title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: This is the first of two adaptations of Wells's classic science fiction filmed by George Pal. It is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Pal had planned for the final third of the film to be shot in the new 3D process to visually enhance the Martians' attack on Los Angeles. The plan was dropped before production began. World War II stock footage was used to produce a montage of destruction to show the worldwide invasion, with armies of all nations joining together to fight the invaders.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Dr. Forrester's and the other scientists' Pacific Tech (Pacific Institute of Science and Technology, represented by buildings on the Paramount studio lot) has since been part of other films and television episodes when it was decided to include a scientific California university without using the name of a real one.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The city of Corona, California was used as the shooting location of the fictitious town of Linda Rosa. St. Brendan's Catholic Church, at 310 South Van Ness Avenue in Los Angeles, was the setting for the climactic scene in which a large group of desperate people gather to pray. The rolling hills and main thoroughfares of El Sereno, Los Angeles, were also used in the film.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: On the commentary track of the 2005 Special Collector's DVD Edition of "War of the Worlds", Robinson and Barry say that the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker is in a treetop, center screen, when the first large Martian meteorite-ship crashes through the sky, near the beginning of the film. George Pal and Woody's creator, Walter Lantz, were close friends. Pal tried always to include Woody out of friendship and for good luck in his productions. Joe Adamson wrote years later: "Walter had been close friends with Pal ever since Pal had left Europe in advance of the war and arrived in Hollywood".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The prototype Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing is prominently featured in the atomic-bombing sequence. Pal and Haskin incorporated Northrop color footage of a YB-49 test flight, originally used in Paramount's "Popular Science" theatrical shorts, to show the Flying Wing's takeoff and bomb run.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Caroline Blake has written that the film is very different from the original novel in its attitude toward religion, as reflected especially in the depiction of clergymen. "The staunchly secularist Wells depicted a cowardly and thoroughly uninspiring Curate, whom the narrator regards with disgust, with which the reader is invited to concur. In the film, there is instead the sympathetic and heroic Pastor Collins who dies a martyr's death. And then the film's final scene in the church, strongly emphasizing the Divine nature of Humanity's deliverance, has no parallel in the original book."


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Pal's adaptation has many other differences from H. G. Wells's novel. The closest resemblance is probably that of the antagonists. The film's aliens are indeed Martians and invade Earth for the same reasons as those stated in the novel. The state of Mars suggests that it is becoming unable to support life, leading to the Martians' decision to try to make Earth their new home. They land in the same way, by crashing to Earth. The novel's spacecraft, however, are large, cylindrical projectiles fired from the Martian surface from a cannon, instead of the film's meteorite-spaceships; but the Martians emerge from their craft in the same way, by unscrewing a large, round hatch. They appear to have no use for humans in the film. In the novel, however, the invaders are observed "feeding" on humans by fatally transfusing their captives' blood supply directly into Martian bodies through pipettes. There is later speculation about the Martians' eventually using trained human slaves to hunt down all remaining survivors after they conquer Earth. In the film, the Martians do not bring their fast-growing red weed with them, but they are defeated by Earth microorganisms, as in the novel. However, they die from the effects of the microorganisms within three days of the landing of the first meteorite-ship; in the novel, the Martians die within about three weeks of their invasion of England.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The film's Martians bear no physical resemblance to those of the novel, who are described as bear-sized, roundish creatures with grayish-brown bodies, "merely heads", with quivering beak-like, V-shaped mouths dripping saliva. They have sixteen whip-like tentacles in two groupings of eight arranged on each side of their mouths and two large "luminous, disk-like eyes". Because of budget constraints, their film counterparts are short, reddish-brown creatures with two long, thin arms with three long, thin fingers with suction-cup tips. The Martian head is a broad "face" at the top-front of its broad-shouldered upper torso, the only apparent feature of which is a single, large eye with three distinctly colored lenses of red, blue, and green. The Martians' lower extremities are never shown. Some speculative designs suggest three thin legs resembling their fingers, and others show them as bipeds with short, stubby legs with three-toed feet.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The film's Martian war machines are more like those of the book than they first seem. The novel's war machines are 10-story-tall fast-moving tripods made of glittering metal, each with a "brazen hood" atop the body, moving "to and fro" as the machine moves. A heat-ray projector on an articulated arm is connected to the front of each machine's main body. However, the film's war machines are shaped like manta rays, with a bulbous, elongated green window at the front, through which the Martians observe their surroundings. On top of the machine is the cobra-like head heat-ray attached to a long, narrow, goose-neck extension, which can fire in any direction. They can be mistaken for flying machines, but Forrester states that they are lifted by invisible legs. One scene when the first war machine emerges has faint traces of three "energy legs" beneath that leave three sparking traces where they touch the burning ground, so they are tripods, though they are never so called. Whereas the novel's machines have no protection against the British army and navy cannon fire, the film's war machines have a force field surrounding them, described by Forrester as a "protective blister".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The Martian weaponry is also partially unchanged. The heat-ray has the very same effect as that of the novel. However, the novel's heat-ray mechanism is briefly described as just a rounded hump when its silhouette rises above the landing crater's rim; it fires an invisible energy beam in a wide arc while still in the pit made by the first Martian cylinder after it crash-lands. The film's first heat-ray scene has a projector shaped like a cobra head with a single, red pulsing light, which likely acts as a targeting telescope for the Martians inside their war machine shaped like a manta ray. The novel describes another weapon, the "black smoke" used to kill all life; the war machines fire canisters containing a black smoke-powder through a bazooka-like tube accessory. When dispersed, this black powder is lethal to all life forms who breathe it. This weapon is replaced in the film by a Martian "skeleton beam" of green pulsing energy bursts fired from the wingtips of the manta-ray machines; these bursts break apart the sub-atomic bonds that hold matter together. These beams are used off-screen to obliterate several French cities.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The plot of the film is very different from the novel, which tells the story of a 19th-century writer (with additional narration in later chapters by his medical-student younger brother), who journeys through Victorian London and its southwestern suburbs while the Martians attack, eventually being reunited with his wife; the film's protagonist is a California scientist who falls in love with a former college student after the Martian invasion begins. However, certain points of the film's plot are similar to the novel, from the crash-landing of the Martian meteorite-ships to their eventual defeat by Earth's microorganisms. Forrester also experiences similar events like the book's narrator, with an ordeal in a destroyed house, observing an actual Martian up close, and eventually reuniting with his love interest at the end of the story. The film has more of a Cold War theme with the atomic bomb against the invading enemy and the mass destruction that such a global war would inflict on humanity.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: An effort was made to avoid the stereotypical flying saucer look of UFOs. The Martian war machines were designed by Albert Nozaki with a sinister manta ray shape floating above the ground. Three Martian war machine props were made of copper. The same blueprints were used a decade later (without neck and cobra head) to construct the alien spacecraft in the film "Robinson Crusoe on Mars", also directed by Byron Haskin. That prop was reportedly melted for a scrap copper recycling drive.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Each Martian machine is topped with an articulated metal neck and arm, culminating in the cobra head heat ray projector, housing a single electronic eye that operates both as a periscope and as a weapon. The electronic eye houses a heat ray, which pulses and fires red sparking beams, all accompanied by thrumming and a high-pitched clattering shriek when the ray was used. The distinctive sound effect of the weapon was created by an orchestra performing a written score, mainly with violins and cellos. For many years, it was utilized as a standard ray-gun sound on children's television shows and the science-fiction anthology series "The Outer Limits", particularly in the episode "The Children of Spider County".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The machines also fire a pulsing green ray (referred to in dialog as "a skeleton beam") from their wingtips, generating a distinctive sound and disintegrating their targets. This second weapon is a replacement for the chemical weapon black smoke described in Wells's novel. Its sound effect (created by striking a high tension cable with a hammer) was reused in "", accompanying the launch of photon torpedoes. The sound when the Martian ships begin to move was also reused by "Star Trek" as the sound of an overloading hand phaser. Another prominent sound effect is a chattering, synthesized echo, perhaps representing some kind of Martian sonar sounds like hissing electronic rattlesnakes.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: When the large Marine force opens fire on the Martians with everything in its heavy arsenal, each Martian machine is protected by an impenetrable force field that resembles, when briefly visible between explosions, the clear jar placed over a mantle clock, or a bell jar with a cylindrical shape and a hemispherical top. This effect was accomplished with simple matte paintings on clear glass, which were then photographed and combined with other effects, and optically printed together during post-production.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The disintegration effect took 144 separate matte paintings to create. The sound effects of the war machines' heat rays firing were created by mixing the sound of three electric guitars being recorded backwards. The Martian's scream in the farmhouse ruins was created by mixing the sound of a microphone scraping along dry ice being combined with a woman's recorded scream and then reversed.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: There were many problems trying to create the walking tripods of Wells's novel. It was eventually decided to make the Martian machines appear to float in the air on three invisible legs. To visualize them, subtle special effects of downward lights were to be added directly under the moving war machines; however, in the final film, these only appear when one of the first machines can be seen rising from the Martian's landing site. It proved too difficult and dangerous to mark out the invisible legs while smoke and other effects must remain visible beneath the machines, and the effect also created a major fire hazard. In all of the subsequent scenes, however, the three invisible leg beams create small, sparking fires where they touch the ground.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: For 50 years, from the late 1960s when "The War of the Worlds" 3-strip Technicolor prints were replaced by the easier-to-use and less expensive Eastman Color stock, the quality of the film's special effects suffered dramatically. This degraded the lighting, timing, and image resolution, causing the original invisible overhead wires suspending the Martian war machines to become increasingly visible with each succeeding film and video format change. This led many, including respected critics, to mistakenly believe the effects were originally of low quality.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The official Hollywood premiere of "The War of the Worlds" was on February 20, 1953, although it did not go into general theatrical release until late that year. The film was both a critical and box-office success. It accrued $2,000,000 in distributors' domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals, making it the year's biggest science fiction film hit. "Rentals" refers to the distributor and studio's share of the box-office gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: In "The New York Times", A. H. Weiler's review commented: "[The film is] an imaginatively conceived, professionally turned adventure, which makes excellent use of Technicolor, special effects by a crew of experts, and impressively drawn backgrounds ... Director Byron Haskin, working from a tight script by Barré Lyndon, has made this excursion suspenseful, fast and, on occasion, properly chilling". "Brog" in "Variety" said, "[It is] a socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome as a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation ... what starring honors there are go strictly to the special effects, which create an atmosphere of soul-chilling apprehension so effectively [that] audiences will actually take alarm at the danger posed in the picture. It can't be recommended for the weak-hearted, but to the many who delight in an occasional good scare, it's socko entertainment of hackle-raising quality". "The Monthly Film Bulletin" of the UK called it "the best of the postwar American science-fiction films; the Martian machines have a quality of real terror, their sinister apparitions, prowlings and pulverisings are spectacularly well done, and the scenes of panic and destruction are staged with real flair". Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" called it "to put it gently, terrific", and "for my money, the "King Kong" of its day".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: "The War of the Worlds" won an Academy Award for Special Effects as the sole nominee that year. Everett Douglas was nominated for Film Editing, and the Paramount Studio Sound Department and Loren L. Ryder were nominated for Sound Recording.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: "The War of the Worlds" still receives high acclaim from some critics. On the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 89% rating based on 35 critics, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The consensus states: "Though it's dated in spots, "The War of the Worlds" retains an unnerving power, updating H. G. Wells's classic sci-fi tale to the Cold War era and featuring some of the best special effects of any 1950s film".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: In 2018, a new, fully restored 4K Dolby Vision transfer from the original three-strip Technicolor negatives was published on iTunes. In July 2020, the film was reissued on Blu-ray and DVD by The Criterion Collection in the United States using the same 4K remaster and restoration. The Blu-ray documentation says the transfer process and careful color and contrast calibrations allowed the special effects to be restored to Technicolor release print quality.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: "The War of the Worlds" was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant in 2011 by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. The Registry noted the film's release during the early years of the Cold War and how it used "the apocalyptic paranoia of the atomic age". The Registry also cited the special effects, which at its release were called "soul-chilling, hackle-raising, and not for the faint of heart".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The Martians were ranked the 27th best villains in the American Film Institute's list AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The 1988 "War of the Worlds" TV series is a sequel to the Pal film. Ann Robinson reprises her role as Sylvia Van Buren in three episodes. Robinson also reprises her role in two other films, first as Dr. Van Buren in 1988's "Midnight Movie Massacre" and then as Dr. Sylvia Van Buren in 2005's "The Naked Monster".


