title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In the early 1980s, Barenboim and Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova started a relationship. Together they had two sons, both born in Paris before du Pré's death: David Arthur, born 1983, and Michael, born 1985. Barenboim worked to keep his relationship with Bashkirova hidden from du Pré, and believed he had succeeded. He and Bashkirova married in 1988. Both sons are part of the music world: David is a manager-writer for the German hip-hop band Level 8, and is a classical violinist.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim holds citizenship in Argentina, Israel, Palestine, and Spain, and was the first person to hold Palestinian and Israeli citizenship simultaneously. He lives in Berlin.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: After performing in Buenos Aires, Barenboim made his international debut as a pianist at the age of 10 in 1952 in Vienna and Rome. In 1955 he performed in Paris, in 1956 in London, and in 1957 in New York under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. Regular concert tours of Europe, the United States, South America, Australia and the Far East followed thereafter.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In June 1967, Barenboim and his then-fiancée Jacqueline du Pré gave concerts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba before and during the Six-Day War. His friendship with musicians Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman, and marriage to du Pré led to the 1969 film by Christopher Nupen of their performance of the Schubert "Trout" Quintet.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Following his debut as a conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios, London, in 1966, Barenboim was invited to conduct by many European and American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989, he was music director of the Orchestre de Paris, where he conducted much contemporary music.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim made his opera conducting debut in 1973 with a performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Edinburgh Festival. He made his debut at Bayreuth in 1981, conducting there regularly until 1999. In 1988, he was appointed artistic and musical director of the Opéra Bastille in Paris, scheduled to open in 1990, but was fired in January 1989 by the opera's chairman Pierre Bergé. Barenboim was named music director designate of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1989 and succeeded Sir Georg Solti as its music director in 1991, a post he held until 17 June 2006. He expressed frustration with the need for fund-raising duties in the United States as part of being a music director of an American orchestra.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Since 1992, Barenboim has been music director of the Berlin State Opera and the Staatskapelle Berlin, succeeding in maintaining the independent status of the State Opera. He has tried to maintain the orchestra's traditional sound and style. In autumn 2000 he was made conductor for life of the Staatskapelle Berlin.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: On 15 May 2006, Barenboim was named principal guest conductor of La Scala opera house, in Milan, after Riccardo Muti's resignation. He subsequently became music director of La Scala in 2011.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2006, Barenboim presented the BBC Reith Lectures, presenting a series of five lectures titled "In the Beginning was Sound". The lectures on music were recorded in a range of cities, including London, Chicago, Berlin, and two in Jerusalem. In the autumn of 2006, Barenboim gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University, entitling his talk "Sound and Thought".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In November 2006, Lorin Maazel submitted Barenboim's name as his nominee to succeed him as the New York Philharmonic's music director. Barenboim said he was flattered but "nothing could be further from my thoughts at the moment than the possibility of returning to the United States for a permanent position", repeating in April 2007 his lack of interest in the New York Philharmonic's music directorship or its newly created principal conductor position. Barenboim made his conducting debut on 28 November 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the House's 450th performance of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2009, Barenboim conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time. In his New Year message, he expressed the hope that 2009 would be a year for peace and for human justice in the Middle East. He returned to conduct the 2014 Vienna New Year's Concert, and also conducted the 2022 Concert.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2014, construction began on the Barenboim–Said Academy in Berlin. A joint project Barenboim developed with Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, the academy was planned as a site for young music students from the Arab world and Israel to study music and humanities in Berlin. It opened its doors on 8 December 2016. In 2017, the Pierre Boulez Saal opened as the public face of the academy. The elliptical shaped concert hall was designed by Frank Gehry. Acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota created the hall’s sound profile.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2015, Barenboim unveiled a new concert grand piano. Designed by Chris Maene with support from Steinway & Sons, the piano features straight parallel strings instead of the conventional diagonally-crossed strings of a modern Steinway.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2020, Barenboim curated the digital festival of new music “Distance / Intimacy” with flautist Emmanuel Pahud in the Pierre Boulez Saal. At their invitation ten contemporary composers, among them Jörg Widmann, Olga Neuwirth and Matthias Pintscher, contributed new works engaging artistically with the COVID-19 pandemic. All participating composers and musicians waived their fees, inviting listeners to financially support arts and culture.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In October 2022, Barenboim announced on social media that he would be reducing his conducting and other engagements for health reasons.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim has rejected musical fashions based on current musicological research, such as the authentic performance movement. His recording of Beethoven's symphonies shows his preference for some conventional practices, rather than fully adhering to Bärenreiter's new edition (edited by Jonathan Del Mar).


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim has opposed the practice of choosing the tempo of a piece based on historical evidence, such as the composer's metronome marks. He argues instead for finding the tempo from within the music, especially from its harmony and harmonic rhythm. He has reflected this in the general tempi chosen in his recording of Beethoven's symphonies, usually adhering to early-twentieth-century practices. He has not been influenced by the faster tempos chosen by other conductors such as David Zinman and authentic movement advocate Roger Norrington.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In his recording of "The Well-Tempered Clavier", Barenboim makes frequent use of the right-foot sustaining pedal, a device absent from the keyboard instruments of Bach's time (although the harpsichord was highly resonant), producing a sonority very different from the "dry" and often staccato sound favoured by Glenn Gould. Moreover, in the fugues, he often plays one voice considerably louder than the others, a practice impossible on a harpsichord. According to some scholarship, this practice began in Beethoven's time (see, for example, Matthew Dirst's book "Engaging Bach"). When justifying his interpretation of Bach, Barenboim claims that he is interested in the long tradition of playing Bach that has existed for two and a half centuries, rather than in the exact style of performance in Bach's time:


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: The study of old instruments and historic performance practice has taught us a great deal, but the main point, the impact of harmony, has been ignored. This is proved by the fact that tempo is described as an independent phenomenon. It is claimed that one of Bach's gavottes must be played fast and another one slowly. But tempo is not independent! ... I think that concerning oneself purely with historic performance practice and the attempt to reproduce the sound of older styles of music-making is limiting and no indication of progress. Mendelssohn and Schumann tried to introduce Bach into their own period, as did Liszt with his transcriptions and Busoni with his arrangements. In America Leopold Stokowski also tried to do it with his arrangements for orchestra. This was always the result of "progressive" efforts to bring Bach closer to the particular period. I have no philosophical problem with someone playing Bach and making it sound like Boulez. My problem is more with someone who tries to imitate the sound of that time ...


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In the beginning of his career, Barenboim concentrated on music of the classical era, as well as some romantic composers. He made his first recording in 1954. Notable classical recordings include the complete cycles of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert's piano sonatas, Beethoven's piano concertos (with the New Philharmonia Orchestra and Otto Klemperer), and Mozart's piano concertos (conducting the English Chamber Orchestra from the piano). Romantic recordings include Brahms's piano concertos (with John Barbirolli), Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words", and Chopin's Nocturnes. Barenboim also recorded many chamber works, especially in collaboration with his first wife, Jacqueline du Pré, the violinist Itzhak Perlman, and the violinist and violist Pinchas Zukerman. Noted performances include: the complete Mozart violin sonatas (with Perlman), Brahms's violin sonatas (live concert with Perlman, previously in the studio with Zukerman), Beethoven's and Brahms's cello sonatas (with du Pré), Beethoven's and Tchaikovsky's piano trios (with du Pré and Zukerman), and Schubert's "Trout Quintet" (with du Pré, Perlman, Zukerman, and Zubin Mehta).


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Notable recordings as a conductor include the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Schubert, and Schumann; the Da Ponte operas of Mozart; numerous operas by Wagner, including the complete Ring Cycle; and various concertos. Barenboim has written about his changing attitude to the music of Mahler; he has recorded Mahler's Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth symphonies and "Das Lied von der Erde". He has also performed and recorded the "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Rodrigo and Villa-Lobos guitar concerto with John Williams as the guitar soloist.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: By the late 1990s, Barenboim had widened his concert repertoire, performing works by baroque as well as twentieth-century classical composers. Examples include: J. S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" (which he has played since childhood) and "Goldberg Variations", Albeniz's "Iberia", and Debussy's Préludes. In addition, he turned to other musical genres, such as jazz, and the folk music of his birthplace, Argentina. He conducted the 2006 New Year's Eve concert in Buenos Aires, in which tangos were played.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim has continued to perform and record chamber music, sometimes with members of the orchestras he has led. Some examples include the "Quartet for the End of Time" by Messiaen with members of the Orchestre de Paris during his tenure there, Richard Strauss with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Mozart's Clarinet Trio with members of the Berlin Staatskapelle.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: To mark Barenboim's 75th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon released a box set of 39 CDs of his solo recordings, and Sony Classical issued a box set of Barenboim's orchestral recordings on 43 CDs and three DVDs in 2017, "Daniel Barenboim – A Retrospective".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (then Palestine Orchestra) had performed Richard Wagner's music in Mandatory Palestine even during the early days of the Nazi era. But after the Kristallnacht, Jewish musicians avoided playing Wagner's music in Israel because of the use Nazi Germany made of the composer and because of Wagner's own anti-Semitic writings, initiating an unofficial boycott.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: This informal ban continued when Israel was founded in 1948, but from time to time unsuccessful efforts were made to end it. In 1974 and again in 1981 Zubin Mehta planned to (but did not) lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in works of Wagner. During the latter occasion, fist fights broke out in the audience.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim, who had been selected to head the production of Wagner's operas at the 1988 Bayreuth Festival, had since at least 1989 publicly opposed the Israeli ban. In that year, he had the Israel Philharmonic "rehearse" two of Wagner's works. In a conversation with Edward Said, Barenboim said that "Wagner, the person, is absolutely appalling, despicable, and, in a way, very difficult to put together with the music he wrote, which so often has exactly the opposite kind of feelings ... noble, generous, etc." He called Wagner's anti-Semitism obviously "monstrous", and feels it must be faced, but argues that "Wagner did not cause the Holocaust."


