title: Soap opera

text: "Ta Mistika Tis Edem" ("Edem Secrets"), which was created by the producers of "Vera Sto Deksi", debuted in 2008 and has eclipsed that show's success. Its ratings place it consistently among the three highest-rated daytime programs.


title: Soap opera

text: YENED (which was renamed ERT2 in 1982) was responsible for the first Greek soap operas "I Kravgi Ton Likon" and "Megistanes". ERT also produced the long-running soap "O Simvoleografos". Since 2000 and with the introduction of private television, ERT produced additional daily soap operas, which included "Pathos" ("Passion"), "Erotika tis Edem" ("Loving in Eden") and "Ta ftera tou erota" ("The Wings of Love"). These failed to achieve high ratings and were canceled shortly after their premiere.


title: Soap opera

text: In 2022, Alpha produce a new soap opera "Paradeisos" based on the italian soap "Il Paradiso Delle Signore".


title: Soap opera

text: The first daytime soap opera produced by a Cyprus channel was LOGOs TV's "Odos Den Ksehno" ("'Don't Forget' Street"), which ran from January to December 1996. It was followed by "To Serial", which also ran for one year from September 1997 to June 1998. CyBC created the third weekdaily soap, "Anemi Tou Pathous" ("Passion Winds"), running from January 2000 to June 2004, which was replaced by "I Platia" ("The Square") from September 2004 to July 2006. "Epikindini Zoni" ran from 2009 to 2010, and was cancelled after 120 episodes. "Vimata Stin Ammo" made its debut in September 2010.


title: Soap opera

text: Sigma TV first commissioned the weekdaily comedic soap "Sto Para Pente", which aired from September 1998 to June 2004, and was the longest weekday show in Cyprus television history, before it was surpassed by "Se Fonto Kokkino", which ran from September 2008 to July 2012. Other Sigma TV weekday shows include "Akti Oniron" (which ran from 1999 to 2001), "Vourate Geitonoi" (which ran from 2001 to 2005, and was the most successful weekdaily series, achieving ratings shares of up to 70% of all television households in the country), "Oi Takkoi" (which ran from 2002 to 2005), "S' Agapo" (which ran from 2001 to 2002), "Vasiliki" (which ran from 2005 to 2006), "Vendetta" (which ran from September 2005 to December 2006), "30 kai Kati" (which ran from 2006 to 2007) and "Mila Mou" (which ran from September 2007 to January 2009).


title: Soap opera

text: ANT1 Cyprus aired the soap "I Goitia Tis Amartias" in 2002, which was soon canceled. "Dikse Mou To Filo Sou" followed from 2006 to 2009, along with "Gia Tin Agapi Sou", which ran from 2008 to 2009 and itself was followed by "Panselinos", which has aired 2009 to 2011.


title: Soap opera

text: The longest-running weekly show on Cyprus television is "Istories Tou Horkou" ("Villages Stories", which premiered on CyBC in March 1996 and ran until its cancellation in June 2006; it was revived in September 2010 but was cancelled again in March 2011 due to very low ratings), followed by "Manolis Ke Katina" ("Manolis and Katina", which ran from 1995 to 2004). The most controversial of these series was "To Kafenio" ("The Coffee Shop"), which premiered on CyBC on 1993 as a weekly series, before moving to MEGA Channel Cyprus six years later in 1999 as a weekdaily show and then moved to ANT1 Cyprus on 2000, which canceled the show one year later. There were plans to move the show back to CyBC as a weekly series in 2001, with the original cast, however, this plan was never realised. The most successful weekly shows in Cyprus currently are ANT1's "Eleni I Porni" ("Eleni, The Whore"), which premiered in October 2010 and CyBC's "Stin Akri Tu Paradisou" ("At The Heaven's Edge"), which premiered in 2007. The most successful weekdaily soap was "Aigia Fuxia", which aired on ANT1 Cyprus from 2008 to 2010.


title: Soap opera

text: The only daily Finnish soap opera so far is "Salatut elämät" ("Secret Lives"), which has achieved popularity in Finland since its 1999 debut on MTV3. It focuses on the lives of people along the imaginary Pihlajakatu street in Helsinki. The show has also spawned several Internet spin-off series and a film based on the show that was released in 2012.


title: Soap opera

text: Other soap-like shows in Finland are YLE shows "Uusi päivä" (which has aired from 2010 to 2018) and "Kotikatu" (which ran from 1995 to 2012), however these programs did not adhere to a five-episode-a-week schedule.


title: Soap opera

text: In February 2022, MBC launched the first egyptian daily soap opera, "Downtown West El Balad". In Cairo, two brothers became enemies after the death of their father because the eldest son was excluded from the inheritance. 190 episodes have already been produced.


title: Soap opera

text: In Latin America, for many years, primetime (as well as part of daytime) programming, for the most part, has been traditionally composed of telenovelas. However, throughout the years, there have been cases where a number of television programs tended to "mix" the concepts of television series and telenovela, such as, for example, a telenovela that lasted several seasons to end. With this "overlap", many people consider that these shows could be more accurately described as "soap operas". With this being said, the two most notable Latin American examples of TV programs that could fit on the definition of a "soap opera" are "Chiquititas" (in both Argentina and Brazil) and "Malhação" (only in Brazil).


title: Soap opera

text: "Chiquititas" was first broadcast in Argentina by Telefe in 1995 and soon became a national hit, especially among children. In regards to the audience, all eight seasons (the final season ended in 2006) of "Chiquititas" guaranteed the first place in the Argentine TV ratings for Telefe. Throughout the years, "Chiquititas" had a number of spin-offs not only in Argentina, but also in Brazil, Mexico and Portugal. In 1997, Silvio Santos, founder and owner of the Brazilian television network SBT, seeing the good ratings of "Chiquititas" in Argentina, decided to make a partnership with Telefe, and thus, SBT started to broadcast "Chiquititas" in Brazil, but in the format of "remake", with the use of the Portuguese language instead of Spanish, with the use of dubbing when singing the soundtrack songs (unlike the Argentine version, on which the actors themselves sung the songs), with a Brazilian cast and with slight modifications in regards to its plot (the Brazilian version was set in the city of São Paulo instead of Buenos Aires, although many scenes of the Brazilian adaptation were actually filmed at the same Telefe studios in Buenos Aires where the Argentine version was also recorded, due to the afore-mentioned partnership between Telefe and SBT). The Brazilian version of "Chiquititas", which lasted five seasons and ended in 2001, was successful in the ratings as well, in a slightly smaller scale compared to the Argentine version, and despite the success of "Malhação" (see below), the soap opera was one of the most known TV programs of the late 1990s in Brazil, enough to put "Chiquititas" also in the imaginary of many Brazilian children (a proof of this is that the casting process for the third season of "Chiquititas" in 1999 reunited about 15,000 children in the city of São Paulo alone, a record number not seen even in any Brazilian telenovela). In 2013, SBT decided to make a second adaptation of "Chiquititas", which lasted two seasons (the final season ended in 2015), but unlike the first version, which resembled more like its Argentine counterpart, the second version, produced only by SBT, is different not only because the soundtrack is entirely sung by the actors themselves (as well as on the Argentine version, on which the actors did not dub the songs, but unlike the first Brazilian adaptation), and is also more "modernized", with themes like social media and bullying being present. Despite the fact that the ratings of the 2013 version of "Chiquititas" were smaller, the soap opera was not considered a failure by the critics. SBT executives evaluated the ratings as being "satisfactory", and some fans consider the 2013 version to be a small "revival" of the 1997 version of "Chiquititas".


title: Soap opera

text: "Malhação" has been transmitted by Rede Globo on almost every week since 1995 and has become the most successful Brazilian soap opera in the ratings. On each one of the 27 seasons shown as of 2021, the soap opera stayed in the first place on the ratings (like the Argentine version of "Chiquititas"). Moreover, "Malhação" also had a number of spin-offs being produced in Brazil. However, unlike "Chiquititas", "Malhação" is more focused on teenagers, with more mature issues like teenage pregnancy, sexual relationships and the use of illicit drugs being discussed on its plot. Another interesting topic is that "Malhação" is considered by some fans as being the "entrance door" to many rookie actors who obtain the first opportunity of working on Rede Globo, because history has shown that a good acting in "Malhação" increases the possibility of being "promoted" to the primetime telenovelas (also broadcast by Rede Globo). In fact, estimates indicate that hundreds of actors participate in the casting process of "Malhação" each year, proving that many aspiring actors want to appear in this soap opera to further progress their careers.


title: Soap opera

text: With the advent of internet television and mobile phones, several soap operas have also been produced specifically for these platforms, including "", a spin-off of the established "EastEnders". For those produced only for the mobile phone, episodes may generally consist of about six or seven pictures and accompanying text.


title: Soap opera

text: On September 13, 2011, TG4 launched a new 10-part online series titled, "Na Rúin" (an Internet spin-off of "Ros na Rún"). The miniseries took on the theme of a mystery; the viewer had to read Rachel and Lorcán's blogs as well as watch video diaries detailing each character's thoughts to solve the mystery of missing teenage character Ciara.


title: Soap opera

text: Due to the massive number of episodes typically produced for a long-running soap opera (into the tens of thousands for some) and the fact many episodes are lost over time, home video release (in VHS, DVD or Blu-ray) of daily soap operas is generally considered impractical and impossible beyond occasional retrospective releases or highlights. A notable exception is the 1966-1971 series "Dark Shadows", which has had its entire run of 1,225 episodes (with an audio recreation of its sole missing episode) released to home video. In the case of American "primetime soap operas" this generally does not apply as typically such series produce far fewer episodes (generally on par with that of other genres), allowing home video release.


title: Soap opera

text: In motion pictures, the 1982 comedy "Tootsie" has the lead character impersonating a woman in order to gain acting work on a long running television soap opera. Several scenes parody the production of soaps, their outrageous storylines and idiosyncratic stylistic elements.


