Lives of the First World War

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Press Release

IWM & brightsolid partner to create digital platform 

http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/supporters.php

Lives of the First World War 

IWM (Imperial War Museums) and brightsolid, the online publishing and technology arm of publishing group DC Thomson, are working in partnership to create Lives of the First World War – an innovative and interactive digital platform to mark the First World War Centenary. 

Lives of the First World War will hold the stories of over 8 million men and women who served in uniform and worked on the home front. It will be the official place for communities across the world to connect, explore, reveal and share even more about these people’s lives. 

This innovative platform will bring fascinating records from museums, libraries, archives and family collections across the globe together in one place. The team behind Lives of the First World War are working with national and international institutions and archives to make this happen. 

Over the course of the centenary, Lives of the First World War will become a dynamic, permanent digital memorial - a significant digital legacy for future generations. 

The platform will go live later this year, in time for the start of centenary commemorations from summer 2014. Further information, including a short film about Lives of the First World War can now be found at http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org. 

http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/includes/vim1.php

Diane Lees, Director-General of IWM said: “The Imperial War Museum was established while the First World War was still being fought to ensure that future generations would understand the causes and consequences of the war and to remember the men and women who played their role. 

“Now that the First World War is outside living memory, we are the voice of those veterans and the custodians of their stories – which we can now tell through Lives of the First World War. We will be encouraging people of all ages, in all communities to join us in this project to actively remember these men and women. 

“I am delighted that IWM will be working with brightsolid. Their focus on innovation, their specialism in telling stories and making history accessible along with their international reach makes them our perfect partner on Lives of the First World War.” 

Chris van der Kuyl, Chief Executive of brightsolid, said: “We are proud to be working with IWM to create a digital memorial that will be an enduring and fitting tribute to the men and women of the First World War. I am sure that as the centenary approaches, members of the public will deepen these stories by uploading their own content in order to create a rich narrative tapestry for every man or woman whose life was shaped by the War. 

“The UK has an incalculable wealth of historical archives. Institutions like IWM are world leaders in making those records available online to millions of people worldwide. We are only beginning to realise the cultural potential of these archives.” 

Lives of the First World War

On this Day: 28th January 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger (mission STS-51-L) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida at 11:38 EST (16:38 UTC). Disintegration of the entire vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRBs aft attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter.

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Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

Images courtesy of Wikimedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Challenger_explosion.jpg

On this Day: 28th January 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff

On this Day: 23rd of January 1879 - The Battle of Rorkes Drift

Rorke's Drift, known as kwaJim ("Jim's Land") in the Zulu language, was a mission station and the former trading post of James Rorke, an Irish merchant. It was located near a drift, or ford, on the Buffalo (Mzinyathi) River, which at the time formed the border between the British colony of Natal and the Zulu kingdom.

The Battle of Rorke's Drift, also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was a battle in the Anglo-Zulu War. The defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, immediately followed the British Army's defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, and continued into the following day, 23 January.

Just over 150 British and colonial troops successfully defended the garrison against an intense assault by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. The massive, but piecemeal, Zulu attacks on Rorke's Drift came very close to defeating the tiny garrison but were ultimately repelled. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours.

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Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rorke%27s_Drift

Images courtesy of National Archives UK under the Commons Agreement on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/5408076199/

On this Day: 23rd of January 1879 - The Battle of Rorkes Drift

On this Day: 22nd January 1984 – The Apple Macintosh is introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous "1984" television commercial

"1984" is an American television commercial which introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer for the first time. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, Venice, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. Anya Major performed as the unnamed heroine and David Graham as Big Brother. Its only U.S. daytime televised broadcast was on January 22, 1984 during and as part of the telecast of the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII by CBS. Chiat/Day also ran the ad one other time on television, in December 1983 right before the 1:00 am sign-off on KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, so that the advertisement could be submitted to award ceremonies for that year. In addition, starting on January 17, 1984 it was screened prior to previews in movie theaters for a few week. It has since been seen on television commercial compilation specials, as well as in "Retro-mercials" on TV Land.

In one interpretation of the commercial, "1984" used the unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her white tank top with a stylized line drawing of Apple’s Macintosh computer on it) as a means of saving humanity from "conformity" (Big Brother). These images were an allusion to George Orwell's noted novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother". The rows of marching minions have direct cinematic parallels with those in the opening scenes of the classic dystopian film Metropolis. The estate of George Orwell and the television rightsholder to the novel 1984 considered the commercial to be a copyright infringement and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Apple and Chiat/Day in April 1984.

Originally a subject of contention within Apple, it has nevertheless consistently been lauded as a classic, winning critical acclaim over time. It is now considered a watershed event and a masterpiece in advertising, and is widely regarded as one of the most memorable and successful American television commercials of all time.

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Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_%28advertisement%29

Images courtesy of Wikimedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ad_apple_1984.jpg

On this Day: 22nd January 1984 – The Apple Macintosh is introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous "1984" television commercial

On this Day: 21st January 1903- Wizard of Oz premieres in NYC

The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was originally published in 1900. Much of the original music was by Paul Tietjens and has been mostly forgotten, although it was still well-remembered and in discussion at MGM in the late 1930s, when the classic film version of the story was made. Although Baum is the credited bookwriter, Glen MacDonough was hired on as jokewriter after Baum had finished the script.

The 1902 show premiered in Chicago and later to Broadway in 1903, where it ran for 293 performances from January 21, 1903 to December 31, 1904, followed by travelling tours of the original cast. It starred Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale, Fred Stone as The Scarecrow and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman (who is called Niccolo Chopper in the musical [in the books, he had begun life as human Nick Chopper]). Arthur Hill (no relation to the Canadian actor) played the Cowardly Lion, but in this version, his role was reduced to a bit part. An element from the show — the snowfall caused by the Good Witch, which defeats the spell of the poppies that had put Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion to sleep — was later used in the famous 1939 movie.

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Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_%281902_musical%29

Images courtesy of Wikimedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hamlin_Wizarsd_of_Oz.jpg

On this Day: 21st January 1903- Wizard of Oz premieres in NYC

On this Day: 18th January 2005 – The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and, due to its size, many airports have had to upgrade their facilities to properly accommodate it. Initially named Airbus A3XX, the aircraft was designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market; the A380 made its first flight on 27 April 2005 and began commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.

Five A380s were built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first A380, serial number MSN001 and registration F-WWOW, was unveiled in Toulouse 18 January 2005. Its first flight took place at 10:29 am local time (08:29 UTC) on 27 April 2005. This plane, equipped with Trent 900 engines, flew from Toulouse Blagnac International Airport with a crew of six headed by chief test pilot Jacques Rosay. After landing, 3 hours 54 minutes later, Rosay said flying the A380 had been "like handling a bicycle".

The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft. This allows for an A380-800's cabin with 478 square metres (5,145.1 sq ft) of floor space; 49% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400 with 321 square metres (3,455.2 sq ft), and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations. The A380-800 has a design range of 15,400 kilometres (8,300 nmi; 9,600 mi), sufficient to fly from New York to Hong Kong, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph at cruising altitude).

As of November 2012 there had been 262 firm orders for the A380, of which 92 have been delivered. The largest order, for 90 aircraft, was from Emirates.

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Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380

Images courtesy of Wikimedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A380_Reveal_1.jpg

On this Day: 18th January 2005 – The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France

On this Day: 17th January 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. The most recent officially announced setting — five minutes to midnight (11:55pm) — was made on 10 January 2012. Reflecting international events dangerous to humankind, the clock's hands have been adjusted twenty times since its inception in 1947, when the clock was initially set to seven minutes to midnight (11:53pm).

Originally, the clock analogy represented the threat of global nuclear war; however, since 2007 it has also reflected climate-changing technologies and "new developments in the life sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm."

Since its inception, the clock has been depicted on every cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Its first representation was in 1947, when magazine co-founder Hyman Goldsmith asked artist Martyl Langsdorf (wife of Manhattan Project research associate and Szilárd petition signatory Alexander Langsdorf, Jr.) to design a cover for the magazine's June 1947 issue.

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Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock

Images courtesy of Wikimedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bulletin_Atomic_Scientists_Cover.jpg

On this Day: 17th January 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing