title: Colmar

text: Colmar is situated on the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the "capital of Alsatian wine" ("").


title: Colmar

text: Colmar was first mentioned by Charlemagne in his chronicle about Saxon wars. This was the location where the Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat held a diet in 884. Colmar was granted the status of a free imperial city by Emperor Frederick II in 1226. In 1354 it joined the Décapole city league. The city adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1575, long after the northern neighbours of Strasbourg and Sélestat. During the Thirty Years' War, it was taken by the Swedish army in 1632, which held it for two years. In 1634, the Schoeman family arrived and started the first town library. In 1635, the city's harvest was spoiled by Imperialist forces while the residents shot at them from the walls.


title: Colmar

text: The city was conquered by France under King Louis XIV in 1673 and officially ceded by the 1679 Treaties of Nijmegen. In 1854 a cholera epidemic killed many in the city. With the rest of Alsace, Colmar was annexed by the newly formed German Empire in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War and incorporated into the Alsace-Lorraine province. It returned to France after World War I according to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940, and then reverted to French control after the battle of the "Colmar Pocket" in 1945. Colmar has been continuously governed by conservative parties since 1947, the Popular Republican Movement (1947–1977), the Union for French Democracy (1977–1995) and the Union for a Popular Movement (since 1995), and has had only three mayors during that time.


title: Colmar

text: The Colmar Treasure, a hoard of precious objects hidden by Jews during the Black Death, was discovered here in 1863.


title: Colmar

text: Colmar is south-southwest of Strasbourg, at 48.08°N, 7.36°E, on the Lauch River, a tributary of the Ill. It is located directly to the east of the Vosges and connected to the Rhine in the east by a canal.


title: Colmar

text: In 2017, the city had a municipal population of 69,105, and the metropolitan area of Colmar had a population of 199,234 in 2018. Colmar is the center of the arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé, which had 211,312 inhabitants in 2017.


title: Colmar

text: Colmar features an oceanic climate (Köppen: "Cfb"), but the latter is significantly modified by the city's far inland position with cold, dry winters and warm to hot, wetter summers.


title: Colmar

text: The city has a sunny microclimate and is one of the driest cities in France, with an annual precipitation of just , making it ideal for Alsace wine. It is considered the capital of the Alsatian wine region.


title: Colmar

text: The dryness results from the town's location next to mountains, which force clouds arriving from the west to rise, and much of their moisture to condense and fall as precipitation over the higher ground, leaving the air warmed and dried by the time it reaches Colmar.


title: Colmar

text: The city is therefore closer to a continental climate and winter and summer temperatures can sometimes be the coldest or hottest in France.


title: Colmar

text: Mostly spared from the destructions of the French Revolution and the wars of 1870–1871, 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, the cityscape of old-town Colmar is homogenous and renowned among tourists. An area that is crossed by canals of the river Lauch (which formerly served as the butcher's, tanner's and fishmonger's quarter) is now called "little Venice" ("").


title: Colmar

text: Colmar's secular and religious architectural landmarks reflect eight centuries of Germanic and French architecture and the adaptation of their respective stylistic language to the local customs and building materials (pink and yellow Vosges sandstone, timber framing).


title: Colmar

text: The Municipal Library of Colmar (") owns one of the richest collections of incunabula in France, with more than 2,300 volumes. This is quite an exceptional number for a city that is neither the main seat of a university, nor of a college, and has its explanation in the dissolution of local monasteries, abbeys and convents during the French Revolution and the subsequent gift of their collections to the town.


title: Colmar

text: The railway station Gare de Colmar offers connections to Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Besançon, Zürich and several regional destinations. Colmar was also once linked to Freiburg im Breisgau, in Germany and on the other side of the Rhine, by the Freiburg–Colmar international railway. However the railway bridge over the Rhine between Breisach and Neuf-Brisach was destroyed in 1945 and never replaced.


title: Colmar

text: Colmar shares the (Upper Alsace University) with the neighbouring, larger city of Mulhouse. Of the approximately 8,000 students of the UHA, around 1,500 study at the ' (IUT) Colmar, at the Colmar branch of the ' and at the "" (UFR PEPS).


title: Colmar

text: The "École Compleméntaire Pour L'Enseignement Japonaise à Colmar" (コルマール補習授業校 "Korumāru Hoshū Jugyō Kō"), a part-time supplementary Japanese school, is held in Colmar. At one time classes were held at the "Centre Cultural de Seijo".


title: Colmar

text: Since 1980, Colmar is home to an international summer festival of classical music ' (also known as '). In its first version (1980 to 1989), it was placed under the artistic direction of the German conductor Karl Münchinger. Since 1989, it is helmed by the Russian violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov.


title: Colmar

text: Colmar is an affluent city whose primary economic strength lies in the flourishing tourist industry. But it is also the seat of several large companies: Timken (European seat), Liebherr (French seat), Leitz (French seat), Capsugel France (A division of Pfizer).


title: Colmar

text: Every year since 1947, Colmar is host to what is now considered as the biggest annual commercial event as well as the largest festival in Alsace, the "Foire aux vins d'Alsace" (Alsacian wine fair).


title: Colmar

text: By 1991 "Lycée Seijo", a Japanese boarding high school in Kientzheim, had established a Japanese cultural center. It housed books and printed materials in Japan and hosted lectures and film screenings.


title: Colmar

text: Bukit Tinggi Resort Colmar Tropicale which is situated in Bentong district, State of Pahang, Malaysia is a resort-theme historical village inspires from the original Colmar commune in France. Colmar Tropicale located 60 km north-east of Kuala Lumpur.


title: Colmar

text: North of it, a rebuild of Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is in the Berjaya Hills, hosting an organic resort hotel.


title: Colmar

text: Colmar's cityscape (and that of neighbouring Riquewihr) served as inspiration for the design of the Japanese animated film "Howl's Moving Castle". Scenes in the anime "Is the Order a Rabbit?" are also based on this location.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Siniša Mihajlović (, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian professional football player and manager.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: During his career as a footballer, he played as a defender or midfielder. He won the European Cup with Red Star Belgrade in 1991, and played for the majority of his career in the Italian Serie A, making 353 appearances for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter Milan and winning league titles with the latter two clubs. Considered by many to be among the best free kick takers of all time, he holds the all-time record in Serie A for most goals from free-kicks with 28 goals. He won 63 caps and scored 10 goals for Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2003, of which his first four caps in 1991 represented SFR Yugoslavia, and played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000 tournaments.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović retired from playing in 2006, becoming assistant manager at Inter. He managed six Serie A clubs from 2008 to 2022, starting and finishing with Bologna and also including Fiorentina, Torino and A.C. Milan even after his diagnosis in 2019. He was the coach of the Serbia national team from May 2012 to November 2013 as well.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Born in Vukovar into a working-class family of a Serb father from Bosnia and Herzegovina and a Croat mother, Mihajlović was raised in Borovo Naselje with a younger brother, Dražen (b. 1973). Their father Bogdan (d. 2011) was a truck driver, while their mother Viktorija worked in a shoe factory. Mihajlović identifies as a Serb, but has said that he views Croatia as his country as well.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Throughout his late teens, Mihajlović was part of the Yugoslav golden generation that ended up winning the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, however, he was not selected in the team that head coach Mirko Jozić took to the tournament.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: During the Croatian War of Independence, his home was destroyed by Croatian forces, among whom was his childhood best friend, an ethnic Croat, forcing his parents to flee. His maternal uncle called his mother and said that she should stay in Borovo, while her husband, Siniša's father, was to be killed. When the Serbian Volunteer Guard took over Borovo they captured the uncle, and found Siniša's number in his address book; Siniša was called and asked if they were relatives – he had him saved. In a 2016 interview Mihajlović said he had forgiven his childhood friend in a meeting in Zagreb prior to the crucial Euro 2000 qualification match between FR Yugoslavia and Croatia.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović started playing organized football with NK Borovo, a lower-rank club from his hometown. He quickly marked himself out as a talented youngster, making the SR Croatia select squad for the Yugoslav inter-republic youth football tournaments.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In 1986, he was attached to NK Borovo's first team. Playing in the SR Croatia republic/provincial league (third tier competition on the Yugoslav club football pyramid), his first team debut took place on 25 May 1986 against Šparta in Beli Manastir. The match ended 1–1 with Mihajlović scoring a goal. The 17-year-old also got his first taste of professionalism with his first monthly salary being CHF500.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In late 1986, Red Star Belgrade representatives led by scout Kule Aćimović came to watch the seventeen-year-old in a friendly Borovo played against FK Rad, but decided not to sign him.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Then in late spring 1987, amid NK Rijeka and Dinamo Vinkovci already courting young Mihajlović, Dinamo Zagreb—led by club president Ivo Vrhovec and head coach Ćiro Blažević—entered the fray after being made aware of the talented youngster with a thunderous long-distance striking ability by their own youth players Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinečki who had been playing with Mihajlović on the SR Croatia select youth team at inter-republic/provincial youth tournaments. The club's assistant and youth coach Josip Kuže recommended the kid to his boss Blažević. After seeing Mihajlović in a training session, Blažević agreed about the eighteen-year-old's potential, taking him with the rest of the first team to Sassari for an impromptu getaway between two league matches towards the end of the season, even giving the teenager a substitute appearance in Dinamo shirt in a friendly versus local club Torres Sassari.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: The courtship between the club and the player continued over the summer off-season, and, in September 1987, eighteen-year-old Mihajlović was invited to join Dinamo's youth squad for a friendly tournament in Salem, West Germany where he left a good impression, leading to a glowing recommendation from Zdenko Kobeščak, another Dinamo youth coach who led the youth squad at the tournament in West Germany. However, no deal was agreed again as the club's head coach Ćiro Blažević did not seem intent on pursuing Mihajlović beyond cursory interest, feeling that Dinamo already had players for the central midfield position that were "just as good if not better", such as incoming Haris Škoro as well as club mainstay Marko Mlinarić and returnee Stjepan Deverić. Apparently, among the things colourful Blažević imparted to youngster Mihajlović on the occasion was a stern suggestion to cut his long hair and be prepared to be the fourth option for a position in Dinamo's midfield. Since Dinamo was unwilling to fully commit to the player—offering just a stipend-based agreement instead of a professional contract—Mihajlović decided to continue with NK Borovo. Not overly keen on the young third-tier league player, to begin with, and thus not too bothered about losing him, Blažević reportedly even joked that "two Mihajlovićs would be too much for Dinamo" in light of the fact Dinamo had already secured an advance agreement with the, at the time more established, Yugoslav First League player Radmilo Mihajlović (no relation to Siniša) about joining the following season.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: The decision not to take Dinamo's offer was a costly one for young Mihajlović career-wise as the Yugoslavia under-20 head coach Mirko Jozić had already made it clear to the teenager he would not be called up for the upcoming FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile unless he signed with the Zagreb club.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On the initiative by FK Vojvodina's sporting director Milorad Kosanović, Mihajlović arrived to Novi Sad in summer 1988 as part of a slate of players acquired by the club during the same transfer window: talented 19-year-old defensive midfielder Slaviša Jokanović as well as a pair of 24-year-old defenders Budimir Vujačić and Miroslav Tanjga.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Playing alongside seasoned Yugoslav league veterans like forward Miloš Šestić and goalkeeper Čedo Maras, each one of the four new acquisitions made major contribution on the squad led by also newly-arrived head coach Ljupko Petrović as FK Vojvodina somewhat improbably went on to win the Yugoslav league title ahead of the Big Four clubs. Young Mihajlović immediately grabbed a midfield spot, appearing in 31 league matches, scoring 4 goals.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: The following 1989–90 season saw Vojvodina compete in the European Cup for only the second time in club history. Though most of the key players from the previous league-winning season remained, Vojvodina stumbled at the very first hurdle versus Hungarian champions Honvéd. Losing the first leg 1–0 away at Budapest, seemingly a decent away result, was still extremely disappointing considering Honvéd played with 10 men from the 15th minute. At the return home leg played in front of half-empty stadium things went much better as Vojvodina got up 2–0 (including a bizarre opening goal from Šestić's in-swinging corner that Mihajlović deflected into goal using his hand), however a late own goal by defender Dragan Gaćeša dashed Vojvodina hopes of progressing further.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Twenty-one-year-old Mihajlović signed with Red Star on 10 December 1990 in a high-profile transfer with a transfer fee of DM1 million paid out to Vojvodina. As for his personal terms, Mihajlović signed a 4-year contract for DM240,000 in total, plus the club bought him a Mazda 323F and a 3-bedroom apartment in Belgrade.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Arriving to a club coached by his old Vojvodina mentor Ljupko Petrović, Mihajlović was brought in to establish a robust presence on the left side of midfield as well as to score set-piece goals. Joining the squad full of rising European stars such as Dejan Savićević, Robert Prosinečki, Vladimir Jugović, Darko Pančev in addition to already established Miodrag Belodedici, Mihajlović fit in very well right from the start. He made 14 league appearances, but his most memorable moment came in the European Cup semi-final return leg versus Bayern Munich: in a man of the match performance Mihajlović scored both Red Star goals – the free-kick opener as well as the dramatic injury time winner on a shot that deflected off Klaus Augenthaler. In the final, Red Star defeated Olympique de Marseille on penalties, after a 0–0 draw at full time, with Mihajlović being one of the shootout scorers. Over twenty years later in 2011, talking to a French football magazine about the famous win in Bari, Mihajlović said:


