title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Named to honour the company's twenty-fifth anniversary in 1988, the 25th Anniversary Countach, although mechanically very similar to the 5000QV, sported considerable restyling done by Horacio Pagani. Notably, enlargement and extension of the rear 'air-box' intake-ducts was among other refinements undertaken (extending them to a more gradual incline further in-keeping with aerodynamic-streamlining), while the secondary pair of debossed ducts, originally situated further behind them, were brought forward and relocated directly on top, encompassing refashioned fins now running longitudinally rather than transversely, this allowed the airboxes, located behind the radiators to be rotated from a transverse to a longitudinal position, allowing better airflow from the radiators out through the secondary fins. Additionally, further reconstruction of an already modified engine-bay cover, from a concept consisting of dual-raised sections and tri-ducting, to one that embodies a centre-raised section incorporating dual-ducting become another feature. Various redevelopments to the rear were made; most notably the introduction of a rear bumper extending outwardly from the lower-portion.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: These styling changes, particularly features such as the fin strakes within the primary rear-intake-ducts openings, appeared to mimic the Ferrari Testarossa, though providing crucial improved engine cooling. Nonetheless it was only outsold by the QV model. It continued to feature 345/35R15 tyres. The Anniversary edition was produced up until 1990 before being superseded by the Lamborghini Diablo.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The 25th Anniversary Edition was the most refined and possibly the fastest variant of the Lamborghini Countach, accelerating from in 4.7 seconds and achieving a top speed of .


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The United States is Lamborghini's biggest market and has traditionally been the largest market in the world for expensive cars such as exotic sports cars. However neither the Countach, nor its closest competitor, the Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer, were built from the factory to meet United States or Canadian safety and emissions regulations.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Americans purchased the Countach anyway, and individual consumers paid to modify each vehicle to meet United States Environmental Protection Agency and United States Department of Transportation regulations. This was known as the "grey market era (1976-1988)". While the Countach, Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer, and Range Rover were among the first such vehicles, the infrastructure they created allowed the "grey market" to reach 66,900 vehicles in 1985.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: In 1985, with the introduction of the 5000 QV, a U.S. specification model was produced by the factory, meeting United States federal safety and emissions regulations. Changes to the American specification models included larger energy-absorbing bumpers, as the original bumper design did not meet the American "5 mile per hour" regulation (1974-1981), and a Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system. Many owners removed the bumpers immediately or received their new cars without bumpers installed. The bulky appearance of the US specification bumpers were said to ruin the otherwise smooth lines of the body.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: American federal law exempts all vehicles older than 25 years from all design, safety, and emission regulations. Therefore, any original Countach can be freely imported into the US and registered for unrestricted road use in states that permit such activity.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: In 1975, Walter Wolf, a wealthy Canadian businessman and owner of the Wolf F1 Racing team in the 1970s, purchased an LP400; however, he was not satisfied with the LP400's engine and asked Gianpaolo Dallara to create a special high-power version of the Countach. Dallara was the former chief engineer at Lamborghini and had founded his own company, Dallara Automobili, in 1972. Dallara modified chassis 1120148 to create the "Walter Wolf Special" with an engine identical to the engine from the original 1971 LP500 prototype, which generated at 7,900 rpm and enabled the car to attain a theoretical maximum speed of . This model also featured upgraded wheels, Pirelli P7 tyres, flared arches, and front and rear spoilers, all features that would become integrated on future Countach's starting with the LP400 S. Wolf's car was painted red with black flared arches, was designated "LP500 S" like the standard Countach model from the 1980s, and was the key stepping stone that led to the development of these later production models.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Two subsequent Wolf Specials were produced, the first, painted Bugatti blue, No. 1120202 was kept by the factory, and the last, a darker navy blue, No. 1121210 was the very first LP400 S and presented at the 1978 Geneva Motor Show. Both of the later Wolf cars used the original 5.0-litre engine commissioned by Wolf, transplanted to each car in turn.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: During the early 1980s, two modified turbocharged Countachs were commissioned by Max Bobnar, the official Lamborghini distributor in Switzerland. Bobnar hired Master Technician Franz Albert to convert the cars to a twin-turbo configuration and to make other performance modifications unique to the two prototypes; this was accomplished between 1980 and 1982. One was based on an LP500 S and was painted black, while the other was based on a Series I LP400 S and painted metallic red. The LP500 S Turbo was presented to the public at the 1984 Geneva Motor Show.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The LP500 S twin turbo weighed , while its 4.8 litre twin-turbocharged V12 engine had a claimed maximum power output of and of torque, enabling the car to accelerate from in 3.7 seconds and attain a top speed of . A manual boost controller, located beneath the steering wheel, could be used to adjust the boost pressure from 0.7 bar to 1.5 bar at which the engine generated its maximum power output. The Turbo S has 15" wheels with 255/45 tyres on the front and 345/35 on the rear.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The Countach QVX was a short-lived Group C sports racing car built in 1985. It was not built or designed by the Lamborghini factory, but instead used a Spice Engineering and CC engineering built chassis and an engine derived from the Lamborghini Countach's V12 having a displacement of 5.7-litres. This engine was reported to generate a maximum power output between depending on track conditions and utilised a Hewland VG-C racing transmission. The engine was built under the direction of Luigi Marmiroli and used data derived from Lamborghini's marine engines. Lamborghini's British importer David Jolliffe commissioned the car. The car was entered in the 1985 season of LeMans but didn't have any success despite keeping up with the winning Jaguar. It was entered again in the 1986 season by its sponsor, Unipart, but the funding soon ran out and the car was pulled out of competition.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Between 1980 and 1983, Formula One employed the Countach as its safety car during the Monaco Grand Prix.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The Countach Evoluzione was a one-off prototype and testbed car built by Lamborghini in 1987. It was developed by Lamborghini's engineering team (including Horacio Pagani) in order to test multiple technologies for the Countach's successor. The Evoluzione used a substantially different chassis and body than the production Countach and lacked interior trim, soundproofing and air-conditioning. It was continually modified for testing purposes and all body panels were left unpainted. Although there was no production version of the Evoluzione, the Countach Anniversary Edition and the Diablo would incorporate some of its engineering, including carbon fibre/Kevlar composite body panels.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The Evoluzione was built on an all-new chassis but used engine, suspension and wheels from the Countach LP5000QV production model, although all these components would be modified during testing. While based on the production engine, the Evoluzione engine was blueprinted for greater performance and generated approximately . The transmission was modified with a short throw shifter but was otherwise the same as the production version. The Evoluzione accelerated from in approximately 4 seconds and had a reported top speed around .


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The most radical change from the production Countach was a new chassis and body incorporating many composite materials, including Kevlar and carbon fibre-reinforced plastics and aluminum honeycomb panels. The tubular steel space frame chassis of the production Countach was completely replaced with a new composite unibody structure. The front boot lid, rear engine cover, front air dam and wheel arches were made of carbon/Kevlar composite, while the wings and doors used more conventional but still lightweight aluminum panels. Aerodynamic wheel covers made from composite materials were also tested but were found to increase heat build-up and brake fade. These changes resulted in a radical weight reduction of approximately compared to the contemporary LP5000QV production model. The new body also reduced the drag coefficient by approximately 10%. The 1988 Countach Anniversary edition incorporated features of the Evoluzione body, including several composite panels and air intakes integrated into the lower door sills.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Lamborghini engineers used the Evoluzione as a testbed for many other technologies during its existence. These included a 4WD drivetrain, electronically controlled ride height, active suspension, ABS, and retractable, low-drag windscreen wipers.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Although contemporary publications mention the possibility of a limited production run based on the Evoluzione, the car never entered production. The single Countach Evoluzione prototype was destroyed by the Lamborghini factory during crash testing and no longer exists.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: The Countach L150 was a one-off prototype developed between 1984 and 1987 under the supervision of engineer Giulio Alfieri. The L150 was intended to represent a new Countach-based production model. It was developed into a fully functional prototype at the request of Lamborghini owner and CEO Patrick Mimran. Mimran was presented with two approaches for future Lamborghini models in the mid 1980s: Alfieri wished to continue developing the Countach, while newly hired engineer began designing a new model which would become the Diablo. The L150 represented Alfieri's approach, and included many body panels intended to improve engine cooling and update the car's styling. Efforts were also taken to improve the car's comfort, such as installing electric windows. Mimran eventually rejected the L150 due to cost concerns, instead choosing a less ambitious update of the Countach with the 25th Anniversary Edition while also approving further development of Marmiroli's Diablo concept. In 1987, Mimran acquired the L150 for his personal collection. In 1989, it was sold to Lamborghini collector Minoru Miura and still remains in his collection as of 2021.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: Substantially more than half were built in the final five years of production, as Lamborghini's new corporate owners increased production.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: A small number of new Countachs were assembled in Cape Town, South Africa during the mid-1970s by local dealer and importer Intermotormakers (IMM). IMM imported Countachs and other Lamborghini models from the Lamborghini factory as complete knock-down kits. This import arrangement was active until the South African government revoked IMM's exemption to phase V of the local content programme, which took effect in 1980 and mandated that cars manufactured in South Africa incorporate a minimum of 66% locally produced content. The total number of Intermotormakers-assembled Countachs is unknown, but they constitute a very small fraction of Countach production.


title: Lamborghini Countach

text: In order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Countach in 2021, the nameplate is reused on a limited-production hybrid-electric model called the Countach LPI 800-4 which has a naturally-aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine with a 48-volt electric motor based on the technology of the Sián FKP 37.


