title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The war in the Alps and the Apennines had already been keenly contested before the Prince of Conti and the Gallispan army had come down out of the Alps. Villefranche and Montalbán had been stormed by Conti on 20 April 1744. After coming down out of the Alps, Prince Conti began his advance into Piedmont on 5 July 1744. On 19 July 1744, the Gallispan army engaged the Sardinian army in some desperate fighting at Peyre-Longue on 18 July 1744. As a result of the battle, the Gallispan army took control of Casteldelfino in the second Battle of Casteldelfino. Conti then moved on to Demonte where on the night of 8–9 August 1744, (a mere 36 hours before the Spanish army in south of Italy fought the second Battle of Velletri, [as noted above]) the Gallispan army took the fortress of Demonte from the Sardinians in the Battle of Demonte. The King of Sardinia was defeated yet again by Conti in a great Battle at Madonna dell'Olmo on 30 September 1744 near Coni (Cuneo). Conti did not, however, succeed in taking the huge fortress at Coni and had to retire into Dauphiné for his winter quarters. Thus, the Gallispan army never did combine with the Spanish army under Count of Gages in the south and now the Austro-Sardinian army lay between them.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The campaign in Italy in 1745 was also no mere war of posts. The Convention of Turin of February 1742 (described above), which established a provisional relationship between Austria and Sardinia had caused some consternation in the Republic of Genoa. However, when this provisional relationship was given a more durable and reliable character in the signing of the Treaty of Worms (1743) signed on 13 September 1743, the government of Genoa became fearful. This fear of diplomatic isolation had caused the Genoese Republic to abandon its neutrality in the war and join the Bourbon cause. Consequently, the Genoese Republic signed a secret treaty with the Bourbon allies of France, Spain and Naples. On 26 June 1745, Genoa declared war on Sardinia.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: Empress Maria Theresa, was frustrated with the failure of Lobkowitz to stop the advance of Gage. Accordingly, Lobkowitz was replaced with Count Schulenburg. A change in the command of the Austrians, encouraged the Bourbon allies to strike first in the spring of 1745. Accordingly, Count de Gages moved from Modena towards Lucca, the Gallispan army in the Alps under the new command of Marshal Maillebois (Prince Conti and Marshal Maillebois had exchanged commands over the winter of 1744–1745) advanced through the Italian Riviera to the Tanaro. In the middle of July 1745, the two armies were at last concentrated between the Scrivia and the Tanaro. Together Count de Gage's army and the Gallispan army composed an unusually large number of 80,000 men. A swift march on Piacenza drew the Austrian commander thither and in his absence the allies fell upon and completely defeated the Sardinians at Bassignano on 27 September 1745, a victory which was quickly followed by the capture of Alessandria, Valenza and Casale Monferrato. Jomini calls the concentration of forces which effected the victory "".


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The complicated politics of Italy, however, are reflected in the fact that Count Maillebois was ultimately unable to turn his victory to account. Indeed, early in 1746, Austrian troops, freed by the Austrian peace with Frederick II of Prussia, passed through the Tyrol into Italy. The Gallispan winter quarters at Asti, Italy, were brusquely attacked and a French garrison of 6,000 men at Asti was forced to capitulate. At the same time, Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne with an Austrian corps struck at the allies on the Lower Po, and cut off their communication with the main body of the Gallispan army in Piedmont. A series of minor actions thus completely destroyed the great concentration of Gallispan troops and the Austrians reconquered the duchy of Milan and took possession of much of northern Italy. The allies separated, Maillebois covering Liguria, the Spaniards marching against Browne. The latter was promptly and heavily reinforced and all that the Spaniards could do was to entrench themselves at Piacenza, Philip, the Spanish Infante as supreme commander calling up Maillebois to his aid. The French, skilfully conducted and marching rapidly, joined forces once more, but their situation was critical, for only two marches behind them the army of the King of Sardinia was in pursuit, and before them lay the principal army of the Austrians. The pitched Battle of Piacenza on 16 June 1746 was hard-fought but ended in an Austrian victory, with the Spanish army heavily mauled. That the army escaped at all was in the highest degree creditable to Maillebois and to his son and chief of staff. Under their leadership the Gallispan army eluded both the Austrians and the Sardinians and defeated an Austrian corps in the Battle of Rottofreddo on 12 August 1746. Then the Austrian army made good its retreat back to Genoa.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: Although the Austrian army was a mere shadow of its former self, when they returned to Genoa, the Austrians were soon in control of northern Italy. The Austrians occupied the Republic of Genoa on 6 September 1746. But they met with no success in their forays towards the Alps. Soon Genoa revolted from the oppressive rule of the victors, rose and drove out the Austrians on 5–11 December 1746. As an Allied invasion of Provence stalled, and the French, now commanded by Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle, took the offensive (1747). Genoa held out against a second Austrian siege. As usual the plan of campaign had been referred to Paris and Madrid. A picked corps of the French army under the Chevalier de Belle-Isle (the younger brother of Marshal Belle-Isle) was ordered to storm the fortified pass of Exilles on 10 July 1747. However, the defending army of the Worms allies (Austria and Savoy) handed the French army a crushing defeat at this battle, which became known as the (Colle dell'Assietta). At this battle, the chevalier, and with him much of the elite of the French nobility, were killed on the barricades. Desultory campaigns continued between the Worms allies and the French until the conclusion of peace at Aix-la-Chapelle.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The British and their allies withdrew from Fontenoy in good order but Tournai fell to French forces and through a swift advance, Ghent, Oudenarde, Bruges, and Dendermonde soon followed. By the end of July, the French stood on the threshold of Dutch Flanders, the south-western corner of the Dutch Republic. The French-backed Jacobite rising of August, 1745 forced the British to transfer troops from Flanders to deal with it. This prompted the French to seize the strategic ports of Ostend and Nieuwpoort, threatening Britain's links to mainland Europe.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: During 1746, the French continued their advance into the Austrian Netherlands, taking Antwerp and then clearing Dutch and Austrian forces from the area between Brussels and the Meuse. After defeating the Jacobite Rebellion at Culloden in April, the British launched a diversionary raid on Lorient in an unsuccessful attempt to divert French forces, while the new Austrian commander, Prince Charles of Lorraine, was defeated by Saxe at the Battle of Rocoux in October.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The Dutch Republic itself was now in danger. In April 1747, the French began reducing the Barrier Fortresses along the border with the Austrian Netherlands and invaded Dutch Flanders, which they swiftly captured. A general anger and panic broke out under the Dutch population, who still remembered the French invasion of 1672, and they demanded that William IV should be appointed stadtholder. The regents of Zeeland and Holland, fearing violence against them, soon appointed William stadtholder. The remaining provinces followed and by 10 May the Second Stadtholderless Period had ended. William was also appointed head of all the Dutch armed forces. The strategic situation, however, failed to change and at Lauffeld on 2 July 1747, Saxe won another victory over a British and Dutch army under the Prince of Waldeck and Cumberland; the French then besieged Maastricht and Bergen op Zoom, which fell in September. Although the Dutch fleet was in the poorest condition it had ever been in, its positioning in the estuaries and rivers of Zeeland and Holland, however, prevented French incursions into those provinces.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The French advance lent greater urgency to ongoing peace talks at the Congress of Breda, which took place to the sound of French artillery firing on Maastricht. Following their 1746 alliance with Austria, an army of marched from Livonia to the Rhine, but arrived too late to be of use. Maastricht surrendered on 7 May and on 18 October 1748, the war ended with the signing of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: Negotiations between Britain and France had been taking place at Breda since June 1746; the terms they agreed were then imposed on the other parties at Aix-la-Chapelle. Despite their victories in Flanders, French Finance Minister Machault repeatedly warned of the impending collapse of their financial system. The British naval blockade led to the collapse of French customs receipts and caused severe food shortages, especially among the poor; after Cape Finisterre in October, the French navy could no longer protect their colonies or trade routes.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: This was followed in November by a convention between Britain and Russia; in February 1748, a Russian corps of 37,000 arrived in the Rhineland. Although the Dutch city of Maastricht surrendered to French forces in May 1748, ending the war was increasingly urgent. Louis XV therefore agreed to return the Austrian Netherlands, whose acquisition had cost so much. Few of his countrymen understood this decision; combined with the lack of tangible benefits for helping Prussia, it led to the phrase "as stupid as the Peace".


