title: Lakshya (2004 film)

text: 1 year later, he commissions into the Indian Army as a lieutenant and is congratulated by his mother. Karan is posted to the 3rd battalion of the Punjab Regiment, commanded by Colonel Sunil Damle. The battalion is stationed in Kargil, Ladakh. Karan returns to Delhi on leave and is heartbroken to learn that Romi is getting engaged to her colleague Rajeev Goel. He meets his parents as well but his leave is cut short and he is recalled to his battalion due to an outbreak of hostilities in Kargil. He reports back to his battalion, where he is promoted to the rank of acting Captain. Colonel Damle briefs the officers on the latest situation and reveals that a number of infiltrators have crossed the Line of Control (LoC) from Pakistan and currently occupy a series of mountain peaks on the Indian side of the border. The battalion has been assigned to secure Point 5179, a crucial vantage point dominating the army's main supply line, the National Highway 1D. The northern side of the mountain is on the Pakistani side of the LoC, the western side has a 1000-foot vertical rock cliff and the southern side has 3 km of empty ground with no cover. Therefore, the battalion decides to attack from the eastern side of the mountain. The first part of the assault is successful. The battalion destroys the enemy's screening units with Karan cited for his bravery in saving another officer's life. Meanwhile, Romi gets stationed to Kargil as a war correspondent. Romi goes to Kargil where she meets a changed Karan and begins to fall in love with him again amidst the war. However, Karan remains reluctant to return her feelings as he is still under the impression that she's engaged. In the second phase of the assault, the battalion attacks the peak of the mountain but fails to capture it due to the strategic advantage and heavy weaponry the Pakistanis have. The unit suffers heavy casualties. Brigadier Puri summons Colonel Damle and gives him 48 hours to capture the peak – after that time period, responsibility for Point 5179 will be given to another battalion. Colonel Damle then orders a group of 12 officers and soldiers (including Karan) to scale the 1000-foot rock cliff on the western side of the mountain and flank the enemy stronghold. They will be provided with artillery support from the eastern side. Karan realises that he has finally found his goal in the form of capturing the peak. Karan also learns of Romi's failed engagement and expresses his feelings for her. Romi promises Karan she will wait for him whether he returns or not. The unit sets off on their mission and while moving through a grass field toward the rock cliff, they come under fire. The unit discovers a Pakistani mortar unit in the field and destroys it, but loses their commanding officer and a number of other soldiers. The team's radios are also destroyed, so they cannot communicate with battalion HQ. Out of the initial 12, only 6 remain. They decide to continue with the mission. They successfully scale the cliff and attack the Pakistani position during the night. Their assault is successful although Karan is wounded, and the team loses 3 more men. The next morning, Karan limps to the peak, where he plants the Indian flag and fires a flare, signalling to Colonel Damle and Subedar Major Pritam Singh that they captured the peak. Days later, Karan is shown leaving a military hospital and reuniting with his parents and Romi who asks him that what is his next aim after attaining his first one. Karan replies "you" and they both embrace.


title: Lakshya (2004 film)

text: Production of the film began in Mumbai, Maharashtra and it was shot at several different locations in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The scenes in Kargil were shot in Ladakh. Some parts of the film centered around Hrithik Roshan's military training were also shot at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Actual Indian Army officers also participated in the shooting of the film. Seeing both the actors and officers in the same getup, at times Preity Zinta would get confused separating the actual officers from the actors. Pankaj Tripathi, then a struggling actor, shot for the film at Ladakh with Roshan and this news went viral in Tripathi's village that he is shooting a film with a big actor like Roshan. But Tripathi's role was all cut during the editing and he was very disappointed to see that his role was cut from the film.


title: Lakshya (2004 film)

text: The film's soundtrack was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Shaan's "Main Aisa Kyun Hoon", picturized on Hrithik, is a laid-back, funky-hip hop track. "Agar Main Kahoon" is the love duet, picturized on Hrithik-Preity. The trio used harmonica for the track. The title track "Lakshya" is a techno-flavored patriotic song by Shankar Mahadevan, which is followed by "Kandhon Se Milte", another patriotic song with the vocals of Kunal Ganjawala and Vijay Prakash. "Kitni Baatein", a pathos song, is crooned by Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam. There are two instrumentals, "Victory" and "Separation". The trumpet portion from "Victory" has been used as the background music for their logo by Excel.


title: Lakshya (2004 film)

text: The soundtrack received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja of "Bollywood Hungama" in his review, said ""Lakshya" does have good music that is very urban and will appeal to the class audience. Going by the theme of the movie, the album is pretty balanced and has been composed with style that speaks of class." "Planet Bollywood" found the album to be "as good as "Dil Chahta Hai"". Subhash K. Jha described the album as "daringly unusual sound with a show-offy kind of innovativeness". Sukanya Verma of "Rediff.com", however, remarked that, though the album was good, it was below expectations and "lacked punch". According to the Indian trade website "Box Office India", with around 11,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's thirteenth highest-selling.


title: Lakshya (2004 film)

text: "Lakshya" netted around Rs. 23 crore at the domestic box office. "Lakshya" grossed $5,859,242 worldwide including $753,600 from North American markets and $5,105,642 from other markets. In the U.S., it performed better, grossing $380,000 on 59 screens [approx. Rs. 1.75 crore] in its opening weekend with the per screen average being around $6,440.


title: Lakshya (2004 film)

text: "Lakshya" was director Farhan Akhtar's second film, following the success of his first film, the cult classic "Dil Chahta Hai" (2001). However, despite the huge hype, it didn't fare as well at the box-office. However, with repeated telecasts over the television, over the years, "Lakshya" has been regarded as a cult film among an audience that argues it is Hrithik Roshan's best performance to date.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 (shortened from German: "Maschinengewehr 34", or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely new concept in automatic firepower – the "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" (Universal machine gun) – and is generally considered the world's first general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). Both the MG 34 and MG 42 were erroneously nicknamed "Spandau" by Allied troops, a carryover from the World War I nickname for the MG 08, which was produced at the Spandau Arsenal.


title: MG 34

text: The versatile MG 34 was chambered for the full-power 7.92×57mm Mauser rifle cartridge, and was arguably the most advanced machine gun in the world at the time of its deployment. The MG 34 was envisaged and well developed to provide portable light and medium machine gun infantry cover, anti-aircraft coverage, and even sniping ability. Its combination of exceptional mobility – being light enough to be carried by one man – and high rate of fire (of up to 900 rounds per minute) was unmatched. It entered service in great numbers from 1939. Nonetheless, the design proved to be rather complex for mass production, and was supplemented by the cheaper and simpler to mass produce MG 42, though both remained in service and production until the end of the war.


title: MG 34

text: Even before World War I, the German military was already looking forward to replacing the heavy machine guns which proved to be such a success in that war. The MG13 was one of the first developments toward a goal of producing a weapon that could perform multiple roles, rather than just one. The MG13 was the result of reengineering the Dreyse Water-cooled machine gun to fit the new requirement. The twin-barreled Gast gun was developed with the goal of providing a high cyclic rate of fire weapon for anti-aircraft use and was reported to have reached cyclic rates of fire as high as 1,600 rounds per minute.


title: MG 34

text: The "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" concept required that the operator could radically transform the machine gun for several purposes by changing its mount, sights and feed mechanism.


title: MG 34

text: One of the "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" roles was to provide low-level anti-aircraft coverage. A high cyclic rate of fire is advantageous for use against targets that are exposed to a general-purpose machine gun for a limited time span, like aircraft or targets that minimize their exposure time by quickly moving from cover to cover. For targets that can be fired on by a general-purpose machine gun for longer periods than just a few seconds, the cyclic firing rate becomes less important.


title: MG 34

text: After World War I the German military faced restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty restricted the German "Reichswehr" (Realm Defence) to maximally stockpiling 792 heavy (bulky hard-to-maneuver water-cooled) machine guns and 1,134 light machine guns and actual production of machine guns and development of sustained fire weapons were prohibited. From 1933 Nazi Germany was committed to repudiating the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions. As part of a (clandestine) military revitalization program the German military sought avenues to get around restrictions imposed by the treaty by resorting to innovative weapon design and engineering, German arms designers working abroad and other foreign assistance.


title: MG 34

text: In 1932 the "Reichswehrministerium" (Ministry of the Reichswehr) ordered several companies, including Rheinmetall, to develop a new "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" (Universal machine gun) to replace several role specific machine guns then in German use. The following specifications for the gun were set:


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 was based on a 1930 Rheinmetall design under the direction of Louis Stange at Rheinmetall's Sömmerda office, the MG 30. The Swiss and Austrian militaries had both licensed and produced the MG 30 from Rheinmetall shortly after it was patented and the gun started to enter service in Switzerland. The technical challenges in meeting the "Reichswehrministerium" specifications were broader than the gun development itself. It also encompassed various mounts and other accessories that had to adapt that gun to different roles. The MG 30 design was adapted and modified by Heinrich Vollmer of Mauser Industries. Vollmer originally designed the feed mechanism to accept MG 13/MG 15 inspired 75-round "Patronentrommel 34" spring-loaded saddle-drum magazines. The "Patronentrommel 34" was a rather complex magazine for which a filling device had to be used and requiring ordnance personnel and a special tool to optimize the spring tension for reliable feeding. Users were ordered not to adjust the drum spring tension.


title: MG 34

text: The result, the multiple role capable MG 34, wherein Rheinmetall's Sömmerda plant had a significant influence, reflected the "Reichswehrministerium" specifications.


title: MG 34

text: In 1937 the feed was redesigned to use reusable non-disintegrating "Gurt 33" and "Gurt 34" metal belts and a 50-round "Gurttrommel 34" (belt drum).


title: MG 34

text: The feeding system was based on the direct push-through of the cartridge out of the link into the gun's chamber. Accordingly, the link had to be of the half-open type to enable the motion of the bolt through the link.


