title: Grand Est

text: Grand Est climate depends on the proximity of the sea. In Champagne and Western Lorraine, the climate is oceanic (Köppen : Cfb), with cool to mild winters and warm summers. But Ardennes, Moselle and Alsace climates are borderline humid continental (Köppen : Dfb) - oceanic (Köppen : Cfb), characterized by cold winters with frequent days below the freezing point, and hot summers, with many days with temperatures up to 32 °C.


title: Grand Est

text: Grand Est is the result of territorial reform legislation passed in 2014 by the French Parliament to reduce the number of regions in Metropolitan France—the part of France in continental Europe—from 22 to 13. Grand Est is the merger of three regions: Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne, and Lorraine.


title: Grand Est

text: The merger has been, and still is, strongly opposed by some groups in Alsace, and a large majority of Alsatians. The territorial reform law allows new regions to choose the seat of the regional councils, but specifically made Strasbourg the seat of the Grand Est regional council—a move to appease the region's politicians.


title: Grand Est

text: The creation of the new region was unpopular among Alsatians. In response, the Government created the European Collectivity of Alsace merging the departments of Bas Rhin and Haut Rhin, to take effect in 2021.


title: Grand Est

text: The regional council has limited administrative authority, mostly concerning the promotion of the region's economy and financing educational and cultural activities. The regional council has no legislative authority. The seat of the regional council will be Strasbourg. The regional council, elected in December 2015, is controlled by The Republicans. The elected inaugural president of the Grand Est Regional Council is Philippe Richert, who was previously the President of the Alsace Regional Council. The current president is Jean Rottner.


title: Grand Est

text: The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 159.9 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 6.7% of French economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 25,400 euros or 84% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 101% of the EU average.


title: Grand Est

text: Gothic architecture is particularly conspicuous, with many famous cathedrals, basilicas and churches, such as Reims Cathedral, Strasbourg Cathedral, Metz Cathedral, Troyes Cathedral, Châlons Cathedral, Toul Cathedral, the Basilica of L'Épine, the Basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, the , the Basilica of St. Urbain in Troyes, Thann Church, Niederhaslach Church, Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, St. George's Church, Sélestat and St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Wissembourg.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: Walk off the Earth is a Canadian indie pop band from Burlington, Ontario. The group is known for its music videos of covers and originals. The band is well known for covering pop-genre music on YouTube, making use of instruments such as the ukulele and the theremin, as well as looping samples. The band's recorded music and videos are produced by member and multi-instrumentalist Gianni "Luminati" Nicassio.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: Walk off the Earth was formed in 2006 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The band began releasing music independently and created a variety of cover versions of songs including The Gregory Brothers. In early 2012, the band's live cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" on YouTube gathered over 175 million views in a mere four months, receiving positive reviews from both Gotye and his co-singer on the song, Kimbra. The band released an accompanying video in which all five members are shown playing on the same guitar simultaneously. The production was taken from the 26th cut of a 14-hour session. Ellen DeGeneres featured the band on her January 23, 2012, show where they played live, again on one guitar; the group was also included in YouTube Rewind 2012 "Rewind YouTube Style 2012", doing a part of its one-guitar acoustic version of "Gangnam Style".


title: Walk off the Earth

text: In February 2012, the band signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. The members appeared in the Season 4 premiere of CTV's "The Listener", performing two songs and socializing with the main characters in the bar. They also covered "Rude" by Magic!, "Hello" by Adele, "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO, "Payphone" by Maroon 5, and "Roll Up" by Wiz Khalifa.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: At this time, singer Sarah Blackwood, who had joined the band in late 2011, was also the singer and guitarist for fellow Ontario based band The Creepshow. The Creepshow had announced a tour of Europe and North America for the late summer - including dates in the United Kingdom in August. However, Walk Off The Earth soon announced a tour of their own with conflicting dates, and on July 16, Blackwood uploaded a farewell video to her YouTube page, announcing she was leaving The Creepshow. Blackwood went on to join Walk Off The Earth on a permanent basis, starting with their Autumn tour and EP, "R.E.V.O.".


title: Walk off the Earth

text: In December 2012, Walk off the Earth released an original single titled "Gang of Rhythm". The group uploaded a cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" to YouTube in January 2013, with four of the five band members and guest beatboxer KRNFX using only vocals.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: On March 11, 2013, "Rolling Stone" streamed their unreleased "R.E.V.O." album in its entirety. The full-length "R.E.V.O." album was released on March 19, 2013, after which they commenced in the R.E.V.O. Tour through the US and Europe. They began another US and Europe tour, Gang of Rhythm, in 2014. The most recent tour was the Sing It All Away tour through Europe and North America, which began in 2015. The band's YouTube video of Lorde's "Royals" was featured in the 2014 Grammy Awards. The band's original single "Gang of Rhythm" was chosen as the theme song for the Catalan TV show "El Foraster". The group was also featured on the soundtrack of the 2015 animated film "Snowtime!", performing the song "You're My Sweater". Walk off the Earth won a 2016 Juno award for Group of the Year.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: The band's video of "Issues" was filmed with "The Next Step" dancers Briar Nolet and Myles Erlick, and was featured in "Dance Spirit" magazine. In August 2017, the band's single "Fire in My Soul" was certified gold. Walk off the Earth performed during the half-time show of the NFL playoff game, January 14, 2018, Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: On December 30, 2018, it was announced that band member Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor had died from natural causes. He was 51 years old. Walk Off the Earth subsequently cancelled their scheduled performance at the Niagara Falls New Year's Eve Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television special, a performance that was to open their 2019 world tour. On January 7, 2019 the group announced a free memorial and tribute concert for Taylor. Presented by the city of Burlington and the Sound of Music Festival, family, friends and fans came together to celebrate Taylor's life and legacy on January 13 at Civic Square in Downtown Burlington. Special guests such as Scott Helman, members of Barenaked Ladies and more performed at the event, which was live-streamed by CBC Music. On January 16, 2019, the band announced it would be continuing on its 2019 tour. In a video posted to their social media pages, the four members thanked their family, friends, and fans, stating that their tour would be devoted to honoring Taylor's memory. At the same time Marshall has written the theme song to the animated comedy series Corn & Peg for Chris Hamilton, Nelvana and Corus Entertainment. Walk off the Earth sang "O Canada" at game 4 of the 2019 NBA Finals in Oakland, where the Toronto Raptors played the Golden State Warriors.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: In December 2019, Ryan Marshall announced that he was going to be leaving the band on Twitter and Instagram.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: In April 2020, "Deadline" announced that the band wrote and performed the theme song, "The Journey Starts Today", for the English dub of "". In November 2020, they collaborated with Canadian country singer Brett Kissel on "A Few Good Stories".


title: Walk off the Earth

text: On June 9, 2021 Walk Off the Earth released "Love You Right" as the lead single from their upcoming sixth studio album. "Love You Right" would mark their first collaboration with Grammy nominated Danish group Lukas Graham. The single received over a million streams in less than a week. The accompanying music video was directed by Chris Di Staulo.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: The band released their sixth studio album, "Meet You There", across all digital music platforms on July 22, 2021.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: On August 9, 2021, Walk Off the Earth partnered with Amazon Music for a performance from atop Toronto’s CN Tower to be live-streamed on Amazon’s Twitch channel. The live stream event was the first performance of the bands newly released sixth studio album.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: On September 24, 2021 the band released their first original 7-track children’s album, "Romeo Eats Vol. 1" via Golden Carrot Records/The Orchard. The album arrived alongside the group's children’s companion web series, "Romeo Eats," a food discovery show hosted by Walk Off the Earth lead singer Gianni Luminati and his 3-year-old son Romeo. Each "Romeo Eats" episode shows Romeo trying new foods, and includes an original song produced by Walk Off the Earth that features the explored food in question. The songs were subsequently released on album as "Walk Off the Earth & Romeo Eats, Vol. 1"; the album's Juno Award nomination for Children's Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2022 made Romeo the youngest Juno nominee in the entire history of the awards.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: On March 18, 2022 Walk off the Earth recruited D Smoke, who had appeared in Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow, for their anthem, “Bet On Me”.


title: Walk off the Earth

text: In the summer of 2022, Walk off the Earth returned on July 8 with the release of their latest single, “Back in Bed".


title: East Indies

text: The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around the Indian Ocean by Portuguese explorers, soon after the Cape route was discovered. Nowadays, this term is broadly used to refer to the Malay Archipelago, which today comprises the Philippine Archipelago, Indonesian Archipelago, Malaysian Borneo, and New Guinea. Historically, the term was used in the Age of Discovery to refer to the coasts of the landmasses comprising the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese Peninsula along with the Malay Archipelago.


title: East Indies

text: During the era of European colonization, territories of the Spanish Empire in Asia were known as the Spanish East Indies for 333 years before the American conquest. Dutch occupied colonies in the area were known for about 300 years as the Dutch East Indies till Indonesian independence. The East Indies may also include the former French Indochina, former British territories Brunei, Hong Kong and Singapore and former Portuguese Macau and Timor. It does not, however, include the former Netherlands New Guinea, which is geographically considered to be part of Melanesia.


title: East Indies

text: The inhabitants of the East Indies are never called "East Indians", as they are not linguistically related to South Asia, most specifically the Indo-Aryan languages. It distinguishes them both from inhabitants of the Caribbean (which is also called the West Indies) and from the indigenous peoples of the Americas who are often called "American Indians". In colonial times, they were just "natives".


title: East Indies

text: Peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single ethnic group. The region is mostly populated by the Austronesians, who first expanded from the island of Taiwan, and later on during the early modern period, when East Asians such as the Han Chinese started to migrate south and became known as the Peranakans or Straits Chinese.


title: East Indies

text: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are the most popular religions throughout the region, while Sikhism, Jainism, Chinese folk religion and various other traditional beliefs and practices are also prominent in some areas. The major languages in this area draw from a wide variety of language families such as the Austronesian and Sino-Tibetan languages, and should not be confused with the term Indic, a group of languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent.