title: The Secret History

text: The Secret History is the first novel by the American author Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1992. Set in New England, the campus novel tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at Hampden College, a small, elite liberal arts college located in Vermont based upon Bennington College, where Tartt was a student between 1982 and 1986.


title: The Secret History

text: "The Secret History" is an inverted detective story narrated by one of the six students, Richard Papen, who reflects years later upon the situation that led to the murder of their friend Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran – wherein the events leading up to the murder are revealed sequentially. The novel explores the circumstances and lasting effects of Bunny's death on the academically and socially isolated group of classics students of which he was a part.


title: The Secret History

text: The novel was originally titled "The God of Illusions", and its first-edition hardcover was designed by the acclaimed New York City graphic designer Chip Kidd, and Barbara de Wilde. A 75,000 print order was made for the first edition (as opposed to the usual 10,000 order for a debut novel) and the book became a bestseller. The book has since been credited as popularizing the growth of the dark academia literary sub-genre.


title: The Secret History

text: In 1983, Richard Papen leaves his hometown of Plano, California, to study literature at the elite Hampden College in Vermont. Richard finds he cannot enroll in the classes of Classics professor Julian Morrow, who limits enrollment to a hand-picked clique of five students: fraternal twins Charles and Camilla Macaulay, Francis Abernathy, Henry Winter, and Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. After Richard helps them with a translation, they give him advice on endearing himself to Julian. Eventually, Richard is accepted into Julian's classes.


title: The Secret History

text: Richard enjoys his new status as a member of the clique, but notices several odd behaviors from the others: they seem to constantly suffer small injuries, boil strange plants on the stove, and attempt to hide bloody clothing. Though Henry seems to have a strained friendship with Bunny, they spend the winter break together in Rome, while Richard lodges in an unheated warehouse. He nearly dies from hypothermia and pneumonia, but is rescued when Henry returns unexpectedly from Italy.


title: The Secret History

text: As 1983 rolls into 1984, tensions between Bunny and the group worsen. Bunny constantly insults the others and begins behaving erratically. Richard learns the truth from Henry: the clique, minus Richard and Bunny (and with Julian's approval), attempted to hold a Dionysian bacchanal in the woods near Francis's country estate. While in a fevered trance, Henry accidentally killed a farmer. Bunny found out by chance and has been blackmailing the group ever since. No longer able to meet Bunny's demands, and fearing that he'll expose them as his mental state deteriorates, Henry slowly convinces the group to kill Bunny. They confront Bunny while hiking, and Henry pushes him into a ravine to his death.


title: The Secret History

text: As an unseasonable snowfall causes the manhunt for Bunny to grow much larger than expected, the group struggles to maintain their cover, joining search parties and even attending Bunny's funeral. Though the police presence eventually dies down, the group begins to crack under the strain: Francis's hypochondria worsens, Charles descends into alcoholism and abuses Camilla, Richard becomes addicted to pills, and Henry realizes he has no moral objections to murder. Richard learns that Charles has had sexual relationships with both Camilla and Francis. As Charles becomes even more possessive of his sister, Henry arranges for Camilla to move from their shared apartment to a hotel.


title: The Secret History

text: Julian receives a misdelivered letter purporting to be from Bunny, detailing the bacchanal murder and Bunny's fear that Henry is plotting to kill him. Though Julian initially dismisses it as a hoax, he realizes the truth when he notices the letterhead from Henry and Bunny's hotel in Rome. Julian flees campus and never returns, disappointing Henry, who sees the act of cowardice as a betrayal of his mentor's professed Greek and Roman virtues.


title: The Secret History

text: When Charles is arrested for driving drunk in Henry's car, Henry fears Charles will turn him in, while Charles fears that Henry may kill him to keep his silence. Charles barges into Camilla and Henry's hotel room and tries to kill Henry with Francis's gun. Henry disarms Charles, though Richard is shot during the struggle. After security arrives, Henry professes his love for Camilla and fatally shoots himself. The police report concludes that Richard was shot while trying to prevent Henry's suicide.


title: The Secret History

text: With Henry's death, the group disintegrates, and only Richard graduates from Hampden. Francis's family discovers his homosexuality and forces him to marry a woman, leading him to attempt suicide, which he survives. Charles flees rehab with a married woman to live in squalid conditions in Texas. Left behind to care for her ailing grandmother, Camilla becomes increasingly isolated, and turns down Richard's proposal of marriage. Richard returns to California and becomes a lonely academic specializing in Jacobean tragedies.


title: The Secret History

text: The novel ends with Richard recounting a dream of meeting Henry in a desolate futuristic museum. Henry claims that he is not dead, but merely "having trouble with his passport." He departs for another appointment, leaving Richard to contemplate his unhappiness.


title: The Secret History

text: "The Secret History" partially draws its inspiration on the 5th-century BC Greek tragedy, "The Bacchae", by Euripides.


title: The Secret History

text: According to Michiko Kakutani, some aspects of the novel are reflective of Nietzsche's model of Apollonian and Dionysian expression in "The Birth of Tragedy". Kakutani, writing for the "New York Times", said "in "The Secret History", Ms. Tartt manages to make...melodramatic and bizarre events (involving Dionysian rites and intimations of satanic power) seem entirely plausible." Because the author introduces the murder and those responsible at the outset, critic A. O. Scott labeled it "a murder mystery in reverse." In 2013, John Mullan wrote an essay for "The Guardian" titled "Ten Reasons Why We Love Donna Tartt's "The Secret History"", which includes "It starts with a murder," "It is in love with Ancient Greece," "It is full of quotations," and "It is obsessed with beauty."


title: The Secret History

text: The book received generally positive reviews from critics. Michiko Kakutani called the novel a "ferociously well-paced entertainment", which "succeeds magnificently" and heavily attributed the success of the book to Tartt's well-developed writing skills. Sophie McKenzie, writing for "The Independent", called it "the book of a lifetime", stating that it was "perfectly paced" and the characters are "fascinating and powerfully drawn". However, James Wood of the "London Review of Books" gave it a mediocre review, writing: "The story compels, but it doesn't involve...It offers mysteries and polished revelations on every page, but its true secrets are too deep, too unintended to be menacing or profound." Critic Ted Gioia wrote:There is much to admire in Tartt's novel, but it is especially laudable for how persuasively she chronicles the steps from studying classics to committing murder. This is a difficult transition to relate in a believable manner, and all the more difficult given Tartt's decision to tell the story from the perspective of one of the most genial of the conspirators. Her story could easily come across as implausible—or even risible—in its recreation of Dionysian rites on a Vermont college campus, and its attempt to convince us that a mild-mannered transfer student with a taste for ancient languages can evolve, through a series of almost random events, into a killer. Yet convince us she does, and the intimacy with which Tartt brings her readers into the psychological miasma of the unfolding plot is one of the most compelling features of "The Secret History".


title: The Secret History

text: The novel has been tapped by several filmmakers in the decades since its release for a possible film or television adaptation; however, all have been unsuccessful.


title: The Secret History

text: Producer Alan J. Pakula first acquired film rights at the book's publishing in 1992, with a planned screenplay by writers Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. Work was set to begin in late 1998 (director Scott Hicks was rumored to have already been hired) when Pakula's death in a car accident in November caused the project to fall through.


title: The Secret History

text: The 2002 publication of Tartt's second novel "The Little Friend" caused a resurgence of interest in "The Secret History". A new adaptation was announced by Miramax Films, to be produced by Harvey Weinstein and headed by siblings Jake and Gwyneth Paltrow, who hoped to star as the characters Charles and Camila Macaulay respectively. The death of the siblings' father Bruce Paltrow in October of that year caused the project to be shelved again, and the rights were reinstated to Tartt.


title: The Secret History

text: At the 2013 publication of Tartt's third novel "The Goldfinch", interest in another adaptation was rekindled, this time for television with Tartt's school peers Melissa Rosenberg and Bret Easton Ellis at the helm (Ellis is the novel's co-dedicatee). This attempt also fell through after Rosenberg and Ellis failed to find a network or streaming platform interested in the project.


title: The Secret History

text: Tartt's unhappiness with the 2019 film version of "The Goldfinch" caused many to speculate she would not allow further screen adaptations of any of her novels, leaving "The Secret History" in limbo. Tartt fired her longtime agent Amanda Urban over the film and stated, "Once the book is out there, it’s not really mine anymore, and my own idea isn’t any more valid than yours. And then I begin the long process of disengaging."


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career as a child fashion model and performer in several Broadway productions as a Ziegfeld Girl. In the early 1930s, she moved to Hollywood and gained notice as the romantic partner of actor and comedian Charlie Chaplin, appearing as his leading lady in "Modern Times" (1936) and "The Great Dictator" (1940). After signing with Paramount Pictures, Goddard became one of the studio's biggest stars with roles in "The Cat and the Canary" (1939) with Bob Hope, "The Women" (1939) with Joan Crawford, "North West Mounted Police" (1940) with Gary Cooper, "Reap the Wild Wind" (1942) with John Wayne and Susan Hayward, "So Proudly We Hail!" (1943) — for which she received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — "Kitty" (1945) with Ray Milland, and "Unconquered" (1947) with Gary Cooper.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Goddard was noted as a fiercely independent woman for her time, being described by one executive as "dynamite". Her marriages to Chaplin, actor Burgess Meredith, and writer Erich Maria Remarque received substantial media attention. Following her marriage to Remarque, Goddard moved to Switzerland and largely retired from acting. In the 1980s, she became a notable socialite before dying in Switzerland in 1990.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Goddard was born in New York City, as Marion Levy, the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard. Her father was of Russian Jewish heritage, while her mother an Episcopalian of English ancestry. They had married on December 28, 1908, in Manhattan. Although named Marion, her mother had called her Pauline from a young age. Goddard moved with her parents to Kansas City, Missouri when she was young, where her father worked for a film company. Shortly thereafter, her parents separated and divorced in 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child; to avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, including relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard did not meet her father again until the late 1930s, after she had become famous. In a 1938 interview published in "Collier's", Goddard claimed Levy was not her biological father. In response, Levy filed a suit against his daughter, claiming that the interview had ruined his reputation and cost him his job, and demanded financial support from her; Goddard admitted her loss in the case in a December 1945 interview with "Life", and was forced to pay her father $35 a week.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Goddard began modeling after her parents' separation, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her mother's paternal uncle Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. In 1926, she made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, "No Foolin"' under the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, "Rio Rita", which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play "The Unconquerable Male", produced by Archie Selwyn. However, it was a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after, Goddard was introduced to Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, located in Asheville, North Carolina, by Charles Goddard. Aged 17, considerably younger than James, she married him on June 28, 1927, in Rye, New York. It was a short marriage, and they separated in 1929; Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1932, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film "Berth Marks" (1929) and George Fitzmaurice's drama "The Locked Door" (1929). Following her divorce from James, Goddard and her mother briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood. Upon her return, Goddard signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in "Whoopee!" (1930). She also appeared in "City Streets" (1931), "Ladies of the Big House" (1931), and "The Girl Habit" (1931) for Paramount, "Palmy Days" (1931) for Goldwyn, and "The Mouthpiece" (1932) for Warners. However, Goddard and Goldwyn did not get along, and she also began work for Hal Roach Studios in 1932, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: The year she signed with Hal Roach, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his next box office hit, "Modern Times" (1936). Her role as "The Gamin", an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of "The New York Times" describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship".


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Following the success of "Modern Times", Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy "The Young in Heart" (1938). Selznick, who was pleased with Goddard's performance in the film, strongly considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind". Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, By December 1938, Selznick had narrowed the choices to Goddard and Vivien Leigh, who won the role after the two completed the only Technicolor screen tests for the role. Goddard's losing out on the role was attributable to several factors. Notably, the head of Selznick's publicity department Russell Birdwell had strong misgivings about Goddard, writing "Briefly, I think she is dynamite that will explode in our very faces if she is given the part." Chaplin's biographer Joyce Milton wrote that Selznick also worried about legal issues by signing Goddard to a contract that might conflict with her pre-existing contracts with the Chaplin studio.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: During this time, Selznick lent Goddard to MGM for two films: "Dramatic School" (1938) and the all-female ensemble "The Women" (1939). The first, with Luise Rainer, received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. However, "The Women" – directed by Cukor following his firing from "Gone with the Wind" – was one of the year's most successful films. Of her role Miriam Aarons, film critic Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. Fun."


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1939, Goddard signed a contract with Paramount Pictures and was promptly teamed with comedian Bob Hope for the horror comedy film "The Cat and the Canary" (1939). The film became a turning point for both their careers, and they were promptly reteamed for "The Ghost Breakers" (1940) and "Nothing but the Truth" (1941), both of which also featured Willie Best. She was also cast for the musical comedy "Second Chorus" opposite Fred Astaire, Artie Shaw, and future husband Burgess Meredith. Astaire later described it as "the worst film I ever made" while Shaw admitted the film made him reconsider an acting career. In September 1939, Chaplin also began production on his next film "The Great Dictator" (1940) in which Goddard again co-starred alongside him as Hannah. The film was released the following year to critical and audience acclaim. However, it would also be her final film with Chaplin, as their marriage fell apart soon after.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1940, Goddard made the Cecil B. DeMille Western film "North West Mounted Police" opposite Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll. The film, her first dramatic role for Paramount, became one of the year's top-ten grossing films. She also starred in another musical comedy "Pot o' Gold" opposite James Stewart, which was released the following year. Stewart expressed similar feelings toward his film as Astaire, while Goddard's biographer Julie Gilbert claimed Goddard did not like Stewart's acting, reportedly saying "anyone can gulp". Her other film for 1941, romantic drama "Hold Back the Dawn" with Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland, received positive reviews.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1942, Goddard gave one of her better-remembered film appearances in the variety musical "Star Spangled Rhythm", in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake. The studio also began to pair her with Ray Milland. Her first pairing with Milland, "The Lady Has Plans", was panned by critics and had a tepid box office performance. However, she quickly reunited with him and DeMille for the adventure film "Reap the Wild Wind". The film, which also co-starred John Wayne and Susan Hayward, saw Goddard in a Scarlett O'Hara-type role and became the studio's best-grossing film for the year. Their third film, "The Crystal Ball", was bought by United Artists – a studio co-founded by Chaplin – and released the following year to tepid box office receipts. That same year, Goddard headlined "So Proudly We Hail!" with Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. Her performance as Lt. Joan O'Doul, a nurse serving in the Battle of the Philippines, earned Goddard a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 16th Academy Awards. She reteamed with her co-star in that film, Sonny Tufts, in "I Love a Soldier" the following year with less successful results.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In May 1944, Goddard renegotiated her contract with Paramount to make two films per year over a seven-year period. The first film under this deal, costume drama "Kitty", reunited her with Milland. The film required Goddard to learn a cockney accent, for which she was coached by Connie Lupino, mother of actress Ida Lupino. The film was released the following year, becoming her most successful film for the studio. The following year, she starred in "The Diary of a Chambermaid" opposite her husband Burgess Meredith; the couple also produced the film for United Artists.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1947, she starred in two box office disasters: the historical epic "Unconquered", which reunited her with Cooper and DeMille; and comedy "An Ideal Husband", which she made in Britain for Alexander Korda. Although one of the year's highest-grossing films, "Unconquered" had a large budget – further inflated by going past its shooting schedule – that caused it to lose money for Paramount. The film's story was also criticized, though Goddard and Cooper received positive reviews for their performances. During production of the film, Goddard and DeMille clashed on the set over Goddard's reluctance to do a dangerous stunt. "An Ideal Husband" suffered from behind-the-scenes difficulties that included a crew strike over Goddard using her personal, Swedish-born hairdresser over an English one. Besides for Britain, the film severely underperformed at the box office, being pulled in the United States with several other British films due to a boycott by the radical Zionist group Sons of Liberty over British policies in the Palestine Mandate. The following year, Goddard reunited with Meredith in a segment of the comedy film "On Our Merry Way", which he also produced. However, that same year, Meredith was placed on the Hollywood blacklist after an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee (Chaplin would also later be added to the blacklist). Goddard was paired with MacDonald Carey in two films for Paramount, "Hazard" (1948) and "Bride of Vengeance" (1949); and was loaned to Columbia Pictures for the film noir "Anna Lucasta". However, all three of the films lost money, and she left the studio in 1949.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: After leaving Paramount and divorcing Meredith, Goddard headlined the Mexican-American film "The Torch" (1950), also serving as an associate producer. The following year, she made her television debut in an episode of "Four Star Revue". Her roles in films such as film noir "Vice Squad" opposite Edward G. Robinson, and the biblical character Jezebel in "Sins of Jezebel" failed to attract the attention of her earlier work. Her last starring film role was in the film noir "A Stranger Came Home" in 1954, which "The New York Times" deemed "A third-rate British-made whodunit," and said "A few more fly-by-nights like this Lippert presentation... and the still-shapely Miss Goddard may find herself collecting the pieces of a career"; That same year, Goddard guest starred as Lady Beryl on the second episode of "Sherlock Holmes" starring Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard) as Holmes. She continued appearing in summer stock and on television, guest starring on episodes of "Adventures in Paradise", "The Errol Flynn Theatre", "The Joseph Cotten Show", and "The Ford Television Theatre".


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1958, Goddard remarried for the final time to writer Erich Maria Remarque, who was twelve years her senior. Wealthy from shrewd investments, she largely retired from acting and moved with him to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. However, she did continue to act occasionally, appearing in the unsold television pilot "The Phantom", a supporting role in the Italian film "Time of Indifference" (1964), and a small role in the pilot of "The Snoop Sisters". Remarque died on September 25, 1970, from heart failiure in Locarno.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In addition to her own wealth, Goddard inherited much of Remarque's money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood elite. She also became a fairly well known and highly visible socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, which by all accounts was successful.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Goddard married the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James on June 28, 1927, when she was 17 years old; the couple moved to North Carolina. They separated two years later and divorced in January 1932.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1932, Goddard began a relationship with Charlie Chaplin and moved into his home in Beverly Hills. Aside from referring to Goddard as "my wife" at the October 1940 premiere of "The Great Dictator", neither Goddard nor Chaplin publicly commented on their marital status. On June 3, 1942, Goddard filed for divorce in Mexico that was granted the following day. Although Goddard claimed in her filing that they had been married in Canton, China, in June 1936, Chaplin privately told relatives that they were married only in common law. The two nonetheless maintained a friendly relationship, and Goddard remained close with Chaplin's elder two sons Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In May 1944, Goddard married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son; it was the only pregnancy of hers reported, and she had no children from any of her marriages. In the latter part of their marriage, Meredith was placed on the Hollywood blacklist. On the way to a premiere, the two were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!"; Goddard was reported to have said "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" They divorced in June 1949.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: In 1958, Goddard married writer Erich Maria Remarque. They remained married until Remarque's death in 1970.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: On April 23, 1990, aged 79, Goddard died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure. She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Arguably, Goddard's foremost legacies remain her two feature films with Charles Chaplin — "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator" — and a US$20 million donation to New York University (NYU) in New York City to fund an institution devoted to European studies, named after Remarque. This contribution was also in recognition of her friendship with the Indiana-born politician and former NYU President John Brademas. Goddard Hall, a residence hall for NYU freshmen in Greenwich Village, is named in her honor.


title: Paulette Goddard

text: Goddard was portrayed by Gwen Humble in the made-for-TV movie "" (1980), by Diane Lane in the 1992 film "Chaplin", and by actress Natalie Wilder in the 2011 play "Puma", written by Julie Gilbert, who also wrote "Opposite Attraction: The Lives of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard".


title: Joe Wright

text: Joseph Wright (born 25 August 1972) is a British film director residing in Somerset, England. His motion pictures include the literary adaptations "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), "Atonement" (2007), "Anna Karenina" (2012), and "Cyrano" (2021), the action thriller "Hanna" (2011), Peter Pan origin story "Pan" (2015), and "Darkest Hour" (2017), a political drama following Winston Churchill during World War II nominated for Best Picture.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. He would also make films on his Super 8 camera as well as spend time in the evenings acting in a drama club. Wright is dyslexic. He went to Islington Green Secondary School, but left without any GCSEs.


title: Joe Wright

text: He began his career working at his parents' puppet theatre, the Little Angel Theatre in Islington. He also took classes at the Anna Scher Theatre School and acted professionally on stage and camera. He spent an art foundation year at Camberwell College of Arts, before taking a degree in fine art and film at Central St Martins where he was tutored by Malcolm Le Grice and Vera Neubauer. In his last year of studies he received a scholarship to make a short film for the BBC that won several awards.


title: Joe Wright

text: During the 1990s, he worked at Oil Factory, a music video production company based in Caledonian Road, Kings Cross. He worked on a variety of productions in numerous roles, including casting director. Here he was able to get the opportunity to direct some music videos. Alongside this, particularly on the strength of his short film work, he was also developing "The End", his second short film. During this decade Wright also worked part-time as a roadie for Vegetable Vision who created visuals for various electronic music bands, such as Chemical Brothers, Darren Emerson, Underworld and Andrew Weatherall. He attributes some of the aesthetic and emotion of the UK rave scene as an influence on his work.


title: Joe Wright

text: On the success of his first short film, he was offered the script for the serial "Nature Boy" (2000). He followed this up with the serials "Bodily Harm" (2002) with Timothy Spall and the highly acclaimed "" (2003) with Rufus Sewell which won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Serial.


title: Joe Wright

text: In 2005, he made the transition to feature films with the critically acclaimed adaptation of "Pride & Prejudice" starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The film received numerous accolades including 4 Academy Award nominations (including Best Actress), 6 BAFTA nominations (Wright won the BAFTA for most promising newcomer) among other nominations and wins.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright's next feature was an adaptation of Ian McEwan's Booker Prize shortlisted novel "Atonement", which was released in 2007, reuniting Wright with Keira Knightley, and also stars James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan. On 13 December 2007, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, more than any other film that year. Though Wright himself was not nominated for director, the film received seven Academy Award nominations, winning only for Best Original Score. At the BAFTA Awards it received 14 nominations and went on to win for Best Production Design and Best Film.


title: Joe Wright

text: His next film was "The Soloist" which stars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. It is about the "true story of musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, who developed schizophrenia in his second year at Juilliard and ended up homeless on the streets of downtown L.A. where he performs the violin and cello." It was to be released on 21 November 2008; however the release date was pushed back to 24 April 2009.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright reunited with "Atonement" star Saoirse Ronan for the 2011 action thriller "Hanna". The title character is a 15-year-old girl trained since birth to be an assassin by her father (Eric Bana), a rogue CIA asset. The movie received mostly positive reviews with Roger Ebert calling it a "first rate thriller" in his review The film received an aggregate score of 65 from Metacritic, meaning it received generally positive reviews.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright directed the 2012 screen adaptation by Sir Tom Stoppard of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel "Anna Karenina". The cast included Keira Knightley as Anna, Jude Law as her husband, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her young love, Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson as Konstantin Levin, as well as Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, Matthew Macfadyen, and Michelle Dockery. Saoirse Ronan and Andrea Riseborough were initially cast in the film, but dropped out and were replaced by Alicia Vikander and Ruth Wilson, respectively.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright then directed the 2015 prequel to "Peter Pan" for Warner Bros. The film starred Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried and Levi Miller as Peter. The screenplay by actor-turned-screenwriter Jason Fuchs was from the 2013 Hollywood Black List, a selection of popular unproduced scripts. The film was negatively received by critics and was considered a commercial flop, failing to recoup its budget at the box office.Rooney Mara's casting as Tiger Lily caused a controversy, due to her being of European ancestry, while Tiger Lily is traditionally portrayed as being Native American.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright's 2017 film "Darkest Hour" covers a pivotal month in the life of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The film stars Gary Oldman as Churchill, along with Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, David Schofield, Kristin Scott Thomas, Samuel West and Lily James. Wright said the film is a rebuke to Donald Trump.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright won a BAFTA award for best newcomer for "Pride & Prejudice" and was the youngest director to have a film open the Venice Film Festival with "Atonement". According to the director's commentary on "Pride & Prejudice", Wright is influenced by the work of British film director David Lean, and possessing a certain knowledge of art history, tries sometimes to compose his shots after classical paintings.


title: Joe Wright

text: "Charles II: The Power and The Passion", "Pride & Prejudice", "Atonement" and "Hanna" all have long tracking shots in them. "Atonement" has a continuous 5-minute and 5 second shot of the Dunkirk evacuation. "Basically, I just like showing off", Wright told the audience at the Hay Festival.


title: Joe Wright

text: After meeting on the set of "Pride & Prejudice", Wright began a relationship with actress Rosamund Pike. They were engaged from 2007 to 2008.


title: Joe Wright

text: Wright was married to sitarist Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar and half-sister of Norah Jones, from 2010 until 2019. They have two sons: Zubin Shankar Wright, who was born in February 2011, and Mohan Shankar Wright, who was born in February 2015. They separated in December 2017 and their divorce was finalized in September 2019 as a judge concluded that Wright had committed adultery and that his wife found living with him “intolerable.”


title: Joe Wright

text: Since 2017, Wright has been in a relationship with American actress Haley Bennett. Their daughter, Virginia Willow, was born on 27 December 2018 in Brooklyn Heights. As of 2019, the family resides in the United Kingdom in Bruton, in Somerset.


title: Dnieper

text: The Dnieper () or Dnipro () is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth-longest river in Europe, after the Volga, Danube, and Ural rivers. It is approximately long, with a drainage basin of .


title: Dnieper

text: In antiquity, the river was part of the Amber Road trade routes. During the Ruin in the later 17th century, the area was contested between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia, dividing Ukraine into areas described by its right and left banks. During the Soviet period, the river became noted for its major hydroelectric dams and large reservoirs. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster occurred on the Pripyat, immediately above that tributary's confluence with the Dnieper. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and is connected by the Dnieper–Bug Canal to other waterways in Europe. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, certain segments of the river form a defensive line between territory controlled by Russians and Ukrainians.


title: Dnieper

text: In English, "Dnieper" derives from the Russian pronunciation and "Dnipro" from the Ukrainian. The initial D in Dnieper is generally silent, although it may be sounded: or . The English pronunciation of Dnipro is .


title: Dnieper

text: The name varies slightly in the local Slavic languages of the three countries through which it flows:


title: Dnieper

text: These names are all cognate, deriving from Old East Slavic ("Dŭněprŭ"). The origin of this name is disputed but generally derived from either Sarmatian * ("Farther River") in parallel with the Dniester ("Nearer River") or from Scythian * ("Deep River") in reference to its lack of fords, from which was also derived the Late Antique name of the river, ().


title: Dnieper

text: Another Scythian language name of the Dnipro was , meaning "having broad space," from which were derived:


title: Dnieper

text: During the period of Old Great Bulgaria, it was known as Buri-Chai and, under the Kievan Rus' it was known as Славу́тич ("Slavútytch"), a name still used poetically in Ukrainian due to the influence of the Old East Slavic epic "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" and its modern adaptations on Ukrainian literature. This usage also lent its name to the city of Slavutych, founded in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 to house displaced workers. The Kipchak Turks called it the "Uzeu", the Crimean Tatars the "Özü", and modern Turks the "Özü" or "Özi".


title: Dnieper

text: The total length of the river is variously given as or , of which are within Russia, are within Belarus, and are within Ukraine. Its basin covers , of which are within Ukraine, are within Belarus.


title: Dnieper

text: The source of the Dnieper is the sedge bogs (Akseninsky Mokh) of the Valdai Hills in central Russia, at an elevation of . For of its length, it serves as the border between Belarus and Ukraine. Its estuary, or liman, used to be defended by the strong fortress of Ochakiv.


title: Dnieper

text: The Dnieper has many tributaries (up to 32,000) with 89 being rivers of 100+ km. The main ones are, from its source to its mouth, with left (L) or right (R) bank indicated:


title: Dnieper

text: Many small direct tributaries also exist, such as, in the Kyiv area, the Syrets (right bank) in the north of the city, the historically significant Lybid (right bank) passing west of the centre, and the Borshahivka (right bank) to the south.


title: Dnieper

text: The Dnieper Rapids were part of the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, first mentioned in the Kyiv Chronicle. The route was probably established in the late eighth and early ninth centuries and gained significant importance from the tenth until the first third of the eleventh century. On the Dnieper the Varangians had to portage their ships round seven rapids, where they had to be on guard for Pecheneg nomads.


title: Dnieper

text: Along this middle flow of the Dnieper, there were 9 major rapids (although some sources cite a fewer number of them), obstructing almost the whole width of the river, about 30 to 40 smaller rapids, obstructing only part of the river, and about 60 islands and islets.


title: Dnieper

text: The river is part of the quagga mussel's native range. The mussel has been accidentally introduced around the world, where it has become an invasive species.


title: Dnieper

text: Nowadays the Dnieper River suffers from anthropogenic influence resulting in numerous emissions of pollutants. The Dnieper is close to the Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant radioactive dumps (near Kamianske) and susceptible to leakage of its radioactive waste. The river is also close to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station (Chernobyl Exclusion Zone) which is located next to the mouth of the Pripyat River.


title: Dnieper

text: Almost of the river is navigable (to the city of Dorogobuzh). The Dnieper is important for transportation in the economy of Ukraine. Its reservoirs have large ship locks, allowing vessels of up to access as far as the port of Kyiv, and thus are an important transportation corridor. The river is used by passenger vessels as well. Inland cruises on the rivers Danube and Dnieper have had a growing market in recent decades.


title: Dnieper

text: Upstream from Kyiv, the Dnieper receives the water of the Pripyat River. This navigable river connects to the Dnieper-Bug canal, the link with the Bug River. Historically, a connection with the Western European waterways was possible, but a weir without any ship lock near the town of Brest, Belarus, has interrupted this international waterway. Poor political relations between Western Europe and Belarus mean there is little likelihood of reopening this waterway in the near future. River navigation is interrupted each year by freezing and severe winter storms.


title: Dnieper

text: From the mouth of the Pripyat River to the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station, there are six sets of dams and hydroelectric stations, which produce 10% of Ukraine's electricity.


title: Dnieper

text: The first constructed was the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (or DniproHES) near Zaporizhzhia, built between 1927 and 1932 with an output of 558 MW. It was destroyed during World War II, but was rebuilt in 1948 with an output of 750 MW.


title: Dnieper

text: Cities and towns located on the Dnieper are listed in order from the river's source (in Russia) to its mouth (in Ukraine):


title: Dnieper

text: The River Dnieper has been a subject of chapter X of a story by Nikolai Gogol "A Terrible Vengeance" (1831, published in 1832 as a part of the "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" short stories collection). It is considered as a classical example of description of the nature in Russian literature. The river was also described in the works of Taras Shevchenko.


title: Dnieper

text: In the adventure novel "The Long Ships" (also translated "Red Orm"), set during the Viking Age, a Scanian chieftain travels to the Dnieper Rapids to retrieve a treasure hidden there by his brother, encountering many difficulties. The novel was very popular in Sweden and is one of few to depict a Viking voyage to eastern Europe.


title: Dnieper

text: The River Dnieper has been a subject for artists, great and minor, over the centuries. Major artists with works based on the Dnieper are Arkhip Kuindzhi and Ivan Aivazovsky.


title: Dnieper

text: The River Dnieper makes an appearance in the 1964 Hungarian drama film "The Sons of the Stone-Hearted Man" (based on the novel of the same name by Mór Jókai), where it appears when two characters are leaving Saint Petersburg but get attacked by wolves.


title: Dnieper

text: In 1983, the concert program "Song of the Dnieper" from the "Victory Salute" series was released, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Kiev from the German fascist invaders. The program includes songs by Soviet composers, Ukrainian folk songs, and dances performed by the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kiev Military District led by A. Pustovalov, P. Virsky Ukrainian National Folk Dance Ensemble, Kyiv Bandurist Capella, the Military Band of the Headquarters of the Kiev Military District led by A. Kuzmenko, singers Anatoliy Mokrenko, Lyudmila Zykina, Anatoliy Solovianenko, Dmytro Hnatyuk, Mykola Hnatyuk. Filming on the battlefield, streets and squares of Kiev. Scriptwriter - Victor Meerovsky. Directed by Victor Cherkasov. Operator - Alexander Platonov.


title: Armageddon

text: According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from "Harmagedōn", Late Latin: , from Hebrew: "Har Məgīddō") is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, which is variously interpreted as either a literal or a symbolic location. The term is also used in a generic sense to refer to any end of the world scenario. In Islamic theology, Armageddon is also mentioned in Hadith as the Greatest Armageddon or Al-Malhama Al-Kubra (the great battle).


title: Armageddon

text: The "mount" of Megiddo in northern Israel is not actually a mountain, but a tell (a mound or hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot) on which ancient forts were built to guard the Via Maris, an ancient trade route linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Megiddo was the location of various ancient battles, including one in the 15th century BC and one in 609 BC. The nearby modern Megiddo is a kibbutz in the Kishon River area.


title: Armageddon

text: The word "Armageddon" appears only once in the Greek New Testament, in . The word is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew "har məgiddô" (). "Har" means "a mountain or range of hills". This is a shortened form of "harar" meaning "to loom up; a mountain". "Megiddo" refers to a fortification made by King Ahab that dominated the Plain of Jezreel. Its name means "place of crowds".


title: Armageddon

text: Adam Clarke wrote in his Bible commentary (1817) on Revelation 16:16:Armageddon - The original of this word has been variously formed, and variously translated. It is הר־מגדון har-megiddon, "the mount of the assembly;" or חרמה גדהון chormah gedehon, "the destruction of their army;" or it is הר־מגדו har-megiddo, "Mount Megiddo,"


title: Armageddon

text: Megiddo is mentioned twelve times in the Old Testament, ten times in reference to the ancient city of Megiddo, and twice with reference to "the plain of Megiddo", most probably simply meaning "the plain next to the city". None of these Old Testament passages describes the city of Megiddo as being associated with any particular prophetic beliefs. The one New Testament reference to the city of Armageddon found in makes no specific mention of any armies being predicted to one day gather in this city, either, but instead seems to predict only that "they (will gather) the kings together to ... Armageddon". The text does however seem to imply, based on the text from the earlier passage of Revelation 16:14, that the purpose of this gathering of kings in the "place called Armageddon" is "for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty". Because of the seemingly highly symbolic and even cryptic language of this one New Testament passage, some Christian scholars conclude that Mount Armageddon must be an idealized location. R. J. Rushdoony says, "There are no mountains of Megiddo, only the Plains of Megiddo. This is a deliberate destruction of the vision of any literal reference to the place." Other scholars, including C. C. Torrey, Kline and Jordan, argue that the word is derived from the Hebrew "moed" (), meaning "assembly". Thus, "Armageddon" would mean "Mountain of Assembly", which Jordan says is "a reference to the assembly at Mount Sinai, and to its replacement, Mount Zion".


title: Armageddon

text: Most traditions interpret this Bible prophecy to be symbolic of the progression of the world toward the "great day of God, the Almighty" in which God pours out his just and holy wrath against unrepentant sinners, led by Satan, in a literal end-of-the-world final confrontation. 'Armageddon' is the symbolic name given to this event based on scripture references regarding divine obliteration of God's enemies. The hermeneutical method supports this position by referencing Judges 4 and 5 where God miraculously destroys the enemy of their elect, Israel, at Megiddo.


title: Armageddon

text: In his discussion of Armageddon, J. Dwight Pentecost has devoted a chapter to the subject, "The Campaign of Armageddon", in which he discusses it as a campaign and not a specific battle, which will be fought in the Middle East. Pentecost writes:


title: Armageddon

text: Pentecost then discusses the location of this campaign, and mentions the "hill of Megiddo" and other geographic locations such as "the valley of Jehoshaphat" and "the valley of the passengers", "Lord coming from Edom or Idumea, south of Jerusalem, when he returns from the judgment"; and Jerusalem itself.


title: Armageddon

text: Pentecost then outlines the biblical time period for this campaign to occur and with further arguments concludes that it must take place with the 70th week of Daniel. The invasion of Israel by the Northern Confederacy "will bring the Beast and his armies to the defense of Israel as her protector". He then uses Daniel to further clarify his thinking.


title: Armageddon

text: After the destruction of the Beast at the Second Coming of Jesus, the promised Kingdom is set up, in which Jesus and the saints will rule for a thousand years. Satan is then loosed "for a season" and goes out to deceive the nations, specifically Gog and Magog. The army mentioned attacks the saints in the New Jerusalem, they are defeated by a judgment of fire coming down from heaven, and then comes the Great White Throne judgment, which includes all of those through the ages and these are cast into the Lake of Fire, which event is also known as the "second death" and Gehenna, not to be confused with Hell, which is Satan's domain. Pentecost describes this as follows:


title: Armageddon

text: Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Armageddon is the means by which God will fulfill his purpose for the Earth to be populated with happy healthy humans who will be free from sin and death. They teach that the armies of heaven will eradicate all who oppose the Kingdom of God, wiping out all wicked humans on Earth, only leaving righteous mankind.


title: Armageddon

text: They believe that the gathering of all of the nations of the earth refers to the uniting of the world's political powers, as a gradual process which began in 1914 and was later seen in manifestations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations following the First and Second World Wars. These political powers are said to be influenced by Satan and his demons in opposition to God's kingdom. Babylon the Great is interpreted as being the world empire of false religions, and it will be destroyed by the beast just prior to Armageddon. Witnesses believe that after all other religions have been destroyed, the governments of the world will begin persecuting Witnesses, and God will then intervene, precipitating Armageddon.


title: Armageddon

text: Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the armies of heaven, led by Jesus, will then destroy all forms of human government and then Jesus, along with a selected 144,000 humans, will rule Earth for 1,000 years. They believe that Satan and his demons will be bound for that period, unable to influence mankind. After the 1,000 years are ended, and the second resurrection has taken place, Satan is released and allowed to tempt the perfect human race one last time. Those who follow Satan will be destroyed, along with him, leaving the earth, and humankind at peace with God forever, free from sin and death.


title: Armageddon

text: The religion's current teaching on Armageddon originated in 1925 with former Watch Tower Society president J. F. Rutherford, who based his interpretations on passages that are found in the books of Exodus, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Psalms as well as additional passages that are found in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. The doctrine marked a further break from the teachings of the Watch Tower Society's founder Charles Taze Russell, who for decades had taught that the final war would be an anarchistic struggle for domination on earth. Tony Wills, the author of a historical study of Jehovah's Witnesses, wrote that Rutherford seemed to relish his descriptions of how completely the wicked would be destroyed at Armageddon, dwelling at great length on prophecies of destruction. He stated that towards the close of his ministry, Rutherford allocated about half the space that was available in "The Watchtower" magazines to discussions about Armageddon.


title: Armageddon

text: The teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church state that the terms "Armageddon", "Day of the Lord" and "The Second Coming of Christ" all describe the same event. Seventh-day Adventists further teach that the current religious movements taking place in the world are setting the stage for Armageddon, and they are concerned by an anticipated unity between spiritualism, American Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. A further significant difference in Seventh-day Adventist theology is the teaching that the events of Armageddon will leave the earth desolate for the duration of the millennium. They teach that the righteous will be taken to heaven while the rest of humanity will be destroyed, leaving Satan with no one to tempt and effectively "bound". The final re-creation of a "new heaven and a new earth"; then follows the millennium.


title: Armageddon

text: For Christadelphians, Armageddon marks the "great climax of history when the nations would be gathered together 'into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon', and the judgment on them would herald the setting up of the Kingdom of God."


title: Armageddon

text: From Baháʼí literature, a number of interpretations of the expectations surrounding the Battle of Armageddon may be inferred, three of them being associated with events surrounding the World Wars.


title: Armageddon

text: The first interpretation deals with a series of tablets written by Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, to be sent to various kings and rulers. The second, and best-known one, relates to events near the end of World War I involving General Allenby and the Battle of Megiddo (1918) wherein World Powers are said to have drawn soldiers from many parts of the world to engage in battle at Megiddo. In winning this battle Allenby also prevented the Ottomans from killing 'Abdu'l-Baha, then head of the Baháʼí Faith, whom they had intended to crucify. A third interpretation reviews the overall progress of the World Wars, and the situation in the world before and after.


title: High fantasy

text: High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. The term "high fantasy" was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969.


title: High fantasy

text: High fantasy is set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements.


title: High fantasy

text: The romances of William Morris, such as "The Well at the World's End", set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien—especially "The Lord of the Rings"—are regarded as archetypal works of high fantasy.


title: High fantasy

text: Many high fantasy stories are told from the viewpoint of one main hero. Often, much of the plot revolves around their heritage or mysterious nature, along with a world-threatening problem. In many novels the hero is an orphan or unusual sibling, and frequently portrayed with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. They begin the story young, if not as an actual child, or are portrayed as being very weak and/or useless.


title: High fantasy

text: The hero often begins as a childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a considerable gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way.


title: High fantasy

text: The progress of the story leads to the character's learning the nature of the unknown forces against them, that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence. The villains in such stories are usually completely evil and unrelatable.


title: High fantasy

text: "High fantasy" often serves as a broad term to include a number of different flavors of the fantasy genre, including heroic fantasy, epic fantasy, mythic fantasy, dark fantasy, and wuxia. It typically is not considered to include the sword and sorcery genre.


title: High fantasy

text: High fantasy has often been defined by its themes and messages. Good versus evil is a common one in high fantasy, and defining the character of evil is often an important theme in a work of high fantasy, as in "The Lord of the Rings". The importance of the concept of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword and sorcery. In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks a deep concern with moral issues; in other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether they are "good" or "evil".


title: High fantasy

text: Role-playing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons" with campaign settings like "Dragonlance" by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and "Forgotten Realms" by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings.


title: Daniel Gillies

text: Daniel John Gillies (born 14 March 1976) is a New Zealand-Canadian actor, film producer, director and screenwriter. He played the role of Elijah Mikaelson on the television series "The Vampire Diaries" and its spin-off "The Originals," as well as Dr. Joel Goran on the Canadian series "Saving Hope", a medical-themed show with a mystical, paranormal twist. He wrote and directed the 2012 film, "Broken Kingdom".


title: Daniel Gillies

text: Gillies was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to parents from New Zealand. When he was five, his parents decided to return to their native New Zealand, and moved to Invercargill and then to Hamilton. Though born into a family of strong medical background (his father is a pediatrician, his mother a nurse, and he is descended from the renowned ENT/plastic surgery pioneer Sir Harold Gillies), he became interested in acting because he said it was "the only thing I was ever any good at".


title: Daniel Gillies

text: Frustrated with the lack of opportunities in New Zealand, he moved to Sydney, Australia for six weeks in 2001 before going to Canada for two months, where he worked as a waiter and dishwasher until deciding to move to Los Angeles, USA.


title: Daniel Gillies

text: Gillies began his career starring in several Auckland Theatre Company productions, before landing a two-season lead role in the television drama "Street Legal." After deciding that his acting options in his native New Zealand were limited, Gillies explored his options in Sydney and Canada. Gillies then moved to Los Angeles and was soon cast in the movies "Bride and Prejudice" and "Spider-Man 2".


title: Daniel Gillies

text: Since 2002, Gillies has worked in Canadian and American film and television – at times simultaneously. Before landing lead roles in television series, Gillies landed guests spots on television shows such as "Masters of Horror", "NCIS", and "True Blood". In 2010, he was cast on the hit The CW drama "The Vampire Diaries" as Elijah Mikaelson. In 2013, CW created a successful spin-off of "The Originals." chronicling the lives of the first (aka "the Original") vampires. Gillies's recurring part as Elijah from The Vampire Diaries became a lead part in "The Originals." A potential nightmare existed for CW since Gillies was already under contract to play Dr. Joel Goran in the supernatural series, "Saving Hope." Saving Hope initially aired in the US on NBC, but the series was not renewed although it continued to run in Canada. He continued both shows. In 2012, Gillies wrote, directed and starred with wife Rachael Leigh Cook in "Broken Kingdom".


title: Daniel Gillies

text: Gillies married American actress Rachael Leigh Cook on 8 August 2004. Together they have a daughter, Charlotte, born in September 2013, and a son, Theodore, born in April 2015. In an interview in 2017, he revealed he pursued a vasectomy to prevent a third child from being brought into the family citing concerns about his age and energy levels, saying, "I want to be able to give these two my love and my attention and my care. I would like to stop now."


title: Daniel Gillies

text: On 13 June 2019, both Cook and Gillies announced on Instagram that they mutually decided to separate and they also said that they wanted it to be as discreet as possible for the sake of their kids. On 10 July 2020 Gillies filed for divorce from Cook. Their divorce was finalized on 10 March 2021.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup consists of guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. They have experienced numerous lineup changes throughout their -year career, leaving Box as the only remaining original member. Notable former members of the band are vocalists David Byron, John Lawton, John Sloman, Peter Goalby, and Steff Fontaine, bassists Gary Thain, Trevor Bolder, John Wetton, Bob Daisley, Paul Newton, and John Jowitt, drummers Nigel Olsson, Iain Clark, Lee Kerslake and Chris Slade, and keyboardists Ken Hensley and John Sinclair.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Uriah Heep were part of the early 1970s rock scene, and have been referred to as pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal and progressive rock genres. The band has sold over 40 million albums worldwide with over four million sales in the U.S, where its best-known songs include "Gypsy", "Easy Livin'", "The Wizard", "Sweet Lorraine", and "Stealin'". They also maintain a significant following and perform at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Finland and Scandinavia.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Uriah Heep have released twenty-four studio albums of original material, twenty live albums and forty-one compilation albums (including two greatest hits albums). Twelve of the band's studio albums have made it to the UK Albums Chart ("Return to Fantasy" reached No. 7 in 1975), while of the fifteen "Billboard" 200 Uriah Heep albums, "Demons and Wizards" was the most successful (No. 23, 1972). In the late 1970s the band had massive success in Germany, where the "Lady in Black" single was a big hit.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: The band's origins go back to 1967 when 19-year-old guitarist Mick Box formed a band in Brentwood called Hogwash, which began playing in local clubs and pubs. When the band's singer left, drummer Roger Penlington suggested his cousin David Garrick (who knew the band) as a replacement. Box and Garrick formed a songwriting partnership and, having higher musical aspirations than their colleagues, decided to give up their day jobs and go professional. They set up a new band called Spice. David Garrick changed his surname to Byron. Drummer Alex Napier (born 1947 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland) joined, having answered a music paper ad; bassist Paul Newton of the Gods completed the line-up.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Spice avoided playing covers and, according to Box, always strove "...to do something original." Managed initially by Newton's father, the band climbed their way up to The Marquee level, then got signed by Gerry Bron (the Hit Record Productions Ltd.'s boss) who saw the band at the Blues Loft club in High Wycombe. "I thought they were a band I could develop and I took them on that basis," remembered Bron later. He became the band's manager and signed them to Vertigo Records, the newly formed Philips label. The four-piece found themselves booked into the Lansdowne Studios in London, still under the name of Spice. Then the name was changed to that of the well-known character from "David Copperfield", Uriah Heep (for, according to biographer Kirk Blows, "Dickens' name being everywhere around Christmas '69 due to it being the hundredth anniversary of his death"). According to Dave Ling's 2001 autobiography of the band, "Wizards and Demons, The Uriah Heep Story", though the "Uriah Heep" moniker was chosen in December 1969, the band continued to play gigs as "Spice" until Ken Hensley joined in February 1970. Uriah Heep then decided to widen the sound. "We'd actually recorded half the first album when we decided that keyboards would be good for our sound. I was a big Vanilla Fudge fan, with their Hammond organ and searing guitar on top, and we had David's high vibrato vocals anyway so that's how we decided to shape it," Box recalled. Gerry Bron brought in session player Colin Wood, followed by Hensley, a former colleague of Newton in the Gods, who was then playing guitar in Toe Fat. "I saw a lot of potential in the group to do something very different," remembered Hensley.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Their 1970 debut album, "…Very 'Eavy …Very 'Umble" (released as "Uriah Heep" in the United States), introduced Hensley's heavy organ and the band's guitar-driven sound, with David Byron's theatrical, dynamic vocals soaring above thunderous sonic backgrounds, although acoustic and jazz elements also featured in the mix. The album's title references the signature phrase of the Dickens character ("very 'umble"). Hensley had little to contribute to the debut: Box and Byron wrote most of the material, including "Gypsy", in many ways (according to Blows) "...a marriage of contrasts" that, in time, became their trademark. In a 1989 interview, Mick Box recalled, "The funny thing was we wrote it at the Hanwell Community Centre, and Deep Purple were rehearsing in the room next door to us. You can imagine the kind of racket we were both making between us." During the winter of 1970, three-quarters into the recording of the album, drummer Alex Napier was replaced by Nigel Olsson, recommended to Byron by Elton John. The debut was not popular with rock critics (especially in the US, where "Rolling Stone" reviewer Melissa Mills infamously promised to commit suicide "if this band makes it"). In the course of the album's making the writing relationship between Box, Byron and Hensley was beginning to develop. "It was very quick, because we were all into the same things. It was like it was meant to be, there was that kind of chemistry," Mick Box recalled.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: When Nigel Olsson returned to Elton John's group in the spring of 1970, Keith Baker took his place. The band's second album, "Salisbury" (February 1971), was more squarely in the progressive rock genre, with its 16-minute title track featuring a 24-piece orchestra. One of the album's tracks, "Lady in Black", described by Donald A. Guarisco as "...a stylishly arranged tune that builds from a folk-styled acoustic tune into a throbbing rocker full of ghostly harmonies and crunching guitar riffs," became a hit in Germany upon its re-release in 1977 (earning the band the award). Produced by Gerry Bron, the second album was significant for Ken Hensley's rise to the position of main songwriter.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: In December 1970 Keith Baker left the band and was replaced by Iain Clark (from another Vertigo band, Cressida). With him the band toured Germany in late December 1970/January 1971 and made their first US tour in the spring of 1971, supporting Three Dog Night and Steppenwolf.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: By this time, Gerry Bron's deal with Philips/Vertigo was over, so he set up his own label, Bronze Records. The third album was recorded in the summer months of 1971, during the band's three visits to Lansdowne. "It was the point in time when the band really found a solid musical direction," said Bron later. The third album, "Look at Yourself", released in October 1971, marked the solidification of disparate ideas that had been a prominent feature of "Salisbury" and presented the unified sound and direction. "July Morning" has often been cited as the standout track. "I think that 'July Morning' is one of the best examples of the way the band was developing at that point in time. It introduced a lot of dynamics, a lot of light and shade into our sound," Ken Hensley said. The album peaked at No. 39 in the UK.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: By the end of 1971 it became clear, according to Hensley, that he, Byron and Box had become the tightly knit nucleus of the band. Feeling marginalised and having recently been badly shaken up when he was involved in an accident in Germany in one of the band's cars, first bassist Paul Newton left, in November of '71, and was briefly replaced by Mark Clarke. Newton recalled in a 2000 interview on Uriah Heep's website his departure: "Well, as you know, my father managed the band in the early days, with the Gods and Spice. He bought a lot of the gear and so on. When we became Uriah Heep and Ken joined the band – and Ken is the first to admit it – he had very definite ideas about what he wanted to do in a band. I suppose in some ways it was like the band was a vehicle which Ken needed and used to put his own ideas together. And there's nothing wrong with that as such. I mean, let's face it, the fact that what we did was successful was great for me too. But after a while you're bound to get some in-fighting in a situation like that. There were other problems too, because Gerry Bron was now the manager and my father was trying to get back some money from him - get some of his money back on the equipment and so on. There was a lot of unhappiness on all sorts of levels and everybody was unhappy in a lot of ways. I actually wanted to leave the band for quite a while before I actually left but I didn't. Anyway, with the heavy work schedules and the pressures and so on, I ended up collapsing on stage one night and the other members of the band decided I should go. It was funny because I didn't want to go and there was a lot of animosity but at the same time it was a tremendous relief".


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: During that same November, Iain Clark was replaced by Lee Kerslake, once of the Gods. New Zealander Gary Thain, a then member of Keef Hartley Band, joined Uriah Heep as a permanent member in February 1972 halfway through another American tour, replacing Mark Clarke who was exhausted and nearing a mental breakdown. "Gary just had a style about him, it was incredible because every bass player in the world that I've ever known has always loved his style, with those melodic bass lines," Box later said. Thus the "classic" Uriah Heep formed and, according to biographer K. Blows, "Everything just clicked into place."


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: The result of this newly found chemistry was the album "Demons and Wizards", which reached No. 20 in the UK and No. 23 in the US in June 1972. While its title and Roger Dean's sleeve both suggested that the band was romantically working medieval myth into their songs—and surely songs like "Rainbow Demon" and "The Wizard" (co-written by Mark Clarke, during his short stay) did have thematic links with fantasy world—a more straightforward, hard-rocking approach was also apparent. To discard any possible insinuations concerning any kind of concept behind it, Hensley's note on the sleeve declared the album was "...just a collection of our songs that we had a good time recording." Both critics and the band's aficionados hold the album in high regard, which, according to AllMusic, "...solidified Uriah Heep's reputation as a master of gothic-inflected heavy metal." Ken Hensley remembered:


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Two singles were released from the album: "The Wizard" and "Easy Livin' ", the second (a defiant rocker, according to Blows, "...tailor-made for Byron's extrovert showmanship") peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. Six months later, in November 1972, Uriah Heep's fifth studio album "The Magician's Birthday" (No. 28 UK, No. 31 US) came out, with "Sweet Lorraine" released as an American single and the title track (a multi-part fantasy epic featuring Hensley–Byron vocal duel and Box's extensive guitar solo in the middle) being the album's highlight. "Uriah Heep used to have an image, now they have personality," wrote Melody Maker in 1973. Much of it stemmed from the flamboyant Byron. "David was the communication point, the focal point of the whole group's stage presentation. He had so much charisma, so much ability," admitted Hensley many years later. But Hensley too developed into a sophisticated instrumentalist and stage persona, whose writing and keyboard flair ignited the rest of the band.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: A lavishly packaged (an eight-page booklet plus) double album "Uriah Heep Live" followed, recorded at the Birmingham Town Hall in January 1973. Having completed another Japanese tour, the band (due to tax problems) went abroad to record to Chateau d'Herouville in France. It was there that the solid, but rather mainstream-sounding, "Sweet Freedom" (No. 18 UK, No. 33 US) was created with "Stealin'" released as a single. Having gained worldwide recognition, the band quit the fantasy world in lyrics and made an obvious stab at versatility by adding funk ("Dreamer") and an acoustic number along the lines of contemporary singer/songwriters ("Circus") elements to the palette. Ken Hensley meanwhile had been gradually recording his own, mellower material; his solo debut "Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf" was released the same year.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: "Wonderworld" (June 1974), recorded in Munich's Musicland Studios in January, disappointed fans and band members alike. "Recording abroad disrupted the band's normal method of operation and that had a big negative effect on the group. Our communication was falling apart, we were arguing over stuff like royalties and we were getting involved in matters beyond music," Hensley said. Box remembered weeks spent in the studio as "dramatic" for all the wrong reasons. "David was drunk for most of the time, Kenny was having an emotional time of it and I was constantly trying to help them so it was difficult for me too. There was also a little bit of friction because (artistic) Kenny didn't like all the attention that (flamboyant) David was getting." Gary Thain was in even more serious trouble. According to Blows, "A strenuous touring schedule, compounded by the bassist's heavy drug dependency (inherent even before joining Heep) was taking its toll, though matters came to a head while on tour during September," when the bassist received a serious electric shock on stage in Dallas during a gig at Southern Methodist University’s Moody Coliseum on 15 September 1974. The rest of the US tour was then canceled and their UK dates rescheduled to October. Soon after going out of hospital, Thain, in "Sounds", openly accused manager Gerry Bron of having turned Uriah Heep into a mere "financial thing" and was fired two months after the group's final gig of 1974 at New Theatre in Oxford, England on 14 December. A year later, on 8 December 1975, Gary Thain was found dead in his Norwood Green home, having overdosed on heroin.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: John Wetton (ex-Family and King Crimson) joined the band in March 1975 and with him "Return to Fantasy" (June 1975) was recorded; representing a revitalised Uriah Heep, it soared up to No. 7 in the UK. "It was a relief to have someone solid and reliable, and he had a load of ideas too," Box remembered. The following "Year-long world tour" (according to a headline in "NME"), was marred by a new accident. Mick Box fell off stage in Louisville, Kentucky on 2 August 1975, breaking the radial bone in his right arm (but he persevered through both the set and the tour, receiving three injections a night). On 26 March 1976 at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, John Wetton had an accident of his own when he (like his predecessor, Thain) received an electric shock on stage.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: In November 1975 "The Best of Uriah Heep" compilation was released, preceded by two solo albums: Byron's debut "Take No Prisoners" and Hensley's second, "Eager to Please".


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: "High and Mighty" followed in June 1976. It was considered lightweight; even Box stated: "less of the 'eavy and more of the 'umble" (making pointed reference to Uriah Heep's self-description as "'umble" in Dickens' "David Copperfield"). The matter of production here became the point of major contention. With Bron committed to non-musical projects (including his air-taxi service) the band decided to produce the album themselves. The manager later insisted the result was Heep's worst album, while Hensley accused the manager of deliberately ignoring the band's interests. The album, though, was launched in the most lavish manner (with journalists and business people being flown off to the top of a Swiss mountain for a reception). However, it was not matched with the quality of live concerts, which were increasingly chaotic due to Byron's inconsistency on stage. "He'd always got drunk after the show but it had never got to the point where it would jeopardize the show itself. The performance had always been first and foremost with David. It was when the show started to come second that the problems began," Hensley remembered. "The distance between David and the rest had grown to unworkable proportions," according to Blows. "It's a tragedy to say it but David was one of those classic people who could not face up to the fact that things were wrong and he looked for solace in a bottle," commented Bron. In July 1976, after the final show of a Spanish tour, Byron was sacked. Soon bassist John Wetton announced he was quitting. Obviously he was not comfortable in the band, nor were his colleagues with him. Hensley later explained, "When he joined, we thought that we could replace a great bass player (Thain) with another great bass player, but we ignored the personality factor, which is crucial. It was like grafting on a new piece of skin but it just didn't work—the body rejected it."


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Uriah Heep recruited bassist Trevor Bolder (ex-David Bowie, Mick Ronson), and after having auditioned David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Whitesnake), Ian Hunter and Gary Holton (Heavy Metal Kids), brought in John Lawton, formerly of Lucifer's Friend and the Les Humphries Singers, with whom they turned totally away from fantasy-oriented lyrics and multi-part compositions back towards a more straightforward hard rock sound typical of the era. Box later said, "Image-wise he wasn't quite what we were looking for, but his pipes were perfect and so we went for the music end of it." Hensley agreed: "He had a voice that I thought would give a new dimension."


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: "Firefly" was released in February 1977, displaying "renewed effervescence and energy in unveiling what was clearly a new beginning for Heep" (per. K. Blows), "a new vigour and confidence" (according to a Record Mirror review) and also the new singer's abilities: the latter (according to AllMusic), although lacking the multi-octave range of David Byron, "…boasted an impressive and emotionally rich hard rock voice that instantly jelled with the Uriah Heep sound." The band then toured the US supporting Kiss. Paul Stanley later recalled, "They were incredibly professional, and so consistent that their worst nights were excellent and their best were tremendous."


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: "Innocent Victim", released in November 1977, "had a slight edge on "Firefly"" according to Box, but still in retrospect this "...blend of sharp, short rockers and pop-friendly ballads" looked like "an attempt to court the American AOR market." The single "Free Me" (whose "acoustic style and accent on harmonies brought the group dangerously close to Eagles territory," according to AllMusic) became an international hit. In Germany the album sold over a million copies and became Uriah Heep's most successful, which coincided with the success of the re-released "Lady in Black." For some time during this period, there were three Uriah Heep singles sitting together in the German Top 20, these being "Wise Man" (from "Firefly"), "Lady in Black" and "Free Me".


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: In the end of 1978, "Fallen Angel" came out, having completed a hat-trick of studio albums to feature a consistent lineup (only the second time in their career that they had done so). "Too poppy" for Mick Box's liking (but still, "too eccentric to fit the bill of an AOR record," according to Allmusic), it was well received at the time ("Sounds" gave it 4 stars) but failed to chart. Meanwhile, the relative stability of the Lawton period belied the behind the scenes unrest having to do with Ken Hensley's earning much more than his colleagues. "Everything he wrote, he had to use… And if you insist in using everything you end up with substandard albums," disgruntled Box opined. The major rift, though, developed between Hensley and Lawton. As K. Blows writes, "the combination of constant friction between the two (resulting in the nearest thing to violence the group had seen) and the constant presence of Lawton's wife on the road finally led to the vocalist getting the chop, shortly after playing the Bilzen Festival in Belgium in August 1979."


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Ex-Lone Star John Sloman was brought in, a younger singer who played keyboards and guitar and was, in the words of Box, "...an all rounder." But almost instantly, Lee Kerslake departed, after a row with Bron, whom the drummer accused of favouritism towards Hensley's material. Several tracks of the next album had to be re-recorded with a new drummer, Chris Slade (of the Manfred Mann's Earth Band). "Conquest" LP was released in February 1980 (worldwide except the United States, where it was never released) and received 5 stars from Record Mirror, but, according to Box, "was a difficult album to record" and represented "a confused Heep," even "a mess" (in the words of Trevor Bolder). The band went on the 10th Anniversary Tour with Girlschool as support and attracted respectable crowds. Hensley was very unhappy, primarily with Sloman, and he explained why:


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: A meeting at the manager's office concerning the songwriting dissent was the last straw and, in September 1980, Hensley quit. Gregg Dechert, a Canadian who had worked with Sloman in Pulsar, came in and the band went on a 23-date tour of the UK. After that Sloman left, citing musical differences for a reason. He would later go on to work with UFO, Gary Moore and Robert Palmer. Hensley's acrimonious departure left the group in a state of collapse. Box and Bolder visited David Byron with attractive propositions. "We couldn't believe it when he said he didn't want to know," the guitarist remembered. Bolder, who by that time, "...had had enough of Gerry Bron and the management," decided to join Wishbone Ash. When Dechert left, Uriah Heep were down to just Mick Box with the name and contract.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Box remembered, "I locked myself in my flat for two days and drank myself senseless in complete self-pity. But I somehow managed to pull myself together and consider my options." First he rang Lee Kerslake (who in the meanwhile had co-founded Blizzard of Ozz with Ozzy Osbourne) and the drummer brought along with him bassist Bob Daisley. Then John Sinclair came in whom Box knew from the times he was a member of Heavy Metal Kids and who currently played with a Los Angeles band called Lion. The band's new vocalist became Peter Goalby of Trapeze fame. The latter had once auditioned for Uriah Heep and failed, ironically Hensley being the only band member who had supported him as a choice. "With us all contributing to the writing we forged our new direction," Box recalled.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Produced by Ashley Howe, the "Abominog" album (according to Blows) was, "…important…in the way it pulled Heep out of the Seventies and thrust them into the Eighties with determination muscle," even if it sounded a bit too American. Released in March 1982 (and preceded in February by the "Abominog Junior" EP), it won favour with the critics. Sounds gave it a five star review, the newly established rock magazine "Kerrang!" declared it "the most mature and perhaps best album of their career" and in retrospect it is still seen as "one of the most consistent and engaging albums in the group's lengthy catalog." The album did relatively well in the American charts (No. 56) after its US release in September 1982 and the band successfully performed at the Castle Donington Monsters of Rock event a few weeks prior to this, on 21 August.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: "Head First" (May 1983), produced again by Ashley Howe (who, according to Goalby, became "like the sixth member of the band"), followed much in the same vein, pursuing (according to AllMusic) "...a similar combination of heavy metal firepower and AOR sleekness." Not long before its release Daisley left the band to return to Ozzy Osbourne and Trevor Bolder re-joined Uriah Heep. Both albums, "Abominog" and "Head First", updated the band's sound and generated a brief, newfound interest in Uriah Heep among younger heavy metal fans.


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: Uriah Heep toured the US supporting Rush, Judas Priest and Def Leppard, whose vocalist Joe Elliott remembered: "They were the best band that we've ever toured with either as a headline or support, because there was no ego, no pretentious kind of stuff. They were good in as much that we learnt a lot from them."


title: Uriah Heep (band)

text: By this time Gerry Bron was Uriah Heep manager no longer (they were looked after by Neil Warnock in Europe and Blue Oyster Cult's management team in the US) and then, finally, Bronze Records collapsed under the weight of debts, which, according to Box, "...cost Heep a lot of money." Massive Asian and South American tours followed before the band returned to the studio with producer Tony Platt and a new deal with CBS's Portrait label secured by new manager Harry Maloney. Meanwhile, David Byron died of a heart attack and liver disease on 28 February 1985 at the age of 38.