title: Continued fraction

text: The backwards shift operator for continued fractions is the map called the Gauss map, which lops off digits of a continued fraction expansion: . The transfer operator of this map is called the Gauss–Kuzmin–Wirsing operator. The distribution of the digits in continued fractions is given by the zero'th eigenvector of this operator, and is called the Gauss–Kuzmin distribution.


title: Continued fraction

text: The Lanczos algorithm uses a continued fraction expansion to iteratively approximate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a large sparse matrix.


title: Continued fraction

text: Continued fractions have also been used in modelling optimization problems for wireless network virtualization to find a route between a source and a destination.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the superior of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the "Vincentians" (in France known as "Lazaristes").


title: Vincent de Paul

text: These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. Vincent was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when the local clergy's morals were flagging. He was a pioneer in seminary education and founded the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: He was renowned for his compassion, humility, and generosity. Vincent was canonized in 1737 and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 in the village of Pouy, in the Province of Guyenne and Gascony, the Kingdom of France, to peasant farmers; his father was Jean and his mother Bertrande de Moras de Paul. There was a stream named the "Paul" in the vicinity and it is believed that this might have been the derivation of the family name. He wrote the name as one word – Depaul, possibly to avoid the inference that he was of noble birth, but none of his correspondents did so. He had three brothers – Jean, Bernard, and Gayon – and two sisters, Marie and Marie-Claudine. He was the third child. He demonstrated a talent for literacy early in life, but also worked as a child, herding his family's livestock. At 15, his father sent him to seminary, which he paid for by selling the family's oxen.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: For three years, Vincent studied at a college in Dax, France. It adjoined a monastery of the Friars Minor, where he resided. In 1597, he enrolled in theology at the University of Toulouse. The atmosphere at the university was rough. Fights broke out between various factions of students which escalated into armed battles. An official was murdered by two students. Nevertheless, he continued his studies, financing them by tutoring others. He was ordained on 23 September 1600, at the age of nineteen, in Château-l'Évêque, near Périgueux. This was against the regulations established by the Council of Trent which required a minimum of 24 years of age for ordination, so when he was appointed parish priest in Tilh, the appointment was appealed in the Court of Rome. Rather than respond to a lawsuit in which he would probably not have prevailed, he resigned from the position and continued his studies. On 12 October 1604, he received his Bachelor of Theology from the University of Toulouse. Later he received a Licentiate in Canon Law from the University of Paris.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Traditional biographies of Vincent describe his capture and enslavement during two years away from France, from 1605 to 1607. More recent biographies, starting with Antoine Rédier's "La vraie vie de Saint Vincent de Paul," doubt this narrative. The biographer Pierre Coste, who wrote "Monsieur Vincent", a comprehensive biography based on correspondence, interviews, and documents, publicly confirmed the accuracy of Vincent's captivity and enslavement. According to Rédier, Coste held the opposing view in private, and questioned the reliability of the two letters supporting the account of Vincent's enslavement. To avoid scandal and possible backlash, Coste kept his doubt of the slavery narrative private. Skeptics agree that the letters themselves were written by Vincent, but question Vincent's account of the events of 1605–1607. There is no alternative account of Vincent's life during these two years, but Pierre Grandchamps and Paul Debongnie argue that the captivity narrative is implausible.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: According to the letters, in 1605, Vincent sailed from Marseilles on his way back from Castres where he had gone to sell property he had inherited from a wealthy patron in Toulouse. He was taken captive by Barbary pirates, who took him to Tunis. De Paul was auctioned off as a slave, and spent two years in bondage.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: His first master was a fisherman, but Vincent was unsuitable for this line of work due to sea-sickness and was soon sold. His next master was a spagyrical physician, alchemist and inventor. He became fascinated by his arts and was taught how to prepare and administer his master's spagyric remedies.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: The fame of Vincent's master became so great that it attracted the attention of men who summoned him to Istanbul. During the passage, the old man died and Vincent was sold once again. His new master was a former priest and Franciscan from Nice, Guillaume Gautier. He, Gautier, had converted to Islam in order to gain his freedom from slavery and was living in the mountains with three wives. The second wife, a Muslim by birth, was drawn to and visited Vincent in the fields to question him about his faith. She became convinced that his faith was true and admonished her husband for renouncing his Christianity. Her husband became remorseful and decided to escape back to France with his slave. They had to wait ten months, but finally they secretly boarded a small boat and crossed the Mediterranean, landing in Aigues-Mortes on 29 June 1607.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: After returning to France, Vincent went to Rome. There he continued his studies until 1609 when he was sent back to France on a mission to King Henry IV. Once in France, he made the acquaintance of Pierre de Bérulle, whom he took as his spiritual advisor. André Duval, of the Sorbonne introduced him to Canfield's "Rule of Perfection". Vincent was by nature a rather irascible person, but he slowly learned to become more sensitive to the needs of others.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In 1612 he was sent as a parish priest to the Church of Saint-Medard in Clichy. In less than a year, Bérulle recalled him to Paris to serve as a chaplain and tutor to the Gondi family. "Although Vincent had initially begun his priesthood with the intention of securing a life of leisure for himself, he underwent a change of heart after hearing the confession of a dying peasant." It was the Countess de Gondi who persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: On 13 May 1643, with Louis XIII dead, Queen Anne had her husband's will annulled by the Parlement de Paris (a judicial body comprising mostly nobles and high clergymen), making her the sole Regent of France. Anne nominated Vincent de Paul as her spiritual adviser; he helped her deal with religious policy and the Jansenism question.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In 1617, Vincent contacted the Daughters of Charity and they then introduced him to poor families. Vincent then brought them food and comfort. He organized these wealthy women of Paris to collect funds for missionary projects, founded hospitals, and gather relief funds for the victims of war and to ransom 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. This participation of women would eventually result in, with the help of Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (), a Society of Apostolic Life for women within the Catholic Church.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the superior of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the "Vincentians" (in France known as "Lazaristes"). These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Vincent was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries. He spent 28 years serving as the spiritual director of the Convent of St. Mary of Angels.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Vincent is the patron of all works of charity. A number of organizations specifically inspired by his work and teaching and which claim Vincent as their founder or patron saint are grouped in a loose federation known as the Vincentian Family. The 1996 publication "The Vincentian Family Tree" presents an overview of related communities from a genealogical perspective.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Among these organizations is the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a charitable organization dedicated to the service of the poor, established in 1833 by French university students, led by the Frederic Ozanam. The society is today present in 153 countries.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In 1705, the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission requested that the holy process of Vincent's canonization be instituted. On 13 August 1729 he was declared blessed by Pope Benedict XIII. He was canonized nearly eight years later by Pope Clement XII on 16 June 1737.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Vincent's body was exhumed in 1712, 53 years after his death. The written account of an eyewitness states that "the eyes and nose alone showed some decay". However, when it was exhumed again during the canonization in 1737, it was found to have decomposed due to an underground flood. His bones have been encased in a waxen figure which is displayed in a glass reliquary in the chapel of the headquarters of the Vincentian fathers in Paris, Saint Vincent de Paul Chapel, rue de Sèvres. His heart is still incorrupt, and is displayed in a reliquary in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In 1737, Vincent's feast day was included in the Roman Calendar for celebration on 19 July, this date being chosen because his day of death was already used for the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. The new celebration was given the rank of "Double", and was changed to the rank of "Third-Class Feast" in 1960. The 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar transferred his memorial to 27 September, moving Cosmas and Damian to 26 September to make way for him, as he is now better known in the West than them.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Vincent is honored with a Lesser Festival on 27 September in the Church of England. The Episcopal Church liturgical calendar honors him together with Louise de Marillac on 15 March.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: One of the feasts celebrated by the French Deist Church of the Theophilanthropy was dedicated to Vincent.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Niagara University in Lewiston, NY, St. John's University in New York, New York, and DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois were founded in 1856, 1870 and 1898, respectively, by the Congregation of the Mission in the United States.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Parishes are dedicated to Vincent in Los Angeles; Washington, DC; Syracuse, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Omaha, Nebraska; Mays Landing, New Jersey; Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Houston, Texas; Delray Beach, Florida; Wheeling, West Virginia, Coventry, Rhode Island, Churchville, New York, Peryville, Missouri, Lenox Dale, Massachusetts, Girardville, Pennsylvania, Arlington, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and elsewhere.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: Schools are also dedicated in Vincent's name. High schools, DePaul College Prep, affiliated with DePaul University, in Chicago, Illinois and DePaul Catholic High School, in Wayne, New Jersey; Los Angeles


