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I had always been attracted by Manchester, a place of intellectual excellence and the home of the famous Hallé Orchestra. During the war, the Mathematics Department at Manchester University was small; but it included some renowned scholars. The Head of Department was I. J. Mordell, a distinguished mathematician, who, unfortunately, was of a rather selfish disposition. On a war-time visit to Manchester I asked Mordell whether there was any prospect of employment for me and he offered me the position of Lecture Assistant explaining that my duties would be to take over his lectures when he was away, also to keep lists and attendance records of his students (he hated administration) and, if the need should arise, go to his home for a stint of baby-sitting. I decided that it would be better for me to stay at St Andrews.
Soon after the war Mordell left Manchester to take up a senior post at Cambridge, and the Mathematics Department at Manchester was completely transformed. It was placed under the joint leadership of M. H. A. (Max) Newman and Sidney Goldstein. They were eminent mathematicians who had used their talents with outstanding success during the war. Goldstein, an expert in aerodynamics had made important contributions to the aircraft industry. Newman had been in charge of a section (called 'Newmanry' at the time) of the celebrated team of mathematicians at Bletchley Park who broke the German military code.
Now in peace-time Newman and Goldstein were determined to make Manchester one of the foremost centres of mathematics in the country. Their immediate task was to appoint new members of the teaching staff. The first advertisement was for the post of an applied mathematician. I was so keen to move to Manchester that I put my name forward; after all, my present position at St Andrews was that of an applied mathematician. I was pleased that I was called for an interview and I felt that is was going well. Professor Goldstein said: "If you get this job, you will have to do a fair amount of service teaching, especially for engineers, who have to study mathematics in some depth. Of course, also for physicists and you may even have to teach chemists. After a short pause he added in a low voice: "Mathematically speaking, chemists are the lowest form of humanity." I promised to do my best to teach all layers of humanity. I went back to St Andrews hoping that I should soon get a favourable reply. However, a few days later a hand-written letter from Professor Newman arrived, in which he told me that the Committee had decided not to appoint me to the post of an applied mathematician as it was felt ( quite correctly) that my main interest was still in the pure side. But he lessened my disappointment by adding that there would shortly be a vacancy for a lecturer in pure mathematics and that he would regard me as a very strong candidate. All I needed to do was to write to the Registrar saying that I was interested in this post. No further interview would be required. In due course I was happy to receive the confirmation that I had been appointed to a lectureship in mathematics for a probationary period of three years at an annual salary of £550.
Further appointments for the Department were soon authorized and before long, all those who had been candidates at the first interview, were added to the faculty. We became close colleagues. I formed friendships with some of them which extended to our families and that lasted long after we left Manchester to continue our careers elsewhere.
Max Newman was a highly efficient and resourceful Head of Department. His style of leadership was somewhat autocratic. At the end of the term one would find a piece of paper on one's desk saying for example: "Next term you will give a course of lectures on projective geometry," without having previously been asked whether one knew anything about the subject. At a personal level he appeared aloof and reserved; during the sixteen years that I was a member of his staff I was always "Ledermann" to him. Yet he could also show personal consideration towards me. When we moved to Manchester in the autumn of 1946 we initially stayed in furnished rooms as there was not enough time to look for a house and solve the financial problem of a purchase. Evidently, Newman noticed that Rushi and I were not very comfortable. But I was surprised when after the end of the summer term 1947 he invited us to stay at their beautiful house at Altringham near Manchester while he and Mrs Newman were on holiday in Wales. The only condition attached to this offer was that we should look after the hens kept in their garden. (In 1947 we were still living under rationing and people were encouraged to supplement their food supply.) I had no previous experience of keeping live stock. In particular, I did not know that hens indulge in racial discrimination: one of Newman's hens was brown, all the others being white. The brown hen was constantly being chased away from the bowl of food we put into the garden so that eventually we had to provide an extra little bowl for the persecuted creature.
I believe Newman respected my experience and interest in teaching. He appointed me to be a member of the committee, chaired by him, whose task was to review the teaching of mathematics at school. The committee sometimes met in Cambridge where the Newmans still had a house (Mrs Newman was a writer and Manchester did not suit her artistic temperament.) On such occasions I was his guest at their charming converted farm house and he even invited me once to dinner at St John's, his Cambridge College.
Soon after the war some of the leading British mathematicians who included Max Newman and his friend, the charismatic Oxford topologist J. H. C. ('Henry') Whitehead, decided that it would be desirable to have an annual meeting of mathematicians in order to stimulate research and to give younger mathematicians the opportunity to be seen and heard. The meeting, henceforth to be known as the British Mathematical Colloquium, would be held during the Easter Vacation at a university that was willing and able to be the host. The programme was to be strictly confined to high-grade mathematics. There was to be no provision for entertainment or for the introduction of guests. Newman and his friends had engaged the speakers but a great deal of administrative and domestic work had still to be done to launch the project. Remembering that I had taken part in organizing one of the Edinburgh Colloquia, Newman called me to his office one morning and said "Ledermann, I want you to make all the necessary preparations for the British Mathematical Colloquium that is to have its inaugural meeting in Manchester next autumn (September 1949). I want you to understand that the meeting will be devoted solely to mathematics - "no wives and no dogs."
This task placed a heavy responsibility on me. After sending out programmes and application forms, I estimated that about eighty persons would attend (the number is now several hundred). It was one of my duties to find suitable accommodation. I chose Dalton Hall, a residence for male students. The house was run by the Society of Friends. I had a personal connexion with Dalton Hall. Its principal at the time J. (Jock) Sutherland, whose wife was the former Mary Lakeman, the lovely leader of our chamber music at St Andrews. I had been appointed to give tutorials at the Hall in the evenings, which gave me the opportunity to get to know some of our mathematics students, who stayed at the hall, on a more personal level. Dalton Hall was a comfortable place and the food was good. As the Hall was at some distance from the University, I hired Manchester Corporation Buses to convey the members of the Colloquium in the morning from Dalton Hall to the University and bring them back in the evening. Also I had inspected and reserved suitable lecture rooms at the University and made arrangements for meals and refreshments to be served between the sessions. However, severe anxiety was caused when, only a few days before the start of the conference, I was admitted to hospital suffering from acute appendicitis. Fortunately, I was discharged just in time to receive the guests at Dalton Hall, although on doctor's order I was not allowed to carry their suitcases. Everything appeared to be going well until Henry Whitehead strode in. Even before I could show him his room, he demanded in a firm voice: "Ledermann, where is the bar?" The extent of my failure now became apparent. I am not a teetotaler, but the provision of alcoholic beverages did not occur to me as a prerequisite for a major mathematical conference. However, Henry Whitehead obviously had different views. I did not know that he was accustomed to drinking one or more pints of beer at various times of the day. It was therefore with deep regret that I had to inform him of the strict ban on alcohol at Dalton Hall in accordance with the rules laid down by the Society of Friends. I think Whitehead never forgave me my blunder. Despite all the work I had done to mount the Conference I was immediately dropped from the organizing committee. However, the British Mathematical Colloquium continues to flourish as an important annual event (needless to say, it is now always equipped with a bar).
By the early 1950's the mathematics staff had risen to about 30 members. There were not enough rooms to provide each of us with an individual office, so we had to share rooms. I believe the loss of privacy was amply compensated by the opportunity to have closer personal relations with some of your colleagues and, in particular, to exchange ideas about research topics. Moreover, for some obscure administrative reason, we had frequently to change our room mates, which presented us with welcome variety. During that period almost all my research papers were written either in conjunction with colleagues or had their origins in discussions with them.
The Mathematics faculty included several persons who, like myself, had escaped from Nazi persecution and found refuge in Britain. They were among those colleagues with whom I had the opportunity to engage in research.
G. E. H. (Harry) Reuter was the son of Ernst Reuter, a prominent member of the German Social Democratic party at the time of the Weimar Republic. When Hitler came to power, the Reuters left Germany to escape from political persecution. After the war Ernst Reuter returned to Berlin and was the city's successful mayor during the Soviet blockade. In gratitude for his leadership and service, one of the main squares in Berlin is now called the Ernst Reuter Platz. Harry was sent to England in 1935 at the age of 14. He lived with the family of the Cambridge mathematician Charles Burkill. Harry was educated at the Leys School from where he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. When I first met him on his appointment at Manchester he struck me as a typical young Englishman both in appearance and in speech; for he had changed his language before the critical age, said to be about 16, after which the stigma of a foreign accent cannot be eradicated. Harry was a very fine analyst with a profound knowledge of analytical methods and a sure judgment as to how and when to apply them. My collaboration with him gave me great pleasure. Also my wife and I enjoyed having him and his wife Eileen as friends while we lived together in Manchester. Harry and I wrote two papers about a topic in probability theory known as Markov processes. I was pleased that they were well received by experts in this field. The eminent scholar D. G. Kendall referred to them as "two path-breaking papers."