title: East Indies

text: Regions of the East Indies are sometimes known by the colonial empire they once belonged to, hence, "Spanish East Indies" means the Philippines, "Dutch East Indies" means Indonesia, and "British East Indies" refers to Malaysia.


title: East Indies

text: Historically, the king of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) was identified with "Prester John of the Indies", since that part of the world was imagined to be one of "Three Indias".


title: East Indies

text: Exploration of the "East Indies" by European powers began in the last three years of the 15th century and continued into the 16th century, led by the Portuguese explorers. The Portuguese described the entire region they discovered as the "Indies". Eventually, the region would be broken up into a series of "Indies": The East Indies, which was also called "Old Indies" or "Great Indies", consisting of India, and the West Indies, also called "New Indies" or "Little Indies", consisting of the Americas.


title: East Indies

text: These regions were important sources of trading goods, particularly cotton, indigo and spices after the establishment of European trading companies: the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company, among others, in the 17th century.


title: East Indies

text: The New World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the "Indies" by explorer Christopher Columbus, who had grossly underestimated the westerly distance from Europe to Asia. Later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the "West Indies", while the original Indies came to be called the "East Indies".


title: East Indies

text: The designation "East Indian" was once primarily used to describe people of all of the East Indies, in order to avoid the potential confusion from the term American Indian who were once simply referred to as "Indians" (see the Native American name controversy for more information).


title: East Indies

text: During the Harsha's reign a term Five Indies was used as a synonym for the territory to the north of the vindhyas. According to Xuanzang "The circumference of the Five Indies is about 90,000 li; on three sides it is surrounded by a great sea; on the north it is supported by icy mountains. In the north it is wide and narrow in the south; its shape is crescent".


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: Every Breath You Take, also known as You Belong to Me, is a 2021 psychological thriller film directed by Vaughn Stein and written by David Murray. It stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Claflin, and Veronica Ferres. It follows a psychiatrist whose life is disrupted after a client's brother who, after the client's death, insinuates himself into the psychiatrist's family.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: Philip Clark (Casey Affleck) is a psychiatrist who lives a strained, distant life with his wife Grace (Michelle Monaghan) and daughter Lucy, who are all struggling to cope with grief associated with the death of the younger child, Evan, after a car accident three years prior.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: Among Philip's clients is Daphne Flagg (Emily Alyn Lind), a young depressive woman recovering from an abusive relationship, which she was able to leave with the support of Philip's therapy. Daphne is writing a book about her struggle with mental illness.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: One afternoon, Philip receives a call from Daphne, who tells him that her best friend Joan has been killed in a hit-and-run accident. Later, Daphne is found dead outside her home, which the police believe to be suicide. Philip comforts her estranged British brother, James (Sam Claflin), who arrives at the scene extremely distraught. The next evening, James drops by Philip's house to drop off a book that Daphne had borrowed; sympathetic, Grace invites him to stay for dinner. Philip learns that James has written several books and is interested in buying one called "Shadow Cast", which will take two weeks to arrive.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: Dr. Vanessa Fanning (Veronica Ferres) confronts Philip for the unconventional methods he employed to help Daphne, which included confiding things in her he had never shared with his family. Grace meets up with James to discuss selling his sister's house. She tells him that despite Philip's profession, he has been unable to address the pain of losing Evan and, as a result, the couple has become alienated from each other and from Lucy. Philip soon notices an inappropriate connection between his wife and James and asks James to stay away.. Grace secretly goes to see James again and, despite her attempts to break off their relationship, they have sex.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: James files a formal complaint against Philip with the Washington Board of Psychiatry, and Philip is suspended from his practice until it is fully investigated. James also befriends Lucy, who has a history of discipline and drug problems stemming from her grief over losing her brother, and they soon form a romantic connection. Lucy expresses a desire to run away, and he persuades her to pack her bags so they can do so together, but then later ignores her phone calls, leaving her heartbroken as a result.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: When Grace's car breaks down, James conveniently appears and offers her a ride home. He purposely misses a turn and begins driving erratically before knocking Grace unconscious as she attempts to alert Philip. Philip chases them down and saves Grace. Back at home, they tell Lucy that James is a dangerous man but she does not believe them, brainwashed by the idea that they are in a relationship. Philip receives a call from Dr. Toth who tells him that James admitted himself to a psychiatry facility due to auditory hallucinations. Philip visits James who admits that he read Daphne's notes about her therapy with Philip, and about Philip's family background. As he is escorted back into his cell, James maniacally tells Philip that he "still smells" Grace.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: Philip finally receives "Shadow Cast" and sees the real James Flagg on the back cover, revealing the fact that the James they have all met is an American man called Eric Dalton, Daphne's abusive ex-boyfriend. Philip discovers that Eric is psychotic; he killed Joan to make Daphne distraught in hopes that she would go back to him, and when she didn't, he murdered Daphne. Philip realizes Eric has been taunting his family because he helped Daphne end her relationship with him. Philip calls Dr. Toth to order him to lock Eric down, but Eric has already escaped after killing security guards.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: Realizing that Eric is going after Lucy, Philip and Grace race back to their house. Eric attacks Lucy and, after a violent struggle, Grace kills him with the blade of Evan's old ice-skating boot. The three embrace as the police sirens approach.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: In June 2012, it was announced Rob Reiner would direct the film, at that time titled "You Belong to Me", from a screenplay by David Murray. In October 2012, it was announced Harrison Ford and Zac Efron had joined the cast of the film. In October 2019, it was announced Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Claflin and Veronica Ferres were cast in the film, and that Christine Jeffs would be directing. In December 2019, it was announced Vaughn Stein would replace Jeffs as director who dropped out.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: In March 2021, Vertical Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film, and set its release in US theaters and on VOD for April 2, 2021.


title: Every Breath You Take (film)

text: The film received largely negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 20% approval rating based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Despite the A-list talent involved, "Every Breath You Take" never amounts to much more than a thuddingly familiar psychological thriller". On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 32 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Mafia Queens of Mumbai

text: Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of women from the ganglands is an Indian 2011 non-fiction crime novel written by Hussain Zaidi with original research by reporter Jane Borges. It tells 13 true stories of women who were involved in criminal activities in Mumbai. Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte and Kalki Koechlin provided their voice for its audio book for audible.


title: Mafia Queens of Mumbai

text: Matt Daniels of "Mint" wrote, "These are a handful of women who lived fearlessly, and Mafia Queens celebrates their spirit. But the real heroes are Zaidi and Borges, who ventured undaunted into the dark corners of the city to illuminate them." Zara Murao of "Hindustan Times" reviewed: "It’s hard to tell how much of Mafia Queens is apocryphal, given that each of the 13 stories is pieced together from official documents, case reports and anecdotes from the subject’s family and acquaintances. The account, though, vibrates with drama, intrigue and unexpected pathos."


title: Mafia Queens of Mumbai

text: J. Srinivasan of "The Hindu Business Line" noted that it was "really fascinating to read how these women slip into different roles so effortlessly and efficiently." Alpana Chowdhury of "Daily News and Analysis" mentioned, "From the choice of the women they have portrayed, to the racy style of writing, everything is calculated to make the book a page-turner." Kankana Basu of "The Hindu" felt, ""Mafia Queens", by virtue of its very stark simplicity is a revelation, a rare treat for the discerning lover of crime stories."


title: Mafia Queens of Mumbai

text: Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced a film titled "Gangubai Kathiawadi" which is based on the chapter of Gangubai Kothewali from the book. The film, starring Alia Bhatt in the title role, released on 25 February, 2022.


title: Gong Myung

text: Gong Myung (born Kim Dong-hyun on May 26, 1994) is a South Korean actor. He is a member of 5urprise. He is known for his roles in the television series "The Bride of Habaek" (2017), "Revolutionary Love" (2017), "Be Melodramatic" (2019), and "Lovers of the Red Sky" (2021) and box office hit movie "Extreme Job" (2019).


title: Gong Myung

text: In 2013, Gong made his acting debut in the web series "After School: Lucky or Not" together with the members of 5urprise – actor group formed by talent agency Fantagio. He then played supporting roles in MBC historical drama "Splendid Politics" (2015), SBS romance–comedy drama "Entertainer" (2017) and tvN romance–comedy series "Drinking Solo" (2016). Later in 2016, he joined the MBC reality show "We Got Married" where he was paired with actress Jung Hye-sung.


title: Gong Myung

text: In 2017, Gong played the leading role in the two-episode drama "The Happy Loner" which aired on KBS2. The same year he played Bi-ryeom: God of the Land of the Sky in the fantasy–romance drama "The Bride of Habaek" and played Kwon Jae-hoon in tvN drama "Revolutionary Love".


title: Gong Myung

text: In 2019, he starred in the action comedy film "Extreme Job" as Jae-hoon – youngest member of a team of detectives. The film became a major box office success in South Korea, surpassing 10 million ticket sales in just 15 days. It is currently the second most viewed film in South Korean film history. For his role, he received six nominations for Best New Actor at multiple awards ceremonies – winning 2 of them. Later that year, he appeared in historical film "Homme Fatale" and JTBC TV series "Be Melodramatic".


title: Gong Myung

text: In April 2020, Gong signed with new management agency Saram Entertainment, after his contract with previous management company expired.


title: Gong Myung

text: In 2021, Gong starred in the historical-fantasy drama "Lovers of the Red Sky" which aired on SBS. He played the role of Grand Prince Yangmyeong – a leisurely prince who is an expert at painting, calligraphy and poetry. Later the same year, he became a cast member of the third season of tvN travel variety show "House on Wheels".


title: Gong Myung

text: On November 5, 2021, it was reported that Gong had received a summons for mandatory military service.


title: Gong Myung

text: He enlisted in the military on December 14, 2021 without revealing his location to prevent the spread of COVID-19.


