document_title: Hank Aaron

question_text: when was hank aaron inducted into the hall of fame

text: Hank Aaron

text: Early life[edit]

text: Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama, to Herbert Aaron, Sr. and Estella Aaron.[6][7] He had seven siblings.[6] Tommie Aaron, one of his brothers, also went on to play Major League Baseball. By the time Aaron retired, he and his brother held the record for most career home runs by a pair of siblings (768). They were also the first siblings to appear in a League Championship Series as teammates.[8]

text: While he was born in a section of Mobile referred to as "Down the Bay", he spent most of his youth in Toulminville. Aaron grew up in a poor family.[6]  His family could not afford baseball equipment, so he practiced by hitting bottle caps with sticks. He would create his own bats and balls out of materials he found on the streets.[9] His boyhood idol was baseball star Jackie Robinson.[10] Aaron attended Central High School as a freshman and a sophomore. Like most high schools they did not have organized baseball, and so he played outfield and third base for the Mobile Black Bears, a semipro team.[11] Aaron was a member of the Boy Scouts of America.

text: Although he batted cross-handed (i.e., as a right-handed hitter, with his left hand above his right), Aaron established himself as a power hitter. As a result, in 1949, at the age of fifteen, Aaron had his first tryout with an MLB franchise, the Brooklyn Dodgers; however, he did not make the team.[2][12] After this, Aaron returned to school to finish his secondary education, attending the Josephine Allen Institute, a private high school in Alabama. During his junior year, Aaron first joined the Pritchett Athletics,[12] followed by the Mobile Black Bears, an independent Negro league team.[6] While on the Bears, Aaron earned $3 per game ($94 today), which was a dollar more than he got while on the Athletics.[12]

text: Negro league and minor league career[edit]

text: On November 20, 1951, baseball scout Ed Scott signed Aaron to a contract on behalf of the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League where he played three months.[13][14]

text: He started play as a 6 feet (180 cm), 180 pounds (82 kg), shortstop,[15]  and earned $200 per month.[16] As a result of his standout play with the Indianapolis Clowns, Aaron received two offers from MLB teams via telegram, one from the New York Giants and the other from the Boston Braves. Years later, Aaron remembered:

text: I had the Giants' contract in my hand. But the Braves offered fifty dollars a month more. That's the only thing that kept Willie Mays and me from being teammates – fifty dollars.[17]

text: While with the Clowns he experienced some overt racism. His team was in Washington, D.C.

text: We had breakfast while we were waiting for the rain to stop, and I can still envision sitting with the Clowns in a restaurant behind Griffith Stadium and hearing them break all the plates in the kitchen after we finished eating. What a horrible sound. Even as a kid, the irony of it hit me: here we were in the capital in the land of freedom and equality, and they had to destroy the plates that had touched the forks that had been in the mouths of black men. If dogs had eaten off those plates, they'd have washed them.[18]

text: The Howe Sports Bureau credits Aaron with a .366 batting average in 26 official Negro league games, with 5 home runs, 33 runs batted in (RBI), 41 hits, and 9 stolen bases.[19]

text: The Braves purchased Aaron from the Clowns for $10,000,[20]  which GM John Quinn thought was a steal as he stated that he felt that Aaron was a $100,000 property.[16] On June 12, 1952, Aaron signed with Braves' scout Dewey Griggs.[16]  During this time, he picked up the nickname 'pork chops' because it "was the only thing I knew to order off the menu."[21] A teammate later said, "the man ate pork chops three meals a day, two for breakfast."[22]

text: The Braves assigned Aaron to the Eau Claire Bears, the Braves' Northern League Class-C farm team.[6] The 1952 season proved to be very beneficial for Aaron. Playing in the infield, Aaron continued to develop as a ballplayer and made the Northern League's All-Star team.[6] He broke his habit of hitting cross-handed and adopted the standard hitting technique. By the end of the season, he had performed so well that the league made him the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year.[2][6]  Although he appeared in just 87 games, he scored 89 runs, had 116 hits, nine home runs, and 61 RBI.[6] In addition, Aaron hit for a .336 batting average.[6] During his minor league experience, he was very homesick and faced constant racism, but his brother, Herbert Jr., told him not to give up the opportunity.[23]

text: In 1953, the Braves promoted him to the Jacksonville Braves, their Class-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League.[6] Helped by Aaron's performance, the Braves won the league championship that year. Aaron led the league in runs (115), hits (208), doubles (36), RBI (125), total bases (338), and batting average (.362).[6] He won the league's Most Valuable Player Award.[6][11] and had such a dominant year that one sportswriter was prompted to say, "Henry Aaron led the league in everything except hotel accommodations."[24] Aaron's time with the Braves did not come without problems. He was one of the first African Americans to play in the league.[25] The 1950s were a period of racial segregation in parts of the United States, especially the southeastern portion of the country. When Aaron traveled around Jacksonville, Florida, and the surrounding areas, he was often separated from his team because of Jim Crow laws. In most circumstances, the team was responsible for arranging housing and meals for its players, but Aaron often had to make his own arrangements.[26] The Braves' manager, Ben Geraghty, tried his best to help Aaron on and off the field. Former Braves minor league player and sportswriter Pat Jordan said, "Aaron gave [Geraghty] much of the credit for his own swift rise to stardom."[27]

text: That same year, Aaron met his future wife, Barbara Lucas. The night they met, Lucas decided to attend the Braves' game. Aaron singled, doubled, and hit a home run in the game. On October 6, Aaron and Lucas married.[28] In 1958, Aaron's wife noted that during the offseason he liked "to sit and watch those shooting westerns." He also enjoyed cooking and fishing.[28]

text: Aaron spent the winter of 1953 playing in Puerto Rico. Mickey Owen, the team's manager, helped Aaron with his batting stance. Up to that time, Aaron hit most pitches to left field or center field, but after working with Owen, Aaron was able to hit the ball more effectively all over the field.[2][better source needed] During his stay in Puerto Rico, Owen also helped Aaron to transition from second baseman to outfielder. Aaron had not played well at second base, but Owen had noted that Aaron could catch fly balls and throw the ball well from the outfield to the infield.[29]

text: The stint in Puerto Rico also allowed Aaron to avoid being drafted into military service. Though the Korean War was over, people were still being drafted. The Braves were able to speak to the draft board, making the case that Aaron could be the player to integrate the Southern Association the following season with the Atlanta Crackers. The board appears to have been convinced, as Aaron was not drafted.[29]

text: MLB career[edit]

text: 1954 saw Aaron attending spring training with the major league club. Although he was on the roster of its farm club, Milwaukee manager Charley Grimm later stated, "From the start, he did so well I knew we were going to have to carry him."[16] On March 13, 1954, Milwaukee Braves left fielder Bobby Thomson fractured his ankle while sliding into second base during a spring training game. The next day, Aaron made his first spring training start for the Braves' major league team, playing in left field and hitting a home run.[11] This led Hank Aaron to a major league contract, signed on the final day of spring training, and a Braves uniform with the number five.[30] On April 13, Aaron made his major league debut and was hitless in five at-bats against the Cincinnati Reds' left-hander Joe Nuxhall.[31] In the same game, Eddie Mathews hit two home runs, the first of a record 863 home runs the pair would hit as teammates. On April 15, Aaron collected his first major league hit, a double off Cardinals' pitcher Vic Raschi.[32]  Aaron hit his first major league home run on April 23, also off Raschi.[6] Over the next 122 games, Aaron batted .280 with thirteen homers before he suffered a fractured ankle on September 5. He then changed his number to 44, which would turn out to look like a "lucky number" for the slugger. Aaron would hit 44 home runs in four different seasons,[33] and he hit his record-breaking 715th career home run off Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, who coincidentally also wore number 44.[34]

text: At this point, Aaron was known to family and friends primarily as "Henry." Braves' public relations director Don Davidson, observing Aaron's quiet, reserved nature, began referring to him publicly as "Hank" in order to suggest more accessibility. The nickname quickly gained currency, but "Henry" continued to be cited frequently in the media, both sometimes appearing in the same article, and Aaron would answer to either one. During his rookie year, his other well-known nicknames, "Hammerin' Hank" (by teammates) and "Bad Henry" (by opposing pitchers) are reported to have arisen.[35]

text: Prime of his career[edit]

