text:
School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics & African Languages, Cultures and Literatures Section
MA African Studies
Jump to: Course overview
Jump to: Structure
Jump to: Teaching and learning
Jump to: Employment
One calendar year (full-time), two or three years (part-time, daytime only)
Start of programme
September intake only
Attendance mode
Russell Square, College Buildings
Home student fees: £12,220 per year
Overseas student fees: £24,350 per year
Please note that fees go up each year.
See postgraduate fees for further details.
We will consider all applications with 2:2 (or international equivalent) or higher. In addition to degree classification we take into account other elements of the application such as supporting statement. References are optional, but can help build a stronger application if you fall below the 2:2 requirement or have non-traditional qualifications.
Afghanistan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 80% or 3.3/4.0
Argentina: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Titulo / Grado de Licenciado
Equivalent to 2:ii: 7/10
Information for prospective students from Argentina
Australia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 2:2 or Credit or 65%
Information for prospective students from Australia
Austria: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 2.5/5.0 and overall Pass (Bestanden)
Bahrain: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 75% or GPA 3.0/4.0
Information for prospective students from Bahrain
Bangladesh: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor's from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology or Master's degree
Information for prospective students from Bangladesh
Belgium: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licentiaat or Licencié
Equivalent to 2:ii: 13/20 or 65%
Information for prospective students from Belgium
Botswana: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (5-year) or Master's from University of Botswana
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.5/5.0 or 65% or B- or Good
Brazil: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Título de Bacharel / Título de Licenciado (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 7/10 or 70%
Information for prospective students from Brazil
Brunei: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: Lower Second Class Honours with 50% overall
Information for prospective students from Brunei
Bulgaria: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 4.3/6
Information for prospective students from Bulgaria
Cameroon: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Diplôme d'Ingénieur/ Diplôme d'Études Supérieures de Commerce (5-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 12-13 assez bien (fair); 70-74; or B+
Canada: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.0/4.0 or 74-77% or overall B
Information for prospective students from Canada
China Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii:
73% or 2.6/4.0 (C9 unis)
75% or 2.8/4.0 (Double First unis)
80% or 3.25/4.0 (all other unis)
Information for prospective students from China
Colombia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licenciado / Titulo (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 3.5/5.0
Information for prospective students from Colombia
Croatia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Baccalaureus / Baccalaurea (Bachelor degree)
Equivalent to 2:ii: Overall score 3/5
Cyprus: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 6.5/10
Czech Republic: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (180 ECTS)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 1.75/4.0 or High C 'dobre' (good)
Information for prospective students from the Czech Republic
Denmark: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 7/12 or 8/13 or grade C
Information for prospective students from the Denmark
Egypt: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Information for prospective students from Egypt
Estonia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bakalaurusekraad / University Specialist's Diploma / Professional Higher Education Diploma
Finland: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor / Kandidaatti / Kandidat (180 ECTS credits)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 3/5 or 2/3
France: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licence or Diplôme from a grande école
Equivalent to 2:ii: 11.5 out 20
Information for prospective students from France
Gambia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree (2-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.0/4.3 or 64% or B
Germany: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (180 ECTS)
Information for prospective students from Germany
Ghana: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 2:2 (Second Class Lower Division) or GPA 3.25/5.0 or 60%
Information for prospective students from Ghana
Greece: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 6.50/10
Information for prospective students from Greece
Hong Kong: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: Upper second class or GPA 2.7/4.0 or 75% or B Minus
Information for prospective students from Hong Kong
Hungary: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor (Alapfokozat) or Diploma (Egyetemi Oklevél)
Iceland: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (Baccalaureus or Bakkalarprof)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 7.0 out of 10
India: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: CGPA: 55-60% or 5.5/10 - 6.0/10
Information for prospective students from India
Iraq: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (Licence/Karshani)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 0.7
Israel: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 70% or C+
Information for prospective students from Israel
Italy: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Laurea (180 ECTS)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 100/110
Information for prospective students from Italy
Japan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 70% or C+ or 3.0
Information for prospective students from Japan
Jordan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 3.0/4.0 or 70%
Information for prospective students from Jordan
Kazakhstan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelors (Bakalavr Diplomi) or Specialist Diploma
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.0/4.0 or GPA 4.0/5.0 or B
Information for prospective students from Kazakhstan
Kenya: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 2:2 or 60%
Information for prospective students from Kenya
Kuwait: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 3.0/
Information for prospective students from Kuwait
Latvia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bakalaura Diploms (Bachelor's) or Profesionālā Bakalaura Diploms
Lebanon: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree / Licence
Equivalent to 2:ii: 75% or Grade B-/C+ or GPA 2.8/4.0 or 14/20
Information for prospective students from Lebanon
Liberia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree
Libya: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor Degree from selected institution
Lithuania: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelors / Bakalauro (180 ECTS)
Information for prospective students from Lithuania
Malawi: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree
Malaysia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 3.0/4.0 or B (Class 2 Division 2)
Information for prospective students from Malaysia
Malta: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: Lower Second Class with 65% or Category IIB
Mexico: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Titulo de Licenciado
Information for prospective students from Mexico
Morocco: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licence / Licence d'Etudes Fondamentales / Licence Professionnelle
Equivalent to 2:ii: 13/20
Information for prospective students from Morocco
Nepal: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree / Bachelor degree (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 70%
Information for prospective students from Nepal
Netherlands: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 6.5/10 or GPA 3.0
Information for prospective students from the Netherlands
New Zealand: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: Majority of credited modules B- or above
Nigeria: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: Lower Second Class or 55% or GPA 3.0/5.0 or 2.5/4.0 or 4.0/7.0
Information for prospective students from Nigeria
Norway: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelors / Bachelorgrad (180 ECTS) or Candidatus /a magisterii
Equivalent to 2:ii: Grade C (with at least 80 ECTS) at grade B or 3.2
Information for prospective students from Norway
Oman: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Information for prospective students from Oman
Pakistan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor (4-year) / Master's from HEC recognised institution
Equivalent to 2:ii: CGPA 2.7 or 65%
Information for prospective students from Pakistan
Philippines: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's from recognised institution or Centre of Excellence / Bachelor from prestigious institution or Centre of Excellence
Prestigous Universities: GPA 3.3/4.0 or 1.75/5.0 or Grade B or 83%
Recognised Universities: GPA 3.5/4.0 or 2.0/5.0 or Grade B or 87%
Poland: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licencjat or Inżynier (3-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 4.25/5
Information for prospective students from Poland
Portugal: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licenciado (180 ECTS)
Qatar: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 or 70% or 7/10
Information for prospective students from Qatar
Romania: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Diplomă de Licenţă / Diplomă de Inginer / Diplomă de Urbanist Diplomat
Information for prospective students from Romania
Russia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Diplom Bakalavra or Specialist Diploma
Information for prospective students from Russia
Rwanda: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: Lower Second Class Honours or 65-69% or 14/20
Saudi Arabia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 or overall 70%
Information for prospective students from Saudi Arabia
Singapore: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: CAP 3.5/5.0 or 3.0/4.0
Information for prospective students from Singapore
Slovakia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bakalár / Bachelor
Equivalent to 2:ii: 70% or 2.0 overall or C
South Africa: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor (4-year)
Information for prospective students from South Africa
South Korea: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 2.7/4.0 or 3.0/4.3 or 3.3/4.5
Information for prospective students from South Korea
Spain: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Título de Grado / Título de Licenciado / Título de Ingeniero / Titulo de Arquitecto
Equivalent to 2:ii: 6.5/10 or GPA 1.75/4.0
Information for prospective students from Spain
Sri Lanka: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor Special Degree or Professional Degree (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 55% or 2:2 or GPA 3.0/4.0
Information for prospective students from Sri Lanka
Sudan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor (5-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: 65%+ or B
Sweden: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree / Kandidatexamen / Yrkesexamen
Equivalent to 2:ii: B (90 credits) and C (90 credits) or Very Good (70 credits) and Good (110 Credits) or C (180 credits)
Information for prospective students from Sweden
Switzerland: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Diplom / Diplôme / Lizentiat / Staatsdiplom / Diplôme d'Etat
Equivalent to 2:ii: Overall 4.5/6 or 7/10 or 2.5/5
Information for prospective students from Switzerland
Syria: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Licence / al-ijaza-fi / Bachelor
Equivalent to 2:ii: 70%+ or 'Good'
Taiwan: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 68-70% or GPA 2.8/4.0-3.0/4.0
Information for prospective students from Taiwan
Thailand: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.0/4.0
Information for prospective students from Thailand
Tunisia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Diplôme National d'Ingénieur / Diplôme National d'Architecture / Licence / Maîtrise
Equivalent to 2:ii: 12 out of 20
Turkey: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Lisans Diplomasi
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 2.6/4 from the top universities and 3.0/4 from all others