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović was also in the team later that year when Red Star Belgrade won the Intercontinental Cup, defeating Colo-Colo 3–0. He was then included by Yugoslavia national football team to UEFA Euro 1992, but the nation would be suspended due to the Yugoslav Wars.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In summer 1992, Juventus was interested in acquiring Mihajlović, but he moved to play for Roma where he was brought in for a reported ITL8.5 billion (~US$5.9 million) transfer fee on initiative by compatriot head coach Vujadin Boškov, also a new arrival to Olimpico, having led Sampdoria in the European Cup Final mere months earlier. Led on the pitch by the talisman midfielder and hometown hero Giuseppe Giannini, Roma was looking to build on their previous season's 5th place league finish.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Despite competing against notable and established foreigners Aldair, Thomas Häßler, and Claudio Caniggia for three foreign matchday spots, Mihajlović managed to achieve a first team spot in the left midfield as well as to turn in a decent season with a single goal in 29 league appearances. However, the team had a disappointing overall season, finishing 10th in the Serie A final standings. Mihajlović also played a significant part in Roma's UEFA Cup campaign where they reached the quarterfinals—losing to Borussia Dortmund in a tie that saw the Serb score a trademark free-kick for a 1–0 first leg lead, before being beaten 2–0 in the return. Due to a long-term injury to Roma's left back Amedeo Carboni midway through the season, coach Boškov moved Mihajlović to the left back position.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: The 1993–94 season started with new head coach Carlo Mazzone in charge as Boškov got shown the door. In addition to existing four foreigners, the club brought in Argentine ace Abel Balbo thus increasing competition for three foreign spots. Mihajlović, for his part, still played the left back position under the new gaffer, which the player wasn't personally happy with. Still, even without European competition, the team again underachieved in Serie A, finishing in 7th spot – out of European spots for the second season running.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Years later, talking about his playing days, retired Mihajlović referred to his stay in Roma as "the two worst seasons of my entire career".


