title: MI6

text: The service derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded on 1 October 1909. The Bureau was a joint initiative of the Admiralty and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations in the UK and overseas, particularly concentrating on the activities of the Imperial German government. The bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities, respectively. This specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy. This specialisation was formalised before 1914. During the First World War in 1916, the two sections underwent administrative changes so that the foreign section became the section MI1(c) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence.


title: MI6

text: Its first director was Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming, who often dropped the "Smith" in routine communication. He typically signed correspondence with his initial "C" in green ink. This usage evolved as a code name, and has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity.


title: MI6

text: The service's performance during the First World War was mixed, because it was unable to establish a network in Germany itself. Most of its results came from military and commercial intelligence collected through networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. During the war, MI6 had its main European office in Rotterdam from where it coordinated espionage in Germany and occupied Belgium.


title: MI6

text: After the war, resources were significantly reduced but during the 1920s, SIS established a close operational relationship with the diplomatic service. In August 1919, Cumming created the new passport control department, providing diplomatic cover for agents abroad. The post of "Passport Control Officer" provided operatives with diplomatic immunity.


title: MI6

text: Circulating Sections established intelligence requirements and passed the intelligence back to its consumer departments, mainly the War Office and Admiralty.


title: MI6

text: The debate over the future structure of British Intelligence continued at length after the end of hostilities but Cumming managed to engineer the return of the Service to Foreign Office control. At this time, the organisation was known in Whitehall by a variety of titles including the "Foreign Intelligence Service", the "Secret Service", "MI1(c)", the "Special Intelligence Service" and even "C's organisation". Around 1920, it began increasingly to be referred to as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a title that it has continued to use to the present day and which was enshrined in statute in the Intelligence Services Act 1994. During the Second World War, the name MI6 was used as a flag of convenience, the name by which it is frequently known in popular culture since.


title: MI6

text: In the immediate post-war years under Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming and throughout most of the 1920s, SIS was focused on Communism, in particular, Russian Bolshevism. Examples include a thwarted operation to overthrow the Bolshevik government in 1918 by SIS agents Sidney George Reilly and Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart, as well as more orthodox espionage efforts within early Soviet Russia headed by Captain George Hill.


title: MI6

text: Smith-Cumming died suddenly at his home on 14 June 1923, shortly before he was due to retire, and was replaced as "C" by Admiral Sir Hugh "Quex" Sinclair. Sinclair created the following sections:


title: MI6

text: With the emergence of Germany as a threat following the ascendence of the Nazis, in the early 1930s attention was shifted in that direction.


title: MI6

text: MI6 assisted the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, with "the exchange of information about communism" as late as October 1937, well into the Nazi era; the head of the British agency's Berlin station, Frank Foley, was still able to describe his relationship with the Gestapo's so-called communism expert as "cordial".


title: MI6

text: Sinclair died in 1939, after an illness, and was replaced as "C" by Lt Col. Stewart Menzies (Horse Guards), who had been with the service since the end of World War I.


title: MI6

text: On 26 and 27 July 1939, in Pyry near Warsaw, British military intelligence representatives including Dilly Knox, Alastair Denniston and Humphrey Sandwith were introduced by their allied Polish counterparts into their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment, including Zygalski sheets and the cryptologic "Bomba", and were promised future delivery of a reverse-engineered, Polish-built duplicate Enigma machine. The demonstration represented a vital basis for the later British continuation and effort. During the war, British cryptologists decrypted a vast number of messages enciphered on Enigma. The intelligence gleaned from this source, codenamed "Ultra" by the British, was a substantial aid to the Allied war effort.


title: MI6

text: During the Second World War the human intelligence work of the service was complemented by several other initiatives:


title: MI6

text: The chief of SIS, Stewart Menzies, insisted on wartime control of codebreaking, and this gave him immense power and influence, which he used judiciously. By distributing the Ultra material collected by the Government Code & Cypher School, MI6 became, for the first time, an important branch of the government. Extensive breaches of Nazi Enigma signals gave Menzies and his team enormous insight into Adolf Hitler's strategy, and this was kept a closely held secret.


title: MI6

text: The British intelligence services signed a special agreement with their allied Polish counterparts 1940. In July 2005, the British and Polish governments jointly produced a two-volume study of bilateral intelligence cooperation in the War, which revealed information that had until then been officially secret. The "Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee" was written by leading historians and experts who had been granted unprecedented access to British intelligence archives, and concluded that 48 percent of all reports received by British secret services from continental Europe in 1939–45 had come from Polish sources. This was facilitated by the fact that occupied Poland had a tradition of insurgency organisations passed down through generations, with networks in emigre Polish communities in Germany and France. A major part of Polish resistance activity was clandestine and involved cellular intelligence networks; while Nazi Germany used Poles as forced labourers across the continent, putting them in a unique position to spy on the enemy. Liaison was undertaken by SIS officer Wilfred Dunderdale, and reports included advance warning of the Afrikakorps' departure for Libya, awareness of the readiness of Vichy French units to fight against the Allies or switch sides in Operation Torch, and advance warning both of Operation Barbarossa and Operation Edelweiss, the German Caucasus campaign. Polish-sourced reporting on German secret weapons began in 1941, and Operation Wildhorn enabled a British special operations flight to airlift a V-2 Rocket that had been captured by the Polish resistance. Polish secret agent Jan Karski delivered the British the first Allied intelligence on the Holocaust. Via a female Polish agent, the British also had a channel to the anti-Nazi chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris.


title: MI6

text: 1939 saw the most significant failure of the service during the war, known as the Venlo incident for the Dutch town where much of the operation took place. Agents of the German army secret service, the "Abwehr", and the counter-espionage section of the "Sicherheitsdienst" (SD), posed as high-ranking officers involved in a plot to depose Hitler. In a series of meetings between SIS agents and the 'conspirators', SS plans to abduct the SIS team were shelved due to the presence of Dutch police. On the night of 8–9 November, a meeting took place without police presence. There, the two SIS agents were duly abducted by the SS.


title: MI6

text: In 1940, journalist and Soviet agent Kim Philby applied for a vacancy in Section D of SIS, and was vetted by his friend and fellow Soviet agent Guy Burgess. When Section D was absorbed by Special Operations Executive (SOE) in summer of 1940, Philby was appointed as an instructor in black propaganda at the SOE's training establishment in Beaulieu, Hampshire.


title: MI6

text: In May 1940, MI6 set up British Security Co-ordination (BSC), on the authorisation of Prime Minister Winston Churchill over the objections of Stewart Menzies. This was a covert organisation based in New York City, headed by William Stephenson intended to investigate enemy activities, prevent sabotage against British interests in the Americas, and mobilise pro-British opinion in the Americas. BSC also founded Camp X in Canada to train clandestine operators and to establish (in 1942) a telecommunications relay station, code name Hydra, operated by engineer Benjamin deForest Bayly.


title: MI6

text: In early 1944 MI6 re-established Section IX, its prewar anti-Soviet section, and Philby took a position there. He was able to alert the NKVD about all British intelligence on the Soviets—including what the American OSS had shared with the British about the Soviets.


title: MI6

text: Despite these difficulties the service nevertheless conducted substantial and successful operations in both occupied Europe and in the Middle East and Far East where it operated under the cover name Inter-Services Liaison Department (ISLD).


title: MI6

text: In August 1945 Soviet intelligence officer Konstantin Volkov tried to defect to the UK, offering the names of all Soviet agents working inside British intelligence. Philby received the memo on Volkov's offer and alerted the Soviets, so they could arrest him. In 1946, SIS absorbed the "rump" remnant of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), dispersing the latter's personnel and equipment between its operational divisions or "controllerates" and new Directorates for Training and Development and for War Planning. The 1921 arrangement was streamlined with the geographical, operational units redesignated "Production Sections", sorted regionally under Controllers, all under a Director of Production. The Circulating Sections were renamed "Requirements Sections" and placed under a Directorate of Requirements.


title: MI6

text: SIS operations against the USSR were extensively compromised by the presence of an agent working for the Soviet Union, Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby, in the post-war Counter-Espionage Section, R5. SIS suffered further embarrassment when it turned out that an officer involved in both the Vienna and Berlin tunnel operations had been turned as a Soviet agent during internment by the Chinese during the Korean War. This agent, George Blake, returned from his internment to be treated as something of a hero by his contemporaries in "the office". His security authorisation was restored, and in 1953 he was posted to the Vienna Station where the original Vienna tunnels had been running for years. After compromising these to his Soviet controllers, he was subsequently assigned to the British team involved on Operation Gold, the Berlin tunnel, and which was, consequently, blown from the outset. In 1956, SIS Director John Sinclair had to resign after the botched affair of the death of Lionel Crabb.


title: MI6

text: SIS activities included a range of covert political actions, including the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état (in collaboration with the US Central Intelligence Agency).


title: MI6

text: Despite earlier Soviet penetration, SIS began to recover as a result of improved vetting and security, and a series of successful penetrations. From 1958, SIS had three moles in the Polish UB, the most successful of which was codenamed NODDY. The CIA described the information SIS received from these Poles as "some of the most valuable intelligence ever collected", and rewarded SIS with $20 million to expand their Polish operation. In 1961 Polish defector Michael Goleniewski exposed George Blake as a Soviet agent. Blake was identified, arrested, tried for espionage and sent to prison. He escaped and was exfiltrated to the USSR in 1966.


