Conventional long name	Commonwealth of Australia
Common name	Australia
Image coat	Australian Coat of Arms.png
Map width	220px
National anthem	"Advance Australia Fair"|name"anthem explanation"|group"N"}}

|official_languages = None |languages_type = National language |languages = English (''de facto'') |capital = Canberra |largest_city = Sydney |government_type =Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy |leader_title1 = Monarch |leader_title2 = Governor-General |leader_title3 = Prime Minister |leader_name1 = Elizabeth II |leader_name2 = Quentin Bryce |leader_name3 = Julia Gillard |legislature = Parliament |upper_house = Senate |lower_house = House of Representatives |area_rank = 6th |area_magnitude = 1 E12 |area_km2 = 7617930 |percent_water = |population_estimate = }} |population_estimate_year = |population_estimate_rank = 50th |population_census = 19,855,288 |population_census_year = 2006 |population_density_km2 = 2.8 |population_density_rank = 233rd |sovereignty_type = Independence |sovereignty_note = from the United Kingdom |established_event1 = Constitution |established_event2 = Statute of Westminster |established_event3 = Statute of Westminster Adoption Act |established_event4 = Australia Act |established_date1 = 1 January 1901 |established_date2 = 11 December 1931 |established_date3 = 9 October 1942 (with effect from 3 September 1939) |established_date4 = 3 March 1986 |currency = Australian dollar |currency_code = AUD |time_zone = various |utc_offset = +8 to +10.5 |time_zone_DST = various |utc_offset_DST = +8 to +11.5 |demonym = Australian, Aussie |drives_on = left |cctld = .au |calling_code = +61 |ISO_3166-1_alpha2 = AU |ISO_3166-1_alpha3 = AUS |ISO_3166-1_numeric = 036 |sport_code = AUS |vehicle_code = AUS |GDP_PPP_year = 2011 |GDP_PPP = $918.978 billion |GDP_PPP_rank = 18th |GDP_PPP_per_capita = $40,836 |GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 12th |GDP_nominal = $1.507 trillion |GDP_nominal_rank = 13th |GDP_nominal_year = 2011 |GDP_nominal_per_capita = $66,984 |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 5th |Gini = 30.5 |Gini_category = medium |Gini_year = 2006 |HDI_year = 2011 |HDI = 0.929 |HDI_rank = 2nd |HDI_category = very high }} Australia (), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.|name="Southern Ocean"|group="N"}} It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.

For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.

On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system which functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories. The population of 22.7 million is heavily concentrated in the Eastern states and is highly urbanised.

A highly developed country, Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy and has the world's fifth-highest per capita income. Australia's military expenditure is the world's twelfth largest. With the second-highest human development index globally, Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights. Australia is a member of the G20, OECD, WTO, APEC, UN, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, and the Pacific Islands Forum.

Etymology

Pronounced in Australian English, the name ''Australia'' is derived from the Latin ''australis'', meaning "southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as ''Oz'' since the early 20th century. ''Aussie'' is a common colloquial term for "Australian". In neighbouring New Zealand the term "Aussie" is sometimes applied as a noun to the nation as well as its residents.

Legends of ''Terra Australis Incognita''—an "unknown land of the South"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass were often references to the famed ''Terra Australis''.

The earliest recorded use of the word ''Australia'' in English was in 1625 in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in ''Hakluytus Posthumus'', a corruption of the original Spanish name ''Austrialia del Espíritu Santo'' for an island in Vanuatu. The Dutch adjectival form ''Australische'' was used in a Dutch book in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. ''Australia'' was later used in a 1693 translation of ''Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe'', a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny, under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur. Referring to the entire South Pacific region, Alexander Dalrymple used it in ''An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean'' in 1771. By the end of the 18th century, the name was being used to refer specifically to Australia, with the botanists George Shaw and Sir James Smith writing of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland" in their 1793 ''Zoology and Botany of New Holland'', and James Wilson including it on a 1799 chart.

The name ''Australia'' was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who pushed for it to be formally adopted as early as 1804. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 ''A Voyage to Terra Australis'', he was persuaded by his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, to use the term ''Terra Australis'' as this was the name most familiar to the public. Flinders did so, but allowed himself the footnote: }} This is the only occurrence of the word ''Australia'' in that text; but in Appendix III, Robert Brown's ''General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis'', Brown makes use of the adjectival form ''Australian'' throughout,—the first known use of that form. Despite popular conception, the book was not instrumental in the adoption of the name: the name came gradually to be accepted over the following ten years. Lachlan Macquarie, a Governor of New South Wales, subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England, and on 12 December 1817 recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as ''Australia''.

History

[[File:Australia discoveries by Europeans before 1813 en.png|thumb|right|300px|alt=Map of Australia with coloured arrows showing the path of early explorers around the coast of Australia and surrounding islands|Exploration by Europeans till 1812 ]] Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago, possibly with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now South-East Asia. These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. At the time of European settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherers.

Following sporadic visits by fishermen from the Malay Archipelago, the first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent were attributed to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula on an unknown date in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York, near the modern town of Weipa. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of "New Holland" during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer landed on the north-west coast of Australia in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. Cook's discoveries prepared the way for establishment of a new penal colony. Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. This date became Australia's national day, Australia Day. (The British Crown Colony of New South Wales was not formally promulgated until 7 February 1788, but 26 January has entered the popular consciousness as the effective date of its foundation.) Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1828.

Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a "free province"—it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts. A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.

The indigenous population, estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly due to infectious disease. The "Stolen Generations" (removal of Aboriginal children from their families), which historians such as Henry Reynolds have argued could be considered genocide, may have contributed to the decline in the Indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by conservative commentators such as former Prime Minister John Howard as exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. This debate is known within Australia as the History wars. The Federal government gained the power to make laws with respect to Aborigines following the 1967 referendum. Traditional ownership of land—aboriginal title—was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case ''Mabo v Queensland (No 2)'' overturned the notion of Australia as ''terra nullius'' ("land belonging to no one") before European occupation.

A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence, and international shipping.

On 1 January 1901 federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting. The Commonwealth of Australia was established and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was constructed. The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911. In 1914, Australia joined Britain in fighting World War I, with support from both the outgoing Liberal Party and the incoming Labor Party. Australians took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front. Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action. The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.

Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK. Australia adopted it in 1942, but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II. The shock of the UK's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty. After World War II Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Since the 1970s and following the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and elsewhere was also promoted. As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and self-image were transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and closing the option of judicial appeals to the Privy Council in London. In a 1999 referendum, 55 per cent of Australian voters and a majority in every Australian state rejected a proposal to become a republic with a president appointed by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of the Australian Parliament. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus in foreign policy on ties with other Pacific Rim nations, while maintaining close ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading partners.

Governance

Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and she is represented by her viceroys in Australia, (the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her ministers. Supereme executive authority is vested by the constitution of Australia in the sovereign, but the power to exercise it is conferred by the constitution specifically to the Governor-General. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside a Prime Minister's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.

The federal government is separated into three branches:

The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives;

The executive: the Federal Executive Council, in practice the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister and Ministers of State;

The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council.

In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). The House of Representatives (the lower house) has 150 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats. Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years, simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but are tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; thus only 40 of the 76 places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution.

Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT, which, along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with proportional representation in a system known as the single transferable vote. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction, as is enrolment (with the exception of South Australia). The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority support, the Governor-General has the power to appoint the Prime Minister, and if necessary dismiss one that has lost the confidence of Parliament.

There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party, and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.

Following a partyroom leadership challenge, Julia Gillard became the first female Prime Minister in June 2010. The last federal election was held on 21 August 2010 and resulted in the first hung parliament in over 50 years. Gillard was able to form a minority Labor government with the support of independents.

States and territories

Australia has six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two major mainland territories—the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In most respects these two territories function as states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only in areas that are set out in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution; state parliaments retain all residual legislative powers, including those over schools, state police, the state judiciary, roads, public transport, and local government, since these do not fall under the provisions listed in Section 51.

Each state and major mainland territory has its own parliament—unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT, and Queensland, and bicameral in the other states. The states are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution. The lower houses are known as the Legislative Assembly (the House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania); the upper houses are known as the Legislative Council. The head of the government in each state is the Premier, and in each territory the Chief Minister. The Queen is represented in each state by a Governor; and in the Northern Territory, the Administrator. In the Commonwealth, the Queen's representative is the Governor-General.

The federal parliament directly administers the following territories:

Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Australian Antarctic Territory

Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Coral Sea Islands

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Jervis Bay Territory, a naval base and sea port for the national capital in land that was formerly part of New South Wales

Norfolk Island is also technically an external territory; however, under the Norfolk Island Act 1979 it has been granted more autonomy and is governed locally by its own legislative assembly. The Queen is represented by an Administrator, currently Owen Walsh.

Foreign relations and military

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, and in 2011 will attend the Sixth East Asia Summit in Indonesia. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for cooperation.

Australia has pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation. It led the formation of the Cairns Group and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization, and has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement and Closer Economic Relations with New Zealand, with another free trade agreement being negotiated with China—the Australia – China Free Trade Agreement—and Japan, South Korea in 2011, Australia–Chile Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand Free Trade Area, and the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.

Along with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore, Australia is party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements, a regional defence agreement. A founding member country of the United Nations, Australia is strongly committed to multilateralism, and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5 billion for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that recommended in the UN Millennium Development Goals. Australia ranks seventh overall in the Center for Global Development's 2008 Commitment to Development Index.

Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in total numbering 80,561 personnel (including 55,068 regulars and 25,493 reservists). The titular role of Commander-in-Chief is vested in the Governor-General, who appoints a Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services on the advice of the government. Day-to-day force operations are under the command of the Chief, while broader administration and the formulation of defence policy is undertaken by the Minister and Department of Defence.

In the 2010–11 budget, defence spending was A$25.7 billion, representing the 14th largest defence budget in the world but accounting for only 1.2 per cent of global military spending. Australia has been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping, disaster relief, and armed conflict; it currently has deployed approximately 3,330 defence force personnel in varying capacities to 12 overseas operations in areas including East Timor, Solomon Islands and Afghanistan.

Geography and climate

Australia's landmass of is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. The world's smallest continent and sixth largest country by total area, Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent", and is sometimes considered the world's largest island. Australia has of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of . This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory. Excluding Macquarie Island, Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44°S, and longitudes 112° and 154°E.

The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over . Mount Augustus, claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At , Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at . Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with subtropical rain forests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east areas, and a dry desert in its centre. It is the flattest continent, with the oldest and least fertile soils; desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. The driest inhabited continent, only its south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate. The population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, is among the lowest in the world, although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.

Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range that runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, and much of Victoria—although the name is not strictly accurate, as in parts the range consists of low hills and the highlands are typically no more than in height. The coastal uplands and a belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland. These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Einasleigh Uplands, Barkly Tableland, and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northern point of the east coast is the tropical rainforested Cape York Peninsula.

The landscapes of the northern part of the country—the Top End and the Gulf Country behind the Gulf of Carpentaria, with their tropical climate—consist of woodland, grassland, and desert. At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley, and below that the Pilbara. South and inland of these lie more areas of grassland: the Ord Victoria Plain and the Western Australian Mulga shrublands. At the heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia; prominent features of the centre and south include the inland Simpson, Tirari and Sturt Stony, Gibson, Great Sandy, Tanami, and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast.

The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. These factors induce rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical predominantly summer rainfall (monsoon) climate. Just under three quarters of Australia lies within a desert or semi-arid zone. The southwest corner of the country has a Mediterranean climate. Much of the southeast (including Tasmania) is temperate.

Environment

Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85 per cent of flowering plants, 84 per cent of mammals, more than 45 per cent of birds, and 89 per cent of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Australia has the greatest number of reptiles of any country, with 755 species.

Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions, wattles replace them in drier regions and deserts as the most dominant species. Among well-known Australian fauna are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, and wombat, and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra. Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them the thylacine.

Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' is the legal framework for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 51st of 163 countries in the world on the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.

Climate change has become an increasing concern in Australia in recent years, with many Australians considering protection of the environment to be the most important issue facing the country. The Rudd Ministry initiated several emission reduction activities; Rudd's first official act, on his first day in office, was to sign the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Nevertheless, Australia's carbon dioxide emissions per capita are among the highest in the world, lower than those of only a few other industrialised nations. Rainfall in Australia has slightly increased over the past century, both nationwide and for two quadrants of the nation, while annual mean temperatures increased significantly over the past decades. Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought.

Economy

Australia has a market economy with high GDP per capita and low rate of poverty. The Australian dollar is the currency for the nation, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. After the 2006 merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange is now the ninth largest in the world.

Ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom (2010), Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy and has the ninth highest per capita GDP; higher than that of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, and the United States. The country was ranked second in the United Nations 2010 Human Development Index and first in Legatum's 2008 Prosperity Index. All of Australia's major cities fare well in global comparative livability surveys; Melbourne reached first place on ''The Economist'''s 2011 World's Most Livable Cities list, followed by Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide in sixth, eighth, and ninth place respectively. Total government debt in Australia is about $190 billion. Australia has among the highest house prices and some of the highest household debt levels in the world.

An emphasis on exporting commodities rather than manufactured goods has underpinned a significant increase in Australia's terms of trade since the start of the 21st century, due to rising commodity prices. Australia has a balance of payments that is more than 7 per cent of GDP negative, and has had persistently large current account deficits for more than 50 years. Australia has grown at an average annual rate of 3.6 per cent for over 15 years, in comparison to the OECD annual average of 2.5 per cent. There are differing opinions based on evidence as to whether or not Australia had been one of the few OECD nations to avoid experiencing a recession during the late 2000s global financial downturn. Six of Australia's major trading partners had been in recession which in turn affected Australia, and economic growth was hampered significantly over recent years.

The Hawke Government floated the Australian dollar in 1983 and partially deregulated the financial system. The Howard Government followed with a partial deregulation of the labour market and the further privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. The indirect tax system was substantially changed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST). In Australia's tax system, personal and company income tax are the main sources of government revenue.

In July 2011, there were 11,450,500 people employed, with an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent. Youth unemployment (15–24) rose from 8.7 per cent to 9.7 per cent over 2008–2009. Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2–3 per cent and the base interest rate 5–6 per cent. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, accounts for about 70 per cent of GDP. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the forms of liquified natural gas and coal. Although agriculture and natural resources account for only 3 per cent and 5 per cent of GDP respectively, they contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets are Japan, China, the US, South Korea, and New Zealand. Australia is the world's fourth largest exporter of wine, in an industry contributing $5.5 billion per annum to the nation's economy.

Demography

For generations, the vast majority of immigrants came from the British Isles, and the people of Australia are still mainly of British or Irish ethnic origin. In the 2006 Australian census, the most commonly nominated ancestry was Australian (37.13 per cent), followed by English (32 per cent), Irish (9 per cent), Scottish (8 per cent), Italian (4 per cent), German (4 per cent), Chinese (3 per cent), and Greek (2 per cent).

Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I, much of the increase from immigration. Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born overseas. Most immigrants are skilled, but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees. By 2050, Australia's population is currently projected to reach around 42 million.

In 2001, 23.1 per cent of Australians were born overseas; the five largest immigrant groups were those from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. In 2005–06, more than 131,000 people emigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania. The migration target for 2010–11 is 168,700, compared to 67,900 in 1998–99.

The Indigenous population—mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders—was counted at 410,003 (2.2 per cent of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from 115,953 in the 1976 census. A large number of Indigenous people are not identified in the Census due to undercount and cases where their Indigenous status is not recorded on the form; after adjusting for these factors, the ABS estimated the true figure for 2001 to be around 460,140 (2.4 per cent of the total population).

Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education, and life expectancies for males and females that are 11–17 years lower than those of non-indigenous Australians. Some remote Indigenous communities have been described as having "failed state"-like conditions.

In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2004, the average age of the civilian population was 38.8 years. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country.

Language

Although Australia has no official language, English is so entrenched that it has become the de facto national language. Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon. Grammar and spelling are similar to that of British English with some notable exceptions. According to the 2006 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 79 per cent of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Italian (1.6 per cent), Greek (1.3 per cent) and Cantonese (1.2 per cent); a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found that the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi.

Between 200 and 300 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which only about 70 have survived. Many of these are exclusively spoken by older people; only 18 Indigenous languages are still spoken by all age groups. At the time of the 2006 Census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12 per cent of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 5,500 deaf people.

Religion

Australia has no state religion, and section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion. In the 2006 census, 64 per cent of Australians were counted as Christian, including 26 per cent as Roman Catholic and 19 per cent as Anglican. About 19 per cent of the population stated "no religion" (which includes humanism, atheism, agnosticism and rationalism), which was the fastest-growing group from 2001 to 2006, and a further 12 per cent did not answer (the question is optional) or did not give a response adequate for interpretation. The largest non-Christian religion in Australia is Buddhism (2.1 per cent), followed by Islam (1.7 per cent), Hinduism (0.8 per cent) and Judaism (0.5 per cent). Overall, fewer than 6 per cent of Australians identify with non-Christian religions.

Prior to European settlement in Australia, the animist beliefs of Australia's indigenous people had been practised for millennia. In the case of mainland Aboriginal Australians, their spirituality is known as The Dreamtime and it places a heavy emphasis on belonging to the land. The collection of stories which it contains shaped Aboriginal law and customs and Aboriginal art; story and dance continues to draw on these spiritual traditions. In the case of the Torres Strait Islanders who inhabit the islands between Australia and New Guinea, spirituality and customs reflected their Melanesian origins and dependence on the sea. The 1996 Australian census counted more than 7000 respondents as followers of a traditional Aboriginal religion.

Since the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788, Christianity has grown to be the major religion. Consequently, the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter are public holidays, the skylines of Australian cities and towns are marked by church and cathedral spires, and the Christian churches have played an integral role in the development of education, health and welfare services in Australia. The Catholic education system operates as the largest non-government educator, accounting for about 21% of all secondary enrolments at the close of the 2000s (decade), with Catholic Health Australia similarly being the largest non-government provider. Christian welfare organisations also play a prominent role within national life, with organisations like the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul Society and Anglicare enjoying widespread support. Such contributions are recognised on Australia's currency, with the presence of Christian pastors like Aboriginal writer David Unaipon ($50) and founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, John Flynn ($20). Other significant Australian religious have included St. Mary McKillop, who became the first Australian to be recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2010 and Church of Christ pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls, who, like Martin Luther King in the United States, led a movement against racial inequality in Australia and was also the first indigenous Australian to be appointed as a State Governor.

For much of Australian history the Church of England (now known as the Anglican Church of Australia) was the largest religious affiliation, however multicultural immigration has contributed to a decline in its relative position, with the Roman Catholic Church benefiting from the opening of post-war Australia to multicultural immigration and becoming the largest group. Similarly, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism have all been expanding in the post war decades. Weekly attendance at church services in 2001 was about 1.5 million (about 7.8 per cent of the population).

An international survey, made by the private, not-for profit German think-tank, the Bertelsmann Foundation, found that "Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, coming in 17th out of 21 [countries] surveyed" and that "Nearly three out of four Australians say they are either not at all religious or that religion does not play a central role in their lives." A survey of 1,718 Australians by the Christian Research Association at the end of 2009 suggested that the number of people attending religious services per month in Australia has dropped from 23 per cent in 1993 to 16 per cent in 2009, and while 60 per cent of 15 to 29-year-old respondents in 1993 identified with Christian denominations, 33 per cent did in 2009.

Education

School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. Education is the responsibility of the individual states and territories so the rules vary between states, but in general children are required to attend school from the age of about 5 up until about 16. In at least some states (eg, WA) children aged 16–17 are required to either attend school or participate in vocational training, such as an apprenticeship.

Australia has an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99 per cent. In the Programme for International Student Assessment, Australia regularly scores among the top five of thirty major developed countries (member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Catholic education accounts for the largest non-government sector.

Australia has 37 government-funded universities and two private universities, as well as a number of other specialist institutions that provide approved courses at the higher education level. The University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university, having been founded in 1850, followed by the University of Melbourne three years later. Other notable universities include those of the Group of Eight leading tertiary institutions, including the University of Adelaide (which boasts an association with five Nobel Laureates), the Australian National University located in the national capital of Canberra, Monash University and the University of New South Wales.

The OECD places Australia among the most expensive nations to attend university. There is a state-based system of vocational training, known as TAFE, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58 per cent of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications, and the tertiary graduation rate of 49 per cent is the highest among OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries.

Health

Life expectancy in Australia in 2006 was 78.7 years for males and 83.5 years for females. Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease. Australia has one of the highest proportions of overweight citizens among developed nations.

Total expenditure on health (including private sector spending) is around 9.8 per cent of GDP. Australia introduced universal health care in 1975. Known as Medicare it is now nominally funded by an income tax surcharge known as the ''Medicare levy'', currently set at 1.5 per cent. The states manage hospitals and attached outpatient services, while the Commonwealth funds the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (reducing the costs of medicines) and general practice.

Culture

Since 1788, the basis of Australian culture has been strongly influenced by Anglo-Celtic Western culture. Distinctive cultural features have also arisen from Australia's natural environment and Indigenous cultures. Since the mid-20th century, American popular culture has strongly influenced Australia, particularly through television and cinema. Other cultural influences come from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking nations.

Arts

Australian visual arts are thought to have begun with the cave and bark paintings of its Indigenous peoples. The traditions of Indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally, through ceremony and the telling of Dreamtime stories. From the time of European settlement, a theme in Australian art has been the natural landscape, seen for example in the works of Albert Namatjira, Arthur Streeton and others associated with the Heidelberg School, and Arthur Boyd.

The country's landscape remains a source of inspiration for Australian modernist artists; it has been depicted in acclaimed works by the likes of Sidney Nolan, Fred Williams, Sydney Long, and Clifton Pugh. Australian artists influenced by modern American and European art include cubist Grace Crowley, surrealist James Gleeson, and pop artist Martin Sharp. Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the only art movement of international significance to emerge from Australia and "the last great art movement of the 20th century"; its exponents have included Emily Kngwarreye. Art critic Robert Hughes has written several influential books about Australian history and art, and was described as the "world's most famous art critic" by ''The New York Times''. The National Gallery of Australia and state galleries maintain Australian and overseas collections.

Many of Australia's performing arts companies receive funding through the federal government's Australia Council. There is a symphony orchestra in each state, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, well-known for its famous soprano Joan Sutherland. At the turn of the 19th to 20th century, Nellie Melba was one of the world's leading opera singers. Ballet and dance are represented by The Australian Ballet and various state companies. Each state has a publicly funded theatre company.

Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, and Dorothea Mackellar captured the experience of the Australian bush. The character of the nation's colonial past, as represented in early literature, is popular with modern Australians. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Australian to have achieved this. Australian winners of the Man Booker Prize have included Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally; David Williamson, David Malouf, and J. M. Coetzee, who recently became an Australian citizen, are also renowned writers, and Les Murray is regarded as "one of the leading poets of his generation".

Media

The Australian cinema industry began with the 1906 release of ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', which is regarded as being the world's first feature-length film; but both Australian feature film production and the distribution of British-made features declined dramatically after World War I as American studios and distributors monopolised the industry, and by the 1930s around 95 per cent of the feature films screened in Australia were produced in Hollywood. By the late 1950s feature film production in Australia had effectively ceased and there were no all-Australian feature films made in the decade between 1959 and 1969.

Thanks to initiatives by the Gorton and Whitlam federal governments, the New Wave of Australian cinema of the 1970s brought provocative and successful films, some exploring the nation's colonial past, such as ''Picnic at Hanging Rock'' and ''Breaker Morant'', while the so-called "Ocker" genre produced several highly successful urban-based comedy features including ''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' and ''Alvin Purple''. Later hits included ''Mad Max'' and ''Gallipoli''. More recent successes included ''Shine'' and ''Rabbit-Proof Fence''. Notable Australian actors include Judith Anderson, Errol Flynn, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush, and Cate Blanchett—current joint director of the Sydney Theatre Company.

Australia has two public broadcasters (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the multicultural Special Broadcasting Service), three commercial television networks, several pay-TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Each major city has at least one daily newspaper, and there are two national daily newspapers, ''The Australian'' and ''The Australian Financial Review''. In 2010, Reporters Without Borders placed Australia 18th on a list of 178 countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (8th) but ahead of the United Kingdom (19th) and United States (20th). This relatively low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia; most print media are under the control of News Corporation and Fairfax Media.

Cuisine

The food of Indigenous Australians was largely influenced by the area in which they lived. Most tribal groups subsisted on a simple hunter-gatherer diet, hunting native game and fish and collecting native plants and fruit. The general term for native Australian flora and fauna used as a source of food is bush tucker. The first settlers introduced British food to the continent which much of what is now considered typical Australian food is based on the Sunday roast has become an enduring tradition for many Australians. Since the beginning of the 20th century, food in Australia has increasingly been influenced by immigrants to the nation, particularly from Southern European and Asian cultures. Australian wine is produced in 60 distinct production areas totaling approximately 160,000 hectares, mainly in the southern, cooler parts of the country. The wine regions in each of these states produce different wine varieties and styles that take advantage of local climates and soil types. The predominant varieties are Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sémillon, Pinot noir, Riesling, and Sauvignon blanc. In 1995, an Australian red wine, Penfolds Grange, won the Wine Spectator award for Wine of the Year, the first time a wine from outside France or California achieved this distinction.

Sport

Around 24 per cent Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities in Australia. Australia has strong international teams in cricket, field hockey, netball, rugby league, and rugby union, having been Olympic or world champions at least twice in each sport in the last 25 years for both men and women where applicable. Australia is also powerful in track cycling, rowing, and swimming, having consistently been in the top-five medal-winners at Olympic or World Championship level since 2000. Swimming is the strongest of these sports; Australia is the second-most prolific medal winner in the sport in Olympic history.

Some of Australia's most internationally well-known and successful sportspeople are swimmers Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose, Shane Gould, and Ian Thorpe; sprinters Shirley Strickland, Betty Cuthbert, and Cathy Freeman; tennis players Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Evonne Goolagong, and Margaret Court; cricketers Donald Bradman and Shane Warne; three-time Formula One world champion Jack Brabham; five-time motorcycle grand prix world champion Mick Doohan; golfers Greg Norman and Karrie Webb; cyclist Hubert Opperman; and prodigious billiards player Walter Lindrum. Nationally, other popular sports include Australian rules football, horse racing, squash, surfing, soccer, and motor racing. The annual Melbourne Cup horse race and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race attract intense interest.

Australia has participated in every summer Olympics of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and has ranked among the top six medal-takers since 2000. Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982, and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Other major international events held in Australia include the Australian Open tennis grand slam tournament, international cricket matches, and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Sydney hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the annual Australia–New Zealand Bledisloe Cup is keenly watched. The highest-rating television programs include sports telecasts such as the summer Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Rugby League State of Origin, and the grand finals of the National Rugby League and Australian Football League. Skiing in Australia began in the 1860s and snow sports take place in the Australian Alps and parts of Tasmania.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Denoon, Donald, et al. (2000). ''A History of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific''. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-17962-3.

Hughes, Robert (1986). ''The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding''. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-50668-5.

''Emily Kngwarreye – Paintings'' (no editor given) (1996). North Ryde NSW: Craftsman House / G + B Arts International. ISBN 90-5703-681-9.

Macintyre, Stuart (2000). ''A Concise History of Australia''. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62359-6.

McCulloch, Alan; Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch Childs (2006). ''The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art''. Fitzroy, VIC: Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press. ISBN 0-522-85317-X.

Powell JM (1988). ''An Historical Geography of Modern Australia: The Restive Fringe''. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-25619-4.

Robinson GM, Loughran RJ, and Tranter PJ (2000) ''Australia and New Zealand: economy, society and environment''. London: Arnold; NY: OUP; 0340720336 paper 0-340720328 hard.

External links

About Australia from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website

Governments of Australia website (federal, states and territories)

Australian Government website

Parliament of Australia: Who's Who (includes head of state)

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Community organisations portal

Tourism Australia

Australia at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

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Category:Constitutional monarchies Category:Countries bordering the Pacific Ocean Category:Countries of the Indian Ocean Category:English-speaking countries and territories Category:Federal countries Category:Former British colonies Category:G20 nations Category:Islands Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Member states of the United Nations Category:Oceanian countries Category:States and territories established in 1901

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David Vaughan Icke (born April 29, 1952) is an English writer and public speaker, best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world." Describing himself as the most controversial speaker in the world, he has written 18 books explaining his position, and has attracted a substantial following across the political spectrum. His 533-page ''The Biggest Secret'' (1999) has been called the conspiracy theorist's Rosetta Stone.

Icke was a well-known BBC television sports presenter and spokesman for the Green Party, when in 1990 he had an encounter with a psychic who told him he was a healer placed on Earth for a purpose. In April 1991 he said on the BBC's Terry Wogan show that he was a son of the godhead—though he said later he had been misinterpreted—and predicted that the world would soon be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. He said the show changed his life, turning him from a respected household name into someone who was laughed at whenever he appeared in public.

He continued nevertheless to develop his ideas, and in four books published over seven years—''The Robots' Rebellion'' (1994), ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free'' (1995), ''The Biggest Secret'' (1999), and ''Children of the Matrix'' (2001)—set out a moral and political worldview that combined New-Age spiritualism with a passionate denunciation of totalitarian trends in the modern world. At the heart of his theories lies the idea that the world is becoming a global fascist state, that a secret group of reptilian humanoids called the Babylonian Brotherhood controls humanity, and that many prominent figures are reptilian, including George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Kris Kristofferson, and Boxcar Willie.

Michael Barkun has described Icke's position as "New Age conspiracism," writing that he is the most fluent of the conspiracist genre. Richard Kahn and Tyson Lewis argue that the reptilian hypothesis may simply be Swiftian satire, a way of giving ordinary people a narrative with which to question what they see around them.

Personal life and career

Early life and education

Icke was born in Leicester General Hospital to Beric Vaughan Icke and Barbara J. Icke, née Cooke, who were married in Leicester in 1951. Icke was the middle child; there was a brother seven years older, and another seven years younger. Beric had wanted to be a doctor, but his family had no money, so he joined the Royal Air Force instead. He was awarded a British Empire Medal for gallantry in May 1943 after helping to save the crew of an aircraft that had crashed into the Chipping Warden air base in Oxfordshire. Along with a Squadron Leader, he ran into the burning aircraft, without protective clothing, and saved the life of a crew member who was trapped inside.

After the war, Beric got a job in the Gents clock factory, and the family lived in a slum terraced house on Lead Street, near Wharf Street in the centre of Leicester. When Icke was three, they moved to a housing estate known as the Goodwood, one of the 1950s council estates the post-war Labour government built. "To say we were skint," he wrote in 1993, "is like saying it is a little chilly at the North Pole." He remembers having to hide under a window or chair when the council man came to collect the rent—after knocking, the rent man would walk round the house peering through the windows to see whether anyone was at home. His mother never explained that it was about the rent; she just told him to hide, and Icke writes that he still gets a fright when he hears a knock on the door.

He was always a loner, spending hours playing alone with toy steam trains, and preferring to cross the street rather than speak to anyone. He attended Whitehall Infant School, then Whitehall Junior School, where he spent most of his time feeling nervous and shy, often to the point of feeling faint during the morning assembly and having to leave before he passed out. The family doctor suggested a referral to a child psychologist, but his father put his foot down. He made no effort at school and failed at practically everything, but when he was nine, he was chosen for the junior school's football team. It was the first time he had succeeded at anything, and he came to see football as his way out of poverty. He played in goal, which he writes suited the loner in him and gave him a sense of living on the edge between hero and villain.

Football and first marriage

He failed his 11-plus and in 1963 was sent to the city's Crown Hills Secondary Modern. He left at 15 after being talent-spotted, and was signed up as a goalkeeper for Coventry City. Arthritis in his left knee—which later spread to the right knee, ankles, elbows, wrists, and hands—stopped him from making a career out of football, but he managed to play for Coventry and Hereford United, before retiring in 1973 at the age of 21. He met his first wife, Linda Atherton, in May 1971 at a dance at the Chesford Grange Hotel near Leamington Spa. She was working as a van driver for a garage in Leamington. Shortly after they met, Icke had another one of the huge rows he had started having with his father—always a domineering man, his father was upset that Icke's arthritis was interfering with his football career—so he packed his bags and left home. He moved into a tiny bedsit and worked in a local travel agency during the day, travelling to Hereford in the evenings to play football. He and Linda were married on September 30 that year, four months after they'd met. A daughter was born in March 1975, followed by a son in December 1981, and another son in November 1992.

Sports presenter

He found a job in 1973 as a reporter with the weekly ''Leicester Advertiser'', through a contact who was a sports editor at the ''Daily Mail''. He writes that he got the job because he was the only applicant. He advanced through local radio to television, and became a regional sports presenter for the BBC's ''South Today'' in 1982. He moved that year to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, somewhere he had always wanted to live. He appeared on the first edition of British television's first national breakfast show, ''Breakfast Time'', on January 17, 1983, presenting the sports news for them until 1985. He published his first book in 1983, ''It's a tough game, son!'', about how to break into football.

He worked for BBC Sport until August 1990, often as a stand-in host on ''Grandstand'' and snooker programmes, and also at the 1988 Summer Olympics, but a career in television began to lose its appeal for him. He wrote in ''Tales from the Time Loop'' that he found television workers insincere, shallow, and vicious, with rare exceptions. His contract with the BBC was terminated in 1990 when he refused to pay his poll tax, a controversial local tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher. He ended up paying it in November 1990, but his announcement that he was willing to go to jail rather than pay prompted the BBC, by charter an impartial public-service broadcaster, to distance itself from him.

Green Party; meeting with psychic healer

During the 1980s, he began to flirt with fringe medicine and New Age philosophies in an effort to find relief from his arthritis. He wrote his second book in 1989, ''It Doesn't Have To Be Like This'', an outline of his views on the environment, and became involved with the Green Party from 1988 to 1991, rising to become one of their four national Speakers, a position the party had created in lieu of a leader. ''The Observer'' called him "the Greens' Tony Blair." His name regularly appeared at high-profile events. He was invited in 1989 to debate animal rights at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, alongside Tom Regan, Mary Warnock, and Germaine Greer, and in September 1990 his name appeared on advertisements for a children's charity along with Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen, and other celebrities.

In 1989 he began to feel a presence around him; he wrote that it was a time of considerable personal despair for him, though he gave no details. In March 1990, he had an experience in a newsagent's that felt as though a magnetic force was pulling his feet to the ground, and he heard a voice tell him to look at a particular section of books. One of the books was by Betty Shine, a psychic healer in Brighton. He decided to visit her to ask for help with his arthritis. She told him she had a message for him, and said he had been sent to heal the Earth. He would become famous, but would face opposition. The spirit world was going to pass ideas to him, which he would speak about to others, sometimes not understanding the words himself. She said he would write five books in three years; that in 20 years there would be a different kind of flying machine, where we could go wherever we wanted and time would have no meaning; and there would be earthquakes in unusual places, because the inner earth was being destabilized by having oil taken from the seabed.

In February 1991, he visited the pre-Inca Sillustani burial ground near Puno , Peru. He writes that he felt drawn to a large mound of earth, at the top of which lay a circle of waist-high stones. As he stood in the circle, he again felt his feet pulled to the earth as if by a magnet, and an urge to outstretch his arms. His feet started vibrating, and his head felt as though a drill was passing through it. Two thoughts entered his mind: that people will be talking about this in 100 years, and then, "it will be over when you feel the rain." He said his body started shaking as though plugged into an electrical socket and new ideas began to pour into him. Then it started raining, and the experience ended as suddenly as it had begun. He described it later as the "kundalini"—a term from Indian yoga describing a libidinal force that lies coiled at the base of the spine—exploding up through his spine, activating his brain and his chakras, or energy centres, triggering a higher level of consciousness.

He returned to England and began to write a book about the experience, ''Truth Vibrations'', published in May that year. At a Green Party conference in Wolverhampton on March 20, 1991, before the book appeared, he resigned from the party, telling them he was about to be at the centre of "tremendous and increasing controversy," and winning a standing ovation from them after the announcement.

Turquoise period

What followed became what Icke calls his "turquoise period." He began to wear only turquoise because, he explained, it is a conduit of positive energy. He had met Deborah Shaw, an English psychic living in Calgary, Alberta, in August 1990, and after he returned from Peru, he began an adulterous relationship with her, which led to the birth of an illegitimate daughter in December 1991. At one point, Shaw moved in with him and his legal wife. As polygamists, Icke's mistress, Shaw, changed her name to Mari Shawsun, while Icke's legal wife became known as Michaela, supposedly an aspect of the Archangel Michael, and they became known in the press as the "turquoise triangle."

In March 1991, a week after resigning from the Green Party, he held a press conference to announce that he had become a "channel for the Christ spirit," a title conferred on him by "the Godhead." He said the world would end in 1997, preceded by a number of disasters. There would be a severe hurricane around the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, eruptions in Cuba, disruption in China, a hurricane in Derry, and an earthquake on the Isle of Arran. Los Angeles would become an island, New Zealand would disappear, and the cliffs of Kent would be under water by Christmas 1991. He said the information was being given to them by voices and automatic writing. He wrote in 1993 that he didn't feel in control during the press conference. He heard his voice predicting the end of the world, and was appalled by what he was saying. "I was speaking the words," he wrote, "but all the time I could hear the voice of the brakes in the background saying, 'David, what the hell are you saying? This is absolute nonsense'." His predictions were splashed all over the next day's front pages, to his great dismay.

Terry Wogan interview

The headlines attracted an invitation from the BBC's prime-time Terry Wogan show on April 29, 1991. He implied during the interview, amid laughter from the studio audience, that he was "the son of God," and said Britain would be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. He later said he had used the term "the son of God" to mean an aspect of the infinite consciousness. He also talked about politics, energy and the environment: "[W]hen a child dies in this world of preventable disease every two seconds, when the economic system of this world must destroy the earth simply for that system to survive; when you see all the wars, and when you see all the pain, and when you see all the suffering, is it a force of love and wisdom and tolerance that is in control of this planet?"

The interview proved devastating for him. The BBC was criticized for allowing it to go ahead, Des Christy in ''The Guardian'' calling it a "media crucifixion." Wogan interviewed Icke again in 2006, acknowledging that his comments during the interview had been a bit sharp. Icke disappeared from public life for a time, unable to walk down the street without people mocking him. His children were followed to school by journalists and ridiculed by schoolmates, and his wife would open the back door to get the washing in only to find a camera crew filming her. Icke told Jon Ronson in 2001:

One of my very greatest fears as a child was being ridiculed in public. And there it was coming true. As a television presenter, I'd been respected. People come up to you in the street and shake your hand and talk to you in a respectful way. And suddenly, overnight, this was transformed into "Icke's a nutter." I couldn't walk down any street in Britain without being laughed at. It was a nightmare. My children were devastated because their dad was a figure of ridicule.

Writing and lecturing

Icke said the interview had been the making of him in the end, that the laughter had set him free. He wrote that every bridge back to his past was ablaze, giving him the courage to develop his ideas without caring what anyone thought of him. He continued to write, turning himself into a prolific and popular author and speaker. In 1995 he established his own publisher, Bridge of Love Publications, now called David Icke Books. As of 2006, he had lectured in 25 countries—sometimes speaking for six hours at a time—his lectures were attracting thousands, his books had been translated into eight languages, and his website was getting 600,000 hits a week. ''The Biggest Secret'' went through six reprintings between 1999 and 2006, and ''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster'' (2002) became a top-five seller in South Africa. In 2008 he was invited to address the Oxford Union, the University of Oxford's debating society.

Lewis and Kahn write that he has produced a consolidation of all conspiracy theories into a massive project with unlimited explanatory power, his work cutting across political, religious, and socio-economic divisions, uniting the right and left. They write that his lectures might see neo-Nazis and Christian Patriots sitting next to 60-something UFO buffs and New Age earth goddesses.

He stood for parliament in the UK as an independent in the July 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election, after initially announcing he would stand as "Big Brother—The Big Picture". He came 12th in the polling with 110 votes and lost his deposit. He explained that he stood because, "if we don't face this now we are going to have some serious explaining to do when we are asked by our children and grandchildren what we were doing when the global fascist state was installed. 'I was watching ''EastEnders'', dear,' will not be good enough."

Key ideas

Icke combines metaphysical discussion about the nature of the universe and consciousness with conspiracy theories about public figures being satanic paedophiles, and how apparently random events are attempts to control humanity. He argued in ''The Biggest Secret'' that human beings originated in a breeding program run by a race of reptilians called Anunnaki from the Draco constellation, and that what we call reality is just a holographic experience; the only reality is the realm of the Absolute. He believes in a collective consciousness that has intentionality; in reincarnation; in other possible worlds that exist alongside ours on other frequencies; and in acquired characteristics, arguing that our experiences change our DNA by downloading new information and overwriting the software. We are also able to attract experiences to ourselves by means of good and bad thoughts.

Global Elite

Icke argues that humanity was created by a network of secret societies run by an ancient race of interbreeding bloodlines from the Middle and Near East, originally extraterrestrial. Icke calls them the "Babylonian Brotherhood." The Illuminati, Round Table, Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, the media, military, science, religion, and the Internet are all Brotherhood created and controlled. The Brotherhood is mostly male. Their children are raised from an early age to understand the mission; those who don't are pushed aside. Key Brotherhood bloodlines are the British House of Windsor, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, European royalty and aristocracy, and the Eastern establishment families of the United States. At the apex of the Brotherhood stands the "Global Elite," identified throughout history as the Illuminati, and at the top of the Global Elite stand the "Prison Wardens." The goal of the Brotherhood—their "Great Work of Ages"—is world domination and a micro-chipped population.

Reptilians and shape-shifting

In ''The Biggest Secret'' (1999), Icke introduced the reptoid hypothesis. He identified the Brotherhood as originating from reptilians from the constellation Draco, who walk on two legs and appear human, and who live in tunnels and caverns inside the earth. They are the race of gods known as the Anunnaki in the Babylonian creation myth, ''Enûma Eliš'' who share almost identical parallels across the ancient world cultures. Lewis and Kahn write that Icke has taken his "ancient astronaut" narrative from the Jewish Azeri-American writer, Zecharia Sitchin. Icke's idea of "inner-earth reptilians" is also not new, though Barkun writes that Icke has done more than most to expand it.

Lewis and Kahn write that Sitchin argued—for example in ''Divine Encounters'' (1995)—that the Anunnaki came to Earth for its precious metals. Icke says they came specifically for "monoatomic gold," a mineral he says can increase the carrying capacity of the nervous system ten thousandfold. After ingesting it, they can process vast amounts of information, speed up trans-dimensional travel, and shapeshift from reptilian to human form. They use human fear, guilt, and aggression as energy. "Thus we have the encouragement of wars," he wrote in 1999, "human genocide, the mass slaughter of animals, sexual perversions which create highly charged negative energy, and black magic ritual and sacrifice which takes place on a scale that will stagger those who have not studied the subject."

He writes that the Anunnaki have crossbred with human beings, the breeding lines chosen for political reasons. Icke argued that they are the Watchers, the fallen angels, or "Grigori," who mated with human women in the Biblical apocrypha. Their first reptilian-human hybrid, possibly Adam, was created 200,000–300,000 years ago. There was a second breeding program around 30,000 years ago, and a third 7,000 years ago. It is the half-bloods of the third breeding program who today control the world, more Anunnaki than human, he argued. They have a powerful, hypnotic stare, the origin of the phrase to "give someone the evil eye," and their hybrid DNA allows them to shapeshift when they consume human blood.

In ''Children of the Matrix'' (2001), he added that the Anunnaki bred with another extraterrestrial race called the "Nordics," who had blond hair and blue eyes, to produce a race of human slave masters, the Aryans. The Aryans retain many reptilian traits, including cold-blooded attitudes, a desire for top-down control, and an obsession with ritual, lending them a tendency toward fascism, rationalism, and racism. Lewis and Kahn write that, with the Nordic hypothesis, Icke is mirroring standard claims by the far right that the Aryan bloodline has ruled the Earth throughout history. For Icke, Sumerian Kings and Egyptian pharaohs have all been Aryan reptilian humanoids, as have 43 American presidents and the Queen Mother, who he wrote in 2001 was "seriously reptilian." All have taken part in Satanic rituals, paedophilia, kidnapping of children, drug parties and murder, needed to satisfy their reptilian blood lust, which allows them to retain their temporary human form.

Dimensions

The reptilians not only come from another planet, but are also from another dimension, the lower level of the fourth dimension, the one nearest the physical world. Icke writes that the universe consists of an infinite number of frequencies or dimensions of life that share the same space, like television and radio frequencies. Some people can tune their consciousness to other wavelengths, which is what psychic power consists of, and it is from one of these other dimensions that the Anunnaki are controlling this world—though just as fourth-dimensional reptilians control us, they are controlled, in turn, by a fifth dimension. The lower level of the fourth dimension is what others call the "lower astral dimension." Icke argued that it is where demons live, the entities Satanists summon during their rituals. They are, in fact, summoning the reptilians. Barkun argues that the introduction of different dimensions allows Icke to skip awkward questions about which part of the universe the reptilians come from and how they got here.

Problem-reaction-solution

In ''Tales From The Time Loop'' (2003), Icke argues that most organized religions, especially Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are Illuminati creations designed to divide and conquer the human race through endless conflicts, as are racial, ethnic, and sexual divisions. He cites the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 as examples of events organized by the Global Elite. The incidents allow the Elite to respond in whatever way they intended to act in the first place, a concept Icke calls "order out of chaos," or "problem-reaction-solution". He writes that there are few, if any, public events that are not engineered, or at least used, by the Brotherhood: "You want to introduce something you know the people won't like. ... So you first create a PROBLEM, a rising crime rate, more violence, a terrorist bomb ... You make sure someone else is blamed for this problem and not you, the real people behind it all. So you create a "patsy," as they call them in America, a Timothy McVeigh or a Lee Harvey Oswald. ... This brings us to stage two, the REACTION from the people—"This can't go on; what are THEY going to do about it?" ... This allows THEM to then openly offer the SOLUTION to the problems they have created ..."

Red Dresses

In ''Infinite Love is the Only Truth'' (2005), Icke introduces the idea of "reptilian software." He says that there are three kinds of people. The highest level of the Brotherhood are the "Red Dresses." These are "software people," elsewhere called "reptilian software," or "constructs of mind," without consciousness, without free will. Their human bodies are holographic veils. A second group, the so-called "sheeple"—the vast majority of humanity—have what Icke calls "back seat consciousness." They are conscious, but they do whatever they are told and are the main source of energy for the Brotherhood. They include the "repeaters," the people in positions of influence who simply repeat what other people have told them. Doctors repeat what they are told in medical school and by drug companies, teachers repeat what they learned at teacher training college, and journalists are the greatest repeaters of all. The third group, by far the smallest, are those who see through the illusion; they are people like Neo from the film, ''The Matrix''. They are usually dubbed dangerous or mad. The "Red Dress" genetic lines keep obsessively interbreeding to make sure their bloodlines are not weakened by the second or third levels of consciousness, because consciousness can rewrite the software.

The Moon Matrix

Icke wrote in 2010 that the Earth and what he calls the collective human mind are manipulated from the Moon, which is actually a spacecraft controlled by the reptilians. The "Moon Matrix" is a broadcast from that spacecraft that gives us our sense of reality.

Reception

Protests

In ''The Robots' Rebellion'' (1994), Icke introduced the idea that the Global Elite's plan for world domination was laid out in ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', a hoax published in Russia in 1903, which supposedly presented a plan by the Jewish people to take over the world. The ''Protocols'' is the most influential piece of antisemitic material of modern times, portraying the Jewish people as cackling villains from a Saturday matinee, as Jon Ronson put it in his documentary about Icke, ''David Icke, the Lizards and the Jews'' (2001). It was published in English in 1920 by ''The Dearborn Independent'', Henry Ford's newspaper, becoming mixed up with conspiracy theories about anti-Christian Illuminati, international financiers, and the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking dynasty. After it was exposed as a hoax, Michael Barkun of Syracuse University writes that it disappeared from mainstream discourse until interest in it was renewed by the American far right in the 1950s. According to Mark Honigsbaum, Icke refers to it 25 times in the ''Robot's Rebellion'', calling it the "Illuminati protocols." Barkun writes that this is the first of a number of examples of Icke moving dangerously close to antisemitism.

Louis Theroux cautioned that it might not only be unfair to Icke to allege that he is associating Jews with the Global Elite, but might also lend what Theroux called a patina of seriousness to his ideas. Icke said it was "friggin' nonsense" that his reptiles represented Jews. "There is a tribe of people interbreeding," he told Jon Ronson in 2001, "which do not, ''do not'', relate to any earth race ... This is not a Jewish plot. This is not a plot on the world by Jewish people".

Icke's use of the ''Protocols'' was greeted with dismay by the Green Party's executive. They had allowed him to address the party's annual conference in 1992, despite the controversy over his Wogan interview, but in September 1994 decided to deny him a platform. Icke wrote to ''The Guardian'' protesting the decision, denying ''The Robots' Rebellion'' was antisemitic, and rejecting racism, sexism and prejudice of any kind, but in the same letter insisted that whoever wrote the ''Protocols'' "knew the game plan" for the 20th century. Barkun argues that Icke was trying to have it both ways, offended by the allegation of antisemitism while "hinting at the dark activities of Jewish elites." Alick Bartholomew of Gateway, Icke's former publisher, said that an early draft of ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free'' (1995) contained material questioning the Holocaust, and that Icke was dropped because of it. Sam Taylor wrote in ''The Observer'' in 1997 that, having read the material, he did not believe it was antisemitic, but argued that Icke was "tapping into a seriously paranoid, aggressive strain in U.S. society."

Icke was briefly detained by immigration officials when he entered Canada in 2000, after his name was added to a watch list because of complaints from the Canadian Jewish Congress. His books were removed from Indigo Books, and several stops on his speaking tour were cancelled. Human rights lawyer Richard Warman, working at the time for the Canadian Green Party, took credit for much of this in Jon Ronson's documentary about Icke, which catalogued the cancelled appearances.

Academic reception

Michael Barkun sees Icke as a professional conspiracy theorist of the Alex Jones variety, and the most fluent of the genre. He calls Icke's work "improvisational millennialism," with an end-of-history scenario involving a final battle between good and evil. Because everything is connected in the conspiracist world view, Barkun writes, every source can be mined for links. The greater the stigma attached to an idea, the more attractive it becomes, and the vehemence with which the mainstream rejects an idea is almost a measure of its validity. For Icke, the widespread ridiculing of the lizard theory is a guarantee that there's something to it, Barkun argues.

According to Barkun, Icke has actively tried to cultivate the far right. In 1996, he spoke to a conference in Reno, Nevada, alongside opponents of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act—which mandates background checks on people who buy guns in the United States—including Kirk Lyons, a white nationalist lawyer who has represented the Ku Klux Klan. Barkun argues that the relationship between Icke, the militias, and the Christian Patriots is complex because of the New Age baggage Icke brings with him, and he stresses that Icke is not actually a member of any of these groups, but he has nevertheless absorbed the world view of the radical right virtually intact. "There is no fuller explication of its beliefs about ruling elites than Icke's," he writes. Icke regards Christian patriots as the only Americans who understand the truth about the New World Order, but he also told a Christian patriot group: "I don't know which I dislike more, the world controlled by the Brotherhood, or the one you want to replace it with."

Tyson Lewis and Richard Kahn see Icke as a spiritual philosopher, arguing that it's not clear he believes in the reptilians himself. They write that there is an almost obsessive-compulsive element to his writing, which includes anything he can find to support a narrative that connects ancient Sumer to modern America, in a way that "defies the laws of academic gravity." They argue that the lizards may be allegorical, a Swiftian satire describing the emergence of a global fascist state. In ''Children of the Matrix'', Icke writes that, that if the reptilians did not exist, we would have to invent them. "In fact," he says, "we probably have. They are other levels of ourselves putting ourselves in our face." Lewis and Kahn make use of Douglas Kellner's distinction in ''Media Spectacle'' (1995) between a reactionary clinical paranoia—a mindset dissociated from reality—and a progressive, critical paranoia that confronts power. They argue that Icke displays elements of both, writing that what they call his "postmodern metanarrative" may be a way of giving ordinary people a narrative structure within which to question what they see around them.

Works

;Books

''It's a Tough Game, Son!''. Piccolo Books, 1983. ISBN 0330280473

''It Doesn't Have To Be Like This: Green Politics Explained''. Green Print, 1989. ISBN 1854250337

''Truth Vibrations''. Gateway, 1991, 1994. ISBN 1858600065

''Love Changes Everything''. Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. ISBN 1855382474

''In the Light of Experience: The Autobiography of David Icke''. Time Warner Books, 1993. ISBN 0751506036

''Days of Decision''. Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1993. ISBN 1897766017

''The Robot's Rebellion''. Gateway, 1994. ISBN 1858600227

''Heal the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Personal and Planetary Transformation''. Gateway, 1994. ISBN 1858600057

''...And the Truth Shall Set You Free''. Bridge of Love Publications, 1995. ISBN 0953881059

''I Am Me, I Am Free: The Robot's Guide to Freedom''. Truth Seeker, 1996, 1998. ISBN 0952614758

''Lifting the Veil: David Icke interviewed by Jon Rappoport''. Truth Seeker, 1998. ISBN 0939040050

''The Biggest Secret: The Book That Will Change the World''. Bridge of Love Publications, 1999. ISBN 0952614766

''Children of the Matrix''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2001. ISBN 0953881016

''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2002. ISBN 0953881024

''Tales from the Time Loop''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2003. ISBN 0953881040

''Infinite Love Is the Only Truth: Everything Else Is Illusion''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2005. ISBN 0953881067

''The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy (and how to end it)''. David Icke Books Ltd, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9538810-8-6

''Human Race Get Off Your Knees—The Lion Sleeps No More''. David Icke Books Ltd, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9559973-1-0

;DVDs and videos

''Speaking Out: Who Really Controls the World and What We Can Do About It''

''David Icke: Turning of the Tide'' (1996)

''The Reptilian Agenda'' (1999) (DVD)

''David Icke: Revelations of a Mother Goddess''

''David Icke: The Freedom Road'' (2003)

''David Icke: Secrets of the Matrix'', Parts 1–3 (2003) (DVD)

''David Icke, Live in Vancouver: From Prison to Paradise'' (2005) (DVD)

''Freedom or Fascism: The Time to Choose'' (2006) (DVD)

''David Icke: Big Brother, the Big Picture'', (2008) free Internet Video

''Beyond The Cutting Edge'' (2008) (DVD)

''David Icke Live at the Oxford Union Debating Society

''The Lion Sleeps No more'' (2010) (DVD)

''Secret Space

''Secret Space 2

See also

Erich von Däniken

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa

Notes

References

David Icke's website

Barkun, Michael. ''A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America''. University of California, 2003.

Barkun, Michael. ''Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland Security Since 9/11''. The University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Channel 5 Television. David Icke: Was He Right?, December 12, 2006, ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Chaudhary, Vivek. "Greens see red at 'Son of God's anti-Semitism'," ''The Guardian'', September 12, 1994.

Christy, Des. "Crucifixion, courtesy of the BBC," ''The Guardian'', May 6, 1991.

Evans, Paul. Interview: David Icke, ''New Statesman'', March 3, 2008.

Gillis, Charlie. "Righteous Crusader or Civil Rights Menace?", ''Macleans'', April 9, 2008.

Greenslade, Nick. "The ten worst sportsmen in politics", ''The Observer'', September 5, 2004.

Grossman, Wendy. "Green Party Cofounder Icke Goes New Age", ''Skeptical Inquirer'', January 1, 1991.

Honigsbaum, Mark. "The Dark Side of David Icke", ''London Evening Standard'', May 26, 1995, accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. ''It's a tough game, son!''. Piccolo Books, 1983.

Icke, David. "Does the Animal Kingdom need a Bill of Rights?", Royal Institute of Great Britain, 1989, ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. ''In the Light of Experience'', Warner Books, 1993.

Icke, David. ''Days of Decision''. Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1993.

Icke, David. ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free''. David Icke Books, 1995.

Icke, David. ''The Biggest Secret: The Book that Will Change the World''. David Icke Books, 1999.

Icke, David. ''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster'', Bridge of Love Publications, 2002.

Icke, David. ''Tales from the Time Loop. David Icke Books, 2003.

Icke, David. ''Infinite Love is the Only Truth''. Bridge of Love Publications, 2005.

Icke, David. ''The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy''. David Icke Books, 2007.

Icke, David (undated). "Problem-reaction-solution", ''News for the Soul'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David (undated). David Icke part 1, part 2, Davidicke.com, accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David (undated). Was Hitler a Rothschild?, DavidIcke.com, accessed December 12, 2010.

Jabbari, Dorsa. "U of T provides accused anti-Semite with mike", ''Varsity News'', October 12, 1999, accessed December 12, 2010.

Kraft, Frances. "New Age speaker set to talk in Toronto", ''The Canadian Jewish News'', October 7, 1999, accessed December 12, 2010.

Lewis, Tyson E., and Kahn, Richard. ''Education Out of Bounds: Reimagining Cultural Studies for a Posthuman Age''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Lewis, Tyson and Kahn, Richard. "The Reptoid Hypothesis: Utopian and Dystopian Representational Motifs in David Icke's Alien Conspiracy Theory", ''Utopian Studies'', Vol. 16, 2005, accessed December 12, 2010.

Marre, Oliver. "Pendennis", ''The Observer'', January 20, 2008.

Mitchell, Ben. "This much I know", interview with David Icke, ''The Observer'', January 22, 2006.

Naughton, Philippe. "Reptilians beware - David Icke is back!", ''The Times'', June 27, 2008.

Offley, Will (2000a). "Selected Quotes Of David Icke", Political Research Associates, February 23, 2000, accessed December 12, 2010.

Offley, Will (2000b). "David Icke And The Politics Of Madness: Where The New Age Meets The Third Reich", Political Research Associates, February 29, 2000, accessed December 12, 2010.

Ronson, Jon. "Beset by lizards, part 1", part 2, extracts from Ronson's book, ''Them: Adventures with Extremists'', ''The Guardian'', March 17, 2011.

Ronson, Jon. "David Icke, the Lizards, and the Jews" 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, 5/5, Channel 4 Television, UK, 2001; ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Taylor, Sam. "So I was in this bar with the son of God ...," ''The Observer'', April 20, 1997.

Theroux, Louis. "Stranger than fiction: Are 12ft lizards running the world?", ''The Guardian'', April 7, 2001.

Whitney, Nicole (undated). "Interview with David Icke", ''News for the Soul'', 2004, accessed December 12, 2010.

Wogan, Terry. David Icke interviewed by Terry Wogan, April 1991 and again in 2006, BBC, courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

''The Guardian''. "Protester David Icke finally pays community charge," November 14, 1990.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Protocols of the Elders of Zion, accessed December 12, 2010.

Further reading

DavidIcke.com, accessed December 12, 2010.

Banyan, Will. "The Big Picture" A review of ''Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster'' (pdf) ''Paranoia Magazine'', October 2003, accessed December 12, 2010.

Cowley, Jason. "The Icke Files", ''The Independent on Sunday'', October 1, 2000.

Kay, Jonathan. "When paranoia goes intergalactic", ''The National Post'', May 12, 2011.

Kay, Jonathan. ''Among the Truthers''. Harper, 2011.

Shermer, Michael. ''Illuminati, The New World Order & Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists (PCTs)'', ''The Skeptic's Dictionary'', accessed December 12, 2010.

;Audio/video

Britton, Fern. Interview with David Icke, 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, BBC's Coast to Coast People, 1991; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. Presenting snooker, BBC, 1980s; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Icke, David. Does the Animal Kingdom need a Bill of Rights?, Royal Institute of Great Britain, ''Arena'', BBC2, 1989; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed November 15, 2009.

Icke, David. Live at the Oxford Union, June 10, 2009; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Maher, Bill. Interview with David Icke, ''Religulous'', 2008; courtesy of ''YouTube'', accessed December 12, 2010.

Category:1952 births Category:Anti-globalist activists Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Association football goalkeepers Category:British sports broadcasters Category:British television presenters Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Pseudohistory Category:Fringe theory Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:English footballers Category:English occult writers Category:English political writers Category:Environmental skepticism Category:Hereford United F.C. players Category:Independent politicians in England Category:Living people Category:People from Leicester Category:People from Ryde Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Religious skeptics Category:The Football League players Category:UFO conspiracy theorists

bg:Дейвид Айк ca:David Icke de:David Icke et:David Icke es:David Icke eo:David Icke fr:David Icke hr:David Icke it:David Icke nl:David Icke ja:デイビッド・アイク no:David Icke pl:David Icke pt:David Icke ro:David Icke ru:Айк, Дэвид sr:Дејвид Ајк fi:David Icke sv:David Icke uk:Девід Айк vo:David Icke

name	Richard Durand
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Richard van Schooneveld
alias	Cliffhanger, Cyber Human, G-Spott, L.T.R. van Schooneveld, Out Now
born	1976Amsterdam, Netherlands
genre	Trance
occupation	Disc jockey, record producer
years active	2005–present
label	Black Hole Recordings, Magik Muzik, SongBird, Terminal 4
website	www.richarddurand.com
notable instruments	}}

Richard Durand (born 1976, Amsterdam, Netherlands) is a Dutch Disc jockey and record producer. His real name is Richard van Schooneveld ()

Biography

Starting his career in 2005, Durand was recommended by Tiësto as his 'Tip For The Top in 2007' in DJ Magazine. In that same year he was placed in the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs poll.

His first creations were tech trance singles "Make Me Scream" and "Slipping Away" on the Terminal 4 label, but his real success started with remixes of Tiësto singles "Lethal Industry", "Flight 643" and "Break My Fall", and reworks of Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" and Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" which brought him into the playlist of DJs such as Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules and Eddie Halliwell.

In 2008, Durand remixed Fragma's "Toca's Miracle" and Armin van Buuren's "In And Out Of Love". His solo productions included "Weep" featuring Skin from Skunk Anansie on vocals, which was signed to Perfecto Records.

In 2009 Durand remixed Art of Trance's "Madagascar" followed by his debut artist album ''Always The Sun'' on Magik Muzik / Black Hole Recordings. The album spawned three singles "Into Something", title track "Always The Sun" and "No Way Home".

Discography

Singles

;Released under Terminal 4

"Make Me Scream" (2005)

"Slipping Away" (2006)

"Sunhump 2006" (2006)

"Any Time" (2007)

"For the Believers 2.0" (2007)

"Inside My Brain" (2007)

"Submerge" (2007)

"Sweep and Repeat" (2007)

"Ledged Up" (2008)

"Predator vs. Cha Cha" (2008)

"Weep" (2008)

;Released under Magik Muzik

"Always the Sun" (2009)

"No Way Home" (2009)

"Into Something" (2009)

"Silver Key" (2009)

"Tiger's Apology" (2009)

"N.Y.C." (with JES) (2010)

"Night and Day" (with Christian Burns) (2010)

"Xelerate" (2010)

Albums

;Artist Albums

''Always the Sun'' (2009)

''Wide Awake'' (2011)

;Compilations

''In Search of Sunrise 8: South Africa'' (2010)

''In Search of Sunrise 9: India'' (2011)

External links

Official Website

MySpace

Richard Durand Discography

References

Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch DJs

it:Richard Durand

name	Feroz Khan
birth date	September 25, 1939
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/message.cfm?l	eng&cid8280043]
birth place	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
death place	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
years active	1960–2007
spouse	Sundari (1965–1985)
children	Fardeen Khan Laila Khan
occupation	Actor, Editor, Producer, Director
filmfareawards	Best Debut: ''Didi'' (1960)
death date	April 27, 2009
religion	Muslim }}

Feroz Khan (Hindi: फ़िरोज़ ख़ान, Urdu: فیروزخان September 25, 1939 – 27 April 2009) was an Indian actor, film editor, producer and director in the Hindi film industry. For his flamboyant style, with cowboyish swagger and cigar toting persona which revolutionised the style quotient of the otherwise conventional Filmi hero, he is known as the Clint Eastwood of the East and a style icon in the industry.

He appeared in over 50 films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and became one of India's best-loved heroes with his role in the 1980 hit film ''Qurbani'', which he also directed. Khan followed this multi-disciplinary achievement by directing more successful films like ''Dayavan'' (1988) and ''Janbaaz'' (1986). He won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for ''Aadmi Aur Insaan'' in 1970, and was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Early life

Feroz Khan was born in Bangalore on September 25, 1939. His father was Sadiq Ali Khan Tanoli, an Afghan hailing from the Ghazni province of Afghanistan, and his mother was of Persian ancestry. He was educated in Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore and St. Germain's Boys High School, Bangalore. His brothers are Sanjay Khan (Abbas Khan), Shahrukh Shah Ali Khan, Sameer Khan and Akbar Khan (director). He has a sister Dilshad Bibi. After his schooling in Bangalore, he arrived in Mumbai where he made his debut as second lead in ''Didi'' in 1960.

Career

Through the early 1960s and 1970s, he made low-budget thrillers opposite starlets. In 1962, he appeared in an English-language film titled ''Tarzan Goes to India'' opposite Simi Garewal. His first big hit was in 1965, with Phani Majumdar's ''Oonche Log'', where he was pitted against screen idols Raaj Kumar and Ashok Kumar; he gave a notable sensitive performance. Again, in the same year, he played a sacrificing lover in the mushy musical ''Arzoo'', starring Sadhana. With this, Khan earned his entry into A-list second leads. With the film ''Aadmi Aur Insaan'' (1969), Khan won his first Filmfare award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He appeared alongside his real-life brother Sanjay Khan in the hit films ''Upaasna'' (1967), ''Mela'' (1971), and ''Nagin'' (1976).

He turned into a successful producer and director in 1971 so as to improve his career opportunities as a leading man with his first directorial film ''Apradh'', which was the first Indian movie showing auto racing in Germany; Mumtaaz was his co-star. He produced, directed, and starred in the 1975 film ''Dharmatma'', which was the first Indian film to be shot in Afghanistan and was also his first blockbuster hit as producer, director, and star and marked appearance of actress Hema Malini in a glamorous avatar. This movie was inspired by the Hollywood film ''The Godfather''.

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, he was a leading Bollywood star, directing and starring in many of his films. He also starred in the Punjabi film ''Bhagat Dhanna Jat'' (1974). The 1980 film ''Qurbani'', with Zeenat Aman, was the biggest hit of his career and launched the singing career of iconic Pakistani pop singer Nazia Hassan, with her memorable track "Aap Jaisa Koi." In 1986, he directed and starred in ''Janbaaz'', a box-office hit, which some consider to be one of his best movies, featured an all-star cast and was possessed of great songs and excellent cinematography. In 1988, he directed and starred in ''Dayavan'', which was a remake of a South Indian film titled ''Nayagan''. After directing and starring in ''Yalgaar'' (1992), he took a long break from acting for 11 years.

He launched his son Fardeen Khan's career with the 1998 film ''Prem Aggan'', which, however, was a box-office bomb. In 2003, he made his acting comeback as well as produced and directed ''Janasheen'', which also starred his son Fardeen. He always used performing animals in his films—a chimpanzee and lion were used in ''Janasheen''—but People for Animals (PFA) Haryana chairman Naresh Kadyan moved a complaint in the court of law at Faridabad for animal cruelty and legal action as per law against the producer, director, and actor.

He starred alongside his son again in ''Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena'' (2005) and made his last film appearance in ''Welcome'' (2007).

Feroz Khan was ahead of his time in terms of his unmatchable style, which reflected in his movies and music. His movies like ''Qurbani'' and ''Dharmatma'' are cult favourites in Hindi cinema. Though he was not considered a superstar, he would remain immortal for several years to come.

In May 2006, Feroz Khan was blacklisted by then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf when he went there to promote his brother's film, ''Taj Mahal''. In an intelligence report submitted to Musharraf, he was said to have gotten drunk and insulted Pakistani singer and anchor Fakhr-e-Alam and criticizing the country saying:

"I am a proud Indian. India is a secular country. The Muslims there are making lot of progress unlike in Pakistan. Our President is a Muslim and our Prime Minister a Sikh. Pakistan was made in the name of Islam, but look how the Muslims are killing Muslims here."

Pakistan's high commission in India and the foreign and interior ministries were subsequently directed to deny Khan a visa in the future.

Personal life

Feroz Khan has a son named Fardeen Khan who is married to Natasha Madhwani, daughter of former Bollywood actress Mumtaz. He also has a daughter Laila Khan, who is married to Farhan Furniturewala. Laila was married to Rohit Rajpal, a national level tennis player but divorced him and married Furniturewala in 2010. Although Fardeen and Farhan had their differences and nearly came to blows at a nightclub with each other, Fardeen and Farhan sorted everything out and accepted each other later on.

Awards and nominations

Filmfare Best Debut Award: Didi(1960)

Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Aadmi Aur Insaan (1970)

Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actor for International Crook (1974)

Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 Filmfare Nomination as Best Villain for Janasheen (2003)

Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008

"Pride of the industry" at the Max Stardust Awards 2009.

Filmography

''Didi'' (1960)

''Main Shadi Karne Chala'' (1962)

''Tarzan Goes to India'' (1962) ... Prince Raghu Kumar

''Bahurani'' (1963) ... Vikram

''Suhagan'' (1964) ... Shankar

''Char Dervesh'' (1964) ... Qamar Bhakt

''Teesra Kaun'' (1965)

''Oonche Log'' (1965) ... Rajnikant

''Ek Sapera Ek Lootera'' (1965) ... Mohan/Vijay Pratap Singh

''Arzoo'' (1965) ... Ramesh

''Tasveer'' (1966)

''Main Wohi Hoon'' (1966) ... Vijay

''Woh Koi Aur Hoga'' (1967)

''Raat Aur Din'' (1967) ... Dilip

''CID 909'' (1967)

''Aurat'' (1967)

''Aag'' (1967) ... Shanker

''Pyaasi Sham'' (1969) ... Ashok

''Aadmi Aur Insaan'' (1969) ... Jai Kishan/J.K.

''Safar'' (1970) ... Shekhar Kapoor

''Mela'' (1971)

''Ek Paheli'' (1971) ... Sudhir

''Upaasna'' (1971)

''Apradh'' (1972) ... Ram Khana

''Kashmakash'' (1973)

''Kisan Aur Bhagwan'' (1974)

''Khhotte Sikkay'' (1974) ... Horseback rider

''Geeta Mera Naam'' (1974)

''Bhagat Dhanna Jatt'' (1974) ... Ramu

''Anjaan Raahen'' (1974) ... Anand

''International Crook'' (1974) ... SP Rajesh

''Rani Aur Lalpari'' (1975) ... Gulliver

''Kala Sona'' (1975) ... Rakesh

''Aa Jaa Sanam'' (1975) ... Dr. Satish

''Dharmatma'' (1975) .... Ranbir

''Sharafat Chod Di Maine'' (1976)

''Qabeela'' (1976)

''Shanker shambu'' (1976) ...Shambu

''Nagin'' (1976) ... Raj

''Jadu Tona'' (1977) ... Dr. Kailash

''Darinda'' (1977)

''Chunaoti'' (1980)

''Qurbani'' (1980) ... Rajesh Kumar/Kailash Nath

''Khoon Aur Paani'' (1981)

''Kachche Heere'' (1982) ... Nephew of Kamal Singh

''Janbaaz'' (1986) ... Inspector Rajesh Singh

''Dayavan'' (1988) ... Shankar Waghmare

''Meet Mere Man Ka'' (1991)

''Yalgaar'' (1992) ... Rajesh Ashwini Kumar

''Prem Agan'' (1998) ...

''Janasheen'' (2003) ... Saba Karim Shah

''Chitappa'' (2005) ... Raman

''Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena'' (2005) ... Jehangir Khan (Special Appearance)

''Om Shanti Om'' (2007) ... as himself (Special Appearance)

''Welcome'' (2007) ... Ranbir Dhanraj Xaka (RDX)

Death and Funeral

He succumbed to a battle with cancer on April 27, 2009. During his illness he returned to rest at his farmhouse in Bangalore.

He was laid to rest in his beloved Bangalore near to his mother's grave at Hosur Road Shia Kabristan with thousands in attendance included his close family, dear friends, and notable celebrities of Indian film industry. He was remembered for his larger than life presence, and excellence in cinema.

References

Category:1939 births Category:2009 deaths Category:Indian Shi'a Muslims Category:Indian Muslims Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Hindi film actors Category:Indian actors Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian television actors Category:Indian television presenters Category:Indian people of Afghan descent Category:Indian people of Iranian descent

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