;"|NH
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:''For devotions see Saint George: Devotions, traditions and prayers''

Name	Saint George of Lydda
Birth date	between ca. AD 256 and 285
Death date	April 23, 303
Feast day	April 23
Venerated in	Roman CatholicismAnglicanismEastern OrthodoxyLutheranismCoptic OrthodoxIslam
Birth place	Lydda, Syria Palaestina, Roman Empire
Death place	Nicomedia, Bithynia, Roman Empire
Titles	Martyr
Attributes	Clothed as a soldier in a suit of armour or chain mail, often bearing a lance tipped by a cross, riding a white horse, often slaying a dragon. In the West he is shown with St George's Cross emblazoned on his armour, or shield or banner.
Patronage	Many ''Patronages of Saint George'' exist around the world
Prayer attrib	}}

Saint George (ca. 275/281 – 23 April 303) was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.

Many ''Patronages of Saint George'' exist around the world, including: Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Israel, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Kumanovo, Ljubljana, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow, Tamworth and the Maltese island of Gozo, as well as a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.

Life and legend

Historians have debated the exact details of the birth of Saint George for over a century, although the approximate date of his death is subject to little debate. The Catholic Encyclopedia takes the position that there seems to be no ground for doubting the historical existence of Saint George, but that little faith can be placed in some of the fanciful stories about him.

The work of the Bollandists Danile Paperbroch, Jean Bolland and Godfrey Henschen in the 17th century was one of the first pieces of scholarly research to establish the historicity of the saint's existence via their publications in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca and paved the way for other scholars to dismiss the medieval legends. Pope Gelasius stated that George was among those saints ''whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God''.

The traditional legends have offered a historicised narration of George's encounter with a dragon: see "St. George and the Dragon" below. The modern legend that follows below is synthesized from early and late hagiographical sources, omitting the more fantastical episodes, to narrate a purely human military career in closer harmony with modern expectations of reality. Chief among the legendary sources about the saint is the Golden Legend, which remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxton's 15th-century translation.

It is likely that Saint George was born to a Christian noble family in Lod, Syria Palaestina during the late third century between about 275 AD and 285 AD, and he died in Nicomedia. His father, Gerontius, was a Roman army official from Cappadocia and his mother, Polychronia, was from Palestine. They were both Christians and from noble families of Anici, so by this the child was raised with Christian beliefs. They decided to call him Georgius (Latin) or Geōrgios (Greek), meaning "worker of the land". At the age of 14, George lost his father; a few years later, George's mother, Polychronia, died. Eastern accounts give the names of his parents as Anastasius and Theobaste.

Then George decided to go to Nicomedia, the imperial city of that time, and present himself to Emperor Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with open arms, as he had known his father, Gerontius — one of his finest soldiers. By his late 20s, George was promoted to the rank of Tribunus and stationed as an imperial guard of the Emperor at Nicomedia.

In the year AD 302, Diocletian (influenced by Galerius) issued an edict that every Christian soldier in the army should be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the Pagan gods. However George objected and with the courage of his faith approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune and the son of his best official, Gerontius. George loudly renounced the Emperor's edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and Tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. Diocletian attempted to convert George, even offering gifts of land, money and slaves if he made a sacrifice to the Roman gods. The Emperor made many offers, but George never accepted.

Recognizing the futility of his efforts, Diocletian was left with no choice but to have him executed for his refusal. Before the execution George gave his wealth to the poor and prepared himself. After various torture sessions, including laceration on a wheel of swords in which he was resuscitated three times, George was executed by decapitation before Nicomedia's city wall, on April 23, 303. A witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, to become Christians as well, and so they joined George in martyrdom. His body was returned to Lydda in Palestine for burial, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.

Although the above distillation of the legend of George connects him to the conversion of Athanasius, who according to Rufinus was brought up by Christian ecclesiastical authorities from a very early age, Edward Gibbon argued that George, or at least the legend from which the above is distilled, is based on George of Cappadocia, a notorious Arian bishop who was Athanasius' most bitter rival, who in time became Saint George of England. According to Professor Bury, Gibbon's latest editor, "this theory of Gibbon's has nothing to be said for it". He adds that: "the connection of St. George with a dragon-slaying legend does not relegate him to the region of the myth".

