title: John Brown (servant)

text: The 1997 film "Mrs Brown" is the fictionalised story of John Brown. Sir Billy Connolly portrays Brown and Dame Judi Dench portrays Queen Victoria.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: Reggatta de Blanc is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 2 October 1979 by A&M Records. It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon". In early 1980, the album was reissued in the United States on two 10" discs, one album side per disc, and as a collector's edition with a poster of the band.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: The music features the Police's distinctive appropriation of reggae and frontman Sting's Caribbean vocal inflections. The album's title loosely translates in French to "White Reggae". It was the band's second album to bear a Franglais title, after their 1978 debut album "Outlandos d'Amour". "Reggatta de Blanc" proved more popular and successful than its predecessor. The title track earned the band their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: In 2003, "Reggatta de Blanc" was ranked at number 369 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: "Reggatta de Blanc" took four weeks to record, spaced over several months. Unlike its successor, "Zenyatta Mondatta", there was no pressure on the band. Of the sessions, drummer Stewart Copeland said, "We just went into the studio and said, 'Right, who's got the first song?' We hadn't even rehearsed them before we went in."


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: Against the wishes of A&M Records, who had wanted to equip the promising band with a bigger studio and more famous producer, the Police opted to again record at Surrey Sound with Nigel Gray. The small budget (between £6,000 and £9,000) was easily covered by the profits of their previous album, "Outlandos d'Amour", further ensuring that the record label would have no control over the actual creation of the band's music.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: Whereas "Outlandos d'Amour" had benefited from one of the most prolific songwriting periods of Sting's life, the recording sessions for "Reggatta de Blanc" were so short on new material that the band even considered re-recording "Fall Out" at one point. To fill in the gaps, Sting and Copeland dug up old songs they had written and used elements of them to create new songs. Much of the lyrics to "Bring On the Night" were recycled from Sting's Last Exit song "Carrion Prince (O Ye of Little Hope)" and "The Bed's Too Big Without You" similarly started as a Last Exit tune, while "Does Everyone Stare" originates from a piano piece Copeland wrote in college. The closing track "No Time This Time" was previously the B-side to "So Lonely" in November 1978, and was added to pad out the album's running time.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: As on the band's first album, "Reggatta de Blanc" features the Police's original fusion of hard rock, British pop, Jamaican reggae, and new wave music. The instrumental "Reggatta de Blanc", one of the few songs written by the Police as a group, was developed from an extended instrumental piece that the band would typically work into their live performances of "Can't Stand Losing You". "Bring On the Night" was written three years earlier as "Carrion Prince", the title taken from Ted Hughes's poem "King of Carrion", and is about Pontius Pilate; however, after reading "The Executioner's Song", Sting felt that the words fitted Gary Gilmore's death wish, and says that since then, "I sing it with him in mind." "The Bed's Too Big Without You" was covered by reggae singer Sheila Hylton in 1981, and became a UK Top 40 hit.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: "Reggatta de Blanc" continued to build on the success of "Outlandos d'Amour", hitting number one on the British, Australian, and Dutch album charts upon its release in October 1979. "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon" were released as singles and both reached number one in the UK, the band's first singles to do so. According to rock journalist Tim Peacock, with its success, the album transformed the Police "into one of the post-punk era's defining bands".


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: The album was met with positive reviews from magazines such as "Smash Hits", "People", and "Rolling Stone". Writing for the latter in December 1979, Debra Rae Cohen said that objections to the band's stylistic appropriations of new wave and reggae are "rendered moot by the sheer energy of the band's rhythmic counter-punching". In "The Village Voice"s year-end Pazz & Jop poll of American critics nationwide, "Reggatta de Blanc" was voted the 35th best album of 1979. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator and the "Voice"s chief critic, was lukewarm about the album in "" (1981): "The idea is to fuse Sting's ringing rock voice and the trio's aggressive, hard-edged rock attack with a less eccentric version of reggae's groove and a saner version of reggae's mix. To me the result sounds half-assed. And though I suppose I might find the 'synthesis' innovative if I heard as much reggae as they do in England, it's more likely I'd find it infuriating." In 1981, the album's title track earned the band a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Greg Prato said that the band's intense touring schedule leading up to the album had made their unique reggae rock fusion sharper, leading to a work that was "much more polished production-wise and fully developed from a songwriting standpoint", but also "more sedate" than their first album.


title: Reggatta de Blanc

text: "Reggatta de Blanc" has appeared frequently on professional listings of the greatest albums. In 2003, "Rolling Stone" ranked the record at number 369 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time; on an updated version of the list published in 2012, it placed at number 372. In 2006, it was included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". In 2014, "Spin" cited it as one of the major moments in the history of white reggae. Based on such rankings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists "Reggatta de Blanc" as the 418th-most acclaimed album in history. In an interview with "Modern Drummer", Stewart Copeland named it his favourite Police album.


title: Gunday

text: Gunday () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action drama film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film features Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles. Set in 1971–1988 Calcutta, "Gunday" is a story about two best friends and outlaws, who fall in love with a cabaret dancer, which causes rivalry and misunderstandings between them.


title: Gunday

text: Zafar conceived the film as an amalgam of stories he had heard from his father as a child about the effects of war-caused immigration and the Mafia Raj's illegal marketing of coal. He wrote the film as a tale of the consequences of the struggle of two outlaws against the system, using his father's stories as a backdrop for the characters. Principal photography began in Mumbai in December 2012 before moving to Kolkata, where extensive filming was done. The soundtrack was produced by Sohail Sen, and the lyrics were penned by Irshad Kamil. It was the last Yash Raj Film narrated to Yash Chopra.


title: Gunday

text: "Gunday" was released on 14 February 2014, receiving mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success, with a box-office gross of 23 million making it the 10th highest-grossing Bollywood release of 2014. The film won the Best Action at the 60th Filmfare Awards and was nominated for Best Choreography for the song "Tune Maari Entriyaan".


title: Gunday

text: The story begins the independence of Bangladesh after the 1971 war. Amongst those affected by the partition are two orphans: Bikram Bose and Bala Bhattacharya. They meet Lateef, who offers them food in exchange for smuggling guns. One of Lateef's customers, an army officer, wants one of the boys as his sex slave; if Lateef refuses, his daughter will be taken. Lateef chooses Bala at first, but Bikram insists that he will go instead. Bala refuses to leave his best friend and returns to save Bikram from the officer, whom they kill. This makes them partners in crime; when the army chases them, Lateef is killed while trying to protect the duo. Bikram and Bala flee to Calcutta and work at a restaurant. After being mistreated and insulted, they learn that pilfering coal is a way to make easy money.


title: Gunday

text: As adults, Bikram and Bala loot coal trains and sell the pilfered coal. Their chief competitor is Dibakar. When Bikram and Bala loot one of Dibakar's trains, his men threaten them. Undeterred, they promise to loot his next train as well. When they arrive to loot Dibakar's train, he calls them "refugees," and a fight ensues. Before they kill Dibakar, Bikram and Bala tell him that they are Indians, not refugees. Now having control of the coal business, they expand into other businesses by laundering money with Kaali Kaka's help. They become local heroes by building hospitals, donating to charities, and building schools. Although they provide jobs for the poor, their business dealings make them a target of the law. Assistant Commissioner of Police Satyajeet Sarkar is summoned to arrest Bikram and Bala. Sarkar, knowing that they can cover their tracks with Kaali Kaka, warns them that he will arrest them when he finds evidence against them.


title: Gunday

text: A businessman invites Bikram and Bala to the opening of his new club in Calcutta. He introduces them to Himanshu, his assistant. They meet Nandita, a cabaret dancer. They both fall in love with her, and decide that whoever wins her heart will marry her. Nandita invites them to a theatre to tell them whom she loves. Bala gets into a fight there with a man who insults Nandita and shoots him. Bikram tells Bala to go into hiding, promising not to see Nandita until he returns. Sarkar warns Bikram that if Bala returns to Calcutta, he will be killed. Nandita tells Bikram that she loves him, but if they do not observe Durga Puja together, she will never see him again. Bikram agrees to meet her. Later, Bala learns about this through Himanshu, and returns to Calcutta. Enraged when he sees Bikram and Nandita, Bala accuses Bikram of breaking his promise and shoots at him. He hits Nandita instead, who is rushed to hospital and survives.


title: Gunday

text: Bala learns that their businesses are in Bikram's name, and demands his share. Bikram agrees, even sharing the ration card which is proof of their Indian nationality. Bala suggests sharing Nandita; angering Bikram, who fights Bala. Bikram wins but spares Bala as he saved his life. However, he warns Bala that if he bothers Nandita, he will kill him. When Bikram proposes to Nandita, she says she cannot marry him unless he leaves his criminal life behind; Bikram agrees. A vengeful Bala blows up Bikram's coal mines and kidnaps Nandita. As Bikram prepares to kill Bala, Sarkar asks Bikram to turn the state's evidence against Bala so he and Nandita can marry. Bala tells Nandita that he will kill her unless she leaves Bikram; Nandita retorts that she loves Bikram. Heartbroken, Bala apologises to Nandita and returns her to Bikram. In reality, Nandita is an undercover police officer helping Sarkar arrest Bikram and Bala. When Bikram prepares to help Sarkar implicate Bala, he encounters the man whom Bala supposedly killed and learns that he is a police officer. Nandita tries to convince Bikram that he will be treated leniently by the law. He believes the law was responsible for destroying their childhood. Nandita reveals her identity to Bikram, and he realises that she was a trap Sarkar set to separate him from Bala. When she asks him to surrender, he refuses and rejoins Bala.