title: MI6

text: Also, in the GRU, they recruited Colonel Oleg Penkovsky. Penkovsky ran for two years as a considerable success, providing several thousand photographed documents, including Red Army rocketry manuals that allowed US National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) analysts to recognise the deployment pattern of Soviet SS4 MRBMs and SS5 IRBMs in Cuba in October 1962. SIS operations against the USSR continued to gain pace through the remainder of the Cold War, arguably peaking with the recruitment in the 1970s of Oleg Gordievsky who SIS ran for the better part of a decade, then successfully exfiltrated from the USSR across the Finnish border in 1985.


title: MI6

text: During the Soviet–Afghan War, SIS supported the Islamic resistance group commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud and he became a key ally in the fight against the Soviets. An annual mission of two SIS officers, as well as military instructors, were sent to Massoud and his fighters. Through them, weapons and supplies, radios and vital intelligence on Soviet battle plans were all sent to the Afghan resistance. SIS also helped to retrieve crashed Soviet helicopters from Afghanistan.


title: MI6

text: The real scale and impact of SIS activities during the second half of the Cold War remains unknown, however, because the bulk of their most successful targeting operations against Soviet officials were the result of "Third Country" operations recruiting Soviet sources travelling abroad in Asia and Africa. These included the defection to the SIS Tehran station in 1982 of KGB officer Vladimir Kuzichkin, the son of a senior Politburo member and a member of the KGB's internal Second Chief Directorate who provided SIS and the British government with warning of the mobilisation of the KGB's Alpha Force during the 1991 August Coup which briefly toppled Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.


title: MI6

text: The end of the Cold War led to a reshuffle of existing priorities. The Soviet Bloc ceased to swallow the lion's share of operational priorities, although the stability and intentions of a weakened but still nuclear-capable Federal Russia constituted a significant concern. Instead, functional rather than geographical intelligence requirements came to the fore such as counter-proliferation (via the agency's Production and Targeting, Counter-Proliferation Section) which had been a sphere of activity since the discovery of Pakistani physics students studying nuclear-weapons related subjects in 1974; counter-terrorism (via two joint sections run in collaboration with the Security Service, one for Irish republicanism and one for international terrorism); counter-narcotics and serious crime (originally set up under the Western Hemisphere controllerate in 1989); and a 'global issues' section looking at matters such as the environment and other public welfare issues. In the mid-1990s these were consolidated into a new post of Controller, Global and Functional.


title: MI6

text: During the transition, then-C Sir Colin McColl embraced a new, albeit limited, policy of openness towards the press and public, with 'public affairs' falling into the brief of Director, Counter-Intelligence and Security (renamed Director, Security and Public Affairs). McColl's policies were part and parcel with a wider 'open government initiative' developed from 1993 by the government of John Major. As part of this, SIS operations, and those of the national signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, were placed on a statutory footing through the 1994 Intelligence Services Act. Although the Act provided procedures for authorisations and warrants, this essentially enshrined mechanisms that had been in place at least since 1953 (for authorisations) and 1985 (under the Interception of Communications Act, for warrants). Under this Act, since 1994, SIS and GCHQ activities have been subject to scrutiny by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee.


title: MI6

text: During the mid-1990s the British intelligence community was subjected to a comprehensive costing review by the government. As part of broader defence cut-backs SIS had its resources cut back twenty-five percent across the board and senior management was reduced by forty percent. As a consequence of these cuts, the Requirements division (formerly the Circulating Sections of the 1921 Arrangement) were deprived of any representation on the board of directors. At the same time, the Middle East and Africa controllerates were pared back and amalgamated. According to the findings of Lord Butler of Brockwell's "Review of Weapons of Mass Destruction", the reduction of operational capabilities in the Middle East and of the Requirements division's ability to challenge the quality of the information the Middle East Controllerate was providing weakened the Joint Intelligence Committee's estimates of Iraq's non-conventional weapons programmes. These weaknesses were major contributors to the UK's erroneous assessments of Iraq's 'weapons of mass destruction' prior to the 2003 invasion of that country.


title: MI6

text: On one occasion in 1998, MI6 believed it might be able to obtain 'actionable intelligence' which could help the CIA capture Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. But given that this might result in his being transferred or rendered to the United States, MI6 decided it had to ask for ministerial approval before passing the intelligence on (in case he faced the death penalty or mistreatment). This was approved by a minister 'provided the CIA gave assurances regarding humane treatment'. In the end, not enough intelligence came through to make it worthwhile going ahead.


title: MI6

text: In 2001, it became clear that working with Ahmad Shah Massoud and his forces was the best option for going after Bin Laden; the priority for MI6 was developing intelligence coverage. The first real sources were being established, although no one penetrated the upper tier of the Al Qaeda leadership itself. As the year progressed, plans were drawn up and slowly worked their way up to the White House on 4 September 2001-which involved increasing dramatically support for Massoud. MI6 were involved in these plans.


title: MI6

text: During the Global War on Terror, SIS accepted information from the CIA that was obtained through torture, including the extraordinary rendition programme. Craig Murray, a UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, had written several memos critical of the UK's acceptance of this information; he was then sacked from his job.


title: MI6

text: Following the September 11 attacks, on 28 September the British Foreign Secretary approved the deployment of MI6 officers to Afghanistan and the wider region, utilising people involved with the mujahadeen in the 1980s and who had language skills and regional expertise. At the end of the month, a handful of MI6 officers with a budget of $7 million landed in northeast Afghanistan, where they met with General Mohammed Fahim of the Northern Alliance and began working with other contacts in the north and south to build alliances, secure support, and to bribe as many Taliban commanders as they could to change sides or leave the fight.


title: MI6

text: During the United States invasion of Afghanistan, the SIS established a presence in Kabul following its fall to the coalition. MI6 members and the British Special Boat Service took part in the Battle of Tora Bora. After members of the 22nd Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment returned to the UK in mid-December 2001, members of both territorial SAS regiments remained in the country to provide close protection to SIS members.


title: MI6

text: In mid-December, MI6 officers who had been deployed to the region began to interview prisoners held by the Northern Alliance. In January 2002, they began interviewing prisoners held by the Americans. On 10 January 2002, an MI6 officer conducted his first interview of a detainee held by the Americans. He reported back to London that there were aspects of how the detainee had been handled by the US military before the interview that did not seem consistent with the Geneva Conventions. Two days after the interview, he was sent instructions, copied to all MI5 and MI6 officers in Afghanistan, about how to solve concerns over mistreatment, referring to signs of abuse: "Given that they are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene to protect this." It went on to say that the Americans had to understand that the UK did not condone such mistreatment and that a complaint should be made to a senior US official if there was any coercion by the US in conjunction with an MI6 interview.


title: MI6

text: In the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it is alleged, although not confirmed, that some SIS members conducted Operation Mass Appeal, which was a campaign to plant stories about Iraq's WMDs in the media. The operation was exposed in "The Sunday Times" in December 2003. Claims by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter suggest that similar propaganda campaigns against Iraq date back well into the 1990s. Ritter says that SIS recruited him in 1997 to help with the propaganda effort, saying "the aim was to convince the public that Iraq was a far greater threat than it actually was." Towards the end of the invasion, SIS officers operating out of Baghdad International Airport with Special Air Service (SAS) protection, began to re-establish a station in Baghdad and began gathering intelligence, in particular on WMDs. After it became clear that Iraq did not possess any WMDs, MI6 officially withdrew pre-invasion intelligence about them. In the months after the invasion, they also began gathering political intelligence; predicting what would happen in post-Baathist Iraq. MI6 personnel in the country never exceeded 50; in early 2004, apart from supporting Task Force Black in hunting down former senior Ba'athist party members, MI6 also made an effort to target "transnational terrorism"/jihadist networks that led to the SAS carrying out Operation Aston in February 2004: They conducted a raid on a house in Baghdad that was part of a "jihadist pipeline" that ran from Iran to Iraq that US and UK intelligence agencies were tracking suspects on – the raid captured members of Pakistan based terrorist group.


title: MI6

text: Shortly before the Second Battle of Fallujah, MI6 personnel visited JSOCs TSF (Temporary Screening Facility) at Balad Air Base to question a suspected insurgent. Afterwards, they raised concerns about the poor detention conditions there. As a result, the British government informed JSOC in Iraq that prisoners captured by British special forces would only be turned over to JSOC if there was an undertaking not to send them to Balad. In spring 2005, the SAS detachment operating in Basra and southern Iraq, known as Operation Hathor, escorted MI6 case officers into Basra so they could meet their sources and handlers. MI6 provided information that enabled the detachment to carry out surveillance operations. MI6 were also involved in resolving the Basra prison incident; the SIS played a central role in the British withdrawal from Basra in 2007.


title: MI6

text: In Afghanistan, MI6 worked closely with the military, delivering tactical information and working in small cells alongside Special Forces, surveillance teams, and GCHQ to track individuals from the Taliban and Al Qaeda.


title: MI6

text: The first MI6 knew of the US carrying out the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden on 2 May 2011 was after it happened, when its chief called his American counterpart for an explanation. In July 2011 it was reported that SIS had closed several of its stations, particularly in Iraq, where it had several outposts in the south of the country in the region of Basra. The closures have allowed the service to focus its attention on Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are its principal stations. On 12 July 2011, MI6 intelligence officers, along with other intelligence agencies, tracked two British-Afghans to a hotel in Herat, Afghanistan, who were discovered to be trying to establish contact with the Taliban or al-Qaeda to learn bomb-making skills; operators from the SAS captured them and they are believed to be the first Britons to be captured alive in Afghanistan since 2001.