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Richard Steven Horvitz (born July 29, 1966) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games. His voice credits include the original Alpha 5 on "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", "Power Rangers Zeo" and "Power Rangers Turbo", Razputin in "Psychonauts", Kaos in "Skylanders", Billy and his father Harold in "Grim & Evil" and "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy", Grey Matter in "Ben 10", Rodney in "Squirrel Boy", Daggett in "The Angry Beavers", Zim in "Invader Zim", Orthopox in "Destroy All Humans!", the Zoni in "Ratchet & Clank", Bumble in "Kinectimals", the Space Weaver in "Broken Age", Kanchomé in "Zatch Bell!", and Moxxie in "Helluva Boss".


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Horvitz was born on July 29, 1966, in Los Angeles, California. His older brother, Louis J. Horvitz, is a television director and producer.


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Horvitz first appeared in a 1976 Freshen Up gum commercial, which led to other commercial appearances and several hand modeling jobs. After a brief stint in an off-Broadway production of "Oliver!" he went on to make appearances on television series such as "Kids Incorporated" and "Safe at Home", and films such as "Summer School", "How I Got into College", and "Deadly Weapon". From 1988 to 1991, he starred as Howie for two seasons in the syndicated television sitcom "The Munsters Today".


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Starting in 1993, Horvitz changed the focus of his career to voice acting, starting with the voice of Alpha 5 in the live-action series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". From there, he had several other voice roles in such animated series as "The Angry Beavers" (as Daggett), "Invader Zim" (as Zim), "Kim Possible", "Dave the Barbarian" (as Ned Frischman), "Zatch Bell!" (as Kanchomé), "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy" (as Billy and his father Harold), "Ben 10" (as Grey Matter), "Squirrel Boy" (as Rodney), and "Shorty McShorts' Shorts" (as Dudley). He also co-wrote the "Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" episode "Keeper of the Reaper" alongside his wife Kristen Lazarian.


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: After his stint as Alpha 5 ended, Horvitz went on to voice a few monsters in other "Power Rangers" series and was also the voice of Alpha 7 in the "Power Rangers Wild Force" episode "Forever Red". He voiced the main characters of Raz in the "Psychonauts" series and Orthopox in the "Destroy All Humans!" series. He has also voiced various NPCs in "EverQuest II", the Berserker Darklings in "The Darkness", Bumble in "Kinectimals", and Kaos in "".


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Horvitz voiced "Green Grapes" in the Fruit of the Loom commercials and has acted on stage, including in Jeffrey Hatcher's "Mrs. Mannerly".


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Horvitz also voiced Moxxie and served as voice director in the adult animated web series "Helluva Boss".


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: In 2001, Horvitz did not create, but was in the sketch comedy group The MoHos with Fred Willard, created by his wife Mary. He and Fred would sometimes perform on various talk shows including "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". Horvitz also appeared in an episode of "Saturday Night Live" in the short segment "Bear City" and briefly appeared on "Tosh.0".


title: Richard Steven Horvitz

text: Horvitz married playwright and screenwriter Kristen Lazarian on February 9, 1996. They currently live in Los Angeles and have three sons together.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Vanguard is a 2020 Chinese action-adventure film written and directed by Stanley Tong, starring Jackie Chan, Yang Yang and Miya Muqi. It marks Chan's sixth collaboration with Tong.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: "Vanguard" was originally scheduled to be released on 25 January 2020 in China but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later released on 30 September 2020 in China, 20 November 2020 in the United States, and 25 December 2020 in India. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising Jackie Chan's performance as well as the action sequences and music but criticising the screenplay, editing and runtime.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Qin Guoli, a Chinese accountant based in Great Britain, has been forcibly contracted by Maasym, leader of the terrorist organisation Brothers of Vengeance, to finance his projects. After Qin had tipped off Scotland Yard, Maasym was killed in a military operation by US forces, but his son Omar has survived and now wants to get his hands on his father's money, whose whereabouts are solely known to Qin. Omar has hired the mercenary gang Arctic Wolves, who kidnap Qin and his new wife Meiwei during London Chinatown's Chinese New Year festival. Vanguard, an international security company assigned to protect Qin, sends agents Zhang Kaixuan, Lei Zhenyu and Mi Ya to rescue him. After the operation's successful conclusion, Qin asks Vanguard's director Tang Huanting to protect his daughter Fareeda, who is currently in Africa, before Omar can use her as leverage against him.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Tang, Lei, and Mi Ya travel to Africa and find Fareeda, but also have to contend with the Arctic Wolves and a poaching gang who have been hired as additional muscle. During the chaotic first altercation, Lei and Fareeda are separated from the rest of the group and hide out in the nearby jungle, forcing Tang and Mi Ya to search for them on foot, guided by satellite tracking provided by Vanguard headquarters. Tang and Mi Ya rejoin their companions and fight their pursuers in a furious river chase with an amphibian car and jet skis, which ends with Tang and Mi Ya getting stranded and Lei and Fareeda being captured. Broto, the leader of the Artic Wolves, proposes to trade his captives for Qin, which Qin immediately agrees to.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Tang rallies his agents to storm Omar's fortress in the Middle Eastern city of Jiadebala and rescue the hostages. With some local help, the Vanguard operatives infiltrate the heavily guarded stronghold and make preparations for the next day's exchange. However, Omar and Broto have expected an intervention, and the operation quickly escalates into a running gun battle. When Vanguard is encircled and overwhelmed, Qin gives himself up to enable the agents to escape. Tang, Lei, Zhang, Mi Ya and Fareeda travel to Dubai, where Maasym has deposited his fortune, and cooperate with the local police to watch two Arctic Wolves mercenaries who have arrived there to facilitate a major arms deal for Omar with Maasym's money. Incidentally, this also gives Omar an opportunity to kill Admiral Greg Dawes, the man who killed Maasym and who has just arrived in Dubai.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Heavily surveilled by both sides, Omar, Broto and Qin meet with arms dealer Josef at a second-hand car dealership, where the money has been converted into cars made of pure gold; in return for his fee, Josef provides Omar with the control system for a missile attack drone, which the latter wishes to use against Dawes. Dubai police executes a strike against the terrorists, but their approach gives Omar's party plenty of time to activate the drone and then escape in the gold cars. The Vanguard agents move out to intercept the terrorists, and due to forewarning by the Dubai police, US forces intercept and destroy the drone. The chase ends inside a shopping mall, where Omar and Broto are overpowered and arrested, and the film concludes with the protagonists celebrating the Chinese New Year in Dubai.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: The filming locations were in Zambia, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, India and in London. In January 2019, Jackie Chan almost drowned while filming a scene involving a jet ski for the film. Chan was reportedly paid 80 million yuan (approximately 12 million USD).


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Among the artists on the Official Soundtrack are Jackie Chan, who sings the theme song "Ambition in my Heart", and Dimash Kudaibergen.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: It was to be released on 28 January 2020 in China but was withdrawn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theatrical releases in Singapore and the Philippines have been delayed due to the postponement of the film's release in China. As the outbreak of COVID-19 in China caused the cancellation of many theatrical premieres, certain regulations prevent any Chinese film from being released overseas before the film's local release in China.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: On 1 September 2020, it was announced, that the film will hit Chinese theaters on 30 September 2020. The English version of the film opened in theaters in the United Arab Emirates and select neighboring countries on 8 October 2020.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Gravitas Ventures acquired the North American rights and had a wide release, including drive-ins and IMAX, on 20 November 2020.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: The film released in India on 25 December 2020 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It got a mixed to positive response.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Vanguard" holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, ""Vanguard" isn't entirely bereft of fun for action fans, but only the most devout Jackie Chan fans will find much that's truly worth watching here." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences at Douban, a Chinese media rating site, gave it an average 5 out of 10, while at PostTrak, 72% of American audience members gave the film a positive score, with 57% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Vanguard (film)

text: Edmund Lee for the "South China Morning Post" rated "Vanguard" one and a half out of five, stating the film is "equipped with a cheesy Z-grade plot, forgettable villains, and some jaw-droppingly clunky lines of dialogue", being an "unashamedly old-fashioned Chan vehicle which makes one ponder why he's still going at it." Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film two out of four stars, writing that though there were some moments of "joyful spectacle" like a water rafting chase involving a jeep, "The movie's off-putting and constantly foregrounded political agenda wouldn't be so unpleasant if the action scenes were more plentiful and/or thrilling. [...] Chan's latest star vehicle didn't need to be anything more than a good work of propaganda, but it's not even compelling on those terms."


title: Vanguard (film)

text: "Vanguard" grossed 246 million yuan (~US$37 million) in its first two weeks in Chinese cinemas. It performed the worst out of all the other local blockbusters during the national Golden Week holiday.


title: Pit viper

text: The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers, crotaline snakes (from "krotalon" castanet), or pit adders, are a subfamily of vipers found in Eurasia and the Americas. Like all other vipers, they are venomous. They are distinguished by the presence of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on both sides of the head. Currently, 23 genera and 155 species are recognized: These are also the only viperids found in the Americas. The groups of snakes represented here include rattlesnakes, lanceheads, and Asian pit vipers. The type genus for this subfamily is "Crotalus", of which the type species is the timber rattlesnake, "C. horridus".


title: Pit viper

text: These snakes range in size from the diminutive hump-nosed viper, "Hypnale hypnale", that grows to a typical total length (including tail) of only , to the bushmaster, "Lachesis muta", a species known to reach a maximum total length of in length.


title: Pit viper

text: This subfamily is unique in that all member species share a common characteristic – a deep pit, or fossa, in the loreal area between the eye and the nostril on either side of the head. These loreal pits are the external openings to a pair of extremely sensitive infrared-detecting organs, which in effect give the snakes a sixth sense to help them find and perhaps even judge the size of the small, warm-blooded prey on which they feed. The pit organ is complex in structure and is similar to the thermoreceptive labial pits found in boas and pythons. It is deep and located in a maxillary cavity. The membrane is like an eardrum that divides the pit into two sections of unequal size, with the larger of the two facing forwards and exposed to the environment. The two sections are connected via a narrow tube, or duct, that can be opened or closed by a group of surrounding muscles. By controlling this tube, the snake can balance the air pressure on either side of the membrane. The membrane has many nerve endings packed with mitochondria. Succinic dehydrogenase, lactic dehydrogenase, adenosine triphosphate, monoamine oxidase, generalized esterases, and acetylcholine esterase have also been found in it. When prey comes into range, infrared radiation falling onto the membrane allows the snake to determine its direction. Having one of these organs on either side of the head produces a stereo effect that indicates distance, as well as direction. Experiments have shown, when deprived of their senses of sight and smell, these snakes can strike accurately at moving objects less than warmer than the background. The paired pit organs provide the snake with thermal rangefinder capabilities. Clearly, these organs are of great value to a predator that hunts at night, as well as for avoiding the snake’s own predators.