title: Gunday

text: Himanshu brings Bala into the coal mine to meet Dutta. Himanshu tells him that he is Dibakar's brother and saw him murdered by Bikram and Bala. He reveals Nandita's identity and tries to kill Bala, but Bikram rescues him, and Bala impales Himanshu. While trying to escape, they are then cornered by Sarkar and Nandita, who again tells Bikram that she loves him and he should surrender; Sarkar also tries to convince Bala to surrender. Bikram and Bala see a passing train and run towards it. As Bikram and Bala are inches away from catching the train, Sarkar and Nandita shoot at them. The movie ends with the train passing away without the two, implying that they were killed.


title: Gunday

text: "Gunday" was announced in August 2012 by Yash Raj Films, with Ali Abbas Zafar directing a film about two 1970s criminals in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata). In a Reuters interview, Zafar said that the film was conceived because of his fascination with history. His father, a 1971 war veteran, told him stories about the war, its immigration and the coal mafia. His father told stories about the illegal coal trade in Calcutta, where trains carrying coal were robbed by unemployed youths. Since coal was a black-market commodity during the 1970s and 1980s, he used it as a plot device. The stories inspired him to create the film's backdrop around which he based his characters. Zafar decided to set the film in Calcutta, since he felt the story suited the city's political climate.


title: Gunday

text: Zafar said that films of that era, such as "Deewaar" (1975) and "Kaala Patthar" (1979), influenced his storyline. He believed that the films' portrayal of the conflict between right and wrong gave him an understanding of life as a child, which he used in the script. In an interview, Zafar said that the film depicted the consequences of the outlaws' struggle against the system: "If someone is deprived of basic rights, there will certain youth who will be disillusioned and go over to the dark side. In a way, the system creates its own enemy." "Gunday" was the last film narrated to Yash Chopra.


title: Gunday

text: Since most 1970s and 1980s films emphasized bromance, Zafar wanted to showcase friendship and said that he wanted to "catch that spirit" of the friendship of "Jai-Veeru" from "Sholay" (1975); he called the film a "definite reference point", with "Yaarana" (1981), for portraying bromance. Zafar made the friendship between his characters integral to the plot, where the characters would do anything for each other: "The whole idea while making "Gunday" was to bring the right feel of friendship. The idea about friendship which used to be in the earlier times, especially in the heartland of India was something else."


title: Gunday

text: In August 2012, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor were cast as the protagonists Bikram and Bala respectively. Zafar gave a joint pitch to both the actors where Kapoor would play Bikram and Singh would play Bala. After hearing the description, both the actors felt that they could play their respective characters as they identified similarities between the characters and their own personalities. However, the director switched the roles as a surprise, giving the part of Bikram to Singh and Bala to Kapoor. Although they initially wanted to play their originally proposed roles, feeling that their respective characters were within their comfort zone, they later agreed to play the opposite roles. Priyanka Chopra joined the cast as the lead actress in October 2012. The following month, Irrfan Khan was cast for the role of a police officer in the film.


title: Gunday

text: Chopra described her character Nandita, the cabaret dancer, as a girl next door who acts as the main catalyst for driving the story further and igniting the conflict between Bikram and Bala when they both fall in love with her. She admired the qualities of her character, saying, "She's very righteous and believes in black and white, which is very like me. She is a no-nonsense person and has this superior air about her, even though she is a very normal girl. I think women should carry themselves like her." Khan described his character of the intelligence police officer as "larger than life". For Khan, who had mostly performed in niche dramatic films, Zafar made his character a lot more flamboyant and mainstream. His character was highly stylised to suit the mainstream popcorn genre of the film.


title: Gunday

text: Singh described his and Kapoor's characters as "two outlaws with a bold attitude". They described the friendship between the inseparable characters as like "two sides of the same coin". Kapoor further explained that Singh's character Bikram brings equilibrium to his character Bala, saying, "He (Bikram) is more in control and aware of his surroundings. Bala, on the other hand, is temperamental and acts in the heat of the moment."


title: Gunday

text: Rajat Poddar handled the production design while Aseem Mishra did the cinematography. Subarna Ray Chaudhuri designed the costumes while Rameshwar S Bhagat edited the film. Principal photography began on 14 December 2012 in Mumbai. It was shot at the Chandivali Studio, where the scenes between Singh, Kapoor and Chopra were filmed. The first schedule ended by December 2012. While filming a song sequence, Singh injured himself after falling from a height; he suffered a gash on his cheek. He was rushed to the nearest hospital and had to get a few stitches. The second schedule of the film started in January 2013 in Mumbai, where the streets of Howrah were recreated on the outskirts of the city. The filming moved to Kolkata in mid-February, where the major portion of the film was filmed on-location. One of the early filmed scenes included a dramatic Durga Puja sequence under the Howrah Bridge with a crowd of 1000 people, for which a huge pandal was created. For building the pandal, a very old native professional was hired to give it an authentic 1980s look.


title: Gunday

text: The opening song "Jash-e-Ishqa" was filmed at the Howrah Bridge; several scenes were also filmed at the Jagannath Ghat and Maniktala fish market. The Dhapa area was recreated as the refugee camp, standing in for a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Other locations included the Victoria Memorial and Belbad Colliery, where the opening train sequences were filmed. The song "Tune Maari Entriyaan" was shot across various locations, including scenes at the streets of Calcutta High Court, Dalhousie and Dakshineswar Kali Temple. Additionally, a small part of Calcutta was recreated at the Film City in Mumbai, which included places with signboards in Bangla, CPM flags, yellow taxis and the iconic Metro Cinema. Filming in Kolkata continued till the end of March.


title: Gunday

text: Bosco–Caesar choreographed all the songs in the film. The cabaret dance number "Aslaam-E-Ishqum" featuring Chopra was filmed in early July over six days on a set created in Mumbai. The set for the cabaret number was modelled after Kolkata's once very popular bar "Trinka's", known for cabaret, where troupes from Russia and Europe used to come and perform. A huge coal mine set was erected at the Yash Raj Studio, where the four principal actors filmed the action scenes in July. In early September 2013, Zafar informed the media via a tweet that he was scouting locations for the film in Muscat, Oman, where the song "Jiya" was filmed on location as a part of the last schedule. Zafar also revealed that fifteen days worth of shooting was left for the film, which was scheduled to occur in Kolkata and Raniganj. Filming resumed in late September 2013 in Durgapur, where a huge climatic action sequence was filmed in the coal mine area. The filming was done over a period of 110 days and was completed on 25 September 2013.


title: Gunday

text: The soundtrack album was composed by Sohail Sen, with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, except for one ("Gunday") which was written by Zafar. The lyrics for the Bengali version of "Tune Maari Entriyaan" were written by Bappi Lahiri and Gautam Susmit. The album contains ten compositions including seven original songs, a theme and a different versions of two original songs. The vocals were performed by Javed Ali, Shadab Faridi, Lahiri, KK, Neeti Mohan, Vishal Dadlani, Arijit Singh, Neha Bhasin, Shahid Mallya, Altamash Faridi, Sen, Kinga Rhymes and Monali Thakur. The album was released on 20 January 2014 by YRF Music. A Bengali version of the soundtrack, composed by Sen and with lyrics by Sanjay, was released on 30 January 2014.


title: Gunday

text: The soundtrack album received positive reviews from music critics. "The Times of India" gave a rating of 4 out of 5, writing that the album succeeds in transporting the listener to the period when the film is set, but had its fair share of highs and lows. Bollywood Hungama gave the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5, writing, "Sohail Sen seems to have finally got his act right. His songs have immense popular appeal, substance and the right blend of melody and contemporary styles." Writing for Rediff.com, Joginder Tuteja also gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, noting the musical variety in the soundtrack and the "entertaining songs". The Indo-Asian News Service published on NDTV gave it 3.5 out of 5, pointing out Sen's versatility as a music composer and writing that the album had "songs for every mood and music lovers couldn't have asked for more."


title: Gunday

text: The album was one of the most successful Indian music albums of 2014, with the songs "Tune Maari Entriyaan", "Jashn-E-Ishqa" and "Asalaam-E-Ishqum" topping various charts in India across various platforms.


title: Gunday

text: The first teaser poster was released in mid-December 2012, when the film began its production for a 2013 release. In April 2013, it was announced that the film was scheduled to release on Valentine's Day, 14 February 2014. The teaser trailer of the film was released on 22 November 2013 along with "Gori Tere Pyaar Mein", and received a positive response, with "India Today" calling it "action-packed" and "promising". In what appeared to be a promotional strategy, Priyanka Chopra's character did not appear in the teaser, generating media buzz. She asked the audiences to wait for the release. On 12 December 2013, one day before the theatrical trailer release, the makers released the first look of Chopra, revealing that her character was a cabaret dancer, which had not been announced during production.


title: Gunday

text: The film's production studio released a range of merchandise, partnering with several brands for promotional purposes. The music and trailers aided its marketing. "Gunday" had its premiere in Dubai on 12 February 2014 with the full cast in attendance. It was released theatrically on 14 February 2014 on 2700 screens. A Bengali-dubbed version of the film was also released in West Bengal's small towns, where only Bengali films are shown. The film was not released in Pakistan, where it was highly awaited, after the country stopped giving "No-Objection Certificates" to Indian films in early 2014 due to pending legislative changes.


title: Gunday

text: After the release of the film, Bangladeshis protested on social media over the introductory narration in the film, which says that Bangladesh was created through the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and that India's participation brought independence to Bangladesh. People from Bangladesh demanded the production house to apologise for its inaccurate representation of its history. Contrary to the film's depiction, the country was created after the Bangladesh Liberation War, and India joined an already ongoing war of independence and was not the sole reason for the independence as told in the film. An article published in "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that "to claim that India's participation alone brought about independence, as the film does, is incorrect [...] Bangladesh was born because Bangladeshi fighters had been battling the larger and better equipped Pakistani military for months. India's participation only quickened the war's end. It is the people of Bangladesh who liberated themselves from Pakistan." Bangladeshis were also offended by a scene in the film where many Bangladeshis called themselves Indians and spoke Hindi. A week later, Yash Raj Films made an official apology statement.


