title: Communist Party of Great Britain

text: The term is currently used in a somewhat broader sense in Internet slang to refer to any practitioner of far-left politics, especially Marxism–Leninism or Maoism.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The Škoda Superb is a mid-size/large family car (D-segment) that has been produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto since 2001.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The first generation of the modern Superb, produced from 2001 to 2008, was based on the VW B5 PL45+ platform. The second generation Superb used the B6 A6/PQ46 and was introduced in 2008. The third, and current, generation using the MQB platform, entered production in 2015.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The first generation of the modern Škoda Superb used the Volkswagen Group B5 PL45+ platform, which was later also used on 1999 Shanghai–Volkswagen Passat B5 LWB, whose wheelbase is however longer than the standard Passat B5. In 2005, Shanghai-Volkswagen imported the Superb, rebadging it as the Volkswagen Passat Lingyu.


title: Škoda Superb

text: In 2009, one year after the B5 generation had been discontinued in Europe, the facelifted Volkswagen Passat Lingyu was unveiled in China. In 2011, the Volkswagen Passat Lingyu was discontinued, succeeded by the Passat NMS.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Several petrol and diesel internal combustion engines are shared with the rest of the Volkswagen Group range; and like the B5 Passat and B6/B7 Audi A4 which use the same automobile platform, they are mounted at the front, and orientated longitudinally.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The base model, the 'Classic', included the 1.9 litre inline four cylinder (I4) Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) turbodiesel producing , or a 2.0 litre petrol inline four rated at . The 'Comfort' and 'Elegance' models offered with a 1.8 twenty valve Turbo petrol I4 rated at , or either a V6 2.8 litre petrol engine, or a 2.5 litre V6 TDI rated at .


title: Škoda Superb

text: Transmissions included a five speed or a six speed manual gearbox, or a ZF sourced five speed tiptronic automatic. In addition to the 1.9 litre "Pumpe Düse" (PD) Unit Injector engine, the Superb eventually gained the 2.0 litre TDI PD (BSS). This was an 8V single camshaft engine based on the 1.9 litre TDI that was unique to the Superb with two main differences over the 1.9 litre TDI. The BSS engine shared the same twin balance shaft oil pump used in the 16V twin camshaft 2.0 litre TDI PD engine that can be found in various Audi models. It also featured a wet DPF that used fluid contained in a tank under the spare wheel to generate heat for regeneration. This was used over a standard dry DPF due to space limitations in the engine bay.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The Superb received a minor facelift in August 2006 incorporating Škoda's new radiator grille, headlights, side repeater indicators integrated into the door mirrors, and C-shaped tail lights in the style of Škoda Roomster and second-gen Škoda Octavia.


title: Škoda Superb

text: An interior redesign completed the upgrades. A 'Laurin and Klement' model became the top of the range, replacing the 'Elegance' model. A range of new engines was introduced and the interior featured real wood as part of some trim levels. The 'Comfort', 'Elegance' and 'Laurin & Klement' models feature an umbrella stowed in the rear door panel.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Škoda considered an station wagon version of the Superb, but it never proceeded to production. The reason it was not put in production was that Volkswagen feared that an station wagon version would take too much market share from its own Passat "Variant" and Audi's A4 "Avant". When the Superb was released in the United Kingdom in May 2002, the most expensive variant was priced at only £1,000 more than the cheapest Jaguar X-Type.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Based on a stretched version of the latest A5 Octavia platform, the Volkswagen Group A6 PQ46, this Superb is a four door five seat sedan, with an innovative "TwinDoor" trunk lid that can operate as a conventional trunk or as a hatchback that includes opening with the rear glass.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Being based on the Octavia A5 platform, this Superb now uses a transverse engine layout. A Superb Combi – five door estate with 633 litres in the boot – was presented to the press in June 2009, and debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2009.


title: Škoda Superb

text: When launched, petrol engine options included four Volkswagen Group sourced units; consisting of an entry-level 92 kilowatts (125 PS; 123 hp) 1.4 litre inline four cylinder (I4) TFSI (with a turbocharger and Fuel Stratified Injection), and a 118 kW (160 PS; 158 hp) 1.8 litre I4 TFSI. The flagship 3.6 litre 191 kW (260 PS; 256 hp) FSI VR6 engine (a detuned version of that fitted in the Passat R36) comes with four-wheel drive and six speed Direct-Shift Gearbox (DSG). The Škoda Superb 3.6 FSI 4x4 has a top speed 250 km/h and acceleration of 0–100 km/h in 6.5 seconds.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Diesel engine options included 2.0 litre I4 Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) with Pumpe-Düse injection which was rated at 103 kW (140 PS; 138 hp), 2.0 litre I4 TDI 125 kW (170 PS; 168 hp) with common rail, and a 77 kW (105 PS; 103 hp) 1.9 litre I4 TDI available also for the Greenline version with reduced fuel consumption.


title: Škoda Superb

text: In 2010, the engine range was updated. The car was now available with a 147 kW (200 PS; 197 hp) 2.0 litre TFSI petrol four cylinder. Changes in diesel offer included two switches: 103 kW two litre with Pumpe-Düse injection was replaced with common rail engine; the 77 kW 1.9 litre PD unit was replaced with 1.6 litre common rail engine of the same power.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Transmissions include five and six speed manual gearboxes, and the popular automatic Direct-Shift Gearbox (DSG) with either six or seven speeds, as an option on almost all engine/trim combinations. In addition to the standard front-wheel-drive, the Superb and Superb Combi were both available with all-wheel-drive with a fourth generation Haldex clutch. The wheels were choice of 16", 17" and 18".


title: Škoda Superb

text: Trim levels available in the majority of Europe were named the 'Comfort', 'Ambition', 'Elegance', 'Greenline', 'Exclusive' and 'Laurin & Klement' (May 2012) – with Laurin & Klement being top of the range. In the United Kingdom, the levels available were 'S', 'SE', 'Elegance', 'Laurin & Klement' and 'Greenline'. In Sweden, an important market for Škoda, a version of the four-wheel-drive Superb Combi with off-road pretensions went on sale in June 2012. Analogous to the Subaru Outback and Volvo XC70 it was called the "AllDrive." Based on the Elegance equipment level it features black plastic cladding around the lower parts of the car and around the wheelwells. Its ground clearance is also increased to the tune of and a front skid plate is added. In Sweden it was only available with the three different engines (one petrol, two diesels) and four-wheel-drive, but when the model was made available across Europe as the "Škoda Superb Outdoor" one month later (reaching the United Kingdom in October 2012) it was also available with front-wheel-drive, and most of the engine range.


title: Škoda Superb

text: For the Superb there is an extensive list of standard and extra equipment, including bi-xenon headlamps with AFS, front/rear proximity sensors, automatic park assist system, tyre pressure monitoring system, navigation system with large 6.5" colour touch screen display and 30 GB hard drive, television broadcast receiver, electrically adjustable seats and mirrors, rain sensor, sunroof with solar panels that allow circulation of air in parked car, front/rear heated seats, ventilated front seats upholstered in leather. For the Superb Combi a large tilt/slide two piece panoramic sunroof was an option.


title: Škoda Superb

text: In April 2013, Škoda unveiled a facelifted Superb in Shanghai. It was released for sale in the European market in June 2013. Updated exterior design features Škoda new design language elements. Headlights are fitted with integrated LED daylight running lights; diodes are standard for tail lights, too. The Twindoor opening mechanism was changed in order to provide easier operation: one button opens just the lid, while the other opens whole tailgate.


title: Škoda Superb

text: Up to now, one button was dedicated just for opening, while the other had shifting function. With the facelift, a combination of all wheel drive and DSG automatic transmission appeared on offer for the 125 kW two litre diesel engine. Starting from January 2014, design Outdoor package is available for the Superb Combi.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The list of features was slightly expanded too. The facelifted Superb received the latest generation of Automatic Parking Assistant. In addition to parallel parking (entering/exiting the parking space), the system is also capable of perpendicular parking (entering the parking space only).


title: Škoda Superb

text: From now on, the passengers in the rear seats can adjust the passenger seat from the back. The electrical control is located on the side of the passenger seat near the centre console and is thus easy to operate from the back. Passengers in the rear can move the front seat forward and back and adjust the seat height and angle.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The third generation Superb, based on the Volkswagen Group MQB platform also used by other Volkswagen Group cars, including the Volkswagen Passat (B8), Volkswagen Arteon, Volkswagen Tiguan Mk2, Volkswagen Tayron, Škoda Kodiaq, SEAT Tarraco and Audi Q3 Mk2, was unveiled in February 2015 at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, with volume production intended to start in the middle of the year. The car was first previewed by concept car called Škoda Vision C that was debuted in 2014 Geneva Motor Show.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The new model is larger than the second generation. The Škoda Superb appeared in the Tour de France as a Referee car.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The new generation of direct injection turbocharged engines consisting of four cylinder units, was to include five petrol engines ranging in size from 1.4 to 2.0 litres, and three diesels of 1.6 or 2.0 litres. The Superb 2.0 TSI 4x4 is currently Škoda's fastest production car, with a top speed drive by


title: Škoda Superb

text: In the United Kingdom, the trim levels available were named the 'S', 'SE', 'SE Technology', 'SE L Executive', 'SportLine' and 'Laurin & Klement', with Laurin & Klement being top of the range. As of 2016, price ranges from £19,060, to the most luxurious L&K trim with all equipment for £42,385.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The Superb received very positive reviews in all foreign tests. British newspaper "The Telegraph" rated the new Superb with an overall rating of 9/10, "Autocar" 4/5, "Top Gear" 8/10, "Auto Express" 5/5, and in the German magazine "Auto Bild", the Superb received 588 points. The Superb has also scored highly in Australia, where "Car Advice" awarded an overall rating of 9/10 highlighting key areas of value for money, features, performance and cabin space where the car has excelled. The Superb also defeated its rivals, in "AutoBild" test the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (E220 CDI) and in "Auto Express" the Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The Škoda Superb was also awarded the title of Car of the Year in the Czech Republic and in Macedonia.