title: MG 34

text: Vollmer also increased the rate of fire. The MG 34's double crescent trigger dictated either semiautomatic or fully automatic firing modes. The capability to use the previous 75-round "Patronentrommel 34" saddle-drum magazines (with a required change of the feed cover for a "Trommelhalter" magazine holder) was retained.


title: MG 34

text: As the MG 34 was technically based on and featured design elements of several other machine guns, the German arms industry under the guidance of the "Waffenamt" (German Army Weapons Agency) negotiated and worked out complex royalties and patents matters regarding the MG 34 to every involved side's satisfaction.


title: MG 34

text: Before large scale production commenced, 2,300 MG 34s in two main early versions, slightly more complex and different from the final design, were produced between 1935 and 1939. At the time it was introduced, it had a number of advanced features and the general-purpose machine gun concept that it aspired to was an influential one.


title: MG 34

text: During the period between 1934 and the adoption of the final version the "Waffenamt" realized the MG 34 "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" was too complex and expensive to mass-produce and started looking for ways to simplify and rationalize the technical concept. In 1937, the "Waffenamt" requested three companies to submit new more economical "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" designs.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 was the mainstay of German Army support weapons from the time of its first pre large scale production issue in 1935 until 1942, when it was supplanted by the next "Einheitsmaschinengewehr" generation Maschinengewehr 42 or MG 42. Although the MG 34 was fairly reliable — it was sensitive to extreme weather conditions, dirt and mud — when competently maintained and dominant on the battlefield. Its dissemination throughout the German forces was hampered due to its elaborately milled precision engineering with tight tolerances and use of high-quality metal alloys, which resulted in high machine time, skilled labor requirements, production costs and a relatively slow rate of production. MG 34 production during the war amounted to over 350,000 units (12,822 units in 1939, 54,826 in 1940, 80,952 in 1941, 63,163 in 1942, 48,802 in 1943, 61,396 in 1944, and 20,297 in 1945). Attempts to incrementally improve the fundamental drawbacks of the basic MG 34 design failed. For its successor, the faster firing, less complex, sensitive and expensive MG 42, the Germans instead used mass production techniques similar to those that created the MP 40 submachine gun. In 1943, MG 42 production surpassed MG 34 production and continued to do so until the end of the war. The Germans nevertheless continued widespread production of MG 34s in parallel until the end of the war.


title: MG 34

text: In the field, the weapon could operate in offensive or defensive applications. The offensive model, with a mobile soldier, used either a 50-round "Gurttrommel" or a 75-round "Patronentrommel 34". In a stationary defensive role, the gun was mounted on a bipod or tripod and fed by a non-disintegrating metal ammunition belt. Belts were carried in boxes of five. Each belt contained 50 rounds. Belt lengths could be linked for sustained fire. During sustained fire, barrels would have to be changed at intervals due to the heat generated by the rapid rate of fire. If the barrels were not changed properly, the weapon would misfire. Changing barrels was a rapid process for the trained operator and involved disengaging a latch and swinging the receiver to the right for the insertion of a new barrel into the barrel shroud. Accordingly, stationary defensive positions required more than one operator.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 was used as the primary infantry machine gun, and remained as the primary armored vehicle defensive weapon as it took limited space to change barrels inside a vehicle. The MG 34 was intended to replace the MG 13 and other older machine guns, but these were still being used in World War II as demand was never met. It was intended to be replaced in infantry service by the MG 42, but there were never enough MG 42s, and MG 34s continued to be used in all roles until the end of World War II.


title: MG 34

text: It was the standard machine gun of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and was also used as a secondary weapon on most German tanks and other armoured vehicles used during World War II.


title: MG 34

text: MG 34s captured by the British and Soviet armies were sent to both Chinese Nationalist and Chinese Communist forces during World War II and the Chinese Civil War. The French army sent captured MG 34s to Indochina during the Indochina War. Some models captured from the Germans by the Soviets or manufactured in Czechoslovakia post-WWII were supplied to the People's Liberation Army/People's Volunteer Army, PAVN and the Viet Cong during the Cold War. Several hundred more MG 34s that were in use with these groups were taken from either French or other Western nations fielding captured German weapons fighting against them in colonial wars or anti-communist conflicts.


title: MG 34

text: The German tactical infantry doctrine of the era based a (10-man "Gruppe") squad's firepower on the general-purpose machine gun in the light machine gun role. The advantage of the general purpose machine gun concept was that it added greatly to the overall volume of fire that could be put out by a squad-sized unit.


title: MG 34

text: It was possible for operating crews to lay down a non-stop barrage of fire, pausing only when the barrel had to be replaced. This allowed the MG 34 to tie up significantly larger numbers of enemy troops than was otherwise possible. The Americans and the British trained their troops to take cover from the fire of an MG 34, and assault the position during the small time window of barrel replacement.


title: MG 34

text: The German military instructed that sustained cyclic rate fire must be avoided at all costs. In the bipod-mounted light machine gun role, MG 34 users were trained to fire short bursts and strive to optimize their aim between bursts fired in succession. According to comparative tests by the US military under battle conditions, 7 to 10 rounds bursts with 15 bursts in a minute were most effective. For its medium machine gun role, the MG 34 was matched to the newly developed "Lafette 34" tripod. In the tripod-mounted medium machine gun role, general-purpose machine gun users were trained to fire short bursts and bursts of 20 to 50 rounds and strive to optimize their aim between bursts fired in succession. As a consequence of factors like the time spent reloading, aiming, changing hot barrels if necessary to allow for cooling, the MG 34's practical effective rate of fire was 150 rounds per minute.


title: MG 34

text: The Allied nations' infantry doctrines of World War II based a squad's/rifle section's firepower centered on the rifleman and/or a magazine fed light machine gun (BAR, Bren, DP-27/DPM, FM 24/29), and they utilised weapons with cyclic fire rates of typically 450–600 rounds per minute.


title: MG 34

text: A German infantry "Gruppe" (squad) at the start of the war consisted of ten men: a non-commissioned officer or "Unteroffizier" squad leader, deputy squad leader, a three-man machine gun team (machine gunner, assistant gunner/loader and ammunition carrier) and five riflemen. The riflemen carried additional ammunition for the machine gun, hand grenades, explosive charges or a machine gun tripod as required and provided security and covering fire for the machine gun team. A full "Gruppe" (squad) carried 1,800 rounds of ammunition for the machine gun between them.


title: MG 34

text: In the German heavy machine gun (HMG) platoons, each platoon served four MG 34/MG 42 machine guns, used in the sustained fire mode mounted on tripods. In 1944, this was altered to six machine guns in three sections with two seven-man heavy machine gun squads per section as follows:


title: MG 34

text: The optimum operating crew of an MG 34 in its medium machine gun role was six men: the squad leader, the machine gunner who carried and fired the gun, the assistant gunner/loader who carried the tripod, and three riflemen who carried 1,800 rounds of ammunition between them, spare barrels, entrenching tools, and other items.


title: MG 34

text: To enable the machine gun for its long-range direct fire and indirect fire support roles, optical sights could be added to a "Zielfernrohrhalter" (optical sight mounting bracket) on the tripod, allowing operating crews to continue using advanced planned and unplanned firing methods developed during World War I, though plunging fire or indirect fire methods were not as commonly used by machine gunners during World War II as they were during World War I.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 fires from an open bolt and this format both keeps the barrel open at both ends after firing ceases, allowing airflow through it and helping it to cool faster, and meanwhile retains the next unfired bullet outside the chamber until the trigger is squeezed again; and thus the cartridges are protected from the risk of cook-offs from high chamber temperatures after long bouts of sustained automatic fire. The firearm was designed with a rotating bolt operated by short recoil aided by a muzzle booster. When the firearm is ready to fire the bolt is pulled back to the rear and is held back by the sear. With the pull of the trigger the sear disengages sending the bolt forward under pressure from the recoil spring. A cartridge is stripped from the magazine or belt and the round is pushed into the chamber. As the bolt moves forward into battery the bolt rotates engaging the locking lugs and chamber locking the bolt to the barrel. The striker strikes and ignites the primer and the round is fired. The recoil causes the barrel and bolt to move backwards a short distance. The rearward movement of the barrel causes the rotating bolt to rotate back disengaging the locking lugs and unlocking the bolt from the barrel. The barrel returns to its forward position while the bolt recoils to its rear position. The spent cartridge case is ejected downward through an ejection port normally covered by a spring-loaded dust cover at the bottom of the receiver, just in front of the trigger group and the cycle can begin anew. The spring-loaded dust cover automatically opens when the gun is fired, but the user has to close it after firing to prevent dirt entering the receiver through the open port.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 came with a standard iron sight line consisting of a notched 'V' sight mounted to a post in the rear and a single blade at the front. The sight came calibrated for ranges between in meter increments. The standard sight line had a sight radius. The MG 34 could accept a variety of different sighting systems, such as a spider web-type anti-aircraft sight or telescopic sights for use in specialty roles.


title: MG 34

text: An active infrared device, intended primarily for night use, and consisting of a specialized mount, active infrared spotlight and accompanying infrared image converter was developed that could be used with the MG 34 and MG 42. In the later stages of World War II the bulky "Fahr- und Zielgerät FG 1250" (driving and aiming device FG 1250) active infrared unit was paired on Sd.Kfz. 251/1 "Falke" half-track armored personnel carriers to some MG 34 and MG 42 machine guns.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 could use non-disintegrating metallic-link belts, which have links that wrap around the cartridge case and are linked by a coiling wire on each side. The belts are intended for multiple reuse. Operation through the feed block is in one step by a feed arm housed in the feed cover. According to U.S. Ordnance Department tests, performed in 1942, the MG 34 was capable of lifting 75 rounds of belted ammunition during firing. The feeding system was based on the direct push-through of the cartridge out of the link into the gun's chamber. Accordingly, the link had to be of the half-open type to enable the motion of the bolt through the link. During World War II the "Gurt 34/41"-belt family was introduced. "Gurt 34/41" belt links and wire spirals were made of thinner material — the "Gurt 34" links were made of and "Gurt 34/41" links of thick stamped steel sheet metal — that saved ⅓ of metal and counterintuitively yielded improved performance. Belts were supplied in a fixed length of 50 rounds, but could be linked up to make longer belts for sustained firing. Ammunition boxes contained 250 rounds in five 50-round belts. A 250-round "Patronengurt 33" belt was also issued to machine guns installed in fixed emplacements such as bunkers. "Patronenkasten 34" and "Patronenkasten 41" ammunition boxes could hold up to 300 belted rounds. The "Patronenkasten" could contain an "Einführstück" belt starter-segment.


title: MG 34

text: The 50-round "Gurttrommel" assault drum designed to be clipped to the left side of the gun was an alternative feed option. It was not a true magazine but held a coiled 50-round belt and corresponding "Einführstück" starter-segment preventing it from snagging, twisting and getting stuck during mobile assaults. The "Gurttrommel" belt container was commonly used until the end of World War II, with the MG 34 and MG 42.


title: MG 34

text: The 75-round "Patronentrommel 34" "double drum" magazine was the original pre-redesign feed method. This double drum or saddle magazine type was introduced on the MG 13, but the MG 13 magazine and "Patronentrommel 34" were not interchangeable. After the MG 34 redesign, that enabled the MG 34 to use belted ammunition, the "Patronentrommel 34" became a rare alternative feed option. The "Patronentrommel 34" could be used only together with a "Trommelhalter" magazine holder that substituted the normal feed cover, thereby switching the gun from belt feeding to "Patronentrommel 34" "double drum" magazine feeding. It contained 75 loose rounds in two spring-powered spirals twisting in opposite direction, feeding the chamber from opposite sides in turn. The "Patronentrommel 34" was rather complicated and inconvenient to (re)load, adjust to work reliably, and in use. It had to be loaded by a special "Trommelfüller 34" drum filler machine. This drum filler machine could be stored and carried in a "Patronenkasten 34" ammunition box. An MG 34 configured to use the 75-round magazine could not be returned to belt-feed mode without substituting the "Trommelhalter" magazine holder for the normal feed cover. By the end of 1938 the "Patronentrommel 34" and its accessories were officially withdrawn. This induced that "Patronentrommel 34" use by infantry had ceased by 1941, with some mainly in the low level anti-aircraft role remaining in use on armoured vehicles. The MG 34 tended to fire at a somewhat higher cyclic rate when fed by a 75-round "Patronentrommel 34" than when fed by a standard belt, due to the spring loading of the former.


title: MG 34

text: The barrel of the MG 34 could be quickly changed to avoid overheating during sustained fire by the machine gun crew and weighed . The service life of an MG 34 barrel was about 6,000 rounds assuming the barrel was used according to the regulations, which prohibited rapid or sustained fire beyond 250 rounds. In cases of emergency the rapid rate of a barrel was limited to 400 rounds. During a barrel change, the operator would disengage a latch on the left side of the receiver which held the receiver to the barrel sleeve. The entire receiver section could then pivot off to the right on its latitudinal axis, allowing the operator to pull the (hot) barrel out the back of the sleeve. A new cool(er) barrel would then be put in the back of the sleeve, and the receiver rotated back in line with the barrel sleeve and latched. The machine gun crew member responsible for a hot barrel change was issued protective asbestos mitts to prevent burns to the hands. The entire process took 10 to 15 seconds when performed by a well-trained crew, causing minimal downtime in battle.


title: MG 34

text: For carrying and protecting spare barrel units, consisting of a barrel and its locking piece, a "Laufschützer 34" (barrel protector) was used as a field accessory. When closed the "Laufschützer 34" looked like a tubular container with mountings at its ends to attach a carrying/shoulder strap. During a barrel change a cool MG 34 barrel unit coming out of the "Laufschützer 34" can be inserted in the machine gun and the replaced hot barrel unit can be placed in or on the opened "Laufschützer 34" to cool down. Later in the war the universal "Laufschützer 43" was introduced that could be used with MG 43 and MG 42 barrel units.


title: MG 34

text: A notable feature of the MG 34 was its double-crescent trigger, which provided select fire capability without the need for a fire mode selector switch. Pressing the upper segment of the trigger produced semi-automatic fire, while holding the lower segment of the trigger produced fully automatic fire. Though considered innovative at the time, the feature was eliminated due to its complexity on the MG 34's successor, the MG 42.


title: MG 34

text: In the light machine gun role, it was used with a bipod and weighed only . In the medium machine gun role, it could be mounted on one of two tripods, a smaller one weighing , the larger "Lafette 34" .


title: MG 34

text: For the medium machine gun role a larger tripod, the MG 34 "Lafette 34", included a number of features, such as recoil absorbing buffer springs, a "Zielfernrohrhalter" (optical sight mounting bracket) for mounting an MG Z 34 or MG Z 40 periscope-type 4× power telescopic sight containing special sighting equipment for indirect fire or the late World War II MG Z 44, designed for direct fire only. Fitting such an optical sight enabled the machine gun to deliver direct fire out to . An accessory to lengthen these sights' periscope was available, allowing the use of them behind cover. The "Lafette" could be set up in a prone, kneeling or a high position and weighed on its own. The legs could be extended with a "Lafetteaufsatzstück" to allow it to be used in the low level anti-aircraft role, and when lowered, it could be placed to allow the gun to be fired "remotely" while it swept an arc in front of the mounting with fire. Mounted to the "Lafette" and aimed through the MG Z 34 or MG Z 40 telescopic sight the effective range of the MG 34 could be extended out to when fired indirectly. The indirect firing method exploits the "s.S. Patrone" useful maximum range, that is defined by the maximum range of a small-arms projectile while still maintaining the minimum kinetic energy required to put unprotected personnel out of action, which is generally believed to be 15 kilogram-meters (147 J / 108 ft⋅lbf). The "Lafette 34" tripod also had a bolt box to store a (spare) bolt.


title: MG 34

text: Another unique feature of German World War II machine guns was the "Tiefenfeuerautomat" feature on the "Lafette 34" tripod. If selected, this feature mechanically controlled the rise and fall of the gun, elevating the gun for five rounds and then depressing it for four rounds. It lengthened the beaten zone by walking the fire in wave like motions up and down the range in a predefined area. The length of the beaten zone could be set on the "Tiefenfeuerautomat". E.g., being unsure whether the real distance was , the gunner could make the mount do an automatic sweep between the elevations for and back. This sweeping of a selected beaten zone continued as long as the gun fired. The "Lafette 34" had a "Richt- und Überschießtafel" (Overhead firing table) riveted to the rear body of the searchfire mechanism from the very start of production until the very end of it. In the later stages of World War II ballistic correction directions were added for overshooting friendly forces with S.m.E. – "Spitzgeschoß mit Eisenkern" (spitzer with iron core) ammunition of which the external ballistic behaviour started to significantly deviate from upwards compared to the "s.S. Patrone" (s.S. ball cartridge). A trigger handle, which enabled the operator to fire the gun without affecting the stability of the gun's point of aim, was attached to the "Tiefenfeuerautomat" searchfire unit. On the "Lafette 34" it could be adjusted for both semi-automatic firing and full-automatic firing mode, although some simplified late-war mounts had the trigger configured for full-automatic firing mode only.


title: MG 34

text: There were numerous other specialist mounts for the MG 34. The "Dreibein 34", for example, was a simple high-standing tripod for mounting the gun in anti-aircraft mode. There were also mounts for bicycles, motorcycle sidecars, tanks and armoured vehicles (ball and pintle mounts), fortress positions, boat decks and even assault gliders. MG 34s were mounted in multiple-gun arrangements, particularly on vehicles, for low level anti-aircraft defence.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 butt-stock could be easily removed to reduce the space occupied when mounted inside a vehicle. It was produced in various wood and bakelite versions.


title: MG 34

text: As the first war experiences in the beginning of World War II proved that a higher cyclic fire rate generates more dispersion of the bullets, MG 34 based prototype guns like the MG 34S were requested. The MG 34S had a shortened and lightened barrel, a stiffer multi strands recoil spring and a better recoil booster to increase the rate of fire. The prototype weapons were developed into the very similar further improved MG 34/41, that could cope with a cyclic firing rate of 1,200 rounds per minute, but its components became highly stressed. The effort to simplify the basic MG 34 and reduce production effort and costs consisted mainly of discarding the possibility of semi-automatic fire, using a trigger group containing many stamped parts, and eliminating some complex machining operations during production. Technically, the ejector assembly was enlarged and strengthened, and the feed mechanism was modified to provide a more secure grip on the cartridge. The weight of the MG 34/41 was 14 kg, slightly more than the original MG 34 version. A limited run of MG 34/41 model guns, was completed and tested in combat trials at the Russian front. These guns exhibited durability problems, which is why the development of MG 34 based incrementally improved guns was discontinued. Instead, the German military preferred the technically fundamentally differing also combat trailed MG 39/41 gun. In early 1942 a further improved model of the MG 39/41 was officially accepted and designated as the MG 42.


title: MG 34

text: Most German tanks and other armoured vehicles used during World War II used the MG 34 Panzerlauf or MG 34 Panzermantel for secondary armament, the Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer being the exception. The MG 42 was ill-suited for enclosed secondary or coaxial mounting due to the method of barrel change. The MG 42's barrel had to be removed and replaced by sliding the barrel out at an angle such that, when mounted on a tank/armoured vehicle, armour and space would have to be compromised to fit the weapon. Although the MG 34 was older than the (arguably) improved MG 42, its barrel could be swapped in-line with the gun, meaning that the MG 34 was favoured because it was simpler to design mountings for the gun. The MG 34 was also more versatile to feed, for instance using a 75-round "Patronentrommel 34" double drum magazine or being select-fire.