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: During summer 1994 transfer window, Mihajlović joined the third-placed club in previous season's Serie A standings and Coppa Italia winners – Sampdoria coached by Sven-Göran Eriksson. A few years removed from its late 1980s and early 1990s heyday, the Genoa side was still a very ambitious outfit, if not as financially stable, looking to challenge for trophies. Also arriving the same summer were Inter stalwarts Walter Zenga and Riccardo Ferri as part of the deal that took goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca the other way. For Mihajlović, the arrival to Marassi meant getting reunited with former Red Star teammate Vladimir Jugović.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović's competitive debut for the club took place in late August 1994 in the Supercoppa Italiana match versus league champions AC Milan. It ended with mixed feelings: the Serb scored a trademark free-kick for the go-ahead goal, but after the contest ended in a draw and went to penalties, Mihajlović's spot kick hit the outer side of the crossbar and stayed out.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In his four seasons at Sampdoria, Mihajlović saw limited success in the Serie A. In the European competitions, however, he helped Sampdoria reach the 1994–95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semifinal, where they got eliminated by Arsenal on penalties.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In June 1998, Mihajlović represented FR Yugoslavia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, playing all Yugoslav matches in the tournament. He scored a goal against Iran, and conceded an own goal against Germany. This made Mihajlović one of only five players to score both a goal and an own goal in the World Cup; the other ones being Ernie Brandts, Ruud Krol, Gustavo Peña and Mario Mandžukić.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In the summer of 1998, Mihajlović was brought to Lazio by head coach Sven-Göran Eriksson and club president Sergio Cragnotti for £8.5 million. Very quickly after coming back to the capital, Mihajlović finally won his first piece of silverware in Italy as Lazio beat Juventus in the Supercoppa Italiana during late August 1998.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: An ambitious outfit backed by Cragnotti's food business, Lazio already challenged for major trophies as it finished the previous season a Coppa Italia winner and a UEFA Cup runner-up. However, league success still proved elusive with 7th place in Serie A simply not meeting expectations.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Strengthening the squad for a serious run at the Serie A title, in addition to Mihajlović, the summer 1998 transfer window also saw Cragnotti bring in 19-year-old midfield talent Dejan Stanković from Red Star Belgrade, established goalscorer Marcelo Salas from River Plate, and finally near the end of the transfer window as the biggest coup of all, superstar striker Christian Vieri from Atlético Madrid.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: With Lazio, Mihajlović reached the final of the 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, winning the last edition of that competition with a 2–1 victory against RCD Mallorca. Lazio also won the 1999 UEFA Super Cup. He played 26 times and scored seven goals during the Serie A 1999–2000 season as Lazio won the second "Scudetto" in club history. Mihajlović completed the double by helping Lazio win the 2000 Coppa Italia. Mihajlović represented Yugoslavia internationally again, as he selected to compete at the Euro 2000 tournament. In the first Yugoslav game of the tournament, Mihajlović was sent off against Slovenia. He served a one-game suspension before playing the last two games of the tournament.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In the summer 2004, 35-year-old Mihajlović was released from Lazio and joined his friend and former teammate Roberto Mancini at Inter Milan on a free transfer, signing a one-year deal. On 16 June 2005 Mihajlović signed a one-year extension.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 9 April 2006, in a league away game versus Ascoli, Mihajlović scored his 27th career free-kick goal in the Serie A championship. Mihajlović ended his playing career after the 2005–06 season, aged 37, having one Serie A championship, two Coppa Italia trophies and a Supercoppa Italia title as an Inter player.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Playing as a youth international, Mihajlović featured in 5 games at the 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Between 1991 and 2003, Mihajlović was capped 63 times and scored 10 goals for the national team of Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro. He participated at the 1998 FIFA World Cup where he scored a free-kick against Iran as Yugoslavia reached the second round. He also participated at UEFA Euro 2000. He was sent off in Yugoslavia's opening game against Slovenia but returned after a one match ban with Yugoslavia reaching the quarter-final.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Early into playing career, Mihajlović marked himself out with an extraordinary long-distance striking, crossing, and passing ability. His precise curling yet hard-driven left-footed shot allowed him to score spectacular free-kick goals on a regular basis. A set-piece and penalty kick specialist, Mihajlović has said that he has scored free-kicks from as far as 35 yards, adding in a 2000 interview with BBC Sport: "I like to shoot with a swerve into both sides of the net. I often try scoring directly from the corners.". Regarded as one of the greatest free kick takers of all time, he was capable of both scoring and creating chances from dead ball opportunities, and holds the record for the most goals in Serie A from free-kicks, alongside Andrea Pirlo, with 28 goals, as well as the record for second most goals from free kicks for a single Serie A club in all competitions, with 43, behind Alessandro Del Piero. Along with Giuseppe Signori, he is one of only two players who have scored a hat-trick from free kicks in Serie A, a feat which he accomplished during his time with Lazio, in a 5–2 win over Sampdoria, on 13 December 1998, during the 1998–99 season.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: During his club career in Yugoslavia with Vojvodina and Red Star Belgrade as well as during his early spell at Roma, he played on the left side of midfield as winger, or as an attacking midfielder on occasion, where he was known for his stamina, speed, foot-work, and ability to cover the flank with his runs, as well as his excellent ball-striking ability with his left foot, and his ability to dictate attacking plays in midfield. Upon moving to Italy, midway through his first season in Serie A, Mihajlović was moved to the position of left back by Roma head coach Vujadin Boškov. The following season, under Roma's new head coach Carlo Mazzone, mostly continued at left back while occasionally deployed as a defensive midfielder, although his performances in this position were somewhat inconsistent due to his limited tactical sense. In 1994, after transferring to Sampdoria under head coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, Mihajlović was moved to the centre of the team's defensive line, and remained in this position for the rest of his career. He later excelled in this newfound centre back role, where he functioned as a sweeper, due to his consistent defensive displays, physique, intelligence, leadership, and tenacity, as well as his good technique, touch on the ball, and long passing ability, which enabled him to play the ball out from the back; he drew praise from manager Carlo Mazzone, in particular, who described him as one of the best players in the world in his position.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: After retiring from playing at Inter Milan, Mihajlović right away began a coaching career at San Siro as assistant to head coach Roberto Mancini. Mihajlović and Mancini share a longtime friendship after playing together for five seasons at Sampdoria and Lazio.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović's free-kick expertise has been praised by Zlatan Ibrahimović, who after several successful free-kicks thanked the then assistant coach Mihajlović who had trained him for two years at Inter.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mancini was fired in June 2008 by club president Massimo Moratti at the end of the 2007–08 season to make way for José Mourinho. Mihajlović left the club on the same occasion.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 3 November 2008, Mihajlović was appointed to replace Daniele Arrigoni at the helm of Serie A relegation-battling club Bologna. His Serie A bench debut came on 8 November 2008 at home versus Roma. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. His arrival to Bologna bench was characterized by five consecutive league draws before finally winning a match, a 5–2 victory against fellow bottom-feeder rivals Torino on 13 December 2008.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović was sacked by Bologna on 14 April 2009 in the wake of a 1–4 home defeat against Siena, which dragged the team back into the relegation zone with seven matches remaining in the season. His tenure suffered from media rumours that he had numerous high-profile disagreements with senior players at the club which led to the poor form that eventually cost him the job. Under new head coach Giuseppe Papadopulo, Bologna avoided relegation to the Serie B on the last day of the season with a win over Catania.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 8 December 2009 Mihajlović was appointed new head coach of Catania, taking over from Gianluca Atzori.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: A successive string of good results, together with a number of key January signings such as former Argentine international striker Maxi López, helped Mihajlović keep the team out of the relegation zone and provide a number of very impressive performances. Another season highlight then came on 13 March 2010, as Catania achieved a historic 3–1 win versus Serie A league-toppers and Mihajlović's former team Inter Milan.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: He resigned at the end of the season on 24 May 2010 amid reports linking him to incumbent UEFA Champions League winners Inter as a replacement for outgoing boss José Mourinho, which did not bring to anything in the end.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 3 June 2010, Mihajlović was announced as the new head coach of Fiorentina, replacing outgoing Cesare Prandelli who had left the Tuscan club a few days earlier once appointed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) to become the new manager of the Italy national team.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Fiorentina had an underwhelming domestic league season behind them under Prandelli, finishing the campaign in eleventh place despite simultaneously making the Champions League round-of-16 stage where they got eliminated by Bayern Munich on away goals, in large part due to questionable first leg officiating when a clearly offside Miroslav Klose goal was allowed to stand by the Norwegian referee Tom Henning Øvrebø and his linesman. The Serb signed a two-year contract on a salary of just under €1 million per year and with no distraction of European football, the talented team seemed poised for a good Serie A season with Mihajlović stating that making Europe is a realistic goal.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: However, right away, the team got dealt a major blow by a preseason right knee injury to Stevan Jovetić that would keep the attacking midfielder out for the entire season.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: The league campaign started poorly with two draws and two losses before a win was finally recorded in week 5 at home versus Parma. However, that win was followed by two straight losses as the team continuously hovered in and around relegation zone.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Fiorentina's form finally started picking up in late October 2010 with a home win versus Bari, but, soon afterwards in November 2010, "la Viola" got further weakened by an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Sébastien Frey that kept him out for the rest of the season. Still, Mihajlović's team continued its slow climb up the standings. Though bad away form continued, they finished the first half of the season in twelfth spot. In January 2011, an old favourite reappeared since the doping-related ban on Adrian Mutu expired as the forward with whom Mihajlović shares some colourful history from playing days rejoined the squad. Also, Mihajlović signed winger Valon Behrami from West Ham United, but the alternating home and away form improved only slightly as the head coach experimented with various tactical formations.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In February 2011, Fiorentina won on the road for the first time in the season with a win at Palermo. And in March 2011, the team finally recorded two straight wins for the first time in the season, climbing up to eight spot (their best placing the entire season other than the seventh spot after opening week's draw). Still, the momentum wasn't kept up for a possible late push towards a European spot, and, under Mihajlović, Fiorentina ended the league season with 12 wins (only three of those away from home), 11 losses, and 15 draws, which was good enough for ninth place – twelve points out of a European spot.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: During the summer 2011 transfer season, Mihajlović was strongly linked with a return to Inter in head coaching capacity, with certain Italian papers even reporting the specific date of his unveiling at the "nerazzurri" following supposed successful negotiations with Inter's sporting director Marco Branca. However, Mihajlović immediately denied those claims, pledging to stay on in Florence.