title: Soap opera

text: The 1991 comedy "Soapdish" stars Sally Field as an aging soap opera actress on the fictional series "The Sun Also Sets" who pines over her own neuroses and misfortunes, such as her live-in boyfriend who leaves her to go back to his wife, and the incidents of backstabbing and scheming behind the scenes, some of which are more interesting than the stories on the program.


title: Soap opera

text: Another 1991 comedy, "Delirious", stars John Candy as a soap opera writer who, after a head injury, has a dream experience of being in his own creation. The dream experience is an increasingly outrageous exaggeration of soap opera plot elements.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875 – 9 November 1953), known in the West as Ibn Saud (; "Ibn Suʿūd"), was an Arab tribal, political, and religious leader who founded Saudi Arabia, the third Saudi state, and reigned as its first king from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been Emir, Sultan, and King of Nejd, and King of Hejaz.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud was the son of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, Emir of Nejd, and Sara bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. The family were exiled from their residence in the city of Riyadh in 1890. Ibn Saud reconquered Riyadh in 1902, starting three decades of conquests that made him the ruler of nearly all of central and north Arabia. He consolidated his control over the Nejd in 1922, then conquered the Hejaz in 1925. He extended his dominions into what later became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Ibn Saud's victory and his support for Islamic revivalists would greatly bolster pan-Islamism across the Islamic world. As King, he presided over the discovery of petroleum in Saudi Arabia in 1938 and the beginning of large-scale oil production after World War II. He fathered many children, including 45 sons, and all of the subsequent kings of Saudi Arabia as of 2022.


title: Ibn Saud

text: The Al Saud family had been a power in central Arabia for the previous 130 years. Under the influence and inspiration of Wahhabism, the Saudis had previously attempted to control much of the Arabian Peninsula in the form of the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State, until its destruction by an Ottoman army in the Ottoman–Wahhabi War in the early nineteenth century.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, also known as Ibn Saud, was born on 15 January 1875 in Riyadh. He was the fourth child and third son of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, one of the last rulers of the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State, a tribal sheikhdom centered on Riyadh. Ibn Saud's mother was Sara bint Ahmed of the Sudairi family. She died in 1910. His full-siblings were Faisal, Noura, Bazza, Haya and Saad. He also had a number of half-siblings from his father's other marriages, including Muhammad, Abdullah, Ahmed, and Musaid, who all had roles in the Saudi government. Ibn Saud was taught Quran by Abdullah Al Kharji in Riyadh.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In 1891, the House of Saud's long-term regional rivals led by Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Rashid conquered Riyadh. Ibn Saud was 15 at the time. He and his family initially took refuge with the Al Murrah, a Bedouin tribe in the southern desert of Arabia. Later, the Al Sauds moved to Qatar and stayed there for two months. Their next stop was Bahrain where they stayed briefly. The Ottoman State allowed them to settle in Kuwait where they settled and lived for nearly a decade. Ibn Saud developed a rapport with the Kuwaiti ruler Mubarak Al Sabah and frequently visited his majlis. His father, Abdul Rahman, did not endorse these visits, perceiving Mubarak's lifestyle as immoral and unorthodox.


title: Ibn Saud

text: On 14 November 1901 Ibn Saud and some relatives, including his half-brother Muhammad and several cousins (amongst them Abdullah bin Jiluwi), set out on a raiding expedition into the Nejd, targeting mainly tribes associated with the Rashidis. On 12 December they reached Al Ahsa and then proceeded south towards the Empty Quarter with the support from various tribes. Upon this Abdulaziz Al Rashid sent messages to Qatari ruler Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani and to the Ottoman governor of Baghdad asking their help to stop Ibn Saud's raids on the tribes loyal to Al Rashid. These events led to a decrease in the number of Ibn Saud's raiders, and his father also asked him to cancel his plans to capture Riyadh. However, Ibn Saud did not cancel the raid and managed to reach Riyadh. On the night of 15 January 1902, he led 40 men over the city walls on tilted palm trees and took the city. The Rashidi governor of the city, Ajlan, was killed by Abdullah bin Jiluwi in front of his own fortress. The Saudi recapture of the city marked the beginning of the third Saudi State.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Soon after Ibn Saud's victory the Kuwaiti ruler Mubarak Al Sabah sent him an additional seventy warriors led by Ibn Saud's younger brother Saad. Ibn Saud began to live in the palace of his grandfather, Faisal bin Turki, in Riyadh when he settled in the city.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Following the capture of Riyadh, many former supporters of the House of Saud rallied to Ibn Saud's call to arms. He was a charismatic leader and kept his men supplied with arms. Over the next two years, he and his forces recaptured almost half of the Nejd from the Rashidis.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In 1904, Abdulaziz bin Mutaib Al Rashid appealed to the Ottoman Empire for military protection and assistance. The Ottomans responded by sending troops into Arabia. On 15 June 1904, Ibn Saud's forces suffered a major defeat at the hands of the combined Ottoman and Rashidi forces. His forces regrouped and began to wage guerrilla warfare against the Ottomans. Over the next two years, he was able to disrupt their supply routes, forcing them to retreat. However, in February 1905 Ibn Saud was named qaimmaqam of southern Nejd by the Ottomans. Ibn Saud's victory in Rawdat Muhanna, in which Abdulaziz Al Rashid died, ended the Ottoman presence in Nejd and Qassim by the end of October 1906. This victory also weakened the alliance between Mubarak Al Sabah, ruler of Kuwait, and Ibn Saud due to the former's concerns about the increase of Saudi power in the region.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud completed his conquest of the Nejd and the eastern coast of Arabia in 1912. He then founded the Ikhwan, a military-religious brotherhood, which was to assist in his later conquests, with the approval of local Salafi ulema. In the same year, he instituted an agrarian policy to settle the nomadic pastoralist bedouins into colonies and to replace their tribal organizations with allegiance to the Ikhwan.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In May 1914, Ibn Saud made a secret agreement with the Ottomans as a result of his unproductive attempts to get protection from the British. However, due to the outbreak of World War I, this agreement which made Ibn Saud the wali or governor of Najd was not materialized, and because of the Ottomans' attempt to develop a connection with Ibn Saud the British government soon established diplomatic relations with him. The British agent, Captain William Shakespear, was well received by the Bedouin. Similar diplomatic missions were established with any Arabian power who might have been able to unify and stabilize the region. The British entered into the Treaty of Darin in December 1915, which made the lands of the House of Saud a British protectorate and attempted to define the boundaries of the developing Saudi state. In exchange, Ibn Saud pledged to again make war against Ibn Rashid, who was an ally of the Ottomans.


title: Ibn Saud

text: The British Foreign Office had previously begun to support Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and Emir of the Hejaz, by sending T. E. Lawrence to him in 1915. The Saudi Ikhwan began to conflict with Hussein in 1917, just as his sons Abdullah and Faisal entered Damascus. The Treaty of Darin remained in effect until superseded by the Jeddah conference of 1927 and the Dammam conference of 1952, during both of which Ibn Saud extended his boundaries past the Anglo-Ottoman Blue Line. After Darin, he stockpiled the weapons and supplies which the British provided him, including a 'tribute' of £5,000 per month. After World War I he received further support from the British, including a glut of surplus munitions. He launched his campaign against the Al Rashidi in 1920; by 1922 they had been all but destroyed.


title: Ibn Saud

text: The defeat of the Al Rashidi doubled the size of Saudi territory because, after the war of Ha'il, Ibn Saud sent his army to occupy Al Jouf and the army led by Eqab bin Mohaya, the head of the Talhah tribe. This allowed Ibn Saud the leverage to negotiate a new and more favorable treaty with the British in 1922, signed at Uqair. He met Percy Cox, British High Commissioner in Iraq, to draw boundaries and the treaty saw Britain recognize many of Ibn Saud's territorial gains. In exchange, Ibn Saud agreed to recognize British territories in the area, particularly along the Persian Gulf coast and in Iraq. The former of these were vital to the British, as merchant traffic between British India and the United Kingdom depended upon coaling stations on the approach to the Suez Canal.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In 1925, Ibn Saud's forces captured the holy city of Mecca from Sharif Hussein, ending 700 years of Hashemite rule. Following this he issued the first decree which was about the collection of zakat. On 8 January 1926, the leading figures in Mecca, Medina and Jeddah proclaimed Ibn Saud the King of Hejaz and the bayaa (oath of allegiance) ceremony was held in the Great Mosque of Mecca.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud raised Nejd to a kingdom as well on 29 January 1927. On 20 May 1927, the British government signed the Treaty of Jeddah, which abolished the Darin protection agreement and recognized the independence of the Hejaz and Nejd, with Ibn Saud as their ruler. For the next five years, Ibn Saud administered the two parts of his dual kingdom as separate units. He also succeeded his father, Abdul Rahman, as Imam.


title: Ibn Saud

text: With international recognition and support, Ibn Saud continued to consolidate his power. By 1927, his forces had overrun most of the central Arabian Peninsula, but the alliance between the Ikhwan and the Al Saud collapsed when Ibn Saud forbade further raiding. The few portions of central Arabia that had not been overrun by the Saudi-Ikhwan forces had treaties with London, and Ibn Saud was sober enough to see the folly of provoking the British by pushing into these areas. This did not sit well with the Ikhwan, who had been taught that all non-Wahhabis were infidels. In order to settle down the problems with the Ikhwan leaders, including Faisal Al Duwaish, Sultan bin Bajad and Dhaydan bin Hithlain, Ibn Saud organized a meeting in Riyadh in 1928, but none of them attended the meeting. Tensions finally boiled over when the Ikhwan rebelled. After two years of fighting, they were suppressed by Ibn Saud in the Battle of Sabilla in March 1929.


