Yet another "Famous People In Alternate Realities" Thread

Interesting that China experiences the depression more than it did IOTL, where it essentially passed by China, due, it is said, to using a silver rather than gold standard. Is this different ITTL?
 
Interesting that China experiences the depression more than it did IOTL, where it essentially passed by China, due, it is said, to using a silver rather than gold standard. Is this different ITTL?

You make a good point about the different monetary system. I hadn't considered how that would change things. Even here, I think that China will fare less badly than Japan, the BIF, the US, or Europe. The change I was trying to introduce here was that China had a real investment boom in the 1920's. This introduces a lot of prosperity into the costal =
^cities, which quickly ebbs after the Great Depression starts elsewhere. In reality, instead of an economic crash in China, it would merely be a return to baseline growth. After a decade of stellar economic growth, though, it will be very painful to many people.

There was a story reason in this for me. For Chiang to push China into the direction he pushes it ITTL, he would need to break of power of the urban, education, rich Chinese. Even though they were a tiny minority of the population, they held a lot of sway. This investment crash, then, does a few things. The most obvious is to weaken their political power, as they have less money. The next thing is that it allows Chiang to paint his detractors as loyal to foreigners instead of to China. The last thing is that it discredits the idea that China can rely on or even get along with the other world powers.

I was trying to tell the story of how Chiang could remove rival claimants to power. Obviously, he would try to arrest other leaders and potential leaders. He would also have to discredit or weaken potential ideologies, I think. I am sure he will go after communists. I think he would want to go after the weak decadent foreign capitalists ect as well.

However, I don't want the story to be unrealistic just for the sake of the story. Do you think the sudden withdrawl of funds (to cover 'margin calls' in the US, etc) is realistic? If so, how can I make the results more realistic? If not, what else can I do to make it more realistic?
 
You make a good point about the different monetary system. I hadn't considered how that would change things. Even here, I think that China will fare less badly than Japan, the BIF, the US, or Europe. The change I was trying to introduce here was that China had a real investment boom in the 1920's. This introduces a lot of prosperity into the costal =
^cities, which quickly ebbs after the Great Depression starts elsewhere. In reality, instead of an economic crash in China, it would merely be a return to baseline growth. After a decade of stellar economic growth, though, it will be very painful to many people.

There was a story reason in this for me. For Chiang to push China into the direction he pushes it ITTL, he would need to break of power of the urban, education, rich Chinese. Even though they were a tiny minority of the population, they held a lot of sway. This investment crash, then, does a few things. The most obvious is to weaken their political power, as they have less money. The next thing is that it allows Chiang to paint his detractors as loyal to foreigners instead of to China. The last thing is that it discredits the idea that China can rely on or even get along with the other world powers.

I was trying to tell the story of how Chiang could remove rival claimants to power. Obviously, he would try to arrest other leaders and potential leaders. He would also have to discredit or weaken potential ideologies, I think. I am sure he will go after communists. I think he would want to go after the weak decadent foreign capitalists ect as well.

However, I don't want the story to be unrealistic just for the sake of the story. Do you think the sudden withdrawl of funds (to cover 'margin calls' in the US, etc) is realistic? If so, how can I make the results more realistic? If not, what else can I do to make it more realistic?

I'm not much of an expert on economics and finance, so it's kind of hard for me to say. Good point that being more tied in to the world economy at large will obviously make China more susceptible to the depression.

Even after investment dries up, the infrastructure left behind likely helps China wage war a decade later.
 
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
The RNR is Newfoundland's primary contribution to the British Imperial Army. Its history dates back to 1795, when Major Thomas Skinner of the Royal Engineers raised a regiment at Fort Townshend in St. John's; several incarnations of this unit would be disbanded and reformed over the next twenty years. During the War of 1812, soldiers of the Newfoundland Regiment served as marines on the Great Lakes and as regular infantry in Michigan and York (now Toronto). In 1816, the Regiment was disbanded; it would next be reformed in 1914, and has remained active ever since.

In 1914, after the outbreak of the Great War, Newfoundland, like many of her fellow Dominions, was determined to do her part for King and Empire. Despite having a population of just 240,000, Newfoundland raised and maintained a full battalion of 1,000 troops, debarking in May 1915 in Scotland, where General Sir Ian Hamilton was organizing the Northern Expeditionary Force. After Sweden entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, fighting had commenced in Finland, but had been generally inconclusive; Britain, hoping to crack open the blockade of Russia, decided that the best route to do this would be to knock Sweden out of the war.

Accordingly, on August 9, 1915, the Northern Expeditionary Force landed at Bergen and Stavanger in Norway, which promptly declared war on the Central Powers in support of Britain, its longtime protector. This force, composed of the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (with the Australian 1st Division and the Australian & New Zealand Division), the 63rd Royal Naval Division, the 29th Division (including the Newfoundlanders and various other Imperial formations), the 42nd East Lancashire Division and the French Oriental Expeditionary Corps (centered around four battalions of Senegalese tiralleurs), was to advance through Svealand to Stockholm, forcing the Swedes out of the war. Events did not go according to plan. Though the NEF easily smashed through the militia forces hastily assembled at the unfortified Swedish border, it encountered increasing resistance as it slogged through the lakes and woods of the region. The arrival of a corps of German troops to the theater in October ended the Entente advance; for almost three years, the Northern Front would remain essentially static. Still, the 'Newfies' gave a good account of themselves, particularly in June 1918, when the NEF took advantage of collapsing Swedish morale to finally break open the front in Svealand, reaching Lake Malaren before Sweden surrendered on October 8. Four Newfies received Victoria Crosses for their actions in the summer of 1918, and the Newfoundland Regiment was designated as 'Royal' in recognition of their efforts during the campaign.

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment, after returning home, was initially retained as a mostly-paper formation, primarily conducting ceremonial duties. Its role expanded modestly with the formation of the British Imperial Federation, but as the situation in Europe darkened in the 1930s, preparations were made to bring the unit up to strength. To conserve manpower, the RNR began conversion into an armoured regiment in July 1939, equipped with A10 cruiser tanks built in Canada. The Regiment would ultimately be composed of two battalions of tanks, two motorized infantry companies, and supporting units. The Newfies missed out on the Battle of France, but fought in Spain from September 1, 1940 to July 24, 1941, when they were pulled off the front lines to be re-equipped with new Crusader tanks and redeployed in the Middle East.

Turkey, Iraq, and Persia had all sided with Nazi Germany shortly after the opening of the Eastern Front. Though none of these states were especially strong, colonial garrisons in the region were very weak; furthermore, several squadrons of German aircraft, along with three 'Sturmkorps' of SA troops, were deployed to Turkey in August, where they began advancing into the Caucasus alongside Turkish and Iranian troops. Reinforcements were needed, fast - Baku and Kuwait were under immediate threat, and Maikop and the Suez Canal were both in danger. Newfoundland, bringing in two squadrons of Victory Aircraft-built Warhawks along with the RNR, would be one of many to contribute.

The troops sent to the Mideast in the fall of 1941 were a truly international force. South Africa contributed the First Infantry and Sixth Armored Divisions, and four fighter squadrons. France brought in the Regiment Mixte Malagache from Madagascar and the battle-hardened 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment (amalgamated with remnants of the Tonkinese Rifles and the 3rd Colonial Infantry Regiment) to reinforce French colonial troops in Syria. Even as Indian troops began advancing into Sistan, a division was also spared for service in Mesopotamia and Syria. The provisional Free Belgian government in London committed a regiment of troops from the Force Publique; the Dutch East Indies contributed a regiment of its own, along with a mixed fighter/bomber group. A Free Polish mechanized infantry brigade, re-equipping in Egypt, was actually the first unit sent to help defend the Transjordan. All this came alongside the BIF's own troops; all fell under the command of Claude Auchinleck, appointed commander of the Army of the Mideast.

The RNR played a prominent role in the Middle East Campaign. At Karbala, RNR tankers smashed the Iraqi Fast Division in short order; at Mosul, the RNR and the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment held off the advance of the 101st SA Division and supporting Iraqi infantry for four hours before being reinforced by the 7th Armoured Division. Even as fighting shifted into less tank-friendly terrain in 1942, the Newfies, re-equipped with American-designed Lee tanks, played a key role, providing direct fire support for the infantry and attacking enemy strongpoints.

After Soviet and Allied forces linked up near Tabriz in May 1943, the Newfies were one of the few units to be directly assigned to operate under Soviet command, giving Kirill Meretskov's 47th Army much-needed tank support. Meretskov's own tank units had been gutted during the winter offensives that led to the recapture of Baku on February 1, 1943. This arrangement would continue up to September 21, 1944, when Meretskov and Auchinleck reached Ankara and Turkey switched sides - Auchinleck needed the Newfie tankers back to help the Turks clear out German-occupied cities.

After World War II ended, the Newfies came home to a hero's welcome. A year later, they returned to the Mideast, assigned to help police troubled Palestine. Over the next three years, however, tensions rose across Eurasia, particularly after Kirov took over the Soviet Union. In 1948, shortly after the beginning of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded, with member states pledging to defend each other against the Soviets; as part of this, the RNR was redeployed along the Turkish-Soviet border, guarding Britain's fellow NATO power against the Soviet Union.

In 1957, the RNR switched from Centurion tanks to Wessex helicopters, as the British Imperial Army inaugurated its first air cavalry units. Air cavalry involves the use of helicopters to give infantry tremendous mobility; fire support is provided by specialized STL (Short Takeoff & Landing) bomber aircraft (and later gunship helicopters), serving as 'flying artillery' that can quickly and accurately lend firepower to heliborne troops. It proved well-suited to the mountainous terrain in the region.

In 1969, new Prime Minister Enoch Powell took the BIF out of NATO's command structure. The RNR left Turkey, redeploying to Muscat, Oman, where it soon became involved in the Oman War. The Omani government was hard-pressed by a Communist-backed separatist movement in Dhofar; Powell agreed to commit troops to back the Sultan's rule, and the RNR's heliborne troops (by now using Harrier gunships) would take the lead, basing out of Salalah, the capital of Dhofar. Operations were often frustrating - in many cases, an Omani army unit would report engaging rebel troops and request support, but by the time Newfie helicopters arrived, the rebels had generally melted away into the desert. There were occasional direct battles, instances when the rebels overestimated their strength and decided to stand and fight, or to attempt an ambush.

The most notable battle of this phase of the Oman War was the Battle of Dhalqut, on June 4, 1970. Dhalqut is a coastal town near the border with Yemen. Information from captured insurgents suggested a major rebel presence outside Dhalqut. A company of Newfoundlanders was sent over to investigate, and the lead platoon flew into an ambush when a MiG-17 from al-Ghaydah Air Base in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen downed two of its helicopters, initially claiming they had crossed the border with South Yemen; the fighter fled before a pair of Omani Hunters could intercept it. The third chopper of the lead platoon, along with the choppers from the two platoons, landed near the crash sites, their troops hastily organizing a defensive perimeter and calling in air support. Four hundred rebels - including, it would become clear, eighty 'volunteers' from South Yemen - repeatedly attacked the 86 surviving troops of C Company, 1st Battalion, RNR over the next three hours; they failed to dislodge the Newfoundlanders and were ultimately forced to flee into the desert, leaving behind many of their wounded.

Dhalqut marked a turning point. Until then, evidence of South Yemen's involvement in the Dhofar Rebellion was inconclusive; though it was widely believed they were the source of rebel arms, there was insufficient evidence to prove this, particularly given the fact that many rebels were defectors from the Sultan of Oman Armed Forces. After Dhalqut, however, it was clear that South Yemen was actively supporting the Dhofar rebels; furthermore, a South Yemeni fighter jet had crossed the border and attacked the Newfoundland Regiment - had attacked British forces themselves. Enoch Powell declared war on South Yemen, opening the last phase of the Oman War.

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment served well during the invasion of South Yemen, beginning with the assault on al-Ghaydah Air Base and culminating with the Battle of Aden. The attack on al-Ghaydah began with Harrier gunships and Wessex helicopters crossing the border at low altitude, as Omani and RAF Hunters escorted two squadrons of Hawker-Siddeley Liverpool bombers at high altitude towards Riyan and Aden; the air raid distracted South Yemeni air defense forces, allowing the helicopters to slip through to al-Ghaydah unmolested. There, with the gunships providing fire support, a company of Newfies unloaded from their Wessexes and rapidly stormed the base. Within twenty minutes, all resistance was subdued, with no casualties suffered by the RNR; within ten hours, al-Ghaydah became the new base of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

The RNR, after the battle of Aden, returned to Newfoundland to re-equip with the Westland Lynx, replacing its worn-out Wessexes with a newer, faster transport helicopter. It went back to the counterinsurgency business: Oman (again) in 1972, a brief stint in Ireland in 1973 and a six-month campaign in Fiji ending in February 1974, a campaign in Jamaica from July 1974 to March 1975, and prolonged work in East Africa from 1976 to 1980. By then, however, Newfoundlanders were growing tired of their regiment being sent to police the Empire, of their men fighting and dying off in the middle of nowhere. In local elections for the House of Assembly in 1979, anti-war activists swept into power, threatening to cut funding for the Regiment if it were not pulled out of East Africa. The acrimonious negotiations between Newfoundland and the Federation - at one point, Newfoundland PM John Crosbie even threatened to declare independence - helped discredit Keith Joseph's minority government; ultimately, Crosbie and his young activist allies got their way, and the RNR left East Africa.

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment continues to serve in the British Imperial Army. Its pilots now fly the Australian Aerospace Jindivik and the Hawker-Westland Snipe instead of the Lynx and Harrier. It remains permanently based at AAC Gander, though it has seen some peacekeeping deployments in the 1990s and 2000s, particularly in support of UN operations. And it remains the primary contribution of Newfoundland to the defense of the British Imperial Federation.

OOC: Something a bit different - a regiment's history.

Norway historically was very close to Britain in the Great War - Britain was Norway's main guarantor of independence.

In OTL, Kirill Meretskov was involved in the Winter War, which doesn't really happen ITTL, with the Soviets instead invading Finland as part of Operation Justinian. Here, he ends up probably replacing whoever was in charge of 47th Army after its initial failures around Baku.

I'm not sure there even is an SAS without the OTL Desert War; in any event, the BIF isn't fighting the war in Oman the way Britain did in OTL. More aggressive, less 'hearts-and-minds' and less focused on building up the Omanis.

John Crosbie's probably much more of a Red Tory ITTL, at least around 1979.
 
Last edited:
The german chancellor Dr. Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg saves europe from an Financial desaster in 2013 , After He was elected in 2012
 
Presumably, Karl-Theodor's family (or Karl-Theodor himself?) moved to Germany at some point well before he was elected; he's a Bavarian by birth, if we go with OTL. He seems a bit young - born in 1971, so he'd be 41 in 2012. Presumably he was elected chancellor very recently, and perhaps was picked by his party due to his youth?
I do wonder how integrated the European economy actually is.
 
Roy S. Moore (1947-) Controversial American politician who served as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and Governor of Alabama and who is a contender for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination in 2012.

Moore was born in Gadsden, Alabama, his father a poor construction worker and veteran of World War II. After graduating from high school, Moore got into West Point and went on to serve in Peru as a combat engineer starting in 1969. During his service, he participated in the Defense of Huancayo. When it became clear the city would fall to the ELP forces out of Sukarnoist East Peru, Moore stayed behind long enough to detonate all of the city's bridges over the Mantaro River, buying enough time for the retreating American/West Peruvian forces to escape and fled the city himself by swimming five miles north to the village of Sicaya, where he was rescued by Swift Boat Captain John Kerry who took him to the American garrison near Jauja. For his actions he received the Silver Star, and despite their later political disagreements, he remains a personal friend of John Kerry's.

Moore returned home and left the Army in 1974, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Alabama in 1977. In 1982 he ran for election to a circuit court seat, but lost. In 1986, he ran for Etowah County District Attorney and won. He would serve until 1990, when he was elected to the circuit court seat he failed to win in 1982. Four years later, he was elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Already known as a staunch conservative, he began controversial for ordering the erection of a monument depicting the Ten Commandments on the lawn of the court building, drawing national attention and ending in a lawsuit that forced the removal of the monument and his removal from office in 1998.

However, Moore remained popular in the state. In 2002, he won an acrimonious Gubernatorial election that saw him running against the man he had narrowly defeated in the Democratic primaries, Don Siegelman, a self described moderate and "Wallace Democrat" (Referring to former Governor George Wallace, an outspoken opponent of segregation), who launched a general election campaign as an independent also endorsed by the Republican and Socialist parties. Moore governed as the self described "Most Conservative Governor in the Country", continuing to court controversy with his focus on religious conservatism, and even in Alabama he was a polarizing figure. Barred by the constitution from running for a consecutive term, he was succeeded in January 2007 by his old opponent Don Siegelman, while himself winning election to his old post of Chief Justice.

While continuing to espouse staunchly conservative positions, his second term as Chief Justice was less controversial, aside from when he again attracted nationwide attention when he expressed his opinion that Cenk Uygur (R-NJ) and Zalmay Khalizad (R-IL), the first two Muslims elected to the United States House of Representatives were "Ineligible and unfit" to serve, stating that as foreign born Muslims both of them could not honestly take the pledge of allegiance. He would later apologize for the remarks after they even drew condemnation from Chairman of the Confederal Republics of the Holy Land Ehud Barak. He declined to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2010 despite calls from conservative activists, sparking discussion that he would enter the Presidential race in 2012.

Moore stepped down as Chief Justice in June 2011 before formally entering the race in August, joining Jefferson Senator Karan English, New Jersey Senator Rob Menendez, and Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor. Despite his late entry, disaffected conservative Democrats flocked to his campaign, and in an upset he won the Iowa caucus on January 3rd 2012, edging out early Iowa favorite English as well as third place finisher Menendez and pushing Pryor to fourth place, prompting him to drop out two days later. A week later, Moore suffered a setback by finishing behind English and distantly behind the first place finisher in the state Menendez in the New Hampshire primary, but is expected to win South Carolina by a wide margin, with some commentators now considering him the front runner for the nomination.

Richard Starkey (1940-2005) - British-born blues drummer who helped introduce Caraïbe music to the Anglophone world and pioneered hard rock, leading one music critic to remark that he was "The most important musician you haven't heard of". Born in Liverpool, he was interested in music from a young age, and, desiring to play blues, moved to Paris in 1959. Paris at the time had a thriving blues scene, the legacy of African American deportees who came there via Haiti in the 1930s. In Paris, Starkey was introduced to Caraïbe for the first time and met Jacques Dutronc, later lead guitarist for Les Scarabées, the two becoming good friends. He began playing drums for a Caraïbe group called Les Chats Noirs ("The Black Cats") in 1961.

As the popularity of his friend Dutronc's band Les Scarabées grew, Starkey managed to book them at a venue in Liverpool, The Casbah Coffee Club, which had become a popular center for Liverpool's nascent rock n' roll scene, and they played their first show in Britain in January 1965. It was this show that allowed them to book a show at The 2i's Coffee Bar in London, which had been the inspiration for the Casbah Club, thereby setting off the series of chance meetings that ultimately lead to their performance on the Ron Cochran Show in the United States, now considered the birth of the "French Invasion". However, Starkey's style was evolving, and he left Les Chats Noirs and returned to Britain in 1966. The next year, he founded The Nobs with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. With them, he pioneered the mixture of blues, rock n' roll, and psychedelia that became hard rock, before leaving the band in 1972.

In his later years, he performed as a solo artist, acted, and wrote music columns for various newspapers in Britain and France, before dying in March 2005 at the age of sixty-four. His eldest son, Zak Starkey, is a lawyer and Member of the Imperial Parliament who plays drums in the rock band The Reform Act, made up of four English MIPs and known for playing benefit concerts for British troops.

OOC: As an aside, with Norway in WWI, do think they would get Bohuslan or something as a territorial concession from Sweden?
 
Is there a thread like this, but the figures are from different ATLs?

Not that I know of. Personally, I think a lot of the fun is building a single collaborative world.

Vidkun Quisling (1887-1980) Norwegian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1936 to 1952, making him the country's longest serving PM ever.

Quisling was born in Telemark, the son of a Church of Norway pastor and genealogist, growing up in Drammen and Skien. As a child he was quiet but friendly and excelled academically, enrolling in the Norwegian Military Academy in 1905 with the highest test score of any of that year's 250 applicants. He would graduate with the highest score in the institution's history to date and receive an audience with the young country's King. He joined the Norwegian General Staff in 1911.

From a pious, conservative family, Quisling at first was noted for his bellicose views and distrust of those, mostly in the socialist movement, who agitated for non-alignment and peace. The outbreak of the First World War changed this; despite Sweden having invaded and annexed Norway in 1814, crushing the nascent Norwegian nationalist movement and Norway having won independence from Sweden only ten years prior, many in both countries saw the two as "Sister nations", and with Norway being forced into war against Sweden by it's British ally as a means to take pressure off of Russia, there was an outcry in Norway against the government and the United Kingdom; the British embassy in Oslo was stormed by socialist protestors and Union Jacks were burned in front of parliament. This, as well as the great human cost of the war, convinced Quisling of the value of nonalignment and greatly moderated his views on the peace movement.

At the conclusion of the war, Quisling was dispatched as an attache at the Norwegian legation in Petrograd, where he became interested in the unfolding Bolshevik revolution. He left Russia several months later and served as an intelligence officer for the Norwegian delegation in Helsinki and as a military observer in East Togoland, a German colony which had been granted to Norway as a World Assembly Mandate after the war, before returning to Russia as well as visting the Ukraine, at the request of explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen, and while there married a young Ukrainian woman, Maria Vasiljevna Pasetsjnikova. He afterwards travelled Europe with Maria and returned to the USSR for a third time, again at the invitation of Nansen, before returning to Norway, where he was elected to parliament as a member of the Labour Party in 1930.

Eventually Quisling would rise to lead the party and win the 1936 elections. While some scholars consider his programme of nationalism, Russian-friendly socialism, and Christian values to be pseudo-futurist, Quisling hated racism and anti-Semitism and deeply distrusted Nazi Germany, deriding it as Un-Christian, although he sought cordial relations with Per Engdahl's Sweden. He was adamant that Norway be kept neutral in the next great European war, which many believed was on the horizon, and ordered greatly increased military spending. To build up the Norwegian military in the face of the world's top producers of weapons slowing exports to supply their own armies, he pursued greater government intervention in the shipping industry and used the revenues raised to start a state-directed programme of industrial development.

While rationing, increasing portions of the budget going to the military, and the loss of revenue after Quisling refused to allow ships of state-affiliated companies to ship Allied war supplies (Fearing it would be seen as a breach of neutrality by the Germans) caused hardship for the Norwegian people, it payed off; Norway remained neutral until declaring war on Germany in late 1943 (By which point Germany was nearly beaten and lacked any effective ability to strike at Norway) while neighboring Sweden was ravaged by war and Nazi occupation. His election campaign in 1945 focused on the need for a welfare state and government directed industrialization, and in his last two terms he laid the groundwork for Norway's post war success, which saw the country become one of the wealthiest in the world and punch well above its weight in comparison to the still war-weary countries of Continental Europe.

However, especially after the death of his friend Nikolai Bukharin, General Secretary of the CPSU, in 1947 and the subsequent hardline takeover in the USSR, he became increasingly erratic, pouring much of his time into his pseudo-religious philosophy of Universism, inspired by an odd blend of Christianity, the "Continental Philosophy" school, and quantum physics, which he wished to institute in Norway as a "State Philosophy" alongside and equal to the Church of Norway state religion and his socialist and nationalist "State Ideology", while his foreign policy became torn between his Russophilia and great respect for pre-1947 Bolshevism and his dislike and distrust for the new hardline government in the USSR. After the Labour Party saw substantial losses in the 1951 elections (Although it barely managed to survive as a minority government), his party threw him out as Prime Minister. Enraged, he ended his membership in the party and resigned from parliament. In 1954, he attempted to make a comeback, leading his new Universist Social Party, which only won a handful of seats. Disheartened, he decided not to take his seat in parliament and announced his retirement from politics.

Quisling lived the subsequent two and a half decades of his live quietly for the most part, writing and speaking about religion and philosophy, but resurfaced in 1966 and 1967 for his strong advocacy in favor of the new Norwegian government's plans to sign the Karlsruhe Declaration, although stressing the need to maintain good relations with Moscow as well. Late in life, he returned to his hometown of Fyresdal, where he died in 1980 at the age of 92. While often ranked highly among Norwegian Prime Ministers, he is still a polarizing and controversial figure, with some psychologists believing him to have been afflicted by paranoia and narcissistic personality disorder.
 
Last edited:
Why are their more conservatives in the Democratic Party?

Charles Hughes won the Presidency in 1916, setting up for the Democrats to win in 1920 due to war weariness. The progressive policies of Al Smith and Robert Latham Owen then caused a backlash among conservatives that carried Theodore G. Bilbo to the White House in an upset. The Democrats ended up stuck with the blame for the Great Depression and Phillip F. LaFollette was the President who implemented a progressive program to dig the country out. Ultimately the two parties both retained conservative and liberal wings, with the main breakdown being the Republicans are "Technocratic" and the Democrats "Populist".
 
Zenji Abe 1916-1950

Abe was the son of a prosperous middle class sake brewer. His father paid for his older brother to attend the finest private schools, and to continue on to university. The plan was for Abe to follow in his older brothers footsteps. However, world events intervened. The ill effects of the Great Depression in Japan was felt most keenly among the urban middle classes, precisely those people who were the main customers of Japanese sake. (Poorer, rural Japanese favored cheaper shochu drinks.) Abe's father was able to keep his family fed, clothed, and housed. Paying for expensive private schools, however, was now out of the question. Instead of continuing on to a university, Abe applied to the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. Abe's entrance exam score was high enough to guarantee his admittance; no mean feat considering that the Academy failed 39 out of every 40 applicants. Thus began his career in the IJN.

Abe's academic successes continued after his admission. He graduated in the top five percent of his class, and he was selected for the prestigious Naval Air Force. He was comissioned as a pilot in 1938, assigned to fly the then brand-new Aichi D3A diver bomber.

When the war struck in 1940, it became obvious that Japan facing one of the greatest threats in her history. Many in the navy deeply wanted to do their part to gain victory. However, it was not clear how best this could be achieved. None of the three major Axis nations posed a naval threat to Japan. The large battles of this war would be on the ground and in the air. Perhaps out of a desire to be seen to be helping, and out of a lack of more suitable options, Japan sent her naval air assets to support the fighting on the ground in Korea and Indochina.

Abe was part of the squardrons sent to Korea. Given the nature of the peninsula--a thin strip of land surrounded by water--it was easy for carrier-based aircraft to reach any point quickly. The navy's fliers, Abe included, flew endless sorties over Korea, dropping bombs on the advancing Chinese armies. The Aichi was an excellent diver bomber, dropping bombs with pinpoint precision.

Abe became concerned that, despite the best efforts of the flyboys, the bombers will still being employed poorly. The dive bombers were not coordinated. Instead, they were merely striking any targets of opportunity. After a few months, Abe's wing was transferred back to Japan for R&R. Abe used the down time to write, on his own initiative, a detailed memorandum on the proper employment of tactical bombers. He suggested that bombers could be best used to support amphibious assaults by the naval infantry. Naval infantry forces relied on speed and mobility, which prevented them from bringing along artillery support. Naval bombardments could "soften up" a target, but after friendly forces landed it was no longer possible. Abe thought that bombers could replace this capability, if commanders in the field were allowed to direct the bombing.

The memo caused quite a stir in the upper echelons of the Imperial Japanese Navy. At first, many in the high command distrusted the idea immenseky. There was particular concern about removing targeting authority from the responsible hands of high-ranking officers, and putting them into the hands of leaders on the ground. Still, others where eager for anything that would improve the fighting efficiency of the navy, particularly by simply better using the assets already at their disposal.

It was decided to try the idea in the real world. A special school was set up to teach naval infantrymen how to contact air forces by radio. Finally, in 1943, the idea was put to the test in the Japanese invasion of Hainan island. The idea proved a rapid success. Whenever Japanese infantry met stiff resistence, they could call in fire from the air. This allowed the island to fall with incredible speed. The entirety of the island was under new management in under a week. As for Abe himself, he was not assigned to the Hainan mission. Following the victory, however, he was promoted to captain. He would be placed in overall command of Japanese naval air forces over the Japanese landing area during the landings at Nanking.

After the war, Abe found work as a test pilot. He was one of a handful of pilots selected to test the new generation of diver bombers. Already by the end of the war, Japanese diver bombers were easy meat for the fastest new fighter types. Accordingly, the Japanese design bureau was tasked with designing a new jet-powered bomber that would be just as fast as new fighter designs. Abe was killed while testing this new design after the dive breaks failed to arrest his test dive. His funeral was attended by many of the highest-ranking IJN officers.
 
Interesting that the dive bomber archetype seemingly survives the war when it didn't IOTL. Apparently air-to-ground rockets (And presumably advances in aiming systems) did them in; while rocketry probably isn't much behind OTL given the schedule of the space program isn't much different, optics may be behind ITTL. The lack of any real maritime rival to the US helped as well; on the other hand, pretty much any major war Japan is involved in would be by necessity a maritime one, and in a more multipolar world and no definite resolution to competing American and Japanese interests in the Pacific the Japanese general staff will likely have warplans for a conflict with the US even if such a thing is very unlikely. And certainly Japanese doctrine ITTL involves mainly using dive bombers for close air support, rather than to take out ships.
 
Alfredo Santos (1905-1964):
Filipino military officer. Born in the Santa Cruz district of Manila on July 13, 1905, Alfredo graduated from the Mapúa Institute of Technology with a Civil Engineering degree in 1931, two years after graduating at the top of his ROTC class. In 1936, Santos was named as a probationary Third Lieutenant after five years of civil engineering work, rising to the rank of Captain by 1942.

In 1942, the Philippine Commonwealth declared independence from the United States; not long after, it joined the war against China. The Philippines had taken in many refugees - so-called 'boat people' - from the Han People's Empire throughout the late 1930s; as such, Filipinos were generally opposed to China, despite Chinese anti-imperialist and pan-Asian propaganda.

The primary Filipino contributions to the war effort consisted of bases for Allied shipping and aircraft in transit; however, the Philippines also contributed a fighter-bomber group starting in January 1945, flying Thunderbolts over southern China, and preparations were being made to bring over the 1st Regular Division when the war ended; Santos, by now a major, was one of the key staff officers involved in planning the latter, and came into contact with many American and Japanese officers during the war.

These contacts would prove valuable starting in 1949, when, after the Hukbalahap Communist Party turned into a violent insurgency, the US and Japan pledged military aid. Santos, now a colonel in charge of an entire battalion of troops, took the lead in counterinsurgency efforts, particularly in the Visayas, a hotbed of Huk activity; he worked well with American and Japanese officers, coordinating the battalion's patrols with friendly air support. Santos gained a reputation as a skilled leader, enlisting the aid of local allies and flushing out Huk rebels from their hideouts throughout the region.

Two years later, the US, Japan, Manchuria, the Philippines, Thailand, Indochina, India, and the BIF joined together to form the East Asian Treaty Organization. At this point, the Huk insurgency was winding down. The Philippine economy was growing; many peasants that might have otherwise turned Communist instead moved to Manila or Cebu or Davao, finding work in the cities. Filipino politicians had pushed through major reforms, further reducing the base of the Huks. With EATO aid (principally spotter aircraft and counter-insurgency bombers), Santos pressed through the final campaigns against the Huk insurgents, leading to the capture of Huk leader Guillermo Capadocia and the end of the war on May 4, 1952.

Five years later, Santos was assigned to direct EATO's military planning office. While EATO's primary war plans emphasized conventional warfare against the Soviets, in particular the defense of Manchuria against Soviet tank armies, Santos brought in a focus on counterinsurgency warfare, on the measures needed to defeat a Communist movement at its base. All too soon, these plans would have to be put into effect - in Indochina, in Malaysia (an EATO member shortly after independence), in Japanese Korea, and even in the Philippines itself, where a vicious insurgency broke out starting in 1963. Santos himself would be among the victims of the Filipino Red Army, killed in a car-bomb attack on Philippine Army HQ on March 4, 1964.

OOC: I'll note that TTL's Huk insurgency is much different from OTL, since without the occupation, there aren't nearly as many experienced guerrillas, nor the disruptions of the war.
 
Sixten Sason (1912-1983) - Swedish engineer, born Karl-Erik Sixten Andersson in Skövde. He is most famous for being a leading engineer at AFF (AB Förenade Flygverkstäder, in English "United Aircraft Workshops Inc.") in the post war era.

Sason was interested in engineering and technology from a young age, passing his time drawing illustrations of cars and motorcycles. In the early 1930s, during his mandatory military service, he served as an aircraft mechanic, from which he gained a lifelong love of aviation. After leaving the military, he was hired by AFF.