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: A commission to negotiate competing territorial claims in North America was set up, but made very little progress. Britain regained Madras, in return for restoring Louisbourg, in Nova Scotia, much to the fury of British colonists. Neither of the two main protagonists appeared to have gained much for their investment and both viewed the Treaty as an armistice, not a peace.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: In Austria, reactions were mixed; Maria Theresa was determined to regain Silesia and resented British support for Prussia's occupation. On the other hand, the Treaty confirmed her right to the Monarchy, while the Habsburgs had survived a potentially disastrous crisis, regained the Austrian Netherlands without fighting and made only minor concessions in Italy. Administrative and financial reforms made it stronger in 1750 than 1740, while its strategic position was strengthened through installing Habsburgs as rulers of key territories in Northwest Germany, the Rhineland and Northern Italy.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: Of the other combatants, Spain retained its predominance in Spanish America and made minor gains in Northern Italy. With French support, Prussia doubled in size with the acquisition of Silesia but twice made peace without informing their ally; Louis XV already disliked Frederick and now viewed him as untrustworthy. The war confirmed the decline of the Dutch Republic, and the dismantlement of the Barrier fortresses marked the end of its period as a great power; combined with a sense they received little value for the subsidies paid to Maria Theresa, Britain moved to align itself with Prussia, rather than Austria, in order to protect Hanover from French aggression.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: These factors led to the realignment known as the 1756 Diplomatic Revolution and the 1756 to 1763 Seven Years' War, which was even grander in scale than its predecessor.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The war was also conducted in North America and India. In North America the conflict was known in the British colonies as King George's War, and did not begin until after formal war declarations of France and Britain reached the colonies in May 1744. The frontiers between New France and the British colonies of New England, New York, and Nova Scotia were the site of frequent small scale raids, primarily by French colonial troops and their Indian allies against British targets, although several attempts were made by British colonists to organise expeditions against New France. The most significant incident was the capture of the French Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island (Île Royale) by an expedition (29 April16 June 1745) of colonial militia organised by Massachusetts Governor William Shirley, commanded by William Pepperrell of Maine (then part of Massachusetts), and assisted by a Royal Navy fleet. A French expedition to recover Louisbourg in 1746 failed due to bad weather, disease, and the death of its commander. Louisbourg was returned to France in exchange for Madras, generating much anger among the British colonists, who felt they had eliminated a nest of privateers with its capture.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The war marked the beginning of a powerful struggle between Britain and France in India and of European military ascendancy and political intervention in the subcontinent. Major hostilities began with the arrival of a naval squadron under Mahé de la Bourdonnais, carrying troops from France. In September 1746 Bourdonnais landed his troops near Madras and laid siege to the port. Although it was the main British settlement in the Carnatic, Madras was weakly fortified and had only a small garrison, reflecting the thoroughly commercial nature of the European presence in India hitherto. On 10 September, only six days after the arrival of the French force, Madras surrendered. The terms of the surrender agreed by Bourdonnais provided for the settlement to be ransomed back for a cash payment by the British East India Company. However, this concession was opposed by Dupleix, the governor general of the Indian possessions of the Compagnie des Indes. When Bourdonnais was forced to leave India in October after the devastation of his squadron by a cyclone Dupleix reneged on the agreement. The Nawab of the Carnatic Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan intervened in support of the British and advanced to retake Madras, but despite vast superiority in numbers his army was easily and bloodily crushed by the French, in the first demonstration of the gap in quality that had opened up between European and Indian armies.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The French now turned to the remaining British settlement in the Carnatic, Fort St. David at Cuddalore, which was dangerously close to the main French settlement of Pondichéry. The first French force sent against Cuddalore was surprised and defeated nearby by the forces of the Nawab and the British garrison in December 1746. Early in 1747 a second expedition laid siege to Fort St David but withdrew on the arrival of a British naval squadron in March. A final attempt in June 1748 avoided the fort and attacked the weakly fortified town of Cuddalore itself, but was routed by the British garrison.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: With the arrival of a naval squadron under Admiral Boscawen, carrying troops and artillery, the British went on the offensive, laying siege to Pondichéry. They enjoyed a considerable superiority in numbers over the defenders, but the settlement had been heavily fortified by Dupleix and after two months the siege was abandoned.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The peace settlement brought the return of Madras to the British company, exchanged for Louisbourg in Canada. However, the conflict between the two companies continued by proxy during the interval before the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, with British and French forces fighting on behalf of rival claimants to the thrones of Hyderabad and the Carnatic.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The naval operations of this war were entangled with the War of Jenkins' Ear, which broke out in 1739 in consequence of the long disputes between Britain and Spain over their conflicting claims in America. The war was remarkable for the prominence of privateering on both sides. It was carried on by the Spaniards in the West Indies with great success, and actively at home. The French were no less active in all seas. Mahé de la Bourdonnais's attack on Madras partook largely of the nature of a privateering venture. The British retaliated with vigour. The total number of captures by French and Spanish corsairs was in all probability larger than the list of British—as the French wit Voltaire drolly put it upon hearing his government's boast, namely, that more British merchants were taken because there were many more British merchant ships to take; but partly also because the British government had not yet begun to enforce the use of convoy so strictly as it did in later times.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: War on Spain was declared by Great Britain on 23 October 1739, which has become known as the War of Jenkins' Ear. A plan was laid for combined operations against the Spanish colonies from east and west. One force, military and naval, was to assault them from the West Indies under Admiral Edward Vernon. Another, to be commanded by Commodore George Anson, afterwards Lord Anson, was to round Cape Horn and to fall upon the Pacific coast of Latin America. Delays, bad preparations, dockyard corruption, and the squabbles of the naval and military officers concerned caused the failure of a hopeful scheme. On 21 November 1739, Admiral Vernon did, however, succeed in capturing the ill-defended Spanish harbour of Porto Bello in present-day Panama. When Vernon had been joined by Sir Chaloner Ogle with massive naval reinforcements and a strong body of troops, an attack was made on Cartagena de Indias in what is now Colombia (9 March24 April 1741). The delay had given the Spanish under Sebastián de Eslava and Blas de Lezo time to prepare. After two months of skilful defence by the Spanish, the British attack finally succumbed to a massive outbreak of disease and withdrew having suffered a dreadful loss of lives and ships.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The war in the West Indies, after two other unsuccessful attacks had been made on Spanish territory, died down and did not revive until 1748. The expedition under Anson sailed late, was very ill-provided, and less strong than had been intended. It consisted of six ships and left Britain on 18 September 1740. Anson returned alone with his flagship the "Centurion" on 15 June 1744. The other vessels had either failed to round the Horn or had been lost. But Anson had harried the coast of Chile and Peru and had captured a Spanish galleon of immense value near the Philippines. His cruise was a great feat of resolution and endurance.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: After the failure of the British invasions and a Spanish counter invasion of Georgia in 1742, belligerent naval actions in the Caribbean were left to the privateers of both sides. Fearing great financial and economic losses should a treasure fleet be captured, the Spanish reduced the risk by increasing the number of convoys, thereby reducing their value. They also increased the number of ports they visited and reduced the predictability of their voyages.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: In 1744 a British force of 300 men accompanied by two privateers from Saint Kitts successfully captured the French half of neighbouring Saint Martin, occupying it until the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In late May 1745 two French royal frigates of 36 and 30 guns respectively under Commodore La Touché, plus three privateers in retaliation sailed from Martinique to invade and capture the British colony of Anguilla but were repelled with heavy loss.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The last year of the war saw two significant actions in the Caribbean. A second British assault on Santiago de Cuba which also ended in failure and a naval action which arose from an accidental encounter between two convoys. The action unfolded in a confused way with each side at once anxious to cover its own trade and to intercept that of the other. Capture was rendered particularly desirable for the British by the fact that the Spanish homeward-bound fleet would be laden with bullion from the American mines. The advantage lay with the British when one Spanish warship ran aground and another was captured but the British commander failed to capitalise and the Spanish fleet took shelter in Havana.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: While Anson was pursuing his voyage round the world, Spain was mainly intent on the Italian policy of the King. A squadron was fitted out at Cádiz to convey troops to Italy. It was watched by the British admiral Nicholas Haddock. When the blockading squadron was forced off by want of provisions, the Spanish admiral Don Juan José Navarro put to sea. He was followed, but when the British force came in sight of him Navarro had been joined by a French squadron under Claude-Elisée de La Bruyère de Court (December 1741). The French admiral told Haddock that he would support the Spaniards if they were attacked and Haddock retired. France and Great Britain were not yet openly at war, but both were engaged in the struggle in Germany—Great Britain as the ally of the Queen of Hungary, Maria Theresa; France as the supporter of the Bavarian claimant of the empire. Navarro and de Court went on to Toulon, where they remained until February 1744. A British fleet watched them, under the command of Admiral Richard Lestock, until Sir Thomas Mathews was sent out as commander-in-chief and as Minister to the Court of Turin.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: Sporadic manifestations of hostility between the French and British took place in different seas, but avowed war did not begin until the French government issued its declaration of 30 March, to which Great Britain replied on 31 March. This formality had been preceded by French preparations for the invasion of England, and by the Battle of Toulon between the British and a Franco-Spanish fleet. On 11 February, a most confused battle was fought, in which the van and centre of the British fleet was engaged with the Spanish rear and centre of the allies. Lestock, who was on the worst possible terms with his superior, took no part in the action. Mathews fought with spirit but in a disorderly way, breaking the formation of his fleet, and showing no power of direction, while Navarro's smaller fleet retained cohesion and fought off the energetic but confused attacks of its larger enemy until the arrival of the French fleet forced the heavily damaged British fleet to withdraw. The Spanish fleet then sailed to Italy where it delivered a fresh army and supplies that had a decisive impact upon the war. The mismanagement of the British fleet in the battle, by arousing deep anger among the people, led to a drastic reform of the British navy.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The French scheme to invade Britain was arranged in combination with the Jacobite leaders, and soldiers were to be transported from Dunkirk. In February 1744, a French fleet of twenty sail of the line entered the English Channel under Jacques Aymar, comte de Roquefeuil, before the British force under Admiral John Norris was ready to oppose him. But the French force was ill-equipped, the admiral was nervous, his mind dwelt on all the misfortunes which might possibly happen, and the weather was bad. De Roquefeuil came up almost as far as The Downs, where he learnt that Sir John Norris was at hand with twenty-five sail of the line, and thereupon precipitately retreated. The military expedition prepared at Dunkirk to cross under cover of De Roquefeuil's fleet naturally did not start. The utter weakness of the French at sea, due to long neglect of the fleet and the bankrupt state of the treasury, was shown during the Jacobite rising of 1745, when France made no attempt to profit by the distress of the British government.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: The Dutch, having by this time joined Great Britain, made a serious addition to the naval power opposed to France, though the Dutch Republic was compelled by the necessity for maintaining an army in Flanders to play a very subordinate part at sea. Not being stimulated by formidable attack, and having immediate interests both at home and in Germany, the British government was slow to make use of its latest naval strength. Spain, which could do nothing of an offensive character, was almost neglected. During 1745 the New England expedition which took Louisburg (30 April16 June) was covered by a British naval force, but little else was accomplished by the naval efforts of any of the belligerents.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: In 1746 a British combined naval and military expedition to the coast of France—the first of a long series of similar ventures which in the end were derided as "breaking windows with guineas"—was carried out during August and October. The aim was the capture of the French East India Company's dockyard at Lorient, but it was not attained.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: From 1747 until the close of the war in October 1748, the naval policy of the British government, without reaching a high level, was more energetic and coherent. A closer watch was kept on the French coast, and effectual means were taken to intercept communication between France and her American possessions. In the spring information was obtained that an important convoy for the East and West Indies was to sail from L'Orient. The convoy was intercepted by Anson on 3 May, and in the first Battle of Cape Finisterre, British admiral George Anson's fourteen ships of the line wiped out the French escort of six ships of the line and three armed Indiamen, although in the meantime the merchant ships escaped.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: On 14 October, another French convoy, protected by a strong squadron, was intercepted by a well-appointed and well-directed squadron of superior numbers—the squadrons were respectively eight French and fourteen British—in the Bay of Biscay. In the second Battle of Cape Finisterre which followed, the French admiral, Henri-François des Herbiers-l'Étenduère, succeeded in covering the escape of most of the merchant ships, but Hawke's British squadron took six of his warships. Most of the merchantmen were later intercepted and captured in the West Indies. This disaster convinced the French government of its helplessness at sea, and it made no further effort.