By any standards Kurt Mahler must be regarded as one of the most remarkable persons in 20th century mathematics. He was born in 1903 into a middle-class German-Jewish family of modest means. In early childhood he contracted tuberculosis of the knee which rendered him lame throughout his life. By virtue of his illness his schooling was irregular. But he was fond of reading. As a boy he came by chance across a book of geometry which fascinated him, although at the time he could hardly have understood its contents. He continued his self-study of mathematics and even started to write mathematical articles. One of these papers found its way to Carl Siegel, an eminent German mathematician. Siegel was so impressed that, together with a school teacher, he arranged for Mahler's formal education to be continued so that he could be admitted to a university. In 1927 Mahler obtained his Ph.D. degree at Frankfurt, and he also spent some time at Göttingen.
He realized early that he could not survive in Nazi Germany. He went first to Holland and then to Britain, where Mordell had offered him a modest position at Manchester. He remained in Manchester when Newman and Goldstein took over the Mathematics Department. His outstanding research contributions were soon recognized: he was appointed to a Personal Chair, an honour which had never before been bestowed, and he was elected to the Royal Society.
Although Mahler could make social contact at a superficial level he was fundamentally a lonely and self-reliant man. He remained unmarried and seemed to have had few close friends. Even the number of his research students was rather small. He lived in a comfortable residence, called Donner House, which was reserved for single faculty members. He arranged his life according to a strict time table: he would go to bed every day at 9.30 p.m. even when he had guests, whom he would then pass on to a colleague "for entertainment."
He seemed to have some anxiety about getting enough food. At the annual Vice-Chancellor's Reception the whole faculty were invited to a supper party in a large hall. Along the walls a set of tables bore delicious food beautifully displayed. When the doors of the hall were opened, the invited guests rushed forward to help themselves to as much as could decently be put on a plate. (Many of us had not yet overcome the greed caused by war-time deprivation.) To our surprise Mahler was already in the hall, seated behind one of the tables and lustily engorging. Evidently, the waitresses had let him in through a back door, perhaps out of pity for his disability.
Mahler had two hobbies: photography and the Chinese language. He made nice photographs, especially of children, and he liked to tell us that he had mastered about 2,000 Chinese characters and could read classical Chinese stories.
He must have been constantly preoccupied with mathematics. His output was enormous: at least one major research article each term. The obituary published in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society 24 (1992) 381-397 lists 221 papers by him.
It was my good fortune that, for a time, I shared an office with Mahler. He aroused my interest in the geometry of numbers, to which he had made major contributions. I was very pleased to be a co-author with Mahler of two rather long papers on this subject, the second of which had as a third co-author J. W. S. Cassels, whom I was very pleased to have as a colleague at Manchester.
Mahler frequently gave research lectures at the weekly seminar of the Department. His talks were well organized. Sentences that would have to be referred to subsequently were highlighted with a frame around them and the blackboard was quickly covered by a multitude of rectangles. Mahler spoke clearly, albeit with a strong German accent; what was more disconcerting was the fact that his writing had retained the features of Gothic-German script, which rendered some of the letters difficult to decipher. I remember that during one of Mahler's seminars, one of our colleagues was so irritated that he interrupted saying: "Mahler can't you write more legibly? You are boasting that you have mastered 2,000 Chinese characters, surely you can take the trouble to learn to write 26 English characters!" A crisis occurred in Mahler's life when Donner House closed down and he was obliged to find his own accommodation. Unfortunately, Mahler had a phobia about using the telephone and he was inexperienced in business matters. He asked me to find a house for him and to undertake all the necessary negotiations. We lived in Ashwood Avenue, a quiet street in a residential part of Manchester. A small house in our street was vacant. I thought this would suit Mahler since several mathematicians, apart from ourselves, lived in the same street. Of course, it would be necessary for Mahler to engage a housekeeper, since he completely lacked domestic skills. I suggested that he should put an advertisement into the local paper. But I warned him that he should not emphasize the fact that an unmarried professor was seeking female assistance. However, he seems to have disregarded my warning; for a few days later he appeared at our house carrying a suit case. He opened the suit case and said "These are all the replies I had," and dozens of letters from middle-aged ladies fell to the floor many accompanied by photographs. He appointed one of the applicants to be his housekeeper. But it was a dismal failure: the woman was domineering and ordered poor Mahler about. So after suffering for a few years he was pleased to accept the offer of a Chair at Canberra, where he would be looked after at University House in a dignified manner. I lost touch with Mahler after his move to Australia. He obviously remained active there, because he published about seventy papers after leaving Manchester.
Despite his foreign demeanour Mahler was strongly patriotic after he became a British subject in 1946. When the political changes after the war were being discussed, he declared emphatically that "we should keep India and not surrender any part of our empire."
All in all, Mahler could be good company. I am glad I knew him and I remember him with affection and admiration.
B. H. (Bernhard) Neumann joined the mathematics department at Manchester a few years after me. I remembered him well from my student days in Berlin. He was two years my senior and I always looked up to him because he was working for his doctorate while I was pursuing the more modest course for the State Examination (Teachers' Diploma). By the time he came to Manchester he had already a high reputation as an expert in group theory and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1959.
I was very pleased when he invited me to collaborate in a piece of research which led to the publication of two joint papers.
P. J. (Peter) Hilton joined the mathematics faculty at Manchester around 1950. As a very young man he had been a member of the code-breaking team at Bletchley. Subsequently he was a student of Henry Whitehead at Oxford specializing in algebraic topology. I was interested in some purely algebraic aspects of this far-reaching and fertile subject. Peter and I published several joint papers on what we called topological ringoids. Peter and Margaret Hilton together with their two sons lived in a house opposite ours in Ashwood Avenue. We soon developed a warm house-to house friendship which, I am pleased to record, continues to this day even after the Hiltons had left Manchester.
With some of my colleague it was not mathematics but music that brought us together. Both Arthur and Dorothy Stone were members of the mathematics department. Arthur was an able violinist; he led the string quartet in which I played the viola. Our excellent cellist was Nancy Lighthill, the wife of James (later Sir James) Lighthill. James was a very good pianist. The Lighthills also lived in Ashwood Avenue, a few doors from us. Our string quartet met at their house. While we were playing, James came to our house and played piano duets with Rushi; although our drawing room was not large, we were able to place in it the beautiful Blüthner grand piano that had belonged to Rushi's parents and a Schwechten upright piano of good quality; it had been in my parents' flat in Berlin and they brought it with them when they emigrated to England. Rushi and James attempted some quite ambitious works, such as a Beethoven piano concerto, where one pianist played the original solo part and the other played the orchestral accompaniment. In the meantime we enjoyed ourselves with some of the classical string quartets. At coffee time, Rushi and James joined us at the Lighthills' house.
It was a great gain for the University of Manchester when Alan Turing joined the mathematics department in 1948. He was famous for the brilliant work he had done before and after joining the team at Bletchley and he had been awarded the O.B.E. in 1944 for his contribution to the war effort. Because of a minor speech defect he did not feel comfortable about lecturing to a large class of undergraduates, and Max Newman asked me to take over the course originally assigned to Turing, It was most stimulating to talk to him over lunch and to listen to his mathematical ideas. One of his greatest achievements was the construction of the computer, one of the first in Britain. It occupied a large part of the top floor of the engineering building, its vast size being due to the fact an enormous number (about one thousand, if I remember rightly) of electronic valves had to be used for its construction (transistor were not yet available). He invited Rushi and me to look at this astonishing machine. In order to demonstrate its various capabilities he used a programme for the valves to play "God save the Queen", which was very effective. Alan Turing had got into conflict with the law against homosexuality, which was then still in force. In the first instance he was put on probation provided that he underwent medical treatment. Rushi helped him to find a psychiatrist who took him on as a patient. But Alan suffered a relapse and he was afraid that he might be sent to prison. On 7th June 1954, a few days before his forty-second birthday, he died of cyanide poisoning. It was generally assumed that he killed himself in order to avoid the expected humiliation. But his mother believed that his death was due to an accident, since Alan was in the habit of carrying out chemical experiments even with dangerous substances. The law that condemned homosexuality as a criminal offence was repealed some years later, but too late to save the life of one of the most brilliant mathematicians whose work was of the greatest benefit to mankind.
As is the custom in British universities promotion is granted solely on the grounds of successful research. I was therefore pleased that in 1953 my position at the faculty was raised to that of a Senior Lecturer. In due course Max Newman asked me to take a share in the supervision of postgraduate students working for the Master's or Doctor's degree. He seemed to be of the opinion that I was a suitable person to take on the more exotic candidates. I remember a young man who came to us from Afghanistan. For the sake on anonymity I will here call him Abdul. He was a polite young man, tall of athletic build. It turned out later that his real talent was in the game of football. He had played for the national team of Afghanistan and was highly respected for his prowess in the game. Abdul had a degree in mathematics from a university in his own country and had applied to study under my supervision for the Master's degree in mathematics at Manchester. The initial interview with me was quite painful. "Do you know anything about the theory of groups?" Answer: "No." "Have you studied matrices?" Answer: "No." I went through several more topics in mathematics and always elicited the same negative reply. I got rather desperate and eventually picked out a well-known piece of school mathematics. "Tell me what is the Binomial Theorem." He said meekly: "I have heard of it, Sir; but I cannot recall it." I gave him a short paper on matrices by M. Fréchet, which, surprisingly in view of the eminence of the author, contained a minor mistake. I pointed this out to Abdul and asked him to make a correction and elaborate the point. He succeeded in doing this with a great deal of coaching. Finally, his M.Sc. thesis was accepted and he returned to Afghanistan as a proud owner of a Master's degree from a British university. According to the story which he told me subsequently, he was received by the King, who gave him a gold watch and said: "My son, any wish you express shall be granted." Abdul bowed before the King and replied: "Your Majesty, it is my wish that I shall be sent back to Manchester and register for the Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Dr Ledermann."