title: Gunday

text: Irate Bangladeshis launched a social media campaign with the hashtag "GundayHumiliatedHistoryOfBangladesh" on Twitter, asking people to bury the film on the Internet Movie Database. Facebook groups were formed to boycott and downvote the film. As a result, the film suffered from vote brigading on IMDb, where it was the lowest rated film at the time of its release, with a 1.4/10 rating based on more than 44,000 votes, 91% of which gave it one star. , it holds a rating of 2.1/10.


title: Gunday

text: Distributed by Yash Raj Home Video, the film was released on DVDs on 30 April 2014 across all regions in a two-disc pack in Anamorphic format, with bonus content such as a "making of the film" documentary, deleted scenes and making of the songs. The VCD version was also released at the same time. A two-disc special edition DVD pack was also released later. The Blu-ray version was released on 2 May 2014. The world television premiere of the film happened on Sony MAX on 17 August 2014. Later, as Yash Raj Films signed a deal with Star India, the network syndicated some films from the Sony Pictures Networks India catalog in mid-2021, "Gunday" being one of them.


title: Gunday

text: "Gunday" received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 60% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5 out of 10. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave a rating of 4 out of 5, calling it an "entertainer" and writing that the film "has an attention-grabbing premise, well-etched-out characters, high-octane drama, is generously peppered with vibrant songs and energetic action pieces, boasts of defining performances from the principal cast." However, he felt that it was too long. Srijana Mitra Das from "Times of India" gave it 3.5 out of 5, calling it an ""Oliver Twist" with a Bollywood twist", writing that "Gunday pays loving homage to Bollywood classics "Sholay", "Kaala Patthar" and other brothers-in-arms films while offering more." Mohar Basu of Koimoi also gave it 3.5 out of 5, calling it a "must watch" for "the oomph and bombastic dialogues", and praised Zafar's direction, writing that "the execution is what makes the fast depleting story hold its ground. The trajectories he builds are shaky but his screenplay is engrossing enough to not let you slip even in the slack moments."


title: Gunday

text: "Mint" gave a highly positive review, calling it a "spectacular tribute to 1970s' Hindi cinema", and wrote that it "moves at a satisfying clip from the beginning to the end. It's formula food for the present day, spiced with flamboyance, a fair sense of rhythm that occasionally slackens during the 153-minute running time, and a clear understanding of the meaning of popular entertainment, Hindi movie style." However, it added that neither Singh nor Kapoor were "particularly convincing as dangerous gangsters". Rohit Khilnani from "India Today" gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5, terming it an "entertaining film" and writing, "It's old wine in a new bottle and it tastes awesome! It's packed with action, emotions, friendship, drama and some terrific performances." Writing for "Hindustan Times", Anupama Chopra gave it 3 out of 5, calling it "an unabashed love letter to the 1970s" and writing, "Though the story is set in the 1980s, Zafar recreates a classic '70s vibe with punchy dialogue-baazi, scenes designed to make you applaud and a relentless background score by Julius Packiam that underlines every beat just in case you missed a high note. Gunday is all slow-motion and swagger, with nods to "Deewaar", "Sholay", "Kaala Patthar", "Kabhie Kabhie" and sprinkles of John Woo's doves and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"."


title: Gunday

text: On the contrary to the positive reviews, Rajeev Masand gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5, terming it "derivative and tediously boring" and writing, "For a while, the film succeeds in grabbing your attention too with its striking period detail and some nicely mounted scenes. But rolling out at 2 hours and 34 minutes, it can't help feeling like a slog." "Daily News and Analysis" gave it 2 out of 5, noting that every critical conflict in the story was flaky and the bromance was a letdown. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com also gave it 2 out of 5, criticising the script, which she thought was full of "silly loopholes, annoying clichés and glaring superficiality", writing that "No matter how hard Zafar tries to create an action hero [...] he fails to substantiate it with charisma that goes beyond surface value." Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" gave it 1.5 out of 5, calling it a "mash-up of popular blockbusters". Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and said, "Director Ali Abbas Zafar has directed a monstrous film, one with a repellent 70s-set storyline that makes no sense whatsoever, and a cast who should all hang their heads and offer up a minute's silence for assaulting their respective filmographies."


title: Gunday

text: A commercial success, "Gunday" is the 10th highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2014 and the highest-grossing February Bollywood release of all time. The film had a very good opening at the box office. It also registered excellent collections at multiplexes, which is rare for an action film in India. It grossed 150 million on its opening day, breaking opening records in several regions for the year at the time of its release. The film went on to collect over 111 million on Saturday and 140 million on Sunday for an opening domestic weekend of over 402 million. The film grossed over $2 million overseas for a worldwide opening weekend of 670 million. "Gunday" grossed a decent 60 million, dropping sixty percent on its first Monday. The film had done good to reasonable business all over, grossing 590 million in its first week domestically. During its theatrical run, the film grossed over 980 million at the Indian box office, with an additional $3.4 million from overseas, for a worldwide total of 1.2 billion.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based upon a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published by Constance Cappel's and R. A. Montgomery's Vermont Crossroads Press as the "Adventures of You" series, starting with Packard's "Sugarcane Island" in 1976.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: "Choose Your Own Adventure", as published by Bantam Books, was one of the most popular children's series during the 1980s and 1990s, selling more than 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998. When Bantam, now owned by Random House, allowed the "Choose Your Own Adventure" trademark to lapse, the series was relaunched by Chooseco, which now owns the trademark. Chooseco does not reissue titles by Packard, who has started his own imprint, U-Ventures.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: Originally created for 7- to 14-year-olds, the books are written in the second person. The protagonist—that is, the reader—takes on a role relevant to the adventure, such as a private investigator, mountain climber, race car driver, doctor, or spy. Certain books in the series allow readers choice of who to take the role of, for example, in an adventure book, readers may be prompted to choose between a climber, a hiker, or a traveler. Stories are generally gender- and race-neutral, though in some cases, particularly in illustrations, there is the presumption of a male reader (the target demographic group). In some stories, the protagonist is implied to be a child, whereas in other stories, they are an adult.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: The stories are formatted so that, after a few pages of reading, the protagonist faces two or three options, each of which leads to further pages and further options, and so on until they arrive at one of the many story endings. The number of endings varies from as many as 44 in the early titles to as few as 7 in later adventures. Likewise, there is no clear pattern among the various titles regarding the number of pages per ending, the ratio of good to bad endings, or the reader's progression backwards and forwards through the pages of the book. This allows for a realistic sense of unpredictability, and leads to the possibility of repeat readings, which is one of the distinguishing features of the books.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: As the series progressed, both Packard and Montgomery experimented with the gamebook format, sometimes introducing unexpected twists such as endless page loops or trick endings. Examples include the "paradise planet" ending in "Inside UFO 54-40", which can only be reached by cheating or turning to the wrong page by accident.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: According to Packard, the core idea for the series emerged from bedtime stories that he told to his daughters, revolving around a character named Pete and his adventures: "I had a character named Pete and I usually had him encountering all these different adventures on an isolated island. But that night I was running out of things for Pete to do, so I just asked what they would do". His two daughters came up with different paths for the story to take and Packard thought up an ending for each of the paths: "What really struck me was the natural enthusiasm they had for the idea. And I thought: 'Could I write this down?'"


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: Packard soon developed this basic premise into a manuscript titled "The Adventures of You on Sugar Cane Island". He set out in 1970 to find a publisher but was rejected by nine publishing companies, causing him to shelve the idea. In 1975, he was able to convince Ray Montgomery, co-owner of Vermont Crossroads Press, to publish the book and it sold 8,000 copies, a large amount for a small local publishing house. The series was later marketed to Pocket Books, where it also sold well, but Montgomery believed that it would sell better if a bigger publisher could be found. After some discussion, Montgomery was able to make a contract for the series with Bantam Books. Packard and Montgomery were selected to write books for the series, including the contracting out of titles to additional authors.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: The famous phrase “Choose Your Own Adventure” was born when Ed Packard sold his second and third books. The second, "Deadwood City", was a Western saga, and junior editor Dinah Stevenson was given the assignment to create a jacket line that would explain this unfamiliar narrative style to readers; Stevenson came up with "Choose your own adventure in the Wild West". The phrase was adapted for the next title with the tag line, "The Third Planet from Altair: Choose your own adventure in outer space".


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: The series was highly successful after it began printing with Bantam Books. A 1981 article in "The New York Times", followed by an interview with Packard on "The Today Show", provided free publicity. The book series prompted the creation of three other series by authors with Bantam Books that worked with the same format. Nineteen other series of the same format begun being published by rival publishing houses. The large popularity of the concept led to the titling of a new genre of writing for the format, which was called the gamebook.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: By the 1990s, the series faced competition from computer games and was in a decline. The series was discontinued in 1999, but was relaunched by a new company, Chooseco, in 2003. Montgomery died in 2014; his final Choose Your Own Adventure book was "Gus vs. the Robot King".