title: Vincent de Paul

text: St. Vincent de Paul Village, a mission-style campus of affordable and supportive apartments is dedicated in Vincent's name in San Diego, CA.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: In New Zealand, the Society of St Vincent de Paul was founded in July 1867 by Father Jean Baptiste Chataigner, a Marist priest (Society of Mary). It is a lay organisation working towards a "more just and compassionate society".


title: Vincent de Paul

text: A long-term care 1,200 bed facility for elderly people is dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul in Malta. In the Philippines, a church is dedicated to him located in Ermita, Manila, Adamson University and San Juan de Dios College adopted him as their Patron Saint after the Vincentian Priests took over the University and College.


title: Vincent de Paul

text: The example of Vincent de Paul and the Lazarists inspired Charles Fuge Lowder to found the Society of the Holy Cross in the Church of England.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (also known as simply Miss Congeniality 2) is a 2005 American comedy film directed by John Pasquin, written and produced by Marc Lawrence, and starring Sandra Bullock in the title role, Regina King, Enrique Murciano, William Shatner, Ernie Hudson, Heather Burns, Diedrich Bader, and Treat Williams. It is the sequel to the 2000 film "Miss Congeniality".


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous" was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 24, 2005 and grossed over $101 million worldwide, and received negative reviews from critics.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: Several weeks after the events of the first film, in which FBI agent Gracie Hart infiltrated the Miss United States beauty pageant, her new-found fame results in her cover being blown while she is trying to prevent a bank heist.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: To capitalize on Gracie's publicity the FBI decide to make her the new "face" of the bureau. After being dumped by her boyfriend, fellow agent Eric Matthews (who gets relocated to Miami), Gracie agrees to the reassignment.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: When FBI agent Sam Fuller gets relocated to New York City from Chicago, Gracie doesn't take to her at all. The feeling seems to be mutual as the FBI eventually makes Sam Gracie's bodyguard, much to Sam's disgust.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: Ten months later, Gracie begins appearing on morning television shows, such as "Live with Regis and Kelly", "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and The Food Channel, giving out fashion advice and promoting her book.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: However, when Gracie's friends, Cheryl Fraser (the current Miss United States) and Stan Fields, are kidnapped in Las Vegas, she goes undercover to try to rescue them, accompanied by Sam who is following up on her own lead after video footage of the abduction suggests that Fields was the target rather than Cheryl. This puts Gracie at odds with the FBI, who are unwilling to lose their mascot and are unsure if she's still up to the task.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: The kidnappers move Cheryl and Stan to the ship at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino which they plan to sink. Soon afterwards, Gracie, Sam and Joel (Gracie's new stylist) arrive at the Oasis Drag club where they end up singing Tina Turner songs and are given Cheryl and Stan's location by a contestant dressed as Dolly Parton. It is then up to Gracie to save the day once more, this time with the help of agent Sam.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: Sandra Bullock and writer Marc Lawrence initially had no plans for a sequel. While working on "Two Weeks Notice", Bullock and Lawrence joked about ideas for a "Miss Congeniality" sequel, some of which "weren't that far-fetched" according to Bullock. Las Vegas was featured in an early version of the first film, but was ultimately written out of the script. A five-week shoot in southern Nevada began on April 12, 2004. Approximately half of the film's scenes were scheduled to be shot in Las Vegas.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: Major filming locations included the Treasure Island and Venetian resorts. Scenes shot at Treasure Island included its Sirens of TI pirate show, which had never been featured in a film before and was closed to the public for filming. Other filming locations included the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and the Klondike Hotel and Casino. In May 2004, filming took place at the Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse, which served as FBI headquarters within the film. Filming in Las Vegas concluded in mid-May 2004, and moved to Los Angeles for six weeks of shooting, followed by a brief shoot in New York. Bullock also produced the film, and said, "It does make for a schizophrenic experience. There are times when I'd rather be performing."


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: The film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 15% based on 147 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Sandra Bullock is still as appealing as ever; too bad the movie is not pageant material." On Metacritic the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B.


title: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

text: Robert Koehler of "Variety" called the film "Lame and inoffensive". Roger Ebert for the "Chicago Sun-Times" calls the sequel "doubly unnecessary" and says "there is no good reason to go and actually see it."


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: The Liga Profesional de Primera División ( , , , "First Division"), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uruguay and organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF).