title: Pit viper

text: Among vipers, these snakes are also unique in that they have a specialized muscle, called the muscularis pterigoidius glandulae, between the venom gland and the head of the ectopterygoid. Contraction of this muscle, together with that of the muscularis compressor glandulae, forces venom out of the gland.


title: Pit viper

text: The subfamily Crotalinae is found in the Old World from Eastern Europe eastward through Asia to Japan, China, Indonesia, peninsular India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. In the Americas, they range from southern Canada southward to Central America to southern South America.


title: Pit viper

text: Crotalines are a versatile subfamily, with members found in habitats ranging from parched desert (e.g., the sidewinder, "Crotalus cerastes") to rainforests (e.g., the bushmaster, "Lachesis muta"). They may be either arboreal or terrestrial, and at least one species (the cottonmouth, "Agkistrodon piscivorus") is semiaquatic. The altitude record is held jointly by "Crotalus triseriatus" in Mexico and "Gloydius strauchi" in China, both of which have been found above the treeline at over 4,000 m above sea level.


title: Pit viper

text: Although a few species of crotalines are highly active by day, such as "Trimeresurus trigonocephalus", a bright green pit viper endemic to Sri Lanka, most are nocturnal, preferring to avoid high daytime temperatures and to hunt when their favored prey are also active. The snakes' heat-sensitive pits are also thought to aid in locating cooler areas in which to rest.


title: Pit viper

text: As ambush predators, crotalines typically wait patiently somewhere for unsuspecting prey to wander by. At least one species, the arboreal "Gloydius shedaoensis" of China, is known to select a specific ambush site and return to it every year in time for the spring migration of birds. Studies have indicated these snakes learn to improve their strike accuracy over time.


title: Pit viper

text: Many temperate species of pit vipers (e.g. most rattlesnakes) congregate in sheltered areas or "dens" to overwinter (brumate, see hibernation), the snakes benefiting from the combined heat. In cool temperatures and while pregnant, pit vipers also bask on sunny ledges. Some species do not mass together in this way, for example the copperhead, "Agkistrodon contortrix", or the Mojave rattlesnake, "Crotalus scutulatus".


title: Pit viper

text: Like most snakes, crotalines keep to themselves and strike only if cornered or threatened. Smaller snakes are less likely to stand their ground than larger specimens. Pollution and the destruction of rainforests have caused many pit viper populations to decline. Humans also threaten pit vipers, as many are hunted for their skins or killed by cars when they wander onto roads.


title: Pit viper

text: With few exceptions, crotalines are ovoviviparous, meaning that the embryos develop within eggs that remain inside the mother's body until the offspring are ready to hatch, when the hatchlings emerge as functionally free-living young. In such species, the eggshells are reduced to soft membranes that the young shed, either within the reproductive tract, or immediately after emerging.


title: Pit viper

text: Among the oviparous (egg-laying) pit vipers are "Lachesis", "Calloselasma", and some "Trimeresurus" species. All egg-laying crotalines are believed to guard their eggs.


title: Pit viper

text: Brood sizes range from two for very small species, to as many as 86 for the fer-de-lance, "Bothrops atrox", which is among the most prolific of all live-bearing snakes.


title: Pit viper

text: Many young crotalines have brightly coloured tails that contrast dramatically with the rest of their bodies. These tails are known to be used by a number of species in a behavior known as caudal luring; the young snakes make worm-like movements with their tails to lure unsuspecting prey within striking distance.


title: Pit viper

text: In the past, the pit vipers were usually classed as a separate family: the Crotalidae. Today, however, the monophyly of the viperines and the crotalines as a whole is undisputed, which is why they are treated here as a subfamily of the Viperidae.


title: I'm Still Standing

text: "I'm Still Standing" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, from John's 1983 album "Too Low for Zero". It was the second single released from the album in the UK, and the first single released in the United States.


title: I'm Still Standing

text: Helped by a video promoting the song on MTV, "I'm Still Standing" became a big hit for John on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at No. 1 in Canada and Switzerland, No. 4 in the UK and No. 12 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: I'm Still Standing

text: The music video, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was shot in Cannes and Nice on the Côte d'Azur in France. It also features the colours of the Flag of France. Arlene Phillips, who choreographed the video, said her work on the video is one of the proudest moments in her entire career (via the Channel 5 pop-documentary, "Britain's Favourite 80s Songs", on 25 December 2021).


title: I'm Still Standing

text: Bruno Tonioli, later a judge on hit shows "Strictly Come Dancing" for BBC (UK) and "Dancing with the Stars" for ABC (US), appears as one of the dancers in the video.


title: I'm Still Standing

text: It was due to be shot over the course of two days, but a camera full of the first day's film was ruined, when Mulcahy accidentally fell into the sea with it. Therefore, it had to be filmed again on another day. During the shoot for the video, John came across Duran Duran. He complained he was exhausted at having been up since 4 o'clock in the morning. Simon Le Bon decided John should have a martini. "So I did," John later recalled, "I had six."


title: I'm Still Standing

text: There were lots of celebrities around in Cannes and one day we discovered that Elton John was in town, filming the video for his song "I'm Still Standing". This was before Elton became teetotal, so he was still a steaming party animal. We went up to see him at his hotel and spent the afternoon getting blasted on martinis. We decided it would be a laugh to get him drunk and we were slinging the drinks down him. "Ooh, you are lovely boys," he screeched, loving every minute of it. We got him so drunk that eventually he went upstairs and threw a wobbler in his suite. It caused all sorts of chaos, but it was a great party.


title: I'm Still Standing

text: The next morning, John awoke with a hangover and wandered into his personal assistant's room – which was "leveled" – and asked him "What happened?" His assistant laughed: "You happened!"


title: I'm Still Standing

text: In 2019, the original 16mm film negatives were re-scanned and the computer graphics were recreated, forming a newer remastered version of the promotional video. This version of the video serves as the ending to the 2019 biopic "Rocketman", with Taron Egerton (portraying John) rotoscoped in to recreate memorable scenes from the original music video. It was also re-released standalone on John's YouTube channel.


title: I'm Still Standing

text: Welsh actor Taron Egerton has recorded this song two times in separate occasions. The first time was for the 2016 animated feature "Sing" as teenage gorilla Johnny; the second was for the 2019 biopic "Rocketman" where he played the titular role of Elton John himself.


title: Northern flicker

text: The northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) or common flicker is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. Over 100 common names for the northern flicker are known, including yellowhammer (not to be confused with the Eurasian yellowhammer), clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket , heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. Many of these names derive from attempts to imitate some of its calls. It is the state bird of Alabama (known by its colloquial name "yellowhammer.")


title: Northern flicker

text: The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the northern flicker in his book "The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands" which was published between 1729 and 1732. Catesby used the English name "Gold-winged Wood-pecker" and the Latin "Picus major alis aureis". When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his "Systema Naturae" for the tenth edition, he included the northern flicker, coined the binomial name "Cuculus auratus" and cited Catesby's book. The specific epithet "auratus" is a Latin word meaning "gilded" or "ornamented with gold". The type locality is South Carolina. The northern flicker is one of 13 extant New World woodpeckers now placed in the genus "Colaptes" that was introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825 with the northern flicker ("Colaptes auratus") as the type species.


title: Northern flicker

text: Ten subspecies of northern flicker are recognized, of which one is now extinct. The extant subspecies were at one time considered subspecies of two separate species called the yellow-shafted flicker ("C. auratus") and the red-shafted flicker ("C. cafer"), but they commonly interbreed where their ranges overlap and are now considered one species by the American Ornithologists Union. This is an example of what is referred to as the "species problem".


title: Northern flicker

text: Adults are brown with black bars on the back and wings. A mid- to large-sized northern flicker measures in length and in wingspan. The body mass can vary from . Among standard scientific measurements, the wing bone measures , the tail measures , the bill measures and the tarsus measures . The largest-bodied specimens are from the northern stretches of the species' range, at the latitude of Alaska and Labrador, while the smallest specimens come from Grand Cayman Island. A necklace-like black patch occupies the upper breast, while the lower breast and belly are beige with black spots. Males can be identified by a black or red mustachial stripe at the base of the beak. The tail is dark on top, transitioning to a white rump which is conspicuous in flight. Subspecific plumage is variable.


title: Northern flicker

text: This bird's call is a sustained laugh, "ki ki ki ki", quite different from that of the pileated woodpecker. One may also hear a constant knocking as they often drum on trees or even metal objects to declare territory. Like most woodpeckers, northern flickers drum on objects as a form of communication and territory defense. In such cases, the object is to make as loud a noise as possible, so woodpeckers sometimes drum on metal objects.


title: Northern flicker

text: Like many woodpeckers, its flight is undulating. The repeated cycle of a quick succession of flaps followed by a pause creates an effect comparable to a roller coaster.


title: Northern flicker

text: According to the Audubon field guide, "flickers are the only woodpeckers that frequently feed on the ground", probing with their beak, also sometimes catching insects in flight. Although they eat fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts, their primary food is insects. Ants alone can make up 45% of their diet. Other invertebrates eaten include flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, and snails. Flickers also eat berries and seeds, especially in winter, including poison oak and poison ivy, dogwood, sumac, wild cherry, grape, bayberries, hackberries, and elderberries, as well as sunflower and thistle seeds. Flickers often break into underground ant colonies to get at the nutritious larvae there, hammering at the soil the way other woodpeckers drill into wood. They have been observed breaking up cow dung to eat insects living within. Their tongues can dart out beyond the end of the bill to catch prey. The flicker is a natural predator of the European corn borer, a moth that costs the US agriculture industry more than $1 billion annually in crop losses and population control. As well as eating ants, flickers exhibit a behavior known as anting, in which they use the formic acid from the ants to assist in preening, as it is useful in keeping them free of parasites.