AFF had been formed as a state-supported consortium of various Swedish industrial concerns, notably Bofors and Svenska Aero, to produce aircraft for the Swedish military. Sweden had at the time little in the way of an aircraft industry due to the restrictions placed on their armed forces after the First World War; even Svenska Aero had been established by German engineers as the industrial and military restrictions on Sweden were more lenient than those enforced on Germany. With Prime Minister Engdahl pursuing a military buildup, both due to an ambition to restore Sweden to greatness and due to his great distrust of Nazi Germany, the government decided to establish a native military aircraft industry.

AFF designed and produced a biplane fighter in the late 1930s and was in the process of designing a more advanced monoplane design when the country was invaded by the Germans. Despite the fierce spirit of the Swedish soldiers, who put up, along with France, one of the stronger resistances to the occupation, Sweden was quickly overrun, in large part thanks to Nazi air supremacy, the Swedish AFF planes having been obsolete at their introduction compared to the advanced German designs. While the AFF works in Linköping where captured intact by the German armies, Sason refused to collaborate with the Nazi puppet regime and spent the war imprisoned.

After the war, the Swedish debate on neutrality was fierce, with many wanting to do away with it for closer ties with Western Europe, neutrality having failed them in both world wars. All parties in the debate agreed that Sweden, a frontline state in the developing Cold War, needed to develop a strong military. AFF was swiftly reorganized and Sason, as one it's more talented engineers and untainted by collaboration, became chief engineer. While at first the company simply used German Bf 109 tooling, granted as war reparations, to build the AFF A.23, Sason recognized that for Sweden to stay secure from the Bucharest Pact states, an entirely modern fighter would need to be developed. Sason managed to secure a license for a turbojet engine from Britain's Rolls-Royce and designed the A.100 "Orkan" (Hurricane) fighter around it, which entered service in 1951. While portly looking with it's barrel-shaped fuselage and straight wings, it proved passable in service, although soon replaced by the related A.105 "Tromb" (Tornado), a swept wing design that entered service in 1953, itself supplanted by the transonic A.107 "Super Tromb" in 1955.

While mainly used by Sweden, AFF's early designs were exported to Denmark and Germany as well as being built under license in Norway. AFF's successful sales contracts in Germany and the other Nordic countries allowed them to bolster their portfolio with the supersonic, delta winged A.110 "Viggen" interceptor which entered service in 1959 and the A.111 turboprop short-haul airliner, which was also adopted by the air forces of Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, and Lebanon as a tactical transport, both Sason designs.

Sason's magnum opus, however, was his design for a third-generation multirole jet fighter, the AFF A.120 "Tyfon" (Typhoon) along with Finnish expatriate designer Aarne Lakomaa. The Tyfon had a highly distinctive design, with a canard delta wingplan and an air intake located above and behind the cockpit. This layout allowed a large bomb load to be carried under the fuselage, important for the strike role it was intended to primarily play. While Sweden signed the Karlsruhe Declaration "With reservations" in this era, including the provision opposing nuclear weapons, recently declassified papers indicate that Sweden covertly had a program studying nuclear weapons systems at this time and that the A.120's design was intended to carry a semi-recessed nuclear bomb on a centerline hardpoint in the event the Swedish government deemed it necessary. Indeed, Swedish policy at this time was to secretly maintain "Turnkey" nuclear capability that stayed within the letter of the declaration but could allow nuclear weapons to be deployed within a year if ordered.

While the canard foreplanes mitigated this, the combination of the delta wings and dorsal intake meant handling was merely passable, and the intake also had troubling effects on survivability rates in the event of an ejection as well as on visibility. Still, in this era all combat in the future was expected to be at beyond visual range (A hypothesis ultimately disproved by the USAF's poor performance against agile East Peruvian MiGs in the Andean Conflict), and in any event maneuverability was not of tantamount importance on a strike fighter. More macabrely, during any total war situation, especially in the event the "Nuclear option" was to be employed, it was expected most strike missions would be one-way.

The A.120 entered service with the Royal Swedish Air Force in 1971, and also attracted the interest of several other air forces. Denmark, Germany, and Norway, past AFF customers and fellow Karlsruhe Declaration signatories all investigated purchases; both Denmark and Norway found the large fuel and munitions capacity of the A.120 to be suited to their requirements for a maritime strike plane and placed orders, but Germany had reservations about buying such a clearly offensive aircraft. In response, AFF, in cooperation with German firm Dornier, proposed an air-to-air fighter variant designated the AD.120G, which would be built under license in Germany, but the design's poor dogfighting abilities and worrying safety and reliability records ended up sinking the sale. The work done on the AD.120G was, however, invaluable in developing later variants of the plane for Swedish use, and it would remain a key element of the air forces of the Nordic countries into the 21st century.

The design was also considered by the Netherlands, where it would have been locally produced by Fokker. Recently declassified documents indicate that at this time the Dutch were also covertly studying nuclear weapons possibilities in response to the threat posed by Indonesia's test of an atomic bomb under Sukarno to their client states in the East Indies. The AD.120, readily available and designed with nuclear weapons delivery in mind, was considered an obvious choice for the delivery system by Dutch military planners.

After the failure to sell the AD.120G, Sason, his health declining, retired from AFF in 1976, although he continued to work as a private consultant to German and Swedish aerospace firms late in life. He died in Stockholm at the age of 71.
 
It's been a week, so let's get this moving again.

Shirley Parker (1930-) B.I.F. politician best known for serving as leader of the English and Welsh Liberal Party (Simply the English Liberal Party after 1980) and the Imperial Liberal Union from 1978 and Prime Minister from 1981, both until her retirement in 1990.

Born Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Catlin in London, the daughter of George Catlin, a political scientist and aid to Prime Minister Oswald Mosley, and pacifist writer Vera Brittain, and was educated at St Paul's Girls' School and the University of Oxford. While at Oxford, she met Peter Parker, an Army officer who had served at Chittagong in World War II and who later became a businessman, Director of Great Britain Rail 1966 to 1967, and Director of the Imperial Union of Railways (Comprising Canadian National, Commonwealth Railways, Great Britain Rail, Irish Rail, the Newfoundland Railway, and New Zealand Railways) 1967 to 1970. After graduating, she became a journalist before winning election to Parliament at the 1965 General Election, in which the incumbent Social Credit government was ousted in a landslide, with the Liberals forming a coalition with Labour to secure a narrow majority in Parliament.

Politically, Parker proved part of the left wing of the party, and after the Conservative surge in the 1969 General Election completely reversed the Liberal gains four years earlier, she became a prominent member of the Liberal shadow cabinet and one of PM Powell's most vehement critics on immigration, foreign policy, and his policies' alienating effect on the ties within the Commonwealth, although on civil rights issues the two remarkably were able to find common ground, with Parker working across the aisle with Powell on decriminalizing homosexuality and ending the death penalty, policies that enraged the Conservative backbench and ultimately would contribute to Powell's downfall in 1977. Parker would find no such common ground with Keith Joseph, a staunch social conservative who also continued Powell's draconian policies in Ireland and even attempted to overturn the moratorium on compulsory sterilization Parker had helped institute in 1968.

With the Liberals searching for fresh faces after a decade in the wilderness and keen to take advantage of a backlash of (Small-l) liberals against Joseph's government, Parker was elected party leader in 1978, in time to lead the party in the 1979 General Election. However, despite denying Joseph an overall majority, the Liberals were unable to form a government. Still, this only heightened liberal anger at the Joseph government, and by 1981 a new election was forced. Ultimately, in one of the most acrimonious campaigns in modern British history, the ILU won a landslide victory, ending twelve tumultuous years of Conservative rule and making Parker the first female and first Roman Catholic B.I.F. Prime Minister.

Parker immediately promised that her main goal would be to repair relations with the United States and other NATO countries damaged by Powell's Ameriphobic views as well as to repair intra-Imperial relations; the relationship between the B.I.F. government and the Kingdoms had become so poisonous that the First Ministers of Canada, Newfoundland, and New Zealand openly considered the possibility of independence and the Eire First Minister at this time reportedly told an aid before the election that if Joseph had managed to stay on as PM he would immediately ask his Parliament to accept a unilateral declaration of independence, even entertaining sending a request to President Weicker in the US and Prime Minister Mitterand in France for diplomatic support in the event of British retaliation.

One of Parker's first acts was a exhaustive round-the-world tour that took her to Belfast, Dublin, Washington DC, Montreal, across Canada by train with major stops including Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary, Vancouver, Tokyo, Auckland, Canberra, New Delhi, Moscow, and Paris before returning to London, laying out her initiative for global cooperation abroad and the biggest program of public works since the Second World War at home, both to get people back to work and as a means of uniting the federation. Proposed projects included a bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in Canada, a series of hydroelectric projects in northern Quebec, development of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin oil field off Newfoundland, a railway across northern Australia to connect the iron ore deposits of Western Australia with coal-rich north Queensland, a barrage across the Severn Estuary, a Thames Estuary airport and container port, a British moon landing, and even more ambitious studies like a Cook Strait fixed link in New Zealand. Many would later be canceled or scale back.

The key element, however, given the urgent need to reconcile Irish relations with the rest of the federation, was a massive high-speed rail project combining the design and purchase of new high-speed electric trainsets, a comprehensive upgrade to the West Coast Main Line for 250 km/h speeds as well as widening it to no less than three tracks at any point, a complete rebuild of the North Wales Coast Line, a new high-speed line under the River Mersey from Liverpool, across the Wirra Peninsula, and under the Dee Estuary to connect with the rebuilt line in Wales, and finally, a massive underwater rail tunnel between Holyhead and Dún Laoghaire. By 1983, construction had begun, with completion ambitiously scheduled for 1990.

While work on megaprojects stimulated the economy at home, Parker proved successful in rebuilding ties with Europe and the United States, culminating in the B.I.F. rejoining the NATO command structure in 1987, as well as proving adroit in handling the foreign policy challenges of the breakup of the Eastern Bloc. Her greatest achievement in foreign policy would be the creation of the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) between the world's four biggest nuclear powers—America, Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union—in 1986. That same year, the Liberals were reelected handily, although with a slightly reduced majority.

Having promised in 1981 to serve no more than two terms, Parker announced her retirement and the scheduling of a leadership election in 1990. At Parker's request, the Queen waited until 1992, after Parker had left Parliament, to grant her a life peerage as the Baroness Parker of Crosby. Since 1992 she has been a Representative Peer in the Imperial Council, the revisory upper house of the B.I.F. Parliament. Parker's legacy is still divisive today, given the immense cost of her government's public works program and the cost and time overruns involved (The Irish Sea Tunnel would not be finished until 1991 and the entire London-Dublin High Speed Project was only completed in 1995), and that her foreign policy reduced the ability of the B.I.F. to act independently.

EDIT: The Ernest Manning entry slipped my mind. :eek:

Prime Ministers of the British Imperial Federation

Oswald Mosley (Liberal), unknown-1941
Robert Menzies (Liberal), 1941-unknown
Multiple unknown PMs
Unknown Conservative PM, Unknown-1963
Ernest Manning (Social Credit) 1963-1965
Unknown Liberal PM, 1965-1969
Enoch Powell (Conservative), 1969-1977
Keith Joseph (Conservative), 1977-1981
Shirley Parker (Liberal), 1981-1990
Unknown Liberal PM
Multiple unknown PMs
Jack Layton (Liberal) 200?-present
 
Last edited:
Ferdinand Marcos Edralin (1919-1985) was a Filipino lawyer and politician. He served as the President of the Philippine Government* from 1965 until 1983, as well as the Regent of the Kingdom of the Philippines from 1972 until 1985; the exact reason of this decision is still in debate until today.

Born in the town of Sarrat in the province of Ilocos1, he first became famous for the sensational Nalundasan case of 1938 (the murder of deputy Julio Nalundasan, his father's political rival in 1935), as one of the suspects. While imprisoned, he took the bar exam of 1939, and topped with almost perfect score. Though he was still in prison, he graduated from his alma mater, the University of the Philippines as cum laude. In 1940, the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the lower court and he was acquitted.

During the Second World War, he led a guerrilla force in northern Luzon, the Maharlika; this event in the life of Marcos is still a subject of controversy.

A member of the newly-constituted Liberal Party, he ran as part of the Liberal ticket in Ilocos and won the highest vote. He served as a Deputy for ten years, from 1949 to 1959. During his term as a Deputy, he was well-known as one of the most promising faces of Filipino political panorama. In the legislative and provincial elections of 1959, he decided to run for Senate, representing Ilocos.

Resigning from the Liberals after his conflict with Diosdado Macapagal, he ran under the Nacionalista Party in 1965 elections, in which he won. (In the 1935 Constitution, the President is holding a seat in the House of Deputies, representing Manila)

During his first term as President, Marcos encouraged stimulating the industries and maximized land reform; to compensate the oligarch class, he encouraged them to invest on the emerging businesses. However, these class loathed him so much that his proposal was rejected, especially the mestizo and Chinese-descended oligarchs. Meanwhile, his wife Imelda Romualdez served as the cultural patron of the country.

In 1969 presidential elections, he surprised the nation by gaining a second term. During this time, it was a period of turmoil in the country, especially in the Community of Manila. So, on 21st of September of 1972, he declared martial law to the nation through state television. A month earlier, after the death of Grand Datu2 Miguel II (posthumously known as Kalantiyaw II) he declared himself as Regent for the the 31-year-old Antonio Jose, a young father with 3-year-old son and his wife, 27-year-old Nuria Isabel Balcells y Tantangco, a former journalist from Iloilo (later the couple will have two more children).