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: The season began in August 2011 with a Coppa Italia win over A.S. Cittadella. Couple of weeks later, still in late summer, the league season commenced at home with a 2–0 win over Mihajlović's former side Bologna, while the following week saw a loss away at Udine. Coming back home three days later for a match versus Parma, the side posted a 3–0 win followed by a hard-fought scoreless draw away at Napoli in front of 45,000 spectators. So at the end of September, four matches into the league season, things still looked decent, however, the first real blow was to come in the very next match at home versus Lazio – "la Viola" went ahead early, but the "biancocelesti" overturned the score 1–2 with Miroslav Klose scoring the winner in the 83rd minute. The loss was the sign of the things to come: the next match away at Cesena was a chance for redemption, but Fiorentina couldn't break down the resilient home team, despite having a man advantage from the 73rd minute as Adrian Mutu got sent off, the match ended 0–0. Six days later, more disappointment followed as "la Viola" led twice at home, but still dropped points to Catania 2–2, courtesy of Maxi Lopez's 82nd-minute equalizer. Failure to win the match brought boos and jeers from home fans. Winless in four matches, the trip to Turin to play resurgent Juventus couldn't have come at a worse time and the team succumbed 2–1, despite managing to equalize the score for a few minutes in the second half. With the winless streak now extended to five matches, Mihajlović was reportedly on thin ice and the word around Stadio Artemio Franchi was that he'd be sacked if he doesn't win the next match, at home versus Genoa. The knives were out for Mihajlović even from the team's own fans as he faced a barrage of abuse from the terraces throughout the match with calls for his sacking and even racist banners and chants targeting the coach's ethnicity. Still, despite the negative and hostile atmosphere, the team managed an unconvincing 1–0 win. The fans' verbal abuse of Mihajlović made headlines for the next couple of days and sections of Fiorentina support issued an apology of sorts to the coach by hanging a banner outside of the stadium. But the revival didn't last long as Mihajlović got sacked a week later on 7 November 2011, one day after the 1–0 away loss to ChievoVerona. The team was in 13th league spot with 12 points from 10 matches.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In May 2012, the Football Association of Serbia signed him to become the head coach of the Serbia national team until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Serbia finished third in Group A of the qualifying phase in October 2013 after which he parted ways with the Football Association.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 20 November 2013, Sampdoria named Mihajlović as the new head coach in place for Delio Rossi. He signed a one-year rolling contract with automatic extension in case of a successful escape from relegation in the ongoing season, with his assistant coach Nenad Sakić (a former Sampdoria player himself) following him too.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On his first season in charge, he guided Sampdoria to significant improvements in results and easily escaped relegation. He successively agreed to stay for one more season, after talks with new president , who took over from the Garrone family in July 2014. In the first weeks of the 2014–15 season, he managed to obtain eight points and no defeats in the first four games of the season, overseeing quality performances from players such as Stefano Okaka. On 1 June 2015 he wrote an open letter to confirm his departure as the head coach of Sampdoria.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 16 June 2015, Milan officially sacked Filippo Inzaghi, appointing Mihajlović as their new manager, with a contract until 30 June 2017. During his tenure at the club, he was highly praised for trusting and giving playing opportunities to Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was only 16 years old at the time. Mihajlović was sacked on 12 April 2016.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 25 May 2016 he was officially appointed as the new manager of Torino, taking over from Gian Piero Ventura. He made his debut on the "Granata" bench on 13 August 2016 at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino with a 4–1 home win over Pro Vercelli in the third round of the Coppa Italia. Mihajlović fielded Torino with an aggressive 4-3-3 formation and by the midway point of the season registered a record for points (29) whilst under the presidency of Urbano Cairo, but a less brilliant second half of the season ended with Torino in ninth place. He was sacked on 4 January 2018 following a 2–0 defeat to Juventus in the Coppa Italia.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 18 June 2018, Mihajlović took over as manager of Sporting CP, signing a three-year contract with the Portuguese club. Nine days after his arrival, he was sacked due to change of executive staff.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Because of the team's bad results with Filippo Inzaghi, on 28 January 2019, Mihajlović became Bologna manager for the second time in his managerial career.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On his second tenure at Bologna, he achieved an impressive 30 points in 17 games, in comparison with 14 points achieved by his predecessor Inzaghi; thanks to those results, he managed to keep Bologna into the top flight with ease, and was confirmed at the helm of Bologna for the following season.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 13 July 2019, Mihajlović publicly announced in a press conference he was diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia, with sporting director Walter Sabatini confirming Mihajlović would stay in charge of the club nonetheless.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović was sacked on 6 September 2022 after Bologna obtained three points across its first five matches in Serie A, ending a three-and-a-half-year spell with the club.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović developed and fostered a reputation as a hard-nosed, tough-tackling player with a short fuse and no fear. As such he has had many physical and verbal run-ins with opposing players that occasionally spilled outside of the pitch.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Already known as a player not backing away from physical play, the 22-year-old was one of the main protagonists of the ill-tempered 1991 Yugoslav Cup Final between Red Star and Hajduk Split on 8 May 1991 at the JNA Stadium in front of only 7,000 spectators. Although of secondary importance to Red Star, which was getting ready for the European Cup Final three weeks later, the match still featured a degree of tension due to pitting a Serbian side against a Croatian one in an atmosphere of inter-ethnic incidents between Croats and Croatian Serbs in eastern Slavonia and Dalmatia regions of SR Croatia, including Mihajlović's hometown Borovo that was a place of massacre only six days before the final. Early into the match Hajduk's 23-year-old defender Igor Štimac and Mihajlović got into frequent verbal altercations, and according to Mihajlović during one of their exchanges Štimac told him: "I hope our guys kill all of your family in Borovo." Fueling Mihajlović's rage further was the fact that due to the phone service interruptions, he had not heard from his parents in more than a week, and he admitted to spending the rest of the match targeting Štimac in an attempt to injure him severely. Štimac also didn't back down and the two exchanged plenty of reckless tackles as their private duel became a sideshow to the entire final. In the 70th minute Mihajlović slid in for a hard bone-crunching tackle on another Hajduk player Grgica Kovač that led to play temporarily being stopped as both sets of players confronted each other. Mihajlović was led away by Hajduk player Ante Miše (the two knew each other from before since they're both from Borovo) who grabbed him by the hair while Red Star's Ilija Najdoski grabbed Hajduk's Slaven Bilić by the hair at which point Štimac jumped into the fracas with a raised fist attempting to punch Najdoski. Mihajlović received a second yellow for the challenge on Kovač, and the referee Adem Fazlagić also gave Štimac a second yellow, which meant both players got sent off.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: A month later on 5 June 1991, Red Star and Hajduk played another match, this time in the league. It was Red Star's first league match after becoming European champions a week earlier in Bari. The match was of no competitive importance as Red Star were already league champions elect while Hajduk was lagging far behind in eight place, but that didn't stop Mihajlović and Štimac from continuing their personal duel in another incident-filled match with Mihajlović getting sent off again.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: At the 1998 FIFA World Cup Germany vs FR Yugoslavia group stage match, Jens Jeremies squared up to Mihajlović following a rough challenge by the Yugoslav and the two exchanged verbal insults. Though at first glance everything ended there, television camera from another angle caught Mihajlović spitting in the German's face.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Later that year in November, during the Lazio vs Partizan Cup Winners' Cup second round return leg, thirty-year-old Mihajlović had a match-long battle with twenty-year-old striker Mateja Kežman. Playing old cross-town rivals in front of large home crowd seemed to provide extra motivation for Mihajlović.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: By Euro 2000, Mihajlović's temper was well noted in the football world and he showed lack of control again during the opening group stage match vs Slovenia. Three minutes after gifting Slovenia a 0–3 lead when his cross-field pass got intercepted by Zlatko Zahovič, frustrated Mihajlović first got a yellow card for hacking down a Slovenian player as they jostled for position while going up for a high ball. Mere seconds later, as tempers flared and Sašo Udovič and Albert Nađ exchanged insults, a completely rattled Mihajlović needlessly approached Udovič, giving him a slight petulant push. Udovič theatrically fell to the ground, resulting in Mihajlović receiving another yellow card from Portuguese referee Vítor Pereira thus getting himself sent off. Ten-man FR Yugoslavia still managed to come back in the last 30 minutes to tie the score 3–3.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Several months later, in October 2000, Mihajlović raised a storm of controversy due to allegedly directing racist remarks at Arsenal's Patrick Vieira. The incident occurred during an ill-tempered Lazio vs Arsenal UEFA Champions League match on 17 October 2000 at Stadio Olimpico. Throughout the contest, Mihajlović had run-ins with several Arsenal players, including Martin Keown and Robert Pires, but things really boiled over after the final whistle as Mihajlović and Vieira were seen trading insults and trying to get at one another physically before being restrained by teammates. After the match, Vieira spoke to the media, accusing Mihajlović of racist abuse, specifically remarks that were revealed to be "nero di merda" (black piece of shit) or "fucking black monkey." Mihajlović subsequently apologized, but contended that his words were in retaliation to Vieira's remarks, calling Mihajlović a "zingaro di merda" (Gypsy piece of shit). Two months later, in December 2000, Mihajlović came under police investigation over the event for possibly violating an anti-racism law in Italy. Italian investigators planned on using Mihajlović's own post-game admission about insulting Vieira to file charges of violating a 1993 law that criminalizes the "spreading ... of ideas based on racial or ethnic superiority or hate", however nothing ever came of it. Six years later Mihajlović and Vieira became part of the same team when the Senegalese-born Frenchman joined Inter where freshly retired from playing Mihajlović was already named assistant to head coach Roberto Mancini. By all accounts, the former on-pitch adversaries got along very well during their two years together at San Siro. Vieira even came as one of the guests for Mihajlović's testimonial match on 28 May 2007 in Novi Sad.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: On 7 November 2003, Mihajlović received an eight-match suspension by UEFA for spitting at and kicking Chelsea's Adrian Mutu during a Champions League group stage match. Some six and a half years later, Mihajlović became the head coach of Fiorentina, where Mutu had already been playing at the time.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Even in the twilight of his playing career, at Inter, 36-year-old Mihajlović stuck to his physical defensive style, getting into memorable tussles with Juve's 23-year-old rising superstar Zlatan Ibrahimović during the Derby d'Italia.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: A vocal and outspoken presence, known for his leadership, Mihajlović has, however, also attracted much controversy throughout both his playing and coaching careers, due to having expressed controversial political views and affiliations.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Amid Javier Clemente's failure to qualify the Serbia national team for Euro 2008—and September 2007 Serbian press reports about the Inter Milan assistant coach Mihajlović being set to take over the national team head coaching post that eventually didn't come to fruition as the job went to Miroslav Đukić—Mihajlović publicly came out against the Serbia FA (FSS) president Zvezdan Terzić, accusing him in October 2007 of "giving national team call-ups to players [he has private contracts with] in order to boost their transfer value". Terzić did not directly respond to the accusation, which Mihajlović repeated several months later during early March 2008 in the wake of Terzić's time on the run from Serbian law enforcement over accusations of player transfer fee skimming.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Soon after eventually landing the Serbia national team head coaching job in May 2012 under the next FA president Tole Karadžić, Mihajlović drew up a code-of-conduct to be signed by players called up for international duty. One of the central points was his insistence that players sing the national anthem before matches. On 28 May, after Adem Ljajić failed to do so despite signing the code-of-conduct, Mihajlović removed him from the team.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In December 2012, Mihajlović sued the football agent Zoran Đurić for libel over his claims expressed during SOS channel's "Total Soccer" programme that "sports agents Fali Ramadani and Sergio Berti have a large influence on Mihajlović's national team squad selection".


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In late March 2013, in the wake of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier loss to Croatia, Mihajlović and Terzić reignited their public feud from six years prior, with the former Serbian FA president—who had in the meantime returned to the country from being on the run and completed a prison term following a plea deal—repeating Đurić's recent accusation about Mihajlović having "his national team match day squads selected by Sergio Berti". Mihajlović announced plans to sue Terzić for libel over the remark.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović was married to Arianna Rapaccioni, an Italian former television presenter, with whom he had five children; three sons and two daughters. On 13 July 2019, Mihajlović publicly announced that he was diagnosed with an acute form of leukaemia, however still stayed on as manager of Bologna. He underwent a bone marrow transplant after three cycles of chemotherapy.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: In October 2021 he became a grandfather, after his daughter Virginia gave birth to a daughter. The father is Alessandro Vogliacco, who plays for Genoa.


title: Siniša Mihajlović

text: Mihajlović died on 16 December 2022 in a Rome clinic following complications of leukaemia. He was 53.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD), a nickname he received while working in a wrecking yard. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to a dog collar, to the music of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," JYD often headlined cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome and other major venues, becoming "the first black wrestler to be made the undisputed top star of his promotion".


title: Junkyard Dog

text: WWE author Brian Shields called Junkyard Dog one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s. JYD was most known for his headbutt and upper body strength, the latter of which saw him regularly bodyslam such large wrestlers as the One Man Gang, Kamala, and King Kong Bundy. The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Ritter played football at Fayetteville State University, twice earning honorable mention All-American status, and is a member of the Sports Hall of Fame. He graduated with a political science degree.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Ritter debuted in the Tennessee territory, working for promoter Jerry Jarrett, before moving to Nick Gulas's company and using the ring name "Leroy Rochester". From there he moved to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling as "Big Daddy Ritter", where he captured the North American Heavyweight Championship twice.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: In the early 1980s Ritter moved to Mid-South Wrestling, where booker "Cowboy" Bill Watts gave him the name and gimmick Junkyard Dog, as he would wear a long chain attached to a dog collar, and white boots. He originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled with junk called the "junk wagon" and lost most of his early matches before his character caught on and became the top face in the company. While on top he feuded with some of the top heels in the company, including a now infamous angle with the Fabulous Freebirds where they blinded him with hair cream. At the peak of the feud JYD's wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline. It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, something that increased the heat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in and out of arenas. The feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leader Michael "P.S." Hayes wrestling in a steel cage dog collar match.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Other notable feuds involved Ernie Ladd, Ted DiBiase, Kamala, King Kong Bundy, and Butch Reed. The 1982 feud with DiBiase was particularly notable as DiBiase, once JYD's friend and tag-team partner, turned heel and subsequently won a loser-leaves-town match against JYD with the help of the loaded glove, which was a DiBiase calling card, at the time forcing JYD to leave town for an extended period of time. In 1982, JYD was involved in a cross promotional Match for NWA and AWA against Nick Bockwinkel that aired on NWA Mid South Wrestling and AWA programming which he won by pinfall. A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as "Stagger Lee", subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase. Though DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Stagger Lee was in fact JYD, they were unable to unmask him to prove their suspicions. Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed the North American Heavyweight Championship. The feud with Reed was notable in that Reed, a protégé of JYD, had turned heel. Reed with the help of Buddy Landell attacked the Dog many times. On a couple of occasions, they covered the Dog in chicken feathers. The two had a series of matches, many of the bouts were for the prized North American Heavyweight Championship. These matches were also notable for their brutality, which included "ghetto street fights", "dog-collar matches", two-out-of-three pin-fall matches and steel-cage matches. JYD was lured to the WWF at the peak of the feud with Reed.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: In the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South for the World Wrestling Federation, where he was a mid card wrestler but still a heavily over face. JYD debuted on a Georgia Championship Wrestling taping held at the Kiel Auditorium on August 10, 1984, when he defeated Max Blue. While in the WWF, JYD made a habit of interacting with the growing number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches and dancing with them. Wrestled at the inaugural Wrestlemania I defeating Intercontinental champion Greg Valentine by countout but did not receive the title. Ritter won "The Wrestling Classic" tournament by defeating Randy Savage by countout in the finals, as well as beating Moondog Spot and The Iron Sheik in earlier rounds getting to the final. The tournament is often cited as the first WWF pay-per-view. JYD's most notable feuds in the company came against King Harley Race, the Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk), Adrian Adonis, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Outlaw" Ron Bass. He lost to Rick Rude by disqualification at the inaugural SummerSlam (1988). He left the company in November 1988.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Ritter made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance on December 7, 1988, at the Clash of the Champions IV. He appeared during an altercation between The Russian Assassins and Ivan Koloff, saving the latter. His first match came shortly after in a television taping in Atlanta against Trent Knight. JYD finished the year winning a $50,000 bunkhouse battle royal on December 26, which was held as a dark match after Starrcade '88 went off the air. He spent the first few months of 1989 teaming with Ivan Koloff and then Michael Hayes against The Russian Assassins. On April 2, 1989, JYD defeated Butch Reed at Clash of the Champions VI in New Orleans. Before the match he was accompanied to the ring by a jazz band.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: JYD began a main event run in May 1990. On May 20 he defeated Mean Mark Callous in 39 seconds. He quickly became embroiled in a feud with Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship. After gaining disqualification and non-title victories in house show matches, JYD defeated Flair by DQ on June 13 at Clash of the Champions XI. JYD was then part of the short-lived Dudes with Attitudes faction along with Sting, Paul Orndorff, and El Gigante. In the fall he feuded with Television Champion Arn Anderson, defeating him in non-title matches in less than 10 seconds on three house shows in September. He finished the year defeating Moondog Rex, The Iron Sheik, and Bill Irwin on the house show circuit.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: On February 17, 1991, he won his first WCW title, teaming with Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich to defeat Dr. X, Dutch Mantell, and Buddy Landell and gain the WCW Six-Man Tag-Team Championship. He also began a short feud that month with The Master Blaster, winning each encounter. JYD and his partners held the title until June 3, when they were defeated by The Freebirds in Birmingham, Alabama. He left the promotion in August.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: After dropping a significant amount of weight to improve his conditioning, Junkyard Dog returned on February 29, 1992, at SuperBrawl II. During a segment where Abdullah the Butcher was attacking Ron Simmons, JYD came out of the crowd to make the save. He found himself wrestling in tag-team matches with Ron Simmons, Barry Windham, or Big Josh for the next few months. In April and again in June, JYD faced former Six-Man Championship partner Ricky Morton, defeating him on each occasion. He also formed another tag-team, this time with The Big Cat. They feuded with The Vegas Connection (Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas) the rest of the summer. In April 1993 he formed a new tag-team with Jim Neidhart and began a feud with Dick Slater and Paul Orndorff that would last the next few months. After defeating Slater on July 28, 1993, he left the promotion.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: After WCW, JYD went to the independent circuit where he wrestled for NWA Dallas. In 1995 he wrestled for National Wrestling Conference in Las Vegas where he had matches with former WWF stars; The Iron Sheik, Mr. Hughes, and The Honky Tonk Man.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Ritter had stayed active in professional wrestling until the time of his death, appearing at Extreme Championship Wrestling's 1998 Wrestlepalooza event, just one month prior. He was the founder of the Dog Pound stable in an independent Mid-South promotion, based in southern Louisiana.


title: Junkyard Dog

text: Ritter died on June 1, 1998, at the age of 45, in a single-car accident on Interstate 20 near Forest, Mississippi, as he was returning home from his daughter LaToya's high school graduation in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Among Ritter's last contributions to professional wrestling was the training of former WWF wrestlers Rodney Mack and Jazz. His daughter, LaToya Ritter, and his sister, Christine Woodburn, represented him as he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 at a ceremony held on March 13, 2004, by Ernie Ladd, the day before WrestleMania XX. He is buried in Russellville, North Carolina.


title: Fortune cookie

text: A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", usually an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation and/or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers. Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States, Canada and other countries, but they are not Chinese in origin. The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century. They most likely originated from cookies made by Japanese immigrants to the United States in the late 19th or early 20th century. The Japanese version did not have the Chinese lucky numbers and was eaten with tea.


title: Fortune cookie

text: As far back as the 19th century, a cookie very similar in appearance to the modern fortune cookie was made in Kyoto, Japan; and there is a Japanese temple tradition of random fortunes, called omikuji. The Japanese version of the cookie differs in several ways: they are a little bit larger; are made of darker dough; and their batter contains sesame and miso rather than vanilla and butter. They contain a fortune; however, the small slip of paper was wedged into the bend of the cookie rather than placed inside the hollow portion. This kind of cookie is called and is still sold in some regions of Japan, especially in Kanazawa, Ishikawa. It is also sold in the neighborhood of Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine in Kyoto.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Makoto Hagiwara of Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco is reported to have been the first person in the U.S. to have served the modern version of the cookie when he did so at the tea garden in the 1890s or early 1900s. The fortune cookies were made by a San Francisco bakery, Benkyodo.


title: Fortune cookie

text: David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, has made a competing claim that he invented the cookie in 1918. San Francisco's Court of Historical Review attempted to settle the dispute in 1983. During the proceedings, a fortune cookie was introduced as a piece of evidence with a message reading, "S.F. Judge who rules for L.A. Not Very Smart Cookie". A federal judge of the Court of Historical Review, from San Francisco themselves, determined that the cookie originated with Hagiwara and the court ruled in favor of San Francisco. Subsequently, the city of Los Angeles condemned the decision.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Seiichi Kito, the founder of Fugetsu-do of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, also claims to have invented the cookie. Kito claims to have gotten the idea of putting a message in a cookie from Omikuji (fortune slip) which are sold at temples and shrines in Japan. According to his story, he sold his cookies to Chinese restaurants where they were greeted with much enthusiasm in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, before spreading.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Up to around World War II, fortune cookies were known as "fortune tea cakes"—likely reflecting their origins in Japanese tea cakes.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies moved from being a confection dominated by Japanese-Americans to one dominated by Chinese-Americans sometime around World War II. One theory for why this occurred is because of the Japanese American internment during World War II, which forcibly put over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps, including those who had produced fortune cookies. This gave an opportunity for Chinese manufacturers.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies before the early 20th century were all made by hand. The fortune cookie industry changed dramatically after the fortune cookie machine was invented by Shuck Yee from Oakland, California. The machine allowed for mass production of fortune cookies which subsequently allowed the cookies to drop in price to become the novelty and courtesy dessert many Americans are familiar with after their meals at most Chinese restaurants today.


title: Fortune cookie

text: There are approximately 3 billion fortune cookies made each year globally, the majority of them consumed in the US. The largest manufacturer of the cookies is Wonton Food, Inc., headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. They make over 4.5 million fortune cookies per day. Other large manufacturers are Baily International in the Midwest and Peking Noodle in Los Angeles. There are other smaller, local manufacturers including Tsue Chong Co. in Seattle, Keefer Court Food in Minneapolis, Sunrise Fortune Cookie in Philadelphia, and Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in San Francisco. Many smaller companies will also sell custom fortunes.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Manufacturing processes vary, but they generally follow the same procedure. The ingredients (typically made with a base of flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil) are mixed in a large tank and squirted onto fast moving trays. These function like a conveyor belt and are heated to cook the dough. Cookies are compressed with round hot plates to shape and cook them. The cookies bake for approximately one minute and are reshaped. They can be mechanically shaped or folded by hand. When automated, a machine folds the cookie into the correct orientation with the fortune inside. Cooled and hardened cookies are sealed in plastic wrappers, which are inspected before being shipped. Today, most cookies are produced in the United States with the biggest factory located in Brooklyn.


title: Fortune cookie

text: The message inside may include a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers; since relatively few distinct messages are printed, in the recorded case where winning numbers happened to be printed, the lottery had an unexpectedly high number of winners sharing a prize. Authorities briefly investigated Wonton Food in 2005, after 110 Powerball lottery players won about $19 million after using the "lucky numbers" on the back of fortunes.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies are sometimes used for special marketing promotions. For example, the film "Kung Fu Panda 3" was promoted by putting quotations from the protagonist of the film on fortune cookie slips.


title: Fortune cookie

text: In 1989, fortune cookies were reportedly imported into Hong Kong and sold as "genuine American fortune cookies". Wonton Food attempted to expand its fortune cookie business into China in 1992, but gave up after fortune cookies were considered "too American".


title: Fortune cookie

text: Cookies from different manufacturers have different ingredients and nutritional content. One cookie typically contains around of food energy and 5–7 g of total carbohydrates. A cookie may have sugar varying from 0–3 g, between 2–8 mg of sodium, and may have significant (compared to their size) amounts of iron or protein. The small size means they have little overall nutritional value.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies, while largely an American item, have been served in Chinese restaurants in Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom, as well as other countries. In Peru, they are served in the "chifas", Chinese-Peruvian fusion food restaurants.


title: Fortune cookie

text: There are also multi-cultural versions of the fortune cookie. For instance, the Mexican version of the fortune cookie, called the "Lucky Taco", is a red taco-shaped cookie with a fortune inside. The same company that makes the Lucky Taco also makes a "Lucky Cannoli", inspired by Italian cannolis.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies are sometimes viewed as a stereotype of East Asians by Westerners. "I think it does go to what people think when they think of Asians. They think of food. Because that is really their only point of contact, or awareness, with the Asian-American community", said Andrew Kang, senior staff attorney at the Asian-American Institute in Chicago in a February 2012 interview. The Asian American Journalists Association discourages associating ethnic foods with Asian Americans in news coverage.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Globally, the cookies are generally called by the English term "fortune cookies", being American in origin.


title: Fortune cookie

text: There is no single accepted Chinese name for the cookies, with a large variety of translations being used to describe them in the Chinese language, all of which being more-or-less literal translations of the English "fortune cookie". Examples include: 幸运籤饼 "xìngyùn qiān bǐng" "good luck lot cookie", 籤语饼 "qiān yǔ bǐng" "fortune words cookie", 幸运饼 "xìngyùn bǐng" "good luck cookie", 幸运籤语饼 "xìngyùn qiān yǔ bǐng" "lucky fortune words cookie", 幸运甜饼 "xìngyùn tián bǐng" "good luck sweet cookie", 幸福饼干 "xìngfú bǐnggān" "good luck biscuit", or 占卜饼 "zhānbǔ bǐng" "divining cookie".


title: Fortune cookie

text: The non-Chinese origin of the fortune cookie is humorously illustrated in Amy Tan's 1989 novel "The Joy Luck Club", in which a pair of immigrant women from China find jobs at a fortune cookie factory in America. They are amused by the unfamiliar concept of a fortune cookie but, after several hilarious attempts at translating the fortunes into Chinese, come to the conclusion that the cookies contain not wisdom but "bad instruction".


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies have become an iconic symbol in American culture, inspiring many products. There are fortune cookie-shaped jewelry, a fortune cookie-shaped Magic 8 Ball, and silver-plated fortune cookies.


title: Fortune cookie

text: Fortune cookies appear in the American fantasy comedy film "Freaky Friday", in which the fate from the cookie promotes the theme of the film.


title: Fortune cookie

text: In "The Signal", a short story by Allen Wheelis first published in 1966, a failed writer finds success writing fortunes for fortune cookies.


title: Fortune cookie

text: In "Iron Man 3" one of broadcasts by "the Mandarin" has Trevor Slattery smashing fortune cookies and giving the truth about them (they're an American invention, the aphorisms are unbelievable, and they leave a bad taste in the mouth).


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: The Lost World is a 1995 techno-thriller novel written by Michael Crichton, and the sequel to his 1990 novel "Jurassic Park". It is his tenth novel under his own name and his twentieth overall, and it was published by Knopf. A paperback edition () followed in 1996. In 1997, both novels were re-published as a single book titled "Michael Crichton's Jurassic World", which is unrelated to the 2015 film of the same name.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: In August 1993, four years after the disaster at Jurassic Park, chaos theorist and mathematician Ian Malcolm - who is revealed to have survived the events of the previous novel - encounters and reluctantly agrees to team up with wealthy paleontologist Richard Levine. The two men attempt to search for a "lost world" of dinosaurs following rumors of strange animal corpses washing up on the shores of Costa Rica. They learn of Site B on Isla Sorna, the "production facility" where the now-defunct company InGen hatched and grew the dinosaurs for their Jurassic Park theme park on nearby Isla Nublar.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Eighteen months later, afraid that the Costa Rican government will find Isla Sorna and destroy the dinosaurs, Levine hastily embarks on an expedition to the island without Malcolm. He arrives with a Costa Rican guide named Diego, but shortly after arriving, the two are attacked by mysterious creatures later identified as a pair of "Carnotaurus" who kill Diego. Eventually, Malcolm learns that Levine has gone missing there. Malcolm then goes to the island with a rescue team consisting of Jack "Doc" Thorne, an engineer and retired university professor; Eddie Carr, Thorne's assistant; and two stowaway children, R. B. "Arby" Benton and Kelly Curtis, who were working as Levine's research assistants. Dr. Sarah Harding, an ethologist and close friend of Malcolm, is also approached to join the expedition. Though she is initially unsure, she ultimately decides to meet them there.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: The group arrives on the island with weapons and a conjoined pair of heavily modified, specially equipped RV trailers that serve as a mobile laboratory. They find and explore a geothermal-powered complex of abandoned InGen buildings, including a worker village and a laboratory. They also eventually find Levine, who is overjoyed at the trove of information he can glean from this "lost world" and is ungrateful for being rescued. Benton wakes up first and manage to gain access to the old InGen LAN network, allowing them to view the island by in-built cameras.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Simultaneously, another group - consisting of geneticist Lewis Dodgson and his assistant Howard King, and "celebrity" biologist George Baselton - learns of Levine's expedition and travels to Isla Sorna independently. The new group plans to steal dinosaur eggs for Biosyn, the rival company of InGen responsible for the sabotage that led to the Jurassic Park disaster. As they are about to leave, they encounter Harding and offer to give her a boat ride to Isla Sorna. However, just as they approach the island, Dodgson attempts to kill her by shoving her off the boat. She survives, though, and manages to meet up with Malcolm's group on the island.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Levine and Malcolm make many observations of the dinosaurs' behavior from the "high hide", an enclosed blind that is set above the ground on scaffolding. They soon learn that Dodgson's group has arrived on the island. Meanwhile, Dodgson's group is attacked by a pair of "Tyrannosaurus" as they try to steal eggs from the animals' nest, resulting in Baselton's death due to him giving inaccurate information regarding a Tyrannosaurus' vision. Dodgson and King become separated after the attack.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Later, while inspecting the "T. rex" nest, Malcolm finds that one of the infants had been injured and has a broken leg. He instructs Eddie to kill it because it has no chance of surviving in the wild. Unbeknownst to the group, Eddie refuses to kill the injured animal and brings it back to the trailers. When the group discovers the animal, Malcolm and Harding begrudgingly agree to set a cast around its leg while the rest of the group returns to the high hide. As night approaches, the nocturnal "Velociraptors" emerge from the jungle and kill King as he tries to escape. As Malcolm and Harding finish setting the "T. rex" leg, the parents come looking for their infant and attack the trailers, pushing one of them over a cliff and injuring Malcolm. Thorne rescues Malcolm and Harding, while the raptors attack the high hide and kill Eddie, despite Levine's assurance. Malcolm is injected with a high dosage of morphine which relaxes him, though not without causing him to hallucinate as he had in the first novel. Arby, trapped in a survival cage, is kidnapped by the raptors but is later rescued by Thorne, Kelly and Harding retrieving the key to the cage.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: The group later takes refuge from the raptors in the general store of the old InGen worker village. The group attempts to formulate a plan to reach the landing site where the helicopter is set to meet them in the morning. When Thorne ventures out into the village to search for fuel, he survives an encounter with the pair of chameleon-like "Carnotaurus". Levine and Harding drive the "Carnotaurus" away by shining their lights on them and making them change their skin patterns too fast. Levine becomes irrational and Harding and Thorne have to talk him down.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: The next morning, Harding heads out to recover one of the team's vehicles that Thorne had left behind while saving her and Malcolm from the trailer, as it may be the only vehicle large enough to carry everyone to the rendezvous point. Upon finding it, she encounters Dodgson attempting to steal the vehicle for himself. Suddenly, an adult "T. rex" approaches them, and they both hide under the car. Harding pushes Dodgson back out, and the "T. rex" picks him up, carries him to its nest, and feeds him to her offspring. Harding sets out to reach the helicopter before it can take off without the group, but she finds she is too late. Eventually, Kelly discovers a boat docked on the island, and she finds a tunnel, allowing the group to reach it just as the raptors finally break into the general store.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: As the group sails away, Malcolm and Harding reveal information that he discovered in the laboratory: during Site B's active years, InGen fed the young carnivorous dinosaurs sheep extract infected with prions, which cause a disease that shortens the dinosaurs' lifespans and infect their brains. Although the scientists contained the disease, it began to spread once again after they abandoned the island. Malcolm and Harding say that the disease will lead to the eventual extinction of the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna. Despite this, Thorne declares that the fact that they are all alive and that they are returning home is really all that matters. Malcolm notes mankind's destructive habits are far more destructive to the earth than nature's.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: After the publication of "Jurassic Park" in 1990, Crichton was pressured by fans to write a sequel. Following the success of "Jurassic Park" film adaptation in 1993, director Steven Spielberg became interested in making a sequel film. Crichton had never written a sequel to any of his novels before and was initially hesitant to do so. He claimed a sequel was "a very difficult structural problem because it has to be the same but different; if it's really the same, then it's the same—and if it's really different, then it's not a sequel. So it's in some funny intermediate territory". Finally, in March 1994, Crichton claimed there would probably be a sequel novel as well as a film adaptation, stating that he had an idea for the novel's story.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Although the character of Ian Malcolm was suggested to have died in the first novel, Crichton chose to bring him back for the sequel: "Malcolm came back because I needed him. I could do without the others, but not him because he is the 'ironic commentator' on the action. He keeps telling us why it will go bad. And I had to have him back again". Bringing a dead character back was an idea Crichton got from Arthur Conan Doyle, who did the same with his character Sherlock Holmes. Malcolm was also considered a favorite character among readers of the first novel and people who watched its film adaptation. An early draft of the novel included a lengthy tirade by Malcolm regarding God and evolution, but Crichton removed it "because it just didn't seem to fit".


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: In March 1995, Crichton announced that he was nearly finished writing the novel, with a scheduled release for later that year. At the time, Crichton declined to specify the novel's title or plot. Crichton later stated that the novel's title is an homage to Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name, as well as the 1925 film adaptation of Doyle's novel, also titled "The Lost World". Crichton's novel also shares some story similarities with Doyle's novel, as they both involve an expedition to an isolated Central American location where dinosaurs roam. However, in Crichton's novel, the dinosaurs were recreated by genetic engineering, rather than surviving from antiquity. "The Lost World" was the only book sequel Crichton ever wrote.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: "The Lost World" spent eight weeks as number one on the "New York Times" Best Seller List, from October 8, 1995, to November 26, 1995, and it remained on the list as late as March 1996.


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: "People" wrote: "Action-packed and camera-ready, "The Lost World" is to its predecessor what microwave dinners are to home-cooked meals: hardly authentic, but in a pinch fully satisfying". The magazine wrote that "the odd reappearance of Ian Malcolm, when other key characters from the original have been dropped, makes one wonder if only Jeff Goldblum was available to appear in the movie sequel. But even at his most calculating—incorporating two urchins, crafting a feminist hero—the author pleases. Characteristically clever, fast-paced and engaging, Michael Crichton's latest work accomplishes what he set out to do: offer the still-harrowing thrills of a by-now-familiar ride".


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Michiko Kakutani of "The New York Times" gave the novel a negative review and called it a "tired rehash" of "Jurassic Park". Kakutani wrote that the novel lacked the "surprise or ingenuity" of its predecessor, calling it "so predictable and unimaginative that it seems to have been intended to save special-effects technicians the hassle of doing new work on the movie sequel". Kakutani said the novel represented "a new low" in Crichton's "attention to character", and criticized the character of Ian Malcolm in particular: "Except for complaining about the injuries he suffered in 'Jurassic Park', Malcolm makes virtually no reference to his previous visit to dino-land [...]. Instead of even making a half-hearted attempt to turn Malcolm into a reasonable facsimile of a person, Mr. Crichton cynically uses him as a mouthpiece for all sorts of portentous techno-babble about chaos theory, extinction theories and mankind's destructive nature. As for the other characters, they are each given handy labels for easy identification".


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Tom De Haven of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the novel a "B−" rating and wrote that it "is like a videogame in prose—a few hundred frantic pages of run, hide, kill, and die. Over and over again". De Haven criticized the lack of characterization and wrote that Crichton was "clearly off his stride here, right from the start. Without any need to build scientific plausibility into the plot (he did that last time, beautifully), Crichton seems unengaged by his own material, distanced from it, and his cautionary lectures about extinction and natural selection seem halfhearted attempts to legitimize his return to familiar territory. But if there's a lack of freshness to the novel (even the title isn't new; it's borrowed from the granddaddy of all dinosaur tales, by Arthur Conan Doyle), it is still a very scary read".


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: De Haven felt that the novel's opening chapters were "rushed and contrived. Although it's perhaps a deliberate, affectionate nod to the old let's-get-going-so-we-can-get-to-the-good-parts kind of storytelling that was such a staple of 1950s monster movies, it's still cheesy. [...] No matter how feeble the premise, though, or how shallow the characterizations, I wouldn't dream of talking anybody out of reading the novel. For clarity, terror, and sheer grisliness, the action far surpasses anything in the original book; even better, the suspense is masterfully stretched out, then released all of a sudden—just when you least expect it". De Haven concluded that its predecessor "has earned a secure place for itself in the history of popular American literature. The Lost World, at best, will be a footnote. But still, it made my palms sweat".


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: Neal Karlen of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that Crichton "has done the sequel step just right, keeping the tropes of the earlier novel familiar for the fans while changing the ideas and story line enough to keep even his severest and most envious critics turning the pages to find out what happens next". Karlen noted that, "Once again, the dinosaurs seem the real stars", while writing that the human characters "are introduced as if in shorthand screenplay form". Karlen especially praised the novel's raptors, calling them "seemingly meaner, more loathsome, and once again better developed than almost all of the book's human characters".


title: The Lost World (Crichton novel)

text: "" is a 1997 science fiction film and sequel to "Jurassic Park", loosely based on Crichton's novel. The film was a commercial success, breaking many box-office records when released, but received mixed reviews. It has a number of plot differences from the novel and incorporates scenes from the first novel that were not previously filmed, including the scene with Christina (Novel) / Cathy () Bowman being attacked by Compsognathus.


title: NME

text: New Musical Express (NME) is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a free publication, before becoming an online brand which includes its website and radio stations.


title: NME

text: As a 'rock inkie', "NME" was the first British newspaper to include a singles chart, adding that feature in the edition of 14 November 1952. In the 1970s, it became the best-selling British music newspaper. From 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism then became closely associated with punk rock through the writings of Julie Burchill, Paul Morley, and Tony Parsons. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s, changing from newsprint in 1998.


title: NME

text: The magazine's website NME.com was launched in 1996, and became the world's biggest standalone music site, with over sixteen million users per month. With newsstand sales falling across the UK magazine sector, the magazine's paid circulation in the first half of 2014 was 15,830. In September 2015, the "NME" magazine was relaunched to be distributed nationally as a free publication. The first average circulation published in February 2016 of 307,217 copies per week was the highest in the brand's history, beating the previous best of 306,881, recorded in 1964 at the height of the Beatles' fame. By December 2017, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, average distribution of "NME" had fallen to 289,432 copies a week, although its then-publisher Time Inc. UK claimed to have more than 13 million global unique users per month, including 3 million in the UK. In March 2018, the publisher announced that the print edition of "NME" would cease publication after 66 years and become an online-only publication.


title: NME

text: "NME" was acquired in 2019 by Singaporean music company BandLab Technologies, which put all of its music publications under the NME Networks brand in December 2021, when the company was restructured.


title: NME

text: The paper was established in 1952. The "Accordion Times and Musical Express" was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn for £1,000, just 15 minutes before it was due to be officially closed. It was relaunched as the "New Musical Express", and was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the US magazine "Billboard", it created the first UK Singles Chart, a list of the Top Twelve best-selling singles. The first of these was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK. The first number one was "Here in My Heart" by Al Martino.


title: NME

text: During the 1960s, the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The "NME" circulation peaked under Andy Gray (editor 1957–1972) with a figure of 306,881 for the period from January to June 1964. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the front cover. These and other artists also appeared at the NME Poll Winners' Concert, an awards event that featured artists voted as most popular by the paper's readers. The concert also featured a ceremony where the poll winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners' Concerts took place between 1959 and 1972. From 1964 onwards, they were filmed, edited, and transmitted on British television a few weeks after they had taken place.


title: NME

text: In the mid-1960s, the "NME" was primarily dedicated to pop while its older rival, "Melody Maker", was known for its more serious coverage of music. Other competing titles included "Record Mirror", which led the way in championing American rhythm and blues, and "Disc", which focused on chart news. The latter part of the decade the paper charted the rise of psychedelia and the continued dominance of British groups of the time. During this period some sections of pop music began to be designated as rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry with "Melody Maker"; however, "NME" sales were healthy, with the paper selling as many as 200,000 issues per week, making it one of the UK's biggest sellers at the time.