In 1856 Ralph Waldo Emerson published a book of essays entitled "English Traits". In it, he wrote a paragraph on the history of Saint George. Emerson compared the legend of Saint George to the legend of Amerigo Vespucci, calling the former "an impostor" and the latter "a thief". The editorial notes appended to the 1904 edition of Emerson's complete works state that Emerson based his account on the work of Gibbon, and that current evidence seems to show that real St. George was not George the Arian of Cappadocia. Merton M. Sealts also quotes Edward Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson's youngest son as stating that he believed his father's account was derived from Gibbon and that the real St. George "was apparently another who died two generations earlier".

Saint George and the dragon

The episode of St George and the Dragon was a legend brought back with the Crusaders and retold with the courtly appurtenances belonging to the genre of Romance. The earliest known depiction of the legend is from early eleventh-century Cappadocia, (in the iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church, George had been depicted as a soldier since at least the seventh century); the earliest known surviving narrative text is an eleventh-century Georgian text.

In the fully developed Western version, which developed as part of the Golden Legend, a dragon or crocodile makes its nest at the spring that provides water for the city of "Silene" (perhaps modern Cyrene in Libya or the city of Lydda in the Holy Land, depending on the source). Consequently, the citizens have to dislodge the dragon from its nest for a time, to collect water. To do so, each day they offer the dragon at first a sheep, and if no sheep can be found, then a maiden must go instead of the sheep. The victim is chosen by drawing lots. One day, this happens to be the princess. The monarch begs for her life to be spared, but to no avail. She is offered to the dragon, but there appears Saint George on his travels. He faces the dragon, protects himself with the sign of the Cross, slays the dragon, and rescues the princess. The grateful citizens abandon their ancestral paganism and convert to Christianity.

The dragon motif was first combined with the standardised ''Passio Georgii'' in Vincent of Beauvais' encyclopaedic ''Speculum historale'' and then in Jacobus de Voragine, ''Golden Legend'', which guaranteed its popularity in the later Middle Ages as a literary and pictorial subject.

The parallels with Perseus and Andromeda are inescapable. In the allegorical reading, the dragon embodies a suppressed pagan cult. The story has other roots that predate Christianity. Examples such as Sabazios, the sky father, who was usually depicted riding on horseback, and Zeus's defeat of Typhon the Titan in Greek mythology, along with examples from Germanic and Vedic traditions, have led a number of historians, such as Loomis, to suggest that George is a Christianized version of older deities in Indo-European culture.

In the medieval romances, the lance with which St George slew the dragon was called Ascalon, named after the city of Ashkelon in Israel.

Veneration as a martyr

A church built in Lydda during the reign of Constantine I (reigned 306–37), was consecrated to "a man of the highest distinction", according to the church history of Eusebius of Caesarea; the name of the patron was not disclosed, but later he was asserted to have been George.

By the time of the Muslim conquest in the seventh century, a basilica dedicated to the saint in Lydda existed. The church was destroyed in 1010 but was later rebuilt and dedicated to Saint George by the Crusaders. In 1191 and during the conflict known as the Third Crusade (1189–92), the church was again destroyed by the forces of Saladin, Sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty (reigned 1171–93). A new church was erected in 1872 and is still standing.

During the fourth century the veneration of George spread from Palestine through Lebanon to the rest of the Eastern Roman Empire –though the martyr is not mentioned in the Syriac Breviarium– and Georgia. In Georgia the feast day on November 23 is credited to St Nino of Cappadocia, who in Georgian hagiography is a relative of St George, credited with bringing Christianity to the Georgians in the fourth century. By the fifth century, the cult of Saint George had reached the Western Roman Empire as well: in 494, George was canonized as a saint by Pope Gelasius I, among those "whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to [God]."

In England the earliest dedication to George, who was mentioned among the martyrs by Bede, is a church at Fordington, Dorset, that is mentioned in the wars of Alfred the Great. "Saint George and his feast day began to gain more widespread fame among all Europeans, however, from the time of the Crusades." The St. George's flag, a red cross on a white field, was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of the Genoese fleet during the Crusades and the English Monarch paid an annual tribute to the Doge of Genoa for this privilege. An apparition of George heartened the Franks at the siege of Antioch, 1098, and made a similar appearance the following year at Jerusalem. Chivalric military Order of St. George were established in Aragon (1201), Genoa, Hungary, and by Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and in England the Synod of Oxford, 1222 declared St George's Day a feast day in the kingdom of England. Edward III put his Order of the Garter under the banner of St. George, probably in 1348. The chronicler Froissart observed the English invoking St. George as a battle cry on several occasions during the Hundred Years' War. In his rise as a national saint George was aided by the very fact that the saint had no legendary connection with England, and no specifically localized shrine, as of Thomas Becket at Canterbury: "Consequently, numerous shrines were established during the late fifteenth century," Muriel C. McClendon has written, "and his did not become closely identified with a particular occupation or with the cure of a specific malady."

The establishment of George as a popular saint and protective giant in the West that had captured the medieval imagination was codified by the official elevation of his feast to a ''festum duplex'' at a church council in 1415, on the date that had become associated with his martyrdom, 23 April. There was wide latitude from community to community in celebration of the day across late medieval and early modern England, and no uniform "national" celebration elsewhere, a token of the popular and vernacular nature of George's ''cultus'' and its local horizons, supported by a local guild or confraternity under George's protection, or the dedication of a local church. When the Reformation in England severely curtailed the saints' days in the calendar, St. George's Day was among the holidays that continued to be observed.

Sources

According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', the earliest text preserving fragments of George's narrative is in an Acta Sanctorum identified by Hippolyte Delehaye of the scholarly Bollandists to be a palimpsest of the fifth century. However, this ''Acta Sancti Georgii'' was soon banned as heresy by Pope Gelasius I (in 496).

The compiler of this ''Acta'', according to Hippolyte Delehaye "confused the martyr with his namesake, the celebrated George of Cappadocia, the Arian intruder into the see of Alexandria and enemy of St. Athanasius". A critical edition of a Syriac ''Acta'' of Saint George, accompanied by an annotated English translation was published by E.W. Brooks (1863–1955) in 1925. The hagiography was originally written in Greek.

In Sweden, the princess rescued by Saint George is held to represent the kingdom of Sweden, while the dragon represents an invading army. Several sculptures of Saint George battling the dragon can be found in Stockholm, the earliest inside Storkyrkan ("The Great Church") in the Old Town.

The façade of architect Antoni Gaudi's famous Casa Batlló in Barcelona, Spain depicts this allegory.

In Islamic literature

Saint George is also included in early Muslim texts as a saintly figure. One Muslim legend recounts that George lived among a group of believers who had been in direct contact with the last disciples of Jesus. George is said to have been a rich merchant who opposed the erection of a statue of the pagan deity Apollo, by Dadan, the king of Mosul. After confronting the king, George was apparently tortured many times but to no effect and was imprisoned, later being aided by angels. Muslim literature too depicts George as a martyr.

Feast days

In the General Calendar of the Roman Rite the feast of Saint George is on April 23. In the Tridentine Calendar it was given the rank of "Semidouble". In Pope Pius XII's 1955 calendar this rank is reduced to "Simple". In Pope John XXIII's 1960 calendar the celebration to just a "Commemoration". In Pope Paul VI's 1969 calendar it is raised to the level of an optional "Memorial". In some countries, such as England, the rank is higher.

St George is very much honoured by the Eastern Orthodox Church, wherein he is referred to as a "Great Martyr", and in Oriental Orthodoxy overall. His major feast day is on April 23 (Julian Calendar April 23 currently corresponds to Gregorian Calendar May 6). The Russian Orthodox Church also celebrates two additional feasts in honour of St. George: one on November 3 commemorating the consecration of a cathedral dedicated to him in Lydda during the reign Constantine the Great (305–37). When the church was consecrated, the relics of the St. George were transferred there. The other feast on November 26 for a church dedicated to him in Kiev, ca. 1054.

In Egypt the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria refers to St George as the "Prince of Martyrs" and celebrates his martyrdom on the 23rd of Paremhat of the Coptic Calendar equivalent to May 1. The Copts also celebrate the consecration of the first church dedicated to him on June 10.

Patronages

As a highly celebrated saint in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches, a large number of Patronages of Saint George exist throughout the world.

St. George is the patron saint of England; his cross forms the national flag of England, and features within the Union Flag of the United Kingdom. Traces of the cult of Saint George in England pre-date the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century; by the fourteenth century the saint had been declared both the patron saint and the protector of the royal family.

The country of Georgia, where devotions to the saint date back to the fourth century, is not technically named after the saint, but is a well-attested backward derivation of the English name. However, a large number of towns and cities around the world are. Saint George is one of the patron Saints of Georgia; the name Georgia (''Sakartvelo'' in Georgian) is an anglicisation of ''Gurj'', derived from the Persian word for the frightening and heroic people in that territory. However, chronicles describing the land as ''Georgie'' or Georgia in French and English, date from the early Middle Ages "because of their special reverence for Saint George", but these accounts have been seen as folk etymology; compare Land of Prester John.

