title: Craig Bellamy

text: On 17 August 2010, Bellamy signed for Cardiff City on a season-long loan from Manchester City. Cardiff manager Dave Jones confirmed Bellamy would become team captain for the season with former captain Mark Hudson named club captain. Manchester City had been wary of selling Bellamy to a potential divisional rival and had suggested the idea of a move to Cardiff, paying a large percentage of his wages to make the move. He made his debut for Cardiff on 21 August in a 4–0 win over Doncaster Rovers, in which he scored from a free kick. After playing the subsequent game against Portsmouth, Bellamy missed the next five games due to a buildup of fluid on his knee that required rest. He returned and scored in a 2–1 win against Barnsley on 2 October. Bellamy hoped to avoid further injury problems and hired Raymond Verheijen, his former fitness coach at Manchester City, to work with him during the season and paid Verheijen's wages himself. Bellamy scored in four consecutive home-league matches against Coventry, Leeds, Watford and Reading but rarely trained as much as the first team to rest his knee, which was swelling profusely after games. He scored the winning goal in the South Wales derby against Swansea City on 6 February 2011 with a long-range shot in the final minutes of the match; it was the first time Cardiff had won at their rival's ground since 1997.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy's influence on the Cardiff team proved pivotal in the push for promotion, which included a 2–2 draw with league leaders Queens Park Rangers in April in which he scored the second goal. Cardiff had led the game twice before Adel Taarabt's brace held them to a draw. Cardiff were challenging Norwich City for the second automatic promotion place in the final stages of the season when Norwich were due to meet Derby County. Before the match, Bellamy telephoned his former Norwich and international teammate Robbie Savage who played for Derby, and offered the players £30,000 if they won the match. Norwich, however, won 3–2 following a late-injury-time goal. A defeat to Middlesbrough the following week confirmed a playoff place for Cardiff and Bellamy scored his last goal of the season with a volley in the 90th minute to draw away at Turf Moor against Burnley. In the play-offs, he suffered a hamstring injury in the opening 20 minutes of the first leg away to Reading, forcing him out of the game. Cardiff drew the match but were defeated 3–0 in the second leg with Bellamy absent.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy stated that he would like to stay with Cardiff beyond his loan spell to achieve his dream of them one day playing in the Premier League. After Cardiff manager Dave Jones' sacking, Bellamy became a surprise favourite to succeed him. Instead, his former Norwich teammate Malky Mackay was appointed and did not confirm whether he would attempt to sign Bellamy. Bellamy asked Manchester City to release him on a free transfer after they priced him at £4,000,000.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy returned to Manchester City for pre-season training but was placed in the club's reserves and was excluded from the first team. He eventually reached a settlement with the club to cancel the final year of his contract, allowing him to leave. He received offers from Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City but rejected both when Liverpool and Tottenham showed an interest in him. Bellamy chose to return to Liverpool, swayed by Kenny Dalglish's presence as manager. The following day, Cardiff City said they had failed in a last-minute bid for Bellamy. Bellamy said, "I've grown up with Kenny Dalglish, now to be signed by him is a massive honour. It's been a long couple of months, I had to be patient and believe something like this could happen."


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy's returning debut for Liverpool came against Stoke City in a 1–0 defeat at the Britannia Stadium. He scored his first post-return goal for Liverpool against Brighton & Hove Albion in the League Cup on 21 September, while his first league goal of his second spell came a month later against Norwich City in a 1–1 draw. On 27 November, Dalglish withdrew Bellamy from the team for the game against Manchester City following the suicide of his friend and coach Gary Speed. Two days later, Bellamy returned to the team and recorded assists for both Liverpool goals in a 2–0 win over Chelsea in the League Cup quarter-final, describing his performance as "one of the best games I ever played". A visibly emotional Bellamy wept as the teams lined up before the match after Liverpool fans sang Speed's name and again on the bench after being substituted in the final minutes of the match. Speed's death prompted Bellamy to visit Steve Rogers, a psychologist, after fearing his own personal issues could leave him in a similar position.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Featuring largely as a squad player, Bellamy made regular appearances as a substitute but enjoyed a prolonged run in the first team during the Christmas period after Luis Suárez was banned for racially abusing an opponent. On 25 January 2012, Bellamy scored the equalising goal against Manchester City to give Liverpool a 3–2 win on aggregate in the League Cup semi-final. In the final on 26 February, Liverpool met Cardiff City; Bellamy featured as a second-half substitute in place of Jordan Henderson but he did not take a penalty in the ensuing shootout after asking to be omitted from the five nominated takers. Bellamy also played a pivotal role in the club's run to the FA Cup final, providing the assist for Andy Carroll to score the winning goal as Liverpool beat local rivals Everton 2–1 at Wembley to reach their first FA Cup final in six years. He started in the final against Chelsea, which Liverpool lost 2–1.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: The death of Speed and the breakup of Bellamy's marriage prompted him to return to Cardiff to be closer to his children, despite new Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers offering him the chance to stay. Talks over a possible transfer began and on 10 August 2012, Bellamy completed his free transfer to Cardiff City on a two-year deal. He made the first appearance of his second spell a week later in a 1–0 win against Huddersfield Town. After one further appearance, he requested time off to deal with personal and injury issues and did not return to the first team until mid September. On his return, Bellamy scored with a free kick against Leeds United; Cardiff won the game 2–1. Bellamy was injured during a league match against Watford in October; damage to his ankle ligaments ruled him out for nearly a month.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: He returned to the side in November, featuring in back-to-back victories over Middlesbrough and Barnsley that put Cardiff top of the table. The side maintained its position for the rest of the season, and a goalless draw with Charlton on 16 April 2013 secured Cardiff's promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time in 52 years. Bellamy broke down in delight on the pitch at the end of the game, having achieved what he called "an impossible dream".


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy's first goal of the 2013–14 Premier League season on 1 February 2014 was his side's opener in a 2–1 victory over Norwich City. The goal meant Bellamy became the first player to score for seven different clubs in the Premier League. He played 22 league games during the season but did not score another goal. Bellamy retired from football on 22 May 2014, saying; "I guess over the years I've become accustomed to the pain from various injuries, but for the last three to four years I've been on anti-inflammatories every day. I'm not sure my body will think that's a wise thing in due course, but it kept me playing for that period. However, the time has come to stand aside and say enough. My body can't take anymore."


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy first represented Wales at schoolboy level in 1994 but came under pressure in an under-performing side. The manager fielded telephone calls from the parents of other players who said Bellamy was too small to play in the side. He progressed through the under-17 and under-18 levels before manager Tom Walley called him up to the under-21 side for the first time at the age of 16. He made his debut as a substitute in a match against San Marino, becoming the youngest player to represent the side. Bellamy, however, began to regard the under-21 side as setting him back in his career as he was often relegated to the bench at Norwich after spending up to ten days at a time away on international duty. This led to him asking officials at Norwich to claim he was injured, sparing him from being named in the side.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy was called into the senior Wales squad in 1998 by manager Bobby Gould, who was renowned for his unusual methods. During Bellamy's first training session with the first team, Gould was involved in a wrestling match with John Hartson that left Gould with a bloodied nose. Bellamy made his international debut on 25 March 1998 at the age of 18 as a substitute in place of Gareth Taylor in a friendly game against Jamaica at Ninian Park. At the end of the 1997–98 season, Bellamy was included in a squad for friendlies against Malta and Tunisia, scoring his first international goal during a 3–0 victory against the former on 3 June 1998. A defeat to Tunisia resulted in a confrontation between Gould and the squad over the standard of the team. After a brief return to the under-21 side, Bellamy began to become a regular fixture in the senior squad during UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying and scored a late-winning goal in a match against Denmark. Gould was sacked after a 4–0 defeat to Italy in June 1999.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: When Mark Hughes was appointed as Wales' manager, Bellamy was suffering from injury and missed the first match to be played at the Millennium Stadium, although he was included in the training squad. He returned at the end of the 1999–2000 season, playing in friendlies against Brazil and Portugal. Under Hughes, Wales' form improved significantly and the side enjoyed a strong qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2004. In their opening match, Wales defeated Finland before facing Italy on 16 October 2002. Wales took an early lead through Simon Davies before Alessandro Del Piero levelled after 30 minutes with a deflected free-kick. In the 70th minute, Hartson received the ball and played-in Bellamy, who rounded Gianluigi Buffon to score Wales' winning goal. Consecutive victories over Azerbaijan put Wales into a strong position in the group but they failed to win any of last four matches, losing to Serbia and Montenegro (twice) and Italy, and drawing with Finland. Bellamy became involved in a row with his club side Newcastle over his participation after he postponed a knee operation to play in the qualifiers. Wales finished second in the group, four points behind winners Italy, reaching a two-legged playoff match against Russia for a place at the finals. Bellamy missed both legs due to his knee injury that had plagued him prior to the matches and Wales lost 1–0 on aggregate.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Hughes stepped down as Wales' manager in 2004 and was replaced by John Toshack. Bellamy missed most of the new manager's first year due to injury. In October 2006, Toshack awarded Bellamy the captain's armband when Ryan Giggs was unavailable for a Euro 2008 qualifying match against Slovakia on 7 October 2006. The match ended in a 5–1 defeat at home to the Slovaks.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Four days later, in a match against Cyprus—Bellamy's second as captain—he scored the third goal for Wales in a 3–1 win after setting up Robert Earnshaw for his side's second. Toshack praised Bellamy following the victory, stating, "Craig has been excellent. He has grown into the job since he has been with us, he has understood the extra responsibilities and it showed on the pitch." When Giggs returned to the Wales squad in November 2006, Bellamy was relieved of the captaincy but was named vice-captain. In June 2007, Giggs announced his retirement from international football and Toshack named Bellamy as permanent captain. Further injury problems restricted Bellamy's appearances for Wales; he missed nearly eight months between October 2007 and May 2008. He returned to win his 50th international cap in a friendly against Iceland on 29 May.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: In October 2010, a 'club v country' row emerged as Bellamy played a full match for Cardiff City despite his manager Dave Jones claiming Bellamy was too injured to play for Wales. Toshack resigned in September 2010 and Bellamy later criticised his former manager, stating; "The height of Toshack's ambitions appeared to be making sure we didn't get too heavily beaten rather than actually trying to win games. We didn't even try and compete and I found that hard."


title: Craig Bellamy

text: In December 2010, Gary Speed, Bellamy's former team-mate at both Newcastle and Wales, was appointed manager of Wales. Bellamy was planning to retire from international football due to continuing knee problems and to stand aside for a younger generation of players. He met with Speed in Cardiff to discuss his future. Speed persuaded Bellamy to prolong his international career but Bellamy decided to step down as captain because his fitness levels meant he was unlikely to play every match. Speed sought Bellamy's opinion on his replacement as captain; the pair agreed on Aaron Ramsey, who was appointed soon after. Raymond Verheijen and Damian Roden, fitness coaches with whom Bellamy had previously worked, were also hired on his recommendation. Although Wales endured a disappointing start to the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Bellamy was encouraged by the progress being made under Speed's management, including victories over Switzerland and Norway. Speed committed suicide two weeks after the Norway match; Bellamy's next appearance for Wales was as captain in a memorial match against Costa Rica with Ramsey absent. Bellamy continued with Wales for a further 18 months under new manager Chris Coleman before announcing his retirement from international football after Wales' final 2014 World Cup qualifiers in October 2013. His final match for Wales on 15 October 2013 against Belgium ended as a 1–1 draw. Bellamy ended his international career with 78 caps and 19 goals.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: In June 2012, Bellamy was confirmed as one of the three over-aged players selected by manager Stuart Pearce for Great Britain to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics alongside Micah Richards and Giggs. After a warm-up match against Brazil, on 26 July Bellamy scored Great Britain's first goal at an Olympic Games since 1960 in a 1–1 draw with Senegal. Bellamy and his other Welsh teammates were criticised for not singing the British national anthem God Save the Queen during the pre-match ceremonies. He later stated; "I wasn't going to sing the national anthem and nor was any other Welsh player. It's not our anthem. I sing one anthem and that's that. That's my country's anthem. I'm not being anti-English or anti-British ... you have to remember that we took some stick in Wales just for playing for Team GB."


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy assisted Giggs to score the opening goal of a 3–1 victory over the United Arab Emirates in the team's following fixture. He was named Great Britain's captain for the final group game, from which Giggs was absent. The side won a 1–0 victory over Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The result allowed Great Britain to progress to a quarter-final with the Republic of Korea. Bellamy was substituted minutes before the end of normal time. The game went to extra time and penalties; Great Britain were eliminated after losing the shootout 5–4.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy has been described as having a dynamic style of play with quick, bursting technique and calmness under pressure. He began his career as a central midfielder, but was moved further forward during his time with Norwich and featured in several attacking roles, playing as both a winger and a centre-forward for the remainder of his career. He preferred playing a counter-attacking style of football as his pace often allowed him to exploit space behind the defenders as the opposition team pressed forward. As Premier League managers shifted toward favouring strikers with a more physical presence, Bellamy adapted to a wider role, studying leading wingers such as Franck Ribéry to improve his game.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: His former Wales, Blackburn and Manchester City manager Mark Hughes said he loved having Bellamy on his teams because of "the intensity he brings" and "his desire to affect the game every single time he plays". Hughes acknowledged that Bellamy developed a reputation as being sometimes difficult to work with but stated, "If you understand him and support him, he will play his heart out for you". Louise Taylor of "The Guardian" highlighted the considerable attacking threat that Bellamy possessed and that his pace was "complemented by high-calibre finishing ability". His best tally in a single season in the Premier League was 17 goals during his spell with Blackburn in 2005–06 although his goalscoring record was questioned by his former Newcastle manager Graeme Souness during his time with the club.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Although sometimes perceived as a disruptive influence on teams, former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard praised Bellamy following his arrival, commenting, "I was expecting a bit of a hothead ... It surprised me how professional he was. ... how much he loved the game." Bellamy's temperament and approach has seen him involved in several high-profile confrontations and led to him falling out with managers Souness and Roberto Mancini. Bobby Robson, who managed Bellamy for several years at Newcastle, described him as "the gobbiest footballer I've ever met" but also "one of the most committed". In his autobiography, former Wales manager John Toshack described a fractious relationship with Bellamy, saying, "he could cause problems where they weren't necessary and you always felt there was a possibility that he could upset the applecart". He also blamed Bellamy's relative lack of trophy wins during his career as partly to blame; "a lot of managers signed him but a lot of managers got rid of him as well; ... all were trophy winners, but none of them won anything with Bellamy in the team". Toshack did concede that Bellamy was an important attacking threat for the Welsh squad and that there was never a doubt over his inclusion.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy's career was severely hampered by persistent injuries that restricted both the amount of time he could train and the number of matches he could play in close proximity. Gianfranco Zola, who managed Bellamy at West Ham, stated, "Injuries have been the downside of his career ... The fragility he has got in the muscles has stopped him from being a higher player". In the latter stages of his career, as his pace diminished, he received praise from Paul Abbandonato of "WalesOnline" for possessing "leadership, drive, energy, work-rate and standards of excellence" during his last playing season.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy returned to Cardiff as an academy coach on a voluntary basis. In 2016, he was appointed Cardiff's player development manager, overseeing all age groups at the club's youth academy and coaching the older age-group teams. Having earlier been interviewed for the post of Wales manager, he was given permission to apply for the vacant managerial position at EFL League One club Oxford United in February 2018. Bellamy agreed terms with Oxford but later withdrew his application after the club was taken over during the negotiations. He stepped down from his coaching role at Cardiff in January 2019 to defend himself against a claim of bullying a youth-team player. An internal investigation by the club later resulted in Bellamy issuing an apology over an "unacceptable coaching environment", although he was subject to no formal disciplinary action.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: In June 2019, Bellamy signed a three-year contract to become the under-21 team coach for Belgian side Anderlecht following the appointment of his former Manchester City teammate Vincent Kompany as manager. He later worked as an assistant to Kompany before stepping down from the role in September 2021 citing mental health issues. In July 2022, he rejoined Vincent Kompany and was named a first team coach at Burnley.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy has described himself as a "keen" supporter of both Liverpool and Cardiff City. Bellamy met Claire Jansen in Cardiff while they were teenagers. They remained together despite Bellamy spending most of his time away from the city during his apprenticeship with Norwich City; Claire remained in Cardiff working in a local newsagent. Bellamy and Claire had their first child together—a son named Ellis—at the ages of 17 and 16 respectively. Claire and Ellis remained in Cardiff while Bellamy commuted to Norwich. The couple eventually moved into their own accommodation in 1996 after Bellamy signed his first professional playing contract. Their second child, Cameron, was born in January 2001 and their third, Lexi, in 2007.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy proposed to Jansen on 13 July 2005 at The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, and they married in June 2006 at St Bride's Church in St. Brides-super-Ely, a village near Cardiff. With Bellamy moving clubs on a regular basis, the family bought a permanent home in Peterston-super-Ely; Bellamy lived near his club and travelled home when possible. The couple divorced in December 2012; his wife cited "unreasonable behaviour". In his autobiography, Bellamy stated the couple split after "she decided she'd had enough. Enough of the moving and the following me round. Enough of the absentee husband. Enough of the selfishness and the black moods and the times when I wouldn't talk to her because I was worried about a knee injury."


title: Craig Bellamy

text: In 2013, Bellamy released his autobiography entitled "GoodFella" which was ghostwritten by journalist Oliver Holt. In the book, Bellamy said he suffered severe bouts of depression, particularly when he was unable to play football for long periods due to injury. He wrote, "There would be weeks, sometimes months, when I couldn't get myself out of it". These periods often coincided with periods of binge drinking; after Cardiff's defeat to Reading in the playoff semi-final, Bellamy went on a "two-day drinking binge". In 2013, he failed to declare himself as the driver of a car that was caught by a speed camera and received a driving ban. In March 2019, he was banned from driving again for 18 months after being found to be over the permitted alcohol limit while driving in Cardiff earlier that month. Bellamy is an advocate of mixed martial arts and has sponsored some of the fighters who train at Tillery Combat, a gym in Abertillery, Wales, providing them with supplements, kit and management advice through his company Shin2Chin. He also owns Cardiff Combat MMA gym.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: In 2007, Bellamy was invited to visit Sierra Leone by a friend. The country was still suffering from the effects of a long civil war that ended five years previously. Bellamy was mobbed by fans and was unable to freely walk the streets without an armed police escort as crowds blocked roads trying to see him. He visited the country's diamond mining industry and was shocked at the poor living conditions of the workers, often children. He decided to set up a charity in the country and, on 6 May 2008, plans for The Craig Bellamy Foundation were announced in Sierra Leone. Bellamy spent £1.4m of his own money to build a not-for-profit football academy in the Western Area Rural District village Tombo, where 32 boys received an international standard education and elite-level football coaching at no cost to themselves. The first 15 children were enrolled at the academy in August 2010.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: The Craig Bellamy Foundation also operated a nationwide youth league that was founded in conjunction with UNICEF. Operating in the Freetown, Bo, Kenema and Makeni regions, The Craig Bellamy Foundation League provided a national youth football framework for children; as well as on-pitch performance, points were awarded for school attendance, fair play and contributions to community projects. The league also funded the school fees of participating children and employed 175 Sierra Leonian team coaches, regional managers and league coordinators. In 2009, 1,600 boys aged between 11 and 14 played or trained in the league on a daily basis. All activities were stopped in April 2017 due to financial irregularities.


title: Craig Bellamy

text: Bellamy is also a supporter of Noah's Ark Children's Hospital for Wales, part of the University of Wales Hospital, where both he and his three children were born. In 2010, he became a charity champion for Noah's Ark, a charity that was aiming to raise £7 million to complete a construction project at the site.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: Caoimhín Odhrán Kelleher (; born 23 November 1998) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Liverpool and the Republic of Ireland national team.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: Kelleher joined Liverpool's academy from Ringmahon Rangers in summer 2015. He featured regularly for Liverpool's side during their pre-season programme of 2018 and was part of the squad that travelled to the United States for Liverpool's summer tour.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: In August 2018, he signed a new contract with Liverpool. He was an unused substitute for the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final against Tottenham Hotspur. In winning the Champions League, he became the 12th Irish footballer to do so and the first for over a decade.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: Though he was recovering from wrist surgery, Kelleher was on the bench for Liverpool's victory in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea in Istanbul due to the absence of first-choice Alisson. He made his competitive debut for the club on 25 September 2019 in an EFL Cup Third Round match, keeping a clean sheet against League one side Milton Keynes Dons, in a 2–0 away win.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: On 1 December 2020, he started and kept a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory against Ajax in the Champions League. Five days later, Kelleher was named in the starting line-up for a Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. He kept a clean sheet in the match, a 4–0 win, which was his third consecutive shutout for the club. At 22 years and 13 days, Kelleher became the third-youngest Liverpool goalkeeper to keep a Premier League clean sheet and the youngest to do so on his first league start. After several strong performances, manager Jürgen Klopp confirmed that Kelleher had been promoted to second choice, behind Alisson and ahead of Adrián. It was also reported that Liverpool were seeking to sign Kelleher to a new long-term contract on improved terms.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: On 24 June 2021, Kelleher signed a new long-term deal with the club until 2026, saying "For me, it was a positive moment to commit my future to the club for the next few years. It’s such a big club and it’s an honour to be a part of it, so when I got the chance to sign for a few more years I was obviously delighted." James Pearce, who covers Liverpool F.C. for The Athletic said that it was "Reward for his impressive progress last season," and that he was now Alisson's Number 2.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: On 27 February 2022, Kelleher started in the 2022 EFL Cup Final and scored the decisive penalty in the 11–10 penalty shoot-out win against Chelsea.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: On 9 November 2022, Kelleher made his first start of the 2022–23 season and saved three penalties in a 3–2 penalty shoot-out win against Derby County in the third round of the 2022–23 EFL Cup at Anfield. He has now saved a total of six penalties in four shootouts for Liverpool which is a club record. Four of his eight appearances in the EFL Cup have gone to penalties with Liverpool winning all of them.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: He was capped by his country at under-17 level in 2014, making his debut against Malta. He has also been capped at under-19 and under-21 level.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: On 6 November 2018, he was named in the senior Republic of Ireland squad for the first time for the friendly match against Northern Ireland on 15 November and the UEFA Nations League match against Denmark on 19 November 2018.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: He was called up again by the senior national team in March 2019, whilst still part of the under-21s.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: On 8 June 2021, Kelleher made his senior Ireland debut, coming on as a half-time substitute against Hungary in a 0–0 draw. He was then included in the lineup for a friendly against Qatar in October 2021.


title: Caoimhín Kelleher

text: Kelleher is the younger brother of fellow footballer, Fiacre Kelleher. He has three other older brothers who played hurling.


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat (Felis silvestris) is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It inhabits forests from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe to the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a black tip. It reaches a head-to-body length of up to with a long tail, and weighs up to .


title: European wildcat

text: In France and Italy, the European wildcat is predominantly nocturnal, but also active in the daytime when undisturbed by human activities. It preys foremost on small mammals such as lagomorphs and rodents, but also on ground-dwelling birds.


title: European wildcat

text: "Felis (catus) silvestris" was the scientific name proposed in 1778 by Johann von Schreber when he described a wild cat based on texts from the early 18th century and before.


title: European wildcat

text: In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wildcat type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, including:


title: European wildcat

text: Zoological specimens of cats that originated on Mediterranean islands are not considered native but introduced, including:


title: European wildcat

text: Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that the evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia in the Miocene around . Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at around .


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat is part of an evolutionary lineage that is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the "Felis" species around , based on analysis of their nuclear DNA. Analysis of their mitochondrial DNA indicates a genetic divergence from "Felis" at around . Both models agree in the jungle cat ("F. chaus") having been the first "Felis" species that diverged, followed by the black-footed cat ("F. nigripes"), the sand cat ("F. margarita"), the African wildcat ("F. lybica") and then the European wildcat.


title: European wildcat

text: Fossil remains of small wild cats found in Europe indicate that the European wildcat probably descended from "Felis lunensis" in the Villafranchian more than , a transition that was completed by the Holstein interglacial about 340,000 to 325,000 years ago.


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat's fur varies in colour from brownish to grey with paler contour hairs. It has five stripes on the forehead, which are broken up into small spots. A dark stripe behind the shoulders expands into a spinal stripe running up to the base of the tail. On the sides, it has irregular dark stripes, which break up on the hind legs, thus forming a blotched pattern. Its tail is bushy with two to three black, transverse rings and rounded at the black tip.


title: European wildcat

text: The top of the head and the forehead bear four well-developed dark bands that split into small spots. Two short and narrow stripes are usually present in the shoulder region, in front of the dorsal band. Some individuals have a few light spots on the throat, between the forelegs, or in the inguinal region. The dorsal surface of the neck and head are the same colour as that of the trunk, but is lighter grey around the eyes, lips, cheeks, and chin. A slight ochreous shade is visible on the undersides of the flanks.


title: European wildcat

text: A black and narrow dorsal band starts on the shoulders, and runs along the back up to the base of the tail. In some animals, the summer coat is ashen coloured. The patterns on the head and neck are as well-developed as those on the tail, though the patterns on the flanks are almost imperceptible. Guard hairs measure , the tip hairs , and the underfur . Corresponding measurements in the summer are , , and .


title: European wildcat

text: Large males in Spain reach in length, with a long tail, and weigh up to . They also have a less diffuse stripe pattern, proportionally larger teeth, and feed more often on rabbits than the wildcats north of the Douro-Ebro, which are more dependent on small rodents.


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat is on average bigger and stouter than the domestic cat, has longer fur and a shorter non-tapering bushy tail. It has striped fur and a dark dorsal band. Males average a weight of up to , and females . Their weight fluctuates seasonally up to .


title: European wildcat

text: European wildcats have proportionately shorter cheek tooth rows with smaller teeth, but a broader muzzle than African wildcats.


title: European wildcat

text: Since European wildcats and domestic cats opportunistically interbreed, it is difficult to distinguish wildcats and striped hybrids correctly on the basis of only morphological characteristics.


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat lives primarily in broad-leaved and mixed forests. It avoids intensively cultivated areas and settlements.


title: European wildcat

text: The northernmost population lives in northern and eastern Scotland. It has been extirpated in England and Wales.


title: European wildcat

text: There are two disconnected populations in France. The one in the Ardennes in the country's north-east extends to Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium. The other in southern France may be connected via the Pyrenees to populations in Spain and Portugal.


title: European wildcat

text: In the Netherlands, European wildcats were recorded in 1999 near Nijmegen and in 2004 in North Brabant; these individuals had possibly dispersed from Germany. In Germany, the Rhine is a major barrier between the population in Eifel and Hunsrück mountains west of the river and populations east of the river, where a six-lane highway hampers dispersal.


title: European wildcat

text: Three fragmented populations in Italy comprise one in the country's central and southern part, one in the eastern Alps that may be connected to populations in Slovenia and Croatia. The Sicilian population is the only Mediterranean insular population that has not been introduced.


title: European wildcat

text: In France and Italy, the European wildcat is active foremost at night; in undisturbed sites, it is also active by day.


title: European wildcat

text: In Sicily, an individual was photographed in 2009 and again in 2018 at about the same location. It was probably at least 10 years old at the time of recapture.


title: European wildcat

text: In Western Europe, the wildcat feeds on hamsters, brown rats, dormice, water voles, voles, and wood mice. From time to time, it also preys on small carnivores like martens, European polecat, stoat, and least weasel ("Mustela nivalis"), as well as fawns of red deer ("Cervus elaphus"), roe deer ("Capreolus capreolus"), and chamois ("Rupicapra rupicapra"). In the Carpathians, the wildcat feeds primarily on yellow-necked mouse ("Apodemus flavicollis"), northern red-backed vole ("Myodes rutilus"), Tatra pine vole ("Microtus tatricus"), and occasionally also European hare ("Lepus europaeus"). In Transcarpathia, the wildcat's diet consists of mouse-like rodents, galliformes, and squirrels. In the Dnestr swamps, it preys on "Microtus", water voles, and birds, while those living in the Prut swamps primarily target water vole, brown rat, and muskrat ("Ondatra zibethicus"). Birds taken by Prut wildcats include warblers, ferruginous duck, Eurasian coot, spotted crake, and gadwall. In Moldavia, the wildcat's winter diet consists primarily of rodents, while it preys on birds, fish, and crayfish in summer. Brown rats and water voles, as well as muskrats and waterfowl are the main sources of food for wildcats in the Kuban River delta. Wildcats in the northern Caucasus feed on mouse-like rodents and edible dormice, as well as birds, young chamois and roe deer on rare occasions. Wildcats on the Black Sea coast are thought to feed on small birds, shrews, and hares. On one occasion, the feathers of a white-tailed eagle and the skull of a kid were found at a den site. In Transcaucasia, the wildcat's diet consists of gerbils, voles, birds, and reptiles in the summer, and birds, mouse-like rodents, and hares in winter.


title: European wildcat

text: The Scottish wildcat mainly preys on European rabbit ("Oryctolagus cuniculus"), field vole ("Microtus agrestis"), bank vole ("Myodes glareolus"), wood mouse ("Apodemus sylvaticus"), and birds.


title: European wildcat

text: In most European countries, European wildcats have become rare. Although legally protected, they are still shot by people mistaking them for feral cats. In the Scottish Highlands, where approximately 400 were thought to remain in the wild in 2004, interbreeding with feral cats is a significant threat to the wild population's distinctiveness. The population in Portugal and Spain is also threatened by interbreeding with feral cats and loss of habitat. The extent of hybridization is low in Germany, Italy and Luxembourg. In the 1990s, the easternmost population in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucasus was threatened by destruction of broad-leaved forests, entailing a reduction of their range. Only small numbers occur in protected areas.


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat is protected in most European range countries. It is listed in CITES Appendix II, in Appendix II of the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats and in the European Union's Habitats and Species Directive.


title: European wildcat

text: In 2004, the Friends of the Earth Germany initiated the project "Safety Net for the European Wildcat". This project aimed at relinking Germany's forests by planting bushes and trees between areas inhabited by and suitable for European wildcat, and which are larger than . They developed the "Wildcat Routing Map", a map depicting the long network of corridors.


title: European wildcat

text: An Action Plan for the Protection of the European Wildcat in Germany was developed in 2009, aiming at doubling the area inhabited by European wildcat and linking populations within Germany and with neighbouring countries until 2019.


title: European wildcat

text: In 2013, the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Group developed the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan. With this plan, the group set national action priorities and defined responsibilities of agencies and funding priorities for conservation efforts between 2013 and 2019. Its implementation is coordinated by Scottish Natural Heritage. However, the population has been deemed no longer viable.


title: European wildcat

text: The European wildcat has the reputation for being effectively impossible to raise as a pet. Naturalist Frances Pitt wrote "there was a time when I did not believe this ... my optimism was daunted" by trying to keep a wildcat she named Beelzebina.


title: European wildcat

text: In England, conservationists plan to start a captive breeding programme in 2019 with the aim to reintroduce cats into the wild by 2022.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Dylan Mark Postl (born May 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE under the ring name Hornswoggle. He debuted in WWE in 2006, allied with Finlay. Hornswoggle won the Cruiserweight Championship in its first stint, and then was revealed as Vince McMahon's bastard son, and was exposed as the Anonymous Raw General Manager who had controlled the Raw brand from June 21, 2010, to July 18, 2011. He also competed in Impact Wrestling.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Postl started his career in the Fox Valley Wrestling Alliance (FVWA), under the ring name Hardcore Wonder. In 2005, Postl appeared with National Wrestling Alliance territory NWA Wisconsin as "The World's Sexiest Midget" Shortstack, where he won the NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship. He also won the SSW Tag Team Championship with Devin Diamond, from The Pretty Hott Thangs (Ryan Kross and Josh Maxim) on May 19, 2006, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He relinquished the title after signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On May 26, 2006, Postl made his televised debut in Bakersfield, California on "SmackDown" as the character Little Bastard, the leprechaun partner of Northern Irish wrestler Finlay. After Finlay's victory over Paul Burchill, an extremely hyper, dirty, mysterious little man (Postl) in a leprechaun costume scurried out from under the ring and jumped on Burchill, laughing maniacally. Finlay pulled him off, only to slam him back down onto Burchill again and again. For the next few weeks, Postl continued to appear from under the ring after matches and attack Finlay's opponents. He soon became more and more aggressive and started attacking Finlay's opponents during matches, much to Finlay's dismay. At one point, he attacked Finlay, biting him when Finlay tried to stop him from attacking Gunner Scott. Little Bastard helped Finlay win the WWE United States Championship when he tossed him a shillelagh to knock out the Champion Bobby Lashley and pick up the win.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On February 23, 2007, the character's name was changed to Hornswoggle on WWE's website and all references to the name "Little Bastard" were removed. The meaning of “hornswoggle” is to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. On the March 2 episode of "SmackDown!", Hornswoggle attacked John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and Michael Cole. Afterward, Finlay intimidated Cole, warning him to refer to Little Bastard as "Hornswoggle." On the March 30 episode of "SmackDown!", Hornswoggle helped Finlay beat Mr. Kennedy by performing a senton bomb off a stepladder onto Kennedy, essentially copying Kennedy's move, the Kenton Bomb. SmackDown! announcers Michael Cole and JBL immediately referred to the move as the "Lepreton Bomb". During the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23, Kennedy hit Hornswoggle with a Green Bay Plunge off of a ladder when Hornswoggle tried to interfere on the behalf on Finlay. On the April 6 episode of "SmackDown!", Finlay attacked Kennedy after his match and challenged him to a handicap match with Hornswoggle as Finlay's partner. Before the match, Kennedy apologized for hurting Hornswoggle. Finlay accepted his apology and formed a team with Kennedy.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Hornswoggle won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship after he pinned Jamie Noble in a Cruiserweight Open at The Great American Bash. The other participants and commentators were unaware that he was a participant in the match until the referee counted the pin and awarded him the belt. Hornswoggle then began a storyline feud with Noble over the belt. The next week on "SmackDown!", Hornswoggle retained the title when he defeated Noble by countout. He attacked Noble in the following weeks by shoving a pie in his face, spraying him with a fire extinguisher, pushing him into Kane and causing him to get chokeslammed, and locking him in a large box.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On the September 10 episode of "Raw", the storyline involving Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son culminated with the reveal that Hornswoggle was the illegitimate son. Hornswoggle's feud with Noble ended on the September 28 episode of "SmackDown!" when Acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero forced Hornswoggle to surrender the Cruiserweight Championship (which was later abandoned), citing that his status as Mr. McMahon's son and his diminutive stature would eventually jeopardize his well-being. Mr. McMahon began giving Hornswoggle matches against competitors that were much larger than him to show his son "tough love." Hornswoggle was placed into a match against The Great Khali at Survivor Series. At Survivor Series, Khali defeated Hornswoggle by disqualification when Finlay attacked Khali on Hornswoggle's behalf, turning both Hornswoggle and Finlay face. This was the first time that Finlay appeared together with Hornswoggle since the beginning of the Hornswoggle and Mr. McMahon storyline. At Armageddon, Finlay defeated Khali with the help of Hornswoggle.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On the February 18 episode of "Raw", Hornswoggle had a scheduled steel cage match against his father, Mr. McMahon. During this match, Hornswoggle was whipped with a leather belt by Mr. McMahon. Finlay tried to get involved, but was attacked and handcuffed to the ring ropes by JBL. Mr. McMahon left the ring and allowed JBL to beat up Hornswoggle while an enraged Finlay watched. Following the attack, as a part of the storyline, WWE.com announced that Hornswoggle had suffered internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma. On the February 25 episode of "Raw", JBL claimed that Hornswoggle was not McMahon's son, but "in reality [was] the son of Finlay". The next week on "Raw", Finlay confirmed Hornswoggle was indeed his son, then was forced to watch helplessly as JBL assaulted Hornswoggle in his hospital bed. Hornswoggle returned to live television at WrestleMania XXIV, accompanying Finlay to the ring for his Belfast Brawl with JBL, once interfering by hitting JBL with a kendo stick, allowing Finlay to get the shot in with the shillelagh. JBL won the match by hitting Finlay with the kendo stick in the shins and following up with the "Clothesline from Hell".


title: Hornswoggle

text: He made his in-ring return on the April 18 episode of "SmackDown", defeating Matt Striker after a "Tadpole Splash". As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Hornswoggle was drafted to the ECW brand along with Finlay. At Night of Champions, Hornswoggle and Finlay challenged John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but failed to win.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On April 13, 2009, Hornswoggle was drafted to the Raw brand, without Finlay, as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. Hornswoggle then entered into a feud with Chavo Guerrero, in which they competed in a series of comedy gimmick matches each week determined by the weekly Guest Host for "Raw" (Texas Bullrope Match, Blindfold Match, Falls Count Anywhere, etc.). The program began on July 7, 2009 on "WWE Superstars" and continued on to "Raw". Hornswoggle won every match in this feud.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Hornswoggle's next storyline began the October 26 episode of "Raw", when after several weeks of wearing D-Generation X (D-X) clothing, Hornswoggle received legal notification that he was no longer allowed to wear it. Later on in the night, he got his revenge by helping the "Raw" guest hosts, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, put D-X against each other and John Cena for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series. On the December 21 episode of "Raw", Hornswoggle tried pressing charges against D-X for assault on him, but later dropped them when D-X agreed to make him D-X's official mascot. On the January 18, 2010 episode of "Raw" backstage, Hornswoggle and Triple H confronted Big Show, The Miz and Jon Heder. Triple H made the match a six-man tag team match: D-X and Hornswoggle against Big Show, The Miz and Heder which ended after Hornswoggle pinned Heder.


title: Hornswoggle

text: As part of the 2010 WWE Supplemental Draft on WWE.com, Hornswoggle was drafted back to the SmackDown brand. On October 8 episode of "SmackDown", Hornswoggle was named the official mascot for the SmackDown team at Bragging Rights. On the July 9, 2012 episode of "Raw", Hornswoggle was revealed as the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who previously ran the brand from June 2010 to July 2011.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On the season premiere of "NXT Redemption", Hornswoggle was revealed as the pro for Titus O'Neil. After their tag team victory over Darren Young and Chavo Guerrero, Young attacked O'Neil. They later had a match against each other which Hornswoggle won. Hornswoggle was later confronted by O'Neil's previous NXT mentor, Zack Ryder. Ryder lured Titus out of the ring by pretending to attack Hornswoggle, but he quickly re-entered the ring and ambushed Titus as he climbed back in, cementing the victory. Weeks later, Hornswoggle was sent gifts from a secret admirer, assuming it to be Maryse. He responded by giving her gifts, only to be shot down. On July 26, AJ Lee revealed herself as the admirer by kissing him. AJ then accompanied Hornswoggle on both "NXT" and "SmackDown". Sometime later, Hornswoggle became jealous of O'Neil hugging AJ and eventually sent her a letter ending their relationship, as he no longer wanted to be on "NXT" and preferred to stay on "SmackDown".


