title: Key lime

text: In California in the late 19th century, "Mexican" limes were more highly valued than lemons; however, in Florida, they were generally considered weeds. Then, in 1894–95, the Great Freeze destroyed the Florida lemon groves, and farmers replanted Mexican limes instead; they soon became known as the Florida Key Lime, a "beloved regional crop". But when the 1926 Miami hurricane ripped them up, they were replanted with the hardier, thornless Persian limes.


title: Key lime

text: Since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect, most Key limes on the United States market have been grown in Mexico, Central America and South America. They are also grown in Texas, Florida, and California.


title: Key lime

text: The Key lime has given rise to several other lime varieties. The best known, the triploid progeny of a Key lime-lemon cross, is the Persian lime ("Citrus × latifolia"), the most widely produced lime, globally. Others are, like their parent, classed within "C. aurantiifolia". Backcrossing with citron has produced a distinct group of triploid limes that are also of commercial value to a limited degree, the seedy Tanepeo, Coppenrath, Ambilobe and Mohtasseb lime varieties as well as the Madagascar lemon. Hybridization with a mandarin-pomelo cross similar to the oranges has produced the Kirk lime. The New Caledonia and Kaghzi limes appear to have resulted from an F2 Key lime self-pollination, while a spontaneous genomic duplication gave us the tetraploid Giant Key lime. The potential to produce a wider variety of lime hybrids from the Key lime due to its tendency to form diploid gametes may reduce the disease risk presented by the limited diversity of the current commercial limes.


title: Key lime

text: There are various approaches to the cultivation of Key limes. This variety of citrus can be propagated from seed and will grow true to the parent. The seeds must be kept moist until they can be planted, as they will not germinate if allowed to dry out. If the plants are propagated from seed, the seeds should be stored at least 5–6 months before planting. Alternatively, vegetative propagation from cuttings or by air layering may permit fruit production within one year, and from genetically more predictable lines of plants. Another method, digging around a mature tree to sever roots, will encourage new sprouts that can be transplanted to another location. Clones are often bud grafted into rough lemon or sour orange to obtain strong root stocks (see also fruit tree propagation).


title: Key lime

text: It is often advisable to graft the plants onto rootstocks with low susceptibility to gummosis because seedlings generally are highly vulnerable to the disease. Useful rootstocks include wild grapefruit, cleopatra mandarin and tahiti limes. "C. macrophylla" is also sometimes used as a rootstock in Florida to add vigor.


title: Key lime

text: Climatic conditions and fruit maturation are crucial in cultivation of the lime tree. Under consistently warm conditions potted trees can be planted at any season, whereas in cooler temperate regions it is best to wait for the late winter or early spring.


title: Key lime

text: The Key lime tree does best in sunny sites, well-drained soils, good air circulation, and protection from cold wind. Because its root system is shallow, the Key lime is planted in trenches or into prepared and broken rocky soil to give the roots a better anchorage and improve the trees' wind resistance. Pruning and topping should be planned to maximise the circulation of air and provide plenty of sunlight. This keeps the crown healthily dry, improves accessibility for harvesting, and discourages the organisms that cause gummosis.


title: Key lime

text: The method of cultivation greatly affects the size and quality of the harvest. Trees cultivated from seedlings take 4–8 years before producing a harvest. They attain their maximal yield at about 10 years of age. Trees produced from cuttings and air layering bear fruit much sooner, sometimes producing fruit (though not a serious harvest) a year after planting. It takes approximately 9 months from the blossom to the fruit.


title: Key lime

text: When the fruit have grown to harvesting size and begin to turn yellow they are picked and not clipped. To achieve produce of the highest market value, it is important not to pick the fruit too early in the morning; the turgor is high then, and handling turgid fruit releases the peel oils and may cause spoilage.


title: Key lime

text: Shelf life of Key limes is an important consideration in marketing. The lime still ripens for a considerable time after harvesting, and it is usually stored between at a relative humidity of 75–85%. Special procedures are employed to control the shelf life; for example, applications of growth regulators, fruit wax, fungicides, precise cooling, calcium compounds, silver nitrate, and special packing material. The preferred storage conditions are temperatures of and a humidity over 85%, but even in ideal conditions post-harvesting losses are high.


title: Key lime

text: In India most Key lime producers are small-scale farmers without access to such post-harvesting facilities, but makeshift expedients can be of value. One successful procedure is a coating of coconut oil that improves shelf life, thereby achieving a constant market supply of Key limes.


title: Key lime

text: Key limes are made into black lime by boiling them in brine and drying them. Black lime is a condiment commonly used in the Middle East.


title: Key lime

text: The yield varies depending on the age of the trees. Five- to seven-year-old orchards may yield about 6 t/ha (2.7 tons/acre), with harvests increasing progressively until they stabilise at about 12–18 t/ha (5.4–8 tons/acre). Seedling trees take longer to attain their maximal harvest, but eventually out-yield grafted trees.


title: Key lime

text: The annual Key Lime Festival in Key West, Florida, has been held every year since 2002 over the Independence Day weekend and is a celebration of Key limes in food, drinks, and culture.


title: NatWest Group

text: NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and corporate finance. In the United Kingdom, its main subsidiary companies are National Westminster Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest Markets and Coutts. The group issues banknotes in Scotland and Northern Ireland; , the Royal Bank of Scotland was the only bank in the UK to still print £1 notes.


title: NatWest Group

text: Before the 2008 collapse and the general financial crisis, the Group was very briefly the largest bank in the world, and for a period was the second-largest bank in the UK and Europe and the fifth-largest in the world by market capitalisation. Subsequently, with a slumping share price and major loss of confidence, the bank fell sharply in the rankings, although in 2009 it was briefly the world's largest company by both assets (£1.9 trillion) and liabilities (£1.8 trillion). It had to be bailed out by the UK government through the 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package.


title: NatWest Group

text: The government retained a majority share until 28 March 2022, held and managed through UK Government Investments. Following a buyback by the NatWest Group, the government now holds a 48.1% share in the company.


title: NatWest Group

text: In addition to its primary share listing on the London Stock Exchange, the company is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.


title: NatWest Group

text: By the late 1960s, economic conditions were becoming more difficult for the banking sector. In response, the National Commercial Bank of Scotland merged with the Royal Bank of Scotland. The merger resulted in a new holding company, the National and Commercial Banking Group being founded in 1968 with the merger formalised in 1969. The holding company was renamed The Royal Bank of Scotland Group on 4 July 1979.


title: NatWest Group

text: The late 1990s saw a new wave of consolidation in the financial services sector. In 1999, the Bank of Scotland launched a hostile takeover bid for English rival National Westminster Bank. The Bank of Scotland intended to fund the deal by selling off many of NatWest's subsidiary companies, including Ulster Bank and Coutts. However, the Royal Bank of Scotland subsequently tabled a counter-offer, sparking off the largest hostile takeover battle in UK corporate history. A key differentiation from the Bank of Scotland's bid was the Royal Bank of Scotland's plan to retain all of NatWest's subsidiaries. Although NatWest, one of the "Big Four" English clearing banks, was significantly larger than either Scottish bank, it had a recent history of poor financial performance and plans to merge with insurance company Legal & General were not well received, prompting a 26% fall in share price.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 11 February 2000, The Royal Bank of Scotland was declared the winner in the takeover battle, becoming the second largest banking group in the UK after HSBC Holdings. NatWest as a distinct banking brand was retained, although many back-office functions of the bank were merged with the Royal Bank's, leading to over 18,000 job losses throughout the UK.


title: NatWest Group

text: In August 2005, the bank expanded into China, acquiring a 10% stake in the Bank of China for £1.7 billion, which it had sold by 2009.


title: NatWest Group

text: In 2005, the bank built a new international headquarters at Gogarburn on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.


title: NatWest Group

text: The group was part of a consortium with Belgian bank Fortis and Spanish bank Banco Santander that acquired Dutch bank ABN AMRO in October 2007. Rivals speculated that RBS had overpaid for the Dutch bank although the bank pointed out that of the £49bn paid for ABN AMRO, RBS's share was only £10bn (equivalent to £167 per citizen of the UK).


title: NatWest Group

text: Much later, the bank announced it was to scale back its international presence. "Let me spell it out very clearly: the days when RBS sought to be the biggest bank in the world, those days are well and truly over", Chief Executive Ross McEwan, who had been in charge of the bank for four months, said in unveiling plans to reduce costs by £5bn over four years. "Our ambition is to be a bank for UK customers", he added.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 22 April 2008 RBS announced a rights issue which aimed to raise £12bn in new capital to offset a writedown of £5.9bn resulting from credit market positions and to shore up its reserves following the purchase of ABN AMRO. This was, at the time, the largest rights issue in British corporate history.


title: NatWest Group

text: The bank also announced that it would review the possibility of divesting some of its subsidiaries to raise further funds, notably its insurance divisions Direct Line and Churchill. Additionally, the bank's stake in Tesco Bank was bought by Tesco for £950 million in 2008.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 13 October 2008, in a move aimed at recapitalising the bank, it was announced that the British Government would take a stake of up to 58% in the Group. The aim was to "make available new tier 1 capital to UK banks and building societies to strengthen their resources permitting them to restructure their finances, while maintaining their support for the real economy, through the recapitalisation scheme which has been made available to eligible institutions".


title: NatWest Group

text: HM Treasury injected £37 billion ($64 billion, €47 billion, equivalent to £617 per citizen of the UK) of new capital into Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Lloyds TSB and HBOS plc, to avert financial sector collapse. The government stressed, however, that it was not "standard public ownership" and that the banks would return to private investors "at the right time".