title: MI6

text: By 2012, MI6 had reorganised after 9/11 and reshuffled its staff, opening new stations overseas, with Islamabad becoming the largest station. MI6's increase in funding was not as large as that for MI5, and it still struggled to recruit at the required rate; former members were rehired to help out. MI6 maintained intelligence coverage of suspects as they moved from the UK overseas, particularity to Pakistan.


title: MI6

text: In October 2013, SIS appealed for reinforcements and extra staff from other intelligence agencies amid growing concern about a terrorist threat from Afghanistan and that the country would become an "intelligence vacuum" after British troops withdraw at the end of 2014.


title: MI6

text: In March 2016, it was reported that MI6 had been involved in the Libyan Civil War since January of that year, having been escorted by the SAS to meet with Libyan officials to discuss the supplying of weapons and training for the Syrian Army and the militias fighting against ISIS. In April 2016, it was revealed that MI6 teams with members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment seconded to them had been deployed to Yemen to train Yemeni forces fighting AQAP, as well as identifying targets for drone strikes. In November 2016, "The Independent" reported that MI6, MI5 and GCHQ supplied the SAS and other British special forces a list of 200 British jihadists to kill or capture before they attempt to return to the UK. The jihadists are senior members of ISIS who pose a direct threat to the UK. Sources said SAS soldiers have been told that the mission could be the most important in the regiment's 75-year history.


title: MI6

text: On 6 May 2004 it was announced that Sir Richard Dearlove was to be replaced as head of SIS by John Scarlett, former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Scarlett was an unusually high-profile appointment to the job, and gave evidence at the Hutton Inquiry.


title: MI6

text: SIS has been active in the Balkans, playing a vital role in hunting down people wanted by the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. British intelligence operations in the Balkans are thought to have played a vital role in the handover of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević to The Hague; SIS was also heavily involved in the hunt for Radovan Karadžić and General Ratko Mladic, who are linked to a vast range of war crimes including the murder of Srebrenica's surrendering male population and organising the Siege of Sarajevo.


title: MI6

text: On 27 September 2004, it was reported that British spies across the Balkans, including an SIS officer in Belgrade and another spy in Sarajevo, were moved or forced to withdraw after they were publicly identified in a number of media reports planted by disgruntled local intelligence services – particularly in Croatia and Serbia. A third individual was branded a British spy in the Balkans and left the office of the High Representative in Bosnia, whilst a further two British intelligence officers working in Zagreb, remained in place despite their cover being blown in the local press. The exposure of the agents across the three capitals markedly undermined the British intelligence operations in the area, including SIS efforts to capture The Hague's most wanted men, which riled many local intelligence agencies in the Balkans, some of which are suspected of continuing ties to alleged war criminals. They were riled due to MI6 operating "not so much a spy network as a network of influence within Balkan security services and the media," said the director of the International Crisis Group in Serbia and Bosnia, which caused some of them to be "upset". In Serbia, the SIS station chief was forced to leave his post in August 2004 after a campaign against him led by the country's DB intelligence agency, where his work investigating the 2003 assassination of the reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic won him few friends.


title: MI6

text: On 15 November 2006, SIS allowed an interview with current operations officers for the first time. The interview was on the Colin Murray Show on BBC Radio 1. The two officers (one male and one female) had their voices disguised for security reasons. The officers compared their real experience with the fictional portrayal of SIS in the James Bond films. While denying that there ever existed a "licence to kill" and reiterating that SIS operated under British law, the officers confirmed that there is a 'Q'-like figure who is head of the technology department, and that their director is referred to as 'C'. The officers described the lifestyle as quite glamorous and very varied, with plenty of overseas travel and adventure, and described their role primarily as intelligence gatherers, developing relationships with potential sources.


title: MI6

text: Sir John Sawers became head of the SIS in November 2009, the first outsider to head SIS in more than 40 years. Sawers came from the Diplomatic Service, previously having been the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations.


title: MI6

text: On 7 June 2011, John Sawers received Romania's President Traian Băsescu and George-Cristian Malor, the head of the Serviciul Roman de Informatii (SRI) at SIS headquarters.


title: MI6

text: Five years before the Libyan Civil War, a UK Special Forces unit was formed called E Squadron which was composed of selected members of the 22nd SAS Regiment, the SBS and the SRR. It was tasked by the Director Special Forces to support MI6's operations (akin to the CIA's SAC – a covert paramilitary unit for SIS). It was not a formal squadron within the establishment of any individual UK Special Forces unit, but at the disposal of both the Director Special Forces and the SIS; previously, SIS relied primarily on contractor personnel. The Squadron carried out missions that required 'maximum discretion' in places that were 'off the radar or considered dangerous'; the Squadron's members often operated in plain clothes, with the full range of national support, such as false identities at its disposal. In early March 2011, during the Libyan Civil War, a covert operation in Libya involving E Squadron went wrong: The aim of the mission was to cement SIS's contacts with the rebels by flying in two SIS officers in a Chinook helicopter to meet a Libyan Intermediary in a town near Benghazi, who had promised to fix them up a meeting with the NTC. A team consisting of six E Squadron members (all from the SAS) and two SIS officers were flown into Libya by an RAF Special Forces Flight Chinook; the Squadron's members were carrying bags containing arms, ammunition, explosives, computers, maps and passports from at least four nationalities. Despite technical backup, the team landed in Libya without any prior agreement with the rebel leadership, and the plan failed as soon as the team landed. The locals became suspicious they were foreign mercenaries or spies and the team was detained by rebel forces and taken to a military base in Benghazi. They were then hauled before a senior rebel leader; the team told him that they were in the country to determine the rebels' needs and to offer assistance, but the discovery of British troops on the ground enraged the rebels who were fearful that Gaddafi would use such evidence to destroy the credibility of the NTC. Negotiations between senior rebel leaders and British officials in London finally led to their release and they were allowed to board HMS Cumberland.


title: MI6

text: On 16 November 2011 SIS warned the national transitional council in Benghazi after discovering details of planned strikes, said foreign secretary William Hague. 'The agencies obtained firm intelligence, were able to warn the NTC of the threat, and the attacks were prevented,' he said. In a rare speech on the intelligence agencies, he praised the key role played by SIS and GCHQ in bringing Gaddafi's 42-year dictatorship to an end, describing them as 'vital assets' with a 'fundamental and indispensable role' in keeping the nation safe. 'They worked to identify key political figures, develop contacts with the emerging opposition and provide political and military intelligence. 'Most importantly, they saved lives,' he said. The speech follows criticism that SIS had been too close to the Libyan regime and was involved in the extraordinary rendition of anti-Gaddafi activists. Mr Hague also defended controversial proposals for secrecy in civil courts in cases involving intelligence material.


title: MI6

text: In February 2013 Channel Four News reported on evidence of SIS spying on opponents of the Gaddafi regime and handing the information to the regime in Libya. The files looked at contained "a memorandum of understanding, dating from October 2002, detailing a two-day meeting in Libya between Gaddafi's external intelligence agency and two senior heads of SIS and one from MI5 outlining joint plans for "intelligence exchange, counter-terrorism and mutual co-operation".


title: MI6

text: In February 2015, "The Daily Telegraph" reported that MI6 contacted their counterparts in the South African intelligence services to seek assistance in an effort to recruit a North Korean "asset" to spy on North Korea's nuclear programme. MI6 had contacted the man who had inside information on North Korea's nuclear programme, he considered the offer and wanted to arrange another meeting, but a year passed without MI6 hearing from him, which prompted them to request South African assistance when they learnt he would be travelling through South Africa. It is not known whether the North Korean man ever agreed to work for MI6.


title: MI6

text: In July 2020, it was revealed that intelligence officials from a number of repressive regimes received training from senior officials of MI6 and MI5 in last two days. In 2019, an 11-day International Intelligence Directors Course was attended by top intelligence officers from 26 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, Afghanistan and others. A British academic, Matthew Hedges questioned the UK's training programme for allowing officials of the UAE, where he was detained on false charges and faced psychological torture.


title: MI6

text: MI6 is known sometimes to use Government Communications Bureau as a cover name, for example, when sponsoring research.


title: MI6

text: MI6 personnel are recognised annually by King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales) at the Prince of Wales's Intelligence Community Awards at St James's Palace or Clarence House alongside members of the Security Service (MI5), and GCHQ. Awards and citations are given to teams within the agencies as well as individuals.


title: MI6

text: The year 2009 was the centenary of the Secret Intelligence Service. An official history of the first forty years was commissioned to mark the occasion and was published in 2010. To further mark the centenary, the Secret Intelligence Service invited artist James Hart Dyke to become artist in residence.


title: MI6

text: "A year with MI6" was a public art exhibition, showing a collection of paintings and drawings by artist James Hart Dyke to mark the centenary of the British Secret Intelligence Service. The project saw Hart Dyke working closely with the SIS for a year, both in the United Kingdom and abroad. The Service allowed Hart Dyke access to enable him to undertake the project, sending him on hostile environment courses to allow him to work in dangerous parts of the world, and admitting him into their Vauxhall Cross headquarters. The sensitivity of SIS work required Hart Dyke to maintain secrecy, and his access was carefully controlled.


title: MI6

text: The works were exhibited publicly to promote understanding of the SIS's work, and why their operations must be secret. The exhibition ran from 15 to 26 February 2011 at the Mount Street Galleries, Mayfair, London. More than 40 original oil paintings and many sketches and studies were exhibited after being screened for security; the content and meaning of some of the paintings was intentionally left ambiguous.


