QUESTION: When did black grow to be de rigueur for funerals?
Black was the color for mourning costume relationship again to the Roman Empire, when the toga pulla, product of dark-coloured wool, was worn. Nevertheless, in Britain, white or brown was worn by commoners. Black or purple was reserved for the the Aristocracy.
There have been two elements that set black aside; its price and sumptuary legal guidelines. To attain black or purple hues required a number of rounds of pricey dyeing, utilizing the purple roots of madder and the blue leaves of woad. Sumptuary legal guidelines imposed a wonderful on these trying to repeat the style decisions of the the Aristocracy.
For the the Aristocracy, funeral garb was an expression of each wealth and style. After the deaths of her father-in-law, mom and first husband, Francis II of France between July 1559 and December 1560, Mary, Queen of Scots wore a type of mourning referred to as en deuil blanc, involving a white pleated cambric veil.
By the Georgian period, sumptuary legal guidelines have been abolished and rich commoners started to put on black as a standing image.
Black turned customary within the West in all lessons because of Queen Victoria. When her husband Prince Albert died in 1861, she wore black clothes for the remaining 40 years of her life.
Corinne Jackson, Liverpool
After the deaths of her father-in-law, mom and first husband, Francis II of France between July 1559 and December 1560, Mary, Queen of Scots wore a type of mourning referred to as en deuil blanc, involving a white pleated cambric veil
By the Georgian period, sumptuary legal guidelines have been abolished and rich commoners started to put on black as a standing image. Pictured: Mary Queen of Scots circa 1570
QUESTION: How concerned have been the Mafia within the American music business?
The Mafia had a hand in numerous facets of the music business however by no means gained any explicit management of main report corporations. From the Twenties, the Mafia owned or managed many nightclubs and venues the place artists carried out, particularly in cities like New York.
Within the Forties, over two thirds of all report gross sales have been aimed on the jukebox business. These proved an ideal solution to launder cash. It’s mentioned the Mob accountant Meyer Lansky managed ‘each Wurlitzer jukebox within the New York space’ via the Emby Distributing Co.
Nevertheless, the determine most frequently linked to each pop music and organised crime was the impresario Morris Levy.
Levy based the legendary Birdland jazz membership, recurrently internet hosting names like Charlie Parker and Rely Basie. He owned a record-pressing manufacturing unit and the Strawberries Information & Tapes shops however quickly recognised that the actual cash was to be made in music publishing.
To that finish, he based Roulette Information and numerous minor labels, producing a mixture of pop, R’n’B and jazz. He turned infamous for hiding earnings or falsely claiming writing credit whereas allegedly laundering cash for New York’s Genovese crime household.
One in every of his ‘victims’ was Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells fame, who had main hits with the songs Mony Mony and I Assume We’re Alone Now. James, in his e book Me, The Mob, And The Music, estimated that Levy had fiddled him out of $40 million in royalties. He accused Levy of strong-arming artists into horrible contracts, shopping for up the rights to previous hits and suing anybody who infringed on his copyright.
Morris Levy’s profession got here to an finish in 1988 when he was convicted for conspiring to extort John LaMonte, a Philadelphia-area report distributor, and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Bail was set at $3 million. Levy misplaced his attraction in 1990 and died earlier than he may go to jail.
Jack Cox, Morecambe, Lancs
It’s mentioned the Mob accountant Meyer Lansky (above) managed ‘each Wurlitzer jukebox within the New York space’ via the Emby Distributing Co
QUESTION: Have been plebs in a position to attain the upper echelons of Roman society?
There have been three principal lessons in Roman society: the patricians (aristocrats and elites), the plebeians (free widespread residents) and the slaves (people with out rights).
There have been routes for a plebeian to enter the patrician class. A plebeian may very well be adopted right into a patrician household if there have been no male heirs. The Roman legislation of succession recognised a heres necessarius, a obligatory inheritor, normally the eldest son, who would inherit the majority of the property. A patrician would undertake a son, typically his personal with considered one of his slaves, or from considered one of his favoured plebeian shoppers, to proceed his legacy.
Underneath the Empire, a plebeian is also ennobled by imperial decree (per rescriptum principis). This would possibly occur when a metropolis senate had too few members.
Plebeians may additionally attain excessive ranges in Roman society with out promotion to the patrician class. Distinguished plebeian households recurrently held the Consulship and have been influential within the Senate. For instance, Gaius Marius was a profitable navy chief and a plebeian who turned a consul seven instances. Cicero was a plebeian who rose to grow to be a consul and considered one of Rome’s best orators and statesmen.
Mr C. Greenwood, Solihull, West Midlands
