title: Typhon

text: The Typhonomachy—Zeus' battle with, and defeat of Typhon—is just one part of a larger "Succession Myth" given in Hesiod's "Theogony". The Hesiodic succession myth describes how Uranus, the original ruler of the cosmos, hid his offspring away inside Gaia, but was overthrown by his Titan son Cronus, who castrated Uranus, and how in turn, Cronus, who swallowed his children as they were born, was himself overthrown by his son Zeus, whose mother had given Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow, in place of Zeus. However Zeus is then confronted with one final adversary, Typhon, which he quickly defeats. Now clearly the supreme power in the cosmos, Zeus is elected king of gods. Zeus then establishes and secures his realm through the apportionment of various functions and responsibilities to the other gods, and by means of marriage. Finally, by swallowing his first wife Metis, who was destined to produce a son stronger than himself, Zeus is able to put an end to the cycle of succession.


title: Typhon

text: Typhon's story seems related to that of another monstrous offspring of Gaia: Python, the serpent killed by Apollo at Delphi, suggesting a possible common origin.


title: Typhon

text: Besides the similarity of names, their shared parentage, and the fact that both were snaky monsters killed in single combat with an Olympian god, there are other connections between the stories surrounding Typhon, and those surrounding Python.


title: Typhon

text: Although the Delphic monster killed by Apollo is usually said to be the male serpent Python, in the "Homeric Hymn to Apollo", the earliest account of this story, the god kills a nameless she-serpent ("drakaina"), subsequently called Delphyne, who had been Typhon's foster-mother. Delphyne and Echidna, besides both being intimately connected to Typhon—one as mother, the other as mate—share other similarities. Both were half-maid and half-snake, a plague to men, and associated with the Corycian cave in Cilicia.


title: Typhon

text: Python was also perhaps connected with a different Corycian Cave than the one in Cilicia, this one on the slopes of Parnassus above Delphi, and just as the Corycian cave in Cilicia was thought to be Typhon and Echidna's lair, and associated with Typhon's battle with Zeus, there is evidence to suggest that the Corycian cave above Delphi was supposed to be Python's (or Delphyne's) lair, and associated with his (or her) battle with Apollo.


title: Typhon

text: From at least as early as Pindar, and possibly as early as Homer and Hesiod (with their references to the Arimoi and Arima), Typhon's birthplace and battle with Zeus were associated with various Near East locales in Cilicia and Syria, including the Corycian Cave, Mount Kasios, and the Orontes River. Besides this coincidence of place, the Hesiodic succession myth, (including the Typhonomachy), as well as other Greek accounts of these myths, exhibit other parallels with several ancient Near Eastern antecedents, and it is generally held that the Greek accounts are intimately connected with, and influenced by, these Near Eastern counterparts. In particular, the Typhonomachy is generally thought to have been influenced by several Near Eastern monster-slaying myths.


title: Typhon

text: Three related god vs. monster combat myths from Mesopotamia, date from at least the early second-millennium BC or earlier. These are the battles of the god Ninurta with the monsters Asag and Anzu, and the god Marduk's battle with the monstrous Tiamat.


title: Typhon

text: "Lugal-e", a late-third-millennium BC Sumerian poem, tells the story of the battle between the Mesopotamian hero-god Ninurta and the terrible monster Asag. Like Typhon, Asag was a monstrous hissing offspring of Earth (Ki), who grew mighty and challenged the rule of Ninurta, who like Zeus, was a storm-god employing winds and floods as weapons. As in Hesiod's account of the Typhonomachy, during their battle, both Asag and Ninurta set fire to the landscape. And like Apollodorus' Typhon, Asag evidently won an initial victory, before being finally overcome by Ninurta.


title: Typhon

text: The early second millennium BC Akkadian epic "Anzu" tells the story of another combat of Ninurta with a monstrous challenger. This second foe is the winged monster Anzu, another offspring of Earth. Like Hesiod's Typhon, Anzu roared like a lion, and was the source of destructive storm winds. Ninurta destroys Anzu on a mountainside, and is portrayed as lashing the ground where Anzu lay with a rainstorm and floodwaters, just as Homer has Zeus lash the land about Typhon with his thunderbolts.


title: Typhon

text: The early second-millennium BC Babylonian-Akkadian creation epic "Enûma Eliš" tells the story of the battle of the Babylonian supreme god Marduk with Tiamat, the Sea personified. Like Zeus, Marduk was a storm-god, who employed wind and lightning as weapons, and who, before he can succeed to the kingship of the gods, must defeat a huge and fearsome enemy in single combat. This time the monster is female, and may be related to the Pythian dragoness Delphyne, or Typhon's mate Echidna, since like Echidna, Tiamat was the mother of a brood of monsters.


title: Typhon

text: Like the Typhonomachy, several Near East myths, tell of battles between a storm-god and a snaky monster associated with Mount Kasios, the modern Jebel Aqra. These myths are usually considered to be the origins of the myth of Zeus's battle with Typhon.


title: Typhon

text: From the south side of the Jebel Aqra, comes the tale of Baal Sapon, and Yamm, the deified Sea (like Tiamat above). Fragmentary Ugaritic tablets, dated to the fourteenth or thirteenth-century BC, tell the story of the Canaanite storm-god Baal Sapon's battle against the monstrous Yamm on Mount Sapuna the Canaanite name for later Greeks’ Mount Kasios. Baal defeats Yamm with two throwing clubs (thunderbolts?) named ‘Expeller’ and ‘Chaser’, which fly like eagles from the storm-god's hands. Other tablets associate the defeat of the snaky Yamm with the slaying of a seven headed serpent ‘’Ltn’’ (Litan/Lotan), apparently corresponding to the biblical Leviathan.


title: Typhon

text: From the north side of the Jebel Aqra, come Hittite myths, c. 1250 BC, which tell two versions of the storm-god Tarhunna’s (Tarhunta’s) battle against the serpent Illuyanka(s). In both of these versions, Tarhunna suffers an initial defeat against Illuyanka. In one version, Tarhunna seeks help from the goddess Inara, who lures Illuyanka from his lair with a banquet, thereby enabling Tarhunna to surprise and kill Illuyanka. In the other version Illuyanka steals the heart and eyes of the defeated god, but Tarhunna’s son marries a daughter of Illuyanka and is able to retrieve Tarhunna’s stolen body parts, whereupon Tarhunna kills Illuyanka.


title: Typhon

text: These stories particularly resemble details found in the accounts of the Typhonomachy of Apollodorus, Oppian and Nonnus, which, though late accounts, possibly preserve much earlier ones: The storm-god’s initial defeat (Apollodorus, Nonnus), the loss of vital body parts (sinews: Apollodorus, Nonnus), the help of allies (Hermes and Aegipan: Apollodorus; Cadmos and Pan: Nonnus; Pan: Oppian), the luring of the serpentine opponent from his lair through the trickery of a banquet (Oppian, or by music: Nonnus).


title: Typhon

text: Another c. 1250 BC Hittite text, derived from the Hurrians, tells of the Hurrian storm-god Teshub (with whom the Hittite's Tarhunna came to be identified) who lived on Mount Hazzi, the Hurrian name for the Jebel Aqra, and his battle with the sea-serpent Hedammu. Again the storm-god is aided by a goddess Sauska (equivalent to Inaru), who this time seduces the monster with music (as in Nonnus), drink, and sex, successfully luring the serpent from his lair in the sea. Just as the Typhonomachy can be seen as a sequel to the Titanomachy, a different Hittite text derived from the Hurrians, "The Song of Ullikummi", a kind of sequel to the Hittite "kingship in heaven" succession myths of which the story of Teshub and Hedammu formed a part, tells of a second monster, this time made of stone, named Ullikummi that Teshub must defeat, in order to secure his rule.


title: Typhon

text: From apparently as early as Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC), Typhon was identified with Set, the Egyptian god of chaos and storms. This syncretization with Egyptian mythology can also be seen in the story, apparently known as early as Pindar, of Typhon chasing the gods to Egypt, and the gods transforming themselves into animals. Such a story arose perhaps as a way for the Greeks to explain Egypt's animal-shaped gods. Herodotus also identified Typhon with Set, making him the second to last divine king of Egypt. Herodotus says that Typhon was deposed by Osiris' son Horus, whom Herodutus equates with Apollo (with Osiris being equated with Dionysus), and after his defeat by Horus, Typhon was "supposed to have been hidden" in the "Serbonian marsh" (identified with modern Lake Bardawil) in Egypt.


title: Typhon

text: Typhon bears a close resemblance to an older generation of descendants of Gaia, the Giants. They, like their younger brother Typhon after them, challenged Zeus for supremacy of the cosmos, were (in later representations) shown as snake-footed, and end up buried under volcanos.


title: Typhon

text: While distinct in early accounts, in later accounts Typhon was often considered to be one of the Giants. The Roman mythographer Hyginus (64 BC – 17 AD) includes Typhon in his list of Giants, while the Roman poet Horace (65 – 8 BC), mentions Typhon, along with the Giants Mimas, Porphyrion, and Enceladus, as together battling Athena, during the Gigantomachy. The "Astronomica", attributed to the 1st-century AD Roman poet and astrologer Marcus Manilius, and the late 4th-century early 5th-century Greek poet Nonnus, also consider Typhon to be one of the Giants.


title: Coursera

text: Coursera Inc. () is a U.S.-based massive open online course provider founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer online courses, certifications, and degrees in a variety of subjects. In 2021 it was estimated that about 150 universities offered more than 4,000 courses through Coursera.


title: Coursera

text: Coursera was founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Ng and Koller started offering their Stanford courses online in fall 2011, and soon after left Stanford to launch Coursera. Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania were the first universities to offer content on the platform.


title: Coursera

text: Coursera's revenues rose from $184 million in 2019 to $294 million in 2020. To date, Coursera has not made a profit. The company lost $66 million in 2020 as it ramped up marketing and advertising.


title: Coursera

text: For the first quarter of 2021, Coursera reported revenue of $88.4 million, up 64% from a year earlier, with a net loss of $18.7 million, or $13.4 million on a non-GAAP basis. Coursera said consumer revenue was $51.9 million, up 61%, while enterprise revenue was $24.5 million, up 63%, and degree programs had revenue of $12 million, up 81%.


title: Coursera

text: For the third quarter of 2021, Coursera reported revenue of $109.9 million, up 33% from $82.7 million a year ago. Gross profit was $67.7 million or 61.6% of revenue. Net loss was $(32.5) million or (29.5)% of revenue.


title: Coursera

text: The startup raised an initial $16 million funding round backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates. In 2013, GSV led the Series B investment, which totaled $63 million. In 2015, NEA led the Series C round of venture funding, which totaled more than $60 million. In 2017, the company raised $64 million from its existing investors in a Series D round of funding. In 2019, the company raised $103 million in Series E round of funding from the SEEK Group, Future Fund and NEA. The company reached valuation of $1 billion+ in 2019. In July 2020, the company announced it had raised $130 million in Series F funding and updated its valuation to $2.5 billion.


title: Coursera

text: In September 2013, it announced it had earned $1 million in revenue through the sale of verified certificates that authenticate successful course completion. Coursera first rolled out a series of fee-based course options, which included verified credentials for completion, in 2013. As of October 2015, the company had raised a total of $146.1 million in venture capital.


title: Coursera

text: In January 2016, Coursera rolled out fees to earn grades and assessments for "the vast majority of courses that are part of Specializations". The company offers Financial Aid to people who demonstrate a need.


title: Coursera

text: In July 2016, the company launched an enterprise product called Coursera for Business. TechCrunch notes that the company "opened itself to additional revenues from the lucrative corporate e-learning market, which some reports suggest was worth $12 billion in the US alone". Coursera for Business customers include L’Oréal, Boston Consulting Group, and Axis Bank. In October 2016, Coursera launched a monthly subscription model for Specializations and a 1-week free trial. The company has said subscription costs will vary "depending on the topic area".


title: Coursera

text: In January 2017, the company launched Coursera for Governments & Nonprofits. Coursera has announced partnerships with the Institute for Veterans & Military Families (IVMF) in the United States and entities in Egypt, Mongolia, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan. In June 2017, Jeff Maggioncalda became the CEO of Coursera.


title: Coursera

text: In March 2018, Coursera launched six fully online degree courses, including the bachelor's and master's qualifications in various domains.


title: Coursera

text: In March 2021, Coursera filed for an IPO. The nine-year-old company brought in roughly $293 million in revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31 — a 59% growth rate from 2019, according to the filing. Net losses widened by roughly $20 million yearly, reaching $66.8 million in 2020. Coursera spent $107 million on marketing in 2020.


title: Coursera

text: the total number of partners is more than 200 across 29 countries. Coursera mainly works with universities and colleges, but also with corporations and governments. University partners include University of São Paulo in Brazil, University of London in the UK, Indian School of Business of India, Yonsei University in South Korea, and institutions like Yale, University of Illinois and University of Pennsylvania. Google launched Professional certification program. Google will consider all of its certificates as the equivalent of a four-year college degree.


title: Coursera

text: Coursera courses last approximately four to twelve weeks, with one to two hours of video lectures a week. These courses provide quizzes, weekly exercises, peer-graded and reviewed assignments, an optional Honors assignment, and sometimes a final project or exam to complete the course. Courses are also provided on-demand, in which case users can take their time in completing the course with all of the material available at once. , Coursera offered 104 on-demand courses. They also provide guided projects which are short 2-3 hour projects that can be done at home.


title: Coursera

text: According to 'Coursera Impact Report 2020', the top five most popular courses that people learn from Coursera were contact tracing, digital marketing, project management, Python programming, and social psychology.


title: Coursera

text: As of 2017, Coursera offers complete master's degrees. They first started with a Master's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OMIE) from HEC Paris and a Master's of Accounting (iMSA) from the University of Illinois but have moved on to offer a Master of Computer Science in Data Science and Master of Business Administration (iMBA), both from University of Illinois. Also as part of their MBA programs, there are some courses which are offered separately, which are included in the curriculum of specific MBAs when enrolling in classes such as their digital marketing courses.


title: Coursera

text: Google, IBM, Meta and other well-known companies, launched various courses for professional certificates, allowing students to fill the workforce in various sectors, such as data analytics, IT support, digital marketing, UX design, project management, and Data science. According to Google, their courses are equivalent to 4 year degrees. They also offered 100,000 scholarships. Google and its 20+ partners will accept those certificates as 4-year degree equivalent.


title: Coursera

text: In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coursera launched a course by the Jameel Institute at Imperial College London. Called "Science Matters: Let's Talk About COVID-19", the course was the most popular launched on Coursera in 2020, with over 130,000 enrolled learners that year. The course was presented by Jameel Institute research lead Professor Helen Ward and deputy director Dr Katharina Hauck, with specific modules in collaboration with other researchers from across Imperial.