title: MI6

text: Since 1995, SIS headquarters has been at 85 Vauxhall Cross, along the Albert Embankment in Vauxhall on the south bank of the River Thames by Vauxhall Bridge, London. Previous headquarters have been Century House, 100 Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth (1966–1995), 54 Broadway, off Victoria Street, London (1924–1966) and 2 Whitehall Court (1911–1922). Although SIS operated from Broadway, it made considerable use of the adjoining St. Ermin's Hotel.


title: MI6

text: The building was designed by Sir Terry Farrell and built by John Laing. The developer Regalian Properties approached the government in 1987 to see if they had any interest in the proposed building. At the same time, MI5 was seeking alternative accommodation and co-location of the two services was studied. In the end, this proposal was abandoned due to the lack of buildings of adequate size (existing or proposed) and the security considerations of providing a single target for attacks. In December 1987, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government approved the purchase of the new building for SIS.


title: MI6

text: The building design was reviewed to incorporate the necessary protection for the UK's foreign intelligence-gathering agency. This includes overall increased security, extensive computer suites, technical areas, bomb blast protection, emergency back-up systems and protection against electronic eavesdropping. While the details and cost of construction have been released, about ten years after the original National Audit Office (NAO) report was written, some of the service's special requirements remain classified. The NAO report "Thames House and Vauxhall Cross" has certain details omitted, describing in detail the cost and problems of certain modifications, but not what these are. Rob Humphrey's "London: The Rough Guide" suggests one of these omitted modifications is a tunnel beneath the Thames to Whitehall. The NAO put the final cost at £135.05 million for site purchase and the basic building, or £152.6 million including the service's special requirements.


title: MI6

text: The setting of the SIS offices was featured in the James Bond films "GoldenEye", "The World Is Not Enough", "Die Another Day", "Skyfall", and "Spectre". SIS allowed filming of the building itself for the first time in "The World is Not Enough" for the pre-credits sequence, where a bomb hidden in a briefcase full of money is detonated inside the building. A "Daily Telegraph" article said that the British government opposed the filming, but this was denied by a Foreign Office spokesperson. In "Skyfall" the building is once again attacked by an explosion, this time by a cyber attack turning on a gas line and igniting the fumes, after which SIS operations are moved to a secret underground facility. In "Spectre", the building has been abandoned and due for demolition. The evil head of crime organisation SPECTRE, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, traps Agent 007 James Bond alongside the film's Bond girl Madeleine Swann inside the remains of the building. Blofeld then detonated bombs planted in the building, demolishing what was left of the building fully, though Bond managed to save Swann and escape before the building exploded.


title: MI6

text: On the evening of 20 September 2000, the building was attacked using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank rocket launcher. Striking the eighth floor, the missile caused only superficial damage. The Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch attributed responsibility to the Real IRA.


title: MI6

text: Most other buildings are held or nominally occupied by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. They include:


title: MI6

text: MI6 is nicknamed "The Circus". Some say this was coined by John le Carré (former SIS officer David Cornwell) in his espionage novels and named after a fictional building on Cambridge Circus. Leo Marks explains in his World War II memoir "Between Silk and Cyanide" that the name arose because a section of the Special Operations Executive was housed in a building at 1 Dorset Square, London, which had formerly belonged to the directors of Bertram Mills circus.


title: Australian Open

text: The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. The Australian Open starts in the middle of January and continues for two weeks coinciding with the Australia Day holiday. It features men's and women's singles; men's, women's, and mixed doubles; junior's championships; and wheelchair, legends, and exhibition events. Novak Djokovic has the most Australian Open men's singles titles of all time with nine. Before 1988, it was played on grass courts, but since then three types of hardcourt surfaces have been used: green-coloured Rebound Ace up to 2007, blue Plexicushion from 2008 to 2019, and blue GreenSet since 2020.


title: Australian Open

text: First held in 1905 as the Australasian championships, the Australian Open has grown to become one of the biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere. Nicknamed "the happy slam", the Australian Open is the highest attended Grand Slam event, with more than 812,000 people attending the 2020 tournament. It was also the first Grand Slam tournament to feature indoor play during wet weather or extreme heat with its three primary courts, Rod Laver Arena, John Cain Arena and the refurbished Margaret Court Arena equipped with retractable roofs.


title: Australian Open

text: The Australian Open is a major contributor to the Victorian economy: the 2020 Australian Open injected $387.7 million into the Victorian economy, while over the preceding decade the Australian Open had contributed more than $2.71 billion in economic benefits to Victoria and generated 1775 jobs for the state, with these jobs being predominantly in the accommodation, hotels, cafés and trade services sectors.


title: Australian Open

text: The Australian Open is managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (LTAA), and was first played at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. The facility is now known as the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre, and was a grass court.


title: Australian Open

text: The tournament was first known as the Australasian Championships. It became the Australian Championships in 1927. Then, in 1969, it became the Australian Open. Since 1905, it has been staged 110 times in five Australian cities: Melbourne (66 times), Sydney (17 times), Adelaide (15 times), Brisbane (7 times), Perth (3 times), and two New Zealander cities: Christchurch (1906) and Hastings (1912).


title: Australian Open

text: Though started in 1905, the tournament was not designated as being a major championship until 1924, by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) at a 1923 meeting. The tournament committee changed the structure of the tournament to include seeding at that time. In the period of 1916–1918, no tournament was organized due to World War I.


title: Australian Open

text: In 1972, it was decided to stage the tournament in Melbourne each year because it attracted the biggest patronage of any Australian city. The tournament was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from 1972 until its move to the new Flinders Park complex in 1988.<section end=GrandSlamArticle/>


title: Australian Open

text: The new facilities at Flinders Park were envisaged to meet the demands of a tournament that had outgrown Kooyong's capacity. The move to Flinders Park was an immediate success, with a 90 percent increase in attendance in 1988 (266,436) on the previous year at Kooyong (140,000).


title: Australian Open

text: Because of Australia's geographic remoteness, very few foreign players entered this tournament in the early 20th century. In the 1920s, the trip by ship from Europe to Australia took about 45 days. The first tennis players who came by boats were the US Davis Cup players in November 1946. Even inside Australia, many players could not travel easily. When the tournament was held in Perth, no one from Victoria or New South Wales crossed by train, a distance of about between the East and West coasts. In Christchurch in 1906, of a small field of 10 players, only two Australians attended and the tournament was won by a New Zealander.


title: Australian Open

text: The first tournaments of the Australasian Championships suffered from the competition of the other Australasian tournaments. Before 1905, all Australian states, and New Zealand, had their own championships; the first being organised in 1880 in Melbourne and called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria (later the Championship of Victoria). In those years, the best two players – Australian Norman Brookes (whose name is now written on the men's singles cup) and New Zealander Anthony Wilding – almost did not play this tournament.


title: Australian Open

text: Brookes took part once and won in 1911, and Wilding entered and won the competition twice (1906 and 1909). Their meetings in the Victorian Championships (or at Wimbledon) helped to determine the best Australasian players. Even when the Australasian Championships were held in Hastings, New Zealand, in 1912, Wilding, though three times Wimbledon champion, did not come back to his home country. It was a recurring problem for all players of the era. Brookes went to Europe only three times, where he reached the Wimbledon Challenge Round once and then won Wimbledon twice.


title: Australian Open

text: Thus, many players had never played the Austral(as)ian amateur or open championships: the Doherty brothers, William Larned, Maurice McLoughlin, Beals Wright, Bill Johnston, Bill Tilden, René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Pancho Gonzales, Budge Patty, and others, while Brookes, Ellsworth Vines, Jaroslav Drobný, came just once. Even in the 1960s and 1970s, when travel was less difficult, leading players such as Manuel Santana, Jan Kodeš, Manuel Orantes, Ilie Năstase (who only came once, when 35 years old) and Björn Borg came rarely or not at all.


title: Australian Open

text: Beginning in 1969, when the first Australian Open was held on the Milton Courts at Brisbane, the tournament was open to all players, including professionals who were not allowed to play the traditional circuit. Nevertheless, except for the 1969 and 1971 tournaments, many of the best players missed this championship until 1982, because of the remoteness, the inconvenient dates (around Christmas and New Year's Day) and the low prize money. In 1970, George MacCall's National Tennis League, which employed Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Andrés Gimeno, Pancho Gonzales, Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle, prevented its players from entering the tournament because the guarantees were insufficient. The tournament was won by Arthur Ashe.


title: Australian Open

text: In 1983, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander entered the tournament. Wilander won the singles title and both his Davis Cup singles rubbers in the Swedish loss to Australia at Kooyong shortly after. Following the 1983 Australian Open, the International Tennis Federation prompted the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia to change the site of the tournament, because the Kooyong stadium was then inappropriate to serve such a big event. In 1988 the tournament was first held at Flinders Park (later renamed Melbourne Park). The change of the venue also led to a change of the court surface from grass to a hard court surface known as Rebound Ace.


title: Australian Open

text: Mats Wilander was the only player to win the tournament on both grass and hard courts. In 2008, after being used for 20 years, the Rebound Ace was replaced by a cushioned, medium-paced, acrylic surface known as Plexicushion Prestige. Roger Federer and Serena Williams are the only players to win the Australian Open on both Rebound Ace and Plexicushion Prestige. The main benefits of the new surface are better consistency and less retention of heat because of a thinner top layer. This change was accompanied by changes in the surfaces of all lead-up tournaments to the Australian Open. The change was controversial because of the new surface's similarity to DecoTurf, the surface used by the US Open.