title: Škoda Superb

text: It also became the 2016 World Car of the Year finalist, the best compact executive car and estate car in 2016 on "What Car?" (the United Kingdom's leading car buying website) and the "Auto Express" Family Car of the Year 2016.


title: Škoda Superb

text: In January 2021, the Skoda Superb Estate 2.0 TDI 150 SE L was named Estate Car of the Year by "What Car?" magazine. "What Car?" awarded the Superb Estate five stars out of five in its review of the car.


title: Škoda Superb

text: In May 2019, the facelifted Škoda Superb was unveiled in Bratislava. Škoda has added matrix full-LED headlights, Predictive Cruise Control and Emergency Assist.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The first plug-in hybrid was also introduced, the new Škoda Superb iV will be available with turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol engine, outputs is rated at and has an all-electric range of up to . The new Škoda Superb Scout brings with its taller suspension and underbody protection a little bit of off-road ability. The facelifted car gone on sale in early 2020.


title: Škoda Superb

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> "Since September 2016, the 1.4 TSI (92 kW) and 1.6 TDI (88 kW) engines were no longer available, leaving 110 kW as the weakest engines."


title: Škoda Superb

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> "Since Model Year 2017, Škoda began equipping the 2.0 Litre 150hp Diesel and Petrol Superb with DQ381 DSG Gearboxes. Since Model Year 2018, the gearboxes were featured on the 2.0 Litre Diesel and Petrol Superb with 190hp. These gearboxes replaced the previously used DQ250 6-Speed "wet" dual-clutch gearbox. The newer DQ381 is a "wet" dual-clutch 7-Speed Gearbox."


title: Škoda Superb

text: In April 2021, the New Zealand Police began replacing their current fleet of 2,000 Holden police cars with two and four wheel drive Škoda Superbs, joining 30 European countries such as France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.


title: Škoda Superb

text: The first 100 are expected to be in service by the end of June, with nearly 400 more to follow by the end of the year. Delivery of all 2,000 Superbs is scheduled within a maximum of four years.


title: Škoda Superb

text: In 2018, the Norwegian military police starting utilising Superbs as one of their new vehicles, notably also sporting a new livery.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 American Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more commonly referred to as the World's Fair) in the spring of 1904. The film stars Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The film was adapted by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe from a series of short stories by Sally Benson originally published in "The New Yorker" magazine called "The Kensington Stories" and later in novel form as "Meet Me in St. Louis". The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who met Garland on the set and later married her. Tony Award-winning designer Lemuel Ayers served as the film's art director.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Upon its release, "Meet Me in St. Louis" was both a critical and a commercial success. It became the second-highest grossing film of 1944, behind only "Going My Way", and was also MGM's most successful musical of the 1940s. In 1994, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Garland debuted the standards "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", all of which became hits after the film was released. The film's producer Arthur Freed also wrote and performed one of the songs.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The backdrop for the film is St. Louis, Missouri, in the year preceding the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: In the summer of 1903, the Smith family leads a comfortable upper-middle class life. Alonzo Smith and his wife Anna have four daughters: Rose, Esther, Agnes and Tootie, and a son, Lon Jr. Esther, the second-oldest daughter, is in love with the boy next door, John Truett, although he does not notice her at first. Tootie rides with iceman Mr. Neely and debates whether St. Louis is the nation's top city. Rose, the eldest daughter, hopes in vain to receive a marriage proposal from Warren Sheffield.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Esther finally meets John properly when he is a guest at the Smiths' party and hopes to meet him again on a trolley ride to the construction site of the World's Fair.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: On Halloween, Tootie and Agnes attend a bonfire. Later, after Tootie appears with a split lip and lost tooth, she claims that John tried to kill her. Esther confronts John, physically attacking and scolding him. After Esther returns, Tootie and Agnes confess the truth: John was trying to protect them from the police after a dangerous prank went wrong. Upon learning the truth, Esther apologizes to John and they share their first kiss.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Mr. Smith announces that he is to be sent to New York City on business and they will all move there after Christmas. The family is devastated by the news, especially Rose and Esther, whose romances, friendships and educational plans are threatened. Esther is also aghast because they will miss the World's Fair. Although Mrs. Smith is also upset, she reconciles with her husband and they sing a tender duet at the piano.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: An elegant ball takes place on Christmas Eve. John cannot take Esther because he was too late to pick up his tuxedo. Esther is relieved when her grandfather offers to take her to the ball instead. At the ball, Esther and Rose plot to ruin the evening of Warren's date Lucille Ballard by filling her dance card with losers. They are surprised to find that Lucille is warm, friendly and not a snob. She suggests that Warren should be with Rose, allowing her to be with Lon. Esther switches her dance card with Lucille's and takes on the clumsy and awkward partners. After being rescued by Grandpa, Esther is overjoyed when John appears in a tuxedo, and they dance for the rest of the evening. Later, John proposes to Esther and she accepts, but their future is uncertain because she must still move to New York.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Esther returns home to find Tootie waiting impatiently for Santa Claus and worrying about whether she can bring all her toys with her to New York. After Esther's poignant rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", an inconsolable Tootie destroys the snowmen that they must leave behind. Esther reassures Tootie that they will be together no matter where they go. Mr. Smith, who has witnessed the girls outside, begins to have second thoughts. After thinking in the living room, he summons the family downstairs and announces that they will not move to New York, much to everyone's surprise and joy. Warren rushes into the Smith home, declares his love for Rose, and announces that they will marry at the first possible opportunity. Realizing that it is now Christmas, the Smiths celebrate.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: At the World's Fair, the family gathers overlooking the Grand Lagoon just as thousands of lights around the grand pavilion are illuminated.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The film is based on "The Kensington Stories", a series of sentimental family stories by Sally Benson that appeared in "The New Yorker" in 1942 and later in novel form as "Meet Me in St. Louis". Shortly after the publication of the stories, Arthur Freed, who had enjoyed previous success with Judy Garland in MGM musicals, convinced studio head Louis B. Mayer to purchase the film rights for $25,000, and Benson was also hired to work on the screen adaptation. The idea for the film was also inspired by "Life with Father", a nostalgic family play that had been running on Broadway to great success and acclaim since 1939.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: While Freed and his writers developed the script, director Vincente Minnelli, whose background was in set and costume design, prepared the film's design. Minnelli worked with designer Lemuel Ayers on set design and with art director E. Preston Ames to capture the evocative quality of paintings by Thomas Eakins, a popular artist and illustrator at the time in which the story takes place.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: A staff of six writers worked with Benson to capture the essence of her stories. Freed hired the husband-and-wife team of Victor Heerman and Sarah Mason in mid-1942 to add an element of intrigue to the script. They introduced a blackmail plot involving Esther Smith, which Freed found inappropriate, so he tasked staff writer William Ludwig, a specialist in adolescent romance, to excise the blackmail plot and weave courtship stories into the screenplay. By February 1943, Freed was satisfied with Ludwig's script and distributed copies around MGM and to the principal cast members. However, Garland was dissatisfied with the script, feeling its plot to be weak and her character too juvenile. Mayer agreed, and Freed brought in a pair of writers to revise Ludwig's script who added the storyline of the family's looming move to New York. Freed liked the changes but Garland remained unhappy with the script.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Freed's conflict with producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Garland's lover who was developing what would become "The Pirate" with Garland in mind for the lead role, nearly caused "Meet Me in St. Louis" to be indefinitely postponed. The situation was resolved when Mankiewicz left MGM for Fox, and Freed's project was given the green light with a preliminary budget of $1,395,000 and plans to begin production in early October 1943. However, production was delayed because of studio problems and Technicolor Inc.'s heavy schedule, and the project finally entered production on December 7, 1943, with shooting scheduled for 58 days and a budget that had increased to $1,500,000. Nearly half of the film's budget was devoted to sets ($497,000) and music ($234,000). Story and continuity costs exceeded $132,000 because of the numerous rewrites. Garland was paid $2,500 per week, Margaret O'Brien $250 per week and Minnelli $1,000 per week while producing the film.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Garland, unhappy with the script and unsure of herself as a leading lady, also suffered severe emotional problems, an acute addiction to amphetamines and numerous physical ailments such as recurring migraine headaches. Production reports show that she disrupted the schedule with fits of hysteria, habitual lateness and occasional absences, missing an entire week of shooting because of what she claimed to be an ear infection. Garland also balked at Minnelli's heavy schedule of rehearsals and prerecording sessions in the months preceding filming, but Minnelli won her confidence and the two became lovers, cohabiting by the time of the film's post-production and marrying soon after its release. Earlier in the production, Garland had a brief affair with her costar Tom Drake.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Production delays were also caused by illnesses suffered by O'Brien, Mary Astor (pneumonia) and Joan Carroll (appendicitis), but Minnelli used the delays to prepare O'Brien's most demanding and important scenes. Severe rains and flooding in the Los Angeles region caused further delays in the production of exterior scenes. Filming completed on April 7, 1944, behind schedule and with a final budget near $1.8 million. The first rough cut exceeded two hours in length, so the writers suggested edits that brought the film down to 113 minutes for its preview screenings in the summer of 1944. MGM, encouraged by overwhelmingly positive audience previews, held the film's release for the Christmas season. The premiere was held in St. Louis on November 22, 1944 and at New York's Astor Theatre one week later.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Minnelli's idea to introduce each season segment with a greeting-card illustration dissolving into live action was most likely influenced by a similar technique used in Orson Welles' 1942 film "The Magnificent Ambersons".