title: Northern flicker

text: According to an article published in "Ibis", the availability of food affects the coloration of feathers in nestlings. The article focused on the correlation between melanin spots and carotenoid-based coloration on the wings of nestlings with food stress via indirect manipulation of brood size. The article found that there was a positive correlation between the quality of the nestlings' diet and T-cell-mediated immune response. T-cell-mediated immune response was found to be positively correlated with brightness of pigmentation in flight feathers, but not related to melanin spot intensity.


title: Northern flicker

text: Flickers may be observed in open habitats near trees, including woodlands, edges, yards, and parks. In the western United States, one can find them in mountain forests all the way up to tree line. Northern flickers generally nest in holes in trees like other woodpeckers. Occasionally, they have been found nesting in old, earthen burrows vacated by belted kingfishers or bank swallows. Both sexes help with nest excavation. The entrance hole is about in diameter, and the cavity is deep. The cavity widens at bottom to make room for eggs and the incubating adult. Inside, the cavity is bare except for a bed of wood chips for the eggs and chicks to rest on. Once nestlings are about 17 days old, they begin clinging to the cavity wall rather than lying on the floor. They can create cavities inside homes, especially homes of stucco or weak wooden siding.


title: Northern flicker

text: A study from 2006 examined the mortality rates of male and female northern flickers over a six-year period using capture-tag-recapture techniques. The researchers observed only one to two birds out of every 300 adults were seven or more years old. This observation data correlated well with a mortality model that predicted a 0.6% seven-year survival rate. The data also illustrated that there were no significant differences between male and female survival rates for the general population.


title: Northern flicker

text: The oldest yet known "yellow-shafted" northern flicker lived to be at least 9 years 2 months old, and the oldest yet known “red-shafted” northern flicker lived to be at least 8 years 9 months old.


title: Northern flicker

text: Their breeding habitat consists of forested areas across North America and as far south as Central America. They are cavity nesters which typically nest in trees, but they also use posts and birdhouses if sized and situated appropriately. They prefer to excavate their own home, although they reuse and repair damaged or abandoned nests. Abandoned flicker nests create habitat for other cavity nesters. Flickers are sometimes driven from nesting sites by another cavity nester, the European starling.


title: Northern flicker

text: About 1 to 2 weeks are needed for a mated pair to build the nest. The entrance hole is roughly wide. A typical clutch consists of six to eight eggs whose shells are pure white with a smooth surface and high gloss. The eggs are the second-largest of the North American woodpecker species, exceeded only by the pileated woodpecker's. Incubation is by both sexes for about 11 to 12 days. The young are fed by regurgitation and fledge about 25 to 28 days after hatching.


title: Northern flicker

text: Northern birds migrate to the southern parts of the range; southern birds are often permanent residents.


title: Hardee's

text: Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1961 in North Carolina.


title: Hardee's

text: In April 1997, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr., paid $327 million to Montreal-based Imasco Limited for Hardee's. The merger created a chain of 3,828 restaurants – 3,152 Hardee's outlets in 40 states and 10 foreign countries and 676 Carl's Jr. outlets, primarily in California. In June 2018, former CKE CEO Jason Marker announced that Carl's Jr. and Hardee's would become separate brands, claiming that CKE's racy advertising and marketing campaigns were incompatible with a family-oriented chain like Hardee's. In April 2019 Ned Lyerly, a 30-year veteran of the company & formerly President of CKE's International division, was named CEO replacing Jason Marker.


title: Hardee's

text: Wilber Hardee (1918–2008) opened his namesake restaurant in Greenville, North Carolina, on September 3, 1960. After a year of success, Wilber decided to look into expanding his restaurant and opening another location so he met with James Gardner and Leonard Rawls to discuss doing so. Shortly thereafter, the first company store was opened in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in May 1961 by James Carson Gardner and Leonard Rawls on McDonald Street on North Church Street in Rocky Mount, known within the chain as building number 1. That location was demolished in 2007 and replaced with a veterans' park named for Jack Laughery, a former Hardee's chairman and military veteran.


title: Hardee's

text: According to Wilber Hardee, Gardner and Rawls won a controlling share of the company from him during a game of poker. After realizing that he had lost control over his namesake company, Hardee sold his remaining shares to them as well.


title: Hardee's

text: However, this story has been disputed by Gardner & Rawls, who bought out Wilber Hardee and began establishing franchises in 1961. According to Jack Laughery, CEO of Hardee's from 1975 to 1990, "Leonard put together an organization with relatively little capital. If it weren't for him and Jim Gardner, there wouldn't be anything of Hardee's Food Systems."


title: Hardee's

text: Rawls and Gardner sold their first franchises to a small group of longtime friends and acquaintances who formed their own companies and over time, built hundreds more franchised locations. Hardee's Food Systems went public in 1963 with Rawls as president. Gardner, who was vice president, had political ambitions and left the company when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1966.


title: Hardee's

text: The 1964 menu included hamburger for 15 cents, cheeseburgers for 20 cents, french fries for 10 cents, apple turnovers for 15 cents, milk for 12 cents, coffee for 10 cents, soft drinks for 10 cents, and milkshakes (chocolate-strawberry-vanilla) for 20 cents. Strawberry milkshakes were created from vanilla by addition of a berry syrup which had to be mixed with a spindle.


title: Hardee's

text: At the end of the 1960s, the corporation operated nearly 200 restaurants in the Midwest and Southwestern U.S., as well as its first international locations in West Germany. Around this same time, Hardee's began an expansion into the mid-Atlantic states, notably Southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. The expansion was done via the franchisee Hardee Northern, Inc, which was a subsidiary of Acme Markets, a prominent grocery store chain based in Philadelphia.


title: Hardee's

text: Hardee's purchased Sandy's in 1972. During the mid-and-late 1970s, Hardee's saw rapid chain growth and high profits on the strength of its two key sandwiches: the "Big Twin" and the "Big Deluxe". Another acquisition occurred in the late 1970s when Hardee's purchased the Utah-based burger chain Dee's Drive-In.


title: Hardee's

text: Hardee's was purchased by Canadian company Imasco Limited in 1981. In 1982, General Foods sold Burger Chef to Imasco for $44 million. Imasco converted many locations to Hardee's restaurants and let franchises and locations near existing Hardee's locations convert to other brands. Remaining restaurants that did not convert to Hardee's or new names and branding simply closed.


title: Hardee's

text: A new management team, in the early 1980s, seeking to cut costs, changed the signature burger recipe and eliminated the flagship menu item, the Big Twin. The Big Deluxe continued to be offered throughout the 1990s.


title: Hardee's

text: For a few years after acquiring the Roy Rogers Restaurants fast food chain in the early 1990s, Hardee's outlets sold fried chicken prepared using the popular Roy Rogers Restaurant recipe hoping it could compete with KFC. In addition to Roy Rogers, Hardee's also owned Rax Roast Beef for a period of time and sold roast beef sandwiches throughout the Hardee's system.


title: Hardee's

text: In April 1997, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr., bought Hardee's from Imasco for $327 million. The merger created a chain of 3,828 restaurants – 3,152 Hardee's outlets in 40 states and 10 foreign countries and 676 Carl's Jr. outlets primarily in California.


title: Hardee's

text: In 2001, Hardee's headquarters moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In 2005, Hardee's introduced Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes & Malts.


title: Hardee's

text: In September 2013, it was announced that Hardee's would expand into the Northeastern United States. In April 2015, Hardee's announced the opening of its 300th restaurant in the Middle East with longtime franchisee, The Americana Group.


title: Hardee's

text: In 2015, Nation's Restaurant News ranked Hardee's as the No. 28 foodservice chain by sales in the United States through 2011. Carl's Jr. was ranked at No. 37. Combined sales would rank the two at No. 15. In 2013, QSR listed Hardee's at No. 20 and Carl's Jr. at No. 24; if combined they would have been listed at No. 14.


title: Hardee's

text: In July 2015, Hardee's announced that it would be offering The All-Natural Burger, which launched at sister-chain Carl's Jr. restaurants in December 2014.


title: Hardee's

text: As of March 2016, CKE has a total of 3,664 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 44 states and 37 foreign countries and U.S. territories.


title: Hardee's

text: In January 2007, Hardee's had a challenge filed against it with the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office by River West Brands, LLC of Chicago for the use of the Burger Chef trademark and name. Shortly thereafter, Hardee's reissued the Burger Chef Big Shef sandwich in Terre Haute, Indiana, as a trial offering and later in additional Indiana markets and Dayton, Ohio for a limited time. The reissue of the Big Shef has also used the Burger Chef name and logo in advertisements in the markets in which it is offered, and has claimed to provide Burger Chef fans with their Big Shef "fix". On April 16, 2009, River West Brands dropped their petition for cancellation and both parties agreed to pay their own attorney's fees.


title: Hardee's

text: Due to a trademark dispute with Canada's Harvey's burger chain, the Hardee's brand name cannot be used in the country. Instead, CKE Restaurants operates exclusively under the Carl's Jr. banner.


title: Hardee's

text: A new Hardee's logo was unveiled in 2006 that featured script lettering and retained the iconic Happy Star, further unifying the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands. Hardee's also marketed special Super Bowl celebratory pins in the early 1990s.


title: Hardee's

text: Several Hardee's ad campaigns in the 2000s have been criticized by groups including Parents Television Council for their sexually suggestive nature. A campaign titled "More Than a Piece of Meat" featured scantily clad women appearing to receive sexual gratification from consuming Hardee's products, and "Name Our Holes" — an ad campaign and website promoting Hardee's Biscuit Holes.


title: Hardee's

text: In January 2015, Carl's Jr. released a commercial online featuring model Charlotte McKinney advertising its new All Natural Burger to air regionally during Super Bowl XLIX. The ad features McKinney walking around a farmers' market, implying that she is "all natural" and uses double entendres to suggest that she is naked with strategically placed items in the market until it reveals McKinney in a bikini eating the All Natural Burger. Critics suggest that the ad "sets feminism back four decades," while others, including McKinney's elderly grandfather, enjoyed the ad. Until the YouTube video of the ad got privatized by Carl's Jr in March 2017, it had over 13 million views and 10 thousand likes.


title: Hardee's

text: In March 2017, Hardee's began to move away from the sexualized ads by releasing a commercial featuring a white bearded character played by Charles Esten as "Carl Hardee Sr." who had come back into the office (much to the delight of the employees) to find his son (Drew Tarver), a.k.a. "Carl Jr." who was focusing on sex appeal over its food. The commercial marked a turning point in CKE's advertising, as the company wanted to move away from its provocative ads and focus more on food and as a competitor to Five Guys, Steak 'n Shake, and In-N-Out Burger. "Carl Hardee Sr." was also expected to become the new company spokesperson.


title: Hardee's

text: In 2018, CKE resumed producing separate campaigns for their Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands. For Hardee's, it started the "Tastes Like America" campaign with music by Big Wet. For this campaign, Hardee's restored its 1976 logo, now in white; however, the Happy Star still appears, replacing the A in "Tastes". The previous logo will also continue to be used as well.


title: Hardee's

text: Many international Hardee's franchises are located in countries in the Middle East and Pakistan, most being owned and operated by Americana Group. The Americana Group opened the Middle East's first Hardee's restaurant in Kuwait in June 1980. As of 2016, there are over 300 Hardee's restaurants throughout Asia and the Middle East, specifically in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and plans to open in Israel. Singapore had a Hardee's franchise first opened in 1984, but the last three outlets closed in 1988. Hardee's opened a store in South Korea in 1990, but it pulled in 2004, due to poor performance. Hardee's also used to operate in Hong Kong, but it pulled out in 2006, due to licensing issues with its US parent. Specifically, in the Middle East, the Hardee's menu does not include any pork items and each beef is certified Halal due to religious and cultural beliefs. The same menu is offered at Hardee's locations in Pakistan, which opened its first location in the country in 2009 in Lahore. Hardee's currently has eighteen locations in Pakistan, with six in Lahore, four in Karachi, two each in Islamabad & Rawalpindi and one each in Faisalabad, Bhera, Peshawar and Multan. In 2014, it opened a restaurant in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.


title: Louis Leterrier

text: Louis Leterrier (; born 17 June 1973) is a French film director and producer. Best known for his work in action films, he directed the first two "Transporter" films (2002–2005), "Unleashed" (2005), "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), "Clash of the Titans" (2010), "Now You See Me" (2013) and the streaming television series "" (2019). His latest film will be the tenth "Fast & Furious" installment, "Fast X" (2023).


title: Louis Leterrier

text: Leterrier was born in Paris, the son of director François Leterrier and costume designer Catherine Leterrier ("née" Fabius). He is the nephew of politician Laurent Fabius and antiquarian François Fabius. He was guided artistically by his mother. Leterrier was at first a drummer for a music group before experimenting with short films. At the age of 18, after some training in advertising and publicity, he left France to study cinema at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.


title: Louis Leterrier

text: In 1997, he assisted Jean-Pierre Jeunet on the set of "Alien Resurrection". On returning to France, he worked with Luc Besson on the production of commercials for and L'Oréal as well as on the film "". He also collaborated, as the second assistant director, with Alain Chabat on the production of "" (2002).


title: Louis Leterrier

text: Later in 2002, Louis Leterrier directed "The Transporter", an action movie starring Jason Statham. Although the US release lists him as artistic director and Corey Yuen as director, the opening credits of the European release grant him directorial credit and list Yuen as action director. Leterrier later entered the so-called "Besson stable" – a group of directors working on films produced by or associated with Luc Besson – alongside Chris Nahon and Pierre Morel. He directed Jet Li in "Unleashed", his solo debut feature, a full-length martial arts film (2004). Luc Besson then entrusted him with directorial control of "Transporter 2", set this time in Miami.


title: Louis Leterrier

text: In 2008, as part of a wave of French directors employed in Hollywood, he directed his first big-budget American film, "The Incredible Hulk". His next project, a remake of the 1981 "Clash of the Titans" produced by Warner Bros., was released on 2 April 2010. Leterrier had mentioned that he would like to create a "Clash of the Titans" franchise, should the latest film prove to be successful. However, in June 2010, Jonathan Liebesman was named as director of the sequel, leaving Leterrier's involvement in future films in doubt.


title: Louis Leterrier

text: Leterrier directed the spy comedy film "Grimsby" (2016), written by, and starring, Sacha Baron Cohen. In March 2015, "Deadline Hollywood" reported that Leterrier was in talks to direct the shark thriller film "In the Deep", for Sony Pictures Entertainment. However, on 3 June 2015, TheWrap reported that Leterrier had exited the film due to creative differences and the reduction of the previously told budget.


title: Louis Leterrier

text: In 2019, Leterrier directed the first season of "" for Netflix, a prequel series to "The Dark Crystal" consisting of ten hour-long episodes, consisting entirely of puppetry and special effects.


title: Louis Leterrier

text: In 2022, Leterrier announced that he will be directing "Fast X", the tenth installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, replacing series director Justin Lin, which is produced by and starring Vin Diesel.


title: Stray Cats

text: The group, whose style was based upon the sounds of Sun Records artists and other artists from the 1950s, were heavily influenced by Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, and Bill Haley & His Comets. The Stray Cats quickly developed a large following in the New York music scene playing at CBGB and Max's Kansas City as well as venues on Long Island. When the Cats heard a rumor that there was a revival of the 1950s Teddy Boy youth subculture in England, the band moved to the UK. They then spearheaded the nascent rockabilly revival, by blending the 1950s Sun Studio sound with modern punk musical elements. In terms of visual style, the Stray Cats also blended elements of 1950 rockabilly clothes, such as wearing drape jackets, brothel creepers, and western shirts with punk clothes, such as tight black zipper trousers and modern versions of 1950s hair styles.


title: Stray Cats

text: The band first appeared in the middle of 1979 performing under a number of names including the Tomcats, the Teds, and Bryan and the Tom Cats. According to Brian Setzer, the band changed names to fool club owners (who would not hire the same band for consecutive nights), but kept the "Cats" moniker in their various names so the audience would know they were the same band. Setzer joined up with Phantom, and they soon added Phantom's schoolmate and friend, Lee Rocker. The three later realized they were from the same neighborhood and enjoyed punk and rockabilly music. Since 1983, they have used only "Stray Cats" as their name. The band name "Stray Cats" had already earlier appeared in the 1973 rock 'n' roll film "That'll Be the Day" and its 1974 sequel "Stardust". They also went to many concerts and enjoyed the punk scene. They met the Clash and they used to see Siouxsie and the Banshees, and also Charlie Harper and the UK Subs.


title: Stray Cats

text: In the middle of 1980, the Cats found themselves being courted by record labels including Virgin Records, Stiff Records, and Arista Records. Word quickly spread and soon members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin were at their shows. After a gig in London, Stray Cats met musician and producer Dave Edmunds, well known as a roots rock enthusiast for his work with Rockpile and as a solo artist. Edmunds offered to work with the group, and they entered the studio to record their self-titled debut album, "Stray Cats", released in Britain in 1981 on Arista Records. In addition to having three hits that year with "Runaway Boys", "Rock This Town", and "Stray Cat Strut", they would also perform on the eighth day of the Montreux Jazz Festival. The UK follow-up to "Stray Cats", "Gonna Ball", was not as well-received, providing no hits. Yet the combined sales of their first two albums were enough to convince EMI America to compile the best tracks from the two UK albums and issue an album ("Built for Speed") in the U.S. in 1982. The record went on to sell a million copies (Platinum) in the US and Canada and was the no. 2 record on the "Billboard" album charts for 15 weeks.


title: Stray Cats

text: In 1983, the Stray Cats began recording their third (second U.S.) studio album "Rant N' Rave with the Stray Cats". Unlike their previous studio albums, half the album was recorded in London with the rest recorded in New York. Released in August 1983, critics generally viewed "Rant N' Rave" favorably, citing the band's tributes to 1950s rock 'n' roll legends such as Vincent and Bo Diddley. Commercially, "Rant N' Rave" failed to achieve the success of "Built for Speed", although it produced the top-ten hit "(She's) Sexy + 17", and top-forty "I Won't Stand in Your Way" featuring the doo-wop group 14 Karat Soul.


title: Stray Cats

text: Musical and personal conflicts began to emerge in the ways that the individual members handled their new-found success; Phantom married actress Britt Ekland, while Setzer made guest appearances with stars like Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks and became the concert guitarist for Robert Plant's Honeydrippers side project. In late 1984, the band added former BMT's guitarist and Long Island native Tommy Byrnes on second guitar and harmony vocals, and after a European and US tour which ended at the 1984 Louisiana World Expedition, parted ways.


title: Stray Cats

text: The decision to end the band was Setzer's, and it left the other members aggrieved. In an interview, Setzer pleaded restlessness as his motivation: "It's just that I didn't get that great feeling anymore... I had five good years of that, but then I got bored with it. In the last year I stopped getting that feeling, that great kick that twisted in my gut." Reflecting in 2012, Setzer said "it was silly to break up the Stray Cats at the peak of our success".


title: Stray Cats

text: Setzer embarked on a solo career, exchanging his rockabilly focus for a more wide-ranging roots rock/Americana sound on the 1986 album "The Knife Feels Like Justice". He dubbed his new band Brian Setzer & the Radiation Ranch, drawing the name from the title of one of his new songs. They played their first major concert at the 1985 Farm Aid benefit festival.


title: Stray Cats

text: Rocker and Phantom formed a trio called Phantom, Rocker & Slick (the "Slick" being former David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick) whose debut album contained the single "Men Without Shame"; guest musicians on this record included Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones and pianist Nicky Hopkins.


