title: Ian Hislop

text: In Caroline Chartres's book "Why I Am Still an Anglican", Hislop opens his chapter by saying "I've tried atheism and I can't stick at it: I keep having doubts. That probably sums up my position." In 1996, Hislop presented an award-winning documentary series for Channel 4 about the history of the Church of England, called "Canterbury Tales". His other works include the four-part BBC Radio 4 series "The Real Patron Saints".


title: Ian Hislop

text: On 4 September 2009, Hislop appeared at "The Gathering", organised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at Canterbury Cathedral to discuss religion, society and journalism, among other issues, in front of an audience of about 1,000.


title: Ian Hislop

text: Hislop has mocked all major British political parties during his career. Appearing on "Question Time" on 18 September 2008, he praised Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable for his analysis of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and expressed support for the Liberal Democrats, jocularly stating "I'm standing for them."


title: Ian Hislop

text: In a 2009 "Five minutes with" interview with Matthew Stadlen for BBC News, Hislop stated that if he were required, "at the point of a gun", to stand in an election for any British political party, he would stand for the fictional "Vince Cable for Treasurer Party". After the formation of the coalition government in 2010, Hislop remarked in an interview, "I like the idea of this coalition neutralising the loonies on both sides".


title: Ian Hislop

text: He has also been highly critical of the leadership of the European Union, calling for a referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in a 2003 recording of "Have I Got News for You". However, referring to Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Hislop said on "Question Time" that "after an election or a referendum, even if you lose the vote, you are entitled to go on making the argument". A joke on the front of "Private Eye" titled "BREXIT LATEST" mocking the reaction to Brexit received "fifty or so" letters of complaint in the next issue. Hislop mocked this, saying that "There was one [letter] from a vicar, too, who told me that it was time to accept the victory of the majority of the people and to stop complaining. ... I wrote back and told him that this argument was a bit much, coming from a church that had begun with a minority of 12". He has expressed dismay over the level of public debate in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the EU and the election of Donald Trump, describing it as Orwellian in nature, saying that "one is unsure whether to feel relieved at the sense of "déjà vu" or worried about the possibility of history repeating itself, not as farce, but as tragedy again."


title: Ian Hislop

text: In 2019, an outtake from "Have I Got News for You" went viral, featuring Hislop saying that he would like to see Boris Johnson "have a fair trial, with a desirable result of him being in prison forever". The comment was made in response of the High Court's ruling that Johnson would not have to face a criminal prosecution for claims he made during the EU referendum.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Geoffrey Dyson Palmer (4 June 1927 – 5 November 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles in British television sitcoms playing Jimmy Anderson in "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" (1976–79), Ben Parkinson in "Butterflies" (1978–1983) and Lionel Hardcastle in "As Time Goes By" (1992–2005). His film appearances include "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), "The Madness of King George" (1994), "Mrs Brown" (1997) and "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997).


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Geoffrey Dyson Palmer was born on 4 June 1927 in London, England. He was the son of Frederick Charles Palmer, who was a chartered surveyor, and Norah Gwendolen (née Robins). He attended Highgate School from September 1939 to December 1945. He served as a corporal instructor in small arms and field training in the Royal Marines during his national service from 1946 to 1948, following which he briefly worked as an unpaid trainee assistant stage manager.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Palmer's early television appearances included multiple roles in episodes of "The Army Game" (Granada Television), two episodes of "The Baron" and as a property agent in "Cathy Come Home" (1966). After a major break in John Osborne's "West of Suez" at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he acted in major productions at the Royal Court and for the National Theatre Company and was directed by Laurence Olivier in J. B. Priestley's "Eden End". Palmer found the play so boring, however, that it put him off a stage career for good.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Two BBC sitcom roles brought him attention in the 1970s: the hapless brother-in-law of Reggie Perrin in "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" (1976–79), and the phlegmatic dentist Ben Parkinson in "Butterflies" (1978–1983). He also played Doctor Price in the "Fawlty Towers" episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" (1979), determined to have breakfast amidst the confusion caused by the death of a guest and Fawlty's inept way of handling the emergency. In 1986, Palmer appeared as Donald Fairchild in the first series of an ITV sitcom, "Executive Stress", alongside Penelope Keith. He later left, and was replaced by Peter Bowles.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Palmer later starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in another BBC sitcom, "As Time Goes By" (1992–2005). In 1997, he also appeared with Dench in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies," in which he portrayed Admiral Roebuck, and "Mrs Brown", playing Sir Henry Ponsonby to Dench's Queen Victoria.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Palmer's voice-over skills led to frequent work in commercials. Campaigns he was involved with include the 'Slam in the Lamb' ads for the Meat & Livestock Commission and the Audi commercials in which he was heard using the phrase "Vorsprung durch Technik". As a narrator, he worked on the BBC series' "Grumpy Old Men" and "Grumpy Old Holidays", as well as narrating the audiobook version of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", released in 2005 as a podcast by Penguin Books. He narrated the documentary series "Little England", and he continued to appear in productions written by "Reggie Perrin" creator David Nobbs, the last of these being the radio comedy "The Maltby Collection" broadcast from 2007.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: In the 2006 DVD series "The Compleat Angler", Palmer partnered Rae Borras in a series of episodes based on Izaak Walton's 1653 "The Compleat Angler". In 2007, he recorded "The Diary of a Nobody" by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith as an online audiobook. In December 2007, Palmer appeared in the role of the Captain in "Voyage of the Damned", the Christmas special episode of the BBC science-fiction series "Doctor Who"; Palmer previously appeared in the classic era of the show in the Third Doctor serials "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (1970) (as Masters) and "The Mutants" (1972) (as the Administrator). In March 2009, he joined in a sketch with the two double acts Armstrong and Miller and Mitchell and Webb for Comic Relief. In 2011, he played the reactionary father-in-law of the eponymous clergyman of "Rev." in its Christmas episode.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: Palmer married Sally Green in 1963. They had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Charles, a television director. Palmer lived at Lee Common in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, and enjoyed fly fishing in his spare time.


title: Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

text: In the New Year's Honours List published 31 December 2004 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama. A drawing of Palmer by Stuart Pearson Wright is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in British series such as "The Thick of It" (2005–2012), "Getting On" (2009–2012), "Puppy Love" (2014), and "No Offence" (2015–2018). She was nominated for three BAFTA TV Awards for "Getting On", including two for Best Writing.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Scanlan's film appearances include "Girl With a Pearl Earring" (2003), "Notes on a Scandal" (2006), "The Invisible Woman" (2013), and "Bridget Jones's Baby" (2016). She won a British Academy Film Award and a British Independent Film Award for her performance in the film "After Love" (2020).


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Scanlan was born on 27 October 1961 in West Kirby, Cheshire, the daughter of hoteliers Michael and Patricia Scanlan. She moved to North Wales with her parents at the age of three, and her parents later bought the Castle Hotel in Ruthin. She attended Brigidine Convent and Howell's School, Denbigh, as well as New Hall School in Chelmsford, Essex. She studied history at Queens' College, Cambridge and joined the Cambridge Footlights, where she became friends with Tilda Swinton.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: After graduation, Scanlan joined the academic staff of Leicester Polytechnic lecturing in drama for five years, before she undertook a similar role at the Arts Council of Great Britain for three years. After the Arts Council of Great Britain was split in 1994, at age 34 Scanlan decided to try becoming a professional actor, quickly gaining the role as a nurse in ITV1's "Peak Practice". This formed somewhat of a theme in her early career, then playing a midwife in "The Other Boleyn Girl" with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, before playing a nurse again alongside Ade Edmondson's doctor in ill-fated "Doctors and Nurses", and latterly Dr Diana Dibbs in "Doc Martin" with Martin Clunes.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Scanlan is known for her portrayal of Terri Coverley, the notoriously useless senior press officer for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship in the British comedy television series "The Thick of It" from 2005 to 2012.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Among her successes is Scanlan's critically acclaimed dark satirical NHS drama "Getting On", which she starred and co-wrote with Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine. The series earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Female Performance in a Comedy and a BAFTA Television Craft nomination for screenwriting in both 2011 and 2013. They were also nominated for Best Comedy Screenwriting at the Royal Television Awards in 2010 and Best Comedy at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards in 2011. The comedy series was adapted for an American audience with HBO, with Scanlan on board as an executive producer to closely work on script development. Scanlan was a guest star in the American version, reprising her role as Denise Flixter. The Emmy-nominated show ran for three seasons between 2013 and 2015.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine teamed up again to write and star in their BBC Four comedy series "Puppy Love", which follows two women at their dog training classes on the Wirral. Under their production company George and George Co., they are currently adapting "Puppy Love" with HBO for America and a new sitcom "This Land is Ours" is in development for US Network IFC.


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Scanlan plays lead character DI Inspector 'Viv Deering' in Paul Abbott's BAFTA nominated and RTS award-winning primetime drama, "No Offence."


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Other film credits include Charles Dickens' wife in "The Invisible Woman" and roles in "Get Santa", "Testament of Youth", "In the Loop", "The Bad Education Movie", "The Other Boleyn Girl", "Stardust", "Notes on a Scandal", "Girl With A Pearl Earring", "Pin Cushion", After Love and "Kinky Boots".