The following year (1973), he declared that Philippines is now a Kingdom, which was explained in the new Philippine Constitution promulgated Nevertheless, he continued his role as the Regent of the Kingdom and President at the same time.

After the petroleum crisis of 1973, the Philippines experienced an economic boom. Nevertheless, the price of this growth is the curtailment and violation of human rights; until today, this is one of the most controversial aspect of the legacy of Marcos.

In the early 1980s, his appearances on state television sparked rumors about his health. At first, Malacañang denied these rumors, but pressured to inform the nation (and the world) of his true health; on 30th August in the year 1983, Ferdinand Marcos resigned as the President; nevertheless, he retained his position as Regent (although his duties are now conducted by Prince Antonio Jose). He was succeeded on the position of Presidency by Fabian Ver; unfortunately, he was assassinated on the 30th of January, 1984. After Ver's assasination, he appointed Cesar Virata as President of the Philippine Government.

28th of September, 1985. President Virata announced on state television that the Marcos was dead. He was interned at first at the Malacañang, then at the Manila Cathedral. Before the burial in Sarrat, there was a military parade in front of the casket, temporarily transfered to Quirino Grandstand to pay respect for him for the last time.

1The OTL equivalent of the President (Pangulo in Tagalog) is more of a Prime Minister than of a President.

2Grand Datu is a Filipino monarch inspired by the OTL Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic era in the Netherlands.
 
Ma. Carmela Tiangco (born 1955), well-known as Mel Tiangco is a Philippine journalist. Presently, she is one of the main faces of GMA Network/Antena Siete, especially in the 6.30 edition of Balita sa Siete with Mike Enriquez. Previously, she worked on KBS (later RPN)/TeleSiyam, TPP (Telebisyong Pambansa ng Pilipinas) and ABS-CBN/Teledos.

Aside from being a newscaster, she is also a well-known television presenter; she first presented Mel and Jay on ABS-CBN/TeleDos with Jay Sonza; the show lasted on the said network for nine years (1987-1996). After her transfer to GMA Network, she continued co-presenting the show with him, now entitled Partners Mel and Jay; the show lasted until 2004, after which her program was retitled as Partners with Mel Tiangco. Shortly after, she was joined by Joey de Leon, thus the program was renamed Mel and Joey (2004-11).

Aside from these talk shows, she also presented the weekly drama anthology series Magpakailanman from 2002 to 2007.


Programs:

  • Bantay Balita (TeleSiyam/KBS, 1975-78)
  • TeleTanod (TeleSiyam/KBS,1978-82)
  • TeleMalaya (TPP2, 1982-84)
  • Balitang Pambansa (TPP1, 1984-86)
  • Balita Ngayon (ABS-CBN/TeleDos, 1986-87)
  • TV Patrol (ABS-CBN/TeleDos, 1987-96)
  • Lingkod Bayan (ABS-CBN/TeleDos, 1988-96)
  • Mel and Jay (ABS-CBN/TeleDos, 1987-96)
  • Balita sa Siete: Saksi (GMA/Antena Siete, 1996-99)
  • Partners Mel and Jay (GMA/Antena Siete, 1996-2004)
  • Balita sa Siete: Pangunahing Ulat (GMA/Antena Siete, 1999-2004)
  • Debate sa Siete (GMA/Antena Siete, 2001)
  • Magpakailanman (GMA/Antena Siete, 2002-07)
  • Balita sa Siete 18:30 (GMA/Antena Siete, 2004-present)
  • Partners with Mel Tiangco (GMA/Antena Siete, 2004)
  • Mel and Joey (GMA/Antena Siete, 2004-11)
 
Last edited:
Gat Catalino Brocka y Ortiz (b.1939), well known as Lino Brocka,was a well-known Filipino director, considered as one of the greatest film directors of his generation. An openly gay person, some of his films incorporated homosexual themes in their storylines. He was also well-known activist, organizing protests on the twilight years of Marcos Government and the first few years of the Transition.

Born on the small town of Pilar in Sorsogon, he first became well-known in the Manila theater circuit. His first two films, Wanted: Perfect Mother(1970) and Santiago(1971), were commercial in nature. Nevertheless, he won acclaim for his early experience as director.

His next film, Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (1974), earn him a Maria Clara1 for best director. The film narrated the life of a teenager growing up in a small town filled with injustice. In 1975, he directed Maynila, Sa Kuko ng Liwanag. which tells the tale of Julio Madariaga, a young man who went to Manila searching his long-lost love, Ligaya Paraiso. Hailed as the greatest Filipino movies ever made in its history, it bagged four major awards in 1977 Maria Clara, including the Best Director trophy for Brocka.

Insiang was considered by some film critics as Lino Brocka's masterpiece, was made in 1978. Adapted from Mario O'Hara's teleplay, it narrated the life of Insiang, a young girl grew up in Tondo, her molestation by her mother's lover and subsequent revenge. It was the very first film from the Philippines that was shown on the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

His two other films, Jaguar (1979) and Bona(1980), were also shown in Cannes in 1980 and 1981, respectively; Jaguar was nominated for Palme d'Or, while Bona was screened in the Director's Fortnight.

In 1983, he founded the Nagkakaisang Dalubsining ng Pilipinas (United Artists of the Philippines)2, of which he chaired for two years.

His next film, Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim (1984), provoked the ire of the Marcos-era Censor Board; it's uncut version was forced to smuggle abroad for exhibition. However, he was nominated for Palme D'Or at Cannes Film Festival of the same year.

In 1988, his movie Macho Dancer became well-known as one of the films representing the Philippine Transition. Because censorship was abolished by the new Congress through the new Freedom of Expression Law, it was shown in theater across the country and even abroad.

Lino Brocka was asked by the newly-formed ABS-CBN/Teledos to formed an in-house artist management inspired by Hong Kong's TVB (one of the main shareholders of ABS-CBN/TeleDos). Indeed, he created Sensations '88; it was a failure, however.

In 1993, Lino Brocka was appointed as the Director of Telebisyong Pambansa ng Pilipinas by the recommendation of the Congress. During his tenure, TPP channels constantly retained its audiences by commisioning innovative and interesting programming, sometimes provocative. He resigned in 1997 after he received criticism from Episcopal Conference of the Philippines3 that most of the programming on public television were too progressive and "undermining the religious fabric of the nation". Nevertheless, he became part of the Royal Film Academy of the Philippines after his resignation.

In 2001, he was knighted by King Antonio Jose for his service to the nation, he first openly gay Filipino to be recognized and awarded by such distinction. In 2003, he recieved an Honorary Maria Clara for his contribution to the Philippine Cinema. His star on the Walk of Fame Pilipinas was inaugurated in 2008.

Notes
1Maria Clara Awards is the TTL counterpart of OTL FAMAS.
2In OTL, he directed the Concerned Artists of the Philippines
3TTL counterpart of OTL CBCP (Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines)
 
Top