I Could Not Ask for More
1999 single by Edwin McCain
"I Could Not Ask for More" is a song composed by American songwriter Diane Warren and originally recorded and released in February 1999, by American singer-songwriter Edwin McCain for the original soundtrack of the 1999 romantic drama film "Message in a Bottle", starring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn and Paul Newman. It was also on his third studio album "Messenger" (1999) and became a "Billboard"-charted top 40 single in the summer of 1999.
In 2001, American country music artist Sara Evans popularly covered the song on her third studio album "Born to Fly" (2000). Her rendition was released as the album's second single and peaked at number 2 on the US "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart.
Music video.
The music video features McCain walking and taking a taxi through a busy city decorated like a 19th century village with people in 19th century costumes. While McCain is traveling, a number of people are sitting in a park tree. He reaches the tree just as a branch a woman is sitting on breaks and manages to catch her as she falls.
Chart performance.
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Sara Evans cover.
American country music singer Sara Evans' cover version of the song was released in February 2001 as the second single from her 2000 album "Born to Fly". Evans' version was a Top 5 hit on the country music charts.
Music video.
The music video for Evans' rendition was directed by Peter Zavadil, and features shots of her on location in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico singing the song in different outfits and frequently sitting in different chairs throughout the video.
Chart performance.
"I Could Not Ask for More" debuted at number 52 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of February 17, 2001. It soon reached number 2 on that chart.
References.
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Birgit Nilsson
Swedish dramatic soprano (1918–2005)
Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide repertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Her voice was noted for its overwhelming force, bountiful reserves of power, and the gleaming brilliance and clarity in the upper register.
Biography.
Early life.
Birgit Nilsson was born Märta Birgit Svensson on a farm at Västra Karup in Skåne (100 km/60 miles north of Malmö) to Nils Svensson and Justina Svensson (née Paulsson). When she was three years old she began picking out melodies on a toy piano her mother bought for her. She once told an interviewer that she could sing before she could walk, adding, "I even sang in my dreams". Her vocal talent was first noticed when she began to sing in her church choir. A choirmaster near her home heard her sing and advised her to take voice lessons.
She studied with Ragnar Blennow in Åstorp for six months to prepare for an audition at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm where she came in first out of a group of 47 singers and was awarded the Christina Nilsson scholarship named for the famous soprano. Her teachers at the academy were Joseph Hislop and Arne Sunnegårdh. However, she considered herself self-taught: "The best teacher is the stage", she told an interviewer in 1981. "You walk out onto it, and you have to learn to project." She deplored her early instruction and attributed her success to native talent. "My first voice teacher [Hislop] almost killed me ... [T]he second was almost as bad."
Early career.
In 1946, Nilsson made her debut at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm with only three days' notice, replacing the ailing singer scheduled for the role of Agathe in Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freischütz". Conductor Leo Blech was not very kind to her and, as she wrote in her autobiography, she even contemplated suicide after the performance. In 1947 she claimed national attention in Verdi's "Lady Macbeth" conducted by Fritz Busch. A wealth of parts followed, from Richard Strauss and Verdi to Wagner, Puccini, and Tchaikovsky. In Stockholm she built up a steady repertoire of roles in the lyric-dramatic field, including Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni", "Aida", Lisa in "The Queen of Spades (opera)", "Tosca", Venus in "Tannhäuser", Sieglinde in "Die Walküre", Senta in "Der fliegende Holländer" and the Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier", one of her favourite roles, all sung in Swedish. In 1949 she sang in "Ariadne auf Naxos" with Hjördis Schymberg and Elisabeth Söderström among others.
International engagements.
Under Fritz Busch's tutelage, her career took wing. He was instrumental in securing her first important engagement outside Sweden, as Electra in Mozart's "Idomeneo" at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1951. Her debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1953 was a turning point; she would be a regular performer there for more than 25 years. It was followed by Elsa in Wagner's
"Lohengrin" at the Bayreuth Festival in 1954, then her first Brünnhilde in a complete "Ring" at the Bavarian State Opera, at the Munich Opera Festival of 1954. Later she returned as Sieglinde, Brünnhilde, and Isolde until 1969.
She took the title role of "Turandot", which is brief but requires an unusually big sound, to La Scala in Milan in 1958, and then to the rest of Italy. Nilsson made her American debut as Brünnhilde in Wagner's "Die Walküre" in 1956 with the San Francisco Opera. She attained international stardom after a performance as Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1959, which made front-page news. She said that the single biggest event in her life was being asked to perform at the opening of the 180th season at La Scala as Turandot in 1958. She performed at many major opera houses in the world including Vienna, Berlin, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Tokyo, Paris, Buenos Aires, Chicago, and Hamburg.
She sang with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the all-Wagner concert that opened the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House in 1973.
From the 1960s through to the 1980s.
Nilsson was widely known as the leading Wagnerian soprano of her time, the successor to the great Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad, particularly as Brünnhilde. However, she also sang many of the other famous soprano roles, among them Leonore, Aida, Turandot, Tosca, Elektra, and Salome. She had, according to "The New York Times", a "voice of impeccable trueness and impregnable stamina".
The conductor Erich Leinsdorf thought that her longevity, like Flagstad's, had something to do with her Scandinavian heritage, remarking that Wagner required "thoughtful, patient and methodical people." Nilsson attributed her long career to no particular lifestyle or regimen. "I do nothing special", she once said. "I don't smoke. I drink a little wine and beer. I was born with the right set of parents."
In sheer power, her high notes were sometimes compared to those of the Broadway belter Ethel Merman. However Nilsson claims her "explosive" high notes that were her biggest asset on-stage "have not been recorded like they should have been" in the studio. She later lamented: "It always made me a little bit sad when I heard my own recordings. And many people told me that I sang much better in person than I do on the recordings! That didn't flatter me at all, because I know what's going to be left when I am no longer singing".
Twice at the Met, Nilsson sustained injuries that kept her from performing. In February 1971, she sprained her ankle during a performance of "Elektra" that resulted in cancellation of one performance (that was replaced by a historic performance of "Fidelio" starring Christa Ludwig). Nilsson recovered to sing the broadcast performance of "Elektra" on 27 February. More seriously, in March 1974 she fell and dislocated her shoulder during a rehearsal of "Götterdämmerung". While recuperating in her hospital room at Roosevelt Hospital she said, "other than my bruises and my black and blues I feel fine". Although able to sing Brünnhilde for the first two performances with her arm in a sling, her injury caused her to miss subsequent performances, including that season's "Götterdämmerung" broadcast. "The New York Times"' review of the production's 8 March opening night is reprinted in the Metropolitan Opera Archives.
"Miss N.".
Beginning at the summer of 1968 at the Bayreuth Festival, Nilsson was obsessively stalked by a much younger American actress and model, Nell Theobald, until Theobald's suicide nine years later in 1977. Nilsson recounted her experiences with Theobald at length in her memoir, "La Nilsson", in which she referred to Theobald solely as "Miss N." The stalking incident was later featured in "Opera News" magazine and "The New York Times".
Nilsson's humour.
Nilsson did not get along with famous conductor Herbert von Karajan. Once when rehearsing on stage at the Vienna Staatsoper, her string of pearls broke. While helping her retrieve them, Karajan asked, "Are these real pearls bought with your La Scala fees?" Nilsson replied, "No, these are fake pearls bought with your Vienna Staatsoper fees." When Nilsson first arrived at the Met to rehearse the production of "Die Walküre" conducted by Karajan, she said, "Nu, where's Herbie?" And Karajan once sent Nilsson a cable several pages long, proposing in great detail a variety of projects, different dates and operas. Nilsson cabled back: "Busy. Birgit."
The Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson, who became world famous for his documentation of pregnancy from conception to birth, was asked by the magazine "Life" to photograph Birgit Nilsson's vocal cords as she sang high C. Birgit Nilsson turned the proposal down with the words "Your photographer wants me to swallow the tiny camera so he can take pictures of the vocal cord ["sic"]. I don't want that, since I know where it has been before." Eventually, though, she agreed on having the pictures taken.
There was a healthy competition between Nilsson and tenor Franco Corelli as to who could hold the high C the longest in Act II of "Turandot." In one tour performance, after she outlasted him on the high C, he stormed off to Rudolf Bing during the next intermission, saying that he was not going to continue the performance. Bing, who knew how to handle Corelli's tantrums, suggested that he retaliate by biting Nilsson on the neck when Calaf kisses Turandot in Act III. Corelli didn't bite her but he was so delighted with the idea that he told her about Bing's suggestion. She then cabled Bing, informing him she had to cancel the next two performances because she had contracted rabies.
When Nilsson started singing "Aida" at the Met, soprano Zinka Milanov was miffed as Aida had theretofore been "her" role. After one performance in which Nilsson was singing, Milanov commandeered and drove off in the Rolls-Royce Nilsson had hired for after the performance. When asked about this afterwards, Milanov said "If Madame Nilsson takes my roles, I must take her Rolls."
The secret to singing Isolde, she said, was "comfortable shoes." After a disagreement with the Australian soprano Joan Sutherland, Nilsson was asked if she thought Sutherland's famous bouffant hairdo was real. She answered: "I don't know. I haven't pulled it yet."
Once, asked what was her favourite role, she answered: "Isolde made me famous. Turandot made me rich." When long-time Metropolitan Opera director Sir Rudolf Bing was asked if she was difficult, he reportedly said "Not at all. You put enough money in, and a glorious voice comes out." When Nilsson was preparing her taxes and was asked if she had any dependents, she replied, "Yes, just one, Rudolf Bing."
Business.
Nilsson was also famous for her ability to make money. She became one of the highest-paid singers in the field, in part because of the rarity of her skills. Being a shrewd businesswoman, she negotiated much of her own career. She never ranted or engaged in tantrums. She would begin contract talks by refusing every offer and being evasive about her availability. This tack would continue until the impresario offered something she wanted. Nilsson's reply would be "maybe".
Interactions with conductors.
Nilsson was known for standing up to conductors. In a 1967 rehearsal of "Die Walküre" with Herbert von Karajan conducting, Nilsson responded to the gloomy lighting of the production by wearing a miner's helmet (complete with Valkyrian wings). When on some occasion von Karajan urged a retake "but this time with more heart. That's the place where you have your purse", Nilsson replied, "I'm so pleased to find we have something in common." When Georg Solti, in "Tristan und Isolde", insisted on tempos too slow for Nilsson's taste, she made the first performance even slower, inducing a change of heart in the conductor.
Self-criticism.
Despite her worldwide recognition, Nilsson said she was nervous before every major performance. "Before a premiere, on the way to the opera, I'd hope for just a small, small accident, it didn't need to be much, but just so I would not have to sing", she said in a 1977 interview on Swedish TV. Nilsson often spoke of her limits. She said her voice was not a good fit with what she described as the softer textures and refined tones of Italian operas. Nonetheless, she sang roles in Italianate operas such as Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni".
Recordings.
Nilsson recorded all of her major roles in major commercial recordings of the complete works, as well as about a dozen solo recitals of arias, art songs, concerts, and hymns—all were originally released on vinyl LP format and most have been reissued on CD or in digital format. Partly because of her availability to play Brünnhilde, Decca Records undertook the expensive project of making a studio recording of Wagner's four-opera "Ring Cycle", conducted by Solti and produced by John Culshaw. The effort took seven years, from 1958 to 1965. A film of the proceedings made her a familiar image for arts-conscious television viewers.
Absence from New York and Salzburg.
Though a frequent visitor to the Metropolitan Opera, Nilsson did not always see eye to eye with its redoubtable general manager, Rudolf Bing (who was often said to dislike Wagner), nor with conductor Herbert von Karajan. Subsequently, she made fewer New York appearances than hoped in the early 1970s and was virtually excluded from the Salzburg Festival. Her American career was derailed in the mid-1970s by US Internal Revenue Service claims filed for back taxes. Several years later a schedule of payments was worked out, and Nilsson's hiatus from the United States ended. When she returned, Donal Henahan wrote in "The New York Times", "The famous shining trumpet of a voice is still far from sounding like a cornet."
Nilsson appeared at the Metropolitan Opera 223 times in 16 roles. She sang two complete "Ring" cycles in the 1961–62 season, and another in 1974–75. She was Isolde 33 times, and Turandot 52. She played most of the other major soprano parts: Aida, Tosca, the Dyer's Wife in Strauss's "Die Frau ohne Schatten", Salome, Elektra, Verdi's Lady Macbeth, and Leonore in Beethoven's "Fidelio". In 1966 she simultaneously performed the roles of Venus and Elisabeth (who never appear together) in Wagner's "Tannhäuser." She memorably appeared as replacement Sieglinde to Rita Hunter's Brünnhilde in the 1970s. She appeared 232 times at the Vienna State Opera from 1954 to 1982, and the Vienna Philharmonic, the company's orchestra, made her an honorary member in 1999. "If there ever was someone that one can call a real star today and a world-famous opera singer during her time then that was Frau Nilsson", said Ioan Holender, director of the Vienna State Opera.
Later life.
Nilsson's autobiography, "Mina minnesbilder" ("My memoirs in pictures") was published in Stockholm in 1977. She retired in 1984 to her childhood home in the Skåne province of southern Sweden, where her father had been a sixth-generation farmer and she had worked to grow beets and potatoes until she was 23. In an interview in the mid-1990s, she appeared happy, serene and as unpretentious as ever. "I've always tried to remember what my mother used to tell me", she said. "Stay close to the earth. Then when you fall down, it won't hurt so much."
In 1981, Sweden issued a postage stamp showing Nilsson as Turandot. She received the Illis quorum gold medal, today the highest award that can be conferred upon a Swedish citizen by the Government of Sweden. In 1988, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of New Sweden, the first Swedish settlement in America, The American-Scandinavian Foundation named their prize for promising young American opera singers the Birgit Nilsson Prize. Nilsson personally chaired several competitions.
Death.
Nilsson died, aged 87, on 25 December 2005 at her home at Bjärlöv, a small village near Kristianstad in Skåne in the same county where she was born. No cause of death was released. She was survived by her husband Bertil Niklasson (died March 2007), a veterinary surgeon whom she had met on a train and married in 1948. They had no children.
Legacy.
Three years after Nilsson's death, in December 2008, the Birgit Nilsson Foundation announced that it would award a prize every two to three years to a concert or opera singer, a classical or opera conductor, or a specific production by an opera company. The prize was funded by Nilsson herself. The foundation said that Nilsson had chosen the first winner, to be announced in early 2009.
On 20 February 2009, Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo was announced as the inaugural recipient of the prize, which carried with it a cash award of $1,000,000. The first award ceremony took place in the Royal Swedish Opera on 13 October 2009. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden personally presented the prize to the designated winner. A jury has been set up by the foundation to make recommendations for future prizes. The second winner of the Birgit Nilsson prize was Riccardo Muti, who received the award in Stockholm on 13 October 2011. On 9 April 2014 it was announced that the third recipient of the prize would be the Vienna Philharmonic.
A Pågatågen train has been named for Nilsson by operator Skånetrafiken, with the train "Birgit Nilsson" being the first in the new X61 series to depart Malmö Central Station in December 2009.
On 6 April 2011, the Bank of Sweden announced that Nilsson's portrait will feature on the 500 kronor banknote, beginning in October 2016.
References.
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External links.
General
Audio
Television appearances
Interviews and articles

Florence Easton
English opera singer
Florence Easton (25 October 1882 – 13 August 1955) was an English dramatic soprano of the early 20th century. She was one of the most versatile singers of all time, appearing in more than 100 roles, covering a wide range of styles and periods, from Mozart, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Strauss, Schreker and Krenek. She sang virtually every Wagnerian soprano part, large and small, from Senta in "Der Fliegende Holländer" onwards, including Brünnhilde in "Götterdämmerung".
Easton described herself as a "lyric dramatic soprano", which seems barely adequate in relation to the range and types of roles in which she excelled. Her international reputation, founded mainly in North America and Germany, was almost unique for a British singer of her time. She could move easily through all stages from the light coloratura to the Hochdramatische, from girlish romanticism to the powerful drama of Wagner and Strauss. The voice could be light and airy, gently melancholic or intensely passionate. The involvement in the character of the role was total. John Steane has suggested that "This great strength of hers was also, in a strange way, a source of weakness. She sang so many roles very well that she never quite became identified with any of these". Despite some minor difficulty with Italian diction, she was chosen by Puccini to create Lauretta in his 1917 opera "Gianni Schicchi."
Biography.
Early life.
Florence Easton was the elder daughter of John Thomas Easton and Isabella Yarrow, and niece of Fletcher Easton. Known professionally as 'the nightingale of South Bank', she was born on 25 October 1882 at 52 Napier Street, South Bank, Middlesbrough (many biographies show her birthdate incorrectly as 1884). Her parents left England when she was 5 years old and settled with Florence (then known as Flossie) and her younger brother in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Flossie sang in the choir of Parkdale Methodist Church, where her father was choirmaster and her mother was organist. Her musical talent became evident in early childhood and she had piano, organ and singing lessons with JDA Tripp and Mr Harrison. She appeared publicly as a pianist when she was 8 years old.
She said ""I began as a pianist, and had no thought of singing, let alone the opera, when I began the study of music". " Florence was one of the first women to be made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music on 25 March 1909.
When her mother died in 1899, Florence returned with her father to Middlesbrough, where he joined a partnership in a wholesale fruit merchants business with William Henry Easton, his father and Fletcher Easton, his brother. A collection in Middlesbrough raised enough money for her to study for a year at the Royal Academy of Music in London—she lost the money on her first day in the capital, and her father had to find replacement funds. She started in May 1900 and studied singing for a year. The 1901 Census shows her as an 18-year-old student at the Royal Academy of Music, living at Hendon, Middlesex.
In 1901 she went to Paris to study singing with Elliott Haslam, a friend of her father's. ""But not long after this my father died, and my grandparents (who had good old-fashioned ideas that a woman's place to sing was in the home) discouraged my efforts. They even carried paternalism far enough to select a husband for me. When this point had been reached, I quietly disappeared, and once more went back to my vocal work"."
Professional career.
Florence was determined, and her debut operatic appearance was as the Shepherd boy in "Tannhäuser" at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1903 with the touring Moody-Manners Opera Company. On the first evening of the company's season at Covent Garden she sang Stephano in "Roméo et Juliette". Her first leading role at the Covent Garden Opera House was Arline in "The Bohemian Girl", and she was a success there in 1903, as the lead in "Madama Butterfly".
Florence married twice; in May 1904 she married Francis Maclennan (born 1873, died 1935), an American tenor with the Moody-Manners Opera Company. She made her American debut as Gilda in "Rigoletto" in Baltimore with Henry W. Savage's English Grand Opera Company in November 1905, and she sang a number of roles with this company in the US and Canada over the next 2 years. In 1905 Maclennan had the title role in Henry W. Savage's Parsifal tour of America, and Florence gave up her singing career to set up home in America. They had a son in 1906 and a daughter (Wilhelmina) in 1912; they divorced in 1928. Wilhelmina died in the flu epidemic of 1919.
Her first notable success in America came in Henry Savage's 1906–07 season as Cio-Cio-San in the premiere of "Madama Butterfly" (in English). Her performance on 27 October 1906 was the second ever in the US, following that of Elsa Szamosy by only twelve days. Florence held a world record of more than three hundred appearances in Madama Butterfly, her favourite role.
From 1907 to 1913 she and her husband Francis Maclennan were members of the Berlin Royal Opera, singing a variety of roles. She had to learn the role of Marguerite in German within 10 days, and followed up by learning and performing Aida within 48 hours without rehearsal. She was immediately given a five-year contract. They became firm friends of Kaiser Wilhelm. Florence was coached by Richard Strauss for the title role in the English version of his "Elektra", at the London premiere at Covent Garden in 1910. After the 1912–13 season the Maclennans joined the Hamburg Opera Stadtische Opera, where she first sang with Enrico Caruso in 1913.
In 1915–16, the couple toured America where Florence appeared in a single performance as Brünnhilde in "Siegfried", achieving a great popular and critical success. Due to the First World War it was too risky to return to Germany, so they remained in the United States, becoming members of the Chicago Opera Association where she debuted in "Siegfried". She remained with the Chicago Opera for two seasons, becoming one of the best-known Wagnerian sopranos in the United States. In 1917, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana". She remained at the Met for 12 seasons, singing 41 parts and nearly 300 performances. While in New York, Easton studied with Anna Eugénie Schoen-René who had studied with Pauline Viardot-García and Manuel García.
It was her performance as the Saint Elisabeth in the staged version of Liszt's "Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth" in 1918 which set her into the first rank of Metropolitan Opera stars.
Florence created the role of Lauretta at the world premiere of Puccini¹s "Gianni Schicchi" on 14 December 1918 at the Met; she was the first to sing the now famous aria "O mio babbino caro" ("O My Beloved Papa"). Puccini could not get to New York for the premiere, so the Met's general manager Giulio Gatti-Casazza sent a telegram to Puccini after the performance:
""Most happy to announce the complete authentic success of the Trittico. At the end of each opera long very sincere demonstrations more than forty warm curtain calls altogether. In spite of public notice forbidding encores by insistence Lauretta's aria was repeated. Principal strength Moranzoni magnificent. Farrar, Muzio, Easton, De Luca, Montesanto, Didur incomparable singers and actors. Daily press confirms success expressing itself very favourably on worth of the operas enthusiastically for Schicchi"."
Florence sang many other premiere roles including Aelfrida in Deems Taylor's "The King's Henchman" on 17 February 1927 and Mother Tyl in Wolff's "L'oiseau bleu". She was also featured in many American premieres including "La cena delle beffe", "Così fan tutte" and "Der Rosenkavalier". Her repertoire included more than 100 roles in 4 languages. She appeared with Enrico Caruso at his final performance, on 24 December 1920, in Halevy's "La Juive". By 1926, she was earning $800 for each performance of "Turandot". In 1929 she sang her last premiere for the Metropolitan, Otto Kahn's staging of the jazz opera "Jonny spielt auf". In 1929, she went to Europe for several months enjoying herself on the proceeds from years of singing with only a few short breaks. However, she lost a fortune in the Wall Street crash of 1929.
In the fortnight between 3 and 17 November 1927 she sang Maddalena in "Andrea Chénier", "La Gioconda", Rachel in "La Juive", "Madama Butterfly" and the Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier"; it was surprising that she could manage them all and in such a relatively short space of time. The critical response to nearly every one was laudatory. Though unlike her in so many ways, Easton had this much in common with Lilli Lehmann. By dint of application, intelligence, musical facility and sheer hard work, she was able to transform a lightweight lyric soprano into a dramatic instrument capable not merely of scaling the Wagnerian heights but with the stamina to stay up there season in and season out.
Florence Easton was famous for her ability to take an unknown part at 8 in the morning and perform it flawlessly in public 12 hours later. Frequently she was called upon to substitute for some leading soprano suddenly indisposed. She sang her first Isolde without a single rehearsal, called to do so at the last minute. In the middle of the 1929 season however, her memory suddenly failed her, and she asked to be released from her contract. She announced her retirement from opera and moved to a house in Hampstead, London. She married Robert Stanley Rogers, a New York banker and executive of the Celanese Corporation of America and baritone singer, in 1931.
The following year she returned to singing and recorded "Siegfried" with Lauritz Melchior at Covent Garden. Between 1932 and 1935 she sang at Covent Garden, Sadler's Wells and at the Promenade Concerts under Sir Henry Wood, with the London Philharmonic under Sir Thomas Beecham and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the first worldwide hook-up broadcast. Her regular accompanist was Harold Craxton. At Covent Garden in 1932 she was Isolde in "Tristan und Isolde" and Brunnhilde in "Siegfried" opposite Lauritz Melchior, the only time they appeared together. She was "Tosca", an unlikely "Carmen", sang in Mendelssohn's "Elijah" and gave Lieder and song recitals. Leaving England finally in 1935, she found that she had lost the tour to the new sensation, Kirsten Flagstad (but she remained an unstinting admirer of the great Norwegian). Easton's last appearance on the operatic stage was as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre" in New York on 28 February 1936.
In an interview in New York in 1935 she suggested the reason for her absence from the Metropolitan Opera: ""It was an accident during a performance of Carmen in England a year ago which incapacitated me for a number of months last year. Reeling in Carmen's death-throes, I happened to catch my heel in the skirt of my dress and fell, twisting my spine, directly in the path of the curtain. The audience hadn't the remotest idea that the apparently lifeless Carmen who lay there was almost lifeless – and indeed, I actually would have been two minutes later if I had not retained sufficient consciousness to edge out of the path of the descending curtain on its way to deposit about a ton of iron weighting on my head. However, all these things must be taken in one's stride"."
On one occasion, Florence Easton was engaged to sing the title role in "Madama Butterfly" in Washington, D.C., a place celebrated for the strictest child labour laws of any city in the country. The child 'Trouble' (Butterfly's son who appears only in the last act), is always recruited locally, and a resourceful stage manager from somewhere produced a midget. Nobody told Mme. Easton, lest she be a bit squeamish. It is customary for the child playing Trouble to be introduced to the soprano at the first intermission to get him (more often her) accustomed to the Japanese costume and makeup. Mme. Easton asked the traditional three questions:
"Would you like to go to the bathroom?" – "No".
"Would you like some chocolate?" – "No".
"How old are you?" – "Forty two" the little fellow piped up.
But this was nothing to Easton¹s confusion in the last act. When she pressed him to her ample bosom he didn¹t want to let go.
Retirement and final years.
Florence retired from public performance in 1939; her last appearance with the orchestra was in a 1942 broadcast where she sang excerpts from "Tristan und Isolde" using her own English translations. She then taught privately and at the Juilliard School of Music, and still gave occasional recitals in New York. Her final appearance was made at New York Town Hall, in a song recital in 1943. At the end of World War II she moved with her husband to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and they returned to New York in 1950. She was suffering from heart trouble and she died on 13 August 1955, in Montreal, aged 72.
Recordings.
Florence Easton made more than 100 records in the 1920s and 1930s. She recorded for Odeon, Aeolian-Vocalion but mostly for Brunswick, initially recording acoustically, but electrically from 1926. She embraced opera, operetta, sacred songs and popular ballads. One of her most important Wagnerian records was made for His Master's Voice in 1932: the superb "Siegfried" "Brünnhilde" opposite Lauritz Melchior (Covent Garden, 1932) "Heil dir Sonne! Heil dir Licht!" (the best recording in her own estimation). She recorded six operatic items for Edison (1927), but only two were issued; and in 1933, His Master's Voice recorded six sides of Lieder and songs for RCA Victor, accompanied by Gerald Moore.
Partial discography.
There are two less well-known recordings, made by Brunswick in the 1920s when she was in her


History of McDonald's

The American fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's was founded in 1940 by the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, and has since grown to the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue. The McDonald brothers began the business in San Bernardino, California where the brothers set out to sell their barbecue. However, burgers were more popular with the public and the business model switched to a carhop drive-in style of restaurant. From the 1940s to the mid-1950s, the brothers expanded their business, even incorporating the famous Golden Arches, until Ray Kroc turned their small business into the well-known and commercially successful business it is today. Kroc convinced the brothers to move into a more self-serve business model and to expand nationwide.
Kroc and the McDonald brothers worked together for several years until conflicts over their visions for what McDonald's as a brand should be came to a climax. Kroc asked the McDonald brothers in 1961 how much they would be willing to leave the business for and the brothers agreed to leave for 2.7 million dollars. Harry J. Sonneborn and Kroc worked together until Sonneborn's resignation in 1967. In the 1970s, McDonald's expanded internationally and still has locations in several countries around the globe. McDonald's operates as one of the largest private employers in the world. Their current CEO is Christopher J. Kempczinski. Their revenue hits about $26 billion every year.
1930s.
The McDonald family moved from Manchester, New Hampshire to Hollywood, California in the late 1930s, where brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald ("Dick" and "Mac") began working as set movers and handymen at motion-picture studios. In 1937, their father Patrick McDonald opened The Airdrome, a food stand, on Huntington Drive (Route 66) near the Monrovia Airport in the Los Angeles County city of Monrovia.
1940s.
The McDonald's brothers opened their first McDonald's restaurant on May 15, 1940 in San Bernardino, California. Originally, a carhop drive-in system was used to serve customers. The initial menu items were centered around barbecue and the first name the brothers used for their business was "McDonald's Famous Barbecue." In 1948, the McDonald brothers realized that most of their profits derived from the sale of hamburgers. They shuttered their successful carhop drive-in to establish a streamlined system with a simple menu that consisted of only hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potato chips, coffee, ice cream, soft drinks, and apple pie.
1950s.
In April 1952, the brothers decided that they needed an entirely new building to achieve two goals: further efficiency improvements and a more eye-catching appearance. They collected recommendations for an architect and interviewed at least four, choosing Stanley Clark Meston, who practiced in nearby Fontana. The brothers and Meston worked together closely in the design of the new building. They achieved the extra efficiencies that they needed by, among other things, drawing the actual measurements of every piece of equipment in chalk on a tennis court behind the McDonald house (with Meston's assistant, Charles Fish).
The new design achieved a great deal of notice for its gleaming surfaces of red and white ceramic tile, stainless steel, brightly colored sheet metal and glass; pulsing red, white, yellow and green neon; and two 25-foot yellow sheet-metal arches trimmed in neon, which they named the "Golden Arches" at the design stage. A third, smaller arch sign at the roadside depicted a pudgy character in a chef's hat known as Speedee striding across the top, trimmed in animated neon. The brothers implemented several techniques to encourage customers to eat more quickly and not to linger in the restaurant, such as reduced heating in the dining area, fixed and angled seating to place customers directly over their food, distance between seats to reduce socialization and cone-shaped cups, which would force customers to hold their drinks while eating.
In late 1953, with only a rendering of Meston's design in hand, the brothers began seeking franchisees. Their first was Neil Fox, a distributor for General Petroleum Corporation. Fox's stand, the first with Meston's golden arches design, opened in May 1953 at 4050 North Central Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix, Arizona. The cost was a flat fee of $1,000 (). His restaurant was the first to employ the McDonald brothers' "Golden Arches" standardized design, created by Southern California architect Stanley Clark Meston and his assistant Charles Fish. Fox's use of the "McDonald's" name came as a surprise to the brothers. One of their franchisees (Charles Cox in North Hollywood, CA) would use the name "Peaks" from 1953 until 1965, but all others would be "McDonald's".
Their second franchisee was the team of Fox's brother-in-law Roger Williams and Burdette "Bud" Landon, both of whom also worked for General Petroleum. Williams and Landon opened their stand on August 18, 1953 at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard in Downey, California. The Downey stand is the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant.
Ray Kroc joins and expands franchise operation.
In 1954, Ray Kroc, a seller of Prince Castle brand Multimixer milkshake machines, learned that the McDonald brothers were using eight of his machines at their San Bernardino restaurant. His curiosity was piqued, and he flew to California to visit the restaurant himself. The McDonald brothers operated six franchise locations.
Believing that the McDonald's formula was a ticket to success, Kroc suggested that the brothers franchise their restaurants throughout the United States. The brothers were skeptical that the self-service approach could succeed in colder, rainier climates; furthermore, their thriving business in San Bernardino, and franchises already operating or planned, made them reluctant to risk a national venture. Kroc offered to assume the major responsibility for establishing the new franchises elsewhere. He returned to his home outside of Chicago with rights to set up McDonald's restaurants throughout the country, except in a handful of territories in California and Arizona already licensed by the McDonald brothers. The brothers were to receive 0.5% of gross sales.
Sonneborn model and shift to real-estate holdings.
In 1956, Ray Kroc met Harry J. Sonneborn, a former vice president of finance for Tastee-Freez, who offered an idea to accelerate the growth and investment grade of Kroc's planned McDonald's operation: to own the real estate upon which future franchises would be built. Kroc hired Sonneborn and his plan was executed by forming a separate company, Franchise Realty Corp, to hold McDonald's real estate. The new company signed leases and procured mortgages for both land and buildings, passing these costs on to the franchisee with a 20-40% markup and a reduced initial deposit of $950. The "Sonneborn model" of real-estate ownership within the franchise persists to this day, and may be the most important financial decision in the company's history. McDonald's present-day real-estate holdings represent $37.7 billion on its balance sheet, about 99% of the company's assets and 35% of its annual gross revenue.
1960s.
By 1960, McDonald's restaurants were grossing $56 million annually. The growth in U.S. automobile use that came with suburbanization and the interstate highway system contributed heavily to McDonald's success. In 1961, Kroc's conflict over the vision of the company with the founding brothers had escalated, and he asked them how much money they wanted to leave their business to him entirely. The brothers asked for $2.7 million ($23.4 million in 2021 dollars), which Kroc did not have. Harry J. Sonneborn was able to raise the money for him, and Kroc bought the founding brothers' interests in the company. This purchase laid the groundwork for positioning the company for an IPO and making McDonald's the top fast-food chain in the country. The exact process by which the company was sold is not known; it is depicted as a hostile takeover by Kroc in the 2016 biographical film "The Founder," but that portrayal has been disputed, and interviews from the time suggest a more voluntary transition.
Kroc and Sonneborn disagreed over expansion of the company, leading to Sonneborn's resignation in 1967. Kroc took over the title of CEO and president.
In 1968, a man named Herman Petty was the first African American to franchise a McDonald's. This came off the heels of the civil rights movement and was informally recognized as African American's initial business entry into McDonald's as a cooperation.
McDonald's success in the 1960s was largely the result of the company's skillful marketing and flexible response to customer demand. In 1962, the Filet-O-Fish sandwich, billed as "the fish that catches people," was introduced. In 1967, the Big Mac was created by Jim Delligatti, whose franchised McDonald's was in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and was added to McDonald's national menu the next year.
1970s.
In 1970, the first restaurant outside of Northern America opened in San José, Costa Rica. In 1971, McDonald's opened its first European restaurant in Zaandam, Netherlands. The first restaurant in Asia opened in Tokyo, Japan in July 1971, and in December that year, the first German restaurant, which was then in West Germany, opened in Munich–Obergiesing. The first restaurant in Oceania opened in 1971 in Yagoona, Australia.
There was some skepticism about the company's phenomenal growth internationally. When Wally and Hugh Morris approached the corporation in 1974 to bring McDonald's into New Zealand, they were firmly shunned by Kroc who, citing a visit to the country, stated, "There aren't any people... I never met a more dead-than-alive hole in my life." The same year, McDonald’s came to the UK, a restaurant was opened in Woolwich, South East London. The Morris brothers were finally granted a franchise in May 1975. They negotiated a deal with the corporation by selling New Zealand cheese to the U.S. to offset the high costs of importing plant equipment. The first New Zealand restaurant opened in June 1976 in Porirua, near Wellington, to much more success than the corporation had predicted.
In 1972, the National Black McDonald's Operators Association (NBMOA) was founded. Herman Petty, the first African American to franchise a McDonald's, helped establish the association and it soon became a representation of Black people's voices inside of the company.
In 1979, the first McDonald's restaurant in Southeast Asia opened at Liat Towers in Orchard Road, Singapore.
1980s.
The first McDonald's outlet in Malaysia opened at Jalan Bukit Bintang on April 29, 1982.
On October 29, 1985, the first McDonald's restaurant in Mexico opened in Pedregal, Mexico City.
In 1984, the company ran a promotion for the 1984 Olympics saying "When the U.S. wins, you win," promising free food items for each medal the U.S. got. However, the Soviets organized a boycott and with minimal competition, the US dominated, winning 174 medals. Over 6,000 locations faced shortages, and the corporation has never admitted to how much money they lost, though it's estimated to be in the millions.
In 1988, McDonald's Japan introduced prepaid cards at three of its outlets in Tokyo. Intended to make payments faster, it offered cards in 1,000, 3,000 and 5,000 yen denominations.
1990s.
The first McDonald's Express locations opened in 1991. These are smaller-scale prototypes, usually constructed in prefabricated buildings or urban storefronts, that do not feature certain menu items such as milkshakes and Quarter Pounders.
The first McDonald's in Mainland China opened in Dongmen, Shenzhen in October 1990.
The Extra Value Meal, a burger, fries and drink combination deal, was introduced from 1993, originally as part of a "Jurassic Park" tie-in.
On April 28 and 29, 1992, the Taiwan McDonald's bombings occurred when bombs were planted in or near various McDonald's restaurants in Taiwan as part of an extortion attempt, causing the death of a policeman and injuries to four civilians, including two young children, and the temporary closure of all 57 McDonald's locations in that country.
A week later on May 7, Sydney River McDonald's murders took place in Sydney River, Nova Scotia, Canada when a botched robbery committed by employee Derek Wood and two accomplices resulted in the murder of three employees, and the permanent disablement of a fourth employee shot in the head.
On October 12 1992 Mark Hopkins was electrocuted at McDonald's Manchester Arndale store.
McDonald's Japan's 1,000th outlet opened in September 1993. It plans to boost sales by opening a novelty shop selling T-shirts and cotton kimonos emblazoned with golden arches and McDonald's characters and release a video game featuring Ronald McDonald with Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
In 1997, the first McDonald's outlet in Bolivia was opened in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. In November 2002, McDonald's closed all its locations in that country, due to cultural rejection from citizens and the government, but especially due to losses from franchisee Arcos Dorados, enabling its exit from the Bolivian market effective November 30, 2002, making Bolivia and Cuba the only Latin American countries without McDonald's. Shortly after its closure, rival chain Burger King acquired its locations.
McDonald's offered pizza options in the 1990s.
2000s.
More than 11,000 McDonald's locations were opened outside the United States after the conclusion of the 1990s. In 2000, a McDonald's in Dearborn, Michigan in Greater Detroit was the first one in Michigan and the only one east of the Mississippi River to offer halal food for Muslim customers.
2010s.
In January 2012, the company announced that revenue for 2011 reached an all-time high of $27 billion, and that 2,400 restaurants would be updated and 1,300 new ones opened worldwide.
In the middle of the decade, the restaurant began to suffer from declining profits. In response, McDonald's began to offer a limited selection of its breakfast menu all day starting in 2015. At first, the launch was unpopular with franchisees who claimed that the changes caused service to slow down. However, the plan paid off with CNBC reporting that the company's fourth quarter earnings "easily topped analysts' forecasts".
On July 22, 2016 the 2016 Munich shooting took place when David Sonboly, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man opened fire at a McDonald's restaurant known to be frequented by immigrants, before shooting at bystanders in the street outside and then in Olympia shopping mall, and then killing himself. Nine people were killed, and 16 more injured.
2020s.
On March 8, 2022, McDonald's suspended operations at all 850 of its locations in Russia, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine twelve days prior. The move comes after similar decisions by other Western companies and pressure from critics. The brand relaunched on June 12, 2022 as 'Vkusno & tochka' (Вкусно и точка, Tasty and that's it) by local franchisee Alexander Govor.
References.
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Andrew McDonald (cricketer)
Australian cricketer (born 1981)
Andrew Barry McDonald (born 5 June 1981) is an Australian cricket coach and former player who is currently the head coach of the Australia national cricket team. He played for the Victoria and South Australia cricket teams, and had a short career playing for Australia.
McDonald made his Test match debut in Sydney on 3 January 2009, against South Africa. He represented Australia at under 19 level and played for the Prime Minister's XI. He was captain of the Australian A XI which took on South Africa in 2012. He was an allrounder who batted right-handed and was a right-arm medium-fast bowler. McDonald
As coach, he led Australia to winning the 2023 ICC World Test Championship Final and the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Early life.
McDonald was born in Wodonga, Victoria.
Playing career.
McDonald started his first class career with 32 wickets in his first ten games in 2003–04. His best spell was 6 for 67 against Western Australia. He was struggling however with the bat and despite batting at 4 at the start of the summer he would end it at number 8 in the batting order. Finger surgery the following season limited his appearances. In 2005–06 he played just four matches and only managed 83 runs and four wickets. Injury-free, McDonald came into his own in the 2006–07 season. In the Pura Cup he boasted a batting average of over a hundred when he brought up his 500th run. He finished the season as only the 4th player in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup history to reach the double of 750 runs and 25 wickets in a season.
He was rewarded for his strong domestic form by being named in the Australian 30-man preliminary squad for the 2007 World Cup. He was also named in the Australian preliminary squads for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and a 7 match ODI series tour of India.
He made his Test debut in the Third Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January, 2009 because Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson were both injured. In Australia's first innings, McDonald came in at number six and scored 15 before edging a catch to Mark Boucher. During this innings, he was given a nasty bouncer by Morné Morkel, knocking his helmet off from behind and narrowly missing his leg-stump. The next day, he removed Hashim Amla (lbw) for 51 to claim his first ever Test wicket.
He was subsequently selected for the tour to South Africa in February–March 2009. In a three match Test series which Australia won 2–1, McDonald made some valuable contributions, including 68 in the second innings of the Third Test at Cape Town and taking 6 wickets during the series. As a result of his performance, McDonald was selected for the 2009 Ashes tour, although did not play in any of the Tests. He did score 75 runs opening the batting in the second innings against Northamptonshire, as well as taking 4 for 15 to win the match for Australia. He returned to Australia temporarily from the 2009 Ashes tour to be with his wife who was due to give birth to the couple's first child.
In the 2009 Indian Premier League McDonald played for the Delhi Daredevils, and his experience in India playing for Victoria in the Champions League Twenty20 was a factor in his call-up to Australia's injury-hit ODI squad in India in November 2009.
McDonald was one of the 350 players under the hammer for the IPL Auction 2011. He was bought by Delhi Daredevils for US$80,000. On 11 January 2012 during the first transfer window trading, Royal Challengers Bangalore signed him from Delhi for a transfer fee of US$100,000.
Coaching career.
After retiring as a player, McDonald became a cricket coach. He has coached Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades. He won the Sheffield Shield in his first year as senior coach of Victoria. He was also bowling coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore and head coach of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
In October 2019, McDonald was appointed as assistant coach to Justin Langer with the Australia national cricket team. On 5 February 2022, with the resignation of Langer, McDonald was appointed interim head coach of the team. On 13 April 2022, he was appointed as permanent head coach for four years.
Personal life.
As of 2022, McDonald lived in Geelong, Victoria.
References.
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External links.
 Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

1958–59 Ashes series
International cricket tour
The 1958–59 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each scheduled for six days with eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59, and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club. The England team led by Peter May was labelled the strongest ever to leave England. It had the formidable bowling attack of Fred Trueman, Frank Tyson, Brian Statham, Peter Loader, Jim Laker and Tony Lock; the all-rounder Trevor Bailey; the outstanding wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans; and the batting of Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Raman Subba Row and Ted Dexter. They had won the last three Ashes series in 1953, 1954–55 and 1956, but lost the series 4–0 to Australia. It was one of the biggest upsets in Test cricket history and the biggest margin of defeat in an Ashes series since the 5–0 "whitewashing" inflicted by Warwick Armstrong's Australians in 1920–21.
The triumph of the Australian team was mainly due to its aggressive captain Richie Benaud, now regarded as one of the greatest captains in Test cricket, who led what appeared to be an average team to five series victories in succession. The Australian fielding was outstanding, turning many a half-chance into a catch. Their opener Colin McDonald made 519 runs (64.67), the first batsman to exceed 500 runs in an Ashes series since Len Hutton in 1950–51. Benaud and Alan Davidson had previously underperformed against England, but now realised their full potential. Benaud took 31 wickets (18.83), the most by an Australian in an Ashes series since Monty Noble in 1901–02, and Davidson 24 wickets (19.00).
In English eyes at least the defeat was partly the result of questionable umpiring and the even more questionable bowling actions of Ian Meckiff, Keith Slater, Jim Burke and Gordon Rorke. The team was also handicapped by a long list of injuries, with 12 of their players being unfit to play at some point on the tour.
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First Test – Brisbane.
The First Test was, I honestly think, the dullest and most depressing I have ever watched...Even at this range of time one finds the gorge rising at the recollection of a piece of cricket for which there was no tactical or technical justification whatever. Did England think the pitch was going to go? Did they hope to bat out a draw? The answer is that the pitch at the end was perfect, and Australia's eight wicket win was gained with a day and a bit to spare.
E. W. Swanton
Preliminaries.
Compared to the Fifth Test against New Zealand at the Kennington Oval in 1958 England made only two changes to their team. Willie Watson had only just recovered from his knee operation and was replaced as the number three batsman by the in form Tom Graveney. Fred Trueman was laid low by lumbago, which also affected him when he arrived in Queensland in 1962–63, and was replaced by Peter Loader even though he had just recovered from a strained Achilles tendon and high temperature. Loader, Laker, Lock and Statham had taken plenty of wickets on tour and Graveney and captain Peter May had made the most runs. Australia also had two changes from their last team, the Fifth Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1957–58. Captain Ian Craig had resigned due to ill-health and was replaced by the debutant strokemaker Norm O'Neill and Peter Burge replaced Bobby Simpson, who was twelfth man. Australia did not recall the veteran Ray Lindwall even though he had taken 7/73 for Queensland against the MCC and had swung the ball prodigiously. After vice-captain Neil Harvey captained an Australian XI to a 345 run defeat against the MCC the selectors made the surprise choice of Richie Benaud as Australian captain. He had just succeeded Craig as the captain of New South Wales, but had yet to lead his state. There was a thunderstorm before the match which precluded net practise and the air was heavy, which made the loss of Trueman's swing bowling all the more meaningful.
England first innings.
Four years before Len Hutton had won the toss, put Australia in to bat and watched them made 601/8 declared. The week before Neil Harvey had said that "the pitch at Brisbane was the best in Australia for batting", but Keith Miller wrote "the best thing Benaud could do for Australia was lose the toss", No captain had put the opposition in to bat in an Ashes series and won since Johnny Douglas in the Fourth Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground in the 1911–12 Ashes series. Bearing this in mind it was a bad toss to win and May made the difficult decision to bat on a green wicket which looked favourable to the fast bowlers in the expectation that it would flatten out in the afternoon. Arthur Milton was surprised by a straight ball by Ian Meckiff (3/33), who had been spraying his deliveries up to two feet on either side of the stumps. Keith Miller recalled "Meckiff was all over the place...the cynical reckoned he fired too wide to be hit...it was, in fact, the most erratic piece of fast bowling I had ever seen in a Test match. Yet it helped to put Australia on top". Peter Richardson depended on neat deflections for many of his runs, but had not managed to adapt to the faster Australian wickets and Benaud fed in an extra slip and another when the England opener slipped the ball between the fielders until he was caught by Ken Mackay off Alan Davidson (3/36) and England were 16/2. Tom Graveney (19) was beaten several times by Davidson and was dropped by Norm O'Neill, who then damaged a finger fielding and was sent to hospital for x-rays. He added 46 with May (28) before wicket-keeper Wally Grout snapped them both up. Cowdrey (13) fell a great catch by Lindsay Kline and Godfrey Evans to another by Peter Burge. Benaud had made his new ball bowlers stay on for over an hour in their opening spell, and called them back for more until they were exhausted. He had been bowling to give them a rest, but now started on the long England tail. "The Boil" Trevor Bailey (Bailey was pronounced "Boiley" by the Australians) took two hours to make 27 in his own dull way, but hit a couple of boundaries after seeing Jim Laker do so. Davidson had to leave the field exhausted and Benaud (3/46) had Bailey stumped to end the innings for 134.
Australia first innings.
There was only time for two overs before stumps and Brian Statham made the ball lift outside the off-stump, which might have produced a wicket given another quarter of an hour, but Colin McDonald and Jim Burke survived the day on 8/0. The first day had produced only 142 runs and although the Saturday was bright and clear and good for batting, only 148 runs were made as an excellent England bowling attack regained the initiative and the Australian batsmen eked out the runs. Burke edged a catch to gully, but Trevor Bailey was too deep to catch it and after a slow start—and much to everybody's surprise—he peeled off a couple of cover-drives off Peter Loader. Loader was repeatedly no-balled and was replaced by Bailey and the openers took their partnership past fifty when the sightscreen was laboriously moved and Loader returned round the wicket to have Burke caught behind for 20. The teams went off for lunch at the fall of the wicket and returned on 55/1 with Neil Harvey coming in instead of Ken Mackay as announced by the scoreboard, indicating that Benaud wanted the runs to flow. Bailey had McDonald caught in slip for 42 in two hours and Norm O'Neill (who had not broken his finger as first thought) came in with the hopes of Australia hanging on his shoulders. May set a defensive field to limit his runmaking, but he hit his first ball for four before the runs dried up and he was outpaced by "Slasher" Mackay. Loader (4/56) caught Harvey l.b.w. after he had spent an hour making 14. Bailey (3/35) accounted for the out of form Peter Burge and had O'Neill was caught by a spectacular diving catch by Tom Graveney for 34 in 151 minutes, Jim Laker (2/15) had Mackay (16) caught behind, much to his displeasure and Australia ended the day on 156/6, 22 runs ahead. After the rest day Australia did not long survive the fall of Benaud (16) on the Monday morning, l.b.w. to Loader and the tail collapsed to 186 all out despite the best efforts of Alan Davidson (25), last man out to Laker.
England second innings.
Even Australia's collapse gave them a lead of 52 on a wicket which had dried out and looked a lot better for batting, but the England openers failed again. Peter Richardson was brilliantly caught and bowled by Richie Benaud who had relieved Alan Davidson. Peter May sent in Trevor Bailey—"The Barnacle"—at number three, a very negative move given his reputation as England should have been looking to runs. He was soon joined by Tom Graveney when Milton was caught by Wally Grout off Davidson at 34/2. The stylish Graveney was often criticised for getting out carelessly, but he survived two l.b.w. appeals in an over from Benaud, who beat the bat twice more without success. They took the score to 92/2 by the end of the day, a lead of 40 runs, with only 122 runs coming in the day. On the fourth day Graveney was halfway down the wicket going for an easy single when Bailey sent him back and he was run out for 36 after staying in for nearly three hours. May was soon out to Benaud (4/66), but Colin Cowdrey (28) stuck in for over two hours before he was caught by Lindsay Kline at grass level. Umpire McInnes was unsighted, but after a nod from Umpire Hays at square-leg umpire gave Cowdrey out, even though he was briefly called back by Harvey, who doubted that the ball had carried. "The Boil" remained glued to the crease for 357 minutes making the slowest 50 by an Englishman in Tests. "Trevor was apt to enjoy playing a character part. 'Barnacle Bailey' as a sobriquet had stuck all too firmly...to the infinite frustration of the crowds—which here at Brisbane showed their feeling by simply staying away" wrote E.W. Swanton, who questioned "whether victory, if it should come, is worth the cost in terms of sterile, boring play that makes one sick at heart to watch". To be fair to Bailey he had been hailed as a saviour playing in this fashion in 1953 and 1954–55 and was unlikely to change his style at the end of his career. Benaud did not help as he set the field to cut off the stonewaller's limited repertoire of strokes, with Meckiff bowling down the leg side. One pressman roused himself to ask when Bailey had last scored a run, "Twenty minutes past two" answered the England scorer George Duckworth, "Today or yesterday?" was the reply. Just before stumps Bailey suddenly rushed down the pitch to take a swipe at Mackay, missed and was bowled for 68. It was a strangely reckless end as a few more minutes would have allowed Peter May the use of the heavy roller in the morning to break up the wicket for his bowlers. Bailey had batted for 458 minutes and scored from only 40 of the 427 balls he faced. Only 106 runs were made in a full day's play, the lowest in an Ashes Test.
Australia second innings.
Coming back on the fifth and penultimate day Australia needed 146 runs to win and did so in style thanks to Norm O'Neill. The spinners Jim Laker and Tony Lock were brought on early as May's only hope was that the pitch would take spin, but few balls turned and he maintained his defensive field placings. Laker had McDonald out for 15, and Lock dismissed Harvey for 23. Jim Burke looked uncomfortable and dug himself in while O'Neill started to hit the ball and ran for singles when other batsmen in the match were content to stand still. He rattled up 71 not out in under two hours and hooked Loader for his seventh boundary for the winning runs, Burke having spent over four hours making 28 not out, even slower than Bailey.
Result.
Australia won the First Test by 8 wickets to go 1–0 up in the series, the fourth win in four Tests for Australia against England at the Woolloongabba. England's scoring rate of 23 runs in every 100 balls (the equivalent of 1.38 runs per six-ball over) was one of the worst in Test cricket, Australia made 34 runs off every 100 balls (the equivalent of 2.04 runs per six-ball over). The England manager Freddie Brown wanted to make an official complaint about Meckiff's bowling, but captain Peter May thought that it look like sour grapes. Instead they talked unofficially to the Australian chairman of selectors Sir Donald Bradman who retorted "And what of the action of the England bowlers Tony Lock and Peter Loader?" and that they should "first of all put their own house in order". It was an inauspicious start to the brighter cricket May had promised, which was needed to revive the fortunes of Australian cricket that was being ignored by its youth. "The Future of Australian Cricket at Stake...the average young Australian is inclined to spend most of his weekends under water...and caring for his lady-friend. There are many other things to do in the sunshine than play cricket".
Second Test – Melbourne.
The events of the Melbourne Test at the New Year would have tested the philosophical detachment of any cricket writer, of whatever school. I'm glad to see in my preview before the game I noted that the increase in doubtful actions had been the most remarkable aspect of Australian cricket on the tour, and I named three suspects—Meckiff, Slater and Burke. I said that both Slater and Burke had been no-balled, once in each case, for throwing, and that I hoped the Australian umpires would do their unpleasant duty if the 'be not entirely satisfied', as the Law ordains. Vain Hope!
E. W. Swanton
Preliminaries.
The loss of the First Test was not the end of the series and Peter May well remembered the crushing Brisbane defeat in the First Test of the 1954–55 Ashes series, which Len Hutton had won 3–1. Arthur Milton had returned to form with innings of 85 against Tasmania, but had broken his finger in a gutsy 37 against South Australia. With the spare opener Raman Subba Row nursing a broken wrist Willie Watson—who had been part of the 1950 FIFA World Cup England squad in Brazil—was brought in, but Trevor Bailey was promoted to the opening spot regardless of his paralysing influence at Brisbane. Fred Trueman had recovered from his back trouble to take 5/46 and 4/3