title: Coursera

text: In March 2020, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Coursera, alongside its partners, sponsored over 115 certification courses for people who may have been affected by the global pandemic. This is part of an outreach initiative for people who may have lost their jobs, been retrenched, had their salaries reduced, or merely want to improve and grow by learning and developing their technical skills through recognized certifications. The program ended on December 31, 2020, but many free courses on Coursera remain available through auditing.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a 2018 action-adventure video game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. It continues the narrative from the 2015 game "Rise of the Tomb Raider" and is the twelfth mainline entry in the "Tomb Raider" series, as well as the third and final entry of the "Survivor" trilogy. The game was originally released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Versions for macOS and Linux, and Stadia, were released in November 2019. After release, the game was expanded upon with downloadable content in both a season pass and as standalone releases.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Set roughly a year after the events of "Rise of the Tomb Raider", its story follows Lara Croft as she ventures through the tropical regions of the Americas to the legendary city Paititi, battling the paramilitary organization Trinity and racing to stop a Mayan apocalypse she has unleashed. Lara must traverse the environment and combat enemies with firearms and stealth as she explores semi-open hubs. In these hubs she can raid challenge tombs to unlock new rewards, complete side missions, and scavenge for resources which can be used to craft useful materials.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Development began in 2015 following the completion of "Rise of the Tomb Raider", lasting until July 2018. "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was designed to conclude Lara's journey begun in the 2013 reboot, with a key theme being descent both through the jungle environment and into her personality. The setting and narrative was based on Mayan and Aztec mythologies, with the team consulting historians to create the architecture and people of Paititi. The gameplay was adjusted based on both fan feedback and the wishes of Eidos Montréal, incorporating swimming and grappling while increasing difficulty tailoring. Camilla Luddington returned to provide voice and motion-capture work for Lara. The game cost an estimated US$110–135 million to develop, making it one of the most expensive games ever made.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Released as the final installment in Lara Croft's origin trilogy, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to the game's emphasis on challenge tombs and puzzles, although some felt that the series' gameplay had become stale and lacked innovation. While opening to slow sales, the game eventually shipped over 8.9 million copies worldwide.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective; players take on the role of Lara Croft as she explores environments across Mexico and Peru. In addition to standalone areas, the game has a large hub in the hidden city of Paititi. A new barter system allows players to trade and sell various resources gathered from the areas surrounding Paititi.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: There are numerous adjustments made to gameplay, which is otherwise identical to "Rise of the Tomb Raider". The controls for swimming have been revised, as Lara is able to hold her breath underwater for a longer period of time due to the introduction of air pockets. She has the ability to rappel down a cliff using her climbing axe and rope. Stealth is important, as Lara can disengage from combat when she escapes from enemies' line of sight by camouflaging herself in mud, hiding in bushes or blending into densely vegetated surfaces.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Like its predecessors, the game allows players to hunt wild animals, craft materials using resources collected, solve puzzles and seek out optional tombs and side quests. The game features larger tombs and more complex puzzles compared to previous installments in the reboot series. Players have the option to tailor their gameplay experience as exploration, puzzles and combat have their own difficulty settings. An Immersion Mode enables players to hear the background conversations of the locals in their native languages; when turned off the conversations are heard in the players' chosen voice over language.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: In 2015, months since the events of "Rise of the Tomb Raider", Lara Croft (Camilla Luddington) and her friend Jonah Maiava (Earl Baylon) have dedicated themselves to stopping the activities of paramilitary organization Trinity. The two track a cell to Cozumel in Mexico, led by Pedro Dominguez (Carlos Leal), the head of Trinity's High Council. At Trinity's excavation site, Lara discovers a temple containing the Dagger of Chak Chel and references to a hidden city. Murals adorning the walls allude to the Silver Box of Ix Chel and warn of "the Cleansing", a Mayan apocalypse culminating in a permanent solar eclipse. Lara ignores the warnings and takes the Dagger to prevent Trinity from acquiring it. Dominguez catches her and reveals that by taking the Dagger, Lara has triggered the Cleansing. He takes the Dagger, intending to unite it with the Box to stop the Cleansing and use the power it grants him to remake the world in his image. Lara and Jonah escape a tsunami that destroys Cozumel and foreshadows the coming apocalypse.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Despite growing tensions between them over her actions, Lara and Jonah pursue Dominguez into the Amazon. Their plane crashes in the Peruvian jungle during the second cataclysm—a massive storm—and the two find their way to Paititi, the hidden city shown in the murals. Exploring local tombs reveals that piercing the Box with the Dagger will grant the user the power of the god Kukulkan, which must be used to halt the Cleansing. When Lara saves a boy named Etzli (Kamran Lucas), she and Jonah are brought into Paititi by his mother Unuratu (Patricia Velásquez), queen of the city. Dominguez is revealed to be the leader of a cult dedicated to Kukulkan and Unuratu's brother-in-law Amaru, who was taken by Trinity as a child. Unuratu directs Lara to the Box, but Lara finds it is missing. Believing the cult already has the Box, Lara and Unuratu attempt to steal it, but Unuratu is captured. Lara also encounters strange humanoid monsters identified as the Yaaxil, guardians of the Box, and their leader Crimson Fire.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Lara learns that the Box was taken centuries ago by Andres Lopez, a missionary sent by Trinity during the Spanish conquest of South America. She rescues Unuratu and realizes that Amaru does not fully understand the ritual; rather than merely imbuing Kukulkan's power, the ritual sacrifices it to stop the Cleansing. Unuratu is shot by Commander Rourke, Amaru's second in command. Before she dies, Unuratu implores Lara to complete the ritual but warns her not to let the Box influence her. Rourke attacks Lara and Jonah, who are separated as they leave Paititi. The two reunite at an oil refinery and decipher the Box's location, a nearby Christian mission established by Lopez.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Lara and Jonah find a secret catacomb beneath the mission leading to Lopez's tomb and the Box. Amaru intercepts them and forces Lara to surrender the Box. He admits that he ordered her father's death to prevent him from finding Paititi and revealing it to the world. Lara tries to persuade Amaru to use the ritual to benefit the world. He refuses, as the Cleansing will only affect Paititi. He leaves Lara and Jonah to escape the third cataclysm, a massive earthquake that causes a landslide.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Back in Paititi, Lara and Jonah help the newly-crowned Etzli lead an assault on an underground temple complex. They plan to disrupt Amaru's ceremony while avoiding the fourth cataclysm, a volcanic eruption. Lara is forced to go on alone. She encounters the Yaaxil and Crimson Fire, convincing them to help her stop Amaru. Rourke and the Trinity High Council are slaughtered by the Yaaxil while Lara makes her way to the temple summit. Amaru starts the ritual and absorbs Kukulkan's power as the solar eclipse begins. After a lengthy battle, Lara overpowers Amaru and fatally stabs him. Accepting defeat, Amaru transfers Kukulkan's power to Lara as he dies. True to Unuratu's warning, she is tempted to use the Box to revive her parents, but instead lets Crimson Fire symbolically stab her, sacrificing Kukulkan's spirit and stopping the Cleansing.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: In the aftermath, Unuratu is laid to rest, and Jonah decides to take a vacation. Lara stays in Paititi to help Etzli restore the city to its former glory. A post-credits scene shows Lara planning her next adventure at Croft Manor, acknowledging that her role is not to solve the world's mysteries, but to protect them.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" released several chapters of downloadable content that expanded on the game's narrative. Each of these chapters run parallel to the main storyline and focus on an additional tomb. Lara uncovers the source of Mayan influence in Peru and solves the mystery of a missing oil worker; locates an artefact to bolster Unuratu's rebellion, but finds a secret that could threaten it; confronts her worst fears as she searches for a potent weapon; learns of a tragedy that shaped Amaru's decision to join Trinity; aids a splinter group of rebels taken by the Cult of Kukulkan; investigates a disturbance at a local temple that turns into a trap laid by Trinity; and learns the fate of the Yaaxil that survived the battle with Trinity.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Development of "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" began in 2015, shortly after the release of "Rise of the Tomb Raider". Unlike previous entries in the "Tomb Raider" reboot series which were primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal assumed major development duties for "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" while Crystal Dynamics provided additional development. While the studio had acted in a support role on the previous entries in the rebooted "Tomb Raider" series, this time Crystal Dynamics transferred into a support role. Due to this transition, the staff at both Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics needed to adjust, with the Eidos Montréal undergoing "growing pains" while moving from a supporting to a leading development role. Similar to their work on the "Deus Ex" series and "Thief", Eidos-Montréal first gained a deep understanding of the series' basic elements, then set about building the game using both previous entries and their own design philosophies.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was built using the Foundation engine initially built by Crystal Dynamics. This is the same engine used to build "Rise of the Tomb Raider", but was enhanced by Eidos Montreal.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Eidos-Montréal estimated the game's development costs as between $75 and $100 million, with a separate marketing and promotion budget of $35 million, becoming the studio's largest project at the time. Studio head David Anfossi admitted the scale of the project in the modern gaming market and the need to make a profit. With the costs in mind, Eidos-Montréal sought to incorporate experimental elements within multiplayer options to give the game longevity using the emerging "games as a service" trend so the game could provide post-release income and foster a large community. Development was completed on 24 July 2018, with Eidos-Montréal confirming that the game was declared gold (indicating that it was being prepared for duplication and release).


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was designed to evolve the narrative and gameplay elements of Lara Croft; in the 2013 reboot she was portrayed as a hunted survivor, "Rise of the Tomb Raider" revealed her beginning to pursue her own goals, and "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was designed to show her mastering the environment. The story closes off the rebooted origin story, with Lara becoming "the tomb raider she was always meant to be". Narrative director Jason Dozois defined this as being Lara's ultimate "tomb raider" persona within the reboot timeline rather than a return to the character of Lara from games prior to 2013:


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: The staff wanted to tackle the "political tension" and social impact of a rich white woman hunting artefacts in foreign lands, with Lara coming to terms with her position in the story's climax. The setting of Latin America was chosen to reflect this theme. Lara's obsession and darker personality traits played into this, with several scenes emphasising the sacrifices she was forced to make during her pursuit of Trinity. The destruction Lara releases when claiming a key artefact before Trinity was designed as an inversion of the traditional "Tomb Raider" approach, which used a similar style without consequences. Several different post-credit scenes were considered for the game. When first released, one of the scrapped scenes was included by mistake, with a post-release patch replacing it with the intended cutscene.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: British-American actress Camilla Luddington reprised her role from the previous two games, and was able to help Eidos-Montréal keep Lara's characterization consistent with the previous games. As with "Tomb Raider" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider", Luddington provided Lara's motion capture, calling "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" one of the most difficult emotional performances from her time playing Lara. The main antagonist was intended as Lara's emotional foe, with the jungle being her physical foe. Lara's relationship with Jonah evolved further; while in "Tomb Raider" they had been distant, in "Rise" he protected her out of loyalty to their lost friends, while in "Shadow" they share a strong bond which prompts Jonah to support her. Due to their previous experience with cinematic storytelling, Eidos Montréal designed the narrative of "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" to have more cinematic moments. The team needed to consider the overall concept of the reboot trilogy, and narrative threads previously left unresolved in "Rise" including who killed Lara's father. Before recording began, the cast read through the script so the performances could be more convincing.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: The game's jungle setting was chosen to "complete" Lara's abilities, carrying over old skills while learning new ones to face new threats. It acted as a visual contrast to the previous games. While the team were restricted in story design by the overall plan, they were able to adjust the gameplay balance to bring a greater focus on puzzles compared to "Rise". The aim was to have Lara undergo an evolution when faced with the jungle's harsh reality, with her early confrontation with jaguars being the catalyst which starts her transformation. The stealth elements—including camouflaging and the use of fear tactics—drew inspiration from films such as "Rambo" and "Predator". Swimming was incorporated into the gameplay, though the team gave it a "survival-action" feel.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Director Daniel Chayer-Bisson described redesigning the established level design as "a nightmare", because they had to take into account player experimentation and potential sequence breaking when implementing new mechanics such as climbing onto overhangs and using the grappling line. During surveys of the fan base, the team heard wishes both for harder puzzles and the removal of visual climbing aids such as white surfaces. As removing them outright would have made the game intimidating for newcomers, they created the scaling difficulty settings as a compromise. "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was made inviting for newcomers as the opening section acted as both a narrative introduction and a tutorial for Lara's abilities. The overall verticality of environments and its impact on mechanics such as swimming and grappling reflected the game's theme of "descent".


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: The setting and narrative took inspiration from Mayan, Aztec and Incan mythology, including its recurring focus on sun worship, sacrifice, and the ages of mankind. The Mayan influence was chosen due to that culture's fixation on astronomy and dates. During the initial design pitch, the designers wanted Lara to discover a real lost tomb with people living around it, a concept previously limited by the technology available at the time. During their research, they chose the city of Paititi due to its historic precedent over purely fictional locations such as El Dorado. The culture of Paititi was based on the supposition that elements Aztec and Maya of Mesoamerican cultures could have migrated into Peru. The culture and people of Paititi were based on historic accounts of the Maya, Aztec and Inca peoples. The clothing of the people were based on historic examples and accounts. The team consulted historians to ensure their cultural depictions were accurate and respectful.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: The music for "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was composed by Brian D'Oliveira. While following the musical styles established since the 2013 reboot, the team added new esthetic elements, incorporating the local culture and the darker portrayal of both Lara and her mission. D'Oliveira was brought on due to his ability with South American instruments, and during recording at his Montreal studios worked with native musicians to achieve the right sound for each location. Martin Stig Andersen worked as Ambient Sound Designer, who focused on the sound transition for underwater segments. The team brought back "The Instrument", a specially-designed percussion instrument created for the 2013 reboot's soundtrack by Matt McConnell. "The Instrument" was used to help convey the primal aspects of Lara's character, in addition to referencing her adventure on Yamatai in the 2013 game.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Square Enix confirmed that a sequel to "Rise of the Tomb Raider" was in development and scheduled to be released on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Windows version was developed by Nixxes Software, who had worked on several earlier "Tomb Raider" games for the platform. The game was ported to macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive on 5 November 2019. It was released for Stadia on 19 November as part of the platform's launch line-up alongside the 2013 reboot and "Rise of the Tomb Raider".