title: War of the Austrian Succession

text: In the East Indies, attacks on French commerce by a British squadron under Curtis Barnett in 1745 led to the despatch of a French squadron commanded by Mahé de la Bourdonnais. After an inconclusive clash off Negapatnam in July 1746, Edward Peyton, Barnett's successor, withdrew to Bengal, leaving Bourdonnais unopposed on the Coromandel Coast. He landed troops near Madras and besieged the port by land and sea, forcing it to surrender on 10 September 1746. In October the French squadron was devastated by a cyclone, losing four ships of the line and suffering heavy damage to four more, and the surviving ships withdrew. French land forces went on to make several attacks on the British settlement at Cuddalore, but the eventual replacement of the negligent Peyton by Thomas Griffin resulted in a return to British naval supremacy which put the French on the defensive. Despite the appearance of another French squadron, the arrival of large-scale British reinforcements under Edward Boscawen (who considered but did not make an attack on Île de France on the way) gave the British overwhelming dominance on land and sea, but the ensuing siege of Pondichéry organised by Boscawen was unsuccessful.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: "Forbes" 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by "Forbes" magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries each. Asia and Europe also each have ten categories for a total of 300 each, while Africa has a single list of 30 people. "Forbes" hosts associated conferences and a section of its website called 30 Under 30.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: "Forbes" launched its 30 Under 30 list in 2011 under the direction of Randall Lane. By 2016, the nominations for the list had reached more than 15,000, with "Forbes" editors selecting 30 winners for each of 20 categories.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: Over time, "Forbes" has expanded the feature to establish continental lists for Asia, Europe (launched in 2016), and Africa.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: "Forbes" also uses the Under 30 name for a dedicated channel on its website, associated with a 30 Under 30 social media app. "The Washington Post" reports the channel aims to provide "millennial-focused programming to the magazine's many influential consumers." The social media app is a collaboration with Tinder via previous 30 Under 30 honoree Sean Rad, cofounder and president of Tinder.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: In addition to the magazine feature, "Forbes" hosts an annual 30 Under 30 Summit. In 2014 and 2015, the summit was held in Philadelphia, with Monica Lewinsky making headlines at the first summit for her address on cyberbullying. The 2016 and 2017 summits were both held in October in Boston. Organizers include previous 30 Under 30 honorees chef Chris Coombs, Boston mayoral aide Dan Koh, and pediatric oncology professor Cigall Kadoch.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: In April 2016, "Forbes" held its first 30 Under 30 international summit, focused on Europe, the Middle East and Africa and taking place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Speakers included Monica Lewinsky, Shimon Peres and Okieriete Onaodowan. Onaodowan was a 2016 honoree on the 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list for his portrayal of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in "Hamilton".


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: On December 9, 2020, "Forbes" hosted the virtual "2020 Forbes Power Women's Summit" to recognize women who lead major movements and build billion-dollar businesses.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: The 30 Under 30 list has drawn some criticism, including for under-recognition of young racial minorities and women. "The Root" observed that 29 of 30 journalists honored on the inaugural media list in 2011 were white, and none of African descent, or Latino of any race. "Elle South Africa" noted the gender imbalance of the 2014 lists, asking, "Where are the women?" Demographics of the "Forbes" selections have continued to draw interest; "Poynter" reported the 2015 Media list had 18 women, the most in the list's five-year history.


title: Forbes 30 Under 30

text: In response to criticism, Forbes launched in 2020 "Power Rising: These Are The Women To Watch" along with publishing a list of the world's 100 most powerful women. In 2021, Forbes published "Black Futures Month: 8 Black Entrepreneurs to Watch" and launched Forbes EQ (Equity Quotient), a platform where businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations from underrepresented groups share their experiences.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Johann "Hans" Hölzel (; 19 February 1957 – 6 February 1998), better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian singer and musician.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco had several international hits including "Der Kommissar" (1981), "Rock Me Amadeus", "Vienna Calling", "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later)", and posthumously "Out of the Dark".


title: Falco (musician)

text: "Rock Me Amadeus" reached No. 1 on the "Billboard" charts in 1986, making him the only artist in history whose principal language was German, to score a "vocal" number-one hit in the United States. According to his estate, he has sold 20 million albums and 40 million singles, which makes him the best-selling Austrian singer of all time.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Also notable was his very early creation of a successful non-English language rap music song ("Der Kommissar"), recorded in December of 1981.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Johann Hölzel was born on 19 February 1957 to Alois Hölzel and Maria Hölzel in a working class district of Vienna. Maria would later recall that she had been pregnant with triplets. As it was a dizygotic pregnancy, she miscarried the identical twins during the third month and Falco, who was conceived via a separate ovum, survived. Falco mused that "three souls in one breast sounds a little over-dramatic, but I do sense them sometimes. In my moodiness. I'll be really up and then right after I'll be really down."


title: Falco (musician)

text: In 1963, Falco began his schooling at a Roman Catholic private school; four years later, at age ten, he switched to the Rainergymnasium in Margareten. Falco's father left the family while he was still a child, and he was raised by his mother.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco began to show signs of unusual musical talent very early. As a toddler, he was able to keep time with the drumbeat in songs he heard on the radio. He was given a child's grand piano for his fourth birthday; a year later, his birthday gift was a record player which he used to play music by Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, and the Beatles.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco wanted to be a pop star from a very early age. At age 16, he attended the Vienna Conservatoire, but he became frustrated and soon left. His mother insisted he begin an apprenticeship with the Austrian employee pension insurance institute. This too only lasted a short time. At seventeen, he got conscripted for eight months of military service with the Austrian army.


title: Falco (musician)

text: In late 1970s Vienna, he became part of the Viennese nightlife, which included not just music but also striptease, performance art and a general atmosphere of satirizing politics and celebrating chaos. He played bass guitar in a number of bands under various pseudonyms, including "John Hudson" and "John DiFalco." One such band with whom he appeared was Drahdiwaberl, an Austrian group that employed shock tactics and stage antics. It was around this time he began performing under the stage name of Falco. Despite being closely tied with the Viennese underground club scene, Falco looked uncharacteristically clean-cut. In contrast to shabbier fashions, he had short hair (due to his military service) and wore Ray-Ban sunglasses and suits. His distinct style, coupled with his singing performance of the song "Ganz Wien" ("All of Vienna") led to manager Markus Spiegel offering to sign Falco in 1981. Ironically, it was at a concert for drug prevention and "Ganz Wien" has a line proclaiming "All Vienna is on heroin today."


title: Falco (musician)

text: Once Falco was signed as a solo artist, he continued composing his own music and hired songwriter Robert Ponger. In 1981 Falco brought his intended first single "Helden von heute" to manager Horst Bork, but received a lukewarm reception. Bork felt that the B-side "Der Kommissar" was much stronger. Falco was hesitant, since the track is a German-language song about drug consumption that combines rap verses with a sung chorus. Though beginning to break through in America, rap was still rare in Western Europe at the time. Bork insisted and the song became a number-one success in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, while charting high in several other nations.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Though "Der Kommissar" failed to break through in the UK and US, the British rock band After the Fire covered the song with new English lyrics. This version charted at number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the U.S. That same year, American singer Laura Branigan recorded a non-single version of the song with new English lyrics under the title "Deep in the Dark" on her album "Branigan 2". "Einzelhaft", the album on which "Der Kommissar" appears, also topped the charts in Austria and the Netherlands.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco and Ponger returned to the studio in 1983 to record Falco's second album "Junge Roemer" ("Young Romans"). It was a difficult project, as the two artists felt immense pressure to match their previous success and the recording process was plagued by delays. "Junge Roemer" was released in 1984. Even though the music video for the single "Hoch wie nie" ("Higher Than Ever") was aired on prime time TV in Austria, it failed to ignite interest internationally.


title: Falco (musician)

text: "Junge Roemer" only charted in Austria where it went to number one. Outside of Austria and Spain, the title track and main single "Junge Roemer" failed to repeat the success of "Der Kommissar". As a reaction, Falco began to experiment with English lyrics in an effort to broaden his appeal. He parted ways with Ponger and chose a new production team: the brothers Rob and Ferdi Bolland from the Netherlands.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco recorded "Rock Me Amadeus" inspired in part by the Oscar-winning film "Amadeus", and the song became a worldwide hit in 1986. It reached No. 1 in over a dozen countries, including the US, UK, and Japan, bringing the success that had eluded him in markets a few years earlier. The song remained in the top spot of the "Billboard" Hot 100 for three weeks. His album "Falco 3" peaked at the number three position on the" Billboard" album charts. Unusually for a white act, especially one from mainland Europe, "Rock Me Amadeus" reached number six in the Billboard Top R&B Singles Chart, and "Falco 3" peaked at number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Follow-up single "Vienna Calling" was another international pop hit, peaking at No. 18 of the Billboard Charts and No. 17 on the US Cash Box Charts in 1986. A double A-side 12" single featuring remixes of those two hits peaked at No. 4 on the US Dance/Disco charts.


title: Falco (musician)

text: "Jeanny", the third release from the album "Falco 3", brought the performer back to the top of the charts across Europe. Highly controversial when it was released in Germany and the Netherlands, the story of "Jeanny" was told from the point of view of a possible rapist and murderer. Several DJs and radio stations refused to play the ballad, which was ignored in the US, though it became a huge hit in many European countries, and inspired a sequel on his next album.


title: Falco (musician)

text: After the success of "Rock Me Amadeus," there were talks of crossing over more permanently into the U.S. by working with American producers and collaborating with other American artists. These possibilities fell through, in part, due to Falco's personal problems. At this point in his career, he was dangerously addicted to alcohol and other drugs.


title: Falco (musician)

text: In 1986, the album "Emotional" was released, produced by Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Bolland & Bolland). Songs on the album included "Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later)", "The Kiss of Kathleen Turner", and "Kamikaze Capa" which was written as a tribute to the late photojournalist Robert Capa. "The Sound of Musik" was another international success, and a Top 20 US dance hit, though it failed to make the US pop charts.


title: Falco (musician)

text: In 1987, Falco went on the "Emotional" world tour ending in Japan. In the same year he sang a duet with Brigitte Nielsen, "Body Next to Body"; the single was a Top 10 hit in German-speaking countries. The album "Wiener Blut" ("Viennese Blood") was released in 1988 but it did not get much publicity outside Germany and Austria.


title: Falco (musician)

text: After 1986, there were a number of European hits, but Falco was rarely heard in the US and the UK. His 1992 comeback attempt, the album "Nachtflug" ("Night Flight") including the song "Titanic", was successful in Austria only.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Starting in the early 1990s, Falco lived in the Dominican Republic, where he worked on his last album from 1995 to 1998. "Out of the Dark (Into the Light)" was released posthumously on 27 February 1998 in Europe and worldwide in March. It charted at number one in Austria for 21 weeks.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco has been described by those who knew him as having a complex personality. He has been called ambitious, eccentric, caring, egotistical and deeply insecure. Thomas Rabitsch, a keyboardist who met Falco when the aspiring pop star was only 17 years old, said he was a quiet young man and precise bass player, but also arrogant and with a "very high opinion of himself." Markus Spiegel, the manager who discovered Falco, admitted that the pop star was "an extremely difficult artist" and known womanizer. Peter Vieweger, a guitarist who knew Falco before his success and continued to play in Falco's touring band and on his albums, remembers Falco as being "scared he would fail or be unmasked and not be as good as people thought he was."


title: Falco (musician)

text: Through the 1980s and into the '90s, he became dependent on alcohol and cocaine. When under the influence he was unreliable at best and abusive at worst. Ferdi Bolland recalls that Falco was often so severely intoxicated that the writing process revolved around his "inability to be coherent, to even stand for a long time." Despite pleas from his manager and collaborators to get help, Falco stubbornly refused.


title: Falco (musician)

text: While Falco was in a relationship with Isabella Vitkovic, she gave birth to a baby girl, Katharina, in 1986. The couple married in 1988, but it was a "love-hate" relationship, as Katharina describes it, and the marriage was short-lived. He believed that Katharina was his own daughter until a paternity test proved otherwise when she was seven years old. After this, Katharina's relationship with him became strained. Though they kept in contact, she took her mother's surname and claimed that she was written out of his will. She was 12 years old when he died. She did not reconcile with Falco's mother, Maria Hölzel, until a few years before Hölzel's death at the age of 87 in April 2014. Katharina subsequently published a memoir in 2008 called "Falco war mein Vater" (Falco Was My Father).


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco died of severe injuries received on 6 February 1998, 13 days before his 41st birthday, when his Mitsubishi Pajero collided with a bus on the road linking the towns of Villa Montellano and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. At the time of his death he was planning a comeback, which was successful with the posthumously released album "Out of the Dark (Into the Light)". His body was returned to Austria and buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery.


title: Falco (musician)

text: In 1998, Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Dutch producers and co-writers of about half of Falco's albums) released the EP "Tribute to Falco" under the name The Bolland Project feat. Alida. The title track featured samples of Falco's music; the other tracks were "We Say Goodbye" and "So Lonely".


title: Falco (musician)

text: The film "Falco: Damn It, We're Still Alive!" was released in Austria on 7 February 2008, ten years and one day after Falco's death. This title also lends its name to a posthumously-released album by Falco, "Verdammt wir leben noch," which translates to "Damn, we're still alive!" Written and directed by Thomas Roth, the movie features musician Manuel Rubey as adult Falco. The end credits include the line "With love, Ferdi & Rob", his frequent collaborators the Bollands.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Falco's friend Niki Lauda named one of the Boeing airplanes in his Lauda Air fleet "Falco" after the singer.


title: Falco (musician)

text: Although "Der Kommissar" saw nearly contemporaneous and fairly straightforward mainstream covers including the loose translation by After the Fire and the reinterpretation by Suzy Andrews, both in 1982 and 1983, Falco's song "Rock Me Amadeus" has seen more frequent use. Megaherz covered this song on their album "Kopfschuss". The track has been sampled by groups including the Bloodhound Gang, who also refer to Falco in their 1999 song "Mope", and by German rapper Fler in "NDW 2005" from "Neue Deutsche Welle".


title: European robin

text: The European robin (Erithacus rubecula), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain & Ireland, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. About in length, the male and female are similar in colouration, with an orange breast and face lined with grey, brown upper-parts and a whitish belly. It is found across Europe, east to Western Siberia and south to North Africa; it is sedentary in most of its range except the far north.


title: European robin

text: The term "robin" is also applied to some birds in other families with red or orange breasts. These include the American robin ("Turdus migratorius"), a thrush, and the Australasian robins of the family Petroicidae, the relationships of which are unclear.


title: European robin

text: The European robin was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae" under the binomial name "Motacilla rubecula". Its specific epithet "rubecula" is a diminutive derived from the Latin , meaning 'red'. The genus "Erithacus" was introduced by French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800, giving the bird its current binomial name "E. rubecula". The genus name "Erithacus" is from Ancient Greek and refers to an unknown bird, now usually identified as robin.


title: European robin

text: The distinctive orange breast of both sexes contributed to the European robin's original name of "redbreast", "orange" as a colour name being unknown in English until the 16th century, by which time the fruit had been introduced. In the 15th century, when it became popular to give human names to familiar species, the bird came to be known as "robin redbreast", which was eventually shortened to "robin". As a given name, Robin is originally a diminutive of Robert. Other older English names for the bird include "ruddock" and "robinet". In American literature of the late 19th century, this robin was frequently called the "English robin". The Dutch , French , Swedish "rödhake", German , Italian , Spanish and Portuguese all refer to the distinctively coloured front.


title: European robin

text: The genus "Erithacus" previously included the Japanese robin and the Ryukyu robin. These east Asian species were shown in molecular phylogenetic studies to be more similar to a group of other Asian species than to the European robin. In a reorganisation of the genera, the Japanese and the Ryukyu robins were moved to the resurrected genus "Larvivora" leaving the European robin as the sole member of "Erithacus". The phylogenetic analysis placed "Erithacus" in the subfamily Erithacinae, which otherwise contained only African species, but its exact position with respect to the other genera was not resolved.


title: European robin

text: The genus "Erithacus" was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family (Turdidae) but is now considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae), specifically to the chats (subfamily Saxicolinae) which also include the common nightingale.


title: European robin

text: In their large continental Eurasian range, robins vary somewhat, but do not form discrete populations that might be considered subspecies. Robin subspecies are mainly distinguished by forming resident populations on islands and in mountainous areas. The robin found in the British Isles and much of western Europe, "Erithacus rubecula melophilus", occurs as a vagrant in adjacent regions. "E. r. witherbyi" from northwest Africa, Corsica, and Sardinia closely resembles "melophilus" but has shorter wings. The northeasternmost birds, large and fairly washed-out in colour, are "E. r. tataricus". In the southeast of its range, "E. r. valens" of the Crimean Peninsula, "E. r. caucasicus" of the Caucasus and northern Transcaucasia, and "E. r. hyrcanus" southeastwards into Iran are generally accepted as significantly distinct.


title: European robin

text: On Madeira and the Azores, the local population has been described as "E. r. microrhynchos", and although not distinct in morphology, its isolation seems to suggest the subspecies is valid (but see below).


title: European robin

text: The most distinct birds are those of Gran Canaria ("E. r. marionae") and Tenerife ("E. r. superbus"), which may be considered two distinct species or at least two different subspecies. They are readily distinguished by a white eye-ring, an intensely coloured breast, a grey line that separates the orange-red from the brown colouration, and the belly is entirely white.


title: European robin

text: Cytochrome "b" sequence data and vocalisations indicate that the Gran Canaria/Tenerife robins are indeed very distinct and probably derived from colonisation by mainland birds some 2 million years ago.


title: European robin

text: Christian Dietzen, Hans-Hinrich Witt and Michael Wink published in 2003 in "Avian Science" a study called "The phylogeographic differentiation of the European robin "Erithacus rubecula" on the Canary Islands revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data and morphometrics: evidence for a new robin taxon on Gran Canaria?". In it they concluded that Gran Canaria's robin diverged genetically from their European relatives as far back as 2.3 million years, while the Tenerife ones took another half a million years to make this leap, 1.8 million years ago. The most likely reason would be a different colonization of the Canaries by this bird, which arrived at the oldest island first (Gran Canaria) and subsequently passed to the neighboring island (Tenerife).


title: European robin

text: A thorough comparison between "marionae" and "superbus" is pending to confirm that the first one is effectively a different subspecies. Initial results suggest that birds from Gran Canaria have wings about 10% shorter than those on Tenerife. The west Canary Islands' populations are younger (Middle Pleistocene) and only beginning to diverge genetically. Robins from the western Canary Islands: El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera ("E. r. microrhynchus") are similar to the European type subspecies ("E. r. rubecula").


title: European robin

text: Finally, the robins which can be found in Fuerteventura are the European ones, which is not surprising as the species does not breed either in this island or in the nearby Lanzarote; they are wintering birds or just passing through during their long migration between Africa and Europe.


title: European robin

text: The larger American robin ("Turdus migratorius") is named for its similarity to the European robin, but the two birds are not closely related, with the American robin instead belonging to the same genus as the Common blackbird ("T. merula"), a species which occupies much of the same range as the European robin. The similarity between the European and American robins lies largely in the orange chest patch found in both species. This American species was incorrectly shown "feathering its nest" in London in the film "Mary Poppins", but it only occurs in the U.K. as a very rare vagrant.


title: European robin

text: Some South and Central American "Turdus" thrushes are also called robins, such as the rufous-collared thrush. The Australian "robin redbreast", more correctly the scarlet robin ("Petroica multicolor"), is more closely related to crows and jays than it is to the European robin. It belongs to the family Petroicidae, whose members are commonly called "Australasian robins". The red-billed leiothrix ("Leiothrix lutea") is sometimes named the "Pekin robin" by aviculturalists. Another group of Old World flycatchers, this time from Africa and Asia, is the genus "Copsychus"; its members are known as magpie-robins, one of which, the Oriental magpie robin ("C. saularis"), is the national bird of Bangladesh.


title: European robin

text: The adult European robin is long and weighs , with a wingspan of . The male and female bear similar plumage: an orange breast and face (more strongly coloured in the otherwise similar British subspecies "E. r. melophilus"), lined by a bluish grey on the sides of the neck and chest. The upperparts are brownish, or olive-tinged in British birds, and the belly whitish, while the legs and feet are brown. The bill and eyes are black. Juveniles are a spotted brown and white in colouration, with patches of orange gradually appearing.


title: European robin

text: The robin occurs in Eurasia east to Western Siberia, south to Algeria and on the Atlantic islands as far west as the Central Group of the Azores and Madeira. It is a vagrant in Iceland. In the southeast, it reaches Iran the Caucasus range. Irish and British robins are largely resident but a small minority, usually female, migrate to southern Europe during winter, a few as far as Spain. Scandinavian and Russian robins migrate to Britain and western Europe to escape the harsher winters. These migrants can be recognised by the greyer tone of the upper parts of their bodies and duller orange breast. The continental European robins that migrate during winter prefer spruce woods in northern Europe, contrasting with its preference for parks and gardens in Great Britain.


title: European robin

text: In southern Iberia, habitat segregation of resident and migrant robins occurs, with resident robins remaining in the same woodlands where they bred.


title: European robin

text: Attempts to introduce the European robin into Australia and New Zealand in the latter part of the 19th century were unsuccessful. Birds were released around Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin by various local acclimatisation societies, with none becoming established. There was a similar outcome in North America, as birds failed to become established after being released in Long Island, New York in 1852, Oregon in 1889–1892, and the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia in 1908–1910.


title: European robin

text: The robin is diurnal, although it has been reported to be active hunting insects on moonlit nights or near artificial light at night. Well known to British and Irish gardeners, it is relatively unafraid of people and drawn to human activities involving the digging of soil, in order to look out for earthworms and other food freshly turned up. The robin is considered to be a gardener's friend, and from the traditional association of the red breast with the blood of Christ, the robin would never be harmed. In continental Europe, on the other hand, robins were hunted and killed as were most other small birds, and are therefore more wary. Robins also approach large wild animals, such as wild boar, which disturb the ground, to look for any food that might be brought to the surface.


title: European robin

text: In autumn and winter, robins will supplement their usual diet of terrestrial invertebrates, such as spiders, worms and insects, with berries and fruit. They will also eat seed mixtures and suet placed on bird-tables.


title: European robin

text: Male robins are noted for their highly aggressive territorial behaviour. They will fiercely attack other males and competitors that stray into their territories and have been observed attacking other small birds without apparent provocation. There are instances of robins attacking their own reflection. Territorial disputes sometimes lead to fatalities, accounting for up to 10% of adult robin deaths in some areas.


title: European robin

text: Because of high mortality in the first year of life, a robin has an average life expectancy of 1.1 years; however, once past its first year, life expectancy increases. One robin has been recorded as reaching 19 years of age. A spell of very low temperatures in winter can, however, result in higher mortality rates. The species is parasitised by the moorhen flea ("Dasypsyllus gallinulae") and the acanthocephalan "Apororhynchus silesiacus".


title: European robin

text: Robins may choose a wide variety of sites for building a nest. In fact, anything which can offer some shelter, like a depression or hole, may be considered. As well as the usual crevices, or sheltered banks, other objects include pieces of machinery, barbecues, bicycle handlebars, bristles on upturned brooms, discarded kettles, watering cans, flower pots and hats. Robins will also nest in manmade nest boxes, favouring a design with an open front placed in a sheltered position up to from the ground. Nests are generally composed of moss, leaves and grass, with fine grass, hair and feathers for lining.


title: European robin

text: Two or three clutches of five or six eggs are laid throughout the breeding season, which commences in March in Britain and Ireland. The eggs are a cream, buff or white speckled or blotched with reddish-brown colour, often more heavily so at the larger end. When juvenile birds fly from the nests, their colouration is entirely mottled brown. After two to three months out of the nest, the juvenile bird grows some orange feathers under its chin, and over a similar period this patch gradually extends to complete the adult appearance of an entirely red-orange breast.


title: European robin

text: The robin produces a fluting, warbling during the breeding season. Both the male and female sing during the winter, when they hold separate territories, the song then sounding more plaintive than the summer version. The female robin moves a short distance from the summer nesting territory to a nearby area that is more suitable for winter feeding. The male robin keeps the same territory throughout the year. During the breeding season, male robins usually initiate their morning song an hour before civil sunrise, and usually terminate their daily singing around thirty minutes after sunset. Nocturnal singing can also occur, especially in urban areas that are artificially lit during the night. Under artificial light, nocturnal singing can be used by urban robins to actively shunt daytime anthropogenic noise.


title: European robin

text: The avian magnetic compass of the robin has been extensively researched and uses vision-based magnetoreception, in which the robin's ability to sense the magnetic field of the earth for navigation is affected by the light entering the bird's eye. The physical mechanism of the robin's magnetic sense involves quantum entanglement of electron spins in cryptochrome in the bird's eyes.


title: European robin

text: The European robin has an extensive range and a population numbering in the hundreds of millions. The species does not approach the vulnerable thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30 percent decline over ten years or three generations); the population appears to be increasing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature evaluates it as least concern.


title: European robin

text: The robin features prominently in British folklore and that of northwestern France, but much less so in other parts of Europe. It was held to be a storm-cloud bird and sacred to Thor, the god of thunder, in Norse mythology. Robins feature in the traditional children's tale "Babes in the Wood"; the birds cover the dead bodies of the children.


title: European robin

text: The robin has become strongly associated with Christmas, taking a starring role on many Christmas cards since the mid-19th century. The robin has appeared on many Christmas postage stamps. An old British folk tale seeks to explain the robin's distinctive breast. Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the robin's breast, and thereafter all robins carry the mark of Christ's blood upon them.


title: European robin

text: An alternative legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory. The association with Christmas more probably arises from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red jackets and were nicknamed "Robins"; the robin featured on the Christmas card is an emblem of the postman delivering the card.


title: European robin

text: In the 1960s, in a vote publicised by "The Times", the robin was adopted as the unofficial national bird of the United Kingdom. In 2015, the robin was again voted Britain's national bird in a poll organised by birdwatcher David Lindo, taking 34% of the final vote.


title: European robin

text: Several English and Welsh sports organisations are nicknamed "the Robins". The nickname is typically used for teams whose home colours predominantly use red. These include the professional football clubs Bristol City, Crewe Alexandra, Swindon Town, Cheltenham Town (with Bristol City, as of 2019, Swindon Town, and Cheltenham Town also incorporating a robin image in their current badge designs), and, traditionally, Wrexham FC, as well as the English rugby league team the Hull Kingston Rovers (whose home colours are white with a red band). A small bird is an unusual choice, although it is thought to symbolise agility in darting around the field.


title: Becky Hill

text: Rebecca Claire Hill (born 14 February 1994) is a British singer from Bewdley, England. She rose to prominence after appearing on the first series of the then BBC (now ITV) talent contest "The Voice UK", auditioning with John Legend's "Ordinary People". She joined Jessie J's team and reached the semi-final of the competition. On 29 June 2014 she became the first (and only thus far) "The Voice UK" contestant to score a UK number 1 when the song, "Gecko (Overdrive)" with Oliver Heldens topped the UK Singles Chart. In 2022, she received two Brit Awards nominations, including British Song of the Year for "Remember" with David Guetta, and Best Dance Act, which she won.


title: Becky Hill

text: Becky Hill was born on 14 February 1994. She began making music at the age of 14 and started performing in a band called Shaking Trees – receiving BBC Introducing support from Andrew Marston at BBC Hereford & Worcester who selected her band to perform at the Nozstock Festival of Performing Arts, as well as a live session for Adam Green and Josh Withey at BBC Radio Shropshire. Hill is a supporter of Walsall F.C. In April 2021, she came out as queer on her Twitter account, stating "I've definitely felt uncomfortable branding myself as straight, or anything else for that matter, but queer seems to be the most fitting identity for who I am". On 11 January 2022, Hill announced her engagement via social media to her long-term boyfriend, Charlie Gardner.


title: Becky Hill

text: Hill has appeared in a number of live performances for YouTube, including a web series called "The Rebelations". She auditioned for the first series of "The Voice UK", and at the blind auditions she performed "Ordinary People". Judges Jessie J and will.i.am, the only coaches with an available space on their teams, turned around for her. She opted to join Jessie. In the battle rounds she competed against Indie and Pixie performing the song "Irreplaceable", she won the battle and progressed to the live shows. She got to the semi-final stage of the competition where she was eliminated.


title: Becky Hill

text: Since appearing on "The Voice UK", versions of David Guetta's "She Wolf" and "Not Giving In" by Rudimental have been published, as have covers of Paolo Nutini's "Last Request" and Alex Clare's "Too Close". Hill featured on Rudimental's track "Powerless", taken from their debut album "Home". She also provided cover for Ella Eyre's vocals for Rudimental's set at Glastonbury 2013, Bestival 2013, Wakestock 2013 and Lovebox 2013. Hill provided vocals for and co-wrote Wilkinson's song Afterglow, which peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart in October 2013, the song also peaked at number 1 on the UK Dance Chart. "Powerless" received a full single release on 23 February 2014. The song peaked at number 73 on the UK Singles Chart. Hill appeared on and co-wrote a vocal version of Oliver Heldens' "Gecko", renamed "Gecko (Overdrive)", alongside MNEK. The song topped the UK Singles Chart on 29 June 2014 thus making her the first "The Voice UK" contestant to achieve a number 1.


title: Becky Hill

text: On 9 November 2014 she released a single, "Losing", which was produced by MNEK and intended to be the lead single from her solo album with then label Parlophone Records. The single debuted at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart. Hill co-wrote Australian recording artist Reigan Derry's debut single "All of the Pieces". In July 2015, French house producer Watermät released a vocal version of his track "Frequency" with Hill as joint lead artist. The track was renamed to "All My Love".


title: Becky Hill

text: In early 2016, Hill announced that she was songwriting with CocknBullKid. In May 2016 she released her first proper single in two years, entitled "Back to My Love", featuring vocals from rapper Little Simz. It was said to be the lead single off of her debut album, but was later included in the "Eko EP", released in August 2017. During the summer, she collaborated with a number of artists. Her first was with DJ and record producer MK on his single "Piece of Me". The second was with Matoma on his breakthrough single "False Alarm". In the late months of 2016, she announced a second single from her EP, entitled "Warm". It was co-written with MNEK and produced by Shift K3Y. In the end of March 2017, she released a third single, entitled "Rude Love". The song was co-written and produced by MNEK. The music video was released in April alongside the launch of her official VEVO channel on YouTube.


title: Becky Hill

text: In May 2017, Hill signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV and also guest presented an episode of CBBC's "The Playlist". Following from this, Hill released a fourth single "Unpredictable" from the "Eko EP", along with the EP itself in August 2017 as the final release from her own independent label Eko Music Limited. "Unpredictable" was co-written by Karen Poole and MNEK, who also produced the track.


title: Becky Hill

text: Hill announced in August 2017 that she had signed a worldwide record deal with Polydor Records and expected to release her debut album in 2019. Upon signing her record deal, manager Alex Martin was quoted saying "Becky is at an incredibly exciting stage in her career. The public have only seen a small amount of Becky as a solo artist and what she can do and we were looking for the right partner to work with to take that further".


title: Becky Hill

text: In 2018, she released the single "Sunrise in the East", which was treated as the lead cut from her supposedly rejuvenated debut project. Not long after, she appeared on songs including "Back & Forth", alongside Marc Kinchen and Jonas Blue. This continued in the following year with "I Could Get Used to This", with Weiss, and finally "Wish You Well", with Sigala, which became her first top 10 hit in the UK Charts since "Gecko (Overdrive)". She also wrote the song "All Day and Night" by Jax Jones, Martin Solveig and Madison Beer, which was her first written effort to make it to the top 10 in the UK Charts. On 6 July 2019, Hill performed at Pride in London on the Trafalgar Square stage.


title: Becky Hill

text: On 24 September 2019, Hill announced on social media that she was going to be releasing a "mini-album" that Friday, with four new tracks. These four tracks were previously planned on being released on their own as an extended play, entitled "Fickle Emotions", but the idea was scrapped before including them on a compilation album. The album, under the title "Get to Know", was released on 27 September 2019.


title: Becky Hill

text: On 6 December 2019, Hill released a cover of the Yazoo song, "Only You", dedicated to her grandfather, who had introduced her to The Flying Pickets' cover version of the song when she was young.


title: Becky Hill

text: At the beginning of 2020, Hill supported Irish pop rock band The Script on their Sunsets & Full Moons tour in the UK and Ireland and performed some of her songs from "Get to Know". In late March of that year, the rest of the dates were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Becky Hill

text: She released the next singles from her debut album "Only Honest on the Weekend"; "Better Off Without You" with Shift K3Y and "Heaven on My Mind" with Sigala, both of which reached number fourteen on the UK Singles Chart. Follow up single "Space" peaked at seventy-nine, though this later did not make the final tracklist.


title: Becky Hill

text: In April, she collaborated with Tiesto on the song "Nothing Really Matters" which was later released through Tiesto's seventh album "The London Sessions", where she featured on another song called "Over You". In June, she premiered a Spotify podcast called "The Art of Rave" with features such as Pete Tong, Sister Bliss and DJ Zinc.


title: Becky Hill

text: In November, she covered Alphaville's "Forever Young" for the UK's McDonald's Christmas advert. The track became her first song without a joint credit to reach the UK Top 40, when it peaked at number thirty-five.


title: Becky Hill

text: Beginning in 2021, Hill released the singles "Last Time" and "Remember" with French DJ David Guetta. They peaked at number thirty-nine and number three respectively, the latter becoming Hill's fourth top-ten hit.


title: Becky Hill

text: On 15 July 2021, Hill teased the release of her debut album, "Only Honest on the Weekend", with a trailer on her Instagram featuring previously unreleased songs "My Heart Goes (La Di Da)" with Topic and "Through the Night" with 220 Kid. The tracklist was later confirmed in full by Official Charts. The album was originally planned to be released on 20 August 2021. Hill explained that the album would be delayed 1 week, and released on 27 August 2021 to let "My Heart Goes (La Di Da)" shine on the UK charts. Released as the final single from the album, the song spent four weeks at number 11 becoming Hill's ninth top-20 single.


title: Becky Hill

text: Additionally, on 25 August 2021, days before the release of "Only Honest on the Weekend", a "Kiss My (Uh Oh)" "Girl Power Remix" was released that Hill featured on along with Anne-Marie, Little Mix, Raye and Stefflon Don.


title: Becky Hill

text: On 25 January 2022, Hill announced that she will release a song with Wilkinson 9 years after their previous hit "Afterglow". The song is called "Here For You" and it was released on 11 February 2022. She later released "Run", a collaboration with Swedish EDM duo Galantis was released on 25 February 2022. This was followed by a deluxe edition of her debut album "Only Honest on the Weekend". It included singles "Space", "Run" with Galantis, "Hold On" with Netsky and "Here For You" with Wilkinson, the song "Personally" and the acoustic version of "Remember".


title: Becky Hill

text: On 8 April 2022, Hill collaborated with David Guetta and Ella Henderson on the song "Crazy What Love Can Do". In July 2022, she performed at the closing ceremony of UEFA Women's Euro 2022 at Wembley Stadium, after which she was trolled online due to the silver leotard she wore for the performance. She also performed during the beach volleyball events at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: Maxwell Caulfield (né Maxwell P.J. Newby; born 23 November 1959) is a British-American film, stage, and television actor and singer. He has appeared in "Grease 2" (1982), "Electric Dreams" (1984), "The Boys Next Door" (1985), "The Supernaturals" (1986), "" (1989), "Waxwork 2" (1992), "Gettysburg" (1993), "Empire Records" (1995), "The Real Blonde" (1997), "The Man Who Knew Too Little" (1997), and in "A Prince for Christmas" (2015). In 2015, Caulfield toured Australia with his wife Juliet Mills and sister-in-law Hayley Mills in the comedy "Legends!" by Pulitzer Prize winner James Kirkwood. He voiced James Bond in the video game "" (2002).


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: Maxwell P.J. Newby was born on 23 November 1959 in Belper, Derbyshire to Peter Newby and Oriole Rosalind Findlater. By 1965, his parents had parted and his mother legally abandoned the surname Newby in favour of her maiden name. Although he did not work regularly as a child actor, at the age of seven he played "Ted" in the 1967 film "Accident" and was billed as Maxwell Findlater.


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: Caulfield's American stepfather reportedly kicked him out of the house at the age of 15. Caulfield became an exotic dancer at London's Windmill Theatre to obtain an Equity card enabling him to work as an actor.


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: After obtaining a green card, he made his New York City debut in "Hot Rock Hotel" (1978) after moving from the UK to the United States, and the following year made his stage debut in "Class Enemy" (1979), in which he played the lead role; he won a Theatre World Award for his performance. He made his Los Angeles debut in "Hitting Town" (1980) and appeared in "The Elephant Man" (1980) that same year, during which he met his future wife, actress Juliet Mills.


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: In the early 1980s, Caulfield was an active member of the Mirror Repertory Company, part of The Mirror Theater Ltd, performing in numerous repertory productions including "Paradise Lost", "Rain", "Inheritors" and "The Hasty Heart". He made his debut Off-Broadway in 1981 as the title character, a homicidal drifter, in Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" (alongside Joseph Maher and Barbara Bryne). His performance was widely praised; one critic wrote:


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: "Maxwell Caulfield is the ideal spider in the web", wrote one critic, saying he [Caulfield] was "as disarming of himself as he is of others – which gives this revival that tragic tinge of great comedy."


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: Caulfield made his Broadway debut in J. B. Priestley's "An Inspector Calls" opposite Siân Phillips. He appeared with Jessica Tandy and Elizabeth Wilson in "Salonika" at the Public Theater in New York, appearing fully nude for much of the play, and in Joe Orton's black comedy "Loot" at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. In 2006, Caulfield drew attention over his bare-chested scene in the Off-Broadway two-hander "Tryst", opposite Amelia Campbell. In 2007, he performed in the Charles Busch play "Our Leading Lady" with Kate Mulgrew.


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: In 2007, Caulfield made his West End stage debut as Billy Flynn in the long-running London production of "Chicago"; he then resumed the role of Flynn for the Broadway production in November 2007. In 2011, he appeared in an Off-Broadway production of the comedy "Cactus Flower".


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: Caulfield has appeared on "Dynasty" (1985–1986), "The Colbys" (1985–1987), "Murder, She Wrote" (1988–1991), "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990), "The Rockford Files" (1996), "Spider-Man" (1995–1998), "Casualty" (2003–2004), "Emmerdale" (2009–2010) and "NCIS" (2013). He guest-starred on "Modern Family" (Season 4, Episode 16, "Bad Hair Day") playing Claire's ex-boyfriend and college professor.


title: Maxwell Caulfield

text: Caulfield has been married since 1980 to actress Juliet Mills, daughter of actor Sir John Mills and writer Lady Mills (née Mary Hayley Bell), and brother-in-law of Jonathan Mills and actress Hayley Mills. Caulfield is stepfather to Melissa (née Miklenda; Mills' daughter from her second marriage) and Sean Caulfield (born Sean Alquist; Mills' son from her first marriage).


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: James Michael Anderson (born 30 July 1982) is an English international cricketer who plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He is also a part time cricket commentator for the BBC. Among fast bowlers, Anderson is the leading wicket-taker of all-time at Test cricket level, being the only fast bowler to have taken 600 or more Test wickets; among all types of bowlers, he is the third-highest wicket-taker overall, behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne. He also holds the record for the most wickets taken by an England player in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. In June 2021, he made his 162nd appearance for England in Test cricket, becoming England's most capped player. He has also played nearly 200 One Day Internationals. He is regarded as one of the greatest swing bowlers in the history of cricket.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: A right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, Anderson made his international debut at the end of 2002 during England's winter tour of Australia, then played his first Test match against Zimbabwe when the team toured England the following summer. His early career was held back by injuries, including a stress fracture of the back which kept him out of action for most of the 2006 season, but thereafter he established himself as the key opening bowler in the England Test team. He was a regular strike bowler with the national one-day side, but has not participated in the shorter format of the game at international level since the 2015 World Cup.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson was the first English bowler to reach 400, 500 and 600 wickets in Test matches. As of August 2022, he is ranked 6th in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings, having previously reached the top position at various times between 2016 and 2018. In July 2021, in the 2021 County Championship, Anderson took his 1,000th first-class wicket.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: James Anderson was a pupil at St Mary's and St Theodore's RC High School, Burnley. He played cricket at Burnley Cricket Club from a young age. His childhood dream was to be a cricketer, and at the age of 17, after a growth spurt, Anderson was one of the fastest bowlers in the Lancashire League. He stated that "I've always bowled seam, but when I was about 17 I don't know what it was but I just started bowling fast all of a sudden". Anderson is a keen football fan who supports his local club Burnley.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Just months after his debut he had become one of the biggest stars in English cricket. Continuous alteration of hair styles, attractive looks, and up-to-the-minute outfits earned him comparisons with some of the most recognisable sports personalities around, including David Beckham. In 2006 he married Daniella Lloyd, a model he met in 2004 while on England duty in London; he stated that marriage has made him "a much happier person". The couple have two children.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson has ventured into fashion design since 2012, designing for Elvis Jesus with proceeds of the sale going to his sponsored charity, Nordoff-Robbins. Anderson also agreed to be the face of British hair styling brand Hairbond in June 2013 In April 2014, he launched his first collection with London-based menswear brand, Chess London. He has stated that he would like to be "the first cricketer to become a designer". He launched his own menswear brand in late October 2014, and has been working in conjunction with British watchmaker Harold Pinchbeck to release a watch in 2015.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson became the first cricketer to model naked for "Attitude", "Britain's biggest-selling gay magazine", in September 2010. He stated "if there are any gay cricketers they should feel confident enough to come out because I don't think there is any homophobia in cricket."


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Alongside former cricketer Graeme Swann and BBC Radio 1 radio presenter Greg James, Anderson hosted a cricket-themed radio show on BBC Radio 5 Live, "Not Just Cricket". The radio show was nominated for Best Sports Programme at the 2013 Radio Academy Awards.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: On 15 November 2017, Anderson, along with Felix White and Greg James, began hosting a cricketing podcast, 'Tailenders'. This was initially a weekly podcast covering the 2017–18 Ashes series, on 23 May 2018 it was renewed to continue on a weekly basis.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson made his competitive debut for the Lancashire Cricket Board in a List A one-day match against Suffolk in the 2000 NatWest Trophy, where he claimed the wicket of Russell Catley as his first competitive wicket. Anderson later made his first-class debut for Lancashire in 2002; he played 13 matches and took 50 wickets at an average of 22.28, including three five-wicket hauls. He took his maiden first-class wicket in May 2002, dismissing Ian Ward. He was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award for Lancashire's most promising young County player in the 2002 season. In 2003, Anderson became the youngest player to take a hat-trick for Lancashire, just a week before his Test match debut against Zimbabwe; it was the first hat-trick at Old Trafford in eight years. In a match against Worcestershire in May 2004, Anderson recorded his maiden first-class ten-wicket haul.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: 2005 was Anderson's first full season for Lancashire. He was propelled into the England side soon after his Lancashire debut and had returned to rediscover his form after winter tours with England where he had spent most of his time on the sidelines, and when given a chance for England he often bowled poorly due to a lack of match practice. He finished the season with 60 first-class wickets at an average of 30.21 and 27 one day wickets at an average of 22.00.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson was prevented from playing much for Lancashire in the 2006 season by a stress fracture of the back sustained in early May.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: He played in only two matches for Lancashire, and at one point it was considered sending Anderson to play for Glamorgan to prove his fitness; however, Lancashire decided they would rather have Anderson play for them if only in a limited capacity. In the only first-class match he played for Lancashire that season, he was limited to three four-over spells by the ECB who were wary of injuring him again.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: In 2008, after the Test and One-Day series against South Africa ended at the beginning of September, Anderson was made unavailable to play for Lancashire for the rest of the season. He finished the season with 20 first-class wickets at 7.75 for Lancashire.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: At the start of the 2009 English cricket season, Anderson took career-best match figures in a first-class match with 11/109 against Sussex as Lancashire won by 8 wickets. It was the only first-class match he played for Lancashire before being called into the England squad for a series against the West Indies. As of 26 April 2009, Anderson had taken 188 wickets at 24.37 from 48 first-class matches with Lancashire, and 66 wickets at 21.78 in 44 list A matches.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: When Anderson was selected for the England one-day squad, he had played only five List A matches, taking 23 wickets at an average of 26.75. At the age of 20, he made his ODI debut on 15 December 2002 against Australia at Melbourne. He opened the bowling and recorded figures of 1/46 from six overs. His debut came before he was even awarded his County cap, which occurred in 2003. He showed good promise in this series – a three-team tournament also including Sri Lanka – which earned him a place in the 2003 World Cup squad. It was here that he really broke into international cricket with a match-winning spell against Pakistan, where he took four wickets in day/night game to collect the Man of the Match award. In what proved to be England's last match of the tournament he conceded 12 runs off the penultimate over against eventual world champions Australia, and England lost a closely fought contest.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: In the summer of 2003, he made his first Test cricket appearance against Zimbabwe at Lord's, and took five wickets in an innings on debut, becoming the 42nd Englishman to do so. His success continued in the subsequent One-Day tournaments against Pakistan (against whom he took a hat-trick at The Oval), South Africa and Zimbabwe. His hat-trick against Pakistan, the first by an English bowler in an ODI, claimed the wickets of Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: The Test series against South Africa dented Anderson's reputation as England's golden boy; in a series England drew 2–2 after coming from behind, Anderson finished the five-match series with 15 wickets at an average of 39.86. His best figures of 5/102 came at Trent Bridge in the third Test where he used movement of the seam to claim his second five-wicket haul in his fifth Test. Although Anderson was England's lead wicket taker, Graeme Smith – the South African captain – particularly punished Anderson's bowling, taking 157 runs at a strike rate of 90.23 off his bowling in the series and only being dismissed once. In August, despite a mixed series against South Africa, Anderson was named Young Cricketer of the Year; he became the first player to be unanimously voted the award. In September, Anderson was awarded a central contract with the ECB. He suffered from a niggling knee injury and fatigue as the season wore on; the knee injury – to a tendon on the outside of his left knee – meant he was rested for the winter tour of Bangladesh. After the South Africa series and some good performances by other bowlers during the Bangladesh tour, Anderson admitted that he was no longer an automatic choice for England.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson has an unusual bowling action. At the moment of delivery he has his head down, eyes closed and does not look where he is bowling; he attempted to bowl with his head up but found that he lost pace in doing so, so reverted to his original action. In 2003, ex-England pace bowler Bob Willis claimed that Anderson would only be able to play for five years with his action. Between 2004 and 2005, the England coaching staff attempted to alter Anderson's bowling action. Anderson was selected in the One-Day and Test squads for the winter tour Sri Lanka, but injuries left him able to play in only one of the three Tests on that tour. He bowled well below his potential to collect figures of 0–85 in his sole appearance.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Although fit and included in both the Test and one-day squads for the tour of the West Indies, Anderson did not play in the Test series, having been superseded by players such as James Kirtley. He did feature in the ODI series which England drew 2–2, playing in 4 matches and taking 4 wickets at an average of 37.00; in the final match of the series, Anderson took his 50th ODI wicket, that of Chris Gayle for 41. After the ODI series against the West Indies, Anderson had 50 wickets from 31 ODIs at an average of 23.78.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson retained his place in the Test squad, and his next big break came when an injury to Simon Jones forced the Welshman out of the last three Tests of the 2004 summer series against the West Indies. Despite being in the team, Anderson's bowling was used infrequently. It was clear now that Anderson had now not only lost all his form and rhythm, but consequentially all his confidence as well. A performance by a resurgent Anderson in the final Test of the summer prompted speculation that he had regained his confidence and would return to the top of his game. He was selected for the winter tour to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Much of the post-season talk, however, was dominated by the debate over whether to go on tour to Zimbabwe. England eventually did end up in Harare, after a brief stop over in Namibia. Anderson once again struggled in his three One-Day appearances. The England management, however, continued to show faith in his ability.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Travelling as a barely-used reserve on the winter South Africa tour while seemingly struggling for form, Anderson was given another shot at redemption, after Simon Jones was dropped for the third Test after a poor performance in the second. Anderson, though, did even worse than Jones, collecting figures of 2/117 and 0/32 in his two innings. Anderson spent the following summer with Lancashire; bowling regularly a quota of overs one would associate with a new ball bowler, something he had not done enough in his England stint. He was recalled to the England squad for the last match of the 2005 Ashes series after taking 60 wickets for Lancashire in 2005, once again as a replacement for the injured Jones, but all-rounder Paul Collingwood was selected for the team.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson was selected in the Test squad for the tour of Pakistan, but spinner Shaun Udal was chosen to fill the bowler's spot left empty by the still injured Simon Jones. When Ashley Giles had to miss the third Test due to injury, young Durham debutant seamer Liam Plunkett was chosen ahead of Anderson and Anderson did not play a single Test on the tour. Despite this disappointment he played in all five of England's One-Day games in Pakistan, showing improvements in form to be England's joint-leading wicket-taker in the series with Andrew Flintoff, taking 7 wickets at 25.57.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson was not selected for the senior side's tour to India in January 2006 as Simon Jones returned from injury and was chosen ahead of him. Instead, Anderson was selected for England A's tour of the West Indies. In February, days before the start of the first A-match between England and the West Indies, James Anderson (along with batsmen Alastair Cook and Owais Shah) was called up as an injury reinforcement to the England senior squad in India, after captain Michael Vaughan and fast bowler Simon Jones flew home with knee injuries and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick departed for undisclosed "personal" reasons. After an unconvincing display by Liam Plunkett in the second Test in Mohali Anderson was recalled for the final match of the series. He impressed in England's victory, taking figures of 4/40 in the first innings.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: After his impressive display in the final match in India, Anderson looked likely to feature as one of England's main bowlers in both the ODI series and Test matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka; however an early season stress fracture of the back ruled Anderson out for all of the summer internationals and all but two matches of his county season. Lancashire teammate Sajid Mahmood was called up to the England squad the replacement for Anderson.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson was named in England's Champions Trophy and Ashes squads in September 2006 although at that point he had not played any first-class cricket in six months. He was straight back into England colours for the 0–5 Ashes whitewash against Australia. His performance, like much of the England team, was well below standard. Anderson was sent home midway through the One-Day tournament with Australia and New Zealand as a precaution when he felt a twinge in his back; during the tournament he had begun to regain some of his form and in the four matches he played he took 8 wickets at an average of 20.62.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Although Anderson was returned home early from the England's victorious ODI series in Australia, Anderson was selected in England's squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. He recovered from his back injury and was expected to play ahead of the likes of Liam Plunkett, Sajid Mahmood and Jon Lewis. However, on 14 March 2007, only days before England's first game, it was reported by the BBC that Anderson had broken his finger during fielding practice and his involvement in the tournament was in question, although he was able to play despite the pain.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: When Peter Moores replaced Duncan Fletcher as England coach after the World Cup, it was felt that Anderson would benefit under new management; along with the rest of the England team he was allowed to play more for his county. It was felt that it was not beneficial for players who were not representing England to just sit on the sideline and match practice would allow him to rediscover his form. Anderson did not feature in the Test series against the West Indies, but he did play in the ODI series. During the second ODI, he clashed with Runako Morton when he appeared to get in the way of Morton when the batsman was running between the wickets. Anderson was fined half of his match fee for the incident and match referee Mike Procter stated "James Anderson is not a player with a reputation for bad behaviour...and I am sure he will do everything he can to ensure there is no repeat of this unfortunate incident". Anderson finished the series with five wickets at 30.40 as England lost the series 2–1.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson played in all three Tests of the series with India, coming into the side for the injured Matthew Hoggard and leading a pace attack comprising himself, Ryan Sidebottom and Chris Tremlett with only 20 caps between them. In the first Test of the series, Anderson claimed his 50th Test wicket when he dismissed Mahendra Singh Dhoni for 0; the feat was achieved in Anderson's 17th Test match and after the match he had 53 wickets at an average of 35.67. He became the first England bowler to dismiss Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly in the same innings. Although England lost the series, Anderson demonstrated greater consistency than before and managed 14 wickets, at 35.57 and getting the Man of the Series award. He also managed to get his name on the honours board at Lord's for the second time with his best Test figures of 5/42. The ODI series which followed was England's first ODI series win at home in three years. Anderson was the leading wicket-taker of either side with 14 wickets at an average of 22.57. In the first ODI of the series, Anderson claimed his 100th ODI wicket when he dismissed Gautam Gambhir for 3; after the match, he had taken 103 wickets from 70 matches at an average of 27.02. Anderson was also included for the England squad for the World Twenty20, held in September 2007, replacing an injured Ravi Bopara. He played in all four of England's matches, taking three wickets at 34.00, as England failed to progress beyond the second stage of the competition. Following a successful summer, he was one of twelve players awarded a central contract for 2007/08 by the ECB.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: Anderson was part of the squad which toured Sri Lanka in the winter. The One-Day side completed their first ever series victory in Sri Lanka; Anderson's contribution was four wickets in five matches at an average of 48.25 and tying down Sri Lanka's top order along with Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, although they finished with more wickets at a lower average. Despite suffering a bruised left ankle, Anderson was selected for the first Test. Although he bowled economically in the first innings, he was expensive in the second; during the course of the second innings he became only the second bowler in Test cricket to have six boundaries taken off a single over. He finished the match with figures of two wickets for 167 runs and was dropped for the final two Tests; his replacement was debutant Stuart Broad.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: In the spring of 2008, Anderson toured New Zealand with England. He played in the Twenty20 series, which England won 2–0, and he was then involved in the one-day series which New Zealand won 3–2. Although he played in all five matches of the One-Day series, he struggled and only managed four wickets at an average of 67.50. In an effort to regain some form, Anderson was allowed to join Auckland Cricket Club, who were lacking their strike bowlers due to international call ups, as an overseas player. The move was controversial with critics including Gavin Larsen, Wellington Cricket Club's chief executive, who feared that Anderson would be able to bowl himself into form. Although he was left out for the first Test, Anderson was recalled for the second when he and Stuart Broad replaced the out of form Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard after England were defeated by 189 runs; the decision to axe both bowlers was heralded as the end of an era in English cricket. Anderson's selection was a surprise as it was expected that Broad would replace Harmison, but not that Hoggard would be dropped. In the first innings of the second Test, Anderson took 5/73 and finished with match figures of 7/130 and helped England to a 126-run victory. He sustained an ankle injury while playing football before the third Test but recovered in time to be selected. Anderson's performance in the final Test was less effective, recording match figures of 1/153 as England won the match by 121 runs and the series 2–1. Searching for consistency, Anderson's action reverted to the action he used in 2003, one with which he felt comfortable.


title: James Anderson (cricketer)

text: He was retained for the home series, when New Zealand toured England later in 2008. He continued to enjoy success against the touring side, taking 19 wickets at 19.31 and finishing as the leading wicket-taker of the series. This was his highest return of wickets in a series. Anderson bowled well in the first Test, recording match figures of 130/5 as the match was drawn. In the second Test, Anderson finished with match figures of 5/139 as England won by six wickets; on the first day he struck New Zealand batsman Daniel Flynn in the face, knocking out a tooth, in a spell of short, aggressive bowling when he also hit Jacob Oram on the helmet. Anderson was disconcerted by injuring Flynn said that striking him "wasn't pleasant". In the final match of the series Anderson scored a career Test best of 28 in a partnership of 76 with Stuart Broad. This was followed up by career best bowling of 7/43 in the first innings and Test best match figures of 9/98 overall as he won the Man of the Match award and England secured an innings and nine run victory and a 2–0 series win. Anderson's performance in the series prompted England bowling coach Ottis Gibson to say that Anderson has the potential to become a world-class bowler if he can improve his self-belief. In the One-Day series that followed Anderson managed five wickets from five matches at an average of 41.40 as England lost the series 3–1.