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The 1996 film "Independence Day" has several allusions to Pal's 1953 "War of the Worlds". The failed attempt of a dropped atomic bomb is replaced with a nuclear-armed cruise missile launched by a B-2 Spirit bomber (a direct descendant of the Northrop YB-49 bomber in the 1953 film) and Captain Hiller being based in El Toro, California, which Dr. Forrester mentions as the home of the Marines, which make the first assault on the invading Martians in Pal's film.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: The Asylum's 2005 direct-to-DVD "H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds" has mild references to the Pal version. The Martian's mouth has three tongues that closely resemble the three Martian fingers in the Pal film. The Asylum film has scenes of power outages after the aliens' arrival via meteorite-ships. As in the Pal film, refugees hide in the mountains, instead of hiding underground as in the Wells novel, and the protagonist actively tries to fight the aliens by biological means.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Steven Spielberg's 2005 version, "War of the Worlds", although an adaptation of the Wells novel, has several references to the 1953 film. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson have cameo appearances near the end, and the invading aliens have three-fingered hands but are reptilian, walking tripods. A long, snaking, alien camera probe is deployed by the invaders. In his 2018 film "Ready Player One", Spielberg included a fallen Martian war machine more akin to the 1953 film.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: Tomohiro Nishikado, creator of the breakthrough 1978 video game "Space Invaders", stated that seeing the film in childhood was one of the inspirations for the inclusion and the design of the aliens in the game.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: "Mystery Science Theater 3000" named one of its lead characters, the mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester, as a homage to the 1953 film.


title: The War of the Worlds (1953 film)

text: In 2004, "War of the Worlds" was presented with a Retrospective Hugo Award for 1954 in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation — Short Form (works running 90 minutes or less).


title: Top hat

text: A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or sometimes grey, the top hat emerged in Western fashion by the end of the 18th century. Although it declined by the time of the counterculture of the 1960s, it remains a formal fashion accessory. A collapsible variant of a top hat, developed in the 19th century, is known as an opera hat.


title: Top hat

text: Perhaps inspired by the Early Modern era capotain, higher crowned dark felt hats with wide brims emerged as a country leisurewear fashion along with the Age of Revolution around the 1770s. Around the 1780s, the justaucorps was replaced by the previously casual frocks and dress coats. At the same time, the tricorne and bicorne hats were replaced by what became known as the top hat. By the 1790s, the directoire style dress coat with top hat was widely introduced as citywear for the upper and middle classes in all urban areas of the Western world. The justaucorps was replaced in all but the most formal court affairs. Around the turn of the 19th century, although for a few decades beaver hats were popular, black silk became the standard, sometimes varied by grey ones. While the dress coats were replaced by the frock coat from the 1840s as conventional formal daywear, top hats continued to be worn with frock coats as well as with what became known as formal evening wear white tie. Towards the end of the 19th century, whereas the white tie with black dress coat remained fixed, frock coats were gradually replaced by morning dress, along with top hats.


title: Top hat

text: After World War I, the 1920s saw widespread introduction of semi-formal black tie and informal wear suits that were worn with less formal hats such as bowler hats, homburgs, boaters and fedoras respectively, in established society. After World War II, white tie, morning dress and frock coats along with their counterpart, the top hat, started to become confined to high society, politics and international diplomacy. The last United States presidential inaugurations with top hat was the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961. Following the counterculture of the 1960s, its use declined further along with the disuse also of daily informal hats by men.


title: Top hat

text: Yet, along with traditional formal wear, the top hat continues to be applicable for the most formal occasions, including weddings and funerals, in addition to certain audiences, balls and horse racing events, such as the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot and the Queen's Stand of Epsom Derby. It also remains part of the formal dress of those occupying prominent positions in certain traditional British institutions, such as the Bank of England, certain City stock exchange officials, occasionally at the Law Courts and Lincoln's Inn, judges of the Chancery Division and King's Counsel, boy-choristers of King's College Choir, dressage horseback riders, and servants' or doormen's livery.


title: Top hat

text: As part of traditional formal wear, in popular culture the top hat has sometimes been associated with the upper class, and used by satirists and social critics as a symbol of capitalism or the world of business, as with the Monopoly Man or Scrooge McDuck. The top hat also forms part of the traditional dress of Uncle Sam, a symbol of the United States, generally striped in red, white and blue. Furthermore, ever since the famous "Pulling a Rabbit out of a Hat" of Louis Comte in 1814, the top hat remains associated with hat tricks and stage magic costumes.


title: Top hat

text: The top hat is also known as a "beaver hat" or "silk hat", in reference to its material, as well as casually as "chimney pot hat" or "stove pipe hat".


title: Top hat

text: According to fashion historians, the top hat may have descended directly from the sugarloaf hat; otherwise it is difficult to establish provenance for its creation. Gentlemen began to replace the tricorne with the top hat at the end of the 18th century; a painting by Charles Vernet of 1796, "Un Incroyable", shows a French dandy (one of the "Incroyables et Merveilleuses") with such a hat. The first silk top hat in England is credited to George Dunnage, a hatter from Middlesex, in 1793. The invention of the top hat is often erroneously credited to a haberdasher named John Hetherington.


title: Top hat

text: Within 30 years top hats had become popular with all social classes, with even workmen wearing them. At that time those worn by members of the upper classes were usually made of felted beaver fur; the generic name "stuff hat" was applied to hats made from various non-fur felts. The hats became part of the uniforms worn by policemen and postmen (to give them the appearance of authority); since these people spent most of their time outdoors, their hats were topped with black oilcloth.


title: Top hat

text: Between the latter part of 18th century and the early part of the 19th century, felted beaver fur was slowly replaced by silk "hatter's plush", though the silk topper met with resistance from those who preferred the beaver hat.


title: Top hat

text: The 1840s and the 1850s saw it reach its most extreme form, with ever-higher crowns and narrow brims. The "stovepipe hat" was a variety with mostly straight sides, while one with slightly convex sides was called the "chimney pot". The style most commonly referred to as the stovepipe was popularized in the United States by Abraham Lincoln during his presidency; though it is postulated that he may never have called it stovepipe himself, but merely a silk hat or a plug hat. Lincoln often carried documents and letters inside the hat. One of Lincoln's top hats is kept on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.


title: Top hat

text: During the 19th century, the top hat developed from a fashion into a symbol of urban respectability, and this was assured when Prince Albert started wearing them in 1850; the rise in popularity of the silk plush top hat possibly led to a decline in beaver hats, sharply reducing the size of the beaver trapping industry in North America, though it is also postulated that the beaver numbers were also reducing at the same time. Whether it directly affected or was coincidental to the decline of the beaver trade is debatable.


