title: Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria

text: Rupprecht married twice and had children with both of his wives. His first wife was Duchess Marie Gabriele in Bavaria (9 October 1878 – 24 October 1912), daughter of Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria, married on 10 July 1900 in Munich. They had five children:


title: Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria

text: His second wife was Princess Antonia of Luxembourg (7 October 1899 – 31 July 1954), daughter of William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, married on 7 April 1921 in Lenggries. They had six children.


title: Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria

text: His full style was "His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine".


title: Stirling Castle

text: Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification in the region from the earliest times.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Most of the principal buildings of the castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A few structures remain from the fourteenth century, while the outer defences fronting the town date from the early eighteenth century.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Before the union with England, Stirling Castle was also one of the most used of the many Scottish royal residences, very much a palace as well as a fortress. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542, and others were born or died there.


title: Stirling Castle

text: There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle. Stirling Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is now a tourist attraction managed by Historic Environment Scotland.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Castle Hill, on which Stirling Castle is built, forms part of the Stirling Sill, a formation of quartz-dolerite around 350 million years old, which was subsequently modified by glaciation to form a "crag and tail". It is likely that this natural feature was occupied at an early date, as a hill fort is located on Gowan Hill, immediately to the east.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The Romans bypassed Stirling, building a fort at Doune instead, but the rock may have been occupied by the Maeatae at this time. It may later have been a stronghold of the Manaw Gododdin, and has also been identified with a settlement recorded in the 7th and 8th centuries as Iudeu, where King Penda of Mercia besieged King Oswy of Bernicia in 655. The area came under Pictish control after the defeat of the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dun Nechtain thirty years later. However, there is no archaeological evidence for occupation of Castle Hill before the late medieval period.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Other legends have been associated with Stirling, or "Snowdoun" as it was more poetically known. The 16th-century historian Hector Boece claims in his "Historia Gentis Scotorum" that the Romans, under Agricola, fortified Stirling, and that Kenneth MacAlpin, traditionally the first King of Scotland, besieged a castle at Stirling during his takeover of the Pictish kingdom in the 9th century. Boece is, however, considered an unreliable historian.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Another chronicler, William Worcester, associated Stirling with the court of the legendary King Arthur. Tradition suggests that St Monenna founded a chapel here, as she is said to have done at Edinburgh Castle, although it is now thought that the legend of Monenna results from a later confusion of early Christian figures, including Modwenna and Moninne.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The first record of Stirling Castle dates from around 1110, when King Alexander I dedicated a chapel there. It appears to have been an established royal centre by this time, as Alexander died here in 1124. During the reign of his successor David I, Stirling became a royal burgh, and the castle an important administration centre. King William I formed a deer park to the south-west of the castle, but after his capture by the English in 1174, he was forced to surrender several castles, including Stirling and Edinburgh Castle, under the Treaty of Falaise. There is no evidence that the English actually occupied the castle, and it was formally handed back by Richard I of England in 1189. Stirling continued to be a favoured royal residence, with William himself dying there in 1214, and Alexander III laying out the New Park, for deer hunting, in the 1260s.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Stirling remained a centre of royal administration until the death of Alexander III in 1286. His passing triggered a succession crisis, with Edward I of England invited to arbitrate between competing claimants. Edward came north in 1291, demanding that Stirling, along with the other royal castles, be put under his control during the arbitration. Edward gave judgement in favour of John Balliol, hoping he would be a "puppet" ruler, but John refused to obey Edward's demands.


title: Stirling Castle

text: In 1296, Edward invaded Scotland, beginning the Wars of Scottish Independence, which would last for the next 60 years. The English found Stirling Castle abandoned and empty, and set about occupying this key site. They were dislodged the following year, after the victory of Andrew Moray and William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Many of the garrison were killed during the battle, after which the English commanders William FitzWarin and Marmaduke Thweng retreated into the castle. However, they were quickly starved into surrender by the Scots.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Next summer, the castle changed hands again, being abandoned by the Scots after the English victory at Falkirk. Edward strengthened the castle, but it was besieged in 1299 by forces including Robert Bruce. King Edward failed to relieve the garrison, who were forced to surrender.


title: Stirling Castle

text: By 1303, the English again held the upper hand, and Stirling was the last remaining castle in Scottish hands. Edward's army arrived in April 1304, with at least 17 siege engines. The Scots, under William Oliphant, surrendered on 20 July, but part of the garrison were ordered back into the castle by Edward, as he had not yet deployed his latest engine, "Warwolf". Warwolf is believed to have been a large trebuchet, which destroyed the castle's gatehouse. Although Edward's victory seemed complete, he was dead by 1307, and Robert Bruce was now King of Scots. By 1313, only Stirling, Roxburgh, Edinburgh and Berwick castles were held by the English. Edward Bruce, the king's brother, laid siege to Stirling, which was held by Sir Philip Mowbray. Mowbray proposed a bargain: that he would surrender the castle, if it were not relieved by 24 June 1314. Bruce agreed, and withdrew. The following summer, the English duly headed north, led by Edward II, to save the castle. On 23–24 June, King Robert's forces met the English at the Battle of Bannockburn, within sight of the castle walls. The resulting English defeat was decisive. King Edward attempted to take refuge in the castle, but Mowbray was determined to keep to his word, and the English were forced to flee. Mowbray handed over the castle, changing sides himself in the process. King Robert ordered the castle to be slighted; its defences destroyed to prevent reoccupation by the English.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The war was not over, however. The second War of Scottish Independence saw the English in control of Stirling Castle by 1336, when Thomas Rokeby was the commander, and extensive works were carried out, still largely in timber rather than stone. Andrew Murray attempted a siege in 1337, when guns may have been used for one of the first times in Scotland. Robert Stewart, the future King Robert II, retook Stirling in a siege during 1341–1342. Maurice Murray was appointed as its keeper, who in the words of Andrew of Wyntoun "inforsyt it grettumly, for riche he was and full mychty" (enforced it greatly, for rich he was and full mighty). In 1360, Robert de Forsyth was appointed governor of Stirling Castle, an office he passed on to his son John and grandson William, who was governor in 1399.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Under the early Stewart kings Robert II (reigned 1371–1390) and Robert III (reigned 1390–1406), the earliest surviving parts of the castle were built. Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith, Regent of Scotland as brother of Robert III, undertook works on the north and south gates. The present north gate is built on these foundations of the 1380s, the earliest surviving masonry in the castle. In 1424, Stirling Castle was part of the jointure (marriage settlement) given to James I's wife Joan Beaufort, establishing a tradition which later monarchs continued. After James' murder in 1437, Joan took shelter here with her son, the young James II. Fifteen years later, in 1452, it was at Stirling Castle that James stabbed and killed William, 8th Earl of Douglas, when the latter refused to end a potentially treasonous alliance with John of Islay, Earl of Ross and Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford. James III (reigned 1460–1488) was born here, and later undertook works to the gardens and the chapel royal. The manufacture of artillery in the castle is recorded in 1475. James' wife, Margaret of Denmark, died in Stirling Castle in 1486, and two years later James himself died at the Battle of Sauchieburn, fought over almost the same ground as the Battle of Bannockburn, just to the south of the castle.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Almost all the present buildings in the castle were constructed between 1490 and 1600, when Stirling was developed as a principal royal centre by the Stewart kings James IV, James V and James VI. The architecture of these new buildings shows an eclectic mix of English, French and German influences, reflecting the international ambitions of the Stewart dynasty.


title: Stirling Castle

text: James IV (reigned 1488–1513) kept a full Renaissance court, including alchemists, and sought to establish a palace of European standing at Stirling. He undertook building works at the royal residences of Edinburgh, Falkland and Linlithgow, but the grandest works were at Stirling, and include the King's Old Building, the Great Hall, and the Forework. He also renovated the chapel royal, one of two churches within the castle at this time, and in 1501 received approval from Pope Alexander VI for the establishment of a college of priests. The Forework, of which little now remains, was derived from French military architecture, although military details were added more for style than for defence. A new portcullis was painted with red lead and linseed oil. The gardener, George Campbell, built archery butts next to the stables in 1504. James IV played tennis at Stirling with the Spanish ambassador, Pedro de Ayala.


title: Stirling Castle

text: If a satirical account in two poems by the poet William Dunbar is based on facts, the castle walls may have been the site of an attempt at human-powered flight, c.1509, by the Italian alchemist and abbot of Tongland, John Damian. The Captain of the Castle Andrew Aytoun kept an alchemist called Caldwell maintaining a furnace for "quinta essencia", the mythical fifth element, at the castle.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The building works begun by James IV had not been completed at the time of his death at the Battle of Flodden. His successor, James V (reigned 1513–1542), was crowned in the chapel royal, and grew up in the castle under the guardianship of Lord Erskine. In 1515, the Regent Albany brought 7,000 men to Stirling to wrest control of the young king from his mother, Margaret Tudor. James V as monarch was said to have travelled in disguise under the name "Gudeman of Ballengeich", after the road running under the eastern wall of the castle. Ballengeich means "windy pass" in Gaelic. In 1533 a priest James Nicholson was in charge of the building fabric, and he also fed cranes, herons, peacocks, and bitterns for the king's table.