title: Stray Cats

text: In 1986, the Stray Cats reunited in Los Angeles, and recorded the covers-heavy "Rock Therapy". A lengthy hiatus followed, but in 1989 they reunited once again for the album "Blast Off!", which was accompanied by a tour with blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. No longer with EMI America, they entered the studio with Nile Rodgers for another album, "Let's Go Faster", issued by Liberation in 1990. After 1992's Dave Edmunds-produced "Choo Choo Hot Fish", and the cover album "Original Cool", the group called it quits again.


title: Stray Cats

text: In 2004, the Stray Cats reassembled for a month-long tour of Europe. A live album culled from those concerts, "Rumble in Brixton", included one new studio track, "Mystery Train Kept A Rollin'". In 2007, they reunited once again for a US tour with ZZ Top and the Pretenders. This was their first North American tour in over 15 years. In the 2000s, the band toured Europe as part of their "Farewell Tour".


title: Stray Cats

text: In 2008, for the first time in 18 years, the Stray Cats visited Australia and New Zealand which included several consecutive sold-out shows of their Farewell (Australia) Tour. In April 2009 the band reunited for a single show to celebrate Brian's 50th birthday at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


title: Stray Cats

text: On January 2, 2018, Setzer announced via his Facebook page that the band would reunite for a show in Las Vegas on April 21, 2018. The Stray Cats also performed two shows at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California on August 16 and 17, 2018.


title: Stray Cats

text: On October 16, 2018, the band announced they would reunite in 2019 for a new album (first in 25 years), record in Nashville, and tour to commemorate their 40th anniversary. On March 26, 2019, the video for the album's first single, "Cat Fight (Over a Dog Like Me)", was released, with an announcement of a May 24 release for the album, titled "40". This was released in time for the European legs of their 40th Anniversary tour.


title: Stray Cats

text: At the conclusion of the tour and in early 2020 the band announced that an album, a collection of songs recorded at various locations whilst on the 40th Anniversary tour would be released, entitled "Rocked This Town: From LA to London". It was released on CD and Vinyl and also on a number of streaming platforms.


title: Stray Cats

text: The Stray Cats have reunited periodically for live performances. Setzer is still part of his 1990s swing-revival band The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Setzer also worked as executive producer on Drake Bell's rockabilly revival album "Ready Steady Go!" Rocker continued recording and touring throughout the 1990s and on to today. His albums include "Black Cat Bone" and "Racin' the Devil" on Alligator Records, as well as "Bulletproof".


title: Stray Cats

text: In addition to the Stray Cats, Rocker has recorded or performed with Carl Perkins, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Scotty Moore, Keith Richards, and numerous others. Rocker and wife Deborah Drucker have two children and have been married since 1989. Slim Jim Phantom plays the drums in the bands Slim Jim's Phantom Trio, The Jack Tars, 13 Cats, Kat Men and The Head Cat. He is also an active member of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, a charitable organization which was co-founded by Mike Peters of The Alarm, and which raises funds for cancer units.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: As a 21-year-old amateur in 1939, Riggs won the singles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. National Championships (now U.S. Open), and was runner-up at the French Championships. He was U.S. champion again in 1941, after a runner-up finish the year before. At the 1939 Wimbledon Championships he also won the Men's Doubles and the Mixed Doubles.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: After retirement from his pro career, Riggs became well known as a hustler and gambler. He organized numerous exhibition challenges, inviting active and retired tennis pros to participate. In 1973, at age 55, he held two such events, first against the #1-ranked woman player Margaret Smith Court, which he won easily, and then against the then current women's champion Billie Jean King, which he easily lost. The latter, the prime time "Battle of the Sexes" match remains one of the most famous tennis events of all time, with a $100,000 ($ today) winner-take-all prize.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Born and raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Riggs was one of six children of Agnes (Jones) and Gideon Wright Riggs, a minister. He was an excellent table tennis player as a boy and when he began playing tennis at age twelve, he was quickly befriended and then coached by Esther Bartosh, who was the third-ranking woman player in Los Angeles. Depending entirely on speed and ball control, he soon began to win boys (through 15 years old) and then juniors (through 18 years old) tournaments. Although it is sometimes said that Riggs was one of the great tennis players nurtured at the Los Angeles Tennis Club by Perry T. Jones and the Southern California Tennis Association, Riggs writes in his autobiography that for many years Jones considered Riggs to be too small and not powerful enough to be a top-flight player. (Jack Kramer, however, said in his own autobiography that Jones turned against Riggs "for being a kid hustler".) After initially helping Riggs, Jones then refused to sponsor him at the important Eastern tournaments. With the help of Bartosh and others, Riggs played in various National Tournaments and by the time he was 16 was the fifth-ranked junior player in the United States. The next year he won his first National Championship, winning the National Juniors by beating Joe Hunt in the finals. That same year, 1935, he met Hunt in 17 final-round matches and won all 17 of them. He went undefeated for four years of play at Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in the Highland Park, Los Angeles neighborhood and was the first person to win California's state high school singles trophy three times.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In August aged 16, Riggs won the Ohio Valley tournament beating Archie McCallum in the final. The final was "a victory of youthful determination over veteran court generalship."


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In July Riggs won the Utah championships in Salt Lake City beating Joe Hunt in the final. "The largest crowd in Salt Lake tennis history watched the final day’s encounters which climaxed the greatest tournament ever staged in this state".


title: Bobby Riggs

text: At 18 in 1936, Riggs was still a junior but won the Southern California Men's Title, Los Angeles Ambassador hotel event and Los Angeles metropolitan championships and then went East to play on the grass-court circuit in spite of Jones's opposition. Riggs won the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Chicago, beating Frank Parker in the finals with drop shots and lobs. He also won Missouri Valley, Nassau Bowl, Cincinnati, Eastern clay court championships, Newport Casino, Pennsylvania clay court championships and Dade County tournaments. Riggs beat Parker in the final of the Newport tournament, which was one of the lead-up events before the U. S. Championships. "Riggs, who has a well-rounded game and a rare knack of keeping the ball in play, owed his victory to his accurate backhand returns to the far corners. He pumped those shots at Parker whenever he tried to storm the net. After going two sets down Parker rallied in spectacular fashion and reached his peak early in the fourth set when he swept the first four games. He then dropped the next three but managed to crack through Riggs again in the tenth game to win the set at 6-4 and square the match. But Parker was doomed as soon as he threw away the opening game in the final set. This break appeared to unnerve him and Riggs raced through four straight games before Parker was able to win the fifth on his own service, his only triumph in the decisive series of games". Although still a junior, Riggs ended the year ranked fourth in the United States Men's Rankings.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Kramer, who was three years younger than Riggs, writes "I played Riggs a lot then at the Los Angeles Tennis Club. He liked me personally too, but he'd never give me a break. For as long as he possibly could, he would beat me at love ... Bobby was always looking down the road. 'I want you to know who's the boss, for the rest of your life, Kid,' he told me. Bobby Riggs was always candid." In 1937 Riggs won 14 tournaments. The events were: Hillcrest invitational in Los Angeles, Huntington invitational in Pasadena, Southern California championships, New England championships, Nashville championships, U. S. Clay court championships, Cincinnati, Fox River Valley championships in Neenah, Colorado championships in Denver, Seabright, Southampton, Eastern grass court championships, Atlanta and New Orleans.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: As a 20-year-old amateur, Riggs was part of the American Davis Cup winning team in 1938. He also won 14 tournaments. The events were: Miami Beach, Dixie championships in Tampa, Miami surf club, Palm Beach, Atlanta, Missouri valley, U. S. Clay court championships, Cincinnati, Fox River valley championships in Neenah, Illinois championships in Chicago, Longwood in Boston, Seabright, Eastern grass court championships and Southampton. Riggs' victory in the U. S. Clay court championships was his third in succession. He beat Gardnar Mulloy in the final in five sets. "Mulloy passed Riggs consistently in the second and third sets of their five-set match, but Bobby came back the fresher in the last two, going to the net again and again to kill Mulloy's drives".


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In 1939, Riggs made it to the finals of the French Championships (where he lost to Don McNeill) but then won the Wimbledon Championships triple, capturing the singles, the doubles with Cooke, and mixed doubles with Alice Marble, who also won all three titles. His singles final win over Cooke lasted five sets. "In the final set the first two games fell to Riggs the next two to Cooke now calling on his attacking reserves. In the neatest and most unconcerned way possible Riggs poached the next four games against an adversary obviously footsore. Riggs won the eighth and last game easily and a match which while rather lacking pep, had been entertaining enough in its clever way." Riggs won $100,000 betting on the triple win, then went on to win the U.S. Championships (beating Welby van Horn in the final), earning the world No. 1 amateur ranking for 1939. He also won events at Western indoors in Chicago, Bermuda championships, Chattanooga, Asheville, Hot Springs, Southampton, Eastern grass court championships, Pacific Coast championships and Chicago indoors. Riggs was ranked World No. 1 amateur by Pierre Gillou,


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs teamed up with Alice Marble, his Wimbledon co-champion, to win the 1940 U.S. Championships mixed doubles title. He lost in the 1940 U. S. Championships final to McNeill. Riggs won 14 tournaments in 1940 at Palm Beach, Pensacola, Miami, Augusta, U. S. Indoors, River Oaks in Houston, Cincinnati, Fox River Valley in Neenah, Western championships in Indianapolis, Seabright, Eastern grass court championships, Pacific southwest, Pacific Coast and New Orleans. At Seabright, Riggs had to come from two sets down to beat Frank Kovacs in the final. "Four times in the match Kovacs was one point removed from victory only to have the rampaging Riggs pull the game out. When the marathon ended with darkness settling over the court, a sell-out gallery stood and cheered while Bobby received the famous Seabright bowl."