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: The first championship was held in 1900, being an amateur competition until 1932 when the league became professional. From 1900 to the 2014–15 season there have been 111 first division seasons.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: In 2011, the Uruguayan Primera División was regarded as the 23rd most difficult football league in the 21st century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: If considered the same club, Peñarol/CURCC is the most successful Uruguayan club with 51 titles. Otherwise, it is Nacional with 49 titles. Of clubs to win titles, only Rampla Juniors did not win multiple titles. Rampla Juniors and Wanderers were the only clubs to not win titles consecutively.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: The Uruguayan Primera División was held by the first time in 1900. Between 1923 and 1925, under the Uruguayan football schism, a dissident league, the Federación Uruguaya de Football, was established. The body operated in parallel with the official Association (AUF). After an intervention by the Uruguayan government to impose the dissolution of the FUF, in 1926 a Provisional Council ("Concejo Provisorio") organised a championship to unify the two organizations. Peñarol was the winner of the Serie A of the tournament. Nevertheless, neither the AUF nor the FIFA recognised the titles of the championships organized by FUF or CP.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: From 1930 to 1975, either Nacional or Peñarol won every title. This streak was finally broken when Defensor won its first title in 1976. Besides Nacional or Peñarol, no other club has won titles consecutively. Both Peñarol (1958 to 1962 and 1993 to 1997) and Nacional (from 1939 to 1943) hold the record title streaks winning five titles consecutively. The longest period of time without neither Peñarol nor Nacional winning the title was from 1987 to 1991, when Defensor, Danubio, Progreso, Bella Vista, and again Defensor won the five tournaments played during that period.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: After 1994, the competition was divided in two stages, called the Opening Championship (Torneo Apertura) and Closing Championship (Torneo Clausura), with an end-of-season two-legged final match between the winners of these two tournaments.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: Originally, like other South American football leagues, the league was contested according to the calendar year, from austral summer to summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2005, the league started to play the "European season", from boreal summer to summer in Northern Hemisphere starting in August, with the aim of preventing clubs from losing many players in the middle of the season. In the first semester of 2005, a special short season was held to decide the qualification to international competition. In the 2005–06 season, the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments played a two (or three) legged play-off; the winner of that playoff played against the best team in the aggregate table to decide the 2005–06 season champion.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: In the 2006–07 season, the competition was reduced to 16 clubs. The season of 2008–09 was intended to be the last one to be played in "European season", as the system appeared to be unable to prevent clubs from losing players between the Apertura (opening) tournament and the Clausura (closing). However, the transition did not take place for several years. After a regular 2015–16 season was played, a short 2016 was played in the latter half of the year, with the full calendar year system in place once again beginning with the 2017 season.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: A total of 58 teams have participated in the Primera Division since its inception in 1900. Nacional has played the most seasons followed by Peñarol/CURCC. Peñarol and Nacional are also the only two teams to have never been relegated out of the Primera Division. Of the so-called 'minor' teams the record for most seasons lies with Montevideo Wanderers.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: All statistics pertain only to the Uruguayan Championships organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), not including FUF tournaments of 1923, 1924 and the 1926 Consejo Provisorio tournament in seasons counted. The founding dates of clubs are those declared by the clubs themselves involved. The column "stadium" reflects the stadium where the team play their home matches, but does not indicate that the team in question owns the stadium.


title: Uruguayan Primera División

text: All tournaments organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) except where indicated. No records for topscorers during the period 1900–1931.


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: Sonny Boy is an original Japanese anime television series animated by Madhouse and written and directed by Shingo Natsume. The series aired from July to October 2021.


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: Midway through a seemingly endless day of summer vacation, third-year middle school student Nagara and his class, along with transfer student Nozomi and the aloof and mysterious Mizuho, are suddenly transported to an alternate dimension. The group calls the new dimension "This World", and finds it has its own set of rules and physics. Over time, while trying to get back home, they realize that they have individual supernatural abilities, but also find it difficult to navigate their own interpersonal relationships.


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: The class later splits into two groups due to internal conflicts. As both the groups continue journeying to find their way back home, they discover many other students who have spent thousands of years in other "This Worlds".


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: The anime television series was announced on April 28, 2021. The series was animated by Madhouse and written and directed by Shingo Natsume, with original character designs provided by Hisashi Eguchi and Norifumi Kugai adapting the designs for animation. While the first episode was given an early premiere on June 19, 2021, the series officially aired from July 16 to October 1, 2021 on Tokyo MX and other channels. Ging Nang Boyz performed the series' theme song "Shōnen Shōjo".


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: The series was licensed outside of Asia by Funimation. On September 14, 2021, Funimation announced the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on September 16. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. Medialink licensed the series in South and Southeast Asia and streamed it in their YouTube channel.


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: The "Sonny Boy Soundtrack" was released on September 8, 2021. Shinichirō Watanabe served as the musical advisor.


title: Sonny Boy (TV series)

text: "Sonny Boy" received the Excellence Award in the animation category at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival. The series was nominated in two categories in the 2022 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Anime of the Year and Director of the Year. The series was also nominated for the "Anime Trending Awards" in four categories "Best in Original Screenplay", "Best in Sceneries and Visuals", "Mystery or Psychological Anime of the Year" and "SciFi or Mecha Anime of the Year".


title: Blonde (novel)

text: Blonde is a bestselling 2000 biographical fiction novel by Joyce Carol Oates that presents a fictionalized take on the life of American actress Marilyn Monroe.


title: Blonde (novel)

text: Oates insists that the novel is a work of fiction that should not be regarded as a biography. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (2001) and the National Book Award (2000). "Rocky Mountain News" and "Entertainment Weekly" have listed "Blonde" as one of Joyce Carol Oates's best books. Oates regards "Blonde" as one of the two books (along with 1969's "them") she will be remembered for.


title: Blonde (novel)

text: At over 700 pages, "Blonde" is one of Oates' longest works of fiction. In an interview she said, "I intended it to be a novella, somewhere around 175 pages, and the last words would have been 'Marilyn Monroe.' But over time, I got so caught up in her world that I couldn't stop there. The final result was this book. The first draft was, originally, longer than the version that was finally published. Some sections were shortened while others had to be surgically removed from the book. Those sections will be published separately."


title: Blonde (novel)

text: Although many notable names are changed, Oates sometimes uses recognizable initials, such as "C"—a male co-star from "Some Like It Hot" (presumably Tony Curtis)—and more controversially, "R.F", the commander of the Sharpshooter sent to eliminate Monroe (many conspiracy theories have suggested that Robert F. Kennedy, United States Attorney General and brother of President John F. Kennedy, was involved in Monroe's death, following her alleged affairs with each of the brothers). The novel explores only a relationship with the President.


title: Blonde (novel)

text: In "Blonde", Monroe's second and third husbands Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller are referred to as the Ex-Athlete and the Playwright, respectively. Their actual names are never mentioned. James Dougherty, Monroe's first husband, is referred to only by the pseudonym Bucky Glazer.


title: Blonde (novel)

text: In 2001, the novel was adapted into a CBS mini-series of the same name, which followed the novel closely. "The New York Times" reported that "Often the director read the scene in the novel just before shooting it." The mini-series departed from the novel in leaving out the idea (which Oates discusses at length) that Monroe may have been assassinated.