title: Ibn Saud

text: On 23 September 1932, Ibn Saud formally united his realm into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with himself as its king. He transferred his court to Murabba Palace from the Masmak fort in 1938 and the palace remained his residence and the seat of government until his death in 1953.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud had to first eliminate the right of his own father in order to rule, and then distance and contain the ambitions of his five brothers, particularly his brother Muhammad, who had fought with him during the battles and conquests that gave birth to the state.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Petroleum was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938 by SoCal, after Ibn Saud granted a concession in 1933. Through his advisers St John Philby and Ameen Rihani, Ibn Saud granted substantial authority over Saudi oil fields to American oil companies in 1944. Beginning in 1915, he signed a "friendship and cooperation" pact with Britain to keep his militia in line and cease any further attacks against their protectorates for whom they were responsible.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud's newly found oil wealth brought a great deal of power and influence that he would use to advantage in the Hejaz. He forced many nomadic tribes to settle down and abandon "petty wars" and vendettas. He began widespread enforcement of the new kingdom's ideology, based on the teachings of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. This included an end to traditionally sanctioned rites of pilgrimage, recognized by the orthodox schools of jurisprudence, but at odds with those sanctioned by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. In 1926, after a caravan of Egyptians on the way to Mecca were beaten by his forces for playing bugles, he was impelled to issue a conciliatory statement to the Egyptian government. In fact, several such statements were issued to Muslim governments around the world as a result of beatings suffered by the pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. With the uprising and subsequent suppression thereafter of the Ikhwan in 1929, the 1930s marked a turning point. With his rivals eliminated, Ibn Saud's ideology was in full force, ending nearly 1,400 years of accepted religious practices surrounding the Hajj, the majority of which were sanctioned by a millennium of scholarship.


title: Ibn Saud

text: The King established a Shura Council of the Hejaz as early as 1927. This council was later expanded to 20 members and was chaired by Ibn Saud's son Prince Faisal.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud was able to gain loyalty from tribes near Saudi Arabia, such as those in Jordan. For example, he built very strong ties with Rashed Al-Khuzai from the Al Fraihat tribe, one of the most influential and royally established families during the Ottoman Empire. Prince Rashed and his tribe had dominated eastern Jordan before the arrival of Sharif Hussein. Ibn Saud supported Rashed and his followers in rebellion against Hussein.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In 1934 Saudi Arabia defeated Yemen in the Saudi-Yemeni War. This was the first modern war - the Saudis had British Rolls-Royce armoured cars and French Renault FT-17 tanks - between Arab states.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In 1935 Prince Rashed supported Izz ad-Din al-Qassam's defiance, which led him and his followers into rebellion against Abdullah I of Jordan. In 1937, when they were forced to leave Jordan, Prince Rashed Al Khuzai, his family, and a group of his followers chose to move to Saudi Arabia where Prince Rashed lived for several years under Ibn Saud's hospitality.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud's charity earned him respect among his people. The King would direct money to be handed to the impoverished whenever he saw them. This is why the poor would eagerly anticipate his appearance in villages, towns, and even the desert.


title: Ibn Saud

text: "O Abdul-Aziz, may Allah give you in the Hereafter as He has given you in the world!" an elderly woman once said to Ibn Saud's procession. The King ordered that she be given ten bags of money from his car. Ibn Saud noticed the old woman having trouble bringing the money back to her home, so he had his aid service deliver the money and accompany her back to her home. Ibn Saud was on a picnic outside of Riyadh when he came across an elderly man dressed in rags. The old man proceeded to stand up in front of the King's horse and said, "O Abdul-Aziz, it is terribly cold, and I have no clothes to protect me". Ibn Saud, saddened by the man's condition, removed his cloak and gave it to him. He also offered the elderly man a stipend to help him with his everyday costs.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Due to the abundance of the poor, Ibn Saud established a guest house known as the "Thulaim" or "The Host", where rice, meat, and several types of porridge were distributed to the poor. As the economy deteriorated, Ibn Saud began to increase his aid to the needy. He gave them "royal kits" of bread and "waayid," which were monetary gifts given to them on an annual basis. The King said, "I haven't obtained all this wealth by myself. It is a blessing from Allah, and all of you have a share in it. So, I want you to guide me to whatever takes me nearer to my Lord and qualifies me for His forgiveness."


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud positioned Saudi Arabia as neutral in World War II, but was generally considered to favor the Allies. However, in 1938, when an attack on a main British pipeline in the Kingdom of Iraq was found to be connected to the German Ambassador, Fritz Grobba, Ibn Saud provided Grobba with refuge. It was reported that he had been disfavoring the British as of 1937.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In the last stage of the war, Ibn Saud met significant political figures. One of these meetings, which lasted for three days, was with U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 14 February 1945. The meeting took place on board in the Great Bitter Lake segment of the Suez Canal. The meeting laid down the basis of the future relations between the two countries. The other meeting was with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Grand Hotel du Lac on the shores of the Fayyoun Oasis, fifty miles south of Cairo, in February 1945. Saudis report that the meeting heavily focused on the Palestine problem and was unproductive in terms of its outcomes, in contrast to that with Roosevelt.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In 1948, Ibn Saud participated in the Arab-Israeli War, but Saudi Arabia's contribution was generally considered token.


title: Ibn Saud

text: After naming his son Saud as crown prince, the King left most of his duties to him, and he spent most of his time in Ta'if.


title: Ibn Saud

text: While most of the royal family desired luxuries such as gardens, splendid cars, and palaces, Ibn Saud wanted a royal railway from the Persian Gulf to Riyadh and then an extension to Jeddah. His advisors regarded this as an old man's folly. Eventually, ARAMCO built the railway, at a cost of $70 million, drawn from the King's oil royalties. It was completed in 1951 and was used commercially after the King's death. It enabled Riyadh to grow into a relatively modern city. But when a paved road was built in 1962, the railway lost its traffic.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud was tall, his height reported as between 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) and 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in). He was known to have a strong, charming, and charismatic personality that earned him respect among his people and foreign diplomats. His family and others described Ibn Saud as an affectionate and caring man.


title: Ibn Saud

text: In accordance with the customs of his people, Ibn Saud headed a polygamous household comprising several wives and concubines. He had twenty-two consorts. Many of his marriages were contracted in order to cement alliances with other clans, during the period when the Saudi state was founded and stabilized. He was the father of almost one hundred children, including forty-five sons. Mohammed Leopold Weiss reported in 1929 that one of his spouses poisoned Ibn Saud in 1924 which caused poor sight of one eye. He later forgave her, but at the same time divorced her.


title: Ibn Saud

text: One of the significant publications about Ibn Saud in the Western media was a comprehensive article by Noel Busch published in "Life magazine" in May 1943 which introduced him as a legendary monarch.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud had a kennel for salukis, a dog breed originated in the Middle East. He gave two of his salukis, a male and a mate, to British Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson who brought them to Washington D.C., USA. Of them, the male named Ch Abdul Farouk won a championship in the USA.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud was said to be very close to his paternal aunt, Jawhara bint Faisal. From a young age, she ingrained in him a strong sense of family destiny and motivated him to regain the lost glory of the House of Saud. During the years when the Al Saud family were living almost as refugees in Kuwait, Jawhara bint Faisal frequently recounted the deeds of his ancestors to Ibn Saud and exhorted him not to be content with the existing situation. She was instrumental in making him decide to return to Nejd from Kuwait and regain the territories of his family. She was well educated in Islam, in Arab custom and in tribal and clan relationships. She remained among the King's most trusted and influential advisors all her life. Ibn Saud asked her about the experiences of past rulers and the historical allegiance and the roles of tribes and individuals. Jawhara was also deeply respected by the King's children. The King visited her daily until she died around 1930.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud was also very close to his sister Noura, who was one year older than him. On several occasions, he identified himself in public with the words: "I am the brother of Noura." Noura died a few years before her brother, and the King was deeply saddened by her death.


title: Ibn Saud

text: On 15 March 1935, three armed men from Oman attacked and tried to assassinate Ibn Saud during his performance of Hajj. He survived the attack unhurt, and three assassins were arrested. Another assassination attempt occurred in 1951 when Captain Abdullah Al Mandili, a member of Royal Saudi Air Force, tried to bomb the King's camp from an airplane. The attempt was unsuccessful and Al Mandili escaped to Iraq with the help of tribes.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud appointed his second son, Prince Saud, heir to the Saudi throne in 1933. He had many quarrels with his brother Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman as to who should be appointed heir. Muhammad wanted his son Khalid to be designated the heir.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud's eldest son Turki, who was the crown prince of the Kingdoms of Nejd and Hejaz, died at age 18, predeceasing his father. Turki's younger full-brother Saud was appointed Crown Prince. Had Turki not died, he would have been the Crown Prince.


title: Ibn Saud

text: When the King discussed succession before his death, he favoured Prince Faisal as a possible successor over Crown Prince Saud due to Faisal's extensive knowledge, as well as his years of experience. Since Faisal was a child, Ibn Saud recognised him as the most capable of his sons and often tasked him with responsibilities in war and diplomacy. In addition, Faisal was known to embrace a simple Bedouin lifestyle. "I only wish I had three Faisals", Ibn Saud once said when discussing who would succeed him. However, he made the decision to keep Prince Saud as crown prince in the fear that doing otherwise would lead to decreased stability.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud said, "Two things are essential to our state and our people ... religion and the rights inherited from our fathers." He also remarked, "We know what to avoid, and we know what to accept for our own benefit."


title: Ibn Saud

text: Amani Hamdan argues that the King's attitude towards women's education was encouraging since he expressed his support in a conversation with St John Philby in which he stated, "It is permissible for women to read."


