document_title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

question_text: in which volume tristam shandy finally recount his birth

text: Synopsis and style[edit]

text: As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply, that he must make explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that Tristram's own birth is not even reached until Volume III.

text: Consequently, apart from Tristram as narrator, the most familiar and important characters in the book are his father Walter, his mother, his Uncle Toby, Toby's servant Trim, and a supporting cast of popular minor characters, including the chambermaid, Susannah, Doctor Slop, and the parson, Yorick, who later became Sterne's favourite nom de plume and a very successful publicity stunt. Yorick is also the protagonist of Sterne's second work of fiction A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.

text: Most of the action is concerned with domestic upsets or misunderstandings, which find humour in the opposing temperaments of Walter—splenetic, rational, and somewhat sarcastic—and Uncle Toby, who is gentle, uncomplicated, and a lover of his fellow man.

text: In between such events, Tristram as narrator finds himself discoursing at length on sexual practices, insults, the influence of one's name, and noses, as well as explorations of obstetrics, siege warfare, and philosophy as he struggles to marshal his material and finish the story of his life.

text: Though Tristram is always present as narrator and commentator, the book contains little of his life, only the story of a trip through France and accounts of the four comical mishaps which shaped the course of his life from an early age. Firstly, while still only a homunculus, Tristram's implantation within his mother's womb was disturbed. At the very moment of procreation, his mother asked his father if he had remembered to wind the clock. The distraction and annoyance led to the disruption of the proper balance of humours necessary to conceive a well-favoured child. Secondly, one of his father's pet theories was that a large and attractive nose was important to a man making his way in life. In a difficult birth, Tristram's nose was crushed by Dr. Slop's forceps. Thirdly, another of his father's theories was that a person's name exerted enormous influence over that person's nature and fortunes, with the worst possible name being Tristram. In view of the previous accidents, Tristram's father decreed that the boy would receive an especially auspicious name, Trismegistus. Susannah mangled the name in conveying it to the curate, and the child was christened Tristram. According to his father's theory, his name, being a conflation of "Trismegistus" (after the esoteric mystic Hermes Trismegistus) and "Tristan" (whose connotation bore the influence through folk etymology of Latin tristis, "sorrowful"), doomed him to a life of woe and cursed him with the inability to comprehend the causes of his misfortune.

text: Finally, as a toddler, Tristram suffered an accidental circumcision when Susannah let a window sash fall as he urinated out of the window because his chamberpot was missing.

text: Techniques and influences[edit]

text: Artistic incorporation and accusations of plagiarism[edit]

text: Sterne incorporated into Tristram Shandy many passages taken almost word for word from Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, Francis Bacon's Of Death, Rabelais and many more, and rearranged them to serve the new meaning intended in Tristram Shandy.[4] Tristram Shandy was highly praised for its originality, and nobody noticed these borrowings until years after Sterne's death. The first to note them was physician and poet John Ferriar, who did not see them negatively and commented:[4][5]

text: If [the reader's] opinion of Sterne's learning and originality be lessened by the perusal, he must, at least, admire the dexterity and the good taste with which he has incorporated in his work so many passages, written with very different views by their respective authors.

text: Victorian critics of the 19th century, who were hostile to Sterne for the alleged obscenity of his prose, used Ferriar's findings to defame Sterne, and claimed that he was artistically dishonest, and almost unanimously accused him of mindless plagiarism.[4] Scholar Graham Petrie closely analysed the alleged passages in 1970; he observed that while more recent commentators now agree that Sterne "rearranged what he took to make it more humorous, or more sentimental, or more rhythmical", none of them "seems to have wondered whether Sterne had any further, more purely artistic, purpose". Studying a passage in Volume V, chapter 3, Petrie observes: "such passage...reveals that Sterne's copying was far from purely mechanical, and that his rearrangements go far beyond what would be necessary for merely stylistic ends".[4]

text: Rabelais[edit]

text: A major influence on Tristram Shandy is Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel.[4][6] Rabelais was by far Sterne's favourite author, and in his correspondence he made clear that he considered himself Rabelais's successor in humorous writing. One passage Sterne incorporated pertains to "the length and goodness of the nose".[7][8][9] Sterne had written an earlier piece called A Rabelaisian Fragment that indicates his familiarity with the work of the French monk and doctor.

text: Ridiculing solemnity[edit]

text: Sterne was no friend of gravitas, a quality which excited his disgust. Tristram Shandy gives a ludicrous turn to solemn passages from respected authors that it incorporates, as well as to the Consolatio literary genre.[4][10]

text: Among the subjects of such ridicule were some of the opinions contained in Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, a book that mentions sermons as the most respectable type of writing, and one that was favoured by the learned. Burton's attitude was to try to prove indisputable facts by weighty quotations. His book consists mostly of a collection of the opinions of a multitude of writers (he modestly refrains from adding his own) divided into quaint and old-fashioned categories. It discusses everything, from the doctrines of religion to military discipline, from inland navigation to the morality of dancing schools.[10]

text: Much of the singularity of Tristram Shandy's characters is drawn from Burton. Burton indulges himself in a Utopian sketch of a perfect government in his introductory address to the reader, and this forms the basis of the notions of Tristram Shandy on the subject. And Sterne parodies Burton's use of weighty quotations.[10] The first four chapters of Tristram Shandy are founded on some passages in Burton.[10]

text: In Chapter 3, Volume 5, Sterne parodies the genre of consolatio, mixing and reworking passages from three "widely separated sections" of Burton's Anatomy, including a parody of Burton's "grave and sober account" of Cicero's grief for the death of his daughter Tullia.[4]

text: Other techniques and influences[edit]

text: His text is filled with allusions and references to the leading thinkers and writers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Pope and Swift were major influences on Sterne and Tristram Shandy. Satires of Pope and Swift formed much of the humour of Tristram Shandy, but Swift's sermons and Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding also contributed ideas and frameworks Sterne explored throughout the novel. Other major influences are Cervantes, and Montaigne's Essays, as well as the significant inter-textual debt to The Anatomy of Melancholy,[4] Swift's Battle of the Books, and the Scriblerian collaborative work, The Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus.[11]

text: The shade of Cervantes is present throughout Sterne's novel. The frequent references to Rocinante, the character of Uncle Toby (who resembles Don Quixote in many ways) and Sterne's own description of his characters' "Cervantic humour", along with the genre-defying structure of Tristram Shandy, which owes much to the second part of Cervantes' novel, all demonstrate the influence of Cervantes.[12]

text: The novel also makes use of John Locke's theories of empiricism, or the way we assemble what we know of ourselves and our world from the "association of ideas" that come to us from our five senses. Sterne is by turns respectful and satirical of Locke's theories, using the association of ideas to construct characters' "hobby-horses", or whimsical obsessions, that both order and disorder their lives in different ways. Sterne borrows from and argues against Locke's language theories (on the imprecision and arbitrariness of words and usage), and consequently spends much time discussing the very words he uses in his own narrative—with "digressions, gestures, piling up of apparent trivia in the effort to get at the truth".[2]

text: There is a significant body of critical opinion that argues that Tristram Shandy is better understood as an example of an obsolescent literary tradition of "Learned Wit", partly following the contribution of D W Jefferson.[13]

text: Reception and influence[edit]

text: Some of Sterne's contemporaries did not hold the novel in high esteem, but its bawdy humour was popular with London society. Through time, it has come to be seen as one of the greatest comic novels in English. Schopenhauer, in particular, considered it the acme and crowning of the novel form, one of the "four novels at the top of their class", along with Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse, and Cervantes' Don Quixote.[14] In 1825 Schopenhauer even approached his publisher F.A. Brockhaus offering to translate it into German (an offer which Brockhaus rejected).[15]

text: Samuel Johnson in 1776 commented, "Nothing odd will do long. Tristram Shandy did not last."[16][17] Schopenhauer privately rebutted Samuel Johnson, saying: "The man Sterne is worth 1,000 Pedants and commonplace-fellows like Dr.J."[18] The young Karl Marx was a devotee of Tristram Shandy, and wrote a short humorous novel, Scorpion and Felix, which remains unpublished, which was obviously influenced by it.[14][19] Goethe praised Sterne in Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, which in turn influenced Nietzsche.[14][20]

text: Tristram Shandy has also been seen by formalists and other literary critics as a forerunner of many narrative devices and styles used by modernist and postmodernist authors such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Carlos Fuentes, Milan Kundera and Salman Rushdie.[21]

text: The success of Sterne's novel got him an appointment by Lord Fauconberg as curate of St Michael's Church in Coxwold, Yorkshire, which included living at Sterne's model for Shandy Hall. The medieval structure still stands today, and is under the care of the Laurence Sterne Trust since its acquisition in the 1960s. The gardens, which Sterne tended during his time there, are daily open to visitors.

text: The novel's success has resulted in permanent additions to the English lexicon;[22] within the text of Tristram Shandy Sterne describes the novel as "Shandean," coining a term which still carries the meaning that Sterne originally attached to it when he wrote, "I write a careless kind of a civil, nonsensical, good humoured Shandean book..."[23] Strongly influenced by Cervantes' Don Quixote, Sterne's Tristram Shandy also gave rise to the term "cervantic," (which Sterne at the time spelled "cervantick").[24]

text: Abolitionists[edit]

text: In 1766, at the height of the debate about slavery, Ignatius Sancho wrote to Laurence Sterne[25] encouraging the writer to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade.[26] "That subject, handled in your striking manner, would ease the yoke (perhaps) of many — but if only one — Gracious God! — what a feast to a benevolent heart!" he wrote.

text: In July 1766 Sancho's letter was received by Reverend Laurence Sterne shortly after he had just finished writing a conversation between his fictional characters Corporal Trim and his brother Tom in Tristram Shandy, wherein Tom described the oppression of a black servant in a sausage shop in Lisbon, which he had visited.[27] Laurence Sterne's widely publicised 27 July 1766 response to Sancho's letter became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.

text: There is a strange coincidence, Sancho, in the little events (as well as in the great ones) of this world: for I had been writing a tender tale of the sorrows of a friendless poor negro-girl, and my eyes had scarce done smarting with it, when your letter of recommendation in behalf of so many of her brethren and sisters, came to me — but why her brethren? — or yours, Sancho! any more than mine? It is by the finest tints, and most insensible gradations, that nature descends from the fairest face about St James’s, to the sootiest complexion in Africa: at which tint of these, is it, that the ties of blood are to cease? and how many shades must we descend lower still in the scale, ere mercy is to vanish with them? — but ’tis no uncommon thing, my good Sancho, for one half of the world to use the other half of it like brutes, & then endeavor to make ’em so.[27]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: Tristram Shandy has been adapted as a graphic novel by cartoonist Martin Rowson.[28] Michael Nyman has worked sporadically on Tristram Shandy as an opera since 1981.[citation needed] At least five portions of the opera have been publicly performed and one, "Nose-List Song", was recorded in 1985 on the album, The Kiss and Other Movements.