title: MG 34

text: The main difference of the "MG 34 Panzerlauf" and the regular MG 34 was the heavier, almost solid "Panzermantel" armored barrel shroud, almost completely lacking the ventilation holes of the regular MG 34. Further the "MG 34 Panzerlauf" featured bipod clamps for attaching a bipod and lacked the anti-aircraft sight bracket. When mounted inside the generally limited space inside an armored vehicle, the MG 34 user detachable butt-stock was taken off. A kit for quick conversion to ground use in the light machine gun role was carried inside the tank containing a butt-stock and a combined bipod and front sight assembly. About 50,000 "MG 34 Panzerlauf" or "MG 34 Panzermantel" were produced.


title: MG 34

text: The MG 34 was also used as the basis of a new aircraft-mounted machine gun, the MG 81 machine gun. For this role, the breech was slightly modified to allow feeds from either side, and in one version, two guns were bolted together on a single trigger to form a weapon known as the MG 81Z (for "Zwilling", German for "twin" as in twin-mounted). Production of the MG 34 was never enough to satisfy any of its users, and while the MG81 was a significant improvement over the earlier MG 30-based MG 15 and MG 17 guns, these guns were used until the end of the war. As the Luftwaffe lost the battle for air superiority and declined in priority in the German war effort, MG 15s and MG 81s, which were designed as flexibly mounted aircraft machine guns, were modified and adapted for ground use by infantry, with varying degrees of success.


title: MG 34

text: Norway used and first converted the MG 34 in the 1950s to .30-06 Springfield designated as the MG34F1 and later to 7.62×51mm NATO designated as the MG34F2. These converted MG 34's were used by the "Heimevernet" (Norwegian Home Guard) until the mid 1990s.


title: MG 34

text: The TNW MG34 is a closed bolt, semi automatic only version of the MG34 made by TNW firearms, marketed towards civilian collectors, and was manufactured due to the high cost and rarity of the full auto versions. Although they stopped production in 2018, they continue to make part kits for the semi automatic variant of the MG34.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1873, the team is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name, as well as the oldest-surviving team in both the modern-day CFL and East Division. The team's origins date back to a modified version of rugby football that emerged in North America in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Argonauts played their home games at Rogers Centre (originally known as SkyDome) from 1989 until 2016 when the team moved to BMO Field, the fifth stadium site to host the team.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Argonauts have won the Grey Cup a record 18 times and have appeared in the final 24 times. Most recently they defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24–23 in the 109th Grey Cup in 2022. The Argonauts hold the best winning percentage in the championship game (75%) and have the longest active winning streak in games in which they have appeared, at seven. The Argonauts have faced every current western CFL team at least once in the Grey Cup, while their most celebrated divisional rivalry has been with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The team was founded and owned by the Argonaut Rowing Club for its first 83 years, and has been owned by a series of business interests since 1956. The Argonauts were a fixture on the Toronto sports scene for decades, with attendance peaking in the 1970s. In May 2015 it was announced that a consortium of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment's Larry Tanenbaum (via the Kilmer Group) and Bell Canada would acquire the team. The sale included a scheduled move to the MLSE-run BMO Field for the 2016 season, which has long been proposed given attendance under-utilization at Rogers Centre. MLSE announced in December 2017 that it had agreed to purchase the team outright, with the deal finalized on January 19, 2018. The previous owners continue to indirectly own stakes in the Argos, as Bell Canada and the Kilmer Group respectively hold 37.5% and 25% stakes in MLSE.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Given the length of franchise history, dozens of players, coaches, and management have been honoured in some form over the years. The team recognizes a select group of players with retired numbers: early greats Joe Krol and Dick Shatto, stalwart offensive lineman Danny Nykoluk, and Michael "Pinball" Clemons who has been the most recent face of the team.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Since the team's foundation in 1873, "the Argonauts" name has been in continuous use, a record in North American professional sports. The Chicago Cubs (1870) and the Atlanta Braves (1871) franchises of Major League Baseball are older, but both teams have changed their name more than once, and the Braves have also changed cities. The Argonauts also claim to be the oldest professional football team in North America. The claim is debatable, as the Hamilton Tigers date to 1869; they merged with the Hamilton Wildcats in 1950 to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The name "Argonauts" is derived from Greek mythology: according to legend, Jason and the Argonauts were a group of heroes who set out to find the Golden Fleece aboard the ship "Argo" sometime before the Trojan War. Given its nautical theme, the name Argonaut was adopted by a group of amateur rowers in Toronto in 1872. The Argonaut Rowing Club, which still exists today, went on to found the football club with the same name a year later. Given their roots in a rowing squad, the team is often referred to as the "boatmen" and less often the "scullers".


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In the 19th century, the most renowned rowing teams in the world were from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England. The Toronto rowers, many of whom had associations with the English schools, adopted uniforms incorporating the light blue of Cambridge and the dark blue of Oxford. In turn, the footballers adopted the colours and the phrase "double blue" became synonymous with the team. Blue has become the traditional colour of top-level teams in Toronto (e.g. the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays).


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The team's other official colour is white. Its current helmet design features an Oxford blue background, with an Oxford blue and Cambridge blue round shield inscribed with a white, capital letter "A". For most of the team's history, the logo featured some form of a boat, often incorporating a football.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The first recorded game of what would become known as Canadian football was played in Toronto on November 9, 1861, featuring University of Toronto students. At the time, the game was a modified version of English rugby, which gained popularity throughout the 1860s. Rugby itself was still an infant game having evolved out of association football (soccer) in the 1830s. Seeking a way to keep fit after summer, the Argonaut Rowing Club (ARC) formed their own rugby-football squad on October 4, 1873. The Argonauts Football Club played their first game against Hamilton on October 18 of that year (a victory), beginning a storied rivalry. H.T. Glazebrook was their first captain and head coach. Establishment of the football team was formalized by the ARC on September 17, 1874, with a subscription fee of one dollar charged per player.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The football team played a handful of challenge matches—one team inviting another to play—as an amateur squad against university and city teams every year throughout the 1870s, with one dormant year in 1879, likely due to injuries. In 1883 the Toronto Football Club, other city teams from Ontario and university squads from Toronto, Queens University and Royal Military College formed the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU); it was the first rugby football organization with a league and playoff structure in North America. The Toronto Football Club were league victors in the first year. Starting in 1884, a "Dominion Championship"—a precursor to the Grey Cup—was held, pitting the victors of the country's two organized leagues, the ORFU and Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU), against each other; it was organized nationally by the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) from 1892 onwards. In the first true national championship, the Montreal Football Club defeated the Toronto Football Club on November 6, 1884, by a score of 30–0. Argonauts lost the Dominion Title in 1901 to Ottawa College. The Ottawa Football Club and the Hamilton Football Club were frequent opponents in this era.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Over the thirty years from 1880 onwards, rule changes were incrementally introduced into the game, including the adoption of the line of scrimmage, scoring that began to resemble the modern version, and the down and yardage structure. Popular personalities of the era included player-coach Joe Wright Sr., one of the best all around Canadian athletes at the turn of the century. One major outstanding issue within the CRU at the time was the role of professional versus amateur players; this dispute caused the Argonauts to withdraw from the league in 1903 and eventually led to the establishment of a new league, The Big Four or Interprovincial Rugby Football League. Alongside the professionalism dispute, there was serious disagreement over the adoption of the Burnside rules, with Ontario, Quebec, and the intercollegiate league often not in alignment. Among other critical innovations, the Burnside rules reduced the number of men per side to 12 and introduced the ten yards in three downs structure that is central to the modern game.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Argonauts merged with the Toronto Football Club in 1905, and W. A. Hewitt was manager of the Argonauts until 1907. He was also vice-president of the ORFU for the 1905 and 1906 seasons, and sought for ORFU to have uniform rules of play with the CRU, with a preference to use the snap-back system of play. When the CRU did not adopt the snap-back system, his motion was approved for the ORFU to adopt the CRU rules in 1906.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In December 1906, "The Gazette" reported that a proposal originated from Ottawa for the ORFU and the QRFU to merge, which would allow for higher calibre of play and create rivalries. Hewitt helped organize the meeting which established the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) in 1907. Seeking looser rules regarding the employment of professional players, Toronto and other cities split from the ORFU and formed the IRFU, along with Hamilton, Ottawa, and Montreal.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The IRFU continued under the larger auspices of the Canadian Rugby Union. Beginning in 1909, the CRU champion was awarded the Grey Cup, with the Big Four competing against university squads and eventually teams from Western Canada. The Argonauts first competed for the Cup in 1911, losing 14 to 7 to the University of Toronto in front of a then record 13,687 spectators at the newly opened Varsity Stadium. The team claimed their first championship in 1914, exacting revenge on U of T with a 14 to 2 victory. Their star runner and kicker in their first championship year was Jack O'Conner, who scored a league record 44 points.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: After play was halted during World War I, the Argos again achieved success in the early 1920s on the back of one Canada's greatest ever sportsmen. Lionel Conacher, the "Big Train," led the team to two perfect 6–0 seasons in 1921 and 1922. In the first season he accounted for 85 of his team's 167 points, and 15 of the points in the Grey Cup game, a 23–0 drubbing of the Edmonton Eskimos. It was the first east-west Grey Cup championship in Canadian history.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The 1921 Grey Cup victory was their last until 1933, at which point the Argonauts became the dominant team of an increasingly nationwide sport. They put together a number of Grey Cup dynasties in the 1930s and 1940s, winning eight of twenty Grey Cups between 1933 and 1952. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were most often on the receiving end of Argo Grey Cup victories in this era. From 1933 to 1941 Lew Hayman coached the team with a still unparalleled winning ratio of 45–15–2. Their first back-to-back Grey Cups came in 1937 and 1938. This was also the era of the famed Stukus brothers—Annis, Bill, and Frank—who proved a potent all-purpose trio in the Argonauts' championship years.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Joe "King" Krol and Royal Copeland, the so-called 'Gold Dust Twins', were the best-known players of the 1940s. In an era where players still played multiple positions, they were a threat in every capacity: running, passing, catching, kicking, and playing defence. Often connecting with each other for points, they led the Argos to a Grey Cup threepeat between 1945 and 1947. In 1948, the team broke a cultural barrier with the signing of Ken Whitlock as not only their first import player in quite some time but also their first ever black player. Whitlock played only 4 games as a halfback & punter before getting released from the team, but his signing also ushered a new era for player acquisitions. 1949 and 1950 marked a watershed in Argonauts history as the team began large scale importation of American players for the first time. In 1950, the Argos signed their second ever black player after Whitlock, Ulysses "Crazy Legs" Curtis. Curtis played five strong years with the team as their featured running back.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Frank Clair was brought in as coach in 1950 and left his mark on the revamped roster; he led the team to Grey Cup wins in 1950 and 1952. The first of these was a 13–0 victory over Winnipeg in the notorious Mud Bowl. A November snowstorm followed by mild conditions turned Varsity Stadium into a bog and the play was a shambles; one Winnipeg player is reported to have almost drowned in the muck.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: At some time during this period, the phrase "Argo Bounce" came to refer to the Argonauts' propensity to receive a lucky bounce of the football. The phrase may date to the Grey Cups of the 1930s, all of which featured improbable bounces and fumbles favouring the Argos; the phrase was popularized in print by Annis Stukus in the 1940s. It is still in use today, with a number of fortunate on-field happenings attributed to the "bounce".


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The three decades after the 1952 Grey Cup victory have been called the Argonauts' Dark Ages. A year after winning the Grey Cup, the Argos crashed to dead last in the Big Four. It was the start of a 31-year stretch without a Grey Cup, and for the first 19 of those years, they only got as far as the second round of the playoffs. Part of the reason was a salary cap introduced in 1953 that cost them many talented players. For the first time in decades, they were a fixture at or near the bottom of the East. The management style under new owner John Bassett has also been blamed: young talent was traded or allowed to leave and the team could not form a nucleus of championship players; coaches came and went rapidly. Two notable events occurred off-field at the end of the 1950s. In 1958 the Argonauts became a founding member of the Canadian Football League and a year later found a new home at Exhibition Stadium.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Argonauts did have some standout players in the 1950s and 1960s. The stalwart of the era was Dick Shatto, an Ohioan who played twelve seasons from 1954 to 1965. Listed as a running back, Shatto was a dual threat to run and receive and continues to hold the team regular season records for touchdowns (91) and total yards gained (6,958). Living in Toronto year round, Shatto set down deep roots in the city and eventually became the Argonauts' general manager. Another American, Tobin Rote, set numerous passing marks in three years at quarterback from 1960 to 1962. Known for his good living off the field, Rote still holds the Argos single game passing record with 524 yards against Montreal on August 19, 1960. A pillar on the offensive line was Danny Nykoluk at tackle, whose career spanned an incredible 17 seasons from 1954 to 1971, including one stretch of 12 years where he didn't miss a single game. Despite the presence of these veterans, the era was marked by losing seasons and high attrition on the roster. By the 1960s, the annual (and often desperate) mid-season addition of American imports had become known as the "Argo airlift"; American imports often did not last a game before being cut.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Eventually, the team became competitive again under head coach Leo Cahill in the late 1960s. They scored a coup over the National Football League (NFL) with the signing of a young Joe Theismann (and other American stars) in 1971. The team also saw an attendance bounce, consistently selling out Exhibition Stadium. The Boatmen's best chance to end their Grey Cup drought came that year, when they faced the Calgary Stampeders in the 59th Grey Cup, the first to be played on artificial turf. In a defensive struggle at Vancouver's soggy Empire Stadium, a now infamous late fumble by Leon "X-Ray" McQuay and a possession-changing kick out of bounds by Harry Abofs sealed a 14–11 Stampeder victory.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Aside from 1971, the 1970s were tumultuous for the team, with numerous hirings and firings of head coaches and consistent losing records. There were stellar players over this era, including defensive all-stars such as Jim Stillwagon, Jim Corrigall, and Granville "Granny" Liggins, but the team could not return to winning form. High-profile moves such as hiring Canadian football icon Russ Jackson as head coach in 1975 or signing running back superstar Anthony Davis the next year turned into busts. Ironically, the Argos reached historic attendance highs in this losing decade—regular season average per game attendance reached 47,356 in 1976. The enlargement and reconfiguration of Exhibition Stadium over 1975 and 1976 in anticipation and preparation of the Blue Jays expansion baseball team (who began play in 1977) allowed for these massive crowds.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Argos reached an all-time low in 1981 when they finished 2–14; this despite having such talented players as quarterback Condredge Holloway, running back Cedric Minter, and receiver Terry Greer. The team began the year 0–10 and there was talk of a "perfect" losing season. The team had been inept so long by this point (29 seasons without a Grey Cup win) that the notion of an "Argo Bounce" had become inverted; now "it was the unluckiest bounce in the world, the one that usually arose from the Argos' uncanny ability to lose critical games in the dying minutes by committing an improbable blunder."


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: However, with the 1982 season came the hiring of Bob O'Billovich as head coach and Mouse Davis as offensive co-ordinator. Davis implemented the run and shoot offense, and the Argos enjoyed a turnaround, going 9–6–1 that year; Condredge Holloway was the CFL's most outstanding player. The team ultimately fell short in their quest for a Grey Cup, losing 32–16 in a driving rainstorm to the mighty Edmonton Eskimos (in the last of their five consecutive Grey Cup titles) in the final in front of a disappointed crowd at Exhibition Stadium. The 1983 season finally brought the championship home. The Argos finished 12–4 and Terry Greer set a CFL record with 2,003 receiving yards. Joe Barnes and Condredge Holloway were a potent duo at quarterback. The Double Blue returned to the Grey Cup, this time facing the BC Lions at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. Despite the hostile crowd, Toronto defeated BC 18–17 to win their first Grey Cup since 1952. The Argos were generally competitive for the remainder of the 1980s, thanks in large part to talented players such as Gill "The Thrill" Fenerty and Darrell K. Smith, but a return to the glory of 1983 proved elusive (outside of an appearance in the 1987 Grey Cup game, in which they lost in the last minute to the Edmonton Eskimos 38–36).


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The 1989 season saw the Argonauts move into SkyDome, a multi-purpose downtown stadium with a retractable roof. It marked the beginning of an eventful few years. In 1990, one of the most beloved figures in Toronto sporting history emerged on the team: Michael "Pinball" Clemons set a CFL record for all purpose yards with 3,300 in his first full year, a record he broke in 1997 with 3,840.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In 1991 Hollywood prestige arrived in the form of a new ownership trio. Bruce McNall, owner of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, bought the team. One of his players, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, became a minority owner, as did Canadian-born comedian John Candy. The group stunned the league with the signing of Raghib "Rocket" Ismail for an unheard of $18.2 million over four years. Ismail immediately impressed, particularly on kickoff returns, and was named player of the game in the 1991 Grey Cup, which the Argos won 36–21 over the Calgary Stampeders. Clemons and quarterback Matt Dunigan (who played the final with a broken collarbone) were the other critical pieces to the championship.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: However, the Argos slumped to 6–12 only a year later, beginning a slide that only accelerated when Dunigan and Ismail left after the season. The 1992 season was the first of four consecutive losing seasons; while they made the playoffs in 1994, they were promptly eliminated by the Baltimore Stallions in the division semi-finals. Trouble also struck off the field: McNall was convicted of conspiracy and fraud at the end of 1993, while Candy died prematurely the next year, shortly after he sold his stake in the team. With Gretzky's salary dependent upon McNall, the team was effectively left without owners before Labatt Brewing Company, parent of league broadcast partner The Sports Network, bought it in the spring of 1994.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Attendance also began to slide in the mid-1990s, raising questions over the team's viability that persist to this day. The per game average was just above 16,000 in 1994 and 1995, much less than half the team's 1970s peak.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Championship material did eventually reemerge in 1996. The team hired Don Matthews, who was fresh off a Grey Cup victory with the Baltimore Stallions to be the team's new head coach and signed Doug Flutie, one of the greatest quarterbacks in CFL history, to a contract and surrounded him with key personnel. The team included linebacker Mike O'Shea, veteran wide receiver Paul Masotti, and running back Robert Drummond. Derrell "Mookie" Mitchell was added at receiver in 1997. The Boatmen took the Grey Cup in both 1996 and 1997. Flutie set team records for single season passing yards with more than 5,500 in each year and for touchdowns thrown with 47 in 1997 (one less than his CFL record of 48) before crossing the border to join the Buffalo Bills the next year. Masotti retired in 1999 as the team's all time pass reception yardage leader. Clemons ended his own successful career in 2000 before returning to coach until 2007.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The years after their back-to-back championships saw a return to mediocrity for the Argos. Ticket sales remained flat, and there were changes in ownership. Gimmicks to attract fans were greeted with criticism. The Argos seemingly bottomed out in July 2003 when the CFL stripped control over the team from owner Sherwood Schwarz. The team had amassed debts of over $20 million, including $17.4 owed to Schwarz himself.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: New ownership under David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski brought immediate dividends with another Grey Cup win in 2004. Veteran Damon Allen led the team to a 27–19 victory over the B.C. Lions, with Jon Avery a critical running threat. Allen continued with the team until 2007, and retired with professional football's all-time leading passing yardage (72,381).


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Argonauts saw winning seasons from 2005 to 2007 before bottoming out the next two years. They finished 2009 with just three wins. Critical players over this half-decade included receiver Arland Bruce III, defensive star Byron Parker, and all-star punter Noel Prefontaine. The team generated some controversy in 2006 when they lured running back Ricky Williams from the NFL. Williams had repeatedly violated NFL drug policies and was under suspension for the year; he played just one season with the Argos.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In 2010 the team again saw an ownership change, with construction magnate David Braley, who also owns the Lions, taking control. After breaking even in 2010 and going 6–12 in 2011, the Argonauts again acquired a championship nucleus in 2012. Ricky Ray was brilliant at quarterback while Chad Owens emerged as arguably the league's best special teams player. Owens broke Michael Clemons CFL record for all purpose yards and won the CFL Most Outstanding Player award that year. The 2012 Grey Cup was played in Toronto and the team took their first championship victory in the city since 1952, a 35–22 win over Calgary.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: After years of being run on a shoestring budget by owner David Braley and facing the prospect of being evicted out of its longtime home, Braley sold the club to a consortium, led by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum and BCE Inc, a move that solidified the franchise's long-term future.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Argos moved out of Rogers Centre and into BMO Field for the 2016 season. Despite the initial hype of playing at a fan-friendly outdoor facility, the club finished at the bottom of the standings with a 5–13 record. A front office purge followed, with the firing of general manager Jim Barker on January 24, 2017. Head coach Scott Milanovich, who was facing an uncertain future with the Argos in the wake of Barker's firing, quit four days later, accepting the quarterbacks coach position for the Jacksonville Jaguars under Doug Marrone.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Looking to start afresh both on and off the field, the Argos hired former Montreal Alouettes general manager Jim Popp and head coach Marc Trestman on February 28, 2017. Popp and Trestman won consecutive Grey Cup championships in 2009 and 2010. Popp, the architect of the Alouettes' resurgence in the Montreal sports scene, acquired some of his former players, such as S. J. Green and Bear Woods.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In August 2017, the team moved their practice facility to the former Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School, with a short-term lease of the facility from the Toronto Catholic District School Board.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Despite missing most of the free agency period and having mere months to assemble both a roster and coaching staff, the Double Blue finished the year with a 9–9 record, good enough for first place in a weak East Division and a first-round bye. After a thrilling last-minute comeback win in the Eastern Final over Saskatchewan, 25–21, the Argos capped off the season in true Cinderella fashion, with another thrilling comeback, winning their 17th championship in the 2017 Grey Cup. Their 27–24 win over Calgary marked their second Grey Cup victory against the Stampeders in five years.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In 2018, the team's new owners Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment moved the team's practice facility to the nearby MLSE managed Lamport Stadium with the football operations staff moving to BMO Field and the nearby MLSE managed Coca-Cola Coliseum.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Since 2015, the team has averaged the lowest home attendance in the CFL every year, their lowest average (in a non-pandemic affected year) being 12,431 in 2015. The Argonauts won their 18th Grey Cup championship in team history in 2022, hanging on to defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 24–23.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Toronto Argonauts currently lead the CFL in total wins and in winning percentage in the Grey Cup. Early success in the final can partly be attributed to the weakness of western teams: between 1921 and 1952 the Argonauts won in nine straight appearances, including six straight against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The team's success is not merely an historical aberration, however: they have won eight of their 11 appearances since the formation of the CFL, including their last seven straight.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: For the entire Grey Cup era some form of playoffs has led up to the Grey Cup game; the 24 Argonauts teams who have won a spot in the final would, in modern terms, be called "Eastern Division Champions". However, the route to the Grey Cup, participating teams, and playoff format have changed repeatedly over time. During the years that they competed in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (1907–1957) the Argonauts won the James Dixon Trophy (awarded to the IRFU playoff champion) 14 times, going on to win the Grey Cup on 10 of these occasions. The Argonauts, in the CFL era (since 1958), hold a 7–3 record in the Grey Cup title, despite not winning their first Grey Cup as a CFL team until 1983.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: As for the regular season, the CFL records 14 Argonauts teams at the top of the eastern divisional table since its formation in 1958. Earlier data for the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union provides another 9 years from 1907 to 1957 in which the Argos were the best of the "Big Four", for a total of 23 divisional wins. The only pre-1958 year in which the Argos won the IRFU but failed to make a Grey Cup appearance was 1922, when they lost in the Eastern Canada final to Queen's University.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Going back to an even earlier era, the Argonauts won the Ontario Rugby Football Union championship three times between 1883 and 1906, including the league's first two seasons, 1883 and 1884. Their last victory as ORFU members came in 1901. Given their losses in the Dominion Championship in 1884 and 1901, the Argonauts did not earn the title "national champion" until their first Grey Cup win in 1914.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Toronto Argonauts' first home was Rosedale Field at Mount Pleasant Road and MacLennan Avenue near the city centre. The team suggests its capacity was 10,000 total with 4,000 seated, though O'Leary and Parrish list smaller numbers, noting that a $32,000 renovation in 1883 allowed for a capacity of 2,000. The field has historic significance as the site of the first Grey Cup game in 1909; the CFL lists the game's attendance as 3,807. The field still exists as part of Rosedale Park, although there are no grandstands.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Sources again differ on when the team permanently moved to Varsity Stadium on the grounds of the University of Toronto. The team gives dates of 1874–1897 and 1908–1915 at Rosedale, while other sources suggest the team had moved to Varsity by 1911. Varsity became indelibly linked with the Argonauts and the early years of Canadian football; it was the home field of the great Argo dynasties of the 1930s and 1940s. For most of the Argos time at the stadium, its capacity was about 16,000, but this jumped above 20,000 with a renovation in 1950. Although it has not hosted a professional game since 1958, it still holds the record for hosting the most Grey Cups with 30.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Another home beckoned in 1959 with the renovation of the new Exhibition Stadium (also called CNE Stadium) to accommodate Canadian football. Often remembered ruefully by Torontonians for its exposure to weather, as well as poor sightlines after it was converted in the 1970s to additionally accommodate baseball, the stadium was nevertheless the site of the Argos' greatest attendance in the late 1960s and 1970s. Particularly brutal conditions at the 70th Grey Cup in 1982 paved the way for the construction of a domed stadium in Toronto.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Rogers Centre (Skydome before 2004) had provided the Argonauts a marquee venue from 1989 to 2015, but also been criticized for its football sightlines and atmosphere. Even crowds of about 30,000 looked sparse in a stadium that seats up to 50,000 people. The domed environment did, at least, remove the elements and was an advantage to passers and comfortable for fans. Two critical opportunities to find a new home were missed in 2004 and 2005: plans for a revamped Varsity Stadium to accommodate CFL-sized crowds were thwarted by community opposition in 2004, and the Argonauts withdrew from an alternate plan at York University the following year.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: It was announced in 2013 that Rogers Centre's artificial turf would be replaced by natural grass within five years to better facilitate Toronto Blue Jays baseball. Replacing the playing surface would require permanently locking Rogers Centre into its baseball configuration, making it impossible to host CFL games. (However, since this time the stadium has retained its artificial turf surface [albeit with a full dirt infield], and it is unclear whether it will be replaced.) The stadium issue generated significant press and raised concerns over the team's long-term viability given that the Argonauts' losses have been estimated anywhere from $2 to $6 million annually. While various stadium rumours swirled over the course of David Braley's tenure (including building a new facility), it became increasingly clear that a move to a renovated BMO Field was the only viable option.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The BMO Field move became finalized on May 20, 2015, concurrent with the announcement of the team's sale to a consortium of MLSE shareholders Larry Tanenbaum and Bell Canada. The team moved following the completion of stadium renovations for the 2016 season. The $120 million renovation plan had originally been announced in March 2014, and raised the stadium's seating capacity from 21,566 seats to 30,000 for soccer, with 25,000 seats in CFL configuration (due to space and safety issues, the endzones are only 18 yards deep [as opposed to the standard 20 yards], with part of both end zones covered in artificial turf, the remainder of the field has natural grass), and is temporarily expandable with additional endzone seating to 40,000 for big events such as a Grey Cup. The agreement required MLSE to reach a "long-term use (i.e. 20 years)" lease with the Argos for usage of the stadium. The inclusion of the CFL configuration had partly been at the insistence of the City of Toronto government, which owns BMO Field, and had been planned in the original stadium agreement.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Following the demolition and reconstruction of the 5,000 seat Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto, the Argos returned to the stadium, hosting preseason games from 2013 to 2015. The team also acquired a much-needed training facility in July 2014 when it was announced that MLSE had partnered with the Argonauts to expand KIA Training Ground, Toronto FC's new state-of-the-art academy and training facility.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Since 2018, after Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment became the new owners of the Argonauts, the team has used Lamport Stadium as their practice field, while their weight rooms are located at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Both locations are within walking distance of BMO Field