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: Additional television credits include "Death Comes To Pemberley", "Fungus the Bogeyman", "Mapp and Lucia", "Heading Out", "Stella", "Doc Martin", "One Foot in the Grave" and "Spaced".


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: On stage, Scanlan has worked with Thea Sharrock in her production of "Cloud 9" at the Almeida Theatre and "Top Girls", with Rufus Norris in "Vernon God Little" at the Young Vic, and featured in Polly Teale's "Madame Bovery".


title: Joanna Scanlan

text: In March 2022, she received the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film "After Love" (2020).


title: Kana

text: The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most prominent magana system being ; the two descendants of man'yōgana, (2) , and (3) . There are also , which are historical variants of the now-standard hiragana. In current usage, 'kana' can simply mean "hiragana" and "katakana".


title: Kana

text: Katakana, with a few additions, are also used to write Ainu. A number of systems exist to write the Ryūkyūan languages, in particular Okinawan, in hiragana. Taiwanese kana were used in Taiwanese Hokkien as glosses (ruby text or "furigana") for Chinese characters in Taiwan when it was under Japanese rule.


title: Kana

text: Each kana character (syllabogram) corresponds to one sound or whole syllable in the Japanese language, unlike kanji regular script, which corresponds to a meaning (logogram). Apart from the five vowels, it is always CV (consonant onset with vowel nucleus), such as "ka", "ki", etc., or V (vowel), such as "a", "i", etc., with the sole exception of the C grapheme for nasal codas usually romanised as "n". The structure has led some scholars to label the system "moraic", instead of "syllabic", because it requires the combination of two syllabograms to represent a CVC syllable with coda (i.e. CV"n", CV"m", CV"ng"), a CVV syllable with complex nucleus (i.e. multiple or expressively long vowels), or a CCV syllable with complex onset (i.e. including a glide, C"y"V, C"w"V).


title: Kana

text: The limited number of phonemes in Japanese, as well as the relatively rigid syllable structure, makes the kana system a very accurate representation of spoken Japanese.


title: Kana

text: Today it is generally assumed that 'kana' were considered "false" kanji due to their purely phonetic nature, as opposed to which were "true" kanji used for their meanings. Yet originally, "mana" and "kana" were purely calligraphic terms with "mana" referring to Chinese characters written in the regular script ("kaisho") and "kana" referring to those written in the cursive ("sōsho") style (see "hiragana"). It was not until the 18th century that the early-nationalist "kokugaku" movement which wanted to move away from Sinocentric academia began to reanalyze the script from a phonological point of view. In the following centuries, contrary to the traditional Sinocentric view, "kana" began to be considered a national Japanese writing system that was distinct from Chinese characters, which is the dominant view today.


title: Kana

text: Although the term 'kana' is now commonly understood as hiragana and katakana, it actually has broader application as listed below:


title: Kana

text: The following table reads, in gojūon order, as "a", "i", "u", "e", "o" (down first column), then "ka", "ki", "ku", "ke", "ko" (down second column), and so on. "n" appears on its own at the end. Asterisks mark unused combinations.


title: Kana

text: Syllables beginning with the voiced consonants [g], [z], [d] and [b] are spelled with kana from the corresponding unvoiced columns ("k", "s", "t" and "h") and the voicing mark, "dakuten". Syllables beginning with [p] are spelled with kana from the "h" column and the half-voicing mark, "handakuten".


title: Kana

text: Syllables beginning with palatalized consonants are spelled with one of the seven consonantal kana from the "i" row followed by small "ya", "yu" or "yo". These digraphs are called yōon.


title: Kana

text: The difference in usage between hiragana and katakana is stylistic. Usually, hiragana is the default syllabary, and katakana is used in certain special cases. Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words with no kanji representation (or whose kanji is thought obscure or difficult), as well as grammatical elements such as particles and inflections (okurigana). Today katakana is most commonly used to write words of foreign origin that do not have kanji representations, as well as foreign personal and place names. Katakana is also used to represent onomatopoeia and interjections, emphasis, technical and scientific terms, transcriptions of the Sino-Japanese readings of kanji, and some corporate branding.


title: Kana

text: Kana can be written in small form above or next to lesser-known kanji in order to show pronunciation; this is called furigana. Furigana is used most widely in children's or learners' books. Literature for young children who do not yet know kanji may dispense with it altogether and instead use hiragana combined with spaces.


title: Kana

text: Systems supporting only a limited set of characters, such as Wabun code for Morse code telegrams and single-byte digital character encodings such as JIS X 0201 or EBCDIK, likewise dispense with kanji, instead using only katakana. This is not necessary in systems supporting double-byte or variable-width encodings such as Shift JIS, EUC-JP, UTF-8 or UTF-16.


title: Kana

text: Old Japanese was written entirely in kanji, and a set of kanji called "man'yōgana" were first used to represent the phonetic values of grammatical particles and morphemes. As there was no consistent method of sound representation, a phoneme could be represented by multiple kanji, and even those kana's pronunciations differed in whether they were to be read as or , making decipherment problematic. The "man'yōshū", a poetry anthology assembled sometime after 759 and the eponym of "man'yōgana", exemplifies this phenomenon, where as many as almost twenty kanji were used for the mora "ka". The consistency of the kana used was thus dependent on the style of the writer. Hiragana developed as a distinct script from cursive "man'yōgana", whereas katakana developed from abbreviated parts of regular script "man'yōgana" as a glossing system to add readings or explanations to Buddhist sutras. Both of these systems were simplified to make writing easier. The shapes of many hiragana resembled the Chinese cursive script, as did those of many katakana the Korean "gugyeol", suggesting that the Japanese followed the continental pattern of their neighbors.


title: Kana

text: Kana is traditionally said to have been invented by the Buddhist priest Kūkai in the ninth century. Kūkai certainly brought the Siddhaṃ script of India home on his return from China in 806; his interest in the sacred aspects of speech and writing led him to the conclusion that Japanese would be better represented by a phonetic alphabet than by the kanji which had been used up to that point. The modern arrangement of kana reflects that of Siddhaṃ, but the traditional "iroha" arrangement follows a poem which uses each kana once.


title: Kana

text: However, hiragana and katakana did not quickly supplant "man'yōgana". It was only in 1900 that the present set of kana was codified. All the other forms of hiragana and katakana developed before the 1900 codification are known as . Rules for their usage as per the spelling reforms of 1946, the , which abolished the kana for "wi" (ゐ・ヰ), "we" (ゑ・ヱ), and "wo" (を・ヲ) (except that the last was reserved as the accusative particle).


title: Kana

text: Kana are the basis for collation in Japanese. They are taken in the order given by the "gojūon" (あ い う え お ... わ を ん), though iroha (い ろ は に ほ へ と ... せ す (ん)) ordering is used for enumeration in some circumstances. Dictionaries differ in the sequence order for long/short vowel distinction, small "tsu" and diacritics. As Japanese does not use word spaces (except as a tool for children), there can be no word-by-word collation; all collation is kana-by-kana.


title: Kana

text: The hiragana range in Unicode is U+3040 ... U+309F, and the katakana range is U+30A0 ... U+30FF. The obsolete and rare characters ("wi" and "we") also have their proper code points.


title: Kana

text: Characters U+3095 and U+3096 are hiragana small "ka" and small "ke", respectively. U+30F5 and U+30F6 are their katakana equivalents. Characters U+3099 and U+309A are combining dakuten and handakuten, which correspond to the spacing characters U+309B and U+309C. U+309D is the hiragana iteration mark, used to repeat a previous hiragana. U+309E is the voiced hiragana iteration mark, which stands in for the previous hiragana but with the consonant voiced ("k" becomes "g", "h" becomes "b", etc.). U+30FD and U+30FE are the katakana iteration marks. U+309F is a ligature of "yori" (より) sometimes used in vertical writing. U+30FF is a ligature of "koto" (コト), also found in vertical writing.


title: Kana

text: Additionally, there are halfwidth equivalents to the standard fullwidth katakana. These are encoded within the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block (U+FF00–U+FFEF), starting at U+FF65 and ending at U+FF9F (characters U+FF61–U+FF64 are halfwidth punctuation marks):


title: Kana

text: There is also a small "Katakana Phonetic Extensions" range (U+31F0 ... U+31FF), which includes some additional small kana characters for writing the Ainu language. Further small kana characters are present in the "Small Kana Extension" block.


title: Kana

text: Unicode also includes "Katakana letter archaic E" (U+1B000), as well as 255 archaic Hiragana, in the Kana Supplement block. It also includes a further 31 archaic Hiragana in the Kana Extended-A block.


title: Chamois

text: The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Rila–Rhodope massif, Pindus, the northeastern mountains of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand. Some subspecies of chamois are strictly protected in the EU under the European Habitats Directive.


title: Chamois

text: The English name comes from French . The latter is derived from Gaulish "camox" (attested in Latin, 5th century), itself perhaps borrowing from some Alpine language (Raetic, Ligurian). The Gaulish form also underlies German , , , Italian , Ladin .


title: Chamois

text: The usual pronunciation for the animal is or , approximating the French pronunciation . However, when referring to chamois leather, and in New Zealand often for the animal itself, it is , and sometimes spelt "shammy" or "chamy". The plural of "chamois" is spelled the same as the singular, and it may be pronounced with the final "s" sounded. However, as with many other quarry species, the plural for the animal is often pronounced the same as the singular.


title: Chamois

text: The Dutch name for the chamois is , and the male is called a . In Afrikaans, the name came to refer to a species of Subsaharan antelope of the genus "Oryx", and this meaning of "gemsbok" has been adopted into English.


title: Chamois

text: The chamois is a very small bovid. A fully grown chamois reaches a height of and measures (the tail is not generally visible except when mating). Males, which weigh , are slightly larger than females, which weigh . Both males and females have short, straightish horns which are hooked backwards near the tip, the horn of the male being thicker. In summer, the fur has a rich brown colour which turns to a light grey in winter. Distinct characteristics are white contrasting marks on the sides of the head with pronounced black stripes below the eyes, a white rump and a black stripe along the back.


title: Chamois

text: Female chamois and their young live in herds of up to 15 to 30 individuals; adult males tend to live solitarily for most of the year. During the rut (late November/early December in Europe, May in New Zealand), males engage in fierce battles for the attention of unmated females. An impregnated female undergoes a gestation period of 170 days, after which a single kid is usually born in May or early June. On rare occasions, twins may be born. If a mother is killed, other females in the herd may try to raise the young. The kid is weaned at six months of age and is fully grown by one year of age. However, the kids do not reach sexual maturity until they are three to four years old, although some females may mate at as early two years old. At sexual maturity, young males are forced out of their mother's herds by dominant males (who sometimes kill them), and then wander somewhat nomadically until they can establish themselves as mature breeding specimens at eight to nine years of age.


title: Chamois

text: Chamois eat various types of vegetation, including highland grasses and herbs during the summer and conifers, barks and needles from trees in winter. Primarily diurnal in activity, they often rest around mid-day and may actively forage during moonlit nights.


title: Chamois

text: Chamois can reach an age of 22 years in captivity, although the average recorded age in the wild ranges from 15 to 17 years. Common causes of mortality can include avalanches, epidemics and predation. At present, humans are the main predator of chamois. In the past, the principal predators were Eurasian lynxes, Persian leopards and gray wolves; with some predation possibly by brown bears and golden eagles. Chamois usually use speed and stealthy evasion to escape predators and can run at and can jump vertically into the air or over a distance of .


title: Chamois

text: The chamois is native to the Pyrenees, the mountains of south and central Europe, Turkey, and the Caucasus. It lives in precipitous, rugged, rocky terrain at moderately high elevations of up to at least . In Europe, the chamois spends the summer months in alpine meadows above the tree line, but moves to elevations of around to spend the winter in pine-dominated forests.


title: Chamois

text: Alpine chamois arrived in New Zealand in 1907 as a gift from the Austrian Emperor, Franz Joseph I in exchange for specimens of living ferns, rare birds and lizards. Mr Albert E.L. Bertling, formerly head keeper of the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regents Park, London, accepted an invitation from the New Zealand Government to deliver a consignment of chamois (two bucks and six does) to the colony. They arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, on 23 January 1907, on board the "SS Turakina". From Wellington the chamois were transhipped to the "Manaroa" and conveyed to Lyttelton, then by rail to Fairlie in South Canterbury and a four-day horse trek to Mount Cook. The first surviving releases were made in the Aoraki / Mount Cook region and these animals gradually spread over much of the South Island.


title: Chamois

text: In New Zealand, chamois hunting is unrestricted and even encouraged by the Department of Conservation to limit the animal's impact on New Zealand's native alpine flora.


title: Chamois

text: New Zealand chamois tend to weigh about 20% less than European individuals of the same age, suggesting that food supplies may be limited.


title: Chamois

text: As their meat is considered tasty, chamois are popular game animals. Chamois have two traits that are exploited by hunters: the first is that they are most active in the morning and evening when they feed; the second is that they tend to look for danger originating from below, which means that a hunter stalking chamois from above is less likely to be observed and more likely to be successful.


title: Chamois

text: The tuft of hair from the back of the neck, the "gamsbart" (chamois "beard"), is traditionally worn as a decoration on hats throughout the alpine countries.


title: Chamois

text: Chamois leather, traditionally made from the hide of the chamois, is very smooth and absorbent and is favoured in cleaning, buffing, and polishing because it produces no scratching. Modern chamois leather may be made from chamois hides, but hides of deer or domestic goats or sheep are commonly used.


title: Chamois

text: A fabric known as chamois is made variously from cotton flannel, PVA, Viscose, and other materials with similar qualities. It is napped to produce a plush surface similar to moleskin or chamois leather.


title: Thomas Mars

text: Thomas Pablo Croquet (born 21 November 1976), known as Thomas Mars, is a French musician and the lead singer of the French indie pop band Phoenix.


title: Thomas Mars

text: Thomas Pablo Croquet was born on 21 November 1976 in Versailles, France. Croquet was originally inspired to learn English by his uncle, Horst.


title: Thomas Mars

text: When Croquet was ten, he formed the band Phoenix with schoolfriends Chris Mazzalai and Deck d'Arcy. Mazzalai's older brother, Laurent Brancowitz, also joined the band after the break-up of Darlin'. Croquet says that he "destroyed every single other option that would lead me to any potential career other than music", attending college for only four days, studying economics.


title: Thomas Mars

text: Croquet is the frontman for the band Phoenix, that was founded in the early 1990s. The band eventually became a full-time profession for Mars following his dropping out of college. The band pressed their first 500 singles on their own label before being signed to Paris-based label, Source Records.


title: Thomas Mars

text: Croquet wrote and produced Phoenix's first charting single in France, "Too Young", which peaked at number 97. Eventually Phoenix's first studio album, "United" was released in 2000, shipping 150,000 units worldwide.


title: Thomas Mars

text: In 2011, Croquet married filmmaker Sofia Coppola at Palazzo Margherita in Bernalda. The couple met whilst producing the soundtrack to one of Coppola's films. They have two daughters together, Romy and Cosima.


title: Thomas Mars

text: As of 2018, Croquet lived in New York with his wife and children. He traveled to Paris monthly and has a residence there since the rest of his band Phoenix lives in France.


title: Wade Robson

text: Wade Jeremy William Robson (born 17 September 1982) is an Australian dancer and choreographer. He began performing as a dancer at age five, and has directed music videos and world tours for pop acts such as NSYNC and Britney Spears. Robson was the host and executive producer of "The Wade Robson Project", which aired on MTV in 2003. In 2007, he joined the Fox television dance series "So You Think You Can Dance" as a guest judge and choreographer. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for the dance number "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" of "So You Think You Can Dance."


title: Wade Robson

text: When Robson was a child, he was befriended by the pop singer Michael Jackson. In 1993, when Jackson was first accused of child sexual abuse, Robson, aged 10, told police that nothing sexual had happened between them. In 2005, during Jackson's trial, Robson stated under oath that Jackson had never behaved inappropriately. In 2013, Robson reversed his position and filed a late creditor claim and a civil lawsuit against the Jackson estate, saying that Jackson had abused him from 1990 to 1997, when Robson was aged between seven and 14. He detailed his allegations in the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland".


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson was in a talent troupe called Johnny Young's Talent School, and the group did 14 shows a week, usually at venues like shopping malls. When he was nine, Robson moved to the United States with his mother and sister. Michael Jackson assisted them in the move and recruited Robson to appear in three music videos: "Black or White", "Jam", and "Heal the World".


title: Wade Robson

text: At the age of 11, Robson had an agent. Along with friend DeWayne Turrentine, he formed the hip-hop duo Quo and by the end of the year released an album on Jackson's MJJ Music label through Epic/SME Records. The following year, he was teaching dance classes in Hollywood. He formed a troupe of dancing children, which performed internationally. He received his first choreography job for the R&B group Immature at 14. The job led to others for artists such as Britney Spears. Clients were sometimes reluctant to take direction from Robson, a self-described "skinny little white kid". When Spears first interviewed Robson to choreograph her tour, she exclaimed, "He's a friggin' baby!"; she had expected him to be in his 30s or 40s.


title: Wade Robson

text: During the late 1990s, while still a teenager, Robson choreographed Spears's Pepsi commercials, including one which aired during the 2001 Super Bowl. He choreographed the performance by NSYNC and Spears at the 1999 Video Music Awards and he co-directed Spears's 1999–2000 world tours as well as NSYNC's 2000 "No Strings Attached" Tour. In 2001, he choreographed Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" video and was choreographer and director of NSYNC's 2001 PopOdyssey Tour. In the NSYNC music video "Pop", Robson had to fill in for NSYNC member Joey Fatone during several of the dance sequences because of an injury that Fatone sustained at an NSYNC concert the night before the video shoot. That same year, he directed Spears's Dream Within a Dream Tour.