title: Blonde (novel)

text: A controversial film adaptation of the novel, written and directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Spanish-Cuban actress Ana de Armas as Monroe, was released on September 28, 2022, by Netflix. Naomi Watts and Jessica Chastain were both attached to star at various points in pre-production before de Armas secured the role.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The Saab 9-5 is an executive car that was produced by the Swedish automobile maker Saab from 1997 to 2012.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The first generation 9-5 was introduced in 1997 for the 1998 model year, as the replacement to the Saab 9000. At the time, the car represented a significant development for the manufacturer. In the United States, the 9-5 was introduced in the spring of 1998, for the 1999 model year.


title: Saab 9-5

text: On September 15, 2009, the second generation was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show and production began in March 2010. It was the first Saab to be launched under Spyker Cars' ownership, even though it was developed almost completely under GM's ownership. Production ceased in 2012 amid the liquidation of the manufacturer.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Saab badged the model as the Saab 9, but consistently advertised it as the Saab 9-5, pronounced "nine five" rather than "ninety-five". This model should not be confused with the Saab 95, produced from 1959 to 1978.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The first generation 9-5 was available with sedan and station wagon body styles. Aerodynamically, the sedan's drag coefficient is 0.29, and the station wagon's is 0.31 (U.S. version 0.33). Introduced in 1999, the wagon features innovations such as floor tracks to secure cargo and a sliding load floor to make loading easier.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The 9-5 was the first production vehicle to offer ventilated seats, as well as asymmetrical turbocharging in the case of the 3.0L V6 engine.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The last 9-5 sedan of the first generation rolled off the Trollhättan production line at the beginning of July 2009, and the last wagon was assembled on February 1, 2010. Between the summer of 1997, when 9-5 production began, and 2010, 252,236 sedans, and 231,357 wagons were built. The total production 483,593 units, was narrowly beaten by its predecessor, the 9000, of which 503,000 were built.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Production equipment for the first-generation 9-5 was sold by General Motors to BAIC of China in 2009.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The first-generation 9-5 is powered by Saab's B205 and B235 straight-4 engines, and from 2002 in Europe by an Opel Ecotec X22DTH 2.2 diesel engine (Saab D223L), replaced in 2006 by Fiat's 1.9 JTD 16V diesel straight-4. A turbocharged version of the GM 54° V6 engine, designated by Saab as B308, has a unique asymmetrical low-pressure turbocharger and was available from 1999 to 2003. This engine is available only with an automatic transmission, and cars with this engine installed are distinguishable by their twin tailpipes. The V6 is only available on Arc, SE, and Griffin models. In 2004, the V6 engine was replaced by a high pressure turbo straight-4 engine producing . By 2006 this engine was producing even in the non-Aero or non-sport models (US models).


title: Saab 9-5

text: The B2x5 engines can suffer from oil pickup issues caused by 'oil sludge' in the lubrication circuit. In 1999, Saab issued a Workshop Bulletin around this issue. The 'sludge' issue primarily affected earlier models between 1999 and 2003, and from 2004 a revised engine positive crankcase ventilation system (PCV) and the use of fully synthetic oil were introduced.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Saab created retrofit kits for the earlier 1999–2003 cars as the PCV design differs from the 2004 and later system. In 2005, Saab extended the warranty on the B2x5 engine to eight years and unlimited miles from new for original owners, provided the owner could produce proof that they had followed the manufacturer's oil change intervals. Saab recommended the use of fully synthetic or synthetic-blend oil as a preventative measure.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The 9-5 is available with an Aisin AW 4-speed (50-42LE) automatic transmission Saab reference FA47; from 1997 until 2001, when a new Aisin AW unit replaced the dated four-speed automatic with a five-speed automatic. A five-speed manual transmission is fitted as standard to the base models and the Aero. Six-speed manual transmission was not offered in first-generation 9-5s.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In 2005, an updated version of the 2.0 L turbocharged I4 was introduced in the European market together with the 2006 9–5. The engine was sold as "2.0t BioPower", optimized to run on E85 producing 132 kW (180 hp) at 5500 rpm. There was also a 2.3T BioPower version sold from 2007. It was also introduced in Australia.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In 2007, Saab presented a 9-5 E100 Concept, based on the turbo 2.0. Offering a claimed and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque, the Concept included the use of increased boost pressure and compression ratio.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The 9-5 introduced Saab's Active Head Restraints (SAHR), which moved up and forward to prevent whiplash when the car was struck from the rear. This feature won technology and safety awards in Australia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The Saab 9-5 also was one of the first cars to have extensive side-crash protection.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The front seats featured torso airbags and head airbags even on the earliest models, which few contemporary vehicles did in the late 1990s. The basic structure included a robust passenger safety cage, front and rear deformation zones, reinforced door posts and pillars, as well as the "Pendulum B-Pillar", which combined high-strength low-alloy steel at chest and head height with tailored blank steel at the floorpan, designed to direct the crash forces down toward the floor. The design was proven by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) to protect occupants in side crashes, even without the addition of curtain airbags or rear side airbags. From 2002, ESP (electronic stability control) was included as standard.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Another Saab feature, the "Night Panel", permitted dousing of the instrument panel lighting, except for essential information, for less distraction when driving at night. Once activated, only essential information such as current speed is displayed except, for example, if the car requires fuel or the engine overheats.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In the United States OnStar was available, and provided as standard equipment in selected 9-5's from 2001 onward.


title: Saab 9-5

text: While early models frequently had dash mounted cassette decks, CD changers were standard features on many cars and in-dash satellite navigation was also available. Factory-fitted phone kits were similarly optional.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Many models featured leather or part-leather upholstery and both front and rear heated seats were also available. A few models were shipped with the optional ventilated seats.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Cruise control was available on various models and xenon headlamps were fitted as standard on high-end variants.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The performance 9-5 Aero, the earliest versions of which were sometimes referred to as the HOT Aero, was first released in 2000 with a 2.3T B235R engine. The B235R engine of the 9-5 Aero was capable of providing immense torque and, in terms of acceleration, outperformed the contemporary Porsche 911 Turbo from 40 to 90 mph.


title: Saab 9-5

text: Initially badged as a engine, Saab later conceded that the 230 PS power figure was quite conservative, with the manual versions rated 250 PS and having more torque than stated. This flagship model had a long list of standard features, a sport tuned suspension, and body side moldings. In 2002 a 2.3 turbo engine was made standard, which allowed for more torque after 4500 rpm. All Aero models from 2002 to 2005 have an identical engine layout and management system, with the 2002-05 models just having a slightly remapped version of that ECU from factory. The high-powered version of the 9–5 in the final form produces and of torque ( with its 20-second overboost function accessible on the manual transmission equipped version.