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: The PC and Stadia ports were created by Nixxes Software. A season pass gives players access to seven "paths" of downloadable content (DLC) which include new narratives, missions, tombs, weapons, outfits and skills. None of these would contain additional story content, which was complete with the base release. A version bundling together the main game and DLC, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition", was also released on November 4. The Feral Interactive ports and Stadia version were based on this release.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Brett Makedonski of Destructoid compared the game's themes to "Uncharted" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", praised the graphics, platforming and challenge tombs, but criticized the lack of combat sections from the previous games and the story narrative. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave a positive review, and said that the game managed to separate itself from other similar titles through the refined state of its mechanics and design. Rachel Weber from GamesRadar also praised the game, calling it "the strongest entry in the rebooted trilogy" and saying that "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" stayed true to the character's strengths, and praised the implementation of challenge tombs.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Lucy O'Brien of IGN said "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" offered a fitting conclusion to Lara Croft's origin trilogy, stating that the game's story manages to make a satisfying line between high-concept fun and grounded character exploration. Michael Leri of Game Revolution praised the game's numerous challenge tombs and puzzles, praising the tombs as fun and challenging, and lauding the puzzles as the game's best feature. Andy Kelly from PC Gamer (US) called it one of the best "Tomb Raider" games to date, pointing out its improved stealth combat and tomb exploration.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Chris Plante of Polygon praised the character and gameplay progression throughout the trilogy, calling "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" "a refinement rather than revision" of the first two reboot titles, adding that the game was to be praised as it was the best version of the mechanics demonstrated in the previous two entries. Conversely, VideoGamers Josh Wise disliked the main storyline as being filled with padding and undermined by weak writing, though he praised the platforming and world design. Edmond Tran of GameSpot also gave a mixed review, criticizing the game's side quests and Lara's character development while praising the story missions, graphics, environments and explorable tombs.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: Upon release, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" got off to a slow start in sales, attributed by Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda to a lack of originality compared to other titles at the time. The game was the fifth best selling title in the US. By the end of December 2018, the game shipped 4.12 million copies worldwide. While it saw lower sales than many other titles of that year, Eidos-Montréal was very happy with its sales as well as its critical reception, prompting them to produce the DLC episodes. As of December 2021, the game has sold 8.9 million copies.


title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

text: In a joint co-production between Netflix and Legendary Entertainment, an anime-style series adaptation based on the video game reboot franchise was in the works, and that the series will be primarily set after the events of "Shadow of the Tomb Raider".


title: Petula Clark

text: Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark's professional career began during the Second World War as a child entertainer on BBC Radio. In 1954 she charted with "The Little Shoemaker", the first of her big UK hits, and within two years she began recording in French. Her international successes have included ""Prends mon coeur"", "Sailor" (a UK number one), "Romeo", and "Chariot". Hits in German, Italian and Spanish followed. In late 1964 Clark's success extended to the United States with a four-year run of career-defining, often upbeat singles, many written or co-written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. These songs include her signature song "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Who Am I", "Colour My World", "This Is My Song" (by Charles Chaplin), "Don't Sleep in the Subway", "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener", and "Kiss Me Goodbye". In the US, Clark was sometimes called "the First Lady of the British Invasion".


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark has sold more than 68 million records. She has also enjoyed success in the musical film "Finian's Rainbow" and in the stage musicals "The Sound of Music", "Blood Brothers", "Sunset Boulevard" and "Mary Poppins".


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark was born to Doris ("née" Phillips) and Leslie Noah Clark in Ewell, Surrey, England on 15 November 1932. Both of Clark's parents were nurses at Long Grove Hospital in Epsom. Clark's mother had Welsh ancestry and her father was English. Sally's stage name "Petula" was invented by her father, who joked that it was a combination of the names of his two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla.


title: Petula Clark

text: During the Second World War Clark lived with her sister at the home of their grandparents in Abercanaid, near Merthyr Tydfil, a small stone house with no electricity or running water, and a toilet at the bottom of the garden. Her grandfather was a coal miner. Her first ever live audience was at the Colliers' Arms in Abercanaid. She also recalls living just outside London during the Blitz and watching the dogfights in the air and running to air-raid shelters with her sister. Later, when she was eight, she joined other children to record messages with the BBC to be broadcast to members of their families in the forces. The recording event was in the Criterion Theatre, an underground theatre that was safe. When the air-raid siren went off other children were upset and a call went out for someone to step forward and sing to calm them. Petula volunteered, and they liked her voice so much, in the control room they recorded her. Her song was "Mighty Rose".


title: Petula Clark

text: As a child Clark sang in the chapel choir and showed a talent for mimicry, impersonating Vera Lynn, Carmen Miranda and Sophie Tucker for her family and friends. Her father introduced her to theatre in 1944 when he took her to see Flora Robson in a production of "Mary Stuart"; she later recalled that after the performance, "I made up my mind then and there I was going to be an actress. ... I wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more than anything else in the world." Her first public performances were as a singer, however: in 1945 she performed with an orchestra in the entrance hall of Bentall's Department Store in Kingston upon Thames for a tin of toffee and a gold wristwatch.


title: Petula Clark

text: From a chance beginning at the age of seven Clark appeared on radio, in film, in print, on television and on recordings. In October 1942 the nine-year-old Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father. She was trying to send a message to an uncle who was stationed overseas, but the broadcast was delayed by an air raid. During the bombing the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery theatre audience and she volunteered a rendering of "Mighty Lak' a Rose" to an enthusiastic response. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the troops. In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Nicknamed the "Singing Sweetheart", she performed for George VI, Winston Churchill and Bernard Montgomery. She also became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple", and was considered a mascot by the British Army, some of whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle.


title: Petula Clark

text: While she was performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1944 Clark was discovered by the film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her, at the age of 12, as the precocious orphaned waif Irma in his war drama "Medal for the General". In quick succession she performed in "Strawberry Roan", "I Know Where I'm Going!", "London Town", "Here Come the Huggetts", "Vote for Huggett" and "The Huggetts Abroad", the second, third and fourth of four Huggett Family films. Although some of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and 1950s were B-films, she worked with Anthony Newley in "Vice Versa" (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in "The Card". She also had a small role in "I Know Where I'm Going".


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1945 Clark was featured in the comic "Radio Fun", in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic". By then Clark felt that she had played child parts for too long.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1946 Clark began her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, "Cabaret Cartoons", which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, "Petula Clark". "Pet's Parlour" followed in 1950.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1947 Clark met Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson at the Peter Maurice Publishing Company. The two collaborated musically and were linked romantically over the following ten years. In 1949 Henderson introduced Clark to the record producer Alan A. Freeman, who, together with her father Leslie, formed Polygon Records, for which she recorded her earliest hits. Clark had recorded her first release that year, "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy", for EMI, and further recordings with vocalist Benny Lee on Decca. The Polygon label was financed with part of Clark's earnings. She scored a number of major hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker" (1954), "Majorca" (1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (1955) and "With All My Heart" (1956). "The Little Shoemaker" was an international hit, reaching number one in Australia, the first of many number-one records in her career.


title: Petula Clark

text: Near the end of 1955 Polygon Records was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, leading to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records (subsequently simply Pye). This effectively signed Clark to the Pye label in the UK, for which she recorded until the early 1970s.


title: Petula Clark

text: During this period Clark showed a keen interest in encouraging new talent. She suggested that Henderson be allowed to record his own music, and he had five chart hits on Polygon/Pye between 1955 and 1960.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1957 Clark was invited to appear at the Paris Olympia, where, despite her misgivings and a bad cold, she was received with acclaim. The following day she was invited to the office of Vogue Records to discuss a contract. There she met her future longtime publicist, collaborator and husband Claude Wolff. Clark was attracted immediately, and when she was told that she would be working with him if she signed with the Vogue label she agreed.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1960 Clark embarked on a concert tour of France and Belgium with Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in 2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, Italian and Spanish.


title: Petula Clark

text: While Clark focused on her new career in France she continued to achieve hit records in the UK into the early 1960s. Her 1961 recording of "Sailor" became her first number-one hit in the UK, while such follow-up recordings as "Romeo" and "My Friend the Sea" landed her in the British Top-10 later that year. "Romeo" sold more than one million copies around the world and won her her first gold disc, which was awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America. In France "Ya Ya Twist" (a French-language cover of the Lee Dorsey rhythm and blues song "Ya Ya" and the only successful recording of a twist song by a woman) and "Chariot" (the original version of "I Will Follow Him") became smash hits in 1962, while German and Italian versions of her English and French recordings charted, as well. Her recordings of several Serge Gainsbourg songs were also big sellers. In addition, she was given at this time a present of the song "Un Enfant" by Jacques Brel, with whom she toured. Clark is one of only a handful of performers to be given a song by Brel. A live recording of this song charted in Canada.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1963 Clark wrote the soundtrack for the French crime film "A Couteaux Tirés" ("Daggers Drawn") - released in 1964 - and made a cameo appearance as herself in the film. Although it was only a mild success, it added a new dimension—that of film composer—to her career. Additional film scores she composed include "Entre ciel et mer" (1963), "Rêves d'enfant" (1964), "La bande à Bebel" (1966), and "Pétain" (1989). Six themes from the last were released on the CD "In Her Own Write" in 2007.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in February 1964, and twice more, in April 1975 and March 1996, becoming the only person to receive the television tribute three times.