title: Top hat

text: James Laver once observed that an assemblage of "toppers" resembled factory chimneys and thus added to the mood of the industrial era. In England, post-Brummel dandies went in for flared crowns and swooping brims. Their counterparts in France, known as the "Incroyables", wore top hats of such outlandish dimensions that there was no room for them in overcrowded cloakrooms until the invention of the collapsible top hat.


title: Top hat

text: Until World War I the top hat was maintained as a standard item of formal outdoor wear by upper-class males for both daytime and evening usage. Considerations of convenience and expense meant however that it was increasingly superseded by soft hats for ordinary wear. By the end of World War II, it had become a comparative rarity, though it continued to be worn regularly in certain roles. In Britain these included holders of various positions in the Bank of England and City stockbroking, and boys at some public schools. All the civilian members of the Japanese delegation that signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on 2 September 1945, wore top hats, reflecting common diplomatic practice at the time.


title: Top hat

text: The top hat persisted in politics and international diplomacy for many years. In the Soviet Union, there was debate as to whether its diplomats should follow the international conventions and wear a top hat. Instead a diplomatic uniform with peaked cap for formal occasions was adopted. Top hats were part of formal wear for U.S. presidential inaugurations for many years. President Dwight D. Eisenhower spurned the hat for his inauguration, but John F. Kennedy, who was accustomed to formal dress, brought it back for his in 1961. Nevertheless, Kennedy delivered his forceful inaugural address hatless, reinforcing the image of vigor he desired to project, and setting the tone for an active administration to follow.


title: Top hat

text: His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did not wear a top hat for any part of his inauguration in 1965, and the hat has not been worn since for this purpose.


title: Top hat

text: In the United Kingdom, the post of Government Broker in the London Stock Exchange that required the wearing of a top hat in the streets of the City of London was abolished by the "Big Bang" reforms of October 1986. In the British House of Commons, a rule requiring a Member of Parliament who wished to raise a point of order during a division, having to speak seated with a top hat on, was abolished in 1998. Spare top hats were kept in the chamber in case they were needed. The Modernisation Select Committee commented that "This particular practice has almost certainly brought the House into greater ridicule than almost any other".


title: Top hat

text: Although Eton College has long abandoned the top hat as part of its uniform, top hats are still worn by "Monitors" at Harrow School with their Sunday dress uniform. They are worn by male members of the British Royal Family on State occasions as an alternative to military uniform, for instance, in the Carriage Procession at the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Top hats may also be worn at some horse racing meetings, notably The Derby and Royal Ascot. Top hats are worn at the Tynwald Day ceremony and a few other formal occasions in the Isle of Man.


title: Top hat

text: In George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty Four", the top hat features prominently in the propaganda of the book's totalitarian regime: "These rich men were called capitalists. They were fat, ugly men with wicked faces [...] dressed in a long black coat which was called a frock coat, and a queer, shiny hat shaped like a stovepipe, which was called a top hat. This was the uniform of the capitalists, and no one else was allowed to wear it."


title: Top hat

text: The modern standard top hat is a hard, black silk hat, characteristically made of fur. The acceptable colors are much as they have traditionally been, with "white" hats (which are actually grey), a daytime racing color, worn at the less formal occasions demanding a top hat, such as Royal Ascot, or with a morning suit. In the U.S. top hats are worn widely in coaching, a driven horse discipline, as well as for formal riding to hounds.


title: Top hat

text: The collapsible silk opera hat, or "crush hat", is still worn on occasions, and black in color if worn with evening wear as part of white tie, and is still made by a few companies, of the traditional materials of satin or grosgrain silk. The other alternative hat for eveningwear is the normal hard shell.


title: Top hat

text: In formal academic dress, the Finnish and Swedish doctoral hat is a variant of the top hat, and remains in use today.


title: Top hat

text: American rock musician Tom Petty was known for wearing several types of top hats throughout his career and in his music videos such as "Don't Come Around Here No More". The British-American musician Slash has sported a top hat since he was in Guns N' Roses, a look that has become iconic for him. Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie is also a frequent wearer of top hats. He has been known to wear them in previous live performances on their Nothing Rhymes with Circus tour and in the music videos, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies".


title: Top hat

text: The members of the "Inner Circle" of the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Groundhog Club wear top hats on February 2 of every year when they perform the Groundhog Day ceremonies with Punxsutawney Phil.


title: Top hat

text: Steampunk culture also incorporates the top hat into accepted headgear choices, though top hats worn in such a context are sometimes made of leather or similar materials and, now and then, even have simulated gears or other adornments secured to them.


title: Top hat

text: A top hat, frequently colored red, white and blue, or with stars and stripes similar to those on the American flag, is part of the regular costume of Uncle Sam, a symbol of the United States.


title: Top hat

text: For satirists and political cartoonists, the top hat was a convenient symbol of the upper class, business and capitalism. A character wearing a top hat would be instantly recognized by the viewer as a member of the oligarchy. The character Rich Uncle Pennybags in the board game Monopoly wears a top hat. In addition, a top hat is one of the game's tokens, used by players to mark their position as they progress around the board.


title: Top hat

text: In Freemasonry, as practiced in North American lodges, top hats are often associated with the position of Worshipful Master as he is the only member allowed the privilege of wearing a head covering to signify his leadership within the lodge. However, the Master is not obliged to wear a top hat, and can wear whatever type of hat he deems appropriate for the occasion. This is because there are varying degrees of formality in different Lodges, from formal wear to everyday dress. It is also common for a Worshipful Master to receive top-hat-related trinkets and gifts on either the day of his installation or as a going away present. In other countries, especially in certain systems in Germany, top hats are worn by all members of the lodge.


title: Top hat

text: In some synagogues, the president and honorary officers may wear a top hat on Shabbat or the great festivals. The custom of wearing a top hat, or "tzylinder" in the Yiddish language, originated in 19th-century England, replacing the wig and tricorn hat. The custom became widespread in Europe until The Holocaust. In some traditional Sephardi synagogues, members of the congregation may also wear top hats on special occasions. The custom is said to have started at the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on a hot day, when the "Chazzan" was preparing for a service and decided that it was too hot to wear his wig, throwing it out of the window in a fit of bad temper. He then found that his tricorn hat was too big, as it had been made to fit over the wig, and so wore his top hat instead.


title: Top hat

text: A silk top hat is made from hatters' plush, a soft silk weave with a very long, defined nap. This is rare now, because it has not been in general production since the 1950s, and it is thought that there are no looms capable of producing the traditional material any more; the last looms in Lyon were destroyed by the last owner, Nicholas Smith, after a violent breakup with his brother, Bobby Smith. The standard covering is now fur plush or "melusine" as (the London hat merchant) Christys' calls it. A grey flat fur felt top hat is the popular alternative.


title: Top hat

text: It is common to see top hats in stiff wool felt and even soft wool though these are not considered on the same level as the silk or fur plush or grey felt varieties. The standard crown shape nowadays is the 'semi-bell crown'; 'full bell crowns' and 'stovepipe' shaped toppers are rarer.


title: Top hat

text: Because of the rarity of vintage silk hats, and the expense of modern top hats, the vintage/antique market is very lively, with models in wearable condition typically hard to find; price often varies with size (larger sizes are typically more expensive) and condition.


title: Top hat

text: In the past, top hats were made by blocking a single piece of wool or fur felt and then covering the shell with fur plush. Since the invention of silk plush a new method using "gossamer" was invented and used up to the present day though the older method is more common for toppers made today.


title: Top hat

text: A town-weight silk top hat is made by first blocking two pieces of gossamer (or "goss" for short), which is made of a sheet of cheesecloth that has been coated with a shellac and ammonia solution and left to cure for 5 months on a wooden frame, on a wooden top hat block (which is made of several interconnecting pieces like a puzzle so the block can be removed from the shell, as the opening is narrower than tip of the crown) to form the shell. After the shell has rested for a week in the block, the block is removed and the brim (made of several layers of goss to give it strength) is attached to the crown. The shell is coated with a layer of shellac varnish and also left for a further week. The silk plush is then cut to the correct pattern. The top and side pieces are sewn together; the side piece having an open diagonal seam. It is then eased over the shell carefully and then ironed (the heat of the iron melting the shellac for the plush to stick to it). The upper brim is also covered with a piece of silk plush or with silk petersham (a ribbed silk). The underbrim is covered with merino cloth. After the hat has fully rested, the brim is curled and bound with silk grosgrain ribbon, and a hat band (either silk grosgrain with or without a bow, or a black wool mourning band without a bow) is installed. Finally, the lining and the leather sweatband are carefully hand-stitched in.


title: Top hat

text: The construction can vary; reinforced toppers sometimes called "country-weight" included greater layers of goss used to provide a strengthened hat that was traditionally suitable for riding and hunting, though it may not always conform to modern safety standards.


title: Top hat

text: On May 5, 1812, a London hatter, Thomas Francis Dollman, patented a design for "an elastic round hat" supported by ribs and springs. His patent was described as:


title: Top hat

text: Some sources have taken this to describe an early folding top hat, although it is not explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear. Dollman's patent expired in 1825. In France, around 1840, Antoine Gibus's design for a spring-loaded collapsible top-hat proved so popular that hats made to it became known as "". They were also often called "opera hats", owing to the common practice of storing them in their flattened state under one's seat at the opera. The characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a third name, the "chapeau claque", from , meaning "slap".