Information for prospective students from Turkey
Uganda: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 2:2 (Lower Second) or B or GPA 3.0/5.0
Information for prospective students from Uganda
Ukraine: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree or Specialist Diploma
Equivalent to 2:ii: 8/12 or 3.8/5
United Arab Emirates: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: GPA 3.0/4.0 or 3.2/5.0
Information for prospective students from the United Arab Emirates
United States of America: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Information for prospective students from the USA
Vietnam: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree (4-year)
Equivalent to 2:ii: Overall score of 6.5/10
Information for prospective students from Vietnam
Yemen: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: Overall 'Good' (71-77%) or Aden University 80-83% (or 3.0/4.0)
Zambia: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Master's degree
Equivalent to 2:ii: 65% or B or Credit or GPA 1.7/2.5 or 3.3/5.0
Zimbabwe: Qualifications (Bachelor equivalency): Bachelor degree
Information for prospective students from Zimbabwe
See international entry requirements
The MA African Studies at SOAS provides an unrivalled programme of advanced modules on Africa - one of the world's most fascinating and challenging regions. The opportunity for interdisciplinary study of the continent is a particular advantage of the degree. Our former students have chosen to study Africa at this level for a wide range of reasons. For some a deep interest in the history and culture or political economy of a particular region is sufficient motivation, but for many students the programme has, in addition, been followed with the intention of furthering their career opportunities.
Some go on to work either in Africa or in fields related to Africa. The opportunity to combine study of particular African subjects with an African language is very useful, although some evidence of competence in learning a foreign language is usually required.
Why study Africa at SOAS?
SOAS ranks 1st in London in the Complete University Guide 2021 for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and 6th in UK
Modern Languages and Linguistics at SOAS has been ranked 10th in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021
we've also been ranked 4th for research environment - with 100% of our research ranked as 'internationally excellent' and 85% as 'world-leading' - and 8th for research outputs in the REF 2021
we are specialist in the studies of Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia
gain in-depth understanding of one these key world regions, grounded in the study of one or more languages of the region
access SOAS's comprehensive cross-regional expertise and gain an understanding of the interconnectedness of these regions in an increasingly globalised world
solid methodological and interdisciplinary foundation
students have an opportunity to develop a holistic and integrated approach to the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East through their languages and cultures.
Students take 180 credits in total:
60 credit dissertation
120 credits of taught modules
All students take the compulsory modules listed below ('Approaches to African Studies' and 'Remapping Area Studies') and select 120 credits from lists A, list B and list C.
The information on the website reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programmes. However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.
Dissertation in African Studies 60
Compulsory modules
Students take the following two modules below
Approaches to African Studies: Concepts, Methods and Theories 15
Remapping Area Studies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East 15
Guided options
Select 15 credits from list A plus 15 credits from list B plus another 60 credits from list A, B or C. Students opting to take more than 30 credits of language acquisition modules may only take 30 credits at an introductory level.
Select 15 credits from list A
Contemporary African Literature (PG) 15
Language, Identity and Society in Africa (PG) 15
Intersecting Worlds: Race and Gender in the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel 15
Concepts and Practice of Subtitling 15
Language, Society and Communication (Masters) 15
724 Migration, Borders and Space: Decolonial Approaches 15
725 African and Asian Diasporas: Culture, Politics, Identities 15
Asia and Africa On Display 15
Modern and Contemporary Arts in Africa 15
Global Film Industries 15
Colonial curricula: empire and education at SOAS and beyond 15
African Philosophy (PG) 15
Race, Segregation, and Apartheid in Twentieth-century South Africa (PG) 15
Select 15 credits from list B
Government and Politics of Africa 30
Rule and Resistance in Contemporary Southern Africa 15
Politics of Central Africa: Social Rupture and Reconfiguration 15
Political Life in African Cities 15
Violence, Justice and the Politics of Memory 15
Gender and Security in Africa 15
Economic development of Africa (PG) 15
Law and Postcolonial Theory 15
Law and Development in Africa 30
Colonialism, Empire and International Law 15
Queer Politics in Asia, Africa and the Middle East 15
Gender and Development 15
Problems of Development in the Middle East and North Africa 15
Students are strongly encouraged to select language aquisition modules as part of this programme
Amharic 1 A (PG) 15
Amharic 1 B (PG) 15
Swahili 1 A (PG) 15
Swahili 1 B (PG) 15
Intermediate Swahili 2A (PG) 30
Swahili 3 (PG) 30
Practical Translation: English into Other Languages 15
Practical Translation: Other Languages into English 15
Zulu 1 A (PG) 15
Zulu 1 B (PG) 15
Somali 1 A 15
Somali 1 B 15
Somali 2 (PG) 30
One-year Masters programmes consist of 180 credits. 120 credits are taught in modules of 30 credits (taught over 20 weeks) or 15 credits (taught over 10 weeks); the dissertation makes up the remaining 60 units. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.
As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework and revising for examinations. It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week, but this does vary.
Learn a language as part of this programme
Degree programmes at SOAS - including this one - can include language courses in more than forty African and Asian languages. It is SOAS students' command of an African or Asian language which sets SOAS apart from other universities.
Students will acquire knowledge and critical awareness of current issues and/or insights into Africa from the perspective of at least two social sciences and/or humanities disciplines.
The student will have the opportunity of gaining knowledge or further knowledge of an African language.
The student will gain specialized and in - depth knowledge in one particular area of the study of Africa and from disciplinary perspective
Intellectual (thinking) skills
Students will develop a critical and analytical approach to issues relating to Africa in the disciplinary areas chosen.
Students will develop skills of synthesizing materials from a variety of sources and presenting these in writing and orally in an academic context.
Students will have the opportunity of researching topics which have been little commented on in the secondary literature and thus develop research skills by working on primary sources.
Subject-based practical skills
Students will gain specific knowledge of aspects of African life, which will prepare them for working in Africa.
The specialist knowledge developed in the individual courses will allow students to add an academically grounded perspective to their particular subsequent work context.
If a student takes an African language they will have a strong practical skill, which will help them in any context where the language is used and which will also be of benefit if they need to learn another language in the future.
Through managing their studies students will develop the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility.
In researching and writing coursework and the dissertation students will develop research and writing skills.
Students will develop the skills of independent learning required for continuing onto a research degree or for professional development.
Useful resources from the African Languages, Cultures and Literatures section
SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.
Deadline date
Allan and Nesta Ferguson Scholarships 2 May 2022
Felix Non-Indian Scholarship 29 January 2023
Felix Scholarships 29 January 2023
Tibawi Trust Award 28 February 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship - Sub-Saharan Africa 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – East Asia 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – Europe 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – India 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – Japan and South Korea 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – Middle East and North Africa 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – North and South America 31 May 2023
International Postgraduate Scholarship – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka 31 May 2023
A postgraduate degree in African studies from SOAS provides you with competency in language skills and intercultural awareness and understanding. Familiarity with the region will have been developed through a combination of the study of language, literature, history, cinema, politics, economics or law.
Recent graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:
British Embassy
Canon Collins Educational Trust for Southern Africa
Goal Nigeria
Hogan Lovells International LLP
International Institute for Environment and Development
Kenyan Government
Migrant Resource Centre
The London MENA Film Festival
Think Africa Press
World Vision UK
Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts
Find out about our Careers Service.
Senior Lecturer in Swahili (Education)
Dr Ida Hadjivayanis
Swahili Language
SOAS Voices
Re/presenting Islam on Campus
Exploring how Islam and Muslims are represented and perceived on UK university campuses.
View this project
Creative Multilingualism in World Literatures
Exploring multilingualism's revolutionary potential and creative force in language, literature, thought and the visual arts.
Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies
Countering the identification of world literature with English by highlighting the multilingualism and the many factors that contribute to regional and transnational literary fields.
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Literature
A far-reaching and sustained study of key authors, texts, and topics from around the world and throughout history.
Prominent Possessors
Investigating the phenomenon of "prominent internal possessors" from a theoretical and cross-linguistic perspective.
Morphosyntactic variation in Bantu: Typology, contact and change
Exploring linguistic similarities within a sample of Bantu languages.
Crossroads: Investigating the unexplored side of multilingualism
Investigating multilingualism and language contact between three languages spoken at the "crossroads" – a group of neighbouring villages in the Casamance area of Senegal.
Engaged humanities in Europe: Capacity building for participatory research in linguistic-cultural heritage (ENGHUM)
Implementing an innovative scientific strategy and capacity building at universities across Europe.
Arabic and contact-induced language change
Improving our understanding of how and why languages tend to change when they come into contact, with a particular focus on Arabic.
After the Earth's Violent Sway: Tangible and intangible legacies of a natural disaster
Documenting and analysing the cultural and political impacts of Nepal's 2015 earthquakes.
The Hatha Yoga Project: Ancient practices for modern wellbeing
Transforming the teaching of both the history and practice of yoga in universities, schools and yoga studios in Europe and the United States.
Cultural translation and interpreting of Covid-19 risks among London's migrant communities
Exploring why people differ in their understanding and interpretation of Covid-19, and whether these differences are related to the language/s people speak, read, and write, other than English.
Islamic Law is 'Law'
The Role of Additional Demonstratives and Interpersonal Cognition in Simultaneous Interpreting
Special Seminar on 'Rethinking Digital Games between Virtual and Physical: Japanese Video'
Speaker: Prof Hiroshi Yoshida (The University of Tokyo)
Collections Highlights - Africa
Highlights from the SOAS object and artwork collections from Africa
BA Africa and Black Diaspora
BA Africa and Black Diaspora and... (combined degree) at SOAS University of London
MA... and Intensive Language (Swahili)
MA... and Intensive Language (Swahili) at SOAS University of London