title: NatWest Group

text: Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated that the UK government would benefit from its rescue plan, for it would have some control over RBS in exchange for £5 billion in preference shares and underwriting the issuance of a further £15 billion in ordinary shares. If shareholder take-up of the share issue was 0%, then total government ownership in RBS would be 58%; and, if shareholder take-up was 100%, then total government ownership in RBS would be 0%. Less than 56 million new shares were taken up by investors, or 0.24pc of the total offered by RBS in October 2008.


title: NatWest Group

text: As a consequence of this rescue, the Chief Executive of the group, Fred Goodwin, offered his resignation and it was duly accepted. Sir Tom McKillop confirmed that he would stand down from his role as chairman when his contract expired in March 2009. Goodwin was replaced by Stephen Hester, previously the Chief Executive of British Land, who commenced work at the Royal Bank of Scotland in November 2008.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 19 January 2009, the British Government announced a further injection of funds into the UK banking system in an attempt to restart personal and business lending. This would involve the creation of a state-backed insurance scheme which would allow banks to insure against existing loans going into default, in an attempt to restore the banks' confidence.


title: NatWest Group

text: At the same time the government announced its intention to convert the preference shares in RBS that it had acquired in October 2008 to ordinary shares. This would remove the 12% coupon payment (£600m p.a.) on the shares but would increase the state's holding in the bank from 58% to 70%.


title: NatWest Group

text: On the same day RBS released a trading statement in which it expected to post full-year trading losses (before writedowns) of between £7bn and £8bn. The group also announced writedowns on goodwills (primarily related to the takeover of Dutch bank ABN-AMRO) of around £20bn. The combined total of £28bn would be the biggest ever annual loss in UK corporate history (the actual figure was £24.1bn). As a result, during the Blue Monday Crash, the group's share price fell over 66% in one day to 10.9p per share, from a 52-week high of 354p per share, itself a drop of 97%.


title: NatWest Group

text: RBS' contractual commitment to retain the 4.26% Bank of China (BoC) stake ended on 31 December 2008, and the shares were sold on 14 January 2009. Exchange rate fluctuations meant that RBS made no profit on the deal. The Scottish press suggested two reasons for the move: the need for a bank mainly owned by HM Treasury to focus scarce capital on British markets, and the growth possibility of RBS's own China operations.


title: NatWest Group

text: Also in March 2009, RBS revealed that its traders had been involved in the purchase and sale of sub-prime securities under the supervision of Fred Goodwin.


title: NatWest Group

text: In September 2009, RBS and NatWest announced dramatic cuts in their overdraft fees including the unpaid item fee (from £38 to £5), the card misuse fee (from £35 to £15) and the monthly maintenance charge for going overdrawn without consent (from £28 to £20). The cuts came at a time when the row over the legality of unauthorised borrowing reached the House of Lords. The fees were estimated to earn current account providers about £2.6bn a year. The Consumers' Association chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said: "This is a step in the right direction and a victory for consumer pressure."


title: NatWest Group

text: In November 2009, RBS announced plans to cut 3,700 jobs in addition to 16,000 already planned, while the government increased its stake in the company from 70% to 84%.


title: NatWest Group

text: In December 2009, the RBS board revolted against the main shareholder, the British government. They threatened to resign unless they were permitted to pay bonuses of £1.5bn to staff in its investment arm.


title: NatWest Group

text: More than 100 senior bank executives at the Royal Bank of Scotland were paid more than £1 million in late 2010 and total bonus payouts reached nearly £1 billion – even though the bailed-out bank reported losses of £1.1 billion for 2010. The 2010 figure was an improvement on the loss of £3.6 billion in 2009 and the record-breaking £24bn loss in 2008. The bonuses for staff in 2010 topped £950 million. The CEO Stephen Hester got £8 million in payments for the year. Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite the Union, said: "Taxpayers will be baffled as to how it is possible that while we own 84% of this bank it continues to so handsomely reward its investment bankers."


title: NatWest Group

text: In October 2011, Moody's downgraded the credit rating of 12 UK financial firms, including RBS, blaming financial weakness.


title: NatWest Group

text: In January 2012, there was press controversy about Hester's bonus—Hester was offered share options with a total value of £963,000 that would be held in long-term plans, and only paid out if he met strict and tough targets. If he failed to do this, it would be clawed-back. The Treasury permitted the payment because they feared the resignation of Hester and much of the board if the payment was vetoed by the government as the majority shareholder. After a large amount of criticism in the press, news emerged of Chairman Sir Philip Hampton turning down his own bonus of £1.4 million several weeks before the controversy. Hester, who had been on holiday in Switzerland at the time, turned down his own bonus shortly after.


title: NatWest Group

text: In June 2012, a failure of an upgrade to payment processing software meant that a substantial proportion of customers could not transfer money to or from their accounts. This meant that RBS had to open a number of branches on a Sunday – the first time that they had had to do this.


title: NatWest Group

text: RBS released a statement on 12 June 2013 that announced a transition in which CEO Stephen Hester would stand down in December 2013 for the financial institution "to return to private ownership by the end of 2014". For his part in the procession of the transition, Hester would receive 12 months' pay and benefits worth £1.6 million, as well as the potential for £4 million in shares. The RBS stated that, as of the announcement, the search for Hester's successor would commence. Ross McEwan, the head of retail banking at RBS, was selected to replace Hester in July 2013.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 4 August 2015 the UK government began the process of selling shares back to the private sector, reducing its ownership of ordinary shares from 61.3% to 51.5% and its total economic ownership (including B shares) from 78.3% to 72.9%. On 5 June 2018 the government reduced its ownership through UK Government Investments to 62.4% at a loss of £2 billion.


title: NatWest Group

text: In June 2008 RBS sold its subsidiary Angel Trains for £3.6bn as part of an assets sale to raise cash.


title: NatWest Group

text: In March 2009, RBS announced the closure of its tax avoidance department, which had helped it avoid £500m of tax by channelling billions of pounds through securitised assets in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. The closure was partly due to a lack of funds to continue the measures, and partly due to the 84% government stake in the bank.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 29 March 2010, GE Capital acquired Royal Bank of Scotland's factoring business in Germany. GE Capital signed an agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) to acquire 100% of RBS Factoring GmbH, RBS's factoring and invoice financing business in Germany, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory approval.


title: NatWest Group

text: In January 2012, due to pressure from the UK government to shut down risky operations and prepare for tougher international regulations, the bank announced it would cut 4,450 jobs and close its loss-making cash equities, corporate broking, equity capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions businesses. This move brought the total number of jobs cut since the bank was bailed out in 2008 to 34,000.


title: NatWest Group

text: During 2012, RBS separated its insurance business from the main group to form the Direct Line Group, made up of several well-known brands including Direct Line and Churchill. RBS sold a 30% holding in the group through an initial public offering in October 2012. Further shares sales in 2013 reduced RBS' holding to 28.5% by September 2013, and RBS sold its remaining shares in February 2014.


title: NatWest Group

text: In October 2015, RBS sold its remaining stake in Citizens Financial Group, having progressively reduced its stake through an initial public offering (IPO) started in 2014.


title: NatWest Group

text: As a condition of the British Government purchasing an 81% shareholding in the group, the European Commission ruled that the group sell a portion of its business, as the purchase was categorised as state aid. In August 2010, the group reached an agreement to sell 318 branches to Santander UK, made up of the RBS branches in England and Wales and the NatWest branches in Scotland. Santander withdrew from the sale on 12 October 2012.


title: NatWest Group

text: In September 2013, the group confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell 314 branches to the Corsair consortium, made up of private equity firms and a number of institutional investors, including the Church Commissioners, which controls the property and investment assets of the Church of England. The branches, incorporating 250,000 small business customers, 1,200 medium business customers and 1.8 million personal banking customers, were due to be separated from the group in 2016 as a standalone business. The planned company would have traded as an ethical bank, using the dormant Williams & Glyn's brand.


title: NatWest Group

text: In August 2016, RBS cancelled its plan to spin off Williams & Glyn as a separate business, stating that the new bank could not survive independently. It revealed it would instead seek to sell the operation to another bank.


title: NatWest Group

text: In February 2017, HM Treasury suggested that the bank should abandon the plan to sell the operation, and instead focus on initiatives to boost competition within business banking in the United Kingdom. This plan was formally approved by the European Commission in September 2017.


title: NatWest Group

text: On 14 February 2020, it was announced that RBS Group was to be renamed NatWest Group, taking the brand under which the majority of its business is delivered. On 16 July 2020 the company announced that the rebrand would take place on 22 July 2020. The change took effect on 23 July 2020. The NatWest Group is likely to remain state-owned until March 2025, a deadline which the UK Treasury has announced for selling all government shares in the business.


title: NatWest Group

text: The government reduced its holding in NatWest to 59.8% in March 2021, losing the taxpayer £1.8bn, followed by a further sale in May 2021 bringing it to 54.8%. The government announced that a further sale would take place in late 2021 (bringing the holding down to 50.6%) and a sale in March 2022 reduced it further to 48.1%.


title: NatWest Group

text: NatWest Group is split into four main customer-facing franchises, each with several subsidiary businesses, and it also has a number of support functions.


title: NatWest Group

text: The NatWest Holdings segment comprises the retail banking division of the bank: the business operates in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland under the NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank names. The CEO of this franchise is David Lindberg appointed in September 2020. Key subsidiaries include:


title: NatWest Group

text: This franchise serves UK corporate and commercial customers, from SMEs to UK-based multinationals, and is the largest provider of banking, finance and risk management services to UK corporate and commercial customers. It also contains Lombard entity providing asset finance to corporate and commercial customers as well as some of the clients within the Private Banking franchise. The CEO of this franchise is Paul Thwaite appointed in November 2019.