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Eric Tomlinson was born on 26 September 1939 at Burleigh House in Bispham, Blackpool, Lancashire, and has lived in Liverpool nearly all his life. His father was a baker and he was born in Bispham, near Blackpool, because, just after the outbreak of World War II, his mother Peggy was evacuated there over concerns that Liverpool would be bombed. He attended Walton Technical College in Walton, after passing an exam when he was 13. His favourite subject was English.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tomlinson played banjo in bands known as the Guitanjos, Hobo Rick & The City Slickers, and Hobo Rick and the Hi-Free Three. For a time, the band's pianist was John "Duff" Lowe, a former member of Beatles forerunner the Quarrymen.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: As an actor he appeared as Bobby Grant in the soap opera "Brookside" from the show's inception in 1982 until being written out in 1988, followed by DCI Charlie Wise in "Cracker" and as Jim Royle in the sitcom "The Royle Family".


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2002 Tomlinson starred in the BBC Series "Nice Guy Eddie" playing a Liverpool private investigator. Using down-to-earth cases — actually based upon real-life ones from Liverpool private investigator Tony Smith — the show also starred Tom Ellis and John Henshaw.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson featured heavily in series two of Paul Abbott's series "Clocking Off", in a BAFTA-nominated episode written by Danny Brocklehurst.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson has fronted a series of television adverts for the utility company British Gas. In January 2010, he began to appear in a series of advertisements for the frozen food chain Farmfoods. In 2017, he provided a voiceover for an advert for McCain Foods.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: On 19 June 2006, Tomlinson made his début as the guest celebrity in Dictionary Corner on the long-running UK Channel 4 game show "Countdown".


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In December 2006, he presented a programme in Channel Five's "Disappearing Britain" series entitled "When Coal Was King".


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In March 2007, Tomlinson presented BBC's "One Life: Guilty My Arse", detailing his version of the "Shrewsbury Two" case, in which he compared his political activism as a trade unionist to the work of the suffragettes.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: The BBC broadcast a programme in its "Who Do You Think You Are?" series 13 on Tomlinson's ancestors, which traced his family back through a number of carters working around Liverpool at a time when the city was a bustling port.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2020, Tomlinson, alongside his "Royle Family" co-star Ralf Little, presented a travel series called "Ricky & Ralf's Very Northern Road Trip" for Gold.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson has also starred in several films, notably "", "Raining Stones" and "Hillsborough", a made-for-TV film about the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, in which he portrayed John Glover – the father of victim Ian Glover.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2017, Tomlinson starred in the LGBT short film "Tellin' Dad" (2017) (co-starring actor Carl Loughlin as his son) which was the first LGBT project he has been involved in and followed the journey of his son building up courage to come out to him. The film was released on DVD, Amazonplay and distributed by Peccadillo Pictures worldwide on several platforms and on their Boys on Film DVD collection.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson is also a keen banjo and harmonica player, and has played the instruments in many episodes of "The Royle Family". In 2001 he teamed up with fellow Brookside actor Michael Starke and other friends for his own rendition of well-known folk songs including "It's a Long Way To Tipperary" and a cover of Shane MacGowan and The Popes' "Are You Lookin' at Me?" that reached No. 28 in the UK Singles Chart in 2001. A CD album entitled "Music My Arse" was released the same year, peaking at No. 127 in the UK Albums Chart. He released a single at Christmas 2006 entitled "Christmas My Arse" which reached No. 25.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2006, Tomlinson toured to theatres across the UK with his show "An Evening with Ricky Tomlinson" where he was interviewed about his life by Elton Welsby.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: During 2008 and 2009, Tomlinson took his "Laughter Show" theatrical revue on a UK tour with fellow comedians Tony Barton, Duncan Norvelle and Pauline Daniels.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2009, he took a lead role as the Head Judge in the "VMH Club Star Talent Trail", a local talent-based competition held at the VMH Club in Garston. A large number of North West-based performers entered the competition, which was ultimately won by 14-year-old Shaun Walsh from Liverpool.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In May 2010, Tomlinson opened his own cabaret club the Green Room, in Liverpool, teaming up with brothers Richard and Simon Wallace, from Liverpool production company Red Hot Media, to open the 250-seater cabaret lounge on Duke Street. In March 2011 Tomlinson appeared in an advertising campaign for UK retail chain The Range.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2003, he published an autobiography, entitled "Ricky", which spent five weeks at the top of the UK best-selling new books chart. In the book, Tomlinson admitted to having affairs as well as describing in detail his time in prison.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: On 19 October 2007, Tomlinson had quadruple heart bypass surgery at Liverpool's Cardiothoracic Centre. Consultant cardiac surgeon Aung Oo said: "The operation went according to plan and he is now recovering within the hospital's critical care unit."


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson suffers from nodular prurigo, which was the subject of an interview in the "Daily Mirror" in October 2013.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson still resides in Liverpool, stating "I will never, ever move away from Liverpool, I love it here."


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In his late 20s, Tomlinson was attracted to right-wing politics and, by his own account, was a member of the National Front for a period after Enoch Powell's April 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech. In the early 1970s, Tomlinson's political views shifted to the left. He was affected by the book "The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists", which was given to him by the governor of the prison in which he was being held.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 1972, he joined the flying pickets in a building workers' dispute in Shrewsbury. Following allegations of violence during this protest, in 1973 Tomlinson was charged with "conspiracy to intimidate" as one of the Shrewsbury Two. Despite pleading his innocence, he was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison, alongside fellow picket Des Warren. After his release in 1975, he disrupted the TUC conference by shouting from the wings after he had been prevented from speaking on the stage. In 2012, Tomlinson and others sought to have the convictions overturned by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). In 2013 a paper petition was launched, alongside the existing e-petition, for an Early Day Motion by MP John McDonnell to be brought. In July 2013, at the Durham Miners' Gala, he again campaigned against the convictions. In May 2020 it was announced that the CCRC had referred a number of convictions relating to the Shrewsbury dispute, including Tomlinson's, to the Court of Appeal which subsequently overturned the convictions in March 2021.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: Tomlinson is a close friend of Arthur Scargill and often appears on party political broadcasts for Scargill's Socialist Labour Party, most recently for the 2009 European Parliament elections. He is a long-time member of the Socialist Labour Party, and is the party's most prominent celebrity supporter since its formation in 1996.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: He has also expressed support for the Campaign for a New Workers' Party. A public meeting was hosted by the CNWP in Liverpool on Monday 12 February 2007, which Tomlinson addressed alongside Tommy Sheridan and Tony Mulhearn in which he used the slogan: "New Labour My Arse".


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: On 5 February 2010, Tomlinson revealed his plan to stand as the Socialist Labour Party candidate for the Liverpool Wavertree constituency at the 2010 general election in protest at the selection of Luciana Berger, a 28-year-old Londoner as the Labour Party candidate. Kim Singleton was ultimately selected for the seat; in a statement, the SLP said that he could not contest the election due to "personal and contractual commitments". Tomlinson added: "I am disappointed not to be able to stand. But I am pleased to give the chosen candidate my wholehearted support." He also commented, "People say you could be letting the Tories in. But there is no difference between the Conservatives and New Labour". Singleton ultimately finished sixth out of seven candidates, with Berger winning the seat.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In a guest appearance on an episode of the ITV lunchtime chat show, "Loose Women", broadcast on 17 August 2015, while discussing the forthcoming Labour Party leadership election, Tomlinson said:


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: I know both of them and I know Andy quite well, and he was my choice right up until I went to listen to Jeremy Corbyn and I went to the Adelphi Hotel where there was 3,000 people there, the room holds 800 and were out into the streets, they couldn't get in. And everything he said with I agreed with you know, leave the National Health Service alone, get rid of Trident, stuff like that, so it doesn't matter to me who gets the Labour leadership, it really doesn't matter. But whatever happens both of them will be in the Shadow Cabinet.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In March 2017, Tomlinson claimed during an interview that the late journalist, broadcaster and game show host Richard Whiteley had been an undercover agent for the British security services and had assisted them in securing his 1973 imprisonment by co-presenting a television documentary called "Red Under the Bed", which was critical of his political and trade union activities and had swayed the jury. The CCRC cited the documentary and its possible influence on the jury when announcing its decision to refer the cases of Tomlinson and others to the Court of Appeal.


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In 2008, Tomlinson donated £200,000 as patron of the Human Milk Bank of Cheshire and North Wales. The charity provides babies on Special Care Baby Units with milk from donor mothers, significantly improving their chances of survival and long-term development. He said: "Due to my own recent experiences with my health, I know how much hospitals and appeals appreciate help and assistance. This is such an important service which can help so many families and I'm very honoured to be the patron."


title: Ricky Tomlinson

text: In November 2010, it was reported that Tomlinson had donated £1 million to the Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool two years previously.


title: Swami Samarth

text: Shri Swami Samarth, also known as Swami of Akkalkot was an Indian spiritual master of the Dattatreya Tradition. He is a widely known spiritual figure in various Indian states including Maharashtra and Karnataka. He lived during the nineteenth century.


title: Swami Samarth

text: Shri Swami Samarth traveled all across the Indian subcontinent and eventually set his abode at Akkalkot, a village in present-day Maharashtra. He is thought to have initially arrived at Akkalkot on a Wednesday, during either September or October in 1856. He resided at Akkalkot for close to 22 years.


title: Swami Samarth

text: His parentage and origins remain obscure. According to legend, once when a disciple asked Swami a question about his birth, Swami responded that he had originated from a banyan tree ("vata-vriksha" in Marathi). On another occasion, Swami had said that his earlier name was Nrusimha Bhan.


title: Swami Samarth

text: Shri Swami Samarth is widely considered to be the fourth (third in physical form) incarnation of Dattatreya, the Lord Almighty. He is also believed to be a reincarnation of Narasimha Saraswati, another earlier spiritual master of the Dattatreya sect.


