84-542: Slocombe may refer to: Douglas Slocombe (1913 – 2016), British cinematographer Marie Slocombe (1912 – 1995), British archivist, founded the BBC Sound Archive Phil Slocombe (born 1954), English cricketer Sam Slocombe (born 1988), English football goalkeeper Walter B. Slocombe (born 1941), former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Fiction Mrs. Slocombe , character from
168-483: A Catholic mission to convert the population from their original pagan beliefs. Pope Celestine III had called for a crusade against pagans in Northern Europe in 1193. When peaceful means of conversion failed to produce results, Meinhard plotted to convert Livonians by force of arms. At the beginning of the 13th century, Germans ruled large parts of what is currently Latvia. The influx of German crusaders in
252-402: A German aeroplane. In 2014, he said of the experience that: I had no understanding of the concept of blitzkrieg. I had been expecting trouble but I thought it would be in trenches, like WW1. The Germans were coming over the border at a great pace ... We were trundling through the countryside at night. We kept stopping for no apparent reason, but we came to a screeching halt because a German plane
336-956: A democratic unitary parliamentary republic . Latvia is a developed country with a high-income , advanced economy ranking 39th in the Human Development Index . It is a member of the European Union , Eurozone , NATO , the Council of Europe , the United Nations , the Council of the Baltic Sea States , the International Monetary Fund , the Nordic-Baltic Eight , the Nordic Investment Bank ,
420-704: A golden age in the 16th century. Latgalia , the easternmost region of Latvia, became a part of the Inflanty Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden , and Russia struggled for supremacy in the eastern Baltic. After the Polish–Swedish War , northern Livonia (including Vidzeme) came under Swedish rule. Riga became
504-459: A mellow mood", it has also been assessed as "muddled and brown". Notable among his later films is Rollerball (1975). In the 1980s, he worked with Steven Spielberg on the first three Indiana Jones films, after Spielberg enjoyed working with him as an auxiliary cinematographer on Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). These were among his last major projects, as he was 75 at
588-592: A muted, gloomy style unusual for the time, which Slocombe in 2015 considered as among his best work of the period. The style of the film, about a doomed extramarital affair in 17th-century Germany, was variously praised as unconventional and criticised for being excessively symbolic, while also leaving exterior and interior shots poorly matched. A special effect shot he created was a scene in Kind Hearts and Coronets , in which Alec Guinness , playing eight different characters, appeared as six of them simultaneously in
672-845: A power vacuum was created by the Russian Revolution in 1917, followed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Russia and Germany in March 1918, then the Allied armistice with Germany on 11 November 1918. On 18 November 1918, in Riga, the People's Council of Latvia proclaimed the independence of the new country and Kārlis Ulmanis was entrusted to set up a government and he took the position of prime minister. The General representative of Germany August Winnig formally handed over political power to
756-798: A second resettlement scheme was agreed. The racially approved being resettled mainly in Poland, being given land and businesses in exchange for the money they had received from the sale of their previous assets. On 5 October 1939, Latvia was forced to accept a "mutual assistance" pact with the Soviet Union, granting the Soviets the right to station between 25,000 and 30,000 troops on Latvian territory. State administrators were murdered and replaced by Soviet cadres. Elections were held with single pro-Soviet candidates listed for many positions. The resulting people's assembly immediately requested admission into
840-476: Is 1,866 km (1,159 mi). The total length of its land boundary is 1,368 km (850 mi), of which 343 km (213 mi) is shared with Estonia to the north, 276 km (171 mi) with the Russian Federation to the east, 161 km (100 mi) with Belarus to the southeast and 588 km (365 mi) with Lithuania to the south. The total length of its maritime boundary
924-462: Is 498 km (309 mi), which is shared with Estonia, Sweden and Lithuania . Extension from north to south is 210 km (130 mi) and from west to east 450 km (280 mi). Most of Latvia's territory is less than 100 m (330 ft) above sea level . Its largest lake, Lubāns , has an area of 80.7 km (31.2 sq mi), its deepest lake, Drīdzis , is 65.1 m (214 ft) deep. The longest river on Latvian territory
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#17327829051201008-654: Is now Latvia by the 1880s. The Young Latvians were largely eclipsed by the New Current , a broad leftist social and political movement, in the 1890s. Popular discontent exploded in the 1905 Russian Revolution , which took a nationalist character in the Baltic provinces . World War I devastated the territory of what became the state of Latvia, and other western parts of the Russian Empire. Demands for self-determination were initially confined to autonomy , until
1092-577: Is the Gauja , at 452 km (281 mi) in length. The longest river flowing through Latvian territory is the Daugava , which has a total length of 1,005 km (624 mi), of which 352 km (219 mi) is on Latvian territory. Latvia's highest point is Gaiziņkalns , 311.6 m (1,022 ft). The length of Latvia's Baltic coastline is 494 km (307 mi). An inlet of the Baltic Sea,
1176-594: The 2008 New Year Honours , and attended a BAFTA dinner in his honour in 2009. He turned 100 in February 2013. Despite his blindness, Slocombe remained able to give interviews into his last years, and was interviewed by David A. Ellis in a book entitled Conversations with Cinematographers , in 2011 by French television in French, by the BBC on the invasion of Poland in 2014, and on the history of British films in 2015. He
1260-512: The Balts and speak Latvian . Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population; 37.7% of the population speak Russian as their native tongue. After centuries of Teutonic , Swedish , Polish-Lithuanian , and Russian rule, the independent Republic of Latvia was established on 18 November 1918 after breaking away from the German Empire in
1344-653: The Battle of Daugavpils was a part of the Polish–Soviet War ). A freely elected Constituent assembly convened on 1 May 1920, and adopted a liberal constitution, the Satversme , in February 1922. The constitution was partly suspended by Kārlis Ulmanis after his coup in 1934 but reaffirmed in 1990. Since then, it has been amended and is still in effect in Latvia today. With most of Latvia's industrial base evacuated to
1428-564: The British Ministry of Information , shooting footage of Atlantic convoys with the Fleet Air Arm . He also developed a relationship with Ealing Studios , where filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti , who helped him obtain his position, worked. Some of his photography was used as second unit material for fiction films. Slocombe moved into photographing for feature films at Ealing Studios during the later 1940s, after being hired on
1512-843: The European Film Awards 2014 . On 1 July 2016, Latvia became a member of the OECD . In May 2023, the parliament elected Edgars Rinkēvičs as new President of Latvia , making him the European Union’s first openly gay head of state. After years of debates, Latvia ratified the EU Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence , otherwise known as the Istanbul Convention in November 2023. Latvia lies in Northern Europe, on
1596-491: The European Union (green) – [ Legend ] Latvia ( / ˈ l æ t v i ə / LAT -vee-ə , sometimes / ˈ l ɑː t v i ə / LAHT -vee-ə ; Latvian : Latvija Latvian pronunciation: [ˈlatvija] ), officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe . It is one of the three Baltic states , along with Estonia to
1680-713: The Freikorps formation Eiserne Division ("Iron Division"). Estonian and Latvian forces defeated the Germans at the Battle of Wenden in June 1919, and a massive attack by a predominantly German force—the West Russian Volunteer Army —under Pavel Bermondt-Avalov was repelled in November. Eastern Latvia was cleared of Red Army forces by Latvian and Polish troops in early 1920 (from the Polish perspective
1764-475: The Great Depression . Latvia showed signs of economic recovery, and the electorate had steadily moved toward the centre during the parliamentary period. On 15 May 1934, Ulmanis staged a bloodless coup , establishing a nationalist dictatorship that lasted until 1940. After 1934, Ulmanis established government corporations to buy up private firms with the aim of "Latvianising" the economy. Early in
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#17327829051201848-674: The Great Northern War (1700–1721), up to 40 percent of Latvians died from famine and plague. Half the residents of Riga were killed by plague in 1710–1711 . The capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710 and the Treaty of Nystad , ending the Great Northern War in 1721, gave Vidzeme to Russia (it became part of the Riga Governorate ). The Latgale region remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as Inflanty Voivodeship until 1772, when it
1932-686: The Hanseatic League . Riga became an important point of east–west trading and formed close cultural links with Western Europe . The first German settlers were knights from northern Germany and citizens of northern German towns who brought their Low German language to the region, which shaped many loanwords in the Latvian language. After the Livonian War (1558–1583), Livonia (Northern Latvia & Southern Estonia) fell under Polish and Lithuanian rule. The southern part of Estonia and
2016-765: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe , and the World Trade Organization . The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians , one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes (along with Curonians , Selonians and Semigallians ), which formed the ethnic core of modern Latvians together with the Finnic Livonians . Henry of Latvia coined
2100-900: The Supreme Council in the March 1990 democratic elections . On 4 May 1990, the Supreme Council adopted the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia , and the Latvian SSR was renamed Republic of Latvia. However, the central power in Moscow continued to regard Latvia as a Soviet republic in 1990 and 1991. In January 1991, Soviet political and military forces unsuccessfully tried to overthrow
2184-530: The Technirama camera system used on Davy (1958) "a block of flats" and difficult to compose shots with. Financial problems forced Ealing Studios to wind down from 1955 onwards, and close later in the decade. In 2015, Slocombe said of the period that "we had to get on with our careers – there was little time for sentiment." For The Italian Job (1969), Slocombe was hired by producer Michael Deeley because "he tended to do very moody work, and he
2268-942: The latinisations of the country's name, "Lettigallia" and "Lethia", both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the country's name in Romance languages from "Letonia" and in several Germanic languages from "Lettland". Around 3000 BC, the Proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea . The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium , trading local amber for precious metals. By 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia: Curonians , Latgalians , Selonians , Semigallians (in Latvian: kurši , latgaļi , sēļi and zemgaļi ), as well as
2352-474: The prewar currency . Albeit having experienced a difficult transition to a liberal economy and its re-orientation toward Western Europe, Latvia is one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union. In November 2013, the roof collapsed at a shopping center in Riga, causing Latvia’s worst post-independence disaster with the deaths of 54 rush hour shoppers and rescue personnel. In 2014, Riga
2436-655: The 12th century. The first missionaries, sent by the Pope, sailed up the Daugava River in the late 12th century, seeking converts. The local people, however, did not convert to Christianity as readily as the Church had hoped. German crusaders were sent, or more likely decided to go of their own accord as they were known to do. Saint Meinhard of Segeberg arrived in Ikšķile , in 1184, traveling with merchants to Livonia , on
2520-462: The BBC One comedy show, Are You Being Served? See also [ edit ] Slocomb Slocum (disambiguation) Slocumb (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Slocombe . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to
2604-676: The Couronians, Semigallians, Selonians, Livs, and northern Latgallians assimilated to form the Latvian people , speaking one Latvian language . Throughout all the centuries, however, an actual Latvian state had not been established, so the borders and definitions of who exactly fell within that group are largely subjective. Meanwhile, largely isolated from the rest of Latvia, southern Latgallians adopted Catholicism under Polish/ Jesuit influence. The native dialect remained distinct, although it acquired many Polish and Russian loanwords. During
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2688-533: The Finnic tribe of Livonians ( lībieši ) speaking a Finnic language. In the 12th century in the territory of Latvia, there were lands with their rulers: Vanema , Ventava , Bandava , Piemare , Duvzare , Sēlija , Koknese , Jersika , Tālava and Adzele . Although the local people had contact with the outside world for centuries, they became more fully integrated into the European socio-political system in
2772-523: The Germans, began to fight against the new occupier. Anywhere from 120,000 to as many as 300,000 Latvians took refuge from the Soviet army by fleeing to Germany and Sweden. Most sources count 200,000 to 250,000 refugees leaving Latvia, with perhaps as many as 80,000 to 100,000 of them recaptured by the Soviets or, during few months immediately after the end of war, returned by the West. The Soviets reoccupied
2856-633: The Latvian Provisional Government on 26 November. On 18 November, the Latvian People's Council entrusted him to set up the government. He took the office of Minister of Agriculture from 18 November to 19 December. He took a position of prime minister from 19 November 1918 to 13 July 1919. The war of independence that followed was part of a general chaotic period of civil and new border wars in Eastern Europe. By
2940-580: The Protestant religion of the inhabitants. During the 19th century, the social structure changed dramatically. A class of independent farmers established itself after reforms allowed the peasants to repurchase their land, but many landless peasants remained, quite a lot Latvians left for the cities and sought for education, industrial jobs. There also developed a growing urban proletariat and an increasingly influential Latvian bourgeoisie . The Young Latvian ( Latvian : Jaunlatvieši ) movement laid
3024-555: The Red Army which helped the Germans. By 29 June Riga was reached and with Soviet troops killed, captured or retreating, Latvia was left under the control of German forces by early July. The occupation was followed immediately by SS Einsatzgruppen troops, who were to act in accordance with the Nazi Generalplan Ost that required the population of Latvia to be cut by 50 percent. Under German occupation, Latvia
3108-435: The Republic of Latvia authorities by occupying the central publishing house in Riga and establishing a Committee of National Salvation to usurp governmental functions. During the transitional period, Moscow maintained many central Soviet state authorities in Latvia. The Popular Front of Latvia advocated that all permanent residents be eligible for Latvian citizenship, however, universal citizenship for all permanent residents
3192-464: The Soviet KGB. 'The publication, which followed two decades of public debate and the passage of a special law, revealed the names, code names, birthplaces and other data on active and former KGB agents as of 1991, the year Latvia regained its independence from the Soviet Union.' In the second half of the 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to introduce political and economic reforms in
3276-409: The Soviet Union that were called glasnost and perestroika . In the summer of 1987, the first large demonstrations were held in Riga at the Freedom Monument —a symbol of independence. In the summer of 1988, a national movement, coalescing in the Popular Front of Latvia , was opposed by the Interfront . The Latvian SSR, along with the other Baltic Republics was allowed greater autonomy, and in 1988,
3360-555: The Soviet sphere. A week later, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland ; on 17 September, the Soviet Union invaded Poland as well . After the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, most of the Baltic Germans left Latvia by agreement between Ulmanis's government and Nazi Germany under the Heim ins Reich programme. In total 50,000 Baltic Germans left by the deadline of December 1939, with 1,600 remaining to conclude business and 13,000 choosing to remain in Latvia. Most of those who remained left for Germany in summer 1940, when
3444-415: The Soviets in 1944, which formed the Latvian SSR for the next 45 years. As a result of extensive immigration during the Soviet occupation, ethnic Russians became the most prominent minority in the country. The peaceful Singing Revolution started in 1987 among the Baltic Soviet republics and ended with the restoration of both de facto and official independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia has since been
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3528-594: The USSR, which the Soviet Union granted. Latvia, then a puppet government, was headed by Augusts Kirhenšteins . The Soviet Union incorporated Latvia on 5 August 1940, as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic . The Soviets dealt harshly with their opponents – prior to Operation Barbarossa , in less than a year, at least 34,250 Latvians were deported or killed. Most were deported to Siberia where deaths were estimated at 40 percent. On 22 June 1941, German troops attacked Soviet forces in Operation Barbarossa. There were some spontaneous uprisings by Latvians against
3612-428: The West. There was a pause in fighting, apart from partisan activity, until after the siege of Leningrad ended in January 1944, and the Soviet troops advanced, entering Latvia in July and eventually capturing Riga on 13 October 1944. More than 200,000 Latvian citizens died during World War II, including approximately 75,000 Latvian Jews murdered during the Nazi occupation. Latvian soldiers fought on both sides of
3696-403: The aftermath of World War I . The country became increasingly autocratic after the coup in 1934 established the dictatorship of Kārlis Ulmanis . Latvia's de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II , beginning with Latvia's forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union , followed by the invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 and the re-occupation by
3780-419: The anti-Soviet partisan activity. Between 136,000 and 190,000 Latvians, depending on the sources, were imprisoned or deported to Soviet concentration camps (the Gulag ) in the post-war years from 1945 to 1952. In the post-war period, Latvia was made to adopt Soviet farming methods. Rural areas were forced into collectivization . An extensive program to impose bilingualism was initiated in Latvia, limiting
3864-568: The capital of Swedish Livonia and the largest city in the entire Swedish Empire. Fighting continued sporadically between Sweden and Poland until the Truce of Altmark in 1629. In Latvia, the Swedish period is generally remembered as positive; serfdom was eased, a network of schools was established for the peasantry, and the power of the regional barons was diminished. Several important cultural changes occurred during this time. Under Swedish and largely German rule, western Latvia adopted Lutheranism as its main religion. The ancient tribes of
3948-595: The conflict, mainly on the German side, with 140,000 men in the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS , The 308th Latvian Rifle Division was formed by the Red Army in 1944. On occasions, especially in 1944, opposing Latvian troops faced each other in battle. In the 23rd block of the Vorverker cemetery, a monument was erected after the Second World War for the people of Latvia who had died in Lübeck from 1945 to 1950. In 1944, when Soviet military advances reached Latvia, heavy fighting took place in Latvia between German and Soviet troops, which ended in another German defeat. In
4032-413: The country in 1944–1945, and further deportations followed as the country was collectivised and Sovietised . On 25 March 1949, 43,000 rural residents (" kulaks ") and Latvian nationalists were deported to Siberia in a sweeping Operation Priboi in all three Baltic states , which was carefully planned and approved in Moscow already on 29 January 1949. This operation had the desired effect of reducing
4116-451: The course of the war, both occupying forces conscripted Latvians into their armies, in this way increasing the loss of the nation's "live resources". In 1944, part of the Latvian territory once more came under Soviet control. The Soviets immediately began to reinstate the Soviet system. After the German surrender, it became clear that Soviet forces were there to stay, and Latvian national partisans , soon joined by some who had collaborated with
4200-563: The eastern shores of the Baltic Sea and northwestern part of the East European Craton (EEC), between latitudes 55° and 58° N (a small area is north of 58°), and longitudes 21° and 29° E (a small area is west of 21°). Latvia has a total area of 64,559 km (24,926 sq mi) of which 62,157 km (23,999 sq mi) land, 18,159 km (7,011 sq mi) agricultural land, 34,964 km (13,500 sq mi) forest land and 2,402 km (927 sq mi) inland water. The total length of Latvia's boundary
4284-888: The ethnic Latvian population had fallen to 62%. Since Latvia had maintained a well-developed infrastructure and educated specialists, Moscow decided to base some of the Soviet Union's most advanced manufacturing in Latvia. New industry was created in Latvia, including a major machinery factory RAF in Jelgava , electrotechnical factories in Riga , chemical factories in Daugavpils , Valmiera and Olaine —and some food and oil processing plants. Latvia manufactured trains, ships, minibuses, mopeds, telephones, radios and hi-fi systems, electrical and diesel engines, textiles, furniture, clothing, bags and luggage, shoes, musical instruments, home appliances, watches, tools and equipment, aviation and agricultural equipment and long list of other goods. Latvia had its own film industry and musical records factory (LPs). However, there were not enough people to operate
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#17327829051204368-474: The former Soviet block state and was active in Latvia joining both NATO and the European Union in 2004. Latvia signed the Schengen agreement on 16 April 2003 and started its implementation on 21 December 2007. Approximately 72% of Latvian citizens are Latvian, while 20% are Russian. The government denationalized private property confiscated by the Soviets, returning it or compensating the owners for it, and privatized most state-owned industries, reintroducing
4452-414: The groundwork for nationalism from the middle of the century, many of its leaders looking to the Slavophiles for support against the prevailing German-dominated social order. The rise in use of the Latvian language in literature and society became known as the First National Awakening . Russification began in Latgale after the Polish led the January Uprising in 1863: this spread to the rest of what
4536-415: The growing anti-Jewish sentiment. In consequence, he was commissioned by American film-maker Herbert Kline to film events for a documentary called Lights Out , covering a Goebbels rally and the burning of a synagogue, for which he was briefly arrested. Slocombe was in Warsaw with a movie camera on 1 September 1939 when Germany invaded. Accompanied by Kline, he escaped, but his train was machine-gunned by
4620-409: The horror film Dead of Night (1945), and for his bright, colourful West Country summer landscapes on The Titfield Thunderbolt . Apart from filming, Slocombe worked also on developing plans for shots, visiting prisoner-of-war camps in Germany as part of pre-production for The Captive Heart (1946). For Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948), shot in Technicolor , the production team settled on
4704-400: The interior of Russia in 1915, radical land reform was the central political question for the young state. In 1897, 61.2% of the rural population had been landless; by 1936, that percentage had been reduced to 18%. By 1923, the extent of cultivated land surpassed the pre-war level. Innovation and rising productivity led to rapid growth of the economy, but it soon suffered from the effects of
4788-429: The largest port in the Russian Empire), railways built; new factories, banks, and a university were established; many residential, public (theatres and museums), and school buildings were erected; new parks formed; and so on. Riga's boulevards and some streets outside the Old Town date from this period. Numeracy was also higher in the Livonian and Courlandian parts of the Russian Empire, which may have been influenced by
4872-410: The link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slocombe&oldid=1259127830 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Douglas Slocombe Ralph Douglas Vladimir Slocombe OBE , BSC , ASC , GBCT (10 February 1913 – 22 February 2016)
4956-412: The morning of 24 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression pact, called the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . The pact contained a secret protocol, revealed only after Germany's defeat in 1945, according to which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet " spheres of influence ". In the north, Latvia, Finland and Estonia were assigned to
5040-424: The newly built factories. To maintain and expand industrial production, skilled workers were migrating from all over the Soviet Union, decreasing the proportion of ethnic Latvians in the republic. The population of Latvia reached its peak in 1990 at just under 2.7 million people. In late 2018 the National Archives of Latvia released a full alphabetical index of some 10,000 people recruited as agents or informants by
5124-403: The north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate . Its capital and largest city is Riga . Latvians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of
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#17327829051205208-439: The northern part of Latvia were ceded to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and formed into the Duchy of Livonia ( Ducatus Livoniae Ultradunensis ). Gotthard Kettler , the last Master of the Order of Livonia , formed the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia . Though the duchy was a vassal state to the Lithuanian Grand Duchy and later of the Polish and Lithuanian commonwealth, it retained a considerable degree of autonomy and experienced
5292-410: The old pre-war Flag of Latvia flew again, replacing the Soviet Latvian flag as the official flag in 1990. In 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution on the Occupation of the Baltic states , in which it declared the occupation "not in accordance with law", and not the "will of the Soviet people". Pro-independence Popular Front of Latvia candidates gained a two-thirds majority in
5376-516: The population. They have no citizenship of any country , and cannot participate in the parliamentary elections. Children born to non-nationals after the re-establishment of independence are automatically entitled to citizenship. The Republic of Latvia declared the end of the transitional period and restored full independence on 21 August 1991, in the aftermath of the failed Soviet coup attempt . Latvia resumed diplomatic relations with Western states, including Sweden. The Saeima , Latvia's parliament,
5460-444: The present-day Latvian territory especially increased in the second half of the 13th century following the decline and fall of the Crusader States in the Middle East . Together with southern Estonia, these conquered areas formed the crusader state that became known as Terra Mariana ( Medieval Latin for "Land of Mary ") or Livonia. In 1282, Riga, and later the cities of Cēsis , Limbaži , Koknese and Valmiera , became part of
5544-402: The previous pictures. Slocombe experienced problems with his vision from the 1980s onwards, including a detached retina in one eye and complications from unsuccessful laser eye surgery in the other, and was nearly blind at the end of his life. In his later years, he lived in West London with his daughter, his only child. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in
5628-441: The same frame. By masking the lens and locking the camera down in one place, the film was re-exposed several times with Guinness in different places on the set over several days. Slocombe recalled sleeping in the studio to make sure nobody touched the camera. Slocombe personally regarded Basil Dearden as the "most competent" of the directors he worked with at Ealing. He found widescreen equipment sometimes restrictive, finding
5712-412: The serfs took place in Courland in 1817 and in Vidzeme in 1819. In practice, however, the emancipation was actually advantageous to the landowners and nobility, as it dispossessed peasants of their land without compensation, forcing them to return to work at the estates "of their own free will". During these two centuries Latvia experienced economic and construction boom – ports were expanded (Riga became
5796-446: The spring of 1919, there were actually three governments: the Provisional government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis , supported by the Tautas padome and the Inter-Allied Commission of Control ; the Latvian Soviet government led by Pēteris Stučka , supported by the Red Army ; and the Provisional government headed by Andrievs Niedra , supported by Baltic-German forces composed of the Baltische Landeswehr ("Baltic Defence Force") and
5880-464: The strength of his documentary work. Slocombe later described his early work on Champagne Charlie (1944) as amateurish, in one case resulting in a sequence having to be reshot. However, in his career, Slocombe worked on 84 feature films over a period of 47 years. Slocombe would later speak approvingly of Ealing's culture of script development. However, he also noted that its restrictive studio system headed by Michael Balcon , in which outside work
5964-488: The time of filming the last, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , and also began to suffer from eyesight problems in the 1980s. He was quoted in 1989 as saying of it "there's an excitement in doing action films. I probably enjoy them on a sort of Boy Scout level." Janusz Kamiński , cinematographer on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , said that he deliberately shot the film to emulate Slocombe's visuals, in order to create an appearance of continuity with
6048-468: The use of Latvian language in official uses in favor of using Russian as the main language. All of the minority schools (Jewish, Polish, Belarusian, Estonian, Lithuanian) were closed down leaving only two media of instructions in the schools: Latvian and Russian. An influx of new colonists, including laborers, administrators, military personnel and their dependents from Russia and other Soviet republics started. By 1959 about 400,000 Russian settlers arrived and
6132-800: Was Russian. His father was the Paris correspondent for the Daily Herald , and so Slocombe spent part of his upbringing in France, returning to the United Kingdom around 1933. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the Sorbonne . Slocombe initially intended to become a photojournalist, and as a young photographer, he witnessed the early events leading up to the outbreak of World War II . Visiting Danzig in 1939, he photographed
6216-537: Was a British cinematographer , particularly known for his work at Ealing Studios in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as the first three Indiana Jones films. He won BAFTA Awards in 1964, 1975, and 1979, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography on three occasions. Slocombe was born in Putney, London, the son of Marie (née Karlinsky) and journalist George Slocombe (1894–1963). His mother
6300-590: Was administered as part of Reichskommissariat Ostland . Latvian paramilitary and Auxiliary Police units established by the occupation authority participated in the Holocaust and other atrocities. 30,000 Jews were shot in Latvia in the autumn of 1941. Another 30,000 Jews from the Riga ghetto were killed in the Rumbula Forest in November and December 1941, to reduce overpopulation in the ghetto and make room for more Jews being brought in from Germany and
6384-529: Was again elected in 1993. Russia ended its military presence by completing its troop withdrawal in 1994 and shutting down the Skrunda-1 radar station in 1998. The major goals of Latvia in the 1990s, to join NATO and the European Union , were achieved in 2004. The NATO Summit 2006 was held in Riga. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was President of Latvia from 1999 until 2007. She was the first female head of state in
6468-479: Was awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He also won a special BAFTA award in 1993. Roger Ebert particularly praised his work on Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), writing that it "achieve[s] a color range that glows with life and somehow doesn’t make the desert look barren." Not all reviews of his later colour work were favourable: while his cinematography on Never Say Never Again (1983) has been described by one author as "subtle, subdued...[it] creates
6552-400: Was bombing us. After its first pass we climbed out the window and crawled under the carriage. The plane came back and started machine-gunning. A young girl died in front of us. After escaping from the train, Slocombe and Kline bought a horse and cart from a Polish farm, finally returning to London via Latvia and Stockholm . After returning to England, Slocombe became a cinematographer for
6636-670: Was incorporated into Russia. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia , a vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , was annexed by Russia in 1795 in the Third Partition of Poland , bringing all of what is now Latvia into the Russian Empire . All three Baltic provinces preserved local laws, German as the local official language and their own parliament, the Landtag . The emancipation of
6720-591: Was not adopted. Instead, citizenship was granted to persons who had been citizens of Latvia on the day of loss of independence in 1940 as well as their descendants. As a consequence, the majority of ethnic non-Latvians did not receive Latvian citizenship since neither they nor their parents had ever been citizens of Latvia, becoming non-citizens or citizens of other former Soviet republics. By 2011, more than half of non-citizens had taken naturalization exams and received Latvian citizenship, but in 2015 there were still 290,660 non-citizens in Latvia, which represented 14.1% of
6804-511: Was not normally permitted, made it impractical for him to attempt to begin a career as a director, something which he had considered. His early films as a cinematographer included such classic Ealing comedies, notably Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953). He was particularly praised for his flexible, high-contrast cinematography for
6888-604: Was quoted in the latter interview as saying "it's a weird feeling to have outlived virtually everyone you ever worked with." Slocombe died at the age of 103, on the morning of 22 February 2016, in a London hospital from complications following a fall. Documentary film Feature film Television Academy Awards BAFTA Awards American Society of Cinematographers British Society of Cinematographers Los Angeles Film Critics Association Latvia – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in
6972-659: Was the European Capital of Culture , Latvia joined the eurozone and adopted the EU single currency euro as the currency of the country and Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis was named vice-president of the European Commission . In 2015 Latvia held the presidency of Council of the European Union . Big European events have been celebrated in Riga such as the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and
7056-484: Was very efficient". Slocombe later remembered shooting inside Kilmainham Gaol , a genuine closed prison, and finding the experience unpleasant: "the real thing, there is something quite terrifying about it. One knows hundreds and hundreds of people have suffered here...although this was a comedy, all this was still in the back of one's mind". He won the British Society of Cinematographers Award five times, and
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