title: Australian Open

text: Before the Melbourne Park stadium era, tournament dates fluctuated as well, in particular in the early years because of the climate of each site or exceptional events. For example, the 1919 tournament was held in January 1920 (the 1920 tournament was played in March) and the 1923 tournament in Brisbane took place in August when the weather was not too hot and wet. After a first 1977 tournament was held in December 1976 – January 1977, the organisers chose to move the next tournament forward a few days, then a second 1977 tournament was played (ended on 31 December), but this failed to attract the best players.


title: Australian Open

text: From 1982 to 1985, the tournament was played in mid-December. Then it was decided to move the next tournament to mid-January (January 1987), which meant no tournament was organized in 1986. Since 1987, the Australian Open date has not changed (except for 2021, when it was postponed by three weeks to February due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Some top players, including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have said in the past that the tournament is held too soon after the Christmas and New Year holidays, and expressed a desire to consider shifting the tournament to February. Such a change, however, would move the tournament outside Australia's summer school holiday period, potentially impacting attendance figures.


title: Australian Open

text: New South Wales and overseas authorities proposed becoming the new hosts of the tournament in 2008, though such a move never materialised. In any case, it was around this time the Melbourne Park precinct commenced upgrades which enhanced facilities for players and spectators.


title: Australian Open

text: In 2015 activists opposed to the Australian policy of indefinite imprisonment for refugees who arrive by sea interrupted play during the men's final hoisting a banner reading "Australia Open For Refugees.


title: Australian Open

text: Notably a retractable roof was placed over Margaret Court Arena, making the Open the first of the four Grand Slams to have retractable roofs available on three of their main courts. The player and administrative facilities, as well as access points for spectators, were improved and the tournament site expanded its footprint out of Melbourne Park into nearby Birrarung Marr. A fourth major show court, seating 5,000 people was completed in late 2021, along with the rest of decade-long redevelopment, which included the "Centrepiece" ballroom, function and media building, as well as other upgraded facilities for players, administrators and spectators.


title: Australian Open

text: In December 2018, tournament organisers announced the Australian Open would follow the examples set by Wimbledon and the US Open and introduce tie-breaks in the final sets of men's and women's singles matches. Unlike Wimbledon and the US Open, which initiate conventional tie-breaks at 12–12 games and 6–6 games respectively, the Australian Open utilises a first to 10 points breaker at 6 games all. In 2020, the tournament organisers decided to replace the official court manufacturer to GreenSet, though retained the iconic blue cushioned acrylic hardcourt.


title: Australian Open

text: In 2021, in an effort to reduce the number of staff on-site due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches used electronic line judging. It marked the first-ever Grand Slam tournament to exclusively use electronic line judging; the 2020 US Open used it for matches outside of the two main stadium courts. The Australian Open is also the first major sporting event to use NFTs and the metaverse. The court was split into 6,776 squares that each corresponded to a tennis ball NFT. These tennis ball NFTs would change based on where points were scored during the tournament, as determined by the electronic line judging. The project also built a real-life replica of the precinct in Decentraland where people could spectate and interact with each other in real time. The Australian Open Artball NFTs generated over $5 million in revenue and won a Cannes Lions Award for Sports Entertainment.


title: Australian Open

text: The Australian Open is played at Melbourne Park, which is located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct; the event moved to this site in 1988. Currently three of the courts have retractable roofs, allowing play to continue during rain and extreme heat. As of 2017, spectators can also observe play at Show Courts 2 and 3, which have capacities of 3,000 each, as well as at Courts 4–15, 19 and 20 with the aid of temporary seating grandstands of capacity anywhere from 50 to 2,500.


title: Australian Open

text: Construction of a new 5,000 seat capacity stadium began in 2019 as part of a $271 million redevelopment of the precinct. The new stadium, Kia Arena, was unveiled by Australian Open officials on 22 November 2021.


title: Australian Open

text: Between 2008 and 2019, all of the courts used during the Australian Open were hard courts with Plexicushion acrylic surfaces (though Melbourne Park does have eight practice clay courts these are not used for the tournament). This replaced the Rebound Ace surface used from the opening of Melbourne Park. The ITF rated the surface's speed as medium. In 2020, the courts were switched to GreenSet, though retained their distinctive blue appearance.


title: Australian Open

text: Ranking points for the men (ATP) and women (WTA) have varied at the Australian Open through the years but presently players receive the following points:


title: Australian Open

text: The prize money awarded in the men's and women's singles tournaments is distributed equally. The total prize money for the 2022 tournament in Australian dollars is AUD $75,000,000.


title: Australian Open

text: From 1973 to 2018, the Seven Network served as the host broadcaster of the Australian Open. In March 2018, it was announced that the Nine Network had acquired the rights to the tournament beginning in 2020, for a period of five years. The network later bought the rights for the 2019 tournament as well. The Open's broadcast rights are lucrative in the country, as it occurs near the end of the Summer non-ratings season — which gives its broadcaster opportunities to promote their upcoming programming lineup.


title: Australian Open

text: In Europe the tournament is broadcast on Eurosport. Other broadcasters in the region have included the BBC in the United Kingdom, SRG in Switzerland, NOS in Netherlands and RTS in Serbia. In the United Kingdom, the BBC dropped its live coverage of the 2016 tournament just a month before the start due to budget cuts, leaving Eurosport as the exclusive live broadcaster.


title: Australian Open

text: Elsewhere, beIN Sports broadcasts it into the Middle East and northern Africa, and SuperSport in sub-Sahara Africa. In the United States, the tournament is broadcast on ESPN2, ESPN3 and the Tennis Channel. The championship matches are televised live on ESPN. While it is broadcast on ESPN International in Central and Latin America. It is broadcast on TSN in Canada.


title: Australian Open

text: In the Asia–Pacific region, the tournament is broadcast on five television networks in China, including national broadcaster CCTV, provincial networks Beijing TV, Shanghai Dragon TV and Guangdong TV and English language Star Sports, as well as online on iQIYI Sports. Elsewhere in the region, it is broadcast in Japan by national broadcaster NHK, and pay-TV network Wowow. In the Indian subcontinent, Sony Six has broadcast since 2015 and, in the rest of Asia, it is broadcast on Fox Sports Asia until the network's shutdown in 2021 and the rights is acquired by beIN Sports from 2022 except for Vietnam which will be broadcast on K+.


title: Australian Open

text: The following record of attendance begins in 1987, when the tournament moved from being held in December to in January (the immediate preceding tournament was December 1985). 1987 was the last year that the Kooyong Tennis Club hosted the tournament; since 1988 it has been held at Melbourne Park. The average growth rate over the period covered below is more than 7%.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: George Stevens Hamilton (born August 12, 1939) is an American actor. His notable films include "Home from the Hill" (1960), "By Love Possessed" (1961), "Light in the Piazza" (1962), "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1964), "Once Is Not Enough" (1975), "Love at First Bite" (1979), "Zorro, The Gay Blade" (1981), "The Godfather Part III" (1990), "Doc Hollywood" (1991), "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" (1997), "Hollywood Ending" (2002) and "The Congressman" (2016). For his debut performance in "Crime and Punishment U.S.A." (1959), Hamilton won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a BAFTA Award. He has received one additional BAFTA nomination and two additional Golden Globe nominations.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton began his film career in 1958, and although he has a substantial body of work in film and television, he is perhaps most famous for his debonair style, perpetual suntan, and Ritz Crackers commercials. Bo Derek wrote in her autobiography that "there was an ongoing contest between John [Derek] and George Hamilton as to who was tanner."


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the middle of three boys with an older maternal half-brother and a younger full brother, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas. He is the eldest son of Ann Stevens and bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: His stepfathers were Carleton Hunt and Jesse Spalding; his stepmother was June Howard, with whom Hamilton said he had repeated sexual relations when he was 12 years old, shortly after she married his father, and again later when he was an adult.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton's first roles were in TV. He appeared on such shows as "The Veil" (playing an Indian), "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin", "The Donna Reed Show" and "Cimarron City".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: His first film role was a lead, "Crime and Punishment U.S.A." (1959), directed by Denis Sanders. Although shot in 1958 it was not released until the following year. However, the film was seen by Vincente Minnelli who thought Hamilton would be ideal for the younger son in "Home from the Hill" (1960), a Southern melodrama with Robert Mitchum. Hamilton was duly cast and the film was popular. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed him to a long-term contract.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: MGM cast Hamilton in support of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner in the melodrama "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (1960) which flopped at the box office.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton's next film was far more popular, the beach party comedy "Where the Boys Are" (1960). This was a hit and remains one of his best known movies.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton wanted to do more serious material, however, so he appeared in the lower budgeted "Angel Baby" (1961), a drama about an evangelist, for Allied Artists. It had minimal commercial or critical impact. For United Artists, he supported Lana Turner in a melodrama, "By Love Possessed" (1961).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: MGM tried to change his image by putting him in a Western, "A Thunder of Drums" (1961) alongside Richard Boone; the film was mildly popular.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton lobbied hard for the role of the Italian husband in "Light in the Piazza" (1962), another melodrama, with Olivia de Havilland. The film lost money but Hamilton received excellent notices. It was shot in Italy, and MGM kept Hamilton in that country to play a role in "Two Weeks in Another Town" (1962), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton had an excellent part in "The Victors" (1963), an anti-war drama from Carl Foreman. It was a box office disappointment but was critically acclaimed. Hamilton had another good role in "Act One" (1963), playing Moss Hart, but the movie was poorly received. He guest starred on episodes of "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" and "Burke's Law".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: After making a cameo in "Looking for Love" (1964), Hamilton appeared in another biopic, "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1964), playing Hank Williams. The movie was not widely seen but had its fans and Hamilton's performance received some praise. He guest starred on episodes of "The Rogues" and "Ben Casey".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton went to Mexico to support Jeanne Moreau and Brigitte Bardot in "Viva Maria!" (1965). It was directed by Louis Malle who cast Hamilton on the strength of his performance in "Two Weeks in Another Town". Malle said, "he was a personal choice and I am happy with him... He's more interested in being in the social columns – I don't understand – when he should be one of the greatest of his generation." The film was popular in Europe, but less so in the US.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton made a movie in France, "That Man George" (1965), and appeared in a production of "A Farewell to Arms" (1966) on TV, opposite Vanessa Redgrave.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He returned to MGM to make a romantic comedy with Sandra Dee, "Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!" (1967), which was mildly popular. At Columbia he co-starred with Glenn Ford in a Western "A Time for Killing" (1967), originally directed by Roger Corman then Phil Karlson.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton played a cat burglar in MGM's "Jack of Diamonds" (1967). It was produced by Sandy Howard who said Hamilton was "a hot commodity these days" because he was dating Lyndon Johnson's daughter. Reports put his fee around this time at $100,000 a movie. He was drafted into the army but received a 3-A deferral notice on the grounds he was the sole financial provider for his mother. (Hamilton's draft deferment was highly controversial at the time because it was thought that his relationship with the president's daughter gave him preferential treatment.)