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson and NSYNC's Justin Timberlake partnered in 2001, co-writing the hit singles "Pop", "Gone", and "See Right Through You" on NSYNC's final album "Celebrity". Robson had initially written "Celebrity" for his own album, but was persuaded to let NSYNC record it instead. They also co-wrote Britney Spears' "What It's Like to Be Me", on which Timberlake sang backing vocals. The song's copyright is held jointly by Robson's and Timberlake's respective companies, WaJeRo Sound and Tennman Tunes.


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson was the creator and host of MTV's "The Wade Robson Project", a talent search competition for hip-hop dancers. The program was sponsored by Juice Batteries. In 2002, Robson was named one of "Dance Magazine"'s "25 to Watch".


title: Wade Robson

text: Dance clothing company Power T Dance developed a line of name-brand consumer dance shoes with Robson. The shoes were distributed in the U.S. through the Ralph Libonati Co. Robson appeared as himself in the 2004 urban dance film "You Got Served", which won Best Dance Sequence (Feature Film) at the 2004 American Choreography Awards. Robson joined several other choreographers, such as Mia Michaels and Shane Sparks, on the PULSE Tour, a series of nationwide weekend workshops designed to give dancers the chance to train under top choreographers.


title: Wade Robson

text: In 2007, Robson began choreographing the American Idols LIVE! Tour. He also choreographed both group and partner pieces for the second and third seasons of "So You Think You Can Dance". In September 2007, Robson was awarded a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for the dance number "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" on (Season 2) of "So You Think You Can Dance".


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson was awarded his second Primetime Emmy Award in 2008 on Season 3 of "So You Think You Can Dance" for the jazz routine "Humming Bird and the Flower". The show's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe called it "absolutely genius, brilliant, and one of those routines that we will remember on this series for a very long time".


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson said he and his wife Amanda were hired by singer Britney Spears to direct and choreograph her tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears. Rehearsals were set to begin in January 2009. Robson and his wife were replaced by Jamie King. Spears's team said that Robson had only been hired to choreograph the promotional tour for her album 2008 "Circus", which ended in Japan in December 2008.


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson choreographed the animated film "Happy Feet Two", released in 2011. He was set to direct "Step Up Revolution" (released in 2012), but dropped out for personal reasons. He was replaced by Scott Speer.


title: Wade Robson

text: When Robson was five, he met the American pop singer Michael Jackson, who was touring Australia. Two years later, when Robson visited the US with his family to perform with Johnny Young's Talent School in Disneyland, California, Jackson invited the family to stay with him at his home, Neverland Ranch, also in California. Robson appeared in Jackson's music videos.


title: Wade Robson

text: In 2005, after Jackson was charged with child sexual abuse, Robson testified in his defense, saying he had slept in Jackson's bedroom several times but had never been molested. Jackson was acquitted. After Jackson's death in 2009, Wade said: "His music, his movement, his personal words of inspiration and encouragement and his unconditional love will live inside of me forever."


title: Wade Robson

text: In 2013, Robson reversed his position and filed a lawsuit against Jackson's estate. He said that Jackson had sexually abused him on two visits to the US and after he moved with his family to the US, when Robson was aged between seven and 14. Robson said his earlier denial was due to Jackson's "complete manipulation and brainwashing", and that his change of story was provoked by becoming a father and experiencing nervous breakdowns. The allegations by Robson and another man, James Safechuck, are the focus of the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland".


title: Wade Robson

text: In 2017, Robson's lawsuit was dismissed as the statute of limitations had expired. It was revived in 2019 after a new law gave those who allege childhood sexual abuse longer to file lawsuits. The case was dismissed again in April 2021, when a judge ruled that Jackson's companies had no legal duty to protect Robson.


title: Wade Robson

text: Robson dated Michael Jackson's niece Brandi, the daughter of Jackie Jackson, for seven years. Brandi states in the "", a documentary made in response to "Leaving Neverland", that she and Robson met as children during a photoshoot with Michael Jackson. Robson asked Jackson to set the two up. The two were friends for ten years prior to the beginning of their relationship. Brandi also said that Robson cheated on her with Britney Spears during Spears's 1999–2001 tour, ending the pair's relationship, as well as the relationship between Spears and former boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, which implies that Timberlake wrote "Cry Me a River" about Spears cheating on him with Robson. Neither Spears nor Timberlake has commented on these rumors. Robson also dated dancer Mayte Garcia from 2000 until 2001.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2 megathrust earthquake remains the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second most powerful earthquake recorded in world history. of fault ruptured at once and moved up to , releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake-engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones along Knik Arm. southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by . Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as , requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: In Prince William Sound, Port Valdez suffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier, Seward, Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported from Florida and Texas.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m. AKST (3:36 a.m. UTC), a fault between the Pacific and North American plates ruptured near College Fjord in Prince William Sound. The epicenter of the earthquake was 12.4 mi (20 km) north of Prince William Sound, 78 miles (125 km) east of Anchorage and 40 miles (64 km) west of Valdez. The focus occurred at a depth of approximately 15.5 mi (25 km). Ocean floor shifts created large tsunamis (up to 220 feet (67 m) in height), which resulted in many of the deaths and much of the property damage. Large rockslides were also caused, resulting in great property damage. Vertical displacement of up to 38 feet (11.5 m) occurred, affecting an area of within Alaska.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: The Alaska earthquake was a subduction zone (megathrust) earthquake, caused by an oceanic plate sinking under a continental plate. The fault responsible was the Aleutian Megathrust, a reverse fault caused by a compressional force. This caused much of the uneven ground which is the result of ground shifted to the opposite elevation.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: Two types of tsunami were produced by this subduction zone earthquake. There was a tectonic tsunami produced in addition to about 20 smaller and local tsunamis. These smaller tsunamis were produced by submarine and subaerial landslides and were responsible for the majority of the tsunami damage. Tsunami waves were noted in over 20 countries, including Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Mexico, and in the continent of Antarctica. The largest tsunami wave was recorded in Shoup Bay, Alaska, with a height of about .


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: As a result of the earthquake, 131 people are believed to have died: Nine died as a result of the earthquake itself and another 122 died from the subsequent tsunami all over the world. Five died from the tsunami in Oregon, and 12 died from the tsunami in Crescent City, California.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: The quake was a reported XI on the modified Mercalli Intensity scale "indicating major structural damage, and ground fissures and failures". Property damage was estimated at $116 million ($ billion in dollars). It is likely that the toll would have been much higher had the quake not occurred after 5 PM on Good Friday.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: Most damage occurred in Anchorage, 75 mi (120 km) northwest of the epicenter. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, but downtown Anchorage was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying "Bootlegger Cove clay" near Cook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, suffered landslide damage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned into Earthquake Park. The Government Hill school suffered from the Government Hill landslide, leaving it in two jagged, broken pieces. Land overlooking the Ship Creek valley near the Alaska Railroad yards also slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. Most other areas of the city were only moderately damaged. The 60-foot (18 m) concrete control tower at Anchorage International Airport was not engineered to withstand earthquake activity and collapsed, killing William George Taylor, the Federal Aviation Agency air traffic controller on duty in the tower cab at the time the earthquake began.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: One house on W. 10th Avenue suffered peripheral damage, but only one block away the recently completed (and still unoccupied) Four Seasons Building on Ninth Avenue collapsed completely, with the concrete elevator shafts sticking up out of the rubble like a seesaw.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: The hamlets of Girdwood and Portage, located southeast of central Anchorage on the Turnagain Arm, were destroyed by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Girdwood was relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: Most coastal towns in the Prince William Sound, Kenai Peninsula, and Kodiak Island areas, especially the major ports of Seward, Whittier and Kodiak were heavily damaged by a combination of seismic activity, subsidence, post-quake tsunamis and/or earthquake-caused fires. Valdez with 32 dead was not totally destroyed, but after three years, the town relocated to higher ground west of its original site. Some Alaska Native villages, including Chenega and Afognak, were destroyed or damaged. The earthquake caused the Cold-War era ballistic missile detection radar of Clear Air Force Station to go offline for six minutes, the only unscheduled interruption in its operational history. Near Cordova, the Million Dollar Bridge crossing the Copper River also suffered damage, with Span #4 slipping off its pylon and collapsing. The community of Girdwood was also confined to the southern side of the Seward Highway when water rushed into Turnagain Arm and flooded or destroyed any buildings left standing to the north of the highway. Only the ground immediately along the highway and that on the north side of the road dropped, prompting geologists to speculate that Girdwood may rest upon an ancient cliff face covered by thousands of years of sediment and glacial deposits.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: A 4.5 ft (1.4 m) wave reached Prince Rupert, British Columbia, just south of the Alaska Panhandle, about three hours after the earthquake. The tsunami then reached Tofino, on the exposed west coast of Vancouver Island, and traveled up a fjord to hit Port Alberni twice, washing away 55 homes and damaging 375 others. The towns of Hot Springs Cove, Zeballos, and Amai also saw damage. The damage in British Columbia was estimated at CA$10 million ($ in Canadian dollars or $ in US dollars).


