Turner encyclopedia topics

Related Searches

on Ask.com

Turner syndrome

Turner construction

Turner classic movi...

Turner paintings

Turner broadcasting

William h turner te...

Turner field

Biography of jmw tu...

Turner network tele...

Turner the artist

Type of dog turner ...

Breed of dog in mov...

TURNER - 17 reference results

Walton, Sir William Turner

Walton, Sir William Turner, 1902-83, English composer, b. Oldham. Walton studied at Oxford. One of his earliest works was a piano quartet (1918-19). In 1923, Façade, satirical poems by Edith Sitwell read to Walton's jazz-inflected music, had enormous success in London. His orchestral works, noted for eloquent melodic structure, include the overtures Portsmouth Point (1925) and Scapino (1940) and two symphonies (1935, 1961). He wrote an oratorio, Belshazzar's Feast (1931), and coronation marches for George VI (1937) and Elizabeth II (1953). Walton's concerto for viola and orchestra (1929), a violin concerto (1939), a sonata for violin and piano (1950), and a cello concerto (1956) are also well known. Among the films for which he composed musical scores are Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1947), and Richard III (1954). Walton wrote the opera Troilus and Cressida in 1954 and the one-act extravaganza The Bear in 1967. He was knighted in 1951.

See The Selected Letters of William Walton (2002) ed. by M. Hayes; biographies by N. Tierny (1984), S. Walton (1988), M. Kennedy (1989, repr. 1998), and S. Lloyd (2002); H. Burton and M. Murray, William Walton: The Romantic Loner: A Centenary Portrait Album (2002); studies by F. S. Howes (rev. ed. 1974) and S. R. Craggs (1999); At the Haunted End of the Day … A Profile of Sir William Walton (video documentary, 1987).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Turner, Ted

Turner, Ted (Robert Edward Turner 3d), 1938-, American television network executive, b. Cincinnati. After inheriting his father's billboard company, he founded (1976) a television station, WTBS, and built it into the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS). He pioneered "superstation" broadcasting, in which a TV station provides programming via satellite to cable systems nationwide. In 1980 he established the Cable News Network (CNN), television's first 24-hour news channel, which was first met with skepticism and is now a broadcasting fixture; in 1988 he added TNT, a movie channel, and in 1992, the Cartoon Network. After his failed attempt to purchase the CBS network, Turner bought the MGM/UA Entertainment Company, gaining a vast library of film classics. TBS also offered sports programming after acquiring the Atlanta Braves baseball team (1976) and a holding in the Atlanta Hawks basketball team (1977). In 1996, TBS merged with Time Warner Inc. (now AOL Time Warner). Turner became vice chairman of Time Warner in charge of the TBS subsidiary, a position he held until he became a vice chairman (2000-2003) of AOL Time Warner. In 1997, Turner announced he would give $1 billion to United Nations programs; he also has underwritten a number of other programs devoted to international understanding and peace and the environment. A competitive sailor and sports enthusiast, he won the America's Cup yachting race in 1977. He was married to Jane Fonda in 1991; they separated in 2000.

See J. Lowe, ed., Ted Turner Speaks (1999); biographies by P. Bibb (1993) and K. Auletta (2004).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Turner, Nat

Turner, Nat, 1800-1831, American slave, leader of the Southampton Insurrection (1831), b. Southampton co., Va. Deeply religious from childhood, Turner was a natural preacher and possessed some influence among local slaves. Apparently believing himself divinely appointed to lead fellow slaves to freedom, he plotted a revolt with a band of approximately 60 followers. After killing the family of Turner's owner, the band ravaged the neighborhood, in two days killing a total of 55 white people, mostly women and children. The revolt was soon crushed, however, and 13 slaves and three free blacks were hanged immediately. Turner himself escaped to the woods, but was captured six weeks later and hanged. Dozens more blacks were also killed in retaliation. The abortive uprising, by far the bloodiest and most serious in the history of slavery in the United States, led to more stringent slave laws in the South and to an end of the organized abolition movement there. Over the years, Turner became a figure of controversy, seen by some as a vicious fanatic and by others as a hero of black resistence.

See studies by H. Aptheker (1943 and 1968), E. Foner (1971), J. Duff and P. Mitchell, ed. (1971), K. S. Greenberg, ed. (2003), and S. French (2004); C. Burnett, dir., Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (documentary film, 2004).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Turner, Joseph Mallord William

Turner, Joseph Mallord William, 1775-1851, English landscape painter, b. London. Turner was the foremost English romantic painter and the most original of English landscape artists; in watercolor he is unsurpassed. The son of a barber, he received almost no general education but at 14 was already a student at the Royal Academy of Arts and three years later was making topographical drawings for magazines. In 1791 for the first time he exhibited two watercolors at the Royal Academy. In the following 10 years he exhibited there regularly, was elected a member (1802), and was made professor of perspective (1807). By 1799 the sale of his work had freed him from drudgery and he devoted himself to the visionary interpretations of landscape for which he became famous.

In 1802, Turner made a trip to the Continent, where he painted his famous Calais Pier (National Gall., London). From then on he traveled constantly in England or abroad, making innumerable direct sketches from which he drew material for his studio paintings in oil and watercolor. Turner showed a remarkable ability to distill the best from the tradition of landscape painting and he helped to further elevate landscape (and seascape) as important artistic subject matter. The influence of the Dutch masters is apparent in his Sun Rising through Vapor (National Gall., London). In the vein of the French classical landscape painter, Claude Lorrain, he produced the Liber Studiorum (1807-19), 70 drawings that were later reproduced by engraving under Turner's supervision. Among the paintings evocative of Claude's style are his Dido Building Carthage (National Gall., London) and Crossing the Brook (Tate Gall., London). Despite his early and continued success Turner lived the life of a recluse. As his fame grew he maintained a large gallery in London for exhibition of his work, but continued to live quietly with his elderly father.

Turner's painting became increasingly abstract as he strove to portray light, space, and the elemental forces of nature. Characteristic of his later period are such paintings as The Fighting Téméraire and Rain, Steam, and Speed (both: National Gall., London). His late Venetian works, which describe atmospheric effects with brighter colors, include The Grand Canal (Metropolitan Mus.) and Approach to Venice (National Gall., Washington, D.C.). Turner encountered violent criticism as his style became increasingly free, but he was passionately defended by Sir Thomas Lawrence and the youthful Ruskin. Visionary, revolutionary, and extremely influential, these late paintings laid the groundwork for impressionism, postimpressionism, abstract expressionism, color-field painting, and a myriad of other art movements of the late 19th and 20th cents. Turner's will, which was under litigation for many years, left more than 19,000 watercolors, drawings, and oils to the British nation. Most of these works are in the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery, London. Many of Turner's oils have deteriorated badly.

See his watercolors (ed. by M. Butlin, 1962); catalog by A. J. Finberg (1968); biographies by A. J. Finberg (2d ed. 1961), J. Lindsay (1966), A. Bailey (1998), J. Woodhouse (2000), and J. Hamilton (2003); studies by J. Rothenstein and M. Butlin (1964), L. Gowing (1966), J. Gage (1969), and W. Gaunt (1971); M. Butlin and E. Joll, The Paintings and Drawings of J. W. M. Turner (1987); W. S. Rodner, J. M. W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution (1997); G. Finley, Angel in the Sun: Turner's Vision of History (1999); I. Warrell, Turner and Venice (2004).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Turner, John Napier

Turner, John Napier, 1929-, Canadian prime minister (1984). Born in England, he emigrated to Ontario with his Canadian-born mother in 1932. Trained as a lawyer, he entered the House of Commons as a Liberal in 1962. He subsequently served as head of several ministries, notably as minister of justice (1968-72) and minister of finance (1972-75). Upon the resignation of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1984, he became leader of the Liberal party. He became prime minister on June 30 and dissolved Parliament shortly thereafter. In the September elections the Liberal party was soundly defeated. Turner remained Liberal party leader until 1990.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Turner, Frederick Jackson

Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861-1932, American historian, b. Portage, Wis. He taught at the Univ. of Wisconsin from 1885 to 1910 except for a year spent in graduate study at Johns Hopkins Univ. From 1910 to 1924 he taught at Harvard, and later he was research associate at the Henry E. Huntington Library. At first he taught rhetoric and oratory but turned to U.S. history, soon focusing on Western history. His doctoral dissertation, The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin (1891; an enlargement of his master's essay), showed the trend of his interest. In 1893, at the meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, he delivered an address, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," which outlined brilliantly the history of the receding frontier and its effect in creating American democracy. Little noticed at the time, it was to prove epoch-making in American history writing. It supplied a large part of a generation of historians with a theme to investigate. Turner's ideas are now generally incorporated in some form in most American history texts; although a historical controversy has raged for decades over the validity of his frontier thesis, few critics reject it entirely. The address and various short papers were reprinted in The Frontier in American History (1920). He collaborated with Edward Channing and Albert Bushnell Hart in the revision of Guide to the Study and Reading of American History (1912). Though he produced few books—The Rise of the New West ("American Nation" series, 1906) and two studies in sectionalism, The Significance of Sections in American History (1932) and the posthumously published The United States, 1830-1850 (1935)—his influence as a teacher and proponent of a new and important theory made him one of the most renowned of all American historians.

See The Early Writings of Frederick Jackson Turner (1938, repr. 1969); R. Hofstadter, Progressive Historians (1968); R. A. Billington, Frederick Jackson Turner (1973).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Turner Valley

Turner Valley, village (1991 pop. 1,352), SW Alta., Canada, at the foot of the Rocky Mts., on the Sheep River, SW of Calgary. It is in the center of the Turner Valley oil and natural gas fields, opened in 1914. The village has sulfur and propane and pentane gas plants.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Palgrave, Francis Turner

Palgrave, Francis Turner, 1824-97, English poet and anthologist; oldest son of Sir Francis Palgrave. Educated at Oxford, where he began his lifelong friendship with Tennyson, he was an official in the government education department until he became professor of poetry (1885-95) at Oxford. He is remembered as the editor of a famous anthology, The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language (1861). Its revised version and his many other anthologies were also popular. Of his own verse, The Visions of England (1881) and a few hymns are the best.

See biography by G. F. Palgrave (1899).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Catledge, Turner

Catledge, Turner, 1901-83, American newspaperman, b. Ackerman, Miss. He worked for several southern newspapers before being hired by the New York Times in 1929. He became a political reporter, eventually heading the Times's Washington bureau. He was made managing editor, and later executive editor, and in 1968 became vice president of the New York Times Company. He semiretired in 1970, remaining a member of the board of directors of the Times until his death.

See his autobiography, My Life and Times (1971).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Walton, Sir William (Turner)

(born March 29, 1902, Oldham, Lancashire, Eng.—died March 8, 1983, Ischia, Italy) British composer. His parents were musicians, and he learned to sing and play piano and violin early. He established his reputation at age 19 by setting to jazzy music the whimsical poetry of Edith Sitwell (see Sitwell family); Façade (1923) premiered with the poet reading her poetry through a megaphone. Walton's later works include Belshazzar's Feast (1931), two symphonies (1935, 1960), and concertos for viola, violin, and cello (1929, 1939, 1956). His scores for Laurence Olivier's films of Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1947), and Richard III (1955) became well known; he also wrote coronation marches for George VI and Elizabeth II.

Learn more about Walton, Sir William (Turner) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Turner, Ted

orig. Robert Edward Turner, III

(born Nov. 19, 1938, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. broadcasting entrepreneur. He took over his father's Atlanta-based advertising firm after the latter's 1963 suicide and restored it to profitability. In 1970 he bought the Atlanta television station WJRJ (later WTBS), which in 1975 became the superstation of the Turner Broadcasting System, broadcasting via satellite to cable systems nationwide. An avid sportsman, he purchased professional baseball and basketball franchises in Atlanta, and in 1977 he piloted his yacht, Courageous, to victory in the America's Cup race. He expanded his broadcasting empire with the 1980 launch of the Cable News Network (CNN) and the 1986 purchase of MGM/UA Entertainment (MGM) and its library of more than 4,000 movies. He married Jane Fonda in 1991 (divorced 2001). In 1996 he merged his broadcasting system with Time Warner and became its vice-chairman (see AOL Time Warner). In 2003 he resigned as vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner.

Learn more about Turner, Ted with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Turner, Nat

(born Oct. 2, 1800, Southampton county, Va., U.S.—died Nov. 11, 1831, Jerusalem, Va.) U.S. insurrectionist. Born into slavery, he became convinced of his mission to lead American slaves out of bondage and developed a scheme to capture the armoury at Jerusalem, Va. He took an eclipse of the sun as a sign to act (1831) and began his insurrection by killing his master's family. He led 75 slaves as they killed about 60 whites on a two-day march to Jerusalem. About 3,000 state militia and local whites defeated the insurrectionists, who were captured or killed. Turner eluded arrest for six weeks but was found, tried, and hanged. Alarmed by the uprising, Southern states passed legislation forbidding the education, movement, or assembly of slaves.

Learn more about Turner, Nat with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Turner, J(oseph) M(allord) W(illiam)

Detail of a self-portrait by J.M.W. Turner, oil on canvas, 1798; in the Tate Gallery, London.

(born April 23, 1775, London, Eng.—died Dec. 19, 1851, London) British landscape painter. The son of a barber, he entered the Royal Academy school in 1789. In 1802 he became a full academician and in 1807 was appointed professor of perspective. His early work was concerned with accurate depictions of places, but he soon learned from Richard Wilson to take a more poetic and imaginative approach. The Shipwreck (1805) shows his new emphasis on luminosity, atmosphere, and Romantic, dramatic subjects. After a trip to Italy in 1819, his colour became purer and more prismatic, with a general heightening of key. In later paintings, such as Sunrise, with a Boat Between Headlands (1845), architectural and natural details are sacrificed to effects of colour and light, with only the barest indication of mass. His compositions became more fluid, suggesting movement and space. In breaking down conventional formulas of representation, he anticipated French Impressionism. His immense reputation in the 19th century was due largely to John Ruskin's enthusiasm for his early works; 20th-century critics celebrated the abstract qualities of his late colour compositions.

Learn more about Turner, J(oseph) M(allord) W(illiam) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Turner, Frederick Jackson

(born Nov. 14, 1861, Portage, Wis., U.S.—died March 14, 1932, San Marino, Calif.) U.S. historian. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and at Harvard University. Deeply influenced by his Wisconsin childhood, Turner rejected the doctrine that U.S. institutions could be traced mainly to European origins, and he demonstrated his theories in a series of essays. In “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893) he asserted that the American character had been shaped by frontier life and the end of the frontier era. Later he focused on sectionalism as a force in U.S. development. His essays were collected in The Frontier in American History (1920) and Significance of Sections in American History (1932, Pulitzer Prize).

Learn more about Turner, Frederick Jackson with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Turner syndrome

Chromosomal disorder (from the presence of only one sex chromosome, X, in all or some of the body's cells) that causes abnormal sexual development in females. The syndrome may include absent or undeveloped ovaries, underdeveloped secondary sex characteristics, low hairline, webbed neck, shield-shaped chest with wide-spaced nipples, and kidney and heart malformations with coarctation (narrowing) of the aorta. It may not be recognized until a girl fails to undergo puberty at a normal age. Estrogen treatment results in puberty, adult appearance, and normal sex drive but not fertility. Surgery can correct malformations.

Learn more about Turner syndrome with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Palgrave, Francis Turner

(born Sept. 28, 1824, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Eng.—died Oct. 24, 1897, London) English critic and poet. He spent many years in the civil service's education department and taught poetry at Oxford. His Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics (1861), a comprehensive, well-chosen, and carefully arranged lyric anthology, influenced the poetic taste of several generations and was important in popularizing the works of William Wordsworth.

Learn more about Palgrave, Francis Turner with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.