title: NatWest Group

text: This franchise serves high-net-worth customers, the CEO of this franchise is Peter Flavel appointed in March 2016. The key private banking subsidiaries and brands of NatWest Group that are included in this franchise are:


title: NatWest Group

text: This segment, commonly referred to as the investment banking arm of NatWest Group, provides investment banking services and integrated financial solutions to major corporations and financial institutions around the world. NWMs areas of strength are debt financing, risk management, and investment and advisory services. NatWest Markets Securities is a key subsidiary, operating in the United States. The CEO of this franchise is Robert Begbie appointed in June 2020.


title: NatWest Group

text: The group is supported by a number of functions and services departments – procurement, technology, payments, anti-money laundering, property, etc. – and support and control functions: the areas which provide core services across the bank – human resources, corporate governance, internal audit, legal, risk, etc.


title: NatWest Group

text: "Prior to 1976, the Group served as a holding company and had no executive powers; the position of Managing Director was created in 1976, and was renamed Group Chief Executive following the merger with Williams & Glyn's Bank in 1985."


title: NatWest Group

text: During Goodwin's tenure as CEO he attracted some criticism for lavish spending, including on the construction of a £350m headquarters in Edinburgh opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005 and a $500m headquarters in the US begun in 2006, and the use of a Dassault Falcon 900 jet owned by leasing subsidiary Lombard for occasional corporate travel.


title: NatWest Group

text: In February 2009 RBS reported that while Fred Goodwin was at the helm it had posted a loss of £24.1bn, the biggest loss in UK corporate history. His responsibility for the expansion of RBS, which led to the losses, has drawn widespread criticism. His image was not enhanced by the news that emerged in questioning by the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons on 10 February 2009, that Goodwin has no technical bank training, and has no formal banking qualifications.


title: NatWest Group

text: In January 2009 "The Guardian"'s City editor Julia Finch identified him as one of twenty-five people who were at the heart of the financial meltdown. Nick Cohen described Goodwin in "The Guardian" as "the characteristic villain of our day", who made £20m from RBS and left the government "with an unlimited liability for the cost of cleaning up the mess". An online column by Daniel Gross labelled Goodwin "The World's Worst Banker", a phrase echoed elsewhere in the media. Gordon Prentice MP argued that his knighthood should be revoked as it is "wholly inappropriate and anomalous for someone to retain such a reward in these circumstances."


title: NatWest Group

text: Other members have also frequently been criticised as "fat cats" over their salary, expenses, bonuses and pensions.


title: NatWest Group

text: RBS was challenged over its financing of oil and coal mining by charities such as Platform London and Friends of the Earth. In 2007, RBS was promoting itself as "The Oil & Gas Bank", although the website www.oilandgasbank.com was later taken down. A Platform London report criticised the bank's lending to oil and gas companies, estimating that the carbon emissions embedded within RBS' project finance reached 36.9 million tonnes in 2005, comparable to Scotland's carbon emissions.


title: NatWest Group

text: RBS provides the financial means for companies to build coal-fired power stations and dig new coal mines at sites throughout the world. RBS helped to provide an estimated £8 billion from 2006 to 2008 to energy corporation E.ON and other coal-utilising companies. In 2012, 2.8% of RBS' total lending was provided to the power, oil and gas sectors combined. According to RBS' own figures, half of its deals to the energy sector were to wind power projects; although, this only included project finance and not general commercial loans.


title: NatWest Group

text: In 2000 and 2001, staff of the bank were threatened over its provision of banking facilities for the animal testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences. The intimidation resulted in RBS withdrawing the company's overdraft facility, requiring the company to obtain alternative funding within a tight deadline.


title: NatWest Group

text: Climate Camp activists criticise RBS for funding firms which extract oil from Canadian oil sands. The Cree aboriginal group describe RBS as being complicit in "the biggest environmental crime on the planet". In 2012, 7.2% of RBS' total oil and gas lending was to companies who derived more than 10% of their income from oil sands operations.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Developed after the Second World War as a new town, it has existed since the 8th century and was granted its town charter by Henry VIII in 1539. Nearby towns are Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede. The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as Hamelamestede, but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted, and, possibly, Hemlamstede. In Old English, "-stead" or "-stede" simply meant "place" (reflected in German "Stadt" and Dutch "stede" or "stad", meaning "city" or "town"), such as the site of a building or pasture, as in clearing in the woods, and this suffix is used in the names of other English places such as Hamstead and Berkhamsted.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: It is theoretically possible for a previous name to have become corrupted to something very similar to Hempstead, and that Hemel originated as a way of specifying Hemel Hempstead as opposed to nearby Berkhamsted. Hemel is reflected in the German "Himmel" and Dutch "Hemel", both of which mean 'heaven' or 'sky', so it could be that Hemel Hempstead was in a less forested area open to the sky, while Berkhamsted (which could mean 'birch', reflected in the Dutch "berk") was in a forest of birch trees.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Another opinion is that Hemel came from Haemele, the name of the district in the 8th century, and is most likely either the name of the landowner or meant "broken country".


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The town is now known to locals as Hemel. However, before the Second World War locals called it Hempstead. Emigrants from Hemel Hempstead, led by one John Carman, migrated to the American colonies in the early 17th century and founded the town of Hempstead, New York in 1644.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The first recorded mention of the town is the grant of land at "Hamaele" by Offa, King of Essex, to the Saxon Bishop of London in AD 705. Hemel Hempstead on its present site is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a "vill, Hamelhamstede", with about 100 inhabitants. The parish church of St Mary's was built in 1140, and is recognised as one of the finest Norman parish churches in the county. The church features an unusual spire, added in the 12th century, one of Europe's tallest.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: After the Norman conquest, Robert, Count of Mortain, the elder half-brother of William the Conqueror, was granted lands associated with Berkhamsted Castle which included Hemel Hempstead. The estates passed through several hands over the next few centuries including Thomas Becket in 1162. Hemel Hempstead was in the Domesday hundred of Danais (Daneys, i.e. Danish) which by 1200 had been combined with the hundred of Tring to form the hundred of Dacorum, which maintained its court into the 19th century. In 1290 King John's grandson, the Earl of Cornwall, gave the manor to the religious order of the Bonhommes when he endowed the monastery at Ashridge.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The town remained part of the monastery's estates until the Reformation and break-up of Ashridge in 1539. In that same year, the town was granted a royal charter by Henry VIII to become a bailiwick with the right to hold a Thursday market and a fair on Corpus Christi Day. The first bailiff of Hemel Hempstead was William Stephyns (29 December 1539). Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are reputed to have stayed in the town at this time.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1953 a collection of unusually fine medieval wall paintings dating between 1470 and 1500 were discovered in a cottage in Piccotts End, a village on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead. This same building had been converted into the first cottage hospital providing free medical services by Sir Astley Cooper in 1827.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1581, a group of local people acquired lands – now referred to as Boxmoor – from the Earl of Leicester to prevent their enclosure. These were transferred to trustees in 1594. These have been used for public grazing and they are administered by the Box Moor Trust.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Remains of Roman villa farming settlements have been found at Boxmoor and Gadebridge which span the entire period of Roman Britain. A well preserved Roman burial mound is located in Adeyfield.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hemel Hempstead was an agricultural market town. Wealthy landowners built a few large country houses in the locality, including The Bury, built in 1790, and Gadebridge House, erected by the noted surgeon and anatomist Sir Astley Cooper in 1811.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: As the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, commercial travel between the Midlands and London increased greatly. Hemel Hempstead was located on a direct route between these areas of industry and commerce and this made it a natural waypoint for trade and travel between the two. Initially the Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road was opened in 1762.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1793 construction began on the Grand Junction Canal, a major project to provide a freight waterway between the Midlands and the Port of London. In 1798, the canal from the Thames reached Two Waters, just south of Hemel Hempstead, and opened fully in 1805.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel's position on the commercial transport network was established further in 1837 when the route of the new London and Birmingham Railway reached the town. The line's construction had been delayed for several years by vigorous lobbying by a number of powerful local landowners, including Sir Astley Cooper of Gadebridge House, who were all keen to protect their estates from invasion by the "iron horse". Their campaign was successful and the main line was routed along the River Bulbourne instead of the River Gade, skirting around the edge of Hemel Hempstead. As a result, the railway station serving Hemel Hempstead was built one mile outside the town centre at Boxmoor; "Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead" railway station (today's Hemel Hempstead railway station) opened in 1837. The railways continued to expand and in 1877 a new route opened connecting Boxmoor to the Midland Railway at . The Harpenden to Hemel Hempstead branch railway — affectionately known as the "Nickey Line" — crossed the town centre on a long, curved viaduct, eventually serving three local stations in the town at , and Godwin's Halt. A new Hemel Hempstead Hospital was established at the bottom of Hillfield Road in 1832.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Despite the incursion of various forms of transport, Hemel remained principally an agricultural market town throughout the 19th century. In the last decades of that century development of houses and villas for London commuters began. Hemel steadily expanded, but only became a borough, with its headquarters at the old town hall on 13 July 1898.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: During the Second World War ninety high explosive bombs were dropped on the town by the Luftwaffe. The most notorious incident was on 10 May 1942 when a stick of bombs demolished houses at Nash Mills killing eight people. The nearby John Dickinson & Co. factories which were used to produce munitions, were the target.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: After the Second World War, in 1946, the government designated Hemel Hempstead as the site of one of its proposed new towns designed to house the population displaced by the London Blitz, since slums and bombsites were being cleared in London. On 4 February 1947, the Government purchased of land and began work on the "New Town". The first new residents moved in during April 1949, and the town continued its planned expansion through to the end of the 1980s. Hemel grew to its present population of 97,500, with new developments enveloping the original town on all sides. The original part of Hemel is still known as the "Old Town".