title: Petula Clark

text: By 1964 Clark's British recording career was foundering. Composer/arranger Tony Hatch, who had been assisting her with her work for Vogue Records in France and Pye Records in the UK, flew to her home in Paris with new song material he hoped would interest her, but she found none of it appealing. Desperate, he played for her a few chords of an incomplete song that had been inspired by his recent first trip to New York City. Upon hearing the melody, Clark told him that if he could write lyrics as good as the melody, she wanted to record the tune as her next single—"Downtown". Hatch has subsequently denied originally offering "Downtown" to the Drifters.


title: Petula Clark

text: Neither Clark, who was performing in Canada when the song first received major air play, nor Hatch realised the impact the song would have on their respective careers. Released in four separate languages in late 1964, "Downtown" was a success in the UK, France (in both the English and the French versions), the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, and Italy, and Rhodesia, Japan, and India, as well. During a visit to London, Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith heard it and acquired the rights for the United States. "Downtown" went to number one on the American charts in January 1965, and 3 million copies were sold in the United States.


title: Petula Clark

text: "Downtown" was the first of 15 consecutive Top-40 hits Clark achieved in the U.S., including "I Know a Place", "My Love" (her second US number-one hit), "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "This Is My Song" (from the Charles Chaplin film "A Countess from Hong Kong"), and "Don't Sleep in the Subway". The American recording industry honored her with Grammy Awards for Best Rock & Roll Recording of 1964 for "Downtown" and for Best Contemporary (R&R) Vocal Performance of 1965 – Female for "I Know a Place". In 2004, her recording of "Downtown" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark's recording successes led to frequent appearances on American variety programmes hosted by Ed Sullivan and Dean Martin, guest shots on "Hullabaloo," "Shindig!", "The Kraft Music Hall", and "The Hollywood Palace", and inclusion in musical specials such as "The Best on Record" and "Rodgers and Hart Today."


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1968 NBC-TV invited Clark to host her own special in the US, and in doing so, she inadvertently made television history. While singing a duet of "On the Path of Glory", an antiwar song that she had composed, with guest Harry Belafonte, she took hold of his arm, to the dismay of a representative from the Chrysler Corporation (the show's sponsor), who feared that the moment would incur racial backlash from Southern viewers. When he insisted that they substitute a different take, with Clark and Belafonte standing well away from each other, Clark and the executive producer of the show—her husband, Wolff—refused, destroyed all other takes of the song, and delivered the finished programme to NBC with the touch intact. The Chrysler representative was terminated, and the programme aired on 8 April 1968, four days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., with high ratings, critical acclaim, and a Primetime Emmy nomination. It has erroneously been described as the first instance on American television of physical contact between a black man and a white woman, forgetting many previous instances, including Frankie Lymon dancing with a white girl on Alan Freed's live ABC T.V. show "The Big Beat" on July 19, 1957, Nancy Sinatra kissing Sammy Davis, Jr., on her 1967 "Movin' with Nancy" TV special, and Louis Armstrong shaking hands with "What's My Line?" panelists Dorothy Kilgallen and Arlene Francis in 1953. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Belafonte telecast, Clark and Wolff appeared at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan on 22 September 2008, to discuss the broadcast and its impact, following a showing of the programme.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark was later the host of two more specials; "The Petula Clark Show" shown on both the NBC and CBC networks in early 1970, and one for ABC which served as a pilot for a projected weekly series. She starred in the BBC television series "This Is Petula Clark", which aired from mid-1966 to early 1968.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark revived her film career in the late 1960s, starring in two big musical films. In "Finian's Rainbow" (1968), she starred opposite Fred Astaire, and she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. The following year, she was cast with Peter O'Toole in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), a musical adaptation of the classic James Hilton novella.


title: Petula Clark

text: Throughout the late 1960s Clark toured in concerts in the U.S., and she often appeared in supper clubs such as the Copacabana in New York City, the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and the Empire Room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.


title: Petula Clark

text: During this period Clark continued her interest in encouraging new talent. These efforts also supported the launch of Herb Alpert and his A&M record label. In 1968 she brought the French composer/arranger Michel Colombier to the U.S. to work as her musical director, and introduced him to Alpert. Colombier went on to co-write the film score for "Purple Rain" with Prince, composed the acclaimed pop symphony "Wings", and a number of soundtracks for American films. Richard Carpenter credited her with bringing his sister Karen and him to Alpert's attention when they performed at a premiere party for the 1969 "Goodbye, Mr. Chips".


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark has recalled that she and Karen Carpenter went to see Elvis Presley perform in Las Vegas and that afterwards "He was flirting with both of us, (saying) 'Wow, the two biggest girl pop stars in my dressing room. That's pretty good'... He didn't have us, exactly, but he had a darned good try. Not going to talk about that any more."


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark was one of the backing vocalists on John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band "Give Peace a Chance". Clark was performing in Montreal in June 1969, and was being heckled by the audience due to her bilingual performance. Clark went to see Lennon for advice on dealing with this, as his wife Yoko Ono and he were staying at the city's Queen Elizabeth Hotel during their Bed-ins for Peace protest. Clark subsequently ended up on the recording of "Give Peace a Chance." On 15 November 1969, her concert, "An Evening with Petula", from the Royal Albert Hall in London, was the first BBC colour transmission.


title: Petula Clark

text: During the early 1970s Clark had chart singles on both sides of the Atlantic with "Melody Man" (1970), "The Song of My Life" (1971), "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (1972), "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (1972), and "Loving Arms" (1974). In Canada, ""Je Voudrais Qu'il Soit Malheureux"" was a major hit.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark continued touring during the 1970s, performing in clubs in the US and Europe. During this period, Clark also appeared in print and radio ads for the Coca-Cola Corporation, television commercials for Plymouth automobiles, print and TV spots for Burlington Industries, television and print ads for Chrysler Sunbeam, and print ads for Sanderson Wallpaper in the UK.


title: Petula Clark

text: In the mid-1970s Clark scaled back her career to devote more time to her family. On 31 December 1976, she performed her hit song "Downtown" on BBC1's "A Jubilee of Music", celebrating British popular music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee. She also hosted the television series "The Sound of Petula" (1972–74), and through the 1970s, made numerous guest appearances on variety, comedy, and game-show television programmes. She appeared as a special guest star in an episode of The Muppet Show in 1977.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1980 Clark made her last film appearance, in the British production "Never Never Land". Her last television appearance was acting in the 1981 French miniseries "Sans Famille" ("An Orphan's Tale").


title: Petula Clark

text: A 1981 single, "Natural Love", reached number 66 on "Billboard"s Hot 100 chart and number 20 on the US country singles chart in early 1982.


title: Petula Clark

text: As Clark moved away from film and television, she returned to the stage. In 1954, she had starred in a stage production of "The Constant Nymph", but at the urging of her children, did not return to legitimate theatre until 1981, starring as Maria von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" in the West End of London. Opening to positive reviews and what was then the largest advance sale in British theatre history, Clark—proclaimed by Maria Von Trapp herself as "the best Maria ever"—extended her initial six-month run to 13 to accommodate the huge demand for tickets and receiving a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. In 1983, she took on the title role in George Bernard Shaw's "Candida". Her later stage work includes "Someone Like You" in 1989 and 1990, for which she composed the score, "Blood Brothers", in which she made her Broadway debut in 1993 at the Music Box Theatre, followed by the American tour; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard", appearing in both the West End and American touring productions from 1995 to 2000. In 2004, she repeated her performance of Norma Desmond in a production at the Opera House in Cork, Ireland, which was later broadcast by the BBC. With more than 2,500 performances, she has played the role more often than any other actress.


title: Petula Clark

text: A new disco remix of "Downtown", called "Downtown '88", was released in 1988 registering Clark's first UK singles chart success since 1972, making the Top 10 in the UK in December 1988. A live vocal performance of this version was performed on the BBC show "Top of the Pops". Clark recorded new material regularly throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and in 1992 released "Oxygen", a single produced by Andy Richards and written by Nik Kershaw.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 2012 Clark was installed as a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France by the French Minister of Culture. (www.petulaclark.net)


title: Petula Clark

text: In both 1998 and 2002 Clark toured extensively throughout the UK. In 2000, she presented a self-written, one-woman show, highlighting her life and career, to large critical and audience acclaim at the St. Denis Theatre in Montreal. A 2003 concert appearance at the Olympia in Paris has been issued in both DVD and compact disc formats. In 2004, she toured Australia and New Zealand, appeared at the Hilton in Atlantic City, New Jersey; the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, Ontario; Humphrey's in San Diego; and the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut; and participated in a multiperformer tribute to the late Peggy Lee at the Hollywood Bowl. Following another British concert tour in early spring 2005, after which, in May she contributed to the "V45" televised BBC concert in Trafalgar Square at which she sang "A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square", she appeared with Andy Williams in his Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, for several months, and she returned for another engagement in autumn of 2006, following scattered concert dates throughout North America.


title: Petula Clark

text: In November 2006 Clark was the subject of a BBC Four documentary titled "Petula Clark: Blue Lady", and appeared with Michael Ball and Tony Hatch in a concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane broadcast by BBC Radio the following month. In December that year, she made her first appearance in Iceland. "Duets", a compilation including Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin and the Everly Brothers, among others, was released in February 2007; and "Solitude and Sunshine", a studio recording of all new material by composer Rod McKuen, was released in July of that year. She was the host of the March 2007 PBS fundraising special "My Music: The British Beat," an overview of the musical British invasion of the United States during the 1960s, followed by a number of concert dates throughout the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She can be heard on the soundtrack of the 2007 independent film "". "Une Baladine" (in English, a wandering minstrel), an authorised pictorial biography by Françoise Piazza, was published in France and Switzerland in October 2007, and the following month Clark promoted it in bookshops and at book fairs.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark was presented with the 2007 Film and TV Music Award for Best Use of a Song in a Television Programme for "Downtown" in the ABC series "Lost". She completed a concert tour of England and Wales in summer 2008, followed by concerts in Switzerland and the Philippines. "", a compilation of greatest hits and several new Clark compositions, entered the UK Albums Chart in June 2008 and won Clark her first silver disc for an album. "Open Your Heart: A Love Song Collection", a compilation of previously unreleased material and new and remixed recordings, was released in January 2009. Additionally, her 1969 NBC special "Portrait of Petula", already released on DVD for Region 2 viewers, is also being produced for Region 1. A collection of holiday songs titled "This Is Christmas," which includes some new Clark compositions in addition to previously released material, was released in November 2009.