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Freed's process for "Meet Me in St. Louis" established a pattern for Minnelli's future musicals: budgets in excess of $1 million, preproduction schedules sometimes exceeding a full year, shooting schedules of three to six months and postproduction phases of six months or longer.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The musical score for the film was adapted by Roger Edens, who also served as an uncredited associate producer. Georgie Stoll conducted the orchestrations of Conrad Salinger. Some of the songs in the film are from around the time of the St. Louis Exposition, and others were written for the film.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Garland's prerecording of "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" survives, but the cut film footage has been lost. This song was originally composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein for their Broadway musical "Oklahoma!", but was cut prior to its opening.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Upon its 1944 release, "Meet Me in St. Louis" was a gigantic critical and commercial success. During its initial theatrical release, it earned a then-massive $5,016,000 in the US and Canada and $1,550,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $2,359,000.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: In a contemporary review for "The New York Times", critic Bosley Crowther called the film "warm and beguiling" and wrote: "Let those who would savor their enjoyment of innocent family merriment with the fragrance of dried-rose petals and who would revel in girlish rhapsodies make a bee-line right down to the Astor. For there's honey to be had inside. ... In the words of one of the gentlemen, it is a ginger-peachy show."


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: "Time" called "Meet Me in St. Louis" "one of the year's prettiest pictures" and noted: "Technicolor has seldom been more affectionately used than in its registrations of the sober mahoganies and tender muslins and benign gaslights of the period. Now & then, too, the film gets well beyond the charm of mere tableau for short flights in the empyrean of genuine domestic poetry. These triumphs are creditable mainly to the intensity and grace of Margaret O'Brien and to the ability of director Minnelli & Co. to get the best out of her." O'Brien drew further praise from "Time:" "[Her] song and her cakewalk done in a nightgown at a grown-up party, are entrancing acts. Her self-terrified Halloween adventures richly set against firelight, dark streets, and the rusty confabulations of fallen leaves, bring this section of the film very near the first-rate."


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Writing in "The New Yorker", Wolcott Gibbs praised the film as "extremely attractive" and called the dialogue "funny in a sense rather rare in the movies," although he felt that the film was too long.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: In 2005, Richard Schickel included the film in Time.com's list of the 100 best films, saying: "It had wonderful songs [and] a sweetly unneurotic performance by Judy Garland...Despite its nostalgic charm, Minnelli infused the piece with a dreamy, occasionally surreal, darkness and it remains, for some of us, the greatest of American movie musicals."


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: Producer Arthur Freed remarked: ""Meet Me in St. Louis" is my personal favorite. I got along wonderfully with Judy, but the only time we were ever on the outs was when we did this film. She didn't want to do the picture. Even her mother came to me about it. We bumped into some trouble with some opinions – Eddie Mannix, the studio manager, thought the Halloween sequence was wrong, but it was left in. There was a song that Rodgers and Hammerstein had written, called "Boys and Girls Like You and Me", that Judy did wonderfully, but it slowed up the picture and it was cut out. After the preview of the completed film, Judy came over to me and said, 'Arthur, remind me not to tell you what kind of pictures to make.' [It] was the biggest grosser Metro had up to that time, except for "Gone With the Wind"."


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The film holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews with an average score of 8.80/10. The site's critics' consensus for the film reads: "A disarmingly sweet musical led by outstanding performances from Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien, "Meet Me in St. Louis" offers a holiday treat for all ages."


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Music, Song (Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for "The Trolley Song"). Margaret O'Brien received an Academy Juvenile Award for her work in "Meet Me in St. Louis" and several other films of the same year.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: In 1994, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The American Film Institute ranked the film 10th on its AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list. Two songs from the film were included in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list ("The Trolley Song" at #26 and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at #76).


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: The plot points for the film originate from the following of Sally Benson's stories published in "The New Yorker"


title: Meet Me in St. Louis

text: "The Trolley Song" is performed regularly by performers on Main Street, U.S.A. at the Disney Parks and Resorts.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The Play That Goes Wrong is a 2012 play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company. It won Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards. As of September 2021, the show has been running since 2012 in London; since 2014, the play has undertaken five tours of the UK.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: Before the play starts the audience see the backstage staff doing last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantelpiece and find a dog that has run off.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society (Cornley University in the American version), fresh from such hits as "Two Sisters", "The Lion and The Wardrobe", "Cat", and "James and the Peach" (or "James, Where's your Peach?"), has received a substantial bequest and is putting on a performance of "The Murder at Haversham Manor" – a 1920s murder mystery play, similar to "The Mousetrap", which has the right number of parts for the members. The script was written by the fictitious Susie H. K. Brideswell. During the performance, a play within a play, a plethora of disasters befall the cast, including doors sticking, props falling from the walls, and floors collapsing. Cast members are seen misplacing props, forgetting lines, missing cues, breaking character, having to drink white spirit instead of whisky (paint thinner in the U.S. production), mispronouncing words, stepping on fingers, being hidden in a grandfather clock, and being manhandled off stage. One cast member is knocked unconscious, and her replacement (the group technician) refuses to yield when she returns. In another scene, an actor repeats an earlier line of dialogue, cuing the other actors to repeat the whole dialogue sequence, ever more frenetically, several times. The climax is a tribute to a scene in Buster Keaton's film "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", when virtually the whole of the remaining set collapses.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The play premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London in 2012, and moved to Trafalgar Studios in 2013. The play then opened at the Duchess Theatre in the West End on 14 September 2014, where it remains as the longest-running play since the theatre opened in 1929. The direction is by Mark Bell. The cast included Henry Shields as Chris, Dave Hearn as Max, Rob Falconer as Trevor, Henry Lewis as Robert, Charlie Russell as Sandra, Jonathan Sayer as Dennis, Greg Tannahill as Jonathan, and Nancy Zamit as Annie. Sets are designed by Nigel Hook and built by Splinter Scenery. Costumes are designed by Roberto Surace.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The play's first UK tour began in January 2014 (prior to transferring to the Duchess Theatre in the West End) at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury featuring the original cast, visiting 17 venues and ending in Darlington in July.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: It began a second UK tour from January 2017, starting at the Theatre Royal in Bath, ending at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in August.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: A fourth UK tour commenced on 13 July 2021 at the Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, and concluded at the Waterside Theatre Aylesbury on 27 November 2021.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The fifth UK tour began at the Theatre Royal in Bath in April 2022. The original West End cast returned to this touring production for two weeks in Manchester and Newcastle.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The play opened on Broadway on 2 April 2017, with previews that began on 9 March 2017 at the Lyceum Theatre. The production featured the original London cast, and film director J. J. Abrams made his debut as a theatrical producer. The production closed on 6 January 2019, after 745 regular performances and 27 previews.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: A touring production began in Australia at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne from February 2017, before heading to Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The play toured North America, starting in September 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The original tour cast included Brandon J. Ellis as Trevor, Evan Alexander Smith as Chris, Yaegel T. Welch as Jonathan, Peyton Crim as Robert, Scott Cote as Dennis, Jamie Ann Romero as Sandra, Ned Noyes as Max, and Angela Grovey as Annie. Also on the tour as understudies were Michael Thatcher, Sid Solomon, Blair Baker, and Jacqueline Jarrold.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The Second National tour launched in the fall of 2019 and continued until the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to shut down ahead of schedule. Cast members included Chris Lanceley as Chris, Chris French as Jonathan, Michael Thatcher as Robert, Jacqueline Jarrold as Sandra, Todd Buonopone as Dennis, and Adam Petherbridge as Max. Bianca Horn initially played Annie before returning to the Off-Broadway company. She was replaced by Ashley D. Kelley. Jason Bowen also initially played Trevor before swapping places with off-Broadway’s Ryan Vincent Anderson.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The national tour is anticipated to go out again in 2023 with a stop at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The Broadway production transferred Off-Broadway to New World Stages on 11 February 2019. On March 12, 2020, production was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic until it reopened on October 15, 2021.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: In lieu of a 2021-2022 national tour, a sit down production was launched at Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse. The production opened in December 2021 and closed on May 21, 2022.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: Two television specials, an adaptation of "Peter Pan Goes Wrong" and a sequel titled "A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong", aired on BBC One in December 2016 and 2017.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: A TV series, "The Goes Wrong Show", followed in 2019. In December 2019, a full series of "The Goes Wrong Show" was broadcast featuring 6 episodes with the same cast as the other two TV specials. Each episode was said to have received an average of 2.2 million people watching it when broadcast.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: Following the success of the first series, the BBC commissioned a second series which premiered its first episode on 27 September 2021.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: "The Play That Goes Wrong" received positive reviews. Tim Walker of "The Telegraph" gave it four out of five stars, calling it "a great-looking, brilliantly performed piece" and stated that "I have seldom, if ever, heard louder or more sustained laughter in a theatre." Mark Shenton of the "London Theatre" gave it four out of five stars, stating that though the play would not appeal to everyone, "you cannot fail to admire the ceaseless energy of the cast", and shared that "the real surprise is just how well-sustained the joke is."


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: Sarah Hemming of the "Financial Times" gave the play four out of five stars, noting its shared lineage with plays such as "Noises Off" and stated that "It’s not new then, but it is often very funny." Though she found areas in the play that needed improvement ("it would be funnier if it started more subtly, rather than at full tilt... The company could also make more of offstage dynamics"), she considered the play to be "largely a joyous show."


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: The Broadway production of "The Play That Goes Wrong" won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design in a Play.


title: The Play That Goes Wrong

text: "The Play That Goes Wrong" has been translated and licensed for productions in over 30 other countries, namely China, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Greece, Israel, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Iceland, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, South Africa, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Portugal (UAU), Croatia, Russia, India (Natak na Natak nu Natak by Sharman Joshi Productions) and the Czech Republic.


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: "Summertime" is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera "Porgy and Bess". The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel "Porgy" on which the opera was based, and Ira Gershwin.


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: The song soon became a popular and much-recorded jazz standard, described as "without doubt ... one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote ... Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of blacks in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century". Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim characterized Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now" as "the best lyrics in the musical theater".


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: Gershwin began composing the song in December 1933, attempting to create his own spiritual in the style of the African American folk music of the period. Gershwin had completed setting DuBose Heyward's poem to music by February 1934, and spent the next 20 months completing and orchestrating the score of the opera.


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: The song is sung several times throughout "Porgy and Bess". Its lyrics are the first words heard in act 1 of the opera, following the communal "wa-do-wa". It is sung by Clara as a lullaby. The song theme is reprised soon after as counterpoint to the craps game scene, in act 2 in a reprise by Clara, and in act 3 by Bess, singing to Clara's now-orphaned baby after both its parents died in the storm.


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: The song was recorded for the first time by Abbie Mitchell on July 19, 1935, with George Gershwin playing the piano and conducting the orchestra (on: "George Gershwin Conducts Excerpts from Porgy & Bess", Mark 56 667).


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: The 1959 movie version of the musical featured Loulie Jean Norman singing the song. That rendition finished at #52 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: Heyward's inspiration for the lyrics was the southern folk spiritual-lullaby "All My Trials", of which he had Clara sing a snippet in his play "Porgy". The lyrics have been highly praised by Stephen Sondheim. Writing of the opening line, he says


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: Gershwin was remarkably successful in his intent to have this sound like a folk song. This is reinforced by his extensive use of the pentatonic scale (C–D–E–G–A) in the context of the A minor tonality and a slow-moving harmonic progression that suggests a "blues". Because of these factors, this tune has been a favorite of jazz performers for decades and can be done in a variety of tempos and styles.


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: While in his own description, Gershwin did not use any previously composed spirituals in his opera, "Summertime" is often considered an adaptation of the African American spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", which ended the play version of "Porgy".


title: Summertime (George Gershwin song)

text: Statistics for the number of recordings of "Summertime" vary by source; while older data is restricted to commercial releases, newer sources may include versions self-published online. "The Jazz Discography" in 2005 listed 1,161 official releases, ranking the song fourth among jazz standards. Joe Nocera in 2012 said there were "over 25,000" recordings. "Guinness World Records" lists the website's 2017 figure of 67,591 as the world record total.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the president of international think tank Policy Network, honorary president of the Great Britain–China Centre, and chairman of strategic advisory firm Global Counsel. Mandelson is often referred to as a Blairite.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: From 1985 to 1990, Mandelson served as Labour's Director of Communications. He was one of the first to whom the term "spin doctor" was applied and gained the nickname "the Prince of Darkness" because of his "ruthlessness" and "media savvy". He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004 and held a number of Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He was the European Commissioner for Trade between 2004 and 2008.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson was one of several key people responsible for the rebranding of the Labour Party as New Labour before its victory in the 1997 election. He was twice forced to resign from the Cabinet before leaving Parliament to take up an appointment as a European Commissioner. He later rejoined the Cabinet for a third time after being created a life peer, sitting on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. He is the only person to have held the position of First Secretary of State as a Peer.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Peter Mandelson was born in Hendon, Middlesex, on 21 October 1953, the son of Mary Joyce ("née" Morrison) and George Norman Mandelson. His father's family were Jewish; his grandfather had founded the Harrow United Synagogue. His father (known as Tony) was the advertising manager of "The Jewish Chronicle" who was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Dragoons in the Second World War. On his mother's side, Mandelson is a grandson of Herbert Morrison, the London County Council Leader and Labour Cabinet Minister in the Attlee ministry.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson was raised in Hampstead Garden Suburb. He says of his childhood – "my whole upbringing was framed around the Suburb – my friendships and values".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson attended Garden Suburb School, and between 1965 and 1972, Hendon County Grammar School. In 1966 he appeared on stage with the local amateur theatre group, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Dramatic Society, as the eponymous lead in "The Winslow Boy".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: From 1973 to 1976 he read philosophy, politics and economics at St Catherine's College, Oxford. During his teenage years he was a member of the Young Communist League, but later became a member of the Oxford University Labour Club.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In the late 1970s he became Chairman of the British Youth Council. As Chair of the BYC, he was a delegate in 1978 to the Soviet-organised World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana, Cuba. There, with several future Labour Cabinet colleagues, he – together with future IUSY President Hilary Barnard, Charles Clarke, Richard Corbett and Trevor Phillips – successfully frustrated agreement on a distorted Soviet text on youth in the capitalist countries.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: He was elected to Lambeth Borough Council in 1979 but stood down in 1982, disillusioned with the state of Labour politics.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson then worked for some time as a television producer at London Weekend Television on "Weekend World", where he formed a friendship with his superior John ("now" Lord) Birt.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 1985, the Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock appointed him as the party's Director of Communications. As Director, he was one of the first people in Britain to whom the term "spin doctor" was applied; he was thus called "the Prince of Darkness".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 1986 Mandelson ran the campaign at the Fulham by-election in which Labour defeated the Conservative Party. For the 1987 election campaign, Mandelson commissioned film director Hugh Hudson, whose "Chariots of Fire" (1981) had won an Oscar as Best Picture, to make a party political broadcast promoting Neil Kinnock as a potential prime minister. Tagged "Kinnock – the Movie", it led to the party leader's approval rating being raised by 16% or 19% in polls and was even repeated in another PPB slot. The election, held on 11 June 1987, returned Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives for the third time, although Labour gained 20 seats, and, this time, convincingly pushed the SDP-Liberal Alliance into third place. Opponents termed the Labour Party's election campaign "a brilliantly successful election defeat".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: He ceased being a Labour Party official in 1990 when he was selected as Labour candidate for the constituency of Hartlepool, which was then considered a safe seat.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Malcolm Tucker, the fictional character from Armando Iannucci's "The Thick of It", is based, in part, on Mandelson.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson was first elected to the House of Commons at the 1992 general election, and made several speeches outlining his strong support for the European Union. Although sidelined during the brief period when John Smith led the party, Mandelson was by now close to two Shadow Cabinet members – Gordon Brown and Tony Blair – each regarded as potential future leaders of the party.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Following Smith's sudden death on 12 May 1994, Mandelson chose to back Blair for the leadership, believing him to be a superior communicator to Brown and played a leading role in the leadership campaign. This created antagonism between Mandelson and Brown, though they were considered allies in the Labour Party. In 1994 Kate Garvey suggested that Mandelson (who was at the time being derided by the trade unions and other Labour factions), should adopt a "nom de guerre" throughout Blair's leadership bid, so that he might conceal his considerable role within the campaign team. Mandelson agreed to be called "Bobby" for the duration and was thanked by Blair using this name in his victory speech.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: After becoming a close ally and trusted adviser to Tony Blair, Mandelson was Labour's election campaign director for the 1997 general election, which Labour won decisively.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: He was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, where his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the Millennium Dome, after Blair decided to go ahead with the project despite the opposition of most of the cabinet (including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who had been running it). Jennie Page, the Dome project's chief executive, was abruptly sacked after a farcical opening night. She gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee for Culture and Heritage in June 2000. In what was seen as a reference to the close interest in the Dome from Mandelson, known at the time as so-called "Dome Secretary" and his successor Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Page told the committee: "I made several attempts to persuade ministers that standing back from the Dome would be good for them as well as good for the Dome".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In July 1998 he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; he launched the Millennium Bug And Electronic Commerce Bill and a Competitiveness White Paper, which he described, as 'bold, far reaching and absolutely necessary'. He also appointed a "Net Tsar" to lead the UK in what he termed the "new industrial revolution". In 1998 he was appointed a Privy Counsellor.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson bought a home in Notting Hill in 1996 partly with an interest-free loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, a cabinet colleague and millionaire whose business dealings were subject to an inquiry by Mandelson's department. Mandelson contended that he had deliberately not taken part in any decisions relating to Robinson. However, he had not declared the loan in the Register of Members' Interests and resigned in December 1998. Mandelson had also not declared the loan to his building society (the Britannia) although they decided not to take any action, with the CEO stating "I am satisfied that the information given to us at the time of the mortgage application was accurate." Mandelson initially thought he could weather the press storm, but had to resign when it became clear that the Prime Minister thought nothing else would clear the air.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In October 2000 it was reported that Robinson had "accused Peter Mandelson of lying to the Commons about the home loan affair that cost both of them their government jobs."


title: Peter Mandelson

text: He was out of the Cabinet for ten months. In October 1999 he was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, replacing Mo Mowlam. In his very first speech in the post he mistakenly referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland." During his tenure he oversaw the creation of the devolved legislative assembly and power-sharing executive and reform of the police service.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: On 24 January 2001, Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time, following accusations of using his position to influence a passport application.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: He had contacted Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, an Indian businessman who was seeking British citizenship and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the Millennium Dome. At the time Hinduja and his brothers were under investigation by the Indian government for alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson insisted he had done nothing wrong and was exonerated by an independent inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond, which concluded that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: At the 2001 general election Mandelson was challenged by Arthur Scargill of the Socialist Labour Party and by John Booth, a former Labour Party press officer standing as "Genuine Labour", but Mandelson was re-elected with a large majority. In his victory speech, Mandelson said: "It was said that I was facing political oblivion ... Well, they underestimated Hartlepool and they underestimated me because I am a fighter and not a quitter."


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Despite Labour success in the June 2001 general election, a third Cabinet appointment did not materialise and he indicated his interest in becoming the United Kingdom's European Commissioner when the new Commission was established in 2004. Both of Britain's Commissioners, Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten, were due to stand down. Appointment as a European Commissioner would require his resignation from Parliament precipitating a by-election in his Hartlepool constituency. His appointment was announced in the summer and on 8 September 2004 Mandelson resigned his seat by submitting his name as Steward of the Manor of Northstead. Labour won the subsequent Hartlepool by-election with a much-reduced majority of 2,033 votes (equating to 40.7% of the vote). He was succeeded as MP for Hartlepool by Iain Wright.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In October 2008 he left his post as Trade Commissioner to return to UK politics. As a former EU Commissioner, Mandelson was entitled to a £31,000 pension upon reaching the age of 65 years. It was claimed by Christopher Hope of "The Daily Telegraph" in 2009 that Mandelson's pension was contingent on a "duty of loyalty to the Communities", which also applied after his term in office. The Taxpayers' Alliance, which was reported to have uncovered the threat to his pension, demanded that he should declare the conflict of interest and either relinquish his EU pay cheques or resign as a minister. "When one considers that his new ministerial post deals specifically with business, enterprise and regulatory reform – all areas that are intimately involved with EU legislation, regulation and policy –" the group said, "the conflict of interest is even more stark." Mandelson did not agree that he had a conflict of interests. "He has always had a clear view of British interests and how they are secured by our EU membership," a spokesperson said.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: The website Full Fact reported in 2019 that the claim was untrue, stating that while there are rules governing the conduct of current and former EU staff members, which can lead to pensions sanctions, the European Commission had informed them that it would be "probably impossible" for such people to lose their pension for criticising the EU or supporting Brexit. Full Fact also pointed out that there had been multiple cases of both current and ex-commissioners criticising the EU – in April 2019, German former Commissioner Günter Verheugen criticised the EU's Brexit negotiating position, saying "the problem is on the EU side", while in 2017 British former Commissioner Lord Hill had supported "getting on" with Brexit.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: On 3 October 2008, as part of Gordon Brown's Cabinet reshuffle, it was announced amid some controversy that Mandelson would return to Government in the re-designated post of Business Secretary and would be raised to the peerage, thus becoming a member of the House of Lords. On 13 October 2008 he was created Baron Mandelson, of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, and was introduced in the House of Lords the same day.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Following his return to office, Mandelson supported the planned Heathrow expansion. On 6 March 2009, environmental protester Leila Deen of anti-aviation group Plane Stupid approached him outside a summit on the government's low carbon industrial strategy and threw a cup of green custard in his face in protest over his support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The protester was cautioned on 9 April for causing "harassment, alarm or distress".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009 Mandelson was granted the honorific title of First Secretary of State and appointed Lord President of the Council; it was also announced that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills would be merged into his, giving him the new title of Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and that he would continue as President of the Board of Trade.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In August 2009 Mandelson was widely reported to have ordered "technical measures" such as internet disconnection to be included in the draft of the Digital Economy Act 2010 after a "big lobbying operation", even though the Digital Britain report had rejected this type of punishment. "The Independent" reported that according to their Whitehall sources, Mandelson was persuaded that tough laws were needed to reduce online copyright infringement following an intensive lobbying campaign by influential people in the music and film industry. The paper also reported that this included a meeting with DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen at the Rothschild family villa on the Greek island of Corfu. Mandelson's spokesperson claimed that there had been no discussion of internet piracy during the Corfu dinner and suggested that the decision to reverse Lord Carter's findings had been taken in late July before the trip. "The Times" reported after the Corfu meeting that an unnamed Whitehall source had confirmed that before this trip, Mandelson had shown little personal interest in the Digital Britain agenda, which has been ongoing for several years. According to the source of "The Times", Mandelson returned from holiday and effectively issued an edict that the regulation needed to be tougher.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In August 2011 a Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that Mandelson had decided to approve the inclusion of technical measures, such as the disconnection of internet access, at least two months before public consultation had finished and that he had shown little interest in the consultation. Letters from Mandelson's office document talks with Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group, on 2 June 2009 and that on the following day Mandelson advised Lord Carter about the "possibility of [the Secretary of State] having a power to direct Ofcom to go directly to introduce technical measures". Mandelson made the formal announcement that technical measures, including disconnection, were to be included in the Digital Economy Bill two months later on 7 August 2009.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: An opinion poll conducted by the centre-left think tank Compass found in March 2009 that Mandelson was less disliked by party members than Deputy Leader Harriet Harman. This was felt to be unusual as Mandelson "historically has been unpopular among Labour members". Tony Blair's assertion in 1996 that "my project will be complete when the Labour Party learns to love Peter Mandelson" was seen as prophetic in late September 2009 when Mandelson was enthusiastically received at the party conference in Brighton.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: After the Labour Party lost the 2010 general election, Mandelson's memoirs, "", were published in July 2010, two months after leaving office. The memoirs were subsequently criticised by Labour leadership contenders Ed and David Miliband and Andy Burnham. During this time he was appointed President of the international think tank Policy Network.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In November 2010, Mandelson and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser founded Global Counsel, a consultancy firm based in London, with the financial support of WPP, the advertising giant. The firm provides advice for corporate strategists and senior management worldwide. Mandelson has been criticised for so far not disclosing his clients.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 1999, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Mandelson was an invited guest of the Bilderberg Group and attended the annual conferences.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In January 2011, it was announced that Mandelson would serve as a senior adviser to the advisory investment banking firm, Lazard. In 2013, he also joined the Board of Trustees of Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft. In May 2011 it was revealed that there was speculation that Mandelson had been approached by China to be a candidate for the leadership of the International Monetary Fund, even though Mandelson had not been a finance minister or headed a central bank. However, it was then speculated that Mandelson would stand to succeed Pascal Lamy as Director-General of the World Trade Organization, backed by David Cameron.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In May 2012, Mandelson confirmed that he was advising Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in selling timber products to Europe. In 2012 APP was accused of illegal logging in Indonesia and damaging the habitats of rare animals such as the Sumatran tiger. At least 67 companies worldwide, such as Tesco and Kraft Foods since 2004 and Danone since 2012 have boycotted APP.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 2013, Mandelson was appointed to the revived post of High Steward of Hull, a ceremonial position held by his grandfather Herbert Morrison in 1956–65 and defunct since 1974.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: After the 2015 Labour leadership election resulted in Jeremy Corbyn becoming the party leader, Mandelson stated that he believed that Labour was now unelectable, but advised party members unhappy with the situation to wait for Corbyn to demonstrate this before working to replace him. He wished for an early general election to force Corbyn out. In February 2017, he said Corbyn had "no idea in the 21st century how to conduct himself as a leader of a party putting itself forward in a democratic election" and "I work every single day to bring forward the end of [Corbyn's] tenure in office".