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: In June 2018, Z-Man Games issued a licensed co-operative board game called "Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger" inspired by R. A. Montgomery's book in the series.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: In January 2019, Chooseco initiated a trademark infringement legal challenge against Netflix for the film "". Netflix settled the suit in November 2020.


title: Choose Your Own Adventure

text: A "Smithsonian" article criticizes the style as "formulaic" and quotes a scholar stating that "in terms of literary quality, many of the multiple-storyline books are true skunks".


title: Ł

text: Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Belarusian Latin, Ukrainian Latin, Wymysorys, Navajo, Dëne Sųłıné, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, Sm'álgyax, Nisga'a, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai script. In some Slavic languages, it represents the continuation of Proto-Slavic, non-palatal (dark L), except in Polish, Kashubian, and Sorbian, where it evolved further into . In most non-European languages, it represents a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative or similar sound.


title: Ł

text: In normal typefaces, the letter has a stroke approximately in the middle of the vertical stem, crossing it at an angle between 70° and 45°, never horizontally. In cursive handwriting and typefaces that imitate it, the capital letter has a horizontal stroke through the middle and looks very similar to the pound sign . In the cursive lowercase letter, the stroke is also horizontal and placed on top of the letter instead of going through the middle of the stem, which would not be distinguishable from the letter t. The stroke is either straight or slightly wavy, depending on the style. Unlike , the letter is usually written without a noticeable loop at the top. Most publicly available multilingual cursive typefaces, including commercial ones, feature an incorrect glyph for .


title: Ł

text: A rare variant of the ł glyph is a cursive double-ł ligature, used in words such as ', ' or "" (archaic: Allah), where the strokes at the top of the letters are joined into a single stroke.


title: Ł

text: In Polish, is used to distinguish historical dark (velarized) L [ɫ] from clear L [l]. The Polish now sounds the same as the English , as in "water" (except for older speakers in some eastern dialects where it still sounds velarized).


title: Ł

text: In 1440, proposed a letter resembling formula_1 to represent clear L. For dark L he suggested "l" with a stroke running in the opposite direction to the modern version. The latter was introduced in 1514–1515 by Stanisław Zaborowski in his . L with stroke originally represented a velarized alveolar lateral approximant , a pronunciation that is preserved in the eastern part of Poland and among the Polish minority in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. This pronunciation is similar to Russian unpalatalised in native words and grammar forms.


title: Ł

text: In modern Polish, Ł is usually pronounced (exactly as w in English as a consonant, as in "wet"). This pronunciation first appeared among Polish lower classes in the 16th century. It was considered an uncultured accent by the upper classes (who pronounced as ) until the mid-20th century when this distinction gradually began to fade.


title: Ł

text: The shift from to in Polish has affected all instances of dark L, even word-initially or intervocalically, e.g. "ładny" ("pretty, nice") is pronounced , "słowo" ("word") is , and "ciało" ("body") is . Ł often alternates with clear L, such as the plural forms of adjectives and verbs in the past tense that are associated with masculine personal nouns, e.g. "mały" → "mali" ( → ). Alternation is also common in declension of nouns, e.g. from nominative to locative, "tło" → "na tle" ( → ).


title: Ł

text: Polish final Ł also often corresponds to Ukrainian word-final Ve (Cyrillic) and Belarusian (Short U (Cyrillic). Thus, "he gave" is "dał" in Polish, "дав" in Ukrainian, "даў" in Belarusian (all pronounced ), but "дал" in Russian.


title: Ł

text: In contexts where Ł is not readily available as a glyph, basic L is used instead. Thus, the surname Małecki would be spelled Malecki in a foreign country. Similarly, the stroke is sometimes omitted on the internet, as may happen with all diacritic-enhanced letters. Leaving out the diacritic does not impede communication for native speakers.


title: Ł

text: In the 1980s, when some computers available in Poland lacked Polish diacritics, it was common practice to use a pound sterling sign (£) for Ł. This practice ceased as soon as DOS-based and Mac computers came with a code page for such characters.


title: Ł

text: In Belarusian Łacinka (both in the 1929 and 1962 versions), corresponds to Cyrillic (El), and is normally pronounced (almost exactly as in English "pull").


title: Ł

text: In Navajo and Elaponke, is used for a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative , like the Welsh double L.


title: Ł

text: When writing IPA for some Scandinavian dialects which involve the pronunciation of a retroflex flap , e.g. in Eastern Norwegian dialects, authors may employ .


title: Ł

text: When transcribing Armenian into the Latin alphabet, may be used to write the letter , for example Ղուկաս => Łukas. In Classical Armenian, was pronounced as , which morphed into in both standard varieties of modern Armenian. Other transcriptions of include , or .


title: Ł

text: In the LaTeX typesetting system and may be typeset with the commands \L{} and \l{}, respectively. The HTML-codes are Ł and ł for and , respectively.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo; 28 November 185725 November 1885), also known as El Pacificador or the Peacemaker, was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885. After a revolution that deposed his mother Isabella II from the throne in 1868, Alfonso studied in Austria and France. His mother abdicated in his favour in 1870, and he returned to Spain as king in 1874 following a military coup against the First Republic. Alfonso died aged 27 in 1885, and was succeeded by his son, Alfonso XIII, who was born the following year. He is the most recent monarch of Spain to have died while on the throne.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Alfonso was born in Madrid as the eldest son of Queen Isabella II on 28 November 1857. His official father, Isabella's husband Francisco de Asís, has been generally viewed as effeminate, impotent or homosexual, leading writers to question his biological paternity. There is speculation that Alfonso's biological father may have been Enrique Puigmoltó y Mayans, a captain of the guard. The relationship of the queen with Puigmoltó was so much of a public hearsay at the time that Francisco de Asís initially refused to attend the baptism ceremony of Alfonso (the heir apparent) even if he was eventually forced to do so. These rumours were used as political propaganda against Alfonso by the Carlists, and he came to be widely nicknamed "Puigmoltejo" in reference to his supposed father. Others have assigned the fatherhood to Federico Puig Romero, a colonel who was murdered under unclear circumstances in 1866.


title: Alfonso XII

text: His mother's accession created the second cause of instability, the Carlist Wars. The supporters of the Count of Molina as King of Spain rose to have him enthroned. In addition, within the context of the post-Napoleonic restorations and revolutions which engulfed the West both in Europe and the Americas, both the Carlistas and the Isabelino conservatives were opposed to the new Napoleonic constitutional system. Much like in Britain, which subtracted itself from the liberal constitutional process, Spanish conservatives wanted to continue with the Traditional Spanish Organic Laws such as the Fuero Juzgo, the Novísima Recopilación and the Partidas of Alfonso X. This led to the third cause of instability of note, the independence of most of the American possessions, recognized between 1823 and 1850.


title: Alfonso XII

text: When Queen Isabella II and her husband were forced to leave Spain by the Revolution of 1868, Alfonso accompanied them to Paris. From there, he was sent to the Theresianum in Vienna to continue his studies. On 25 June 1870, he was recalled to Paris, where his mother abdicated in his favour, in the presence of a number of Spanish nobles who had tied their fortunes to those of the exiled queen. He assumed the name Alfonso XII, for although no king of united Spain had borne the name "Alfonso", the Spanish monarchy was regarded as continuous with the more ancient monarchy represented by the 11 kings of Asturias, León and Castile also named Alfonso.


title: Alfonso XII

text: After the revolution, the "Cortes" decided to set up a new dynasty on the throne. Prince Amadeo of Savoy, the younger son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and a distant cousin of Alfonso by common descent from Charles III, was recognized as King of Spain in November 1870. During a tumultuous reign, Amadeo was targeted by assassination attempts and struggled with opposition from both Carlists and republicans while his own faction split. After the Carlists revolted and the Third Carlist War broke out, he abdicated and returned to Italy in early 1873.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Following Amadeo's abandonment, the First Spanish Republic was established, including the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Pacific Archipelagos. The first act of President Estanislao Figueras was to extend the abolition of slavery to Puerto Rico; Cuban slaves would have to wait until 1889. The republicans were not in agreement either, and they had to contend with a war in Cuba and Muslim uprisings in Spanish Morocco. In the midst of these crises, the Carlist War continued and the Carlist party made itself strong in areas with claims over their national and institutional specificity such as Catalonia and the Basque Country. This unrest led to the creation of a group in favour of the Bourbon Restoration, led by the moderate conservative Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Alfonso was well-educated and cultured, especially compared to his mother. His tutors took great care to have him educated in good schools and to familiarize him with different cultures, languages and government models throughout Europe. During the Franco-Prussian War, Alfonso relocated from Paris to Geneva with his family, and then continued his studies at the Theresianum in Vienna in 1872. Cánovas began to take responsibility for Alfonso's education with the goal of shaping him into the ideal king for the planned Bourbon Restoration, and next sent him to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England. The training he received there was severe but more cosmopolitan than it would have been in Spain, given its atmosphere at the time.


title: Alfonso XII

text: On 1 December 1874, Alfonso issued the Sandhurst Manifesto, where he set the ideological basis of the Bourbon Restoration. It was drafted in reply to a birthday greeting from his followers, a manifesto proclaiming himself the sole representative of the Spanish monarchy. At the end of 1874, Brigadier Martínez Campos, who had long been working more or less openly for the king, led some battalions of the central army to Sagunto, rallied the troops sent against him to his own flag, and entered Valencia in the king's name. Thereupon the President resigned, and his power was transferred to the king's plenipotentiary and adviser, Cánovas. The 29 December 1874 military coup of Gen. Martinez Campos in Sagunto ended the failed republic and meant the rise of the young Prince Alfonso.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Within a few days after Canovas del Castillo took power as Premier, the new king, proclaimed on 29 December 1874, arrived at Madrid, passing through Barcelona and Valencia and was acclaimed everywhere (1875). In 1876, a vigorous campaign against the Carlists, in which the young king took part, resulted in the defeat of Don Carlos and the Duke's abandonment of the struggle.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Initially led by Canovas del Castillo as moderate prime minister, what was thought at one time as a coup aimed at placing the military in the political-administrative positions of power, in reality ushered in a civilian regime that lasted until Primo de Rivera's 1923 coup d'état. Cánovas was the real architect of the new regime of the Restoration.


