title: Hanover

text: Hanover has two symphony orchestras: The Lower Saxon State Orchestra Hanover and the NDR Radiophilharmonie (North German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra). Two notable choirs have their homes in Hanover: the Mädchenchor Hannover (girls' choir) and the Knabenchor Hannover (boys' choir).


title: Hanover

text: The rock bands Scorpions and Fury in the Slaughterhouse are originally from Hanover. Acclaimed DJ Mousse T also has his main recording studio in the area. Rick J. Jordan, member of the band Scooter was born here in 1968. Eurovision Song Contest winner of 2010, Lena, is also from Hanover.


title: Hanover

text: Hannover 96 (nickname "Die Roten" or 'The Reds') is the top local football team that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga. Home games are played at the HDI-Arena, which hosted matches in the 1974 and 2006 World Cups and the Euro 1988. Their reserve team Hannover 96 II plays in the fourth league. Their home games were played in the traditional Eilenriedestadium until they moved to the HDI Arena due to DFL directives. Arminia Hannover is another traditional soccer team in Hanover that has played in the second division (then 2. Liga Nord) for years and plays now in the Niedersachsen-West Liga (Lower Saxony League West). Home matches are played in the Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadium.


title: Hanover

text: The Hannover Indians are the local ice hockey team. They play in the third tier. Their home games are played at the traditional Eisstadion am Pferdeturm. The Hannover Scorpions played in Hanover in Germany's top league until 2013 when they sold their license and moved to Langenhagen.


title: Hanover

text: Hanover was one of the rugby union capitals in Germany. The first German rugby team was founded in Hanover in 1878. Hanover-based teams dominated the German rugby scene for a long time. DRC Hannover plays in the first division, and "SV Odin von 1905" as well as SG 78/08 Hannover play in the second division.


title: Hanover

text: Hanover has traditionally been one of Germany's hubs in Water sports and especially in Water polo. The SG Waspo'98 Hannover won the Deutsche Wasserball-Liga in 2020 and 2021. In total, clubs from Hanover have won the German championship 11 times. Thanks to the Maschsee lake, the rivers Ihme and Leine and to the Mittellandkanal channel, Hanover hosts sailing schools, yacht schools, waterski clubs, rowing clubs, canoe clubs and paddle clubs.


title: Hanover

text: The first German fencing club was founded in Hanover in 1862. Today there are three additional fencing clubs in Hanover.


title: Hanover

text: The Hannover Korbjäger are the city's top basketball team. They play their home games at the IGS Linden.


title: Hanover

text: The Hannover Regents play in the third Bundesliga (baseball) division. The Hannover Grizzlies, Armina Spartans and Hannover Stampeders are the local American football teams.


title: Hanover

text: The Hannover Marathon is the biggest running event in Hanover with more than 11,000 participants and usually around 200,000 spectators. Some other important running events are the Gilde Stadtstaffel (relay), the Sport-Check Nachtlauf (night-running), the Herrenhäuser Team-Challenge, the Hannoversche Firmenlauf (company running) and the Silvesterlauf (sylvester running).


title: Hanover

text: Hanover also hosts an important international cycle race: The "Nacht von Hannover" (night of Hanover). The race takes place around the Market Hall.


title: Hanover

text: The lake Maschsee hosts the International Dragon Boat Races and the Canoe Polo-Tournament. Many regattas take place during the year. "Head of the river Leine" on the river Leine is one of the biggest rowing regattas in Hanover. One of Germany's most successful dragon boat teams, the All Sports Team Hannover, which has won since its foundation in year 2000 more than 100 medals on national and international competitions, is doing practising on the Maschsee in the heart of Hannover. The All Sports Team has received the award "Team of the Year 2013" in Lower Saxony.


title: Hanover

text: Some other important sport events are the Lower Saxony Beach Volleyball Tournament, the international horse show "German Classics" and the international ice hockey tournament Nations Cup.


title: Hanover

text: Hanover is one of the leading exhibition cities in the world. It hosts more than 60 international and national exhibitions every year. The most popular ones are the "CeBIT", the "Hanover Fair", the "Domotex", the "Ligna", the "IAA Nutzfahrzeuge" and the "Agritechnica". Hanover also hosts a huge number of congresses and symposiums like the "International Symposium on Society and Resource Management."


title: Hanover

text: Hanover is also host to the "Schützenfest Hannover," the largest marksmen's fun fair in the world which takes place once a year from late June to early July. Founded in 1529, it consists of more than 260 rides and inns, five large beer tents and a large entertainment programme. The highlight of this fun fair is the "Parade of the Marksmen" with more than 12,000 participants from all over the world, including around 5,000 marksmen, 128 bands, and more than 70 wagons, carriages, and other festival vehicles. This makes it the longest procession in Europe. Around 2 million people visit this fun fair every year. The landmark of this fun fair is the biggest transportable Ferris wheel in the world, at about high.


title: Hanover

text: Hanover also hosts one of the two largest spring festivals in Europe, with around 180 rides and inns, 2 large beer tents, and around 1.5 million visitors each year. The Oktoberfest Hannover is the second largest Oktoberfest in the world with around 160 rides and inns, two large beer tents and around 1 million visitors each year.


title: Hanover

text: The "Maschsee Festival" takes place around the Maschsee Lake. Each year around 2 million visitors come to enjoy live music, comedy, cabaret, and much more. It is the largest Volksfest of its kind in Northern Germany. The Great Garden hosts every year the "International Fireworks Competition", and the "International Festival Weeks Herrenhausen," with music and cabaret performances. The "Carnival Procession" is around long and consists of 3.000 participants, around 30 festival vehicles and around 20 bands and takes place every year.


title: Hanover

text: Other festivals include the Festival "Feuer und Flamme" (Fire and Flames), the "Gartenfestival" (Garden Festival), the "Herbstfestival" (Autumn Festival), the "Harley Days", the "Steintor Festival" (Steintor is a party area in the city centre) and the "Lister-Meile-Festival" (Lister Meile is a large pedestrian area).


title: Hanover

text: Hanover also hosts food-oriented festivals including the "Wine Festival" and the "Gourmet Festival". It also hosts some special markets like the "Old Town Flea Market" and the "Market for Art and Trade". Some other major markets include the "Christmas Markets of the City of Hanover" in the Old Town and city centre, and the Lister Meile.


title: Hanover

text: The city's central station, Hannover Hauptbahnhof, is a hub of the German high-speed ICE network. It is the starting point of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line and also the central hub for the Hanover S-Bahn. It offers many international and national connections.


title: Hanover

text: Hanover is also an important hub of Germany's autobahn network; the junction of two major autobahns, the A2 and A7 is at "Kreuz Hannover-Ost", at the northeastern edge of the city.


title: Hanover

text: Local autobahns are A 352 (a short cut between A7 [north] and A2 [west], also known as the "Airport autobahn" because it passes "Hanover Airport") and the A 37.


title: Hanover

text: The expressway () system, a number of Bundesstraße roads, forms a structure loosely resembling a large ring road together with A2 and A7. The roads are B 3, B 6 and Bundesstraße 65|B 65, called Westschnellweg (B6 on the northern part, B3 on the southern part), Messeschnellweg (B3, becomes A37 near Burgdorf, crosses A2, becomes B3 again, changes to B6 at "Seelhorster Kreuz", then passes the Hanover fairground as B6 and becomes A37 again before merging into A7) and Südschnellweg (starts out as B65, becomes B3/B6/B65 upon crossing "Westschnellweg", then becomes B65 again at "Seelhorster Kreuz").


title: Hanover

text: Hanover has an extensive Stadtbahn and bus system, operated by üstra. The city uses designer buses and tramways, the TW 6000 and TW 2000 trams being examples.


title: Hanover

text: Bicycle paths are very common in the city centre. At off-peak hours you are allowed to take your bike on a tram or bus.


title: Hanover

text: Various industrial businesses are located in Hannover. The Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Transporter (VWN) factory at Hannover-Stöcken is the biggest employer in the region and operates a large plant at the northern edge of town adjoining the Mittellandkanal and Motorway A2. Volkswagen shares a coal-burning power plant with a factory of German tire and automobile parts manufacturer Continental AG. Continental AG, founded in Hanover in 1871, is one of the city's major companies. Since 2008 a take-over has been in progress: the Schaeffler Group from Herzogenaurach (Bavaria) holds the majority of Continental's stock but were required due to the financial crisis to deposit the options as securities at banks.


title: Hanover

text: The audio equipment company Sennheiser and the travel group TUI AG are both based in Hanover. Hanover is home to many insurance companies including Talanx, VHV Group, and Concordia Insurance. The major global reinsurance company Hannover Re also has its headquarters east of the city centre.


title: Hanover

text: In 2012, the city generated a GDP of €29.5 billion, which is equivalent to €74,822 per employee. The gross value of production in 2012 was €26.4 billion, which is equivalent to €66,822 per employee.


title: Hanover

text: Around 300,000 employees were counted in 2014. Of these, 189,000 had their primary residence in Hanover, while 164,892 commute into the city every day.


title: Hanover

text: In 2014 the city was home to 34,198 businesses, of which 9,342 were registered in the German Trade Register and 24,856 counted as small businesses. Hence, more than half of the metropolitan area's businesses in the German Trade Register are located in Hanover (17,485 total).


title: Hanover

text: Hannoverimpuls GMBH is a joint business development company from the city and region of Hannover. The company was founded in 2003 and supports the start-up, growth and relocation of businesses in the Hannover Region. The focus is on thirteen sectors, which stand for sustainable economic growth: Automotive, Energy Solutions, Information and Communications Technology, Life Sciences, Optical Technologies, Creative Industries and Production Engineering.


title: Hanover

text: A range of programmes supports companies from the key industries in their expansion plans in Hannover or abroad. Three regional centres specifically promote international economic relations with Russia, India and Turkey.