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 1990, Barenboim conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in its first appearance in Israel, but he excluded Wagner's works. "Although Wagner died in 1883, he is not played [in Israel] because his music is too inextricably linked with Nazism, and so is too painful for those who suffered", Barenboim told a reporter. "Why play what hurts people?" Not long afterwards, it was announced that Barenboim would lead the Israel Philharmonic in two Wagner overtures, which took place on 27 December "before a carefully screened audience".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2000, the Israel Supreme Court upheld the right of the Rishon LeZion Orchestra to perform Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll". At the Israel Festival in Jerusalem in July 2001, Barenboim had scheduled to perform the first act of "Die Walküre" with three singers, including tenor Plácido Domingo. However, strong protests by some Holocaust survivors, as well as the Israeli government, led the festival authorities to ask for an alternative program. (The Israel Festival's Public Advisory board, which included some Holocaust survivors, had originally approved the program.) The controversy appeared to end in May, after the Israel Festival announced that a selection by Wagner would not be included at the 7 July concert. Barenboim agreed to substitute music by Schumann and Stravinsky.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: However, at the end of the concert with the Berlin Staatskapelle, Barenboim announced that he would like to play Wagner as a second encore and invited those who objected to leave, saying, "Despite what the Israel Festival believes, there are people sitting in the audience for whom Wagner does not spark Nazi associations. I respect those for whom these associations are oppressive. It will be democratic to play a Wagner encore for those who wish to hear it. I am turning to you now and asking whether I can play Wagner." A half-hour debate ensued, with some audience members calling Barenboim a "fascist". In the end, a small number of attendees walked out and the overwhelming majority remained, applauding loudly after the performance of the "Tristan und Isolde" Prelude.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In September 2001, a public relations associate for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Barenboim was the Music Director, revealed that season ticket-holders were about evenly divided about the wisdom of Barenboim's decision to play Wagner in Jerusalem.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim regarded the performance of Wagner at the 7 July concert as a political statement. He said he had decided to defy the ban on Wagner after having a news conference he held the previous week interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". "I thought if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be played in a concert hall?" he said.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: A Knesset committee subsequently called for Barenboim to be declared a persona non-grata in Israel until he apologized for conducting Wagner's music. The move was condemned by the musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Zubin Mehta and members of Knesset. Prior to receiving the $100,000 Wolf Prize, awarded annually in Israel, Barenboim said, "If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don't want to harm anyone".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2005, Barenboim gave the inaugural Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University, entitled "Wagner, Israel and Palestine". In the speech, according to the "Financial Times", Barenboim "called on Israel to accept the Palestinian 'narrative even though they may not agree with it'", and said, "The state of Israel was supposed to provide the instrument for the end of anti-Semitism ... This inability to accept a new narrative has led to a new anti-Semitism that is very different from the European anti-Semitism of the 19th century." According to "The New York Times", Barenboim said it was the "fear, this conviction of being yet again the victim, that does not allow the Israeli public to accept Wagner's anti-Semitism ... It is the same cell in the collective brain that does not allow them to make progress in their understanding of the needs of the Palestinian people", and also said that suicide bombings in Israel "had to be seen in the context of the historical development at which we have arrived". The speech caused controversy; the Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote that Barenboim had "compared Herzl's ideas to Wagner's; criticized Palestinian terrorist attacks but also justified them; and said Israeli actions contributed to the rise of international anti-Semitism".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In March 2007, Barenboim said: "The whole subject of Wagner in Israel has been politicized and is a symptom of a malaise that goes very deep in Israeli society..."


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2010, before conducting Wagner's "Die Walküre" for the gala premiere of La Scala's season in Milan, he said that the perception of Wagner was unjustly influenced by the fact that he was Hitler's favourite composer: "I think a bit of the problem with Wagner isn't what we all know in Israel, anti-Semitism, etc ... It is how the Nazis and Hitler saw Wagner as his own prophet ... This perception of Hitler colors for many people the perception of Wagner ... We need one day to liberate Wagner of all this weight".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In a 2012 interview with "Der Spiegel", Barenboim said, "It saddens me that official Israel so doggedly refuses to allow Wagner to be performed – as was the case, once again, at the University of Tel Aviv two weeks ago – because I see it as a symptom of a disease. The words I'm about to use are harsh, but I choose them deliberately: There is a politicization of the remembrance of the Holocaust in Israel, and that's terrible." He also argued that after the trial of Adolf Eichmann and the Six-Day War, "a misunderstanding also arose ... namely that the Holocaust, from which the Jews' ultimate claim to Israel was derived, and the Palestinian problem had something to do with each other."


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: since the Six-Day War, Israeli politicians have repeatedly established a connection between European anti-Semitism and the fact that the Palestinians don't accept the founding of the State of Israel. But that's absurd! The Palestinians weren't primarily anti-Semitic. They just didn't accept their expulsion. But European anti-Semitism goes much further back than to the partition of Palestine and the establishment of Israel in 1948.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In response to a question from the interviewer, he said he conducted Wagner with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra because, "The musicians wanted it. I said: Sure, but we have to talk about it. It's a tricky decision." When the interviewer asked if the initiative came from Arab musicians in the orchestra, he replied, "On the contrary. It was the Israelis. The Israeli brass players."


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim, a supporter of human rights, including Palestinian rights, is an outspoken critic of Israel's conservative governments and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. In an interview with the British music critic Norman Lebrecht in 2003, Barenboim accused Israel of behaving in a manner that was "morally abhorrent and strategically wrong" and "putting in danger the very existence of the state of Israel". In 1967, at the start of the Six-Day War, Barenboim and du Pré had performed for the Israeli troops on the front lines, as well as during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. During the Gulf War, he and an orchestra performed in Israel in gas masks.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim has argued publicly for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. In a November 2014 opinion piece in "The Guardian", he wrote that the "ongoing security of the state of Israel ... is only possible in the long term if the future of the Palestinian people, too, is secured in its own sovereign state. If this does not happen, the wars and history of that region will be constantly repeated and the unbearable stalemate will continue."


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 1999, Barenboim and Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said jointly founded the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. This initiative brings together, every summer, a group of young classical musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and Arab countries to study, perform and to promote mutual reflection and understanding. Barenboim and Said jointly received the 2002 Prince of Asturias Awards for their work in "improving understanding between nations". Together they wrote the book "Parallels and Paradoxes", based on a series of public discussions held at New York's Carnegie Hall.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In September 2005, presenting the book written with Said, Barenboim refused to be interviewed by uniformed Israel Defense Forces Radio reporter Dafna Arad, considering the wearing of the uniform insensitive for the occasion. In response, Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat of the Likud party called him "a real Jew hater" and "a real anti-Semite".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: After being invited for the fourth time to the Doha Festival for Music and Dialogue in Qatar with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra in 2012, Barenboim's invitation was cancelled by the authorities because of "sensitivity to the developments in the Arab world". There had been a campaign against him in the Arab media, accusing him of "being a Zionist".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In July 2012, Barenboim and the orchestra played a pivotal role at the BBC Proms, performing a cycle of Beethoven's nine symphonies, with the Ninth timed to coincide with the opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games. In addition, he was an Olympic flag carrier at the opening ceremony of the Games.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In May 2004, Barenboim was awarded the Wolf Prize at a ceremony at the Israeli Knesset. Education Minister Livnat held up the nomination until Barenboim apologized for his performance of Wagner in Israel. Barenboim called Livnat's demand "politically motivated", adding "I don't see what I need to apologize about. If I ever hurt a person privately or in public, I am sorry, because I have no intention of hurting people...", which was good enough for Livnat. The ceremony was boycotted by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, also a member of the Likud party. In his acceptance speech, Barenboim expressed his opinion on the political situation, referring to the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948:


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: I am asking today with deep sorrow: Can we, despite all our achievements, ignore the intolerable gap between what the Declaration of Independence promised and what was fulfilled, the gap between the idea and the realities of Israel? Does the condition of occupation and domination over another people fit the Declaration of Independence? Is there any sense in the independence of one at the expense of the fundamental rights of the other? Can the Jewish people whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution, allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring people? Can the State of Israel allow itself an unrealistic dream of an ideological end to the conflict instead of pursuing a pragmatic, humanitarian one based on social justice?


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Israel's President Moshe Katsav and Education Minister Livnat criticized Barenboim for his speech. Livnat accused him of attacking the state of Israel, to which Barenboim replied that he had not done so, but that he instead had cited the text of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: Barenboim has performed several times in the West Bank: at Bir Zeit University in 1999 and several times in Ramallah.


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In December 2007, Barenboim and 20 musicians from Britain, the United States, France and Germany, and one Palestinian were scheduled to play a baroque music concert in Gaza. Although they had received authorization from Israeli authorities, the Palestinian was stopped at the Israel–Gaza border and told that he needed individual permission to enter. The group waited seven hours at the border, and then canceled the concert in solidarity. Barenboim commented: "A baroque music concert in a Roman Catholic church in Gaza – as we all know – has nothing to do with security and would bring so much joy to people who live there in great difficulty."