text:
The Blog at AAR
Vintage AAR
Using tags to find books you love
Finding tags, part two
AAR's Top 100 Romances List
Annual Reader Poll
Special Titles Listing
BRIDGERTON on NETFLIX
ABOUT AAR
Welcome to AAR
Support AAR
Donate via PayPalMe
Shop our Zazzle store!
Shop at AAR's Amazon store
Commenting at AAR
Advertise with AAR
Sensuality Ratings
Spherical Harmonic
Catherine Asaro
Spherical Harmonic is Catherine Asaro's latest offering in the Skolian Saga. To put it in perspective, this book is the direct sequel to The Radiant Seas, itself the direct sequel to Primary Inversion. While it overlaps over books in the saga, it is a full story in its own right. While the two books mentioned above focus on Sauscony Valdoria, Jagernaut and Imperator of the Skolian Empire, this story deals with her aunt. Dyhianna (Dehya) Selei is the Ruby Pharaoh, the hereditary leader of the family Skolia. Although the Assembly has done the actual governing, the family is still leaders in their own right.
This book picks up directly after the Radiance Wars between the Skolian and Eubian Empires (the Aristo Traders). The war to end all wars, both empires took substantial hits. The Skolians suffered the loss of the psiberweb, designed by Dehya and her son Taquinil. Without the web, the society is at a complete standstill. The Aristos have some technology that would help them build their own psiberweb, which would put the Skolians at great risk. Dehya and Taquinil had been pushed into Hilbert space (think cyber space or virtual reality) by her husband, Prince Eldrin, who was then taken captive by the Aristos. When Dehya resurfaces, she does so on the planet Opalite with no memory of who she is or how she got there. As her memory comes back, she is faced with another problem. She literally fades out and becomes transparent for hours at a time. In other books, you see talk of Dehya fading away as if her work in the psiberweb is robbing her of her solid form. Being pushed into this world, even for a short time, has worsened the problem.
As it stands right now, her civilization is at a standstill. The psiberweb drove her world and without it, they're lost. Dehya must work to rebuild her world. At the same time she is worrying about this, she is also grieving over lost friends and family. Her husband was been taken captive by the Aristos and is very valuable to them. Not so much as the Ruby Pharoah's consort (although that is a benefit) but as a Rhon Psion, a race of strong empaths. The Aristos thrive on the torture and cruelty they inflict on empaths and use them for their own enjoyment. As far as Dehya knows he is still alive but in Aristo hands. Those who have read The Radiant Seas may remember reading about Eldrin. (For those who haven't read it, I won't give it away.) Dehya is also caught up in political machinations not only with her own people, but with Earth, whose rulers are holding some of her family hostage to stop them from builing a new psiberweb. Earth's rulers fear that if a new web is built, the wars will worsen, but Dehya knows that in order for her civilization to survive, she needs to rebuild the web – and she will need help.
Other books in the series have shown Dehya as more of a background figure, one I've wanted to know more about. She often feels the pressure of her position and power and chafes at it. The assembly controls the family with an iron hand supposedly for their own good but that kind of scrupulous attention to one's life can get tiresome. Dehya wants to find a way to rule that is beneficial to all, but can it be done? She grieves over lost family and friends and feels remorse for what she must do. She's also very vulnerable in her way. Her mind, though – whoa! This is one smart lady. Her mind works on a completely different plane and the way she works out things in her head, by inventing models, is astounding. This book is very heavy on the physics talk. Ms. Asaro, with degrees in both Physics and Chemistry, is a rocket scientist, and there are scientific concepts shown throughout the book. The title itself is taken from a Physics theory. This may turn some readers off but I didn't find it bogged the story; rather, it showed us how Dehya's mind operated.
I found this new chapter in the Skolian Saga to be a great read. Asaro paints such a vivid picture of the world she has created and the layers are so complex and rich. All the questions aren't answered, and not everything is solved here. But that leaves room for more books in the series. If you are new to this series, I would urge you to start with Primary Inversion and then The Radiant Seas. If you start here, you will be entertained but you may also get lost. For those that have read the series, this is a worthy addition to the collection.
Buy Spherical Harmonic:
Lori-Anne Cohen
Review Tags:
Nan De Plume on Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Caz Owens on Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Carrie G on Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Susan/DC on Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Emma Emu on Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas
Lisa Fernandes on Her Kind of Cowboy by Dylann Crush
Lisa Fernandes on Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Manjari on Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