title: Hanover

text: The Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover is a spin-off from Leibniz University Hannover in the field of production technology that promotes transfer of scientific knowledge to business.


title: Hanover

text: The Leibniz University Hannover is the largest funded institution in Hanover for providing higher education to students from around the world. Below are the names of the universities and some of the important schools, including newly opened Hannover Medical Research School in 2003 for attracting the students from biology background from around the world.


title: Hanover

text: The "Schulbiologiezentrum Hannover" maintains practical biology schools in four locations (Botanischer Schulgarten Burg, Freiluftschule Burg, Zooschule Hannover, and Botanischer Schulgarten Linden). The University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover also maintains its own botanical garden specializing in medicinal and poisonous plants, the Heil- und Giftpflanzengarten der Tierärztlichen Hochschule Hannover.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Harald Fairhair ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from  872 to 930 and was the first King of Norway. Supposedly, two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, succeeded Harald to become kings after his death.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Much of Harald's biography is uncertain. A couple of praise poems by his court poet Þorbjörn Hornklofi survive in fragments, but the extant accounts of his life come from sagas set down in writing around three centuries after his lifetime. His life is described in several of the Kings' sagas, none of them older than the twelfth century. Their accounts of Harald and his life differ on many points, but it is clear that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Harald was regarded as having unified Norway into one kingdom.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Since the nineteenth century, when Norway was in a personal union with Sweden, Harald has become a national icon of Norway and a symbol of independence. Though the king's sagas and medieval accounts have been critically scrutinised during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Harald maintains a reputation as the father of the Norwegian nation. At the turn of the 21st century, a few historians have tried to argue that Harald Fairhair did not exist as a historical figure.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Old Norse "hár" translates straightforwardly into English as 'hair', but "fagr", the adjective of which "fagri" is a form, is trickier to render, since it means 'fair, fine, beautiful' (but without the moral associations of English "fair", as opposed to "unfair"). Although it is convenient and conventional to render "hárfagri" in English as 'fair-hair(ed)', in English 'fair-haired' means 'blond', whereas the Old Norse fairly clearly means 'beautiful-haired' (in contrast to the epithet which, according to some sources, Haraldr previously bore: "lúfa", '(thick) matted hair'). Accordingly, some translators prefer to render "hárfagri" as 'the fine-haired' or 'fine-hair' (which, however, unhelpfully implies that Haraldr's hair was thinning) or even 'handsome-hair'.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Through the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, historians broadly accepted the account of Harald Fairhair given by later Icelandic sagas. However, Peter Sawyer began to cast doubt on this in 1976, and the decades around 2000 saw a wave of revisionist research that suggested that Harald Fairhair did not exist, or at least not in a way resembling his appearance in sagas. The key arguments for this are as follows:


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Scholarly consensus on Harald's historicity now falls into two camps. One suggests that the medieval Icelandic and Norwegian historiography of Harald Fairhair is part of an origin myth created to explain the settlement of Iceland, perhaps in which a cognomen of Haraldr Sigurðarson was transferred to a fictitious early king of all Norway. Sverrir Jakobsson has suggested that the idea of Iceland being settled by people fleeing an overbearing Norwegian monarch actually reflects the anxieties of Iceland in the early thirteenth century, when the island was indeed coming under Norwegian dominance. He has also suggested that the legend of Harald Fairhair developed in the twelfth century to enable Norwegian kings, who were then promoting the idea of primogeniture over the older custom of agnatic succession, to claim that their ancestors had had a right to Norway by lineal descent from the country's supposed first king.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: A more moderate view suggests that Harald Fairhair is based on a historical king called Harald, who may or may not been known as "hárfagri", who ruled Vestlandet. The legend of this Harald later grew into the figure of medieval tradition. Historians who accept the early dating of skaldic poetry such as Claus Krag and Hans Jacob Orning tend to accept Harald's existence, while remaining skeptical regarding the saga accounts. In 2015, Hans Jacob Orning, building on then-recent archaeology and Krag's work, argued that Harald was based in Sogn, an area which the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson associated with Harald, and which was a centre of power in the ninth century. In the skaldic poetry (which is generally considered authentic ninth-century work by linguists) the estates mentioned match a convenient network of estates with about a day's traveling distance between them, which would be ideal for a king ruling in Vestlandet, but not all of Norway. This reading could be consistent with the "Historia Norwegiæ"'s account. While it is possible that Harald could have controlled other areas through jarls and client kings, this is difficult to prove with available archeology. Krag has noted that Snorri's account of Harald's origin in Vestfold might have been propaganda as the area of Viken was disputed between the Norwegian and Danish crown in the thirteenth century. Krag points of that Othere describes Viken as Danish territory and Hrafnsmál's description of the battle of Hafrsfjord suggest that Harald was attacked by "eastern" enemies that were routed and fled back east. He proposes that the battle was not part of a war of conquest but Harald defending his own territory from invaders. This idea offers a very different reading of the poem where its references to the "dróttin Norðmanna" ("lord of the northmen") might have originally meant referred to the leader of the Norwegians in the battle, but later recontextualised as the lord of all Norwegians.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Harald is mentioned in several sagas, some which quotes supposedly older skaldic poetry. If the linguistic dating of the poems are correct, they represent the earliest accounts of Harald Fairhair.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: "Hrafnsmál", also known as "Haraldskvæði", is a fragmentary skaldic poem generally accepted as being written by the 9th-century skald Þorbjörn Hornklofi. There does not exist a complete copy of the poem, and modern editions of the poem is based on the compilation of the segments. Through dating of the parts as well as the meter is consistent, they may be separate compositions but scholarly consensus is indecisive. Part of the poem is cited by Snorri in Heimskringla as a source for his narrative of the Battle of Hafrsfjord, while another is cited in Fagrskinna as information about Harald. Both credits Hornklofi as the composer.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Hrafnsmál largely consists of a conversation between an unnamed valkyrie and a raven; the two discuss the life and martial deeds of Harald Fairhair. The poem describes Harald as an Yngling, but does not use his famous nickname "hárfagri" ("fairhair"), but uses his widely cited previous nickname "Lufa" . The bulk of the poem seems to describe the Battle of Hafrsfjord, were Harald faced off against Kjotve the Rich and Hakláng. The poem mentions Ragnhild, who in Heimskringla is presented as Harald's queen and mother of Eirik Bloodaxe, as well as the following of ulfheðnar warriors that the saga tradition ascribes to Harald.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Like Hrafnsmál, Glymdrápa is a praise poem attributed to Þorbjörn Hornklofi about various battles won by Harald. It is dated to the late 9th century, but an exact dating is difficult and due to its fragmentary presentation it may be a compilation of unrelated stanzas. Unlike Hrafnsmál its relation to Harald and the events it supposedly relates to in Heimskringla is ambiguous.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: "Sendibitr", the last and shortest poem Snorri quotes is attributed to Jórunn skáldmær (Jorunn the skaldmaiden), one of few female poets mentioned in the sagas. It deals with a conflict between Harald and his son Halfdan, identified in Heimskringla as Halfdan the Black (the Younger), Harald's son by Åsa Håkonsdottir. Finnur Jónsson dates this poem to the late 10th century. If the dating is correct, it is the first instance of Harald having the epithet ""fairhair"" ("hárfagra" in the text). However, consensus is that the exact dating is uncertain. It has been suggested that the poem refers to past events, which would mean the poet lived in a later time than the events described in the poem. Linguistic dating of the poem has not been successful.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The earliest narrative source which mentions Harald, the twelfth-century "Íslendingabók", notes that Iceland was settled during his lifetime. Harald is thus depicted as the prime cause of the Norse settlement of Iceland and beyond. Iceland was settled by "malcontents" from Norway, who resented Harald's claim of rights of taxation over lands, which the possessors appear to have previously held in absolute ownership. It is the earliest non-skaldic account of Harald to use the nickname "hárfagri".


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The "Skarðsárbók"-version of "Landnámabók" includes a brief narrative of Harald and his background. Harald is here described as the great-grandson of Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye through his daughter Áslaug, her son Sigurd Hart and his daughter Ragnhild. The text describes Halfdan the Black's death by going through the ice on Randsfjorden, a story also told by Snorri in Heimskringla, and that Harald became king afterwards. He is said to have taken control of Sogn from Atli jarl due to him never paying taxes. This happened before Harald's conquest of Norway.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: "Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum" is dated to about 1190. Here Harald is described as having become the first king of all of Norway at the age of 20. It describes a battle in "Hafrsvágr" (as opposed of "Hafrifjord") against a king called Skeithar-Brandr ("Skeiðar-Brandr"). The text quotes a poem called ""Oddmjór"" which describes Harald as a Scylding were as other sources calls him an Yngling. He is described to as having waged wars for 10 years before having conquered all of Norway. He is said to have had 20 children, but that only Eirik Bloodaxe & Hakon the Good becoming kings. In this account, Eirik is described as Harald's eldest son and Hakon as the youngest. Only one of Harald's wives/concubines is named, Snjófríthr, daughter of Svási (Norwegian: "Svåse"), a beautiful sami-woman. She is described as having died three years after their marriage with Harald mourning for her, but the people mourning for him, considering him bewitched. Eirik is said to have succeeded Harald, ruling for five years, with two as a co-ruler with his father. Hákon eventually supplanted the cruel and oppressive rule of Eirik and his wife Gunnhildr. Hákon is said to be a Christian, but swayed from Christianity due to his unnamed pagan wife and his will to please his people.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: "Historia Norwegiæ", which is dated to about 1220, mentions that Iceland was discovered in the time of Harald Fairhair by Ingólfr Arnarson and Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson. The work describes the history of the Yngling-dynasty from the legendary king Ingvi as Harald's ancestors and Halfdan the Black was his father. Halfdan is here described as ruling a mountainous region of Norway and having drowned in Rondvatnet. Harald's rule is said to have lasted for 73 years and his nickname derived from his beautiful hair. Notably, Harald is here described as being the first to rule the entire coastal region of Norway, as opposed to all of Norway. The interior is described to as having been ruled by petty kings, however, it is said that Harald as good as ruled this region as well.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: This account describes Eirik Bloodaxe as the oldest son of Harald, unlike in Heimskringla. Hákon is not referred to as ""the good"" and is Harald's second son, not his youngest. This account of Hákon suggest that he did not accept Christianity. Like the later Heimskringla, Ragnvald Rettilbeine is described as killed on Harald's orders. In Heimskringla he is burned alive by Eirik Bloodaxe, while Historia Norwegiæ describes Ragnvald as being drowned.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: "Fagrskinna" is thought to have been written around 1220 and is a catalogue of the kings of Norway. The first part describes Harald Fairhair's birth ancestry in form of his paternal grandfather Gudrød the Hunter and maternal grandfather Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and his parents Halfdan the Black and Ragnhildr. The text also describes Halfdan having another son called Harald by another woman named Ragnhildr, daughter of the king Harald Goldbeard of Sogn. Halfdan's first Harald inherited Sogn after the death of Harald Goldbeard, and then died himself. Halfdan then inherited Sogn from his first son. The story is repeated by Snorri in "Heimskringla" and suggests two conflicting stories of Harald's ancestry being combined into one. Harald Fairhair is said to have inherited Halfdan's lands at a young age after the king drowned in the lake Rǫnd in Rykinsvik. The text then sites the poem "Hrafnsmál" at length as an example of Harald's nobility and prowess in battle. Harald appointed Atli the Slender as jarl of Fjaler, but that the two fell out. In this time Harald meet jarl Håkon Grjotgardsson (called "Hákon the Old" in the text) at a feast in Hladir ("Lade") in Trondheim and gave him part of Atli's fief. Atli defended his old area with violence and both of the jarl's were killed. Harald proclaimed he would not cut his hair until having become overlord of Norway and earning tribute from every inland valley and outlying headland, earning him the nickname ""Lufa"", "shockhead". Harald said to have fought many battles, including a decisive battle in Hafrfjord against Kjotve the Rich and Haklang. After this battle, all of Norway is said to paid tribute to Harald. Ragnvald jarl then cut Harald's hair and gave him the nickname "Fairhair".


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The text then described Harald's various sons, describing Eirik Bloodaxe as his most beloved and one of his oldest. Harald named Eirik his heir and died in Rogaland from old age and was buried in Haugesund.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: In the "Saga of Harald Fairhair" in "Heimskringla" (written around 1230), which is the most elaborate although not the oldest or most reliable source to the life of Harald, it is written that Harald succeeded, on the death of his father Halfdan the Black Gudrödarson in Rondvatnet, to the sovereignty of several small, and somewhat scattered kingdoms in Vestfold, which had come into his father's hands through conquest and inheritance. His protector-regent was his mother's brother Guthorm. He is described as the descendant of the Yngling-dynasty, whose history is described earlier in the work.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The unification of Norway is something of a love story. It begins with a marriage proposal that resulted in rejection and scorn from Gyda, the daughter of Eirik, king of Hordaland. She said she refused to marry Harald "before he was king over all of Norway". Harald was therefore induced to take a vow not to cut nor comb his hair until he was ""þjóðkonungr"" ("people-king") of Norway, and when he was justified in trimming it ten years later, he exchanged the epithet "Shockhead" or "Tanglehair" (Haraldr lúfa) for the one by which he is usually known.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: In 866, Harald made the first of a series of conquests over the many petty kingdoms which would compose all of Norway, including Värmland in Sweden, which had sworn allegiance to the Swedish saga-king Erik Eymundsson (whose historicity is not confirmed). Marching up through the Uplands and into Trondheim and then south along the coast Harald subdued many petty kings. Snorri credits his success to excellent leadership by him and his uncle Guthorm, as well as military reforms and his hard tax policy. The taxes demanded by Harald were much higher than other kings and a third of the revenues where given to his jarls. This made jarls and rich farmers flock to his cause to enrich themself. One of these was Håkon Grjotgardsson of Trondheim who allied with Harald and married off his daughter Åsa to him. Harald established the royal estate of Hlade in Trondheim and Håkon became the first of the Earls of Lade, a family which would be one of the dominating forces in Norway for the next 150 years. Harald's third principal ally was Rognvald Eysteinsson, jarl of Møre. Snorri describes Rognvald as Harald's closest friend and the one to coin the name "Fairhair". Harald is said to have fathered Bjørn Farmann and Olav Geirstadalv with Rognvald's sister Svanhild, ancestors of the famous Christian kings Olav Tryggvason (named after his grandfather Olav Geirstadalv) and Olav the Holy.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: In 872, after a great victory at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger against Kjotve the Rich, Harald found himself king over the whole country, ruling from his Kongsgård seats at Avaldsnes and Alrekstad. His realm was, however, threatened by dangers from without, as large numbers of his opponents had taken refuge, not only in Iceland, then recently discovered; but also in the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides Islands, Faroe Islands and the northern European mainland. However, his opponents' leaving was not entirely voluntary. Many Norwegian chieftains who were wealthy and respected posed a threat to Harald; therefore, they were subjected to much harassment from Harald, prompting them to vacate the land. At last, Harald was forced to make an expedition to the West, to clear the islands and the Scottish mainland of some Vikings who tried to hide there.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Snorri describes Harald's marriage to the daughter of Svási, here called Snæfrithr, but in his account they are described as jötnar rather than finns (sami). Gyda is said to have been made a "friðla" (concubine) of Harald after her father Eirik of Hordaland had been killed in battle by Harald's followers. Harald is said to have divorced Åsa and rejected Gyda and several other concubines to marry a Jutish princess called Ragnhild the Mighty. The couple only had one child, Eirik Bloodaxe, before her premature death. Eirik Bloodaxe was named after Ragnhild's father as was custom in medieval Scandinavia. Likely due to Eirik Bloodaxe royal mother, he was favored above Harald's other sons. Eirik himself had an unquestioning, near psychopathic loyalty to Harald. Unlike other authors, Snorri does not attribute Eirik's cruelty solely to Gunnhild. When Harald and Snæfrith's son Ragnvald Rettilbeine became known as patron of sorcerers and a practitioner of magic, Harald ordered him to cease such activity. When Ragnvald did not listen Harald sent Eirik Bloodaxe to murder him. Eirik had his half-brother and all of his sorcerers burned in their hall. When Bjørn Farmann was killed in a conflict with Eirik, Harald stepped in on Eirik's side against his other sons.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: There are several accounts of large feasting mead halls constructed for important feasts when Scandinavian royalty was invited. The Värmlandish chieftain Áki (Swedish "Åke jarl") invited both king Harald Fairhair and the Swedish saga-king Erik Eymundsson, but had the Norwegian king stay in the newly constructed and sumptuous one, because he was the youngest one of the kings and the one who had the greatest prospects. The older Swedish king, on the other hand, had to stay in the old feasting hall. The Swedish king was so humiliated that he killed Áki. Harald drove Erik Eymundsson out of Värmland and inserted Áki's son Ubbi (Swedish: "Ubbe") as jarl. Harald is then said to have made a punitive raid into Västra Götaland, to weaken Erik Eymundsson.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: As Harald's sons came of age their unruly behavior became a source of instability in Norway. Snæfrith's sons Halfdan Long-Leg and Gudrød Ljome burned Rognvald jarl alive in his hall and took his lands in More and Orkney. Halfdan Long-Legs was killed on Orkney by Rognvald's son Torf-Einarr and Gudrød was brought to justice by Harald. The estates in Møre are returned to Rognvald's other son Thorir the Silent who was given Harald's daughter Ålov in marriage as compensation. A variation of this story also appears in "Orkneyinga saga". Afterwards, Gudrød was kept in Harald's hird, in a position where Harald could prevent him from similar transgressions.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The thirteenth-century "Egil's Saga" presents a broadly similar account to that of "Heimskringla", though its depiction of Harald and his family is much more negative. It has been suggested that "Heimskringla" and "Egil's Saga" share Snorri Sturluson as author, or at least share a common source. Given the difference in attitude to the royal family and information regarding Erik Bloodaxe's family, the later seems more likely. Through the name Harald Fairhair appears, he is mostly irreverently referred to as Haraldr lúfa. Chapter 3 and 4 tells of Harald's conquest of Norway. It repeats Snorri's story of Harald's vow not to cut his hair until he had become king of all of Norway, but no mention is made of Gyda. Harald is said to have first conquered the Uplands and then taken Trondheim and become overlord over the thronds. This accounts differs from "Heimskringla" where it is said that Harald made a marriage alliance with Håkon Grjotgardsson which won him Trøndelag after they together defeated the petty kings there. The saga then relates the story of the brothers Herlaug and Hrollaug, kings of Namdalen. When Herlaug heard Harald was coming he committed suicide by closing himself into a mound with 12 men. Hrollaug renounced his kingship and took the title of jarl instead. Harald accepted Hrollaug's surrender and allowed him to rule Namdalen in his name. This story is also present in "Heimskringla". After this, Namdalen and Hålogaland were in his grasp. The saga then related how Harald did battle with the combined forces of kings Audbjörn of Firðafylki, Solvi Bandy-legs of Møre og Romsdal and Arnvid of Sunnmøre. They were all defeated in battle by Harald, with only Solvi escaping with his life to live the rest of his life as a roving Viking. The remaining independent rulers of Norway were then crushed by Harald's allies or opportunists that attacked their neighbors and then submitted to Harald like Hrollaug had done. The saga tells how people of Norway were then put under heavy taxes and oppression by Harald. Anyone suspected of wanting to rise in rebellion were given the option of fleeing the country, submitting himself as a tenant or having hands and feet cut off. According to the saga author, most who were given this option chose to flee. Harald is supposed to have confiscated massive amounts of private property and made many previously free farmers his thralls. Four sons of Harald are mentioned in the saga: Eirikr Bloodaxe (one of the saga's major antagonists), Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri (otherwise called "the Good"), Olaf and "Sigurðr" (whose name is otherwise usually rendered as "Sigröðr"). The saga renders Harald's title as "einváldskonungr" ("sole-ruling king").


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Not unlike "Egil's Saga", Harald's conquest of Norway sets off the plot of "Grettis saga". Gretti's great-grandfather Önundr Wood-foot is said to be one of many people that fled Norway after fighting for king Kjotvi the Rich and Thorir Haklang in the battle of Hafrsfjord. The saga describes how Harald and his elite Úlfhèðnar warriors (famously mentioned in Hrafnsmál) fought and killed Thorir Haklang when he went berserk. Önundr got his name after his leg was crushed beneath the knee by the prow of one of the king's ships and he had to walk on a wooden pegleg for the rest of his life.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The 13th century "Ragnars saga loðbrókar ok sona hans" ("Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons") mentions Harald Fairhair in chapter 18 as the great great grandson of Sigurd Hart through his daughter Aslaug, her son Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and his daughter Ragnhild.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Harald's maternal ancestry is elaborated upon in the final chapter of the 14th century "Ragnarssona þáttr". Harald's mother is said to have been Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter, who according to the saga was the great granddaughter of Sigurd through her mother Inibjorg and he grandmother Aslaug. This story is the same as in Snorri's earlier "Hálfdanar saga svarta" in "Heimskringla", but contradicts "Fagrskinna". Both "Hálfdanar saga svarta" and "Ragnarssona þáttr" have issues with the traditional dating of the saga events. The marriage of Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Blaeja could not have occurred earlier than 867, which would put the dating Harald's ascension to kingship of Norway in 872 into question. "Fagrskinna" makes no mention of Blaeja and states that Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter was Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye's daughter and not his great granddaughter, which seems more plausible in regards to the dating of events.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: "Flóamanna saga" is traditionally thought of as a 14th-century work and repeats the story of Harald Fairhair's ancestry as told in "Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok", and elaborates back to Sigurd Fafnisbani and Odin through Aslaug. In old Norse society, the ancestry of both parents was considered of imperance for the status of a person. The saga relates the conflict between Atli the Slender and Håkon Grjotgardsson and their deaths. Håkon's son Sigurd Haakonsson advised Harald to kill Atli's son Hallstein which lead to Hallstein's exile in Iceland.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: In "Vatnsdæla saga" Harald's conquest of Norway is described. The saga's initial protagonist Ingimundr recognises that Harald will prevail at Hafrfjord and arranges a meeting with Harald, Ragnvald Mörejarl and their ulfhednar-warriors. Ingimundr offers his loyalty to Harald which Harald graciously accepts, but Ingimundr is suspicious of the king and he and his friend Sæmundr emigrate to Iceland. Harald wins an extrodinary victory at Hafrfjord and makes Ragnvald a jarl.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The "Orkneyinga saga" likely dates to in the early thirteenth century and belongs to belongs to the genre of "Kings’ Sagas" within Icelandic saga literature, a group of histories of the kings of Norway. It describes in more detail the expedition of Harald Fairhair and Rognvald Mørejarl on an expedition to clear the islands of the Viking refugees of from Harald's conquest of Norway that raided the coast. During the expedition Rognvald's son Ivar was killed so Harald gave governorship of the islands to him. Rognvald wanted to stay in his home in Møre so he passed the jarlship of the Islands to his brother Sigurd. The saga is informed by the Norwegian politics of the day. Once, historians could write that no-one denied the reality of Harald Fairhair's expeditions to the west (recounted in detail in the "Heimskringla"), but this is no longer the case. Thomson (2008) writes that Harald's "great voyage is so thoroughly ingrained in popular and scholarly history, both ancient and modern, that it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that it might not be true." The Norwegian contest with the Kings of Scots over the Hebrides and the Isle of Man in the mid 13th century is the backdrop to the saga writer's intentions and in part at least the sagas aim to legitimise Norwegian claims to both the Northern Isles and the Kingdom of the Isles in the west.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The fourteenth-century "Flateyjarbók" features a Þáttr called "Haralds þáttr hárfagra", literary "Harald Fairhair's Þáttr". The first chapter describes Harald's ascension to the throne at the age of sixteen, in contrast to other accounts which gives the age of ten. He is here given the otherwise unknown nickname ""Dofrafostri"" ("Dovre-fostered"). Harald's maternal uncle Guthormr is described as his duke and most important ally. Harald's war with Gandalf Alfgeirsson and his neighboring kings is described as in "Heimskringla", through in less detail. Following this Harald's marriage to Gyda is described and his conquest of Norway. Unlike "Heimskringla", "Flateyjarbók" clearly states that the two were married. Harald's further marriages are described as is his rejections of them and his various concubines in favor of Ragnhild the Mighty. The Þáttr concludes with a description of the fates of Harald's various sons, including Thorgils' and Frodi's career as "west-vikings".


title: Harald Fairhair

text: According to the saga sources, the latter part of Harald's reign was disturbed by the strife of his many sons. The number of sons he left varies in the different saga accounts, from 11 to 20. Twelve of his sons are named as kings, two of them ruled over the whole of Norway. He gave them all the royal title and assigned lands to them, which they were to govern as his representatives; but this arrangement did not put an end to the discord, which continued into the next reign. When he grew old, Harald handed over the supreme power to his favourite son Eirik Bloodaxe, whom he intended to be his successor. Eirik I ruled side by side with his father when Harald was 80 years old. In the Gray Goose Laws, a person above the age of 80 was not allowed to make financial decisions or decisions about inheritance. This co-rulership likely reflected similar laws and would also been way for Harald to force his intended succession. Harald died three years later due to old age in approximately 933.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Harald Harfager was commonly stated to have been buried under a mound at Haugar by the Strait of Karmsund near the church in Haugesund, an area that later would be named the town and municipal Haugesund. The area near Karmsund was the traditional burial site for several early Norwegian rulers. The national monument of Haraldshaugen was raised in 1872, to commemorate the Battle of Hafrsfjord which is traditionally dated to 872.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: While the various sagas name anywhere from 11 to 20 sons of Harald in various contexts, the contemporary skaldic poem "Hákonarmál" says that Harald's son Håkon would meet only "eight brothers" when arriving in Valhalla, a place for slain warriors, kings, and Germanic heroes. Only the following five names of sons can be confirmed from skaldic poems (with saga claims in parentheses), while the full number of sons remains unknown:


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The full list of sons (and partial list of daughters) according to Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla":


title: Harald Fairhair

text: Harald Fairhair became an important figure in Norwegian nationalism in the nineteenth century, during its struggle for independence from Sweden, when he served as 'a heroic narrative character disseminating a foundation story of Norway becoming an independent nation'. In particular, a national monument to Harald was erected in 1872 on Haraldshaugen, an ancient burial mound at the town of Haugesund then imagined to be Harald Finehair's burial place, despite opposition from left-wing politicians. The German historian Jan Rüdiger concluded that: His compelling narrative has survived scholarly scrutiny almost unscathed - or rather, professional historical knowledge based on a century of source criticism coexists with Snorri's unscathed narrative in the sense that in the 21st century both are "true" in a completary, non-completive way. As unifier of the kingdom, Harald rests under a 'Viking' memorial site of burial mounds and memorial stones near his royal court at Avaldsnes in the Westland, precisely the region that first caught his attention in Gyda, and whose conquest at the Battle of Hafrsfjord has been regarded as the keystone in the unification of the realm ever since Snorri. Harald Fairhair will always be the first king of Norway.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: The claim to Harald has become important to the development of the tourism industry of Haugesund and its region:


title: Harald Fairhair

text: today, King Harald Fairhair is associated with several archaeological sites where modern monuments and theme parks (obelisks, towers, sculptures, ‘reconstructions’ of ancient houses/villages) are constructed and where various commemorative practices (jubilees, rallies, festivals) are being performed. The Viking hero Harald Fairhair has become part of a vital re-enactment culture, which is evident in, among other things, a memorial park in central Haugesund with the erection of a statue of Harald Fairhair ... the performance of a Harald musical ... the building of ‘the largest’ Viking ship in the world ... the establishment of a theme park based on the Viking concept, and a historic centre where the mythology of King Harald is disseminated ... The main initiators behind these commemorative projects in the Haugesund region today are, as it was in the 1870s, local commercial entrepreneurs who are nourished by local patriotism.


title: Harald Fairhair

text: In 2013, commercially led archaeological excavations at Avaldsnes began with the explicit intention of developing the local heritage industry in relation to the Harald Fairhair brand, provoking a prominent debate in Norway over the appropriate handling of archaeological heritage.


title: Tachycardia

text: Tachycardia, also called tachyarrhythmia, is a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate. In general, a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute is accepted as tachycardia in adults. Heart rates above the resting rate may be normal (such as with exercise) or abnormal (such as with electrical problems within the heart).


title: Tachycardia

text: When the rate of blood flow becomes too rapid, or fast blood flow passes on damaged endothelium, it increases the friction within vessels resulting in turbulence and other disturbances. According to the Virchow's triad, this is one of the three conditions that can lead to thrombosis (i.e., blood clots within vessels).