title: Saab 9-5

text: From model year 2006 to end of production, the B235R was the standard engine in the 9–5 in both the 2.3T and Aero trims. 2006 had only one badge designation, the 2.3T and appointments normally found on the Aero could be added via a "Sport Package".


title: Saab 9-5

text: From 2007 onwards, SAAB added an Aero badge to the trunk lid to distinguish from regular 2.3T models. In addition, almost all standard features on the Aero were standard on the 2.3T, the exceptions being sport-tuned chassis, two-tone leather upholstery, "Anniversary" wheels and brushed aluminum interior trim, all of which were standard on Aero and not available on the 2.3T.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The 9-5 was used as a liveried patrol vehicle, as well as undercover, in several parts of its native Sweden, alongside the Volvo V70. Several police forces in the UK also used the 9–5 in their fleets, mostly in Aero specification. The city of Aspen, Colorado, used Saabs as patrol cars from early 1970s until 2005, when they discontinued the 9–5 in favor of the Volvo XC90. The town of Vail, Colorado likewise used Saabs from 1980 onwards, but in 2005, the black 9-5 patrol cars were replaced by Ford Explorers, due to budget reasons.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In 2006, Lothian and Borders Police in Edinburgh, Scotland, began operating three Saab 9-5 Aero 2.3T patrol cars as part of a fleet of 580 vehicles. These 9-5s were customised to police specifications by the Saab, Vauxhall and Chevrolet Special Vehicles Operation (SVO) in Papworth, Cambridgeshire. In undercover guise, these cars were outwardly identical to the Linear Sport models, but featured the 260 bhp Aero drivetrain.


title: Saab 9-5

text: A next generation 9-5 built on the Global Epsilon platform was presented at the Frankfurt International Auto Show in September 2009. The vehicle had its North American debut in October 2009 at the South Florida Auto Show in Miami.


title: Saab 9-5

text: On November 24, 2009, the first pre-series Saab 9-5 of the new generation rolled off the Trollhättan production line.


title: Saab 9-5

text: With the announcement of the sale of Saab to Spyker on January 26, 2010, the new generation Saab 9-5 was taken into production at the Saab plant in Trollhättan. Full production began in April 2010, with the cars appearing in dealerships on June 19. Saab introduced a wagon variant of the new 9–5, dubbed "SportCombi," at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The Saab 9-5 Sedan 2.8 V6 Turbo was named Car of the Year in Singapore by "Wheels Asia".


title: Saab 9-5

text: Production of the 9-5 ended in March 2011 with Trollhättan production stopping due to the company's failing liquidity. Total production numbers of the Gen II Saab 9-5 ended at 11,280 units.


title: Saab 9-5

text: While several prototype vehicles and a number of production SportCombis were manufactured, the official variant did not enter serial production prior to Saab's bankruptcy in December 2011, and the vehicles never reached dealerships. A 9-5 liftback and a new 9-5X were also planned, as well as an overall facelift around mid-2014.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In the US Saab 9-5 trim levels were Turbo4, Turbo4 Premium, Turbo6 XWD, and Aero. Turbo4 models come with a turbocharged four-cylinder and features that included power adjustable driver and passenger seats, leather upholstery, five-spoke alloy wheels, fog lamps, and rain-sensing wipers.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The Turbo4 Premium added a panoramic sunroof, headlamp washers, Saab parking assistance, keyless entry and start, memory seats, and 18-inch alloy wheels, while the Turbo6 XWD was powered by a turbocharged six-cylinder engine and features an all-wheel-drive system.


title: Saab 9-5

text: The top trim Aero featured 15-spoke “Rotor” 18-inch alloy wheels, leather-trimmed sports seats, a multi-color central information display, Bi-Xenon SmartBeam headlamps, dark titanium-effect interior trim, aluminum sports pedals, a sports-tuned suspension system with real-time damping, and Aero exterior elements.


title: Saab 9-5

text: UK equipment levels for the 2012 model year included the Vector SE and Aero and both sedan and estate. The previous base models, Linear and Vector were replaced by the Vector SE model.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In Australia the base trim (Linear) was not part of the line up, only the Vector and Aero trims were available.


title: Saab 9-5

text: In North America, the engine choices were either a turbocharged V6 or an Ecotec I4. Other countries also had an optional turbodiesel I4 engine. Engine performance upgrades that were available from Hirsch Performance (Saab's only factory approved tuner) increased the power of the V6 engine to from and the I4 engine to from .


title: Choir

text: A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures.


title: Choir

text: The term "choir" is very often applied to groups affiliated with a church (whether or not they actually occupy the quire), whereas a "chorus" performs in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is not rigid. Choirs may sing without instruments, or accompanied by a piano, pipe organ, a small ensemble, or an orchestra.


title: Choir

text: A choir can be a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind choir" of an orchestra, or different "choirs" of voices or instruments in a polychoral composition. In typical 18th century to 21st century oratorios and masses, 'chorus' or 'choir' implies that there is more than one singer per part, in contrast to the quartet of soloists also featured in these works.


title: Choir

text: Choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Most often choirs consist of four sections intended to sing in four part harmony, but there is no limit to the number of possible parts as long as there is a singer available to sing the part: Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part motet entitled "Spem in alium", for eight choirs of five parts each; Krzysztof Penderecki's "Stabat Mater" is for three choirs of 16 voices each, a total of 48 parts. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six, and eight.


title: Choir

text: Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing (although the American Choral Directors Association discourages this usage in favor of "unaccompanied", since a cappella denotes singing "as in the chapel" and much unaccompanied music today is secular). Accompanying instruments vary widely, from only one instrument (a piano or pipe organ) to a full orchestra of 70 to 100 musicians; for rehearsals a piano or organ accompaniment is often used, even if a different instrumentation is planned for performance, or if the choir is rehearsing unaccompanied music.


title: Choir

text: Many choirs perform in one or many locations such as a church, opera house, or school hall. In some cases choirs join up to become one "mass" choir that performs for a special concert. In this case they provide a series of songs or musical works to celebrate and provide entertainment to others.


title: Choir

text: Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as a choral concert, by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. The primary duties of the conductor or choirmaster are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats (meter), and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble.


title: Choir

text: In most choirs, the same individual acts as musical director (responsible for deciding the repertoire and engaging soloists and accompanists), chorus master (or répétiteur) (responsible for training and rehearsing the singers), and conductor (responsible for directing the performance). However, these roles may be divided, especially when the choir is combined with other forces, for example in opera.