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton went into television in 1969, supporting Lana Turner in the all-star ABC series "Harold Robbins' The Survivors" (1969–70).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: When the show was canceled in January 1970, Hamilton went into "Paris 7000" (1970). He portrayed a trouble shooter for the US State Department in Paris helping US citizens. This series was canceled in March 1970.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He starred in the TV films Togetherness (1970) and "The Last of the Powerseekers", a 1971 compilation of two episodes of "Harold Robbins' The Survivors".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton decided to move into producing to give himself greater control over his career. He produced and played the title role in "Evel Knievel" (1971). Hamilton had the script rewritten by John Milius who later called Hamilton "a wonderful guy, totally underrated. A great con-man, that's what he really is. He always said, "I'll be remembered as a third-rate actor when in fact, I'm a first-rate con man."


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He appeared in a TV movie, "The Last of the Powerseekers" (1973), and had a support role as a wealthy rancher whose wife was trying to leave him in the western, "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing", starring Burt Reynolds (1973).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He produced and appeared in "Medusa" (1973). He starred in the TV movie "The Dead Don't Die" (1975) and had a support role in "Once Is Not Enough" (1975). On a 1975 episode of "Columbo", Hamilton played a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis to commit a murder, whose arrogant assertions in his own defence establish that he was in fact at the scene of the crime.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton guest starred on episodes of "Police Story", "McCloud", "Roots", "The Eddie Capra Mysteries", "Gibbsville", "Supertrain", and "Sword of Justice".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He had support roles in "The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver" (1977), "The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington" (1977), "Killer on Board" (1977), "Sextette" (1978), "The Users" (1978), "From Hell to Victory" (1979), "Institute for Revenge" (1979) and "Death Car on the Freeway" (1979).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In 1979 he appeared in surprise hit "Love at First Bite", in which he showed a flair for comedy, which was the story of Count Dracula's pursuit of a young Manhattanite model, played by Susan Saint James. The film included such scenes as Dracula and his conquest dancing to "I Love the Nightlife" at a disco. The film's box-office success created a popularity surge for Hamilton, who also served as executive producer.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He returned to TV for "The Seekers" (1979) and "The Great Cash Giveaway Getaway" (1979) then he did a "Love at First Bite" style comedy, 1981's "Zorro, The Gay Blade", which he produced.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: However, "Zorro" was not as popular as "Love at First Bite" and film leads dried up quickly. He focused on television: "Malibu" (1983) and "Two Fathers' Justice" (1985).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In the mid-1980s, Hamilton starred in the sixth season of the ABC Aaron Spelling-produced nighttime television serial "Dynasty".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He supported Joan Collins in the miniseries "Monte Carlo" (1986) and had the lead in a short lived series "Spies" (1987). He supported Elizabeth Taylor in "Poker Alice" (1987).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: A break for Hamilton came in 1990 when Francis Ford Coppola cast him as the Corleone family's lawyer in "The Godfather Part III".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: For the second time, he portrayed a murderer on the television series "Columbo", starring as the host of a TV true-crime show in the 1991 episode "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health." He had previously been in the 1975 episode "A Deadly State of Mind".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton had small roles in "Doc Hollywood" (1991), "Once Upon a Crime" (1992) and "Amore!" (1993) and guest starred on "" and "Dream On". He went to Germany to make "" (1993) and did "" (1994), "Vanished" (1995), and "Playback" (1996), as well as guest starring on the shows "Bonnie", "Hart to Hart" and "The Guilt".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He was in "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997), "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" (1997), and the miniseries "Rough Riders" (1997), where he portrayed William Randolph Hearst. With his matinee-idol looks it was sometimes noted that Hamilton physically resembled Warren Beatty. Beatty's political satire "Bulworth" (1998) contained a running gag about this with Hamilton appearing as himself in a brief cameo. Hamilton had a regular role on the short lived TV series "Jenny" (1997).


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: He was in "Casper Meets Wendy" (1998), "P.T. Barnum" (1999) and "She's Too Tall" (1999). He was a semi-regular celebrity guest on the 1998-99 syndicated version of "Match Game"


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In 2001, Hamilton starred on Broadway in the play Chicago in the role of Billy Flynn. He played the roles from Nov 21, 2001 - Feb 17, 2002, Jun 04, 2002 - Jul 29, 2002, and then again from Sep 14, 2007 - Oct 07, 2007.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In 2003, Hamilton hosted "The Family" which was a reality television series on ABC for one season. The program starred ten members from a traditional Italian-American family, each fighting for a $1,000,000 prize. In 2006, Hamilton competed in the second season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with professional Edyta Sliwinska in which they lasted until the sixth round. At age 66 and recovering from knee injuries, Hamilton, unable to match the limber dance moves of his younger competitors, charmed the audience and judges with endearingly silly dances utilizing props including a Zorro mask and the sword from "Zorro, The Gay Blade".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In 2006, it was rumored that Hamilton would replace Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right". He auditioned for the show and in March 2007, TMZ reported that Hamilton was a frontrunner to replace Barker. According to Reuters, Hamilton was one of the final three contenders to host the show, alongside Mark Steines and Todd Newton. Soon thereafter, however, Drew Carey was named as Barker's successor. Subsequently, Hamilton has hosted the live stage adaptation of the show, "The Price Is Right Live!". In August 2008, Hamilton co-starred in "Coma", a web series on Crackle. Hamilton was executive producer of the 2009 film "My One and Only", which is loosely based on his early life and relationship with his mother.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on August 12, 2009. In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. Hamilton appeared as a contestant on the UK edition of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" in November 2009. Hamilton walked out of the jungle on November 30, 2009, telling the other contestants that he wasn't there to win, but to have fun. Hamilton was considered one of the favorites to win the series. In 2010 Hamilton was chosen as one of David Hasselhoff's roasters in the "Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff". Starting in the fall of 2011, Hamilton starred as "Georges" for the national tour of the Tony-winning revival of "La Cage aux Folles". He was still starring in the show .


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In 2015 George and his ex-wife, Alana Hamilton appeared in Season 4/Episode 10 of Celebrity Wife Swap. Alana swapped with Angela "Big Ang" Raiola of Mob Wives fame, and her husband, Neil Murphy. In the summer of 2016, Hamilton appeared in television commercials for KFC as the "Extra Crispy Colonel", a deeply tanned version of the company's mascot, Colonel Sanders, a role which he returned to in the spring of 2018. On July 6, 2018, Hamilton portrayed the Colonel on "General Hospital".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In the late 1980s Hamilton launched the George Hamilton Skin Care System and the George Hamilton Sun Care System and tanning salons. A cigar lounge bearing his name was opened in the late 1990s at the New York, New York, hotel in Las Vegas and other locations, along with a line of cigars bearing the actor's name. A January 1998 article in "Cigar Aficionado" magazine described Hamilton's style as "Cary Grant meets Pat Riley".