text: Aaron hit .314 with 27 home runs and 106 RBI, in 1955. He was named to the NL All-Star roster for the first time; it was the first of a record 21 All-Star selections and first of a record 25 All-Star Game appearances.[36][37]  In 1956, Aaron hit .328 and captured the first of two NL batting titles. He was also named The Sporting News NL Player of the Year. In 1957, Aaron won his only NL MVP Award,[6] as he had his first brush with the triple crown.[38] He batted .322, placing third, and led the league in home runs and runs batted in.[6] On September 23, 1957, Aaron hit a two-run game-ending home run in Milwaukee, clinching the pennant for the Braves and being carried off the field by his teammates. Milwaukee went on to win the World Series against the New York Yankees, the defending champions.[6] Aaron did his part by hitting .393 with three homers and seven RBI. On December 15, 1957, his wife gave birth to twins.[28] Two days later, one of the children died.[28] In 1958, Aaron hit .326, with 30 home runs and 95 RBI. He led the Braves to another pennant, but this time they lost a seven-game World Series to the Yankees. Aaron finished third in the MVP race and he received his first of three Gold Glove Awards. During the next several years, Aaron had some of his best games and best seasons as a major league player. On June 21, 1959, against the San Francisco Giants, he hit three two-run home runs. It was the only time in his career that he hit three home runs in a game.[39]

text: In 1963, Aaron nearly won the triple crown. He led the league with 44 home runs and 130 RBI and finished third in batting average.[nb 1] In that season, Aaron became the third player to steal 30 bases and hit 30 home runs in a single season. Despite that, he again finished third in the MVP voting. The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season. On May 10, 1967, he hit an inside-the-park home run against Jim Bunning in Philadelphia. It was his only inside-the-park home run of his career. [40] In 1968, Aaron was the first Atlanta Braves player to hit his 500th career home run, and in 1970, he was the first Atlanta Brave to reach 3,000 career hits.[41]

text: Home run milestones and 3,000th hit[edit]

text: During his days in Atlanta, Aaron reached a number of milestones; he was only the eighth player ever to hit 500 career home runs, with his 500th coming against Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Giants on July 14, 1968—exactly one year after former Milwaukee Braves teammate Eddie Mathews had hit his 500th.[42] Aaron was, at the time, the second-youngest player to reach that plateau.[nb 2] On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle's total; this moved Aaron into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. At the end of the 1969 season, Aaron again finished third in the MVP voting.

text: In 1970, Aaron reached two more career milestones. On May 17, Aaron collected his 3,000th hit, in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the team against which he played in his first major-league game.[43] Aaron established the record for most seasons with thirty or more home runs in the National League. On April 27, 1971, Aaron hit his 600th career home run, the third major league player ever to do so. On July 13, Aaron hit a home run in the All-Star Game (played at Detroit's Tiger Stadium) for the first time. He hit his 40th home run of the season against the Giants' Jerry Johnson on August 10, which established a National League record for most seasons with 40 or more home runs (seven). At age 37, he hit a career-high 47 home runs during the season (along with a career-high .669 slugging percentage) and finished third in MVP voting for the sixth time. During the strike-shortened season of 1972, Aaron tied and then surpassed Willie Mays for second place on the career home run list. Aaron also knocked in the 2,000th run of his career and hit a home run in the first All-Star game played in Atlanta. As the year came to a close, Aaron broke Stan Musial's major-league record for total bases (6,134). Aaron finished the season with 673 home runs.

text: Breaking Ruth's record[edit]

text: Aaron himself downplayed the "chase" to surpass Babe Ruth, while baseball enthusiasts and the national media grew increasingly excited as he closed in on the 714 career home runs record. Aaron received thousands of letters every week during the summer of 1973, including hate mail; the Braves ended up hiring a secretary to help him sort through it.[44]

text: Aaron (then age 39) hit 40 home runs in 392 at-bats, ending the 1973 season one home run short of the record. He hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record. But in his final game that year, playing against the Houston Astros (managed by Leo Durocher, who had once roomed with Babe Ruth), he was unable to achieve this. After the game, Aaron stated that his only fear was that he might not live to see the 1974 season. [45]

text: He was the recipient of death threats during the 1973–1974 offseason and a large assortment of hate mail from people who did not want to see Aaron break Ruth's nearly sacrosanct home run record.[46] The threats extended to those providing positive press coverage of Aaron. Lewis Grizzard, then sports editor of the Atlanta Journal, reported receiving numerous phone calls calling journalists "nigger lovers" for covering Aaron's chase. While preparing the massive coverage of the home run record, he quietly had an obituary written, afraid that Aaron might be murdered.[47]

text: Sports Illustrated pointedly summarized the racist vitriol that Aaron was forced to endure:

text: Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport...? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's attic?[48]

text: At the end of the 1973 season, Aaron received a plaque from the US Postal Service for receiving more mail (930,000 pieces) than any person excluding politicians.[18] Aaron received an outpouring of public support in response to the bigotry. Newspaper cartoonist Charles Schulz created a series of Peanuts strips printed in August 1973 in which Snoopy attempts to break the Ruth record, only to be besieged with hate mail. Lucy says in the August 11 strip, "Hank Aaron is a great player...but you! If you break Babe Ruth's record, it'll be a disgrace!" Coincidentally, Snoopy was only one home run short of tying the record (and finished the season as such when Charlie Brown got picked off during Snoopy's last at-bat), and as it turned out, Aaron finished the 1973 season one home run short of Ruth.[49] Babe Ruth's widow, Claire Hodgson, even denounced the racism and declared that her husband would have enthusiastically cheered Aaron's attempt at the record.[50] As the 1974 season began, Aaron's pursuit of the record caused a small controversy. The Braves opened the season on the road in Cincinnati with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. Braves management wanted him to break the record in Atlanta, and were therefore going to have Aaron sit out the first three games of the season. But Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ruled that he had to play two games in the first series. He played two out of three, tying Babe Ruth's record, 4 April 1974, in his very first at bat—on his first swing of the season—off Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, but did not hit another home run in the series.[51]

text: The Braves returned to Atlanta, and on April 8, 1974, a crowd of 53,775 people showed up for the game—a Braves attendance record. The game was also broadcast nationally on NBC. In the fourth inning, Aaron hit home run number 715 off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing.[6] Although Dodgers outfielder Bill Buckner nearly went over the outfield wall trying to catch it, the ball landed in the Braves' bullpen, where relief pitcher Tom House caught it. While cannons were fired in celebration, two college students [52] sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Aaron for part of his circuit around the bases, temporarily startling him. A very youthful Craig Sager actually interviewed Aaron between third and home for a television station, WXLT (now WWSB-Channel 40) in Sarasota.[53] As the fans cheered wildly, Aaron's parents ran onto the field as well. Braves announcer Milo Hamilton, calling the game on WSB radio, described the scene as Aaron broke the record: "Henry Aaron, in the second inning walked and scored. He's sittin' on 714. Here's the pitch by Downing. Swinging. There's a drive into left-center field. That ball is gonna be-eee... Outta here! It's gone! It's 715! There's a new home run champion of all time, and it's Henry Aaron! The fireworks are going. Henry Aaron is coming around third. His teammates are at home plate. And listen to this crowd!"[54] Meanwhile, Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully addressed the racial tension—or apparent lack thereof—in his call of the home run: "What a marvelous moment for baseball; what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia; what a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron. ... And for the first time in a long time, that poker face in Aaron shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the past several months."[55] On October 2, 1974, Aaron hit his 733rd and final home run as a Braves player.[56] Thirty days later, after Aaron decided not to retire, the Braves traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers for Roger Alexander and Dave May. The trade re-united Aaron with former teammate Del Crandall, who was now managing the Brewers. On May 1, 1975, Aaron broke baseball's all-time RBI record, previously held by Ruth with 2,213. That year, he also played in his last and 24th All-Star Game (25th All-Star Game selection[57]); he lined out to Dave Concepción as a pinch-hitter in the second inning. This All-Star Game, like the first one he played in 1955, was before a home crowd at Milwaukee County Stadium.

text: Aaron hit his 755th and final home run on July 20, 1976, at Milwaukee County Stadium off Dick Drago of the California Angels, which stood as the MLB career home run record until it was broken in 2007 by Barry Bonds. Over the course of his record-breaking 23-year career, Aaron had a batting average of .305 with 163 hits a season, while hitting an average of just over 32 home runs a year and knocking home 99 runs batted in (RBIs) a year. He had 100+ RBIs in a season 15 times, including a record 13 in a row.[38]

text: Post-playing career[edit]

text: After the 1976 season, Aaron rejoined the Braves as an executive.[15] On August 1, 1982, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, having received votes on 97.8 percent of the ballots, second only to Ty Cobb, who had received votes on 98.2% of the ballot in the inaugural 1936 Hall of Fame election.[58] Aaron was then named the Braves' vice president and director of player development. This made him one of the first minorities in Major League Baseball upper-level management.[24]

text: Since December 1980, he has served as senior vice president and assistant to the Braves' president.[24]  He is the corporate vice president of community relations for TBS, a member of the company's board of directors and the vice president of business development for The Airport Network.[24] On January 21, 2007, Major League Baseball announced the sale of the Atlanta Braves. In that announcement, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig also announced that Aaron would be playing a major role in the management of Braves, forming programs through major league baseball that will encourage the influx of minorities into baseball.[59] Aaron founded the Hank Aaron Rookie League program.[60]

text: His autobiography, I Had a Hammer was published in 1990. The book's title is a play on his nickname, "The Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", and the title of the folk song "If I Had a Hammer". Aaron now owns Hank Aaron BMW of south Atlanta in Union City, Georgia, where he gives an autographed baseball with every car sold.[61] Aaron also owns Mini, Land Rover, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda dealerships throughout Georgia, as part of the Hank Aaron Automotive Group. Aaron sold all but the Toyota dealership in McDonough in 2007. Additionally, Aaron owns a chain of 30 restaurants around the country. During the 2006 season, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth and moved into second place on the all-time home run list, attracting growing media coverage as he drew closer to Aaron's record. Playing off the intense interest in their perceived rivalry, Aaron and Bonds made a television commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLI, shortly before the start of the 2007 baseball season, in which Aaron jokingly tried to persuade Bonds to retire before breaking the record.[62] As Bonds began to close in on the record during the 2007 season, Aaron let it be known that, although he recognized Bonds' achievements, he would not be present when Bonds broke the record.[63]  There was considerable speculation that this was a snubbing of Bonds based on the widespread belief that Bonds had used performance-enhancing drugs and steroids to aid his achievement. However, some observers looked back on Aaron's personal history, pointing out that he had downplayed his own breaking of Babe Ruth's all-time record and suggesting that Aaron was simply treating Bonds in a similar fashion. In a later interview with Atlanta sportscasting personality Chris Dimino, Aaron made it clear that his reluctance to attend any celebration of a new home run record was based upon his personal conviction that baseball is not about breaking records, but simply playing to the best of one's potential.[63] After Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th home run on August 7, 2007, Aaron made a surprise appearance on the JumboTron video screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco to congratulate Bonds on his accomplishment:

text: I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball's career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity, and determination. Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historical achievement. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams.

text: Aaron lives in the Atlanta area.[64] In July 2013, media reported that his home was burglarized. Jewelry and two BMW vehicles were stolen. The cars were later recovered.[64]

text: Awards and honors[edit]

text: Hank Aaron's number 44 was retired by the Atlanta Braves in 1977.

text: Hank Aaron's number 44 was retired by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976.

text: Aaron was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1976, from the NAACP.[65]

text: In 1982, Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility. In 1988 Aaron was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame for his time spent on the Milwaukee Braves.[66]

text: In 1999, MLB created the Hank Aaron Award, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Aaron's surpassing of Babe Ruth's career home run mark of 714 home runs and to honor Aaron's contributions to baseball. The award is given annually to the baseball hitters voted the most effective in each respective league. That same year, baseball fans named Aaron to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Hank Aaron on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

text: When the city of Atlanta was converting Centennial Olympic Stadium into a new baseball stadium, many local residents hoped the stadium would be named for Hank Aaron. When the stadium was instead named Turner Field (after Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner), a section of Capitol Avenue running past the stadium was renamed Hank Aaron Drive. The stadium's street number is 755, after Aaron's total number of home runs; the 755 street number was retained for Turner Field's replacement, SunTrust Park. In April 1997, a new baseball facility for the AA Mobile Bay Bears constructed in Aaron's hometown of Mobile, Alabama was named Hank Aaron Stadium.[67] Georgia State University acquired Turner Field, since rebuilt as Georgia State Stadium, in 2017, and university officials plan to build a new baseball park on the former Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium site, incorporating the left field wall where Aaron hit his record-breaking home run.

text: On February 5, 1999, at his 65th birthday celebration, Major League Baseball announced the introduction of the Hank Aaron Award.[68] The award honors the best overall offensive performer in the American and National League. It was the first major award to be introduced in more than thirty years and had the distinction of being the first award named after a player who was still alive.[69] Later that year, he ranked fifth on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players,[70] and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.[71]

text: In July 2000 and again in July 2002, Aaron threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, played at Turner Field and Miller Park, respectively.[72]

text: On January 8, 2001, Hank Aaron was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton.[73] He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from President George W. Bush in June 2002.[74]

text: In 2001, a recreational trail in Milwaukee connecting Miller Park with Lake Michigan along the Menomonee River was dedicated as the "Hank Aaron State Trail". Hank Aaron was on hand for the dedication. Aaron is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.[75]

text: In 2002, Aaron was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.

text: Aaron dedicated the new exhibit "Hank Aaron-Chasing the Dream" at the Baseball Hall of Fame on April 25, 2009.[76] Statues of Aaron stand outside the front entrance of both Turner Field and Miller Park. There is also a statue of him as an eighteen-year-old shortstop outside Carson Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin,[77] where he played his first season in the Braves' minor league system.

text: He was named a 2010 Georgia Trustee by the Georgia Historical Society, in conjunction with the Governor of Georgia, to recognize accomplishments and community service that reflect the ideals of the founding body of Trustees, which governed the Georgia colony from 1732 to 1752.[78] Aaron received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in January 2016.[79]


document_title: Nigel (dog)

question_text: what type of dog is nigel from gardeners world

root

text: Nigel (dog)

text: Nigel (born 2008) is a male Golden Retriever dog belonging to Monty Don, a British television gardening presenter. He is known for his appearances on the BBC Two gardening programme, Gardeners' World on which he is seen following the presenter around his garden and catching and dropping his tennis ball. Apart from his television appearances, Nigel has his own Twitter account.[1]

tag: p

text: Injury in 2012[edit]

text: Nigel is popular with viewers who were concerned when he disappeared from the programme in September 2012. The reason was that he had injured himself after twisting sideways when jumping to catch his tennis ball which exploded an intervertebral disc in his spine. He was treated with steroids by a local veterinary surgeon and was then taken to Noel Fitzpatrick, a vet specialising in extreme cases who treated him with hydrotherapy, drugs and physiotherapy. He recovered and resumed his television appearances.[2]

text: Don's views on human relationships and nature[edit]

text: Don said that he chose his dog Nigel because the domestic dog signifies the good and bad in human relationships with nature; humans can prioritise fluffy animals over others.[3] In September 2016 an autobiographical book entitled Nigel: my family and other dogs was published that tells the story of Nigel and the other dogs in Monty's life, including the female Golden Retriever Nellie who also now appears with him on Gardeners World.[4]


document_title: Japanese honorifics

question_text: what does the suffix dono mean in japanese

text: Japanese honorifics

text: Usage[edit]

text: Although honorifics are not part of the basic grammar of the Japanese language, they are a fundamental part of the sociolinguistics of Japanese, and proper use is essential to proficient and appropriate speech. Referring to oneself using an honorific, or dropping an honorific when it is required, is a serious faux pas, in either case coming across as clumsy or arrogant.[citation needed]

text: They can be applied to either the first or last name depending on which is given. In situations where both the first and last names are spoken, the suffix is attached to whichever comes last in the word order.

text: An honorific is generally used when referring to the person one is talking to (one's interlocutor), or when referring to an unrelated third party in speech. It is dropped, however, by some superiors, when referring to one's in-group, or in formal writing, and is never used to refer to oneself, except for dramatic effect, or some exceptional cases.

text: Dropping the honorific suffix when referring to one's interlocutor, which is known as to yobisute (呼び捨て), implies a high degree of intimacy and is generally reserved for one's spouse, younger family members, social inferiors (as in a teacher addressing students in traditional arts), and very close friends. Within sports teams or among classmates, where the interlocutors approximately have the same age or seniority, it can be acceptable to use family names without honorifics. Some people of the younger generation, roughly born since 1970, prefer to be referred to without an honorific. However, dropping honorifics is a sign of informality even with casual acquaintances.

text: When referring to a third person, honorifics are used except when referring to one's family members while talking to a non-family member, or when referring to a member of one's company while talking to a customer or someone from another company—this is the uchi–soto (in-group/out group) distinction. Honorifics are not used to refer to oneself, except when trying to be arrogant (ore-sama), to be cute (-chan), or sometimes when talking to young children to teach them how to address the speaker.

text: Use of honorifics is correlated with other forms of honorific speech in Japanese, such as use of the polite form (-masu, desu) versus the plain form—using the plain form with a polite honorific (-san, -sama) can be jarring, for instance.

text: While these honorifics are solely used on proper nouns, these suffixes can turn common nouns into proper nouns when attached to the end of them. This can be seen on words such as 猫ちゃん ("neko-chan") which turns the common noun neko (cat) into a proper noun which would refer solely to that particular cat, while adding the honorific -chan can also mean cute or small.

text: Translation[edit]

text: When translating honorific suffixes into English, separate pronouns or adjectives must be used in order to convey characteristics to the person they are referencing as well. While some honorifics such as "-san" are very frequently used due to their gender neutrality and very simple definition of polite unfamiliarity, other honorifics such as "-chan" or "-kun" are more specific as to the context in which they must be used as well as the implications they give off when attached to a person's name. These implications can only be translated into English using either adjectives or adjective word phrases.

text: Common honorifics[edit]

text: San[edit]

text: San (さん) (sometimes pronounced han (はん) in Kansai dialect) is the most commonplace honorific and is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. Although the closest analog in English are the honorifics "Mr.", "Miss", "Ms.", or "Mrs.", -san is almost universally added to a person's name; "-san" can be used in formal and informal contexts and for any gender. Because it is the most common honorific, it is also the most often used to convert common nouns into proper ones, as seen below.

text: San may be used in combination with workplace nouns, so a bookseller might be addressed or referred to as honya-san ("bookstore" + san) and a butcher as nikuya-san ("butcher's shop" + san).

text: San is sometimes used with company names. For example, the offices or shop of a company called Kojima Denki might be referred to as "Kojima Denki-san" by another nearby company. This may be seen on small maps often used in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of surrounding companies are written using san.

text: San can be attached to the names of animals or even inanimate objects. For example, a pet rabbit might be called usagi-san, and fish used for cooking can be referred to as sakana-san, but both would be considered childish (akin to "Mr. Fish" or "Mr. Fishy" to equivalate in English) and would be avoided in formal speech. Married people often refer to their spouse with san.

text: Due to -san being gender neutral and commonly used, it can be used to refer to people who are not close or whom one does not know. However, it may not be appropriate when using it on someone who is close or when it is clear that other honorifics should be used.

text: Online, Japanese gamers often append a numeral 3 to another player's name to denote san[citation needed] (e.g., Taro3 conveys Taro-san), since the number three is also pronounced san.

text: Sama[edit]

text: Sama (様【さま】) is a more respectful version for people of a higher rank than oneself, toward one's guests or customers (such as a sports venue announcer addressing members of the audience), and sometimes toward people one greatly admires. It is seemingly said to be the origin word for "-san" but there is no major evidence otherwise. Deities such as the native Shinto kami and the Christian God, are referred to as kami-sama, meaning "Revered spirit-sama". When used to refer to oneself, sama expresses extreme arrogance (or self-effacing irony), as in praising one's self to be of a higher rank, as with ore-sama (俺様, "my esteemed self").

text: Sama customarily follows the addressee's name on postal packages and letters and in business email.

text: Sama also appears in such set phrases as omachidō sama ("thank you for waiting") or otsukare sama ("thank you for a good job").

text: With the exception of the Emperor of Japan, sama can be used to informally address the Empress and other members of the Imperial Family. The Emperor is, however, always addressed as Heika (Your Majesty). (See "Royal and official titles" below).

text: Kun[edit]

text: Kun (君【くん】) is generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, by anyone addressing or it can be used when referring to men in general, male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. It can be used by males or females when addressing a male whom they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long time. Although it may seem rude in workplaces, the suffix is also used by juniors when referring to seniors in both academic situations and workplaces, more typically when the two people are associated.[citation needed]

text: Although kun is generally used for boys, it is not a hard rule. For example, kun can be used to name a close personal friend or family member of any gender. In business settings, young female employees are addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It can be used by male teachers addressing their female students.

text: 'Kun' can mean different things depending on the gender. "Kun" for females is a more respectful name than calling them cute. Kun is not only used to address females formally; it can also be used for a very close friend or family member. Calling a female 'Kun' is not insulting, and can also mean that the person is respected, although that is not the normal implication. Rarely, sisters with the same name, such as 'Miku,' may be differentiated by calling one 'Miku~Chan' and the other 'Miku~San' or 'Sama,' and on some occasions 'Kun.' 'Chan' and 'Kun' occasionally mean similar things. General use of 'Kun' in females mean "sweet and kind."

text: In the National Diet (Legislature), the Speaker of the House uses kun when addressing Diet members and ministers. An exception was when Takako Doi was the Speaker of the lower house, where she used the title san.

text: Chan[edit]

text: Chan (ちゃん) is a diminutive suffix; it expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. It is seemingly said to have come from a "cute" pronouncing of -san (in Japanese, replacing s sounds with ch sounds is seen as cute), although there is no evidence otherwise as this suffix has been used since the early days of ancient Japan. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, friends, grandparents and adolescents. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, any youthful woman, or between friends. Using chan with a superior's name is considered to be condescending and rude.

text: Although traditionally, honorifics are not applied to oneself, some people adopt the childish affectation of referring to themselves in the third person using chan (childish because it suggests that one has not learned to distinguish between names used for oneself and names used by others). For example, a young woman named Kanako might call herself Kanako-chan rather than using a first person pronoun. "Chan" is only used between people who have known each other for a long time or who are of the same gender. Otherwise, using this for someone, especially adults, only known for a short period of time, can be seen as offensive.

text: Tan[edit]

text: Tan (たん) is an even more cute[1] or affectionate variant of "chan". It evokes a small child's mispronunciation of that form of address, or baby talk – similar to how, for example, a speaker of English might use "widdle" instead of "little" when speaking to a baby. Moe anthropomorphisms are often labeled as "-tan", e.g., the commercial mascot Habanero-tan, the manga figure Afghanis-tan or the OS-tans representing operating systems.

text: Bō[edit]

text: Bō (坊【ぼう】) is another diminutive that expresses endearment. Like "chan", it is used for babies or young children, but is exclusively used for boys instead of girls.

text: Senpai and kōhai[edit]

text: Senpai (先輩【せんぱい】) is used to address or refer to one's elder colleagues in a school, dojo, or sports club. So at school, the students in higher grades than oneself are senpai. Teachers are not senpai, but rather they are "Sensei." Neither are students of the same or lower grade: they are referred to as kōhai. In a business environment, those with more experience are senpai.

text: Sensei and hakase[edit]

text: Sensei (先生【せんせい】) (literally meaning "former-born") is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill, such as accomplished novelists, musicians, artists and martial artists. In Japanese martial arts, sensei typically refers to someone who is the head of a dojo. As with senpai, sensei can be used not only as a suffix, but also as a stand-alone title. The term is not generally used when addressing a person with very high academic expertise; the one used instead is hakase (博士【はかせ】) (lit. "Doctor" or "PhD").

text: Sensei can be used fawningly, and it can also be employed sarcastically to ridicule such fawning. The Japanese media invoke it (rendered in katakana, akin to scare quotes or italics in English) to highlight the megalomania of those who allow themselves to be sycophantically addressed with the term.[citation needed]

text: Shi[edit]

text: Shi (氏【し】) is used in formal writing, and sometimes in very formal speech, for referring to a person who is unfamiliar to the speaker, typically a person known through publications whom the speaker has never actually met. For example, the shi title is common in the speech of newsreaders. It is preferred in legal documents, academic journals, and certain other formal written styles. Once a person's name has been used with shi, the person can be referred to with shi alone, without the name, as long as there is only one person being referred to.

text: Other titles[edit]

text: Occupation-related titles[edit]

text: It is common to use a job title after someone's name, instead of using a general honorific. For example, an athlete (選手, senshu) named Ichiro might be referred to as "Ichiro-senshu" rather than "Ichiro-san", and a master carpenter (棟梁, tōryō) named Suzuki might be referred to as "Suzuki-tōryō" rather than "Suzuki-san".

text: In a business setting, it is common to refer to people using their rank, especially for positions of authority, such as department chief (部長, buchō) or company president (社長, shachō). Within one's own company or when speaking of another company, title + san is used, so a president is shachō-san. When speaking of one's own company to a customer or another company, the title is used by itself or attached to a name, so a department chief named Suzuki is referred to as Buchō or Suzuki-buchō.

text: However, when referring to oneself, the title is used indirectly, as using it directly is perceived as arrogant. Thus, a department chief named Suzuki will introduce themselves as 部長の鈴木 Buchō-no-Suzuki, rather than ×鈴木部長 *Suzuki-buchō.

text: For criminals and the accused[edit]

text: Convicted and suspected criminals were once referred to without any title, but now an effort is made to distinguish between suspects (容疑者, yōgisha), defendants (被告, hikoku), and convicts (受刑者, jukeisha), so as not to presume guilt before anything has been proven. These titles can be used by themselves or attached to names.

text: However, although "suspect" and "defendant" began as neutral descriptions, they have become derogatory over time. When actor and musician Gorō Inagaki was arrested for a traffic accident in 2001, some media referred him with the newly made title menbā (メンバー), originating from the English word member, to avoid use of yōgisha (容疑者, suspect).[citation needed] But in addition to being criticized as an unnatural term, this title also became derogatory almost instantly—an example of euphemism treadmill.

text: For companies[edit]

text: There are several different words for "our company" and "your company". "Our company" can be expressed with the humble heisha (弊社, "clumsy/poor company") or the neutral jisha (自社, "our own company"), and "your company" can be expressed with the honorific kisha (貴社, "noble company", used in writing) or onsha (御社, "honorable company", used in speech). Additionally, the neutral tōsha (当社, "this company") can refer to either the speaker's or the listener's company. All of these titles are used by themselves, not attached to names.

text: When mentioning a company's name, it is considered important to include its status depending on whether it is incorporated (株式会社, kabushikigaisha) or limited (有限会社, yūgen gaisha). These are often abbreviated as 株 and 有 respectively.

text: Dono/tono[edit]

text: Tono (殿【との】), pronounced dono (どの) when attached to a name, roughly means "lord" or "master". It does not equate noble status; rather it is a term akin to "milord" or French "monseigneur", and lies below sama in level of respect. This title is not commonly used in daily conversation, but it is still used in some types of written business correspondence, as well as on certificates and awards, and in written correspondence in tea ceremonies. It is/was also used to indicate that the person referred to has the same (high) rank as the referrer, yet commands respect from the speaker.

text: No kimi[edit]

text: No kimi (の君) is another suffix coming from Japanese history. It was used to denominate Lords and Ladies in the Court, especially during the Heian period. The most famous example is the Prince Hikaru Genji, protagonist of The Tale of Genji who was called "Hikaru no Kimi "(光の君). Nowadays, this suffix can be used as a metaphor for someone who behaves like a prince or princess from ancient times, but its use is very rare. Its main usage remains in historical dramas.

text: This suffix also appears when addressing lovers in letters from a man to a woman, as in, "Murasaki no kimi" or "My beloved Ms. Murasaki".

text: Ue[edit]

text: Ue (上) literally means "above", and denotes a high level of respect. While its use is no longer common, it is still seen in constructions like chichi-ue (父上), haha-ue (母上) and ane-ue (姉上), reverent terms for "father", "mother" and "sister" respectively. Receipts that do not require specification of the payer's name are often filled in with ue-sama.

text: Royal and official titles[edit]

text:
Heika (陛下) is used for sovereign royalty, similar to "Majesty" in English. For example, Tennō Heika (天皇陛下) means "His Majesty the Emperor", which is used to address the Emperor of Japan, and Kōgō Heika (皇后陛下) means "Her Majesty the Empress", used to address the Empress. Kokuō Heika (国王陛下) means "His Majesty the King", and Joō Heika (女王陛下) means "Her Majesty the Queen". Heika by itself can be used as a direct term of address, equivalent to "Your Majesty".
Denka (殿下) is used for non-sovereign royalty, similar to "Highness". For example, Kako Naishinnō Denka (佳子内親王殿下, "Her Imperial Highness, Princess Kako of Akishino"), and Suwēden Ōkoku, Vikutoria Ōtaishi Denka (スウェーデン王国ヴィクトリア王太子殿下, "Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Victoria of the Kingdom of Sweden"). Denka can be used by itself, equivalent to "Your Highness."
Hidenka (妃殿下) is used for addressing the consort of a prince, and is used the same way as the other royal titles.
Kakka (閣下) means "Excellency", and is used for heads of state (except those addressed by Heika or Denka), heads of government including the Prime Minister of Japan, cabinet ministers, ambassadors and other high-rank officials such as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, or for generals in an army. It can be used by itself or attached to a specific title like other royal titles.
Daitōryō (大統領) means "President", and is used for any national president, such as the President of the United States. It is most commonly attached to a name. For example, Obama-Daitōryō (オバマ大統領, "President Obama").

tag: ul

text: Martial arts titles[edit]

text: Martial artists often address their teachers as sensei. Junior and senior students are organized via a senpai/kōhai system. Also in some systems of karate, O-Sensei is the title of the (deceased) head of the style. This is how the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba is often referred to by practitioners of that art. The 'O' prefix itself, translating roughly as "great[er]" or "major," is also an honorific.

text: Various titles are also employed to refer to senior instructors. Which titles are used depends on the particular licensing organization.

text: Shōgō[edit]

text: Shōgō (称号, "title", "name", "degree") are martial arts titles developed by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai,[2] the Kokusai Budoin and the International Martial Arts Federation Europe. Many organizations in Japan award such titles upon a sincere study and dedication of Japanese martial arts. The below mentioned titles are awarded after observing a person's martial arts skills, his/her ability of teaching and understanding of martial arts and the most importantly as a role model and the perfection of one's character.

text:
Renshi (錬士 : れんし): Polished Instructor. (Skilled person or expert teacher) Awarded to 4th Dan and above.
Kyōshi (教士 : きょうし) refers to an advanced teacher. (Senior Teacher/Expert). Awarded to 6th Dan and above.
Hanshi (範士 : はんし) refers to a senior expert considered a "teacher of teachers". This title is used by many different arts for the top few instructors of that style, and is sometimes translated "Grand Master". Awarded to 8th Dan and above.
Meijin (名人): awarded by a special board of examiners.

text: Other martial arts titles[edit]

text:
Oyakata (親方 : おやかた), master, especially a sumo coach. The literal sense is of someone in loco parentis. Also used by the Yakuza. In ancient times, it was also used by samurai to address the Daimyō they serve, as he was Oyakata-sama, the clan's don.
Shihan (師範: しはん), merely means chief instructor; unlike the titles above it is not related to grade.
Shidōin (指導員:しどういん), intermediate instructor, also unrelated to grade.
Shishō (師匠: ししょう) is another title used for martial arts instructors.
Zeki (関: ぜき), literally "barrier", used for sumo wrestlers in the top two divisions (sekitori).

text: Levels of black belts sometimes used as martial arts titles

text:
Shodan – 1st dan
Nidan – 2nd dan
Sandan – 3rd dan
Yodan – 4th dan
Godan – 5th dan
Rokudan – 6th dan
Shichidan – 7th dan
Hachidan – 8th dan
Kudan – 9th dan
Jūdan – 10th dan

text: Other titles[edit]

text:
Shinpu (神父: しんぷ), Orthodox or Catholic priest (lit. Godfather). A Catholic priest (shisai (司祭: しさい) (lit. minister of worship) receives this title.
Bokushi (牧師: ぼくし), Protestant priest. This title is given to a Protestant priest (shisai (司祭: しさい)

text: Euphonic suffixes and wordplay[edit]

text: In informal speech, some Japanese people may use contrived suffixes in place of normal honorifics. This is essentially a form of wordplay, with suffixes being chosen for their sound, or for friendly or scornful connotations. Although the range of such suffixes that might be coined is limitless, some have gained such widespread usage that the boundary between established honorifics and wordplay has become a little blurred. Examples of such suffixes include variations on chan (see below), bee (scornful), and rin (friendly).[3] Note that unlike a proper honorific, use of such suffixes is governed largely by how they sound in conjunction with a particular name, and on the effect the speaker is trying to achieve.

text: Baby talk variations[edit]

text: Some honorifics have baby talk versions—mispronunciations stereotypically associated with small children and cuteness, and more frequently used in popular entertainment than in everyday speech. The baby talk version of sama is chama (ちゃま).

text: There are even baby talk versions of baby talk versions. Chan can be changed to tan (たん), and less often, chama (ちゃま) to tama (たま).

text: Familial honorifics[edit]

text: Words for family members have two different forms in Japanese. When referring to one's own family members while speaking to a non-family-member, neutral, descriptive nouns are used, such as haha (母) for "mother" and ani (兄) for "older brother". When addressing one's own family members or addressing or referring to someone else's family members, honorific forms are used. Using the suffix -san, as is most common, "mother" becomes okāsan (お母さん) and "older brother" becomes oniisan (お兄さん). The honorifics -chan and -sama may also be used instead of -san, to express a higher level of closeness or reverence, respectively.

text: The general rule is that a younger family member (e.g., a young brother) addresses an older family member (e.g., a big brother) using an honorific form, while the older family member calls the younger one only by name.

text: The honorific forms are:

text:
Otōsan (お父さん): father. The descriptive noun is chichi (父).

Ojisan (叔父さん／小父さん／伯父さん): uncle, or also "middle-aged gentleman".
Ojiisan (お祖父さん／御爺さん／お爺さん／御祖父さん): grandfather, or also "male senior-citizen".

Okāsan (お母さん): mother. The descriptive noun is haha (母).

Obasan (伯母さん／小母さん／叔母さん): aunt, or also "middle-aged lady".
Obāsan (お祖母さん／御祖母さん／御婆さん／お婆さん): grandmother, or also "female senior-citizen".

Oniisan (お兄さん): big brother, or also "a young gentleman". The descriptive noun is ani (兄).
Onēsan (お姉さん): big sister, or also "a young lady". The descriptive noun is ane (姉).

text: The initial o- (お) in these nouns is itself an honorific prefix. In more casual situations the speaker may omit this prefix but will keep the suffix.

text:
Niichan (兄ちゃん) or Niisan (兄さん): when a young sibling addresses his or her own "big brother".
Nēchan (姉ちゃん) or Nēsan (姉さん): when a young sibling addresses his or her own "big sister".
Kāsan (母さん): when a man addresses his own "wife" (the "mother" of their children).
Tōsan (父さん): when a woman addresses her own "husband" (the "father" of their children)
Bāchan (祖母ちゃん): when grandchildren address their "grandma".
Jiichan (祖父ちゃん): when grandchildren address their "grandpa".


document_title: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

question_text: when was the lion witch and wardrobe written

text: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: In 1940, four siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie – are among many children evacuated from London during World War II to escape the Blitz. They are sent to the countryside to live with professor Digory Kirke. Exploring the professor's house, Lucy finds a wardrobe which doubles as a magic portal to a forest in a land called Narnia. At a lamppost oddly located in the forest, she meets Tumnus, a faun, who invites her to tea in his home. There the faun confesses that he invited her not out of hospitality, but with the intention of betraying her to the White Witch. The witch has ruled Narnia for years, using magic to keep it frozen in a perpetual winter. She has ordered all Narnians to turn in any humans ("Sons of Adam" or "Daughters of Eve") they come across. But now that he has come to know and like a human, Tumnus repents his original intention and escorts Lucy back to the lamppost.

text: Lucy returns through the wardrobe and finds that only a few seconds have passed in normal time during her absence. Her siblings do not believe her story about another world inside the wardrobe, which is now found to have a solid back panel.

text: During a game of hide-and-seek on some days later, Lucy again passes into Narnia. This time her brother Edmund chances to follow her. He meets Jadis, who calls herself Queen of Narnia. When she learns that he is human and has two sisters and a brother, she places an enchantment on him. She urges him to bring his siblings to her castle, promising in return to make him her heir. When Lucy and Edmund return together through the wardrobe, Edmund realizes that the queen he met and the witch Lucy describes are one and the same. He denies to the others that he has been in Narnia at all. Peter and Susan are puzzled by Lucy's insistence, and consult the Professor, who surprises them by taking Lucy's side in the debate of Narnia's existence.

text: Soon afterward, all four children enter Narnia together after hiding in the wardrobe to avoid the professor's dour housekeeper, Mrs. Macready. Remembering the winter cold ahead, they take coats from the wardrobe before exploring. Lucy guides them to Tumnus's cave, but they find it ransacked, with a notice from Jadis (the White Witch) proclaiming his arrest for harbouring humans.

text: A talking beaver intercepts them, proves himself a friend, and hides the children in his den. There, he and Mrs. Beaver tell them of a prophecy that Jadis's power will fail when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve fill the four thrones at Cair Paravel. Aslan, the great lion and the rightful King, has been absent for many years but is now "on the move again" in Narnia.

text: Edmund steals away to Jadis's castle, which is filled with statues of Narnian victims she has turned to stone. Jadis is furious when Edmund appears alone and angrier still to learn that Aslan may have returned. She takes him on her sledge to catch the others or to reach Aslan's court before them.

text: Meanwhile, Mr Beaver realises that Edmund has betrayed them, and they set off at once to seek Aslan at the Stone Table. As they travel, the Witch's spell over Narnia begins to break: Father Christmas (who has not been seen in Narnia for a hundred years) arrives with magical presents: a sword for Peter, a horn and a bow with arrows for Susan, a knife and a bottle of healing cordial for Lucy. The snow melts, and winter ends. Aslan welcomes the children and the Beavers to his camp near the Stone Table. Upon hearing Edmund's situation, he orders a rescue party of loyal Narnians.

text: After much hardship at the hands of the Witch and her sledge driver, Edmund is rescued from their camp and reunited with his siblings. Jadis approaches in truce to parley with Aslan. She insists that, according to "deep magic from the dawn of time", she holds the right to kill Edmund following his treason. Aslan bargains with her privately and she renounces her claim.

text: That evening, Aslan secretly returns to the Stone Table, shadowed by Susan and Lucy. Upon noticing them, Aslan welcomes their company but warns them not to interfere with what is about to happen. He has traded his own life to the witch for Edmund's, and the girls watch as Jadis oversees his shaming before her underlings. She orders Aslan tied to the Stone Table, shaved and muzzled; and she administers the killing blow herself.

text: Confident now of victory, the Witch leads her army away to battle. Susan and Lucy remain weeping over Aslan's abandoned body. They un-muzzle him and see mice gnaw away his bonds. The Stone Table breaks and Aslan is restored to life. He tells Lucy and Susan that Jadis was unaware of the "deeper magic from before the dawn of time" that will resurrect an innocent killed in place of a traitor.

text: Aslan carries Lucy and Susan on his back as he hurries to Jadis's castle. He breathes upon the stone statues in the courtyard, restoring them to life.

text: Meanwhile, Peter and Edmund lead the Narnians against Jadis, and Edmund is seriously wounded. Aslan arrives with the former statues as reinforcements. The Narnians rout Jadis's supporters, and Aslan kills Jadis. Aslan breathes life into those Jadis has turned to stone on the battlefield, and Lucy uses her magic cordial to revive the wounded, starting with Edmund. The Pevensie children are crowned kings and queens of Narnia at Cair Paravel. Soon afterward, Aslan slips away and disappears.

text: Fifteen years later, the four rulers chase a wish-granting white stag through the forest whereupon they rediscover the lamppost. They soon find their way not through branches but coats. They come back through the wardrobe in the Professor's house and are suddenly children again, dressed in their old clothes. Almost no time has passed in the real world, despite their many years in Narnia.

text: The four children consult the Professor. He forgives them the absence of the four coats they stole, and hints that theirs would prove not to be the first adventure in Narnia, nor by any means the last.

text: Character list[edit]

text: The Pevensie Siblings

text: Raised in London, evacuated to the Dorset countryside, and reaching adulthood in Narnia, they are the four main characters. In one chapter, Father Christmas arrives to endow those present (three Pevensies and two beavers) with a feast, weapons, and magical items. After the restoration of Narnia, a Tetrarchy is established with the four siblings as the rulers.

text:
Lucy Pevensie is the youngest Pevensie child and, in some respects, the primary protagonist of the story. She is the first to discover the land of Narnia when she finds her way through the magical wardrobe in the Professor's house. When Lucy tells her three siblings, they don't believe her: Peter and Susan think she is just playing a game while Edmund persistently ridicules her about it. She is later crowned Queen Lucy the Valiant.
Edmund Pevensie is the second-youngest of the Pevensie children. He has a bad relationship with his siblings. Edmund is known to be a liar, and often harasses children younger than him. He often singles out Lucy as his favourite target. In Narnia he meets the White Witch, who plies him with enchanted Turkish delight, drink, and smooth talk. Lured by the White Witch's promise of power and an unlimited supply of the magical treats, Edmund betrays his siblings. He eventually regrets his actions and repents. After he helps Aslan and the good denizens of Narnia defeat the White Witch, he is crowned and named King Edmund the Just. He has no endowments, because of his betrayal.
Susan Pevensie is the second-oldest of Pevensie children. She does not believe in Narnia until she actually goes there. Along with Lucy, she accompanies Aslan on the journey to his apparent self-sacrifice and secretly witnesses the horrific event. Tending to his carcass, she removes a muzzle from him to restore his dignity and oversees a horde of mice who gnaw away his bonds. She then shares the joy of his resurrection and the endeavor to bring reinforcements to a critical battle. She is crowned Queen of Narnia alongside Lucy and pronounced Queen Susan the Gentle.
Peter Pevensie is the eldest of the Pevensie siblings. He judiciously settles disputes between his younger brother and sisters, often rebuking Edmund for his attitude. At first, Peter disbelieves Lucy's stories about Narnia, but changes his mind when he sees it for himself. He is hailed as a hero for the slaying of Maugrim and for his command in the battle to overthrow the White Witch. He is eventually crowned High King of Narnia and dubbed King Peter the Magnificent.

text: At the Country Home

text: The house that shelters the Pevensie children is run by a Professor, staffed by servants, and frequently toured by historians.

text:
The Professor is a kindly old gentleman who takes the Pevensie children in when they are evacuated from London. He is the first to believe that Lucy did indeed visit a land called Narnia. He tries to convince the others logically that she didn't make it up. The book hints that he knows more of Narnia than he lets on. He is identified in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as Professor Kirke, and appears as a young boy, Digory Kirke, a main character in the prequel, in which he witnesses Aslan's creation of Narnia. Although never explicitly stated, there are minor parallels between himself and Aslan on the smaller scale of the house in Dorset; in that he is rarely seen, can be sought for impartial wisdom, provides a sense of stability, and sometimes cannot be found.
Mrs. Macready is the housekeeper for the Professor and takes it upon herself to guide the tour groups. Although never explicitly stated, there are minor parallels between herself and the White Witch, albeit on the smaller scale; for example, she effectively rules the country house in the absence of the Professor (terrifyingly so in the imagination of a young girl torn from her home and mother). The Pevensies certainly see her as an antagonist and dub her "The Macready". She is stated to be not very fond of children, imposes strict rules on their behavior, and disturbs their peace with the tours.

text: Narnians

text: The magical land of Narnia is populated by talking animals, mythological species, and sentient flora.

text:
Aslan, a lion, is the rightful King of Narnia and other magic countries. He sacrifices himself to save Edmund, but is resurrected in time to aid the denizens of Narnia and the Pevensie children against the White Witch and her minions. As the "son of the Emperor beyond the sea"( an allusion to the first person of the Holy Trinity in Christianity (the Father) Aslan is the all powerful creator of Narnia. He is the deity that links all created worlds together and is thus all knowing, all present, and all powerful.
The White Witch is the land's self-proclaimed queen and the primary antagonist of the story. She tyrannizes Narnia through her magically imposed rule. Her spell on Narnia has made winter persist for a hundred years with no end in sight. When provoked, she turns creatures to stone with her wand. She fears the fulfillment of a prophecy that "two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve" (meaning humans; two male, two female) will claim the right to rule and supplant her. She is usually referred to simply as "the White Witch" but her actual name, "Jadis," appears in one proclamation in this book.[5] Lewis later wrote a prequel to include her back-story and account for her presence in the Narnian world.
Tumnus, a faun, is the first individual Lucy meets in Narnia. Tumnus befriends Lucy, despite the White Witch's standing order to turn in any human found in Narnia. He initially plans to obey the order but, after getting to like Lucy, he cannot bear to alert the Witch's forces. He instead escorts her back towards the safety of her own country. His good deed is later given away by Edmund who innocently tells the White Witch that Lucy mentioned meeting a faun. The witch orders Tumnus arrested and turns him to stone, but he is later restored to life by Aslan.
Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, two beavers, are friends of Tumnus. They play host to Peter, Susan, and Lucy and lead them to Aslan.
A Dwarf serves the White Witch. He's never named in the book but called Ginabrik in the film, where he has a more significant role.
Maugrim (Fenris Ulf in most American editions) the wolf is the chief of the White Witch's secret police. She sends him to hunt down the Pevensie children. He tries to kill Susan who flees and sees to the safety of others. She sounds her horn. Peter answers the call and slays Maugrim.
Giant Rumblebuffin is a character who is turned to stone by the White Witch. Aslan restores him to life by breathing on him. Although slightly dim-witted, he is very kind. His significant contribution is to break down the gate of the Witch's castle to let the rescued Narnians out, and also to crush some of her army.

text: Writing[edit]

text: Lewis described the origin of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in an essay titled "It All Began with a Picture":[6]

text: The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: 'Let's try to make a story about it.'

text: Shortly before the Second World War many children were evacuated from London to the English countryside to escape bomber attacks on London by Nazi Germany. On 2 September 1939 three school girls, Margaret, Mary and Katherine,[7][8] came to live at The Kilns in Risinghurst, Lewis's home three miles east of Oxford city centre. Lewis later suggested that the experience gave him a new appreciation of children and in late September[9] he began a children's story on an odd sheet that has survived as part of another manuscript:

text: This book is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old professor who lived all by himself in the country.[10]

text: The plot element of entering a new world through the back of a wardrobe had certainly entered Lewis's mind by 1946, when he used it to describe his first encounter with really good poetry:

text: I did not in the least feel that I was getting in more quantity or better quality a pleasure I had already known. It was more as if a cupboard which one had hitherto valued as a place for hanging coats proved one day, when you opened the door, to lead to the garden of the Hesperides ...[11]

text: How much more of the story Lewis then wrote is uncertain. Roger Lancelyn Green thinks that he might even have completed it. In September 1947 Lewis wrote in a letter about stories for children: "I have tried one myself but it was, by the unanimous verdict of my friends, so bad that I destroyed it."[12]

text: In August 1948, during a visit by an American writer, Chad Walsh, Lewis talked vaguely about completing a children's book he had begun "in the tradition of E. Nesbit".[13] After this conversation not much happened until the beginning of the next year. Then everything changed. In his essay "It All Began With a Picture" Lewis continues: "At first I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don't know where the Lion came from or why he came. But once he was there, he pulled the whole story together, and soon he pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him."[14]

text: The major ideas of the book echo lines Lewis had written fourteen years earlier in his alliterative poem The Planets:

text:
... Of wrath ended
And woes mended, of winter passed
And guilt forgiven, and good fortune
Jove is master; and of jocund revel,
Laughter of ladies. The lion-hearted
... are Jove's children.[15]

text: On 10 March 1949 Roger Lancelyn Green dined with Lewis at Magdalen College. After the meal Lewis read two chapters from his new children's story to Green. Lewis asked Green's opinion of the tale and Green said that he thought it was good. The manuscript of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was complete by the end of March 1949. Lucy Barfield received it by the end of May.[16] When on 16 October 1950 Geoffrey Bles in London published the first edition, three new "chronicles", Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Horse and His Boy, had also been completed.

text: Illustrations[edit]

text: Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, allowed him to choose the illustrator for the novel and the Narnia series. Lewis chose Pauline Baynes, possibly based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s recommendation. Baynes had greatly impressed Tolkien with her illustrations for his Farmer Giles of Ham (1949). However, Baynes claimed that Lewis learned about her work after going into a bookshop and asking for a recommendation for an illustrator who was skilled at portraying both humans and animals. In December 1949, Bles showed Lewis the first drawings for the novel, and Lewis sent Baynes a note congratulating her, particularly on the level of detail. Lewis’s appreciation of the illustrations is evident in a letter he wrote to Baynes after The Last Battle won the Carnegie Medal for best children’s book of 1956: "is it not rather 'our' medal? I’m sure the illustrations were taken into account as well as the text".[17]

text: The British edition of the novel had 43 illustrations; American editions generally had fewer. The popular United States paperback edition published by Collier between 1970 and 1994, which sold many millions, had only 17 illustrations, many of them severely cropped from the originals, giving many readers in that country a very different experience when reading the novel. All the illustrations were restored for the 1994 worldwide HarperCollins edition, although these lacked the clarity of early printings.[18]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Lewis very much enjoyed writing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and embarked on the sequel Prince Caspian soon after finishing the first novel. He completed the sequel by end of 1949, less than a year after finishing the initial book. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had few readers during 1949 and was not published until late in 1950, so his initial enthusiasm did not stem from favourable reception by the public.[19]

