Latest news with #1979
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey: A work of conscience and consequence
The Book of Guilt Author : Catherine Chidgey ISBN-13 : 9781399823623 Publisher : John Murray Guideline Price : £15.99 'Before I knew what I was, I lived with my brothers in a grand old house in the heart of the New Forest.' So begins Catherine Chidgey's quietly devastating novel, The Book of Guilt, a haunting blend of psychological fable, gothic parable, and slow-burn thriller. Set in England in 1979, it tells the story of Vincent, Laurence and William, identical triplets raised under the Sycamore Scheme, a secretive government project housed in an isolated care home. At first, there is something of a sleepy fairy tale in the way the boys are raised in isolation, their dreams reaching seaward, 'a gentle hushing as constant as the hushing of our own breaths, our own blood'. Overseeing them are three matriarchs, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, who monitor every detail of the boys' lives. Dreams are catalogued in The Book of Dreams, lessons in The Book of Knowledge and every offence in The Book of Guilt. READ MORE But beneath the routine, something feels wrong. This is not parenting, it is programming. The strangeness seeps in slowly, with devastating effect. The boys begin to question why their meals are laced with medicine or why their reading is confined to dusty encyclopedias. 'We didn't know the name of our sickness, and its symptoms varied from month to month and boy to boy; we just called it the Bug.' They are promised a reward, a place in the Big House by the sea in Margate, a paradise of endless play. Interwoven with their story is that of 13-year-old Nancy, kept inside by her overprotective parents in Exeter. Her growing claustrophobia mirrors the boys' captivity. Meanwhile, the Minister of Loneliness leads a government effort to dismantle the Sycamore Homes. Chidgey writes with surgical precision and emotional weight. Like Never Let Me Go, it gradually unveils a reality that feels disturbingly plausible. The speculative premise, that children are 'copies' raised for obedience and discarded at signs of deviance, becomes a chilling metaphor for institutional control. The Book of Guilt is a singular story that lingers, and burrows into the darker corners of childhood, surveillance, and what it means to truly see, or be seen. The result is a novel of conscience and consequence: quietly devastating, fiercely intelligent and unforgettable.
New York Times
26-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Jan Todd May Be the Reason You're Lifting Weights
On a foggy day in the summer of 1979, Jan Todd pulled on a navy tracksuit and combed her long blond hair, letting it hang loose down her back. She had flown to Scotland to attempt to lift a massive set of boulders known as the Dinnie Stones, each outfitted with an iron ring. In the 120 years since a Scottish strongman famously hoisted the stones, thousands had tried and failed the test of strength. Of the 11 who had succeeded, all were men. She was 5-foot-7 and 195 pounds; the stones together weighed 733 pounds. As she approached the boulders outside a 240-year-old inn, a crowd gathered. Finding the right stance was challenging, but eventually she straddled the rocks, adjusted her hand straps for a better grip, clasped the rings and pulled. One creaked off the ground but the other held firm. She felt her face flush. Then she reminded herself why she wanted to lift them: to show herself, and the world, that a woman could. She bent her knees, took a deep breath and yanked one boulder off the ground, then the other. The feat wouldn't be replicated by another woman until 2018. In the ensuing decades, Jan Todd went on to shatter powerlifting records, earn a Ph.D. devoted to the history of strength and exercise, create a doctoral program, launch an academic journal and open the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center, a sprawling museum, library and archive dedicated to the pursuit of physical potential. Collectively, through relentless force of will, she helped to transform strength training from a fringe activity into the cornerstone of healthy living that it is today, particularly among women. 'I do think that I have helped make it possible for more women to understand that it is actually OK to be strong, it's OK to have muscles,' Dr. Todd, now 73, said while giving me a tour of her museum on the fifth floor of the University of Texas at Austin football stadium. She had greeted me in the museum's lobby alongside a 10-and-a-half-foot replica of the ancient statue of Farnese Hercules, with its rippled abs and huge quadriceps. Wearing a billowy floral blouse and large hexagonal glasses, Dr. Todd walked with a pronounced limp and gave the impression of a proud den mother. She guided me through the museum's galleries and backrooms, all shrines to strength. The rooms were filled with artifacts of strongmen and strongwomen throughout history, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Josephine Blatt, a turn-of-the-century weight lifter known as Minerva. The center holds more than 40,000 books, and in a back corner there's a chunky early 20th-century dumbbell ('almost unliftable,' Dr. Todd said) next to a Shake Weight. 'I need to save them,' she said of the artifacts around her. If not, she added, 'maybe nobody else will.' Once a sideshow oddity, weight lifting has seen a surge in popularity since the late 1980s, with strength training now more popular than cardio, according to some reports. Everyone today, from pregnant women to older adults with arthritic knees, is encouraged to build muscle, thanks in part to people like Dr. Todd and her students. 'Jan Todd is a legend in the world of strength,' wrote Mr. Schwarzenegger, who has known and collaborated with her for decades, in an email. 'She's a pioneer who led the way for strongwomen all over the world. She's studied it more than anyone I know, and she's also lived it.' Once known as 'the world's strongest woman,' Dr. Todd once bent bottle caps with her fingers, lifted her Ford Fiesta for fun and drove nails through wooden boards with her palms. But greater feats were still to come. Learning to flex Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, Dr. Todd, then Janice Suffolk, wasn't encouraged to flex her muscles, physically or intellectually. Her family was poor, without an indoor bathroom for a while, and her father, a steel mill worker, didn't see the point in educating women. And neither was he a fan of girls playing sports. Janice was always bigger than her friends, wider and sturdier, 'like a larger species of the same animal,' she told me. More like a 'Clydesdale than a thoroughbred,' she said. After her parents divorced, her mother encouraged Janice to join the high school swim team, but she felt ashamed when she couldn't fit into the required swimsuit. 'I didn't have any appreciation yet that the bigness of my body,' she said, would 'make it possible for me to be who I became.' As a college student at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., she met Terry Todd, a 6-foot-2 national powerlifting champion and a professor there. Terry fell in love with Jan when he saw her flip a massive log at a barbecue. 'She was a natural force. Mount Rushmore,' he told Sports Illustrated in 1977. 'There was something about the way she stepped up to that log and lifted it,' he later told People. 'No giggling, no false modesty.' According to family lore, when he told his grandmother about Jan, he opened with: 'You know, she is perfectly leveraged for the squat.' They married and Terry encouraged her to start weight lifting and then powerlifting. She was a natural. One day at the grocery store, she picked up a giant watermelon and was surprised to discover that it felt light. She began to see her strength, even her size, as an asset. 'If the watermelon is not heavy, the dog food bag is not heavy and your grocery bags aren't heavy,' she said, 'you begin to realize that so many things in your life are easier.' Still, she had few role models for what a physically strong woman could look like. After all, even Wonder Woman's muscles were relatively small. Around this time, Terry told her about a storied early-20th-century strongwoman, Katie Sandwina, also known as Lady Hercules. A star of the Barnum and Bailey circus, she was nearly six feet tall, more than 200 pounds and billed as the world's strongest and most beautiful woman. Jan was captivated. It was a whole new model of womanhood. She began looking into the histories of other strongwomen, with names like Vulcana, Athleta, and 'Pudgy.' She found that understanding the people who came before helped her embrace her own power. 'It was reassuring to me,' she said. In the mid-1970s, the couple moved to a farm in Nova Scotia, where Jan taught high school English by day and trained by night. She kept a set of barbells in the back of her classroom. Throughout this time, Dr. Todd set more than 60 national and world records and was profiled by Sports Illustrated in 1977. Coaches around the country began tearing out the article and posting it in girls' locker rooms as inspiration. Johnny Carson invited her onto 'The Tonight Show,' where she deadlifted 415 pounds for an audience of 14 million viewers. The pursuit of power In the early 1980s, Jan and Terry moved to Austin, and Jan got a job at the University of Texas teaching weight lifting and coaching the school's powerlifting teams. She realized that few people studied the history of sports, let alone strength training, and that most exercise physiologists focused on aerobic activities, like running and cycling. So she started a Ph.D. in American studies, crafting her coursework around the history of muscle and exercise, particularly among women, and became an outspoken promoter of strength. It wasn't easy. Around the department, she often felt eyes on her biceps. It seemed you could be a meathead or an egghead, but you couldn't be both. Her degree was delayed more than a year when the department chair decided that, despite her excellent grades, her work in the women's studies wasn't serious enough. 