text: The book was adapted on film in 2006 as A Cock and Bull Story, directed by Michael Winterbottom, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (credited as Martin Hardy, in a complicated metafictional twist), and starring Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes, Kelly Macdonald, Naomie Harris, and Gillian Anderson. The movie plays with metatextual levels, showing both scenes from the novel itself and fictionalised behind-the-scenes footage of the adaptation process, even employing some of the actors to play themselves.

text: In February 2014, a theatrical adaptation by Callum Hale was presented at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick.[29][30]

text: Tristram Shandy has been translated into many languages, including German (repeatedly, beginning in 1769), Dutch (repeatedly, by Munnikhuisen, 1779; Lindo, 1852 and Jan & Gertrude Starink, 1990), French (repeatedly, beginning in 1785; by Guy Jouvet, 2004), Russian (repeatedly, beginning 1804-1807; by Adrian Antonovich Frankovsky, 1949), Hungarian (by Győző Határ, 1956), Italian (by Antonio Meo, 1958), Czech (by Aloys Skoumal, 1963), Spanish (by José Antonio López de Letona, 1975; Ana María Aznar, 1976 and Javier Marías, 1978), Portuguese (by José Paulo Paes, 1984), Norwegian (by Bjørn Herrman, 1995–96), Finnish (by Kersti Juva, 1998).

text: References to Tristram Shandy[edit]

text: Well known in philosophy and mathematics, the so-called paradox of Tristram Shandy was introduced by Bertrand Russell in his book The Principles of Mathematics to evidentiate the inner contradictions that arise from the assumption that infinite sets can have the same cardinality[31]—as would be the case with a gentleman who spends one year to write the story of one day of his life, if he were able to write for an infinite length of time. The paradox depends upon the fact that "the number of days in all time is no greater than the number of years".

text: A historic site in Geneva, Ohio, called Shandy Hall, is part of the Western Reserve Historical Society. The home was named after the house described in Tristram Shandy.

text: The Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Bogus Books" involves a bookseller selling stolen copies of rare books, in particular a first edition of Tristram Shandy.

text: In Anthony Trollope's novel Barchester Towers, the narrator speculates that the scheming clergyman, Mr Slope, is descended from Dr Slop in Tristram Shandy (the extra letter having been added for the sake of appearances). Slope is also called "Obadiah", a reference to another character in Sterne's novel.

text: Russian writer Alexander Zhitinsky made multiple references to Tristram Shandy in his novel The Flying House, or Conversations with Milord (the "milord" of the title being Sterne).

text: In Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis refers to Tristram Shandy in the context of trying to describe his interactions with his own father:

text: My father — but these words, at the head of a paragraph, will carry the reader's mind inevitably to Tristram Shandy. On second thoughts I am content that they should. It is only in a Shandean spirit that my matter can be approached. I have to describe something as odd and whimsical as ever entered the brain of Sterne; and if I could, I would gladly lead you to the same affection for my father as you have for Tristram's.[32]

text: (The text of Tristram Shandy uses the phrase "my father" at the head of a paragraph fifty-one times.)

text: In the Hermann Hesse novel "The Journey to the East", Tristram Shandy is listed as one of the co-founders of The League.

text: A short story Oh Most Cursed Addition Engine by H.S. Donnelly was published in the Canadian Science Fiction magazine On Spec #86. In it, Walter Shandy attempts to build an Addition Engine, while Toby and Corporal Trim re-enact in miniature Wellington's great victory at Vitoria.[33]

text: Trim was the adventurous pet cat of the explorer Matthew Flinders, named after Corporal Trim, and a minor character in Bryce Courtenay's novel Matthew Flinders' Cat.

text: In the 1976 film "The Missouri Breaks" with Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, Braxton, a rancher, has just hanged an alleged cattle rustler without a trial and is defending himself to his daughter who vehemently disproves of the hanging. Finishing his justification he prepares to relax in his library and asks his daughter to fetch him his copy of "Tristram Shandy".


document_title: List of Carry On films cast members

question_text: who starred in the most carry on movies

question_tokens: who starred in the most carry on movies

root

text: List of Carry On films cast members

text: Regular cast[edit]

text: The following actors are considered to be the core members of the Carry On team:[1]

tag: p

text:
Kenneth Williams (25 films, and co-presenting That's Carry On!) played a range of character types, nearly always a lead character. Early roles were rather strait-laced; he then sometimes played his snide character: quite slimy and smarmy with a distinctive nasal voice. Later the haughty, proud and easily outraged elitist became more frequent and Williams' best known character type. Williams sometimes played characters of other nationalities, such as in Up the Khyber. In some roles, when not actually playing his role in snide mode, Williams might deliver a single joke using his snide voice. A running gag in many of the films was that Williams' character would be embroiled in an extra-marital affair with that of Hattie Jacques—this plot device was used to greatest effect in the hospital-based films, which gave rise to Williams' famous catchphrase "ohhh Matron!".
Joan Sims (24) had the longest uninterrupted run of roles in Carry On films, being in all 20 films (excluding That's Carry On) from Carry On Cleo to Carry On Emmannuelle. She played a range of characters from jolly and assertive young women with sturdy moral standards (Camping, Loving) to sexy and lusty matrons – either desired (At Your Convenience) or coarse and unattractive (Henry, Up the Khyber), to a chatty glutton (in Matron), a battleaxe wife (Screaming) and an unattractive spinster (Doctor). She also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and eleven episodes of the Carry On Laughing television series.
Charles Hawtrey (23) often played a meek, rather effete 'mummy's boy' who could suddenly erupt into riotous behaviour. Other roles were as a strict, officious and prissy person in an authority role. Hawtrey's characters were often bumbling and accident prone, and the victim of various mishaps and complex misunderstandings. He also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials.
Sid James (19) always played a lead character, usually a laconic member of the working class. His characters were often lecherous womanisers, something that caused problems in James' private life. He also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas television specials, and four episodes of the Carry On Laughing television series.
Kenneth Connor (17) often played put-upon men ranging in character from pompous to meek, and often leering. He also provided some additional voice-work in Emmannuelle when he dubbed the dialogue of Howard Nelson (Harry Hernia). He also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas television specials, and twelve episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Peter Butterworth (16) frequently played major roles in the films, often as a generally benign, unflappable but bumbling assistant or servant unable to see the chaos around him. Unusually for a regular, in some films, including Again Doctor, Henry and Loving, his role consists of a cameo appearance in a single scene. He also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and nine episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Hattie Jacques (14) played the haughty matron, school senior mistress or other archetypal authority figure in several films. Later she branched out into more varied comic roles (e.g. At Your Convenience, Loving and Abroad, in which she played a chef embroiled in a constant battle with the stove). She also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and one episode of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Bernard Bresslaw (14) varied between playing the clumsy dimwit or the heavy, or the lusty and bombastic "foreigner". In the later films his characterisation developed greater depth, such as in Dick, Behind. He also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and five episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Jim Dale (11) joined the series with support roles, but quickly progressed to playing the younger, sympathetic male lead, often in the film's romance plot strand. From his debut had an uninterrupted nine-film run. After a two-film absence (Camping and Up The Khyber) returned for Again Doctor, his final Carry On until taking the lead role in the 1992 revival film Carry On Columbus.
Barbara Windsor (10, including co-presenting That's Carry On with Williams) played main roles in all her Carry On appearances. Her characters were always the cheeky and saucy young blonde, often in revealing costumes. Sometimes her characters were chaste (and very often chased), some were easily swayed. She also appeared in all four of the Carry On Christmas TV specials, and eight episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Patsy Rowlands (9) started in support roles, often as undervalued, meek and mousey secretary or assistant who undergoes transformation into a more assertive and sexually aware woman. She also appeared in one episode of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Jack Douglas (8) joined the series with a cameo appearance in Matron, where he appears in one scene with a single line of dialogue. After an only slightly larger role in the following film Abroad, where he again plays his established Alf Ippititimus-type character, his roles increased in size and increasingly diverged from the familiar Alf performance. After his début Douglas appeared in all subsequent films in the original series, and was one of the few returners for Columbus. He also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and twelve episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Terry Scott (7) appeared briefly in the first film Sergeant and returned 10 years later when he played, among others, the put-upon husband (Camping), the barking sergeant (Up the Khyber) and lusty doctor (Matron). Additionally, he appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials. He also filmed a scene for At Your Convenience as union big-wig Mr Allcock, which was not used in the finished film.[2]
Leslie Phillips (4) appeared in three early films – Nurse, Teacher and Constable – after which he left the series only to return 32 years later for Columbus as the King of Spain.

tag: ul

text: Regular cast roles[edit]

text:
Title
Year
Actor

Kenneth Williams
Joan Sims
Charles Hawtrey
Sid James
Kenneth Connor
Peter Butterworth
Hattie Jacques
Bernard Bresslaw
Jim Dale
Barbara Windsor
Patsy Rowlands
Jack Douglas
Terry Scott
Leslie Phillips

Sergeant
1958
James Bailey
-
Peter Golightly
-
Horace Strong
-
Capt. Clark (medical officer)
-
-
-
-
-
Sgt. Paddy O'Brien
-

Nurse
1959
Oliver Reckitt
Nurse Stella Dawson
Humphrey Hinton
-
Bernie Bishop
-
Matron
-
-
-
-
-
-
Jack Bell

Teacher
1959
Edwin Milton
Sarah Allcock
Michael Bean
-
Gregory Adams
-
Grace Short
-
-
-
-
-
-
Alistair Grigg

Constable
1960
Const. Stanley Benson
Policewoman Gloria Passworthy
Special Const. Timothy Gorse
Sgt. Frank Wilkins
Const. Charlie Constable
-
Sgt. Laura Moon
-
-
-
-
-
-
Const. Tom Potter

Regardless
1961
Francis Courtenay
Lily Duveen
Gabriel Dimple
Bert Handy
Sam Twist
-
Frosty-faced sister
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Cruising
1962
Leonard Marjoribanks
-
-
Captain Wellington Crowther
Dr Arthur Binn
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Cabby
1963
-
-
Pint-Pot (Terry Tankard)
Charlie Hawkins
Ted Watson
-
Peggy Hawkins
-
Expectant Father
-
-
-
-
-

Jack
1963
Captain Fearless
-
Walter
-
-
-
-
-
"Carrier"
-
-
-
-
-

Spying
1964
Desmond Simpkins
-
Charlie Bind
-
-
-
-
-
Carstairs
Daphne Honeybutt aka Agent Brown Cow
-
-
-
-

Cleo
1964
Julius Caesar
Calpurnia
Seneca
Mark Antony
Hengist Pod
-
-
-
Horsa
-
-
-
-
-

Cowboy
1965
Judge Burke
Belle Armitage
Big Heap
Johnny Finger / The Rumpo Kid
-
Doc
-
Little Heap
Marshall P Knutt
-
-
-
-
-