title: Alfonso XII

text: In order to eliminate one of the problems of the reign of Isabel II, the single party and its destabilizing consequences, the Liberal Party was allowed to incorporate and participate in national politics, and the 'turnismo' or alternation was to become the new system. Turnismo would be endorsed in the Constitution of 1876 and the Pact of El Pardo (1885). It meant that liberal and conservative prime ministers would succeed each other ending thus the troubles.


title: Alfonso XII

text: This led to the end of the Carlist revolts and the victory over the New York-backed Cuban revolutionaries, and led to a huge backing both by insular and peninsular Spaniards of Alfonso. His government continued the operations of the Ministry for Overseas Affairs which began under his mother's reign. The ministry was responsible for the theft of indigenous human remains and artifacts throughout colonized lands from 1863 to 1899. To this day, the majority of the stolen bodies of indigenous peoples, some still displayed in Spanish museums, have yet to be returned to their ancestral lands.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Alfonso's short reign established the foundations for the final socioeconomic recuperation of Spain after the 1808–1874 crisis. Both European (the coastal regions, such as the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Asturias) and Overseas – Antilles and Pacific were able to grow steadily. Cuba and Puerto Rico prospered to the point that Spain's first train was between Havana and Camagüey, and the first telegraph in Latin America was in Puerto Rico, established by Samuel Morse, whose daughter lived there with her husband. Upon the American invasion of Puerto Rico, ten US dollars were needed to buy one Puerto Rican peso.


title: Alfonso XII

text: On 23 January 1878 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his first cousin, Princess Maria de las Mercedes, but she died within six months of the marriage.


title: Alfonso XII

text: On 29 November 1879 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his double third cousin, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria. During the honeymoon, a pastry cook named Otero fired at the young sovereign and his wife as they were driving in Madrid.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Alfonso had two sons by Elena Armanda Nicolasa Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (15 December 1849, in Castellón de la Plana – 24 December 1898, in Paris):


title: Alfonso XII

text: In 1881 Alfonso refused to sanction a law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of 18 months. Upon the consequent resignation of Canovas del Castillo, he summoned Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, the Liberal leader, to form a new cabinet.


title: Alfonso XII

text: In November 1885, Alfonso died, just short of his 28th birthday, at the Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid. He had been suffering from tuberculosis, but the immediate cause of his death was a recurrence of dysentery.


title: Alfonso XII

text: In 1902, his widow Maria Cristina initiated a national contest to build a monument in memory of Alfonso. The winning design, by José Grases Riera, was erected in an artificial lake in Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro in 1922.


title: Alfonso XII

text: Coming to the throne at such an early age Alfonso had served no apprenticeship in the art of ruling. Benevolent and sympathetic in disposition, he won the affection of his people by fearlessly visiting districts ravaged by cholera or devastated by 1884 Andalusian earthquake. His capacity for dealing with men was considerable, and he never allowed himself to become the instrument of any particular party. During his short reign, peace was established both at home and abroad, finances were well regulated, and the various administrative services were placed on a basis that afterwards enabled Spain to pass through the disastrous war with the United States without the threat of a revolution.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Wolf–Rayet stars, often abbreviated as WR stars, are a rare heterogeneous set of stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of ionised helium and highly ionised nitrogen or carbon. The spectra indicate very high surface enhancement of heavy elements, depletion of hydrogen, and strong stellar winds. The surface temperatures of known Wolf–Rayet stars range from 20,000 K to around 210,000 K, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars. They were previously called W-type stars referring to their spectral classification.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Classic (or population I) Wolf–Rayet stars are evolved, massive stars that have completely lost their outer hydrogen and are fusing helium or heavier elements in the core. A subset of the population I WR stars show hydrogen lines in their spectra and are known as WNh stars; they are young extremely massive stars still fusing hydrogen at the core, with helium and nitrogen exposed at the surface by strong mixing and radiation-driven mass loss. A separate group of stars with WR spectra are the central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe), post-asymptotic giant branch stars that were similar to the Sun while on the main sequence, but have now ceased fusion and shed their atmospheres to reveal a bare carbon-oxygen core.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: All Wolf–Rayet stars are highly luminous objects due to their high temperatures—thousands of times the bolometric luminosity of the Sun () for the CSPNe, for the population I WR stars, to for the WNh stars—although not exceptionally bright visually since most of their radiation output is in the ultraviolet.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The naked-eye stars Gamma Velorum and Theta Muscae, as well as one of the most massive known stars, R136a1 in 30 Doradus, are all Wolf–Rayet stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: In 1867, using the 40 cm Foucault telescope at the Paris Observatory, astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: discovered three stars in the constellation Cygnus (HD 191765, HD 192103 and HD 192641, now designated as WR 134, WR 135, and WR 137 respectively) that displayed broad emission bands on an otherwise continuous spectrum.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Most stars only display absorption lines or bands in their spectra, as a result of overlying elements absorbing light energy at specific frequencies, so these were clearly unusual objects.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The nature of the emission bands in the spectra of a Wolf–Rayet star remained a mystery for several decades. E.C. Pickering theorized that the lines were caused by an unusual state of hydrogen, and it was found that this "Pickering series" of lines followed a pattern similar to the Balmer series, when half-integer quantum numbers were substituted. It was later shown that these lines resulted from the presence of helium, the chemical element having just been discovered in 1868.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Pickering noted similarities between Wolf–Rayet spectra and nebular spectra, and this similarity led to the conclusion that some or all Wolf–Rayet stars were the central stars of planetary nebulae.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: By 1929, the width of the emission bands was being attributed to Doppler broadening, and hence that the gas surrounding these stars must be moving with velocities of 300–2400 km/s along the line of sight. The conclusion was that a Wolf–Rayet star is continually ejecting gas into space, producing an expanding envelope of nebulous gas. The force ejecting the gas at the high velocities observed is radiation pressure.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: It was well known that many stars with Wolf–Rayet type spectra were the central stars of planetary nebulae, but also that many were not associated with an obvious planetary nebula or any visible nebulosity at all.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: In addition to helium, Carlyle Smith Beals identified emission lines of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen in the spectra of Wolf–Rayet stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: In 1938, the International Astronomical Union classified the spectra of Wolf–Rayet stars into types WN and WC, depending on whether the spectrum was dominated by lines of nitrogen or carbon-oxygen respectively.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: In 1969, several CSPNe with strong O emissions lines were grouped under a new "O sequence", or just OVI type. These were subsequently referred to as [WO] stars. Similar stars not associated with planetary nebulae were described shortly after and the WO classification was eventually also adopted for population I WR stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The understanding that certain late, and sometimes not-so-late, WN stars with hydrogen lines in their spectra are at a different stage of evolution from hydrogen-free WR stars has led to the introduction of the term "WNh" to distinguish these stars generally from other WN stars. They were previously referred to as WNL stars, although there are late-type WN stars without hydrogen as well as WR stars with hydrogen as early as WN5.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Wolf–Rayet stars were named on the basis of the strong broad emission lines in their spectra, identified with helium, nitrogen, carbon, silicon, and oxygen, but with hydrogen lines usually weak or absent. The first system of classification split these into stars with dominant lines of ionised nitrogen (N, N, and N) and those with dominant lines of ionised carbon (C and C) and sometimes oxygen (O – O), referred to as WN and WC respectively.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The two classes WN and WC were further split into temperature sequences WN5–WN8 and WC6–WC8 based on the relative strengths of the 541.1 nm He and 587.5 nm He lines. Wolf–Rayet emission lines frequently have a broadened absorption wing (P Cygni profile) suggesting circumstellar material. A WO sequence has also been separated from the WC sequence for even hotter stars where emission of ionised oxygen dominates that of ionised carbon, although the actual proportions of those elements in the stars are likely to be comparable. WC and WO spectra are formally distinguished based on the presence or absence of C emission. WC spectra also generally lack the O lines that are strong in WO spectra.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The WN spectral sequence was expanded to include WN2–WN9, and the definitions refined based on the relative strengths of the N lines at 463.4–464.1 nm and 531.4 nm, the N lines at 347.9–348.4 nm and 405.8 nm, and the N lines at 460.3 nm, 461.9 nm, and 493.3–494.4 nm.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: These lines are well separated from areas of strong and variable He emission and the line strengths are well correlated with temperature. Stars with spectra intermediate between WN and Ofpe have been classified as WN10 and WN11 although this nomenclature is not universally accepted.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The type WN1 was proposed for stars with neither N nor N lines, to accommodate Brey 1 and Brey 66 which appeared to be intermediate between WN2 and WN2.5.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The relative line strengths and widths for each WN sub-class were later quantified, and the ratio between the 541.1 nm He and 587.5 nm, He lines was introduced as the primary indicator of the ionisation level and hence of the spectral sub-class. The need for WN1 disappeared and both Brey 1 and Brey 66 are now classified as WN3b. The somewhat obscure WN2.5 and WN4.5 classes were dropped.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The WC spectral sequence was expanded to include WC4–WC11, although some older papers have also used WC1–WC3. The primary emission lines used to distinguish the WC sub-types are C 426.7 nm, C at 569.6 nm, C465.0 nm, C at 580.1–581.2 nm, and the O (and O) blend at 557.2–559.8 nm. The sequence was extended to include WC10 and WC11, and the subclass criteria were quantified based primarily on the relative strengths of carbon lines to rely on ionisation factors even if there were abundance variations between carbon and oxygen.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: For WO-type stars the main lines used are C at 580.1 nm, O at 340.0 nm, O (and O) blend at 557.2–559.8 nm, O at 381.1–383.4 nm, O at 567.0 nm, and O at 606.8 nm. The sequence was expanded to include WO5 and quantified based the relative strengths of the O/C and O/O lines.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: A later scheme, designed for consistency across classical WR stars and CSPNe, returned to the WO1 to WO4 sequence and adjusted the divisions.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Detailed modern studies of Wolf–Rayet stars can identify additional spectral features, indicated by suffixes to the main spectral classification:


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The classification of Wolf–Rayet spectra is complicated by the frequent association of the stars with dense nebulosity, dust clouds, or binary companions. A suffix of "+OB" is used to indicate the presence of absorption lines in the spectrum likely to be associated with a more normal companion star, or "+abs" for absorption lines with an unknown origin.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The hotter WR spectral sub-classes are described as early and the cooler ones as late, consistent with other spectral types. WNE and WCE refer to early type spectra while WNL and WCL refer to late type spectra, with the dividing line approximately at sub-class six or seven. There is no such thing as a late WO-type star. There is a strong tendency for WNE stars to be hydrogen-poor while the spectra of WNL stars frequently include hydrogen lines.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Spectral types for the central stars of planetary nebulae are qualified by surrounding them with square brackets (e.g. [WC4]). They are almost all of the WC sequence with the known [WO] stars representing the hot extension of the carbon sequence. There are also a small number of [WN] and [WC/WN] types, only discovered quite recently.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Their formation mechanism is as yet unclear. Temperatures of the planetary nebula central stars tend to the extremes when compared to population I WR stars, so [WC2] and [WC3] are common and the sequence has been extended to [WC12]. The [WC11] and [WC12] types have distinctive spectra with narrow emission lines and no He and C lines.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: This is due to the nature of the supernova at this point: a rapidly expanding helium-rich ejecta similar to an extreme Wolf–Rayet wind. The WR spectral features only last a matter of hours, the high ionisation features fading by maximum to leave only weak neutral hydrogen and helium emission, before being replaced with a traditional supernova spectrum. It has been proposed to label these spectral types with an "X", for example XWN5(h). Similarly, classical novae develop spectra consisting of broad emission bands similar to a Wolf–Rayet star. This is caused by the same physical mechanism: rapid expansion of dense gases around an extremely hot central source.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The separation of Wolf–Rayet stars from spectral class O stars of a similar temperature depends on the existence of strong emission lines of ionised helium, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen, but there are a number of stars with intermediate or confusing spectral features. For example, high luminosity O stars can develop helium and nitrogen in their spectra with some emission lines, while some WR stars have hydrogen lines, weak emission, and even absorption components. These stars have been given spectral types such as O3If/WN6 and are referred to as slash stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Class O supergiants can develop emission lines of helium and nitrogen, or emission components to some absorption lines. These are indicated by spectral peculiarity suffix codes specific to this type of star:


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: These codes may also be combined with more general spectral type qualifiers such as p or a. Common combinations include OIafpe and OIf, and Ofpe. In the 1970s it was recognised that there was a continuum of spectra from pure absorption class O to unambiguous WR types, and it was unclear whether some intermediate stars should be given a spectral type such as O8Iafpe or WN8-a. The slash notation was proposed to deal with these situations and the star Sk−67°22 was assigned the spectral type O3If/WN6-A. The criteria for distinguishing OIf, OIf/WN, and WN stars have been refined for consistency. Slash star classifications are used when the H line has a P Cygni profile; this is an absorption line in O supergiants and an emission line in WN stars. Criteria for the following slash star spectral types are given, using the nitrogen emission lines at 463.4–464.1 nm, 405.8 nm, and 460.3–462.0 nm, together with a standard star for each type:


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Another set of slash star spectral types is in use for Ofpe/WN stars. These stars have O supergiant spectra plus nitrogen and helium emission, and P Cygni profiles. Alternatively they can be considered to be WN stars with unusually low ionisation levels and hydrogen. The slash notation for these stars was controversial and an alternative was to extend the WR nitrogen sequence to WN10 and WN11 Other authors preferred to use the WNha notation, for example WN9ha for WR 108. A recent recommendation is to use an O spectral type such as O8Iaf if the 447.1 nm He line is in absorption and a WR class of WN9h or WN9ha if the line has a P Cygni profile. However, the Ofpe/WN slash notation as well as WN10 and WN11 classifications continue to be widely used.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: A third group of stars with spectra containing features of both O class stars and WR stars has been identified. Nine stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud have spectra that contain both WN3 and O3V features, but do not appear to be binaries. Many of the WR stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud also have very early WN spectra plus high excitation absorption features. It has been suggested that these could be a missing link leading to classical WN stars or the result of tidal stripping by a low-mass companion.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The first three Wolf–Rayet stars to be identified, coincidentally all with hot O-class companions, had already been numbered in the HD catalogue. These stars and others were referred to as Wolf–Rayet stars from their initial discovery but specific naming conventions for them would not be created until 1962 in the "fourth" catalogue of galactic Wolf–Rayet stars. The first three catalogues were not specifically lists of Wolf–Rayet stars and they used only existing nomenclature. The fourth catalogue numbered the Wolf–Rayet stars sequentially in order of right ascension. The fifth catalogue used the same numbers prefixed with MR after the author of the fourth catalogue, plus an additional sequence of numbers prefixed with LS for new discoveries. Neither of these numbering schemes is in common use.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The sixth Catalogue of Galactic Wolf–Rayet stars was the first to actually bear that name, as well as to describe the previous five catalogues by that name. It also introduced the WR numbers widely used ever since for galactic WR stars. These are again a numerical sequence from WR 1 to WR 158 in order of right ascension. The seventh catalogue and its annex use the same numbering scheme and insert new stars into the sequence using lower case letter suffixes, for example WR 102ka for one of the numerous WR stars discovered in the galactic centre. Modern high volume identification surveys use their own numbering schemes for the large numbers of new discoveries. An IAU working group has accepted recommendations to expand the numbering system from the Catalogue of Galactic Wolf–Rayet stars so that additional discoveries are given the closest existing WR number plus a numeric suffix in order of discovery. This applies to all discoveries since the 2006 annex, although some of these have already been named under the previous nomenclature; thus WR 42e is now numbered WR 42-1.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Wolf–Rayet stars in external galaxies are numbered using different schemes. In the Large Magellanic Cloud, the most widespread and complete nomenclature for WR stars is from "The Fourth Catalogue of Population I Wolf–Rayet stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud" prefixed by , for example . Many of these stars are also referred to by their third catalogue number, for example Brey 77. As of 2018, 154 WR stars are catalogued in the LMC, mostly WN but including about twenty-three WCs as well as three of the extremely rare WO class. Many of these stars are often referred to by their RMC (Radcliffe observatory Magellanic Cloud) numbers, frequently abbreviated to just R, for example R136a1.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: In the Small Magellanic Cloud SMC WR numbers are used, usually referred to as AB numbers, for example AB7. There are only twelve known WR stars in the SMC, a very low number thought to be due to the low metallicity of that galaxy


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Wolf–Rayet stars are a normal stage in the evolution of very massive stars, in which strong, broad emission lines of helium and nitrogen ("WN" sequence), carbon ("WC" sequence), and oxygen ("WO" sequence) are visible. Due to their strong emission lines they can be identified in nearby galaxies. About 500 Wolf–Rayets are catalogued in our own Milky Way Galaxy. This number has changed dramatically during the last few years as the result of photometric and spectroscopic surveys in the near-infrared dedicated to discovering this kind of object in the Galactic plane. It is expected that there are fewer than 1,000 WR stars in the rest of the Local Group galaxies, with around 166 known in the Magellanic Clouds, 206 in M33, and 154 in M31. Outside the local group, whole galaxy surveys have found thousands more WR stars and candidates. For example, over a thousand WR stars have been detected in M101, from magnitude 21 to 25. WR stars are expected to be particularly common in starburst galaxies and especially Wolf–Rayet galaxies.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The characteristic emission lines are formed in the extended and dense high-velocity wind region enveloping the very hot stellar photosphere, which produces a flood of UV radiation that causes fluorescence in the line-forming wind region. This ejection process uncovers in succession, first the nitrogen-rich products of CNO cycle burning of hydrogen (WN stars), and later the carbon-rich layer due to He burning (WC and WO-type stars).