title: Stirling Castle

text: James V continued and expanded his father's building programme, creating the centrepiece of the castle, the Royal Palace, built under the direction of Sir James Hamilton of Finnart and masons brought from France. James V also died young, leaving unfinished work to be completed by his widow, Mary of Guise. His infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, was brought to Stirling Castle for safety, and crowned in the chapel royal on 9 September 1543. She too was brought up here, until she was sent to Inchmahome Priory, and then to France in 1548. In the 1550s, during the Regency of Mary of Guise, Anglo-French hostilities were fought out in Scotland. Artillery fortifications were added to the south approach of the castle including the 'French Spur', and these form the basis of the present Outer Defences. Guise employed an Italian military engineer called Lorenzo Pomarelli. From 1534 to 1584 Michael Gardiner was in charge of the artillery.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Queen Mary returned to Scotland in 1561, and visited Stirling Castle frequently. She nursed Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, through an illness here in 1565, and the two were soon married. Their son, James VI, was baptised here in December 1566. The celebrations included fireworks, an assault on a mock castle, and a masque designed by Bastian Pagez. Darnley was already estranged from the Queen and did not attend although he was resident at the castle. James' guardian, the Earl of Mar, was made hereditary governor of the castle in 1566. Mary was travelling from Stirling when she was abducted by the Earl of Bothwell, beginning the chain of events that led to her forced abdication and her flight to England. When Mary escaped from Lochleven Castle in May 1568, the Earl of Mar was ordered step up security at Stirling around the king and expel from the castle all but his closest friends and relatives.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The young King James was crowned in July 1567 in the nearby Church of the Holy Rude, and grew up within the castle walls in the care of Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar and under the tutelage of the humanist scholar George Buchanan. A tennis court was built of timber for the king in 1576. Frequently used as a pawn in the struggles between his regents and the supporters of Mary, the young king was closely guarded. Stirling became the base for James' supporters, while those nobles who wished to see Queen Mary restored gathered at Edinburgh, under William Kirkcaldy of Grange. Grange led a raid on Stirling in 1571, attempting to round up the Queen's enemies, but failed to gain control of the castle or the King.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The keeper of the Castle, Alexander Erskine of Gogar was ejected by supporters of Regent Morton in April 1578, after his son was fatally wounded during a struggle at the gate. The rebellious Earls of Mar and Angus seized the castle in 1584, but surrendered and fled to England when the King arrived with an army. They returned the following year, forcing the King to surrender, although they proclaimed their loyalty to him.


title: Stirling Castle

text: In December 1593 Anne of Denmark decided to come to Stirling for the birth of her first child, and James ordered the palace which was in "ruin and decay" to be repaired. Prince Henry was born in the castle in 1594, and the present Chapel Royal was constructed for his baptism on 30 August. Probably built by William Schaw, the chapel completed the quadrangle of the Inner Close. Like his predecessors Henry spent his childhood here under the 2nd Earl of Mar, until the Union of the Crowns of 1603, when his father succeeded as King of England and the royal family left for London.


title: Stirling Castle

text: After their departure, Stirling's role as a royal residence declined, and it became principally a military centre. It was used as a prison for persons of rank during the 17th century, and saw few visits by the monarch. The architect James Murray restored roofs and facilities of the castle for the return of James VI & I to Scotland, who stayed in Stirling during July 1617. From 1625, extensive preparations were made for the anticipated visit of the new king, Charles I, including works to the gardens and painting of the Chapel Royal. Charles did not come to Scotland until 1633, and only stayed in the castle briefly.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Following the execution of Charles I, the Scots crowned his son Charles II, and he became the last reigning monarch to stay here, living at the castle in 1650. The Royalist forces were defeated at Dunbar by those of Oliver Cromwell, and the King marched south to defeat at Worcester. General Monck laid siege to the castle on 6 August 1651, erecting gun platforms in the adjacent churchyard. After the garrison mutinied, Colonel William Conyngham was obliged to surrender on 14 August. Damage done during the siege can still be seen on the church and the Great Hall.


title: Stirling Castle

text: After The Restoration of Charles II, the Earl of Mar was restored as governor, and the castle was frequently used as a prison, housing several Covenanters. James, Duke of Albany, later King James VII of Scotland and II of England, visited the castle in 1681. During this time, the castle's military role became increasingly important, a powder magazine being built in the castle gardens, and a formal garrison installed from 1685. At the accession of King George I in 1714, John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar was deprived of the governorship, as well as the post of Scottish Secretary. In response, he raised the standard of James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", in the Jacobite rising of 1715. Government troops, under the Duke of Argyll, quickly moved to occupy the fortress, then advanced to Sheriffmuir to block Mar's way. The Battle of Sheriffmuir was inconclusive, but the rising was effectively over. The Jacobite rising of 1745 saw Charles Edward Stuart lead his army of Highlanders past Stirling on the way to Edinburgh. Following the Jacobites' retreat from England, they returned to Stirling in January 1746. The town soon surrendered, but the castle governor refused to capitulate. Artillery works were set up on Gowan Hill, but were quickly destroyed by the castle's guns. Despite victory at Falkirk, the Jacobites withdrew north on 1 February.


title: Stirling Castle

text: From 1800 the Castle was owned by the War Office and run as a barracks. Many alterations were made to the Great Hall, which became an accommodation block, to the Chapel Royal, which became a lecture theatre and dining hall, to the King's Old Building, which became an infirmary and to the Royal Palace, which became the Officer's Mess. A number of new buildings were also constructed, including the prison and powder magazine, at the Nether Bailey, in 1810. Queen Victoria visited in 1842, and the Prince of Wales in 1859.


title: Stirling Castle

text: In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms and the barracks became the depot for the 72nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot and the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot. Following the Childers Reforms, the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot and the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot amalgamated to form the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders with its depot in the barracks in 1881.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The Royal Lodgings have now been returned to something approaching their former glory. A major programme of research and re-presentation, lasting ten years and costing £12 million, was completed in summer 2011. Since January 2002, the Tapestry Studio at West Dean College near Chichester in West Sussex has been working on a recreation of "The Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestries, four of which are now hanging in the restored Queen's Presence Chamber in the Royal Palace. Historians studying the reign of James V believe that a similar series of Unicorn tapestries were part of the royal collection.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The team of weavers visited The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, to inspect the 15th-century originals, and researched medieval weaving techniques, colour palettes and materials. The weavers worked both at the college in West Sussex, and at a studio at Stirling Castle. The project was completed in 2015.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Stirling Castle remains the headquarters of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, although Balaclava Company, the sole surviving unit of the regiment, has been garrisoned at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh since 2014. The regimental museum is also located within the castle.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The Outer Defences comprise artillery fortifications, and were built in their present form in the 18th century, although some parts, including the French Spur at the east end, date back to the regency of Mary of Guise in the 1550s. The French Spur was originally an ear-shaped bastion known as an orillon, and contained gun emplacements which protected the main spur. This projecting spur was fronted by an earth ramp called a talus, and was entered via a drawbridge over a ditch. Excavations in the 1970s showed that much of the original stonework remains within the 18th-century defences.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Following the attempted Jacobite invasion of 1708, improvements to the castle's defences were ordered as a matter of priority. A scheme of new defences was proposed by Theodore Dury, although this was criticised by one Captain Obryan, who put forward his own, much more expensive, scheme. In the end a compromise was built, and was complete by 1714. The main front wall was extended outwards, to form Guardhouse Square. This had the effect of creating two defensive walls, both of which were fronted by ditches defended by covered firing galleries known as caponiers. One of the caponiers survives and is accessible from Guardhouse Square by a narrow staircase.


title: Stirling Castle

text: To the rear of the walls, chambers called casemates were built to strengthen the wall, and to provide gun emplacements. The French Spur was modified slightly to allow more cannons to be mounted. The buildings within Guardhouse Square date from the 19th century. Outside the castle is the early 19th-century Esplanade, used as a parade ground, and now as a car park and performance space.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The gatehouse providing entry from the outer defences to the castle proper was erected by King James IV, and was probably completed around 1506. It originally formed part of a Forework, extending as a curtain wall across the whole width of Castle Hill. At the centre is the gatehouse itself, which now stands to less than half its original height. The round towers at the outer corners rose to conical roofs, with battlements carried around the tops of the towers. These were flanked by more round towers, of which only traces now remain, and mirrored by further rounds at the rear of the gatehouse. The overall design, as drawn by John Slezer in 1693, shows French influence, and has parallels with the forework erected at Linlithgow Palace.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Like the Linlithgow structure, the Forework was probably intended more for show, evoking the "age of chivalry", than for defence, as it would have offered little protection against contemporary artillery. The entrance was via a central passage, flanked by two separate pedestrian passages. This triple arrangement was unusual in its time, and Classical triumphal arches have been suggested as an influence. The gatehouse was dismantled gradually, and was consolidated in its present form in 1810. At each end of the crenellated curtain wall was a rectangular tower. The west tower, known as the Prince's Tower, probably after Henry, Prince of Scotland, survives to its full height, and is now attached to the later palace. At the east end, the Elphinstone Tower contained a kitchen and possibly an officer's lodging. It was cut down to form a gun battery, probably in the early 18th century when the Outer Defences were rebuilt.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Within the Forework is a courtyard known as the Outer Close. To the south-east are Georgian military buildings; the late 18th-century Main Guard House, and the early 19th-century Fort Major's House. The early North Gate, giving access to the Nether Bailey, contained the original castle kitchens, which were probably linked to the Great Hall. The Great Kitchen which is now visible was constructed later, against the east wall of the castle. However, in 1689 these rooms were infilled with rubble to reinforce gun emplacements, known as the Grand Battery, which were built on top of the kitchen's vaults. Excavations in the 1920s ascertained the extent of the surviving rooms, and the vaults were reconstructed in 1929. The small building above the North Gate is traditionally said to have been a mint, known in Scots as the "Cunzie Hoose" or "coining house". To the west of the Outer Close, the main parts of the castle are arranged around the quadrangular Inner Close: the Royal Palace to the south, the King's Old Building on the west, the Chapel Royal to the north, and the Great Hall to the east.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The oldest part of the Inner Close is the King's Old Building, located on the western side and completed around 1497. It was begun as a new residential range by James IV, and originally comprised an L-shaped building. The principal rooms were on the first floor, over cellars, and included two chambers with wide open views to the west, although the interiors have been much altered. The projecting stair tower has an octagonal upper section, which was copied for a second, later stair tower on the same building.


title: Stirling Castle

text: In 1855, the north end of the building burned down, and was rebuilt in a Baronial style by the architect and historian Robert William Billings. At the southwest end of the range is a linking building, once used as kitchens, which is on a different alignment to both the King's Old Building and the adjacent Royal Palace. It has been suggested that this is an earlier 15th-century structure, dating from the reign of James I. Excavations within this building in 1998 revealed burials, suggesting that this may have been the site of a church or chapel.