Screaming!
1966
Dr. Watt
Emily Bung
Dan Dann
-
-
Const. Slobotham
-
Sockett
Albert
-
-
-
-
-

Don't Lose Your Head
1966
Citizen Camembert
Desiree Dubarry
Duc De Pommfrit
Sir Rodney Ffing / The Black Fingernail
-
Citizen Bidet
-
-
Lord Darcy Pue
-
-
-
-
-

Follow That Camel
1967
Cmdnt. Burger
Zig-Zig
Capt. Le Pice
-
-
Simpson
-
Sheikh Abdul Abulbul
Bertram Oliphant 'Bo' West
-
-
-
-
-

Doctor
1967
Dr. Kenneth Tinkle
Chloe Gibson
Mr. Barron
Charlie Roper
-
Mr. Smith
Matron
Ken Biddle
Dr. James Kilmore
Nurse Sandra May
-
-
-
-

Up the Khyber
1968
The Khasi of Kalabar
Lady Joan Ruff-Diamond
Pvt. James Widdle
Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond
-
Brother Belcher
-
Bungdit Din
-
-
-
-
Sgt. Maj. Macnutt
-

Camping
1969
Dr. Kenneth Soaper
Joan Fussey
Charlie Muggins
Sid Boggle
-
Joshua Fiddler
Miss Haggerd
Bernie Lugg
-
Babs
-
-
Peter Potter
-

Again Doctor
1969
Frederick Carver
Ellen Moore
Dr. Ernest Stoppidge
Gladstone Screwer
-
"Shuffling Patient"
Matron
-
Dr. Jimmy Nookey
Goldie Locks
Miss Fosdick
-
-
-

Up the Jungle
1970
-
Lady Evelyn Bagley
King Tonka / Walter Bagley
Bill Boosey
Claude Chumley
-
-
Upsidasi
-
-
-
-
Cecil the Jungle Boy
-

Loving
1970
Percival Snooper
Esme Crowfoot
James Bedsop
Sidney Bliss
-
"Sinister Client"
Miss Sophie Plummett
Gripper Burke
-
-
Miss Dempsey
-
Terence Philpot
-

Henry
1971
Thomas Cromwell
Queen Marie of Normandy
Sir Roger de Lodgerley
King Henry VIII
Lord Hampton of Wick
Charles, Earl of Bristol
-
-
-
Bettina
Queen
-
Cardinal Wolsey
-

At Your Convenience
1971
W C Boggs
Chloe Moore
Charles Coote
Sid Plummer
-
-
Beattie Plummer
Bernie Hulke
-
-
Hortence Withering
-
(Guest appearance cut from finished film)
-

Matron
1972
Sir Bernard Cutting
Mrs. Tidey
Dr. F A Goode
Sid Carter
Mr. Tidey
-
Matron
Ernie Bragg
-
Nurse Susan Ball
Evelyn Banks
"Twitching Father"
Dr. Prodd
-

Abroad
1972
Stuart Farquhar
Cora Flange
Eustace Tuttle
Vic Flange
Stanley Blunt
Pepe
Floella
Brother Bernard
-
Sadie Tomkins
Miss Dobbs
Harry
-
-

Girls
1973
-
Connie Philpotts
-
Sidney Fiddler
Mayor Frederick Bumble
The Admiral
-
Peter Potter
-
Hope Springs
Mildred Bumble
William
-
-

Dick
1974
Desmond Fancey
Madame Desiree
-
Dick Turpin
Constable
Tom
Martha Hoggett
Sir Roger Daley
-
Harriett / Harry
Mrs. Giles
Sgt. Jock Strapp
-
-

Behind
1975
Prof. Roland Crump
Daphne Barnes
-
-
Maj. Leep
Barnes
-
Arthur Upmore
-
-
Linda Upmore
Ernie Bragg
-
-

England
1976
-
Pvt. Ffoukes Sharpe
-
-
Capt. S. Melly
Maj. Carstairs
-
-
-
-
-
Bombardier Ready
-
-

That's...
1977
Presenter
archive
archive
archive
archive
archive
archive
archive
archive
Presenter
-
-
archive
-

Emmannuelle
1978
Emile Prevert
Mrs. Dangle
-
-
Leyland/Voice of Harry Hernia
Richmond
-
-
-
-
-
Lyons
-
-

Columbus
1992
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Christopher Columbus
-
-
Marco the Cereal Killer
-
King Ferdinand

tag: table

text: Other recurring cast members[edit]

text: This section looks at actors who starred or had at least one significant supporting role in at least one Carry On film plus at least one other supporting role, and those actors who appeared in at least four or more films in small or supporting roles.

text:
Michael Nightingale (13 films) made more Carry On appearances than any other member of the supporting cast. Out of these 13, four were uncredited appearances (Regardless, Don't Lose Your Head, Follow That Camel, and Girls). His nine credited appearances were in Cabby, Jack, Cleo, Cowboy, Camping, Matron, Dick, England, and Emmanuelle. He also appeared in two episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Peter Gilmore (11) usually had supporting roles. He occasionally played the villain, (Cabby, Jack, Don't Lose Your Head). He returned for Columbus.
Marianne Stone (9) played a range of minor and supporting roles across almost the entire run of the series (from Nurse to Behind). In addition to those 9 roles, her character in Matron was cut from the finished film, although she remained credited in the opening titles, whilst she provided uncredited voice-work in Constable when she dubbed actress Lucy Griffiths' dialogue. She also appeared in one episode of the Carry on Laughing TV series.
Billy Cornelius (8) was a regular stuntman and small-part actor during much of the series. His most famous role was probably one of the monsters, Oddbod Jr., in Screaming. Other credited roles are in Again Doctor, Henry, and Dick. Additional uncredited roles are in Cowboy and Don't Lose Your Head. He also appeared in the 1970 Carry On Stuffing Christmas TV special, and three episodes on the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Frank Forsyth (8) was a regular small-part player. Although he was uncredited for his brief appearance in Again Doctor, his remaining roles gained him on-screen credits (Sergeant, Nurse, Constable, Cabby, Jack, Spying, and Screaming).
Julian Holloway (8) played several supporting roles, including one lead role (which was heavily cut during editing) in Camping. His role in At Your Convenience (which is included in his tally of 8) was an uncredited appearance. He also appeared in the 1973 Carry On Christmas TV special.
Cyril Chamberlain (7) was a regular actor in the early days of the series. He played small cameo roles in Sergeant and Regardless, but his roles in Nurse, Teacher, Constable, Cruising, and Cabby saw him getting more screen time in effective supporting roles.
Hugh Futcher (7) played mostly small roles in Spying, At Your Convenience and Behind. He also had uncredited roles in Don't Lose Your Head, Again Doctor, and Girls.
Gertan Klauber (7) was frequently cast when the producers wanted someone big and sinister, or big and jovial. His most memorable role was in Cleo where he played Marcus to Warren Mitchell's Spencius. He had other roles in Spying, Doctor, Henry, Abroad, and Emmannuelle. He also appeared uncredited in Follow That Camel.
Anthony Sagar (7) had several minor roles from Sergeant to Loving, his role in Constable being uncredited. Additionally, he appeared in Henry but the scene (which also featured a young David Essex) was cut.
Sally Douglas (6) was a regular face to cinema and TV audience during the 1960s and early 1970s, frequently uncredited. She is credited for her appearances in Cowboy and Screaming, whilst her work on Jack, Spying, and Cleo went uncredited.
Lucy Griffiths (6) seemed to be perpetually elderly in most of her roles. She was credited with roles in Nurse, Constable (in which her voice was dubbed by Marianne Stone), Doctor, and Again Doctor. She appeared uncredited in Regardless and Behind, while her scene was cut out of Loving before release.
Valerie Leon (6) initially played an uncredited role in Up the Khyber, before making brief, but credited, decorative appearances such as a shop girl (Camping) or a hospital patient (Matron). Other, larger roles included an Amazonian queen in Carry On Up the Jungle and a prim repressed woman turned beauty pageant contestant in Girls. She also appeared in the 1972 Carry On Christmas TV special. Her character in Girls was dubbed by June Whitfield. The role of Moira in Abroad was written with her in mind.[citation needed]
Margaret Nolan (6) usually played supporting roles, most notably Dawn Brakes in Girls.
Derek Francis (6) played a wide range of supporting characters, from country yokels (Camping) to authority figures (Doctor)
Brian Osborne (6) appeared in almost all of the later films in support roles (from Matron to England). Additionally, Osborne appeared in 7 episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Ian Wilson (6) was a diminutive actor who appeared in Cabby, plus memorable small roles in Jack (alongside Jim Dale), and the messenger in Cleo who has "come hotfoot from Rome". He also appeared, uncredited, in Constable, Regardless, and Cruising.
Amelia Bayntun (5) was frequently cast in small roles (almost a bit part in Convenience), notably as Joan Sims' busybody mother in Camping
Tom Clegg (5), usually in minor roles as 'heavies', but played a major role in Screaming as the Frankenstein's Monster parody, Oddbod.
Ed Devereaux (5) was an Australian-born actor who appeared in Sergeant, Nurse, Regardless, and Cruising.
Patrick Durkin (5) gave his powerfully built support in Sergeant, Nurse, Spying, and Dick. His role in Cowboy was uncredited.
Joan Hickson (5) The Miss Marple actress appeared in Nurse, Constable, Regardless, Loving and Girls.
David Lodge (5) started his Carry On career performing a cameo role in Regardless. 12 years later he returned to the team, this time playing more substantial supporting roles in Girls, Dick, Behind, and England. He also appeared in 7 episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Bill Maynard (5) played support roles in some early 1970s films: including Joan Sims' character's obtuse husband in At Your Convenience, a dim stooge in Matron, and a jovial inn keeper in Dick. Additionally, he filmed a scene as Kenneth Williams' boss for Abroad, but this was not included in the finished film. He was also offered the role eventually played by David Lodge in Girls, but had to turn it down due to other commitments.
Victor Maddern (5) played supporting roles in some of the 1960s films: including Milchmann, the milkman spy in Spying; also appeared in Emmannuelle (1978). He also appeared in three episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Norman Mitchell (5) appeared in Spying, Screaming, and Emmannuelle, with uncredited appearances in Cabby and Cleo.
Patricia Franklin (5) appeared in "Girls", "Camping", "Loving", "Behind" and "England".
Michael Ward (5) brought a superb effete touch to Regardless, Cabby, Cleo, Screaming, and Don't Lose Your Head.
Eric Barker (4), generally as authority figures in the early films, such as the M-like character in Spying. He also returned in Emmannuelle, the final film of the original run. He is also credited with submitting the original story idea on which Carry On Cruising is based.
Marian Collins (4) was a regular in British cinema for nearly ten years, adding glamour in frequently uncredited roles. Her Carry On roles were all uncredited: Cruising, Cabby, Jack, and Spying.
Dominique Don (4) added some uncredited Parisian-born glamour to Cabby, Jack, Follow That Camel, and Up The Khyber.
Bill Owen (4) Early Carry On regular who made his final appearance in Cabby
Terence Longdon (4) was an early Carry On regular who made his final appearance in Regardless. Starring roles were in Sergeant and Nurse, whilst he made a brief guest appearance in Constable.
June Whitfield (4) After a support role in Nurse she returned much later for lead roles in Abroad as a prudish, nagging wife, and an equally strait-laced character in Girls (in which she also dubbed the dialogue for Valerie Leon's character). She returned for Columbus in the role originally ear-marked for Joan Sims.
Esma Cannon (4) Australian actress who had small roles in Constable & Regardless and had larger roles in Cruising & Cabby.
Larry Dann (4) had a small role as a student in Teacher (1959). Returned much later for support roles in Behind (1975), England (1976) and a main role in Emmannuelle (1978).
Liz Fraser (4) joined the series in Regardless and continued until Cabby. She returned 12 years later for a supporting role in Carry On Behind.
Dilys Laye (4) made her first appearance in Cruising. Also appeared in Spying, Doctor and Camping.
Angela Douglas (4) played leading roles in Cowboy, Screaming, Follow that Camel and Up the Khyber.
Julian Orchard (4) made an uncredited appearance as a rake admiring Joan Sims' cleavage in Don't Lose Your Head. He followed this with a small role in Follow That Camel, and more significant supporting roles in Doctor and Henry.
Brian Oulton (4) played larger supporting roles in Nurse and Cleo, and cameo roles in Constable and Camping (both as shop managers). He also appeared in the 1972 TV Christmas special Carry On Stuffing.
Jacki Piper (4) played the female romantic leads in Up the Jungle, Loving and At Your Convenience and a large supporting role Matron.
Jon Pertwee (4) had small roles such as the soothsayer in Carry On Cleo, Dr. Fettle in Carry On Screaming, Sheriff Earp in Carry On Cowboy. Returned in Carry On Columbus, as the Duke of Costa Brava.
Valerie Van Ost (4) started in the Carry Ons with an uncredited turn as a GlabCab taxi driver in Cabby. This was followed with supporting and cameo roles in Don't Lose Your Head, Doctor, and Again Doctor.
John Bluthal (3) played supporting roles in Spying and Follow That Camel. In Spying he also provided the voice of Dr Crow, dubbing actress Judith Furse to make her sound more asexual. He also had an uncredited 'gag' appearance in Henry playing the Royal Tailor. Bluthal was famous at the time for his role of tailor Manny Cohen in the TV sitcom Never Mind The Quality, Feel The Width.
Kenneth Cope (3) had major roles in both At Your Convenience, where he played a troublemaking shop steward and a rival for the romantic lead; in Matron he played a more sympathetic role, as a crook's son forced to go undercover as a nurse to case a hospital. However, his first Carry On appearance was as a walk-on actor playing a sailor in Jack.
Bernard Cribbins (3) played lead roles in Jack and Spying. Returned for Columbus.
Shirley Eaton (3) played the original female lead in Sergeant & Nurse and returned for a smaller role in Constable.
Sally Geeson (3) started her Carry On career, aged 11, in an uncredited cameo in Regardless. She returned in the large supporting role of Lily in Abroad, 11 years later, following it up the following year with a cameo appearance in Girls. She starred on TV alongside Sid James and Patsy Rowlands in Bless This House, joining them in the film version produced by Peter Rogers.
Renée Houston (3) appeared in small roles in Cabby and Spying before returning seven years later for a more substantial role in Convenience. She also accepted the role of Mrs Dukes in Girls, but had to withdraw due to ill health.
Norman Rossington (3) His principal role in Sergeant was followed up with two boxing themed cameo appearances in Nurse and Regardless. Additionally he returned to the team in the 1972 TV Christmas special Carry On Stuffing.
Amanda Barrie (2) had a supporting role as Anthea in Cabby and the more substantial role of the title character in Cleo.
Windsor Davies (2) had lead roles in two later films, Carry On Behind and Carry On England which did not feature usual lead Sid James. Davies was an established television comedy actor at the time.
Fenella Fielding (2) had a supporting role in Regardless and a lead role in Screaming
Anita Harris (2) had a substantial role in Doctor, followed by a smaller, but memorable, appearance in Follow That Camel
Carol Hawkins (2) appeared in the large supporting roles of Marge in Abroad (a role originally offered to Madeline Smith) and Sandra in Behind. Carol also made an uncredited appearance in the 1970 Carry On Christmas TV special, and made two appearances in the TV series Carry On Laughing. She was offered a role in England, but turned it down due to excessive nudity.
Percy Herbert (2) had two large supporting roles in Jack and Cowboy.
Frankie Howerd (2). Leading comedy performer Howerd played lead roles in Carry On Doctor and Carry On Up the Jungle, He was offered other Carry On roles but had to turn them down due to other work commitments. Additionally, he appeared in the 1969 Carry On Christmas special as, amongst other things, the Fairy Godmother.
June Jago (2) saw promotion from a nurse in Regardless to the strict ward sister in Doctor, by far her largest role of the two. She also shone in the Peter Rogers film Please Turn Over where she played the same role in two different ways - one an uptight health fanatic, the other a pathetic love-lorn drunk.
Peter Jones (2) played the Chaplain in Doctor and a more significant role as the Brigadier in England.
Rosalind Knight (2) brings some polish to Nurse and a starring role in Teacher.
Diane Langton (2) made her uncredited debut as a young girl in Teacher before returning many years later to appear in England. Prior to England, she also appeared in three episodes of the TV Carry On Laughing series.
Jimmy Logan (2) had a minor role as a camp photographer in Girls and a central role in Abroad
Betty Marsden (2) had a small role as a femme fatale in Regardless and a major role in Camping
Richard O'Callaghan (2) played the male romantic lead in Loving and At Your Convenience.