1 0. ‡aHugging the shore ; : ‡bessays and criticism / ‡cJohn Updike. --.
. ‡aNew York: ‡bAlfred A. Knopf, ‡c1983.
. ‡a919 p. ; ‡c22 cm.
0. ‡aAuthors ‡xCriticism, interpretation, etc.
0. ‡aLiterature ‡xCollections ‡xCriticism, interpretation, etc.


text:
← (Run) DMC
Today is a good day →
Zap and some Flash CS5/iPhone tips
26. February 2010 Squize game development (11)
I hate using such a search engine friendly title to a blog post, we normally bask in the willfully obscure, but as this may actually contain something of interest as opposed to the usual random words I figured it was worth at least trying to vaguely flag it up.
Let's start with a big caveat. I developed Zap using the beta version(s) of Flash CS5, and due to it's very nature it's not the final finished product. That means a couple of things, firstly that the launch version is going to be better than the one I used, the Flash team are really breaking their necks with the iPhone exporter and just doing great work. Secondly as it was beta software things are pretty fluid. I really honestly doubt that there are going to be any major changes so soon to release, but some of these tips may not be valid on release.
One last thing, being on the beta program means being under a NDA. In terms of this post it means I won't be going into technical things, performance or new API's etc. Think of this more as a primer which can hopefully give you a little head start than a sneak peek at what's under the hood.
Ok, the main thing is eeking out as much performance as you can.
* Vectors / Drawing API / Gradients. No, no and no. We're bitmaps all the way baby.
* BlendModes. Think more about burning the effect you want onto the bitmap itself.
* MovieClips. Save them for intros and title screens, avoid them in-game, as you just can't cache them efficiently so you're hitting the slower vector plotter.
* Text. It's slow enough when running in a swf. Time to code yourself a text plotter using bitmaps ( Like Movieclips, for in-game anyway. Top and Tails performance is never really a big issue )
* CacheAsBitmap. He's going to be your new best friend, love him and cherish him, as he'll give you much better performance ( There is a new cache command too, but NDA and all that ).
Some things to keep in mind, setting sprite.visible=false wipes the cache, so when you use sprite.visible=true again you're forcing a re-cache. Altering the alpha property also forces a re-cache ( As does scale etc. All the things I'm sure you're aware of any way ). One thing I didn't know before starting on Zap was that if you holder.removeChild(sprite) the cache is lost too, and that the cache only kicks in when the displayObject is first added to the stage.
In terms of how that hit my workflow, I had to change up and create all my sprites / bitmaps in each classes constructor and add them to the stage hidden off to the side.
When you first launch an app on the iPhone the "boot" picture appears straight away. Make sure that the very first thing you do is have a copy of that same image sitting topmost on your stage. Then you can call all your constructors and create all your display assets hidden under that cover, and when everything is in place you just transition that screen out. It hides any nasty stutters whilst the game makes everything it needs ( Using Zap as an example, the boot pic is our logo with "loading" text displayed on it, with the same image minus the loading text in the game itself, so the change from bootpic to game is pretty seamless ).
* Every pixel counts. Only plot what you need to, abuse the swf background colour as much as you can to save plotting.
* Pooling. Hopefully this is something you're used to doing anyway, but it's really vital when exporting to iPhone. During the constructor stage of my game I created all the pools too. Just using a simple Vector list, or linked lists. Pooling is such a simple thing to do and avoids any more object creation / deletion and stops the garbage collector being a big fat processor hog.
* Music. That loop that doesn't sound too bad on your PC at 32kps sounds really nasty on your iPod, funny what with it being a music player first and foremost. It's not a web game, push that bitrate up.
* scrollRect. I usually use that for animating bobs ( Blitter objects, ie sprites you plot with copyPixels or by adding the Bitmap directly to your stage ), using it to view a window on a sprite sheet to make it look like a sprite is animating, all nice simple stuff. I only had the briefest of tests with it on the iPhone, and I think it could be a texture memory hog, so the best way may be to just copyPixel each frame as you need it ( I've really not tested this to death so this could be complete arse, I was using a really big sprite sheet, so for now take this point with a pinch of salt ).
* Think blitter. Our good friend Rich showed me a blitter engine running on the iPod and it was really impressive. Blitting really is the way to go, just one canvas and plot all your pixels to it. I've just finished our own blitter engine for the up coming "Destroy More Cars" game which will be handy for future iPhone games. I'll post more details about that another time ( I'm tempted to open source it, but I really can't be doing with "This feature doesn't work" feedback. It doesn't ? Write your fucking own then ).
* Petty things. Mark your classes as final where you can, don't divide by two when you can multiply by 0.5, stop events from propagating. All tiny tiny things, but every little helps.
* Remember startDrag ? Sure you do, we all used it back in Flash 5. You're designing for the sexy iPhone now, it's not a mouse interface, let the player drag things around in a sexy way, they'll love you that little bit more for it. Apple have lots and lots of style guide docs, give them a read, it still applies to us even if we're Flash kids.
In terms of workflow, if you use Flex or FlashDevelop then you're not wanting to go back to the IDE in a hurry, it's too much of a shock to the system. I stuck with Flex ( By that I mean coding as3 in it, not mxml, there's still so much confusion about it even now ) and with including the AIR swc got auto-complete goodness on all the new commands. Lovely. Because Zap doesn't use anything really iPhone specific that needs to be on the device to test, I just added a simple test. If it's running via Flex check the keyboard and use that, if it's on the device don't run the keyboard code and revert to just mouse events.
I can't emphasis how much time this saved. You surely know the difference in compile time from Flex / FD compared to the IDE anyway, who wants to go running back to that ? It's not always going to be possible, but where you can make a version that can be tested off the device.
( In saying that, still test often on your device just to ensure that you're getting the performance you expect ).
How I set it up was having an empty fla with the iPhone publish settings in it, which just pulled in my classes. With CS4/5 supporting <embed> you don't have to change a line of your code, just use a different fla for laying out your assets for import. Using an empty fla just feels cleaner to me ( In actual fact I used two, one for testing and one for distribution, as you have to use different certs / profiles for each, more on that below ).
Moving on to Apple related things, brace yourself, this isn't the same as uploading a game to newgrounds. We've all read that getting a game published on the App Store is so easy and pain free, but that's mainly coming from people who are more used to the hell of developing for consoles, not Flash.
You're going to have to pay your $99 or whatever it is to register as a developer with Apple. My advice here is just register as a person rather than a company, it's a lot less hoops to jump through, plus when it comes to the App Store you can use a company name anyway which is searchable.
Next up is getting a cert and provisioning profile so you can test the game on your device. On the Mac that's fairly straight forward, on Windows it's a couple more things to do, our mate Iain touched on it in his blog post about his iPhone game. Come launch time I'm sure the web will be sinking under the weight of tutorials on how to do it.
One thing with the provisioning profile is that you can add devices to it. We couldn't really get access to any non-3GS / 3rd gen devices which restricted our testing, but you really want to be bugging everyone you know with an Apple machine for their device IDs so you can send out builds of your game for testing.
Come the glorious day that your app is ready to submit remember you'll need a distribution profile and cert. Also remember to re-read all the Apple guidelines, you don't want your game knocked back because of a silly mistake. You'll need to supple a link to a support site for the app, so prepare to remember your html skills that you've forgotten ( We just used the zap preview page, added a link to the contact form and job done. We've got a pimping and support page all in one ).
One last submission tip, when setting the release date, set it off in the ( Near ) future. If you leave it as todays date then when the game is passed at least 2/3 days after todays date it will be hidden in the latest releases ( Say you submit your app today, the 26th, and leave that as the release date. The game is accepted on the 28th. Your game will be classed as being launched on the 26th even though no one can actually buy it 'til the 28th, and even then it's got to filter around all the worldwide App Stores. This means all the games released after the 26th will be shown above yours in any latest games list ).
Once the app is approved, dive into itune connect and alter the launch date to tomorrow.
I think that's it. Hopefully I've not said anything I shouldn't have and got myself into trouble. If I have then I'll just lie and say my Mum is ill and start crying, no one will give me a bollocking then. When you do finally get your hands on the brand new Flash CS5 have a good google around for Apple developer forums. Every possible problem you'll ever have with submitting game has already been covered off by other people, the iPhone development community is huge and excellent, imagine our community without all the "I need teh codez lol!" and that's pretty much it.
Tags : iPhone
I hate using such a search engine friendly title to a blog post, we normally bask in the willfully o...
Where exactly is the Cash for Flash ?
An awful lot of our blog posts are questions recently, we need to change that.Anyway, where exactly ...
How to really *#$&! things up in a flash game project
I've been silent the last couple of weeks, too silent I reckon, but ... yet again I've been oompha-l...
Comments (11) -
2/26/2010 2:17:47 PM |
Very, very useful!
Now, if only you could post something that would help me clear my backlog of work so I could get on to actually using the information rather than just appreciating it.
That being said, I'm partly attributing the delay to CS5 losing me a day's work. It may well not have been the CS5 install, but a word to anyone who's coming to this party as late as me - back up everything before you start the install, don't be tempted to see what happens to your current project in cs5 without having done that backup!
Squize
Yeah, never use the beta on a live project mate. The FlashBuilder beta has opened up now, but I'm not risking that on a live game as I'm sure the project format will have changed and it soon becomes more trouble than it's worth.
MichaelJW
Really great tips, Squize, thanks :)
Thanks mate. We're not really a tip giving blog, but there are lots of things to get your head around when it comes to CS5 / iPhone development, so if I can ease the pain a little then my karma will get a well needed boost.
nice write up, but one thing i find problematic about any kind of CS5 writeup before its launch is people other than Adobe employes are scared of writing anything that acts against their NDA and then they also most times write that its a beta and performance will likely be improved before release and then also give performance tips as if those tips would be required with any tech and its not much different with CS5. In reality, how likely is it that the performance will be improved a lot more before release?
Not very likely.
What about writing about what the performance is like compared to any other tech out there, at the end of the day what worth does your article have without that?
You also don´t write about which apis are supported or not, not even what´s already public knowledge.
I´ve seen you got one review from the US where someone complains the game doesn´t run on his 3g, what´s up with that?
Don´t mean to flame you but yeah, i find it annoying when thanks to such posts where people talk about CS5 without mentioning the biggest problems it has Adobe gets away with launching the thing at probably unacceptable performance and with lacking sdk features and api support.
Hey Tom.
The post is a primer of what to expect regards getting the performance up as high as possible. With respect to the NDA I didn't want to go down the route of performance benchmarks ( To be honest not only just 'cause of the NDA, but it opens a can of worms. As soon as anyone says "Such and such runs at x fps" then you're just inviting dozens of follow up questions about how quickly other things run, and life's far too short to go down that path ).
Hopefully I've stayed pretty neutral with what I've written. I've not said it's the best thing ever, or a disappointment ( Neither is true ), but more what to expect when starting to develop for it. People can read into that what they want, it's not my place or wish to either promote or decry CS5's iPhone exporter.
I'm not writing a review about it, ideally my post will give people a sneak peek of what to expect in terms of having to change the way they work to match the device, and when CS5 is launched they can refer back to the post so they can avoid some of the pitfalls both of us had to stumble through.
"people other than Adobe employes are scared of writing anything that acts against their NDA"
Well it's a question of respect mate. I could blow the NDA out and spill my guts about CS5 and perhaps not lose anything in the grand scheme of things, but I respect the NDA ( Like I would a client's ). It's a two way street, Adobe get my feedback and bug reports and get to have some content to promote CS5 with before launch ( Like at the FITC the other day, Zap was shown ), and in return I get to be slightly ahead of the curve.
"What about writing about what the performance is like compared to any other tech out there"
Again the post wasn't really about that. To me it's pointless comparing it to say Unity iPhone, when the Unity web player beats Flash hands down in terms of performance, I think most people already realise the same will hold true no matter what the target platform.
But the same comparisons still apply ( Between web and iPhone middleware ), there's no doubt that Unity is a better game engine than Flash, but Flash has many other strengths, so you target your tech to the game you're making. I wouldn't make a 3D game in Flash for the web, and neither would I do it using Flash on the iPhone. Likewise in terms of development time / costs for a simple 2D game Flash has the advantage [ For me ].
"You also don´t write about which apis are supported or not, not even what´s already public knowledge. "
Again, it's not a review of what Flash can and can't do on the iPhone. I honestly don't know what's public knowledge, so rather than put my foot in it and say something I shouldn't, I thought it best to leave those posts to other people ( Who may in many cases be Adobe employees, so don't fall under the same NDA beta testers do ).
"I´ve seen you got one review from the US where someone complains the game doesn´t run on his 3g, what´s up with that?"
The game doesn't run at an acceptable speed on some older machines, despite testing it as much as we could on pre-3GS devices. We've flagged that up in the description as the last thing we want is people wasting their money.
"In reality, how likely is it that the performance will be improved a lot more before release?"
I'm not in a position to say, as to be honest I don't really know. I do understand that Adobe have a commitment to improve performance after release, which is the same as all middleware providers.
"Don´t mean to flame you but yeah, i find it annoying when thanks to such posts where people talk about CS5 without mentioning the biggest problems it has Adobe gets away with launching the thing at probably unacceptable performance and with lacking sdk features and api support."
I'm not taking it as flaming at all mate. Like I've said, it's not a review of CS5, it's to hopefully help fellow devs when they upgrade and start making their own iPhone apps. I got a lot of help on the pre-release forum and this is my attempt to give something back.
I know I'm a bit out of order, but hopefully that's covered all your points :)
ay, i wrote a lengthy reply but it didn´t get posted =(
Well, in short:
Unlike in web projects running on a highend pc its a way bigger deal maker or deal breaker how the thing performs on an iPhone (pre 3gs), so i find it more important people are aware how it performs and also how it performs compared to other tech running on the device.
I understand you don´t want to write a review though, i´m not sure i like it, but yeah, i understand =)
And yeah, for those who do buy CS5 your post will likely be helpful to them =)
8bitjeff
3/1/2010 5:54:26 PM |
Wow, this is a great post, thanks, Squize. (I've emerged from my cave)
Glad to see you're back in the daylight mate :)
3/3/2010 2:36:49 AM |
very nice article. i am really interested in the blitting frameworks you are talking about (yours and rich's). are there any more infos to be found on these?
Thanks for the comment. The post just after this touches on the blitter engine, also 8bit rocket have done loads of great articles about both the theory and practice of blitting ( They've got a book coming out soon which will be packed full of blitting tips, also a full framework I believe, so that could well be worth looking out for ), a link to their blog should be in our blogroll over on the right.


This past July, our oldest son competed in the USA Taekwondo National Championships for the third year in a row, and brought home a bronze medal for poomsae. I was so proud of him because, although he had earned a medal in sparring in the past, he had yet to medal in poomsae, which is his true passion.
While at Nationals, we picked up some patches for his competition uniform and for his competition team jacket. We had the patch sewn onto his uniform by a local tailor for $5. Easy! Attaching the patch for his team jacket was not so easy. Since the jacket has a polyester nylon shell, I was told that puncturing it with a needle could cause damage down the road, and that it cannot withstand an iron hotter than 300 degrees.
I researched the issue online multiple times, watched many tutorials, and even reached out to Sport-Tek, the manufacturer of the jacket. Still, I could not find a definitive answer about how to effectively and safely attach this patch, which has an iron-on coating on the back, to this polyester nylon jacket. I did not want to experiment with any iffy methods, and risk ruining my son's jacket.
Then one day, in a last ditch effort, I tried to Google the issue again. I came across quotes from reviews on Amazon for a product that did not show up in my searches before, so I clicked through. The product was called Badge Magic. I read the reviews, and they looked very promising. Still, I did not see any that stated that this product would work on a nylon jacket using an iron-on type patch, so I asked the question. Several past purchasers replied that it should, but one finally replied with a definite "Yes!". That was what I was waiting for, so I ordered one sheet to give it a try. It worked GREAT!!! Since I had so much trouble finding the information I needed for attaching our patch, I wanted to share how easy this process turned out to be . . .
TIP #1: Be sure the fabric item to which you will be attaching the patch is clean and wrinkle-free, if possible.
Step 1. Place your regular or iron-on patch right-side up on the printed side of the Badge Magic sheet. While holding the badge in place with one hand, trace the shape of the badge using a pencil with the other.
TIP #2: Using an automatic pencil worked well for me because it gave me a fine line, and I was able to trace as close to the patch as possible without making any marks on the edges of the patch.
Step 2. Following the outline you traced, cut out the shape of the patch from the Badge Magic sheet.
Step 3. Peel off the printed backing from the shape you cut out, exposing the sticky surface.
Step 4. Carefully position the patch right-side up on the sticky surface, trying to line up the edges exactly. Press down firmly to adhere the Badge Magic shape to the backside of the patch.
TIP #3: The adhesive is extremely sticky, so try to be precise when attaching the Badge Magic to the back of your patch. It would be best to have an adult complete this step.
Step 5. If the Badge Magic shape is larger than your patch on any of the edges, trim the Badge Magic shape with scissors until its edges match up with those of your patch.
Step 7. Carefully remove the plain white backing from the back of the patch, exposing the second sticky surface.
TIP #4: According to the Badge Magic instructions, at this point you should fold back any extra adhesive seen around the edges of the patch, however, if you had trimmed the Badge Magic shape (Step 5), then this should be unnecessary.
Step 8. Position the badge in the desired position. When the position looks correct, press down firmly on the badge. Rub the handle of your scissors over the entire badge, especially the edges, to make sure there is a strong bond.
TIP #5: Since my son's jacket has a nylon shell, like a windbreaker, it was shipped to us with creases all over. I did not have a way to remove these creases, so I used both hands to put tension on the area where the patch was to be placed to flatten the material while placing the patch on the jacket.
That's it! The process was super-quick. The Badge Magic is said to be washable, but I have not tested that yet. My son's jacket is new and has barely been worn due to the warm weather.
Below is the Badge Magic instructional video. According to the reviews on Amazon, this product works great for Boy Scout and Girl Scout badges too.
What other uses can you think of for Badge Magic?
Share your ideas with us in a comment here.


We are excited to share the state-of-the-art 160m2 studio, featuring 24 deluxe stations of the Great Yoga Wall. The studio is fitted with a full range of yoga props, cushioned wooden floor, ceiling fans and other highly practical facilities for retreats and trainings. The studio, designed by Simon Low, provides the finest props available for this bright and beautiful space for practice. Our intention is to create the ultimate yoga studio experience for teachers and students of all styles of yoga.
Simon has been teaching yoga for over 20 years and has developed a unique and personal teaching style, keeping classes diverse, focused and fun. The foundations of Simon's yoga teaching reflect his training and ongoing studies with international teachers in many approaches to yoga, movement and therapy.
Medicine, effectively bringing together the essential elements of these sources of wisdom and healing into his teaching today.
that address equally the seen physical body and the unseen energetic, mental, emotional & spiritual facets of our being. He encourages the individual to remain mindfully focused towards internal exploration as a guide to experiencing yoga as it is meant to be practiced – a personal journey toward inner peace, freedom, clarity, balance and integration, and the revealing and nurturing of the True Self – your ' essence'.
writer for "Ask the Experts" in the Observer newspaper, and has been covered in or has contributed to numerous national and local newspaper and magazine articles.
on his journey toward opening this dedicated yoga & wellness retreat centre, Santillan.
with fabulous sea views or views to the tropical garden.
This yoga retreat will feature 2 classes daily, morning and afternoon, with trained assistants present in all classess, so you will receive ample personal guidance and attention, with individual adjustments and modifications, where appropriate.
The morning class is a more dynamic yang style class with continually flowing vinyasa and a broad spectrum of asana that build energy, flexibility and strength while deeply honouring the natural rhythms and construction of human anatomy. Precision of alignment is balanced by circular and spiral movement patterns with particular emphasis on joint care and ease of movement. The afternoon class is a yin style class featuring deeply restorative asana alongside postures inspired by Taoist yoga that stimulate and balance the subtle body and the multi-dimensional web of connective tissues, offering a profoundly effective platform to embrace internal enquiry, the purity of presence, and the many facets of being.


Let's face it, you're not always going to be giving 110%—hell, even if you wanted to, your body and brain have limits. It's hard to balance deadlines, meetings and you time without feeling drained or motivation at SOME point, so when that blow to your drive does come, it's handy to have a clear series of steps to follow that will get you back on your mental feet and pumped up again to do the work that will take you to the next level.
In the next hour, I talk about why you shouldn't feel ashamed about resting and recuperating, help you figure out what's causing your lack of motivation, and give you some pro tips for making your schedule as jam-packed and exciting as possible.
- Pause every once in a while and don't feel guilty about taking a break.
- Running your own business will not always be a fairy tale.
- Figure out if you're unmotivated or if you're just scared of the next step.
- Turn accountability into a key part of your goals.
- Make psyching yourself up part of your daily schedule and work toward fun time.


Jaco General Contractor has been selected to build the retail spaces at Wichita's new airport terminal. The three spaces will be the Air Capital Market, CNBC Smartshop and CNBC Express. Construction is expected to start the week of March 16th and will take approximately 10 weeks to complete. We're excited to be a part of this high profile project!


Enjoy your stay in Caldes d'Estrac. Make your visit to Caldes d'Estrac an unforgettable experience by staying in the hotel you deserve. Still don´t know where to stay? At Destinia we offer you a wide variety of hotels in Caldes d'Estrac, Spain, so you can choose the one that´s right for you, depending on your expectations and your budget. There are numerous hotels in Caldes d'Estrac that are ideal for a business trip, a family holiday, a weekend getaway or an outing with friends in Caldes d'Estrac. No matter the reason for your trip, at Destinia, you´ll find the greatest variety of hotels and hostels, always at the best prices, guaranteed. Are you looking for a deluxe hotel in Caldes d'Estrac city centre with a spa, Internet access or a pool? Perhaps a hotel that accepts pets or that has a child-care centre? We have that, too. Why not give our hotel finder a try? It´s quick, simple and the most effective way to find the best lodging in this part of Spain. Whether you need a single-occupancy room, double-occupancy room or even a suite, with Destinia´s search engine, you´ll always find the best deals, so all you´ll have to worry about is packing your bags and enjoying your trip to Caldes d'Estrac.
In Caldes d'Estrac we will have clear sky, nice temperatures probable throught the day.


text:
George Coulouris
The Teckman Mystery (TPTV / 14 Dec 2020)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten)
Steven Mackintosh
George Coulouris was a British stage, film and television actor.
Born:1903-10-01 in Manchester, England, UK
Known For: Acting
Womaneater 1958-04-01
Role: Dr. James Moran
A mad scientist captures women and feeds them to a flesh-eating tree, which in turn gives him a serum that helps bring the dead back to life.
The Man Without a Body 1957-05-01
Role: Karl Brussard
A wealthy business man discovers he has a brain tumor and seeks medical help. The business man finds a scientist experimenting with transplanting monkey heads on different monkey bodies. The business man decides to steal the head of Nostradamus from the prophet's crypt.
The Master Race 1944-09-22
Role: Von Beck
When allied troops liberate a small battle-scarred Belgium town in 1944 the American and British commanders do all they can to help the war-weary people back on their feet. There are mental and physical wounds to heal, fields to plough, the church to rebuild. But a top Nazi, knowing the War is lost, has infiltrated the town and is fostering dissent and disunity.
Unfair! 1970-11-15
Role: Judge
This incredibly strange short film was commissioned by the union ACTT (Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, of which the filmmaker and novelist B.S. Johnson was a member) as part of its action against the Industrial Relations Bill passed by parliament in 1971.
The Suicide Club 1973-02-13
A young gambler seeking greater challenges joins a card club where the members literally gamble for their lives.
Kill Me Tomorrow 1957-05-01
Role: Heinz Webber
A reporter (Pat O'Brien) who needs cash for his son's operation is paid by a smuggler (George Coulouris) to take a murder rap.
Appointment with Venus 1951-10-08
Role: Captain Weiss
At the outbreak of WWII the British realise they can't prevent the invasion of the Channel Islands. However, someone realises that a prize cow is on the islands and the Nazis mustn't get hold of her. This is the intrepid story of the cow-napping from under the noses of the Nazis.
The Dog and the Diamonds 1953-11-01
A group of children establish their own zoo in the garden of a disused house, which proves to be the headquarters of a gang of crooks.
Lady on a Train 1945-08-03
Role: Mr. Saunders, Circus Club Manager
While on a train, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder as they pass a building. When she tells the police, they think she's crazy since she can't tell exactly where the crime happened. She then enlists a popular mystery writer to help with her sleuthing.
The Verdict 1946-11-23
Role: Supt. John R. Buckley
After an innocent man is executed in a case he was responsible for, a Scotland Yard superintendent finds himself investigating the murder of his key witness.
Mr. Skeffington 1944-05-25
Role: Dr. Byles
A popular and beautiful woman is forced into a loveless marriage with an older man to save her brother from an embezzlement charge.
Where There's Life 1947-11-21
Role: Prime Minister Krivoc
In a far off country, their king is critically wounded after an assassination attempt and the only heir is a timid New York radio personality, Michael Valentine (Bob Hope). After reluctantly traveling to his father's homeland, Michael is not happy that he's become the target of the same terrorist organization that attacked the king.
Kill or Be Killed 1950-04-01
Role: Victor Sloma
An innocent man accused of a murder hides out aboard a steam ship in South American.
Watch on the Rhine 1943-08-27
Role: Teck Brankovic
On the eve of World War II, the German Kurt Müller, his American-born wife Sara, and their three children, having lived in Europe for years, visit Sara's wealthy mother near Washington, DC. Kurt secretly works for the anti-Nazi resistance. A visiting Romanian count, becoming aware of this, seeks to blackmail him.
The Runaway Bus 1954-10-23
Role: Ernest Schroeder
When heavy fog prevents any flights from leaving London Airport, a group of passengers are put on a bus driven by Percy Lamb (Frankie Howerd in his first starring role) to drive to another airport. The fog is that heavy Percy doesn't know where he is going or that he is carrying stolen gold bullion that the robbers and police are relentlessly pursuing.
Venetian Bird 1952-10-01
Role: Chief of Police Spadoni
Private eye Edward Mercer travels to Venice to locate a man due a reward for his aid in the war. Shortly after arriving, he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of his local contact. In his quest to clear his name, Mercer uncovers a conspiracy. Even the local magistrate seems to be working against him, and Mercer begins to suspect the man he came to find is behind it all.
L'anticristo 1974-11-22
Role: Father Mittner
An Italian nobleman seeks help after his paralyzed daughter becomes possessed by the spirit of a malevolent ancestress.
Beyond Glory 1948-08-03
Role: Lew Proctor
Thinking he may have caused the death of his commanding officer Captain Daniels in Tunisia, Rocky visits Daniels' widow. She falls for him, he falls for her, she encourages him to go to West Point. While there he faces serious disciplinary review for having forced a plebe into resigning. He may even be court-martialled.
Spy in the Sky! 1958-07-20
Role: Col. Benedict
Women (Sandra Francis, Andrea Domburg) distract a U.S. agent (Steve Brodie) fighting Soviet spies over a German scientist and his secret plans.
A Southern Yankee 1948-08-05
Role: Maj. Jack Drumman aka The Grey Spider
Red Skelton plays Aubrey Filmore, a feather-brained but lovable bellboy who dreams of becoming an agent for the Union's secret service during the Civil War.
California 1947-02-21
Role: Capt. Pharaoh Coffin
"Wicked" Lily Bishop joins a wagon train to California, led by Michael Fabian and Johnny Trumbo, but news of the Gold Rush scatters the train. When Johnny and Michael finally arrive, Lily is rich from her saloon and storekeeper (former slaver) Pharaoh Coffin is bleeding the miners dry. But worse troubles are ahead: California is inching toward statehood, and certain people want to make it their private empire.
Scruggs 1970-04-23
Ben Scruggs is an intellectual gangster who lives his life like a poker game.
The Streets of New York 1939-08-31
Role: Gideon Bloodgood
The story revolves around the efforts of the middle-class family Fairweather, newly impoverished by the financial panic, to survive against the villainous banker Gideon Bloodgood.
Nobody Lives Forever 1946-11-01
Role: Doc Ganson
A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece.
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb 1971-06-16
Role: Professor Berrigan
Two Egyptologists, Professor Fuchs and Corbeck, are instrumental in unleashing unmitigated horror by bringing back to England the mummified body of Tara, the Egyptian Queen of Darkness. Fuchs's daughter becomes involved in a series of macabre and terrifying incidents, powerless against the forces of darkness, directed by Corbeck, that are taking possession of her body and soul to fulfill the ancient prophesy that Queen Tara will be resurrected to continue her reign of unspeakable evil.
Sleep, My Love 1948-02-18
Role: Charles Vernay
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
The Lady in Question 1940-08-07
Role: Defense Attorney
When a jury member takes in the defendant he couldn"t convict, she has a bad influence on his son.
Mr. District Attorney 1947-02-20
Role: James Randolph
An assistant district attorney gets mixed-up with a woman who is working for the group that he is investigating.
A Song to Remember 1945-01-19
Role: Louis Pleyel
Prof. Joseph Elsner guides his protégé Frydryk Chopin through his formative years to early adulthood in Poland. The professor takes him to Paris, where he eventually comes under the wing and influence of novelist George Sand and rises to prominence in the music world, to the exclusion of his old friends and patriotic feelings towards Poland.
Surprise Package 1960-09-29
Role: Dr. Panzer
Comic crime caper, set on a Greek island, starring Yul Brynner and Mitzi Gaynor.
Duel in the Jungle 1954-06-30
Role: Capt. Malburn
An American insurance investigator is sent to Rhodesia to investigate the mysterious death of a diamond broker who drowned whilst diving off the coast. The broker was insured for $1 million so the insurers are suspicious.
The Stranger 1973-02-26
Role: Max Greene
TV series pilot (series never launched). After a freak mishap, an astronaut finds himself on an almost precise copy of Earth (right down to the Plymouth cars). However, this planet has three moons, and is run by an Orwellian government called The Perfect Order, who seek out and crush all dissidents either by outright assassination or by having them treated at "Ward E." Hunted and alone, the story traces the astronaut's efforts to evade capture and return home.
Confidential Agent 1945-11-02
Role: Captain Currie
During the Spanish Civil War, an agent on a mission to purchase coal meets with murder and counterspies.
Role: Walter Parks Thatcher
Newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
Land Raiders
Role: Cardenas
An outlaw committing a string of robberies and murders manages to blame the crimes on Apaches, bringing about an Indian war.
None But the Lonely Heart
Role: Jim Mordinoy
When an itinerant reluctantly returns home to help his sickly mother run her shop, they're both tempted to turn to crime to help make ends meet.
Tarzan and the Lost Safari
Role: Carl Kraski
Tarzan leads five passengers from a downed airplane out of the jungle. En route white hunter Hawkins tries to sell them to the Oparian chief.
Mask of Dust
Role: 'Pic' Dallapiccola
An idol of auto-racing fans attempts a comeback after serving in the Air Force. When his former rival lies dying in the hospital he must decide whether to continue in the Grand Prix, or make peace with his adversary. Featuring race car greats Stirling Moss, Reg Parnell, John Cooper, Alan Brown, Geoffrey Taylor and Leslie Marr.
Assignment in Brittany
A boy gets involved in a bank robbery
The Boy Who Stole a Million
Role: Capt. Hans Holz
A French Resistance fighter discovers he's a dead ringer for a Nazi official.
Role: Carlo
An investigative reporter (Robert Ryan) travels to a small European country with the hope of exposing its dictator's family secrets.
Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus
Role: Arbitan
The TARDIS arrives on the planet Marinus on an island of glass surrounded by a sea of acid. The travellers are forced by the elderly Arbitan to retrieve four of the five operating keys to a machine called the Conscience of Marinus, of which he is the keeper. These have been hidden in different locations around the planet to prevent them falling into the hands of the evil Yartek and his Voord warriors, who plan to seize the machine and use its originally benevolent mind-influencing power for their own sinister purposes.
Role: Mr. Lingley
Passengers on an ocean liner can't recall how they got onboard or where they are going. Soon it becomes apparent that they all have something in common.
Outcast of the Islands
Role: Babalatchi
After financial improprieties are discovered at the Eastern trading company where he works, Peter Willems flees the resulting disgrace and criminal charges. He persuades the man who gave him his start in life, the merchant ship captain Lingard, to bring him to a trading post on a remote Indonesian island where he can hide out.
Role: Portuguese Captain
Based on Graham Greene's novel, a married colonial police chief struggles with his conscience when he has an affair with a younger woman.
The Big Money
Role: The Colonel
Petty thief Willie Frith steals a suitcase full of bank notes, only to find out that they have been given all the same serial number. But this is only the start of his troubles, now he has to find a way of changing the notes, so he can impress the barmaid of his local pub.
Role: Joachim Helm
An assortment of diverse characters gather at the Hotel Berlin in World War II Germany.
Role: Italian POW camp commandant
During World War II, members of a British tank unit in northern Africa are captured and held prisoners by Germans.
Too Many Thieves
Role: Andrew
When some priceless Macedonian treasures are swiped, lawyer Falk arrives to get to the bottom of things.
Role: Ragheeb
When a plot against a prominent Middle Eastern politician is uncovered, David Pollock, a professor of ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University, is recruited to help expose the scheme. Pollock must find information believed to be in hieroglyphic code and must also contend with a mysterious man called Beshraavi. Meanwhile, Beshraavi's lover, Yasmin Azir, seems willing to aid Pollock — but is she really on his side?
The Skull
Role: Dr. Londe
An occult investigator buys the 150 year old stolen skull of Marquis de Sade, which turns out to be possessed by evil spirits.
Related Topics:Acting, George Coulouris
Classic Movie Characters: King Kong


ValvTect is pleased to announce that False Creek Fuels in Vancouver, BC has joined the growing number of certified ValvTect marinas marketing ValvTect Marine Fuels.
Marvin Griffin, President of ValvTect Petroleum Products has welcomed the opportunity to team up with Better Diesel FBC, Inc. to distribute Better Diesel FBC (Fuel Borne Catalyst) and work on other projects including new product development.
ValvTect is pleased to announce that "Obexer's Boat Company" in Homewood, CA has joined their family of over 600 certified ValvTect marinas marketing ValvTect Marine Gasoline.


text:
Q: How to create a stacked chart with specific breaks in stacks? I would like to create a stacked horizontal barchart that uses defined breaks in the stacks. I would also like this stacked barchart to use percentages rather than counts.
threat_status total species
LC             300    bird
VU             20     bird
EX             100    mammal
LC             0      bird
LC             100    bird

This is what I have so far:
bar3 <- ggplot(species_borders, aes(x = threat_status, fill = Total)) +
  geom_bar(aes(y = (..count..)/sum(..count..))) +
  coord_flip +
  scale_y_continuous(labels=percent) +
  ylab("Percentage of species") +
  xlab("Threat status") +
  geom_col(position = "stack", width = 0.4)
  scale_fill_discrete(name = "Borders crossed", breaks = c("3-300","2-1","0"), labels = c("3-300","2-1","0"))

This works, but doesn't show the breaks or colours.
My expected result would be staked barchart, with y-axis showing the percentage of species, x-axis is the threat_status, and the stakes are 3 different colours with breaks "0", "1-2", "3-300".