title: Hornswoggle

text: On November 29, 2011, holiday edition of "SmackDown", Hornswoggle won a battle royal, by lastly eliminating Sheamus, to receive a wish from Santa Claus (Mick Foley). With help from Sheamus, Hornswoggle wished for the ability to verbally communicate. With this ability, Hornswoggle became the special guest ring announcer for the David Otunga and Sheamus match on the following week's "SmackDown". On January 6, 2012, episode of "SmackDown" he defeated Heath Slater in an Over-the-Top Rope Challenge. Later that month, Hornswoggle formed an alliance with Justin Gabriel, feuding with the former Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes and Heath Slater, he also accompanied Gabriel to the ring at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in a losing effort against United States Champion Jack Swagger. On March 23 episode of "SmackDown", Hornswoggle was added to Theodore Long's WrestleMania XXVIII team as its personal mascot.


title: Hornswoggle

text: He made a return on October 12, 2012, when he was found with a Randy Orton doll. Ricardo Rodriguez wrecked it and continued looking for the real Orton. After a period of inactivity, he returned to "Raw" in November, associating himself with The Great Khali and Natalya. He was injured (storyline) by Big E Langston on January 11, 2013 episode of "SmackDown", after Khali and Natalya lost to Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee. He returned on March 17 episode of "Raw", to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, only to be interrupted by Bad News Barrett.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On the April 15, 2014 episode of "Main Event", Hornswoggle turned heel for the first time since 2007 after revealing himself as the mascot for 3MB (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal). In the following months, he faced El Torito numerous times, losing a WeeLC match at Extreme Rules (Postl says this was the best match of his career) and a hair match at Payback, resulting in his head being shaved. On June 12, 2014, McIntyre and Mahal were released by WWE, and ending 3MB. In July on "Superstars", Hornswoggle accompanied Slater for his match with Adam Rose, and was kidnapped by the Rosebuds, who transformed him into a mini-Rose. On August 19 episode of "Main Event", Hornswoggle joined his former rivals, Los Matadores (including El Torito), as their second valet. Hornswoggle donned a cow suit and was referred to as La Vaquita (meaning "the little cow"), to complement El Torito, who was dressed as a tiny bull. Los Matadores went on to be defeated by Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. That same week, on "Superstars", his name was tweaked to La Vaca (meaning "the cow"), when he teamed with El Torito to defeat Slater and O'Neil. On September 29 episode of "Raw", Hornswoggle turned heel once again and became Slater and O'Neil's (Slater-Gator) mascot, the Mini-Gator. After the breakup of Slater-Gator, Postl took time off from WWE television to undergo arthroscopic shoulder decompression surgery in March 2015.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On September 28, 2015, WWE announced it had suspended Postl for 30 days for violating the company's Wellness policy. After not having made any appearances in WWE since then, Postl was released from WWE on May 6, 2016.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On April 27, 2018, Postl returned in the Greatest Royal Rumble event, eliminating Dash Wilder, before being eliminated himself by Tony Nese. On January 27, 2019, Postl made an appearance at Royal Rumble, chasing Zelina Vega during the Women's Rumble match. WWE contacted him to appear at Backlash 2020 in a pre-taped match between The Street Profits and Viking Raiders. Despite taping his part, his segment wasn't aired.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Following his release from WWE, Postl returned to his hometown promotion ACW. Postl also signed to appear at a show co-promoted by Global Force Wrestling and WrestlePro under the ring name Swoggle and debuted for the promotion on June 11, facing Brian Myers. Swoggle won after Myers knocked down the referee and while the ref was down, Grim from "Grim's Toy Show" interfered against Myers with a full nelson slam. Swoggle did a tadpole splash on the incapacitated Myers and won by pinfall. On July 6, Chikara announced that Postl would be debuting for the promotion on July 23 under the ring name The Big Deal. On March 30 at WrestleCon, Postl, under the Swoggle ring name, defeated Grado.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On the December 15, 2016 episode of "Impact Wrestling", titled Total Nonstop Deletion, Swoggle made an appearance as the partner of Rockstar Spud in the Tag Team Apocalypto match. After turning on Spud in the Tag Team Apocalypto, Swoggle would square off with Lashley and knocked himself out when he attempted a spear on Lashley. He would then appear on January 5, 2017 episode of "Impact Wrestling", where he would defeat Rockstar Spud, causing Spud to quit. On January 19, episode of "Impact Wrestling", he would then team up with Robbie E in a losing effort against Aron Rex and Spud. On April 27 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Swoggle was paying Rockstar Spud some attention and ruffled Spud's hair in what was intended to be an amusing gimmick with the fans - however Spud took exception to this and as he was chasing Swoggle, the situation concluded with Swoggle running up the entrance ramp, after losing his trousers (pants). Later that same show, Swoggle would viciously attack Spud using a hammer, causing unknown leg injuries. On June 1, Spud returned to "Impact", entering through the crowd and attacking Swoggle with a hammer, like Swoggle had done to him. On November 13, 2017, his profile was officially removed from Impact Wrestling's website confirming his departure from the company. Reportedly, Swoggle was never signed to a contract by Impact Wrestling.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Swoggle returned to Impact Wrestling at Bound for Glory 2019 where Swoggle competed in the Bound for Gold gauntlet match which was won by Eddie Edwards.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On October 24, 2020, Swoggle made another surprise return to Impact Wrestling at Bound for Glory 2020, where he competed in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet Battle Royal, which was won by Rhyno.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On the October 27 episode of "Impact", Swoggle helped Tommy Dreamer in defeating Brian Myers in a hardcore match by hitting Myers with a low blow. Later, it was announced that Myers would face Swoggle in a match at Turning Point. At the event he lost against Myers.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On November 24, 2020, Swoggle appeared as 'AJ Swoggle', a parody of wrestler AJ Styles, and defeated Ethan Page with the help of Karl Anderson.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Swoggle competed November 3 at ROH Unauthorized, disguised as "Mini Delirious", the tag partner of Delirious. He unmasked after they lost to El Jefe Cobbo and El Villainisto, based on the match's stipulation. This was broadcast on TV on December 16.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Swoggle made a cameo on the November 18, 2020 episode of "AEW Dynamite" during The Inner Circle's trip to Las Vegas.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Postl made his boxing debut on April 24, 2021, at Rough n Rowdy’s event. He was defeated by Jeremy Smith.


title: Hornswoggle

text: On May 1, 2018, it was announced that Postl was working on an autobiography with Ross Owen Williams, the writer of Bob Holly and Al Snow's autobiographies, and Ian Douglass, the writer of Dan Severn and Bugsy McGraw's autobiographies. It was advertised that the book would "delve into the physical and emotional challenges of being a little person in both a big person's world and, often, a large person's industry, as well as charting Dylan's emotional path to parenthood, and varied relationships within his own family." The book "Life Is Short And So Am I" was officially released by ECW Press on September 10, 2019, and it included forewords by Postl's close friends Kofi Kingston and Curt Hawkins.


title: Hornswoggle

text: WWE executive Stephanie McMahon posted her support for the book on Twitter on the day of its release. The book also received a public endorsement from Dolph Ziggler.


title: Hornswoggle

text: Postl starred in the film "", a reboot of the Leprechaun film series. Hornswoggle regularly appeared in the WWE web series "The JBL and Cole Show", until its cancellation in June 2015.


title: Hornswoggle

text: In a 2022 interview regarding the controversy stemming from Peter Dinklage's statements towards the upcoming live-action remake of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" where he denounced Disney for perpetuating stereotypes associated with people with dwarfism, Postl voiced his disagreement with Dinklage where he, along with other dwarf actors, accused Dinklage of just virtue signalling and opined that Dinklage's condemnation of the Seven Dwarfs' portrayal, and Disney's replacement of them with anonymous "magical creatures" and portrayed by voice actors, would have deprived dwarf actors of a possible starring role in a film based on an established property, denouncing Dinklage as "hypocritical" and "selfish...trying to get roles away".


title: Hornswoggle

text: Postl made his video game debut as Finlay's manager in "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009" and subsequently last appeared in "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011".


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Gigi Loren Lazzarato Getty (born Gregory Allan Lazzarato; April 20, 1992), known professionally as Gigi Gorgeous Getty, is a Canadian YouTuber, socialite, actress, and model.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In 2008, Lazzarato began uploading video blogs onto streaming platform YouTube as Gregory Gorgeous. Her videos achieved popularity and established an online following. During the following years, Lazzarato uploaded regularly to the channel along with creating and starring in the reality program "The Avenue" (2011–2013). Following a brief hiatus, she gained media attention after coming out as a transgender woman in 2013, and began going by Gigi Gorgeous. During 2014, Lazzarato personally documented her gender transition through social media profiles, notably through videos revolving around cosmetic procedures, which obtained viral status. In 2016, an incident involving Lazzarato being deported from Dubai due to her status as a transgender woman, resulted in widespread media coverage. Lazzarato was the subject of "This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous" (2017), a Barbara Kopple-directed documentary that followed life going through gender transition. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to have a limited theatrical release and several accolades including a Streamy.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Besides personality work, Lazzarato has dabbled in acting and modeling work. Her performance credits include starring in fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson's short film "I Hate Myselfie" (2015) and its sequel, along with guest appearances in television series "Project Runway All Stars", "Me and My Grandma", "Good Work", and "Trailblazers", amongst others. Through modeling, Lazzarato has appeared on the covers of "Paper" and "Fashion", been featured in spreads for "Galore", "Kode", "Refinery29", and "Out" and served as a frequent muse of August Getty Atelier. In 2019, she authored the book "He Said, She Said: Lessons, Stories, and Mistakes From My Transgender Journey".


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Gigi was born Gregory Allan Lazzarato, the child of Judith Lazzarato (née Belding) and David Lazzarato, a business executive who served as independent director of The Stars Group, chief executive officer of Craig Wireless, and chief financial officer of Alliance Atlantis. She is of Italian, Lebanese, English and French heritage and she was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: As a young adult, Gigi was a nationally ranked diving champion. Gigi's mother, Judith, died of leukemia on February 3, 2012, at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Gigi operated a makeup tutorial YouTube channel that began in 2008 while in the eleventh grade, when a friend mentioned seeing a makeup video by Michelle Phan on YouTube. Gigi first came out at age 16, identifying at the time as a gay male. Since transitioning, her YouTube channel started to include more vlogs, fashion, and lifestyle videos.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: On January 18, 2011, Gigi announced "The Avenue", a YouTube-based reality series. The show premiered on March 15 of that year on YouTube with distribution by Blip. The show's last episode aired on April 14, 2013.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Gigi was awarded the LogoTV Trailblazing Social Creator Award in 2014 for being an advocate on behalf of LGBT youth. She frequently attends BeautyCon conventions to meet with fans and sit in on panels about makeup techniques and the cosmetics industry. Gigi has modeled for designer "Marco Marco", and walked in the 2014 and 2015 Marco Marco Fashion Shows.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Gigi has used internet celebrity status to bring awareness to transgender issues, the LGBT community, and anti-bullying. Her image was featured in a montage of transgender celebrities in the ABC "20/20" documentary about Caitlyn Jenner's transition.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In early 2015, Gigi starred in fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson's debut short film "I Hate Myselfie" as Amber. Gigi later reprised the role of Amber in "I Hate Myselfie 2".


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In June 2015, it was announced that Gigi had teamed up with singer Miley Cyrus and had joined Cyrus' Happy Hippie Foundation's Marie Claire "#InstaPride" campaign. The campaign included a series of photos and an announcement by Cyrus that they were working on a secret project. The project later turned out to be a spread in the magazine "Marie Claire" featuring them both. Gigi signed a partnership with 'Too Faced Cosmetics' in which Gigi starred in the cosmetic commercial film ""Better Than Sex"" which premiered on July 9, 2015. At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Gigi, along with a group of drag queens, introduced Miley Cyrus for the debut performance of Dooo It! from Cyrus's new album "Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz".


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: She appeared on Entertainment Tonight as a special guest that same month. Gigi was featured in Kylie Jenner's app "Kylie" that feature several make up tip videos. On September 18, Gigi won the Streamy Award for "Best Beauty Series". It was announced on October 7 that she would star in Adam Lambert's video for her song "Another Lonely Night".


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: On August 9, 2016, Gigi was detained in the United Arab Emirates. Her passport was taken by airport officials and immigration officers at the Dubai International Airport. She was denied entry to Dubai for "imitation of women by men", as the government does not recognize Gigi's gender as legitimate, even though, according to Gigi, "The gender on my passport states female and not male." The "imitation of women by men" is illegal in the UAE, and violators can face up to a year in jail. She was released after being detained for five hours.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: The "#JusticeForGigi" hashtag surfaced on Twitter, with fans and supporters calling for Gigi's release and a reform in anti-LGBTQ laws. It was not the first time a transgender person was detained in Dubai. In 2014, two Brazilian transgender women were also detained and had their passports taken. Gigi, before leaving Dubai for Sweden, responded to the incident by calling for equality and legal protections for LGBTQ people.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In January 2017, the documentary "This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous", starring Gigi, directed by Barbara Kopple premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. On June 11, Gorgeous watched the documentary with Katy Perry on Perry's four-day livestream event, "".


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In June 2017, Gigi was named to the "Time" magazine list of the 25 most influential people on the Internet.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In 2019, Gigi published a memoir, titled "He Said, She Said: Lessons, Stories, and Mistakes From My Transgender Journey". In October 2019, Gigi announced a makeup collection coming out with Ipsy in November 2019. The collection features various beauty products related to makeup.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In October 2014, Gigi began dating Cory Binney, the half-brother of drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck. They met at a club and started dating from then on. They were on and off and broke up in around May or June 2015, which inspired one of Gigi's most viewed videos titled "Single Life (My Break Up)", a music video to "What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne. It is now one of Gigi's top 5 most viewed videos of all time with 7.5 million views. They got back together in July 2015 before officially breaking up in November 2015. Gigi, who had previously identified as a gay man and then later bisexual, came out as a lesbian in a YouTube video on September 14, 2016. Gigi began dating Nats Getty, an heir and member of the Getty family, shortly after meeting him at Paris Fashion Week while working as a model for Getty's brother, August Getty. In March 2018, Getty proposed to Gigi at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte in France. On July 12, 2019, Gigi and Getty married in a private ceremony at Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, California. Guests at the wedding included Ariadne Getty, Caitlyn Jenner, Teri Hatcher, Moj Mahdara, Justin Tranter, Bonnie McKee, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Trisha Paytas. The couple were given toasts by Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, and Governor Gavin Newsom of California. On April 9, 2021, Gigi identified herself as pansexual, after releasing a YouTube video, explaining how she "didn't fall in love with Nats because of his gender, but the person that he is."


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: Gigi came out as a transgender woman in December 2013. Since then, she has undergone electrolysis, tracheal shave, hormone replacement therapy, facial feminization surgery, rhinoplasty, and breast augmentation. On March 8, 2014, Gigi legally changed her name to Gigi Loren Lazzarato.


title: Gigi Gorgeous

text: In a September 2015 issue of "People", Gigi credited "transgender model and performing artist Amanda Lepore and the death of my mother for sparking my transition."


title: Sealioning

text: Sealioning (also sea-lioning and sea lioning) is a type of trolling or harassment that consists of pursuing people with relentless requests for evidence, often tangential or previously addressed, while maintaining a pretense of civility and sincerity ("I'm just trying to have a debate"), and feigning ignorance of the subject matter. It may take the form of "incessant, bad-faith invitations to engage in debate", and has been likened to a denial-of-service attack targeted at human beings. The term originated with a 2014 strip of the webcomic "Wondermark" by David Malki, which "The Independent" called, "the most apt description of Twitter you'll ever see".


title: Sealioning

text: The sealioner feigns ignorance and politeness while making relentless demands for answers and evidence (while often ignoring or sidestepping any evidence the target has already presented), under the guise of "I'm just trying to have a debate", so that when the target is eventually provoked into an angry response, the sealioner can act as the aggrieved party, and the target presented as closed-minded and unreasonable. It has been described as "incessant, bad-faith invitations to engage in debate". Sealioning can be performed by an individual or by a group acting in concert.


title: Sealioning

text: An essay in the collection "Perspectives on Harmful Speech Online", published by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, noted:


title: Sealioning

text: American academic philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong discussed the term in his book "Think Again: How to Reason and Argue", saying:


title: Sealioning

text: Several other academics link or directly describe sealioning as a technique employed by internet trolls.


title: Sealioning

text: In December 2020, the "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary" listed the term as "Words We're Watching", being "words we are increasingly seeing in use but that have not yet met our criteria for entry":


title: Sealioning

text: In 2021, Canadian magazine "Maclean's" praised the Merriam-Webster definition saying "This neologism on Merriam-Webster’s list of words to watch aptly describes the frustration of conversing online".


title: Sealioning

text: The technique of sealioning has been compared to the Gish gallop and metaphorically described as a denial-of-service attack targeted at human beings (i.e. overloading a target with questions).


title: Sealioning

text: In 2022, English philosopher and academic Sophie Grace Chappell likened sealioning to the Socratic term "eirôneia" (from which the word irony is derived but with a different end meaning), which she described as an insincere pretense of ignorance as a way to disassemble an argument, saying "In contemporary internet slang, "eironeia" is «sealioning»."


title: Sealioning

text: Use of the term originates from a 2014 strip of the webcomic "Wondermark" by David Malki, where a character expresses a dislike of sea lions and a sea lion intrudes to repeatedly ask her to explain her statement and attempts (in an exaggeratedly civil manner) to interrogate her views, following the characters into the privacy of their own home. "Sea lion" was quickly verbed. The term gained popularity as a way to describe a specific type of online trolling, and it was used to describe some of the behavior of those participating in the Gamergate controversy.


title: Sealioning

text: In 2014, Dina Rickman of the online version of "The Independent" said of Malki's strip, "This comic is the most apt description of Twitter you'll ever see".


title: Sealioning

text: In a 2016 study published in "First Monday" focusing on users of the Gamergate subreddit /r/KotakuInAction, participants were surveyed about what they believed constituted "harassment". Participants were quoted stating that "expressions of sincere disagreement" were considered harassment by opponents of the forum and that the term "Sealioning" was used to silence legitimate requests for proof.


title: Sealioning

text: In 2021, "Maclean's" compared its origination to other terms derived from comic strips that became common speech such as Brainiac (1958 comic strip) and Milquetoast (from the 1924 comic strip). "Maclean's" noted that Malki had mixed feelings about the term, quoting him as saying: "I didn't set out to coin a phrase. I just wanted to make an observation", and "The core of what I set out to criticize is just the notion that any random patient stranger should feel entitled to as much of someone’s attention as they want".


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: The rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus) is one of the cat family's smallest members, of which historical records are known only from India and Sri Lanka. In 2012, it was also recorded in the western Terai of Nepal. Since 2016, the global wild population is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List as it is fragmented and affected by loss and destruction of its prime habitat, deciduous forests.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: "Felis rubiginosa" was the scientific name used by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1831 for a rusty-spotted cat specimen from Pondicherry, India. "Prionailurus" was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as a generic name. "Prionailurus rubiginosus phillipsi" was proposed by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1939 who described a specimen from Central Province, Sri Lanka and subordinated both to the genus "Prionailurus".


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that the evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia in the Miocene around . Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at around .


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: The "Prionailurus" species are estimated to have had a common ancestor between , and . The rusty-spotted cat possibly genetically diverged from this ancestor between . Both models agree in the rusty-spotted cat having been the first cat of this lineage that diverged, followed by the flat-headed cat ("P. planiceps") and the fishing cat ("P. viverrinus"). The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic relationships of the rusty-spotted cat as derived through analysis of nuclear DNA:


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: The rusty-spotted cat has a short reddish grey fur over most of the body with rusty spots on the back and flanks. Four blackish lines run over the eyes, and two of them extend over the neck. Six dark streaks are on each side of the head, extending over the cheeks and forehead. Its chin, throat, inner side of the limbs and belly are whitish with tiny brownish spots. It has a rusty band on the chest. Its paws and tail are uniform reddish grey.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: It is the smallest wild cat in Asia and rivals the black-footed cat as the world's smallest wild cat. It is in length, with a tail, and weighs only . The bushy tail is about half the length of the body.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: The distribution of the rusty-spotted cat is relatively restricted. It occurs mainly in moist and dry deciduous forests as well as scrub and grassland, but is likely absent in evergreen forest. It prefers dense vegetation and rocky areas.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: In India, it was long thought to be confined to the south, but records have established that it occurs over much of the country. It was observed in eastern Gujarat's Gir National Park, in Maharashtra's Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and along India's Eastern Ghats. Camera trapping revealed its presence in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in the Indian Terai and in Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: In western Maharashtra, the rusty-spotted cat is breeding in a human dominated agricultural landscape, where rodent densities are high. In December 2014 and in April 2015, it was photographed by camera traps in Kalesar National Park, Haryana. It was also recorded by camera traps in Mirzapur Forest Division of Uttar Pradesh in 2018.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: In March 2012, a rusty-spotted cat was photographed in Bardia National Park for the first time, and in March 2016 also in Shuklaphanta National Park, both in Nepal.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: In Sri Lanka, there are a few records in montane and lowland rainforest. There are two distinct populations, one in the dry zone and the other in the wet zone.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: Very little is known about the ecology and behaviour of the rusty-spotted cat in the wild. Captive ones are mostly nocturnal but also briefly active during the day. Most wild ones were also recorded after dark. At Horton Plain National Park in Sri Lanka, they were mostly recorded between sunset and sunrise, with limited daytime activity. Several individuals were observed hiding in trees and in caves.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: It feeds mainly on rodents and birds, but also preys on lizards, frogs, and insects. It hunts primarily on the ground, making rapid, darting movements to catch its prey. It apparently ventures into trees to escape larger predators. Captive females and males both scent-mark their home range by spraying urine.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: The female's oestrus lasts five days, and mating is unusually brief. Since the female is likely to be vulnerable during this period, its brevity may be an adaptation to help it avoid larger predators. She prepares a den in a secluded location, and after a gestation of 65–70 days gives birth to one or two kittens. At birth, the kittens weigh just , and are marked with rows of black spots. They reach sexual maturity at around 68 weeks, by which time they have developed the distinctive adult coat pattern of rusty blotches. Rusty-spotted cats have lived for twelve years in captivity, but their lifespan in the wild is unknown.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: Habitat loss and the spread of cultivation are serious problems for wildlife in both India and Sri Lanka. Although there are several records of the rusty-spotted cat in cultivated and settled areas, it is not known to what degree these populations are able to persist in such areas. There have been occasional reports of rusty-spotted cat skins in trade. In some areas, it is hunted for food or as livestock pest.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: The Indian population is listed on CITES Appendix I. The Sri Lankan population is included on CITES Appendix II. The species is fully protected over most of its range, with hunting and trade banned in India and Sri Lanka.


title: Rusty-spotted cat

text: As of 2010, the captive population of "P. r. phillipsi" comprised 56 individuals in eight institutions, of which 11 individuals were kept in the Colombo Zoo in Sri Lanka and 45 individuals in seven European zoos.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Samuel Holmes Sheppard, D.O. ( – ) was an American neurosurgeon. He was exonerated in 1966, having been convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard. The case was controversial from the beginning, with extensive and prolonged nationwide media coverage.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: The U.S. Supreme Court determined that the "carnival atmosphere" surrounding Sheppard's first trial had made due process impossible; after ten years in prison he was acquitted at a second trial.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of three sons of Richard Allen Sheppard, D.O. He attended Cleveland Heights High School where he was an excellent student and was active in American football, basketball, and track; he was class president for three years. Sheppard met his future wife, Marilyn Reese, while in high school. Although several small Ohio colleges offered him athletic scholarships, Sheppard chose to follow the lead of his father and older brothers and pursued a career in osteopathic medicine. He enrolled at Hanover College in Indiana to study pre-osteopathic medical courses, then took supplementary courses at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Sheppard finished his medical education at the Los Angeles Osteopathic School of Physicians and Surgeons (now University of California Irvine) and was awarded the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O) medical degree.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard completed his internship and a residency in neurosurgery at Los Angeles County General Hospital. He married Marilyn Reese on February 21, 1945, in Hollywood, California. A few years later he returned to Ohio and joined his father's growing medical practice at Bay View Hospital.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: On the night of Saturday, July 3, 1954, Sheppard and Marilyn were entertaining neighbors at their lakefront home (demolished in 1993). While they were watching the movie "Strange Holiday", Sheppard fell asleep on the daybed in the living room. Marilyn walked the neighbors out.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: In the early morning hours of July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard was bludgeoned to death in her bed with an unknown instrument. The bedroom was covered with blood spatter and drops of blood were found on floors throughout the house. Some items from the house, including Sam Sheppard's wristwatch, keychain and key, and fraternity ring, appeared to have been stolen. They were later found in a canvas bag in shrubbery behind the house. According to Sheppard, he was sleeping soundly on a daybed when he heard the cries from his wife. He ran upstairs where he saw a "white biped form" in the bedroom and then he was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, he saw the person downstairs, chased the intruder out of the house down to the beach where they tussled and Sheppard was knocked unconscious again.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: At 5:40 am, a neighbor received an urgent phone call from Sheppard who pleaded for him to come to his home. When the neighbor and his wife arrived, Sheppard was found shirtless and his pants were wet with a bloodstain on the knee. Authorities arrived shortly thereafter. Sheppard seemed disoriented and in shock. The family dog was not heard barking to indicate an intruder, and their seven-year-old son, Sam Reese "Chip" Sheppard, was asleep in the adjacent bedroom throughout the incident.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard's trial began October 18, 1954, and lasted nine weeks. The murder investigation and the trial were notable for the extensive publicity. Some newspapers and other media in Ohio were accused of bias against Sheppard and inflammatory coverage of the case, and were criticized for immediately labeling him the only viable suspect. A federal judge later criticized the media, "If ever there was a trial by newspaper, this is a perfect example. And the most insidious example was the "Cleveland Press". For some reason that newspaper took upon itself the role of accuser, judge, and jury."


title: Sam Sheppard

text: It appeared that the local media influenced the investigators. On July 21, 1954, the "Cleveland Press" ran a front-page editorial titled "Do It Now, Dr. Gerber" which called for a public inquest. Hours later, Dr. Samuel Gerber, the coroner investigating the murder, announced that he would hold an inquest the next day. The "Cleveland Press" ran another front-page editorial titled "Why Isn't Sam Sheppard in Jail?" on July 30 which was titled in later editions, "Quit Stalling and Bring Him In!" That night, Sheppard was arrested for a police interrogation.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: The local media ran salacious front-page stories inflammatory to Sheppard which had no supporting facts or were later disproved. During the trial, a popular radio show broadcast a report about a New York City woman who claimed to be his mistress and the mother of his illegitimate child. Since the jury was not sequestered, two of the jurors admitted to the judge that they heard the broadcast but the judge did not dismiss them. From interviews with some of the jurors years later, it is likely that jurors were contaminated by the press before the trial and perhaps during it. The U.S. Supreme Court later called the trial a "carnival atmosphere".


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Susan Hayes was a 24-year-old laboratory technician at Bayview Hospital in Bay village, who had an affair with Sheppard. The prosecution attempted to show that Hayes was the motive for murder.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard's attorney, William Corrigan, argued that Sheppard had severe injuries and that these injuries were inflicted by the intruder. Corrigan based his argument on the report made by neurosurgeon Charles Elkins who examined Sheppard and found he had suffered a cervical concussion, nerve injury, many absent or weak reflexes (most notably on the left side of his body), and injury in the region of the second cervical vertebra in the back of the neck. Elkins stated that it was impossible to fake or simulate the missing reflex responses.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: The defense further argued the crime scene was extremely bloody, yet the only blood evidence appearing on Sheppard was a bloodstain on his trousers. Corrigan also argued two of Marilyn's teeth had been broken and that the pieces had been pulled from her mouth, suggesting she had possibly bitten her assailant. He told the jury that Sheppard had no open wounds. (Some) observers have questioned the accuracy of claims that Marilyn Sheppard lost her teeth while biting her attacker, arguing that her missing teeth are more consistent with the severe beating she received to her face and skull.) However, a criminologist Paul L. Kirk later said that if the beating had broken Mrs. Sheppard's teeth, pieces would have been found inside her mouth, and her lips would have been severely damaged, which was not the case.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard took the stand in his own defense, testifying that he had been sleeping downstairs on a daybed when he awoke to his wife's screams.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard ran back downstairs and chased what he described as a "bushy-haired intruder" or "form" down to the Lake Erie beach below his home, before being knocked out again. The defense called eighteen character witnesses for Sheppard, and two witnesses who said that they had seen a bushy-haired man near the Sheppard home on the day of the crime.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: On December 21, after deliberating for four days, the jury found Sheppard guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: On January 7, 1955, shortly after his conviction, Sheppard was told that his mother, Ethel Sheppard, had died from a self-inflicted gunshot. Eleven days later, Sheppard's father, Richard Sheppard, died of a bleeding gastric ulcer and stomach cancer. Sheppard was permitted to attend both funerals but was required to wear handcuffs.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: On February 13, 1963, while F. Lee Bailey was pursuing the appeals process, Sheppard's former father-in-law, Thomas S. Reese, died by suicide in an East Cleveland, Ohio, motel. Thomas's wife had died in 1929 when their daughter Marilyn was in grade school.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: In 1959, Sheppard voluntarily took part in cancer studies by the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, allowing live cancer cells to be injected into his body.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard's attorney William Corrigan spent six years making appeals but all were rejected. On July 30, 1961, Corrigan died and F. Lee Bailey took over as Sheppard's chief counsel. Bailey's petition for a writ of "habeas corpus" was granted on July 15, 1964, by a United States district court judge who called the 1954 trial a "mockery of justice" that shredded Sheppard's Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. The State of Ohio was ordered to release Sheppard on bond and gave the prosecutor 60 days to bring charges against him, otherwise the case would be dismissed permanently. The State of Ohio appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit, which on March 4, 1965 reversed the federal judge's ruling. Bailey appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case in "Sheppard v. Maxwell". On June 6, 1966, the Supreme Court, by an 8-to-1 vote, struck down the murder conviction. The decision noted, among other factors, that a "carnival atmosphere" had permeated the trial, and that the trial judge, Edward J. Blythin, who had died in 1958, was biased against Sheppard because Blythin had refused to sequester the jury, did not order the jury to ignore and disregard media reports of the case, and when speaking to newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen shortly before the trial started said, "Well, he's guilty as hell. There's no question about it."


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard served ten years of his sentence. Three days after his 1964 release, he married Ariane Tebbenjohanns, a German divorcee who had corresponded with him during his imprisonment. The two had been engaged since January 1963. Tebbenjohanns endured her own bit of controversy shortly after the engagement had been announced, confirming that her half-sister was Magda Ritschel, the wife of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. Tebbenjohanns emphasized that she held no Nazi views. On October 7, 1969, Sheppard and Tebbenjohanns divorced.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Jury selection began October 24, 1966, and opening statements began eight days later. Media interest in the trial remained high, but this jury was sequestered. The prosecutor presented essentially the same case as was presented twelve years earlier. Bailey aggressively sought to discredit each prosecution witness during cross-examination. When Coroner Samuel Gerber testified about a murder weapon which he described as a "surgical weapon", Bailey led Gerber to admit that they never found a murder weapon and had nothing to tie Sheppard to the murder. In his closing argument, Bailey scathingly dismissed the prosecution's case against Sheppard as "ten pounds of hogwash in a five-pound bag".


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Unlike in the original trial, neither Sheppard nor Susan Hayes took the stand, a strategy that proved to be successful. After deliberating for 12 hours, the jury returned on November 16 with a "not guilty" verdict. The trial was important to Bailey's rise to prominence among American criminal defense lawyers. It was during this trial that Paul Kirk presented the bloodspatter evidence he collected in Sheppard's home in 1955 that suggested that the murderer was left-handed (Sheppard was right-handed) which proved crucial to his acquittal.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Three weeks after the trial, Sheppard appeared as a guest on the December 7 episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson".


title: Sam Sheppard

text: After his acquittal, Sheppard worked with ghostwriter Bill Levy to write the book "Endure and Conquer", which presented his side of the case and discussed his years in prison. Levy felt conflicted about collaborating with Sheppard because of his belief that Sheppard had committed the crime.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard's friend and soon-to-be father-in-law, professional wrestler George Strickland, introduced him to wrestling and trained him for it. He debuted in August 1969 at the age of 45 as "Killer" Sam Sheppard, wrestling Wild Bill Scholl.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard wrestled over 40 matches before his death in April 1970, including a number of tag team bouts with Strickland as his partner. His notoriety made him a strong draw.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: During his career, Sheppard used his anatomical knowledge to develop a new submission hold, the "mandible claw". It was popularized by professional wrestler Mankind in 1996.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: After his release from prison, Sheppard opened a medical office in the Columbus suburb of Gahanna, Ohio. On May 10, 1968, Sheppard was granted surgical privileges at the Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital, but "[his] skills as a surgeon had deteriorated, and much of the time he was impaired by alcohol". Five days after he was granted privileges, he performed a discectomy on a woman and accidentally cut an artery; the patient died the next day. On August 6, he nicked the right iliac artery on a 29-year-old patient who bled to death internally. Sheppard resigned from the hospital staff a few months later after wrongful death suits had been filed by the patients' families.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Six months before his death, Sheppard married Colleen Strickland. Towards the end of his life, Sheppard was reportedly drinking "as much as two fifths of liquor a day" (1.5 liters). On April 6, 1970, Sheppard was found dead in his home in Columbus, Ohio. Early reports indicated that Sheppard died of liver failure. The official cause of death was Wernicke encephalopathy (a type of brain damage associated with advanced alcoholism). He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Columbus, Ohio.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard's body remained buried until September 1997 when he was exhumed for DNA testing as part of the lawsuit brought by his son to clear his father's name. The DNA testing absolved Sheppard of the murder. After the tests, the body was cremated, and the ashes were interred in a mausoleum at Knollwood Cemetery in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, along with those of his murdered wife, Marilyn.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Sheppard's son, Samuel Reese Sheppard, has devoted considerable time and effort towards attempting to clear his father's reputation.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: In 1999, Alan Davis, a lifelong friend of Sheppard and administrator of his estate, sued the State of Ohio in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas for Sheppard's wrongful imprisonment.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: By order of the court, Marilyn Sheppard's body was exhumed, in part to determine if the fetus she was carrying had been fathered by Sheppard. Terry Gilbert, an attorney retained by the Sheppard family, told the media that "the fetus in this case had previously been autopsied", a fact that had never previously been disclosed. This, Gilbert argued, raised questions about the coroner's office in the original case possibly concealing pertinent evidence. Due to the passage of time on the fetus's tissues, paternity could not be established.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: During the civil trial, plaintiff attorney Terry Gilbert contended that Richard Eberling, an occasional handyman and window washer at the Sheppard home, was the likeliest suspect in Marilyn's murder. Eberling found Marilyn attractive and he was very familiar with the layout of the Sheppard home.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: In 1959, detectives were questioning Richard Eberling about various burglaries in the area. Eberling confessed to the burglaries and showed the detectives his loot, which included two rings that belonged to Marilyn Sheppard. Eberling stole the rings in 1958, a few years after the murder, from Sam Sheppard's brother's house, taken from a box marked "Personal Property of Marilyn Sheppard". In subsequent questioning, Eberling admitted his blood was at the crime scene of Marilyn Sheppard. He stated that he cut his finger while washing windows just prior to the murder and bled while on the premises. As part of the investigation, Eberling took a polygraph test with questions about the murder of Marilyn. The polygraph examiner concluded that Eberling did not show deception in his answers, although the polygraph results were evaluated by other experts years later who found that it was either inconclusive or Eberling was deceptive.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: In his testimony in the 2000 civil lawsuit, Bailey stated that he rejected Eberling as a suspect in 1966 because "I thought he passed a good polygraph test." When it was presented to Bailey that an independent polygraph expert said Eberling either murdered Marilyn or had knowledge of who did, Bailey stated that he probably would have presented Eberling as a suspect in the 1966 retrial.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: DNA evidence, which was not available in the two murder trials, played an important role in the civil trial. DNA analysis of blood at the crime scene showed that there was presence of blood from a third person, other than Marilyn and Dr. Sam Sheppard.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: With regard to tying the blood to Eberling, the DNA analysis that was allowed to be admitted to the trial was inconclusive. A plaintiff DNA expert was 90% confident that one of the blood spots belonged to Richard Eberling but, according to the rules of the court, this was not admissible. The defense argued that the blood evidence had been tainted in the years since it was collected, and that an important blood spot on the closet door in Marilyn Sheppard's room potentially included 83% of the adult white population. The defense also pointed out that the results in 1955 from the older blood typing technique, that the blood collected from the closet door was Type O, while Eberling's blood type was Type A.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Throughout his life, Richard Eberling was associated with women who had suspicious deaths and he was convicted of murdering Ethel May Durkin, a wealthy, elderly widow who died without any immediate family. Durkin's 1984 murder in Lakewood, Ohio, was uncovered when a court-appointed review of the woman's estate revealed that Eberling, Durkin's guardian and executor, had failed to execute her final wishes, which included stipulations on her burial.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Durkin's body was exhumed and additional injuries were discovered in the autopsy that did not match Eberling's previous claims of in-house accidents, including a fall down a staircase in her home. In subsequent legal action, both Eberling and his partner, Obie Henderson, were found guilty in Durkin's death. Coincidentally, both of Durkin's sisters, Myrtle Fray and Sarah Belle Farrow, had died under suspicious circumstances as well. Fray was killed after being "savagely" beaten about the head and face and then strangled; Farrow died following a fall down the basement steps in the home she shared with Durkin in 1970, a fall in which she broke both legs and both arms.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: Although Eberling denied any criminal involvement in the murder of Marilyn Sheppard, Kathy Wagner Dyal, who worked alongside Eberling in caring for Ethel May Durkin, also testified that Eberling had confessed to her in 1983. A fellow convict also reported that Eberling confessed to the crime. The defense called into question the credibility of both witnesses during the 2000 civil trial. Eberling died in an Ohio prison in 1998, where he was serving a life sentence for the 1984 murder of Ethel May Durkin.


title: Sam Sheppard

text: After ten weeks of trial, 76 witnesses, and hundreds of exhibits, the case went to the eight-person civil jury. The jury deliberated just three hours on April 12, 2000, before returning a unanimous verdict that Samuel Reese Sheppard had failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his father had been wrongfully imprisoned.