text: While Lewis is known today on the strength of the Narnia stories as a highly successful children’s writer, the initial critical response was muted. At the time it was fashionable for children's stories to be realistic; fantasy and fairy tales were seen as indulgent, appropriate only for very young readers and potentially harmful to older children, even hindering their ability to relate to everyday life. Some reviewers considered the tale overtly moralistic or the Christian elements over-stated — attempts to indoctrinate children. Others were concerned that the many violent incidents might frighten children.[20]

text: Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, feared that the Narnia tales would not sell, and might damage Lewis’ reputation and affect sales of his other books. Nevertheless, the novel and its successors were highly popular with young readers, and Lewis's publisher was soon eager to release further Narnia stories.[21]

text: In the United States a 2004 study found that The Lion was a common read-aloud book for seventh-graders in schools in San Diego County, California.[22] In 2005 it was included on TIME's unranked list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923.[23] Based on a 2007 online poll, the U.S. National Education Association named it one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".[24] In 2012 it was ranked number five among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience.[25]

text: A 2012 survey by the University of Worcester determined that it was the second most common book that UK adults had read as children, after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Adults, perhaps limited to parents, ranked Alice and The Lion fifth and sixth as books the next generation should read, or their children should read during their lifetimes.)[26]

text: TIME magazine included the novel in its "All-TIME 100 Novels" (best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005).[23] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 9 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[27] It has also been published in 47 foreign languages.[28]

text: Allusions[edit]

text: Lewis wrote that "The Narnian books are not as much allegory as supposal. Suppose there were a Narnian world and it, like ours, needed redemption. What kind of incarnation and Passion might Christ be supposed to undergo there?"[29]

text: The main story is an allegory of Christ's crucifixion:[30][31] Aslan sacrifices himself for Edmund, a traitor who may deserve death, in the same way that Christians believe Jesus sacrificed himself for sinners. Aslan is killed on the Stone Table, symbolizing Mosaic Law, which breaks when he is resurrected, symbolizing the replacement of the strict justice of Old Testament law with redeeming grace and forgiveness granted on the basis of substitutional atonement, according to Christian theology.[32] As with the Christian Passion, it is women (Susan and Lucy) who tend Aslan's body after he dies and are the first to see him after his resurrection. The significance of the death contains elements of both the ransom theory of atonement and the satisfaction theory: Aslan suffers Edmund's penalty (satisfaction), and buys him back from the White Witch, who was entitled to him by reason of his treachery (ransom). In Christian belief, Christ is associated with the Biblical "Lion of Judah" of Revelation 5:5.

text: Professor Kirke is based on W.T. Kirkpatrick, who tutored a 16-year-old Lewis. "Kirk," as he was sometimes called, taught the young Lewis much about thinking and communicating clearly, skills that would be invaluable to him later.[33]

text: Narnia is caught in endless winter that has lasted a century when the children first enter. Norse tradition mythologises a "great winter," known as the Fimbulwinter, said to precede Ragnarök. The trapping of Edmund by the White Witch is reminiscent of the seduction and imprisonment of Kay by The Snow Queen in Hans Christian Andersen's novella of that name.[34]

text: The dwarves and giants are found in Norse mythology; fauns, centaurs, minotaurs and dryads derive from Greek mythology. Father Christmas, of course, was part of popular English folklore.

text: There are several parallels between the White Witch and the immortal white queen, Ayesha, of H. Rider Haggard's She, a novel greatly admired by C.S. Lewis.[35]

text: The Story of the Amulet written by Edith Nesbit also contains scenes that can be considered precursors to sequences presenting Jadis, particularly in The Magician's Nephew.[36] Nesbit's short story The Aunt and Amabel includes the motif of a girl entering a wardrobe to gain access to a magical place.[37]

text: The freeing of Aslan's body from the stone table by field mice is reminiscent of Aesop's fable of "The Lion and the Mouse." In the fable, a lion catches a mouse, but the mouse persuades the lion to release him, promising that the favor would be rewarded. Later in the story, he gnaws through the lion's bonds after he has been captured by hunters. It is also reminiscent of a scene from Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Pit and the Pendulum," in which a prisoner is freed when rats gnaw through his bonds.[38] In a later book, "Prince Caspian," we learn that as reward for their actions, mice gained the same intelligence and speech as other Narnian animals.[39]

text: Differences between editions[edit]

text: Due to labor union rules,[40] the text of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was reset for the publication of the first American edition of by Macmillan US in 1950.[1] Lewis took that opportunity to make the following changes to the original British edition published by Geoffrey Bles[3] earlier that same year:

text:
In chapter one of the American edition, the animals that Edmund and Susan express interest in are snakes and foxes rather than the foxes and rabbits of the British edition.[40][41]
In chapter six of the American edition, the name of the White Witch's chief of police is changed to "Fenris Ulf" from "Maugrim" in the British.[42][43][44]
In chapter thirteen of the American edition, "the trunk of the World Ash Tree" takes the place of "the fire-stones of the Secret Hill".[45]

text: When HarperCollins took over publication of the series in 1994, they began using the original British edition for all subsequent English editions worldwide.[46] The current US edition published by Scholastic has 36,135 words.[47]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: Television[edit]

text: The story has been adapted three times for television. The first adaptation was a ten-part serial produced by ABC Weekend Television for ITV and broadcast in 1967. In 1979, an animated TV-movie,[48] directed by Peanuts director Bill Meléndez, was broadcast and won the first Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. A third television adaptation was produced in 1988 by the BBC using a combination of live actors, animatronic puppets and animation. Only this last one was the first of a series of 3 Narnia adaptations. The programme was nominated for an Emmy and won a BAFTA. It was followed by three further Narnia adaptations.

text: Theatre[edit]

text: Stage adaptations include a 1984 version staged at London's Westminster Theatre, produced by Vanessa Ford Productions. The play, adapted by Glyn Robbins, was directed by Richard Williams and designed by Marty Flood.[49] Jules Tasca, Ted Drachman, and Thomas Tierney collaborated on a musical adaptation published in 1986.[50]

text: In 1997, Trumpets Inc., a Filipino Christian theatre and musical production company, produced a musical rendition that Douglas Gresham, Lewis's stepson (and co-producer of the Walden Media film adaptations), has openly declared that he feels is the closest to Lewis's intention.[51][52][53] It starred among others popular young Filipino singer Sam Concepcion as Edmund Pevensie.[54] The book and lyrics were written by Jaime del Mundo and Luna Inocian, while music was composed by Lito Villareal.

text: In 1998, the Royal Shakespeare Company did an adaptation by Adrian Mitchell, for which the acting edition has been published.[55] The Stratford Festival in Canada mounted a new production of Mitchell's work in June 2016. [2] [3]

text: In 2003, there was an Australian commercial stage production which toured the country by Malcolm C. Cooke Productions, using both life-size puppets and human actors. It was directed by notable film director Nadia Tass, and starred Amanda Muggleton, Dennis Olsen, Meaghan Davies and Yolande Brown.[56][57]

text: In 2011, a two-actor stage adaptation by Le Clanché du Rand opened Off-Broadway in New York City at St. Luke's Theatre. The production was directed by Julia Beardsley O'Brien and starred Erin Layton and Andrew Fortman.[58] As of 2014, the production is currently running with a replacement cast of Abigail Taylor-Sansom and Rockford Sansom.[59]

text: In 2016, the Stratford Festival presented a dramatization by Adrian Mitchell, directed by Tim Carroll.[60]

text: Audio[edit]

text: Multiple audio editions have been released, both straightforward readings and dramatizations.

text: In 1981, Michael Hordern read abridged versions of the classic tale (and the others in the series). In 2000, an unabridged audio book was released, narrated by Michael York. (All the books were released in audio form, read by different actors.)

text: In 1988, BBC Radio 4 mounted a full dramatization. In 1998, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre also adapted this story. Both the original BBC version and the Focus on the Family version have been broadcast on BBC radio. Both are the first in a series of adaptations of all seven of the Narnia books. The BBC series uses the title Tales of Narnia, while the Focus on the Family version uses the more familiar Chronicles moniker. The Focus on the Family version is also longer, with a full orchestra score, narration, a larger cast of actors, and introductions by Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis' stepson.

text: Film[edit]

text: In 2005, the story was adapted for a theatrical film, co-produced by Walt Disney and Walden Media. It has so far been followed by two more films: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The latter was co-produced by Twentieth-Century Fox and Walden Media.