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In 1941, he won his second U.S. Championships singles title (beating Frank Kovacs in the final), following which he turned professional. He also won events at Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Chattanooga, Kansas City, Louisville, Western championships in Indianapolis, Seabright and Southampton.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In the 1942 pro tour, Riggs finished second to Budge. He was also runner-up to Budge in the U. S. Pro. His career was quickly interrupted by military service during World War II as an enlisted Navy specialist. During his military service, Riggs was a cornerstone member of the 1945 league champion 14th Naval District Navy Yard Tennis Team.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: After the war, Riggs returned to the pro circuit. He won the U. S. Pro hardcourt event in December in four sets over Budge. "Riggs, the former Franklin High School wonder, was clearly the sharper player and appeared to be getting better as the match wore on. It became a rout midway in the third, set when Budge, trailing 2-4, developed a cramp in his right forearm. He was granted a five-minute rest while his muscle was soothed but when play was resumed, Riggs continued his precise devastating base-line attack and broke the Oakland redhead's service for a 5-2 advantage. He then tacked down three straight placements and an ace to run out the set, 6-2. After a 10-minute intermission, during which time Budge's arm apparently failed to respond to treatments, they returned to the court for the formality of concluding the match. And a formality is all it was as the catlike Riggs drove home shot after shot or forced Budge into error. Riggs fairly sizzled as he racked up six straight games." Riggs then won the Santa Barbara tournament over Perry.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs won the US Pro title in 1946 over Budge. Riggs beat Budge in the World Pro challenge at Los Angeles in January. Riggs also won events at Palm Springs, Phoenix, Pasadena, Chattanooga, Boston, Oyster Harbors, Wentworth-by-the-Sea, Jefferson, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City and U. S. Pro hardcourt in Los Angeles. There was a tournament series in 1946 organised by P. P. A. The series awarded points to players based on their finish in each tournament. Riggs finished first in the tournament series with 278 points, then Budge (164 points), Kovacs (149 points), Van Horn (143 points), Earn (94 points), Sabin (74 points), Faunce (68 points), Jossi (60 points), Perry (50 points). Riggs was ranked World No. 1 pro by P. P. A. This would be the first reported major professional tennis championship tournament series, and not repeated until 1959, 1960, and then 1964–68.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: The promoter of the 1946 Riggs-Budge tour was Jack Harris. In mid-1947, he had already made a deal with Kramer that he would turn professional after the U.S. Championships, regardless of whether he was the winner. He also told Riggs and Budge that the winner of the Professional American Singles Championship, to be held at Forest Hills, would establish the World Champion who would defend his title against Kramer. Riggs was upset, believing that he had already established his right to be the defending world champion in a tour against Kramer. For the second year in a row, Riggs defeated Budge in the Forest Hills final, this time in a close five set match (Riggs also won the U. S. Pro indoors earlier in the year). Harris signed Kramer for 35 percent of the gross receipts and offered 20 percent to Riggs. He then changed his mind, as Riggs recounted in his autobiography, "saying he could get Ted Schroeder as one of the supporting pair, provided both Kramer and I would yield 2½ percent of our shares in order to build up the offer to Ted. We both agreed — and then Schroeder refused." Harris then signed Pancho Segura and Dinny Pails at $300 ($ today) per week to play the opening match of the Riggs-Kramer tour. Riggs then went on to play Kramer for 17½ percent of the gross receipts.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: On December 26, 1947, Kramer and Riggs embarked on their long tour, beginning with an easy victory by Riggs in front of 15,000 people, who had made their way to Madison Square Garden in New York City in spite of a record snowstorm, that had brought the city to a standstill. On January 16, 1948, Riggs led 8 matches to 6. At the end of 26 matches, Riggs and Kramer had each won 13. By that point, however, Kramer had stepped up his second serve to take advantage of the fast indoor courts they played on and was now able to keep Riggs from advancing to the net. Kramer had also begun the tour by playing a large part of each match from the baseline. Finally realizing that he could only beat Riggs from the net, he changed his style of game and began coming to the net on every point. Riggs was unable to handle Kramer's overwhelming power game. For the rest of the tour Kramer dominated Riggs mercilessly, winning 56 out of the last 63 matches. The final score was 69 victories for Kramer versus 20 for Riggs, the last time an amateur champion had beaten the reigning professional king on their first tour. In many of the last matches, it was assumed by observers that Riggs frequently gave up after falling behind and let Kramer run out the victory. Riggs says in his autobiography that Kramer had made "nearly a hundred thousand dollars ... on the American tour alone, while I took in nearly fifty thousand as my share."


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs won the U. S. Pro in 1949 over Budge in four sets. "Gusts of wind made accuracy almost impossible and both veterans made a surprising number of errors. Budge who won the championship in 1940 and 1942 thrilled the crowd with his whistling forehand drives when he could reach his opponent’s placements. But in the end the younger Riggs wore down the red-haired Budge who is several years older... After dropping the third set Budge rallied to go ahead at 5-3 but that was his limit- Riggs began to force the play and took the next four games in a row finishing out the match with a service ace." This was Riggs' final U. S. Pro title.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In 1951, more than 20 years before he faced Court and King, Riggs played a short series of matches against Pauline Betz. These matches were scheduled for the first match of the evening before Kramer faced Segura in the main World Series contest. The Riggs-Betz matches took place towards the end of the tour (after Betz's opponent Gussie Moran had left the tour). Riggs won the 1952 Gator Bowl Pro in Jacksonville. In 1953 Riggs won at Fort Lauderdale and the PLTA fall event at Long Island. In 1954 Riggs won events at U. S. Pro clay court championships, Canada Pro and Eastern States Pro. After that Riggs played increasingly rarely, often making up the numbers at the U. S. Pro at Cleveland.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Small in stature, he lacked the overall power of his larger competitors such as Don Budge and Kramer but made up for it with brains, ball control, and speed. A master court strategist and tactician, he worked his opponent out of position and scored points with the game's best drop shot and lob as well as punishing ground strokes that let him come to the net for put-away shots. Kramer, one of the very few players who was undeniably better than Riggs, writes that there is a major "misconception" about Riggs. "He didn't play some rinky-dink Harold Solomon style, pitty-pattying the ball around on dirt. He didn't have the big serve, but he made up for it with some sneaky first serves and as fine a second serve as I had seen at that time. When you talk about depth and accuracy both, Riggs' second serve ranks with the other three best that I ever saw: von Cramm's, Gonzales's, and Newcombe's." In his autobiography, Riggs wrote, "In the 1946 match with Budge [for the United States Pro Championship], I charged the net at every opportunity. Employing what I called my secret weapon, a hard first serve, I attacked constantly during my 6–3, 6–1, 6–1 victory."


title: Bobby Riggs

text: "Riggs," said Kramer, "was a great champion. He beat Segura. He beat Budge when Don was just a little bit past his peak. On a long tour, as up and down as Vines was, I'm not so sure that Riggs wouldn't have played Elly very close. I'm sure he would have beaten Gonzales — Bobby was too quick, he had too much control for Pancho — and Laver and Rosewall and Hoad."


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Kramer went on to say that Riggs "could keep the ball in play, and he could find ways to control the bigger, more powerful opponent. He could pin you back by hitting long, down the lines, and then he'd run you ragged with chips and drop shots. He was outstanding with a volley from either side, and he could lob as well as any man ... he could also lob on the run. He could disguise it, and he could hit winning overheads. They weren't powerful, but they were always on target."


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs joined the professional tennis circuit in 1941 and as a consequence was banned from competing in the amateur Grand Slams.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs was famous as a hustler and gambler, when in his 1949 autobiography he wrote that he had made $105,000 ($ today) in 1939 by betting in England, on himself, to win all three Wimbledon championships: the singles, doubles and mixed doubles. At the time, most betting was illegal in England. From an initial $500 bet on his chances of winning the singles competition, he eventually won the equivalent of $1.5 million in 2010 dollars. According to Riggs, World War II kept him from taking his winnings out of the country, so that by 1946 after the war had ended, he then had an even larger sum waiting for him in England as it had been increased by interest.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In 1973, Riggs saw an opportunity to both make money and draw attention to the sport of tennis. He came out of retirement to challenge one of the world's greatest female players to a match, claiming that the female game was inferior and that a top female player could not beat him, even at the age of 55. He challenged Margaret Court, 30 years old and the top female player in the world, and they played on May 13, Mother's Day, in Ramona, California. Riggs used his drop shots and lobs to keep Court off balance; his easy 6–2, 6–1 victory in less than an hour landed him on the cover of both "Sports Illustrated" and "Time" magazine. The match was called the "Mother's Day Massacre".


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs had originally challenged Billie Jean King, but she had declined, regarding the challenge as a fatuous gimmick. Following Court's loss to Riggs, King decided to accept his challenge, and the two met in the Houston Astrodome on prime time television on Thursday, September 20, in a match billed as "The Battle of the Sexes". The oddsmakers and writers favored Riggs; he built an early lead, but King won in straight sets (6–4, 6–3, 6–3) for the $100,000 winner-take-all prize.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: The ESPN program "Outside the Lines" made an allegation that Riggs took advantage of the overwhelming odds against King and threw the match to get his debts to the mob erased. The program featured a man who had been silent for 40 years for reasons of self-protection who claimed that he had worked at a country club and heard several members of the mafia talking about Riggs throwing the match in exchange for cancelling his gambling debt to the mob. The program also stated that Riggs' close friend and estate executor Lornie Kuhle vehemently denied Riggs was ever in debt to the mob or received a payoff from them.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: In the 2017 film adaptation "Battle of the Sexes", Riggs was played by Steve Carell, with Emma Stone as Billie Jean King.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs was married twice, and had two sons from the first marriage, and three sons and a daughter from the second. Before he was 21 Riggs dated a fellow tennis player Pauline Betz. Then, at the Illinois state tournament, he met Catherine "Kay" Fischer. They married in early December 1939 in Chicago, and divorced in the early 1950s.


title: Bobby Riggs

text: Riggs met his second wife, Priscilla Wheelan, on the courts of the LaGorce Country Club in Miami. Priscilla came from a wealthy family that owned the prominent America Photograph Corporation based in New York. They married in September 1952, divorced in 1971, and remarried in 1991.