title: Stirling Castle

text: On the east side of the Inner Close is the Great Hall, or Parliament Hall. This was built by James IV following on from the completion of the King's Old Building in 1497, and was being plastered by 1503. Described as "the grandest secular building erected in Scotland in the late Middle Ages", it represents the first example of Renaissance-influenced royal architecture in that country.


title: Stirling Castle

text: It was worked on by a number of English craftsmen, and incorporates some English design ideas, being comparable to Edward IV's hall at Eltham Palace in Kent, built in the late 1470s. It includes Renaissance details, such as the intersecting tracery on the windows, within a conventional medieval plan. Inside are five fireplaces, and large side windows lighting the dais end, where the king would be seated. It is across.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The original hammerbeam roof was removed in 1800, along with the decorative crenellated parapet, when the hall was subdivided to form barracks. Two floors and five cross-walls were inserted, and the windows were altered accordingly. As early as 1893, calls were being made for the restoration of the Great Hall, but it was not until the army left in 1965 that the opportunity arose. It was agreed that a historically correct restoration could be achieved, and works began which were only completed in 1999. The hammerbeam roof and parapet were replaced, windows reinstated, and the outer walls were limewashed.


title: Stirling Castle

text: To the left of the gatehouse, and forming the south side of the Inner Close, is the Royal Palace. The first Renaissance palace in the British Isles, this was the work of King James V. With its combination of Renaissance architecture, and exuberant late-gothic detail, it is one of the most architecturally impressive buildings in Scotland, covered with unique carved stonework. It was begun in the 1530s, and was largely complete by the late 1540s.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The Master of Works, until his execution in 1540, was Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, who also financed part of the work, in return for land and favours from the king. Further work was carried out during the regency of Mary of Guise, and the upper floor was converted to provide an apartment for the castle governor in the 18th century.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The architecture is French-inspired, but the decoration is German in inspiration, and sources for the statues have been found in the work of the German engraver Hans Burgkmair. The statues include a line of soldiers on the south parapet, and a series of full-size figures around the principal floor. These principal figures include a portrait of James V, the Devil, St Michael, and representations of Venus and several planetary deities. Their arrangement on the north, east and south faces of the Palace has been interpreted in relation to the quarters of the heavens.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The 19th-century architectural historian R. W. Billings described the statues as "the fruits of an imagination luxuriant but revolting". The west façade is undecorated and incomplete, and the Privy Council of Scotland noted in 1625 that the building was "schote over the craig".


title: Stirling Castle

text: Internally, the Palace comprises two apartments, one each for the king and queen. Each has a hall, presence chamber, and bedchamber, with various small rooms known as closets. The Renaissance decoration continued inside, although little has survived the building's military use, excepting the carved stone fireplaces. The ceiling of the King's Presence Chamber was originally decorated with a series of carved oak portrait roundels known as the Stirling Heads, described as "among the finest examples of Scottish Renaissance wood-carving now extant". Some of the heads may have been made by a French-born carver Andrew Mansioun. The carvings were taken down following a ceiling collapse in 1777, and of an estimated 56 original heads, 38 survive. Most were given to the Smith Institute in Stirling but now these are preserved in the castle, and three more are in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Another two are on display in the Thieves Pot, a preserved 16th-century jail within the Thistles Shopping Centre.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Some of the portraits are believed to be of kings, queens or courtiers, and others are thought to show classical or Biblical figures. As with the exterior carving, similarities to German sources have been noted, and in particular to a ceiling in Wawel, Poland. A £12 million project to recreate the grandeur of the Royal Palace reopened to the public during the weekend of 5 and 6 June 2011.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The work, which has taken a decade of research and craftsmanship, restored six royal apartments to how they would have looked in the 1540s, when this was the childhood home of Mary Queen of Scots, as well as the ongoing restoration of the seven hand-woven tapestries. Four of these have been completed with the last one due to be finished in 2013.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The collegiate chapel established by James IV in 1501 lay between the King's Old Building and the Great Hall, but was further south than the present building. This was the chapel in which Queen Mary was crowned in 1543. However, when James VI's first son, Prince Henry was born in 1594, it was decided to rebuild the chapel as a suitable venue for the royal christening.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The new building was erected within a year, north of the old site to improve access to the hall. There was some doubt if the chapel, which John Colville called the "great temple of Solomon", could be finished in time. The chapel, with its Italianate arched windows, was the work of the Royal Master of Works William Schaw. The interior was decorated by the painter Valentine Jenkin prior to the visit of Charles I in 1633. The chapel too was later modified for military use, housing a dining room. The wall paintings were rediscovered in the 1930s, and restoration began after the Second World War.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Beyond the North Gate, the Nether Bailey occupies the northern end of Castle Hill. Surrounded by defensive walls, the area contains a 19th-century guard house and gunpowder stores, and the modern tapestry studio. There was formerly access to the Nether Bailey from Ballengeich to the west, until the postern was blocked in response to the threat of Jacobite rebellion.


title: Stirling Castle

text: There are two gardens within the castle, the southern one including a bowling green. Below the castle's west wall is the King's Knot, a 16th-century formal garden, now only visible as earthworks, but once including hedges and knot-patterned parterres. The surviving octagonal earthwork mount was the work of the gardener William Watts and architect James Murray in 1629. The gardens were built on the site of a medieval jousting arena known as the Round Table, in imitation of the legendary court of King Arthur.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The castle esplanade, or parade ground, has been used as an open-air concert venue for several noted acts, some of whom have used Stirling Castle and the surrounding scenery to film "in concert" DVDs. These acts include R.E.M., Ocean Colour Scene, Bob Dylan, Wet Wet Wet, Rod Stewart and Runrig. The esplanade also hosts the city's Hogmanay celebrations. The Regimental Museum and Home Headquarters of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders are located in the King's Old Building. The museum closed for refurbishment on 31 August 2018 and reopened in June 2021.


title: Stirling Castle

text: The castle is open to the public year-round. Stirling Castle is a popular place for tourists, and according to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, 609,698 people visited in 2019.


title: Stirling Castle

text: An illustration of Stirling Castle features on the reverse side of a current series of £20 notes issued by the Clydesdale Bank, with Robert the Bruce on horseback in the foreground.


title: Stirling Castle

text: Due to its similar appearance to Colditz Castle in Saxony, Germany, the castle was used to film the exterior shots for the 1970s TV series "Colditz", a drama about the many attempts of Allied POWs to escape from the castle during its use as a military prison in the Second World War.


title: Ariana Marie

text: Ariana Marie (born March 15, 1993) is an American pornographic actress, cam-girl, and dancer. Marie was Miss November 2014 in Penthouse Pet of the Month, and has been nominated for numerous AVN Awards, XBIZ Awards, and other industry awards. As of June 2019 Ariana is under a one-year Exclusive Contract as an actress and spokesmodel for Vixen.


title: Ariana Marie

text: Marie was born in Dallas, Texas into a family with Irish, German, Belgian and Puerto Rican origins. She has three older brothers. When she was little, her family moved to Clearwater, Florida, for her father's job, where she grew up and graduated. After briefly working as a waitress, she made her debut in the porn industry in September 2013, at age 20. Her first scene was for PornPros with Giselle Mari and Danny Mountain. Marie was initially paid $1,200 per scene, a rate at "the higher end of today's standard range", but her booking agent took a 40-percent commission; Marie was initially unaware that this was far higher than the usual 10-20-percent commission. Marie's next agent took a lower rate, but also pushed her to work for less pay for companies with whom he was friendly. Marie initially "focused on filming for the traditional porn companies", working for studios including Mile High, Bang Productions, Adam & Eve, Girlfriends Films, Kick Ass Pictures, Evil Angel, Pure Play Media, and Pulse Distribution. She has also worked for sites like Mofos, Bang Bros, HD Passion, Digital Desire, Naughty America, and Vixen.


title: Ariana Marie

text: In November 2014, she was named Pet of the Month by Penthouse magazine. The same month, she was chosen as Twistys Treat of the Month. In 2015, she was nominated for several Best New Starlet awards in the industry, including the AVN Awards and XBIZ Awards in that category, and for the AVN Awards in the Best Three-Way Sex Scene Girl / Girl / Boy category for Keisha, alongside Keisha Grey and Manuel Ferrara.


title: Ariana Marie

text: After several years of success in the pornographic film industry, Marie branched out into webcam modelling. A 2017 "Maxim" article on cam-girls profiled Marie, noting that her house is "outfitted with cameras that give her audience a live stream from nearly every room, including the shower", and quoting Marie as saying that there were "a total of eight, maybe ten cameras throughout the whole house", having "a feed that goes 24/7 for the fans to see a day in the life of Ariana Marie." In a 2017 "Glamour" magazine interview, Marie stated that she "always did well in school, but it didn't hold my attention. So although I'm sure I could have made it through college, I don't know if I would have had the patience for it". She also discussed how her adult film career improved her financial status:


title: Ariana Marie

text: In 2015, Marie expressed disagreement with proposed laws that would require pornographic actors to use condoms, noting that they are a distraction when filming, and expressing her trust in the process performers go through to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Marie stated in a 2018 "Cosmopolitan" article that her preferred condom is Lifestyles SKYN, which Marie claims cause less irritation than other condoms. According to Marie, "I've given blowjobs with guys wearing it and I don't even smell or taste anything. That makes me happy, because normally I'd gag, but not with these ones". In August 2018, "The Daily Dot" named her one of the 30 top porn stars in virtual reality.


title: Ariana Marie

text: , Marie has shot over 160 films. Between Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites, Marie reportedly has "over a million combined social media followers". She has two tattoos on her body, including a "15" above right breast and left hip. By 2019, Marie had found that promoting her own brand with self-made content was more lucrative than working for other production companies, although she has since continued doing work for those production companies on a limited basis for the purpose of "maintaining status and recognition within the industry".


title: Ariana Marie

text: Marie is married to retired adult performer Jack Spade. In June 2022, she revealed on Twitter that she was pregnant, and in November, she tweeted that she had given birth to her first child, a girl.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Kelechi Promise Iheanacho () (spelled "Ịheanachọ" in Igbo) (born 3 October 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Leicester City and the Nigeria national team.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho began his senior career at Manchester City during the 2015–16 season. He moved to Leicester City in 2017 for a reported £25 million fee.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho was part of the Nigeria squad that won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Nigeria U-20 team at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He made his senior debut for Nigeria in 2015, and played at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho was born in Owerri, Imo State. As a youth, he represented Taye Academy in Owerri, the capital city of Imo. His performances for Nigeria in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup led to interest from clubs in Europe; teams following his progress included Arsenal, Sporting CP and Porto. In December 2012, Iheanacho travelled to England to discuss a move to Manchester City. He signed a pre-contract agreement with the club, stating his intent to formally sign for City on his 18th birthday in October 2014. In the interim, he returned to Nigeria. As the year drew to a close, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) named him the Most Promising Talent of the Year for 2013 at the CAF Awards.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho joined Manchester City's Academy on 10 January 2015. Before the 2014–15 season, City visited the United States on a pre-season tour, and although still not formally a City player, he joined up with the squad. He played and scored in the first match of the tour, a 4–1 win against Sporting Kansas City, and scored again against Milan in a 5–1 win. After the conclusion of the tour, Manchester City arranged for Iheanacho to train with the Columbus Crew until mid-October.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Delays in obtaining a work permit meant Iheanacho was unable to play in England until February 2015. He made his debut at under-19 level in a UEFA Youth League match against Schalke 04, but sustained an injury after only 11 minutes. After his recovery, he began to represent Manchester City at both youth and under-21 level in the latter part of the season. He played in the FA Youth Cup final, where he scored, but ended on the losing side after Chelsea claimed a 5–2 aggregate victory. The following week, he scored the only goal as Manchester City beat Porto in the final of the 2014–15 Premier League International Cup.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: In July 2015, Iheanacho was included in City's pre-season tour team in Australia. On the tour, he set up the first goal for Raheem Sterling and scored the second goal in the win against Roma in the 2015 International Champions Cup. He also set up Sterling for the fourth goal in City's 8–1 victory against the Vietnam national team. In City's last preseason game, against VfB Stuttgart, he came on as a substitute, scoring late on in a 4–2 defeat. Due to his impressive pre-season, Iheanacho was promoted to the Manchester City senior squad.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: On 10 August 2015, Iheanacho was included in a first-team matchday squad for the first time in a competitive fixture, however he remained an unused substitute in their 3–0 win at West Bromwich Albion in their first game of the Premier League season. Nineteen days later, he made his competitive debut, replacing Raheem Sterling for the final minute of a 2–0 win against Watford at the City of Manchester Stadium. He scored his first competitive goal on 12 September, replacing Wilfried Bony in the final minute in a match away to Crystal Palace and scoring the only goal of the game.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho scored his first career hat-trick on 30 January 2016 against Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup, also setting up City's fourth goal, scored by Raheem Sterling. The following month, he was put in City's UEFA Champions League squad at the expense of the injured Samir Nasri. During February, Iheanacho scored against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2–1 home defeat for City.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho's next goals came on 23 April 2016, where he scored twice against Stoke City in a 4–0 victory. He followed this up with a Champions League semi-final substitute appearance on 26 April 2016. Five days later, on 1 May 2016, he scored two again, albeit in a 4–2 defeat at the hands of Southampton.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: On 10 September 2016, Iheanacho started in the Manchester derby. He recorded an assist and his first goal of the season in a 2–1 win for City. Four days later, Iheanacho came off the bench to score the final goal in City's 4–0 home win in the Champions League, against Borussia Mönchengladbach. This was his first European goal for Manchester City. Three days after the 4–0 win, Iheanacho scored the second goal, also assisting the third, in City's game against AFC Bournemouth. That goal took his tally in the Premier League to 10, allowing him to join an exclusive list of players to have scored 10 Premier League goals before the age of 20. This list includes players such as Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Nicolas Anelka, Michael Owen and Romelu Lukaku.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: In October 2016, Iheanacho was nominated for the FIFA Golden Boy award, which was eventually won by Bayern Munich's midfielder Renato Sanches. Previous winners of the award include teammates Raheem Sterling and Sergio Agüero, and six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho's next goal would come in the Champions League, against Celtic, in a 1–1 home draw on 6 December 2016. Iheanacho's final goal of the season, and subsequently final goal for City, came against Huddersfield in a 5–1 FA Cup fifth round replay win, in which Iheanacho scored the final goal of the game.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho was signed by Premier League club Leicester City on a five-year contract on 3 August 2017, for a reported £25 million fee. He made his debut for the club in a 4–3 defeat to Arsenal on 11 August 2017. He scored his first goal for Leicester in an EFL Cup tie against Leeds United on 24 October 2017. On 16 January 2018, Iheanacho became the first player in English football to be awarded a goal due to VAR, as the referee deemed that the player had been incorrectly ruled offside for his second goal. The goal was Iheanacho's second in a 2–0 win over Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup Third Round replay.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho wasn't in the first-choice starting eleven at the start of the season, and only started two of Leicester's first 21 Premier League games. However, several injuries to key players meant that Iheanacho got an extended run of games. Iheanacho then went on a goalscoring run of 12 goals in 10 games in all competitions during March and April.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho scored his first Premier League hat-trick in a 5–0 win against Sheffield United on 14 March 2021. A week later, Iheanacho netted a brace in Leicester's 3–1 win over Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, sending the club into the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 1981–82. The two strikes were Iheanacho's eighth and ninth goals in his last nine matches in all competitions. Iheanacho won the Premier League Player of the Month award in March 2021 after scoring five goals in three league appearances.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: On 3 April, Iheanacho signed a new three-year contract with Leicester, keeping him at the club until at least 2024. On 18 April, Iheanacho scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium. The win took the Foxes to their first FA Cup final since 1969.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho and Leicester started the 2021–22 season with the 2021 FA Community Shield against Manchester City. Iheanacho was substituted on during the 79th minute and scored the winning goal, an 89th-minute penalty against his former club.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho has represented Nigeria at youth levels from under-13 upwards. His first experience of a major international tournament was the 2013 African U-17 Championship in Morocco. For Iheanacho, the highlight was a hat-trick in a win against Botswana. He dedicated his goals to his mother, who died two months before the tournament. Nigeria reached the final of the competition, where they were defeated on penalties by the Ivory Coast.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho played a significant role in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he won the Golden Ball award for player of the tournament. Nigeria won the competition, in which Iheanacho scored six times, including once in the final, and provided seven assists. In the run-up to the 2014 African Nations Championship, Iheanacho trained with the senior Nigeria squad but was released from the squad in order to travel to England to sign with Manchester City. He was part of the Nigeria squad for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, and featured in two matches.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but failed to make the final 18.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho made his senior debut as a substitute in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Eswatini in which Nigeria drew 0–0. His first start for the senior team was on 25 March 2016, a 1–1 draw with Egypt in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Iheanacho was selected by Nigeria in friendly games against Mali and Luxembourg in May 2016. He scored in the two games, providing an assist against Luxembourg.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: His performance in the friendly matches inspired further confidence within football circles in the nation and was invited to make his competitive debut against Egypt in an African Cup of Nations qualifying series where he provided an assist for Oghenekaro Etebo in the home game.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: Despite the change made in the coaching personnel in August this year, he distinguished himself again as one of the most important players in the team when he scored two superb goals in the two matches against Tanzania in Uyo and Zambia in Ndola.


title: Kelechi Iheanacho

text: On 25 December 2021, Iheanacho was shortlisted in Nigeria's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations 28-man squad by caretaker coach Austin Eguavoen. He scored Nigeria's first goal of the tournament in the 30th minute of their opening match victory against Egypt.


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: Catherine Mary Stewart (; born 22 April 1959) is a Canadian actress. Her film roles include "The Apple", "The Last Starfighter" and "Weekend at Bernie's". She was also the original Kayla Brady in "Days of our Lives".


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: Stewart was born on 22 April 1959, in Edmonton, Alberta, the daughter of Mary (Stewart) and John Ralph Nursall. Her parents taught at the University of Alberta, her mother a physiology teaching assistant and her father a biology professor. Stewart attended Strathcona Composite High School. She first took jazz dance lessons, and moved to London after high school to study dance and general performing arts, and where she passed the audition for her first movie, "The Apple".


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: In 1980, Stewart landed a role in "The Apple", a musical science fiction cult film. During the production of "The Apple", the director Menahem Golan took issue with her original name Mary Nursall and insisted she change it, which she did using her mother's maiden name.


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: After moving to Los Angeles, she obtained a role on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives", playing the original Kayla Brady from January 1982 to December 1983. She also auditioned for projects like "", against Jamie Lee Curtis. In 1984, she starred in two science fiction feature films, "The Last Starfighter" as Maggie Gordon and "Night of the Comet" as Regina Belmont. She later played a leading role in the teen comedy "Mischief".


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: In the mid-1980s, Stewart appeared in two miniseries: "Hollywood Wives" (1985) and "Sins" (1986), where she played the younger version of Joan Collins's character. She made guest appearances on television series such as "Knight Rider", "Hotel", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Outer Limits". She starred in several made-for-TV movies such as "Murder by the Book" (1987), "Passion and Paradise" (1989), "Perfect Harmony" (1991) and "Ordeal in the Arctic" (1993). In 1989, she appeared as Gwen Saunders in the comedy film "Weekend at Bernie's".


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: Beginning in the mid-1990s, she scaled back her appearances while raising her family. After her children had grown, she again started appearing in television and film roles, and expressed an interest in directing. In 2010, she appeared in the film "A Christmas Snow". In 2016, she directed the short movie "A Walk to Remember". She starred in the Hallmark holidays movies "Rock N' Roll Christmas" in 2019 and "A Christmas Comeback" in 2020.


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: She is the sister of Alan Nursall, a scientist and media personality who reports on science news for the Canadian TV series "Daily Planet" and the Discovery Channel. Another brother, John Nursall, is a freelance writer and TV/film documentary director and producer.


title: Catherine Mary Stewart

text: She was married to actor John Findlater in 1983 and divorced in 1985. She married Richard Allerton in 1992. She has a daughter and a son and lived in Brooklyn, New York, as of 2013.


title: The Mod Squad

text: The Mod Squad is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln "Linc" Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas.


title: The Mod Squad

text: The counterculture police series earned six Emmy Award nominations, four Golden Globe nominations plus one win for Peggy Lipton, one Directors Guild of America Award, and four Logies. In 1970, the second-season episode, "In This Corner . . . Sol Alpert," script by Rita Lakin and Harve Bennet, was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar Award in the category of Best Mystery Teleplay, losing to the TV-Movie "Daughter of the Mind". In 1997, a 1970 episode "Mother of Sorrow" was ranked #95 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.


title: The Mod Squad

text: They were The Mod Squad ("One black, one white, one blonde"), described by one critic as "the hippest and first young undercover cops on TV". Each of these characters represented mainstream culture's principal fears regarding youth in the era: long-haired rebel Pete Cochran (Cole) was evicted from his wealthy parents's Beverly Hills home, then arrested and put on probation after he stole a car; Lincoln Hayes (Williams III), who came from a family of 13 children, was arrested in the Watts riots, one of the longest and most violent riots in Los Angeles history; flower child Julie Barnes (Lipton), the "canary with a broken wing," was arrested for vagrancy after running away from her prostitute mother's San Francisco home; and Captain Adam Greer (Andrews) was a tough but sympathetic mentor and father figure who convinced them to form the squad.


title: The Mod Squad

text: The concept was to take three rebellious, disaffected young social outcasts and convince them to work as unarmed undercover detectives as an alternative to being incarcerated. Their youthful, hippie personas would enable them to get close to the criminals they would investigate. "The times are changing," Captain Greer explained. "They can get into places we (the regular police) can't." Examples included their infiltrations of a high school to solve a teacher's murder, of an underground newspaper to find a bomber, and of an acting class to look for a strangler who was preying on blonde actresses.


title: The Mod Squad

text: More than a year before the release of the film "Easy Rider", "The Mod Squad" was one of the earliest attempts to deal with the counterculture. Groundbreaking in the realm of socially relevant drama, it dealt with issues such as abortion, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, slumlords, the anti-war movement, illegal immigration, police brutality, student protest, sex education, soldiers returning from Vietnam and PTSD, racism, euthanasia, and the illegal drug trade. Spelling intended the show to be about the characters's relationships, and he promised that the Squad "would never arrest kids...or carry a gun or use one."


title: The Mod Squad

text: The show was loosely based on creator Bud "Buddy" Ruskin's experiences in the late 1950s as a squad leader for young undercover narcotics cops, though it took almost 10 years after he wrote a script for the idea to be green-lighted by ABC Television Studios.


title: The Mod Squad

text: The shows "" (1966–69), "I Spy" (1965–68), "The Bill Cosby Show" (1969–71), "Room 222" (1969–74), "Mannix" (1967–75), "" (1966–73), "Julia" (1968–71), "The Flip Wilson Show" (1970–74), and "The Mod Squad" (1968–73) were among the first programs to feature African-Americans as stars since the stereotyped roles of "Amos 'n' Andy" and "Beulah" (ABC, 1950–53). Significantly, "The Mod Squad" presented an African-American character (Linc) as being on an equal footing, as roles went, to the Caucasian characters (Barnes and Cochran). In one "Mod Squad" episode, the script called for Linc to give Barnes a "friendly kiss". Since the first interracial kiss on an American television show was in 1968, this was still fairly new territory in popular culture. The studio was frightened of a negative public reaction, so they asked Spelling to cut it:


title: The Mod Squad

text: "You can't do that," I was told. "You can't have a black man kissing a white girl." I won and ABC agreed to let it in, but they warned me I'd receive thousands of complaint letters. I didn't get one.


title: The Mod Squad

text: Linc's famous "solid" and "keep the faith" were among the current-day slang used on the show, which included "pad", "dig it", and "groovy."


title: The Mod Squad

text: The "kids" traveled in Pete's famous "Woody", an old green 1950 Mercury Woodie station wagon, until it burned up in a fire after going over a cliff during a chase at the end of the second-season episode "The Death of Wild Bill Hannachek".


title: The Mod Squad

text: Among the series guest stars were Spelling's ex-wife Carolyn Jones, Leslie Nielsen, William Windom, Ed Asner (three episodes in three different roles), Vincent Price, Sammy Davis Jr. (three episodes in three different roles), Andy Griffith, Joe Don Baker, David Cassidy, Richard Pryor, Lee Grant, Richard Dreyfuss (two episodes in two different roles), Jo Van Fleet, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Danny Thomas (as well as being co-executive producer of the show), Tyne Daly (two episodes in two different roles), Anthony Geary, Sam Elliott, Martin Sheen, Desi Arnaz Jr., René Auberjonois, Stefanie Powers, Robert Reed, Cesar Romero, Meg Foster (two episodes in two different roles), Jack Cassidy, Tony Dow, Vic Tayback, Fritz Weaver, Harrison Ford (uncredited role), Clint Howard, Louis Gossett Jr., Sugar Ray Robinson, Bobby Sherman (two episodes in two different roles), Billy Dee Williams, Victor Buono, Jim Backus, Fernando Lamas, Cleavon Little, Daniel J. Travanti (three episodes in three different roles), Barbara McNair and Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr. (three episodes in three different roles).


title: The Mod Squad

text: In the U.S., MeTV reran the series from May 26 to August 29, 2014, and again on Sunday afternoons from January 4 to August 30, 2015.


title: The Mod Squad

text: Decades re-ran part of the series on February 24–25, 2018, and again on January 30–31, 2021, for their binge weekend programming block. "Mod Squad" was being shown on MeTv+ late in 2021.


title: The Mod Squad

text: A television pilot was shot in 1968, with a running time of 74 minutes, but it was never aired in its entirety. The film was edited to 50 minutes and aired as the show's first episode. The uncut 74-minute version appears on the DVD set as the opening episode, with the title "The Teeth of the Barracuda."


title: The Mod Squad

text: A TV reunion movie, "The Return of the Mod Squad," was transmitted on ABC on May 18, 1979, featuring the entire original cast. Tom Bosley, a guest star during the original run, also participated as an antagonist targeting Julie Barnes herself. Peggy Lipton said she participated in it as a favor to Aaron Spelling.


title: The Mod Squad

text: In 1999, the series was adapted into a feature film with the same title by MGM; however, this film, which starred Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps, Claire Danes, and Dennis Farina reprising Cole's, Williams III's, Lipton's, and Andrews's roles respectively, was not a box-office success, perhaps due to its R rating.


title: The Mod Squad

text: CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released the first two seasons of "The Mod Squad" on DVD in Region 1.


title: The Mod Squad

text: On August 20, 2013, it was announced that Visual Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series (under license from Paramount) and would release season 3 on DVD on September 24, 2013. Season 4 would be released on October 1, 2013. In Canada, Season 3 was released on DVD a week earlier, on September 17, 2013, and Season 4 was released on October 8, 2013. Season 5 was released in Canada on November 19, 2013 and in the US on December 17, 2013. A complete series set was released in Canada and the US on November 12, 2013.


title: The Mod Squad

text: The term "Mod Squad" had been introduced the previous year in "Dragnet 1967's" sixteenth installment, "The Big Kids," where it described a club of high schoolers who had to shoplift at least $20 to become members.


title: The Mod Squad

text: "The Mod Squad" is referenced by the Thing in "Chapter Three: Through The Negative Zone!" of "Deadpool" (vol. 4) #20: "'Hey, who wants a clobbering? I'm watching "The Mod Squad."" An additional editor's note was attached to the reference which explained, "**Ed's Note: "The Mod Squad" was a popular TV show. TV was what people called YouTube in 1968."


title: The Mod Squad

text: "The Mod Squad" was parodied during its debut season as "The Odd Squad" by Mort Drucker in MAD Magazine #127 (June 1969), and at the height of its third season by Marie Severin as "The Clod Squad" in Marvel Comics's "SPOOF" #1 (October 1970).


title: The Mod Squad

text: In "The Wonder Years" pilot, the off-screen narrator (Daniel Stern) sets the scene, with a 20-year hindsight, by saying: "1968, I was 12 years old. A lot happened that year..." The screen shows snapshots of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (both assassinated that year), the Black Power salute, anti-Vietnam war protests, the Apollo 8 space mission (the first crewed lunar orbital flight) and other historic events and figures of 1968. However, the narrator goes on to list only three events that were, apparently, more important to him as a 12-year-old at that time: "... Denny McLain won 31 games, "The Mod Squad" hit the air, and I graduated from Hillcrest Elementary and entered junior high school."


title: The Mod Squad

text: In 1990 on the TV series "Twin Peaks," in which Lipton was a regular, Williams appeared in two episodes. The pair shared a brief scene that appears to have been an intentional reunion.


title: The Mod Squad

text: In the 1996 film "The Cable Guy," the nightmare sequence features a synthesized version of the show's opening theme.


title: The Mod Squad

text: The Working Dog production company produced "Funky Squad" for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, parodying "The Mod Squad" and a number of other 1960s-'70s television shows. "Funky Squad" had started as a series of serialised sketches Working Dog members produced for their breakfast radio show on Triple M Melbourne.


title: The Mod Squad

text: In 2000, the TV series "That 70's Show" — Season 2, Episode 19, titled "Parents Find Out" — references "The Mod Squad". In Kelso's van, Kelso tells Hyde and Fez that he has a CB radio, and runs some possible names by them. A girl comes on the radio and says that her name is Foxy Lady, and she is with her friend, Nice 'n Easy. Fez comments that the girls sound nice; Kelso says that they need handles before they can answer, and Hyde suggests that they be "The Mod Squad;" they argue over who is going to be Linc, but Hyde wins out (due to his Afro), leaving Kelso as Pete and Fez as Julie.


title: The Mod Squad

text: In 2006, an episode of the TV series "Squirrel Boy" - Season 1, Episode 10b - titled "The Rod Squad" featured various 1970s clichés as the main characters Rodney, Leon, and Darlene team up to acquire sticky buns.


title: The Mod Squad

text: In 2014, a Canadian kid's show called "Odd Squad" was released, the name likely a parody of "The Mod Squad", although this has never been confirmed.


title: The Mod Squad

text: In an episode of "Everybody Hates Chris," bully Caruso ridicules Greg's, Chris's, and Chris's dates to the school dance, referring to them as Pete, Linc, and Julie.


title: Deutschland 83

text: Deutschland 83 is a 2015 German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who, in 1983, is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co-production of AMC Networks' SundanceTV and RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction, with international distribution by RTL Group's FremantleMedia International and North American distribution by Kino Lorber.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The series premiered on 17 June 2015 on the SundanceTV channel in the United States, becoming the first German-language series to air on a US network. The broadcast was in the original German, with English subtitles. It subsequently aired in Germany beginning in November 2015, and in the UK on Channel 4 beginning in January 2016. Despite weak initial ratings in Germany, "Deutschland 83" became a sleeper hit.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The series was officially renewed on 14 October 2016; the second series is named "Deutschland 86". "Deutschland 86" is set in 1986, three years after the original season; it premiered in Germany on 19 October 2018.


title: Deutschland 83

text: A third season, "Deutschland 89", was broadcast from 25 September 2020, 1989 being the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In a December 2017 interview, it was confirmed that Amazon Germany has secured the rights to "Deutschland 89".


title: Deutschland 83

text: Creator Anna Winger said that all of the episode names originated from NATO military exercises from 1983.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The show was created by the husband and wife team of American novelist Anna Winger and German TV producer Joerg Winger, who pitched it as a trilogy. It is produced by Joerg Winger, Nico Hofmann, and Henriette Lippold. Anna Winger said that they did extensive research with experts who were from both sides of Germany. Historian Klaas Voss from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research was very important in providing historical information. Jonas Nay, who played Martin, said he received technical assistance from military adviser/NATO expert Steffen Meier.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The show was shot in and around locations in Berlin, Germany. A suburb in east Berlin was used to portray period East Germany. For some scenes the Stasi headquarters () was used as a location and the production was able to film at the Stasi Museum, which is the actual site of the original headquarters. The actual headquarters for the HVA was however in Gosen about 28 km (17 miles) south east of the Berlin TV tower, less than 1 km (0.6 miles) SE of the Berlin city limits, and approximately 4.5 miles (7.5 km) south of the city of Erkner. The backup bunker for the headquarters of the HVA was also located there.


title: Deutschland 83

text: Directors Edward Berger and Samira Radsi used the same crew—and often the same locations—to shoot their respective episodes. One director would prepare for shooting while the other was shooting. They worked in parallel like this throughout the filming of the show. Radsi said she knew producer Winger from working together on the popular German TV show, "Leipzig Homicide".


title: Deutschland 83

text: SundanceTV created a digital marketing strategy that reflected the use of locations in Germany that were meant to recreate both East and West Germany in the early 1980s. Reflecting both the intertitle of the show, the marketing team created sliders that show locations as they were in contrast to the current day. The opening credits were created by Saskia Marka.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The show makes extensive use of 1980s popular music, including Nena's "99 Luftballons", David Bowie, New Order and Eurythmics among others. Each week's episode has a playlist of music from and/or inspired by the episodes. The score was created by Reinhold Heil, who produced the song "99 Luftballons".


title: Deutschland 83

text: Heil, who often collaborates with Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run"), said that he was on board the project when he saw the first scene of the show, where two teenagers are being interrogated by the border guards (one of whom was Martin, the main character) for attempting to smuggle two books by Shakespeare and Marx across the border. He said that it was very realistic, which comes from his similar experience when he was caught smuggling music (Stravinsky and Bach).


title: Deutschland 83

text: The theme for the respective English-subtitled North American and UK broadcasts of the series featured Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" – the English-language version of Schilling's big 1983 European hit "Major Tom (völlig losgelöst)". However, the markedly different introductory sequence for the German broadcast of the series used New Order's 1983 hit "Blue Monday".


title: Deutschland 83

text: "Deutschland 83" was met with critical acclaim and received a 2015 Peabody Award. Rotten Tomatoes gives the show a 100% score with an average rating of 8.2/10, sampled from 22 reviews. The consensus states: "An engrossing drama with a fun '80s soundtrack, "Deutschland 83" chronicles an intense spy story that brings viewers uncomfortably close to the Iron Curtain." On Metacritic, it holds a score of 79 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Deutschland 83

text: The first two episodes of "Deutschland 83" premiered at the Berlinale 2015 to very positive reviews. In its US television premiere, it also received positive reviews, with mention of its humor and successful depiction of a Cold War thriller, with favorable comparisons to the US show, "The Americans". Many critics called it the best show of the summer of 2015.


title: Deutschland 83

text: Writing in "The New Yorker", Emily Nussbaum called the show a gorgeous, slinky thriller, praising its recreation of 1983 Germany as "nearly as aesthetically aspirational" as "Mad Men". She questioned the plot line's credibility as Martin's character repeatedly landed, "Zelig"-like, "at the center of world-historical events", but didn't deem this to be a "deal-breaker". In a mixed review, "The New York Times" compared the series to shows on the network The CW, given that it focuses on a young adult struggling with being "the only glimmer of sanity in a world gone mad".


title: Deutschland 83

text: Clemens Poellinger from the Swedish newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet" awarded the series a 5/6 rating. He praises the "excellence in time-faithful environment and details" but also points out the similarities with the series "Weissensee".


title: Deutschland 83

text: Philip Oltermann of "The Guardian" praised the idea of viewing the Cold War from an East German's perspective, but wrote that the show, instead of taking advantage of its "radical premise", "backtracks into stereotype" by portraying East German officers as "cruel ideologues", and the West German peace movement as "infiltrated not just by Soviet agents, but "gay" Soviet agents at that".


title: Deutschland 83

text: Margret Lyons of "Vulture.com" praised the work of title designer Saskia Marka, because a "huge part of Deutschland is about pop culture, and music in particular, so of course the titles include a famous German pop song of the era, Peter Schilling's 'Major Tom.'" Marka's opening credits "combine the song's synth vibes with more ominous historical imagery and a little bit of the show's humor. It's the series in a nutshell."


title: Deutschland 83

text: Deutschland 83 has received a number of international and domestic awards including an International Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, Grimme Prize, The Golden Nymph, a Metropolis Award, two C21 Drama Awards, a Golden Camera, the "Special Jury Award" of the Roma Fiction Fest, and Series Mania 2015 for Best World Series.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The series premiered in the United States on 17 June 2015, on SundanceTV, making it the first German-language series to air on a US network.


title: Deutschland 83

text: The success of "Deutschland 83" in the US and UK paved the way for another series also featuring a young Stasi agent dispatched to West Germany under an assumed identity, "The Same Sky".


title: Deutschland 83

text: In Germany, "Deutschland 83" began to air after the U.S. run on RTL 26 November 2015. There, the series lost viewers over the course of its run; the series finale had 1.72 million viewers, or approximately half of the series premiere's viewers. As a result, German newspaper "Bild" called the show "the flop of the year".


title: Deutschland 83

text: It premiered in Ireland on 29 November 2015, on RTÉ2. All episodes were added to Australian streaming service Stan in December 2015. On 14 January 2016, the series was made available for streaming in The Netherlands via Videoland.


title: Deutschland 83

text: It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2016, with the final two episodes shown back-to-back on 14 February. It has since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers as of January 2016.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional "League of Legends" team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 and was incorporated into Cloud9 Esports, Inc. on September 6, 2016. Cloud9 has received million in total raised equity via venture capital funding and was ranked the world's fifth-most valuable esports organization in mid-2022.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 has held divisions in numerous esports throughout its existence, establishing eight by 2014. In 2018, Cloud9 won three international championships: the Rocket League Championship Series Season 6 World Championship, the 2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, and the . The company currently operates two franchised teams: Cloud9 "League of Legends" of the League of Legends Championship Series and London Spitfire of the Overwatch League. They also operate non-franchised teams in "Apex Legends", "", "Fortnite", "Halo", "Hearthstone", "", "Super Smash Bros.", "Teamfight Tactics", "Valorant", and "World of Warcraft".


title: Cloud9

text: The team that would become Cloud9 originated after esports organization Quantic Gaming released all of their "League of Legends" players. Afterwards, all five players formed their own team under the moniker Team NomNom, and later rebranded to Cloud9 in early 2013. Cloud9 was then reacquired by Quantic Gaming on April 1, 2013, and later rebranded the team back to Cloud9. The team then changed hands again in May 2013, as former Team SoloMid manager Jack Etienne and Paullie Etienne bought out the contracts of the players for less than $20,000, officially creating the Cloud9 organization. Paullie Etienne was appointed the chief operating officer, and Jack Etienne's father eventually signed on as the organization's first legal counsel.


title: Cloud9

text: After early success in the organization's "League of Legends" division, Cloud9 expanded their brand into other esport games. The organization entered "Smite" esports in December 2013. In 2014, Cloud9 created divisions for "Dota 2", "Super Smash Bros. Melee", "Hearthstone", "", "Heroes of the Storm", and "Halo". The organization disbanded their "Smite" division the same year due to internal issues, just prior to the start of the Smite Pro League, but it was reopened in January 2015. Throughout 2015 and 2016, Cloud9 established several more divisions, including "Call of Duty", "Overwatch", and their first touchscreen esport "Vainglory". On September 6, 2016, the organization incorporated into Cloud9 Esports, Inc.