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: Twelve people were killed by the tsunami in or near Crescent City, California, while four children were killed on the Oregon coast at Beverly Beach State Park. Other coastal towns in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Hawaii were damaged. Minor damage to boats occurred as far south as Los Angeles. Effects of the earthquake were even noted as far east as Freeport, Texas, where tide gauges recorded waves similar to seismic surface waves. Seiches were detected in wells in countries around the world, including England, Namibia, and Australia.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: There were hundreds of aftershocks in the first weeks following the main shock. In the first day alone, eleven major aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude greater than 6.0. Nine more struck over the next three weeks. In all, thousands of aftershocks occurred in the months following the quake, and smaller aftershocks continued to strike the region for more than a year.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before, and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologist Lidia Selkregg, the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city. The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed by Dr. Ruth A. M. Schmidt, a geology professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that rebuilt infrastructure would be safe. The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. The U.S. Army rapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez. On the advice of military and civilian leaders, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard deployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed. A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering of food and other supplies. Broadcast journalist, Genie Chance, assisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on the KENI air waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building. She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief. Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families.


title: 1964 Alaska earthquake

text: In the longer term, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110 million. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center was formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits at Prudhoe Bay. At the order of the U.S. Defense Department, the Alaska National Guard founded the Alaska Division of Emergency Services to respond to any future disasters.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., doing business as simply Cracker Barrel, is an American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969. Its first store was in Lebanon, Tennessee; the corporate offices are located at a different facility in the same city. The chain's stores were at first positioned near Interstate Highway exits in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, but expanded across the country during the 1990s and 2000s. , the chain operates 663 stores in 45 states.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel's menu is based on traditional Southern cuisine, with appearance and decor designed to resemble an old-fashioned general store. Each location features a front porch lined with wooden rocking chairs, a stone fireplace, and decorative artifacts from the local area. Cracker Barrel partners with country music performers. It engages in charitable activities, such as its assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina and injured war veterans.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: During the early 1990s, the company became the subject of controversy when founder and CEO Dan Evins instituted an official company policy prohibiting the hiring of any individual whose "sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values." Following massive public backlash and large shareholders such as the New York City Employee Retirement System threatening to vote out the entirety of upper management, the company reversed the policy.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel was founded in 1969 by Dan Evins, a sales representative for Shell Oil, who developed the restaurant and gift store concept initially as a plan to improve gasoline sales. Designed to resemble the traditional country store that he remembered from his childhood, with a name chosen to give it a Southern country theme, Cracker Barrel was intended to attract the interest of highway travelers. The name comes from the barrels of soda crackers that could be found for sale in small-town stores across the American South in the early 1900s; people would stand around the barrels chatting and catching up, similar in purpose to contemporary office water coolers.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The first restaurant was built close to Interstate 40, in Lebanon, Tennessee. It opened in September 1969, serving Southern cuisine including biscuits, grits, country ham, and turnip greens.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Evins incorporated Cracker Barrel in February 1970, and soon opened more locations. In the early 1970s, the firm leased land on gasoline station sites near interstate highways to build restaurants. These early locations all featured gas pumps on-site; during gasoline shortages in the mid to late 1970s, the firm began to build restaurants without pumps. Into the early 1980s, the company reduced the number of gas stations on-site, eventually phasing them out altogether as the company focused on its restaurant and gift sales revenues. Cracker Barrel became a publicly traded company in 1981 to raise funds for further expansion. It floated more than half a million shares, raising $10.6 million. Following the initial public offering, Cracker Barrel grew at a rate of around 20 percent per year; by 1987, the company had become a chain of more than 50 units in eight states, with annual net sales of almost $81 million.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The company grew consistently through the 1980s and 1990s, attaining a $1 billion market value by 1992. In 1993, the chain's revenue was nearly twice that of any other family restaurant.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 1994, the chain tested a carry-out-only store, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Corner Market, in suburban residential neighborhoods. In addition, it expanded into new markets through the establishment of more traditional Cracker Barrel locations, the majority of them outside the South, and tested alterations to its menus to adapt to new regions. The chain added regional dishes to its menus, including eggs and salsa in Texas and Reuben sandwiches in New York, but continued to offer its original menu items in all restaurants.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: By September 1997, Cracker Barrel had 314 restaurants, and aimed to increase the number of stores by approximately 50 per year over the following five years. The firm closed its Corner Market operations in 1997 and refocused on its restaurant and gift store locations. The company's president, Ron Magruder, stated that the chain was concentrating on strengthening its core theme, offering traditional foods and retail in a country store setting, with good service and country music. The chain opened its first restaurant and gift store not located near a highway in 1998, in Dothan, Alabama. In the 2000s, in the wake of incidents including charges of racial discrimination and controversy over its policy of firing gay employees, the firm launched a series of promotional activities including a nationwide book drive and a sweepstakes with trips to the Country Music Association Awards and rocking chairs among the prizes. The company has since begun expansion to the West Coast: in 2017, their first store in the region opened in Tualatin, Oregon, and their first store in California was opened the next year in Victorville.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The number of combined restaurants and stores owned by Cracker Barrel increased between 1997 and 2000, to more than 420 locations. In 2000 and 2001, the company addressed staffing and infrastructure issues related to this rapid growth by implementing a more rigorous recruitment strategy and introducing new technology, including an order-placement system. From the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, the company focused on opening new locations in residential areas to attract local residents and workers as customers. It updated its marketing in 2006 to encourage new customers, changing the design of its highway billboard advertisements to include images of menu items. Previously the signs had featured only the company's logo. By 2011, Cracker Barrel had opened more than 600 restaurants in 42 states. On January 17, 2012, company founder Dan Evins died of bladder cancer.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel partnered with DoorDash in 2020, in response to restaurant closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was the restaurant's first partnership with a delivery service. Since then, the company has continued to grow its off-premise sales, launched two virtual brands including the Pancake Kitchen and Chicken n’ Biscuits, as well as two new “Ghost Kitchens” in the Los Angeles area called Cracker Barrel Kitchen which only processes off-premise orders. In February 2021, the company announced in an earnings call that 30% of its total sales in the previous quarter came from off-premise sales, an increase of 78%.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: As a Southern-themed chain, Cracker Barrel serves traditional Southern comfort food often described as "down-home" country cooking and sells gift items including simple toys representative of the 1950s and 1960s, toy vehicles, puzzles, and woodcrafts. Also sold are country music CDs, DVDs of early classic television, cookbooks, baking mixes, kitchen novelty decor, and early classic brands of candy and snack foods. Breakfast is served all day, and there are two menus: one for breakfast, the other for lunch and dinner. Since the first restaurant opened, the menu has featured Southern specialties, including biscuits, fried chicken, and catfish; seasonal and regional menu items were added during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2007, Cracker Barrel announced plans to remove artificial trans fats from its menu items.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: For much of its early history, Cracker Barrel decided to locate its restaurants along the Interstate Highway System, and the majority of its restaurants remain close to interstate and other highways. Cracker Barrel is known for the loyalty of its customers, particularly travelers who are likely to spend more at restaurants than locals.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The locations are themed around the idea of a traditional Southern U.S. general store. Items used to decorate each store are authentic artifacts, including everyday objects from the early 1900s and after. Each location features a front porch lined with wooden rocking chairs, a wooden peg solitaire game on every table, and a stone fireplace with a deer head displayed above the mantel. Each location has five common items: a shotgun, a cookstove, a deer head, a telephone, and a traffic light. The peg games have been present in Cracker Barrel since the opening of the first store, and continue to be produced by the same family in Lebanon, Tennessee.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The decor at each location typically includes artifacts related to the local history of the area, including antique household tools, old wall calendars and advertising posters, and antique photographs. The practice began with the first location which was decorated by Lebanon, Tennessee antique store owners Don and Kathleen Singleton. The Singletons continued to be involved in decorating subsequent stores until 1979 followed by their son, Larry Singleton, who held the role until his retirement in 2019. Items acquired by the company to be used as decorations are centrally stored in a Tennessee warehouse, where they are cleaned, restored and cataloged until needed. , the facility held more than 90,000 items.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: "Destinations" magazine has presented the chain with awards for best chain restaurant, and in 2010 and 2011, the Zagat survey named it the "Best Breakfast". The chain was selected by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America as the 2011 OBIE Hall of Fame Award recipient for its long-standing use of outdoor advertising. It was also named the "Best Family Dining" restaurant by a nationwide "Choice in Chains" consumer poll in "Restaurants & Institutions" magazine for 19 consecutive years.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: From 1977 to 2017, married couple Ray and Wilma Yoder drove a combined total of more than 5 million miles to visit 644 Cracker Barrel locations. When the company opened their 645th restaurant, in Tualatin, Oregon in August 2017 (on Ray Yoder's 81st birthday), it flew the Yoders out for the grand opening and presented them with custom aprons and rocking chairs, among other gifts.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The company is run by a board of directors made up of mostly company outsiders, as is customary for publicly traded companies. Board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting using a majority vote system. There are five committees within the board which oversee specific matters. These committees include the audit committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; the executive committee, whose chairperson is ex officio the chairman of the board; and the Public Responsibility Committee, which works to ensure the company remains compliant with all local, state, and federal laws, in addition to ensuring the company remains neutral in American politics.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: On 10 July 2020, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store reported that, effective instantly, Gilbert Dávila was named to the board of directors of the company. Mr. Dávila is the founder and CEO of DMI Consulting – a major international communications, diversity & inclusion and innovation company in the United States, primarily helping Fortune 200 businesses to build competitive development strategies based on America's fastest expanding population / segment.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Sandra B. Cochran is the CEO and president of the company. She has held the position since September 2011. Prior to this position, Cochran served as Chief Financial Officer of the company from April 2009 until November 2010 and was named Chief Operating Officer in November 2010.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel restaurants are aimed at the family and casual dining market as well as retail sales. The chain also advertises to people traveling on the interstate highways, as the majority of its locations are close to highway exits. The company has promoted its cost controls to investors. The company has stated its goals are to keep employee turnover low and to provide better trained staff. Since the 1980s, the firm has offered a formal training program with benefits for progressing through it to all of its employees.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel has frequently collaborated with country musician Dolly Parton. The company first worked with Parton in 2009 on the collector's edition of her album Backwoods Barbie. Since then, the company has released collector's editions of other Parton albums. It also brought together Parton and the a cappella group Pentatonix to create a remix of Parton's song Jolene, which won a grammy award for best country duo/group performance in 2017. Parton also performed as part of Cracker Barrel's appearance in the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2009, the company worked with country musician Alan Jackson to release an album, called Songs of Love and Heartache, along with a collectible collection. In 2019, the company launched its 'Five Decades, One Voice' campaign, which highlighted female country music singers such as Loretta Lynn, Trisha Yearwood, and Brandi Carlile after a study found female country artists receive less radio time than male artists. The initiative included producing covers of classic country songs and creating all-female playlists for the company's restaurants.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2011, The Oakridge Boys recorded a 30th anniversary edition of their album "It's Only Natural" for the company. In 2020, Cracker Barrel brought together Ingrid Andress, Kimberly Schlapman, and Karen Fairchild to collaborate on a version of Andress' song "More Hearts Than Mine."


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel has supported a wide range of charities through one-off donations, promotional events, and partnerships with charitable organizations. The chain has supported charities and causes in communities where its restaurants are located, including the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Nashville after severe flooding in 2010. In the same year, Cracker Barrel established Cracker Barrel Cares Inc., an employee-funded non-profit organization that provides support to Cracker Barrel employees. Cracker Barrel has also formed a partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity for injured veterans. In attempts to rebuild its image after several race-related controversies, the firm has provided a scholarship through the National Black MBA Association, and job skills programs and sponsorships with 100 Black Men of America and the Restaurant and Lodging Association.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel sponsored the NASCAR Atlanta 500 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2001 and the Grand Ole Opry from 2004 to 2009. The company was the first presenting sponsor of the Grand Ole Opry. This sponsorship allowed the company to make connections within the Nashville music industry, following which it entered into partnership with a number of country music performers. The chain has established partnerships with artists including Alison Krauss, Charlie Daniels, Josh Turner, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, and Alabama, to offer CD releases and merchandise.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 1997, the company purchased the Mitchell House in Lebanon, Tennessee. The house had been the elementary dormitory and school for Castle Heights Military Academy which both Dan Evins and his son attended. The school had closed in 1986 and the building had sat empty since then. Cracker Barrel spent two million dollars to restore the home and used it as its corporate headquarters from 1999 to 2013.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2016 Cracker Barrel partnered with nonprofit Operation Homefront to launch Operation Rocker, which provided Cracker Barrel rocking chairs to families involved in Operation Homefront's Homes on the Homefront program, and Star Spangled Baby Showers, a program for expectant military families. In November 2021, Cracker Barrel launched an initiative called Food for Families aimed at addressing food insecurity, hunger and reducing food waste in rural and underserved communities and in middle Tennessee. This was in addition to a new partnership with the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation and Feeding America.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: The board of directors of Cracker Barrel has repeatedly been at odds with the largest shareholder, Biglari Holdings Inc. According to SEC filings, as of 2013, Biglari Holdings controlled a 19.9% share of the company, just short of the 20% needed to trigger a shareholder rights plan, more commonly termed a "poison pill". The poison pill was adopted after Biglari Holdings sought approval to purchase a 49.99% share of the company and join the board of directors. Sardar Biglari made another attempt to join Cracker Barrel's board in 2020, which shareholders rejected. At the time, he reportedly controlled approximately 8.7% of the company.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Biglari Holdings purchased shares of Cracker Barrel in 2011, and has often been critical of the transparency to shareholders, overspending on advertising, lack of customer value, capital funds mismanagement, and not maximizing shareholder value. As of 2020, Biglari had made five attempts to join the board as a candidate himself or by proxy. Each attempt has been denied by a shareholder vote. Biglari Holdings has also put forward a request for a one-time $20/share dividend to address perceived overly conservative capitalization, which was also rejected by shareholders. Cracker Barrel has responded by claiming Biglari has a "hidden agenda" and a conflict of interest by holding shares in other restaurant chains such as Steak 'n Shake.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In early 1991, an intra-company memo called for employees to be dismissed if they did not display "normal heterosexual values". According to news reports, at least 11 employees were fired under the policy on a store-by-store basis from locations in Georgia and other states. After demonstrations by gay rights groups, the company ended its policy in March 1991 and stated it would not discriminate based on sexual orientation. The company's founder, Dan Evins, subsequently described the policy as a mistake. From 1992 onward, the New York City Employees Retirement System, then a major shareholder, put forward proposals to add sexual orientation to the company's non-discrimination policy. An early proposal in 1993 was defeated, with 77 percent against and only 14 percent in support, along with 9 percent abstaining. It was not until 2002 that the proposals were successful; 58 percent of company shareholders voted in favor of the addition.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel achieved the lowest score (15 out of 100) of all rated food and beverage companies in the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Corporate Equality Index, a measure of LGBT workplace equality. Their score for 2011 had increased to a 55. The 2011 survey noted that the firm had established a non-discrimination policy and had introduced diversity training that included training related to sexual orientation. However, the company's score for 2013 dropped to a 35 out of 100, not having obtained the points related to non-discrimination toward gender identity and health benefits for partners of LGBT employees and transgender-inclusive benefits. In 2019, Cracker Barrel earned a score of 80 on the index, and maintained that score in the 2020 and 2021 reports.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: On December 20, 2013, Cracker Barrel announced it would no longer sell certain "Duck Dynasty" products which it was "concerned might offend some of [its] guests" after Phil Robertson, a star of the reality TV show, remarked in a "GQ" interview:


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Robertson also made "comments likening homosexuality to terrorism and bestiality" in the interview, and expressed views about race which attracted criticism. On December 22, less than two days after pulling the products from its shelves, Cracker Barrel reversed its position after protests from customers.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Beginning in 2016, the company adopted a pro-LGBT stance, developing an internal diversity council which included LGBTQ members. Since 2017, the company has sponsored Out & Equal, a workplace-equality non-profit organization.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2018, Cracker Barrel developed a limited edition of the chain's signature rocking chairs featuring an LGBT rainbow pattern. The company donated these "Rainbow Pride Rockers" to various pro-LGBTQ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Pride, Out & Equal Workplace Summit.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2019, the company announced it would not permit Grayson Fritts, a Knox County, Tennessee cop and pastor at All Scripture Baptist Church who has called for the execution of LGBTQ people, to hold an event in one of its restaurants.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In July 1999, a discrimination lawsuit was filed against Cracker Barrel by a group of former employees, who claimed that the company had discriminated against them on the grounds of race. In December 2001, twenty-one of the restaurant's customers, represented by the same attorneys, filed a separate lawsuit, alleging racial discrimination in its treatment of guests. Regarding both accusations, Cracker Barrel officials disputed the claims and stated that the company was committed to fair treatment of its employees and customers.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2004, an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department found evidence that Cracker Barrel had been segregating customer seating by race; seating or serving white customers before seating or serving black customers; providing inferior service to black customers, and allowing white servers to refuse to serve black customers. The Justice Department determined that the firm had violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The company was required to sign a five-year agreement to introduce "effective nondiscrimination policies and procedures." The terms included new equal opportunity training; the creation of a new system to log, investigate, and resolve complaints of discrimination; and the publicizing of its non-discrimination policies. They were required to hire an outside auditor to ensure compliance with the terms of the settlement.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In 2006, Cracker Barrel paid a $2 million settlement to end a lawsuit alleging race and sexual harassment at three Illinois restaurants. Cracker Barrel stores subsequently began displaying a sign in the front foyer explaining the company's non-discrimination policy, and added to its website and menu the policy and details on how to make a complaint.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Since the early 2000s, Cracker Barrel has provided training and resources to minority employees to improve its image on diversity. These efforts involved outreach to minority employees, along with testing a training plan to help employees whose first language is Spanish to learn English. By 2002, minorities made up 23 percent of the company's employees, including over 11 percent of its management and executives.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: Cracker Barrel is on the Corporate Advisory Board for the Texas Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and is a corporate sponsor of the NAACP Leadership 500 Summit. In 2011, the company received praise from other companies and politicians like Mary Mancini for its inclusivity efforts, including its board of directors gender make up, which included three women out of 10 total board members at the time. Its chief executive officer (CEO), Sandra Cochran, is the second woman in Tennessee to hold that office in a publicly traded company.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: In November 2012, Cracker Barrel licensed its name to Smithfield Foods' John Morrell Division in a deal to create a line of meat products to be sold in supermarkets and through other retail channels. In response, Kraft Foods filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit in February 2013. Kraft has sold cheese in retail stores under its Cracker Barrel brand since 1954. The corporation said that Cracker Barrel stores have not made significant sales of retail food products beyond their restaurant menu, and asked that the Smithfield Foods deal be nullified by the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois.


title: Cracker Barrel

text: On November 14, 2013, in a unanimous ruling authored by Judge Richard Posner, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by a lower District Court judge granting an injunction against the sale of Cracker Barrel's meat products to be sold in stores. The Seventh Circuit upheld the injunction based on the combined similarity of the parties’ marks, goods, and channels of trade: "It's not the fact that the parties' trade are so similar that is decisive, nor even the fact that the products are similar (low-cost packaged food items). It is those similarities coupled with the fact that, if Cracker Barrel prevails in this suit, similar products with confusingly similar trade names will be sold through the same distribution channel – grocery stores, and often the same grocery stores – and advertised together." In Judge Posner's estimation, these similarities – despite the differences in the parties’ respective logos and regardless of where the products are located in relation to each other in grocery stores – might lead consumers to "think all the Kraft products bearing the 'Cracker Barrel' name were produced in association with the Defendant." In economics this behavior is referred to as 'traditional forward confusion.' The court further concluded the likelihood of confusion was exacerbated by the fact that both products at issue were inexpensive; thus, consumers were unlikely to scrutinize their respective labels. In response to the ruling, Kraft Foods and Cracker Barrel made an agreement regarding the use of the Cracker Barrel name. In exchange for Kraft dropping the trademark-infringement lawsuit, Cracker Barrel agreed to sell its products under the brand name "CB Old Country Store."


title: Khyber Pass

text: The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing part of the White Mountains. Since it was part of the ancient Silk Road, it has been a vital trade route between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent and a strategic military choke point for various states that controlled it. Following Asian Highway 1 (AH1), the summit of the pass at Landi Kotal is inside Pakistan, descending to Jamrud, about from the Afghan border.


title: Khyber Pass

text: The Khyber Pass is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan (Nangarhar Province). Following Asian Highway 1 (AH1), the summit of the pass at the town of Landi Kotal is inside Pakistan, descending into the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud, about from the Afghan border by traversing part of the Spin Ghar mountains.


title: Khyber Pass

text: Historical invasions of the Indian subcontinent have been predominantly through the Khyber Pass, such as those of Cyrus, Darius I, Genghis Khan, and later Mongols such as Duwa, Qutlugh Khwaja and Kebek. Prior to the Kushan era, the Khyber Pass was not a widely used trade route.


title: Khyber Pass

text: The Khyber Pass became a critical part of the Silk Road, a major trade route from East Asia to Europe.


title: Khyber Pass

text: The Parthian Empire fought for control of passes such as this to profit from the trade in silk, jade, rhubarb, and other luxuries moving from China to Western Asia and Europe. Through the Khyber Pass, Gandhara (in present-day Pakistan) became a regional center of trade connecting Bagram in Afghanistan to Taxila in Pakistan, adding Indian luxury goods such as ivory, pepper, and textiles to the Silk Road commerce.


title: Khyber Pass

text: Among the Muslim invasions of the Indian subcontinent through the Khyber Pass were Mahmud Ghaznavi, Muhammad Ghori and the Turkic-Mongols. Finally, Sikhs under Ranjit Singh captured the Khyber Pass in 1834. The Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa, who manned the Khyber Pass for years, became a household name in Afghanistan. A common phrase at the time described the length of what was then India as "Khyber to Kanyakumari".


title: Khyber Pass

text: To the north of the Khyber Pass lies the country of the Shalmani tribe and Mullagori tribe. To the south is Afridi Tirah, while the inhabitants of villages in the Pass itself are Afridi clansmen. Throughout the centuries, Pashtun clans, particularly the Afridis and the Afghan Shinwaris, have regarded the Pass as their own preserve and have levied a toll on travellers for safe conduct. Since this has long been their main source of income, resistance to challenges to the Shinwaris' authority has often been fierce.


title: Khyber Pass

text: For strategic reasons, after the First World War, the government of British India built a heavily engineered railway through the Pass. The Khyber Pass Railway, from Jamrud, near Peshawar, to the Afghan border near Landi Kotal was opened in 1925.


title: Khyber Pass

text: During World War II, concrete dragon's teeth were erected on the valley floor due to British fears of a German tank invasion of India.


title: Khyber Pass

text: The Pass became widely known to thousands of Westerners and Japanese who traveled it in the days of the hippie trail, taking a bus or car from Kabul to the Afghan border. At the Pakistani frontier post, travelers were advised not to wander away from the road, as the location was a barely controlled Federally Administered Tribal Area. Then, after customs formalities, a quick daylight drive through the Pass was made. Monuments left by British Indian Army units, as well as hillside forts, could be viewed from the highway.


title: Khyber Pass

text: The area of the Khyber Pass has been connected with a counterfeit arms industry that makes various types of weapons known to gun collectors as Khyber Pass copies using local steel and blacksmiths' forges.


title: Khyber Pass

text: During the War in Afghanistan, the Khyber Pass was a major route for resupplying military armament and food to NATO forces in the Afghan theater of conflict since the US started the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Almost 80 percent of the NATO and US supplies that were brought in by road were transported through the Khyber Pass. It was also used to transport civilians from the Afghan side to the Pakistani one. Until the end of 2007, the route had been relatively safe, since the tribes living there (mainly the Afridi, a Pashtun tribe) were paid by the Pakistani government to keep the area safe. However, after that year, the Taliban began to control the region, and so wider tensions started to exist in their political relationship.


title: Khyber Pass

text: Since the end of 2008, supply convoys and depots in this western part had increasingly come under attack by elements from or supposedly sympathetic to the Pakistani Taliban.


title: Khyber Pass

text: In January 2009, Pakistan sealed off the bridge as part of a military offensive against Taliban guerrillas. This military operation was mainly focused on Jamrud, a district on the Khyber road. The target was to “dynamite or bulldoze homes belonging to men suspected of harboring or supporting Taliban militants or carrying out other illegal activities”. The result meant that more than 70 people were arrested and 45 homes were destroyed. In addition, two children and one woman were killed. As a response, in early February 2009, Taliban insurgents cut off the Khyber Pass temporarily by blowing up a key bridge.


title: Khyber Pass

text: This increasingly unstable situation in northwest Pakistan, made the US and NATO broaden supply routes, through Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Even the option of supplying material through the Iranian far southeastern port of Chabahar was considered.


title: Khyber Pass

text: In 2010, the already complicated relationship with Pakistan (always accused by the US of hosting the Taliban in this border area without reporting it) became tougher after the NATO forces, under the pretext of mitigating the Taliban's power over this area, executed an attack with drones over the Durand line, passing the frontier of Afghanistan and killing three Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan answered by closing the pass on 30 September which caused a convoy of several NATO trucks to queue at the closed border. This convoy was attacked by extremists apparently linked to Al Qaida which caused the destruction of more than 29 oil tankers and trucks and the killing of several soldiers. NATO chief members had to issue a formal apology to the Pakistani government so the supply traffic at this pass could be restored.


title: Khyber Pass

text: In August 2011, the activity at the Khyber pass was again halted by the Khyber Agency administration due to the more possible attacks of the insurgency over the NATO forces, which had suffered a period of large number of assaults over the trucks heading to supply the NATO and ISAF coalitions all over the frontier line. This instability made the Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association demand more protection from the Pakistani and US government threatening not to supply fuel for the Afghan side.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: The 2021–22 season was Tottenham Hotspur's 30th season in the Premier League, 44th successive season in the top division of the English football league system and 116th season in existence. After finishing in seventh place in the 2020–21 Premier League, Tottenham qualified for the play-off round of the newly formed UEFA Europa Conference League. At the end of June, Tottenham announced Nuno Espírito Santo as the new head coach on a two-year contract. Tottenham announced on 1 November 2021 that they had removed Nuno Espírito Santo along with his coaching staff Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias stating they had "been relieved of their duties." Antonio Conte was appointed as Espírito Santo's successor the following day.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: Tottenham scheduled an away match against Leyton Orient for the JE3 Foundation Trophy in memory of Justin Edinburgh. Tottenham then scheduled two friendlies, one away to Colchester United, and one away to Milton Keynes Dons. Tottenham announced the club would come together with both Arsenal and Chelsea to support mental health in The Mind Series in August 2021. They would play away to Chelsea and home to Arsenal.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: Tottenham were drawn home to Morecambe in the third round and Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round, and were drawn away to Middlesbrough in the fifth round.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: Tottenham entered the competition in the third round as one of the teams competing in UEFA competitions. They were drawn away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round and Burnley in the fourth round. They were drawn home to West Ham United in the quarter-finals. They were drawn to Chelsea in the semi-finals, with the first leg away and the second leg home.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: Tottenham were drawn against Paços de Ferreira in the play-off round, with the first leg away and the second leg home.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: The draw for the group stage was held on 27 August 2021 with the fixtures being released a day later.


title: 2021–22 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

text: ! Player !! Against !! Competition !! Minute !! style="text-align:center"| Score after own goal !! style="text-align:center"| Result !! Date


title: Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein

text: Alois, Hereditary Prince and Regent of Liechtenstein, Count of Rietberg (Alois Philipp Maria; born 11 June 1968), is the eldest son of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and Countess Marie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau. The heir apparent to the throne of Liechtenstein, Alois has also been regent of the country (") since 15 August 2004. He is married to Duchess Sophie in Bavaria.


text: Alois attended the Liechtenstein Grammar School in Ebenholz (Vaduz) and then the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom. He served in the Coldstream Guards in Hong Kong and London for six months before entering the University of Salzburg, from which he earned a master's degree in jurisprudence in 1993.


text: Until 1996, Alois worked at a firm of chartered accountants in London. In May of that year, he returned to Vaduz and became active in managing the princely families' finances.


text: In the 2003 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum, Hans-Adam II retained his sweeping powers (the right to veto laws and elect judges). On Liechtenstein Day in 2004, Hans-Adam II formally turned the power of making day-to-day governmental decisions over to Alois, preparing for the transition to a new generation. Hans-Adam II remains head of state.


text: On 27 November 2005, Liechtenstein voters rejected an initiative that would prohibit abortion and birth control in the principality. The initiative was supported by Roman Catholic Archbishop Wolfgang Haas. Alois was initially sympathetic to the proposal, but he became neutral during the run-up to the vote. Instead, a government-sponsored counter proposal was ratified.


text: In 2011, Alois threatened to exercise his princely veto if voters approved a forthcoming referendum to legalize abortion in the principality. Such a veto was not necessary, as the voters rejected the proposal.


text: Following the prince's threat, an initiative called """ ("So that your voice counts") was launched to change the constitution of Liechtenstein to prevent the prince from vetoing legislation approved in referendums. The referendum was held on 1 July 2012, and 76% of voters upheld the prince's power to veto referendum results.


text: On 3 July 1993 at St. Florin's Cathedral in Vaduz, Alois married Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, now also Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein and Countess of Rietberg.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Stephen Michael Ross (born May 10, 1940) is an American real estate developer, philanthropist, and sports team owner. Ross is the chairman and majority owner of The Related Companies, a global real estate development firm he founded in 1972. Related is best known for developing the Deutsche Bank Center, where Ross lives and works, as well as the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project. According to "Forbes" magazine, Ross has a net worth of $7.6 billion in 2020, ranking him 185 on Forbes Billionaires List in 2020. Having doubled his net worth since 2008, he paid no income taxes in the next decade utilizing the losses on the properties he owned. Ross is also the principal owner of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Ross is a major benefactor of his alma mater, the University of Michigan; with lifetime contributions of $478 million to the university, he is the largest donor in the university's history. According to the "Chronicle of Philanthropy", his higher education gifts rank behind only those of fellow American billionaire New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. The University of Michigan renamed its business school to the Ross School of Business in Ross's honor, in 2004, after he made a $100 million gift to fund a new business-school building. The Stephen M. Ross Academic Center was completed in winter 2006. In September 2013, Ross donated $200 million to the university ($100 million to the business school and $100 million to Michigan athletics), the largest single gift in the history of the university; the University of Michigan announced plans to rename the university's athletics campus in his honor. In 2020, Ross announced an additional $100 million donation to kickstart fundraising for the construction of the University of Michigan Detroit Center for Innovation.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Born and raised in Detroit, Stephen Michael Ross grew up in a Jewish family. He first attended Mumford High School in Detroit and later graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School. He attended the University of Florida for two years before transferring to the University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1962. He later received a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University in 1965 and a Master of Laws in Taxation from the New York University School of Law in 1966. These later degrees were financed by a loan from his uncle, the businessman Max Fisher, who Ross has called, "the most important role model and inspiration for me in life."


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Ross began his career as a tax attorney at Coopers & Lybrand in Detroit. In 1968, he moved to New York City and accepted a position as an assistant vice president in the real estate subsidiary of Laird Inc., then worked in the corporate finance department of Bear Stearns. In 1972, he was fired from that company after clashing with a superior; living off $10,000 ($67,000 in 2021 dollars) lent to him by his mother, he utilized his federal tax law knowledge to organize deals for wealthy investors, allowing them to shelter income with the generous incentives granted by the federal government to promote the construction of federally subsidized affordable housing.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Ross was very successful, earning $150,000 in his first year, and he was soon arranging more complicated transactions.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: In 1972, Ross founded The Related Companies, a real estate development company. Headquartered in New York City, Related has offices and real estate developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, South Florida, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai. The company directly employs approximately 2,000 people. The company's existing portfolio of real estate assets, valued at over $15 billion, is made up of mixed-use, residential, retail, office, trade show and affordable properties in what the company calls "premier high-barrier-to-entry markets."


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Related is the largest owner of luxury residential rental properties in New York with over 5,000 units in its portfolio and has developed mixed-use projects such as Deutsche Bank Center in New York and CityPlace in West Palm Beach and is currently developing the 26-acre Hudson Yards project on Manhattan's west side. Related also manages approximately $1.5 billion of equity capital on behalf of sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, multi-managers, endowments, Taft-Hartley plans and family offices.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: In February 2008, Ross bought 50 percent of the Miami Dolphins franchise, Dolphin Stadium (now known as Hard Rock Stadium), and surrounding land, from then-owner Wayne Huizenga for $550 million, with an agreement to later become the Dolphins' managing general partner. On January 20, 2009, Ross closed on the purchase of an additional 45% of the team from Huizenga. The total value of the deal was $1.1 billion. This means Ross is now the owner of 95% of both the franchise and the stadium. Ross announced his intention to keep Bill Parcells as the director of football operations.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Since buying the Dolphins, Ross has brought in Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Venus Williams, Tony Chesta and Serena Williams, as minority owners of the team. In 2013, Ross made a push to obtain multimillion-dollar public funding from the state of Florida and Miami-Dade taxpayers to help renovate Hard Rock Stadium, the Dolphins' home field. After this effort failed in the Florida legislature, a team spokesman said that Ross did not intend to move the team but that under an eventual future owner the Dolphins' future in the Miami area is bleak. Although Ross said he intended to keep the Dolphins "in town", there was speculation in 2013 that the team might seek to move out of Miami to a nearby locale such as Palm Beach.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: On March 27, 2017, Ross cast the only "no" vote in the NFL owners' 31–1 "yes" decision on the Oakland Raiders request for approval to move to Las Vegas starting in the 2020 season. Ross said he had no personal problems with Raiders owner Mark Davis and wished the franchise well, but did not think the Raiders did everything they could to stay in Oakland, and also that having 3 teams move within only 15 months (the Rams and Chargers both moved to Los Angeles) was not good for players or fans. Ross also stated prior to his Dolphins playing the Chargers in their first home game since the move to Los Angeles that he did not believe that Chargers owner Dean Spanos made his best effort to stay in San Diego, making him a popular figure with the upset San Diego fan base.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: On February 1, 2022, Ross and the Dolphins, among other teams, were cited in a federal class-action lawsuit brought forth by his former head coach Brian Flores, alleging that Ross offered Flores a $100,000 bonus for every game he lost in the Dolphins’ 2019 campaign. The suit also alleges that Ross set up Flores to meet (against league rules) with a “prominent quarterback” on another team, who was not named in the suit. As of February 2, 2022, The NFL publicly denied all allegations against Ross and all others listed in the lawsuit, releasing in an official statement "We will defend against these claims, which are without merit."


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: On August 2, 2022, it was announced that following a six-month independent investigation by Mary Jo White and a team of lawyers, the NFL would strip the Dolphins of their 2023 first-round draft pick and a 2024 third-round draft pick for violating the league's anti-tampering policy on three occasions from 2019 to 2022 by engaging in impermissible conversations with quarterback Tom Brady and then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, both of whom were under contract with other teams. Ross, the team owner, was also fined $1.5 million and suspended through October 17, and was prohibited from being at the Dolphins' facility or representing the team at any event until then. He was also prohibited from attending any league meeting before the annual meeting in 2023, and was removed from all league committees indefinitely. Vice chairman/limited partner Bruce Beal was fined $500,000 and will not be permitted to attend any league meetings for the rest of the 2022 season. The investigation did not find that the Dolphins intentionally lost games during the 2019 season, however.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: RSE Ventures is a private investment firm that focuses on sports and entertainment, media and marketing, food and lifestyle, and technology. RSE Ventures was co-founded in 2012 by Ross and Matt Higgins, former executive vice president of the New York Jets and current vice chairman of the Miami Dolphins. RSE builds, owns and operates a variety of companies, including the Drone Racing League, Thuzio, VaynerMedia, and Relevent.


title: Stephen M. Ross

text: Ross was co-chair of the University of Michigan's fundraising campaign, which was completed May 2007.