title: NME

text: By the early 1970s, "NME" had lost ground to "Melody Maker", as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with the development of rock music, particularly during the early years of psychedelia and progressive rock. In early 1972, the paper was on the verge of closure by its owner IPC (which had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963). According to Nick Kent (soon to play a prominent part in the paper's revival):


title: NME

text: After sales had plummeted to 60,000 and a review of guitar instrumentalist Duane Eddy had been printed which began with the words "On this, his 35th album, we find Duane in as good voice as ever," the "NME" had been told to rethink its policies or die on the vine.


title: NME

text: Alan Smith was made editor in 1972, and was told by IPC to turn things around quickly or face closure. To achieve this, Smith and his assistant editor Nick Logan raided the underground press for writers such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, and recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler, Ian MacDonald and Californian Danny Holloway. According to "The Economist", the "New Musical Express" "started to champion underground, up-and-coming music...NME became the gateway to a more rebellious world. First came glamrock, and bands such as T. Rex, and then came punk...by 1977 it had become the place to keep in touch with a cultural revolution that was enthralling the nation's listless youth. Bands such as Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex and Generation X were regular cover stars, eulogised by writers such as Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, whose nihilistic tone narrated the punk years perfectly." By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Logan in mid-1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies per week and was outstripping "Melody Maker", "Disc", "Record Mirror" and "Sounds".


title: NME

text: I think all the other papers knew by 1974 that NME had become the best music paper in Britain. We had most of the best writers and photographers, the best layouts, that sense of style of humour and a feeling of real adventure. We also set out to beat "Melody Maker" on its strong suit: being the serious, responsible journal of record. We did Looking Back and Consumer Guide features that beat the competition out of sight, and we did this not just to surpass our rivals but because we reckoned that rock had finished its first wind around 1969/70 and deserved to be treated as history, as a canon of work. We wanted to see where we'd got to, sort out this huge amount of stuff that had poured out since the mid '60s. Everyone on the paper was into this.


title: NME

text: Led Zeppelin topped the ""NME" Pop Poll" for three consecutive years (1974–76) under the category of the best "Vocal Group".


title: NME

text: In 1976, "NME" lambasted German pioneer electronic band Kraftwerk with this title: "This is what your fathers fought to save you from ..." The article said that the "electronic melodies flowed as slowly as a piece of garbage floating down the polluted Rhine". The same year also saw punk rock arrive on what some people perceived to be a stagnant music scene. The "NME" gave the Sex Pistols their first music press coverage in a live review of their performance at the Marquee in February that year, but overall it was slow to cover this new phenomenon in comparison to "Sounds" and "Melody Maker", where Jonh Ingham and Caroline Coon respectively were early champions of punk. Although articles by the likes of Mick Farren (whose article "The Titanic Sails at Dawn" called for a new street-led rock movement in response to stadium rock) were published by the "NME" that summer, it was felt that younger writing was needed to credibly cover the emerging punk movement, and the paper advertised for a pair of "hip young gunslingers" to join their editorial staff. This resulted in the recruitment of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. The pair rapidly became champions of the punk scene and created a new tone for the paper. Parsons' time at NME is reflected in his 2005 novel "Stories We Could Tell", about the misadventures of three young music-paper journalists on the night of 16 August 1977 – the night Elvis Presley died.


title: NME

text: In 1978, Logan moved on, and his deputy Neil Spencer was made editor. One of his earliest tasks was to oversee a redesign of the paper by Barney Bubbles, which included the logo still used on the paper's masthead today (albeit in a modified form) – this made its first appearance towards the end of 1978. Spencer's time as editor also coincided with the emergence of post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Gang of Four. This development was reflected in the writing of Ian Penman and Paul Morley. Danny Baker, who began as an "NME" writer around this time, had a more straightforward and populist style.


title: NME

text: The paper also became more openly political during the time of punk. Its cover would sometimes feature youth-orientated issues rather than a musical act. It took an editorial stance against political parties like the National Front. With the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, the paper took a broadly socialist stance for much of the following decade.


title: NME

text: In the 1980s, the "NME" became the most important music paper in the country. It released the influential "C81" in 1981, in conjunction with Rough Trade Records, available to readers by mail order at a low price. The tape featured a number of then up-and-coming bands, including Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Linx, and Scritti Politti, as well as a number of more established artists such as Robert Wyatt, Pere Ubu, the Buzzcocks and Ian Dury. A second tape titled "C86" was released in 1986. From 1981 to 1988 the magazine released 36 cassette compilations.


title: NME

text: The "NME" responded to the Thatcher era by espousing socialism through movements such as Red Wedge. In the week of the 1987 election, the paper featured an interview with the leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, who appeared on the paper's cover. He had appeared on the cover once two years before, in April 1985.


title: NME

text: Writers at this time included Mat Snow, Chris Bohn (known in his later years at the paper as 'Biba Kopf'), Barney Hoskyns, Paolo Hewitt, Don Watson, Danny Kelly, Steven Wells, and David Quantick.


title: NME

text: However, sales were dropping, and by the mid-1980s, "NME" had hit a rough patch and was in danger of closing. During this period (now under the editorship of Ian Pye, who replaced Neil Spencer in 1985), they were split between those who wanted to write about hip hop, a genre that was relatively new to the UK, and those who wanted to stick to rock music. Sales were apparently lower when photos of hip hop artists appeared on the front and this led to the paper suffering as the lack of direction became even more apparent to readers. A number of features entirely unrelated to music appeared on the cover in this era, including a piece by William Leith on computer crime and articles by Stuart Cosgrove on such subjects as the politics of sport and the presence of American troops in Britain, with Elvis Presley appearing on the cover not for musical reasons but as a political symbol.


title: NME

text: The "NME" was generally thought to be rudderless at this time, with staff pulling simultaneously in a number of directions in what came to be known as the "hip-hop wars". It was haemorrhaging readers who were deserting "NME" in favour of Nick Logan's two creations "The Face" and "Smash Hits". This was brought to a head when the paper was about to publish a poster of an insert contained in the Dead Kennedys' album "Frankenchrist", consisting of a painting by H.R. Giger called Penis Landscape, then a subject of an obscenity lawsuit in the US. In the summer and autumn of 1987, three senior editorial staff were sacked, including Pye, media editor Stuart Cosgrove, and art editor Joe Ewart. Former "Sounds" editor Alan Lewis was brought in to rescue the paper, mirroring Alan Smith's revival a decade and a half before.


title: NME

text: Some commented at this time that the "NME" had become less intellectual in its writing style and less inventive musically. Initially, "NME" writers themselves were ill at ease with the new regime, with most signing a letter of no confidence in Lewis shortly after he took over. However, this new direction for the "NME" proved to be a commercial success and the paper brought in new writers such as Andrew Collins, Andrew Harrison, Stuart Maconie, Mary Anne Hobbs and Steve Lamacq to give it a stronger identity and sense of direction. Lewis prioritised readership over editorial independence, and Mark Sinker left in 1988 after Lewis refused to print his unfavourable review of U2's "Rattle and Hum" ("the worst album by a major band in years"), replacing it with a glowing Stuart Baillie review intended to be more acceptable to readers. Initially many of the bands on the C86 tape were championed as well as the rise of gothic rock bands but new bands such as the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses were coming out of Manchester. One scene over these years was Acid House which spawned ""Madchester"" which helped give the paper a new lease of life. By the end of the decade, Danny Kelly had replaced Lewis as editor.


title: NME

text: By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene was dying off, and "NME" had started to report on new bands coming from the US, mainly from Seattle. These bands would form a new movement called grunge, and by far the most popular bands were Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The "NME" took to grunge very slowly ("Sounds" was the first British music paper to write about grunge with John Robb being the first to interview Nirvana. "Melody Maker" was more enthusiastic early on, largely through the efforts of Everett True, who had previously written for "NME" under the name "The Legend!"). For the most part, "NME" only became interested in grunge after "Nevermind" became popular. Although it still supported new British bands, the paper was dominated by American bands, as was the music scene in general.


title: NME

text: Although the period from 1991 to 1993 was dominated by American bands like Nirvana, British bands were not ignored. The "NME" still covered the indie scene and was involved with a war of words with a new band called Manic Street Preachers, who were criticising the "NME" for what they saw as an elitist view of bands they would champion. This came to a head in 1991, when, during an interview with Steve Lamacq, Richey Edwards would confirm the band's position by carving "4real" into his arm with a razor blade.


title: NME

text: By 1992, the Madchester scene had died and along with the Manics, some new British bands were beginning to appear. Suede were quickly hailed by the paper as an alternative to the heavy grunge sound and hailed as the start of a new British music scene. Grunge, however, was still the dominant force, but the rise of new British bands would become something the paper would focus on more and more.


title: NME

text: In 1992, the "NME" also had a very public dispute with Morrissey due to allegations by "NME"s Dele Fadele that Morrissey had used racist lyrics and imagery. This erupted after a concert at Finsbury Park where Morrissey was seen to drape himself in a Union Jack. The series of articles (starting with Fadele's one) which followed in the next edition of "NME" (featuring the story on the front cover) soured Morrissey's relationship with the paper, and this led to Morrissey not speaking to the paper again for the next 12 years (i.e., until 2004).


title: NME

text: Later in 1992, Steve Sutherland, previously an assistant editor of "Melody Maker", was brought in as the "NME"s editor to replace Danny Kelly. Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie, Steve Lamacq, and Mary Anne Hobbs all left the "NME" in protest, and moved to "Select"; Collins, Maconie and Lamacq would all also write for "Q", while Lamacq would join "Melody Maker" in 1997. Kelly, Collins, Maconie, Lamacq and Hobbs would all subsequently become prominent broadcasters with BBC Radio 1 as it reinvented itself under Matthew Bannister.