title: Choir

text: The conductor or choral director typically stands on a raised platform and he or she may or may not use a baton; using a baton gives the conductor's gestures greater visibility, but many choral conductors prefer conducting with their hands for greater expressiveness, particularly when working with a smaller ensemble. In the 2010s, most conductors do not play an instrument when conducting, although in earlier periods of classical music history, leading an ensemble while playing an instrument was common. In Baroque music from the 1600s to the 1750s, conductors performing in the 2010s may lead an ensemble while playing a harpsichord or the violin (see Concertmaster). Conducting while playing a piano may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras. Communication is typically non-verbal during a performance (this is strictly the case in art music, but in jazz big bands or large pop ensembles, there may be occasional spoken instructions). However, in rehearsals, the conductor will often give verbal instructions to the ensemble, since they generally also serve as an artistic director who crafts the ensemble's interpretation of the music.


title: Choir

text: Conductors act as guides to the choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments (e.g., regarding tempo, repetitions of sections, assignment of vocal solos and so on), work out their interpretation, and relay their vision to the singers. Choral conductors may also have to conduct instrumental ensembles such as orchestras if the choir is singing a piece for choir and orchestra. They may also attend to organizational matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions, and promoting their ensemble in the media.


title: Choir

text: Historically, the sung repertoire divides into sacred or religious music and secular music. While much religious music has been written with concert performance in mind, its origin lies in its role within the context of liturgy.


title: Choir

text: Most Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, some American Protestant groups, and traditional Jewish synagogues do not accompany their songs with musical instruments. In churches of the Western Rite the accompanying instrument is usually the organ, although in colonial America, the Moravian Church used groups of strings and winds. Many churches which use a contemporary worship format use a small amplified band to accompany the singing, and Roman Catholic Churches may use, at their discretion, additional orchestral accompaniment.


title: Choir

text: In addition to leading of singing in which the participates, such as hymns and service music, some church choirs sing full liturgies, including propers (introit, gradual, communion antiphons appropriate for the different times of the liturgical year). Chief among these are the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches; far more common however is the performance of anthems or motets at designated times in the service.


title: Choir

text: One of the main classifications of choirs is by gender and age since these factors greatly affect how a choir sounds and what music it performs. The types are listed here in approximate descending order of prevalence at the professional and advanced amateur or semi-professional levels.


title: Choir

text: The women's, mixed children's, and all-girls' choirs tend to be professionally less prevalent than the high voiced boys' choirs, the lower voiced men's choruses, or the full SATB choirs.


title: Choir

text: In the United States, middle schools and high schools often offer choir as a class or activity for students. Some choirs participate in competitions. One kind of choir popular in high schools is show choir. Middle school and high school is an important time, as it is when students' voices are changing. Although girls experience voice change, it is much more drastic in boys. A lot of literature in music education has been focused on how male voice change works and how to help adolescent male singers. Research done by John Cooksey categorizes male voice change into five stages, and most middle school boys are in the early stages of change. The vocal range of both male and female students may be limited while their voice is changing, and choir teachers must be able to adapt, which can be a challenge to teaching this age range.


title: Choir

text: Nationally, male students are enrolled in choir at much lower numbers than their female students. The music education field has had a longtime interest in the "missing males" in music programs. Speculation as to why there aren't as many boys in choir, and possible solutions vary widely. One researcher found that boys who enjoy choir in middle school may not always go on to high school choir because it simply doesn't fit into their schedules. Some research speculates that one reason that boys' participation in choir is so low is because the U.S. does not encourage male singers. Often, schools will have a women's choir, which helps the balance issues mixed choirs face by taking on extra female singers. However, without a men's choir also, this could be making the problem worse by not giving boys as many opportunities to sing as girls. Other researchers have noted that having an ensemble or even a workshop dedicated to male singers can help with their confidence and singing abilities.


title: Choir

text: There are various schools of thought regarding how the various sections should be arranged on stage. It is the conductor's decision on where the different voice types are placed. In symphonic choirs it is common (though by no means universal) to order the choir behind the orchestra from highest to lowest voices from left to right, corresponding to the typical string layout. In "a cappella" or piano-accompanied situations it is not unusual for the men to be in the back and the women in front; some conductors prefer to place the basses behind the sopranos, arguing that the outer voices need to tune to each other.


title: Choir

text: More experienced choirs may sing with the voices all mixed. Sometimes singers of the same voice are grouped in pairs or threes. Proponents of this method argue that it makes it easier for each individual singer to hear and tune to the other parts, but it requires more independence from each singer. Opponents argue that this method loses the spatial separation of individual voice lines, an otherwise valuable feature for the audience, and that it eliminates sectional resonance, which lessens the effective volume of the chorus. For music with double (or multiple) choirs, usually the members of each choir are together, sometimes significantly separated, especially in performances of 16th-century music (such as works in the Venetian polychoral style). Some composers actually specify that choirs should be separated, such as in Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem". Some composers use separated choirs to create "antiphonal" effects, in which one choir seems to "answer" the other choir in a musical dialogue.


title: Choir

text: Consideration is also given to the spacing of the singers. Studies have found that not only the actual formation, but the amount of space (both laterally and circumambiently) affects the perception of sound by choristers and auditors.


title: Choir

text: The origins of choral music are found in traditional music, as singing in big groups is extremely widely spread in traditional cultures (both singing in one part, or in unison, like in Ancient Greece, as well as singing in parts, or in harmony, like in contemporary European choral music).


title: Choir

text: The oldest unambiguously choral repertory that survives is that of ancient Greece, of which the 2nd century BC Delphic hymns and the 2nd century AD. hymns of Mesomedes are the most complete. The original Greek chorus sang its part in Greek drama, and fragments of works by Euripides ("Orestes") and Sophocles ("Ajax") are known from papyri. The Seikilos epitaph (2c BC) is a complete song (although possibly for solo voice). One of the latest examples, "Oxyrhynchus hymn" (3c) is also of interest as the earliest Christian music.


title: Choir

text: Of the Roman drama's music a single line of Terence surfaced in the 18th century. However, musicologist Thomas J. Mathiesen comments that it is no longer believed to be authentic.


title: Choir

text: The earliest notated music of western Europe is Gregorian chant, along with a few other types of chant which were later subsumed (or sometimes suppressed) by the Catholic Church. This tradition of unison choir singing lasted from sometime between the times of St. Ambrose (4th century) and Gregory the Great (6th century) up to the present. During the later Middle Ages, a new type of singing involving multiple melodic parts, called organum, became predominant for certain functions, but initially this polyphony was only sung by soloists. Further developments of this technique included clausulae, conductus and the motet (most notably the isorhythmic motet), which, unlike the Renaissance motet, describes a composition with different texts sung simultaneously in different voices. The first evidence of polyphony with more than one singer per part comes in the Old Hall Manuscript (1420, though containing music from the late 14th century), in which there are apparent" divisi", one part dividing into two simultaneously sounding notes.


title: Choir

text: During the Renaissance, sacred choral music was the principal type of formally notated music in Western Europe. Throughout the era, hundreds of masses and motets (as well as various other forms) were composed for a cappella choir, though there is some dispute over the role of instruments during certain periods and in certain areas. Some of the better-known composers of this time include Guillaume Dufay, Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, John Dunstable, and William Byrd; the glories of Renaissance polyphony were choral, sung by choirs of great skill and distinction all over Europe. Choral music from this period continues to be popular with many choirs throughout the world today.


title: Choir

text: The madrigal, a partsong conceived for amateurs to sing in a chamber setting, originated at this period. Although madrigals were initially dramatic settings of unrequited-love poetry or mythological stories in Italy, they were imported into England and merged with the more dancelike balletto, celebrating carefree songs of the seasons, or eating and drinking. To most English speakers, the word "madrigal" now refers to the latter, rather than to madrigals proper, which refers to a poetic form of lines consisting of seven and eleven syllables each.


title: Choir

text: The interaction of sung voices in Renaissance polyphony influenced Western music for centuries. Composers are routinely trained in the "Palestrina style" to this day, especially as codified by the 18th century music theorist Johann Joseph Fux. Composers of the early 20th century also wrote in Renaissance-inspired styles. Herbert Howells wrote a "Mass in the Dorian mode" entirely in strict Renaissance style, and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor is an extension of this style. Anton Webern wrote his dissertation on the "Choralis Constantinus" of Heinrich Isaac and the contrapuntal techniques of his serial music may be informed by this study.


title: Choir

text: The Baroque period in music is associated with the development around 1600 of the "figured bass" and the basso continuo system. The figured bass part was performed by the basso continuo group, which at minimum included a chord-playing instrument (e.g., pipe organ, harpsichord, lute) and a bass instrument (e.g., violone). Baroque vocal music explored dramatic implications in the realm of solo vocal music such as the monodies of the Florentine Camerata and the development of early opera. This innovation was in fact an extension of established practice of accompanying choral music at the organ, either from a skeletal reduced score (from which otherwise lost pieces can sometimes be reconstructed) or from a "basso seguente", a part on a single staff containing the lowest sounding part (the bass part).


title: Choir

text: A new genre was the vocal concertato, combining voices and instruments; its origins may be sought in the polychoral music of the Venetian school.


title: Choir

text: Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) brought it to perfection with his Vespers and his Eighth Book of Madrigals, which call for great virtuosity on the part of singers and instruments alike. (His Fifth Book includes a "basso continuo" "for harpsichord or lute".) His pupil Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) (who had earlier studied with Giovanni Gabrieli) introduced the new style to Germany. Alongside the new music of the "seconda pratica", contrapuntal motets in the "stile antico" or old style continued to be written well into the 19th century. Choirs at this time were usually quite small and that singers could be classified as suited to church or to chamber singing. Monteverdi, himself a singer, is documented as taking part in performances of his Magnificat with one voice per part.


title: Choir

text: Independent instrumental accompaniment opened up new possibilities for choral music. Verse anthems alternated accompanied solos with choral sections; the best-known composers of this genre were Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell. Grands motets (such as those of Lully and Delalande) separated these sections into separate movements. Oratorios (of which Giacomo Carissimi was a pioneer) extended this concept into concert-length works, usually based on Biblical or moral stories.


title: Choir

text: A pinnacle of baroque choral music, (particularly oratorio), may be found in George Frideric Handel's works, notably "Messiah" and "Israel in Egypt". While the modern chorus of hundreds had to await the growth of Choral Societies and his centennial commemoration concert, we find Handel already using a variety of performing forces, from the soloists of the "Chandos Anthems" to larger groups (whose proportions are still quite different from modern orchestra choruses):


title: Choir

text: Lutheran composers wrote instrumentally accompanied cantatas, often based on chorale tunes. Substantial late 17th-century sacred choral works in the emerging German tradition exist (the cantatas of Dietrich Buxtehude being a prime example), though the Lutheran church cantata did not assume its more codified, recognizable form until the early 18th century. Georg Philipp Telemann (based in Frankfurt) wrote over 1000 cantatas, many of which were engraved and published (e.g. his "Harmonische Gottesdienst") and Christoph Graupner (based in Darmstadt) over 1400. The cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) are perhaps the most recognizable (and often-performed) contribution to this repertoire: his obituary mentions five complete cycles of his cantatas, of which three, comprising some 200 works, are known today, in addition to motets. Bach himself rarely used the term cantata. Motet refers to his church music without orchestra accompaniment, but instruments playing colla parte with the voices. His works with accompaniment consists of his Passions, Masses, the Magnificat and the cantatas.


title: Choir

text: A point of hot controversy today is the so-called "Rifkin hypothesis," which re-examines the famous ""Entwurff"" Bach's 1730 memo to the Leipzig City Council ("A Short but Most Necessary Draft for a Well Appointed Church Music") calling for at least 12 singers. In light of Bach's responsibility to provide music to four churches and be able to perform double choir compositions with a substitute for each voice, Joshua Rifkin concludes that Bach's music was normally written with one voice per part in mind. A few sets of original performing parts include "ripieni" who reinforce rather than slavishly double the vocal quartet.


title: Choir

text: Composers of the late 18th century became fascinated with the new possibilities of the symphony and other instrumental music, and generally neglected choral music. Mozart's mostly sacred choral works stand out as some of his greatest (such as the "Great" Mass in C minor and Requiem in D minor, the latter of which is highly regarded). Haydn became more interested in choral music near the end of his life following his visits to England in the 1790s, when he heard various Handel oratorios performed by large forces; he wrote a series of masses beginning in 1797 and his two great oratorios "The Creation" and "The Seasons". Beethoven wrote only two masses, both intended for liturgical use, although his "Missa solemnis" is probably suitable only for the grandest ceremonies due to its length, difficulty and large-scale scoring. He also pioneered the use of chorus as part of symphonic texture with his Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasia.


title: Choir

text: In the 19th century, sacred music escaped from the church and leaped onto the concert stage, with large sacred works unsuitable for church use, such as Berlioz's "Te Deum" and Requiem, and Brahms's "Ein deutsches Requiem". Rossini's "Stabat mater", Schubert's masses, and Verdi's Requiem also exploited the grandeur offered by instrumental accompaniment. Oratorios also continued to be written, clearly influenced by Handel's models. Berlioz's "L'enfance du Christ" and Mendelssohn's "Elijah" and "St Paul" are in the category. Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms also wrote secular cantatas, the best known of which are Brahms's "Schicksalslied" and "Nänie".


title: Choir

text: A few composers developed a cappella music, especially Bruckner, whose masses and motets startlingly juxtapose Renaissance counterpoint with chromatic harmony. Mendelssohn and Brahms also wrote significant a cappella motets. The amateur chorus (beginning chiefly as a social outlet) began to receive serious consideration as a compositional venue for the part-songs of Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and others. These 'singing clubs' were often for women or men separately, and the music was typically in four-part (hence the name "part-song") and either a cappella or with simple instrumentation. At the same time, the Cecilian movement attempted a restoration of the pure Renaissance style in Catholic churches.