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead was announced as candidate No 3 for a New Town in July 1946, in accordance with the government's "policy for the decentralisation of persons and industry from London". Initially there was much resistance and hostility to the plan from locals, especially when it was revealed that any development would be carried out not by the local council but by a newly appointed government body, the Hemel Hempstead Development Corporation (later amalgamated with similar bodies to form the Commission for New Towns). However, following a public inquiry the following year, the town got the go-ahead. Hemel officially became a New Town on 4 February 1947.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The initial plans for the New Town were drawn up by architect Geoffrey Jellicoe. His view of Hemel Hempstead, he said, was "not a city in a garden, but a city in a park." However, the plans were not well received by most locals. Revised, and less radical plans were drawn up, and the first developments proceeded despite local protests in July 1948. The first area to be developed was Adeyfield. At this time the plans for a revolutionary double roundabout at Moor End were first put forward, but in fact it was not until 1973 that the roundabout was opened as it was originally designed. (It was quickly christened 'The Magic Roundabout' by locals, echoing the name of the children's TV show.) The first houses erected as part of the New Town plan were in Longlands, Adeyfield, and went up in the spring of 1949. The first new residents moved into their new houses in February 1950.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: At this time, work started on building new factories and industrial areas, to avoid the town becoming a dormitory town. The first factory was erected in 1950 in Maylands Avenue. As building progressed with continuing local opposition, the town was becoming increasingly popular with those moving in from areas of north London. By the end of 1951, there was a waiting list of about 10,000 wishing to move to Hemel. The neighbourhoods of Bennett's End, Chaulden and Warner's End were started. The Queen paid a visit shortly after her accession in 1952, and laid a foundation stone for a new church in Adeyfield – one of her first public engagements as Queen. The shopping square she visited is named Queen's Square, and the nearby area has street names commemorating the then-recent conquest of Everest, such as Hillary and Tenzing Roads. This conquest is also celebrated in the name of a pub in Warners End – the "Top of the World".


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The redevelopment of the town centre was started in 1952, with a new centre based on Marlowes south of the old town. This was alongside a green area called the Water Gardens, designed by Jellicoe, formed by ponding back the River Gade. The old centre of the High Street was to remain largely undeveloped, though the market square closed and was replaced by a much larger one in the new centre. The former private estate of Gadebridge was opened up as a public park. New schools and roads were built to serve the expanding new neighbourhoods. New housing technology such as prefabrication started to be used from the mid-'50s, and house building rates increased dramatically. Highfield was the next neighbourhood to be constructed. The M1 motorway opened to the east in 1959, and a new road connecting it to the town was opened.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: By 1962, the redevelopment of the new town as originally envisaged was largely complete, though further expansion plans were then put forward. The nearby United States Air Force base of Bovingdon, which had served as the town's 'de facto' airport, reverted to RAF use at this time, continuing as an active military airfield until 1971. A campus of West Herts College, the library, new police station and the Pavilion (theatre and music venue) were all built during the 1960s. The town seemed to attract its fair share of celebrity openings, with shops and businesses opened by Frankie Vaughan, Benny Hill, Terry-Thomas, and the new cinema was opened by Hollywood star Lauren Bacall. The last of the originally-planned neighbourhoods, Grovehill, began construction in 1967. However, further neighbourhoods of Woodhall Farm and Fields End were later built as part of the extended plans.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Like other first generation new towns, Hemel is divided into residential neighbourhoods, each with their own "village centre" with shops, pubs and services. Each neighbourhood is designed around a few major feeder roads with many smaller cul-de-sacs and crescents, intended to minimise traffic and noise nuisance. In keeping with the optimism of the early post-war years, much of the town features modernist architecture with many unusual and experimental designs for housing. Not all of these have stood the test of time. A significant issue was how to choose names for all the new roads. Many areas of the new town used themes e.g. fields, birds, rivers, poets, explorers, leaders, etc.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1974, the government abolished the Borough of Hemel Hempstead and the town was incorporated into Dacorum District, along with Tring and Berkhamsted. The first chairman of that council was chairman John Johnson (1913–1977). In the 1980s, Dacorum District Council successfully lobbied to be recognised as the successor for the Royal Charter establishing the Borough of Hemel Hempstead and thus regained the Mayor and its Aldermen and became Dacorum Borough.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead grew up in a shallow chalkland valley at the confluence of the rivers Gade and Bulbourne, northwest of central London. The New Town expansion took place up the valley sides and onto the plateau above the original Old Town.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: To the north and west lie mixed farm and woodland with scattered villages, part of the Chiltern Hills. To the west lies Berkhamsted. The River Bulbourne flows along the south-western edge of the town through Boxmoor. To the south lie Watford and the beginnings of the Greater London conurbation. To the east lies St Albans, a cathedral city and also like Hemel Hempstead, is part of the London commuter belt. Possibly the best view of Hemel Hempstead in its physical setting is from the top of Roughdown Common, a chalk hill to the south of the town, at .


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The grand design for Hemel Hempstead new town saw each new district centred around a parade or square of shops called a neighbourhood centre. Other districts existed before the new town as suburbs, villages and industrial centres, and were incorporated into the town.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Jarman Park, the central location for leisure in the town, was previously agricultural land, which later becomes fields named after former town councilor and mayor, Henry Jarman, who oversaw the development of the New Town. The developments were built on land originally donated to the town for recreational purposes. Replacement open space was created to the east of the town, near Leverstock Green, Longdean Park and Nash Mills.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The first phase of recreational facilities, which opened in 1978, was the Loco Motion Skate Park. Subsequently, it became a dry ski slope with a small nursery slope next to it. Both areas were removed to make way for the Snow Centre which opened in 2009. A Tesco superstore was built in 1994 along with a petrol station, which was later expanded into a Tesco Extra. It was the first to be built with natural light let in. The Jarman Leisure Centre complex opened on 25 August 1995, originally managed by The Rank Organisation until 2007 and currently managed by the Tesco Pension Fund. The current 17 screen Cineworld is its flagship attraction, In addition to the cinema there is an ice rink, several restaurants and a gym.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: When it was opened as Leisure World at a cost of £22 million, the cinema originally featured 8 screens and was operated by Odeon Cinemas, and later managed by Empire Cinemas until August 2016. The complex also included the upstairs Toddlerworld play area, the Aquasplash water park, Hotshots, which was a 30 lane ten pin bowling facility with a bar, Jarman Park Bowls Club, which was an upstairs bowls facility with 7 rinks, restaurants, a large arcade in the middle of the building, snooker and pool tables, a discothèque called Visage, later named Lava, a nightclub and a themed bar.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In December 2011, plans were submitted by the then landlords Capital & Regional to redevelop the site. It proposed a collection of family friendly cafes & restaurants, with Aquasplash closing down.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The cinema continued to operate while the ice rink went under refurbishment. The cinema was expanded from 8 screens to 17 with one large 281 IMAX auditorium.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: There is also an athletics track nearby that opened in 1996 which is managed by the sports group Sportspace, with a small children's play park next to it. The track is used by local schools for sports days.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The most recent facilities, which opened in July 2011, is an extreme sports centre called the XC, which contains a skate park, caving, climbing walls, high ropes, a café and counselling rooms for young people. It is co-run by Youth Connexions and Sportspace.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The former John Dickinson & Co. mills site, straddling the canal at Apsley, was redeveloped with two retail parks, a Sainsbury's supermarket, 3 low rise office blocks, housing, a mooring basin and a hotel. A further office block was also built. Some buildings have been retained for their historic interest and to provide a home for the Apsley Paper Museum.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The now disused mill site at Nash Mills was also redeveloped to build housing and community facilities, it retains some historic buildings.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: An indoor shopping mall was developed adjacent to the south end of the Marlowe's retail area in 1990, and in 2005 the Riverside development designed by Bernard Engle Architects was opened, effectively extending the main shopping precinct towards the Plough Roundabout. The new centre includes several outlets for national retailers including Debenhams, Starbucks, Waterstones and others. These two developments have moved the ’centre of gravity’ of the retail centre away from the north end of Marlowe's has become an area for secondary outlets. Further extensive redevelopment of the northern end of Marlowes was also given the green light in 2007 and has now been completed.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In late 2014, the council began to improve the original newtown centre's appearance. The Old Town was refurbished with new paving, signage, and landscaping. The old council buildings and library have closed down, replaced with a new development named "The Forum" which opened in early 2017, where Dacorum Borough Council, the new library, Hertfordshire Police's Safer Neighbourhood Team, the Hertfordshire Registration and Citizenship Service, Dacorum Community Trust, Mediation Dacorum, Relate and the Citizen's Advice Bureau are all located. 200 new homes will surround this new development. There will be a riverside walk/cycle way. The abandoned Market Square is set to be more leisure facilities.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The Jellicoe Water Gardens have been restored, clearing up the overgrown trees, introducing a new play area, an area for picnics and gardening, a community centre for volunteers, learning organisations and schools, as well as the Friends of the Jellicoe Water Gardens and a new terrace for the flower garden.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The pedestrianized high street was redeveloped, with a new play area and new play equipment around the street, such as giant coloured balls, slides, a tightrope and trampolines with the old sculpture placed on top of a new pillar detailing the work of Geoffrey Jellicoe.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Isle of Man-based residential developer Dandara redeveloped the old Kodak headquarters into a block of flats, with a new footbridge to the Riverside shopping precinct..