title: Swami Samarth

text: According to Shri Swami Samarth himself, he had originally appeared in the Kardali forests near Srisailam, a Hindu holy town in present-day Andhra Pradesh. He might have moved through China, Tibet and Nepal during his travels across the Himalayas and its adjacent regions. He is also believed to have visited various Indian regions such as Puri, Varanasi (also Kashi), Haridwar, Girnar, Kathiawar and Rameswaram. He might have also briefly lived at Mangalvedha, a town near Pandharpur in present-day Solapur district, Maharashtra. He finally settled at Akkalkot.


title: Swami Samarth

text: Shri Swami Samarth is also believed to have visited Maniknagar, Karnataka to meet Manik Prabhu, an Indian saint and mystic considered to be another incarnation of Dattatreya. According to the "Shree Manik Prabhu Charitra" (biography), Swami resided at Maniknagar for around six months. During this period, Manik Prabhu and Swami Samarth often sat under a cluster fig tree ("Audumbar" in Marathi")" and had conversations on profound spirituality. It is claimed that Swami Samarth regarded Manik Prabhu as a brother.


title: Swami Samarth

text: Shri Swami Samarth probably arrived at Akkalkot in 1856 on receiving an invitation from Chintopant Tol and then stayed on the outskirts of the town for about 22 years. He usually lived at the residence of his disciple Cholappa, where his shrine is presently located.


title: Swami Samarth

text: A common mantra commemorating Shri Swami Samarth is read as “"Aum Abhayadata Shree Swamisamarthaya Namaha"”. His biography known as "Shree Guruleelamrut" was authored by Sant Wamanbhau Maharaj.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: Philippine Standard Time (PST or PhST; ), also known as Philippine Time (PHT), is the official name for the time zone used in the Philippines. The country only uses one time zone, at an offset of , but has used daylight saving time for brief periods in the 20th century.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: Geographically, the Philippines lies and 126°34′ east of the Prime Meridian, and is physically located within the time zone. Philippine Standard Time is maintained by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). The Philippines shares the same time zone with China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Western Australia, Brunei, Irkutsk, Central Indonesia, and most of Mongolia.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: Philippine Standard Time was instituted through Batas Pambansa Blg. 8 (that defined the metric system), approved on December 2, 1978, and implemented on January 1, 1983. The Philippines is one of the few countries to officially and almost exclusively use the 12-hour clock in non-military situations.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: From March 16, 1521, to December 30, 1844, the Philippines had the same date as Mexico, because it had been a Spanish colony supplied and controlled via Mexico until Mexico's independence on September 27, 1821. On August 16, 1844, the Spanish Governor-General Narciso Claveria decreed that Tuesday, December 31, 1844, will be removed on the Philippine calendar. Monday, December 30, 1844, was immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845, which added 1 day or 24 hours to the local time. This meant that International Date Line moved from going west of the Philippines to go on the east side of the country.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: At the time, local mean time was used to set clocks, meaning that every place used its own local time based on its longitude, because the time was measured by locally observing the sun.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: Since 1990, the Philippines has not observed daylight saving time, although it was in use for short periods during the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon in 1936–1937, Ramon Magsaysay in 1954, Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, and Corazon Aquino in 1990.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: Television and radio stations in the Philippines display the time, but varied from a few seconds to minutes. In September 2011, the Department of Science and Technology proposed to synchronise time nationwide in an effort to discourage tardiness. PAGASA installed a rubidium atomic clock, a GPS receiver, a time interval counter, distribution amplifier and a computer to help calculate the time difference with every satellite within its antenna's field of view.


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: On May 15, 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10535, better known as "The Philippine Standard Time (PST) Act" as the latest step of implementing the "Juan Time". Since June 1, 2013, all government offices and media networks are required to synchronise their timepieces with PAGASA's rubidium atomic clock. In addition, the first week of January will be regularly observed as the "National Time Consciousness Week".


title: Philippine Standard Time

text: The IANA time zone database contains one zone for the Philippines in the file zone.tab, named Asia/Manila


The 2022 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 8, 2022 to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent Kentucky. Incumbent Republican Rand Paul won reelection to a third term, defeating Democrat Charles Booker.


title: 2022 United States Senate election in Kentucky

text: Paul was first elected in 2010 with 56% of the vote, filling the seat of retiring Jim Bunning, then re-elected in 2016 with 57% of the vote. Paul ran for a third term. Booker is a former state representative and a candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in 2020. The election was called for Paul shortly after polls closed in the state.


text: Although Rand Paul supports a Constitutional amendment limiting Senators to two terms, he said, "I'm not in favor of term limits for some and not others. So I'm not in favor of people self-imposing term limits. I’m a co-sponsor of the constitutional amendment, but I will run again in 2022." Kentucky held its primary election on May 17.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4.


title: Tony Wilson

text: As a co-founder of the independent label Factory Records and founder-manager of the Haçienda nightclub, Wilson was behind some of Manchester's most successful bands, including Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays. Wilson was known as "Mr Manchester", dubbed as such for his work in promoting the culture of Manchester throughout his career.


title: Tony Wilson

text: He was portrayed by Steve Coogan in Michael Winterbottom's film "24 Hour Party People" (2002), and by Craig Parkinson in Anton Corbijn's film "Control" (2007).


title: Tony Wilson

text: Depending on what he was working on, he would switch between alternate versions of his name. For example, when he was being a serious formal and respectable persona, such as certain TV presenting appearances, he would use "Anthony H Wilson", or for example when reporting for "Granada Reports" he was referred to as "Anthony Wilson", otherwise he would go by "Tony Wilson" most commonly while on Factory Records business.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson was born 20 February 1950 in Hope Hospital, Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire, to Sydney Wilson and Doris Knupfer, and moved to Marple, near Stockport, Cheshire, at the age of five. After passing his Eleven plus exam, Wilson attended De La Salle Grammar School in Weaste Lane, Pendleton, Salford. He developed a love of literature and language, ignited by a performance of "Hamlet" at Stratford upon Avon. Wilson started his professional career in 1968 at the age of 17, working as an English and Drama teacher at Blue Coat School in Oldham. He later graduated with a degree in English from Jesus College, Cambridge.


title: Tony Wilson

text: After his graduation in 1971, Wilson began as a trainee news reporter for ITN, before moving to Manchester in 1973, where he secured a post at Granada Television. He presented Granada's culture, music and events programme, "So It Goes". Through the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the main anchors on "Granada Reports", a regional evening news programme, where he worked with Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley among others. He continued in this line of work even at the height of his success in the music industry.


title: Tony Wilson

text: He reported for ITV's current affairs series, "World in Action" in the early 1980s and hosted editions of "After Dark", the UK's first open-ended chat show, first on Channel 4 and later BBC Four. Journalist Fergal Kinney wrote in 2021: “His appearances on Channel 4’s freewheeling late-night debate show "After Dark"...are exhilarating, pitched somewhere between a malevolent David Dimbleby and a slightly effete Jonathan Meades.” Paul Morley's book "From Manchester with Love: The Life and Opinions of Tony Wilson" quotes Wilson as nearly falling asleep on the programme but waking up to hear one of the guests attacking him for naming his band Joy Division.


title: Tony Wilson

text: In 1988, Wilson hosted "The Other Side of Midnight", another Granada weekly regional culture slot, covering music, literature and the arts in general. Wilson co-presented the BBC's coverage of "The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert" at Wembley Stadium with Lisa I'Anson in 1992. He hosted the short-lived TV quiz shows "Topranko!" and Channel 4's "Remote Control" in the 1990s, as well as the Manchester United themed quiz, "Masterfan", for MUTV.


title: Tony Wilson

text: In 2006 he became the regional political presenter for the BBC's "The Politics Show". He presented a weekly radio show on Xfm Manchester – "Sunday Roast" – and a show on BBC Radio Manchester. In October he joined Blur bassist Alex James, "Blue Peter" presenter Konnie Huq and previously unknown presenter Emily Rose to host the 21st century version of the 1980s music programme, "The Tube", for Channel 4 Radio which ran until 2 March 2007. His final music TV show was filmed in December 2006 for Manchester's Channel M. Only one episode, entitled "The New Friday", was recorded before Wilson became ill.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson's involvement in popular music stemmed from hosting Granada's culture and music programme "So It Goes". Wilson, who intensely disliked the music scene of the mid-1970s which was dominated by such genres as Disco, progressive rock and arena rock, saw the Sex Pistols at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall, in June 1976, an experience which he described as "nothing short of an epiphany". He booked them for the last episode of the first series, probably the first television showing of their revolutionary British strand of punk rock.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson was the manager of many bands, including A Certain Ratio and the Durutti Column, and was part owner and manager of Factory Records, home of Happy Mondays, Joy Division and New Order – the band managed by friend and business partner Rob Gretton. He also founded and managed the Haçienda nightclub and Dry Bar, together forming a central part of the music and cultural scene of Manchester. The scene was termed "Madchester" in the late 1980s and early 1990s.


title: Tony Wilson

text: He made little money from Factory Records or the Haçienda, despite the enormous popularity and cultural significance of both endeavours. Both Factory Records and the Haçienda came to an abrupt end in the late 1990s.