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: For more than eight decades, the Toronto Argonauts Football Club was the sole property of its namesake rowing club. By the 1950s, the team's complex management structure made the arrangement increasingly awkward. Facing overdraft and with wealthy suitors knocking, the Argonaut rowers finally sold the team to a consortium led by John Bassett, Eric Cradock, and Charlie Burns in 1957. Each held about 20% share in the company, with the balance made up by small investors who had some affinity with the club; the initial agreement called for a long-term debenture of $400,000 to be set up that would sustain the rowing club in the absence of its football income. Bassett was the operating head of the franchise and is often given sole credit for the initial purchase of the Argos, but Cradock was also instrumental in spearheading the drive. He sold his share to Len Lumbers just two years into his tenure in part because of Bassett's controlling nature. Bassett arranged a complete buyout of the other shareholders for $2.31 million in 1971 through his holdings in Baton Broadcasting.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The Bassett years of the late-50s to early-70s were marked by mediocrity on the field but consistent success at the turnstiles. An issue that has become a perennial concern in the city also emerged at this time: the possibility of a National Football League team in Toronto. Various machinations were entertained by Bassett including moving the Argos to the NFL, bringing an American expansion team to the city (e.g. the Toronto Northmen of the WFL), or expanding the CFL itself in the opposite direction. Other team owners steadfastly opposed Bassett's moves and almost rescinded his franchise in 1974; angered, he sold the team for $3.3 million to hotel magnate William R. Hodgson in the same year.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Hodgsen sold to Carling O'Keefe in 1979, who had been minority owners since 1976. The brewing company's total investment in the team was $5.8 million. At the time it was rapidly ramping up its sports sponsorship (it also owned the Quebec Nordiques before they moved from the World Hockey Association to the NHL) and would become a huge benefactor to the CFL itself, inking television rights deals that reached $11 million annually by 1984. Reports at the time suggest the league became spoiled by the partnership and that when the money dried up in 1987, the transition was difficult. For the Argos, the Carling O'Keefe years were marked by their first modern-era Grey Cup in 1983.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The year's following the Carling O'Keefe era were marked by increasingly short ownership stints. Canadian businessman Harry Ornest bought the team off Carling O'Keefe for $5 million at the end of 1988 and then sold to the trio of Bruce McNall (60%), John Candy (20%), and Wayne Gretzky (20%) for the same amount in 1991. Of the three, Candy is best remembered for his emotional investment in the team and a team player award continues in his honour. Given McNall's indictment and Candy's early death, the era was tumultuous and the last in which the club regularly made front-page headlines. The now money-losing team was sold to the Labatt Brewing Company through its TSN unit in 1994 for $4.5 million. At the time, Labatt also owned the Toronto Blue Jays. In 1995, Labatt was acquired by Interbrew; The Interbrew years saw two championships but also the worst Argo attendance of the modern era. Interbrew soon lost interest in sports ownership and the team was sold again at the end of 1999 to New York businessman Sherwood Schwarz.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: After the debacles of the Schwarz era and brief control of the team by the CFL (see above) the Argos were rescued by David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski in 2004. There was optimism surrounding the duo's arrival and attendance figures improved in their six years heading the organization. It was also appreciated that the two were Torontonians after a quarter-century of foreign and/or corporate ownership. But by 2010 losses were great enough that the team was again put on the block and eventually sold to David Braley. There was some controversy surrounding Braley's takeover. He was simultaneously owner of the BC Lions, raising questions of competitive integrity. It was also revealed that Braley had bankrolled half of Cynamon and Sokolowski's initial $2 million buy-in of the Argos in 2004, and covered half their subsequent losses, in exchange for half of the 2007 Grey Cup profits.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: By 2014 Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and its chairman and minority owner Larry Tanenbaum had emerged as serious suitors for the team. On May 20, 2015, it was announced that an agreement had been reached for Argonauts to be sold to Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports and Bell Canada, who both own a stake in MLSE with Rogers Communications. Financial details were not disclosed. Despite its shared stake in MLSE, Rogers was not interested in having an ownership share in the Argonauts because it does not have any media relationships with the CFL (unlike Bell, whose TSN division holds the broadcast rights to the league). Argonauts Holdings Limited Partnership, a holding company which Bell and Kilmer each own 50% of, formally acquired the franchise on December 31, 2015.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: On December 13, 2017, MLSE announced that it would acquire the Argos. This sale transferred ownership from Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports and Bell Media to MLSE, which itself is owned by Tanenbaum, Bell Media and Rogers Communications. The sale was finalized on January 19, 2018 and with the sale, MLSE owns four of the five major professional sports franchises in the city of Toronto (only the Blue Jays are not owned by MLSE, although its owner, Rogers Communications, has 37.5% ownership stake of MLSE).


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Below the ownership level, the two most senior positions within the Toronto Argonauts organization are its president and general manager. The GM role was titled as "managing director" from 1957 to 1966, when head coach Bob Shaw was also named "manager" of the team, "with full operating control", and managing director Lew Hayman was named club president. The role of club president had formerly been an honorary position; Hayman was the first president with a salary and executive role. The president role is now included in the title of CEO.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The longest serving executive in the organization is Lew Hayman, who had a five-decade career beginning in the 1930s as coach and administrator. A Jewish-American, Hayman served with both the Argos and Montreal Alouettes and has been called "the architect of Canadian football." He was the team's first president and managing director at the insistence of Eric Cradock in 1957, and would continue in the former role until 1981. Ralph Sazio took over from Hayman and is another hall of fame builder.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: After relative stability at the senior executive level for three decades, there has been significant turnover in the positions since the 1990s. The team had eight general managers in eight years, for example, between 1996 and 2003. The current GM is Jim Popp who was appointed at the end of 207 February 2017. Chris Rudge, former head of the Canadian Olympic Committee, took over as president and CEO from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2015, when Michael Copeland took over. The current president is Bill Manning who is also president of Toronto FC.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Fifty-seven men have been Toronto Argonauts head coach. The most recent coach, Marc Trestman, was appointed in 2017. He has succeeded in reviving a stalled offence and led the team to a Grey Cup victory in 2017. However, he was fired after the team finished 2018 with a 4–14 record.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The longest total tenure at head coach belongs to Bob O'Billovich, who led the team for eleven years over three stints in the 1980s and early 90s. Other notable coaching careers include those of Joe Wright, Sr. at the end of the nineteenth century, Ted Morris and Frank Clair in the post-war years, Leo Cahill in the late 60s and early 70s, and Pinball Clemons after the turn of the millennium.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Since 1961, the Canadian Football League has awarded the Annis Stukus Trophy annually to the league's outstanding coach. (Alongside his playing career, Stukus achieved fame as a coach, promoter, and newspaper columnist.) Argonauts coaches have been honoured eight times: Cahill (1971), O'Billovich (1981 & 1987), Adam Rita (1991), Don Matthews (1997), Jim Barker (2010), Milanovich (2012) and Trestman (2017).


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Argonauts games are currently carried on TSN's national and regional television channel as part of "CFL on TSN" broadcasts. Radio coverage is carried on CHUM (AM) or on CFRB 1010 when there is a scheduling conflict and another sport is being carried on TSN Radio.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Notable broadcasters for the Argonauts include John Badham who had three tenures on three separate radio stations and later inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: With few teams, but a long history, it is inevitable that intense rivalries have developed in Canadian football. Far and away the greatest Toronto Argonauts rivalry has been with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and its precursor teams. Fittingly, the Argonauts first game was against a club from Hamilton, while the raucous Eastern Final of 2013—featuring a Tiger-Cat win over the Argos in front of 35,000 at the Rogers Centre—proved the rivalry is alive and well. The two teams meet in Hamilton every year in the Labour Day Classic, a league wide tradition since the late 1940s in which the game's greatest rivalries are showcased.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: To the east, the Argonauts have also faced off against teams from Montreal and Ottawa since their earliest days. In recent years, the Montreal Alouettes have consistently fielded strong teams and often run up against the Argos in the playoffs; the teams have faced off eleven times in the Eastern Final, with Montreal taking six.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: In 2014, the Argonauts reignited their historic rivalry with an Ottawa football Team as the team came back as the Ottawa REDBLACKS (Other rivalries with Ottawa consisted of rivalries with the Ottawa Renegades and the Ottawa Rough Riders). In 10 games against the current Ottawa franchise (as of the end of the 2017 season) the Argos have a winning record of 7–3–0.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: At the Grey Cup level, the Argonauts have faced an assortment of teams in recent decades rather than any one team regularly. The Edmonton Eskimos, for years a dominant team in the league, became a rival. The two teams' five Grey Cup match-ups include an epic 38–36 Toronto loss in 1987 and most recently, the Snow Bowl victory in 1996 led by the arm of Doug Flutie. In the pre-CFL days, the Argos had a Grey Cup rivalry with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a cross-town rivalry with the University of Toronto in the first years of the Grey Cup championship, including the Argonauts' first win in 1914.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: The highest distinction the Toronto Argonauts can accord a player is to retire their number; just four players have received the honour. Starting in 1996, the team began another category of distinction with its list of "All-Time Argos." Twenty-four players have been rewarded so far and a banner in their honour hangs at BMO Field.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Players and management personnel may be separately inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. A total of 56 people who have been part of the team are in the Hall. The All-Time Argos list does not extend back to before the Second War era while the Hall of Fame does. Thus, for instance, Lionel Conacher is in the Hall but not listed as an All-Time Argo.


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Finally, players may be honoured on an annual basis through the CFL awards. The most prestigious of these is the Most Outstanding Player Award, awarded since 1953. Six Argonauts have been recipients: Chad Owens (2012), Damon Allen (2005), Doug Flutie (1996 & 1997), Michael "Pinball" Clemons (1990), Condredge Holloway (1982), and Bill Symons (1968).


title: Toronto Argonauts

text: Jason is the mascot for the Toronto Argonauts, replacing the previous mascot, Bounce, in 2005, who in turn replaced Scully, in 2003.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: The Italian Greyhound () is an Italian breed of small sighthound. It may also be called the Italian Sighthound.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: Small dogs of sighthound type have long been popular with nobility and royalty. Among those believed to have kept them are Frederick II, Duke of Swabia; members of the D'Este, Medici and Visconti families; the French kings Louis XI, Charles VIII, Charles IX, Louis XIII and Louis XIV; Frederick the Great of Prussia; Anne of Denmark; Catherine the Great and Queen Victoria. Dogs of this type have often been represented in paintings, notably by Giotto, Sassetta and Tiepolo.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: Dogs of this kind were taken in the first half of the nineteenth century to the United Kingdom, where they were known as Italian Greyhounds. The first volume of "The Kennel Club Calendar and Stud Book", published in 1874, lists forty of them. The first breed association was the Italian Greyhound Club, founded in Britain in 1900. Registrations by the American Kennel Club began in 1886.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: In the nine years from 2011 to 2019, the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana recorded a total of 2557 new registrations of the Piccolo Levriero, with a minimum of 213 and a maximum of 333 per year.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: The Italian Greyhound is the smallest of the sighthounds. It weighs no more than and stands at the withers.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: It is deep in the chest, with a tucked-up abdomen, long slender legs and a long neck. The head is small; it is elongated and narrow. The gait should be high-stepping and well-sprung, with good forward extension in the trot, and a fast gallop.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: The coat may be solid black, grey or isabelline; white markings are accepted on the chest and feet only.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: Life expectancy is about 14 years. In the United States, the Ortheopedic Foundation for Animals has found the Italian Greyhound to be the least affected by hip dysplasia of 157 breeds studied, with an incidence of 0.


title: Italian Greyhound

text: The original function of the Piccolo Levriero was to hunt hare and rabbit; it is capable of bursts of speed up to . Although assigned to the sighthound or hare-coursing groups by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale and the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana, the Italian Sighthound is – as it was in the past – kept mostly as a companion dog. It is classified as a toy breed by the American Kennel Club and the Kennel Club of the United Kingdom.


title: David Miliband

text: David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields from 2001 to 2013. He and his brother, Ed Miliband, were the first siblings to sit in the Cabinet simultaneously since Lord Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938. He was a candidate for Labour Party leadership in 2010, following the departure of Gordon Brown, but was defeated by his brother and subsequently left politics.


title: David Miliband

text: He started his career at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Aged 29, he became Tony Blair's Head of Policy while the Labour Party was in opposition, and he was a contributor to Labour's manifesto for the 1997 election, which brought the party to power. Blair subsequently made him head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit from 1997 to 2001, at which point Miliband was elected to Parliament for the seat of South Shields.


title: David Miliband

text: Miliband spent the next few years in various junior ministerial posts, including at the Department for Education and Skills, before joining the Cabinet in 2006 as Environment Secretary. His tenure in this post saw Climate change consolidated as a priority for policymakers and on the succession of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister in 2007, Miliband was promoted to become Foreign Secretary. At the age of 41, he became the youngest person to hold that office since David Owen 30 years earlier. In September 2010, Miliband narrowly lost the Labour leadership election to his brother Ed. On 29 September 2010, he announced that to avoid "constant comparison" with his brother, and because of the "perpetual, distracting and destructive attempts to find division where there is none, and splits where they don't exist, all to the detriment of the party's cause", he would not stand for the Shadow Cabinet.


title: David Miliband

text: On 15 April 2013, Miliband resigned from Parliament in order to take up the posts of President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee in New York City, which triggered a by-election in South Shields.


title: David Miliband

text: Born in London, Miliband is the elder son of immigrant parents, Belgian-born Marxist sociologist Ralph Miliband and Polish-born Marion Kozak, both from Polish Jewish families. The latter was a teacher before she became a homemaker. He was given the middle name of "Wright" after the American sociologist C. Wright Mills, a friend of his father. He has said "I am the child of Jewish immigrants and that is a very important part of my identity." Both his Polish Jewish paternal grandparents lived in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw. His paternal grandfather, Samuel, a trained leather worker, served in the Red Army in the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921 before moving to Belgium. His paternal grandmother, Renia (later known as Renée), also moved to Belgium, where she first met Sam, and the couple married in 1923. The German invasion of Belgium in May 1940 split the Miliband family in half: Ralph and father Samuel fled to England, while Ralph's mother Renée and baby sister Nan stayed behind for the duration of the war. They were not reunited until 1950. His mother, a human rights campaigner and early CND member, survived the Holocaust thanks to being protected by Catholic Poles but her father, David's maternal grandfather did not. During his visit to Poland in June 2009, Miliband went to his family tomb in the Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw. He said of Poland, "My mother was born here, her life was saved by those who risked theirs sheltering her from Nazi oppression", and that he is "one of the million Britons who have Polish blood".


title: David Miliband

text: Miliband was educated at Primrose Hill Primary School, in Camden, and Newlaithes Primary School, in Leeds. In September 1976, he passed the entrance examination to the newly independent, fee-paying Bradford Grammar School and from 1978 to 1983, attended Haverstock Comprehensive School in North London. He obtained four A-levels (grades BBBD), and won admission to the University of Oxford. He was an undergraduate student at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and obtained a first-class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). From 1988 to 1989, he received a master's degree in Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Kennedy Scholar.


title: David Miliband

text: Miliband's first job was as a political analyst at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). From 1989 to 1994, he worked as a Research Fellow and policy analyst at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). He was appointed Secretary of the IPPR's Commission on Social Justice upon its foundation in 1992 by the then leader of the Labour Party, John Smith.


title: David Miliband

text: In 1994 Miliband became Tony Blair's Head of Policy and was a contributor to Labour's manifesto for the 1997 general election. Following Labour's victory in that election, Blair made him the de facto head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit, a position which he held until the 2001 election. He was given the nickname "Brains" by Alastair Campbell, after the "Thunderbirds" character.


title: David Miliband

text: In the 2001 general election he was elected to Parliament for the Labour stronghold of South Shields, succeeding David Clark. After a year as a backbench MP he was appointed Schools Minister, a junior minister in the Department for Education and Skills in June 2002.


title: David Miliband

text: In 2003, Miliband voted to go to war in Iraq. Later, in 2010, he said that his decision was based on his belief that Iraq then had weapons of mass destruction.


title: David Miliband

text: On 15 December 2004, in the reshuffle following the resignation of David Blunkett, he replaced Ruth Kelly as a Cabinet Office Minister.


title: David Miliband

text: Following Labour's third consecutive election victory in May 2005, he was promoted to the Cabinet as Minister of State for Communities and Local Government within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This was a newly created cabinet-level post with responsibility for housing, planning, regeneration and local government. Because the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, was the Departmental Minister officially in charge of these portfolios, Miliband was not given the title Secretary of State but he was appointed a Privy Councillor and became a full member of the Cabinet.


title: David Miliband

text: On 5 May 2006, following the local elections, Tony Blair made a major cabinet reshuffle in which Miliband replaced Margaret Beckett as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Miliband has said he believes agriculture is important for the UK's cultural heritage, economy and society and also for the environment. He has said disease control should be balanced with animal welfare. He attaches importance to reaching a "fair balance" among consumers, farmers, manufacturers and retailers. Miliband also believes the European Union and the World Trade Organization affect power relations between British and foreign farmers.


title: David Miliband

text: He was the first British cabinet member to have a blog, though claims of excessive cost to the taxpayer provoked some controversy. In January 2007 Miliband sparked minor controversy by saying there was no evidence organic food was better than conventionally grown produce, though he later clarified that he was referring specifically to health benefits.


title: David Miliband

text: Miliband is an advocate for international awareness of Climate change and believes the cooperation of all nations is needed for environmental reform. Miliband's focuses include food retail waste management and greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural industries. He believes that the EU should go further in two areas: a low carbon global economy and global action on climate change. He also wants Europe to increase its economic competitiveness. By switching over to a low-carbon economy, he plans to tackle climate change. He hopes to ensure a stable price on energy by securing an energy source and announced the Government's plans to legislate for carbon reductions at the United Nations General Assembly.


title: David Miliband

text: In August 2006, in an effort to put environmental reform into action, Miliband developed a place for a collaborative "environmental contract" to be developed on a Defra Wiki site. It was subsequently linked to by blogger Paul Staines, and mocked, after which further edits by guest users were temporarily prevented. Miliband's emphasis on the necessity of an entirely cooperative effort to effectively instigate a low carbon lifestyle worldwide has led him to advocate an open dialogue among citizens about environmental issues through web-based blogging. Whilst Environment Secretary, Miliband called for all 27 nations of the European Union to unify in backing proposals to cut harmful emissions by 30% by 2020.


title: David Miliband

text: Miliband has floated the idea of every citizen being issued with a "Carbon Credit Card" to improve personal carbon thrift. Miliband argues individuals have to be empowered to tackle global warming — "the mass mobilising movement of our age".


title: David Miliband

text: On 28 June 2007, the day after Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Miliband was appointed Foreign Secretary. He was Britain's third youngest Foreign Secretary and the youngest person to be appointed to the post since David Owen (in office 21 February 1977 – 4 May 1979). Anthony Eden had assumed office at the age of 37 in 1935. David's younger brother, the economist Ed Miliband, was the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, making them the first siblings to serve together in Cabinet since Edward, Lord Stanley, and his brother Oliver in 1938.


title: David Miliband

text: Miliband's first Foreign Office questions session as Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons was on 3 July 2007.


title: David Miliband

text: On the morning of 13 December 2007, Miliband stood in for Prime Minister, Gordon Brown at the official signing ceremony in Lisbon of the EU Reform Treaty, which was attended by all other European heads of government. Brown was otherwise engaged at the House of Commons, appearing before the Liaison Committee, and travelled to Portugal to sign the treaty in the afternoon. He was left on his own again by the Prime Minister to speak in favour of the European Union (Amendment) Bill in the House on 21 January 2008.


title: David Miliband

text: On 21 February 2008, Miliband admitted (despite previous government denials) that two U.S. extraordinary rendition flights had stopped on Diego Garcia, a U.K. territory, in 2002. When questioned as to whether the government had deliberately misled the public over rendition, Miliband apologised and stated that the government had "made a mistake".


title: David Miliband

text: On 5 February 2009, Miliband made a statement to the House of Commons concerning Guantanamo Bay detainee and former British resident Binyam Mohamed. A week later Mohamed's American lawyer Yvonne Bradley flew to Britain to urge the Foreign Office to press harder for his release. On 23 February 2009, Benyam Mohammed returned to Britain and was granted temporary residence. However, in July 2010, Clive Stafford Smith accused former Foreign Secretary David Miliband of "fighting tooth and nail" to prevent the release of vital documents during the Binyam Mohamed case.