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: It can be seen that the WNh stars are completely different objects from the WN stars without hydrogen. Despite the similar spectra, they are much more massive, much larger, and some of the most luminous stars known. They have been detected as early as WN5h in the Magellanic Clouds. The nitrogen seen in the spectrum of WNh stars is still the product of CNO cycle fusion in the core, but it appears at the surface of the most massive stars due to rotational and convectional mixing while still in the core hydrogen burning phase, rather than after the outer envelope is lost during core helium fusion.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Some Wolf–Rayet stars of the carbon sequence ("WC"), especially those belonging to the latest types, are noticeable due to their production of dust. Usually this takes place on those belonging to binary systems as a product of the collision of the stellar winds forming the pair, as is the case of the famous binary WR 104; however this process occurs on single ones too.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: A few - roughly 10% - of the central stars of planetary nebulae, despite their much lower masses – typically ~0.6 "M" – are also observationally of the WR-type; i.e. they show emission line spectra with broad lines from helium, carbon and oxygen. Denoted [WR], they are much older objects descended from evolved low-mass stars and are closely related to white dwarfs, rather than to the very young, very massive population I stars that comprise the bulk of the WR class. These are now generally excluded from the class denoted as Wolf–Rayet stars, or referred to as Wolf–Rayet-type stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The numbers and properties of Wolf–Rayet stars vary with the chemical composition of their progenitor stars. A primary driver of this difference is the rate of mass loss at different levels of metallicity. Higher metallicity leads to high mass loss, which affects the evolution of massive stars and also the properties of Wolf–Rayet stars. Higher levels of mass loss cause stars to lose their outer layers before an iron core develops and collapses, so that the more massive red supergiants evolve back to hotter temperatures before exploding as a supernova, and the most massive stars never become red supergiants. In the Wolf–Rayet stage, higher mass loss leads to stronger depletion of the layers outside the convective core, lower hydrogen surface abundances and more rapid stripping of helium to produce a WC spectrum.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: These trends can be observed in the various galaxies of the local group, where metallicity varies from near-solar levels in the Milky Way, somewhat lower in M31, lower still in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and much lower in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Strong metallicity variations are seen across individual galaxies, with M33 and the Milky Way showing higher metallicities closer to the centre, and M31 showing higher metallicity in the disk than in the halo. Thus the SMC is seen to have few WR stars compared to its stellar formation rate and no WC stars at all (one star has a WO spectral type), the Milky Way has roughly equal numbers of WN and WC stars and a large total number of WR stars, and the other main galaxies have somewhat fewer WR stars and more WN than WC types. LMC, and especially SMC, Wolf–Rayets have weaker emission and a tendency to higher atmospheric hydrogen fractions. SMC WR stars almost universally show some hydrogen and even absorption lines even at the earliest spectral types, due to weaker winds not entirely masking the photosphere.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The maximum mass of a main-sequence star that can evolve through a red supergiant phase and back to a WNL star is calculated to be around in the Milky Way, in the LMC, and in the SMC. The more evolved WNE and WC stages are only reached by stars with an initial mass over at near-solar metallicity, in the LMC. Normal single star evolution is not expected to produce any WNE or WC stars at SMC metallicity.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Mass loss is influenced by a star's rotation rate, especially strongly at low metallicity. Fast rotation contributes to mixing of core fusion products through the rest of the star, enhancing surface abundances of heavy elements, and driving mass loss. Rotation causes stars to remain on the main sequence longer than non-rotating stars, evolve more quickly away from the red supergiant phase, or even evolve directly from the main sequence to hotter temperatures for very high masses, high metallicity or very rapid rotation.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Stellar mass loss produces a loss of angular momentum and this quickly brakes the rotation of massive stars. Very massive stars at near-solar metallicity should be braked almost to a standstill while still on the main sequence, while at SMC metallicity they can continue to rotate rapidly even at the highest observed masses. Rapid rotation of massive stars may account for the unexpected properties and numbers of SMC WR stars, for example their relatively high temperatures and luminosities.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Massive stars in binary systems can develop into Wolf–Rayet stars due to stripping by a companion rather than inherent mass loss due to a stellar wind. This process is relatively insensitive to the metallicity or rotation of the individual stars and is expected to produce a consistent set of WR stars across all the local group galaxies. As a result, the fraction of WR stars produced through the binary channel, and therefore the number of WR stars observed to be in binaries, should be higher in low metallicity environments. Calculations suggest that the binary fraction of WR stars observed in the SMC should be as high as 98%, although less than half are actually observed to have a massive companion. The binary fraction in the Milky Way is around 20%, in line with theoretical calculations.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: A significant proportion of WR stars are surrounded by nebulosity associated directly with the star, not just the normal background nebulosity associated with any massive star forming region, and not a planetary nebula formed by a post-AGB star. The nebulosity presents a variety of forms and classification has been difficult. Many were originally catalogued as planetary nebulae and sometimes only a careful multi-wavelength study can distinguish a planetary nebula around a low mass post-AGB star from a similarly shaped nebula around a more massive core helium-burning star.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: A Wolf–Rayet galaxy is a type of starburst galaxy where a sufficient number of WR stars exist that their characteristic emission line spectra become visible in the overall spectrum of the galaxy. Specifically a broad emission feature due to the 468.6 nm He and nearby spectral lines is the defining characteristic of a Wolf–Rayet galaxy. The relatively short lifetime of WR stars means that the starbursts in such galaxies must have occurred within the last few million years, and must have lasted less than a million years or else the WR emission would be swamped by large numbers of other luminous stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Theories about how WR stars form, develop, and die have been slow to form compared to the explanation of less extreme stellar evolution. They are rare, distant, and often obscured, and even into the 21st century many aspects of their lives are unclear.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Although Wolf–Rayet stars have been clearly identified as an unusual and distinctive class of stars since the 19th century,


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: the nature of these stars was uncertain until towards the end of the 20th century. Before the 1960s, even the classification of WR stars was highly uncertain, and their nature and evolution was essentially unknown. The very similar appearance of the central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe) and the much more luminous classical WR stars contributed to the uncertainty.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: By about 1960, the distinction between CSPNe and massive luminous classical WR stars was more clear. Studies showed that they were small dense stars surrounded by extensive circumstellar material, but not yet clear whether the material was expelled from the star or contracting onto it.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The unusual abundances of nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen, as well as the lack of hydrogen, were recognised, but the reasons remained obscure.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: It was recognised that WR stars were very young and very rare, but it was still open to debate whether they were evolving towards or away from the main sequence.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: By the 1980s, WR stars were accepted as the descendants of massive OB stars, although their exact evolutionary state in relation to the main sequence and other evolved massive stars was still unknown.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Theories that the preponderance of WR stars in massive binaries and their lack of hydrogen could be due to gravitational stripping had been largely ignored or abandoned.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: WR stars were being proposed as possible progenitors of supernovae, and particularly the newly-discovered type Ib supernovae, lacking hydrogen but apparently associated with young massive stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: By the start of the 21st century, WR stars were largely accepted as massive stars that had exhausted their core hydrogen, left the main sequence, and expelled most of their atmospheres, leaving behind a small hot core of helium and heavier fusion products.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Most WR stars, the classical population I type, are now understood as being a natural stage in the evolution of the most massive stars (not counting the less common planetary nebula central stars), either after a period as a red supergiant, after a period as a blue supergiant, or directly from the most massive main-sequence stars. Only the lower mass red supergiants are expected to explode as a supernova at that stage, while more massive red supergiants progress back to hotter temperatures as they expel their atmospheres. Some explode while at the yellow hypergiant or LBV stage, but many become Wolf–Rayet stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: They have lost or burnt almost all of their hydrogen and are now fusing helium in their cores, or heavier elements for a very brief period at the end of their lives.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Massive main-sequence stars create a very hot core which fuses hydrogen very rapidly via the CNO process and results in strong convection throughout the whole star. This causes mixing of helium to the surface, a process that is enhanced by rotation, possibly by differential rotation where the core is spun up to a faster rotation than the surface. Such stars also show nitrogen enhancement at the surface at a very young age, caused by changes in the proportions of carbon and nitrogen due to the CNO cycle. The enhancement of heavy elements in the atmosphere, as well as increases in luminosity, create strong stellar winds which are the source of the emission line spectra. These stars develop an Of spectrum, Of* if they are sufficiently hot, which develops into a WNh spectrum as the stellar winds increase further. This explains the high mass and luminosity of the WNh stars, which are still burning hydrogen at the core and have lost little of their initial mass. These will eventually expand into blue supergiants (LBVs?) as hydrogen at the core becomes depleted, or if mixing is efficient enough (e.g. through rapid rotation) they may progress directly to WN stars without hydrogen.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: WR stars are likely to end their lives violently rather than fade away to a white dwarf. Thus every star with an initial mass more than about 9 times the Sun would inevitably result in a supernova explosion (with the exception of direct collapse), many of them from the WR stage.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: A simple progression of WR stars from low to hot temperatures, resulting finally in WO-type stars, is not supported by observation. WO-type stars are extremely rare and all the known examples are more luminous and more massive than the relatively common WC stars. Alternative theories suggest either that the WO-type stars are only formed from the most massive main-sequence stars, and/or that they form an extremely short-lived end stage of just a few thousand years before exploding, with the WC phase corresponding to the core helium burning phase and the WO phase to nuclear burning stages beyond. It is still unclear whether the WO spectrum is purely the result of ionisation effects at very high temperature, reflects an actual chemical abundance difference, or if both effects occur to varying degrees.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Wolf–Rayet stars form from massive stars, although the evolved population I stars have lost half or more of their initial masses by the time they show a WR appearance. For example, γ Velorum A currently has a mass around 9 times the Sun, but began with a mass at least 40 times the Sun. High-mass stars are very rare, both because they form less often and because they have short lives. This means that Wolf–Rayet stars themselves are extremely rare because they only form from the most massive main-sequence stars and because they are a relatively short-lived phase in the lives of those stars. This also explains why type Ib/c supernovae are less common than type II, since they result from higher-mass stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: WNh stars, spectroscopically similar but actually a much less evolved star which has only just started to expel its atmosphere, are an exception and still retain much of their initial mass. The most massive stars currently known are all WNh stars rather than O-type main-sequence stars, an expected situation because such stars show helium and nitrogen at the surface only a few thousand years after they form, possibly before they become visible through the surrounding gas cloud. An alternative explanation is that these stars are so massive that they could not form as normal main-sequence stars, instead being the result of mergers of less extreme stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The difficulties of modelling the observed numbers and types of Wolf–Rayet stars through single star evolution have led to theories that they form through binary interactions which could accelerate loss of the outer layers of a star through mass exchange. WR 122 is a potential example that has a flat disk of gas encircling the star, almost 2 trillion miles wide, and may have a companion star that stripped its outer envelope.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: It is widely suspected that many type Ib and type Ic supernova progenitors are WR stars, although no conclusive identification has been made of such a progenitor.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Type Ib supernovae lack hydrogen lines in their spectra. The more common type Ic supernovae lack both hydrogen and helium lines in their spectra. The expected progenitors for such supernova are massive stars that respectively lack hydrogen in their outer layers, or lack both hydrogen and helium. WR stars are just such objects. All WR stars lack hydrogen and in some WR stars, most notably the WO group, helium is also strongly depleted. WR stars are expected to experience core collapse when they have generated an iron core, and resulting supernova explosions would be of type Ib or Ic. In some cases it is possible that direct collapse of the core to a black hole would not produce a visible explosion.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: WR stars are very luminous due to their high temperatures but not visually bright, especially the hottest examples that are expected to make up most supernova progenitors. Theory suggests that the progenitors of type Ibc supernovae observed to date would not be bright enough to be detected, although they place constraints on the properties of those progenitors. A possible progenitor star which has disappeared at the location of supernova iPTF13bvn may be a single WR star, although other analyses favour a less massive binary system with a stripped star or helium giant. The only other possible WR supernova progenitor is for SN 2017ein, and again it is uncertain whether the progenitor is a single massive WR star or binary system.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: In 2022 astronomers from the Gran Telescopio Canarias reported the first supernova explosion of a Wolf-Rayet star. SN 2019hgp was a type Icn supernova and is also the first in which the element neon has been detected.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: By far the most visible example of a Wolf–Rayet star is γ Velorum (WR 11), which is a bright naked eye star for those located south of 40 degrees northern latitude, although most of the light comes from an O7.5 giant companion. Due to the exotic nature of its spectrum (bright emission lines in lieu of dark absorption lines) it is dubbed the "Spectral Gem of the Southern Skies". The only other Wolf–Rayet star brighter than magnitude 6 is θ Muscae (WR 48), a triple star with two O class companions. Both are WC stars. The "ex" WR star WR 79a (HR 6272) is brighter than magnitude 6 but is now considered to be a peculiar O8 supergiant with strong emission. The next brightest at magnitude 6.4 is WR 22, a massive binary with a WN7h primary.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: The most massive and most luminous star currently known, R136a1, is also a Wolf–Rayet star of the WNh type that is still fusing hydrogen in its core. This type of star, which includes many of the most luminous and most massive stars, is very young and usually found only in the centre of the densest star clusters. Occasionally a runaway WNh star such as VFTS 682 is found outside such clusters, probably having been ejected from a multiple system or by interaction with other stars.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: An example of a triple star system containing a Wolf–Rayet binary is Apep. It releases huge amounts of carbon dust driven by their extreme stellar winds. As the two stars orbit one another, the dust gets wrapped into a glowing sooty tail.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: All of the very hottest non-degenerate stars (the hottest few) are Wolf–Rayet stars, the hottest of which being WR 102, which seems to be as hot as 210,000 K, followed by WR 142 which is around 200,000 K in temperature. LMC195-1, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, should have a similar temperature, but at the moment this temperature is unknown.