title: Tony Wilson

text: A semi-fictionalised version of his life and of the surrounding era was made into the film "24 Hour Party People" (2002), which stars Steve Coogan as Wilson. After the film was produced, Wilson wrote a novelisation based on the screenplay. He played a minor role (playing himself) in the film, "A Cock and Bull Story" (2005), in which his character interviews Coogan. Wilson also co-produced the Ian Curtis biopic, "Control" (2007), being portrayed on this occasion by Craig Parkinson. He died a few months before its release.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson was a partner in the annual In the City and Interactive City music festivals and industry conferences, and also F4 Records, the fourth version of Factory Records, which was set up to be an online distributor for Wilson's long term protégé Vini Reilly, of the Durutti Column.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson identified himself as a socialist and refused to pay for private healthcare on principle. Wilson was also an outspoken supporter of regionalism. Along with others including Ruth Turner, he started a campaign for North West England to be allowed a referendum on the creation of a regional assembly, called the "Necessary Group" after a line in the United States Declaration of Independence. Although his campaign was successful, with the British government announcing that a vote would take place, this was later abandoned when North East England voted against the introduction of a regional tier of government. Wilson later spoke at several political events on this subject. He was also known for using Situationist ideas.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson was married twice, first to Lindsay Reade and then to Hilary, with whom he had a son, Oliver, and a daughter, Isabel. In 1990 he started a relationship with Yvette Livesey, a former Miss England and Miss UK, who was his girlfriend until his death in 2007.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Livesey has since co-operated with a biography of Wilson's life, called "You're Entitled to an Opinion ...", written by David Nolan and published in 2009.


title: Tony Wilson

text: After Wilson developed renal cancer and had one kidney removed in 2007, doctors recommended he take the drug Sutent. Manchester Primary Care NHS Trust refused to fund the £3,500 per month cost of providing the drug, while patients being treated alongside him at the Christie Hospital and living just a few miles away in Cheshire did receive funding for the medication. A number of Wilson's music industry friends, including former Happy Mondays manager Nathan McGough, their current manager Elliot Rashman and TV stars Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan, formed a fund to help pay for Wilson's medical treatment.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Wilson said: "This [Sutent] is my only real option. It is not a cure but can hold the cancer back, so I will probably be on it until I die. When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in this industry who famously has never made any money. I used to say 'some people make money and some make history', which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive. I've never paid for private healthcare because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a scandal."


title: Tony Wilson

text: In early 2007, emergency surgery was performed to remove one of his kidneys. This forced the postponement of plans to create a Southern Hemisphere version of the In the City festival. Despite the surgery, the cancer progressed and a course of chemotherapy was ineffective. Wilson died of a heart attack in Manchester's Christie Hospital on 10 August 2007 aged 57. Following the news of his death, the Union Flag on Manchester Town Hall was lowered to half mast as a mark of respect.


title: Tony Wilson

text: Probate documents reveal his estate was valued at £484,747 after tax. That figure includes the value of his city centre flat on Little Peter Street. The will, signed by Wilson on 4 July 2007, gave Yvette Livesey, 39, his girlfriend of 17 years, the proceeds from their home. He also left her his share of six businesses. His son Oliver and daughter Isabel shared the rest of his estate.


title: Tony Wilson

text: His funeral was at St Mary's RC Church, Mulberry Street, Manchester (The Hidden Gem) on 20 August 2007. Among the music Wilson chose Happy Mondays’ "Bob’s Yer Uncle". As with everything else in the Factory empire, Wilson's coffin was given a Factory catalogue number: FAC 501. He is buried at Southern Cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. His black granite headstone, erected in October 2010, was designed by Peter Saville and Ben Kelly and features a quotation, chosen by Wilson's family, from Mrs G Linnaeus Banks's 1876 novel "The Manchester Man", set in Rotis serif font. The quotation reads: "Mutability is the epitaph of worlds/ Change alone is changeless/ People drop out of the history of a life as of a land though their work or their influence remains."


title: Tony Wilson

text: The main square of the HOME/First Street development in Manchester, which opened in 2015, is named Tony Wilson Place.


title: Toque

text: Toques were popular from the 13th to the 16th century in Europe, especially France. The mode was revived in the 1930s. Now it is primarily known as the traditional headgear for professional cooks, except in Canada where the term "toque" is primarily used for knit caps.


title: Toque

text: The word "toque" has been known in English since around 1500. It is a loan word from the French (15th century), presumably by the way of the Spanish 'woman's headdress', from Arabic طاقة, itself from Old Persian 'veil, shawl'.


title: Toque

text: The word in Breton means 'hat'. The spelling with ⟨que⟩ is Middle Breton, and the Modern Breton spelling is . Old Breton spells the word .


title: Toque

text: A tall, black toque made of silk or velvet, often ornamented with an aigrette, was fashionable among the Spanish nobility during the 1500s. This style is seen in a 1584 portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia as well as Sofonisba Anguissola's 1573 portrait of Philip II of Spain, both in the Museo del Prado. The style spread across Europe, being adopted in France, England, Germany, and Italy. The toque diminished in popularity in the 1600s as wide-brimmed and cocked hats became fashionable, but reappeared as a predominantly young women's fashion in the 1800s, accompanying long dresses and chignon hairstyles.


title: Toque

text: A (French for 'white hat'), often shortened to toque, is a tall, round, pleated, starched white hat worn by chefs.


title: Toque

text: The toque most likely originated as the result of the gradual evolution of head coverings worn by cooks throughout the centuries. Their roots are sometimes traced to the "casque à meche" (stocking cap) worn by 18th-century French chefs. The colour of the "casque à meche" denoted the rank of the wearer. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesman Talleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons.


title: Toque

text: The modern toque is popularly believed to have originated with the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833), who stiffened the "casque à meche" with cardboard .


title: Toque

text: The pleated, low, round hat worn in French universities the equivalent of the mortarboard or tam at British and American universities is also called a toque.


title: Toque

text: In the Napoleonic era, the French first empire replaced the coronets of traditional ("royal") heraldry with a rigorously standardized system (as other respects of "Napoleonic" coats of arms) of toques, reflecting the rank of the bearer. Thus a Napoleonic duke used a toque with seven ostrich feathers and three lambrequins, a count a toque with five feathers and two lambrequins, a baron three feathers and one lambrequin, a knight only one ostrich feather (see Nobility of the First French Empire).


title: Toque

text: Toque is also used for a hard-type hat or helmet, worn for riding, especially in equestrian sports, often black and covered with black velvet.


title: Toque

text: In Canada, "tuque" is the common name for a knitted winter hat, or watch cap; the spelling "touque", although not recognized by the "Canadian Oxford Dictionary", is also sometimes seen in written English. The Canadian-English term was assimilated from Canadian-French word "tuque", and first appeared in writing around 1870.


title: Toque

text: The fashion is said to have originated with the , French and Métis fur traders, who kept their woollen nightcaps on for warmth during cold winter days. Such hats are known in other English-speaking countries by a variety of names, including "beanie", "watch cap" or "stocking cap"; the terms "tuque" and "toque" are unique to Canada and northern areas of the United States close to the Canada–United States border.


title: Toque

text: In 2013, CBC Edmonton launched a poll to ask viewers how they spelled the word. The options given were "toque", "tuque" or "touque". Nearly 6,500 people voted, with Edmontonians remaining divided on the issue.


title: Toque

text: In recent years knit toques have resurfaced as an extremely popular fashion item, they are used all year round, seen not only used outdoors for weather but as an indoor fashion accessory. Many toques are used to promote or advertise as items of Canadian memorabilia, i.e. Canadian NHL hockey teams, Canadian provinces and cities, and many more popular culture artifacts.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: The madeleine (, or ) or petite madeleine () is a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions. Aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, no special tools are required to make madeleines. Madeleine-style cookies are popular in a number of culinary traditions.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: A génoise cake batter is used. The flavour is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, sponge cake. Traditional recipes include very finely ground nuts, usually almonds. A variation uses lemon zest for a pronounced lemony taste.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: British madeleines also use a génoise sponge but they are baked in dariole moulds. After cooking, these are coated in jam and desiccated coconut, and are usually topped with a glacé cherry.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: Several legends are attached to the "invention" of the madeleines. They have tended to center on a female character named Madeleine who is said to have been in the service of an important character in the history of Lorraine – although there is no consensus over the last name of the cook nor the identity of the famous character. Some consider that the illustrious patron was 17th-century cardinal and rebel Paul de Gondi, who owned a castle in Commercy. Others consider that the inventor was named Madeleine Paulmier, who is said to have been a cook in the 18th century for Stanislaus I, duke of Lorraine and exiled King of Poland. The story goes that, in 1755, Louis XV, son-in-law of the duke, charmed by the little cakes prepared by Madeleine Paulmier, named them after her, while his wife, Maria Leszczyńska, introduced them soon afterward to the court in Versailles. Much beloved by the royal family, they conquered the rest of France in no time. Yet other stories have linked the cake with the pilgrimage to Compostela, in Spain: a pilgrim named Madeleine is said to have brought back the recipe from her voyage, or a cook named Madeleine is said to have offered little cakes in the shape of a shell to the pilgrims passing through Lorraine.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: Other stories do not give the cake a Lorraine origin and lay its invention at the feet of pastry chef Jean Avice, who worked in the kitchens of Prince Talleyrand. Avice is said to have invented the Madeleine in the 19th century by baking little cakes in aspic moulds.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: The term madeleine, used to describe a small cake, seems to appear for the first time in France in the middle of the 18th century. In 1758, a French retainer of an Irish Jacobite refugee in France, Lord Southwell, was said to prepare "cakes à la Madeleine and other small desserts".


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: The appearance of the madeleine is indicative of the increasing use of metal molds in European baking in the 18th century (see also Canelés), but the commercial success of the madeleine dates back to the early years of the 19th century. Several mentions of the madeleine are made by culinary writers during the Napoleonic era, in particular in the recipe books of Antonin Carême and by famous gastronomer Grimod de la Reynière.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: In Commercy, the production at a large scale of madeleines is said to have begun in the 1760s. In addition to being sold at the Commercy rail station, thus accelerating their spread through the country, is likely that the cakes were exported to Paris along with the marmalade from Bar-le-duc and the croquantes from Rheims. By the end of the 19th century, the madeleine is considered a staple of the diet of the French bourgeoisie.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: In a 1971 episode of "The French Chef", "Madeleines and Génoise Jelly Roll", host Julia Child demonstrated how to make madeleines.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: Madeleines were chosen to represent France in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006.


title: Madeleine (cake)

text: In "In Search of Lost Time" (also known as "Remembrance of Things Past"), author Marcel Proust uses madeleines to contrast involuntary memory with voluntary memory. The latter designates memories retrieved by "intelligence", that is, memories produced by putting conscious effort into remembering events, people, and places. Proust's narrator laments that such memories are inevitably partial, and do not bear the "essence" of the past. The most famous instance of involuntary memory by Proust is known as the "episode of the madeleine", yet there are at least half a dozen other examples in "In Search of Lost Time".


title: Jonny Lang

text: Jon Gordon Langseth Jr. (born January 29, 1981), known as Jonny Lang, is an American blues, gospel, and rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has made five albums that have charted on the top 50 of the "Billboard" 200 chart and has won a Grammy Award for "Turn Around".


title: Jonny Lang

text: Jonny Lang was born in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, of Norwegian descent. He started playing the guitar for his friends at age 12. He played modern hits to the classics, even performing a rendition of Jimi Hendrix's take on the National Anthem. Soon after his father took him to see the Bad Medicine Blues Band, one of the few blues bands in Fargo, Lang started taking guitar lessons from Ted Larsen, the band's guitar player. Several months after Lang began, he joined the band, which was then renamed Kid Jonny Lang & The Big Bang. Two years later A&M Records, then home of Janet Jackson and Soundgarden, was invited to come see him at a live performance at Bunkers Bar in Minneapolis, and he was signed to the label becoming the latest in a trend of young blues guitarists that then included Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Derek Trucks. The band moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and independently released the album "Smokin"' when Lang was 14. He was signed to A&M Records in 1996. He released "Lie to Me" on January 28, 1997. The next album, "Wander this World", was released on October 20, 1998, and earned a Grammy nomination. This was followed by the more soulful "Long Time Coming" on October 14, 2003. Lang also made a cover of Edgar Winter's "Dying to Live". Lang's 2006 album, the gospel-influenced "Turn Around", won him his first Grammy Award.


title: Jonny Lang

text: In his earliest performing years, Lang always performed barefoot on stage, because "it feels good" and once in tribute to Luther Allison, a friend who had recently died. He has since given up that practice, after several near-accidents and electric shocks.


title: Jonny Lang

text: In more than 10 years on the road, Lang has toured with the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, B.B. King, Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck and Sting. In 1999, he was invited to play for a White House audience that included President and Mrs. Clinton. Earlier that year he was selected by the newly elected Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura to perform at his Inaugural Ball. Lang also makes a cameo appearance in the film "Blues Brothers 2000" as a janitor. In 2004, Eric Clapton asked Lang to play at the Crossroads Guitar Festival to raise money for the Crossroads Centre Antigua.


title: Jonny Lang

text: Lang also appears regularly as a part of the Experience Hendrix Tour along with many other well-known guitarists to pay tribute to the deceased guitar legend.


title: Jonny Lang

text: Jonny Lang, since the beginning with The Big Bang, has used a 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline made by the Fender Custom Shop, as well as a 1958 reissue custom shop Gibson Les Paul in more recent years as his sound and style have grown and flourished. His original Custom Shop Tele - with a black flamed maple top, flamed maple neck, pearl signature inlay and his trademark pinup girl character on the aft body was stolen some years ago. He has added a couple more custom thin line teles-all carrying the basic aesthetic motif, but with varying colors from a burnt orange/amber to a deep violet throughout the years since. The 1972 Fender Telecaster Thin line is a semi-hollow spruce body, maple top, and a maple neck and fretboard. He has not, however, sported the pearl "Jonny Lang" signature inlay since his original custom tele, but still stays true to his WWII-style pinup girl at body artwork. Jonny's Telecasters have three Bill Lawrence Pickups (500L Neck, 500XL Bridge) with a 5-way pickup switch and a coil-tap for accessing a single-coil tone. On his pedalboard for his 2014 tour were the Analog Man King of Tone, a Whirlwind The Bomb boost, a Visual Sound V2 Route 808, a Full tone Ultimate Octave, a JAM Pedals Tube Dreamer, and a Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah. On this tour he played his Custom Shop Tele and the 1958 reissue Custom Shop Gibson Les Paul through a pair of modified Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb amps. Jonny also used an arbiter Fuzz Face and an Electro Harmonix POG for The Experience Hendrix tour. Lang has also used Audio tech Guitar Products ABC Selector CCM on his 2005 acoustic tour.


title: Jonny Lang

text: The Fender Telecaster featured on the cover of "Lie to Me" is in fact not a Telecaster at all, but an original Fender Esquire. Upon filming the music video for the title track "Lie to Me" which took place in a San Francisco music store, the owner of the store suggested Lang play the Esquire in the video. Lang fell in love with the guitar and it was purchased and given to him as a gift. He continues to use it, but not as often as his Custom Shop Telecaster and Signature Series Les Paul.


title: Jonny Lang

text: From 1993 to 1996, Lang's backing band was the Big Bang. This group consisted of three founding members of the Bad Medicine Blues Band: Ted "Lightnin' Boy" Larsen on guitar, his brother Michael Rey Larsen on drums, and Jeff Hayenga on bass. Keyboardist Bruce McCabe joined The Big Bang in 1995 after Lang and this young band from Fargo impressed him with their set opening for McCabe's band at the time, The Hoopsnakes.


title: Jonny Lang

text: From 1996 to 2004, Lang's backing band included Paul Diethelm on guitar, Bruce McCabe on keyboards, Doug Nelson on bass and Billy Thommes on drums. Also appearing on keyboards during 2003 and 2004 was Donnie La Marca, filling in for McCabe during his break from touring. Nelson was killed in a traffic accident in 2000 and was replaced by Billy Franze. Franze was in turn replaced by Jim Anton in 2003. Saxophone player David Eiland was added in 2000, providing Lang with a foil for extended instrumental jams. In 2005, Lang replaced the entire lineup, except for Anton, and embarked on an acoustic tour. He performed with Wendy Alane Wright at the 2000 pre-Grammy party. Guitarist Reeve Carney was the band's opening act for several shows in 2005, as well as for the 2006 and 2007 tours.


title: Jonny Lang

text: The recent band lineup includes Barry Alexander from Minneapolis on drums, Jim Anton from Minneapolis on bass, Akil Thompson from Nashville on rhythm guitar, Dwan Hill from Nashville on keys, Missi Hale from Los Angeles on background vocals.


title: Jonny Lang

text: Lang's current band line up is Barry Alexander on drums, Jim Anton on bass, Tyrus Sass on keyboards and Zane Carney on rhythm guitar.


title: Jonny Lang

text: On January 12, 2021, it was announced that all confirmed concert dates are cancelled until further notice, because of a medical issue that affects Lang's singing.


title: Jonny Lang

text: Lang married former "Kids Incorporated" cast member Haylie Johnson on June 8, 2001, making him the brother-in-law of actress Ashley Johnson. Lang and his wife share the same birthday, although she is one year older. They live in Los Angeles and have five children: son Raimy Lee and daughter Saylor Monroe (fraternal twins), daughter Rennix Belle, daughter Lilou Jaymes, and son Tevi Flynn.


title: Jonny Lang

text: Lang has two older sisters, Stephanie and Heidi Jo. He also has one younger sister, Jessica ("Jesse"), who was a contestant on season 8 of "American Idol".


title: Jonny Lang

text: Lang became a Christian in 2000. In an interview with Sara Groves in "Christianity Today", Lang gave details about his conversion, assuring her that he had had a supernatural experience with the Holy Ghost. In his own words, he has said that he formerly "hated Christianity" and "despised the things of God", but now he wants to share with others about Jesus' love.


title: Jonny Lang

text: The songs "Only a Man" and "Thankful" from his album "Turn Around", are about his belief in God. He has also co-written a couple of songs with contemporary Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman, notably "My Love Remains".


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie Brown is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly associated with Batman. The character first appeared in "Detective Comics" #647 (June 1992) and was created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: The daughter of the criminal Cluemaster, the character originated as the amateur crime-fighter named the Spoiler. Later, she briefly became the fourth Robin and the third Batgirl. She has also served as the love interest/girlfriend of the third Robin, Tim Drake. From 2009 to 2011, she was the star of her own ongoing "Batgirl" comic book series. In 2014, following a company-wide relaunch of all DC Comics titles as the New 52 in 2011, the character returned to the Spoiler identity in "Batman Eternal", completely resetting her to the beginning of her crime fighting career. She is the only character to have been both Robin and Batgirl in mainstream continuity.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie Brown appeared in the second season of the Arrowverse series "Batwoman" portrayed by Morgan Kohan.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie Brown was introduced in a three-issue story arc in "Detective Comics" #647–649 in which writer Chuck Dixon reinvented a villain called the Cluemaster. Dixon created the Cluemaster's daughter, Stephanie, as simply a plot device for this story, seeking to "spoil" her father's plans. Even so, the character was well received by fans. The following year, Dixon launched the first ongoing "Robin" series and featured the Spoiler as a foil and love interest for Tim Drake. The character was at the center of a high-profile teen pregnancy storyline in 1998, which caused "Wizard Magazine" to name "Robin" the best ongoing comic book of the year. Stephanie remained an integral part of the "Robin" supporting cast for over a decade, until her death in the 2004 crossover storyline "".