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Since the 2005 Buncefield fire the former Maylands Avenue factory estate, which was badly affected by the fire, has been rebranded as Maylands Business Park and a 40-tonne sculpture by Jose Zavala called Phoenix Gateway placed on the first roundabout off the M1 to symbolise its renewal. A number of businesses have since located into the Maylands area including Costa Coffee, Lok'nStore and McDonald's.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: St Albans District council has plans to meet its new homes building target by building on land to the east of Hemel Hempstead near the M1 motorway. This would comprise 2,500 new homes. The land is within St Albans planning jurisdiction but would have a major impact on Hemel services which has been quite controversial.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Land to the west of Chaulden and Warners End has been removed from the Green Belt designation and is due for development with 900 new homes.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Historically, the area was agricultural and was noted for its rich cereal production. The agricultural journalist William Cobbett noted of Hemel Hempstead in 1822 that ""..the land along here is very fine: a red tenacious flinty loam upon a bed of chalk at a yard or two beneath, which, in my opinion, is the very best corn land that we have in England."" By the 18th century the grain market in Hemel was one of the largest in the country. In 1797 there were 11 watermills working in the vicinity of the town.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The chalk on which Hemel is largely built has had commercial value and has been mined and exploited to improve farmland and for building from the 18th century. In the Highbarns area, now residential, there was a collapse in 2007 of a section of old chalk workings and geological studies have been undertaken to show the extent of these workings.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In the 19th century, Hemel Hempstead was a noted brickmaking, paper manufacturing and straw-plaiting centre. In later 19th and early 20th centuries, Hemel was also a noted watercress growing area, supplying 1/16 of the country's national demand – following development of the New Town, the watercress growing moved to nearby Berkhamsted and Tring. The cress beds were redeveloped as the modern-day Water Gardens.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Joseph Cranstone's engineering company was founded in 1798, and was responsible for much of the early street lighting in the town as well as it first gasworks. It became the Hemel Hempstead Engineering Company and stayed in business until the Second World War. In 1867 Cranstone's son built a steam powered coach which he drove to London, but which was destroyed in a crash on the return journey. A local Boxmoor pub commemorates the event.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1803 the first automatic papermaking machinery was developed in Hemel by the Fourdrinier brothers at Frogmore. Paper making expanded in the vicinity in the early 19th century and grew into the huge John Dickinson & Co. mills in the 20th.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: A traditional employer in the area was also Brock's, manufacturer of fireworks. The factory was a significant employer since well before the Second World War, and remained in production until the mid-1970s. The present-day neighbourhood of Woodhall Farm was subsequently built on the site.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: From 1967 to 1983, it was home to one of the most remarkable newspaper experiments of recent times, when the Thomson Organisation launched the "Hemel Hempstead Evening Post-Echo". This comprised two evening papers – the "Evening Echo" and the "Evening Post" – and was based at a modern headquarters in Mark Road which had previously been used as a hot water bottle factory. The dual operation was conceived by Lord Thomson of Fleet to take on the Northcliffe and Beaverbrook domination of the London evening paper market and tap into what he saw as a major source of consumer advertising.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The papers were remarkable not only for technological innovation but also journalistic excellence. Both the "Evening Echo" and "Evening Post" won design awards during the late 1960s and early 1970s, but it was the "Evening Echo" that took the major writing honours, with John Marquis being voted Provincial Journalist of the Year in 1974 and Melanie Phillips being named Young Journalist of the Year in 1975.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Many outstanding journalists worked on both papers during their heyday, with several going on to be editors and leading Fleet Street figures. Unfortunately, the operation fell victim to the freesheet revolution of the 1980s, the titles closing in 1983 with the loss of 470 jobs.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead has a mixture of heavy and light engineering companies and has attracted a significant number of information technology and telecommunications sector companies helped by its proximity to London and the UK motorway network. However, (and again in common with many new towns) it has a much narrower business base than established centres, particularly Watford and St Albans.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1798, the construction of the Grand Junction Canal reached Hemel Hempstead. Now part of the Grand Union Canal, it is a popular route for narrowboat pleasure craft and is maintained by the Canal & River Trust.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead railway station is located south of the town centre in Boxmoor. It is on the West Coast Main Line and there are frequent services between London Euston and the Midlands, operated by London Northwestern Railway, with additional direct services to via the West London Line operated by Southern.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: A railway station previously existed in the town centre, known as the Midland railway station, on the former Nickey Line to . This station closed to passenger services in 1947, along with the line, and it was demolished in 1969.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead bus station is situated in Waterhouse Street. In 2013, Dacorum Council announced that the bus station would be demolished and replaced with a new bus interchange next to the Marlowes Shopping Centre on Bridge Street. The project was completed in September 2014.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In the 1990s, the A41 dual carriageway was built with a link to the town across the upland chalk plateau. Hemel Hempstead is linked to the M1 motorway to the east and the M25 motorway to the south.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead Town Football Club dates back to 1885 and now play in the National League South. Nicknamed "The Tudors", they play at Vauxhall Road in the Adeyfield area of the town; this was the site of the former sports club for the employees of Brocks Fireworks. There are also many amateur sides throughout the town.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In rugby league, Hemel Stags, founded in 1981, were admitted to the third tier RFL League 1 in the 2013 season however in 2019 the club was purchased by a Canadian consortium and relocated to Ottawa being readmitted to the league for the 2021 season under the name Ottawa Aces.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Camelot Rugby Club is a rugby union club founded in 1919 and play in London 2 North West, a seventh tier league in the English rugby union league system. The club's home ground is at Chaulden Lane, Chaulden.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Storm are a basketball team that compete in the second tier English Basketball League Division 1. They play their home games at Sportspace.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Herts Baseball Club has been based in Grovehill since 1997. It has two purpose-built baseball diamonds, with permanent fencing. Herts is one of the biggest clubs in the country and has won national titles at both adult and junior level.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead Town Cricket Club, founded in 1850, has a pitch and practice facilities at Heath Park, near the town centre. The Boxmoor Cricket Club, founded in 1857, have a ground nearby on Blackbirds Moor. At Leverstock Green, there is the eponymously named Leverstock Green Cricket Club.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: A large multiple roomed indoor laser tag arena called Quasar has been located in the Marlowes since 1994.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead has an indoor snow centre, a real snow indoor sports venue which, opened in April 2009, and offers a range of indoor snow based sports and activities.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Dacorum & Tring Athletic Club is based at Jarman Park. Hemel Hempstead Bowls Club has its greens at Gadebridge Park.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Gadebridge Park also has an outdoor skatepark that was designed and supplied by local extreme sports fanatics ‘Hemel Skates’ after earning £65,000 through fundraising.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Leverstock Green Tennis Club provides courts and coaching for members and other courts are available in public parks. There are private indoor facilities at Hemel Indoor Tennis Centre at Abbot's Hill School, Nash Mills.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The local authority (Dacorum Borough Council) provides the infrastructure for several of the sports mentioned above. In addition, there is a sports centre at Boxmoor and shared public facilities at a number of secondary schools, provided via Sportspace. These provide multi-purpose courts (badminton, basketball, etc.), gymnasia and swimming pools. There are also private, 'members only' gymnasia.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: There are two 18-hole golf courses just outside the south western edge of the town. One is in the grounds of Shendish Manor and the other, Little Hay is off Box Lane, on Box Moor Trust land. There was also a 9-hole course (Boxmoor) also located on Box Lane. This closed in July 2011, and is now a nature reserve being part of the Boxmoor Trust estate.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Wildcards Roller Hockey Club was established in 1996 and is a non-profit making organisation run by volunteers to enable people to play Inline Hockey in Hertfordshire.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Jarman Park had a ten pin bowling alley, ice skating, and a swimming pool with slides until they closed at the end of 2013. The only 2 facilities left in Jarman Park are the XC an extreme sport centre with indoor skate boarding, rock climbing, bowls and potholing facilities. Close to Jarman Park is the Snow Centre, the UK's largest indoor ski slope.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead has several swimming clubs the most notable of which is Hemel Hempstead Swimming Club, the town also has FIFOLITS Swimming club and also boasts a swimming squad Dacorum Borough Swimming Squad which brings together the best swimmers in the borough.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Competitive cycling events such as the Tour of Britain and The Women's Tour often include Hemel as a stage.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 2006, the local education authority judged that there are too many primary school places in the town and has published proposals to reduce them. The options involved school amalgamations and closures. A list of schools taking children of primary age is at primary schools in Dacorum.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In the 20 General Elections since the New Town was created, a Conservative MP has been returned 17 times and a Labour MP 3 times. The current MP is Sir Mike Penning, who was elected in the 2005 General Election.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead has two tiers of local government, at district and county level: Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council. There is no parish or town council in Hemel Hempstead, which has been an unparished area since 1974.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Historically, the parish of Hemel Hempstead was in the hundred of Dacorum. On 29 December 1539, Henry VIII granted the town a charter of incorporation under the title "the Bailiff and Inhabitants", making the town a bailiwick, which was given the right to hold a market, a fair and a court of piepowders.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 1835 Hemel Hempstead became the centre of a poor law union, and a workhouse was built on Redbourn Road.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The town's status in having a bailiff and corporation was relatively unusual. It was sometimes described as a borough, but it was not counted as a borough for the purposes of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, nor the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. As such, the old corporation did not become a municipal borough, and it did not assume the powers and responsibilities which were gradually given to municipal boroughs after 1835. Instead, local government functions passed to the board of guardians of the poor law union, which also became a rural sanitary district in 1872. The Local Government Act 1894 converted rural sanitary districts into rural districts and established elected parish councils. From December 1894, Hemel Hempstead therefore found itself governed by the Hemel Hempstead Rural District Council, Hemel Hempstead Parish Council, and the still-operating but largely powerless bailiff and corporation. One consequence of the town's anomalous status was that it had the last operating court of piepowders in England, with the final session held on 2 December 1897.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The town petitioned Queen Victoria to allow it to become a municipal borough, and a borough charter was granted on 8 June 1898. The old corporation and parish council were both dissolved, replaced by a new municipal borough council. The borough also became independent from the Hemel Hempstead Rural District. The first mayor of the borough was Sir Astley Paston Paston-Cooper of Gadebridge House.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: For most of its existence, Hemel Hempstead Borough Council was based at the Town Hall on High Street, which had been built in 1851 for the old corporation. A new Town Hall was built for the borough council in 1966 on Marlowes, between the old town and the new town centre.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel Hempstead Municipal Borough was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the district of Dacorum (named after the ancient hundred which covered a similar area) on 1 April 1974. No successor parish was created for the town, and so it became an unparished area. Dacorum District Council used the 1966 Hemel Hempstead Town Hall on Marlowes as its headquarters, renaming it Dacorum Civic Centre. In recognition of Hemel Hempstead's former borough status, Dacorum district was awarded borough status on 10 October 1984.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel is famous for its "Magic Roundabout" (officially called the "Plough Roundabout" from a former adjacent public house), an interchange at the end of the town centre (Moor End), where traffic from six routes meet. Traffic is able to circulate in both directions around what appears to be a main central roundabout (which it used to be), with the normal rules applying at each of the six mini-roundabouts encircling this central reservation. It was the first such circulation system in Britain.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The new town centre is laid out alongside landscaped gardens and water features formed from the River Gade known as the "Watergardens" designed by G. A. Jellicoe. The "Watergardens" is home to many ducks, which have been known to cause major delays on the surrounding roads. The main shopping street, Marlowes, was pedestrianised in the early 1990s.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Hemel also was home of one of the first community-based television stations West Herts TV which later became Channel 10.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: For many years the lower end of Marlowes featured a distinctive office building built as a bridge-like structure straddling the main road. This building was erected on the site of an earlier railway viaduct carrying the Hemel to Harpenden railway, known as the "Nickey Line". When the new town was constructed, this part of the railway was no longer in use and the viaduct demolished. The Nickey Line is now used for walking. The office building, occupied by BP, was designed to create a similar skyline and effect as the viaduct. In the early 1980s it was discovered that the building was subsiding dangerously and it was vacated and demolished. Adjacent to BP buildings was a unique double-helix public car park. The lower end of Marlowes was redeveloped into the Riverside shopping complex, which opened on 27 October 2005. Retailers taking residence at the Riverside complex, include Debenhams and H&M (previously HMV).