text: Other actors in leading roles[edit]

text:
Robin Askwith, as Larry in Carry On Girls.
Dora Bryan, as Nora in Carry On Sergeant.
Roy Castle, as Captain Keene in Carry On Up the Khyber.
Julian Clary, as Don Juan Diego in Carry On Columbus.
Harry H. Corbett, as Inspector Sidney Bung in Carry On Screaming!.
Sara Crowe, as Fatima in Carry On Columbus.
Suzanne Danielle, as the title role in Carry On Emmannuelle.
Judy Geeson, as Sergeant Tilly Willing in Carry On England.
William Hartnell, as Sergeant Grimshaw in Carry On Sergeant.
Imogen Hassall, as Jenny Grubb in Carry On Loving.
Melvyn Hayes, as Gunner Shorthouse in England, plus an episode of Carry On Laughing.
Donald Houston, as First Officer Jonathan Howett in Jack.
Maureen Lipman, as Countess Esmerelda in Carry On Columbus.
Juliet Mills, as Sally in Carry On Jack.
Bob Monkhouse, as Charlie Sage in Carry On Sergeant.
Patrick Mower, as Sergeant Len Able in Carry On England.
Richard O'Sullivan, as Robin Stevens in Carry On Teacher.
Lance Percival, as Wilfred Haines in Carry On Cruising.
Nigel Planer, as The Wazir in Carry On Columbus.
Ted Ray, as Mr William Wakefield in Carry On Teacher.
Dany Robin, as Jacqueline in Don't Lose Your Head.
Alexei Sayle, as Achmed in Carry On Columbus.
Phil Silvers, as Sergeant Knocker in Follow That Camel.
Susan Stephen, as Nurse Georgie Axwell in Carry On Nurse.
Elke Sommer, as Professor Anna Vrooshka in Carry On Behind.

text: Other actors in supporting and minor roles[edit]

text: (In alphabetical order)

text:
Vincent Ball (2) had supporting roles in Cruising and Follow that Camel
Bruce Boa (1) Emmannuelle.
Martin Boddey (2) appears in avuncular mode in Sergeant and Nurse.
Johnny Briggs (3) had small, unaccredited roles in Up The Khyber and Behind (in which the role of his Plasterer mostly hit the cutting room floor). He had a larger role as Melly's Driver in England. He also appeared in one episode of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Ronnie Brody (2) made his first unaccredited appearance in Don't Lose Your Head, followed up by the small role of Henry in Loving. Brody also appeared in 2 episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Ray Brooks (1) had a sizeable supporting role in Abroad.
Jeremy Bulloch (1) made an unaccredited appearance as a schoolboy in Teacher.
Gerald Campion (1) had a sizeable supporting role in Sergeant.
Brian Capron (0), the future Coronation Street baddie does not appear in any Carry On films. He does, however, feature in two episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Patrick Cargill (2) appeared in Regardless and Jack. Carry On Nurse is based in part on the stage play Ring For Catty which he co-wrote with Jack Beale. Three years later Peter Rogers used the same play as the basis for his film Twice Round The Daffodils.
John Carlin (2) made just two small appearances in the film series (in England and Emmannuelle). However, before these roles he had been seen as a semi-regular performer (frequently 'camping it up') in the Carry On Laughing TV series, notching up six episodes.
Elizabeth Knight (2) Camping and Again Doctor.
Norman Chappell (2) made his Carry On debut in Cabby in a role originally offered to Kenneth Williams. When Williams refused it, the part of the Shop Steward was decreased and offered to Chappell. His other appearance was in Henry. He was also to appear in Loving, but his part was edited out of the film before release. He was more of a regular performer in the Carry On Laughing TV series where he made 7 appearances.
Peggy Ann Clifford (1) was Tony Hancock's regular, female, television sparring partner, and makes an unaccredited guest appearance in Cleo.
David Davenport (3) was a former ballet dancer whose major Carry On contribution was in the significant supporting role of Bilius the bodyguard in Cleo. He also appeared in Don't Lose Your Head and Henry.
Francis de Wolff (1) puts in a fearsome supporting role in Cleo.
Noel Dyson (2) was everyone's favourite nanny in Father, Dear Father, and a founder cast member in Coronation Street. She appeared in Constable and Cabby.
E. V. H. Emmett (1) brought his newsreading authority to the narrator of Cleo. Although several other films in the series used a narrator, none used them as effectively as Cleo where the conceit runs throughout the film. Emmett was the only person to get credited for narrating a Carry On film. He had previously been a Gaumont British News newsreader and commentator, and also provided narration for the first series of Dad's Army.
Hilda Fenemore (2) had a main part in Nurse as a snob's loud-mouthed wife, and had a cameo appearance in Constable as a woman who wanted to use the public convenience. She is best remembered as Ivy, the cleaner in Are You Being Served?.
Charles Fleischer (1) Columbus.
Joanna Ford (2) added some unaccredited sex-appeal to Cabby and Cleo.
Gloria Best (3) added some unaccredited glamour to Spying, Cleo and Cowboy.
Judith Furse (3) brought her formidable personality to Regardless, Cabby, and, most memorably, as Dr Crow in Spying, the film's take on the traditional Bond villain. For the latter role her voice was redubbed by John Bluthal in order to give the character a more asexual sound.
Fred Griffiths (3) appears as an ambulance man in Nurse, and as a taxi driver in Regardless and Loving.
Sheila Hancock (1) lends her immense comic support to Cleo as Hengist Pod's wife Senna.
Irene Handl (2) appeared in Nurse and Constable.
Sherrie Hewson (1) appeared in the large supporting role of Carol in Behind. However, she also made 4 appearances in the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Linda Hooks (3) the former Miss Great Britain had small glamorous roles in 3 later films, plus two appearances in episodes on the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Laraine Humphrys (2) brought glamour to Girls and Dick. Laraine also appeared in the 1975 Carry On Christmas TV special.
Wilfrid Hyde-White (1) has a significant guest role in Nurse.
Vivienne Johnson (1) is only credited with appearing in England. However, the previous year had seen her make three significant appearances in the Carry On Laughing TV series.
Ian Lavender (1) has a large supporting role in Behind.
George Layton (1) was probably best known at the time for playing Dr Paul Collier in the Doctor... TV series. In Behind he makes a 'gag' appearance as a Doctor. He also co-wrote an unused script for a potential Carry On film in the 1980s.
Tutte Lemkow (1) brought his distinctive face to British film and television productions for 40 years. Sadly, his only Carry On contribution was as an unaccredited walk-on in Spying.
John Levene (0) made an unaccredited 'gag' appearance in one of the Carry On Laughing TV episodes. Best known for playing UNIT soldier Corporal Benton in Doctor Who, he appears briefly as a mediaeval soldier in the episode The Baron Outlook. He did not appear in any of the films.
Harry Locke (3) was a well-used supporting artist within the British film industry. His 3 Carry On appearances are all in medical comedies: Nurse, Doctor, and Again Doctor.
Reuben Martin (2) played gorillas in both Up The Jungle and Emmannuelle (the latter unaccredited). He also donned his gorilla suit for an episode of the TV Carry On Laughing series.
Derek Martinus (1) appeared in just one of the series, Sergeant. He went on to become a TV director of note, directing (amongst other things) 9 episodes of William Hartnell era Doctor Who, 17 further episodes of Doctor Who, and 2 episodes of Blake's 7.
Larry Martyn (2) had small roles in Convenience and Behind.
Rik Mayall (1) Columbus.
William Mervyn (3) has cameo roles in Follow That Camel, Again Doctor, and Henry.
Olive Milbourne (1) later found fame as Terry's mum in The Likely Lads (on both TV and radio), and its sequel Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, but an early unaccredited appearance was as a sexy GlamCab driver in Cabby.
Larry Miller (1) Columbus.
Warren Mitchell (1) made an entertaining, single appearance in Cleo. He went on to create the role of Alf Garnett for writer Johnny Speight.
Trisha Noble (1) had a large supporting role in Camping, but her role was decreased during editing.
Cecil Parker (1) makes a guest appearance topping-and-tailing Jack.
Daniel Peacock (1) Columbus.
Ambrosine Phillpotts (2) brings an aristocratic air to Regardless and Cabby.
Eric Pohlmann (2) brings something sinister to Regardless, and shines in the supporting role of a foreign spy in Spying.
Brian Rawlinson (3) appeared in Cruising, Cleo and Cowboy.
Linda Regan (1) appears as one of the ATS girls in England. Six years earlier she had also appeared uncredited in the 1970 Carry On Again Christmas TV special.
Beryl Reid (1) made a guest appearance in Emmannuelle.
Wendy Richard (2) made her Carry On film debut in Matron, following it up with a larger supporting role in Girls. However, two years earlier she had also appeared in the 1970 Carry On Christmas TV special.
Anton Rodgers (2) appeared in Cruising and Jack.
Carole Shelley (2) brought 'ditzy' glamour to Regardless and Cabby.
Vicki Smith (3) added unaccredited sex-appeal to Spying, Cleo, and Cowboy.
Yutte Stensgaard (1) made an unaccredited appearance in Again Doctor as a nurse. She also filmed a scene for Loving alongside Dad's Army star James Beck, but their scene was removed from the film before release.
Jimmy Thompson (3) appeared in Regardless and Jack, with a large supporting role in Cruising in the middle.
Bob Todd (1) makes an unaccredited 'gag' appearance in Again Doctor. He also appeared in the 1970 Carry On Again Christmas TV special.
Nikki van der Zyl (2) was one of British cinema's most prolific voice-over artistes, dubbing many of the original Bond girls (including Shirley Eaton in Goldfinger). She appears unaccredited in two of the films, none of them dubbing work. In Cleo she doubles for Amanda Barrie when Cleo is rolled out of her carpet, whilst in Don't Lose Your Head she provides stunt work and appears as the messenger who brings a letter to Charles Hawtrey at the start of the film when he is about to be executed.
Wanda Ventham (2) has an unaccredited cameo in Cleo, and a slightly larger role as the Khasi's first wife in Up The Khyber.
Kenneth Waller (1) stepped into the role of the Barman in Behind at the last minute replacing the now unavailable Chris Gannon.


document_title: Helium

question_text: which noble gas was the first observed in india during a solar eclipse

question_tokens: which noble gas was the first observed in india during a solar eclipse

text: Helium

text: History

text: Scientific discoveries

text: The first evidence of helium was observed on August 18, 1868, as a bright yellow line with a wavelength of 587.49 nanometers in the spectrum of the chromosphere of the Sun. The line was detected by French astronomer Jules Janssen during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India.[17][18] This line was initially assumed to be sodium. On October 20 of the same year, English astronomer Norman Lockyer observed a yellow line in the solar spectrum, which he named the D3 Fraunhofer line because it was near the known D1 and D2 lines of sodium.[19][20] He concluded that it was caused by an element in the Sun unknown on Earth. Lockyer and English chemist Edward Frankland named the element with the Greek word for the Sun, ἥλιος (helios).[21][22]

text: In 1881, Italian physicist Luigi Palmieri detected helium on Earth for the first time through its D3 spectral line, when he analyzed a material that had been sublimated during a recent eruption of Mount Vesuvius.[23]

text: On March 26, 1895, Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay isolated helium on Earth by treating the mineral cleveite (a variety of uraninite with at least 10% rare earth elements) with mineral acids. Ramsay was looking for argon but, after separating nitrogen and oxygen from the gas liberated by sulfuric acid, he noticed a bright yellow line that matched the D3 line observed in the spectrum of the Sun.[20][25][26][27] These samples were identified as helium by Lockyer and British physicist William Crookes.[28][29] It was independently isolated from cleveite in the same year by chemists Per Teodor Cleve and Abraham Langlet in Uppsala, Sweden, who collected enough of the gas to accurately determine its atomic weight.[18][30][31] Helium was also isolated by the American geochemist William Francis Hillebrand prior to Ramsay's discovery when he noticed unusual spectral lines while testing a sample of the mineral uraninite. Hillebrand, however, attributed the lines to nitrogen.[32] His letter of congratulations to Ramsay offers an interesting case of discovery and near-discovery in science.[33]

text: In 1907, Ernest Rutherford and Thomas Royds demonstrated that alpha particles are helium nuclei by allowing the particles to penetrate the thin glass wall of an evacuated tube, then creating a discharge in the tube to study the spectra of the new gas inside.[34] In 1908, helium was first liquefied by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes by cooling the gas to less than one kelvin.[35][36] He tried to solidify it by further reducing the temperature but failed because helium does not solidify at atmospheric pressure. Onnes' student Willem Hendrik Keesom was eventually able to solidify 1 cm3 of helium in 1926 by applying additional external pressure.[37][38]

text: In 1913, Niels Bohr published his 'trilogy'[39][40] on atomic structure that included a reconsideration of the Pickering–Fowler series as central evidence in support of his model of the atom.[41][42] This series is named for Edward Charles Pickering, who in 1896 published observations of previously unknown lines in the spectra of the star ζ-Puppis[43] (these are now known to occur with Wolf–Rayet and other hot stars).[44] Pickering attributed the observation (lines at 4551, 5411, and 10123 Å) to a new form of hydrogen with half-integer transition levels.[45][46] In 1912, Alfred Fowler[47] managed to produce similar lines from a hydrogen-helium mixture, and supported Pickering's conclusion as to their origin.[48] Bohr's model does not allow for half-integer transitions (nor does quantum mechanics) and Bohr concluded that Pickering and Fowler were wrong, and instead assigned these spectral lines to ionised helium, He+.[49] Fowler was initially skeptical[50] but was ultimately convinced[51] that Bohr was correct,[39] and by 1915 "spectroscopists had transferred [the Pickering–Fowler series] definitively [from hydrogen] to helium."[42][52] Bohr's theoretical work on the Pickering series had demonstrated the need for "a re-examination of problems that seemed already to have been solved within classical theories" and provided important confirmation for his atomic theory.[42]

text: In 1938, Russian physicist Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa discovered that helium-4 has almost no viscosity at temperatures near absolute zero, a phenomenon now called superfluidity.[53] This phenomenon is related to Bose–Einstein condensation. In 1972, the same phenomenon was observed in helium-3, but at temperatures much closer to absolute zero, by American physicists Douglas D. Osheroff, David M. Lee, and Robert C. Richardson. The phenomenon in helium-3 is thought to be related to pairing of helium-3 fermions to make bosons, in analogy to Cooper pairs of electrons producing superconductivity.[54]

text: Extraction and use

text: After an oil drilling operation in 1903 in Dexter, Kansas, produced a gas geyser that would not burn, Kansas state geologist Erasmus Haworth collected samples of the escaping gas and took them back to the University of Kansas at Lawrence where, with the help of chemists Hamilton Cady and David McFarland, he discovered that the gas consisted of, by volume, 72% nitrogen, 15% methane (a combustible percentage only with sufficient oxygen), 1% hydrogen, and 12% an unidentifiable gas.[18][55] With further analysis, Cady and McFarland discovered that 1.84% of the gas sample was helium.[56][57] This showed that despite its overall rarity on Earth, helium was concentrated in large quantities under the American Great Plains, available for extraction as a byproduct of natural gas.[58]

text: This enabled the United States to become the world's leading supplier of helium. Following a suggestion by Sir Richard Threlfall, the United States Navy sponsored three small experimental helium plants during World War I. The goal was to supply barrage balloons with the non-flammable, lighter-than-air gas. A total of 5,700 m3 (200,000 cu ft) of 92% helium was produced in the program even though less than a cubic meter of the gas had previously been obtained.[20] Some of this gas was used in the world's first helium-filled airship, the U.S. Navy's C-7, which flew its maiden voyage from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1921,[59] nearly two years before the Navy's first rigid helium-filled airship, the Naval Aircraft Factory-built USS Shenandoah, flew in September 1923.

text: Although the extraction process, using low-temperature gas liquefaction, was not developed in time to be significant during World War I, production continued. Helium was primarily used as a lifting gas in lighter-than-air craft. During World War II, the demand increased for helium for lifting gas and for shielded arc welding. The helium mass spectrometer was also vital in the atomic bomb Manhattan Project.[60]

text: The government of the United States set up the National Helium Reserve in 1925 at Amarillo, Texas, with the goal of supplying military airships in time of war and commercial airships in peacetime.[20] Because of the Helium Control Act (1927), which banned the export of scarce helium on which the US then had a production monopoly, together with the prohibitive cost of the gas, the Hindenburg, like all German Zeppelins, was forced to use hydrogen as the lift gas. The helium market after World War II was depressed but the reserve was expanded in the 1950s to ensure a supply of liquid helium as a coolant to create oxygen/hydrogen rocket fuel (among other uses) during the Space Race and Cold War. Helium use in the United States in 1965 was more than eight times the peak wartime consumption.[61]

text: After the "Helium Acts Amendments of 1960" (Public Law 86–777), the U.S. Bureau of Mines arranged for five private plants to recover helium from natural gas. For this helium conservation program, the Bureau built a 425-mile (684 km) pipeline from Bushton, Kansas, to connect those plants with the government's partially depleted Cliffside gas field near Amarillo, Texas. This helium-nitrogen mixture was injected and stored in the Cliffside gas field until needed, at which time it was further purified.[62]

text: By 1995, a billion cubic meters of the gas had been collected and the reserve was US$1.4 billion in debt, prompting the Congress of the United States in 1996 to phase out the reserve.[18][63] The resulting "Helium Privatization Act of 1996"[64] (Public Law 104–273) directed the United States Department of the Interior to empty the reserve, with sales starting by 2005.[65]

text: Helium produced between 1930 and 1945 was about 98.3% pure (2% nitrogen), which was adequate for airships. In 1945, a small amount of 99.9% helium was produced for welding use. By 1949, commercial quantities of Grade A 99.95% helium were available.[66]

text: For many years, the United States produced more than 90% of commercially usable helium in the world, while extraction plants in Canada, Poland, Russia, and other nations produced the remainder. In the mid-1990s, a new plant in Arzew, Algeria, producing 17 million cubic meters (600 million cubic feet) began operation, with enough production to cover all of Europe's demand. Meanwhile, by 2000, the consumption of helium within the U.S. had risen to more than 15 million kg per year.[67] In 2004–2006, additional plants in Ras Laffan, Qatar, and Skikda, Algeria were built. Algeria quickly became the second leading producer of helium.[68] Through this time, both helium consumption and the costs of producing helium increased.[69] From 2002 to 2007 helium prices doubled.[70]

text: As of 2012, the United States National Helium Reserve accounted for 30 percent of the world's helium.[71] The reserve was expected to run out of helium in 2018.[71] Despite that, a proposed bill in the United States Senate would allow the reserve to continue to sell the gas. Other large reserves were in the Hugoton in Kansas, United States, and nearby gas fields of Kansas and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. New helium plants were scheduled to open in 2012 in Qatar, Russia, and the US state of Wyoming, but they were not expected to ease the shortage.[71]

text: In 2013, Qatar started up the world's largest helium unit,[72] although the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis severely affected helium production there.[73] 2014 was widely acknowledged to be a year of over-supply in the helium business, following years of renowned shortages.[74] Nasdaq reported (2015) that for Air Products, an international corporation that sells gases for industrial use, helium volumes remain under economic pressure due to feedstock supply constraints.[75]

text: Characteristics

text: The helium atom

text: Helium in quantum mechanics

text: In the perspective of quantum mechanics, helium is the second simplest atom to model, following the hydrogen atom. Helium is composed of two electrons in atomic orbitals surrounding a nucleus containing two protons and (usually) two neutrons. As in Newtonian mechanics, no system that consists of more than two particles can be solved with an exact analytical mathematical approach (see 3-body problem) and helium is no exception. Thus, numerical mathematical methods are required, even to solve the system of one nucleus and two electrons. Such computational chemistry methods have been used to create a quantum mechanical picture of helium electron binding which is accurate to within < 2% of the correct value, in a few computational steps.[76] Such models show that each electron in helium partly screens the nucleus from the other, so that the effective nuclear charge Z which each electron sees, is about 1.69 units, not the 2 charges of a classic "bare" helium nucleus.

text: The related stability of the helium-4 nucleus and electron shell

text: The nucleus of the helium-4 atom is identical with an alpha particle. High-energy electron-scattering experiments show its charge to decrease exponentially from a maximum at a central point, exactly as does the charge density of helium's own electron cloud. This symmetry reflects similar underlying physics: the pair of neutrons and the pair of protons in helium's nucleus obey the same quantum mechanical rules as do helium's pair of electrons (although the nuclear particles are subject to a different nuclear binding potential), so that all these fermions fully occupy 1s orbitals in pairs, none of them possessing orbital angular momentum, and each cancelling the other's intrinsic spin. Adding another of any of these particles would require angular momentum and would release substantially less energy (in fact, no nucleus with five nucleons is stable). This arrangement is thus energetically extremely stable for all these particles, and this stability accounts for many crucial facts regarding helium in nature.

text: For example, the stability and low energy of the electron cloud state in helium accounts for the element's chemical inertness, and also the lack of interaction of helium atoms with each other, producing the lowest melting and boiling points of all the elements.

text: In a similar way, the particular energetic stability of the helium-4 nucleus, produced by similar effects, accounts for the ease of helium-4 production in atomic reactions that involve either heavy-particle emission or fusion. Some stable helium-3 (2 protons and 1 neutron) is produced in fusion reactions from hydrogen, but it is a very small fraction compared to the highly favorable helium-4.

text: The unusual stability of the helium-4 nucleus is also important cosmologically: it explains the fact that in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, as the "soup" of free protons and neutrons which had initially been created in about 6:1 ratio cooled to the point that nuclear binding was possible, almost all first compound atomic nuclei to form were helium-4 nuclei. So tight was helium-4 binding that helium-4 production consumed nearly all of the free neutrons in a few minutes, before they could beta-decay, and also leaving few to form heavier atoms such as lithium, beryllium, or boron. Helium-4 nuclear binding per nucleon is stronger than in any of these elements (see nucleogenesis and binding energy) and thus, once helium had been formed, no energetic drive was available to make elements 3, 4 and 5. It was barely energetically favorable for helium to fuse into the next element with a lower energy per nucleon, carbon. However, due to lack of intermediate elements, this process requires three helium nuclei striking each other nearly simultaneously (see triple alpha process). There was thus no time for significant carbon to be formed in the few minutes after the Big Bang, before the early expanding universe cooled to the temperature and pressure point where helium fusion to carbon was no longer possible. This left the early universe with a very similar ratio of hydrogen/helium as is observed today (3 parts hydrogen to 1 part helium-4 by mass), with nearly all the neutrons in the universe trapped in helium-4.

text: All heavier elements (including those necessary for rocky planets like the Earth, and for carbon-based or other life) have thus been created since the Big Bang in stars which were hot enough to fuse helium itself. All elements other than hydrogen and helium today account for only 2% of the mass of atomic matter in the universe. Helium-4, by contrast, makes up about 23% of the universe's ordinary matter—nearly all the ordinary matter that is not hydrogen.

text: Gas and plasma phases

text: Helium is the second least reactive noble gas after neon, and thus the second least reactive of all elements.[77] It is chemically inert and monatomic in all standard conditions. Because of helium's relatively low molar (atomic) mass, its thermal conductivity, specific heat, and sound speed in the gas phase are all greater than any other gas except hydrogen. For these reasons and the small size of helium monatomic molecules, helium diffuses through solids at a rate three times that of air and around 65% that of hydrogen.[20]

text: Helium is the least water-soluble monatomic gas,[78] and one of the least water-soluble of any gas (CF4, SF6, and C4F8 have lower mole fraction solubilities: 0.3802, 0.4394, and 0.2372 x2/10−5, respectively, versus helium's 0.70797 x2/10−5),[79] and helium's index of refraction is closer to unity than that of any other gas.[80] Helium has a negative Joule–Thomson coefficient at normal ambient temperatures, meaning it heats up when allowed to freely expand. Only below its Joule–Thomson inversion temperature (of about 32 to 50 K at 1 atmosphere) does it cool upon free expansion.[20] Once precooled below this temperature, helium can be liquefied through expansion cooling.

text: Most extraterrestrial helium is found in a plasma state, with properties quite different from those of atomic helium. In a plasma, helium's electrons are not bound to its nucleus, resulting in very high electrical conductivity, even when the gas is only partially ionized. The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind together with ionized hydrogen, the particles interact with the Earth's magnetosphere, giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora.[81]

text: Liquid helium

text: Unlike any other element, helium will remain liquid down to absolute zero at normal pressures. This is a direct effect of quantum mechanics: specifically, the zero point energy of the system is too high to allow freezing. Solid helium requires a temperature of 1–1.5 K (about −272 °C or −457 °F) at about 25 bar (2.5 MPa) of pressure.[82] It is often hard to distinguish solid from liquid helium since the refractive index of the two phases are nearly the same. The solid has a sharp melting point and has a crystalline structure, but it is highly compressible; applying pressure in a laboratory can decrease its volume by more than 30%.[83] With a bulk modulus of about 27 MPa[84] it is ~100 times more compressible than water. Solid helium has a density of 0.214 ± 0.006 g/cm3 at 1.15 K and 66 atm; the projected density at 0 K and 25 bar (2.5 MPa) is 0.187 ± 0.009 g/cm3.[85] At higher temperatures, helium will solidify with sufficient pressure. At room temperature, this requires about 114,000 atm.[86]

text: Helium I

text: Below its boiling point of 4.22 kelvins and above the lambda point of 2.1768 kelvins, the isotope helium-4 exists in a normal colorless liquid state, called helium I.[20] Like other cryogenic liquids, helium I boils when it is heated and contracts when its temperature is lowered. Below the lambda point, however, helium does not boil, and it expands as the temperature is lowered further.

text: Helium I has a gas-like index of refraction of 1.026 which makes its surface so hard to see that floats of Styrofoam are often used to show where the surface is.[20] This colorless liquid has a very low viscosity and a density of 0.145–0.125 g/mL (between about 0 and 4 K),[87] which is only one-fourth the value expected from classical physics.[20] Quantum mechanics is needed to explain this property and thus both states of liquid helium (helium I and helium II) are called quantum fluids, meaning they display atomic properties on a macroscopic scale. This may be an effect of its boiling point being so close to absolute zero, preventing random molecular motion (thermal energy) from masking the atomic properties.[20]

text: Helium II

text: Liquid helium below its lambda point (called helium II) exhibits very unusual characteristics. Due to its high thermal conductivity, when it boils, it does not bubble but rather evaporates directly from its surface. Helium-3 also has a superfluid phase, but only at much lower temperatures; as a result, less is known about the properties of the isotope.[20]

text: Helium II is a superfluid, a quantum mechanical state (see: macroscopic quantum phenomena) of matter with strange properties. For example, when it flows through capillaries as thin as 10−7 to 10−8 m it has no measurable viscosity.[18] However, when measurements were done between two moving discs, a viscosity comparable to that of gaseous helium was observed. Current theory explains this using the two-fluid model for helium II. In this model, liquid helium below the lambda point is viewed as containing a proportion of helium atoms in a ground state, which are superfluid and flow with exactly zero viscosity, and a proportion of helium atoms in an excited state, which behave more like an ordinary fluid.[88]

text: In the fountain effect, a chamber is constructed which is connected to a reservoir of helium II by a sintered disc through which superfluid helium leaks easily but through which non-superfluid helium cannot pass. If the interior of the container is heated, the superfluid helium changes to non-superfluid helium. In order to maintain the equilibrium fraction of superfluid helium, superfluid helium leaks through and increases the pressure, causing liquid to fountain out of the container.[89]

text: The thermal conductivity of helium II is greater than that of any other known substance, a million times that of helium I and several hundred times that of copper.[20] This is because heat conduction occurs by an exceptional quantum mechanism. Most materials that conduct heat well have a valence band of free electrons which serve to transfer the heat. Helium II has no such valence band but nevertheless conducts heat well. The flow of heat is governed by equations that are similar to the wave equation used to characterize sound propagation in air. When heat is introduced, it moves at 20 meters per second at 1.8 K through helium II as waves in a phenomenon known as second sound.[20]

text: Helium II also exhibits a creeping effect. When a surface extends past the level of helium II, the helium II moves along the surface, against the force of gravity. Helium II will escape from a vessel that is not sealed by creeping along the sides until it reaches a warmer region where it evaporates. It moves in a 30 nm-thick film regardless of surface material. This film is called a Rollin film and is named after the man who first characterized this trait, Bernard V. Rollin.[20][90][91] As a result of this creeping behavior and helium II's ability to leak rapidly through tiny openings, it is very difficult to confine liquid helium. Unless the container is carefully constructed, the helium II will creep along the surfaces and through valves until it reaches somewhere warmer, where it will evaporate. Waves propagating across a Rollin film are governed by the same equation as gravity waves in shallow water, but rather than gravity, the restoring force is the van der Waals force.[92] These waves are known as third sound.[93]

text: Isotopes

text: There are nine known isotopes of helium, but only helium-3 and helium-4 are stable. In the Earth's atmosphere, one atom is 3He for every million that are 4He.[18] Unlike most elements, helium's isotopic abundance varies greatly by origin, due to the different formation processes. The most common isotope, helium-4, is produced on Earth by alpha decay of heavier radioactive elements; the alpha particles that emerge are fully ionized helium-4 nuclei. Helium-4 is an unusually stable nucleus because its nucleons are arranged into complete shells. It was also formed in enormous quantities during Big Bang nucleosynthesis.[94]

text: Helium-3 is present on Earth only in trace amounts; most of it since Earth's formation, though some falls to Earth trapped in cosmic dust.[95] Trace amounts are also produced by the beta decay of tritium.[96] Rocks from the Earth's crust have isotope ratios varying by as much as a factor of ten, and these ratios can be used to investigate the origin of rocks and the composition of the Earth's mantle.[95] 3He is much more abundant in stars as a product of nuclear fusion. Thus in the interstellar medium, the proportion of 3He to 4He is about 100 times higher than on Earth.[97] Extraplanetary material, such as lunar and asteroid regolith, have trace amounts of helium-3 from being bombarded by solar winds. The Moon's surface contains helium-3 at concentrations on the order of 10 ppb, much higher than the approximately 5 ppt found in the Earth's atmosphere.[98][99] A number of people, starting with Gerald Kulcinski in 1986,[100] have proposed to explore the moon, mine lunar regolith, and use the helium-3 for fusion.

text: Liquid helium-4 can be cooled to about 1 kelvin using evaporative cooling in a 1-K pot. Similar cooling of helium-3, which has a lower boiling point, can achieve about 6999200000000000000♠0.2 kelvin in a helium-3 refrigerator. Equal mixtures of liquid 3He and 4He below 6999800000000000000♠0.8 K separate into two immiscible phases due to their dissimilarity (they follow different quantum statistics: helium-4 atoms are bosons while helium-3 atoms are fermions).[20] Dilution refrigerators use this immiscibility to achieve temperatures of a few millikelvins.

text: It is possible to produce exotic helium isotopes, which rapidly decay into other substances. The shortest-lived heavy helium isotope is helium-5 with a half-life of 6978760000000000000♠7.6×10−22 s. Helium-6 decays by emitting a beta particle and has a half-life of 0.8 second. Helium-7 also emits a beta particle as well as a gamma ray. Helium-7 and helium-8 are created in certain nuclear reactions.[20] Helium-6 and helium-8 are known to exhibit a nuclear halo.[20]

text: Compounds

text:
Helium has a valence of zero and is chemically unreactive under all normal conditions.[83] It is an electrical insulator unless ionized. As with the other noble gases, helium has metastable energy levels that allow it to remain ionized in an electrical discharge with a voltage below its ionization potential.[20] Helium can form unstable compounds, known as excimers, with tungsten, iodine, fluorine, sulfur, and phosphorus when it is subjected to a glow discharge, to electron bombardment, or reduced to plasma by other means. The molecular compounds HeNe, HgHe10, and WHe2, and the molecular ions He+
2, He2+
2, HeH+, and HeD+ have been created this way.[101] HeH+ is also stable in its ground state, but is extremely reactive—it is the strongest Brønsted acid known, and therefore can exist only in isolation, as it will protonate any molecule or counteranion it contacts. This technique has also produced the neutral molecule He2, which has a large number of band systems, and HgHe, which is apparently held together only by polarization forces.[20]

text: Van der Waals compounds of helium can also be formed with cryogenic helium gas and atoms of some other substance, such as LiHe and He2.[102]

text: Theoretically, other true compounds may be possible, such as helium fluorohydride (HHeF) which would be analogous to HArF, discovered in 2000.[103] Calculations show that two new compounds containing a helium-oxygen bond could be stable.[104] Two new molecular species, predicted using theory, CsFHeO and N(CH3)4FHeO, are derivatives of a metastable FHeO− anion first theorized in 2005 by a group from Taiwan. If confirmed by experiment, the only remaining element with no known stable compounds would be neon.[105]

text: Helium atoms have been inserted into the hollow carbon cage molecules (the fullerenes) by heating under high pressure. The endohedral fullerene molecules formed are stable at high temperatures. When chemical derivatives of these fullerenes are formed, the helium stays inside.[106] If helium-3 is used, it can be readily observed by helium nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.[107] Many fullerenes containing helium-3 have been reported. Although the helium atoms are not attached by covalent or ionic bonds, these substances have distinct properties and a definite composition, like all stoichiometric chemical compounds.

text: Under high pressures helium can form compounds with various other elements. Helium-nitrogen clathrate (He(N2)11) crystals have been grown at room temperature at pressures ca. 10 GPa in a diamond anvil cell.[108] The insulating electride Na2He has been shown to be thermodynamically stable at pressures above 113 GPa. It has a fluorite structure.[109]

text: Occurrence and production

text: Natural abundance

text: Although it is rare on Earth, helium is the second most abundant element in the known Universe (after hydrogen), constituting 23% of its baryonic mass.[18] The vast majority of helium was formed by Big Bang nucleosynthesis one to three minutes after the Big Bang. As such, measurements of its abundance contribute to cosmological models. In stars, it is formed by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen in proton-proton chain reactions and the CNO cycle, part of stellar nucleosynthesis.[94]

text: In the Earth's atmosphere, the concentration of helium by volume is only 5.2 parts per million.[110][111] The concentration is low and fairly constant despite the continuous production of new helium because most helium in the Earth's atmosphere escapes into space by several processes.[112][113][114] In the Earth's heterosphere, a part of the upper atmosphere, helium and other lighter gases are the most abundant elements.

text: Most helium on Earth is a result of radioactive decay. Helium is found in large amounts in minerals of uranium and thorium, including cleveite, pitchblende, carnotite and monazite, because they emit alpha particles (helium nuclei, He2+) to which electrons immediately combine as soon as the particle is stopped by the rock. In this way an estimated 3000 metric tons of helium are generated per year throughout the lithosphere.[115][116][117] In the Earth's crust, the concentration of helium is 8 parts per billion. In seawater, the concentration is only 4 parts per trillion. There are also small amounts in mineral springs, volcanic gas, and meteoric iron. Because helium is trapped in the subsurface under conditions that also trap natural gas, the greatest natural concentrations of helium on the planet are found in natural gas, from which most commercial helium is extracted. The concentration varies in a broad range from a few ppm to more than 7% in a small gas field in San Juan County, New Mexico.[118][119]

text: As of 2011 the world's helium reserves were estimated at 40 billion cubic meters, with a quarter of that being in the South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field owned jointly by Qatar and Iran.[120] In 2015 and 2016 more probable reserves were announced to be under the Rocky Mountains in North America[121] and in east Africa.[122]

text: Modern extraction and distribution

text: For large-scale use, helium is extracted by fractional distillation from natural gas, which can contain as much as 7% helium.[123] Since helium has a lower boiling point than any other element, low temperature and high pressure are used to liquefy nearly all the other gases (mostly nitrogen and methane). The resulting crude helium gas is purified by successive exposures to lowering temperatures, in which almost all of the remaining nitrogen and other gases are precipitated out of the gaseous mixture. Activated charcoal is used as a final purification step, usually resulting in 99.995% pure Grade-A helium.[20] The principal impurity in Grade-A helium is neon. In a final production step, most of the helium that is produced is liquefied via a cryogenic process. This is necessary for applications requiring liquid helium and also allows helium suppliers to reduce the cost of long distance transportation, as the largest liquid helium containers have more than five times the capacity of the largest gaseous helium tube trailers.[68][124]

text: In 2008, approximately 169 million standard cubic meters (SCM) of helium were extracted from natural gas or withdrawn from helium reserves with approximately 78% from the United States, 10% from Algeria, and most of the remainder from Russia, Poland and Qatar.[125] By 2013, increases in helium production in Qatar (under the company RasGas managed by Air Liquide) had increased Qatar's fraction of world helium production to 25%, and made it the second largest exporter after the United States.[126] An estimated 54 billion cubic feet (1.5×109 m3) deposit of helium was found in Tanzania in 2016.[127][16]

text: In the United States, most helium is extracted from natural gas of the Hugoton and nearby gas fields in Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Panhandle Field in Texas.[68][128] Much of this gas was once sent by pipeline to the National Helium Reserve, but since 2005 this reserve is being depleted and sold off, and is expected to be largely depleted by 2021,[126] under the October 2013 Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act (H.R. 527).[129]

text: Diffusion of crude natural gas through special semipermeable membranes and other barriers is another method to recover and purify helium.[130] In 1996, the U.S. had proven helium reserves, in such gas well complexes, of about 147 billion standard cubic feet (4.2 billion SCM).[131] At rates of use at that time (72 million SCM per year in the U.S.; see pie chart below) this would have been enough helium for about 58 years of U.S. use, and less than this (perhaps 80% of the time) at world use rates, although factors in saving and processing impact effective reserve numbers.

text: Helium must be extracted from natural gas because it is present in air at only a fraction of that of neon, yet the demand for it is far higher. It is estimated that if all neon production were retooled to save helium, that 0.1% of the world's helium demands would be satisfied. Similarly, only 1% of the world's helium demands could be satisfied by re-tooling all air distillation plants.[132] Helium can be synthesized by bombardment of lithium or boron with high-velocity protons, or by bombardment of lithium with deuterons, but these processes are a completely uneconomical method of production.[133]

text: Helium is commercially available in either liquid or gaseous form. As a liquid, it can be supplied in small insulated containers called dewars which hold as much as 1,000 liters of helium, or in large ISO containers which have nominal capacities as large as 42 m3 (around 11,000 U.S. gallons). In gaseous form, small quantities of helium are supplied in high-pressure cylinders holding as much as 8 m3 (approx. 282 standard cubic feet), while large quantities of high-pressure gas are supplied in tube trailers which have capacities of as much as 4,860 m3 (approx. 172,000 standard cubic feet).

text: Conservation advocates

text: According to helium conservationists like Nobel laureate physicist Robert Coleman Richardson, writing in 2010, the free market price of helium has contributed to "wasteful" usage (e.g. for helium balloons). Prices in the 2000s had been lowered by the decision of the U.S. Congress to sell off the country's large helium stockpile by 2015.[134] According to Richardson, the price needed to be multiplied by 20 to eliminate the excessive wasting of helium. In their book, the Future of helium as a natural resource (Routledge, 2012), Nuttall, Clarke & Glowacki (2012) also proposed to create an International Helium Agency (IHA) to build a sustainable market for this precious commodity.[135]

text: Applications

text: Estimated 2014 U.S. fractional helium use by category. Total use is 34 million cubic meters.[136]

text: While balloons are perhaps the best known use of helium, they are a minor part of all helium use.[63] Helium is used for many purposes that require some of its unique properties, such as its low boiling point, low density, low solubility, high thermal conductivity, or inertness. Of the 2014 world helium total production of about 32 million kg (180 million standard cubic meters) helium per year, the largest use (about 32% of the total in 2014) is in cryogenic applications, most of which involves cooling the superconducting magnets in medical MRI scanners and NMR spectrometers.[137] Other major uses were pressurizing and purging systems, welding, maintenance of controlled atmospheres, and leak detection. Other uses by category were relatively minor fractions.[136]

text: Controlled atmospheres

text: Helium is used as a protective gas in growing silicon and germanium crystals, in titanium and zirconium production, and in gas chromatography,[83] because it is inert. Because of its inertness, thermally and calorically perfect nature, high speed of sound, and high value of the heat capacity ratio, it is also useful in supersonic wind tunnels[138] and impulse facilities.[139]

text: Gas tungsten arc welding

text: Helium is used as a shielding gas in arc welding processes on materials that at welding temperatures are contaminated and weakened by air or nitrogen.[18] A number of inert shielding gases are used in gas tungsten arc welding, but helium is used instead of cheaper argon especially for welding materials that have higher heat conductivity, like aluminium or copper.

text: Minor uses

text: Industrial leak detection

text: One industrial application for helium is leak detection. Because helium diffuses through solids three times faster than air, it is used as a tracer gas to detect leaks in high-vacuum equipment (such as cryogenic tanks) and high-pressure containers.[140] The tested object is placed in a chamber, which is then evacuated and filled with helium. The helium that escapes through the leaks is detected by a sensitive device (helium mass spectrometer), even at the leak rates as small as 10−9 mbar·L/s (10−10 Pa·m3/s). The measurement procedure is normally automatic and is called helium integral test. A simpler procedure is to fill the tested object with helium and to manually search for leaks with a hand-held device.[141]

text: Helium leaks through cracks should not be confused with gas permeation through a bulk material. While helium has documented permeation constants (thus a calculable permeation rate) through glasses, ceramics, and synthetic materials, inert gases such as helium will not permeate most bulk metals.[142]

text: Flight

text: Because it is lighter than air, airships and balloons are inflated with helium for lift. While hydrogen gas is more buoyant, and escapes permeating through a membrane at a lower rate, helium has the advantage of being non-flammable, and indeed fire-retardant. Another minor use is in rocketry, where helium is used as an ullage medium to displace fuel and oxidizers in storage tanks and to condense hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel. It is also used to purge fuel and oxidizer from ground support equipment prior to launch and to pre-cool liquid hydrogen in space vehicles. For example, the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program needed about 370,000 m3 (13 million cubic feet) of helium to launch.[83]

text: Minor commercial and recreational uses

text: Helium as a breathing gas has no narcotic properties, so helium mixtures such as trimix, heliox and heliair are used for deep diving to reduce the effects of narcosis, which worsen with increasing depth.[143][144] As pressure increases with depth, the density of the breathing gas also increases, and the low molecular weight of helium is found to considerably reduce the effort of breathing by lowering the density of the mixture. This reduces the Reynolds number of flow, leading to a reduction of turbulent flow and an increase in laminar flow, which requires less work of breathing.[145][146] At depths below 150 metres (490 ft) divers breathing helium–oxygen mixtures begin to experience tremors and a decrease in psychomotor function, symptoms of high-pressure nervous syndrome.[147] This effect may be countered to some extent by adding an amount of narcotic gas such as hydrogen or nitrogen to a helium–oxygen mixture.[148]

text: Helium–neon lasers, a type of low-powered gas laser producing a red beam, had various practical applications which included barcode readers and laser pointers, before they were almost universally replaced by cheaper diode lasers.[18]

text: For its inertness and high thermal conductivity, neutron transparency, and because it does not form radioactive isotopes under reactor conditions, helium is used as a heat-transfer medium in some gas-cooled nuclear reactors.[140]

text: Helium, mixed with a heavier gas such as xenon, is useful for thermoacoustic refrigeration due to the resulting high heat capacity ratio and low Prandtl number.[149] The inertness of helium has environmental advantages over conventional refrigeration systems which contribute to ozone depletion or global warming.[150]

text: Helium is also used in some hard disk drives.[151]

text: Scientific uses

text: The use of helium reduces the distorting effects of temperature variations in the space between lenses in some telescopes, due to its extremely low index of refraction.[20] This method is especially used in solar telescopes where a vacuum tight telescope tube would be too heavy.[152][153]

text: Helium is a commonly used carrier gas for gas chromatography.

text: The age of rocks and minerals that contain uranium and thorium can be estimated by measuring the level of helium with a process known as helium dating.[18][20]

text: Helium at low temperatures is used in cryogenics, and in certain cryogenics applications. As examples of applications, liquid helium is used to cool certain metals to the extremely low temperatures required for superconductivity, such as in superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance imaging. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN uses 96 metric tons of liquid helium to maintain the temperature at 1.9 kelvin.[154]

text: Inhalation and safety

text: Effects

text: Neutral helium at standard conditions is non-toxic, plays no biological role and is found in trace amounts in human blood.

text:
Effect of helium on a human voice

The effect of helium on a human voice

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text: The speed of sound in helium is nearly three times the speed of sound in air. Because the fundamental frequency of a gas-filled cavity is proportional to the speed of sound in the gas, when helium is inhaled there is a corresponding increase in the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract.[18][155] The fundamental frequency (sometimes called pitch) does not change, since this is produced by direct vibration of the vocal folds, which is unchanged.[156] However, the higher resonant frequencies cause a change in timbre, resulting in a reedy, duck-like vocal quality. The opposite effect, lowering resonant frequencies, can be obtained by inhaling a dense gas such as sulfur hexafluoride or xenon.

text: Hazards

text: Inhaling helium can be dangerous if done to excess, since helium is a simple asphyxiant and so displaces oxygen needed for normal respiration.[18][157] Fatalities have been recorded, including a youth who suffocated in Vancouver in 2003 and two adults who suffocated in South Florida in 2006.[158][159] In 1998, an Australian girl (her age is not known) from Victoria fell unconscious and temporarily turned blue after inhaling the entire contents of a party balloon.[160][161][162] Inhaling helium directly from pressurized cylinders or even balloon filling valves is extremely dangerous, as high flow rate and pressure can result in barotrauma, fatally rupturing lung tissue.[157][163]

text: Death caused by helium is rare. The first media-recorded case was that of a 15-year-old girl from Texas who died in 1998 from helium inhalation at a friend's party; the exact type of helium death is unidentified.[160][161][162]

text: In the United States only two fatalities were reported between 2000 and 2004, including a man who died in North Carolina of barotrauma in 2002.[158][163] A youth asphyxiated in Vancouver during 2003, and a 27-year-old man in Australia had an embolism after breathing from a cylinder in 2000.[158] Since then two adults asphyxiated in South Florida in 2006,[158][159][164] and there were cases in 2009 and 2010, one a Californian youth who was found with a bag over his head, attached to a helium tank,[165] and another teenager in Northern Ireland died of asphyxiation.[166] At Eagle Point, Oregon a teenage girl died in 2012 from barotrauma at a party.[167][168][169][170] A girl from Michigan died from hypoxia later in the year.[171]

text: On February 4, 2015 it was revealed that during the recording of their main TV show on January 28, a 12-year-old member (name withheld) of Japanese all-girl singing group 3B Junior suffered from air embolism, losing consciousness and falling in a coma as a result of air bubbles blocking the flow of blood to the brain, after inhaling huge quantities of helium as part of a game. The incident was not made public until a week later.[172][173] The staff of TV Asahi held an emergency press conference to communicate that the member had been taken to the hospital and is showing signs of rehabilitation such as moving eyes and limbs, but her consciousness has not been sufficiently recovered as of yet. Police have launched an investigation due to a neglect of safety measures.[174][175]

text: On July 13, 2017 CBS News reported that a political operative who reportedly attempted to recover e-mails missing from the Clinton server, Peter W. Smith, "apparently" committed suicide in May at a hotel room in Rochester, Minnesota and that his death was recorded as "asphyxiation due to displacement of oxygen in confined space with helium".[176] More details followed in the Chicago Tribune.[177]

text: The safety issues for cryogenic helium are similar to those of liquid nitrogen; its extremely low temperatures can result in cold burns, and the liquid-to-gas expansion ratio can cause explosions if no pressure-relief devices are installed. Containers of helium gas at 5 to 10 K should be handled as if they contain liquid helium due to the rapid and significant thermal expansion that occurs when helium gas at less than 10 K is warmed to room temperature.[83]

text: At high pressures (more than about 20 atm or two MPa), a mixture of helium and oxygen (heliox) can lead to high-pressure nervous syndrome, a sort of reverse-anesthetic effect; adding a small amount of nitrogen to the mixture can alleviate the problem.[178][147]