title: Peter Mandelson

text: After the results of the 2017 general election became known, Mandelson conceded that Corbyn's election campaign was "very sure footed" and the result, in which Labour gained seats and denied the Conservatives a majority, unexpected. "I was wrong" about Corbyn, he told BBC News. "I am very surprised, an earthquake has happened in British politics and I did not foresee it", although he doubted Corbyn's ability to gain a Commons majority. Two years later, in the 2019 general election, Labour suffered their worst defeat since the 1930s. Mandelson described the result as "not undeserved", arguing that Corbyn's leadership was one of the main reasons for Labour's defeat.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: During the 2016 EU referendum, Mandelson sat on the board on Britain Stronger in Europe, the official "Remain" campaign. The campaign was unsuccessful.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: After Roberto Azevêdo announced he would step down as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in September 2020, Mandelson declared his interest in running to succeed him. He proceeded to lobby governments around the world for the job, arguing that the WTO had "reached a fork in the road" and had to be "picked up and put back on its feet". Mandelson was overlooked in favour of the Conservative Liam Fox due to his opposition to Brexit. His candidacy ended when Fox beat him to win the nomination of the UK government.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 2021 it was reported that Mandelson had been advising Labour leader Keir Starmer on moving the party beyond Corbyn's leadership and broadening its electoral appeal.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: During the 2009 expenses scandal "The Daily Telegraph" raised questions about the timing of Mandelson's second home allowance claim, dating from 2004, saying, "Lord Mandelson billed the taxpayer for almost £3,000 of work on his constituency home in Hartlepool less than a week after announcing his decision to stand down as an MP." Mandelson said in a statement, "The work done was necessary maintenance. All claims made were reasonable and submitted consistent with parliamentary rules."


title: Peter Mandelson

text: On 22 April 2005 "The Times" revealed that Mandelson had spent the previous New Year's Eve on the yacht of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, which was at the centre of a major EU investigation and although it did not allege impropriety, it did state that Mandelson's visit was inappropriate for a serving European Commissioner.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: During the summer of 2008 Mandelson had a widely publicised disagreement with Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France. Sarkozy accused him of trying to sell out European farmers and appeared to blame his handling of the Doha round of trade talks for the "no" vote in the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Mandelson said his position at world trade talks had been undermined and told the BBC he did not start the row, saying, "I stood up for myself, I'm not to be bullied." He said he believed the row was over but renewed his warnings on protectionism.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 2008 Mandelson was hospitalised, suffering from a kidney stone. At this time, melamine added to milk in China had caused kidney stones and other ailments in thousands of Chinese children, killing at least six. Ironically, during the previous week Mandelson had drunk a glass of Chinese yoghurt in front of reporters in order to show his confidence in Chinese dairy products, although his own kidney stones were unrelated.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In October 2008 Mandelson was reported to have maintained private contacts over several years with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, most recently on holiday in August 2008 on Deripaska's yacht at Taverna Agni on the Greek island of Corfu. News of the contacts sparked criticism because, as European Union Trade Commissioner, Mandelson had been responsible for two decisions to cut aluminium tariffs that had benefited Deripaska's United Company Rusal. Mandelson denied that there had been a conflict of interest and insisted that he had never discussed aluminium tariffs with Deripaska. On 26 October 2008 the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague claimed the "whole country" wanted "transparency" about Mandelson's previous meetings with Deripaska. In response, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Mandelson's dealings with Deripaska had been "found to be above board". Mandelson said that meeting business figures from "across the range" in emerging economies was part of his brief as EU Trade Commissioner. On 29 October 2008, while Mandelson was on a ministerial visit to Moscow, it was alleged in the British press that Valery Pechenkin, the head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element, had organised a swift entry visa for Mandelson when he turned up in Moscow to visit Deripaska in 2005.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In June 2013, writing for the Progress website, Mandelson warned Labour it risked harming its election chances if affiliated trade unions continued to "manipulate parliamentary selections" as was alleged in the 2013 Labour Party Falkirk candidate selection controversy.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 2019, UK's Channel 4 aired an episode of "Dispatches" where a source close to Epstein claimed that Peter Mandelson (while serving as a UK Cabinet Minister) made a phonecall to Epstein while he was in prison after pleading guilty for trafficking minors in order to set up a meeting with Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan. In a statement, lawyers for Mandelson said: “Our client has no recollection of a telephone conversation with Mr Epstein in January 2009. He talked to bank CEOs on a regular basis, including Mr Dimon. These contacts were arranged through his office.”


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson was, until 8 October 2008, the President of Central School of Speech and Drama. He was replaced in this un-remunerated post by playwright Harold Pinter, who died two months later.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: In 2011, Mandelson was guest of honour at Herbert Morrison Primary School in Vauxhall, South London. The school was hosting a special themed day in honour of Mandelson's grandfather, Herbert Morrison, after whom the school was named.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: Mandelson is gay and he is said to be 'intensely private' about his personal life. During his time as a former government leader, the press – tabloid and broadsheet alike – often portrayed Mandelson as effeminate through "the linguistic resources of camp" and narcissistic – sometimes including coded references to homosexual acts in their descriptions of his actions.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: While his sexual orientation was known to friends, colleagues and constituents, in 1987 the "News of the World" ran an issue that attempted to out Mandelson as gay. Mandelson preferred to keep his personal life private and as such did not respond. Mandelson was outed again by Matthew Parris in 1998 on the BBC programme "Newsnight". This led to press harassment of his partner, with the "Daily Express" sending a reporter to take pictures of him while he was at his languages course.


title: Peter Mandelson

text: An internal investigation later found that the photos had been obtained without Avila da Silva's consent and images of him attempting to cover his face had been secretly deleted. Mandelson phoned the BBC and the Press Complaints Commission following "Newsnight" broadcast, and an internal memo was later sent within the BBC, stating that "Under no circumstances whatsoever should allegations about the private life of Peter Mandelson be repeated or referred to on any broadcast."


title: Reign in Blood

text: Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 7, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track "Angel of Death", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band's members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject.


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Reign in Blood" was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Today, it is often mentioned among the greatest heavy metal records ever. In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Reign in Blood" at #6. Alongside Anthrax's "Among the Living", Megadeth's "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?", and Metallica's "Master of Puppets", "Reign in Blood" helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since. The album was Slayer's first to enter the US "Billboard" 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold on November 20, 1992. In 2013, "NME" ranked it at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Following the positive reception Slayer's previous release "Hell Awaits" had received, the band's producer and manager Brian Slagel realized the band were in a position to hit the "big time" with their next album. Slagel negotiated with several record labels, among them Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons' Def Jam Recordings. However, Slagel was reluctant to have the band signed to what was at the time primarily a hip hop label. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was made aware of Rubin's interest, and he initiated contact with the producer. However, Slayer's remaining members were apprehensive of leaving Metal Blade Records, with whom they were already under contract.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Lombardo contacted Columbia Records, which was Def Jam's distributor, and managed to get in touch with Rubin, who along with photographer Glen E. Friedman agreed to attend one of the band's concerts. Friedman had produced Suicidal Tendencies's self-titled debut album, in which Slayer vocalist Tom Araya made a guest appearance in the music video for the album's single "Institutionalized", pushing Suicidal Tendencies's vocalist Mike Muir. Around this time, Rubin asked Friedman if he knew Slayer.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Guitarist Jeff Hanneman was surprised by Rubin's interest in the band, and was impressed by his work with the hip hop acts Run DMC and LL Cool J. During a visit by Slagel to a European music convention, Rubin spoke with the band directly, and persuaded them to sign with Def Jam. Slagel paid a personal tribute to Rubin, and said that Rubin was the most passionate of all the label representatives the band were in negotiations with. Following the agreement, Friedman brought the band members to Seattle for two days of publicity shots, possible record shots, and photos for a tour book; Rubin felt no good photos of the band had been taken before that point. One of the photos was used on the back cover of the band's 1988 release "South of Heaven".


title: Reign in Blood

text: The cover artwork was designed by Larry Carroll, who at the time was creating political illustrations for "The Progressive", "Village Voice", and "The New York Times". The cover art was featured in "Blender Magazine"'s 2006 "top ten heavy metal album covers of all time." Despite its warm reception, the band members themselves originally did not like the image. King said, "nobody in the band wanted that cover. We were stuck with it." He even described the artist as a "warped demented freak," although Carroll went on to make cover arts for their next albums "South of Heaven" (1988), "Seasons in the Abyss" (1990) and "Christ Illusion" (2006).


title: Reign in Blood

text: It was believed that Columbia Records initially refused to release "Reign in Blood" because of the disturbing imagery. Araya refuted this claim in 2016 saying that it was because of the song "Angel of Death" and it had nothing to do with the cover art.


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Reign in Blood" was recorded and produced at Hit City West in Los Angeles with Rubin producing and Andy Wallace engineering. The album was the label boss' first professional experience with heavy metal, and his fresh perspective led to a drastic makeover of Slayer's sound. Steve Huey of AllMusic believed Rubin drew tighter and faster songs from the band, and delivered a cleanly produced sound that contrasted sharply with their previous recordings. This resulted in drastic changes to Slayer's sound, and changed audiences' perception of the band. Araya has since stated their two previous releases were not up to par production-wise.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Guitarist Kerry King later remarked that "[i]t was like, 'Wow—you can hear everything, and those guys aren't just playing fast; those notes are on time.'"


title: Reign in Blood

text: According to Araya, it was Hanneman's idea to add the scream for the introduction in Angel of Death. Araya did several takes but ended up using the first one.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Hanneman later admitted that while the band was listening to Metallica and Megadeth at the time, they were finding the repetition of guitar riffs tiring. He said, "If we do a verse two or three times, we're already bored with it. So we weren't trying to make the songs shorter—that's just what we were into," which resulted in the album's short duration of 29 minutes. The band only realized the album's runtime once they were finishing up with its mixing with engineer Andy Wallace. The band weren't sure whether they would have to hit the studio to create more material or just leave it, so they turned to Rubin. “His only reply was that it had 10 songs, verses, choruses and leads and that’s what constituted an album. He didn’t have any issue with it," Araya told Metal Hammer. King had stated that while hour-long records seem to be the trend, "[y]ou could lose this part; you could cut this song completely, and make a much more intense record, which is what we're all about." When the record was completed, the band met with Rubin, who asked: "Do you realize how short this is?" Slayer members looked at each other, and replied: "So what?" The entire album was on one side of a cassette; King stated it was "neat," as "You could listen to it, flip it over, and play it again." The music is abrasive and faster than previous releases, helping to narrow the gap between thrash metal and its predecessor hardcore punk, and is played at an average of 220 beats per minute.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Following the album's recording sessions, Slayer embarked on the "Reign in Pain" tour with the bands Overkill in the United States and Malice in Europe; they also served as the opening act for W.A.S.P.'s U.S. tour in 1987. In late 1986, drummer Lombardo quit the band. To continue the tour Slayer enlisted Whiplash drummer Tony Scaglione.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Rubin called Lombardo daily to insist he return, telling him: "Dude, you gotta come back in the band." Rubin offered Lombardo a salary, but he was still hesitant about returning; at this point Lombardo had been out of the band for several months. Lombardo returned in 1987; Rubin came to his house and picked him up in his Porsche, taking him to a Slayer rehearsal.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Although the album received no radio airplay, it was the band's first release to enter the "Billboard" 200, where it debuted at #127, and attained its peak position of 94 in its sixth week. The album also reached #47 on the UK Album Chart, and on November 20, 1992, it was certified gold in the US.


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Reign in Blood" was critically acclaimed by the underground and mainstream music press. Reviewing for AllMusic, Steve Huey awarded the album five out of five, describing it a "stone-cold classic." "Stylus Magazine" critic Clay Jarvis awarded the album an A+ grade, calling it a "genre-definer," as well as "the greatest metal album of all time." Jarvis further remarked the song "Angel of Death" "smokes the asses of any band playing fast and/or heavy today. Lyrically outlining the horrors to come, while musically laying the groundwork for the rest of the record: fast, lean and filthy." "Kerrang!" magazine described it as the "heaviest album of all time," and listed the album at #27 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". "Metal Hammer" magazine named it "the best metal album of the last 20 years" in 2006. "Q Magazine" ranked "Reign in Blood" among their list of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time", and "Spin Magazine" ranked the album #67 on their list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005". Critic Chad Bowar stated: "1986's "Reign in Blood" is probably the best thrash album ever recorded." In August 2014, "Revolver" placed the album on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list. In 2017, it was ranked 6th on "Rolling Stone" list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".


title: Reign in Blood

text: Adrien Begrand of PopMatters observed that "[t]here's no better song to kick things off than the masterful 'Angel of Death', one of the most monumental songs in metal history, where guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman deliver their intricate riffs, drummer Dave Lombardo performs some of the most powerful drumming ever recorded, and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya screams and snarls his tale of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele." When asked why "Reign in Blood" has retained its popularity, King replied: "If you released "Reign in Blood" today, no one would give a shit. It was timing; it was a change in sound. In thrash metal at that time, no one had ever heard good production on a record like that. It was just a bunch of things that came together at once." Decibel inducted "Reign in Blood" into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame in November 2004, being the first album to earn such award.


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Reign in Blood" is regarded by critics as one of the most influential and extreme thrash metal albums. In its "Greatest Metal Bands Of All Time" poll, MTV praised Slayer's "downtuned rhythms, infectious guitar licks, graphically violent lyrics and grisly artwork," which they stated "set the standard for dozens of emerging thrash bands," while "Slayer's music was directly responsible for the rise of death metal." MTV described "Reign in Blood" as essential listening, and the album was ranked number 7 on IGN's "Top 25 Most Influential Metal Albums".


title: Reign in Blood

text: Asked during a press tour for 1994's "Divine Intervention" about the pressure of living up to "Reign in Blood", King replied that the band did not try to better it, but just wanted to make music. In 2006, "Blabbermouth"'s Don Kaye drew a comparison to the band's 2006 album "Christ Illusion", and concluded, "Slayer may never make an album as incendiary as "Reign in Blood" again."


title: Reign in Blood

text: Rapper Necro was heavily influenced by the album, and has remarked that it takes him back to the 1980s, "when shit was pure". Ektomorf vocalist Zoltán Farkas describes the album as one of his primary influences. Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse stated Lombardo's performance on the album helped him play faster throughout his career.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Kelly Shaefer of Atheist said: "When "Reign in Blood" came out it changed everything! That is easily the best extreme metal record ever!"


title: Reign in Blood

text: Hanneman said that the album was his personal favorite, reasoning it was "so short and quick and to the point".


title: Reign in Blood

text: Paul Bostaph – Slayer's drummer from 1992 to 2001, and from 2013 to 2019 – first heard the record while a member of Forbidden. At a party, he walked towards music he heard from another room, and approached Forbidden guitarist Craig Locicero. Asked what was playing, Locicero shouted, "The new Slayer record." After listening closely, Bostaph looked at Locicero, and concluded his band was "fucked".


title: Reign in Blood

text: Oderus Urungus of Gwar cited 'Altar of Sacrifice' as his favourite Slayer song: "It's the one I would always play for my friends when I was getting into Slayer. They would get this glazed look in their eyes and worship the speakers while doing the devil-horn thing."


title: Reign in Blood

text: In 2016, "Loudwire" ranked "Reign in Blood" #1 among Slayer's eleven studio albums. In 2013, "NME" ranked it at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.


title: Reign in Blood

text: The tracks "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death" have become almost permanent additions to Slayer's live set, and were Hanneman's favorite tracks to play live. The band played "Reign in Blood" in its entirety throughout the fall of 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". In 2004, a live DVD of the same name was released, which included a finale with the band covered in fake blood during the performance of "Raining Blood".


title: Reign in Blood

text: King later said that while the idea of playing "Reign in Blood" in its entirety was suggested before by their booking agency, it was met with little support. The band ultimately decided they needed to add more excitement to their live shows, and to avoid repetition incorporated the ideas of raining blood. When asked about using fake blood in future performances, King remarked: "It's time to move on, but never say never. I know Japan never saw it, South America and Australia never saw it. So you never know." In 2008 the band performed "Reign in Blood" in its entirety once again, this time in Paris, France, during the third European Unholy Alliance Tour.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Although it was omitted from a number of concerts because of short time allotments, Slayer have often said that they enjoy playing the album in its entirety. According to Hanneman: "We still enjoy playing these songs live. We play these songs over and over and over, but they're good songs, intense songs! If it were melodic songs or some kind of boring 'clap your hands' song, you'd be going crazy playing those every night. But our songs are just bam-bam-bam-bam, they're intense." The band was on stage for 70 minutes, which only allowed seven or eight additional songs to be played following the album's play. King stated this arrangement "alienates too many people". In the Unholy Alliance Tour of 2004, however, the album was played in its entirety during Slayer's set as the last ten songs to end the show. The album was performed live at the I'll Be Your Mirror London festival in May 2012. In May 2014, it was announced that Slayer would perform the album in its entirety at Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to distribute the album due to the song "Angel of Death", because of its setting and description of the Holocaust. "Reign in Blood" was eventually distributed by Geffen Records; however, due to the controversy it did not appear on Geffen's release schedule and the Geffen logo was not put on the album.


title: Reign in Blood

text: For the album, Slayer decided to abandon much of the earlier Satanic themes explored on their previous album "Hell Awaits", and write about issues that were more on a street level. "Reign in Blood"'s lyrics include death, religion, insanity, and murder, while the lead track "Angel of Death" details human experiments conducted at the Auschwitz concentration camp by Josef Mengele, who was dubbed "the Angel of death" by inmates. The song led to accusations of Nazi sympathizing and racism, which have followed the band throughout their career.


title: Reign in Blood

text: Hanneman was inspired to write "Angel of Death" after he read a number of books on Mengele during a Slayer tour. Hanneman has complained people usually misinterpret the lyrics, and clarified: "Nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man, because to me — well, isn't that obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that." The band utilized the controversy to attract publicity, incorporating the Reichsadler into their logo (also the S in the band's name resembles the Sig runes used by the SS), and writing a song in "Divine Intervention" titled "SS-3" --- which depicts Reinhard Heydrich, the second in command in the Schutzstaffel, his assassination by the Czechoslovak Resistance, and the bloody reprisals for it.


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Raining Blood" was covered by Tori Amos on her 2001 album "Strange Little Girls". King has admitted that he thought the cover was odd: "It took me a minute and a half to find a spot in the song where I knew where she was. It's so weird. If she had never told us, we would have never known. You could have played it for us and we'd have been like, 'What's that?' Like a minute and a half through I heard a line and was like, 'I know where she's at!'". The band, however, liked the cover enough to send Slayer T-shirts to her. The song was also covered by Malevolent Creation, Chimaira, Vader, Dokaka, Reggie and the Full Effect and Killick Erik Hinds, who covered the entire album on a H'arpeggione. "Raining Blood" was also covered by the New Zealand drum and bass band Concord Dawn on their 2003 album "Uprising", and by Nashville, Tennessee band Asschapel on their 7" "Satanation". A medley of "Raining Blood" and "Postmortem" appears on Body Count's 2016 album "Bloodlust", preceded by a short monologue by lead singer Ice-T where he names Slayer as both a major influence on Body Count and as one of his favorite bands of all time "and always will be"; a video for Body Count's version was released in August 2017.


title: Reign in Blood

text: In 2005, the Slayer tribute band Dead Skin Mask released an album with eight Slayer tracks, including "Angel of Death". The death metal band Monstrosity covered the song in 1999, while the track was featured on the classical band Apocalyptica's 2006 album "Amplified / A Decade of Reinventing the Cello". A Slayer tribute album titled "Al Sur del Abismo (Tributo Argentino a Slayer)", compiled by Hurling Metal Records, featured sixteen tracks covered by Argentina metal bands, including Asinesia's version of "Angel of Death".


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Raining Blood" was featured in the "South Park" episode, "Die Hippie, Die", which aired on March 16, 2005. The plot centers on the town of South Park, which has been overrun by hippies. Eric Cartman states "Hippies can't stand death metal" and proceeds to drill through a hippie concert onto the main stage to change the audio to "Raining Blood", making the hippies run away. King found the episode humorous and expressed his appreciation for the show, ending the interview with "It was good to see the song being put to good use, if we can horrify some hippies we've done our job." "Angel of Death" also appears in several movies, including "", at the point when the character Mohawk turns into a spider, "", where it is played during a car stunt scene, and in the 2005 Iraq War documentary "Soundtrack to War".


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Angel of Death" was featured in the multi–platform video game "Tony Hawk's Project 8". Nolan Nelson, who selected the soundtrack for the game, asserts: "one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever recorded. Don't know who Slayer is? I feel sorry for you." "Raining Blood" was included in the "" in–game radio station .


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Raining Blood" is also one of the songs featured in "" and later "Guitar Hero Smash Hits", and is considered one of the most difficult songs in the game, if not the hardest of the career song list.


title: Reign in Blood

text: "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" are both available as DLC for "Rocksmith 2014" and for the "Rock Band" series.


title: Reign in Blood

text: In season 1, episode 6 of The Leftovers, the character Nora Durst (played by Carrie Coon) pays a prostitute to shoot her in the chest while she wears a Kevlar vest, playing "Angel of Death" to mask the sound of gunfire.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: Gwynne Shotwell ( Rowley; born November 23, 1963) is an American businesswoman and engineer. She is the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, an American space transportation company, where she is responsible for day-to-day operations and company growth.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: , Shotwell is listed as the 38th most powerful woman in the world by "Forbes". In 2020, she was included on "Time"s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: Shotwell was born in Evanston, Illinois, as the middle of three daughters to a brain surgeon and an artist, and was raised in Libertyville, Illinois. In 1982, she graduated from Libertyville High School. In 1969, she watched a television broadcast of the Apollo 11 mission with her family, but remembers finding it "boring" and was not interested in space at the time. Shotwell excelled in both academics and athletics in high school, where she was on the cheerleading and Varsity basketball teams while achieving at the top of her class. Her interests changed during high school after her mother took her to a panel discussion at the Illinois Institute of Technology by the Society of Women Engineers, where a mechanical engineer in particular inspired Shotwell to become an engineer. Following this, she decided to apply to Northwestern University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, and later a Master of Science degree in applied mathematics.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: At the beginning of her career, Shotwell had an interview with IBM on the day of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster, which disturbed her and she did not get a job offer. Instead, Shotwell took a job in the automotive industry at Chrysler Corporation's management training program, which she initially enjoyed but later grew tired of and left to return to Northwestern for her graduate degree.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: In 1988, Shotwell began work at the El Segundo research center of The Aerospace Corporation, and did technical work on military space research and development contracts. An early project she worked on was STS-39. During a ten-year tenure, she worked in thermal analysis. Shotwell worked in both space systems engineering and project management positions.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: She left The Aerospace Corporation in 1998 to become director of the space systems division at Microcosm Inc. There, she served on the executive committee and was responsible for business development.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: Shotwell left Microcosm in 2002 to join SpaceX, a private, commercial, space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in the same year. She convinced Musk that SpaceX should hire a dedicated employee to work on business development full-time during a visit to the company, but had not planned to join the company herself. Shotwell took the job two weeks later. In December 2008, Shotwell was promoted to company president following her role in the successful negotiation of the first Commercial Resupply Services contract with the NASA Administrator (and former SpaceX contractor) Mike Griffin. This followed SpaceX's first successful launch of the Falcon 1 on its fourth attempt earlier in the year. She was responsible for leading the effort on building the Falcon Vehicle manifest to over 50 launches, generating $5 billion in revenue. This included a commercial connection to the International Space Station for resupplying services, where they were able to deliver cargo and supplies to the astronauts. Shotwell is currently the President and COO of SpaceX, responsible for day-to-day operations and managing all customer and strategic relations to support company growth.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: She oversaw the first landing of an orbital rocket's first stage on land and on an ocean platform, the first relaunch and landing of a used orbital rocket, the first controlled flyback and recovery of a payload fairing, and the first re-flight of a commercial cargo spacecraft. SpaceX has a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA to deliver astronauts and science instruments to the International Space Station. On May 30, 2020, SpaceX became the first private company to launch two astronauts to Earth orbit.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: On February 6, 2019, Polaris Industries announced that Shotwell would join their board of directors on March 1, 2019.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: Shotwell has served on the California Space Authority Board of Directors and its executive committee after she was elected in 2004. She has served as an officer on the AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee and participates in a variety of STEM related programs. She led a committee that raised over $350,000 in scholarships for the Frank J. Redd Student Competition over 6 years.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: Shotwell gave a TEDx Talk at TEDxChapmanU in June 2013 on the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. She speaks regularly to business audiences and gave a talk for the "Captains of Industry" series at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security in June 2014 on private entrepreneurial accomplishments in advancing spaceflight technology.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: At the 2018 TED conference, Shotwell was interviewed by Chris Anderson about the future plans of SpaceX.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: At the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on September 28, 2018, Shotwell's talk was titled "Launching Our Future" and she discussed her vision and advancements for aerospace technology, as well as why diversity and the inclusion of women are necessary to advance as a society.


title: Gwynne Shotwell

text: Shotwell is married to Robert Shotwell, an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has two children from her first marriage to Leon Gurevich.


title: Joan Hackett

text: Joan Ann Hackett (March 1, 1934 – October 8, 1983) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. She starred in the 1967 western "Will Penny". She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1981 film "Only When I Laugh". She also starred as Christine Mannon in the 1978 PBS miniseries version of "Mourning Becomes Electra".


title: Joan Hackett

text: She was born in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the daughter of John and Mary (née Esposito) Hackett, and grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, where she became a model and dropped out during her final year of high school. She had a sister, Theresa, and a brother, John. Her mother was from Naples, Italy, and her father had Irish ancestry, and they raised her Catholic and sent her to Catholic schools.


title: Joan Hackett

text: Hackett debuted in 1959 with the role of Gail Prentiss in the television series, "Young Doctor Malone". In 1961, she won a Theatre World Award, an Obie Award for Best Actress, and a Drama Desk Award for her Off-Broadway portrayal of Chris in Michael Shurtleff's play "Call Me By My Rightful Name".


title: Joan Hackett

text: She had a recurring role in the CBS legal drama "The Defenders" (1961–1965) as the fiancée of Kenneth Preston (played by Robert Reed), partner in the father-and-son law firm led by patriarch Lawrence Preston (E.G. Marshall). She appeared regularly in scenes with both lead actors. She had a leading role in "The Twilight Zone" episode "A Piano in the House". In the 1963–1964 season, she guest-starred on "Channing", an ABC drama about college life starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones.


title: Joan Hackett

text: Hackett had one of the starring roles in the 1966 Sidney Lumet film "The Group", along with Candice Bergen, Larry Hagman, Richard Mulligan, Joanna Pettet, and others.


title: Joan Hackett

text: One of her notable film performances was the role of Catherine Allen, a young mother struggling to survive on the frontier, in the 1968 Western "Will Penny", with Charlton Heston in the title role. Hackett also had notable parts in the classic Western comedy "Support Your Local Sheriff!", with James Garner, and the 1973 murder mystery "The Last of Sheila". After this, she primarily had parts in TV movies and on episodes of TV series.


title: Joan Hackett

text: She received top billing in the 1974 adaption of Michael Crichton's book The Terminal Man, where she played the brilliant Dr. Janet Ross, a psychiatrist who accurately predicts her patient's destructive behavior, opposite actors George Segal, Donald Moffat, and Richard Dysart.


title: Joan Hackett

text: In 1978, she appeared in a PBS adaptation of "Mourning Becomes Electra" as Christine Mannon. Her performance in that production earned her some of the best reviews of her career. Clive James said that it entitled her to be called a great actress. The same year, she was a regular in the cast of the short-lived CBS situation comedy "Another Day", portraying Ginny Gardner.


title: Joan Hackett

text: She appeared in the September 22, 1979, episode "Grass Is Always Greener" of "The Love Boat" as Julie McCoy's former classmate from the line's cruise director course.


title: Joan Hackett

text: Hackett won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1981 film "Only When I Laugh", the last film she made before her death. She could also be seen in Paul Simon's 1980 film "One Trick Pony".