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: A few metres away, overlooking the 'Magic Roundabout', is Hemel's tallest building; the 20-storey Kodak building, consisting of 18 office floors, two plantroom floors and a basement. It also had an annex building two storeys high, containing a restaurant, cinema and a gym. Built as the Kodak Company's UK HQ, the tower was vacated in 2005. It was then temporarily reoccupied in 2006 after the Buncefield explosion destroyed Kodak's other Hemel offices. It has since been converted into flats.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The Heathrow Airport holding area known as the Bovingdon stack lies just west of the town. On a clear day, at peak times, several circling aircraft can be visible in the sky.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The Dacorum Heritage Trust, a local history advocacy group, has proposals to convert the 18th-century house at The Bury into a museum and art gallery, to display a collection of archaeological and historical artefacts from the surrounding area. The project is currently awaiting necessary funding and planning permission to proceed.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The new town centre contains many sculptures by notable artists from the 1950s including a 1955 stone mural by sculptor Alfred Gerrard entitled "Stages in the Development of Man". There is also the "Rock & Rollers" sculpture created by the French artist Hubert Yencess, which originally stood outside Bank Court but has been moved to the water gardens, and a fountain called "Water Play".


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: A concrete and glass rainbow sculpture, "Residents' Rainbow" by Californian artist Colin Lambert, was installed on in the Marlowes in 1993, the ceramic rainbow tiling was replaced with glass mosaic by artist Gary Drostle in 2010. Nearby is a 3D map of 1940s Hemel.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: In 2008 an abstract stone sculpture by Timothy Shutter, entitled "A Point for Reflection", was unveiled outside the Riverside Shopping Centre.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: A series of 33 ft high blue steel arches called the "Phoenix Gateway" has been installed on the roundabout closest to the Hemel Hempstead junction of the M1 motorway. The aim is to regenerate the town after the Buncefield fire with a striking piece of commercial art. It is funded by the East of England Development Agency.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: This was widely reported as the largest explosion in peacetime Europe by many media organisations, although verification of the claim is scant.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The Pavilion was an iconic 1960s structure sited on the Marlowes just in front of the library. It was an entertainments venue that hosted emerging and internationally famous acts between the 1960s and 1990s.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Rock and Pop acts included David Bowie, Eric Clapton, U2, Wishbone Ash, Talking Heads, Ian Dury, Genesis, Quintessence and Status Quo.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: The venue was closed and the building demolished in 2002. According to local media reports, Dacorum Borough Council decided it was "becoming increasingly unsuitable to meet the leisure needs of the local community". A 'memorial service' was held on the tenth anniversary of its closure in 2012. The Forum, Hemel Hempstead's new council, library and voluntary services hub, opened its doors to the public on Monday 16 January and sits on the former Pavilion site.


title: Hemel Hempstead

text: Originally known as The Hemel Hempstead Operatic and Dramatic Society, the Hemel Hempstead Theatre Company has operated since 1925. Over the years the company performed in a number of locations, including the Luxor Cinemas in the Marlowes and St. John’s Hall at 72 St. John's Road, which had been built in 1930 as extension of the nearby St. John’s Church. The first-ever theatrical performance at St. John’s Hall was given by the Theatre Company in April 1932. Hemel Hempstead Theatre Company purchased the St. John's Hall building in 1997 and renamed it the Boxmoor Playhouse. Holding up to 200 seats, The Boxmoor Playhouse is said to be the largest theatre in Hemel Hempstead. Each year the Company produces a variety of productions from plays to musicals to pantomimes. Due to the flexibility of the space, the Company also holds social events such as quiz nights, creative workshops and cabaret evenings.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Daniel Peter Williams (born 13 July 1973) is a British professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC and "The Ring" magazine heavyweight titles in 2004. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the Commonwealth title twice between 1999 and 2006; the British title twice between 2000 and 2010; and challenged once for the European title in 2003. As an amateur, he won bronze medals at the 1993 European Championships and 1994 Commonwealth Games. Williams is best known for scoring an upset knockout victory against Mike Tyson in 2004.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: As an amateur boxer out of the famous Lynn AC boxing gym in SE London, Williams learned his trade quickly, often sparring with the likes of clubmates Henry Akinwande and Derek Angol. In 1991 Williams won the PLA tournament and won a gold medal in Sardinia multi-nation tournament and a gold medal in the Greek multi-nations tournament. In the Finland multi-nations in 1992 he won a bronze medal.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams also won a bronze medal at the European Championships 1993 at heavyweight in the 91 kg/201 lbs limit and bronze at super heavyweight at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams also won a gold medal at the 1994 Liverpool multi-nations tournament. His amateur record was 29–6.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams turned pro in 1995 knocking out Vance Ideans in two rounds. He fought routinely on Frank Warren undercards and compiled a 15–0 (12 knockouts) record. He is currently managed by London promoter Michael Helliet and is trained by Jim McDonagh. He took his first big step up in April 1999 to challenge Julius Francis for his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. A hot favourite, Williams lost in a points decision to the 34-year-old veteran.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Francis would later vacate the Commonwealth title for a big money fight with Mike Tyson. Williams won the title with a closely contested split decision over respected British contender (and former amateur clubmate) Harry Senior.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In 2000 Williams put together four knockouts before fighting Mark Potter for the Commonwealth title and the vacant British title. In an extremely dramatic fight, Williams suffered a dislocated right arm, yet very bravely fought on with one arm over two rounds before knocking Potter out with a left uppercut.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: After an eight-month layoff for surgery and recovery, Williams returned to knock out a respected opponent – Kali Meehan in 32 seconds, and then avenged his defeat to Francis, stopping the 36-year-old on an eye injury in the 4th round. Afterwards he was signed by Don King and ended 2001 knocking out US journeyman Shaun Robinson in two rounds on an undercard in America.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: His tenure under King would prove to be uneventful, and he did not renew his contract at the end of 2002, a year that saw Williams retain his British and Commonwealth titles with a knockout of late sub Michael Sprott and a points win over Keith Long. As this was Williams' third defence of the British title, he won the Lonsdale belt outright, before dropping out of a fight in America with hard hitting South African southpaw Corrie Sanders, because it coincided with Ramadan.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In February 2003 Williams travelled to Germany to fight the Turk Sinan Samil Sam for his European heavyweight title. A hot favourite, Williams was surprisingly dropped three times and stopped in six rounds. In the UK, his local rivals Audley Harrison and Herbie Hide derided him in the press.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams returned with a fourth round stoppage of Australian Bob Mirovic to retain his Commonwealth title, then knocked out Michael Sprott in five rounds to defend his British & Commonwealth titles.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: To begin 2004, Williams re-signed with Frank Warren then lost his British and Commonwealth in a third meeting with Michael Sprott via a disputed close points decision.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: After two comeback knockout wins, Williams boxed former world champion Mike Tyson in Freedom Hall State Fairground, Louisville, Kentucky in July 2004. After staggering Williams numerous times in the first round, Tyson began to tire in the fourth round, when Williams threw a torrent of punches, forcing Tyson to go down. Tyson was counted out sitting with his back to the ropes and made no attempt to get to his feet while looking up at the referee. He had to be helped to his feet because as was later diagnosed he had torn a ligament in his leg.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In December he finally challenged for a world heavyweight title, but Vitali Klitschko proved too much, as Williams was stopped in the 8th round.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In December Williams regained his old Commonwealth belt by beating undefeated Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison by split decision. Williams retained the Commonwealth title with a controversial points win over undefeated Matt Skelton in March 2006. After beating Adnan Serin by a third round retirement, Williams lost His Commonwealth title by unanimous decision in a rematch with Skelton


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In December 2006 when Skelton dropped out of a fight with Audley Harrison, Williams stepped in at a weeks notice. By his own admission he had been training for eight weeks for a fight with British champion Scott Gammer. Williams lost by T.K.O. in the 3rd round, suffering a broken nose.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In March 2007 Williams regained the British title in Wales with a 9th-round knockout of Scott Gammer. Williams came in at the lightest he had been since his pro debut 16 stones 4 pounds {4 stones lighter than his previous fight} after training himself for the fight just with a piece of paper that contained a conditioning programme given to him by Joe Dunbar who had worked with Lennox Lewis.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: After he had watched the tape of his fight with Gammer, Williams decided he would continue boxing and took a fight with 26–1 22 KOs Ukrainian prospect Oleg Platov. He came in again at 270 lbs. Both fighters were engaged in wild exchanges from the first bell on. The Ukrainian picked up a badly-bleeding cut above the left eye following an accidental headbutt in the second round and he continued to swing wild punches but not without taking some huge shots from Williams. After 2:15 in the fourth and with the cut getting worse, the referee waved the fight off. According to the rules of the IBF, it was declared a no contest. Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer defended the decision. "The rules are clear", he said. "We had an accidental headbutt and the referee, who consulted the doctor several times, ruled he could not continue to protect his health." Speaking exclusively to SecondsOut after the fight a disappointed Williams said: "He (Platov) was looking for a way out and he got it. He knew the rules and worked them. He was starting to tire and knew it was only a matter of time before I knocked him out. ...I found it slow in the early rounds but I when I got going I started to get on top. He knew I was gonna knock him out and he was looking for a way out. I’m not sure whether or not it was a punch or a head clash that cut him in the second round. It took be a little while to get going but I really enjoyed it, it was a great fight while it lasted. But he was looking for a way out. He kept falling to the floor and it was only a matter of time before I knocked him out."


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: On 30 May 2008 Williams defeated unbeaten German, Konstantin Airich in a highly controversial fight. Williams had a total of 3 points deducted in rounds 2 and 5 creating a feeling afterwards that the referee was blatantly on the side of the German. In addition he was given 2 standing 8 counts by the referee in round 3 despite not actually being knocked down or touching the canvas, and was also counted after slipping in round 4. After managing to fight back and score a knockdown himself in round 5, in the 6th round Williams unleashed a series of extremely punishing blows on his opponent sending him reeling across the ring. At this point Airich's promoter Ahmet Oner controversially ran over and rang the timekeeper's bell himself to end the round and save his fighter, even though there was still 1:28 left to go in the round. Despite this confusion the fight continued after the shortened 6th round and after seeing his man absorb more heavy punishment in the next round Oner eventually threw in the towel handing Williams a 7th-round TKO victory.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In the aftermath of the fight Williams was extremely critical of the performance of both the referee and fight promoters, and has called for the British Boxing Board of Control to conduct an immediate investigation into the fight.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams faced John McDermott at Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on 18 July 2008. Despite being deducted three points in rounds eleven and twelve, he defeated McDermott in a majority points decision.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: He was due to face John McDermott in a rematch at York Hall on 8 November 2008, but McDermott withdrew due to a rib injury. Williams also faced a bout with Francois Botha on 30 November 2008 in Egypt. Polish fighter Albert Sosnowski was called in as a late replacement for McDermott.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams suffered a shock defeat by 8th-round TKO and as a result the Botha fight was called off. The McDermott rematch was finally arranged for the 2 May 2009 in a defence of the British Heavyweight Championship belt that Williams held. Williams won the match in a points victory over McDermott.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams took part in the Prizefighter tournament on 2 October 2009. In the run up to the tournament Williams said he would knock out Audley Harrison and show himself as the best British heavyweight. In his first bout on the night, Carl Baker from Sheffield beat Williams on points after knocking him down twice in the opening round.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams defended his British title for a third and final time against Derek Chisora on 15 May 2010. Williams lost by KO in round two. Before the fight he promised this would be his last fight, win or lose, but he has yet to announce his retirement. The fight was originally due to take place against Sam Sexton in February but was put back to May after Sexton injured his hand. Sexton withdrew from the fight again after his mother suffered a brain aneurysm and Chisora stepped in as a replacement.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams returned to boxing after nearly a year of inactivity with a 2nd-round TKO victory over German Frank Kary Roth in Bielefeld on 5 March 2011. Williams was now being licensed to fight by the Baltic League of Professional Boxing, with the British Boxing Board of Control stating they had concerns about Williams's decline in ability to box. On 9 April, he scored his second KO win since his comeback. He won a 1-round KO against Hungarian Laszlo Toth. On 25 June Williams suffered a TKO defeat against Manuel Charr. The fight was controversially stopped in round 7 after a barrage from Williams was returned by a short flurry from Charr. It appeared that the referee stopped the fight in Charr's favour as soon as it looked like he may be in trouble. He then won a SD against Alfred Cole on 3 September, in Sweden, Cole returning after two years away from the sport.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: A fight with unbeaten Alexander Ustinov was set to take place in October 2011, but Williams withdrew due to a viral infection. Williams fought the Norwegian heavyweight boxer Leif Olve Dolonen Larsen in Pabellon Municipal, Silla, Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain on Friday 2 December 2011. Williams was dropped several times by the former NFL footballer and the fight was stopped in the second round. Williams announced his retirement once again shortly afterwards, but a return to boxing was scheduled against 0–3 middleweight Marvin Meyer, leading to various hoax articles claiming that Williams was moving down to middleweight. This fight never happened, and neither did a rematch with Zoltan Petranyi for the Universal Boxing Organisation (UBO) European title, which was called off on the day of the fight after Williams was cut when he fell over in the shower. The two fighters entered the ring on fight night to apologise to the crowd for the incident. A second rescheduling of the fight, which had already been postponed from 2011 due to "personal problems" for Williams, was promised but has yet to be scheduled.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams had two unsuccessful title challenges in September 2012, being outpointed in Finland by Janne Katajisto for the obscure Baltic Boxing Union belt and then being stopped in the 4th round against Christian Hammer in a WBO European heavyweight title fight. Williams refused to take a drugs test after the fight, claiming there was no point as he was going to retire, and that he was shot.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Just days after announcing yet another retirement, Williams called out Mark Potter for a rematch of their famous clash in 2000 when Williams knocked out Potter despite having a dislocated shoulder. Potter responded saying he was very keen on the fight. The fight is likely to be unlicensed as Potter's BBBofC license was taken away after suffering a detached retina, while the BBBofC have already announced their reservations against licensing Williams. Williams later claimed he had been told to call out Potter on camera, and that he was not being serious.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Once again, Williams's retirement proved to be short-lived as he fought Denis Bakhtov in Podolsk, Russia on 8 December 2012, losing by unanimous decision over 10 rounds. He fought again just 13 days later losing in a points decision against Werner Kreiskott over 8 rounds. In March 2013 he was stopped in round 2 by cruiserweight Mairis Briedis in Riga, Latvia. This fight was unsanctioned as it was an exhibition. Danny fought Kelvin Price on 18 May 2013 losing a controversial decision in Russia. He then went on to fight notorious English hard man Dominic Negus in an unlicensed fight in London, England as a farewell to his fans, stopping Negus in the 4th round.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams claimed the lightly-regarded Global Boxing Federation (GBF) World Heavyweight title on 28 April 2018 in Hungary when he defeated Czech journeyman Martin Stensky.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: In July 2018 in Aberdeen, Williams lost a WBU heavyweight title fight on an event sanctioned by the British & Irish Boxing Authority against former lightweight Lee McAllister. This fight was not recognised by BoxRec. Williams once again announced his retirement after this fight.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams's parents are both originally from Jamaica. Williams grew up in Brixton, South London with his 2 older brothers and 1 younger sister.


title: Danny Williams (boxer)

text: Williams is a devout Muslim and was first drawn to Islam while abroad, "I went to Turkey and heard the Adhan" he explained. "I was a Christian at the time and I got goosebumps and carried on looking into Islam and I just felt this was the way of life for me and this was the way of life for God."


title: Fortinet

text: Fortinet is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and sells cybersecurity solutions, such as physical firewalls, antivirus software, intrusion prevention systems, and endpoint security components.


title: Fortinet

text: Brothers Ken Xie and Michael Xie founded Fortinet in 2000. The company's first and main product was FortiGate, a physical firewall. The company later added wireless access points, sandbox (computer security), and messaging security. The company went public in November 2009.


title: Fortinet

text: In 2000, Ken Xie and his brother Michael Xie co-founded Appligation Inc. The company was renamed ApSecure in December 2000 and later renamed again to Fortinet, based on the phrase "Fortified Networks."