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Her death was revealed to have been faked in a 2008 story, and she became the eponymous lead character in the 2009 "Batgirl" series written by Bryan Q. Miller, with pencils by Lee Garbett. The title was canceled after 24 issues and replaced with a new "Batgirl" series starring Barbara Gordon as part of the New 52 relaunch.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: There was some controversy in the fan community about both the character's death by torture and the fact that even though she served as Robin for a time, she received no monument or memorial in the Batcave during the years of her apparent death, unlike the second Robin, Jason Todd.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Regarding the former issue, at the 2011 Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, the former "Batgirl" writer Dylan Horrocks said that the writers were told from the start that Spoiler would die in this crossover and she was made Robin "purely as a trick to play on the readers, that we would fool them into thinking that the big event [War Games] was that Stephanie Brown would become Robin". The decision was unpopular with both him and "Nightwing" writer Devin Grayson, and he felt "pleased and vindicated" over the eventual controversy.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: During a Q&A at a convention in March 2007, DC executive editor Dan DiDio responded to questions about the absence of a Stephanie tribute from the Batcave, saying that the official position of DC Comics is that "She was never really a Robin", despite on-panel claims to the contrary. When Alfred Pennyworth asks if Batman's acceptance of Stephanie as Robin was conceived by him as only a temporary measure from the outset and constituted part of an effort to lure Tim back to the cape, Batman evades the question. However, when a dying Stephanie asks, "Was I ever really Robin?", Batman answers, "Of course you were." However, her memorial has been present in different publications since the controversy arose.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Barbara Gordon takes the role of Batgirl once again, with Stephanie Brown no longer existing in mainstream continuity. In June 2012, fans of the character attempted a letter movement, sending waffles, waffle mix, and/or letters to the editors, expressing a wish to see her published once more. Shortly thereafter, Dan DiDio claimed in an interview that about ten waffles had arrived and expressed doubt that her fandom was really as strong as it appeared.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: On October 11, 2013, writer Scott Snyder announced at New York Comic Con that Brown would appear as Spoiler beginning in the third issue of DC's 2014 weekly series "Batman Eternal". Brown made her first New 52 appearance in "Batman" (vol. 2) #28, a teaser issue for "Batman Eternal".


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie Brown is the daughter of the Cluemaster, one of Gotham City's third-rate criminals. Her father spent most of her childhood in jail or away from the family. He claims to be rehabilitated upon his return to Gotham, but Stephanie becomes furious when she discovers that he is actually returning to crime, this time not leaving his trademark clues behind. She decides something needs to be done.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie Brown tailors a costume for herself, and calls herself "the Spoiler" due to her attempts to spoil her father's plans. She learns where her father is hiding out, finds out his plans, and leaves clues so that the police and Batman could stop him. Robin (Tim Drake) tracks her down and, after a few brief confrontations, helps capture Cluemaster. Although she initially wishes to kill her father, Batman convinces her to allow him to be arrested.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Each time Cluemaster escapes or starts some new plan, Stephanie dons her costume again. Eventually, she decides she likes being a superhero, and she begins regular patrols as Spoiler. This also brings her into regular contact with Robin, on whom she has a bit of a crush. At first, Robin thinks of her as a pest, but later comes to enjoy her company. He was dating Ariana Dzerchenko at the time. However, the two sometimes work as partners, and during a point in which Robin and Ariana were unable to see each other, he and Stephanie grew even closer. Robin soon realizes that his feelings for Stephanie have grown into something more, and, after breaking up with Ariana, he begins dating Stephanie. Unfortunately, because Robin needs to maintain the secrecy of Batman and his allies, Robin is unable to reveal his true identity to Spoiler. At first, she seems happy with this arrangement.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie then finds out she is pregnant by an ex-boyfriend who had run from Gotham City after the earthquake depicted in "". Robin, under the alias Alvin Draper, takes Stephanie to Lamaze classes, and the two become even closer. Robin moves to Keystone City during the last few months of her pregnancy, but he returns to her when she is giving birth. With Robin's help, she is able to cope with placing her child up for adoption. Although a painful experience, she feels it best to give her daughter a chance at a better life.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Soon after, Robin's father sends him away to boarding school, and the couple is forced into a long-distance relationship, made even more complicated by the fact that Stephanie still did not know his real name. During his time away, Robin befriends a girl named Star. One night, after seeing her go into an alley with some suspicious-looking people, Robin decides to follow her in costume. He runs into Stephanie, also on patrol, and she follows him as he tracks down Star to a gang meeting that erupts in a violent shootout. He saves Star, but Stephanie is convinced that he is cheating on her, and refuses to see him afterward.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Shortly after this, Robin disappears from Gotham for several days, because he is in Tibet on a secret mission. In his absence, Spoiler realizes that she still wants to be with him. Batman approaches Spoiler in order to try to discover Tim's whereabouts, and then offers to train her. He also tells her Robin's real name, and this betrayal by Batman drives a wedge between the two. Spoiler begins to train with Batman, Batgirl, and, briefly, the Birds of Prey.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie and Tim, as she now knows him, reconcile. Even after Batman, having decided that she was not crime fighter material, tells her to hang up her costume and have the Birds of Prey stop mentoring her, she still patrols secretly, in addition to going on occasional dates with Robin in their civilian identities. When the U.S. government comes to Stephanie and her mother and tells her that Cluemaster had died while working for the Suicide Squad, Stephanie is shocked. She temporarily cuts off ties with Tim and goes on a vigilante rampage, hunting down the Riddler, her father's former associate, to try to get a better idea of who he had been in life. Eventually, she makes peace with his memory, and she and Tim rekindle their relationship.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie is later injured during Tim's battle with the occult hitman Johnny Warlock breaking her leg. In a fit of rage, Tim apparently beats Warlock to death (though he would later be magically resurrected), which sends him into a deep, angry depression. He refuses to speak with Stephanie, whom he blames for him killing Warlock.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Stephanie Brown snaps Tim Drake out of his depression just as his father Jack Drake discovers he is Robin. After Warlock's death, Tim's father orders him to hang up his cape, and Tim is forced to live a normal life for a time. One day after school, Stephanie attempts to surprise Tim with a visit. As she arrives, however, she catches a female classmate, Darla Aquista, attempting to seduce him. Assuming that Tim is being unfaithful, she breaks off ties with Tim and angrily decides to put her attention elsewhere. Creating a homemade Robin costume, Stephanie sneaks into the Batcave and demands that Batman train her as the new Robin. Batman reluctantly accepts her as the new Robin, puts her through several months of intensive training, and makes her a better costume with roughly the same design as Tim's. As Robin, she patrols with Batman, but he thinks she isn't skilled enough to replace Tim. Batman later fires her after she disobeys him in the field.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: In an effort to prove her worth to Batman, Stephanie steals one of his long-term plans for dealing with the entirety of Gotham's criminal underworld, arranging a meeting to bring them all together. Since this plan is predicated on the involvement of "Matches Malone" who, unbeknownst to her, is a persona that Batman uses to infiltrate the underworld, it quickly spins out of control. The result is a citywide gang war in which Stephanie is captured by the Black Mask. She is tortured extensively by Black Mask to get information about Batman, as well as learning enough information to allow him to take control of Batman's plan and assume command of the gangs himself. Although she escapes and makes her way to a hospital, she is severely injured, and supposedly dies in a hospital bed as Batman sits beside her.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Batman later finds evidence that a vital medical treatment that could have saved Stephanie's life had been denied by Doctor Leslie Thompkins. When Batman confronts the doctor, Thompkins claims she willfully withheld such treatment to send a warning to any of Gotham's youth intending to follow Stephanie's example.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: Following her death, Stephanie Brown appears twice in the "Batgirl" series. The first time, in "Batgirl" #62, Cassandra Cain meets her during a near death experience. Then, in "Batgirl" #72–73, Cassandra is near death following a battle with Mad Dog when Stephanie's "ghost" appears before her again and informs Cassandra of her true parentage and of Blüdhaven's destruction. During the "Titans East" storyline, a glass case with Stephanie's Spoiler costume (alongside cases with clothing representing Tim Drake's parents and Conner Kent) is in a room Deathstroke uses to torture Robin. Barbara Gordon uses photos of her autopsy to dissuade another young superheroine, Misfit, from using the name Batgirl. In "Booster Gold" (vol. 2) #5, Rip Hunter's chalk board shows the phrase "No Trophy = Stephanie?" written on it. In "Gotham Underground", an unidentified female in a Spoiler costume (later revealed to be Stephanie) is shown working for the Penguin.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: In the events following "The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul", Robin follows the trail of a female thief called Violet. This leads him to reunite with his friend Ives during social service classes at St. Camillus Cathedral. He also has random encounters with a blonde student in high school that trigger his memories of Stephanie. During his quest to find Violet, he is followed by a character dressed as Spoiler. This Spoiler reveals herself to Robin, trying to warn him that Violet led him to an ambush. Believing someone else is dressing up as Spoiler, Robin falls into Violet's trap after Spoiler addresses him by his real name.


title: Stephanie Brown (character)

text: After escaping the ambush, Robin and Batman track down the woman in a bid to force her to stop imitating Stephanie. When confronted, she removes her mask and reveals that she is indeed Stephanie, with Leslie Thompkins having faked her death. Batman reveals his doubts about her death leading him to not erect a memorial for her in the Batcave. Since her secret identity had been compromised, Leslie faked her death so villains could not use her against Batman as Black Mask had done. Living with Leslie in Africa under an alias, Stephanie had been performing volunteer work until an attack from a local witch-hunting tribe prompted her to return to crimefighting, and subsequently to Gotham. Stephanie reunites with her mother, enrolls in Tim's high school, and rejoins the Bat-Family.