When shortly afterwards he turned up at Manchester. I was aghast. I said to Professor Newman: "This man is not fit to work for a Ph.D. degree. I feel that he should not be accepted as research student." But Newman replied: "Unfortunately, we cannot reject him. I had a letter from the Foreign Office supporting his application for admission. If we refuse to accept him, there will be a diplomatic incident. So, I am sorry, you have supervise him for a Ph.D." In contrast to us, Abdul was very happy to be back in Manchester, not least because he would now again be able to watch Manchester City, his favourite football club. He preferred it to Manchester United, whose followers, he said, were rather vulgar. Of course, it was difficult to think of a research topic that was not above Abdul's capacity. I suggested a problem in the theory of group characters which required a great deal of complicated calculations. I hoped that, given his diligence and perseverance, Abdul would make some useful contributions to this problem. But progress was very slow. He came to my office almost every day and asked for some help. Then it occurred to me that D. E. Littlewood in Bangor was interested in a similar problem. So I asked him whether he would accept Abdul as a research student in Bangor rather then in Manchester. But Littlewood replied saying that Abdul would be welcome to work in Bangor and receive appropriate advice; but he would have to remain registered in Manchester, so that we should have the ultimate responsibility. Although this was only of limited help, I was relieved when Abdul accepted Littlewood's offer and left for Bangor. However, my joy was of short duration. After less than a month Abdul appeared in my office at Manchester. He looked rather dejected. I asked him: "How do you like Bangor?" He said: "I cannot live in Bangor." I was surprised, I thought that Bangor was a nice little town and I knew that Littlewood was friendly and helpful. "Sir, I cannot live in Bangor, because there is only Second Division football." So I had to yield to his high standards of the game and take him back as my research student, however arduous the supervision would be. He came to my office almost every day and with my help pushed the thesis forward a line or two. One day he came when I was not in the University. At that time I shared the room with Sandy Green. Abdul opened his heart to him and complained how hard is was to write his thesis. But after a while his face brightened up and he exclaimed: "Allah and Dr Ledermann will not let me fail." Sandy, who was aware of Abdul's passion for football, gave the appropriate answer: "You may be sure that everything will be alright in the end, because Allah and Dr Ledermann are an unbeatable team." As always, Sandy was right. In due course, Abdul's thesis was accepted and he was awarded the Ph.D. degree. Of course, he was enormously pleased. He planned to get married and said: "I do not want to spend a lot of money on my wife. I shall buy a shopkeeper's daughter; a judge's daughter would be too expensive."
Abdul returned to Afghanistan and I never heard from him again. I was told that he was appointed to be vice-chancellor of a university. But belonging to the King's party he was assassinated during the revolution which abolished the monarchy.
Ay this point I want to express my gratitude to Professor Geoffrey Howson for helping me with my reminiscences about Manchester. He was an undergraduate there in the 1950's, a resident at Dalton Hall, where he had tutorials from me and finally became a successful postgraduate students and was awarded the Ph.D. degree. His interest in these memoirs and his staunch support are invaluable to me.
The high reputation of the Manchester Mathematics Department attracted numerous visitors from this country and from abroad. I remember in particular the visit from the famous Russian mathematician P. S. Alexandrov. I do not remember the subject of his seminar lecture. But it was well received although Alexandrov had difficulty in speaking English, whilst he had an excellent command of German. His travel schedule made it necessary for him to spend the night at Manchester. Newman thought that, rather than being put up in a hotel, Alexandrov would feel more comfortable if he could stay with someone who speaks German. So he asked me if Rushi and I would be willing to give hospitality to this eminent visitor. Of course, we were very pleased to do this, and Alexandrov came with us to our house in Ashwood Avenue. While Rushi prepared the supper, Alexandrov and I went for short walk in the neighbourhood. When passing a newsagent we saw the large headlines in the evening papers announcing the successful launch of the Russian spaceship sputnik. I asked Alexandrov how it was possible for Russia to get ahead of America in space technology. His answer was that in the Soviet Union a young person is told to study what is useful to the country and not what he would like to study. Thus if he shows abilities in mathematics or engineering he has to study these subjects even he prefers to do medicine. In this way Russia acquired a large number of well-trained scientists who succeeded in building the space craft. It was evident that America agreed with this policy. For almost immediately the American government decided to expand the teaching of mathematics by providing substantial financial support, from which, incidentally, I was going to benefit a few years later.
The programme of undergraduate teaching was well organized by Newman and Goldstein. Generally I enjoyed the teaching that was assigned to me. As I was warned at the initial interview, this involved a certain amount of service teaching. But this was not an unpleasant duty. In particular, I found that the engineering students were a responsive and serious group of men (I do not think there were any girls in the class). The only problem was that they were reluctant to buy any of the text books that were recommended on the reading list. They pointed out that each term the lecturer covered only a small part of the book and different books were recommended for different terms. As the books were rather expensive, it was a waste of money to invest in them because most of their contents was irrelevant to the degree course. I took their point and proposed to design a series of inexpensive paperback, short text books, each of which would cover only the work of one term of one course of lectures. These books would be more elementary than the Oliver & Boyd series of University Texts. In fact, they would be principally designed for students for whom mathematics was a subsidiary subject. The volumes would be of uniform price (initially five shillings) and a student would have to buy only one volume for each term of a lecture course and he would gradually build up his library. I was going to call the series a Library of Mathematics. Modifying a phrase from financial policy, which was current at that tine, I said: "Pay as you learn." The manager of the University Bookshop was my friend Ernest Hochland. I told him about my project and he communicated it to a representative of the publishing firm Routledge & Kegan Paul. They liked my idea and gave me a contract for publishing the series. One of the first volumes to appear in print was my short volume Complex Numbers. At the same time the notorious novel Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, which had been banned for obscenity, was allowed to be published and aroused a certain amount of curiosity. A few weeks after my book had appeared in the shop, I asked Ernest how the sale as going and he replied: "You are running neck to neck with Lady Chatterley's Lover." It did not remain like this: but on the whole my series was well received by the public. It grew to more than twenty volumes. Unfortunately, when Routledge was taken over by a large American firm, it was decided that even a substantial sale of small books does not generate enough profit, and the whole series was deleted. This was a great disappointment to me; I had acted as editor for each of the volumes and had been in close contact with the authors. I had myself contributed three volumes. It is a shame that the greed for profit should deprive students of useful tools for their work.
In many respects Manchester was an ideal place for my private and professional life. Of course, the most important event during this period was the birth of Jonathan in 1954. Rushi's training as a Jungian psychotherapist made good progress. She had a consulting room in the house of a colleague not far from where we lived. But, as the training proceeded, it became necessary to make frequent visits to London. The train journey from Manchester to London was tedious. In those days some of the trains were still pulled by steam locomotives. Jonathan, who had just started primary school, saw his mother off at the station and said: "Mummy has gone to London in a stinker." For Rushi's sake it would have been better if we moved to London or at least somewhere near London. Moreover, there were changes in the Mathematics Department that made my work there less attractive. Most of my friends and colleagues who had joined the Department in the early years had left by 1960, mostly in order to take up senior positions elsewhere: Peter Hilton had been appointed to the Chair at Birmingham, Harry Reuter at Durham. The Neumanns and Kurt Mahler had settled in Australia and the Stones had gone to America. In addition Max Newman expressed the bizarre view that there was not much more to do in Algebra and that henceforth he would concentrate on Topology.
I was now planning to leave Manchester. A few applications for Chairs at London Colleges were unsuccessful; but a promising opportunity presented itself in 1962. We were on a farm holiday at Offham, a small village near Brighton, when I noticed that major building project was being carried out in the neighbourhood. The workmen explained that they were building a university in this beautiful part of Sussex. I made some enquiries and was told that the appointment to the Chair of Mathematics was to be made soon. I applied and was called for interview. But the appointment was given to Bernard Scott as the first and, so far, only Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sussex. He had been trained at Cambridge. His application had strong support from the mathematical establishment. He had seen me in the waiting room, together with the other applicants before the interview and therefore knew that I was interested in the University of Sussex. Shortly afterwards Bernhard invited me to join him at Sussex as a non-professorial member of the faculty. But he added that The Council of the University had decided that the usual hierarchy among members of the faculty should be simplified and that there should be only Professors and Lecturers but no Readers. In my reply I stated that I was already a Senior Lecturer at Manchester and that I was unwilling to move to another university without improving my status. Accordingly I declined his offer. I was surprised when, a few days later, John Fulton, the Vice-Chancellor of Sussex University invited Rushi and me to visit him at his home in Brighton. As guests of the university we stayed at a nice hotel on the sea front and spent a pleasant evening with John Fulton and his wife. We discovered that I had a long-standing connection with his family: my first university appointment was a temporary lectureship at University College Dundee in 1938. On my arrival I was introduced to the Principal of the College, whose name was Fulton. It now transpired that he was John Fulton's father. I indicated that I should be pleased to join the new university; but I expected to be offered a position that was more senior than the one I had in Manchester. John Fulton agreed and he said that he would ask the Council to reverse their decision not to have Readers. He would offer me a Readership in Mathematics. I accepted his proposal and decided to move from Manchester to Sussex.