title: Petula Clark

text: At the Montreux Jazz Festival on 14 July 2008 Clark joined with Paolo Nutini to perform "Goin' to Chicago Blues" in celebration of Quincy Jones' 75th birthday.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 2010 Clark became president of the Hastings Musical Festival; she toured Australia, New Zealand and Quebec to sell-out crowds, and appeared on the "Vivement Dimanche" show on French television, where she promised a return to Paris in the new year. Her triple album "Une Baladine" included 10 new tracks and one new studio recording: "SOS Mozart", a writing collaboration of Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë. Both her album set and the new recording of "SOS Mozart" were produced by David Hadzis at the Arthanor Productions studio in Geneva and appeared on the French charts. She was patron of 2011 Dinard British Film Festival.


title: Petula Clark

text: Early in 2011 the Lark Street Business Improvement District in a section of the downtown area of Albany, New York, needed a name for its logo/mascot, a graphic image of a blue lark. An internet poll was held, and the winner was "Petula Lark," clearly a reference to the singer of the adopted anthem of New York City's urban area, "Downtown".


title: Petula Clark

text: In November 2011, at age 78, Clark performed at the Casino de Paris, a Parisian music hall. Clark entertained for more than 90 minutes and introduced five new songs, one of which she had recently written with friend Charles Aznavour. A French album of all new material was to be released on 7 February 2012 on the Sony label, Clark's first in that language since the late 1970s.


title: Petula Clark

text: On 11 December 2011 the Saw Doctors released their version of "Downtown", featuring Clark. She appeared in the video for the song, which they recorded in Galway, and she in Paris. On 22 December 2011, the record reached number two on the Irish chart.


title: Petula Clark

text: In February 2012 Clark completed her first New York City show since 1975. Her show featured a parody of "Downtown", an idea that came from her musical director Grant Sturiale. After the end of her season, which had to be extended due to the demand for tickets, she returned to Paris to promote her new album, before flying to Australia for a tour.


title: Petula Clark

text: She appeared as guest on Radio 4's "The Reunion" in August 2012. In January 2013, she released a new album titled "Lost in You". The album contains new music and some covers. She remade her famous "Downtown", and performed a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". She also performed a new song called "Cut Copy Me", which had a 14-week run in the Belgium chart. The album entered the UK national album chart at number 24 on Sunday, 3 March 2013. Two of the songs, "Crazy" and "Downtown", were performed in Jools Holland's New Year "Hootenanny" on 1 January 2013, along with her 1966 number-six hit, "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love".


title: Petula Clark

text: On 20 June 2015 she appeared with the Midtown Men at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, performing "Downtown".


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark released a new English-language album, "From Now On", in October 2016, and completed a tour of the UK to promote it.


title: Petula Clark

text: Clark made a cameo appearance in the 2017 London Heathrow Airport Christmas television commercial, accompanied by her song, "I Couldn't Live without Your Love".


title: Petula Clark

text: On 10 November 2017 an English-language album was released, "Living for Today". Clark embarked on a tour of the United States in November 2017. It was her first US tour in five decades.


title: Petula Clark

text: In March 2019 she was announced as returning to the West End stage in London for the first time in 20 years, performing in the upcoming revival of "Mary Poppins" as The Bird Woman.


title: Petula Clark

text: On 25 June 2019 "The New York Times Magazine" listed Petula Clark among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.


title: Petula Clark

text: In March 2020 the United Music Foundation released "A Valentine's Day at the Royal Albert Hall", a collector's edition including the complete recording of her legendary concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 February 1974.


title: Petula Clark

text: In 1955 Clark became linked romantically with Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson. Speculation that the couple planned to marry became rife. However, with the increasing glare of the public spotlight and Clark's growing fame – her career in France was just beginning – Henderson, reportedly not wanting to end up as "Mr. Petula Clark", decided to end the relationship. Their professional relationship continued for a few years, culminating in the BBC Radio series "Pet and Mr. Piano", the last time they worked together, although they remained on friendly terms. In 1962, he penned a ballad about their break-up, called "There's Nothing More To Say", for Clark's LP "In Other Words". In 1967 in Las Vegas, she was witness to the wedding of her friend, French singer Charles Aznavour, alongside Sammy Davis, Jr.


title: Petula Clark

text: In October 1957, Clark was invited to appear at the Paris Olympia for Europe premier live radio show, "Musicorama". The next day, she was invited to the office of Vogue Records' chairman Léon Cabat to discuss recording in French and working in France. There, she met her future husband, publicist Claude Wolff, to whom she was attracted immediately, and when she was told that he would work with her if she recorded in French, she agreed. They have two daughters and a son.


title: Petula Clark

text: Following the 1979 UK general election, at which Margaret Thatcher had won a majority for the Conservatives, becoming Britain's first female prime minister, Clark sent Thatcher a congratulatory telegram, saying "Felicitations – so happy for you and for Britain." The same year, Clark performed at a Young Conservatives rally. However, in 2002, she attended a fundraiser for Labour prime minister Tony Blair.


title: Petula Clark

text: Since 2012 Clark has lived for most of the year in Geneva, Switzerland; she also has a holiday chalet in the French Alps, where she likes to ski, and a "pied-à-terre" in London's Chelsea.


title: Petula Clark

text: All four songs were released in 1964 in Spain on Hispavox EP "Petula Clark canta en Español" (Cat.-No. HV 27–126).


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Cynthia Lennon (born Powell; 10 September 1939 – 1 April 2015) was the first wife of John Lennon and the mother of Julian Lennon.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Born in Blackpool and raised in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula, she attended the Liverpool College of Art where Lennon was also a student. Powell and Lennon started a relationship after meeting in a calligraphy class. When Lennon was performing in Hamburg with the Beatles, Powell rented his bedroom at 251 Menlove Avenue in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton from his aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith. After Powell became pregnant, she and Lennon married in August 1962, and the couple lived at Kenwood in Weybridge from 1964 to 1968, where she kept house and participated with Lennon in a London-based social life. In 1968, Lennon left her for Japanese artist Yoko Ono; as a result, the couple's divorce was legally granted in November 1968 on the grounds of adultery.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Powell had three further marriages. She published a book of memoirs, "A Twist of Lennon", in 1978, and a more intimate biography, "John", in 2005. Over the years, she held several auctions of memorabilia associated with her life with Lennon. In her later years she lived in Calvià, Mallorca, where she died in 2015.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Cynthia Powell was born in Blackpool on 10 September 1939, the youngest of three children of General Electric Company employee Charles Powell and his wife Lillian (née Roby), who already had two sons named Charles and Anthony. Her parents were from Liverpool, but her mother (along with other pregnant women) was sent to the safer area of Blackpool after World War II had been declared and lived in a small room in a bed-and-breakfast on the Blackpool seafront. After the birth, with Liverpool becoming a frequent target of German air raids, the Powell family moved to a two-bedroomed semi-detached house in Hoylake, a middle-class area on the Wirral Peninsula which was considered "posh" by those in Liverpool. At the age of 11, Powell won an art prize in a competition organised by the "Liverpool Echo". A year later, she was accepted into Liverpool's Junior Art School, which was also attended by Bill Harry, later the editor of Liverpool's "Mersey Beat" newspaper.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: When Powell was 16, her father died following a lengthy bout with lung cancer. Before he died, he told her she would have to get a job to support her mother, and would not be able to go to art school. As her mother wanted her to receive an education, she rented out a room to four apprentice electricians. In September 1957, Powell gained a place at the Liverpool College of Art. Although studying graphics, she also took lettering classes, as did Lennon. He never had any drawing tools with him, so he constantly borrowed pens and pencils from Powell, who discovered he was only there because other teachers had refused to instruct him. She had an air of respectability and moved in different social circles than her future husband. Lennon and an art school friend, Geoff Mohammed, used to make fun of her by stopping the conversation when she walked in the room, saying: "Quiet please! No dirty jokes; it's Cynthia."


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Powell once overheard Lennon give a compliment to a girl with blonde hair in the college, who looked similar to the French actress Brigitte Bardot. The next Saturday, Powell turned up at the college with her hair several shades blonder. Lennon noticed straight away, exclaiming, "Get you, Miss Hoylake!" (Lennon's nickname for her, along with "Miss Powell" or "Miss Prim"). Dressed like a Teddy Boy, he sometimes brought a guitar with him into class, and once sang "Ain't She Sweet" directly to Powell.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: After a college party to celebrate the end of term, Lennon asked Powell if she would like to "go out" with him. She quickly replied that she was engaged to a young man in Hoylake; he replied, "I didn't ask you to fucking marry me, did I?" He later approached her and asked if she would go to the Ye Cracke pub. She was confused when he ignored her all evening, but eventually invited her into the group with a joke.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: They began dating, with Lennon now referring to her as "Cyn". In the autumn of 1958, she ended her engagement to be with him, and he ended his relationship with another art student, Thelma Pickles. His jealousy could also manifest itself in violent behaviour towards her, as when he slapped her across the face (causing her head to hit a wall), after watching her dance with Stuart Sutcliffe. After the incident, she broke up with Lennon for three months, but resumed their relationship after his profuse apology.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Her work at art school began to suffer, and teachers told her the relationship with Lennon was doing her no good. Lennon continued to be casually inconsiderate towards her, later saying, "I was in sort of a blind rage for two years. I was either drunk or fighting. It had been the same with other girl friends I'd had. There was something the matter with me." Tony Bramwell—a friend of Lennon's since his youth—later said: "Cynthia was beautiful, physically, and on the inside. Although she knew he [Lennon] was apt to find love on the road, she was totally dedicated to his success... and extremely influential. He was insecure and Cynthia was there to pump him up, to buttress, sort of, his weak side."