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


i just found a new smaller Kapex Model, have fun.
Nifty! Glad to see a smaller format miter saw.
That looks a nice little saw.
I will give this a bump because surprised at the lack of interest in it, think everybody is so concerned about their new sanders they have not noticed the new Kapex!
darn, I seem to missed the opportunity to watch these videos. Can anyone say anything about the design? Was it just like a smaller kapex?
I can't play the video, it's private and a password is needed. I then went to Festool UK and searched for a Kapex KS 60 and nothing came up, then tried Festool GMBH with the same results.
LOL, I was about the post the same thing!
@ mrB, the KS60 seems optimized towards fitters and site work. The video primarily showed it used for installing engineered flooring. Like you,pointed out the video is no longer accessible, but my memory from the schematics flashed on the screen is that the bevel lock is of a more traditional rear mounted clamp, the forward mounted rails are still present, I couldn't tell if it still had rack and pinion bevel control, 46+ degree bevel both ways, 60 degree miter left and right.
It was not a hard password to figure out. I might suggest starting with this forum's name. It might just get you in.
? FOG or fog or festoolownersgroup? Does not work.
Drop "ownersgroup" and try again.
its festool guys, my first guess, I have a simple mind I guess.
Cool I guess. No interest personally, but I hope this leads to them releasing an updated Kapex KS 120.
Ok. so approx. 8.5 inch blade. That's nice but how much does it weigh? The 10" Kapex is already one of the lightest in its class, so the weight needs to really be somethings special.... And didn't the larger Kapex have minimal deflection already?
And!!!!! Can't they make an 18v version?
I'm also waiting for an 18v Sys-Vac. Common festool!
Naturlich ist dies fur den europaischen Markt. Gibt es Plane, diese in die USA brigen? Was ist der erwartete Peais?
Hope I remember my German. Is this coming to the US, and what is the anticipated price?
I miss my old Hitachi C8FB2.
This Kapex is the same size (compact) but adds the feature of a double bevel.
I'll be very interested to see if/when this shows up as a US option.
If it's cordless I'm interested.
I'm surprised their update of the Kapex was to smallerize it rather than go for a cordless version, given where the market is right now.
looks like a new version of the angle finder clipped into the back of the saw?
I'd be very interested in a US version of this saw. No interest in a cordless model.
The second video showed the new angle finder, looked similar to the old one but with more green plastic.
A couple of other things the second video showed which I don't think the first one does is that instead of a laser I think it looked to use a shadow line like dewalt. Also the base of the saw has extensions which pull out of the side to make it wider and give more support to what you are cutting.
What's the change that Festool was on the way to update the KAPEX, but noticed the massive growing market in smaller SCMS's being using specifically for flooring. A cordless version of this would be a natural follow on.
Looks like there's some features on this that would be welcome in an updated big KAPEX too. Love to see it in the flesh! To be worth it's salt it would need to be super precise. Very surprised they didn't incorporate a SYM capability like Metabo.
Looks like a matched cart to go with it too.


text:
THE HERO-UP MIDDLE GRADE BUNDLE
The Hero-Up Middle Grade Bundle - Curated by Curiosity Quills Press
Alisa Gus, Curiosity Quills: As both publisher and a mother of a pre-schooler and an almost-teen (and of a very precocious 15-month-old), I oftentimes find myself balancing between sharing my work with the kids - and being careful not to let them at the material that's not quite fit for their consumption. Needless to say, they aren't well pleased at being excluded, so anytime we at Curiosity Quills find and accept for publication a (crossover) middle-grade-appropriate property, my heart sorta-kinda rejoices. It means another novel we can sink our teeth into together, and then discuss before bedtime to ours hearts' content. Well, and so that the time to actually sleep gets pushed further and further back, but of course, we all pretend we don't know that. Yet for reading, for making time to do so among the eternal distractions of TV, and schoolwork, and internet - oh, I do think it's very, very worthwhile.
Which, of course, only works if the kids can actually agree on which novel they are ready to settle down with. And in the end, when making their case, they really do describe their choices in wonderfully cogent ways, making me reconsider the stories from their perspective. After all, they are the ones the authors are telling them for, and they are the ones Curiosity Quills is releasing them into the world for, not unlike, every single time, sending a kindergartner into the school on the first day of term. Well, them - and their parents.
As such, it really gives me a special sort of pleasure to invite them to help me introduce these stories now to you and your kids - and hope they will leave as much of an impression on your family as they had on mine.
And now, without further ado: behold the Gus family, unfiltered, sounding off on their favorite properties :)
Almost-teen: About time you asked someone who is actually supposed to be reading these things, Mom! Let me know if you need to read acquisitions for you. My Pokemon-cards fund could use some donations.
So, about the best ones? I think Supervillain for sure, even though Penny's a girl, and you keep telling me I should read it despite her being a girl. She's just cool, you know. Like Hermione, if she was actually not such a know-it-all. And used gadgets instead of wands. And got more in trouble.
And then the Dragon one, about Sherlock Holmes. I like that manor-school place they're in. And Watson is... he's kinda like Aiden, you know? [his friend] He digs him. And then, it's just so 19th century, you know? Remember, how we went in one of those Victorian homes in Louisville? It's kinda like that, except it's not a museum.
And Shoeburn, totally! Heh, that name. Still gets me! He's like completely crazy, you know? In a good way. Except you kinda end it where you want to keep going. His mother is... [reducted for spoilers] So, why was she there, anyway? I guess I want Regina to show up again, too. I like how they were throwing shade at one another, her and Shoe. And Etta's mother, too. Because, what's her thing, right?
Pre-schooler: Broken Branch Falls. Because it's like Shrek. Only with kids. Why do cartoons have adults? They are for us, right?
Rex'd. Because remember how we read it on Halloween? And then Hetab got dressed as a werewolf in school, and I told him I totally knew it was him, and you told me I was like Rex, only cooler.
Alisa: Broken Dolls, if I had to pick my favorite. It's a love story, to me, as much as horror. But the sort of love story that you would generally find in Anderson's fairytales, not necessarily with a happy ending, but one that fits it like a glove, and makes you question how you could have expected anything different.
Eugene, Curiosity Quills: Supervillain. Because you gotta love a girl that's kicking so much butt in Los Angeles - and doesn't get caught in the process. [stern look at the kids] Not that you should take as a call to action, remember? At least, until you guys develop superpowers.
Precocious 15-month-old: Mama, gi-gi [pointing to a Wiggles toy guitar with a very speaking glance].
And on that...well, note, hope you guys, reading, will sound off too, and tell us at Storybundle and Curiosity Quills Press which one was your favorite, and if your kids agreed!
The Curiosity Quills Family
The initial titles in the Hero-Up Middle Grade Bundle (minimum $5 to purchase) are:
Broken Branch Falls by Tara Tyler
Emma and the Banderwigh by Matthew S. Cox
Rex'd: Welcome to Scholomance by Jack Reher and J.B. Skelter
Strings by G. Miki Hayden
The Code of Magic by David D. Hammons
If you pay more than the bonus price of just $15, you get all five of the regular titles, plus SIX more, including a book that won't be on sale until late 2017!
Broken Dolls by Tyrolin Puxty
Shoeburn and the Ill-Fitting Necklace by Shoeburn Ruffet
The Astounding Adventure of the Ancient Dragon by Jose Prendes
Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain by Richard Roberts
Deadly Delicious by K.L. Kincy
Fairy Keeper by Amy Bearce
This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi and .pdf) for all books!
Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to Mighty Writers and Girls Write Now!


text:
Home Research > Members > 1386-1421 > DARELL, John (-d.1438)
DARELL, John (d.1438), of Calehill in Little Chart Scotney castle in Lamberhurst, Kent.
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
2nd s. of William Darell of Sessay, Yorks. and er. bro. of William Darell† of Littlecote, Wilts. m. (1) 1400, Thomasina (b.c.1388), da. and h. of Valentine Baret of Perry Court near Faversham, Kent by his w. Joan, 2s.; (2) c.1418, Florence, da. of William Chichele*, ?wid. of Nicholas Pecche and John Burton, 1s. 2da.
Collector of customs and subsidies, Sandwich 16 Oct. 1402-22 Oct. 1403.
Under treasurer of the Exchequer 14 Dec. 1404-3 Apr. 1407, 28 Feb. 1432-18 July 1433.1
Dep. butler Sandwich, Faversham and Dover 20 Feb. 1405-16 Dec. 1407.
Commr. to purvey wheat to victual St. Sever (France), Kent July 1405; assess a tax on land Jan. 1412; of inquiry Jan. 1414 (lollards), Mar. 1414 (theft), Feb. 1419 (treasons and concealments), Feb. 1421 (ownership of manor of Capel), Suss. Feb. 1424 (concealments), Kent Oct. 1435 (treasons and felonies), Feb. 1436 (concealments); array May 1415, Mar. 1419, June 1421, Dec. 1435; sewers Oct. 1415, Suss. Feb., Oct. 1422, Nov. 1433; to supervise musters, Kent May 1416, Feb. 1419, Mar., May 1421, Aug. 1426, June 1429, Apr. 1430, July 1432, Feb. 1434; of arrest Apr. 1419; to raise royal loans Nov. 1419, Jan. 1420, Mar. 1430, Mar. 1431, Feb. 1434, Feb. 1436; of oyer and terminer Feb. 1433, Feb. 1434, June 1438; to assess a tax Jan. 1436.
Sheriff, Kent 29 Nov. 1410-10 Dec. 1411, 10 Nov. 1417-4 Nov. 1418, 1 May 1422-13 Nov. 1423.
J.p. Kent 20 Nov. 1411-July 1423, 20 July 1424-d.
Escheator, Kent and Mdx. 10 Nov. 1413-12 Nov. 1414.
Steward of the lands of Abp. Chichele of Canterbury by 1423-d.2
Darell, like his contemporaries Richard Clitheroe I* and Geoffrey Lowther†, was of north-country origin, yet like them he managed to establish himself among the landowning gentry of Kent and within very few years of settling there became not only a leading figure in local administration, but also a representative of the county in seven Parliaments. The Darell family had been seated at Sessay in Yorkshire since the 12th century, but when John's elder brother, Marmaduke, inherited the paternal lands, John and a younger sibling, William, went south, the former to found a cadet branch of the family in Kent, and William, through his marriage to the only daughter and heir of Thomas Calston*, to establish an equally important line in Wiltshire. John's estates were acquired by a combination of astute marriage alliances and successful purchases. His first marriage, to the heiress of Perry Court, who at the time (in 1400) was a mere girl of 12 years of age, brought him property in Faversham (perhaps including the quay mentioned in his will), Luddenham and elsewhere.3 To this he added substantially in 1410 by spending £500 in buying from Thomas Brockhill* the manors of Calehill, Little Chart and Etchden. Two years later his holdings in Kent were estimated for the purposes of taxation as worth £50 a year; and at the same time he had lands valued at £8 p.a. in Sussex, although these last pertained to the Septvance family and were held only in wardship. In later years Darell also possessed the manor of Mardale in Rainham (although there was some uncertainty as to his title), an inn in Rochester and property in the London parish of St. John Walbrook.4 Darell's second marriage, to Archbishop Chichele's niece, brought him by her uncle's settlement in 1418 the archbishop's occasional residence at Scotney castle, together with a later grant to him and Florence of a 99-year lease on a mill in Northfleet and another tenancy of land in Charing.5
It is possible that this John Darell was the same person as he who in February 1398, described as an unmarried layman of the diocese of York, received appointment as a papal notary. But if so the course of his career was altered within the year as an outcome of his connexion with Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland, to whom he was to remain closely attached until the earl's death in 1425. In 1398 he was employed as a member of two different groups of trustees for the settlement in tail of the manor of Clavering, Essex, and of the castle of Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire, on Neville and his wife, Joan Beaufort; and that same autumn he is known to have been engaged on other business for the earl at the Neville stronghold of Middleham. Links with the Nevilles were in no way weakened by Darell's move to Kent, for in March 1402 he received at the Exchequer the sum of £3 6s.8d. as payment to Earl Ralph, then marshal of England, for organizing the lists at Smithfield; and when the earl's brother Thomas, Lord Furnival, was made treasurer of the Exchequer in 1404, Darell was appointed his deputy at the Receipt. Most likely the first lay clerk ever to hold the office of under treasurer, he retained it until shortly after Furnival's death in 1407. During his time at the Exchequer he became a trustee of property in London granted by Henry IV to Earl Ralph and the Countess Joan (the King's half-sister), and it may well have been through the countess that he came to the attention of her cousin, Thomas Chaucer*, the royal chief butler, who in the same year (1405) named him as his deputy in three Kentish ports. Also in 1405 he was associated with Earl Ralph in a number of financial obligations, and his position as the earl's retainer was further recognized when the King made him a gift of 24 oaks from Cheshunt park, belonging to the lordship of Richmond, which Neville held for life. Later, in 1410, Darell joined Westmorland in entering into recognizances with Hugh Mortimer*, chamberlain to the prince of Wales, in separate sums of £800, £200 and 200 marks. Such was the earl's regard for Darell that in 1424 he named him among the executors of his will — a confidence that Darell was to acknowledge in his own last testament by directing that masses be celebrated for the repose of his late patron's soul.6
In the 36 years from 1402 until his death Darell was kept constantly busy with official duties in Kent, including numerous royal commissions, three terms as sheriff, and 26 years as a j.p. Among his tasks as sheriff was the conduct of the parliamentary elections of 1411, 1422 and 1423, but he was sufficiently interested in the outcome of other hustings to attend those held in 1414 (Nov.), 1416 (Mar.), 1429 (when he himself was elected) and 1432. He acted as an arbitrator in local disputes in 1412 and 1429. During his term as escheator in 1414 he had the difficult task of seizing the lands and goods of the traitor Sir John Oldcastle* in the aftermath of the lollard uprising; and he was later rewarded with £6 13s.4d. for his expenses in riding with an escort of 20 or 30 horsemen, for fear of the soldiers and malefactors adhering to Sir John. Darell did not cross the Channel with Henry V's army in 1415, although he did make the Crown a loan of £40 that June towards the war-effort.7 His appointment in the same month by Archbishop Chichele as 'domicellus nostre diocesis' to array the clergy in defence of the kingdom, marks the beginning of his long and close connexion with the archbishop, which was to be strengthened by his subsequent marriage to Chichele's niece. It may well be that he had already been made steward of the archiespiscopal estates — an office he is known to have held for at least 15 years before his death. Certainly, he is recorded in November 1416 as present in Chichele's principal chamber of his London residence near St. Paul's when the archbishop was conducting important business. It is not surprising to encounter him as a feoffee of property which was ultimately to become part of the endowment of All Souls college, Oxford, of Chichele's foundation, nor acting in 1429 as a trustee for Chichele's acquisition of two manors in Kent. In October 1429, during Darell's last Parliament, the archbishop named his trusted steward among those deputed to hear and terminate the final account of John Leventhorpe* as sole surviving executor of Henry IV.8
Although Darell apparently took no personal part in the war in France, he proved of great worth as a supervisor of musters of men waiting to embark. During his second shrievalty in the autumn of 1418 the King's Council ordered him to cross to Calais with Geoffrey Lowther, lieutenant warden of the Cinque Ports, to commune with the lieutenant of the town and captains of the castles in the march regarding their governance, at the same time bearing a brief to negotiate the prorogation of the truce with John, duke of Burgundy. By that date he and Lowther had become highly important figures in Kent, the influence of the one boosted by his position as the archbishop's steward, the other's by his place as the duke of Gloucester's deputy warden. The two had in common, besides their northern origins, an early attachment to the Nevilles. Not surprisingly, they were frequently associated as trustees of land in the county and, along with their friend Richard Clitheroe, the former admiral and victualler of Calais, they engaged in business dealings with the merchant community of London. Darell and Lowther were both made executors of Clitheroe's will in 1420, as such taking on the responsibility of paying 500 marks to the children of Thomas Knolles, junior, and of presenting at the Exchequer the final accounts for Clitheroe's victuallership. Through his wife's kinsfolk, Darell was already well acquainted with the great London family of Knolles, and other Londoners, such as William Estfield†, the prominent mercer, also sought his assistance for landed transactions. Together with Lowther, early in 1427 he obtained an Exchequer lease of the manor of Uppercourt in the Isle of Thanet.9 This may have been secured with the help of Darell's brother William, who was then occupying the post of under treasurer at the Exchequer as clerk to Sir Walter (now Lord) Hungerford*. John succeeded William in 1432 (returning to the office after an absence of 25 years), this time as deputy to John, 4th Lord Scrope of Masham, whom he served for the duration of his brief treasurership. Together with Scrope, in November that year, he made a loan of 300 marks to Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury (the son of his first patron, the earl of Westmorland), which Salisbury agreed to pay back with interest in instalments over seven years. After Westmorland's death in October 1425, Darell and his fellow executors of the earl's will (who included Salisbury) had petitioned the next Parliament (1426) complaining that the will's administration was being delayed because of processes in the Exchequer; and, evidently, despite Darell's office there, such difficulties so continued as to require a second parliamentary petition in 1433, shortly after his dismissal. It would appear that he had ended his term as deputy treasurer under a cloud, for a year later, in July 1434, he was summoned before the King's Council to be examined regarding a certain sum of 500 marks which, allegedly delivered to the treasurer of the Household, had gone missing. There is, however, nothing to suggest that he was himself suspected of fraud. Earlier that year Darell had been among the gentry of Kent required to take the generally administered oath not to maintain those who broke the peace. In 1436 he and his brother William were each asked to contribute a loan of £40 towards the cost of fitting out the duke of York's army for France.10
By his will, made at Scotney on 24 Oct. 1438, Darell bequeathed to his lord, Archbishop Chichele, his best silver-gilt cup, making a fervent request that he might, of the archbishop's special grace and favour, be charitably forgiven for all his shortcomings and trespasses, excessive expenses, intemperate speech and superfluous labours, whether or not in his official capacity. Among his other gifts were sums of £10 to Combwell priory and £11 6s.8d. to Newnham church, though the largest amount, 100 marks, was to go to chaplains at Little Chart, Godmersham and Northfleet to pay for masses for his soul and the souls of members of his family, Henry V, Ralph, earl of Westmorland, and Richard Clitheroe. He contributed the sum of £20 and ten years' profits from his mill at Northfleet to works on Rochester bridge, and he gave his tenants living near the warren at Calehill £5 in recompense for damage caused by the rabbits. Having made ample provision for his widow and three sons in a careful distribution of his estates, he authorized the sale of some other property and of two ships moored at Northfleet. He died the next day and, as he had wished, was buried in St. Mary's church at Little Chart. A monumental brass there recorded his tenure of office as Archbishop Chichele's steward.11 Darell's heir was his eldest son, William, to whom, in the following year, his brother and executor, William Darell of Wiltshire, conveyed part of the young man's maternal (Baret) inheritance, and with whom his widow Florence exchanged her life estate in Calehill and Little Chart for an interest in other premises.12
Author: L. S. Woodger
1. PRO List 'Exchequer Offs.' 196-7.
2. F.R.H. Du Boulay, Ldship. Canterbury, 14, 395.
3. VCH Yorks. (N. Riding), i. 446-8; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 232-3; CCR, 1413-19, p. 291; Arch. Cant. xxxvi. 131-8; CP25(1)112/274/520.
4. Add. Ch. 16372; Feudal Aids, vi. 473; CIMisc. vii. 475; Corporation of London RO, hr 152/61; Arch. Cant. xxi. 315-16.
5. T. Chichele, Stemmata Chicheleana, 13, 64; HMC 9th Rep. pt. 1, p. 113; Arch. Cant. xvii. 39, 46. Florence was not the wid. of Sir William Pecche* as given in Arch. Cant. xxxvi. 131-8, for Pecche was survived by his wife, Joan Hadley. Together with Darell, Florence had papal indults for a portable altar and plenary indulgence in 1419, and in 1426 her father, the wealthy London grocer, left her his primer on condition that she passed it on to her son, Thomas: CPL, vii. 335, 339; Reg. Chichele, ii. 340.
6. CPL, v. 113; CPR, 1396-9, pp. 285, 340; 1401-5, p. 493; E326/4517; CAD, iii. B4081; Issues ed. Devon, 291; Cal. Signet Letters ed. Kirby, no. 232; EHR, lxxii. 669; CCR, 1402-5, p. 521; 1405-9, p. 72; 1409-13, p. 101; Durham Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc. ii), 73.
7. Issues, 353; CCR, 1409-13, p. 401; 1422-9, p. 470; J.H. Wylie, Hen. V, 472.
8. Reg. Chichele, ii. 426, 430; iv. 130, 161; Cat. Archs. All Souls Coll. ed. Martin, 49; CP25(1) 114/302/206.
9. E404/34/257; CPR, 1416-22, p. 180; Cal. P. and M. London, 1413-37, pp. 84, 161; PCC 50 Marche; CFR, xv. 160.
10. EHR, lxxii. 673; CCR, 1429-35, pp. 226, 228; RP, iv. 469; PPC, iv. 266-8, 327; CPR, 1429-36, p. 388.
11. Reg. Chichele, ii. 568-71; S.R. Glynne, Notes Kent Churches, 157.
12. CAD, ii. C1798; iii. C3341.