title: Cloud9

text: Although several of their divisions would dissolve, by March 2017, the company had ten teams across multiple titles and over one million fans spending a collective 15million hours following Cloud9 players. That month, Cloud9 received a total of million from series A funding in a round led by Founders Fund, along with other investors Craft Ventures, former Facebook, Inc. executive Chamath Palihapitiya, Reddit Inc. cofounder Alexis Ohanian, and Major League Baseball player Hunter Pence. In July 2017, Cloud9 created their "Rocket League" division. The following month, Activision Blizzard announced that Cloud9 had purchased a London-based franchise slot for the upcoming Overwatch League (OWL); with the requirement that all organizations in the OWL create separate business entities and branding, Cloud9 created the subsidiary under the name London Spitfire. In November 2017, Riot Games announced that Cloud9 had secured a League of Legends Championship Series franchise slot for a reported million, marking the second owned franchised team by the company.


title: Cloud9

text: In June 2018, Cloud9 announced a major sponsorship deal with Red Bull, which included a deal that would place the Red Bull logo on the Cloud9 jerseys. In the middle of that deal, Jack Etienne invited 30 investors to a London Spitfire match at Blizzard Arena; four months later, Cloud9 announced that it had received million in series B funding in a round led by Valor Equity Partners, along with other investors TrueBridge Capital Partners, Reimagined Ventures, and Glassdoor founder Robert Hohman. Additionally, Valor Equity Partners founder and managing partner Antonio Gracias joined Cloud9's board of directors as a part of the deal. Funding from the round was to be used to establish a headquarters and training facility in Los Angeles, which was expected to be completed by the end of 2019. After the investment, Forbes ranked Cloud9 as the world's most valuable esports company at million.


title: Cloud9

text: In 2018, at a time when many esports teams were significantly downscaling their operations and only focusing on a select few games, Cloud9 reached top-level international success in "Counter-Strike", "Rocket League", "Overwatch", and "League of Legends". The success of the organization led to Jack Etienne being named Game Shakers' Shaker of the Year in December 2018, an award honoring people who have made a long-lasting impact in the esports industry and helped raise esports awareness around the world. In the following months, Cloud9 entered sponsorship deals with apparel brand Puma, telecommunications company AT&T, and automotive company BMW, in what were all of the companies' first team sponsorships in esports. In that time, Cloud9 has established an "Apex Legends" division.


title: Cloud9

text: In November 2019, Cloud9 was fined by Riot Games for violating League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) rules. Dating back to July 2018, Cloud9 had issued equity to seven of its LCS players through restricted stock units; Riot had created a rule in November 2017 that prohibited any team owner from being on the team's roster. Cloud9 was fined $25,000 for each player violation, totaling $175,000, and had to pay additional money to its players. Riot estimated the total fine to be $330,000 to $605,000. Cloud9 was again ranked by Forbes as the world's most valuable esports company in 2019, along with Team SoloMid; the company was valued at $400million, a $90million increase over the previous year.


title: Cloud9

text: In February 2020, it was announced that Cloud9, along with esports organizations Immortals Gaming Club, Dignitas' parent company New Meta Entertainment, Gen.G Esports, c0ntact Gaming, and OverActive Media, had established "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" league Flashpoint, the first professional esports league owned and operated by team organizations. The following month, Cloud9 reentered "Dota 2" esports after a hiatus of almost three years. Cloud9 created its "Valorant" division in April 2020, and in October, they created their first all-female esports team for "Valorant". Forbes ranked Cloud9 was the world's second-most valuable esports company at $350million in 2020, a 13% decrease from 2019. In May 2022, Forbes ranked them the fifth-most valuable, with a value of $380million.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 was officially created in 2013 after Jack Etienne purchased the contracts of all of Quantic Gaming's "League of Legends" players.


title: Cloud9

text: With a starting roster of Balls, Meteos, Hai, Sneaky, and LemonNation, Cloud9 went on a 13-game winning streak in the 2013 NA LCS Summer Split regular season, marking the longest winning streak in LCS history at the time. After claiming the top seed in the Summer Split Playoffs, the team went on to sweep the defending champions Team SoloMid, 3 games to 0, in the finals on September 1 to claim their first-ever LCS title. With the win, Cloud9 finished the season with a 30–3 game record and the highest winning-percentage in LCS history at 90.9%. In the 2014 NA LCS Spring Split, Cloud9 closed out the final five weeks on a 13-game winning streak, equaling their LCS record 13-game winning streak in 2013, and once again claimed the top seed in the playoffs. Cloud9 won their second consecutive LCS title after a 3–0 sweep over Team SoloMid in the finals on April 20. After going 5–0 in the playoffs, Cloud9 extended their record winning streak to 18 games and had gone undefeated in back-to-back playoffs. Cloud9 made it to the LCS finals in the 2014 NA LCS Summer Split and 2015 NA LCS Spring Split, but fell to Team SoloMid each time. In May 2015, Hai retired, ending Cloud9's nearly 750-day record of having the longest standing lineup in professional "League of Legends" history.


title: Cloud9

text: The team finished 2015 NA LCS Summer Split with a 6–12 record, their lowest regular season finish ever, and missed the LCS playoffs for the first time in their organization's history. In the 2016 NA LCS Spring Split, the team faced Team SoloMid in the quarterfinals but fell by a score of 1–3. In the quarterfinals match of the 2016 NA LCS Summer Split against Team EnVyUs, Cloud9's Jensen set an LCS record 20 kills in a single game. The team later fell to Team SoloMid in the finals. In the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split, for the sixth, and second consecutive, time, Cloud9 faced Team SoloMid in the NA LCS finals, but the team fell, 2–3. Cloud9 lost to Team Dignitas in the quarterfinals of the 2017 NA LCS Summer Split. In the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split playoffs, Cloud9 was swept by Team Liquid in the quarterfinals by a score of 0–3. The team again reached the finals in the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split, but they were swept by Team Liquid, 0–3.


title: Cloud9

text: After the 2018 NA LCS season, Cloud9 had their most successful League of Legends World Championship run. After advancing past the 2018 League of Legends World Championship group stage, Cloud9 swept Korea's Afreeca Freecs, 3–0, in the quarterfinals; The win marked the first time in seven years that a North American team had qualified for the World Championship semifinals. In the semifinals match. Cloud9 was swept by Fnatic, 0–3, ending their World Championship run.


title: Cloud9

text: In the 2019 LCS Spring Split, Cloud9 fell to Team SoloMid in the semifinals. After reaching the finals in the 2019 LCS Summer Split, the team fell to Team Liquid, 2–3. In the 2020 LCS Spring Split, Cloud9 finished the regular season with a 17–1 record – tied for the best game record in LCS history. The team secured their third LCS title on April 19, 2020, after they swept FlyQuest, 3–0, in the finals. The win gave the team their first LCS title since 2014; with an overall 26–2 game win–loss record, including playoffs, Cloud9 set a LCS record for the highest winning percentage ever in a single split by a North American team at 92.9%, breaking their own previous record of 90.9% from the 2013 Summer Split. Losses to Flyquest and Team SoloMid in the Summer Split playoffs not only eliminated the team from the LCS playoffs, but also eliminated Cloud9's ability to qualify for the 2020 World Championship, marking the first time in the organization's history that they would not attend the World Championship.


title: Cloud9

text: On September 14, 2020, Cloud9 parted ways with head coach Bok "Reapered" Hangyu, who had been the head coach of the team for the past four years. The organization promoted Cloud9's academy team coach Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin as their new head coach.


title: Cloud9

text: In the 2021 LCS season, Cloud9 entered the Spring Split playoffs as the top seed, with a 13–5 record. C9 defeated Team Liquid in the finals, 3–2, and earned their 4th LCS title. At the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational, they failed to advance to the knockout stage. In the Summer playoffs, Cloud9 defeated Team SoloMid 3–2 to claim a spot at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship; however, they lost their next match to 100 Thieves. At Worlds, Cloud9 advanced to the quarterfinals, becoming the first North American team to make it past the group stage since the previous Cloud9 team reached semifinals in 2018. They lost in the quarterfinals to Gen.G, 0–3.


title: Cloud9

text: On June 26, 2014, Cloud9 announced the formation of their "Hearthstone" division after acquiring team DogeHouse. Joining the team was the players Marcin "Gnimsh" Filipowicz, Cong "StrifeCro" Shu, Rumay "Hafu" Wang, Alexandr "Kolento" Malsh, and Jan "Ekop" Palys, with Gnimsh appointed as the team's captain. Additionally, the team picked up Andrew "TidesofTime" Biessener later that year. Kolento won the team's first major tournament after winning the Viagame House Cup #1 in October 2014; the following month, he won the DreamHack "Hearthstone" Championship. Kolento won the teams only major tournament in 2015 after winning CN vs EU Season 2 in March. The team picked up former Team SoloMid player Harry "Massan" Cheong in June 2015. In November 2015, Cloud9 parted ways with Hafu, TidesofTime, and Gnimsh. Cloud9 signed former team Archon player James "Firebat" Kostesich in March 2016. After being banned from Twitch in May 2016, Cloud9 parted ways with Massan. Several days later, the team signed Sanghyeon "DDaHyoNi" Baek. In May 2016, StrifeCro took home the OGN "Hearthstone" Seoul Cup World Invitational. Later that month, Cloud9 parted ways with Ekop. In March 2017, Firebat left the team. StrifeCro left the team in May 2017. In December 2018, Cloud9 signed Cho "Flurry" Hyun-soo, Kim "LookSam" Jin-hyo, and Jang "DawN" Hyun-jae. In March 2019, Kolento won StarLadder Hearthstone Ultimate Series Winter. The team signed Lee "Portia" Dongjae in August 2020.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 joined the "Super Smash Bros." scene after picking up Evo 2013 champion Joseph "Mango" Manuel Marquez for "Super Smash Bros. Melee" ("Melee") in May 2014 and is currently the longest tenured player at Cloud9. Mango's first tournament under Cloud9 was Get On My Level 2014 in Toronto, where he took first place. In June 2014, Mango finished in first and second at MLG Anaheim 2014 and CEO 2014, respectively, meeting Armada both times in the Grand Finals. The following month, Mango took home his second consecutive Evolution Championship Series (Evo) title after defeating Hungrybox in the Grand Finals of EVO 2014. In October 2014, Mango won The Big House 4 after defeating Mew2King in Grand Finals. In 2015, Mango finished in fourth place at Apex 2015 and third place at CEO 2015. At Evo 2015, Mango fell to Hungrybox in the lower bracket semifinals. At The Big House 5, Mango finished in fourth place after losing to Mew2King. Mango's first tournament of 2016 was at GENESIS 3 in January, where he fell to Armada in the grand finals. The following month, Mango finished in second place at PAX Arena after losing to Hungrybox in the finals. He secured his first major tournament championship of 2016 in May after defeating Hungrybox in the finals at DreamHack Austin. The same month, he finished second at Get On My Level 2016 after falling to Leffen in the finals. In July 2016, Mango finished in fourth place at Evo 2016 after falling to Hungrybox in the lower bracket semifinals. The following month, he took first place at Super Smash Con 2016 after taking down Hungrybox in the finals.


title: Cloud9

text: In August 2016, the organization added their second "Super Smash Bros." player with the addition of Evo 2016 champion Elliot "Ally" Bastien Carroza-Oyarce for "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" ("Smash 4"). Mango and Ally both attended The Big House 6 in October 2016. Ally, citing health concerns, dropped out of the "Smash 4" tournament after falling to the lower bracket. Mango took home his second The Big House title under Cloud9 after defeating Armada in the "Melee" finals. At the end of 2016, Cloud9 signed Daniel "Tafokints" Lee as Mango's coach.


title: Cloud9

text: Ally and Mango competed in GENESIS 4 in January 2017. Both Cloud9 members took second place in their respective tournaments, with Ally falling to MKLeo in the "Smash 4" finals and Mango falling to Armada in the "Melee" finals. At EVO 2017, Ally failed to defend his "Smash 4" EVO title from 2016, finishing outside the top 32. In the "Melee" tournament, Mango reached the grand finals, but he fell to Armada in the finals match to finish in second place. The following month, Mango defended his Super Smash Con title after winning Super Smash Con 2017. The two competed at The Big House 7 in October 2017. Ally finished the "Smash 4" tournament in the top eight, while Mango finished in the top six of the "Melee" tournament. In January 2018, Ally and Mango competed at GENESIS 5, with Ally finishing in ninth place and Mango finishing in fifth.


title: Cloud9

text: On March 31, 2018, Mango's coach Tafokints announced he was departing the organization to join Counter Logic Gaming as their business development manager. Five days later, Cloud9 parted ways with Ally.


title: Cloud9

text: At Evo 2018, Mango finished in the top eight. Mango competed in his first "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" tournament in June 2018 and finished in the top four. For the remainder of 2018, Mango failed to win a tournament but was able to finish in the top three of five tournaments, including Shine 2018, The Big House 8, and Smash Summit 7. In May 2019, Mango won Get On My Level 2019, ending his 19-event, and nearly two-year, streak without winning a tournament. He went on to win his second "Melee" major of the year in October after defeating Zain in The Big House 9 grand finals. Mango started 2020 with a third-place finish at GENESIS 7. In July 2020, he finished in second place at the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 2 after falling to Zain in the grand finals. In November, Mango was the runner-up at Smash Summit 10. Mango finished 2020 with a win at the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 3 after defeating iBDW in the finals.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 entered the professional "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" scene on August 1, 2014, with the acquisition of compLexity Gaming's North American roster. The players reportedly left compLexity after they received better offers from Cloud9 prior to renewing their contracts. Cloud9 made their first appearance at ESL One: Cologne 2014, where they finished 2–0 in Group D of the group stage but lost in the quarterfinals to Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas, who later won the tournament. On November 26, Sean "sgares" Gares replaced Spencer "Hiko" Martin as the team's in-game leader. On December 14, Hiko left Cloud9, to be replaced by Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan.


title: Cloud9

text: On April 24, 2015, Cloud9 released ShahZam and Kory "Semphis" Friesen. Five days later, Ryan "fREAKAZOiD" Abadir and Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, formerly of iBUYPOWER, joined the team, and Braxton "swag" Pierce joined as an analyst, sgares stepped down from the roster on November 24.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 placed thirteenth to sixteenth at MLG Columbus 2016, losing to Natus Vincere and G2 Esports in the group stage. Shortly after the event on April 12, it was announced that fREAKAZOiD would be leaving the team. Team Liquid's Eric "adreN" Hoag was subsequently announced as a temporary stand-in, playing for Cloud9 until Alec "Slemmy" White was announced as the official replacement on April 23. Manager Tres "stunna" Saranthus left the team on July 26. On August 17, Cloud9 announced that they were replacing Slemmy with Timothy "autimatic" Ta. On October 30, Cloud9 defeated SK Gaming 2–1 in a best-of-three series to win the ESL Pro League Season 4 finals in São Paulo, Brazil.


title: Cloud9

text: On August 15, 2017, Michael "shroud" Grzesiek and Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert left the team, with shroud announcing that he intended to become a full-time streamer.


title: Cloud9

text: On January 28, 2018, Cloud9 defeated FaZe Clan 2–1 at the finals, becoming the first North American team to win a . On March 31, Cloud9's main AWPer, Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, announced on Twitter that he was taking a break from professional play. On the same day, a much anticipated transfer occurred with Jacky "Stewie2K" Yip terminating his multi-year contract with Cloud9 to move to SK Gaming, although he would later join Team Liquid after only a brief stay with SK. shroud officially retired from competitive play and left Cloud9 on April 18.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 announced on December 6, 2019, that Timothy "autimatic" Ta, Damian "daps" Steele, and Kenneth "koosta" Suen had been released from the organization and their contracts bought out by Gen.G Esports. A month later, on January 6, 2020, Cloud9 signed the South African team ATK's "CS:GO" roster.


title: Cloud9

text: On September 6, 2020, Cloud9 announced that they would undergo a complete rebuild in their "CS:GO" division. The players continued to play under the Cloud9 name until the new roster was completely formed. The next day, Cloud9 unveiled their new general manager Henry "HenryG" Greer and new coach Aleksandar "kassad" Trifunović. On September 10, Alex "ALEX" McMeekin signed a three-year contract with Cloud9. On September 19, Cloud9 acquired William "mezii" Merriman from GamerLegion and Özgür "woxic" Eker from mousesports. On October 7, Cloud9 re-signed Ricky "floppy" Kemery, who becomes the fourth player of the new team. The last player Patrick "es3tag" Hansen was bought from Astralis and was announced on October 15. On December 28, Aleksandar "kassad" Trifunović was released by Cloud9. On January 18, 2021, Özgür "woxic" Eker was released by Cloud9 following poor results as a team. On January 22, Erick "Xeppaa" Bach was announced as woxic's replacement on the team. On January 24, the return of Chris “Elmapuddy” Tebbit as new Head Coach was announced, along with the promotion of m1cks from analyst to the Assistant Coach position Cloud9 disbanded their "CS:GO" division in March 2021, citing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Cloud9

text: On April 24, 2022, Cloud9 returned to the "CS:GO" scene, this time in Europe, acquiring the roster of Gambit Esports.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 won IEM Dallas on June 6, 2022, after defeating ENCE 3:0. Cloud9 won a grand prize of US$100,000.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 formed its "Overwatch" division in March 2016 after signing team "google me". The team won several LAN events in April and May, such as the One Nation of Gamers "Overwatch" Invitational, Overkill, and the Alienware Monthly Melee. Their first major tournament post-release of "Overwatch" was the Agents Rising tournament, which they won after defeating Team Liquid in the finals.


title: Cloud9

text: Following Agents Rising, they finished second in both the June Alienware Monthly and Operation Breakout tournaments; both times they fell to Team EnVyUs in the finals. Later that month, Cloud9 finished in fourth place at the OG Invitational tournament after losing to Northern Gaming in the third place match. After several wins in smaller weekly and qualifier tournaments, the team9 qualified for the Beyond the Summit (BTS) Overwatch Cup, Overwatch Open, and 2016 ESL Overwatch Atlantic Showdown. The team finished in second place at BTS after losing to Team EnVyUs in the finals, fell to Team EnVyUs in the group stage semifinals at the Overwatch Open, and did not make it past the group stage at the Atlantic Showdown. Cloud9 was one of four western teams invited to compete in South Korea's OGN "Overwatch" APEX Season 2, which began in January 2017. After falling to South Korean team KongDoo Uncia on February 28 in the group stage, Cloud9 was eliminated from the tournament.


title: Cloud9

text: Cloud9 failed to qualify for Overwatch Contenders North America season one; afterwards, the company acquired the former Laser Kittenz roster and established their European team Cloud9 EU for season one of Overwatch Contenders Europe. The following month, in September 2017, Cloud9 established their third "Overwatch" team after acquiring South Korean team KongDoo Panthera and competed under the moniker Cloud9 KongDoo. Cloud9 EU made it to the playoffs in Contenders Europe season one, but they fell to Misfits Gaming semifinals on October 7. Meanwhile, Cloud9 KongDoo had been competing in OGN "Overwatch" APEX Season 4, where they ended up taking third place after defeating NC Foxes on October 17.


title: Cloud9

text: On August 10, 2017, Activision Blizzard announced that Cloud9 had purchased a London-based franchise slot for the upcoming Overwatch League (OWL) for a reported million (million); with the requirement that all organizations in the OWL create separate business entities and branding, Cloud9 created the subsidiary under the name London Spitfire. On November 9, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which was an amalgamation of their Cloud9 KongDoo team and OGN "Overwatch" APEX Season 4 champions GC Busan. On February 15, 2018, the Spitfire's European Overwatch Contenders team was announced as the British Hurricane.