There are exactly 365 Orthodox churches in Georgia named after Saint George according to the number of days in a year. According to myth, St. George was cut into 365 pieces after he fell in battle and every single piece was spread throughout the entire country. According to another myth, Saint George appeared in person during the Battle of Didgori to support the Georgian victory over the Seldjuk army and the Georgian uprising against Persian rule. Saint George is considered by many Georgians to have special meaning as a symbol of national liberation.

Devotions to Saint George in Portugal date back to the twelfth century, and Saint Constable attributed the victory of the Portuguese in the battle of Aljubarrota in the fourteenth century to Saint George. During the reign of King John I (1357–1433) Saint George became the patron saint of Portugal and the King ordered that the saint's image on the horse be carried in the Corpus Christi procession.

Saint George is also one of the patron saints of the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo. In a battle between the Maltese and the Moors, Saint George was alleged to have been seen with Saint Paul and Saint Agata, protecting the Maltese. Besides being the patron of Victoria where St. George's Basilica, Malta is dedicated to him, St George is the protector of the island Gozo.

Interfaith Shrine

There is a tradition in the Holy Land of Christians and Muslim going to an Eastern Orthodox shrine of St. George at Beith Jala, Jews also attending the site in the belief that the prophet Elijah was buried there. This is testified to by Elizabeth Finn in 1866, where she wrote, "St. George killed the dragon in this country Palestine; and the place is shown close to Beirut (Lebanon). Many churches and convents are named after him. The church at Lydda is dedicated to St. George: so is a convent near Bethlehem, and another small one just opposite the Jaffa gate; and others beside. The Arabs believe that St. George can restore mad people to their senses; and to say a person has been sent to St. George's, is equivalent to saying he has been sent to a madhouse. It is singular that the Moslem Arabs share this veneration for St. George, and send their mad people to be cured by him, as well as the Christians. But they commonly call him El Khudder —The Green—according to their favourite manner of using epithets instead of names. Why he should be called green, however, I cannot tell—unless it is from the colour of his horse. Gray horses are called green in Arabic." A possible explanation for this colour reference is Al Khidr, the erstwhile tutor of Moses, gained his name from having sat in a barren desert, turning it into a lush green paradise.

William Dalrymple reviewing the literature in 1999 tells us that J. E. Hanauer in his 1907 book ''Folklore of the Holy Land: Muslim, Christian and Jewish'' "mentioned a shrine in the village of Beit Jala, beside Bethlehem, which at the time was frequented by all three of Palestine's religious communities. Christians regarded it as the birthplace of St. George, Jews as the burial place of the Prophet Elias. According to Hanauer, in his day the monastery was "a sort of madhouse. Deranged persons of all the three faiths are taken thither and chained in the court of the chapel, where they are kept for forty days on bread and water, the Eastern Orthodox priest at the head of the establishment now and then reading the Gospel over them, or administering a whipping as the case demands.' In the 1920s, according to Taufiq Canaan's ''Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine'', nothing seemed to have changed, and all three communities were still visiting the shrine and praying together."

Dalrymple himself visited the place in 1995. "I asked around in the Christian Quarter in Jerusalem, and discovered that the place was very much alive. With all the greatest shrines in the Christian world to choose from, it seemed that when the local Arab Christians had a problem – an illness, or something more complicated: a husband detained in an Israeli prison camp, for example – they preferred to seek the intercession of St George in his grubby little shrine at Beit Jala rather than praying at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem." He asked the priest at the shrine "Do you get many Muslims coming here?" The priest replied, "We get hundreds! Almost as many as the Christian pilgrims. Often, when I come in here, I find Muslims all over the floor, in the aisles, up and down."

The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' quotes G.A. Smith in his ''Historic Geography of the Holy Land'' p. 164 saying "The Mahommedans who usually identify St. George with the prophet Elijah, at Lydda confound his legend with one about Christ himself. Their name for Antichrist is Dajjal, and they have a tradition that Jesus will slay Antichrist by the gate of Lydda. The notion sprang from an ancient bas-relief of George and the Dragon on the Lydda church. But Dajjal may be derived, by a very common confusion between n and l, from Dagon, whose name two neighbouring villages bear to this day, while one of the gates of Lydda used to be called the Gate of Dagon."

Colours and flag

The "Colours of Saint George", or St George's Cross are a white flag with a red cross, frequently borne by entities over which he is patron (e.g. the Republic of Genoa and then Liguria, England, Georgia, Catalonia, Aragon, etc.).

Ironically, the cross was originally the personal flag of another saint and key Christian figure, St. Ambrose. Adopted by the city of Milan (of which he was Archbishop) at least as early as the Ninth century, its use spread over Northern Italy including Genoa. Genoa's patron saint was St. George and through the flag's use by the vast Genoese trading fleet, the association was carried throughout Europe.

The same colour scheme was used by Viktor Vasnetsov for the façade of the Tretyakov Gallery, in which some of the most famous St. George icons are exhibited and which displays St. George as the coat of arms of Moscow over its entrance.

Iconography and models

St. George is most commonly depicted in early icons, mosaics and frescos wearing armour contemporary with the depiction, executed in gilding and silver colour, intended to identify him as a Roman soldier. After the Fall of Constantinople and the association of St George with the crusades, he is more often portrayed mounted upon a white horse.

At the same time St George began to be associated with St. Demetrius, another early soldier saint. When the two saints are portrayed together mounted upon horses, they may be likened to earthly manifestations of the archangels Michael and Gabriel. St George is always depicted in Eastern traditions upon a white horse and St. Demetrius on a red horse St George can also be identified in the act of spearing a dragon, unlike St Demetrius, who is sometimes shown spearing a human figure, understood to represent Maximian.

A 2003 Vatican stamp issued on the anniversary of the Saint's death depicts an armoured Saint George atop a white horse, killing the dragon.

During the early second millennium, George came to be seen as the model of chivalry, and during this time was depicted in works of literature, such as the medieval romances.

Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, compiled the ''Legenda Sanctorum'', (''Readings of the Saints'') also known as ''Legenda Aurea'' (the ''Golden Legend'') for its worth among readers. Its 177 chapters (182 in other editions) contain the story of Saint George.

Modern Russians interpret the icon not as a killing but as a struggle, against ourselves and the evil among us. The dragon never dies but the saint persists with his horse (will and support of the people) and his spear (technical means). In Eastern Orthodox Christianity it is possible to find Icons of St.George riding on Black horse, as well, there are various examples in Russian Iconography, like the Icon in British Museum Collection.

See also

Bristol, England, which has a district called Saint George and also a park bearing that name

Diada de Sant Jordi

Dragon Hill, Uffington

Frithjof Schuon

Georgslied, 9th-century Old High German poem about the life of Saint George

Knights of St. George

One Good Knight (a novel) Andres Dealencar.

Paladin

Uastyrdzhi

St George's Church, churches dedicated to St. George

St. George Dragons (sports)

''The Magic Sword'', 1961 film loosely based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon

Patrick Woodroffe, author of several poems about St George collated in a book called ''Hallelujah Anyway''

Gallery

:''For a larger gallery, please see'': Saint George gallery.

Notes

References

Brooks, E.W., 1925. ''Acts of Saint George'' in series ''Analecta Gorgiana'' 8 (Gorgias Press).

Burgoyne, Michael H. 1976. ''A Chronological Index to the Muslim Monuments of Jerusalem''. In ''The Architecture of Islamic Jerusalem''. Jerusalem: The British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem.

Alban Butler, ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'', vol. 2, pp. 148–150. "George, Martyr, Protector of the Kingdom of England" (on-line text)

Gabidzashvili, Enriko. 1991. ''Saint George: In Ancient Georgian Literature''. Armazi – 89: Tbilisi, Georgia.

Good, Jonathan, 2009. ''The Cult of Saint George in Medieval England'' (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press).

Loomis, C. Grant, 1948. ''White Magic, An Introduction to the Folklore of Christian Legend'' (Cambridge: Medieval Society of America)

Natsheh, Yusuf. 2000. "Architectural survey", in ''Ottoman Jerusalem: The Living City 1517–1917''. Edited by Sylvia Auld and Robert Hillenbrand (London: Altajir World of Islam Trust) pp 893–899.

Whatley, E. Gordon, editor, with Anne B. Thompson and Robert K. Upchurch, 2004. ''St. George and the Dragon in the South English Legendary (East Midland Revision, c. 1400)'' Originally published in ''Saints' Lives in Middle English Collections''

(Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications) (On-line Introduction)

Prof. George Menachery, ''Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India''. Vol.II Trichur – 73.

External links

St. George and the Dragon, free illustrated book based on 'The Seven Champions' by Richard Johnson (1596)

Archnet

Saint George and the Dragon links and pictures (more than 125), from Dragons in Art and on the Web

Story of St. George from The Golden Legends

Saint George and the Boy Scouts, including a woodcut of a Scout on horseback slaying a dragon

A prayer for St George's Day

St. George

St. George and the Dragon: An Introduction

Greatmartyr, Victory-bearer and Wonderworker George Orthodox icon and synaxarion for April 23

Dedication of the Church of the Greatmartyr George in Lydia Icon and synaxarion for November 3

Dedication of the Church of the Greatmartyr George at Kiev Icon and synaxarion for November 26

Plášťovce,(Palást) in Slovakia">St. George in the church in Plášťovce,(Palást) in Slovakia

The St George Orthodox Military Association

Famous Georgian Pilgrim Center in India St. George Orthodox Church Puthuppally, Kerala, India

Category:Anglican saints Category:Catalan symbols Category:Eastern Catholic saints Category:Eastern Orthodox saints Category:Fourteen Holy Helpers Category:People from Lod Category:Roman Catholic saints Category:Saints from the Holy Land Category:Saints of the Golden Legend Category:303 deaths Category:3rd-century births Category:3rd-century Romans Category:4th-century Romans Category:4th-century Christian martyr saints

ar:القديس جرجس an:Sant Chorche arc:ܡܪܝ ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ ܣܗܕܐ be:Георгій Перамоганосец bg:Георги Победоносец ca:Sant Jordi cs:Svatý Jiří da:Sankt Jørgen de:Georg (Heiliger) et:Püha Jüri el:Άγιος Γεώργιος es:Jorge de Capadocia eo:Sankta Georgo eu:Jurgi Kapadoziakoa fa:جرجیس fo:Sankta Jørundur fr:Georges de Lydda ga:Naomh Seoirse gl:Xurxo de Capadocia ko:성 게오르기우스 hr:Sveti Juraj bpy:সাও জোর্গে is:Heilagur Georg it:San Giorgio he:גאורגיוס הקדוש ka:წმინდა გიორგი la:Georgius (sanctus) lv:Svētais Juris lt:Šv. Jurgis li:St. Joris hu:Szent György mk:Свети Георги ml:വിശുദ്ധ ഗീവർഗീസ് nl:Joris (heilige) ja:ゲオルギオス (聖人) no:Sankt Georg nn:Heilage Jørgen nrm:Saint George pl:Święty Jerzy pt:São Jorge ro:Sfântul Gheorghe ru:Георгий Победоносец sco:Saunt George sq:Shën Gjergji scn:San Giorgiu (santu) simple:Saint George sk:Svätý Juraj sl:Sveti Jurij sr:Свети Георгије sh:Sveti Georgije fi:Pyhä Yrjö sv:Sankt Göran th:นักบุญจอร์จ tr:Georgios (Hıristiyan kutsal kişi) uk:Святий Юрій vec:San Zorzi zh-yue:聖佐治 zh:圣乔治

/ }} Stephen Michael James "Steve" Ovett OBE (born 9 October 1955), is a former middle distance runner from England. He was gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, U.S.S.R., and set world records for 1500 metres and the mile run. To this day, he holds the UK record for , which he set in 1978.

Early life

Born in Brighton, Sussex, and educated at Varndean School, Ovett was a talented teenage athlete. As a youngster, he showed great promise as a footballer, but gave it up for athletics, because he did not want to do a sport where he would have to rely on teammates.

Athletics career

Early promise

His first major athletics title came in 1973, when he won the European junior 800 m, followed the next year in Rome with a silver in the senior event. He won AAA titles in the 800 m from 1974 to 1976, in the 1500 m in 1979 and in the mile in 1980. At age 18, he won the silver medal at 800 metres in the 1974 European Athletics Championships, setting a new European Junior 800m record of 1:45.77 in the process.

Ovett gained some Olympic experience in 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada when he ran in the final of the 800m and was placed fifth, behind winner Alberto Juantorena of Cuba. Ovett finished fifth because he ran the first lap too slowly. He failed to reach the 1500 m final, having been obstructed in the semi-final.

He gained prominence in 1977 when, at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics, he commenced a "kick" with 200 m to go, running the final turn in 11.8 s and the last 200 m in 25.1 s. He left Olympic 1500-metres-champion John Walker, and the rest of the field behind. Walker was so astonished by Ovett's kick, that he dropped out of the race with 120 metres to go. He won gold ahead of his good friend, West German Thomas Wessinghage. As Ovett raced away from the field, Ron Pickering, commenting for the race on BBC Television, said "and there's one man's blazing speed, that has torn this field asunder".

The British public by now showed a keen interest in Ovett, and it was at the European Championships in 1978, that he raced against Sebastian Coe for the first time in their senior careers, beginning a rivalry that would become newsworthy. He led Coe in the 800 m and appeared to be on his way to gold, before being surprisingly caught by the East German Olaf Beyer. After the fall of the GDR, Beyer's name would be found in the Stasi files of athletes alleged to have doped. His time of 1:44:09 turned out to be his fastest ever 800 m run. Coe finished 3rd. At the time the British press reported that Coe and Ovett had clashed after the race but Coe later revealed: “When Steve came over, he put his hand on my shoulder and said something. The media thought we were having a row, but what Steve actually said was, 'Who the **** was that'?" Ovett recovered to win the gold medal in the 1500 m, in which Coe did not participate. In that race, Ovett waved to the crowd on the home straight and clearly slowed down in the last metres and still won by a second from Ireland's Eamonn Coghlan.

The 1978 season for Ovett was notable for the superb times recorded at disparate distances. He ran an 800 m in 1:44.09 (world record at the time was Alberto Juantorena's 1:43.44 ) and set a 2-mile world's best with an 8:13.51 clocking, (an event the IAAF no longer recognised for record purposes), handing ''Track & Field News'' Athlete of the Year Henry Rono one of his few losses in his remarkable record breaking season. It's been speculated that if he'd spent that season preparing specifically & repeatedly attempting to run fast times in pacemaker led Grand Prix races, he was capable of breaking the 1000 m, 1500 m, 1 mile & 2000 m world records that year, based on his 800 m & 2 mile times.

Middle distance domination with Coe

Ovett arrived at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as most people's favourite to take the 1500 m title. Earlier that month, he had established a new mile world record of 3:48.8 and two weeks later equalled Sebastian Coe's world record of 3:32.1 in the 1500 m. He had been unbeaten over the 1500 m and mile for three years. The Moscow Olympics marked only the second time that Ovett and Coe had met each other in international competition (the first being the 800 m in the 1978 European Championships) and there was huge media speculation over which would emerge as the greater.

Ovett's participation in the 800 m would serve as a test for the 1500 m. In the 800 m final, Ovett was only in sixth place at the halfway mark, but pushed his way through the crowd to second place. Seventy metres from the finish, he shot into the lead and held off Coe to win by three metres. In the 1500 m, contested six days later, Coe won and Ovett had to settle for third place. More specifically, Ovett ran behind Coe's shoulder for quite a long time, but on the final bend he fell two metres behind Coe and could not get closer to Coe anymore. East Germany's Jürgen Straub, who had accelerated after 800 metres, held off Ovett for the silver medal.

Though in 1980 Ovett had tied Coe's 1500 m world record of 3:32.1, new timing rules would come into effect in 1981, which would recognise records over 400 m to the hundredth of a second. This would have the effect of giving Coe sole possession of the record, as Coe ran 3:32.03 to Ovett's 3:32.09. However, Ovett avoided this unusual removal of a record via rule change by setting a new record later in 1980 of 3:31.36.

During 1981, both Ovett and Coe were at their peak. They didn't meet in a race that year but exchanged world records in the mile three times during a 10-day period. Ovett suffered a famous upset in a 1500m race in Oslo that year. With Ovett and Coe so dominant and Coe not involved in the race, Ovett was hot favourite. During the race Tom Byers, who had been asked to act as a pacemaker set off quickly and the pack, mishearing the split times being announced and believing that they were going faster than they were, declined to follow his pace. As a result, by the start of the last lap Byers was leading by almost ten seconds and decided to finish the race. Ovett ran the last lap almost nine seconds quicker than Byers but finished second by 0.53s, later commenting "We ran like a load of hacks."

Ovett's 1982 season was wrecked by injury. When out training on the streets of Brighton in late 1981, he ran into some railings and badly twisted his knee. He had recovered by the spring of 1982, but further injuries hampered his progress.

Later career

He returned to action in 1983, although once again his season had been hampered by injuries, which resulted his not being selected for the 800 m at the World Championships in Helsinki. He was selected for the 1500 m, but ran a poor tactical race in the final and finished 4th, behind winner Steve Cram. He was yet to reach his peak for 1983, which followed with a 1500 m world record of 3:30.77 in Rieti. A few days later, he finished a close 2nd to Steve Cram in an epic mile race in Crystal Palace.

In 1984, after a successful season of winter training in Australia, Ovett's progress was slightly hampered by minor injuries and bronchitis. He attempted to defend his 800 m title in the 1984 Olympic Games, but after arriving in Los Angeles he began to suffer from respiratory problems. He was unlucky to be drawn against eventual winner Joaquim Cruz in each of his two heats and also the semi-final, in which he only narrowly qualified for the final, lunging for the finish in 4th place and appearing to collapse over the line. He had run 1:44:81, his second fastest time at the distance. He recovered in time to make the final, but was clearly below his best, and finished eighth, after which he collapsed and spent two nights in hospital. Against the advice of his friends and doctors he returned to compete in the 1500 m. Running in fourth place at the beginning of the last lap of the final, Ovett dropped out. He later collapsed with chest pains and was taken away on a stretcher.

His career then wound down, although in August 1986 he won the 5000 m in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh. However the following month, in the European Championships, he failed to finish in hot conditions, allowing Jack Buckner (GB) - whom Ovett had beaten in Edinburgh - to win the gold. In the 1987 World Athletics Championships, he finished a lacklustre tenth in the 5000-metres final. He then failed to make the 1988 Olympic team, and retired in 1991, a year after Sebastian Coe.

Post retirement

He has been a Track & Field television commentator for the CBC since 1992. He now lives in Australia and was a part of the BBC's on-location commentary team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. In 1987 a bronze statue of Steve Ovett was erected in Preston Park, Brighton. However, it was stolen in 2007, and has not yet been replaced. There is now a street ("Ovett Gardens") named after him in Gateshead. (All the streets on the new estate are named after sports personalities, usually with some link to Gateshead.)

His times, though still impressive by today's standards, are arguably not indicative of his true talent, as he preferred winning races to chasing after world records (though on occasion he did do the latter). He was often content to wait on the shoulder of the leader until either the last 100 or 200 metres, at which point he would usually sprint past for victory. Nevertheless, the times he recorded over a wide range of distances were impressive, showing great versatility. They ranged from 47.5 and 1:44.09 in the 400/800 meters to 13:20.06 for 5000 meters on the track, while on the roads he ran 22:24 for 8k (Oxford, 1986), 28:16 for 10 K (London, 1983), and 1:05 for the half marathon (Dartford, 1977).

Personal life

During the Moscow games, the British press zoned in on a signal Ovett had made to a TV camera in Moscow after his 800m win. It later transpired that the signal represented the letters ILY and were intended for his girlfriend, Rachel Waller (whom he later married but is now divorced from). This later led to a rift between Ovett and his parents, in particular his mother, who had remained a key figure in his career and had carefully managed the media's requests for his time (Ovett was still living at home).

Steve's brother, Nicholas Ovett, represented Great Britain at luge in the Winter Olympics of 1988 and 1992.Steve's younger sister, Susan Emma Warner, was a highly successful Green Bowler, gaining great success within the field at national standard.

Personal bests

!Distance

|	Mark	Date
''400 m''	47.5
''800 m''	1:44.09
''1000 m''	2:16.0
''1500 m''	3:30.77
''Mile''	3:48.40
''2000 m''	4:57.71
''3000 m''	7:41.3
''2 Miles''	8:13.51
''5000 m''	13:20.06

Sebastian Coe|title=Men's 1500 m World Record Holder|years=27 August 1980 – 28 August 1983|after= Sydney Maree}} Sydney Maree|title=Men's 1500 m World Record Holder|years=4 September 1983 – 16 July 1985|after= Steve Cram}} Sebastian Coe|title=Men's Mile World Record Holder|years=1 July 1980 – 19 August 1981|after= Sebastian Coe}} Sebastian Coe|title=Men's Mile World Record Holder|years=26 August 1981 – 28 August 1981|after= Sebastian Coe}} Sebastian Coe Steve Ovett|title=European Record Holder Men's 1500 m|years=27 August 1980 - 15 July 1985|after= Steve Cram}} Virginia Wade |after= Sebastian Coe|years=1978}}

References

Category:BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Category:English middle distance runners Category:English athletes Category:Olympic athletes of Great Britain Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Category:People from Brighton Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Former world record holders in athletics (track and field) Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

cs:Steve Ovett de:Steve Ovett et:Steve Ovett es:Steve Ovett eu:Steve Ovett fr:Steve Ovett it:Steve Ovett nl:Steve Ovett ja:スティーブ・オベット no:Steve Ovett pl:Steve Ovett pt:Steve Ovett fi:Steve Ovett sv:Steve Ovett tr:Steve Ovett uk:Стів Оветт