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In January 2008, after performing in Ramallah, Barenboim accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship, becoming the first Jewish Israeli citizen to be offered the status. Barenboim said he hoped it would serve as a public gesture of peace. Some Israelis criticized Barenboim's decision to accept Palestinian citizenship. The parliamentary faction chairman of the Shas party demanded that Barenboim be stripped of his Israeli citizenship, but the Interior Minister told the media that "the matter is not even up for discussion".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In January 2009, Barenboim cancelled two concerts of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra in Qatar and Cairo "due to the escalating violence in Gaza and the resulting concerns for the musicians' safety".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In May 2011, Barenboim conducted the "Orchestra for Gaza" composed of volunteers from the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin Staatskapelle, the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris, at al-Mathaf Cultural House. The concert, held in Gaza City, was co-ordinated in secret with the United Nations. The orchestra flew from Berlin to Vienna and from there to El Arish on a plane chartered by Barenboim, entering the Gaza Strip at the Egyptian Rafah Border Crossing. The musicians were escorted by a convoy of United Nations vehicles. The concert, the first performance by an international classical ensemble in the Strip, was attended by an invited audience of several hundred schoolchildren and NGO workers, who greeted Barenboim with applause. The orchestra played Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and Symphony No. 40, also familiar to an Arab audience as the basis of one of the songs of the famous Arab singer Fairuz. In his speech, Barenboim said: "Everyone has to understand that the Palestinian cause is a just cause therefore it can be only given justice if it is achieved without violence. Violence can only weaken the righteousness of the Palestinian cause".


title: Daniel Barenboim

text: In 2017, Barenboim unveiled a piano that has straight-strung bass strings, as opposed to the crossed-stringed modern instrument. He was inspired by Liszt's Erard piano, which has straight strings. Barenboim appreciates the clarity of tone and a greater control over the tonal quality (or color) his new instrument gives. This piano was developed with the help of Chris Maene at Maene Piano, who also built it. In 2019, Barenboim used this instrument to perform at Berliner Philhamoniker.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The Tupolev Tu-4 (; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: Toward the end of World War II, the Soviet Union saw the need for a strategic bombing capability similar to that of the United States Army Air Forces. The Soviet VVS air arm had the locally designed Petlyakov Pe-8 four-engined "heavy" in service at the start of the war, but only 93 had been built by the end of the war and the type had become obsolete. The U.S. regularly conducted bombing raids on Japan, from distant Pacific forward bases using B-29 Superfortresses. Joseph Stalin ordered the development of a comparable bomber.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The U.S. twice refused to supply the Soviet Union with B-29s under Lend Lease. However, on four occasions during 1944, individual B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory and one crashed after the crew bailed out. In accordance with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviets were neutral in the Pacific War and so the bombers were interned and kept by the Soviets. Despite Soviet neutrality, the U.S. demanded the return of the bombers, but were refused. Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to the Tupolev OKB. One B-29 was dismantled, the second was used for flight tests and training, and the third was left as a standard for cross-reference. The aircraft included one Boeing-Wichita −5-BW, two Boeing-Wichita −15-BWs and the wreckage of one Boeing-Renton −1-BN, comprising three different models from two different production lines, at Wichita and Renton. Only one of the four had deicing boots, as would be used on the Tu-4. The fourth B-29 was returned to the US along with its crew with the end of the Soviet-Japanese peace. The Soviets declared war on Japan two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: Stalin told Tupolev to duplicate the Superfortress in as short a time as possible instead of continuing with his own comparable ANT-64/Tu-10. The reverse-engineering effort involved 900 factories and research institutes, which finished the design work during the first year, and 105,000 drawings were made. By the end of the second year, the Soviet industry was to produce twenty copies of the aircraft, ready for state acceptance trials.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The Soviet Union used the metric system and so sheet aluminium in thicknesses matching the B-29's imperial measurements was unavailable. The corresponding metric-gauge metal was of different thicknesses. Alloys and other materials new to the Soviet Union had to be brought into production. Extensive re-engineering had to take place to compensate for the differences, and Soviet official strength margins had to be decreased to avoid further redesign. However despite those challenges, the prototype Tu-4 weighed only more than the B-29, a difference of less than 1%.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The engineers and suppliers of components were under pressure from Tupolev, Stalin, and the government to create an exact clone of the original B-29 to facilitate production. Tupolev had to overcome substantial resistance to use equipment that was not only already in production but also sometimes better than the American version. Each alteration and every component made was scrutinized and was subject to a lengthy bureaucratic decision process. Kerber, then Tupolev's deputy, recalled in his memoirs that engineers needed authorization from a high-ranking general to use Soviet-made parachutes. Differences were limited to the engines, the defensive weapons, the radio (a later model used in lend-lease B-25s was used in place of the radio in the interned B-29s) and the identification friend or foe (IFF) system since the American IFF was unsuitable. The Soviet Shvetsov ASh-73 engine was a development of the Wright R-1820 but was not otherwise related to the B-29's Wright R-3350. The ASh-73 also powered some of Aeroflot's remaining obsolescent Petlyakov Pe-8 airframes, a much-earlier Soviet four-engined heavy bomber, whose production was curtailed by higher-priority programs. The B-29's remote-controlled gun turrets were redesigned to accommodate the Soviet Nudelman NS-23, a harder hitting and longer ranged cannon. Additional changes were made as a result of problems encountered during testing related to engine and propeller failures, and equipment changes were made throughout the aircraft's service life.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The Tu-4 first flew on 19 May 1947 and was flown by test pilot Nikolai Rybko. Serial production started immediately, and the type entered large-scale service in 1949. Entry into service of the Tu-4 threw the USAF into a panic since the Tu-4 possessed sufficient range to attack Chicago or Los Angeles on a one-way mission, and that may have informed the maneuvers and air combat practice conducted by US and British air forces in 1948 involving fleets of B-29s. The tests were conducted by the RAF Central Fighter Establishment and co-operative US B-29 groups and involved demonstration of recommended methods of attack against B-29/Tu 4-type bombers using RAF Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire jet fighters. The Soviets developed four different midair refueling systems to extend the bomber's range, but these were fitted to only a few aircraft, and only a small number of the final design were installed on operational aircraft before the Tu-4 was superseded by the Tu-16.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The aircraft was first displayed during a flyover on 3 August 1947 at the Tushino Aviation Day parade. At first three aircraft flew over and the Western observers assumed that they were merely the three B-29 bombers which they knew had been diverted to the Soviet Union during World War II. Minutes later a fourth aircraft appeared. Western analysts realized that the Soviets must have reverse-engineered the B-29.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: A total of 847 Tu-4s had been built when production ended in the Soviet Union in 1952, some of which went to China during the later 1950s. Many experimental variants were built and the experience launched the Soviet strategic bomber program. Tu-4s were withdrawn in the 1960s, being replaced by more advanced aircraft including the Tupolev Tu-16 jet bomber (starting in 1954) and the Tupolev Tu-95 turboprop bomber (starting in 1956). By the beginning of the 1960s, the only Tu-4s still operated by the Soviets were used for transport or airborne laboratory purposes.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: The Soviet Air Force operated 847 Tupolev Tu-4 bombers between 1948 and early 1960, initially as long-range bombers. The first regiment to be re-equipped on the Tu-4 was the 185th Guards Aviation Regiment of the 13th Guards Bomber Aviation Division, stationed at Poltava Air Base in Ukraine. The training of personnel was carried out in Kazan, at the 890th long-range bomber regiment, turned into a training unit. The pilots of the 890th Regiment had extensive experience flying American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft. A list of Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiments, many of which operated Tu-4s, can be seen here. In March 1949 the 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment () received Tu-4s; the 121st Guards received Tu-4Rs in 1953.