title: Fortinet

text: Fortinet introduced its first product, FortiGate, in 2002, followed by anti-spam and anti-virus software. The company raised $13 million in private funding from 2000 to early 2003. Fortinet's first channel program was established in October 2003. The company began distributing its products in Canada in December 2003 and in the UK in February 2004. By 2004, Fortinet had offices in Asia, Europe, and North America.


title: Fortinet

text: In April 2005, a German court issued a preliminary injunction against Fortinet's UK subsidiary in relation to source code for its GPL-licensed elements. The dispute ended a month later after Fortinet agreed to make the source code available upon request.


title: Fortinet

text: Fortinet became profitable in the third quarter of 2008. Later that year, the company acquired the intellectual property of IPLocks, a database security and auditing company. In August 2009, Fortinet acquired the intellectual property and other assets of Woven Systems, an ethernet switching company.


title: Fortinet

text: According to market research firm IDC, by November 2009, Fortinet held over 15 percent of the unified threat management market. Also in 2009, "CRN Magazine"s survey-based annual report card placed Fortinet first in network security hardware, up from seventh in 2007. In November 2009, Fortinet had an initial public offering. By the end of the first day of trading, the company had raised $156 million.


title: Fortinet

text: By 2010, Fortinet had $324 million in annual revenues and held the largest share of the unified threat management market according to IDC.


title: Fortinet

text: Fortinet made four acquisitions from 2012 to 2016. The company acquired app-hosting service XDN (formerly known as 3Crowd) in December 2012, Coyote Point in 2013, and Wi-Fi hardware company Meru Networks in 2015. In June 2016, Fortinet acquired IT security, monitoring and analytics software vendor, AccelOps.


title: Fortinet

text: In July 2014, Fortinet announced a technical certification program called the Network Security Expert (NSE) program. In March 2016, Fortinet launched a Network Security Academy to help fill open cyber security jobs in the U.S. Fortinet donated equipment and provided information to universities to help train students for jobs in the field. Also in 2016, Fortinet launched a program called FortiVet to recruit military veterans for cybersecurity jobs.


title: Fortinet

text: In January 2017, it was announced that Philip Quade, a former member of the NSA, would become the company's chief information security officer. At the end of 2017, Fortinet reported $416.7 million in revenue, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. In June 2018, Fortinet acquired Bradford Networks, a maker of access control and IoT security solutions. In October 2018, Fortinet acquired ZoneFox, a threat analytics company. In January 2019, it was announced that Fortinet and founder Ken Xie would participate in the annual World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.


title: Fortinet

text: In September 2019, Fortinet settled a whistleblower lawsuit regarding what the company has described as an "isolated incident" of sales of intentionally mislabeled Chinese-made equipment to U.S. government end users. In late 2019, Fortinet acquired enSilo and CyberSponse. Also in 2019, Fortinet's FortiGate SD-WAN and Next Generation Firewall received a "Recommended" rating from NSS Labs.


title: Fortinet

text: In July 2020, Fortinet acquired OPAQ Networks. OPAQ is a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) cloud provider based in Herndon, Virginia.


title: Fortinet

text: In 2021, Fortinet acquired application security company Sken.Ai to offer continuous application security testing.


title: Fortinet

text: In September 2021, Fortinet pledged to train one million people in support of President Joe Biden's call to action to address the talent shortage in American cybersecurity.


title: Fortinet

text: In March 2022, Fortinet announced the termination of operations in Russia. The company has stopped all sales, support, and professional services within Russia. In the same month, Fortinet acquired cloud and network security firm ShieldX.


title: Fortinet

text: NetworkWorld reported that Fortinet introduced new AI and ML-based security services utilizing telemetry from its global network .


title: Fortinet

text: Fortinet released its first product, FortiGate, a firewall, in 2002, followed by anti-spam and anti-virus software. FortiGate was updated to use application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) architecture. The company has used ASIC in several of its products, including to support its SD-WAN features.


title: Fortinet

text: Initially the FortiGate was a physical, rack-mounted product but later became available as a virtual appliance that could run on virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere.


title: Fortinet

text: Fortinet later merged its network security offerings, including firewalls, anti-spam and anti-virus software, into one product. In April 2016, Fortinet began building its Security Fabric architecture so multiple network security products could communicate as one platform. Later that year, the company added Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) products. In September 2016, the company announced it would integrate the SIEM products with the security systems of other vendors.


title: Fortinet

text: In 2017, Fortinet announced the addition of switches, access points, analyzers, sandboxes and cloud capabilities to the Security Fabric, in addition to endpoints and firewalls. Later in 2017, Fortinet created a standalone subsidiary, Fortinet Federal, to develop cybersecurity products for government agencies. Fortinet has received security effectiveness certifications through NSS Labs. Gartner, a research and consulting firm, has ranked Fortinet within the top three companies in its Magic Quadrant for enterprise network firewalls, which measures market trends and direction.


title: Fortinet

text: In July 2018, the company launched FortiGate SD-WAN, its proprietary SD-WAN service. FortiGate SD-WAN was included in the Challenger category of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure later that year, joining the Leader category in 2020. Later in 2018, Fortinet released FortiGuard (AI) to better detect new and unknown threats, and also announced the 6.0 version of its FortiOS security operating system with enhanced centralized management and expanded cloud capabilities.


title: Fortinet

text: In May 2004, Trend Micro, a competing cyber security and defense company, filed a legal complaint against Fortinet. Though the International Trade Commission initially ruled against Fortinet, the Trend Micro patents at the center of the dispute were later declared as invalid in 2010. In 2005, an OpenNet study suggested that Myanmar, which was under American sanctions, had begun using Fortinet's FortiGuard system for internet censorship. Fortinet stated that their products are sold by third party resellers, and that they acknowledged US embargoes.


title: Fortinet

text: In February 2020, Fortinet released FortiAI, a threat-detection program that uses artificial intelligence. In July 2020, Fortinet launched multi-cloud SD-WAN. That year, BT Security selected Fortinet and other Threat Alliance members as Critical Partners.


title: Fortinet

text: As of January 2021, the FortiGate line of firewalls is and remains the company's main product which accounts for most of the gross revenue.


title: Fortinet

text: In 2008, Fortinet researchers sent a report to Facebook highlighting a widget from Zango that appeared to be tricking users into downloading spyware. By 2014, Fortinet had four research and development centers in Asia, as well as others in the US, Canada and France.


title: Fortinet

text: In March 2014, Fortinet founded the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) with Palo Alto Networks in order to share security threat data across vendors. It was later joined by McAfee and Symantec. In 2015, the CTA published a white paper on the CryptoWall ransomware, which detailed how attackers obtained $325 million through ransoms paid by victims to regain access to their files.


title: Fortinet

text: In April 2015, Fortinet provided threat intelligence to Interpol in order to help apprehend the ringleader of several online scams based in Nigeria. The scams, which resulted in compromise of business emails and CEO fraud, had cost one business over $15 million. The following year, in March 2016, Fortinet and Cisco joined NATO in a data-sharing agreement to improve their information security capabilities.


title: Fortinet

text: In January 2017, Fortinet worked with Interpol to conduct an investigation into web security in several southeast Asian countries. The investigation identified compromised websites, including government-operated web servers. Later that month, Fortinet researchers discovered a spyware that scammed victims by impersonating the IRS. Also in 2017, researchers helped identify malware, called Rootnik, and ransomware, called MacRansom, that targeted Android and MacOS systems respectively. In 2018, Fortinet entered into an information-sharing agreement with Interpol.


title: Fortinet

text: In March 2022, Fortinet participated in the Mitre Corporation's Attack Flow project which created "a data format describing adversary behavior sequences to help identify cyberthreat choke points".


title: My Little Monster

text: "My Little Monster" focuses on the relationship between Shizuku Mizutani, who has absolutely no interests except in studying and her plans for the future, and a boy named Haru Yoshida, who sits next to Shizuku in class but rarely attends school. After Shizuku is tasked with delivering class printouts to Haru's home, she meets Haru, who immediately greets her as a friend, starting their new relationship. Nicknamed "dry ice," Shizuku is renowned as a girl who is emotionless and cold. However, when she meets Haru she is touched by his innocence and his lack of knowledge concerning human relationships. Though known as a violent and uncontrollable monster, Haru is actually kind and gentle. Haru immediately declares his love towards Shizuku, but it takes much longer for Shizuku to realize and accept her own feelings towards Haru. Together, as two previously unsocial beings, they help each other learn how to care for each other and relate with their friends and family.


title: My Little Monster

text: The manga series is written and illustrated by Robico and published in the Kodansha magazine "Dessert". It was serialized between the September 2008 issue, published on August 23, 2008, and the August 2013 issue, published on June 24, 2013. The series has also been released in 12 "tankōbon" volumes between January 13, 2009, and August 12, 2013. A limited edition version of the final volume was bundled with an OVA episode of the anime series on DVD. The series has been licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, who released the first volume on March 11, 2014. A spin-off manga series was published in "Dessert" between August 24 and November 22, 2013. Its chapters were collected in a 13th volume, released on January 10, 2014.


title: My Little Monster

text: An anime adaptation was announced in the July 2012 issue of Kodansha's "Dessert" magazine. The series was produced by Brain's Base under the direction of Hiro Kaburaki with Noboru Takagi as script supervisor. It aired between October 1 and December 24, 2012. An OVA episode was released on DVD with the final manga volume on August 12, 2013. NIS America licensed the anime for release in North America. Sentai Filmworks licensed the series for streaming in April 2021. The opening theme is by Haruka Tomatsu and the ending theme is "White Wishes" by 9nine.