'I don't think I could ever be anybody for him other than the weight lifting lady,' she said. She kept pushing. She co-wrote the first scientific guidelines on strength training for women, helping to dispel fears about its potential danger to women's bodies. She and Terry created the first academic journal dedicated to the history of strength sports and exercise — Iron Game History — in 1990. It gave strength scholars a place to publish, and Dr. Todd still edits the journal today. In it, she has documented dozens of strongwomen lost to history — women who hoisted cannons, twirled their husbands like a rifle or lifted two men with one arm. Longtime colleagues say Dr. Todd is unrelenting, building up the people around her and lifting her field and students — many who have become leading exercise scientists, health researchers and historians. 'Jan is a really good — I won't call it a pusher, I'll call it a masher,' said Kyle Martin, a longtime colleague and curator of her museum. She is constantly mashing together people, sources and ideas, he said. Pumping the iron game Not long after they moved to Texas, Jan and Terry started trying to have children. Getting pregnant was taking longer than Dr. Todd had hoped, and in her darker moments, she wondered if the fearmongers who said lifting could wreck a woman's fertility were right. Then at 36, not long after learning that her degree would be delayed, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was told she had less than a 25 percent chance of survival. Driving back from a doctor's appointment, Terry turned to her and asked: 'When have you not been in the top 25 percent of anything?' What followed was surgery and treatments and moments when she struggled to get out of bed (though she kept lifting). Throughout the ordeal, she called on the same drive she used as an athlete. She eventually beat the cancer, but she would never be able to have children. So she got back to work. For years, Jan and Terry had filled rooms of their home with strength memorabilia and artifacts they had collected, convinced that they might someday be of interest to scholars. The Todds knew that researchers depend on historical objects, photographs and texts. The couple threw their energy into creating a museum. 'I'm not going to have children,' she remembers thinking at the time. 'If there is a legacy for me or for Terry, for both of us hopefully, it's going to be this place.' In 2008, after decades of petitioning, lobbying and fund-raising, they opened the Stark Center in a 27,500-square-foot space inside the stadium. There are posters of Katie Sandwina, the circus strongwoman, photos of the Muscle Beach star Pudgy Stockton (one of Dr. Todd's mentors) and of Mr. Schwarzenegger posing on the cover of Iron Man magazine. There's also the four decade backlist of Shape magazine, the first dedicated to women's fitness. 'I remember clearly seeing the very first volume,' she said while thumbing though a copy. The cover featured Miss Universe in a purple catsuit promising to help readers 'bodysculpt.' 'That was a big thing.' Strong like Jan In 2018, Terry died. Then, five years ago, on her 68th birthday, Dr. Todd went for an evening drive with friends in their off-road vehicle. Suddenly, a couple wild boars darted in front of them. Her friend slammed the brakes and the vehicle skidded into a ditch, then flipped. Dr. Todd, a woman who had lifted countless cars, was trapped under one for more than an hour. The accident shattered her ribs, wrist, ankle bones and a hip but didn't damage any organs. Doctors told her that her muscles might have protected her from more serious injury, even saving her life. She moves differently since the accident — 'like a drunken penguin,' she told me, as she sipped a Diet Coke from a large tumbler with the words 'DON'T WEAKEN.' We sat in lounge chairs on her back patio, as her two 150-pound bull mastiffs played by her feet. Nowadays she lifts less, likes to garden and travels to Scotland most summers to watch others try to lift the Dinnie Stones. Dr. Todd is also finally getting wider attention for her academic work, which is featured in two new books about the science and history of weight lifting. In them she is portrayed as an almost mythic figure. 'Nobody has integrated the greatest powers of muscle and the greatest powers of mind in athletics and academics as seamlessly as she has,' said Michael Joseph Gross, author of 'Stronger: The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives.' Near the end of our interviews, Dr. Todd brought me into her garage, which is bursting with overflow from the Stark Center; shelves of artifacts and keepsakes from her own life and the history of strength training. She opened boxes at random to show me medals, log books, posters, hundreds of photos and an archive documenting decades of Dinnie Stone lifts. We eventually arrived at her rack of weights, unceremoniously squeezed into a back corner. She hasn't used them much since her accident, she said. She greeted them quietly, like a relic from her own history. But she seemed OK with this. 'Even as broken down as I am,' she said, 'I can still pick up the 50-pound bag of dog food and pour it in the bowl and not have to worry too much about that. And I can carry in my firewood.' And she can still bend bottle caps with her bare hands.