title: Tupolev Tu-4

text: On 28 February 1953, Joseph Stalin gave China ten Tu-4 heavy bombers，and in 1960 two additional aircraft configured as navigational trainers arrived in Beijing. 11 Tu-4s were refitted with AI-20K turboprop engines between 1970 and 1973. The last PLAAF Tu-4 was retired in 1988.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Ronald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 – 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 years, and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, Biggs returned to the United Kingdom and spent several years in prison, where his health rapidly declined. He was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and died in a nursing home in December 2013.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Biggs was born in Stockwell, London, on 8 August 1929. As a child during the Second World War, he was evacuated to Flitwick, Bedfordshire, and then Delabole, Cornwall.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1947, at age 18, Biggs enlisted in the Royal Air Force. He was dishonourably discharged for desertion two years later after breaking into a local chemist shop. One month after that, he was convicted of stealing a car and sentenced to prison. On his release, Biggs took part in a failed robbery attempt of a bookmaker's office in Lambeth, London. During his incarceration in HM Prison Wandsworth, he met Bruce Reynolds.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: After his third prison sentence, Biggs tried to go straight and trained as a carpenter. In February 1960, he married 21-year-old Charmian (Brent) Powell in Swanage, the daughter of a primary school headmaster. They had three sons together.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1963, Biggs, who needed money to fund a deposit on the purchase of a house for his family, happened to be working on the house of a train driver who was about to retire. The driver has been variously identified as "Stan Agate", or because of his age, "Old Pete" or "Pop". The train driver's real name is unknown, since he was never caught. It was this train driver who introduced Biggs to the train robbery plot, which involved Reynolds. Biggs was given the job of arranging for Agate to move the Royal Mail train after it had been waylaid.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On the night of the hold up, Biggs told his wife he was off logging with Reynolds in Wiltshire. The gang then stopped the mail train in the early hours of 8 August 1963, which was Biggs's 34th birthday. Agate was unable to operate the main line diesel-electric locomotive because he had only driven shunting locomotives on the Southern Region. Therefore, the driver of the intercepted train, Jack Mills, was coshed with an iron bar and forced to move the engine and mail carriages forward to a nearby bridge over a roadway, which had been chosen as the unloading point. Biggs's main task had been to get Agate to move the train, and when it became obvious that the two were useless in that regard, they were banished to a waiting vehicle while the train was looted.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Having unloaded 120 of the 128 mailbags from the train within Reynolds' allotted timetable, and returned to their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, various sources show that the robbery yielded the participants £2.6 million (equivalent to about £ million or US$73 million in 2022 terms); Biggs's share was £147,000 (equivalent to £ or US$4,128,565 in 2022). With their timetable brought forward due to the police investigation closing in, Biggs returned home on the following Friday, with his stash in two canvas bags.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: After an accomplice failed to carry out his instructions to burn down Leatherslade Farm to destroy any evidence there, Biggs's fingerprints were found on a tomato sauce bottle by Metropolitan Police investigators. Three weeks later, he was arrested in South London, along with 11 other members of the gang. In 1964, nine of the 15-strong gang, including Biggs, were jailed for the crime. Most received sentences of 30 years.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Biggs served 15 months before escaping from Wandsworth Prison on 8 July 1965, scaling the wall with a rope ladder and dropping onto a waiting removal van. He fled to Brussels by boat then sent a note to his wife to join him in Paris where he had acquired new identity papers and was undergoing plastic surgery. During his time in prison, Charmian had started an extramarital relationship and was pregnant by the time of his escape to the Continent. Choosing to support her husband, she had an illegal abortion in London and then travelled with their two sons to Paris to join Biggs.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1966, Biggs fled to Sydney, where he lived for several months before moving to the seaside suburb of Glenelg in Adelaide, South Australia. By the time Biggs and his family arrived in 1966, they had spent all but £7,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022) of his £147,000 share of the train robbery proceeds: £40,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022) on plastic surgery in Paris; £55,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022) paid as a package deal to get him out of the UK to Australia; and the rest on legal fees and expenses.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1967, just after their third child was born, Biggs received an anonymous letter from Britain telling him that Interpol suspected that he was in Australia and that he should move. In May 1967, the family moved to Melbourne, where he rented a house in the suburb of Blackburn North while his wife Charmian and their three sons lived in Doncaster East. Biggs had a number of jobs in Melbourne before undertaking set construction work at the GTV Channel 9 Television City studios. In October 1969, a newspaper report by a Reuters correspondent revealed that Biggs was living in Melbourne and claimed that police were closing in on him. The story led the evening news bulletin at Channel 9 and Biggs fled his home, staying with family friends in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Five months later, he fled on a passenger liner from the Port of Melbourne, using the altered passport of a friend; his wife and sons remained in Australia. Twenty days later, the ship berthed in Panama and within two weeks Biggs had flown to Brazil.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Following disclosure of Biggs's fathering a child in Brazil, Charmian agreed to a divorce in 1974, which was completed in 1976. Allowed by authorities to remain in Australia, she reverted to her maiden name of Brent and sold her story for £40,000 to an Australian media group to enable her to purchase the rented house that the family had lived in at the time of Biggs's flight to Brazil. Charmian later undertook a degree and became an editor, publisher and journalist. Her sons—who later visited Biggs a few times in Brazil—live anonymously. In 2012, Charmian acted as a consultant on the five-part ITV Studios docu-drama "Mrs Biggs", which recounts the couple's time from first meeting to Biggs's flight to Brazil.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1970, when Biggs arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil did not have an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom. In 1971, Biggs's eldest son, Nicholas, aged 10, died in a car crash in Melbourne.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1974, "Daily Express" reporter Colin MacKenzie received information suggesting that Biggs was in Rio de Janeiro; a team consisting of MacKenzie, photographer Bill Lovelace and reporter Michael O'Flaherty confirmed this and broke the story. Scotland Yard detective Jack Slipper arrived soon afterwards, but Biggs could not be extradited because his girlfriend, nightclub dancer Raimunda de Castro, was pregnant. Brazilian law at the time did not allow a parent of a Brazilian child to be extradited.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: During 1974, in Rio, Biggs, an avid jazz fan, collaborated with Bruce Henri (an American double bass player), Jaime Shields, and Aureo de Souza to record "Mailbag Blues", a musical narrative of his life that he intended to use as a movie soundtrack. This album was left undiscovered until it was finally released in 2004 by whatmusic.com.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In April 1977, Biggs attended an informal drinks party on board the Royal Navy frigate , which was in Rio for a courtesy visit, but he was not arrested. Though in Brazil he was safe from extradition, Biggs's status as a known criminal meant he could not work, visit bars or be away from home after 10:00 p.m. To provide an income, Biggs's family hosted barbecues at his home in Rio, where tourists could meet Biggs and hear him recount his involvement in the robbery, which, in fact, was minor. Biggs was even visited by former footballer Stanley Matthews, whom Biggs afterwards invited to his apartment after hearing that he was in Rio. "We had tea on the small balcony at the rear of his home, and one of the first things he asked was, 'How are Charlton Athletic doing?' It turned out he had supported Charlton from being a small boy and had often seen me play at The Valley." Around this time, "Ronnie Biggs" mugs, coffee cups and T-shirts also appeared throughout Rio.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Biggs recorded vocals on two songs for "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", Julien Temple's film about the Sex Pistols. The basic tracks for "No One is Innocent" (a.k.a. "The Biggest Blow (A Punk Prayer)"/"Cosh The Driver") and "Belsen Was a Gas" were recorded with guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook at a studio in Brazil shortly after the Sex Pistols' final performance, with overdubs added in an English studio at a later date. "No One is Innocent" was released as a single in the UK on 30 June 1978 and reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. The sleeve showed a British actor dressed as Nazi leader Martin Bormann playing bass with the group.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In March 1981, Biggs was kidnapped by a gang of British ex-soldiers. The boat they took him aboard suffered mechanical problems off Barbados, and the stranded kidnappers and Biggs were rescued by the Barbados coastguard and towed into port in Barbados. The kidnappers hoped to collect a reward from the British police; however, like Brazil, Barbados was found to have had no valid extradition treaty with the United Kingdom (a fact which chess player David Levy claimed to have paid lawyers to unearth) and Biggs was sent back to Brazil. In February 2006, Channel 4 aired a documentary featuring dramatisations of the attempted kidnapping and interviews with John Miller, the ex-British Army soldier who carried it out. The team was headed by security consultant Patrick King. In the documentary, King claimed that the kidnapping may have been a deniable operation. The ITN reporter Desmond Hamill paid to accompany Biggs on the private Learjet returning him to Brazil and secured an exclusive interview as well as convincing Biggs to kiss the tarmac upon landing. The kidnapping attempt was the subject of the film "Prisoner of Rio" (1988), which was co-written by Biggs. In the film, Biggs was played by Paul Freeman.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Biggs's son by de Castro, Michael Biggs, was seven years old when he became a member of the highly successful Brazilian children's programme and music band Balão Mágico (1982–1986), bringing relative financial security to his father.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1991, Biggs sang vocals for the songs "Police on My Back" and "Carnival in Rio" by German punk band Die Toten Hosen. In 1993, Biggs sang on three tracks for the album "Bajo Otra Bandera" by Argentinian punk band Pilsen.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In 1997 the UK and Brazil ratified an extradition treaty. Two months later, the UK government made a formal request to the Brazilian government for Biggs's extradition. Biggs had stated that he would no longer oppose extradition. English lawyer Nigel Sangster QC travelled to Brazil to advise Biggs. The extradition request was rejected by the Brazilian Supreme Court, giving Biggs the right to live in Brazil for the rest of his life.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Having 28 years of his sentence left to serve, Biggs was aware that he would be detained upon arrival in Britain. His trip back to Britain on a private jet was paid for by "The Sun" newspaper, which reportedly paid Michael Biggs £20,000 plus other expenses in return for exclusive rights to the news story. Biggs arrived on 7 May 2001, whereupon he was immediately arrested and re-imprisoned.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: His son Michael said in a press release that, contrary to some press reports, Biggs did not return to the UK simply to receive health care which was not available in Brazil, and he had friends who would have contributed to such expenses, but that it was his desire to "walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter". John Mills, son of train driver Jack Mills, was unforgiving: "I deeply resent those, including Biggs, who have made money from my father's death. Biggs should serve his punishment." Mills never fully recovered from his injuries sustained during the robbery. He died of an unrelated cause (leukaemia) in 1970.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 14 November 2001, Biggs petitioned Governor Hynd of HMP Belmarsh for early release on compassionate grounds based on his poor health. He had been treated four times at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London, in less than six months. His health was deteriorating rapidly, and he asked to be released into the care of his son for his remaining days. The application was denied. On 10 August 2005, it was reported that Biggs had contracted MRSA. His representatives, seeking for his release on grounds of compassion, said that their client's death was likely to be imminent. On 26 October 2005, Home Secretary Charles Clarke declined his appeal, stating that his illness was not terminal. Home Office compassion policy is to release prisoners with three months left to live. Biggs was claimed by his son Michael to need a tube for feeding and to have "difficulty" speaking.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 4 July 2007, Biggs was moved from Belmarsh Prison to Norwich Prison on compassionate grounds. In December, Biggs issued a further appeal, from Norwich Prison, asking to be released to die with his family: "I am an old man, and often wonder if I truly deserve the extent of my punishment. I have accepted it, and only want freedom to die with my family and not in jail. I hope Mr. Straw decides to allow me to do that. I have been in jail for a long time, and I want to die a free man. I am sorry for what happened. It has not been an easy ride over the years. Even in Brazil, I was a prisoner of my own making. There is no honour to being known as a Great Train Robber. My life has been wasted."


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In January 2009 a series of strokes were said to have rendered him unable to speak or walk. His son Michael had also claimed that the Parole Board might bring the release date forward to July. On 13 February that year, it was reported that Biggs had been taken to hospital from his cell at Norwich Prison, suffering from pneumonia. This was confirmed the following day by his son Michael, who said Biggs had serious pneumonia but was stable. News of his condition prompted fresh calls from his son Michael for his release on compassionate grounds.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 23 April 2009, the Parole Board recommended that Biggs be released on 4 July, having served a third of his 30-year sentence. However, on 1 July, Straw did not accept the Parole Board's recommendation and refused parole, stating that Biggs was 'wholly unrepentant'. On 28 July, Biggs was readmitted to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with pneumonia. He had been admitted to the same hospital a month earlier, with a chest infection and a fractured hip, but returned to prison on 17 July. His son Michael said, in one of his frequent news releases: "It's the worst he's ever been. The doctors have just told me to rush there."


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 30 July, it was claimed by representatives of Biggs that he had been given "permission" to challenge the decision to refuse him parole. However, the Home Office stated only that "an application for the early release on compassionate grounds of a prisoner at HMP Norwich" had been received by the public protection casework section in the National Offender Management Service. Biggs was released from custody on 6 August 2009, two days before his 80th birthday, on "compassionate grounds".


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: Following his release from prison, Biggs's health improved, leading to suggestions that he might soon be moved from hospital to a nursing home. In response to claims that Biggs's state of health had been faked, his lawyer stated, "This man is going to die, there is going to be no Lazarus coming back from the dead, he is ill, he is seriously ill." However, Biggs himself stated, "I've got a bit of living to do yet. I might even surprise them all by lasting until Christmas, that would be fantastic."


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 29 May 2010, Biggs was again admitted to hospital in London after complaining of chest pain. He underwent tests at Barnet Hospital. His son Michael stated, "he's conscious but he's in a lot of pain". In August 2010, it was claimed by the "Sunday Mirror" that Biggs would be attending a gala dinner where he would be collecting a lifetime achievement award for his services to crime.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 10 February 2011, Biggs was admitted to Barnet Hospital with another suspected stroke. His son Michael said he was conscious and preparing to have a CT scan and a series of other tests to determine what had happened. On 17 November 2011, Biggs launched his new and updated autobiography, "Ronnie Biggs: Odd Man Out – The Last Straw", at Shoreditch House, London. He was unable to speak and used a word board to communicate with the press.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 12 January 2012, ITV Studios announced it had commissioned a five-part drama, "Mrs Biggs", to be based around the life of Biggs's wife Charmian, played by Sheridan Smith and Biggs by Daniel Mays. Charmian Biggs acted as a consultant on the series and travelled to Britain from Australia to visit Biggs in February 2012, just before filming for "Mrs Biggs".


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: In March 2013, Biggs attended the funeral of fellow train robber, Bruce Reynolds. In July 2013, "The Great Train Robbery 50th Anniversary: 1963–2013" was published, with input from Biggs and Reynolds.


title: Ronnie Biggs

text: On 18 December 2013, aged 84, Biggs died at the Carlton Court Care Home in Barnet, north London, where he was being cared for. His death coincidentally occurred hours before the first broadcast of a two-part BBC television series "The Great Train Robbery", in which Biggs was portrayed by actor Jack Gordon. Biggs's body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 3 January 2014. The coffin was covered with the Union Flag, the flag of Brazil and a Charlton Athletic scarf. An honour guard of British Hells Angels escorted his hearse to the crematorium. The Reverend Dave Tomlinson officiated at Biggs's funeral, for which he drew public criticism; Tomlinson responded to critics by using the Bible verse "Judge not, that ye be not judged".


title: Callan Mulvey

text: Callan Mulvey (born 23 February 1975) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Mark Moran on the Australian drama "Underbelly", Sergeant Brendan 'Josh' Joshua in "Rush", and as Bogdan 'Draz' Drazic in "Heartbreak High". His American roles include Scyllias in "", Jack Rollins in "" (2014) and "" (2019), and Anatoli Knyazev in "" (2016).


title: Callan Mulvey

text: Of Scottish, Irish and Māori descent, Mulvey was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and moved to Australia when he was seven years old, growing up in the northern beaches of Sydney.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: Mulvey's personal interest in skateboarding and rollerblading led him to work as a stunt double about two years prior to winning the role of Drazic in "Heartbreak High". His first role was of a victim of a robbery in a police training video.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: Mulvey had guest spots on "Home and Away" (as Johnny Cooper) during 2006 to 2008 and "McLeod's Daughters" during 2007.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: He starred in the 2008 Australian underworld crime show "Underbelly" as Mark Moran, and appeared in police series "Rush" as Sgt. Brendan "Josh" Joshua.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: In 2012, he appeared in Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" as Saber. The following year, he starred in "The Turning", directed by Robert Connelly.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: In 2014, he appeared in "" as Syllias, as Jack Rollins in "", as Skylar in the Katie Holmes black comedy "Miss Meadows", and as Jack Taylor in "Kill Me Three Times".


title: Callan Mulvey

text: Mulvey played Anatoli Knyazev in "" (2016). In the film, Knyazev does not appear as KGBeast and is only a hired gun.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: In 2016, he appeared briefly in "Warcraft", the film adaptation of the video game "Warcraft", in which he was credited as "Warrior", as well as joining the main cast of "Starz TV's" "Power", for season three, as Dean. Callan has also completed the horror film "Delirium", and is in post-production for the films "Beyond Skyline", the sequel to the cult-classic "Skyline", and "Desolate", a drama based on a family of farmers living in a dystopian future. He filmed "Bleeding Steel", a science fiction thriller starring Jackie Chan. Mulvey is also filming "In Like Flynn", a biopic of Errol Flynn's early years.


title: Callan Mulvey

text: Mulvey was injured in a serious car accident in 2003, in a head-on collision at . He was trapped in the vehicle for almost an hour until he could be freed from the wreckage. The midsection of his face completely collapsed, an incision was made from ear to ear over the top of his scalp, his face "pulled down" and 17 titanium plates were then inserted to repair the fractures to his face and jaw. His left knee and ankle were also badly fractured. Mulvey also permanently lost his vision in his left eye.


title: Alex Newell

text: Alex Eugene Newell (born August 20, 1992) is an American actor and singer. They are known for their role as Unique Adams on the Fox musical series "Glee" and Mo on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist". Newell also starred as Asaka in the Broadway revival of "Once on This Island" at the Circle in the Square Theater in 2018. As a singer, Newell has released tracks with Clean Bandit, Blonde, and The Knocks.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell was born on August 20, 1992, in Lynn, Massachusetts. Their father, a deacon, died of cancer when they were six years old, at which point their mother raised them as a single parent.


title: Alex Newell

text: After four complete years of education in the first class of Kipp Lynn Academy, Newell moved on to and graduated from Bishop Fenwick High School in 2012, where they were involved in their school's choir, improv club, and costume club; they were also a member of their church choir. They never had any formal voice lessons before landing their part on "Glee." They have cited Donna Summer, Sylvester, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Beyoncé as their influences.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell was among 34,000 to submit an audition video in 2011 for the first season of Oxygen's "The Glee Project". Newell's self-taped audition earned them over one million MySpace views as well as a spot among the 12 participants who competed for a seven-episode arc on "Glee". During the arc, they asserted themself as an out gay man. Eventually, they became the series’ first runner-up. Nevertheless, the producers were so impressed that they decided to bring them on "Glee" for two episodes. Newell first appeared on "Glee" in the third season episode "Saturday Night Glee-ver". They were cast in the role of Wade "Unique" Adams, a transgender teenager who was assigned male at birth. The shy, outcast Wade expressed their female identity through music as the bold, brave alter ego, Unique. Wade broke ground by being one of the most visible transgender characters on television and one of the first on a network prime time show. Newell's performance was described as "bold", with "remarkable restraint and powerful vocals."


title: Alex Newell

text: On his nightly show, Bill O'Reilly expressed concern that children watching the show unsupervised might be encouraged to experiment with what he termed "alternative lifestyles," which he said the show glorified. Newell commented, "My mother said, 'If Bill O'Reilly said something about you, you are doing something right.' He just showed the public and conservative viewers me. There are more people seeing me now... There are people like Wade and Unique, and [they're] being themselves. If kids want to go and do that, that is them expressing who they are." They later appeared in two more episodes and completed their story arc that season.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell was accepted into the Berklee College of Music for fall 2012, but decided instead to move to Los Angeles to be on "Glee" when they were asked to rejoin the cast for the show's fourth season. Unique returned as a "Glee" recurring cast member in the fourth season premiere, "The New Rachel". Newell, along with the rest of the cast, received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2012, but lost to "Modern Family". For the fifth season, Newell was promoted to main cast because of the character's popularity. In the sixth and final season, Newell was not a part of the regular cast, but did appear as a recurring guest star. A highlight of the sixth season was Newell singing "I Know Where I've Been" from "Hairspray" with the Transpersons Choir of 200 performers.


title: Alex Newell

text: Over the years, Newell sang at numerous events, such as the Coachella Festival, but also at many LGBT events and pride festivals. They also performed at the Governors Ball Music Festival and BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell announced in October 2013 that they had been signed by Big Beat Records and that they were going to release Newell's debut album. It was also revealed that it was going to be produced by Adam Anders. Their debut single, a cover of Sigma's "Nobody to Love", was released on June 3, 2014.


title: Alex Newell

text: In 2015, Newell embarked on a series of cover songs and collaborations. In March, they provided feature vocals for the re-issued version of "Stronger", a song by Clean Bandit. Later in the same month, they produced a disco-house stylization of Robin S.'s single "Show Me Love" together with Russian DJ Matvey Emerson. Over the summer, they worked with the British electro duo Blonde by featuring vocals in their single "All Cried Out". They then began to collaborate with the US electroduo The Knocks on the song "Collect My Love", "a soaring disco standout" where they reached "staggering heights." The song, from the EP "So Classic", will be included in The Knocks' debut album "55", scheduled to be released in March 2016. Finally, for Christmas, Newell released a cover of the song "O Come All Ye Faithful".


title: Alex Newell

text: Their original song "This Ain't Over", released in January 2016, was warmly welcomed by the media. "Out" commented: "The vibrant dance-pop track flawlessly revives disco if only for a few short minutes. Without the gimmicks of manufactured radio pop, Newell manages to serve "This Ain't Over" with pure talent." "Spin" said: "Newell's unassailable voice is in full force on 'This Ain't Over,' shining out like a triumphant beacon over a thumping, glamorous dance-pop soundscape." "Vulture" concluded: "This is just diva vocal acrobatics flexed with the swag of a queen."


title: Alex Newell

text: "This Ain't Over" was announced as the first track off their debut extended play called "Power", featuring production from the pop artists Diane Warren, Nile Rodgers, MNEK and DJ Cassidy. The EP will be released on February 19 via Big Beat.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell supported fellow "Glee" alum Adam Lambert on tour from February 23 until the April 2 finale at Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre in 2016. After the tour, Newell recorded a new single in collaboration with "Power" producers DJ Cassidy and Nile Rodgers, entitled "Kill the Lights", released on April 8, 2016, through Atlantic Records. It was expected to be one of a few tracks that Newell was making as part of the HBO TV series "Vinyl". It was later revealed that the song had been recorded the previous year when Newell was working with Clean Bandit, Blonde and The Knocks, and inspired the producers to work with them on their debut extended play. Later that same month, the song was released again, featuring vocals from Jess Glynne.


title: Alex Newell

text: After the success and the release of Newell's debut extended play "Power" and their tour with Adam Lambert, Newell headed back in the studio. On June 3, 2016, they released their first single outside of their recent project, entitled "Need Somebody". It was exclusively released onto iTunes and Apple Music on June 3 and released onto other platforms several days later. Also, the earnings from its first week of sales were to be donated to the Trevor Project. It was later confirmed the song is the lead single from Newell's debut album, to be released later in 2016.


title: Alex Newell

text: In July 2016, Newell has provided backing vocals in their biggest collaboration yet in charitable single "Hands". The song itself was written by Justin Tranter, Julia Michaels and BloodPop and produced by Tranter himself and BloodPop, as well as Mark Ronson. It features the likes of Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Meghan Trainor, Troye Sivan, Selena Gomez, Kacey Musgraves, Mary J. Blige, Jason Derulo, Imagine Dragons, Jennifer Lopez, Adam Lambert, Tyler Glenn, P!NK, MNEK, RuPaul, Mary Lambert and Nate Ruess.


title: Alex Newell

text: In 2017, Newell made their Broadway debut playing the role of Asaka in the revival of "Once on This Island". In preparation, they began training with NYC voice teacher Mike Ruckles. In terms of music, Newell has also marked their return as a featured artist on the song "Other Side of Love" by house musician Kokiri.


title: Alex Newell

text: They currently appear on NBC's musical dramedy "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" in the role of Mo, a genderfluid DJ and the protagonist's next-door neighbor.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell played the title role in NBC's comedy pilot "Imaginary Friend", which was expected to air in 2016. It was passed on and no other network wanted to make it into a series. They contributed with music to the HBO TV series "Vinyl" on a track also featuring DJ Cassidy and Jess Glynne.


title: Alex Newell

text: They are committed to helping other LGBT youth and regularly performs at benefit concerts, most notably for The Trevor Project, the Human Rights Campaign, Jack Antonoff's Ally Coalition and other fundraisers.


title: Alex Newell

text: Newell identifies as gender nonconforming, and in May 2020 said they relate to their character Mo in "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist", who is genderfluid. They have stated they go by all pronouns. Newell also identifies as a gay man.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast "News and Comment" on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous "The Rest of the Story" segments. From 1951 to 2008, his programs reached as many as 24 million people per week. "Paul Harvey News" was carried on 1,200 radio stations, on 400 American Forces Network stations, and in 300 newspapers.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was the son of a policeman who was killed by robbers in 1921. He made radio receivers as a young boy, and attended Tulsa Central High School, where he was two years ahead of future actor Tony Randall. Teacher Isabelle Ronan was "impressed by his voice." On her recommendation, he started working at KVOO in Tulsa in 1933 helping to clean up when he was 14. He eventually was allowed to fill in on the air by reading commercials and the news.


title: Paul Harvey

text: He continued working at KVOO while he attended the University of Tulsa, first as an announcer and later as a program director. He spent three years as a station manager for KFBI AM, now known as KFDI, a radio station that once had studios in Salina, Kansas. From there, he moved to a newscasting job at KOMA in Oklahoma City, and then to KXOK in St. Louis in 1938 where he was Director of Special Events and a roving reporter.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey then moved to Hawaii to cover the US Navy as it concentrated its fleet in the Pacific. He was returning to the mainland from assignment after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He eventually enlisted in the US Army Air Forces, but served only from December 1943 to March 1944 resulting from a medical discharge. He then moved to Chicago, where in June 1944, he began broadcasting from the ABC affiliate WENR.


title: Paul Harvey

text: In 1945, he began hosting the postwar employment program "Jobs for G.I. Joe" on WENR. Harvey added "The Rest of the Story" as a tagline to in-depth feature stories in 1946. One of Harvey's regular topics was lax security, particularly at Argonne National Laboratory, a nuclear research facility west of Chicago. To demonstrate his concern, just after midnight on February 6, 1951, he entered the grounds by scaling a fence and was quickly apprehended by security guards. In 2010, "The Washington Post", having obtained 1400 pages of the FBI file on Harvey, described it as an "act of participatory journalism." Harvey's "escapade" prompted the US attorney for Illinois to empanel a grand jury to consider an espionage indictment. Harvey "went on the air to suggest he was being set up," and the grand jury subsequently declined to indict Harvey.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey had done sporadic work from Chicago for ABC Radio in the late '40s and early '50s and had just completed two weeks as the guest host for veteran commentator H.R. Baukhage on his daily 11 AM news round-up. When Baukhage returned from his early spring vacation, ABC dismissed him, and put Harvey on in his place. On April 1, 1951, the ABC Radio Network debuted "Paul Harvey News and Comment", with a noon time slot on weekdays. His network television debut came on November 16, 1952, when he began a 15-minute newscast on ABC. The program originated at WENR-TV in Chicago.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Later Harvey began to host a separate program, "The Rest of the Story", in which he provided backstories behind famous people and events. "The Rest of the Story" premiered on May 10, 1976, on ABC Radio. The series quickly grew to six broadcasts a week and continued until his death in 2009. It was written and produced by his son, Paul Harvey, Jr., from its outset and for its 33-year duration. Harvey and his radio network stated that the stories in that series, although entertaining, were completely true. That was contested by some critics, including urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvand.


title: Paul Harvey

text: In November 2000, Harvey signed a 10-year $100 million contract with ABC Radio Networks. A few months later, after damaging his vocal cords, he went off the air, but returned in August 2001.


title: Paul Harvey

text: His success with sponsors stemmed from the seamlessness with which he segued from his monologue into reading commercial messages. He explained his relationship with them: "I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is."


title: Paul Harvey

text: Former US Senator Fred Thompson substituted for Harvey regularly from 2006 to 2007. Other substitutes for Harvey included his son, Paul Harvey, Jr., Paul W. Smith, Gil Gross, Ron Chapman, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Mort Crim, Scott Shannon, and Tony Snow. Three weeks after Harvey's death, the "News and Comment" franchise was canceled.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey did not host the show full-time after April 2008, when he came down with pneumonia. Shortly after his recovery, his wife died on May 3, which caused him to prolong his time away from broadcasting. He voiced commercials and new episodes of "The Rest of the Story" and "News & Comment" during middays a few times a week, with his son handling mornings.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was an avid pilot who served in the US Army Air Corps from December 1943 to March 1944. He was an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) member for more than 50 years and would occasionally talk about flying to his radio audience. He was also a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and was frequently seen at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was responsible for funding the Paul Harvey Audio-Video Center at EAA's headquarters in Oshkosh. Harvey was also an early investor in aircraft manufacturing company Cirrus Aircraft, based in Duluth, Minnesota. According to the "AOPA Pilot" contributing editor Barry Schiff, Harvey coined the term "skyjack".


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey's on-air persona was influenced by sportscaster Bill Stern and columnist Walter Winchell. In the 1940s, Stern's "The Colgate Sports Reel" and newsreel programs used many of the techniques later used by Harvey, including his emphatic style of delivery and the use of phrases such as "Reel Two" and "Reel Three" to denote segments of the broadcast, much like Harvey's "Page Two" and "Page Three".


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was also known for the catchphrases that he used at the beginning of his programs, such as "Hello Americans, this is Paul Harvey. Stand by for NEWS!" He always ended, "Paul Harvey... Good "day"." or "Paul Harvey... Good "night"." A story might be "This day's news of most lasting significance." At the end of a report about someone who had done something ridiculous or offensive, Harvey would say, "He would want us to mention his name," followed by silence, and he would then start the next item. The last item of a broadcast, which was often a funny story, would usually be preceded by "And now from the 'For-what-it's-worth' department..."


title: Paul Harvey

text: Other phrases made famous by Harvey included "Here's a strange..." (a story with an unusual twist) and "Self-government won't work without self-discipline." He also is credited with popularizing the terms "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate".


title: Paul Harvey

text: In addition to the inquiry into whether Harvey's "Rest of the Story" tales are true, Harvey's trademark ability of seamlessly migrating from content to commercial brought scrutiny. In that context, "Salon" magazine called him the "finest huckster ever to roam the airwaves." Some have argued that Harvey's fawning and lavish product endorsements may have been misleading or confusing to his audience. Harvey's endorsed products included EdenPure heaters, Bose radios, Select Comfort mattresses, and Hi-Health dietary supplements, including a supplement that was claimed to improve vision but was later the subject of a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action against the manufacturer (but not Harvey himself) for misleading claims made on his show. In one of the tribute broadcasts, Gil Gross said that Harvey considered advertising just another type of news and that he endorsed only products that he believed in, often by interviewing someone from the company.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey is caricatured in multiple episodes of "Freakazoid!", voiced by Paul Rugg. He is used as a deus ex machina to wrap the plot up by describing its ending, or to give backstories for villains. He also occasionally references his catchphrases of "Good day!" and "Now you know the rest of the story".


title: Paul Harvey

text: Beginning in 1952, Harvey was a friend of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Harvey would often submit "advance copies of his radio script for comment and approval." Harvey's friendship with Hoover may have helped him escape criminal charges relating to his trespassing at Argonne National Laboratory. Harvey was happy to defend Hoover and spoke of him on his show of April 25, 1963: "God help the United States without John Edgar Hoover... (FBI) Director Hoover is not retiring. If you have heard otherwise, somebody's sinister wish was the father of that thought. It is not so."


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was also a close friend of US Senator Joseph McCarthy and supported his campaign to expose and expel communists from American society and government.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was also a close friend of George Vandeman and the Reverend Billy Graham. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Harvey attended Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park. When the church moved from its original location on Madison Street to the former Presbyterian Church on Lake Street, Harvey asked Graham to preach at the dedication service. Harvey associated with various congregations of different denominations. He and his wife regularly attended the Camelback Adventist Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, during his winters there. He often quoted the Adventist pioneer Ellen G. White in his broadcasts and received the "Golden Microphone" Award for his professionalism and graciousness in dealing with the church. He was also active with a small Plymouth Brethren meeting in Maywood, Illinois, called Woodside Bible Chapel.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Robert D. McFadden, writing Harvey's obituary for "The New York Times", examined his unique radio style and how it interacted with his political views:


title: Paul Harvey

text: [He] personalized the radio news with his right wing opinions, but laced them with his own trademarks: a hypnotic timbre, extended pauses for effect, heart-warming tales of average Americans and folksy observations that evoked the heartland, family values and the old-fashioned plain talk one heard around the dinner table on Sunday.


title: Paul Harvey

text: He railed against welfare cheats and defended the death penalty. He worried about the national debt, big government, bureaucrats who lacked common sense, permissive parents, leftist radicals and America succumbing to moral decay. He championed rugged individualism, love of God and country, and the fundamental decency of ordinary people.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was elected to the National Association of Broadcasters National Radio Hall of Fame and Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and appeared on the Gallup poll list of America's most admired men. In addition he received 11 Freedom Foundation Awards as well as the Horatio Alger Award. Harvey was named to the DeMolay Hall of Fame, a Masonic youth organization, on June 25, 1993.


title: Paul Harvey

text: In 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' most prestigious civilian award, by President George W. Bush. Bush's remarks summarized Harvey's career: "He first went on the air in 1933, and he's been heard nationwide for 54 years. Americans like the sound of his voice...over the decades we have come to recognize in that voice some of the finest qualities of our country: patriotism, the good humor, the kindness, and common sense of Americans."


title: Paul Harvey

text: Paul Harvey was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 1987 in the area of Communication.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Harry Harrison Aurandt (1873–1921) and Anna Dagmar (née Christensen) Aurandt (1883–1960). His father was born in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania; his mother was Danish. He had one sibling, an older sister Frances Harrietta (née Aurandt) Price (1908–1988).


title: Paul Harvey

text: In December 1921, when Harvey was three years old, his father was murdered. The elder Aurandt was a Tulsa policeman who served as secretary to Commissioner J.H. Adkinson. On the night of December 18, Officer Aurandt and a friend, Tulsa police detective Ike Wilkerson, were off-duty and rabbit hunting when they were approached by four masked and armed men who attempted to rob them. Mr. Aurandt was shot and died two days later of his wounds. A large-scale manhunt resulted in the arrest of four suspects the day after Aurandt died. A lynch mob of 1,000 people formed at the jail, but the suspects were smuggled out. Two of them would be convicted of murder and sentenced to life terms following identification by Detective Wilkerson, who said that he knew the men and was able to recognize them despite their masks. At Aurandt's funeral, twelve robed members of the Ku Klux Klan arrived late in the service and dropped roses on his casket, though there is no other indication that Aurandt was himself a Klansman.


title: Paul Harvey

text: In 1940, Harvey married Lynne Cooper of St. Louis. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa at Washington University in St. Louis and a former schoolteacher. They met when Harvey was working at KXOK and Cooper came to the station for a school news program. Harvey invited her to dinner, proposed to her after a few minutes of conversation and from then on called her "Angel," even on his radio show. A year later she said yes. The couple moved to Chicago in 1944.


title: Paul Harvey

text: On May 17, 2007, Harvey told his radio audience that Angel had developed leukemia. Her death, at the age of 92, was announced by ABC radio on May 3, 2008. When she died at their River Forest home, the "Chicago Sun-Times" described her as, "More than his astute business partner and producer, she also was a pioneer for women in radio and an influential figure in her own right for decades." According to the founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Bruce DuMont, "She was to Paul Harvey what Colonel Parker was to Elvis Presley. She really put him on track to have the phenomenal career that his career has been."


title: Paul Harvey

text: Lynne Harvey was the first producer inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and had developed some of her husband's best-known features, such as "The Rest of the Story." While working on her husband's radio show, she established 10 p.m. as the hour in which news is broadcast. She was the first woman to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago chapter of American Women in Radio and Television. She worked in television also, and created a television show called "Dilemma" which is acknowledged as the prototype of the modern talk show genre. While working at CBS, she was among the first women to produce an entire newscast. In later years, she was best known as a philanthropist.


title: Paul Harvey

text: They had one son, Paul Aurandt Jr., who goes by the name Paul Harvey Jr. He assisted his father at "News and Comment" and "The Rest of the Story." Paul, Jr., whose voice announced the bumpers between episodes, filled in for his father during broadcasts and broadcast the morning editions after the passing of his mother.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey died on February 28, 2009, at age 90 at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, surrounded by family and friends. No cause of death was announced. In response to his father's death, his son, Paul Harvey Jr., said, "Millions have lost a friend". At the time of his death, he had less than two years left on his ten-year contract. Former President George W. Bush issued a statement on Harvey's death, calling him "a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans."


title: Paul Harvey

text: On March 4, Gil Gross was chosen to become the next host of "News & Comment". Gross lasted only one week before being taken off the air; Gross, who was based in San Francisco, would have had to record the show around 1:00 a.m. Pacific Time to finish in time for the East Coast broadcasts, in addition to his local show on KGO. "News & Comment" was replaced the next week by Mike Huckabee's existing commentary, "The Huckabee Report". "The Huckabee Report" ceased radio distribution in 2015.


title: Paul Harvey

text: Harvey's full-length biography, "Good Day! The Paul Harvey Story," was published in May 2009 by Regnery Publishing.


title: Paul Harvey

text: On February 3, 2013, a recording of Harvey's "So God Made a Farmer" commentary was used by Ram Trucks in a commercial titled "Farmer," which aired during Super Bowl XLVII.


title: Malik Monk

text: Malik Ahmad Monk (born February 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, earning consensus second-team All-American honors in 2017. Monk was selected in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets with the 11th overall pick. He has also played for the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Malik Monk

text: Monk attended East Poinsett County High School in Lepanto, Arkansas for his freshman year. As a freshman, he averaged 22.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assist per game while leading them to a (25-8) overall record and an appearance in the Class 2A state championship game. After his freshman season, Monk transferred to Bentonville High School in Bentonville, Arkansas. In his junior year, he averaged 26.6 points per game. In the spring and summer of 2015, Monk competed for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team, Arkansas Wings Elite, on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball Circuit (EYBL) where he averaged 19.7 points per game. He then competed on the 2015 Nike Global Challenge for the East team, where he averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds, and four assist in addition to earning Tournament MVP honors. On November 18, 2015 Monk committed to Kentucky, choosing UK over Arkansas. As a senior, he averaged 28.6 points per game, 4.4 assist per game and 7.6 rebounds per game. In 2016, Monk played in the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic where he earned Co-MVP honors alongside Kentucky teammate De'Aaron Fox.


title: Malik Monk

text: On March 11, 2016, Monk played his final high school game, scoring 19 points in a 59–49 loss in the 7A state championship to Cabot High School.


title: Malik Monk

text: Monk was a consensus five-star prospect and ranked as one of the best players in the 2016 class by the four main recruiting services: Rivals, ESPN, Scout, and 247 Sports. Monk was ranked as the No.9 overall player and No.1 shooting guard in the 2016 high school class.