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: The Beatles' first Hamburg residency took place in 1960, with Lennon writing frequent and passionate letters back home to Powell. After returning home, Lennon's aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith, threw a hand-mirror at him for spending a lot of money on a suede coat for Powell. Smith later referred to her as "a gangster's moll", and was often unpleasant towards her. The Beatles went to Hamburg for a second time in 1961, and both Powell and Dot Rhone (Paul McCartney's girlfriend at the time), visited them two weeks later, during the Easter holidays. They had to stay up all night because of the long sets, both taking Preludin to stay awake, which the group was also taking. Lennon and Powell stayed with Sutcliffe's girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr, at her mother's house.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: After the trip to Hamburg, Powell's mother Lillian said Powell's cousin and husband were emigrating to Canada with their new-born baby, and that she, Lillian, would be going with them while they studied to become teachers. Powell waited until Lennon came back from Hamburg before she asked Smith—who had taken in lodgers before at 251 Menlove Avenue—if she would rent a room to her. Smith rented out the box-room above the front door (which had been Lennon's bedroom), but insisted she also do chores around the house. After her student grant had run out, she took a job at a Woolworths store in Liverpool in order to pay the rent. In the same year, when Lennon was 21 years old, he received £100 (equivalent to £ in 2022) from his aunt Elizabeth Sutherland (whom he called "Mater") who lived in Edinburgh, and went to Paris with McCartney. Powell could not accompany them as she was studying for her final exams.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: When Lennon went to Hamburg again in April 1962, she found a bedsit in a terraced house at 93 Garmoyle Road, Liverpool. Shortly after having failed her art teacher's diploma exam, in August 1962, she found she was pregnant with Lennon's child. She later explained that she and Lennon had never used contraception, had never talked about it, and did not think about it at the time. When she told Lennon he said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn, we'll have to get married".


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Powell and Lennon were married on 23 August 1962 at the Mount Pleasant register office in Liverpool. Fellow Beatles McCartney and George Harrison were in attendance, as was their manager, Brian Epstein, who was best man; no parents were there. The wedding was farcical, because as soon as the ceremony began a workman in the backyard of the building opposite started using a pneumatic drill that drowned out anything the registrar, Lennon, or Powell said. When the registrar asked for the groom to step forward, Harrison stepped forward instead. With no photographs or flowers the wedding party celebrated afterwards, at Epstein's invitation, in Reece's restaurant in Clayton Square, which was the place Lennon's parents, Alfred Lennon and Julia Lennon, had celebrated their marriage in 1938. Lennon was 21 years old, and Powell 22. The newlyweds had no honeymoon, as Lennon had to play an engagement at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester the same night. They travelled to the Hotel George V in Paris for a belated honeymoon on 16 September but were accompanied by Epstein, even though he had not been invited to join them.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: During Powell’s pregnancy, Epstein offered her and Lennon the use of his flat at 36 Falkner Street, Liverpool, and later paid for a private hospital room when the pregnancy was coming to term. Although still unknown outside Liverpool, by now the Beatles had a fanatical following among girls within the city. Epstein had one condition which the Lennons had to follow: the marriage and the baby were to be kept a close secret, so as not to upset any of these fans. One time when news of the wedding leaked out, the group denied it.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: The Lennons' son, Julian, was born at 7.45 am on 8 April 1963, in Sefton Hospital. Lennon, being on tour at the time, did not see his son until three days later, and when he finally arrived at the hospital, said: "He's bloody marvellous, Cyn! ... Who's gonna be a famous rocker like his Dad then?" He then explained that he would be going on a four-day holiday to Barcelona, with Epstein. Lennon later referred to Julian as a "Saturday night special; the way that most people get here", or said that his son "came out of a whisky bottle," suggesting this as explanation for his poor parenting of Julian as compared to his second son, Sean Lennon: "Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child."


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Around the time of Julian's birth, the Beatles became a pop sensation across Britain, a phenomenon which became known as Beatlemania. That one of the members was married and had a son was not publicly known at the time; a 1963 "Lifelines of the Beatles" page in the "New Musical Express" detailed over 25 biographical facts about each member of the group, but never gave any hint Lennon was married, even reporting "girls" as one of his hobbies.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: The press heard rumours about Lennon's wife and child at the end of 1963—after Beatlemania had already swept the UK and Europe—and descended on her mother's house in Hoylake (where mother and son were staying), in November and December. Friends and neighbours protected their anonymity, but she was often approached by journalists. In November, she had her son christened at Hoylake parish church, but didn't tell Lennon (who was on tour at the time), because she feared a media circus. She told him two days after, and he was angry as he hadn't wanted his son to be christened, even though Epstein had asked to be Julian's godfather. Not long after the christening, every newspaper was full of the story about Lennon's secret wife and baby boy.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Brian Epstein told the other Beatles to make the best of the situation, and hoped newspapers would not say Cynthia was pregnant before marrying him. After living at Lennon's aunt's house for some months, the couple moved to London and found a three-bedroomed flat at 13 Emperor's Gate, off Cromwell Road. The top floor flat was the third of three, which were each built over two floors. This meant climbing six flights of stairs, as the building had no lift. Cynthia firstly had to carry Julian up to the flat, and then go back down to collect shopping bags. The Beatles' fans soon found out where they were living, and she would find them camping out in the hallway, and have to push through them when leaving or arriving.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: She accompanied Lennon to the United States in the first Beatles' tour there, with Lennon allowing the press to photograph them together, which infuriated Epstein, as he had wanted to keep their marriage a secret. On the tour, she was left behind in New York when Lennon and the other Beatles were quickly ushered into a car, and in Miami she had to ask the help of fans to convince a security guard who she was. Lennon's response was, "Don't be so bloody slow next time—they could have killed you". It would be the only time Cynthia would go on tour with them. At the Emperor's Gate address the situation grew worse, with fans sticking chewing gum in the lock of the flat and tearing at any article of clothing when she or Lennon were leaving or arriving. American girls would write her letters proclaiming their desperate love for John; the women in the lives of the other Beatles received equivalent missives. As late as 1967, Beatles' wives were still dealing with occasional physical danger from female Beatles fans, with Cynthia being kicked in the legs by one who demanded she "leave John alone!"


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: As Lennon was either touring or recording, supposed family holidays in 1966 were spent skiing in St. Moritz, with producer George Martin and his girlfriend, or staying at a castle in Ireland, with George Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd. Even these were subject to being discovered by fans, and Cynthia and Boyd had to escape the Irish location dressed as maids. As a result of the long recording sessions and tours, Lennon usually slept for days afterwards. When Lennon started filming "How I Won the War" in Almeria, Spain, he promised his wife and son they could join him there after two weeks of filming. The small apartment they were allocated was swiftly replaced by a villa when Starr and his wife joined them.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: The Beatles' accountant told Epstein the group members should move to houses near his in Esher, so Lennon bought a house called Kenwood in July 1964. It was a mock-Tudor-style house on three acres in Weybridge, where Cliff Richard already lived.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Lennon then spent twice the original £20,000 purchase price (equivalent to £ in 2022) on renovations for Kenwood, reducing its 22 rooms to 17. The new kitchen was so modern and complicated, someone had to be sent to explain how everything worked, and during the extensive renovations the couple had to live in the attic bedroom for nine months. Although Cynthia enjoyed entertaining in the larger rooms, Lennon could usually be found in a small sunroom at the back of the house overlooking the swimming pool, which was similar to his aunt's conservatory in Liverpool. They had a cat called "Mimi", named after Lennon's aunt. Cynthia took care of Julian herself, without a nanny, although babysitters were frequently employed. She also did the cooking herself, but employed a housekeeper, gardener, and chauffeur, who lived off the premises.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: When she passed her driving test, Lennon serially bought her a white Mini, a gold Porsche, a red Ferrari, and a green Volkswagen Beetle, usually as surprises without consulting her first. Cynthia enjoyed the closeness of Pattie Boyd (George Harrison's wife) and Maureen Starkey (Ringo Starr's wife), as both lived nearby, often going on holiday together or shopping. She was often photographed at Beatles' movie premieres and special occasions, and sometimes with Lennon and Julian at home, which meant she had the role of a Beatle wife, as well as being a mother. The Lennons often went to a nightclub in central London until nearly dawn, after which she took Julian to school. Kenwood became the place to visit for the other Beatles, various American musicians, and total strangers who Lennon had met the previous night in London nightclubs.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: In 1965, she opened the front door of Kenwood to see a man who "looked like a tramp", but with her husband's features. He explained that he was Alfred Lennon, the father whom Lennon had supposedly not seen for years. Lennon was annoyed when he came home, telling her for the first time that his father had visited the NEMS office, Epstein's business, a few weeks before. Three years after the meeting in the NEMS office, Alfred Lennon (who was then 56 years old) turned up at Kenwood again with his fiancée, 19-year-old student Pauline Jones. He asked if the Lennons could give Pauline a job, so she was hired to help with Julian and the piles of Beatles' fan mail. Lennon's father and his fiancée then spent a few months living in the attic bedroom. During an interview at Kenwood with "Evening Standard" reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon said, "Here I am in my Hansel and Gretel house, famous and loaded, and I can't go anywhere. There's something else I'm going to do, only I don't know what it is, but I do know this isn't it for me".


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Cynthia knew her husband took drugs like Preludin, and regularly smoked cannabis, but thought of them as not being very dangerous. On 27 March 1965, at a dinner party given by a dentist, John Riley, the Lennons, Harrison, and Boyd were given LSD without their knowledge. Although told not to leave the house, Harrison drove them to various nightclubs, with Riley following them by taxi. At the Ad Lib club, they thought the lift up to the club was on fire and started screaming, before finally crawling out of the lift for which Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Starr were waiting. Harrison later drove them back home in Boyd's Mini Cooper at no more than 10 mph, as he was also feeling the effects of the drug. They stayed up all night at Kenwood, experiencing the full effects of their first LSD trip.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Lennon then started taking LSD on a regular basis in addition to his daily use of cannabis. After much encouragement from him, Cynthia agreed to try LSD one more time, but the adverse effects were the same. Although she said at the time she would never take the drug again, she relented and took it for the last time a few weeks later, on the way to a party at Epstein's country house in Warbleton, East Sussex. Although she hated the psychological effects of the drug, from this point she could see the change taking place in her husband: "It was like living with someone who had just discovered religion ... Tensions, bigotry, and bad temper were replaced by understanding and love". In 1970, Lennon confessed he had probably taken LSD one thousand times since 1965, saying: "I used to just eat it all the time". In the decades ahead, Cynthia would always maintain that John's drug use was the beginning of the end for the couple.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: By 1967, Lennon's aggressive edges from his childhood had disappeared, and he spent considerable amounts of time sitting in his sunroom or garden and daydreaming for hours on end. He became somewhat uncommunicative towards most people, including Cynthia (but not with the other Beatles, who had an almost unspoken ability to understand one another). Cynthia once complained, saying: "What I'd like is a holiday of our own ... John, Julian and me". Lennon replied with, "OK, I know, we'll all retire to a little cottage on a cliff in Cornwall, all right?" Then adding, "No, I've got these bloody songs to write. I have to work, to justify living." She understood his temperament, but felt frustrated at never having developed her own career by using her art college background.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: The Beatles were scheduled to fly to India to visit the Maharishi for two or three months of Transcendental Meditation. Before they left, Cynthia found letters from Yoko Ono to Lennon which indicated he had had contact with her over a period of some time. Lennon denied he was involved with Ono, explaining that she was just some "crazy artist" who wanted to be sponsored, although Ono kept up a stream of telephone calls and visits to Kenwood. On 15 February 1968, the Lennons flew to India, followed by the other Beatles and their partners four days later: Boyd, Asher, and Maureen Starkey. The division between the sexes was emphasised by the male musicians sitting outside at night composing songs, while their partners gathered together in one of their rooms, often talking about life as the wife or partner of a Beatle. The Lennons shared a four-poster bed at the ashram, with Lennon playing guitar and Cynthia drawing and writing poetry between their long sessions of meditation.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: "Magic Alex" (Greek-born Alex Mardas, who controlled Apple Electronics) arrived later, smuggling in alcohol from the nearest village as it was not allowed in the ashram. After two weeks, Lennon asked to sleep in a separate room, saying he could only meditate when he was alone. Every morning, Lennon would walk to the local post office to see if he had received a telegram from Ono, who sent one almost daily. Cynthia found out about these secretive trips much later, saying: "I had thought our magical interlude with the Maharishi would be the making of our marriage – but in reality it just presaged the end". Paul Saltzman later published a book of photographs, "The Beatles in Rishikesh", showing Lennon deep in thought, and Cynthia's confused expression. Despite the alienation from Lennon, she later spoke about her time there, saying: "I loved being away from the fans, hordes of people, deadlines, demands and flashing cameras".


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: During the flight back to England, Lennon got very drunk on Scotch and confessed that he had been involved with other women during their marriage. He went on to detail his liaisons with groupies, friends (such as Joan Baez, actress Eleanor Bron, journalist Cleave) and "thousands" of women around the globe. Although not wanting to hear Lennon's confession, she knew women were attracted to him, "like moths to a flame". Two weeks later, in May 1968, Lennon suggested Cynthia take a holiday in Greece with Mardas, Donovan, and two friends, as he would be very busy recording songs for what would become the White Album. She arrived back at Kenwood from Greece earlier than expected, at 4 o'clock on 22 May 1968, to discover Lennon and Ono sitting cross-legged on the floor in matching white robes, staring into each other's eyes, and then found Ono's slippers outside the Lennons' bedroom door. Shocked, she asked Jenny Boyd and Mardas if she could spend the night at their apartment. At the apartment Boyd went straight to bed, but she and Mardas drank more alcohol, with Mardas trying to convince her to run away together. After she had vomited in the bathroom, she collapsed on a bed in the spare bedroom, with Mardas joining her and trying to kiss her until she pushed him away.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: Lennon seemed absolutely normal when she returned home the next day, and steadfastly maintained his love for her and their son, saying: "It's you I love Cyn ... I love you now more than ever before". Lennon went to New York with McCartney shortly after, but as Cynthia was specifically not invited, a trip to Pesaro, in Italy, was arranged with her mother. After an evening with Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, Mardas was waiting at the hotel to break the news that Lennon was planning to sue for divorce on grounds of adultery, seek sole custody of Julian, and "send her back to Hoylake". She said in 2005: "The mere fact that 'Magic Alex' [Mardas] arrived in Italy in the middle of the night without any prior knowledge of where I was staying made me extremely suspicious. I was being coerced into making it easy" ... [for Lennon and Ono] "to accuse me of doing something that would make them not look so bad." As Lennon had initiated divorce proceedings, it prompted her to exclaim: "Suing "me" for divorce? On what grounds is he suing me?" When the news of Ono's pregnancy broke, Cynthia started her own divorce proceedings against Lennon on 22 August 1968. The financial settlement was hampered by Lennon's refusing to offer any more than £75,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022), telling her on the phone that the payment was akin to winning the football pools and that she was not worth any more. The settlement was then raised to £100,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022), £2,400 annually (equivalent to £ in 2022), and custody of Julian. Another £100,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022) was put into a trust fund which Julian would inherit when he was 21. Until that time, his mother would receive the interest payments. Their decree nisi was granted on 8 November 1968. The trust fund had one codicil, which provided for any further children by Lennon, so when Sean Lennon was born in 1975, Julian's inheritance was cut to £50,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022).


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: She lived for a few months in a flat Starr owned at 34 Montagu Square, central London, but returned to Kenwood as Lennon and Ono preferred to live there instead, rather than in isolated Weybridge. Lennon and Cynthia had one last short meeting at Kenwood (with Ono alongside Lennon), where Lennon accused her of having an affair in India, saying she was no "innocent little flower". McCartney visited her and Julian that year, and on the way to Kenwood he composed a song in his head which later became "Hey Jude". Talking about their divorce, McCartney later said: "We'd been very good friends for millions of years and I thought it was a bit much for them suddenly to be "personae non gratae" and out of my life". Cynthia recalled, "I was truly surprised when, one afternoon, Paul arrived on his own. I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare ... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." She was once asked if Lennon had written any songs about their time together, and answered: "It was too sloppy when you were young to dedicate anything to anybody. Macho Northern men didn't do that in those days". In contrast, Lennon said he wrote the 1965 song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" about an affair he was having, but rendered it in "gobbledegook" so Cynthia would not know.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: On 31 July 1970, Cynthia married Bassanini, whom she had started dating after parting with Lennon; the couple divorced in 1976. She then opened a restaurant in Ruthin, Wales, called Oliver's Bistro, which also had a B&B above the premises. She enrolled her son into the Ruthin School and he later joined the local Combined Cadet Force. During Lennon's separation from Ono in 1973–74, his partner at the time, May Pang, tried to get Lennon to spend more time with his son, forming a friendship with Cynthia in the process, which continued even after John Lennon and Yoko Ono were reconciled. A meeting during this period was the last time Cynthia saw John. Julian had been allowed to visit his father twice a year by himself but John Lennon complained that during his time with Pang his ex-wife also wanted to be present, saying "She [Cynthia] thought she could walk back in 'cos I wasn't with Yoko!" After his reconciliation with Ono, he complained again that his son was not being allowed to visit him.


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: On 1 May 1978, Cynthia married John Twist, an engineer from Lancashire. She published a memoir during their time together, "A Twist of Lennon", in 1978, telling about her life before and with Lennon and containing her own illustrations and poetry. Lennon tried to stop the publication of the book after an excerpt was published in a newspaper. Cynthia's memoir gained renewed interest and went to a third printing of 200,000 copies in the weeks after Lennon's death. She and Twist separated in 1981 and were divorced in 1982. She sold the Bistro and changed her name back to Lennon by deed poll, later commenting about why it was financially necessary, "Do you imagine I would have been awarded a three-year contract to design bedding and textiles [for Vantona Vyella in 1983] with the name Powell? Neither did they. When it is necessary to earn a living, it is necessary to bite the bullet and take the flack".


title: Cynthia Lennon

text: She began a relationship with Liverpudlian chauffeur Jim Christie in 1981, who became her partner for 17 years as well as her business manager, living in Penrith, Cumbria. She said at the time "Jim has never felt he's living in John Lennon's shadow. He's four years younger than me and wasn't really part of that whole Beatles' scene". They later lived on the Isle of Man and then in Normandy for some years but separated in 1998.