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In April 2006 Hamilton served as grand marshal for the 79th Annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia. In 2016 and 2018, Hamilton appeared as the "Crispy Colonel" in commercials for KFC, playing on his "Tan Man" image.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: In 1966, Hamilton had a relationship with Lynda Bird Johnson, the daughter of US President Lyndon B. Johnson. Hamilton was married to actress Alana Stewart from 1972 to 1975. Their son, Ashley Hamilton, was born in 1974.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: The divorced Hamiltons reunited in the mid-1990s to co-host a daytime talk show, "George & Alana". In "I'm A Celebrity" he revealed he had dated at least four Miss Worlds. In 2019 Hamilton said he was romantically unattached, though does enjoy dating different ladies.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: Hamilton has a well-known social relationship with Imelda Marcos, the widow of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It was later revealed that he also had business ties to the Marcoses. In 1990 Hamilton was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal fraud and racketeering case against the Marcoses involving looting Philippine government funds; Imelda was acquitted in the case.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: According to Burt Reynolds's autobiography, Hamilton has a healthy sense of humor, even when the humor is directed at him. Reynolds wrote that he made up a birthday card for Hamilton with a composite photograph of Tony Curtis and Anthony Perkins, titled "To George, love from Mum and Dad". Hamilton found the card hilarious and showed it to everybody.


title: George Hamilton (actor)

text: "My One and Only", a 2009 comedy film starring Logan Lerman, was loosely based on a story about George Hamilton's early life on the road with his mother and brother, featuring anecdotes that Hamilton had told to Merv Griffin.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama "All My Children" as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career. Additionally, McCartney has appeared on shows such as "", "Summerland", and "Greek." McCartney also is known for lending his voice as Theodore in "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and its sequels, as well as voicing JoJo McDodd in "Horton Hears a Who", Robin/Nightwing in "Young Justice", and Roxas and Ventus in the video game series "Kingdom Hearts" developed by Square Enix.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney was born in Ardsley, Westchester, New York, the son of Ginger McCartney and Scott McCartney. He began performing in local community musicals at the age of seven, when he debuted his role in "Oliver!", before joining the national tour of "The King and I" at age ten along with "Phil of the Future" star Ricky Ullman. There he played the character of Louis. In 1998, he sang with the group Sugar Beats and can be heard on their 1998, 1999, and 2000 CD releases.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In 1999, McCartney joined the American pop boy band Dream Street, and was a member until 2002. He described the experience as a good "stepping stone" for his solo career. The group earned a gold record with their debut CD. At fifteen, he began work on a solo career with a local band, featuring musicians Dillon Kondor (guitar), Peter Chema (bass), Katie Spencer (keyboards), Alex Russeku (drums), Karina LaGravinese (background vocals), Sharisse Francisco (background vocals), and under the management of Ginger McCartney and Sherry Goffin Kondor, who co-produced his first album "Beautiful Soul".


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney released his first solo EP in July 2003. The album featured three songs: "Beautiful Soul", "Don't You", "Why Don't You Kiss Her". In 2004, he performed a duet with Anne Hathaway, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", which is featured on the "Ella Enchanted" soundtrack.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney's debut solo album, "Beautiful Soul", which was two years in the making, was released on September 28, 2004 in the United States and over a year later in Europe. He categorized it as a "pop record" with twists of urban. The album featured four songs that he co-wrote. "Beautiful Soul" reached number 15 on the "Billboard" 200. The album has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting over one million units of shipment to US retailers; it is his highest-certified album as of early 2009. By mid-2006, the album sold more than 1.5 million copies. The album's lead single of the same name reached number 16 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. McCartney was one of the artists to win multiple awards at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, including Choice Crossover Artist, Choice Male Artist and Choice Breakout, Male. The following year, he won Favorite Male Singer at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: His first headlining tour, also named Beautiful Soul, began on May 2, 2005 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, California. The United States portion of the tour spanned 56 stops, ending on September 10, 2005 at the Madera District County Fair in Madera, California. In the fall of 2005, McCartney toured Australia, and opened for the Backstreet Boys in Europe in the summer of 2005. His July 9 performance at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California was recorded, released as "Live: The Beautiful Soul Tour" in November 2005.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: After the filming of "Keith" wrapped, McCartney began working on his second album, "Right Where You Want Me", co-writing all but one of the songs featured in it. "Right Where You Want Me" is more mature than his debut, reflecting his musical and personal growth since he recorded his debut album at age 15. Released by Hollywood Records on September 19, 2006, the album reached number 14 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In the fall of 2007, McCartney co-wrote the hit song "Bleeding Love" with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, produced by McCartney and Tedder for McCartney's third album, but gave it away to British singer Leona Lewis for her debut album "Spirit". The song was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards. McCartney recorded his own version, which was released on some editions of his "Departure" album.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney released his third album, "Departure", on May 20, 2008 in the United States and Canada. Musically, it is a departure from his early works, showcasing more mature themes. The album has reached number 14 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: The album's lead single, "Leavin'", was released in March 2008, and reached number 10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, giving McCartney his highest-charting single to date. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over two million downloads on iTunes, becoming McCartney's highest-certified single as of early 2009. The second single, "It's Over", was released on August 26, 2008, and reached #62 on the Hot 100. McCartney promoted "Departure" on a co-headlining tour with Jordin Sparks, which began in August 2008 and ended in September. He also did solo shows at theaters and small venues to support the album while on tour with Sparks. Sparks also approached him to write some material for her.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney re-released "Departure" on April 7, 2009. The re-release, "Departure: Recharged", featured four new songs: "Body Language", "Oxygen", "Crash & Burn", and "In My Veins". The re-release also features a remix of "How Do You Sleep?" with rapper-actor Ludacris. The third single from the album was released from the re-release and was the remix of "How Do You Sleep?". It was much more successful than the second single, reaching #26 on the Hot 100. The fourth and final single from the album was also released from the re-release and was a new version of "Body Language" featuring T-Pain. The single reached #35 on the Hot 100.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: The lead single from his fourth studio album "Have It All", "Shake", was sent to radio on September 8, 2010 and was released digitally on September 21, 2010. The song peaked at #54 on the Hot 100. On October 18, 2010, it was announced that "Have It All" would be released in January 2011. On November 30, it was announced that the album release would be pushed up to December 28, 2010, the Tuesday following Christmas. On December 3, 2010, McCartney announced through his Facebook page that he pushed the release date for the album back to early 2011. On April 7, 2011, McCartney responded to a question on his Twitter page about the delay, saying it hinged on pickup of "Locke & Key". On November 3, McCartney said via his WhoSay page "2012 is still the magic year for the record to finally come out." On May 6, 2012, McCartney's mother said on Twitter that the replacement of the President of his label, Hollywood Records, in January 2012 was delaying the release of his album. In the March 2013 issue of "Glamouholic" magazine that he has covered, an exclusive interview was conducted and he confirmed the release of his anticipated fourth studio album, after all the disbandments of his record label, within this year. "Have It All", however, would go on to never be officially released.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: On May 13, it was confirmed on "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" that McCartney would be joining the Backstreet Boys and DJ Pauly D on their In a World Like This Tour, which kicked off on August 2, 2013. On August 13, the singer released "Back Together", the lead single from his fifth studio album, published by the independent label Eight0Eight Records. He performed it live on the "Today" show on August 15, 2013. On December 10, 2013, McCartney released a four-song EP titled In "Technicolor, Part 1", followed by the single "Superbad", released on May 6, 2014. McCartney's fifth studio album, "In Technicolor", was released on July 22, 2014. The third single off the album, "Punch Drunk Recreation", was released on November 19, 2014.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: On March 23, 2018, McCartney announced the release of his new single "Better With You" with the music video featuring actress Danielle Campbell. He later released a second single titled "Wasted" with a music video directed by Jason Lester, followed by the live album "The Resolution Tour Live".


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In 2020, McCartney competed on the third season of "The Masked Singer" as "Turtle". He finished as the runner-up. On April 10, 2020, he released the music video for the single "Yours". The single "Friends" was released on May 19, 2020. The official music video featured former "Greek" castmates Scott Michael Foster, Jacob Zachar, and Paul James.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney's fifth studio album, "New Stage" was released on October 8, 2021. The record was preceded by two singles: "Kiss The World Goodbye" and "Party for Two". To promote the album, McCartney embarked on his North American tour, to run from November 4 to December 8, 2021.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney appeared with The Who's Roger Daltrey in "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden. From 1998–2001, McCartney played Adam Chandler Jr. in the ABC soap opera "All My Children", a role for which he earned two Young Artist Awards and two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. He also later starred in the short-lived series "Summerland", which aired on The WB for two seasons, playing orphaned teenager Bradin Westerly.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In 2005, McCartney appeared as himself on the Disney Channel show "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody". In 2007, he starred as himself on the Disney Channel show "Hannah Montana". In 2008, McCartney was also featured as the voice of JoJo McDodd in "Horton Hears a Who!" McCartney also voiced Theodore in the live-action "Alvin and the Chipmunks" film series, in addition to voicing Terence in the "Tinker Bell" film series. He also voices Robin/Nightwing in the "Young Justice" series.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In 2008, McCartney co-starred along with Elisabeth Harnois in an independent teenage drama feature film, "Keith", directed by Todd Kessler. It was his movie debut, and features McCartney in the title role. "Keith" was released on September 19, 2008.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: According to "Entertainment Weekly", in December 2008, McCartney was negotiating to play against type in the role of the Fire Nation's Prince Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan's feature film adaptation of "". In February 2009, British actor Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts. McCartney has expressed an interest in directing and producing films and even considered enrolling in a film school.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney appeared as a recurring character in the ABC Family series "Greek" for several episodes playing a star football talent who joins Kappa Tau. His character eventually decides to depledge the fraternity after citing pressures between football and Greek life combined with Rusty stealing his girlfriend Jordan.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney also worked in several installments of the Square Enix video game series "Kingdom Hearts". He was featured as Roxas in "Kingdom Hearts II" in 2006, and reprised the role in 2009 in "Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days". He also provided the voice work for Ventus, a character in the video game of the same series "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep". He reprised both roles in "", released in 2012, as well as in "Kingdom Hearts III", released in 2019.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: McCartney also starred in the horror film "Chernobyl Diaries", released on May 25, 2012. He has been added to the Season 7 (2013) cast of the Lifetime Network series "Army Wives", portraying a young soldier deployed to Afghanistan with an 18-year-old wife at home.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In the summer of 2014, McCartney had a guest-starring role in the ABC Family series "Young & Hungry". McCartney played "Cooper", a computer hacker with a romantic interest in the show's lead, played by Emily Osment.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In 2016, McCartney appeared on "Fear the Walking Dead" as Reed, an aggressive member of a group of pirates.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: Jesse McCartney's acting career also includes voice over work (or voice acting) with "Breathe Bible".


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In 2005, McCartney participated in "Come Together Now", a charity single to benefit the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: Later in 2005, McCartney signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on LKR's Honorary Board of Directors.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: He has donated proceeds of his 2005 tour for disaster relief, recorded radio spots promoting the "Kids For A Drug-Free America" campaign, is a spokesperson for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and is involved in the charity "SPACE", which was co-founded by a childhood friend of his mother's. McCartney performed at the Hope Rocks concert in 2005 to benefit the City of Hope Cancer Center. He appeared in the Concert for Hope on October 25, 2009, with Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato.


title: Jesse McCartney

text: In September 2019, he got engaged to his girlfriend of seven years, Katie Peterson and married her on October 23, 2021.


title: George I of Greece

text: George I (Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, "Geórgios I"; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913.


title: George I of Greece

text: Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen, and seemed destined for a career in the Royal Danish Navy. He was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the unpopular Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and the Russian Empire. He married Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia in 1867, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British and Russian royal families. Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexander III of Russia were his brothers-in-law, and George V of the United Kingdom, Christian X of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway, and Nicholas II of Russia were his nephews.


title: George I of Greece

text: George's reign of almost 50 years (the longest in modern Greek history) was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre–World War I Europe. Britain ceded the Ionian Islands peacefully in 1864, while Thessaly was annexed from the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). Greece was not always successful in its territorial ambitions; it was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War (1897). During the First Balkan War, after Greek troops had captured much of Greek Macedonia, George was assassinated in Thessaloniki. Compared with his own long tenure, the reigns of his successors Constantine I, Alexander, and George II proved short and insecure.


title: George I of Greece

text: George was born on 24 December 1845 at his parents' residence the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, next to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. He was the second son and third child of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. He was baptised with the names "Christian William Ferdinand Adolf George", and until his accession in Greece, he was known as Prince William, the namesake of both his grandfathers William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Prince William of Hesse-Kassel.


title: George I of Greece

text: Although he was of royal blood (his mother and father were both great-grandchildren of Frederick V of Denmark and great-great-grandchildren of George II of Great Britain) his family was relatively obscure and lived a comparatively normal life by royal standards. In 1853, however, George's father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless Frederick VII of Denmark, and the family became princes and princesses of Denmark. George's siblings were Frederick (who succeeded their father as King of Denmark, and whose second son was elected as Haakon VII of Norway in 1905), Alexandra (who became wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom and the mother of George V), Dagmar (who, as Empress Maria Feodorovna, was consort of Alexander III of Russia and the mother of Nicholas II), Thyra (who married Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover) and Valdemar.


title: George I of Greece

text: George's mother tongue was Danish, with English as a second language. He was also taught French and German. He embarked on a career in the Royal Danish Navy, and enrolled as a naval cadet along with his elder brother Frederick. While Frederick was described as "quiet and extremely well-behaved", George was "lively and full of pranks".


title: George I of Greece

text: Following the overthrow of the Bavarian-born King Otto of Greece in October 1862, the Greek people had rejected Otto's brother and designated successor Luitpold, although they still favored a monarchy rather than a republic. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, the United Kingdom, rallied around Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. British prime minister Lord Palmerston believed that the Greeks were "panting for increase in territory", hoping for a gift of the Ionian Islands, which were then a British protectorate. The London Conference of 1832, however, prohibited any of the Great Powers' ruling families from accepting the crown, and in any event, Queen Victoria was adamantly opposed to the idea. The Greeks nevertheless insisted on holding a plebiscite in which Prince Alfred received over 95% of the 240,000 votes. There were 93 votes for a Republic and six for a Greek. King Otto received one vote.


title: George I of Greece

text: With Prince Alfred's exclusion, the search began for an alternative candidate. The French favored Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale, while the British proposed Queen Victoria's brother-in-law Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her nephew Prince Leiningen, and Archduke Maximilian of Austria, among others. Eventually, the Greeks and Great Powers winnowed their choice to Prince William of Denmark, who had received six votes in the plebiscite. Aged only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I. Paradoxically, he ascended a royal throne before his father, who became King of Denmark on 15 November the same year. There were two significant differences between George's elevation and that of his predecessor, Otto. First, he was acclaimed unanimously by the Greek Assembly, rather than imposed on the people by foreign powers. Second, he was proclaimed "King of the Hellenes" instead of "King of Greece", which had been Otto's style.


title: George I of Greece

text: His ceremonial enthronement in Copenhagen on 6 June was attended by a delegation of Greeks led by First Admiral and Prime Minister Konstantinos Kanaris. At the ceremony, it was announced that the British government would cede the Ionian Islands to Greece in honor of the new monarch.


title: George I of Greece

text: The new 17-year-old king toured Saint Petersburg, London and Paris before departing for Greece from the French port of Toulon on 22 October aboard the Greek flagship "Hellas". He arrived in Athens on , after docking at Piraeus the previous day. He was determined not to make the mistakes of his predecessor, so he quickly learned Greek. The new king was seen frequently and informally in the streets of Athens, where his predecessor had only appeared in pomp. King George found the palace in a state of disarray, after the hasty departure of King Otto, and took to putting it right by mending and updating the 40-year-old building. He also sought to ensure that he was not seen as too influenced by his Danish advisers, ultimately sending his uncle, Prince Julius, back to Denmark with the words, "I will not allow any interference with the conduct of my government". Another adviser, Count Wilhelm Sponneck, became unpopular for advocating a policy of disarmament and tactlessly questioning the descent of modern Greeks from classical antecedents. Like Julius, he was dispatched back to Denmark.


title: George I of Greece

text: From May 1864, George undertook a tour of the Peloponnese, through Corinth, Argos, Tripolitsa, Sparta, and Kalamata, where he embarked on the frigate "Hellas". Proceeding northwards along the coast accompanied by British, French and Russian naval vessels, the "Hellas" reached Corfu on 6 June, for the ceremonial handover of the Ionian Islands by the British High Commissioner, Sir Henry Storks.


title: George I of Greece

text: Politically, the new king took steps to conclude the protracted constitutional deliberations of the Assembly. On 19 October 1864, he sent the Assembly a demand, countersigned by Konstantinos Kanaris, explaining that he had accepted the crown on the understanding that a new constitution would be finalized, and that if it was not he would feel himself at "perfect liberty to adopt such measures as the disappointment of my hopes may suggest". It was unclear from the wording whether he meant to return to Denmark or impose a constitution, but as either event was undesirable the Assembly soon came to an agreement.


title: George I of Greece

text: On 28 November 1864, he took the oath to defend the new constitution, which created a unicameral assembly ("Vouli") with representatives elected by direct, secret, universal male suffrage, a first in modern Europe. A constitutional monarchy was set up with George deferring to the legitimate authority of the elected officials, although he was aware of the corruption present in elections and the difficulty of ruling a mostly illiterate population. Between 1864 and 1910, there were 21 general elections and 70 different governments.


title: George I of Greece

text: Internationally, George maintained a strong relationship with his brother-in-law the Prince of Wales, who in 1901 became King Edward VII, and sought his help in defusing the recurring and contentious issue of Crete, an overwhelmingly Greek island that remained under Ottoman Turk control. Since the reign of Otto, the Greek desire to unite Greek lands in one nation had been a sore spot with Great Britain and France, which had embarrassed Otto by occupying the main Greek port of Piraeus to dissuade Greek irredentism during the Crimean War. During the Cretan Revolt (1866–1869), the Prince of Wales unsuccessfully sought the support of the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Derby, to intervene in Crete on behalf of Greece. Ultimately, the Great Powers did not intervene, and the Ottomans put down the rebellion.


title: George I of Greece

text: George first met Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia in 1863, when she was 12 years old, on a visit to the court of Tsar Alexander II between his election to the Greek throne and his arrival in Athens. They met for a second time in April 1867, when George went to the Russian Empire to visit his sister Dagmar, who had married into the Russian imperial family. While George was privately a Lutheran, the Romanovs were Orthodox Christians like the majority of Greeks, and George thought a marriage with a Russian grand duchess would re-assure his subjects on the question of his future children's religion. Olga was just 16 years old when she married George at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg on 27 October 1867. After a honeymoon at Tsarskoye Selo, the couple left Russia for Greece on 9 November. Over the next twenty years, they had eight children:


title: George I of Greece

text: As a marriage gift, the Tsar gave George a group of islands in the Petalioi Gulf, which the family visited on the royal yacht "Amphitrite". George later purchased a country estate, Tatoi, north of Athens, and on Corfu he built a summer villa called Mon Repos. George developed Tatoi, building roads and planting grapes for making his own wine, Chateau Décélie. Intent on not letting his subjects know that he missed Denmark, he discreetly maintained a dairy at his palace at Tatoi, which was managed by native Danes and served as a bucolic reminder of his homeland. Queen Olga was far less careful in hiding her nostalgia for her native Russia, often visiting Russian ships at Piraeus two or three times before they weighed anchor. When alone with his wife, George usually conversed in German. Their children were taught English by their nannies, and when talking with his children he therefore spoke mainly English except to his son Andrew who refused to speak anything but Greek.