title: Malik Monk

text: On December 17, 2016, Monk set a University of Kentucky freshman scoring record with 47 points in a win over the University of North Carolina. Twelve days later, he scored 34 points on five-for-seven three point shooting in a 99–76 win over Ole Miss. On January 21, 2017, Monk scored 27 points in a 85–69 win over South Carolina. On January 31, 2017, he scored 37 points against Georgia Bulldogs. On February 25, 2017, Monk tallied 33 points in a 76–66 victory over Florida. On February 28, 2017, Monk scored 27 points in a 73–67 win over Vanderbilt. At the end of his freshman season, Monk was named SEC Player and Freshman of the Year, while also being named to both First-team All-SEC and the SEC All-Freshman team.


title: Malik Monk

text: At the conclusion of his freshman season, Monk announced that he would forgo his final three years of collegiate eligibility and enter the 2017 NBA draft where he was projected as a first round selection.


title: Malik Monk

text: On June 22, 2017, Monk was selected with the eleventh overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets. On July 2, 2017, Monk signed his rookie scale contract with the Hornets worth $15,726,047. Monk would miss the entire 2017 NBA Summer League due to an ankle injury. In his fourth game on October 25, 2017, Monk recorded 17 points, two steals, and two assists in a 110–93 victory against the Denver Nuggets. On November 1, 2017, with Kentucky coach John Calipari on hand, Monk scored 25 points in a 126–121 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks.


title: Malik Monk

text: During his rookie season, Monk was assigned to the Hornets’ NBA G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, for one game. He scored 25 points, collected eight rebounds and recorded four assists in a December 26, 2017 game. On February 26, 2020, Monk was suspended indefinitely for violating the NBA's substance use policy. Before the suspension, Monk was averaging 10.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. He was reinstated on June 8, after it was determined he was in compliance with the anti-drug program. On February 1, 2021, Monk scored a then career-high 36 points in a 129–121 overtime win over the Heat.


title: Malik Monk

text: On August 6, 2021, Monk signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a trade exception salary deal. On April 10, 2022, Monk put up a career-high 41 points in a 146–141 win over the Denver Nuggets.


title: Malik Monk

text: Monk was born to Jackie Monk and Michael Scales and is the younger brother of former Arkansas All-SEC wide receiver Marcus Monk.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), Navy (USN), and Marine Corps (USMC), and was commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. Their Curtis P-40B Warhawk aircraft, marked with Chinese colors, flew under American control. Recruited under President Franklin Roosevelt's authority before Pearl Harbor, their mission was to bomb Japan and defend the Republic of China, but many delays meant the AVG first flew in combat after the US and Japan declared war.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The group consisted of three fighter squadrons of around 30 aircraft each that trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II to defend the Republic of China against Japanese forces. The AVG were officially members of the Republic of China Air Force. The group had contracts with salaries ranging from $250 a month for a mechanic to $750 for a squadron commander, roughly three times what they had been making in the U.S. forces. While it accepted some civilian volunteers for its headquarters and ground crew, the AVG recruited most of its staff from the U.S. military.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The Flying Tigers began to arrive in China in April 1941. The group first saw combat on 20 December 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor (local time). It demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces, and achieved such notable success during the lowest period of the war for both the U.S. and the Allied Forces as to give hope to America that it might eventually defeat Japan. AVG pilots earned official credit and received combat bonuses for destroying 296 enemy aircraft, while losing only 14 pilots in combat. The combat records of the AVG still exist and researchers have found them credible. On 4 July 1942 the AVG was disbanded and replaced by the 23rd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later absorbed into the U.S. Fourteenth Air Force with General Chennault as commander. The 23rd FG went on to achieve similar combat success, while retaining the nose art on the left-over P-40s.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The American Volunteer Group was largely the creation of Claire L. Chennault, a retired U.S. Army Air Corps officer who had worked in China since August 1937, first as military aviation advisor to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in the early months of the Sino-Japanese War, then as director of a Chinese Air Force flight school centered in Kunming. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union supplied fighter and bomber squadrons to China, but these units were mostly withdrawn by the summer of 1940. Chiang then asked for American combat aircraft and pilots, sending Chennault to Washington as an adviser to China's ambassador and Chiang's brother-in-law, T. V. Soong.


title: Flying Tigers

text: Chennault spent the winter of 1940–1941 in Washington, supervising the purchase of 100 Curtiss P-40 fighters and the recruiting of 100 pilots and some 200 ground crew and administrative personnel that would constitute the 1st AVG. He also laid the groundwork for a follow-on bomber group and a second fighter group, though these would be aborted after the Pearl Harbor attack.


title: Flying Tigers

text: Of the pilots, 60 came from the Navy and Marine Corps and 40 from the Army Air Corps. (One army pilot, Albert Baumler was refused a passport because he had earlier flown as a mercenary in Spain, so only 99 actually sailed for Asia. Ten more army flight instructors were hired as check pilots for Chinese cadets, and several of these would ultimately join the AVG's combat squadrons.) The volunteers were discharged from the armed services, to be employed for "training and instruction" by a private military contractor, the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO), which paid them $600 a month for pilot officers, $675 a month for flight leaders, $750 for squadron leaders (no pilot was recruited at this level), and about $250 for skilled ground crewmen. Some pilots were also orally promised a bounty of $500 for each enemy aircraft shot down, and this was later confirmed by Madame Chiang Kai-shek.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The first batch, some 300 men, departed San Francisco on 10 July 1941 and arrived in Rangoon, Burma on 28 July, via the Dutch ship "Jaegersfontaine", operated by Java-Pacific Lijn. The second batch, some 30 pilots, departed on 24 September 1941 and arrived on 12 November 1941 via the Dutch ship "Boschfontein". These volunteers used civilian passports in these trips. After arriving in Rangoon, they were initially based at a British airfield in Toungoo for training while their aircraft were assembled and test flown by CAMCO personnel at Mingaladon Airport outside Rangoon. Chennault set up a schoolhouse that was made necessary because many pilots had "lied about their flying experience, claiming pursuit experience when they had flown only bombers and sometimes much less powerful aeroplanes." They called Chennault "the Old Man" due to his much older age and leathery exterior obtained from years flying open cockpit pursuit aircraft in the Army Air Corps. Most believed that he had flown as a fighter pilot in China, although stories that he was a combat ace are probably apocryphal.


title: Flying Tigers

text: Of the 300 original members of the CAMCO personnel, 9 were Chinese-Americans recruited from America's Chinatowns. All 9 were trained at Allison Engineworks in Indianapolis, Indiana: all were P-40 mechanics. Upon arrival in Kunming, 2 other Chinese-Americans were hired, a Ford Motor truck specialist and a doctor. Total original Chinese-Americans were 11. Prior to 4 July 1942, 3 of the P-40 mechanics resigned. The official AVG roster lists the original 8.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The AVG was created by an executive order of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. He did not speak English, however, and Chennault never learned to speak Chinese. As a result, all communications between the two men were routed through Soong Mei-ling, "Madame Chiang" as she was known to Americans, and she was designated the group's "honorary commander."


title: Flying Tigers

text: Chennault preached a radically different approach to air combat based on his study of Japanese tactics and equipment, his observation of the tactics used by Soviet pilots in China, and his judgment of the strengths and weaknesses of his own aircraft and pilots. The actual average strength of the AVG was never more than 62 combat-ready pilots and fighters. Chennault faced serious obstacles since many AVG pilots were inexperienced and a few quit at the first opportunity. However, he made a virtue out of these disadvantages, shifting unsuitable pilots to staff jobs and always ensuring that he had a squadron or two in reserve. (The AVG had no ranks, so no division between officers and enlisted soldiers existed.)


title: Flying Tigers

text: Chennault and the Flying Tigers benefited from the country's warning network, called "the best air-raid warning system in existence":


title: Flying Tigers

text: When Japanese aircraft attacked, Chennault's doctrine called for pilots to take on enemy aircraft in teams from an altitude advantage, since their aircraft were not as maneuverable or as numerous as the Japanese fighters they would encounter. He prohibited his pilots from entering into a turning fight with the nimble Japanese fighters, telling them to execute a diving or slashing attack and to dive away to set up for another attack. This "dive-and-zoom" technique was contrary to what the men had learned in U.S. service as well as what the Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots in Burma had been taught; it had been used successfully, however, by Soviet units serving with the Chinese Air Force.


title: Flying Tigers

text: AVG fighter aircraft came from a Curtiss assembly line which had just started producing Tomahawk IIB models for the Royal Air Force in North Africa. The Tomahawk IIB was similar to the U.S. Army's P-40C, but there is some evidence that Curtiss actually used leftover components when building the fighters intended for China, making them closer to the older P-40B/Tomahawk IIA specification - for instance the AVG aircraft had fuel tanks with external self-sealing coatings, rather than the more effective internal membranes as fitted to the P-40C/Tomahawk IIB, and the aircraft built for China lacked the later Tomahawk's fittings to carry a drop tank and the addition of an armour plate in front of the pilot. The fighters were purchased without "government-furnished equipment" such as reflector gunsights, radios and wing guns; the lack of these items caused continual difficulties for the AVG in Burma and China.


title: Flying Tigers

text: The 100 P-40 aircraft were crated and sent to Burma on third country freighters during spring 1941. At Rangoon, they were unloaded, assembled and test flown by personnel of Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) before being delivered to the AVG training unit at Toungoo. One crate was dropped into the water and a wing assembly was ruined by salt water immersion, so CAMCO was able to deliver only 99 Tomahawks before war broke out. (Many of those were destroyed in training accidents.) The 100th fuselage was trucked to a CAMCO plant in Loiwing, China, and later made whole with parts from damaged aircraft. Shortages in equipment, with spare parts almost impossible to obtain in Burma (along with the slow introduction of replacement fighter aircraft), were continual impediments, although the AVG did receive 50 replacement P-40E fighters from USAAF stocks toward the end of its combat tour.