title: Wolf–Rayet star

text: Only a minority of planetary nebulae have WR type central stars, but a considerable number of well-known planetary nebulae do have them.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: "Famous" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, produced and co-written by fellow American hip hop artist/producer Havoc. It serves as the lead single from his seventh studio album "The Life of Pablo" (2016). The song features vocals from Barbadian singer Rihanna and ad-libs from American hip hop artist Swizz Beatz, and enlists samples of Jamaican singer Sister Nancy's song "Bam Bam" and "Do What You Gotta Do" by American singer Nina Simone. The single was serviced to US urban and rhythmic contemporary radio stations on March 28, 2016, and was confirmed for release three days before. It was sent to Italian contemporary hit radio stations on April 15 by Universal.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: Upon its release, "Famous" was met with both critical acclaim and scrutiny for a controversial lyrical reference to American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, partially in relation to West's interruption of her 2009 VMA acceptance speech. After West claimed to have obtained Swift's approval over the criticized lyric, Swift denied the claim, criticizing West and denouncing the lyric as "misogynistic" in a statement. Several months later, West's wife Kim Kardashian released a three-minute video capturing parts of a conversation between Swift and West in which Swift appears to approve a portion of the lyric. In 2020, a 25-minute uncut version of the video surfaced, establishing that West did not appear to tell Swift about the specific line ("I made that bitch famous") which she had objected to.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: In June 2016, West released a music video for "Famous" depicting wax figures of Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner and Bill Cosby all sleeping nude in a shared bed. It was released to a polarized response. The wax figures used in the video were later exhibited as a sculpture. The song was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: In May 2016, Chance the Rapper shared a snippet of a demo version of the song during an interview with Zane Lowe of Beats 1 that featured a verse from him. "Famous" was originally slated to be released under the title of "Nina Chop", as it was called in West's handwritten notes, and include vocals from American musician Young Thug. In October 2016, another demo version leaked online, featuring two verses from Young Thug and him singing alongside the Nina Simone sample. Ab-libs were also provided by Young Thug for West's vocals, with the demo revealing more explicit lyrics about Taylor Swift from West and him insulting his ex-girlfriend in American model and actress Amber Rose. "Famous" features a segue from "braggadocious, bell-ringing hip-hop" into samples of Sister Nancy's dancehall song "Bam Bam" chopped up over the chord progression featured in Nina Simone's "Do What You Gotta Do". After the initial release of "The Life of Pablo", "Famous" was among the several tracks to receive alterations in West's March 2016 update of the album; changes included a different mix and slightly altered lyrics. On August 6, 2020, rapper Rick Ross played a version with an unreleased verse from him in the song during his "Verzuz" battle with 2 Chainz.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: "Chicago Tribune" critic Greg Kot called the song "an example of just how brilliant and infuriating West can be at the same time", noting its controversial Swift-referencing lyric while going on to praise the production and Rihanna's guest vocals. Jayson Greene of "Pitchfork" wrote that the controversial lyric "feels like a piece of bathroom graffiti made to purposefully reignite the most racially-charged rivalry in 21st-century pop". "The Guardian"'s Alexis Petridis described the song's position on "The Life of Pablo" as being "a flatly fantastic piece of music that may be the best thing on the album".


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: Kanye West is a genius musician and a world-class provocateur, and "Famous" is yet another piece of proof those two qualities are inextricably intertwined. He weaves "The Life of Pablo"s hardest-knocking beat, chords cribbed from Nina Simone, and Sister Nancy's reggae classic "Bam Bam" into a vibrant tapestry, and he uses all of that beauty to crack open his long-simmering spat with the biggest pop star on the planet. The court of public opinion won't ever reach a verdict on Taylor [Swift] v. Kanye — did she consent to being mentioned? Did she double-cross Kanye? At least we can all agree that "Famous" captures West in all of his complicated, vital glory.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: The track was positioned at number 10 on "Time"s list of 2016's best songs. "Slant" named it the second best single of 2016. German magazine "Juice" named it the seventh best international rap song of 2016.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: The song received Grammy nominations for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017, but ended up losing both to "Hotline Bling" by Canadian rapper and singer Drake.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: The song includes a controversial lyric in reference to West's interruption of Taylor Swift's 2009 VMA acceptance speech and its aftermath:


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: For all my South Side niggas that know me bestI feel like me and Taylor might still have sexWhy? I made that bitch famous(Goddamn!)I made that bitch famous.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: Upon the song's release, the lyric was heavily publicized and criticized by media outlets, though West defended the line, saying, "I called Taylor and had an hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings." In response, Swift's spokesperson adamantly denied that West asked for her approval for the controversial lyric, with an official statement claiming that Swift had only been asked to release West's song on her Twitter page, and had instead warned him not to release a track "with such a strong misogynistic message". In Swift's 2016 Grammy Awards victory speech for Album of the Year, she seemingly made a veiled reference to West's lyric, referring to "those people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your "fame.""


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: In a June 2016 interview with "GQ", West's then wife Kim Kardashian claimed the couple possessed a video recording of West's phone call with Swift, in which Swift could be heard amiably discussing and approving the lyrics. She clarified that Swift's camp had threatened legal action should the video be released, and argued that "I swear, my husband gets so much shit for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved." In July 2016, Kardashian posted a 3-minute recording of the phone conversation online, in which Swift can allegedly be heard approving West's lyric, describing it as a "compliment" and a show of friendship. Due to the release of this video, Swift has been accused of lying about approving the lyric. In the edited video, Swift appears to say: Yeah, go with whatever line makes you feel better, it's obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that's really nice [...] I don't think anyone would listen to that and be like 'that's a real diss, she must be crying.' You've gotta tell the story the way that it happened to you and the way that you experienced it. You honestly didn't know who I was before that. It doesn't matter that I sold 7 million of that album before you did that which is what happened, you didn't know who I was before that. It's fine. [...] If people ask me about it, I think it would be great for me to be like, 'Look, he called me and told me about the line.'


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: West can be heard telling Swift, "I just had a responsibility to you as a friend, you know, and thanks for being so cool about it." The recording of the call without Swift's consent was illegal and broke Californian telephone call recording law. Following the video's release, Swift released a statement stating "being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination", claiming West did not tell her she would be referred to as "that bitch".


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: On the same day as the video's release, Kardashian tweeted about National Snake Day, saying "They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days! 🐍". This tweet was interpreted as being aimed at Swift, and the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsASnake became trending. In September 2016, Swift started using a filter created by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to automatically delete comments using the snake emoji on her profile.


title: Famous (Kanye West song)

text: By August 2017, Swift was using images of snakes in the promotional material of her sixth studio album, "Reputation" (2017). They were worked into merchandise, the music video for its lead single "Look What You Made Me Do", and her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour.