Iron Lung Used for the First Time

This early respirator for producing artificial respiration over long periods of time was designed and constructed by the donor, John Haven Emerson. Completed in July 1931, it was first used in the summer of that year at the Providence City Hospital, Providence, R.I. The original features claimed for this machine when it was introduced are: the leather diaphragm, which replaced the noisy vacuum-cleaner blower on earlier machines; a hand pump to be used in case of electrical failure; improved gears to simplify adjustment of respiration rate to suit the patient; and simplification of fastenings to permit rapid entry of the patient. The machine is 2.25 m L x 1.8 m H x 95 cm W.

Poliovirus belongs to a family of very small, single-stranded RNA viruses that also includes the pathogens of common cold and infectious hepatitis (Hepatitis A). Many strains of the virus that do not produce serious disease exist, and are capable of inducing immunity. Ironically, improvements in sanitation reduced this natural resistance and opened the way for more and worse epidemics after World War I.

The most serious polio patients suffered respiratory failure, and as early as the 1860s, inventors had experimented with apparatuses for artificial breathing. In 1928, Philip Drinker and Dr. Louis Agassiz Shaw, in Boston, first used the term "iron lung" for their machine that varied pressure to aid polio victims' respiration. John Haven Emerson, who ran a machine shop at Harvard Square making medical and scientific instruments, saw Drinker's and Shaw's device and imagined improvements, which he completed three years later. His respirator not only worked better, it sold for less than half the price of the original "iron lung." Legal battles followed, but Emerson's designs prevailed commercially as the virus created a growing demand.

France Gall Born

"Isabelle Gall, who was born in Paris on 9 October 1947, grew up in a highly creative musical environment. Indeed, young Isabelle came from a family of extremely talented musicians. Her grandfather helped set up the famous French children's choir Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois, while her mother, Cécile, was a singer. But it was Isabelle's father, Robert Gall, who was the real star in the family. Robert Gall had risen to fame on the French music scene writing songs for a host of legendary French chanson stars such as Charles Aznavour ("La Mama") and the late great Edith Piaf.

Isabelle soon proved to have inherited her own share of musical talent and learnt to play the piano and the guitar at an early age. In her early teens Isabelle went on to form her own group with her brothers. Then, thanks to a little help from her father, the precocious young singer (who adopted the pseudonym France) went into the studio to record her first single at the tender age of fifteen. Released in September 1963, the single "Ne sois pas si bête" (Don't Be So Silly) went on to prove a huge hit with the French public. Indeed, France's début single soon rocketed to the top of the French charts, selling a cool 200,000 copies. France Gall went on to make a major name for herself in the midst of the yéyé craze (the fashionable 60's sound which fused Anglo-Saxon rock'n'roll with French variété).

Serge Gainsbourg Encouraged by this early success, France left school and went on to record a second single in 1964. Written by her father, Robert, the song "Sacré Charlemagne" went on to prove another major hit, catapulting France to fame and making her a serious rival for other young French 60's starlets Sheila and Sylvie Vartan. France's early career was also much aided by her encounter with the legendary singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.. Gainsbourg, who had already written numerous hits for other singers (which have since gone on to become veritable classics of the French repertoire), took young France's career in hand, writing her a number of famous hits which were seemingly innocent (but actually full of erotic subtexts). In 1965 France Gall entered the Eurovision Song Contest with one of Gainsbourg's most famous songs. Her performance in Naples on 2 March 1965 was broadcast live to an audience of 150 million viewers and the young French singer went on to triumph in style, winning the contest with Gainsbourg's "Poupée de cire, poupée de son". Ironically, France Gall was not representing France, but Luxembourg! But this did not appear to matter to French music fans. "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" went on to become a huge hit in France and the following year Gainsbourg penned another best-selling single for France Gall, giving her the song "Les Sucettes". ("Les Sucettes" acquired its own special place in French music history. 19-year-old Gall's innocent performance of the song completely missed Gainsbourg's ironic/erotic subtext, much to the delight of certain French music critics). Apparently, France never quite grasped the full sense of Gainsbourg's famous double entendres, but the pair's collaboration came to an end shortly after "Les Sucettes". In spite of her phenomenal success in the charts, this period of France Gall's life was not a particularly happy one. France was too young and naïve, to enjoy her new-found fame and success. But there was no stopping her irresistible rise to fame. In 1966, at the tender age of twenty, Gall was voted France's n°1 female pop star. Then, the following year, the young singer went on to score another huge hit with "Bébé Requin" (a song co-written by Jo Dassin). After the success of "Bébé Requin", France Gall took a break from the French music scene. She re-emerged every now and then, however, to record a series of unimpressive duets with actor Maurice Biraud ("La petite") and actress Mireille Darc ("Ne cherche pas à plaire", 1967). France neglected her own recording career, but she remained firmly in the media spotlight, dating 60's idolClaude Francois, then going on to enjoy a four-year relationship with another popular French singing star, Julien Clerc (1970 - 1974). During this tumultuous period in her life, France also quit her record label Philips.

Michel Berger 1974 proved to be a major turning point in France Gall's personal life as well as in her professional career. For it was in '74 that she first met the brilliant French singer/songwriter michel Berger. Berger had started out performing his own work in the 60's and managed to score quite a few hits. But then in the early 70's his songwriting and production work had taken the upper hand and he had gone on to work with veronique sanson (producing her début album "Amoureuse") and Francoise Hardy ("Message personnel"). Shortly after this initial meeting Michel Berger and France Gall began a passionate relationship. In fact, from this point on, the young couple would rarely be seen apart. France Gall's relationship with Berger would also result in the spectacular blossoming of her own career. Berger created a whole new repertoire for the young singer and France Gall soon made a major comeback on the French music scene, rocketing to the top of the charts with her new single "la Déclaration" in 1974. This proved to be the first of many hits which Berger wrote specially for Gall. Indeed, each of the singer's successive albums would contain several best-selling hits. "France Gall", the first of the singer's albums featuring Berger's work, was released in 1975 and before the end of the year the album produced another two best-selling singles besides "la Déclaration": "Samba Mambo" and "Comment lui dire ?". Meanwhile, Berger and Gall's relationship was beginning to become increasingly serious and on 22 June 1976 the couple celebrated their wedding in Paris.

Berger, The One-Man Hit Machine Berger soon got into the rhythm of writing a song for France, followed by a song for himself. But in the early years of their collaboration Berger was so inspired by his new wife and muse that he managed to produce enough material for two albums a year. In 1977 France went into the studio to record a new Berger album entitled "Dancing Disco", which included two new hits - the frenetic disco-inspired track "Musique" and a more tender ballad entitled "Si maman si". Three years later, thanks to Berger's prodigious songwriting output, France was able to return to the studio and begin work on another album, "Paris-France". This album not only included the moving "Besoin d'amour", but also featured France's famous smash hit "Il jouait du piano debout" (He Played Piano Standing). The latter was inspired by the British pop star Elton John. 1978 went down in French music history as the year of "Starmania", the legendary rock opera which Berger wrote in collaboration with the Quebecois songwriter Luc Plamondon. Needless to say, Berger cast his wife in one of the lead roles in his new musical and France went on to give a memorable performance as Cristal, starring alongside Daniel Balavoine and the Canadian singers Diane Dufresne and Fabienne Thibault. Berger's rock opera proved to be an enormous hit with the French public. Indeed, the "Starmania" album, released in 1978, rocketed straight to the top of the album charts and the musical, which premièred at the Palais des Sports in Paris the following year, was a sell-out success. In fact, "Starmania" proved so incredibly successful that over the next twenty years several different casts would recreate the musical all over the world. Needless to say, many of the songs from Berger's musical also went on to become classics in their own right. On 14 November 1978 France gave birth to a daughter, Pauline. Then, following her acclaimed performance in "Starmania", the singer returned to the recording studio to begin work on a new series of singles. France rocketed back to the top of the charts in 1980 with a brand new single entitled "Donner pour donner" - a song she performed as a duet with British pop star Elton John. This partnership was a truly exceptional occasion - and, as if to underline the special nature of the event, "Donner pour donner" (co-written by Michel Berger and Elton John) did not appear on any album but was only available as a single.

France Gall Performs Her First Major Concert In 1981 France returned to the recording studio to set to work on her fourth album "Tout pour la musique". Thanks to Berger's consistently excellent songwriting, France's new album soon went on to produce a string of chart-topping singles including "Résiste" and "Diego libre dans sa tête". Later that year France took another short break from her recording career after giving birth to her second child, Raphaël (on 2 April 1981). When France did return to work she immediately threw herself into preparations for her first major concert. For, in spite of having recorded a whole string of hits since meeting Berger, France had not actually performed in concert for her fans. Greatly encouraged and supported by her husband, who also directed and choreographed her entire show called "Made in France", she appeared at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysée in Paris in 1978. The concert proved a huge hit. Indeed, the stadium was packed every night for five entire weeks! However, France's live performance rapidly turned into an ordeal, and after five non-stop weeks the singer, suffering from physical exhaustion, spiralled into a major depression and her doctor ended up ordering her to take a break from her career for several months. The indefatigable France soon returned to the media spotlight however, returning to the studio in 1984 to begin work on a new album entitled "Débranche". France also ventured back onto the live circuit, performing a major run at Le Zénith in Paris. She opened at Le Zénith on 11 September and, this time round, gave two months of non-stop concerts without showing the slightest sign of strain. Needless to say, her concerts proved an enormous hit, attracting rave reviews and hundreds of loyal fans.

Charity Work In the 80's European showbiz stars suddenly turned their attention to humanitarian issues, teaming up to perform huge fund-raising concerts. Michel Berger and France Gall were both very active in this domain, giving generous amounts of time and energy to worthy causes. In 1985 British and American artists got together in London to organise the famous "Feed the World" concert, raising funds for famine victims in Ethiopia. A group of French artists soon got together and followed their Anglo-Saxon neighbours' example, recording the charity single "Chanteurs sans frontières" (which was written by Langolff and Sechan). Needless to say, Michel Berger and France Gall were invited to participate in this venture together with the crème de la crème of the French music scene. Besides devoting precious time to this collective recording venture, Berger and Gall also became involved with another major fund-raising project, "Action Ecoles". This French project encouraged school children and their families to send much-needed supplies of rice to areas hit by famine. The French singer Daniel Balavoine and the well-known actor Richard Berry were also closely involved with "Action Ecoles". Sadly, tragedy struck the fund-raising world in January 1986, when Daniel Balavoine was killed in a helicopter crash over Mali. (He was taking part in the Paris-Dakar rally to raise funds for a humanitarian association at the time). France Gall and Michel Berger, who were both close friends of Balavoine, were devastated by news of his death. France returned to the studio in 1987 to begin work on a new album entitled "Babacar". This album was largely inspired by the singer's experiences in Africa. Indeed, the title track "Babacar" was a song about the desert slowly encroaching on Africa's crop-growing land. France's album also included a personal tribute to Daniel Balavoine, in the form of a moving ballad entitled "Evidemment". Following the release of her new album, France turned her attention to her live concerts once more, performing a popular three-week run at the Zénith in Paris. She then kicked off an extensive national tour. A double live album featuring highlights from the tour, "le Tour de France 88", was released a few months later.

Grief and Tragedy - But France Gall Soldiers On France's next album, released in 1992, proved to be a major event in the French music world because it was a joint album with Michel Berger. The ten songs on "Double jeu" - written by Berger, of course - were all recorded as duets. The album by the popular husband and wife team proved a huge success and two extracts, "Laissez passez les rêves" and "Sentimental et léger" soon went rocketing to the top of the charts. In July of that year Berger and Gall announced their intention of performing a series of concerts together in the autumn at the famous Paris venue La Cigale. But the joint concerts were never to be. Tragedy struck again in August, while the couple were holidaying in their house in Ramatuelle (just a few kilometres from St Tropez). Berger suffered an infarction and was immediately rushed to hospital, but doctors could do nothing to save him and he died on August 2, aged just 44. France and her family were absolutely shattered by Berger's death. It was also a black day for the French music scene, which had lost one of its leading singer/songwriters. France spent several months grieving, but in the end she decided to resume her career and devote herself to performing her late husband's work. In September '93 France gave a series of concerts at Bercy stadium (the biggest venue in Paris). Greeted by rapturous applause as soon as she appeared on stage, the singer went on to give an outstanding performance, electrifying the atmosphere with emotion. France continued to perform her late husband's repertoire at every opportunity, participating in countless gala tributes held in Berger's honour, where she was joined on stage by the couple's closest showbiz friends. In September 1994 France branched out in a different direction, performing a highly acclaimed acoustic concert at the Salle Pleyel (a venue generally reserved for classical music).

France from Los Angeles Following the success of this performance, France decided to take a break from the French music scene, moving to Los Angeles for a few months with her children. While France was in the States she also spent much of her time in the studio, recording a new album dedicated to her late husband. France not only recorded new versions of the songs Berger had written for her, she also included songs which Berger had originally performed himself (such as "Les Princes des Villes" and "Que l'amour est bizarre"). The closing track on the album was the legendary "Message personnel", a song Berger had originally written for 60's star Françoise Hardy. This album, entitled simply "France", was released to general critical acclaim in 1995. The following year France Gall returned to the media spotlight, performing a highly successful run at the Olympia in Paris (5-17 November 1996). The singer then embarked upon another major national tour, giving concerts up and down the country right through until December of that year. In the spring of '97, France gave another memorable performance, giving a special acoustic concert on French television. She was joined on stage by Charles Aznavour who gave an emotional performance of "la Mamma". Sadly, in the winter of '97, tragedy blighted France Gall's life once again, when her daughter Pauline died at the age of 19. Following Pauline's death, which had a devastating effect on her, France Gall withdrew from the showbiz world completely, taking a break from her professional activities altogether. She emerged from her 'recluse' period in the autumn of '99, however, to attend Michel Sardou's wedding on October 11th. France joined a host of other celebrity guests at the wedding including veteran rocker Johnny Hallyday. France went on to make a surprise appearance with Johnny the following year, performing "Quelque chose de Tennessee" live on stage with him when he performed at the Olympia on August 15th 2000. Looking for peace and quiet, France Gall would often withdraw to the house she bought in Senegal. In December 2001, Polydor released a box gathering together all of her Sixties’ tracks, which had been originally brought out by Philips. Featuring no less that 74 songs, among which the famous "Sucettes" penned by Gainsbourg and the not so well-known "Nefertiti", such a venture reminds us of France Gall’s leading position on the French pop music scene as early as in the sixties. Today she remains one of the most popular stars on the French music scene and deservedly so!" Source: http://www.thetruevinerecordshop.com/www/france%20gall%20info.htm

BT Tower Open Day

The BT Tower is a tall cylindrical building in London, England, located at 60 Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia W1T 4JZ. It has been previously known as the Post Office Tower, the London Telecom Tower and the British Telecom Tower. The main structure is 177 metres (581 ft) tall, with a further section of aerial rigging bringing the total height to 189 metres (620 ft). It should not be confused with the BT Centre (the national headquarters of BT), or the British Telecom Tower (Birmingham). Its Post Office code was YTOW.

History

The tower was commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO). Its primary purpose was to support the microwave aerials then used to carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country.

It replaced a much shorter steel lattice tower which had been built on the roof of the neighbouring Museum telephone exchange in the late 1940s to provide a television link between London and Birmingham. The taller structure was required to protect the radio links' "line of sight" against some of the tall buildings in London then in the planning stage. These links were routed via other GPO microwave stations at Harrow Weald, Bagshot, Kelvedon Hatch and Fairseat, and to places like the London Air Traffic Control Centre at West Drayton.

The tower was designed by the architects of the Ministry of Public Building and Works: the chief architects were Eric Bedford and G. R. Yeats. Typical for its time, the building is concrete clad in glass. The narrow cylindrical shape was chosen because of the requirements of the communications aerials: the building will shift no more than 25 centimetres (10 in) in wind speeds of up to 150 km/h (95 mph). Initially the first sixteen floors were for technical equipment and power, above that was a 35 metre section for the microwave aerials, and above that were six floors of suites, kitchens, technical equipment and finally a cantilevered steel lattice tower. To prevent heat build-up the glass cladding was of a special tint. The construction cost was £2.5 million.

Construction began in June 1961, and owing to the building's height and its having a tower crane jib across the top virtually throughout the whole construction period, it gradually became a very prominent landmark that could be seen from almost anywhere in London. In August 1963 there was even a question raised in Parliament about the crane. Doctor Bennett MP asked the Minister of Public Building and Works how, when the crane on the top of the new Post Office tower had fulfilled its purpose, he proposed to remove it. Mr Geoffrey Rippon replied, "This is a matter for the contractors. The problem does not have to be solved for about a year but there appears to be no danger of the crane having to be left in situ."

The tower was topped out on 15 July 1964 and officially opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson on 8 October 1965. The Main Contractor was Peter Lind & Co Ltd.

The tower was originally designed to be just 111 metres (364 ft), and its foundations are sunk down through 53 metres of London clay and are formed of a concrete raft 27 metres square, a metre thick, reinforced with six layers of cables on top of which sits a reinforced concrete pyramid.

The tower was officially opened to the public on 16 May 1966 by Tony Benn and Billy Butlin. As well as the communications equipment and office space there were viewing galleries, a souvenir shop, and a rotating restaurant, the "Top of the Tower", on the 34th floor, operated by Butlins. It made one revolution every 22 minutes. An annual race up the stairs of the tower was established and the first race was won by UCL student Alan Green.

A bomb, responsibility for which was claimed by the Provisional IRA, exploded in the roof of the men's toilets at the Top of the Tower restaurant on 31 October 1971. The restaurant was closed to the public for security reasons in 1980, the year in which the Butlins' lease eventually expired. Public access to the building ceased in 1981. The Tower is sometimes used for corporate events, but the closure of the Tower restaurant to the public means London has no revolving restaurant of the type common in major cities throughout the world; although reports that the restaurant would re-open emerged in 2009.

Until the mid-1990s, the building was officially a secret, and did not appear on official maps. Its existence was finally "confirmed" by Kate Hoey, MP, on 19 February 1993: "Hon. Members have given examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially secret. An example that has not been mentioned, but which is so trivial that it is worth mentioning, is the absence of the British Telecom tower from Ordnance Survey maps. I hope that I am covered by parliamentary privilege when I reveal that the British Telecom tower does exist and that its address is 60 Cleveland Street, London."

A renovation in the early 2000s introduced a 360-degree coloured lighting display at the top of the tower. Seven colours were programmed to vary constantly at night and intended to appear as a rotating globe to reflect BT's "connected world" corporate styling. The coloured lights give the tower a distinctive appearance on the London skyline at night. The tower has always been a useful late-night navigational beacon for nearby residents, especially the numerous university halls within stumbling distance. In October 2009, the original seven colour lighting system was replaced with a more sophisticated LED-based screen allowing text and full-colour display - visible in daylight.

The BT Tower Today
When the GPO telecommunications services were split off in 1981 (in advance of the 1984 privatisation) the tower was renamed the British Telecom Tower. After the rebranding of the company in 1992 it became the BT Tower. The building is no longer open to the public. The restaurant has been re-opened as a venue for use by BT for events and promotions: since the re-discovery of spare parts for the mechanism, it is even rotated occasionally.

The tower is still in use, and is the site of a major UK communications hub. Microwave links have been replaced by subterranean fibre optic links for most mainstream purposes, but the former is still in use at the tower. The second floor of the base of the tower contains the TV Network Switching Centre which carries broadcasting traffic and relays signals between television broadcasters (including the BBC), production companies, advertisers, international satellite services and uplink companies. The outside broadcast control is located about the former revolving restaurant, with the kitchens on floor 35.

In October 2009, a 360-degree full-colour LED-based display system was installed at the top of the tower, to replace the previous colour projection system. The new display, referred to by BT as the "Information Band", is wrapped around the 36th and 37th floors of the tower, 167m up. The display comprises some 529,750 LEDs arranged in 177 vertical strips, spaced around the tower. The display is the largest in the world of its type, occupying an area of 280m2 and with a circumference of 59m. On 31 October 2009 the screen began displaying a countdown of the number of days until the start of the London Olympics in 2012.

In October 2009, The Times reported that the rotating restaurant would be reopened in time for the 2012 London Olympics.

The BT Tower was given Grade II listed building status in 2003. Several of the now defunct antennas located on the building now cannot be removed unless the appropriate listed building consent has been granted, as they are protected by this listing.

Entry to the building is provided by two high-speed lifts which travel at 7 metres per second, reaching the top of the building in under 30 seconds. An Act of Parliament was passed to vary fire regulations, allowing the building to be evacuated by using the lifts[citation needed] - unlike other buildings of the time.

BT Tower in London is being used in a major study to help improve the air quality in the capital. The aim is to monitor pollutant levels above ground level, so as to assess the contribution to pollution made by different sources - including the long-range transport of fine particles from outside the city.

The BT tower is the host every year to the BBC Children in Need Phones. Many celebrities sit up in the top of the tower answering the phones and taking donations for the charity. In 2009 it was the Eastenders team and the host was Peter Andre.

Appearances in fiction

* Large portions of the 1966 Doctor Who serial The War Machines were set in and around the tower. It is also mentioned in the 1968 serial The Web of Fear and the spin-off Sarah Jane Adventures serial The Mad Woman in the Attic.
* In the 1967 film Smashing Time it appeared to spin out of control and short-circuit the whole of London's power supply.
* The tower is featured in Stanley Donen's 1967 film Bedazzled as a vantage point from which Peter Cook, playing Satan, launches various forms of mischief.
* The tower is featured in the most famous scene in The Goodies when it is toppled over by Twinkle the Giant Kitten in the episode Kitten Kong.
* In Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta the tower is headquarters for both the "Eye", and the "Ear", the visual and audio surveillance divisions of the government. The tower is destroyed through sabotage. It's also featured in the film adaptation although it is not destroyed. It is renamed BTN Tower in the film.
* The tower is destroyed in the James Herbert novel The Fog by a Boeing 747 whose captain has been driven mad by fog.
* In The New Avengers (TV Series) episode Sleeper, the heroes Steed and Gambit view the deserted city from the 34th floor of the Tower - at the time, photography and filming were not permitted in the Tower due to it being covered by the Official Secrets Act.
* The tower appears abandoned and covered in pleurococcus in a BBC TV adaption of The Day of the Triffids.
* The design of the starship HMS Camden Lock from the BBC 2 science fiction sitcom Hyperdrive is based on the tower.
* In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry is spotted flying over the tower in a Ford Anglia with his friend, Ron Weasley.
* It appears on the cover of, and figures in, Saturday by Ian McEwan.
* Frank Muir's short story The Law Is Not Concerned With Trifles is set in the tower's revolving restaurant.
* Rowan Atkinson in Not the Nine O'Clock News plays a Frenchman who claims that the Post Office Tower was not a communications tower but a London phallus.
* In The Bourne Ultimatum movie, there is a helicopter's view shot of the tower building for a brief period of time to show the location.
* In Season 4 of ReBoot, a tower closely resembling the BT tower is seen in the first episode as a control tower being able to open the system of Mainframe to the net.
* In Patrick Keiller's film London (1992) the narrator claims the tower is a monument to the love affair between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, who lived nearby.
* The bombing is a central plot feature of Hari Kunzru's 2007 novel My Revolutions, in which the bomb is the work of political radicals who are never caught.

Source:

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