title: Tachycardia

text: The upper threshold of a normal human resting heart rate is based on age. Cutoff values for tachycardia in different age groups are fairly well standardized; typical cutoffs are listed below:


title: Tachycardia

text: Heart rate is considered in the context of the prevailing clinical picture. When the heart beats excessively or rapidly, the heart pumps less efficiently and provides less blood flow to the rest of the body, including the heart itself. The increased heart rate also leads to increased work and oxygen demand by the heart, which can lead to rate related ischemia.


title: Tachycardia

text: An electrocardiogram (ECG) is used to classify the type of tachycardia. They may be classified into narrow and wide complex based on the QRS complex. Equal or less than 0.1s for narrow complex. Presented in order of most to least common, they are:


title: Tachycardia

text: Tachycardias may be classified as either narrow complex tachycardias (supraventricular tachycardias) or wide complex tachycardias. Narrow and wide refer to the width of the QRS complex on the ECG. Narrow complex tachycardias tend to originate in the atria, while wide complex tachycardias tend to originate in the ventricles. Tachycardias can be further classified as either regular or irregular.


title: Tachycardia

text: The body has several feedback mechanisms to maintain adequate blood flow and blood pressure. If blood pressure decreases, the heart beats faster in an attempt to raise it. This is called reflex tachycardia. This can happen in response to a decrease in blood volume (through dehydration or bleeding), or an unexpected change in blood flow. The most common cause of the latter is orthostatic hypotension (also called postural hypotension). Fever, hyperventilation, diarrhea and severe infections can also cause tachycardia, primarily due to increase in metabolic demands.


title: Tachycardia

text: Upon exertion, sinus tachycardia can also be seen in some Inborn Errors of Metabolism that result in metabolic myopathies, such as McArdle Disease (GSD-V). Metabolic myopathies interfere with the muscle's ability to create energy. This energy shortage in muscle cells causes an inappropriate rapid heart rate in response to exercise. The heart tries to compensate for the energy shortage by increasing heart rate to maximize delivery of oxygen and other blood borne fuels to the muscle cells.


title: Tachycardia

text: "In McArdle's, our heart rate tends to increase in what is called an 'inappropriate' response. That is, after the start of exercise it increases much more quickly than would be expected in someone unaffected by McArdle's." As skeletal muscle relies predominantly on glycogenolysis for the first few minutes as it transitions from rest to activity, as well as throughout high-intensity aerobic activity and all anaerobic activity, individuals with GSD-V experience during exercise: sinus tachycardia, tachypnea, muscle fatigue and pain, during the aforementioned activities and time frames. Those with GSD-V also experience "Second Wind," after approximately 6-10 minutes of light-moderate aerobic activity, such as walking without an incline, where the heart rate drops and symptoms of exercise intolerance improve.


title: Tachycardia

text: An increase in sympathetic nervous system stimulation causes the heart rate to increase, both by the direct action of sympathetic nerve fibers on the heart and by causing the endocrine system to release hormones such as epinephrine (adrenaline), which have a similar effect. Increased sympathetic stimulation is usually due to physical or psychological stress. This is the basis for the so-called fight-or-flight response, but such stimulation can also be induced by stimulants such as ephedrine, amphetamines or cocaine. Certain endocrine disorders such as pheochromocytoma can also cause epinephrine release and can result in tachycardia independent of nervous system stimulation. Hyperthyroidism can also cause tachycardia. The upper limit of normal rate for sinus tachycardia is thought to be 220 bpm minus age.


title: Tachycardia

text: Inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST) is a rare but benign type of cardiac arrhythmia that may be caused by a structural abnormality in the sinus node. It can occur in seemingly healthy individuals with no history of cardiovascular disease. Other causes may include Autonomic nervous system deficits, autoimmune response, or drug interactions. Although symptoms might be distressing, treatment is not generally needed.


title: Tachycardia

text: Ventricular tachycardia (VT or V-tach) is a potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia that originates in the ventricles. It is usually a regular, wide complex tachycardia with a rate between 120 and 250 beats per minute. A medically significant subvariant of ventricular tachycardia is called "torsades de pointes" (literally meaning "twisting of the points", due to its appearance on an EKG), which tends to result from a long QT interval.


title: Tachycardia

text: Both of these rhythms normally last for only a few seconds to minutes" (paroxysmal tachycardia)", but if VT persists it is extremely dangerous, often leading to ventricular fibrillation.


title: Tachycardia

text: This is a type of tachycardia that originates from above the ventricles, such as the atria. It is sometimes known as paroxysmal atrial tachycardia (PAT). Several types of supraventricular tachycardia are known to exist.


title: Tachycardia

text: Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias. In general, it is an irregular, narrow complex rhythm. However, it may show wide QRS complexes on the ECG if a bundle branch block is present. At high rates, the QRS complex may also become wide due to the Ashman phenomenon. It may be difficult to determine the rhythm's regularity when the rate exceeds 150 beats per minute. Depending on the patient's health and other variables such as medications taken for rate control, atrial fibrillation may cause heart rates that span from 50 to 250 beats per minute (or even higher if an accessory pathway is present). However, new-onset atrial fibrillation tends to present with rates between 100 and 150 beats per minute.


title: Tachycardia

text: AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) is the most common reentrant tachycardia. It is a regular narrow complex tachycardia that usually responds well to the Valsalva maneuver or the drug adenosine. However, unstable patients sometimes require synchronized cardioversion. Definitive care may include catheter ablation.


title: Tachycardia

text: AV reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) requires an accessory pathway for its maintenance. AVRT may involve orthodromic conduction (where the impulse travels down the AV node to the ventricles and back up to the atria through the accessory pathway) or antidromic conduction (which the impulse travels down the accessory pathway and back up to the atria through the AV node). Orthodromic conduction usually results in a narrow complex tachycardia, and antidromic conduction usually results in a wide complex tachycardia that often mimics ventricular tachycardia. Most antiarrhythmics are contraindicated in the emergency treatment of AVRT, because they may paradoxically increase conduction across the accessory pathway.


title: Tachycardia

text: Junctional tachycardia is an automatic tachycardia originating in the AV junction. It tends to be a regular, narrow complex tachycardia and may be a sign of digitalis toxicity.


title: Tachycardia

text: The management of tachycardia depends on its type (wide complex versus narrow complex), whether or not the person is stable or unstable, and whether the instability is due to the tachycardia. Unstable means that either important organ functions are affected or cardiac arrest is about to occur.


title: Tachycardia

text: In those that are unstable with a narrow complex tachycardia, intravenous adenosine may be attempted. In all others immediate cardioversion is recommended.


title: Tachycardia

text: The word "tachycardia" came to English from New Latin as a neoclassical compound built from the combining forms "tachy-" + "-cardia", which are from the Greek ταχύς "tachys", "quick, rapid" and καρδία, "kardia", "heart". As a matter both of usage choices in the medical literature and of idiom in natural language, the words "tachycardia" and "tachyarrhythmia" are usually used interchangeably, or loosely enough that precise differentiation is not explicit. Some careful writers have tried to maintain a logical differentiation between them, which is reflected in major medical dictionaries and major general dictionaries. The distinction is that "tachycardia" be reserved for the rapid heart rate itself, regardless of cause, physiologic or pathologic (that is, from healthy response to exercise or from cardiac arrhythmia), and that "tachyarrhythmia" be reserved for the pathologic form (that is, an arrhythmia of the rapid rate type). This is why five of the previously referenced dictionaries do "not" enter cross-references indicating synonymy between their entries for the two words (as they do elsewhere whenever synonymy is meant), and it is why one of them explicitly specifies that the two words not be confused. But the prescription will probably never be successfully imposed on general usage, not only because much of the existing medical literature ignores it even when the words stand alone but also because the terms for specific types of arrhythmia (standard collocations of adjectives and noun) are deeply established idiomatically with the "tachycardia" version as the more commonly used version. Thus SVT is called supraventricular tachycardia more than twice as often as it is called supraventricular tachyarrhythmia; moreover, those two terms are always completely synonymous—in natural language there is no such term as "healthy/physiologic supraventricular tachycardia". The same themes are also true of AVRT and AVNRT. Thus this pair is an example of when a particular prescription (which may have been tenable 50 or 100 years earlier) can no longer be invariably enforced without violating idiom. But the power to differentiate in an idiomatic way is not lost, regardless, because when the specification of physiologic tachycardia is needed, that phrase aptly conveys it.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: Oliver Mansour Jackson-Cohen (born 24 October 1986) is an English actor and model. He is best known for his role as Adrian Griffin in the 2020 adaptation of "The Invisible Man" and for his roles as Luke Crain and Peter Quint in the Netflix television programmes "The Haunting of Hill House" (2018) and "The Haunting of Bly Manor" (2020) respectively. He also had a recurring role in the 2013 television series "Dracula".


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: Jackson-Cohen was born in Westminster, London. His mother, Betty Jackson, is a fashion designer, and his late father, David Cohen, was also his mother's business partner. His mother is English and from a Protestant background. His father was from an Orthodox Jewish family that moved to France in the 1950s; Jackson-Cohen has stated they were of Egyptian Jewish and Tunisian Jewish descent.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: He attended the Youngblood Theatre Company during weekends, then began washing vases for a florist as a job to financially support himself between auditions. He attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City due to not getting into drama school in London. His aim was to "do a foundational year and then reapply in London" but left after four months because he was offered a job.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: Jackson-Cohen landed a small role in the television series "Hollyoaks" when he was 15, and he later appeared in the ITV series "The Time of Your Life" in 2007. In 2008, he played Phillip White in the BBC adaptation of "Lark Rise to Candleford" and in the first episode of "Bonekickers". He also played Marcus in the short film "The Rooftopsmiths" by Len Rowles with Natasha Freeman as Imogen and Philip Marden as Joel. In 2010, he played Damon in the romantic comedy film "Going the Distance" starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. and a hitman in the action film "Faster", opposite Dwayne Johnson. In 2011, he starred as Prince William, Duke of Cambridge in a series of Funny or Die videos with Allison Williams as newlywed Kate Middleton. Jackson-Cohen starred opposite Cynthia Nixon in the miniseries "World Without End" as Ralph. He appears in "Mr Selfridge" with Jeremy Piven where he plays the role of Roddy Temple.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: In 2013, Jackson-Cohen was cast as journalist Jonathan Harker in the NBC series "Dracula". In 2014, he was cast as Misha in the film adaptation of Shamim Sarif's 2004 novel "Despite the Falling Snow". In March 2014, Jackson-Cohen was cast as James, Duke of York in ITV's four-part period drama miniseries "The Great Fire".


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: It was announced in July 2014 that he would star opposite Sarah Snook in the 2015 ABC convict miniseries "The Secret River", an adaptation of Kate Grenville's 2005 novel of the same name. In 2015, Jackson-Cohen also starred in "The Healer" as Alec Bailey. In the same year, Jackson-Cohen was cast as Lucas in "Emerald City", a television series that re-imagined the novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. The series premiered in 2017 and was cancelled after one season. He then appeared in both seasons of the anthology web television series "The Haunting". Both seasons of the series, "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor," received strong critical praise.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: Jackson-Cohen next starred opposite Elisabeth Moss in the science fiction horror film "The Invisible Man", portraying the titular role; the film was released in 2020 to positive reviews. He later stated that the press tour for the film was difficult because it began just three days after his father had died.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: In 2021, he appeared in the drama film "The Lost Daughter", directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. In 2022, he co-starred in the romantic regency comedy "Mr. Malcolm's List", a film adaptation of the novel of the same name. In June 2021 it was announced that he would star in the upcoming Apple TV+ series "Surface" playing the character of James Ellis. The series premiered on 29 July 2022 to mixed critical reviews, though Jackson-Cohen's performance generally received critical praise. On 2 December 2022, the show was renewed for a second season.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: In June 2022 it was announced that Jackson-Cohen would star opposite Jenna Coleman in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series "Wilderness", a television adaptation of B.E. Jones's novel of the same name, which began filming summer 2022 in Canada, the UK and the US and wrapped in October 2022.


title: Oliver Jackson-Cohen

text: Jackson-Cohen resides in London. In 2017 he stated in an Instagram post that he has been formally diagnosed with PTSD which stems from childhood abuse. His experiences informed his performance in "The Haunting of Hill House": "I was diagnosed with PTSD a couple of years ago so all of that is in there with Luke - and it felt incredibly cathartic to be able to kind of put it all out there and be there."


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming Valley, and the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 562,037 as of 2020. It is the sixth largest city in Pennsylvania. The contiguous network of five cities and more than 40 boroughs all built in a straight line in Northeastern Pennsylvania's urban area act culturally and logistically as one continuous city, so while the city of Scranton itself is a smaller town, the larger unofficial city of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre contains nearly half a million residents in roughly 200 square miles. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is the cultural and economic center of a region called Northeastern Pennsylvania, which is home to over 1.3 million residents.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton hosts a federal court building for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The city is conventionally divided into nine districts: North Scranton, Southside, Westside, the Hill Section, Central City, Minooka, East Mountain, Providence and Green Ridge, though these areas do not have legal status. The city is the geographic and cultural center of the Lackawanna River valley (a local name for a small part of the Wyoming Valley) and Northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as the largest of the former anthracite coal mining communities in a contiguous quilt-work that also includes Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, Pittston, and Carbondale. Scranton was incorporated on February 14, 1856, as a borough in Luzerne County and as a city on April 23, 1866. It became a major industrial city and a center of mining and railroads; it attracted thousands of new immigrants. It was the site of the Scranton General Strike in 1877.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: People in northern Luzerne County sought a new county in 1839, but the Wilkes-Barre area resisted losing its assets. Lackawanna County did not gain independent status until 1878. Under legislation allowing the issue to be voted by residents of the proposed territory, voters favored the new county by a proportion of 6 to 1, with Scranton residents providing the major support. The city was designated as the county seat when Lackawanna County was established in 1878, and a judicial district was authorized in July 1879.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The city's nickname "Electric City" began when electric lights were introduced in 1880 at the Dickson Manufacturing Company. Six years later, the United States' first streetcars powered only by electricity began operating in the city. Rev. David Spencer, a local Baptist minister, later proclaimed Scranton as the "Electric City".


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The city's industrial production and population peaked in the 1930s and 1940s, fueled by demand for coal and textiles, especially during World War II. But while the national economy boomed after the war, demand for the region's coal declined as other forms of energy became more popular, which also harmed the rail industry. Foreseeing the decline, city leaders formulated the Scranton Plan in 1945 to diversify the local economy beyond coal, but the city's economy continued to decline. The Knox Mine disaster of 1959 essentially ended coal mining in the region. Scranton's population dropped from its peak of 143,433 in the 1930 census to 76,089 in the 2010 census. The city now has large health care, academic, and manufacturing sectors.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Present-day Scranton and its surrounding area had been long inhabited by the native Lenape tribe, from whose language "Lackawanna" (or "lac-a-wa-na," meaning "stream that forks") is derived. In 1778, Isaac Tripp, the area's first known white settler, built his home here; it still stands in North Scranton, formerly a separate town known as Providence. More settlers from Connecticut came to the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries after the American Revolutionary War, as their state claimed this area as part of their colonial charter.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: They gradually established mills and other small businesses in a village that became known as Slocum Hollow. People in the village during this time carried the traits and accent of their New England settlers, which were somewhat different from most of Pennsylvania. Some area settlers from Connecticut participated in what was known as the Pennamite Wars, where settlers competed for control of the territory which had been included in royal colonial land grants to both states. (This claim between Connecticut and Pennsylvania was settled by negotiation with the federal government after independence.)


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Though anthracite coal was being mined in Carbondale to the north and Wilkes-Barre to the south, the industries that precipitated the city's early rapid growth were iron and steel. In the 1840s, brothers Selden T. and George W. Scranton, who had worked at Oxford Furnace in Oxford, New Jersey, founded what became Lackawanna Iron & Coal, later developing as the Lackawanna Steel Company. It initially started producing iron nails, but that venture failed due to low-quality iron. The Erie Railroad's construction in New York State was delayed by its having to acquire iron rails as imports from England. The Scrantons' firm decided to switch its focus to producing T-rails for the Erie; the company soon became a major producer of rails for the rapidly expanding railroads.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 1851, the Scrantons built the Lackawanna and Western Railroad (L&W) northward, with recent Irish immigrants supplying most of the labor, to meet the Erie Railroad in Great Bend, Pennsylvania. Thus they could transport manufactured rails from the Lackawanna Valley to New York and the Midwest. They also invested in coal mining operations in the city to fuel their steel operations, and to market it to businesses. In 1856, they expanded the railroad eastward as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), in order to tap into the New York City metropolitan market. This railroad, with its hub in Scranton, was Scranton's largest employer for almost one hundred years.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The Pennsylvania Coal Company built a gravity railroad in the 1850s through the city for the purpose of transporting coal. The gravity railroad was replaced by a steam railroad built in 1886 by the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad (later absorbed by the Erie Railroad). The Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal Company, which had its own gravity railroad from Carbondale to Honesdale, built a steam railroad that entered Scranton in 1863.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: During this short period of time, the city rapidly transformed from a small, agrarian-based village of people with New England roots to a multicultural, industrial-based city. From 1860 to 1900, the city's population increased more than tenfold. Most new immigrants, such as the Irish, Italians, Jewish, and south Germans and Polish, were Catholic, a contrast to the majority-Protestant early settlers of colonial descent. National, ethnic, religious and class differences were wrapped into political affiliations, with many new immigrants joining the Democratic Party (and, for a time in the late 1870s, the Greenbacker-Labor Party.)


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 1856, the Borough of Scranton was officially incorporated. It was incorporated as a city of 35,000 in 1866 in Luzerne County, when the surrounding boroughs of Hyde Park (now part of the city's West Side) and Providence (now part of North Scranton) were merged with Scranton. Twelve years later in 1878, the state passed a law enabling creation of new counties where a county's population surpassed 150,000, as did Luzerne's. The law appeared to enable the creation of Lackawanna County, and there was considerable political agitation around the authorizing process. Scranton was designated by the state legislature as the county seat of the newly formed county, which was also established as a separate judicial district, with state judges moving over from Luzerne County after courts were organized in October 1878. This was the last county in the state to be organized.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Creation of the new county, which enabled both more local control and political patronage, helped begin the Scranton General Strike of 1877. This was in part due to the larger Great Railroad Strike, in which railroad workers began to organize and participate in walkouts after wage cuts in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The national economy had lagged since the Panic of 1873, and workers in many industries struggled with low wages and intermittent work. In Scranton, mineworkers followed the railroad men off the job, as did others. A protest of 5,000 strikers ended in violence, with a total of four men killed, and 20 to 50 injured, including the mayor. He had established a militia, but called for help from the governor and state militia. Governor John Hartranft eventually brought in federal troops to quell the strike. The workers gained nothing in wages, but began to organize more purposefully into labor unions that could wield more power.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The nation's first successful, continuously operating electrified streetcar (trolley) system was established in the city in 1886, inspiring the nickname "The Electric City". In 1896, the city's various streetcar companies were consolidated into the Scranton Railway Company, which ran trolleys until 1954. By 1890, three other railroads had built lines to tap into the rich supply of coal in and around the city, including the Erie Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and finally the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W).


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: As the vast rail network spread above ground, an even larger network of railways served the rapidly expanding system of coal veins underground. Miners, who in the early years were typically Welsh and Irish, were hired as cheaply as possible by the coal barons. The workers endured low pay, long hours and unsafe working conditions. Children as young as eight or nine worked 14-hour days separating slate from coal in the breakers. Often, the workers were forced to use company-provided housing and purchase food and other goods from stores owned by the coal companies. With hundreds of thousands of immigrants arriving in the industrial cities, mine owners did not have to search for labor and workers struggled to keep their positions. Later miners came from Italy and eastern Europe, which people fled because of poverty and lack of jobs.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Business was booming at the end of the 19th century. The tonnage of coal mined increased virtually every year, as did the steel manufactured by the Lackawanna Steel Company. At one point the company had the largest steel plant in the United States, and it was still the second largest producer at the turn of the 20th century. By 1900, the city had a population of more than 100,000.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Given its industrial basis, Scranton has had a notable labor history; various coal worker unions struggled throughout the coal-mining era to improve working conditions, raise wages, and guarantee fair treatment for workers. The Panic of 1873 and other economic difficulties caused a national recession and loss of business. As the economy contracted, the railroad companies reduced wages of workers in most classes (while sometimes reserving raises for their top management). A major strike of railroad workers in August 1877, part of the Great Railroad Strike, attracted workers from the steel industry and mining as well, and developed as the Scranton General Strike. Four rioters were killed during unrest during the strike, after the mayor mustered a militia. With violence suppressed by militia and federal troops, workers finally returned to their jobs, not able to gain any economic relief. William Walker Scranton, from the prominent family, was then general manager of Lackawanna Iron and Coal. He later founded Scranton Steel Company.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The labor issues and growth of industry in Scranton contributed to Lackawanna County being established by the state legislature in 1878, with territory taken from Luzerne County. Scranton was designated as the county seat. This strengthened its local government.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The unions failed to gain higher wages that year, but in 1878 they elected labor leader Terence V. Powderly of the Knights of Labor as mayor of Scranton. After that, he became national leader of the KoL, a predominately Catholic organization that had a peak membership of 700,000 circa 1880. While the Catholic Church had prohibited membership in secret organizations since the mid-18th century, by the late 1880s with the influence of Archbishop James Gibbons of Baltimore, Maryland, it supported the Knights of Labor as representing workingmen and union organizing.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The landmark Coal strike of 1902 was called by anthracite miners across the region and led by the United Mine Workers under John Mitchell. The strike was settled by a compromise brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt. A statue of John Mitchell was installed in his honor on the grounds of the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton, "the site of the Coal Strike of 1902 negotiations in which President Roosevelt participated. Because of the significance of these negotiations, the statue and the Courthouse were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. John Mitchell is buried in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton."


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: By the United States Census of 1900, the population of Scranton was about 102,026, making it the third largest city in Pennsylvania and 38th largest U.S. city.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: At the turn of the 20th century, wealthy businessmen and industrialists built impressive Victorian mansions in the Hill and Green Ridge sections of the city. Most were descended from colonists and belonged to the Republican Party. The industrial workers, who tended to be later immigrants from Ireland and southern and eastern Europe, were predominately Catholic. With a flood of immigrants in the market, they suffered poor working conditions and wages.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 1902, the dwindling local iron ore supply, labor issues, and an aging plant cost the city the industry on which it was founded. The Lackawanna Steel Company and many of its workers were moved to Lackawanna, New York, developed on Lake Erie just south of Buffalo. With a port on the lake, the company could receive iron ore shipped from the Mesabi Range in Minnesota, which was being newly mined.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton forged ahead as the capital of the anthracite coal industry. Attracting the thousands of workers needed to mine coal, the city developed new neighborhoods dominated by Italian and Eastern European immigrants, who brought their foods, cultures and religions. Many of the immigrants joined the Democratic Party. Their national churches and neighborhoods were part of the history of the city. Several Catholic and Orthodox churches were founded and built during this period. A substantial Jewish community was also established, with most members coming from the Russian Empire and eastern Europe. Working conditions for miners were improved by the efforts of labor leaders such as John Mitchell, who led the United Mine Workers.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The sub-surface mining weakened whole neighborhoods, however, damaging homes, schools, and businesses when the land collapsed. In 1913 the state passed the Davis Act to establish the Bureau of Surface Support in Scranton. Because of the difficulty in dealing with the coal companies, citizens organized the Scranton Surface Protection Association, chartered by the Court of Common Pleas on November 24, 1913 "to protect the lives and property of the citizens of the City of Scranton and the streets of said city from injury, loss and damage caused by mining and mine caves."


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 1915 and 1917, the city and Commonwealth sought injunctions to prevent coal companies from undermining city streets but lost their cases. North Main Avenue and Boulevard Avenue, "both entitled to surface support, caved in as a result" of court decisions that went against civil authorities and allowed the coal companies to continue their operations.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: "The case of "Penman v. Jones" came out differently. The Lackawanna Iron & Coal Co. had leased coal lands to the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Co., an allied interest, which passed the leases on to the Scranton Coal Co. Areas of central Scranton, the Hill Section, South Side, Pine Brook, Green Ridge and Hyde Park were affected by their mining activities. Mr. Penman was the private property owner in the case. The coal operators were defeated in this case."


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The public transportation system began to expand beyond the trolley lines pioneered by predecessors of the Scranton Railways system. The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad, commonly referred to as the Laurel Line, was built as an interurban passenger and freight carrier to Wilkes-Barre. Its Scranton station, offices, powerhouse and maintenance facility were built on the former grounds of the Lackawanna Steel Company, and operations started in 1903. Beginning in 1907, Scrantonians could also ride trolley cars to the northern suburbs of Clarks Summit and Dalton. They could travel to Lake Winola and Montrose using the Northern Electric Railroad. After the 1920s, no new trolley lines were built, but bus operations were started and expanded to meet service needs. In 1934, Scranton Railways was re-incorporated as the Scranton Transit Company, reflecting that shift in transportation modes.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Starting in the early 1920s, the Scranton Button Company (founded in 1885 and a major maker of shellac buttons) became one of the primary makers of phonograph records. They pressed records for Emerson (whom they bought in 1924), as well as Regal, Cameo, Romeo, Banner, Domino, Conqueror. In July 1929, the company merged with Regal, Cameo, Banner, and the U.S. branch of Pathé (makers of Pathé and Perfect) to become the American Record Corporation. By 1938, the Scranton company was also pressing records for Brunswick, Melotone, and Vocalion. In 1946, the company was acquired by Capitol Records, which continued to produce phonograph records through the end of the vinyl era.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: By the mid-1930s, the city population had swelled beyond 140,000 due to growth in the mining and silk textile industries. World War II created a great demand for energy, which led to the highest production from mining in the area since World War I.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: After World War II, coal lost favor to oil and natural gas as a heating fuel, largely because the latter types were more convenient to use. While some U.S. cities prospered in the post-war boom, the fortunes and population of Scranton (and the rest of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties) began to diminish. Coal production and rail traffic declined rapidly throughout the 1950s, causing a loss of jobs.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 1954, Worthington Scranton and his wife, Marion Margery Scranton, contributed one million dollars to establish the Scranton Foundation (now the Scranton Area Community Foundation), which was launched to support charitable and educational organizations in the city of Scranton.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The Knox Mine Disaster of January 1959 virtually ended the mining industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The waters of the Susquehanna River flooded the mines. The DL&W Railroad, nearly bankrupted by the drop in coal traffic and the effects of Hurricane Diane, merged in 1960 with the Erie Railroad.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Demand for public transportation also declined as new highways were built by federal subsidies and people purchased automobiles. In 1952, the Laurel Line ceased passenger service. The Scranton Transit Company, whose trolleys had given the city its nickname, transferred all operations to buses as the 1954 holiday season approached; by the end of 1971, it ceased all operations. The city was left without any public transportation system for almost a year until the Lackawanna County government formed COLTS, which began operations in late 1972 with 1950s-era GM busses from New Jersey.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton had been the hub of its operations until the Erie Lackawanna merger, after which it no longer served in this capacity. This was another severe blow to the local labor market. The NYO&W Railroad, which depended heavily on its Scranton branch for freight traffic, was abandoned in 1957. Mine subsidence was a spreading problem in the city as pillar supports in abandoned mines began to fail; cave-ins sometimes consumed entire blocks of homes. The area was left scarred by abandoned coal mining structures, strip mines, and massive culm dumps, some of which caught fire and burned for many years until they were extinguished through government efforts. In 1970, the Secretary of Mines for Pennsylvania suggested that so many underground voids had been left by mining underneath Scranton that it would be "more economical" to abandon the city than make them safe. In 1973, the last mine operations in Lackawanna County (which were in what is now McDade Park, and another on the Scranton/Dickson City line) were closed. During the 1960s and 1970s, the silk and other textile industries shrank as jobs were moved to the South or overseas.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 1962, businessman Alex Grass opened his first "Thrif D Discount Center" drugstore on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton. The store, an immediate success, was the progenitor of the Rite Aid national drugstore chain.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: During the 1970s and 1980s, many downtown storefronts and theaters became vacant. Suburban development followed the highways and suburban shopping malls became the dominant venues for shopping and entertainment.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Since the mid-1980s, the city has emphasized revitalization. Local government and much of the community at large have adopted a renewed interest in the city's buildings and history. Some historic properties have been renovated and marketed as tourist attractions. The Steamtown National Historic Site captures the area's once-prominent position in the railroad industry. The former DL&W train station was restored as the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel. The Electric City Trolley Museum was created next to the DL&W yards that the Steamtown NHS occupies.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Since the mid-1980s the Scranton Cultural Center has operated the architecturally significant Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral, designed by Raymond Hood, as the region's performing arts center. The Houdini Museum was opened in Scranton in 1990 by nationally known magician Dorothy Dietrich.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In 2003, Hilton Hotels & Resorts opened the Hilton Scranton Hotel & Conference Center at the corner of Adams Avenue & Lackawanna Avenue in the heart of downtown Scranton. Due to the rage for paranormal-themed televisions shows, a popular downtown historic Scranton Ghost Walk has been expanded to operate 365 days a year. Other attractions include the Montage Mountain ski resort (formerly Snö Mountain), the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins; the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (formerly the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees and, before that, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons), AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees; and their PNC Field, and the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain concert venue.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: According to "The Guardian", the city was close to bankruptcy in July 2012, with the wages of all municipal officials, including the mayor and fire chief, being cut to $7.25/hour. Financial consultant Gary Lewis, who lives in Scranton, was quoted as estimating that "on 5 July the city had just $5,000 cash in hand."


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Since the revitalization began, many coffee shops, restaurants, and bars have opened in the downtown, creating a vibrant night-life. The low cost of living, pedestrian-friendly downtown, and the construction of loft-style apartments in older, architecturally significant buildings have attracted young professionals and artists. Many are individuals who grew up in Scranton, moved to big cities after high school and college, and decided to return to the area to take advantage of its amenities. Many buildings around the city that were once empty are currently being restored. Many of the restored buildings will be used to entice new business into the city. Some of the newly renovated buildings are already being used.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton's total area of includes of land and of water, according to the United States Census Bureau. Scranton is drained by the Lackawanna River.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Center City is about 750 feet (229 m) above sea level, although the hilly city's inhabited portions range about from . The city is flanked by mountains to the east and west whose elevations range from .


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton has a humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfa"), with four distinct seasons. Summers have occasional heat waves bringing temperatures well above , while winters can have cold snaps bringing temperatures below . The monthly daily average temperature in January, the coldest month, is , while the same figure in July, the warmest month, is . Extremes in temperatures have ranged from down to on January 21, 1994; there is an average of 15 days of + highs, 39 days where the high fails to rise above freezing, and 3 days where the minimum is at or below . Precipitation is generally "slightly" greater during late spring and summer, while winter is generally the driest. On average, each month sees 10 to 13 days of precipitation, and the mean annual total is . Snowfall is variable, with some winters bringing light snow and others bringing numerous snowstorms. For the 1991–2020 period, snowfall has averaged per year, with January accounting for the most of the seasonal total; on average, the first and last dates of measurable (≥) snowfall are November 14 and March 31, respectively, with snow in October and April a rare occurrence.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: As of the 2020 census, there were 76,328 people and 31,039 households residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 83.1% White, 5.9% African American, 0.1% Native American, 4.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 4.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race make up 14.8% of the population.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: As of the 2010 census, there were 76,089 people, 30,069 households, and 18,124 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,006/mi (1,161/km). There were 33,853 housing units at an average density of 1,342/mi (518/km). The racial makeup of the city was 84.11% White, 5.45% African American, 0.23% Native American, 2.98% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 4.69% from other races, and 2.49% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race make up 9.90% of the population. The largest ancestry in the city is Irish, making up 26.5% of the population.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: There were 30,069 households, out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. The city had 36.7% of its households with single occupancy and 18.1% whose individuals was aged at least 65. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 3.01.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The age distribution of the population included 20.8% under 18, 12.3% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 20.1% at least 65. The median age was 39. For every 100 females, there were 87.0 males. For every 100 females aged at least 18, there were 83.0 males.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The median income for a household in the city was $28,805, and the median income for a family was $41,642. Males had a median income of $30,829 versus $21,858 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,174. Found below the poverty line are 15.0% of the population, 10.7% of families, 18.9% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those at least age 65.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: As of the 2006 American Community Survey, the average family size is 2.95. Of the population that's 25 years old and over, 83.3% of them have graduated from high school. 18.7% of them have a Bachelor's degree or higher. In labor force (population 16 years and over), 57.6% of them work. The per capita income (in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars) is $17,187.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Many of Scranton's attractions celebrate its heritage as an industrial center in iron and coal production and its ethnic diversity. The Scranton Iron Furnaces are remnants of the city's founding industry and of the Scranton family's Lackawanna Steel Company. The Steamtown National Historic Site seeks to preserve the history of railroads in the Northeast. The Electric City Trolley Museum preserves and operates pieces of Pennsylvania streetcar history. Tourists may go for trolley rides from Downtown Scranton to PNC Field on Montage Mountain. The Lackawanna Coal Mine tour at McDade Park, conducted inside a former mine, describes the history of mining and railroads in the Scranton area. The former DL&W Passenger Station is now the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Museums in Scranton include the Everhart Museum in Nay Aug Park, which houses a collection of natural history, science and art exhibits; and the Houdini Museum, which features films, exhibits, and a stage show in a unique, century-old building. Terence Powderly's house, still a private dwelling, is one of the city's many historic buildings and, with Steamtown, the city's other National Historic Landmark. In addition, The Lackawanna Historical Society, founded in 1886 and located at the George H. Catlin House in Scranton's Hill Section, focuses on the history of Lackawanna County. Tripp House, built by the Tripp family in 1771, is the oldest building in the city.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The city's religious history is evident in the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Ann, which draws thousands of pilgrims to its annual novena, and St. Stanislaus Cathedral, the seat of the Polish National Catholic Church in North America. The history of the founding of this denomination is tied to Polish immigration to Scranton in the late 19th century.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Since the 1970s, Scranton has hosted "La Festa Italiana", a three-day Italian festival that takes place on Labor Day weekend on the courthouse square. The festival originally took place around Columbus Day, but was moved because Scranton generally receives cold weather in October.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton's large Irish population is represented in the annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade, first held in 1862. Organized by the St. Patrick's Day Parade Association of Lackawanna County, it is the nation's fourth largest in attendance and second largest in per capita attendance. Held on the Saturday before Saint Patrick's Day, the parade includes more than 8,000 people, including floats, bagpipe players, high school bands and Irish groups. In 2008, attendance estimates were as high as 150,000 people.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: For recreation, there is Montage Mountain Ski Resort, known as Sno Mountain for a short period, which rivals the numerous resorts of the Poconos in popularity and offers a relatively comprehensive range of difficulty levels. The Steamtown Marathon has been held each October since 1996 and finishes in downtown Scranton. Nay Aug park is the largest of several parks in Scranton and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also laid out Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. The city is the home to numerous artistic organizations, including the Scranton Fringe Festival (a performing arts festival held in the downtown section of the city in fall).


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton's primary concert venue is the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain, a partially covered amphitheater that seats 17,500. Its summer concerts have included James Taylor, Dave Matthews Band, and many other musical acts.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple is an impressive piece of architecture which houses several auditoriums and a large ballroom. It hosts the Northeast Philharmonic, Broadway Theater and other touring performances.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The tallest building in Scranton is the Scranton Times Tower, a lattice radio tower on the Times building, which is illuminated during Christmas season.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The Lackawanna County Library System administers the libraries in Scranton, including the Albright Memorial Library, the Lackawanna County Children's Library and the Nancy Kay Holmes Library. As of 2008, Scranton libraries serve more than 96,000 people and have a circulation of over 547,000.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton's professional sports date to 1887, when the minor-league Scranton Indians became the city's first professional baseball team. Many more followed, including teams in the Pennsylvania State League, Eastern League, Atlantic League, New York State League, New York–Penn League and the New York–Pennsylvania League. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the International League play their home games at PNC Field in Moosic, south of Scranton.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: In football, the Scranton Eagles, a discontinued semi-pro/minor league team, dominated their Empire Football League, winning 11 championships. The former arena football Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, who played eight seasons at the Mohegan Sun Arena, formerly Wachovia Arena, in Wilkes-Barre Township made the playoffs in their last six years of existence and contended for the ArenaCup VIII in 2007 and the ArenaCup X in 2009, their final year, but lost both times. Another semi-pro/minor league team the North East Pennsylvania Miners of the [Big North East Football Federation started play in the area in 2007.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The NEPA Shock are a Semi-Pro/Minor League team that currently operate out of the Dickson City borough. The Shock were established in 2012 and participate in arena style football as a member of the Great Eastern Football Association.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Scranton previously had pro basketball teams, including the Scranton Apollos, Scranton Miners and Scranton Zappers. Syracuse University men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim played for the Miners before turning to coaching. In 2012, the city played host to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Steamers of the Premier Basketball League. The team went inactive after that season, and no professional teams played in the city. In 2018, the Scranton Shamrocks joined the American Basketball Association (2000–present), once again bringing professional basketball to the region.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Professional ice hockey arrived in 1999 when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League began play at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township. The team won conference championships in 2001, 2004, and 2008.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The Electric City Shock SC semi-professional soccer team was founded in 2013 as part of the National Premier Soccer League. The team is on the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid and plays at the University of Scranton's Fitzpatrick Field.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Watres Armory in Scranton hosted a World Heavyweight Championship fight between titlist Larry Holmes and challenger Lucien Rodrigues of France on March 27, 1983. Holmes retained his title via a unanimous 12-round decision without losing a single round in any official scorecard.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: Starting in 2014, Scranton also became home to the Skyliners Drum and Bugle Corps, a professional marching drum corps in the Drum Corps Associates circuit. They compete with other corps throughout the nation, as well as play multiple community parades, events and performances. The Skyliners have won numerous awards for their performances, including national and world open titles.


title: Scranton, Pennsylvania

text: The city's public schools are operated by the Scranton School District (SSD), which serves almost 10,000 students. The city has two public high schools for grades 9–12: Scranton High School just northwest of the downtown and West Scranton High School located on the West Side of the city. The district also has three public middle schools for grades 6–8: Northeast Intermediate, South Scranton Intermediate, and West Scranton Intermediate. In addition, SSD maintains 12 public elementary schools for grades K–5.