South China Morning Post
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
When rain dampened disco group Boney M's Hong Kong debut
'More than $1 million worth of sound equipment – 12 tons of it – will arrive here next month, accompanied by 31 musicians, dressers, secretaries, technicians, and stage road crew which comprise the four member group Boney M ,' reported the South China Morning Post on April 16, 1979. 'Already nearly all of the 10,000 tickets for the group's concert at the Hongkong stadium have been sold. South China Morning Post previews the arrival of Boney M on April 16, 1979. Credit: SCMP Archives 'The group was first conceived in Germany by its manager, Mr Frank Farian, in 1976, and its first big hit was 'Daddy Cool'. Since then there have been a string of hits including 'Love For Sale', 'Ma Baker', 'Belfast', 'Rivers of Babylon', 'Brown Girl in the Ring' and 'Rasputin'. 'They have also done tours of the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and fairly recently Russia, where they proved to be very popular. The West Germany-based Jamaican disco group, Boney M, performs at a concert at the Hong Kong Stadium in May, 1979. Photo: SCMP Archives 'The group's agent, Mr Bryan Miller [said], 'They asked us to tone down the sexy parts, which we couldn't understand as the girls are beautiful, the costumes are good and the show is not at all sexily oriented. Anyway we went ahead as if we were doing a show in Europe and everybody had a good time.' On May 15, the Post reported that 'The original show, scheduled for Saturday was cancelled early in the day when it became apparent that the rain would not abate. Even though it eventually did, the rain was back again on Sunday, thus pre-empting that evening's concert. Yesterday dawned with more of the same, but the promoter, Mr Pato Leung , held off the inevitable cancellation until about 4pm. Boney M perform at the Asian Amateur Singing Contest organised by Hong Kong's Rediffusion Television station. Photo: SCMP Archives 'And following the group's television appearance at the Asian Amateur Singing Contest this evening, Boney M will be Bangkok-bound to complete the rest of its Southeast Asian tour. But not to worry, Mr Leung said yesterday. Following engagements in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, Boney M will be back to fulfil its Hong Kong commitment. 'If, however, rain once again forces cancellation of the show on those evenings, there will be no 'sixth' chance.'
What's On
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- What's On
The Smashing Pumpkins are coming to Abu Dhabi this October
Way to dive in to Q4… Live music fans will want to brace themselves for a real rock invasion when Chicago natives, The Smashing Pumpkins take to the stage at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, October 9 as part of their Rock Invasion 2025 World Tour . With Abu Dhabi's never-ending, electrifying events calendar serving up one superstar performance after another, these guys are a unit you'll definitely want to catch live, so you get the last quarter of the year underway to the sounds of timeless riffs and alternative rock. Media: Instagram, Getty The near-40 year-strong band grew in fame in the '90s, with albums such as Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness , which spawned hit singles including 1979 and Tonight Tonight. One look at those videos on YouTube and you'll know they're from a nostalgia-inducing time i.e. the good ol'days i.e. the '90s, when your summer break often meant lounging around and watching music videos on MTV. While their sounds are defined by memorable riffs and lively beats that frame Billy Corgan's voice distinctly, it's not often you find a hit band that can produce real rock energy while incorporating dreamy, almost soothing sounds. Well, The Smashing Pumpkins can, and they're coming to town this Ocotber. Tickets Ticket presales begin May 22 at 10am, while general sales begin on May 23 at 10am. Register here. The Smashing Pumpkins, Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, October 2025. > Sign up for FREE to get exclusive updates that you are interested in
Geek Tyrant
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Steve Martin Breaks the Fourth Wall in Rare Promo For His Classic Comedy THE JERK — GeekTyrant
Back in 1979, Steve Martin did something a little different to promote his classic 1979 comedy The Jerk . In a special trailer labeled 'For Theater Owners Only,' Martin stares directly into the camera and delivers a pitch tailor-made for theater operators, telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. Of course, the whole thing was laced with Martin's signature absurd humor. He assures theater owners that this trailer is strictly not to be shown to the 'general public.' But, it was shown publicly to audience before it disappeared. That would've been the end of it, if not for the folks at Shout! Studios, who unearthed this obscure promo gem and included it on their Blu-ray release of The Jerk . As noted: 'While copies of this trailer exist in various archives, it is not available for streaming online….. Until now. Thanks to Shout Factory for putting this on their recent Blu-Ray release of the classic film.' It's a rare, fourth-wall-breaking slice of movie marketing history. This is a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy!
