British Empire

Kenny Baker, 78, a jazz musician who performed for sellout British audiences in the 1950s, died Tuesday in a hospital in Felpham in southern England, his manager Jim Simpson said. He had been hospitalized for three weeks with a viral infection.He is best known for his work with the jazz band Baker's Dozen and for his numerous performances on film and television soundtracks. A session musician, he performed with many stars, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett. His work can also be heard on James Bond movie soundtracks.

LONDON -- Whichever of the parties wins the British national election May 1, the question has to be asked, win for what? Win for the sake of winning is all that is discernible now; this is a campaign with few serious promises made, and without a vision.Labor and the Liberal Democrats make proposals for constitutional change -- devolution of power to Scottish and Welsh assemblies in Labor's case, a move toward proportional representation in voting should the Liberal Democrats do well enough, or Labor poorly enough, to force the latter to make concessions to the former in order to govern.

MIKE LANE'S cartoon depicting the British imperial lion losing its last tooth with the transfer of Hong Kong back to China reflects the historical antagonism to empire shared by many Americans.But we should not forget that America owes its inception in part to the imperial ethic -- which in its purest form was not primarily about commercial exploitation or nationalistic expansion, but embodied a missionary zeal to extend the blessings of Christianity and civilization to the non-Western world.

LONDON -- "We've got three ghosts in the building. We're not sure whom," says Kate Crowe, librarian, tour guide and expert on Britain's treasured set of diplomatic chambers: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office.In this haunted, gorgeous house, Britain's bureaucrats forged and shaped the British Empire. This is where young men stepped into the Colonial Office in search of a job guiding Britain's fortunes in Africa, Asia or the Americas.Calcutta met London at the India Office, a palatial home where maharajas could be summoned and young imperialists could be vetted.

LONDON -- The British Empire came to an end just 40 years ago, its death agony lasting from the 31st of October to the 6th of November, 1956. The proximate cause of death is known. The real cause remains a mystery.The proximate cause is called by historians ''Suez.'' The agents of the empire's execution were Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anthony Eden. Colonel Nasser was considered by Eden, then Britain's prime minister, as ''a new Hitler.'' He was the first of the Western-designated ''new Hitlers'' to appear in the Middle East.

HE [H. L. MENCKEN] remained a newspaperman because he liked to sound off, to make a noise. In that respect he did not, in one sense, differ from any other person who has written for a living, whether fiction or fact, prose or poetry. . ."But there were particular compulsions at work within him that made it vital that he do his sounding-off in newsprint. . ."I will remark only on a few of the various needs that propelled him along his way, without attempting to inquire into why they might have done so. These were:"(1)

Most murders are committed from rage, or even hate; still, rare, but not unheard of, is the true crime of the heart, the murder of love.Such a deed is at the center of the brilliant New Zealand film "Heavenly Creatures," opening today at the Rotunda. It's an elaborate representation of, as its own subtitle decrees, "a Crime That Shocked a Nation."In 1954, in Christchurch, New Zealand, two passionately entwined schoolgirls floated so far off into their own private realms that reality became first an intrusion and then a threat.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The sight once struck fear into the heart of the British Empire -- thousands of Zulus, dressed in skins and feathers, carrying spears and shields, dancing, chanting, marching in unison.Their ancestors dealt the British a rare defeat on the field in the bloody advance of colonialism more than a century ago.Twice in recent weeks some 50,000 Zulus -- most clad and armed in the traditional fashion -- have gathered at the calling of their king, 45-year-old Goodwill Zwelithini.

LONDON -- For the past 70 years a British firefighter who rescued a child from a burning building might get a spot on the queen's honors list, and an award grandiosely called a British Empire Medal (BEM).A soldier of the ranks who saved his comrades by charging an enemy machine-gun nest might be nominated for the Military Medal.But neither hero could aspire to much higher. These were the awards reserved for the working classes and enlisted ranks.Grander honors, such as the MBE (Member of the British Empire)

An explosion of some magnitude has been set off in London by the proposal that Winston Churchill should have settled with Hitler in July 1940 or June 1941, and that by failing to do so he bankrupted Britain and destroyed its empire.John Charmley, a scholar in his 30s and an acknowledged authority on British political history of the period, argues in a new book called ''Churchill: The End of Glory,'' just out in London, that Churchill was a political gambler obsessed with defeating Hitler, who should have settled with Germany after the fall of France, in July 1940, when Hitler indicated a willingness to do so, or the following spring, when the Italians had been defeated in Africa, Japan had not yet entered the war, and Hitler was preparing his invasion of Russia.

Michael Jackson's drug history to be probed Detectives investigating the death of Michael Jackson are looking at his prescription drug history and trying to talk with his numerous former doctors, the Los Angeles police chief said. Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, told ABC News in an interview that he believed "foul play" was involved in his son's death. But in the interview aired Friday on Good Morning America, Jackson did not elaborate. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told CNN that police are waiting for the coroner's report before ruling out any possibilities in their "comprehensive" investigation into the sudden death of the 50-year-old pop star two weeks ago. The coroner's report will determine the cause of death and hinges on time-consuming toxicology tests.

JOHN MARTYN, 60 British singer and songwriter British singer-songwriter John Martyn, whose soulful songs were covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, died Thursday in Ireland. Mr. Martyn's official Web site announced the musician's death, but it did not give a cause of death. A skilled guitarist and earthy vocalist influenced by folk, blues and jazz, Mr. Martyn performed with - and was admired by - musicians including Mr. Clapton, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Phil Collins. He took up the guitar in his teens, moved to London and released a series of enduring albums, including The Road to Ruin and Solid Air, regarded by some critics as one of the best British albums of the 1970s.

?The unique thing about it is, it provides real-time, 3-D, actionable intelligence.? Don Ryan, Proxy Aviation Systems CEO, on a new drone aircraft tested by the Germantown company Article, PG 1d Up Next Tomorrow Southern Sounds Southern and proud, Florida-born JJ Grey talks about his Alligator Records debut, Country Ghetto. His sound, mixing country, funk and blues, can be heard Feb. 28 at the Recher Theatre. in Live! Friday Abolition Amazing Grace, Michael Apted's drama about the drive to end slavery in the British Empire, opens.

In the current flare-up in the Middle East, America is clearly seen around the world as an ally of Israel. That has been the reality for decades. But there was a time when the United States took the side of the Arabs against Israel and our European allies. The occasion was the Suez crisis that began fifty years ago today, an event with profound consequences that extend into the current conflicts involving Israel and Iraq. It was triggered when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956.

LONDON - Pulling into Paddington Station here last week on the train from Heathrow Airport I noticed a memorial statue at the far end of one of the platforms and went to see what it was. It was a monument to men who had died in World War I and World War II, these particular casualties employees of the Great Western Railway, all 3,700 of them. Three thousand, seven hundred men! All from one company. No names were on the monument, only a large figure of a World War I soldier standing with his head bowed and his helmet in his folded hands.

Neoconservatism is finished. According to the conventional wisdom, the Pentagon's top neocons, like Paul D. Wolfowitz, Douglas J. Feith and William J. Luti, have been discredited by the insurgency in Iraq, by Abu Ghraib and by growing public discontent with the war. The United Nations has been invited back - begged, really - while the organization's chief opponent, Richard Perle, has been marginalized. The exposure of Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi as a charlatan, and possibly an Iranian spy, has delivered the knockout punch.

A ragtime-pianist priest and a dancing nun are among the four Maryland talents selected to appear in a local performance of Nunsense, which opens next month at the Lyric Opera House. The comic tale depicts nuns who are forced to raise money to cover funeral expenses after most of their order succumbs to food poisoning. On Feb. 4, as part of a benefit-talent-show scene, Sister Teresa Leimbach will dance to a traditional Polish folk tune, and Sister Wanda Zdziarska will sing. Both are members of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate convent in Catonsville.

Historians are a pertinacious breed. Never ever do they concede that the knowledge of any one subject has been exhausted, which explains why the life of Winston Churchill continues to serve as a limitless fount of exploration. This is mostly good news. Despite some 650 biographies and other interpretive works already on the shelves, new books with new and fascinating nuggets about the 20th-century's grand old warrior keep rolling out. To a large degree, this reflects the long-standing British mastery of biography, but in the case of Churchill it is much more, something akin to an insatiable and movable love feast.

THE MAN who led New York through its darkest hours now becomes a knight of the British Empire. Taking the Mother Country by storm this week, Rudolph Giuliani, "lately mayor of New York," got his new title Wednesday from Queen Elizabeth II. The ceremony provided another glimpse of a politician's metamorphosis, proof again that in politics a few hours can be a lifetime. Thought of before the attack as a somewhat edgy and authoritarian leader, Mr. Giuliani became the resilient and empathetic symbol of a city and nation that refused to buckle after the twin towers attack.

Cue the college choir. Roll the "Brideshead Revisited" footage. Lay out the strawberries and clotted cream. We're in Oxford, England. The morning sun through the high stained-glass windows of the dining hall; the undistinguished food on the table; the expertise and eccentricity of one's classmates; the time-honored squalor of the dormitories; the history underfoot and overhead. Those Oxford days were great days -- all seven of them. My wife, Mary Frances, and I came here last summer, stayed a week and then scooted, unburdened by diplomas or aristocratic connections.