On my return to Manchester there was just enough time to observe the statutory time for handing in my resignation. Max Newman was very angry. He had lost quite a large number of experienced staff and he had expected me to stay. I had been in Manchester for sixteen years. But there would be no ceremony; no glass of sherry, let alone a farewell dinner for my departure. On my last day, which was during the summer holidays, I went to my office at the University, packed all my books and papers into some boxes which were sent to my home. There was none of my colleagues to say good-bye. Elsie Connery, our nice Secretary noticed how depressed I was; but she only offered this advice: "Don't indulge in self-pity; it will do you no good."
Twelve years later I saw Newman again. The twenty-fifth meeting on the British Mathematical Colloquium was held in Manchester where the first meeting took place in 1949. The organizers invited Newman and me as guests of the Colloquium because Newman had been the Chairman and I the Secretary of the first Colloquium, Newman was quite friendly towards me. He seemed to bear no grudge. But he was deeply worried because his wife was suffering from a terminal illness at that time. I never saw him again.
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Children & Youth: Building tomorrow today
As young people mature, the decisions they make have an enormous impact on their families, their communities and our world. But growing up surrounded by poverty, war or in the aftermath of disaster increases their risks and limits their choices.
That's why giving children and youth the right support at this most critical time is essential to building tomorrow's strong, productive communities.
When disaster strikes, young children are especially vulnerable to developing emotional and social problems that can jeopardize their futures. Mercy Corps worked with experts to design our signature Comfort for Kids program that helps children process their trauma and recover through play, sports and art activities. See our expert's recommendations for how parents and caregivers can help children through times of crisis ▸
For adolescents faced with violence, early marriage and interruptions to schooling, we provide opportunities for community involvement, vocational training and life skills development. Our goal is to empower youth in the toughest places to make smart life choices and invest their energy in developing solutions to their countries' biggest challenges.
Greece: Hear the voices of Greece's refugee youth in new report
Over 18,000 of the migrants and refugees stranded in Greece are young people between the ages of 15 and 24. They demonstrate immense potential for positive change, but their needs are often overlooked. Our report highlights their hopes and concerns.
Somalia: Breaking the cycle of violence for Somalia's youth
How do we make Somali youth less likely to engage in violence? A new Mercy Corps report says that education isn't enough — they need engagement, too.
Greece: Providing hope for young refugees in Greece
Young people who've fled violence and sought refuge in Greece now face a severe shortage of jobs, schooling and support. We're working to give them a future.
Niger: Girl, Uninterrupted: How Dahara built a future by saying no to child marriage
Niger is one of the world's toughest places to be a girl — here, early marriage stops the majority of girls from finishing school and reaching their full potential. Find out how Dahara is bucking tradition and building a life on her own terms.
The first 1,000 days: No time for malnutrition
The first 1,000 days of a child's life, when development is happening more quickly than it ever will, is the most harmful time for them to be malnourished. Learn about the causes and effects of this devastating condition.
Lebanon, Syria: Syrian dad determined to keep refugee kids learning
Ziad will do anything to ensure his children get an education — and a future — as refugees. At this camp in Lebanon, that meant starting a school in his tent and teaching lessons himself.
Lebanon, Syria: In Lebanon, one Syrian boy forced to grow up fast
Where school is out of reach, many Syrian refugees start work young, to learn a trade and help make ends meet for their families. We meet Hammoudi, a young teen in Lebanon, who dreams of returning to school.
Jordan, Lebanon, Syria: The stolen childhoods of refugee youth
Faced with life away from home, little access to school and destitute futures, many Syrian refugee teens are being forced into adulthood at an early age. We're trying to help them regain some of what they've lost.
A brighter future starts with an education
Learn more about the many ways that you're helping Mercy Corps keep kids in school and transform communities around the world. With an education, a brighter future awaits.
Lebanon, Syria: One mother to another, Syrian refugees learn to cope
Parenting is never easy, but it's even more challenging when you are a refugee. That's why we are connecting refugee mothers in Lebanon with an expert on their situation: A Syrian refugee who can offer real-life advice.


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Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum was surprisingly excellent, but not without its "mistakes", including one that made the game's art director "want to cry a little bit". It's a mistake that will be corrected in the sequel.
Rocksteady's David Hego, responsible for the game's exaggerated aesthetic, said at this week's Develop conference that Arkham Asylum's x-ray-like "Detective Mode" visuals were just too "powerful". That some players sped through the game using Detective Vision throughout is what reportedly rubbed Hego the wrong way, according to GameSpot's account of the Develop talk.
"We're going to try not to do that mistake again," Hego said, Rocksteady will design the next game's Detective Vision "more like augmented reality next time" so that players can enjoy the sequel's art design.
While we don't know much about what Rocksteady's next Batman game will be - What will it be called? Will Robin really be in it? - we're definitely looking forward to it. Perhaps we'll hear more at Comic-Con next week...
Arkham Asylum art director talks mistakes [GameSpot]


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England 4 Montenegro 1 as gamble pays off for Hodgson
Roy Hodgson hit the World Cup jackpot after taking a punt on the kid who breached the FA's betting regulations.
Andros Townsend was fined £18,000 and banned for four months in the summer.
That misdemeanour was forgotten on Friday night though as the Tottenham winger took Montenegro apart and then scored the goal that helped England to a 4-1 victory that leaves them just one more win away from booking their place in Brazil.
Handed his debut on the most tense of occasions, Townsend played with a freedom no one else could match.
His run set up Wayne Rooney for England's opener just after the break and then, after Dejan Damjanovic had cancelled out a bizarre Branko Boskovic own goal, Townsend scored a stunning third, driving straight at the Montenegro defence before producing a brilliant finish from the edge of the area.
It was a priceless contribution for, with Ukraine beating Poland and only having San Marino to play, England had to win to remain in control of their own destiny.
Daniel Sturridge's injury-time penalty rounded off a handsome victory.
But they will take on Poland in their final match at Wembley on Tuesday without full-back Kyle Walker, suspended after being harshly booked for tugging back Stevan Jovetic in the second half.
Some of the doom mongers looked skywards upon their arrival, watched the rain fall and recalled Steve McClaren's 'Wally with the Brolly' night of distress against Croatia in 2007.
Others with longer memories talked about Jan Tomaszewski, the Polish goalkeeper dubbed a clown by Brian Clough, who prevented England from reaching the 1974 World Cup.
Those negatives were at odds with Hodgson's pre-match demeanour.
And his forceful attitude was clearly not for show either given the bold selection of Townsend.
The winger repaid him with plenty of direct running, which unsettled the Montenegro defence rather more than the curling crossed regularly dumped into the visitors' penalty area from the free-kicks the Spurs man tended to win.
Hodgson's other decision of significance, the inclusion of Sturridge, did not pay off as he would have wanted.
The Liverpool man snatched at a couple of chances, then attempted an elaborate near-post finish from Rooney's low cross at the end of the opening period when a rather more straightforward attempt was called for.
Danny Welbeck went close on a couple of occasions, including one that was deflected to leave Poleksic stranded.
But it was his Manchester United team-mate Rooney who came closest to breaking an increasingly tense deadlock.
Townsend was the architect, smashing a shot at goal Poleksic could only parry into his path.
The angle was tight. However, a player of Rooney's quality would expect to do far better than clip the outside of a post given the closeness of the contest.
As the half-time break brought news of a result in Kharkiv that meant anything other than victory would almost certainly condemn England to the hazardous play-offs at best, a few nerves could have been forgiven.
None were showing though as within three minutes of the restart England had the goal they craved.
It was no surprise Townsend was heavily involved. He charged down the wing at speed before pulling a cross back that was flicked into Welbeck's path. His shot did not beat Poleksic but it was hit with enough power to prevent the Montenegro keeper from holding it.
Rooney stuck out a leg, brought the ball under control and from a central position calmly slotted it in.
The sense of relief was palpable, matched almost by stunned amazement at the manner of England's second.
Sturridge's back-heel released Welbeck, whose cross was dangerous only for Boskovic, who, from 12 yards, somehow found the bottom corner when he was attempting to clear.
It was the type of good fortune absent when Walker picked up his costly booking, but England benefited from as Joe Hart saved from Damjanovic and StevanJovetic rattled the bar from long range.
Those misses, either side of that bizarre own-goal, seemed to sap the will from visiting legs.
Gerrard and Welbeck both failed to make the game safe but it seemed only a matter of time before someone did.
Instead, Damjanovic got his foot to Fatos Beciraj's shot to set up a nervous final 19 minutes.
For the first time Hodgson looked a little worried as he sat on the bench, chewing at his nails.
Townsend was not watching though. He just picked up the ball and ran straight through the heart of Montenegro's defence before producing a brilliant finish.
There was still time for an injury-time penalty, converted by Sturridge after he had been fouled by Ivan Kecojevic, but it was academic.
Goal difference does not matter now. Beat Poland and England are through. Fail and they head into the play-offs.
PA Media


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The second round of questioning of potential jurors in the George Zimmerman trial began Wednesday morning.
A pool of 40 potential jurors were in the Seminole County courtroom, which was reconfigured to accommodate them. Those potential jurors went through the initial round of questioning, which began last week and was focused solely on pretrial publicity.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the February 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense.
The parents of both Zimmerman and Martin were inside the courtroom Wednesday, as was Zimmerman's wife and sister. In an emailed statement, Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., said they were there for support.
"Despite safety considerations, the time was right to do what they could to visibly advocate for George's innocence," Robert Zimmerman Jr. said. "Our parents have avoided showing their face on-camera because of numerous death threats directed at our entire family."
He added that the family is caring for his ailing grandmother, which could prevent some family members from attending the court sessions.
"Going forward, security and other concerns are paramount and our periodic absence from court should not be misinterpreted as a withdrawal of support," he wrote. "Our position as a family has been clear & consistent since the night George was attacked: We are all sympathetic to the tragic reality of outliving a son or daughter, however... George acted in self-defense, self-defense should not be criminalized & we stand by George because he told the truth."
Circuit Judge Debra Nelson began by instructing the potential jurors not to talk or communicate with anyone about the case, before she read the formal charge against Zimmerman to them.
"Please understand that this questioning is not for the purpose of prying into your affairs for personal reasons but is only for the purpose of obtaining an impartial jury," Judge Nelson said.
Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda was the first to question potential jurors Wednesday.
"We are here to seek justice," de la Rionda said, before reiterating that the case should be tried inside the courtroom.
"Whatever you read or saw outside this courtroom cannot, I want to stress that again, cannot factor in any way in your decision," de la Rionda said. "What you saw on TV or on the Internet or read by virtue of what the media said is completely irrelevant."
The jury that will eventually be selected to hear the case will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, Judge Nelson said last week.
Second Round of Questioning of Potential Jurors To Get Underway in George Zimmerman Trial
Pool of 40 potential jurors has been reached in Zimmerman trial
The second round of questioning of potential jurors in the George Zimmerman trial began Wednesday morning.


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America did not invent pizza, but it does seem as if it has perfected it and made it their very own. James Beard award-winning Executive Chef Shawn McClain decided to take it a step further and make pizza his very own with his latest restaurant Five50 Pizza Bar, located inside of ARIA Casino & Resort. With Chef McClain at the helm you know you are not going to get a typical pizza and he does not disappoint.
Five50 does serve up some tasty classics, the margherita, the gotham (meatlovers) as well as providing guests with a lengthy list of toppings so that they can create your very own Five50 pizza. Chef McClain then lets his creativity out with the rest of the pizza menu, which includes: truffle, North Beach, farmstead and you get a sense that he has a liking for ricotta as the blanca and forager, as both contain that rich cheese as a topping.
So many pizzas, so many toppings, where do you begin? Well the gotham has quickly become the favorite in the short history of Five50 Pizza Bar, which opened in early July. Who doesn't love a pizza covered with a variety of meats, but Chef McClain made this truly the ultimate meat lovers with his toppings of in-house created sausage, salami, mozzarella, grana padano and imported pepperoni. That might be the most popular, but the most memorable has to be the truffle pizza. The smell alone as it is being brought to your table will live in the annals of your mind forever. The shaved truffles and truffle salami take the intensity flavor of this pizza way up. Chef McClain also added a great twist to the pizza as he placed thin slices of potato that had been cooked in olive oil before being placed on the pizza and then in the oven. You will love the texture that the potatoes bring, tender and cooked just right to give you a great bite as you are getting that chewy and crispy crust.
The most shocking item on the menu to me was the Heirloom tomato salad, shocking because I loved it so much. This salad proves that if you take some of the best ingredients of the world, the food just speaks for itself. The tomatoes were delicate and full of flavor, incredibly juicy and they were plated perfectly with the equally soft burrata cheese. Eating this salad while drinking the Lemon Basil cocktail, adult-like lemonade made with Ketel One Citroen and Stiegl Lemon Shandy, could be the best combination to combat the Las Vegas heat.
Chef McClain wanted to provide a menu that was wide ranging and he succeeded. One of his favorite items to feature on any menu is octopus and he managed to find a way to make it fit into the Five50 setting. He serves up a flawless octopus and then puts it on crunchy toasted crostini and served with a roasted fennel puree and eggplant caponata providing a wide range of flavors with each bite. Five50 also has a meat and cheese bar that is a great way to enhance your flavor experience as you can try items such as: chorizo, prosciutto in the meat department and who can pass up the incredibly rich blue cheese or try something new like the San Andreas sheep cheese from Oregon.
While pizza is king at Five50, to not mention the handmade pastas would be a crime. To find a dish like the wild mushroom ravioli in a so-called pizza restaurant was an amazing find. Not everyone is going to want to get pizza so perusing the menu if you are looking for a dish that will wow you this is it. The ravioli had the fresh just rolled slightly doughy sense to it and was filled with beautifully flavored braised veal breast and topped with mushrooms that tasted so fresh you would think they were grown on the roof of ARIA. Just to share this one at the table is a must to experience this dish.
The question on everyone's mind is what is behind the name Five50? Well first off it is the temperature of the wood-fired oven that churns out the amazing crust on Chef McClain's pizza and secondly it is the cost of a slice of pizza, $5.50. Five50 keeps the slice counter open until 2 a.m., so whether you are leaving Haze or the Gold Lounge or coming out of a show, this has quickly become the late night haven of the hungry.
Five50 has created one of the ultimate chocolate lovers desserts with the milk chocolate-lavender custard, don't be fooled by the lavender in the name of this delectable dessert. There is an undertone of lavender, but that little floral flavor is a nice compliment to a supremely chocolate dessert. While you get a great textural contrast with the combination of chocolate streusel, whipped crème fraiche and chocolate pearls, the custard really makes this a light dessert that is the perfect end to a rich meal.
Five50 Pizza Bar is the perfect compliment to ARIA, finally providing a more casual faire, while giving you first class ingredients. It really doesn't matter if you are passing by and looking for an amazing slice of pizza or if you want a sit down experience, Five50 is one of the great new treats in all of Las Vegas.
For more information on Five50 Pizza Bar, visit: http://www.arialasvegas.com/dining/restaurants/five50


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Monday 25 March 2019
"Why do they [women] get less [than men] for the same work?"Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets says the salary of women in Russia is 70% that of men. If so, the "wage gap" in the country has grown larger recently.
"There are no legal, cultural or historical reasons to hand these items over to Kyiv."Following the annexation of Crimea, the status of a collection of gold items lent to a Dutch museum prior to the Russian seizure remains in limbo, with both Kyiv and the local museums laying claim to the priceless artifacts.
"They begin with English lessons. These guys, as a rule, come from the United States; they are native speakers, which is how they attract, but after a few lectures they start including some religious topics in their texts."Kravchenko's claim is the opposite of what Russian authorities have accused the two Americans of doing. The Mormons legally entered Russia for "religious activities" but are accused of giving English language lessons instead. Experts said these accusations are fabricated.
"The archive materials...are accessible to the Bulgarian archive services and researchers, including for the originals, a part of them was returned to Bulgaria in 1949 and 1958 during the Soviet Union. Now, however, the originals cannot be handed over in accordance with Federal Law No. 64 of April 15, 1998 'On Cultural Valuables Displaced [to the USSR] as a result of World War II and Located on the Territory of the Russian Federation.' But I will repeat again, access to them is open for the Bulgarians."Partially TrueYes, the Russian law keeps the archives in Moscow, but in violation of international agreementsThe Russian ambassador speaks the truth when he says Russian law prevents Moscow from returning the Bulgarian archives. However, international law states the archives should be in Bulgaria. And the ambassador is wrong when he says the nation's documents are readily available to Bulgarians.
"Everything was done to ensure that our guys, and in their person the entire Caucasus, were humiliated and trampled in the dirt. The result speaks for itself – look at the monstrously disproportionate punishment imposed on our fighters and that [imposed on] the swaggering Irish provocateur Conor McGregor."The Nevada State Athletic Commission offered Nurmagomedov the chance to reduce his suspension to six months – the same as McGregor's – by participating in a local anti-bullying campaign, but he refused.
"This is not the first time Serebryakov has delivered anti-Russian statements…"Russian actor Aleksey Serebryakov has come under fire on Russian state media after criticizing the Kremlin for "inciting conflicts" at home and abroad. It is not the first time. Labelling dissidents "anti-Russian" is part of the broader pattern to alienate and silence government critics.
Elon is ours! Musk, who suddenly spoke Russian, is now under suspicion: who is he – the Kremlin's agent, Stierlitz or a victim of the Russian hackers?"To some it was just a joke but in Russia Elon Musk's phrase put him in the Kremlin's propaganda dictionary, where one possessive pronoun divides the world into good and evil. But it did not make the entrepreneur a Russian spy.
"The decision is clearly political in its nature and, as a matter of fact, is practically censorship — seven [Facebook] pages belonging to our news hubs in neighboring countries have been blocked."Sputnik cried "censorship" after Facebook removed 364 Facebook pages and accounts for engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behavior." But while Sputnik charged the pages were removed for their politically-motivated content, Facebook says it was a matter of "misrepresentations of their identities."
"I note that we've never, even in the days of tsarist Russia, killed people for dissent. This, by the way, is the great strength of our people."Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union have persecuted dissidents, sometimes using capital punishment. Modern Russia has abolished the death penalty, although a number of dissidents and journalists have been murdered, their cases remaining unsolved.
"In December 2018, in the Odessa region, unknown persons organized a pogrom at a church in the village of Semenovka, Belgorod-Dniester district. The attackers stole donations and desecrated the church premises."The incident in the Odessa region was totally unrelated to the fire in Kyiv, and it was an act of vandalism." No motive has been established. In Kyiv, police detained a 24-year-old homeless man who is accused of setting fire to some mattresses.
"An unmanned Tesla Model S destroyed an autonomous Promobot model v.4 in Las Vegas, USA. The Promobot cannot be repaired."This model Tesla has no self-driving mode.
"It's a provocation, specifically to coerce the Russian delegation to slam the door and pull out of PACE."The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly's letter sent to Russia and all other member states proved Slutsky's claim was false. The letter said all PACE delegations should include at least "one member of the under-represented sex appointed as a representative."


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If there was ever a Japanese automaker that liked to go after the Europeans, it's Nissan. This goes way back to the days when the Datsun 510 aimed to be the poor man's BMW 2002, and it continues today with the GT-R taking on Porsche's best.
However, this (English!) Best Motoring clip doesn't have a GT-R — it has a 350Z. But not just any 350Z! It's the Nismo Type 380RS, which featured a bored-out 3.8-liter V6 with nearly 400 horsepower and a body built to go racing.
Is the 380RS good enough to top the Porsche 997 GT3 driven by Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya? Find out from watching this clip. Also out on the field is a Mine's 350Z, but its time is tragically cut short on the track. I told you things didn't end well.
The good news is there's also an NSX-R and a Lancer Evolution IX MR thrown in to make the party extra spicy.


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Published at Sunday, July 07th, 2019 - 17:09:28 PM. Wedding Venue. By Adalric Neumann.
There are many venues all over the world that are known because of providing facilities to the guests that make their stay over there comfortable. Before hiring wedding venues, people must keep few things in mind so that the venue is perfect for the event.
Then, from this position you can start to focus your search on wedding venues that befit the general style or styles(s) you have in mind. For instance classic or vintage would tend to lead you toward old historic venues, such as castles or stately homes. Whereas contemporary might lead you toward venues that are more of a blank canvas, such as art galleries. And if you are considering funky or maybe chic, you might focus your search on appropriately styled boutique hotels.
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Australia GFS MSL Pressure/Thickness/Rainfall +24 hour Chart
About GFS
Global Forecast System. The operational numerical weather forecasting model run by NCEP. The GFS superceded the AVN and MRF models, on which it is largely based. Forecast data from the GFS is available out to 180 hours at full resolution and 16 days at a reduced resolution.
Weather News
Flash flooding on Gold Coast and Brisbane sparks calls for help as storms sweep Queensland
Dangerous storms described as a one-in-100-year event have swept through South-East Queensland overnight and into the morning, dumping heavy rain and causing flash flooding in parts of Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
WA convoy carrying thousands of donated hay bales heads to NSW to help bushfire-affected farmers
A convoy of almost a dozen trucks stocked with more than 2,000 bales of donated hay and fodder and a raft of supplies like clothes, blankets and nappies is heading from south-west Western Australia to help farmers in fire-ravaged areas of New South Wales.
BOM says more rain on way for Sydney as country creek flows for first time in five years
Water has flowed through a creek in drought-ravaged northern New South Wales for the first time in five years with more heavy rain and thunderstorms expected to hit the state over the weekend.


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Mano Amiga - Computer classroom construction
The foundation has been running a programme called Mano Amiga para la Niñez (Friendly hand for kids), which seeks to provide computer education to children and their families in less privileged areas.
SKF have supported with financial means to get the classroom ready and donations for utilities and materials required to run classroom training. With the help of SKF's it service partner, the classroom has been equipped with computers and other hardware. Classes are held by SKF employees along with other volunteers and have the capacity to host around 200 student of various age per day.


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I smiled at Trent Bridge. Yes, those of you who consider me the grumpiest man on the planet might require me to repeat that. I smiled. And what a brouhaha it caused. It concerned, of course, the now infamous substitute story. Or non-story, as it should have been. But before I talk you through that, I just want to say that I am not grumpy. I might be considered a serious person, but the reason for my often stern gaze is hereditary. All my family have low jowls; just a slight lifting of them creates a smile. I could not be happier. And I do smile sometimes, as I proved here.
I smiled at Ricky Ponting. He didn't smile back. He was in a terrible temper for some reason. Quite why he was blaming me when his partner, Damien Martyn, had called him for a suicidal single to cover, I don't know.
You know what's more? All the palaver caused me to burn my toast. Yes, that's right, it was the Saturday afternoon of the fourth Test and I was making some toast in the main changing room. I heard the roar and looked up at the television. They showed the replay. Ponting had been run out by a long way. Fantastic. What a brilliant piece of fielding. "What's wrong with Ponting? Why doesn't he want to leave the field?" I could hear people saying. I forgot about my toast and went out on to the balcony. There was an incident brewing.
Ponting was nearing the boundary's edge, very obviously swearing and cursing. He looked up and began to direct his aggression towards me. I do not honestly know what he was saying, but it did not appear very friendly. I think that we can safely assume he was abusing me.
I altered my gaze towards the England players out in the middle, to see what their reaction was. Then I glanced back down at Ponting. He was still ranting and raving. I did not want to be drawn into any sort of conflict, so I smiled. It only incensed him more. He could not take that. He completely blew his top. I did not actually think it at the time but, looking back now, that might have been the moment when it became clear England were going to reclaim the Ashes. This was an Australian side under enormous pressure. The mental strain was becoming so much that they were grasping any opportunity - however ludicrous - to hit back at us.
I might have smiled, too, because I found the whole scenario funny. There was no plan. I will state categorically here, in total honesty, that we did not have any preconceived or underhand plan to use substitutes so that we could rest our bowlers. We never have done. Never will. Ponting was clutching at straws. If he thought that he had a gripe, he chose the wrong moment to do it anyway. Durham's Gary Pratt, who effected the superb throw from cover, was on the field for Simon Jones. Jones was resting all right. He was in hospital, having an x-ray on an injured ankle for which he left the field after bowling just four overs in Australia's second-innings follow-on.
We were actually struggling to find suitable players for Trent Bridge when Steve Harmison said, "Pratty's not playing for Durham, give him a call." He is a player we have used many times before and is an excellent fielder, so we had no hesitation in doing so. When he turned up here he would have had no idea what was going to occur. Little could he have known that he would finish the summer riding on an open-top bus through London as we celebrated winning the Ashes.
We also called in Trevor Penney, Warwickshire's 37-year-old Zimbabwean. He is generally regarded as one of the best fielders to have graced the county game. I have heard the word "genius" used in respect of his fielding. Now, tell me, if we had had a plan to put some brilliant fielders out there instead of our bowlers, would we not have put Penney out there first before Pratt? Of course we would. I was told later that, soon after the Ponting incident, Penney too went out on to the field as a second substitute. I did not even realise that. It was certainly not my way of further winding up the Australians.
There were a couple of reasons why players were coming off the field during this series. The first was that some needed to relieve themselves. As simple as that. That would have represented 95% of the occasions when a substitute was used, for no more than one over at a time. These days there is considerable emphasis placed by the physiologists on the correct levels of hydration. Everyone is encouraged to drink a lot, and some have stronger bladders than others. It is not only the bowlers who come off. Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan have to on the odd occasion, and we do not want such a good captain as Vaughan off for too long - not even an over if we can help it.
Amid all this fuss did anyone actually make a note of who was coming off each time and what for? Of course they didn't, except for two people - the umpires, who have to make a note of every coming and going in the course of their duties. Not once did they raise the issue with me or Vaughan. Therefore how have we been transgressing? A lot of people seemed to jump on the substitute bandwagon without having any knowledge of the full facts. But that is nothing new. There was some ridiculous statistic that England substitutes have taken more catches than those for any other country in the last four years, but what does that prove? Nothing.
Secondly there were some players who were coming off to see the physio. Some like Vaughan (knee) and Andrew Flintoff (ankle) have had surgery, and when a niggle develops in that same area it can cause concern. Most of the time they just want reassurance that it is not the same problem as that which necessitated an operation. In any case we would not want Flintoff off for very long - he is a brilliant slip fielder and you never see these substitutes fielding there, do you?
I would actually prefer it if the bowlers did not come off so often. They expend more energy running off the field, up the stairs, into the toilet and then back down the stairs than they would grazing at fine leg or third man. Anyway, in the 90 overs played in a day, what if players are off for a total of six or eight overs? It is nothing.
This was not the first time the Australians had raised this issue of substitutes. Their coach John Buchanan had alluded to it during his rant at me after the NatWest Series. To be honest, it was good to hear such comments. We could repel them with a clear conscience. We knew that we were doing nothing wrong.
Ponting was fined 75% of his match fee for his outburst. But still he had not had enough. Speaking on a Melbourne radio station, this is what he said: "I think it is an absolute disgrace [that] the spirit of the game is being treated like that. Fletcher has known right the way through the summer this is something we haven't been happy with, but it's continued. He knows it's something that has got under our skins and I've had enough of it, and I let him know that, and most of his players too. Being here in England they've obviously got the resources to just draft in the best fieldsmen they possibly can at the time. The way they've been doing it is just before their bowlers are about to bowl; they'll send them off for a short amount of time to have a bit of a loosen-up and a massage, and come back on and bowl. As soon as they've finished their spell they'll do exactly the same thing. It's within the rules of the game but it's just not within the spirit of the game, which is what we're all trying to uphold."
As I have explained, all of this is poppycock. At no stage of the series did any of our bowlers come off for a rub-down as Ponting suggested. But I thought it best I did not react in any way to his comments. I could easily have blown this incident up, but to some degree I appreciated the stress and pressure Ponting was under. Indeed, before Ponting made those public comments, I thought the matter had been closed.
The day after the incident I was walking down the stairs from the dining room at Trent Bridge when Ponting appeared coming the other way. As he came close I stopped and extended my hand, which he shook. I didn't say anything, just nodded my head. My message was, "Let's shake hands on this and forget about it." We went in opposite directions and I thought that would be the end of it. Ian Bell happened to be walking behind me and he commented, "That was a bit of a surprise."
So too then were Ponting's later comments. Word also came back to me that there were some vitriolic comments being directed at me back in Australia. In fact, so insulting were some of the remarks by one pair of radio presenters that I received a letter from an Australian lawyer offering to act against the defamation of my character. I seemed to have become the villain who had so wronged their captain. That could not be further from the truth.
What riled me most about Ponting's comments was his reference to the spirit of the game. Let us look at a number of incidents which had already occurred in the series and see whether the Australians were being so meticulous in their upholding of the spirit of the game.
First, amid all this talk of substitutes, what about the Old Trafford Test when Michael Clarke had his back problems? When he appeared to bat in the second innings, did he have a runner? No. Did he suddenly recover that morning then? Where was he when we were smashing it around the park the day before? I also noticed that Brad Hodge was on as a substitute fielder for him; that was strange when the Australians were also talking about it being traditional to use a bowler for 12th-man duties. Why was Mike Kasprowicz or Shaun Tait not on the field? It should be remembered that Hodge took two excellent catches, one at deep squareleg in the first innings to dismiss Pietersen and the other at fine leg to end Vaughan's second innings.
Second - and this is the most serious example - whenever a decision went against Australia during the series, did you notice how Ponting would invariably walk straight up to the umpire and challenge his decision using overbearing body language? On occasions, just like in football, he was supported by Adam Gilchrist. Sometimes there was even a third person involved. Is that really what we want kids to see when they watch cricket? Is that in the spirit of the game? Did you ever see Vaughan or any of the England players challenge the umpire in that manner during the series?
Third, what about Gilchrist saying loudly so the umpire could hear "We're owed one dodgy decision here, boys" in the second innings at Trent Bridge? That was reported by Simon Hughes and was no doubt unearthed during his work as the analyst in the Channel 4 van. Is it in the spirit of the game to be saying things like that?
Fourth, what about one of the Australians deliberately bowling on a pre-cut strip before the start of play on one of the match days of the Trent Bridge Test? It was clearly a strip being readied for a Nottinghamshire match, while another one had been clearly designated on the edge of the square for bowlers to practise on: that is the norm at all Test grounds. This petulant behaviour was no doubt the upshot of comments made by the groundsman before the Test, to which some of the Australians had taken exception. We also had it on good authority that the groundsman was verbally abused by some of those same Australian players.
Fifth - and this is nearly as important as the second instance - going back to the second Test at Edgbaston, was it in the spirit of the game to try to ensure that an opposition player was fined? Simon Jones was fined 20% of his match fee after pointing Matthew Hayden to the pavilion after he had him caught at slip by Trescothick for 31. But soon after that incident had occurred, when the fourth umpire came through the dressing rooms from the field after a drinks break, there were Australian players bringing it to his attention. "Make sure that you report it to the match referee" was what they were suggesting.
Finally, was it not the Australians who were warned twice for slowing the game up on the fourth day at Old Trafford as we chased runs for a declaration? Is that in the spirit of the game? The shame was that all this fuss at Trent Bridge might have detracted from a magnificent game of cricket. When I went to the press conference after that third day all the questions concerned substitutes. Never mind that Australia had followed on for the first time in 17 years and were 222-4 in their second innings. Maybe the Australians wanted something to deflect from that unwanted bit of history they were creating.
Hurt, hopes and hardship on the road to glory
First Test, Lord's
All out for 180, we had lost by 239 runs. That is a hammering and there was no escaping the fact. But there was also no excuse for the waves of negativity and depression that engulfed the country. We were written off immediately.
It was a stressful time for me and the team, but I can honestly say I always retained my belief in them throughout this period. Nobody outside the squad gave us a prayer of being able to recover. But I knew that we could. That is why I was so adamant that there should be no changes. Predictably there were widespread calls for that to be the case. But I knew that we had to remain strong in our belief in this team.
What did upset me and the rest of the squad was the comment directed at Ashley Giles by Dave Houghton, a former Zimbabwean team-mate of mine, now coaching Derbyshire. After Giles's performance at Lord's - which even he himself would say was below par - Houghton said that England would be better off playing with 10 men. What sort of comment is that? I know Houghton well and like him, and I wonder whether he was misinterpreted. If he was not, then I'm sure that he regrets saying that. It certainly hurt Giles a lot.
As did Glenn McGrath's comment that he thought the series score would be 5-0. That made an impression on everyone within the squad. It was not a very clever comment by McGrath and I wonder what his team-mates made of it deep down. It was clearly an early attempt at public humiliation, but all it achieved was to spur our team on.
Second Test, Edgbaston
I cannot deny that Glenn McGrath's withdrawal from this match gave us an enormous lift. How could it not? He had taken 9 for 82 in the match at Lord's, and is one of the great fast bowlers of all time. But, yes, there is a corollary. At Lord's everything was in his favour. Previous to that I had seen signs that he was on the wane a little. We had never hit him around with such ease at the death in one-day matches before, for instance. It seemed to me that unless the ball was seaming about, he would not find wickets so easy to come by at this advanced stage of his career. I think he would have struggled at Edgbaston.
We will never know. What we did know at 10 o'clock on that first morning was that we were batting. I do not usually watch the toss taking place, so when I heard the shout go up that we were batting I thought to myself: "Great toss to win, Vaughany." It was then that I was informed that Ricky Ponting had won the toss and inserted us.
To say it was a surprise would be to understate my reaction. It was a complete shock. What was he thinking? There had been no doubt in our minds that we were going to bat. He must have been duped by all that talk of a damp pitch. Yes, there was a possibility it might seam around a little in the first hour, but that is the case with most Test pitches. Maybe he should have changed tack once McGrath went down, but that would not have shown faith in his replacement, Mike Kasprowicz. I didn't really care. That was their problem. I was just very happy we were batting.
Third Test, Old Trafford
The final day at Old Trafford was incredible. They tell me 20,000 people were turned away at the gates. It seemed like more. It was chaos. I normally like to get to the ground early, at about 8am, but even at that time there was gridlock. I feared that I might be late for the warm-up at 9.15. My wife, Marina, came to the ground in a taxi with some players' wives just after play had begun, and she thought that there might have been a bomb scare. It seemed to her like a mass evacuation as there were so many people walking away from the ground. It is the first time that I can recall our running through a warm-up to a fully packed ground. It definitely put an extra spring in the players' strides. Those fans who made it into the ground could have asked for little more in terms of entertainment.
One more wicket, I suppose, for the win. But we gave it everything on a pitch which did not deteriorate as much as we expected or indeed hoped. I could not help feeling that the Australians had been fortunate. If it had not rained so much on the Saturday we would surely have won the match. We deserved to be 2-1 up.
Fourth Test, Trent Bridge
Could we sort it to chase 129 to win? I always thought so. My only real jitter came when Flintoff was out at 103-5. Matters were becoming very tense in the dressing room, though. As a little partnership was being built, you could sense the players becoming boisterous. Then a wicket would fall and silence would descend. The players think they have got it bad in terms of pressure, but what about me? I cannot even do anything about the situation. That is the gist of what I said to Ashley Giles when he came into the coach's room at Trent Bridge. We were four wickets down and he already had his pads on. Normally he would be the most relaxed of characters, but he was very nervous here. "I'm not sure how I am going to cope," he said to me.
"At least you are one of the players who can do something about this. Once you cross that line, you will be fine," I told him.
Shortly afterwards Giles clipped Warne through midwicket for the winning runs. We had won by three wickets. Another cliff-hanger, but we were 2-1 up, with one to play. I think I smiled again, but nobody seemed to notice this time.


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Questioned Child Care Funding Within Department of Family Services Tops Millions
Related Story
COLUMBIA - Missing paperwork within the Department of Family Services has child care recipients concerned, and has led to the questioning of $64 million allocated for child care.
Amy Todd gets state aid to put her three children, ages four, two and one, all in daycare. She says on either two or three separate occasions, the department has lost paperwork containing her Social Security number.
"You write your Social Security number on a piece of paper, and slide it under the window to hand it to them. That made me nervous," Todd said. "That's a lot of Social Security numbers and lot of papers, a lot of little papers, floating around everywhere."
This is not the only paperwork the department has been accused of losing. A search of public documentation uncovered a 2011 audit of the Department of Social Services, for poor management of records. The audit cited "a lack of overall quality control for the Child Care Program."
The audit claims three factors contributed to the weakened control system.
1. No supervisory review of child care eligibility determinations. While there is a system for monthly reviews of eligibility determinations for other DSS programs, that system does not include the child care program.
2. The DSS does not perform on-site contract compliance reviews of the child care providers.
3. Also, the audit says, "Overall, management of the case records is poor." For fiscal year 2011, the DSS could not locate 6 out of 60 case files requested, and several other cases did not include proof to support the client's eligibility.
The question remains, how much money was involved?
According to similar errors noted in the most recent DSS Child Care program improper payment review, $64 million was improperly authorized, due largely to missing or inadequate documentation.
Upon showing Todd the documentation, her eyebrows raised and her jaw dropped in shock.
"This is wrong," Todd said, shaking her head. "Where is that money going? Just because I'm on welfare...I mean, I pay taxes too."
When asked, the media contact from the state auditor's office turned down an interview, claiming the information was "old" and he didn't have time. He later stated that all the information we needed was inside the audit.
In addition, the media contact spokesperson for the Department of Social Services did not return several calls, but eventually answered an email, saying she was unavailable for an interview.


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Larry Ellison's most important merger / Oracle CEO ties knot with novelist at Woodside estate; Steve Jobs takes wedding photos
Billionaire software CEO Larry Ellison and romance novelist Melanie Craft sealed an eight-year courtship by marrying during the winter holidays, the couple told The Chronicle Tuesday.
The wedding was the first for Craft, 34, and the fourth for Ellison, 59, CEO of Oracle, the world's No. 2 software-maker.
The couple married on Dec. 18 at Ellison's 45-acre Japanese-style compound in Woodside. The ceremony was conducted beside a waterfall by Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, a close friend of the couple, and attended by Ellison's best friend, Apple computer co-founder Steve Jobs, and his wife, Laurene. Jobs did double duty as the wedding photographer.
"Was it spur-of-the-moment? Yes and no," Ellison said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We've talked about getting married but never set a date. The timing just seemed right."
Craft said Ellison was naturally skittish about delving into another marriage after three tries.
"We reached a point where we knew we would not be breaking up whether we got married or not, so it seemed to make it easier by just getting married," she said by phone from one of the couple's other homes, in Atherton.
Ellison referred a question about whether they had signed a prenuptial agreement to Craft, who declined to answer, saying the matter was private.
Craft's third novel, "Man Trouble," is scheduled for release in May. The plot revolves around a college professor and romance novelist who goes undercover to seduce a playboy billionaire and turn him into a family man.
Craft said the novel was not directly autobiographical but was inspired by a New York newspaper story that alleged she had been invented by Ellison's public relations department to soften his image.
News of the wedding, which surprised Ellison associates inside and outside Oracle, comes one day after the founder of the Redwood Shores-based company shed one of his titles, the job of chairman. Ellison retains the title of chief executive officer and said he would not step back at all from running the company.
"I expect, if anything, to spend more time at Oracle," he said Tuesday.
The manner in which the ceremony took place showed a quieter side to the sometimes-flashy Ellison, who is known for his aggressive business manner. He also has a zeal for high-stakes sailboat racing, as a participant in the America's Cup, and for flying jet fighters. After losing the America's Cup race in New Zealand last year, he challenged the winner, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Ernesto Bertarelli, to a rematch on San Francisco Bay. Ellison's Oracle BMW team emerged victorious in September over the Swiss Alinghi team for the Moet Cup.
The couple spent their honeymoon in the Caribbean at the Grenadine Islands and at Mustique aboard Katana, one of Ellison's two yachts. Ellison owns homes in San Francisco's Pacific Heights, in Atherton and in Malibu, as well as the compound in Woodside, which has been under construction for 10 years. The couple plan to move into the home in Woodside in the spring.
No official wedding photo was available because the photographers -- Jobs and Ellison's son, David -- had not finished preparing them for the photo album yet, Ellison said.
The couple met in a restaurant in San Francisco in 1995. Craft, a native of Pittsburgh, majored in anthropology at Oberlin College, studied archaeology at American University in Cairo and lived in Kenya for a year.
Ellison is the ninth-wealthiest man in America and one of the richest in the world, with $18 billion, according to a recent listing by Forbes magazine.
Shares of Oracle fell 2 percent to $14.36 Tuesday. If anything caused the stock to fall, it was likely uncertainty about the management changes announced Monday, which included leading executive Jeff Henley's giving up his job as chief financial officer to become chairman.
Financial analysts were unruffled at the news of Ellison's marriage.
"He's been fairly obsessed with his company for over 20 years," said Patrick Walravens, an analyst with JMP Securities. "I don't see this changing that."
Business and matrimony have not mixed smoothly for the billionaire business leader in the past. Ellison's third marriage was to Barbara Boothe, the mother of his two children, in the early days of Oracle, and the union was a rocky one, said Mike Wilson, an Ellison biographer.
"Oracle was in its 100 percent-a-year growth phase in those days, and one of the many issues in that relationship, to hear Barbara tell it, was he was mostly interested in being in charge of Oracle, and not in being in a relationship," said Wilson, now the features editor at the St. Petersburg Times. Wilson's book, "The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison (God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison)," was recently re-issued in paperback.
Ellison is known to have used a prenuptial agreement in the past; in fact, his marriage to Boothe was nearly called off when Ellison presented her with an 11-page prenuptial agreement just hours before they were to walk down the aisle, according to Wilson's book. Boothe and Ellison were divorced in 1986, less than three years after they wed.
But in those days, Ellison was micromanaging the start-up, Wilson said. These days, the tech titan may have more time for marriage.
"My impression is that he's scaled back a lot from the day-to-day operating; he recognizes that he's more of a spiritual leader of Oracle and company visionary," Wilson said.
Ellison also was married to Adda Quinn (1967 to 1974) and Nancy Wheeler (1977 to 1978). Oracle was founded in 1977.
Management psychologist Gene Morrissy says a CEO's marriage is usually good news for a company.
"If there is an impact, in the main it would be a positive one, in terms of the person's overall demeanor and state of mind," said Morrissy, who works for Chicago management psychology firm RHR International. "Now if it's a fractious marital situation, all bets are off."
Ellison said he is better at his job when his primary personal relationship is working. "When I'm happy, I'm more focused, and I'm a much more effective leader at Oracle," he said. "And I'm very happy."
Also attending the wedding were Ellison's children from a previous marriage, Megan, 17, and David, 21; Craft's sister, Kira Craft, a fashion designer in London; and Lantos' wife, Annette.
Fiction or truth?
Melanie Craft's latest work, "Man Trouble," will be published by Warner Books in May. And the plot has an eerily familiar ring to it: It's about a romance novelist who seduces a billionaire businessman.
In this excerpt, published as an addendum to Craft's last book, "Trust Me, " a journalist friend, Carter, is trying to persuade the heroine, Molly, to seduce the billionaire to help land a big interview:
"Out with it," she said. "What's the project?"
"Okay," he said. He put down the cup and stared meaningfully at her. "Two words. Jake Berenger."
Molly nodded. "And?"
Her lack of reaction had clearly disappointed him.
"You do know who he is," he said reproachfully. "The hotel mogul? The resort developer? The billionaire?"
"Of course I know who he is," Molly said. "I read the papers. But what's so new about this? You told me a year ago that you were doing a profile on him. You said that the Miami Herald wanted to run it in their Sunday magazine. Last I remember, you were busy interviewing all his former girlfriends."
"Not all of them," Carter said. "that would have been physically impossible if I wanted to publish in this decade. Anyway, it was getting redundant. They all said some version of the same thing. 'Jake was always a gentleman, but I could tell that underneath it all, deep emotional wounds were preventing him from ever trusting me with his heart.' " He rolled his eyes. "Yawn. Spare me, please, from the pop psychobabble of a bunch of models."
Later in the excerpt, Molly questions her journalist friend on why he would write about a billionaire womanizer:
"He sounds like a shallow playboy. Why don't you pick someone more worthy to write about?"
Carter grinned. "He's worth one point one billion dollars on a good stock day. That's worthy enough for me."
Craft's other books are "Trust Me" (2003) and "A Hard-Hearted Man" (1998).