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud repeated the following views about the British authorities many times: "The English are my friends, but I will walk with them only so far as my religion and honor will allow." He had much more positive views about the United States, including finance, and in 1947 when the World Bank was suggested to him as the source of development loans instead of the US Export-Import Bank, Ibn Saud reported that Saudi Arabia would do business with and be indebted to the United States instead of other countries and international agencies.


title: Ibn Saud

text: Shortly before his death, the King stated, "Verily, my children and my possessions are my enemies." and "In my youth and manhood, I made a nation. Now, in my declining years, I make men for it." His last words to his two sons, the future King Saud and the next in line Prince Faisal, who were already battling each other, were "You are brothers, unite!"


title: Ibn Saud

text: Ibn Saud experienced heart disease in his final years and also, was half blind and racked by arthritis. In October 1953, his illness became serious. Before Ibn Saud slept on the night of 8 November, he recited the shahada several times, which were his last words. He died in his sleep of a heart attack in Shubra Palace in Ta'if on 9 November 1953 at the age of 78, and Prince Faisal was at his side.


title: Ibn Saud

text: The funeral prayer was performed at Al Hawiya in Ta'if. Ibn Saud's body was brought to Riyadh where he was buried in Al Oud cemetery next to his sister Noura.


title: Ibn Saud

text: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a message on Ibn Saud's death on 11 November 1953. U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stated after the King's death that he would be remembered for his achievements as a statesman.


title: Ibn Saud

text: On 23 November 1916, British diplomat Sir Percy Cox arranged the Three Leaders Conference in Kuwait where Ibn Saud was awarded the Star of India and the Order of the British Empire. He was appointed an honorary Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) on 1 January 1920. He was awarded the British Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1935, the American Legion of Merit in 1947, and the Spanish Order of Military Merit (Grand Cross with White Decoration) in 1952.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: Lupin is a French mystery thriller streaming television series created by George Kay and that premiered on Netflix on 8 January 2021. The series consists of ten episodes, with the first five released in January 2021 and the remainder on 11 June 2021. Netflix has renewed "Lupin" for a third part.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: The show stars Omar Sy in the role of Assane Diop, a man who is inspired by the adventures of master thief Arsène Lupin, a character created by Maurice Leblanc in the early 1900s. The first part, consisting of five episodes, is subtitled "Dans l'ombre d'Arsène" ("In the Shadow of Arsène"), referring to the primary character's inspiration. The series was watched by 70 million households during its first month, becoming the most-watched non-English series on Netflix at the time.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: The story follows professional thief Assane Diop, the only son of an immigrant from Senegal who had come to France to seek a better life for his child. Assane's father is framed for the theft of an expensive diamond necklace by his employer, the wealthy and powerful Hubert Pellegrini, and hangs himself in his prison cell out of shame, leaving the teenage Assane an orphan. Twenty-five years later, inspired by a book about gentleman thief Arsène Lupin his father had given him on his birthday, Assane sets out to get revenge on the Pellegrini family, using his charisma and mastery of thievery, subterfuge, and disguise to expose Hubert's crimes.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: On 19 July 2018, Netflix ordered a new series, to be produced by Gaumont Film Company, about the character Arsène Lupin, with Sy portraying the titular character. In an interview, Sy revealed that "Arsene Lupin, who is an iconic and charismatic character, will take on a new life in this modern adaptation, unique in its genre". Netflix confirmed that George Kay and François Uzan would be the showrunners, with Louis Leterrier directing the first three episodes.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: Filming of the first five episodes was completed primarily in Paris, on various streets and at the Louvre, both inside and out. According to research by "Condé Nast Traveler", other important locations included La Naumachie pond at Parc Monceau and Musée Nissim de Camondo on rue de Monceau; the latter stands in as the Pellegrini home and is open to the public. Other listed locations include Collège-lycée Jacques-Decour, a parking garage on Rue d'Abbeville, the Marché Biron flea market, the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Pont des Arts, L'Appartement Saint-Martin (near Porte Saint-Martin), and the Maison d'Arrêt de Bois-d'Arcy prison. The publication adds that parts of the fifth episode were filmed in the town of Étretat, which is located along the coast of Normandy. This location is significant because Maurice Leblanc, who created the character Arsène Lupin, lived in the municipality.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: The second set of five episodes were already filmed by the end of 2020 and were released on 11 June 2021.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: On 18 November 2021, Netflix and Omar Sy confirmed that filming was underway in Paris for the series' third part. A teaser trailer for the show's third part was released during Netflix's Tudum event in September 2022.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: "Lupin" is the first French series to rank among the top ten on Netflix in the United States, reaching number three on 10 January 2021. It was ranked number one in France and many other countries in Europe, including Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden, as well as other countries such as Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: As of 31 January 2021, the show was watched by 76 million households, making it the second-most-successful debut ever for an original Netflix show, after "Bridgerton". In April, Netflix revealed that "Lupin" was the most watched title on the company's streaming service in the first quarter of 2021.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: On 21 July 2021, it was reported that 54 million households watched the second part of the show, a drop compared to the first installment. "Lupin" still managed to become one of the biggest shows during the second quarter of 2021.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first part holds an approval rating of 98% with an average rating of 7.70/10, based on 44 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Omar Sy effortlessly hits every mark in "Lupin", an engrossing espionage thriller that lives up to its source material and then some." On Metacritic, the first part has a score of 82 out of 100 based on 8 reviews.


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: Writing for "The New Paper", Jonathan Roberts stated that "if ["Lupin"] was a film, it would be a contender for the year's best". Daniel D'Addario of "Variety" wrote that the cliffhanger at the end of the first series "will leave any viewer who's taken the ride eager for more." "Rolling Stone"'s Alan Sepinwall praised Sy's performance, writing that "it all works because [he] is so magnetic and charming that questioning plot logic feels wildly besides the point." Karen Han of "Slate" wrote that "Lupin" "doesn't waste a single minute, packing each and every moment full of suspense".


title: Lupin (French TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second part holds an approval rating of 96%, with an average rating of 8.00/10, based on 27 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Smart, sexy, and stylish, "Lupin"s highly bingeable second season is perfect summer viewing". On Metacritic, the second part has a score of 80 out of 100 based on 7 reviews.


title: Delia Owens

text: Delia Owens (born c. 1949) is an American author, zoologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her 2018 novel "Where the Crawdads Sing".


title: Delia Owens

text: Owens was born and raised in Southern Georgia, where she spent most of her life in or near true wilderness. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Georgia, and a PhD in animal behavior from the University of California, Davis.


title: Delia Owens

text: Owens met Mark Owens in a protozoology class at the University of Georgia when they were both graduate students studying biology. They married in 1973, and in 1974 moved to South Africa to study animals in the Kalahari Desert and Zambia. She wrote about Africa in her memoirs "Cry of the Kalahari", "The Eye of the Elephant", and "Secrets of the Savanna". The couple were expelled from Botswana and are wanted for questioning in Zambia in relation to a murder investigation. They are no longer married. Since returning to the United States, Delia Owens has been involved in bear conservation.


title: Delia Owens

text: Her debut novel, "Where the Crawdads Sing", was released in 2018. It became one of the best-selling books of all time. It was adapted into a 2022 film of the same name.


title: Delia Owens

text: Owens grew up in Thomasville which is in southern Georgia; she has mostly lived in or near true wilderness. She and her then husband, Mark, were biology students at the University of Georgia; she received a Bachelor of Science in zoology there and a PhD in animal behavior from the University of California, Davis. She knew she wanted to be a writer however she decided on a career in science.


title: Delia Owens

text: The couple moved to Africa in 1974, travelling for some time before making camp in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana. "Cry of the Kalahari" was written about the couple's experience there. After they campaigned against the local cattle industry, Botswanan government officials expelled them from the country. The Owenses then settled in North Luangwa National Park, Zambia, and later in Mpika, Zambia in the early 1990s.


title: Delia Owens

text: Since completing her PhD in biology, Owens has published her studies of African wildlife behavioral ecology in professional journals, including "Nature", the "Journal of Mammalogy", "Animal Behaviour", and the "African Journal of Ecology". She has also contributed articles to "Natural History" and "International Wildlife".


title: Delia Owens

text: Delia and Mark Owens are divorced. For many years, Delia lived in Boundary County, Idaho which is twenty miles from Canada. However in 2019–2020, she moved to a former horse farm near Asheville, North Carolina.


title: Delia Owens

text: Owens is the co-founder of the Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation in Stone Mountain, Georgia. She has also worked as a roving editor for "International Wildlife", lectured throughout North America and participated in conservation efforts for the grizzly bear throughout the United States.


title: Delia Owens

text: She released her debut novel, "Where the Crawdads Sing", in 2018, which topped "The New York Times" Fiction Best Sellers of 2019 and "The New York Times" Fiction Best Sellers of 2020 for 32 non-consecutive weeks and was on the list for 135 weeks in total. It also gave rise to a successful feature film.


title: Delia Owens

text: Owens' former husband, Mark, has been accused of operating a "shoot to kill" policy against poachers while the couple were living in Zambia. ABC News aired a report in 1996, entitled "Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story". The report featured the killing of a poacher in Zambia, allegedly committed by Delia's stepson, Christopher. To this day, Delia Owens denies the incident, explaining she was not involved, and there was never a case. However, her 2018 best selling novel, "Where the Crawdads Sing", has aroused suspicion from those on her book tour about the parallels between the main character Kya and her case, and Delia's own alleged accusation. In the year 2022, Reese Witherspoon has taken movie rights for her production company to bring the novel to the screen. After the movie was released in July 2022, Zambia confirmed the murder case was still open and Delia, Christopher, and Mark Owens were still wanted in Zambia for questioning. The Owenses have denied the accusations. No charges were brought against Owens or her ex-husband Mark, or stepson Christopher. Zambian officials told Jeffery Goldberg, a journalist and editor-in-chief of "The Atlantic Magazine", that they don't believe Owens is a suspect. However, they do believe that she is the most important witness.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Spandau Ballet () were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European Dance Music" as "The Applause" for this new club culture's audience. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop and were part of the Second British Invasion of the "Billboard" Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band's classic lineup featured Gary Kemp on guitar, synthesiser and backing vocals, his brother Martin Kemp on bass, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble. Gary Kemp was also the band's songwriter. Their debut single "To Cut a Long Story Short" reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980 and was the first of ten UK top-10 singles. The band peaked in popularity in 1983 with the album "True", as its title track reached No. 1 in the UK and the top 5 in the US. In 2011, it received a BMI award as one of the most-played songs in US history with four million airplays. In 1984, they received a Brit Award for technical excellence and were the first act to be approached by Bob Geldof to join the original Band Aid lineup. In 1985, they performed at the Live Aid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: In 1990, the band played their last live show before a 19-year absence. In 1999, Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful case in the High Court against Gary Kemp and his Reformation Publishing Company for a share of the band's songwriting royalties. Spandau Ballet reformed in 2009 for The Reformation Tour, a sell-out "greatest hits" world tour. In 2014, their archive-only feature-length documentary biopic, "Soul Boys of the Western World", was world-premiered at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was officially screened at the Rome, Ghent (Belgium) and NYC Doc film festivals and received its European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: In 2017, Hadley left Spandau Ballet. A year later, singer and actor Ross William Wild became their new frontman for a series of European live dates and a one-off show at Eventim's Hammersmith Apollo. In May 2019, Wild tweeted that he had quit the band "to pursue my own music with my band Mercutio", while Spandau bass player Martin Kemp confirmed there were no further plans for Spandau to tour without original singer Hadley.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Gary Kemp and Steve Norman first decided to form a band, both playing guitar, in October 1976 after witnessing the Sex Pistols perform that summer at Islington's Screen on the Green. Close friends and school mates at Dame Alice Owen's in Islington, they were joined by John Keeble on drums, Michael Ellison on bass and Tony Hadley on vocals when the school relocated to Potters Bar. They rehearsed at lunchtimes in the school's music room, playing sped-up versions of the Rolling Stones' "Silver Train", the Beatles' "I Wanna Be Your Man" and the Animals' "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place". They also played an original Gary Kemp composition, "I've Got Roots", which inspired their band name, Roots. Their first gig was a fourth-form Christmas party December 1976 in the school dining room.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band changed their name to The Cut when Michael Ellison left, with Steve Norman filling in on bass. In 1977, another Alice Owen's pupil Richard Miller took over on bass guitar and the band changed their name to The Makers, playing power-pop compositions by Gary Kemp or Steve Norman, with titles like "Fantasy Girl" and "Pin-Ups", inspired by mid-sixties bands like the Small Faces. They received a number of positive gig reviews from the British music press in "Sounds" and the "New Musical Express". The band changed personnel and name once more when their manager, friend and fellow Dame Alice Owen's schoolmate Steve Dagger suggested Martin Kemp be brought in as their bass player after seeing how much attention he got from The Makers' female fans when he was their roadie. The band was now called Gentry and Martin played his first gig on 1 July 1978 at the Middlesex Polytechnic in Cockfosters.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Inspired by London's new underground nightclub scene, which began in Autumn 1978 with a weekly Tuesday night hosted by Steve Strange and DJ Rusty Egan at Billy's in Soho, the band switched musical direction to embrace the new electronic music. Friend and writer Robert Elms suggested they change their name to Spandau Ballet, a phrase which he told them he had seen written on a wall on a weekend trip to Berlin: “Rudolf Hess, all alone, dancing the Spandau Ballet”. Their first performance was an invitation-only showcase on the morning of Saturday 17 November 1979, at Halligan's Band Centre rehearsal studio, 103 Holloway Road, to test the reaction of the key influencers of the new scene. Having passed that 'audition', the band's first gig as Spandau Ballet was at the Blitz's Christmas party on 5 December 1979.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: A series of exclusive 'secret' gigs in 1980 at unique non-rock venues like the Scala cinema and the cruiser HMS "Belfast", advertised only by word-of-mouth, created the hype for a major record companies bidding war. After the band signed with Chrysalis Records, they released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by Landscape’s Richard James Burgess. It became a Top Five hit in the UK charts in late 1980, as well as reaching the Top 20 in Australia, Ireland and Spain. Their second single, "The Freeze", was another Top 20 hit in the UK, Ireland and Spain, followed by the double A-side "Musclebound/Glow" and the Gold-certified debut album "Journeys to Glory" in early 1981.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band played their first US showcase in May 1981 at New York's Underground Club, on 17th and Broadway, with a fashion show by Axiom, a co-operative of the London club scene's new clothes designers including Sade Adu. Spandau were the first UK pop band to perform live at the world-famous Ku Club in Ibiza.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Reflecting the rapidly evolving club scene and Soho's hippest new nightspot, Le Beat Route on Greek Street, the band changed musical directions again, releasing the funk single "Chant No.1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", which was a No.3 hit in the UK charts and reached No.17 in the US on "Billboard" magazine's Disco Top 100 in 1981. The song was championed by DJ Frankie Crocker on WBLS.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The follow-up album, "Diamond," also produced by Burgess, was released in 1982. This album was certified Gold by the BPI. The band had Burgess remix every single from both albums for inclusion on each single's B-side and for 12-inch club releases. These mixes were later released as a boxed set. However, the second single from "Diamond" was "Paint Me Down", which broke their run of top 20 hits by stalling at No.30. The third single, "She Loved Like Diamond", failed to make the UK Top 40 at all.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Trevor Horn remixed the track "Instinction", which was released as the fourth single from the album. Backed with a special dance remix of "Chant No. 1" on the 12-inch single version, the release was very well received. It returned the band to the UK Top 10 after the poor chart performance of their previous two singles.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band released their third album, "True", in March 1983. Produced by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, the album featured a slicker pop sound and was recorded at Compass Point in the Bahamas. It was at this point that Steve Norman began playing saxophone for the band. The title track gave the band their first UK No.1 single. It was a multi-format hit in the US, reaching No.1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and US Cash Box and also entering the US R&B charts. The band played four sell-out shows at The Wilton and The Palace, Los Angeles, in December 1983. The song was also a No.1 in Ireland and Canada and Top 5 in the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. It won a BMI award as one of the most played songs in history when it passed four million airplays in the United States, the equivalent of 22 years' continuous play.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The follow-up single, "Gold", reached No.2 in the UK and Top 5 in Belgium, Ireland and Spain. The album topped the charts internationally, spent 64 consecutive weeks in the Top 100 albums chart and reached No.19 on the US Billboard 200. The singles "Gold" and "Communication" peaked at No.29 and No.59 in the US Billboard Hot 100. On their UK tour they were the first rock band to play Sadler's Wells and the Royal Festival Hall.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The follow-up album, "Parade", was released in June 1984, and its singles were again big successes in the charts in Europe, Oceania and Canada. The album's opening song, "Only When You Leave", became the band's last American hit. The band's first Top 10 single in Italy was "I'll Fly For You", a success they repeated later with the singles "Fight For Ourselves" and "Through the Barricades." At the end of 1984, the band performed on the Band Aid charity single alongside chart rivals Duran Duran, Culture Club and Wham! and in 1985 performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid to a global audience estimated at 1.9 billion. The "Spandau Ballet World Parade 84–85" was the group's biggest tour to date, spanning Europe, America, the Far East and, for the first time, Australia and New Zealand. Their UK tour ended with six record-breaking nights at Wembley Arena. During the second show at LA's Universal Amphitheatre, Steve Norman tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and the rest of the tour was cancelled. This also resulted in the cancellation of a proposed summer tour of Spain and Italy and a planned six-week tour of the United States supporting The Power Station.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: During this same year, Spandau Ballet achieved platinum status with the compilation "The Singles Collection", which kept the focus on the band between studio albums and celebrated its five years of success. However, the album was released by Chrysalis Records without the band's approval and the band instigated legal action against the label.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: After a bitter court case with Chrysalis, Spandau Ballet signed to CBS Records for £1.5 million in 1986 and released their fifth studio album, "Through the Barricades". With producer Gary Langan, the band moved away from their pop and soul influences to create a stadium rock sound. A dispute between Our Price Records and Sony over trading arrangements resulted in the Our Price chain and its chart return shops refusing to stock any CBS singles, which affected the record sales of their first single release, "Fight For Ourselves." Though it peaked at 15 in the UK, it was a Top 10 hit in Italy and the Netherlands. The title track, songwriter Gary Kemp and singer Tony Hadley's personal favourite, inspired by the murder of a friend, Thomas 'Kidso' Reilly, in Belfast by a British soldier, reached the Top 10 in the UK and in Europe, as did the album.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: This was followed in 1986/87 by the band's largest European concert tour to date "Through the Barricades – Across The Borders", with six record-breaking nights at the Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam, another six nights at London's Wembley Arena, 80,000 at Casa de Campo in Madrid and 50,000 at an open-air concert in Treviso. Tony Hadley and Gary Kemp performed "Through the Barricades" for the Prince's Trust at Wembley Arena with the 'house band' of Eric Clapton, Midge Ure and Phil Collins and "With A Little Help From My Friends" with George Harrison and Ringo Starr. In 1988, the band played for the King of Spain in front of the Royal Palace in Barcelona, on the same bill as Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, to launch the campaign for the 1992 Olympics.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: After a hiatus from recording, the band released their next album, "Heart Like a Sky", initially titled "Home", in September 1989. For the first time, new working methods were employed, as Gary Kemp demoed his new songs programming the drums, keyboards and bass on a porta-studio with Toby Chapman, Spandau's session keyboard player, rather than rehearsing with the band. The album and its singles were not successful in the UK and the album was not released in the United States. Nevertheless, the band continued to have success in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, where the singles "Raw" and "Be Free with Your Love" entered the Top 40. The album included "Motivator", the first song written by Steve Norman for the band since The Makers.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: On Tuesday 6 March 1990, the band played the final date of their 10th anniversary tour at Edinburgh Playhouse before taking a break to pursue other acting and musical solo projects.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Gary and Martin Kemp took the leading roles as notorious East End gangster twins Ronald and Reginald Kray in "The Krays" which premiered in London in April 1990. The film won two Evening Standard British Film Awards for Best Film and Most Promising Newcomer (writer Philip Ridley). Tony Hadley recorded his first solo album in Los Angeles produced by Ron Nevison. Steve Norman moved to Ibiza to collaborate on chilled out Balearic records with local producers. John Keeble continued as drummer with Tony Hadley and formed his own band, 69 Daze, with former Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist Neal X, followed by 99 shows across Europe with The Herbs and Pacific with guitarist John McGeoch.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Gary Kemp enjoyed further acting success, moving to Hollywood with actor wife Sadie Frost, to film both "The Bodyguard" (with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner) and "Killing Zoe", directed by Academy Award winner Roger Avary, produced by Quentin Tarantino. In 1995 Gary released his solo album, "Little Bruises".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Martin Kemp also appeared in films and TV series in Los Angeles such as "The Outer Limits," "Murder Between Friends", and Sugar Town which also starred John Taylor from Duran Duran.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: In the 1990s, the band split up after a disagreement about royalties. Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful court case against Gary Kemp for a share of Kemp's songwriting royalties from his work with Spandau Ballet. Although they vowed to appeal the verdict, they later decided against this. The three non-Kemp members then continued to tour as a trio, but they had to sell their shares in Spandau Ballet's company to Gary Kemp to pay off legal debts. Because the company owned the rights to the name of Spandau Ballet, the trio had to tour under the moniker "Hadley, Norman and Keeble, ex-Spandau Ballet".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: After successful surgery for the removal of two brain tumours in the mid-Nineties, Martin Kemp joined "EastEnders" in 1998 as one of the British soap's most popular bad boy characters, Steve Owen, winning Most Popular Actor at the 2000 National Television Awards and numerous Best Actor and Villain of the Year awards for the British Soap Awards, "Inside Soap" Awards and TV Quick Awards. He left EastEnders in 2002 for a golden handcuff deal with ITV drama and wrote his best-selling autobiography, "True". He also wrote and directed his first film, "Martin Kemp's Stalker".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Gary Kemp wrote songs with Paul Stratham, who had written songs for Dido, continued acting on stage, in film and in television, and wrote music and additional lyrics with Guy Pratt for "Bedbug" at the National Theatre in 2004 and "A Terrible Beauty", with Guy Pratt and Shane Connaughton. He continued acting on stage, in film and on television. He played Serge in the West End production of "Art" in 2001. Films included "Dog Eat Dog" and "American Daylight" and TV shows "Murder in Mind" and "Casualty".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Steve Norman formed chilled lounge band Cloudfish with Rafa Peletey and Shelley Preston in 2001. Tony Hadley released three studio albums. He played Billy Flynn in the West End production of Chicago and won the ITV reality show, Reborn in the USA in 2003 singing "Through the Barricades" to beat Michelle Gayle in the final. He appeared as a guest vocalist on the Alan Parsons album The Time Machine, performing lead vocals on the song "Out of the Blue".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: In early 2009, the official Spandau Ballet website encouraged fans to sign up "for an exciting announcement", fuelling rumours that a reunion was imminent. Jonathan Ross mentioned during his BBC Radio 2 programme on 21 March 2009, that the band were re-forming and that he had been invited to the reunion party.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band confirmed the rumours at a press conference on 25 March 2009, on board HMS "Belfast" in London, a return to the venue of one of their first gigs to launch their comeback tour. They were introduced by friend and broadcaster Robert Elms after a Billy's and Blitz era DJ set by Rusty Egan. John Keeble and Gary Kemp revealed current musical influences as The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, MGMT and Florence and the Machine.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band began a world tour in October 2009, starting with eight dates across Ireland and the UK, the first of which was in Dublin on 13 October 2009. The tickets for the UK and Ireland shows went on pre-sale on the official Spandau Ballet website on 25 March 2009. They went on general release on 27 March 2009. For the general release tickets, the London O2 arena tickets sold out within 20 minutes and an extra two dates were added there because of demand. The band also added Liverpool and an extra date in Birmingham to the tour. Members gave their "first public performance and interview anywhere in the world for 19 years" on the BBC television show "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" on 24 April 2009 performing "Chant No.1" with the original Beggar & Co and "Gold."


title: Spandau Ballet

text: On 19 October 2009, the group released a new album, "Once More", which featured reworked semi-acoustic versions of 11 Spandau favourites and two new songs, the title track, written by Gary Kemp and Steve Norman, and Love Is All, the first Spandau song to be written by Tony Hadley. The album went Gold in Italy and Silver in the UK. Virgin Media honoured Spandau Ballet as the Best Comeback of 2009 in the Virgin Media Awards.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Spandau Ballet went on tour in Australia during April 2010 with Tears For Fears as part of a world tour. After a headline set at the Isle of Wight Festival on the same bill as Paul McCartney, The Strokes, Jay-Z and Pink, the group played their last UK show of the Reformation Tour at Newmarket Racecourse on 25 June 2010.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: In 2014, all five played live again with an anthology world tour to promote a critically acclaimed feature-length archive-only documentary of the band's story and the pop cultural history of the Eighties, "Soul Boys of the Western World." It world premiered at South By Southwest with Spandau also playing as part of the music festival, their first public appearance in North America since 1985. The band played five numbers for the film's European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall. There were gala screenings in Sydney, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Auckland and Hamburg. The film had a UK cinema release. It was directed by George Hencken, produced by Steve Dagger and Scott Milaney with archive producer Kate Griffiths and included never-before-seen footage of the band playing and being interviewed at NYC's Underground club in March 1981.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: It was confirmed on 31 July 2014, that Spandau Ballet were working on new material in the studio with Trevor Horn. In the UK, the band appeared in an ITV show, "Spandau Ballet – True Gold", in which they performed several hits and were interviewed by Christine Bleakley in front of a studio audience. The band performed their 1980s hit single "True" and a new song called "This is the Love" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on 11 November 2014. It was their US late-night TV debut and their first US TV appearance since 1985 when they played on "Soul Train". They were there to promote their new greatest hits collection called "The Story – The Very Best of Spandau Ballet", which also contained three new songs. The album reached the UK Top 10. Both "Steal" and "This Is The Love" appeared on the US Adult Contemporary chart.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The band embarked on another world tour in 2015. In January 2015, they appeared on "The Today Show", performing "True". They also appeared on "The Talk" on 27 July 2015 to perform "True".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: On 3 July 2017, Tony Hadley left the band due to, as he stated on Twitter, circumstances beyond his control. The rest of the band released their own statement explaining that Hadley had made it clear to them in September 2016 that he did not want to work with the band any more and that they had now reached the decision "to move on as a band."


title: Spandau Ballet

text: On 6 June 2018, after a lengthy audition process Spandau Ballet revealed their new lead singer, Ross William Wild, who had previously performed with Martin Kemp in the West End musical "Million Dollar Quartet". The band played live at Subterania Club in West London, a venue they had last played 40 years earlier in 1978 as Gentry when it was called Acklam Hall. Their first song as the new line-up was "Through the Barricades". Wild said: "If it wasn't for Spandau so much stuff wouldn't have happened. They are pioneers."


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Spandau Ballet finished the year showcasing Wild with five live gigs abroad (Milan, Rome, Padova, Utrecht, Tilburg) concluding with another at the Eventim Apollo in London on 29 October, and attracted favourable reviews.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Within five months cracks were appearing in Spandau's new line-up. In March 2019, Wild joined a new band called Mercutio, saying: "I can't wait around for Spandau! Unfortunately Gary [Kemp] has commitments, so we're waiting him to finish until we crack on." One month later Gary Kemp, touring the US with Nick Mason's band Saucerful of Secrets, said in an interview: "There are no plans for Spandau going into 2020." He said he struggled to imagine Spandau Ballet without Tony Hadley, adding: "I still think that's the ultimate goal". Then on 23 May 2019, Wild tweeted at 6:15am: "I have formally quit the band @SpandauBallet to pursue my own music with my band Mercutio." By 10:30am Martin Kemp was on ITV's "This Morning" confirming that Spandau would not be touring "until Tony [Hadley] comes back".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The next day Spandau thanked Wild via Twitter for "his brilliant performances with them last year and wish him every success with his band, Mercutio". Within the next few days Wild explained further: "I'd put my whole life on hold and was sick of waiting around for them to make up their minds. I told the boys I was quitting and then never heard back from them." The band's sax player Steve Norman also said: "I was neither involved in nor informed of any discussions or decision-making regarding the future of my band, least of all Ross's position in it."


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The song "True" has been sampled in many songs including Queen Pen's 1998 hit "It's True" and Nelly's "'N' Dey Say" in 2004. It was a No.1 US Billboard Hot 100 hit for PM Dawn in 1991 as "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" and a Top 10 single as "You" on the US Billboard Hot 100 for R&B artist Lloyd featuring Lil Wayne in 2006. It has also been covered by The Black Eyed Peas, Rui da Silva and Paul Anka and other artists.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: "True" is featured in the movies "Pixels," "Sausage Party", "Sixteen Candles", "", "Charlie's Angels", "Crazy Stupid Love", "Hot Tub Time Machine", "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging", "50 First Dates" and "The Wedding Singer" sung by Steve Buscemi's character. It has featured on TV shows like "Ashes to Ashes" and Modern Family (American TV series; Season 1, Episode 8).


title: Spandau Ballet

text: "Gold" has been used for the Olympics and numerous other sporting events worldwide. The songs have featured in TV shows "The Simpsons", "Spin City", "Ugly Betty", "Family Guy", "Master of None", "Suits", "My Mad Fat Diary", "Misfits", "Skins", "Gilmore Girls", "Only Fools and Horses", "The Office", "Spaced", "Grange Hill" and many others.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Spandau Ballet songs have also been used successfully in many advertising campaigns on TV, radio, in-store and internet worldwide for Fernet, Chevy Malibu, Citroen, Flora, Alldays, Virgin, Taco Bell, Halifax, La Caixa & Paddy Power, BT, and many more.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: Actor Edward Norton appeared on the ABC sitcom "Modern Family" as Izzy LaFontaine, a fictional bass player/backup vocalist for Spandau Ballet ("between Richard Miller and Martin Kemp"), in the episode "Great Expectations".


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The song "Gold" appears in Rockstar Games' 2002 video game "" on the WAVE 103 Station, which plays New Wave and Synthpop songs. DJ Paul Oakenfold created a special 12-inch remix of "Gold" for the 2012 Olympics.


title: Spandau Ballet

text: The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. Spandau Ballet has received one award from one nomination.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Robert Lee Griffin III (born February 12, 1990), nicknamed RG3 and RGIII, is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Baylor, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected second overall by the Washington Redskins in the 2012 NFL Draft.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin set league records for the highest rookie passer rating and touchdown–interception ratio, while leading Washington to their first division title since 1999. He received Offensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl honors, but was unable to duplicate his success due to a severe knee injury he suffered during the playoffs. Plagued by further injuries and inconsistent performances, Griffin lost his starting position in 2015 to Kirk Cousins, which led to Washington releasing him after the season. Griffin signed with the Cleveland Browns in 2016, but his tenure was also afflicted with injuries, resulting in his release by the season's end. After spending 2017 as a free agent, he joined the Baltimore Ravens in 2018 and played three seasons as a backup.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin was born in Okinawa, Japan, where his parents, Robert Griffin Jr. and Jacqueline, both U.S. Army sergeants, were stationed. The family later lived at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, and then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. They finally settled in Copperas Cove, Texas in 1997 after retiring from the military.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin's paternal grandfather, Robert Griffin Sr., was a foreman for a New Orleans construction company. He suffered from glaucoma for several years, and died in 1984 at age 43 from a brain aneurysm. Financial hardship caused the family to move to the Desire Projects neighborhood. Griffin's father was a basketball player at Kennedy High School and enlisted in the Army before he graduated. He met his wife Jacqueline (née Ross) while stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin attended Copperas Cove High School in Texas, where he was a three-sport star in basketball, football, and track for the Bulldawgs. He started at quarterback for two seasons. During his junior season, he passed for 2,001 yards and 25 touchdowns with 2 interceptions, while compiling 876 rushing yards for 8 touchdowns. He received first-team All-District 16-4A honors after the season. As a senior, he recorded 1,285 rushing yards, posting 24 touchdowns, and passed for 1,356 yards for 16 touchdowns with 7 interceptions. In his senior season Copperas Cove finished with a record of 13–2, but lost in the championship game of the 2007 Class 4A Division I state playoffs. Over the two seasons, he rushed for a total of 2,161 yards and 32 touchdowns while passing for 3,357 yards and 41 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. He went to and lost 2 state championships.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: In track, Griffin broke Texas state records for the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles. He ran the 110-meter hurdles in 13.55 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 35.33 seconds. The 300 hurdles time was 1/100th of a second short of tying the national high school record at the time. He was also a gold medalist in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles on the AAU track and field circuit. In 2007, as a junior, he was rated the No. 1 high school 400-meter intermediate hurdler in the country, and was tied at No. 1 for the 110-meter sprint hurdler in the nation. His personal best in the 110-meter hurdles, 13.46 sec, ranked fifth in the world among junior athletes in 2007 (behind Noga, Brathwaite, Dutch, and Vladimir Zhukov), while his best 2007 time in the 400-meter hurdles, 49.56 sec—his personal best until 2008—led all juniors worldwide for that year. Also as a junior, Griffin received the Gatorade Texas Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year award, and was named to "USA Today"′s 2007 All-USA Track and Field team. His personal best in the 400-meter hurdles was achieved on May 18, 2008, with a time of 49.22 seconds.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Rivals.com, a college football recruiting service, ranked Griffin the fourth-best dual-threat quarterback in the nation and the 42nd-best player in Texas in the high school prospect class of 2008. During the college recruiting period, Griffin was pursued by Stanford, Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska, Houston, Tulsa, Illinois, Washington State, and Oregon. Griffin initially committed to play for Houston under head coach Art Briles. When Briles left Houston to take the head coaching position at Baylor, Griffin switched his commitment and eventually signed a letter of intent to play for Baylor, in part because the university also had a top track and field program.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin graduated from high school a semester early, after serving as class president and ranking seventh in his class. He began attending Baylor University during the spring 2008 semester when he was 17 years old. As a member of Baylor's track and field team, Griffin finished in first place in the 400-meter hurdles at both the Big 12 Conference Championship and the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship meets; he also broke the NCAA Midwest Regional 400-meter hurdles record. He placed third in the NCAA meet and also participated in the U.S. Olympic Trials, in which he advanced to the semifinals. Griffin graduated in three years with a bachelor's degree in political science and a 3.67 GPA, while appearing on the dean's list twice. During his final year of college sports eligibility, he was studying for a master's degree in communications. In 2011, Griffin was named an Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar by "Diverse: Issues In Higher Education".


title: Robert Griffin III

text: As a true freshman playing for the Bears, Griffin earned Big 12 Conference Offensive Freshman of the Year honors. He started 11 of 12 games his freshman season. He made his collegiate debut in a loss to Wake Forest, where he was 11 of 19 for 125 passing yards and had 29 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. In the upset 41–21 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies, he recorded 13 of 23 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Griffin garnered Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors from the league's coaches (who are not allowed to vote for their own players) as well as the media.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin sat out for the remainder of the 2009 season after sustaining an isolated tear to his ACL in the first half of the third game against Northwestern State.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin was granted redshirt status so he entered the 2010 season as a sophomore. According to the bylaws, players who are injured after playing less than 30 percent of the season may be eligible (Griffin was injured during the third game of the 2009 season, with 25 percent of the season completed). Overall, he finished the season with 3,501 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, and had 149 rushes for 635 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Coming into the 2011 season, the Baylor Bears were not expected to do well, being picked 6th in the Big 12 preseason poll. The Bears opened the season against 15th-ranked TCU. The Bears took a 47–23 lead into the 4th quarter, and were able to fight off a comeback after the Horned Frogs gained the lead 48–47 briefly, only for Baylor to kick the game-winning field goal and win 50–48. They pulled off the upset in large part due to Griffin's performance; he passed for 359 yards, with 5 touchdowns and a 77.8% completion percentage. On the game-winning drive, Griffin also caught a key pass. Following the win, Baylor entered the AP Poll rankings for only the third time in the previous 15 seasons, at 20th, and Griffin was considered by many to be a Heisman Trophy candidate. After a bye week, Baylor shut out Stephen F. Austin State University 48–0, and Griffin went 20 of 22 (90.9%) for 247 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 78 yards. In week 4, Griffin ushered Baylor to their third win, beating Rice University 56–31; Griffin completed 29 of 33 passes (87.9%) for 338 yards with 51 yards rushing and a touchdown. In week five against Kansas State, Griffin almost brought the Bears to their fourth win, going 23 out of 31 (74.2%) for 346 yards and 5 touchdowns with only 1 interception, but they lost 36–35 to the Wildcats. In week six against Iowa State, Griffin took Baylor to Iowa for their fourth win, completing 22 out of 30 (73.3%) for 212 yards, 1 touchdown, and no interceptions. He won the Heisman Trophy, becoming the first player from Baylor to win it. Griffin also led Baylor to a 10–3 record, including a 67–56 win over the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl. With a combined 123 points, it stands as the highest-scoring regulation bowl game in NCAA history. Due to the Alamo Bowl, Griffin became the first player since Tim Tebow in 2007 to win the Heisman and not appear in the National Championship (#1 LSU faced #2 Alabama). Overall, he finished the 2011 season with 4,293 passing yards, 37 passing touchdowns, and six interceptions to go along with 179 rushes for 699 rushing yards and ten rushing touchdowns.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a 3.67 grade point average in December 2010, began pursuing a Master's in communications in 2011. On January 11, 2012, Griffin officially announced his intention to enter the 2012 NFL Draft.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin was not perceived as a first-round draft pick prior to his junior season. By midseason, however, he had drawn the attention of NFL scouts and analysts, and some started projecting he would be an early first round selection. Towards the end of his junior season, Griffin had established himself as the No. 2 quarterback prospect for the 2012 NFL Draft, behind the unanimous first pick projection Andrew Luck.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin was widely projected to be the No. 2 pick of the draft, but the St. Louis Rams—the team originally holding the pick—had already selected Sam Bradford to be their long-term starting quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Wanting to stick with Bradford, the Rams decided to deal the pick prior to the draft, with the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins perceived as the most interested bidders. After a brief bidding process, the Redskins acquired the pick by giving the Rams four high-value draft picks over three years: their first-round picks in 2012 (No.6 overall), 2013 (No.22 overall), and 2014 (No.2 overall), as well as their second-round pick (No.39 overall) in 2012.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: As expected, the Washington Redskins selected Griffin as the second overall pick, making him the second Baylor Bear to be drafted that high in four years (after Jason Smith in 2009), but the first Baylor quarterback to be chosen second overall since Adrian Burk in 1950.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin wore number 10 for the Redskins, with "Griffin III" on the back of his jersey. This made him the first player in the history of the "Big Four" professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA) to have a Roman numeral on the back of his jersey, as the NFL changed the rule in 2012 to allow players to include generational titles in their names. Griffin previously had "Griffin III" on the back of his jersey while in college, which was actually necessary in order to distinguish him from the other Robert Griffin on the Baylor team. On July 18, 2012, the Redskins officially signed him to a four-year, $21.1 million contract with a $13.8 million signing bonus.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On September 9, 2012, Griffin officially became the NFL's first starting quarterback who was born in the 1990s. In his official debut as a starting quarterback in the NFL, Griffin opened the Redskins' season by completing 19 of 26 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns while adding 10 carries for 42 rushing yards in a 40–32 victory over the New Orleans Saints. He was named "NFC Offensive Player of the Week" for his performance – the first time in NFL history that a rookie quarterback has been given that honor for his debut game. Griffin's debut performance was further rewarded after he was named "NFL Rookie of the Week", and he was given that honor once again after the Redskins' win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. On October 4, he was named September's "NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month." The next week against the Atlanta Falcons, he left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a mild concussion after receiving a blow to the head by Sean Weatherspoon. He was cleared to play in the next game against the Minnesota Vikings, where he had another impressive performance that included a 76-yard rushing touchdown. The Redskins ended their home-game losing streak and Griffin was named "NFL Rookie of the Week" for a third time.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On November 14 during the Redskins' bye week, the team voted Griffin an offensive co-captain. Following the Redskins' 31–6 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles, he was named "NFC Offensive Player of the Week" for a second time. Griffin's performance – passing for 200 yards with 4 touchdowns, rushing for an additional 84 yards, and finishing with a perfect 158.3 passer rating – made him the first rookie in NFL history to pass for 200 yards, pass for 4 touchdowns and rush for more than 75 yards in a single game. Along with that achievement, his performance against the Eagles made him the youngest player in NFL history, at 22 years and 284 days old, to achieve a perfect passer rating in a game. This record stood until 2015 when Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for a perfect passer rating at 21 years and 318 days old in his debut.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: In the Week 14 game against the Baltimore Ravens on December 9, the Redskins would suffer another injury scare when defensive end Haloti Ngata hit Griffin directly at his right knee, twisting it in the process. On the final drive of the fourth quarter, Griffin was tackled after rushing for 13 yards and hopped on one leg for several plays before leaving the game. Backup quarterback Kirk Cousins would come in the game and lead the Redskins to a 31–28, overtime victory. The next day it was confirmed that Griffin had sustained a Grade 1 LCL sprain. It was decided that Griffin would sit out the next game against the Cleveland Browns to give him more time to heal and avoid the chance of further injuries. He returned the next game and led the Redskins to another victory over the Eagles in Week 16. The knee injury emerged as a controversy on January 6, the day the Redskins faced the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC wild card game, when "USA Today" reported that – contrary to a previous statement made by head coach Mike Shanahan – Dr. James Andrews had not cleared Griffin to return for the post-injury plays in the December 9 game. Griffin then re-injured his knee in the wild card loss to the Seahawks. Griffin underwent surgery on January 9 and both his LCL and ACL were repaired.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: For the season, Griffin set records for highest passer rating by a rookie quarterback (102.4) and highest touchdown to interception ratio (4:1) (both since broken by Dak Prescott). Aside from the week 15 game against the Cleveland Browns where he did not play, Griffin played a vital role in helping the Redskins finish the regular season on a 7-game winning streak after starting the season 3–6, leading the team to its first playoff appearance since the 2007 season.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On December 26, Griffin was named to enter the 2013 Pro Bowl in recognition of his successful rookie season. Due to injuries on his ACL and LCL ligaments in his right knee, he was negated from the Pro Bowl roster and replaced by Drew Brees. Griffin also won the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team, becoming the second Redskins quarterback to receive this award, joining Heath Shuler in 1994. Griffin was ranked 15th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: After some controversy over whether Griffin would be ready for the season opener (he did not play a single preseason game), he debuted in the loss to Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin failed to replicate his 2012 success during the first half of the 2013 season and remained statistically below expectations until Washington's Week 7 game against the Chicago Bears. Leading the Redskins to a 45–41 victory, Griffin recorded 298 passing yards and two touchdowns, including a 45-yard touchdown pass to Aldrick Robinson. The Redskins' 27–6 loss against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12 was the first game in Griffin's collegiate and professional career where he failed to score a single offensive touchdown. On December 11, head coach Mike Shanahan announced that Griffin would be inactive for the last three games of the season and that Kirk Cousins would finish the season as the starter. He claimed that it was done in order to eliminate risk of further injury to Griffin. He finished the 2013 season with 3,203 passing yards, 16 passing touchdowns, and 12 interceptions to go along with 86 carries for 489 rushing yards and no touchdowns.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On September 14, 2014, in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Griffin was carted off the field after suffering a dislocated left ankle. X-rays and MRIs revealed no fractures in the ankle. On October 29, it was reported that Griffin was set to return against the Minnesota Vikings in week 9. The Redskins then dropped their next three games, falling to the Vikings, Buccaneers, and 49ers. On November 25, it was reported that Griffin would be benched for Colt McCoy, heading into Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts. After McCoy went down with a neck injury against the New York Giants, Griffin came in and looked impressive in a loss to the Giants, throwing for 236 yards and 1 touchdown passing. Griffin was named the starter for the rest of the year when the Redskins put Colt McCoy on injured reserve. Griffin responded to that with a winning performance in a 27–24 victory over the Eagles. He threw for 220 yards and had one interception. In the final game of the year against the Cowboys, Griffin showed signs of his rookie year form. He threw for a season-high 336 yards and had 2 touchdowns (one passing, one rushing) in a 44–17 loss. Griffin was 2–5 as a starter in 2014 and the Redskins finished 4–12 and last place in the NFC East.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: During Week 2 of preseason in a win over the Detroit Lions, Griffin fumbled the ball and recovered it but had a defensive lineman fall on top of him. Griffin suffered a concussion in the process and was questionable for the next game against the Ravens. Griffin was medically cleared for the game by a physician, but a few days later the same physician declared Griffin not ready for the game, thus giving backup Kirk Cousins the start. After the win over the Ravens, Cousins was named the starter for the regular-season opener and onward.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On September 13, 2015, it was reported that Griffin was practicing as a safety with the scout team. He ended up third on the quarterback depth chart, behind Cousins and Colt McCoy, and remained inactive for the entire regular season.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On March 24, 2016, Griffin signed a two-year, $15 million contract with the Cleveland Browns. On August 8, 2016, Browns head coach Hue Jackson named Griffin the team's starting quarterback for the 2016 season. Griffin was placed on injured reserve on September 12, after suffering a shoulder injury in the Browns' season opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He was activated off injured reserve on December 9, 2016, prior to Week 14 against the Bengals. Griffin played in five games, all starts, in 2016, completing 87-of-147 passes for 886 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: After remaining a free agent for all of 2017, Griffin signed a one-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens on April 4, 2018. On September 2, 2018, Griffin was named the team's backup quarterback. Backing up Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson, Griffin appeared in three games in the 2018 season.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: On March 21, 2019, Griffin re-signed with the Ravens on a two-year contract. On July 28, 2019, Griffin suffered a fractured thumb and was expected to miss 4–8 weeks. Griffin returned in time for the September 8, 2019, regular-season opener against the Miami Dolphins, where Griffin came into the game in relief of Lamar Jackson toward the end of the 59–10 victory. He completed all six pass attempts for 55 yards and one touchdown. In the Week 10 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Griffin entered the game as a running back alongside Mark Ingram II and Jackson in the backfield, marking what was likely the first time in NFL history three former Heisman Trophy winners lined up together in a backfield. In Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Griffin made his first start since the 2016 season because the Ravens secured the top seed in the AFC playoffs and sat their starters as a result. During the game, Griffin threw for 96 yards and an interception and rushed for 50 yards during the 28–10 win.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin was named the starter for the Ravens Week 12 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers due to Lamar Jackson testing positive for COVID-19. He injured his left hamstring late in the second quarter of the game, but remained in until the fourth quarter, when he was sidelined and replaced by Trace McSorley. He finished the game 7-12 for 33 yards and an interception (which was returned for a touchdown by former Browns teammate Joe Haden) along with seven rushes for 68 yards during the 19–14 loss. He was placed on injured reserve on December 4, 2020. Griffin was waived by the Ravens on January 18, 2021.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: In August 2021, Griffin signed a multi-year contract with ESPN as an analyst for ESPN College Football and NFL Live. Griffin has publicly stated his desire to continue playing and that his contract with ESPN would allow him to sign with a team if the opportunity arises.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin began dating fellow Baylor student Rebecca Liddicoat in 2009, and the two were married on July 6, 2013. Rebecca gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter in 2015. On August 16, 2016, it was reported that Griffin and his wife were separated and in the process of filing for divorce.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: In August 2016, Griffin and Estonian heptathlete Grete Šadeiko became romantically linked. They were engaged on May 13, 2017. In 2017, Griffin announced via Instagram the birth of his second daughter. The couple married on March 10, 2018. His third daughter was born in September 2019.


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Griffin grew up as a fan of the Denver Broncos and Mike Shanahan, whom he played under for his first two seasons with the Redskins. Griffin is an evangelical christian, and has said his relationship with God is his "most important influence."


title: Robert Griffin III

text: Before the start of his rookie season with the Washington Redskins, Griffin had signed a number of endorsement deals from companies such as Adidas, Castrol Motor Oil, EA Sports, EvoShield, Gatorade, Nissan, and Subway. According to ESPN's Dollars blog, Griffin had "earned more than any other rookie in NFL history before throwing his first regular-season pass," largely as a result of endorsements.


title: Tick

text: Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. The timing of the origin of ticks is uncertain, though the oldest known tick fossils are from the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years old. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates.


title: Tick

text: Ticks belong to two major families, the Ixodidae or hard ticks, and the Argasidae, or soft ticks. "Nuttalliella," a genus of tick from southern Africa is the only member of the family Nuttalliellidae, and represents the most primitive living lineage of ticks. Adults have ovoid/pear-shaped bodies (idiosomas) which become engorged with blood when they feed, and eight legs. Their cephalothorax and abdomen are completely fused. In addition to having a hard shield on their dorsal surfaces, known as the scutum, hard ticks have a beak-like structure at the front containing the mouthparts, whereas soft ticks have their mouthparts on the underside of their bodies. Ticks locate potential hosts by sensing odor, body heat, moisture, and/or vibrations in the environment.


title: Tick

text: Ticks have four stages to their lifecycle, namely egg, larva, nymph, and adult. Ticks belonging to the Ixodidae family undergo either a one-host, two-host, or three-host lifestyle. Argasid ticks have up to seven nymphal stages (instars), each one requiring blood ingestion, Argasid ticks undergo a multihost lifestyle. Because of their hematophagous (blood-ingesting) diets, ticks act as vectors of many serious diseases that affect humans and other animals.


title: Tick

text: Ticks belong to the Parasitiformes, a distinctive group of mites that are separate from the main group of mites, the Acariformes. Whether the two groups are more closely related to each other than to other arachnids is uncertain, and studies often recover them as not closely related. Within the Parasitiformes, ticks are most closely related to the Holothyrida, a small group of free living scavengers with 32 described species confined to the landmasses that formed the supercontinent Gondwana.