title: Choir

text: Apart from their roles in liturgy and entertainment, choirs and choruses may also have social-service functions, including for mental health treatment or as therapy for homeless and disadvantaged people, like the Choir of Hard Knocks.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: Encounter (stylized as ENCOUИTEЯ) is a 2021 drama science fiction thriller film, directed by Michael Pearce from a screenplay by Pearce and Joe Barton. The film stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Janina Gavankar, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, and Aditya Geddada.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: "Encounter" had its world premiere at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on September 3, 2021, and was released in a limited release on December 3, 2021, by Amazon Studios prior to streaming on Prime Video on December 10, 2021.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: U.S. Marine Malik Khan has two young boys, Jay and Bobby. At home, Jay and Bobby are living with their mother Piya and their mother's new partner, Dylan. Piya has been feeling sick recently, and Dylan ominously tells them it is 'a bug'.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: One night, Malik appears at their house, wakes up his two sons, and urgently tells them that they are going on a road trip. While on the road with his boys, Malik passes a police car and tells his boys to get down. Hours later, Malik is pulled over by a different cop. Though Malik is polite, the cop is hostile and aggressive, and Malik sees something shifting behind his eyes. Malik determines the cop has been infected by a parasitic organism from another planet. Malik wrestles the gun away from the cop, knocks him out, and leaves him in the street.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: Back on the road, Malik confesses to his boys that this is not a road trip, but a rescue mission. He says that an alien parasite has taken over the planet and that their mother has been infected. As much as half the population may be infected by this alien parasite, which is using human bodies to reproduce. Malik needs to get his boys to safety and says they can protect themselves from the parasites with bug spray.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: In a grocery store, Jay starts to question Malik's story. Later, Malik learns his boys' mother is pregnant after his sons say Piya has been getting sick in the morning and having weird food cravings. When Malik calls his parole officer Hattie, it’s revealed that he missed his psychiatric evaluation. Malik refuses to tell Hattie where he is but asks Hattie to check on his ex-wife. Piya and Dylan are found tied up in the garage, but alive.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: Hattie works with federal law enforcement in an attempt to retrieve Jay and Bobby. The feds believe Malik will kill his children and then himself. Hattie speaks to a former Marine friend of Malik's, who describes the assault incident that caused Malik to get dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps. While describing how terrible the conditions were, he mentions that they were "getting eaten alive by bugs" and then found bodies of children in the wreckage. This incident caused Malik to snap. Hattie deduces that Malik is suffering from a mental disorder.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: Jay begins to suspect the aliens are not real when his father sees hundreds of meteors in the sky that Jay does not see. After they get a flat tire, Malik tries to steal a car but gets in an altercation with an old man who is the owner of the car. Malik gets away, gravely wounding the man, but is injured. Malik teaches Jay how to drive in order to get them to safety. While Malik sleeps off his injury in an abandoned house, Jay drives to get his father medicine and food. Jay overhears on the radio that his father is a wanted man for kidnapping his two children. Back at the abandoned house, Jay confronts his father. Malik admits that he lied, that he was in prison for two years, and that his brain has been playing tricks on him.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: The sons of the man Malik attacked track him down. The men kidnap Bobby and attempt to perform a citizen's arrest. Almost immediately, they open fire on Malik and Jay. Malik manages to apprehend both men without killing them and escapes with his boys.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: Malik calls his ex-wife and gives her an address of a diner where he will leave the boys, telling her he will not go back to prison. However, while the police and helicopters start chasing his car, Malik realizes Jay has hidden in the back seat. Jay refuses to leave his dad behind, even after an hours-long standoff with the police. Hattie insists to Malik that the authorities will take his mental health into consideration when deciding his fate, but Malik does not believe her.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: Not wanting to lose his father, Jay runs out of the car and points a gun at the police. Malik tries to distract the police to save his son, and then convinces him to put the gun down and run to him. They embrace, with the police lowering their weapons.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: In October 2018, it was announced Michael Pearce would direct the film from a screenplay by himself and Joe Barton, with Film4 Productions and Raw set to produce. In July 2020, Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer joined the cast of the film, with Amazon Studios set to distribute. In September 2020, Janina Gavankar joined the cast of the film. In October 2020, Rory Cochrane joined the cast of the film. In November 2020, Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada joined the cast of the film.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: "Encounter" had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival with an international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. By the end of its run, the film will have screened at film festivals in Chicago, London, and Philadelphia. It was released in a limited release on December 3, 2021, prior to being released on Prime Video on December 10, 2021.


title: Encounter (2021 film)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes sampled 93 critics and judged 56% of the reviews to be positive, with an average rating of 6.00/10.


title: Lord's

text: Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the European Cricket Council (ECC) and, until August 2005, the International Cricket Council (ICC). Lord's is widely referred to as the "Home of Cricket" and is home to the world's oldest sporting museum.


title: Lord's

text: Lord's today is not on its original site; it is the third of three grounds that Lord established between 1787 and 1814. His first ground, now referred to as Lord's Old Ground, was where Dorset Square now stands. His second ground, Lord's Middle Ground, was used from 1811 to 1813 before being abandoned to make way for the construction through its outfield of the Regent's Canal. The present Lord's ground is about north-west of the site of the Middle Ground. The ground can hold 31,100 spectators, the capacity having increased between 2017 and 2022 as part of MCC's ongoing redevelopment plans.


title: Lord's

text: Acting on behalf of members of the White Conduit Club and backed against any losses by George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea and Colonel Charles Lennox, Thomas Lord opened his first ground in May 1787 on the site where Dorset Square now stands, on land leased from the Portman Estate. The White Conduit moved there from Islington, unhappy at the standard of the ground at White Conduit Fields, soon afterwards and reconstituted themselves as Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It was thought that the establishment of a new ground would offer more exclusivity to its members, with White Conduit Fields considered too far away from fashionable Oxford Street and the West End. The first match played at the new ground saw Middlesex play Essex. In 1811, feeling obliged to relocate because of a rise in rent, Lord removed his turf and relaid it at his second ground. This was short-lived because it lay on the route decided by Parliament for the Regent's Canal, in addition to the ground being unpopular with patrons.


title: Lord's

text: The "Middle Ground" was on the estate of the Eyre family, who offered Lord another plot nearby; and he again relocated his turf. This new ground was originally a duck pond on a hill in St. John's Wood, which gives rise to Lord's famous slope, which at the time was recorded as sloping down from north-west to south-east, though in actuality the slope is . The new ground was opened in the 1814 season, with the MCC playing Hertfordshire in the first match on the ground on 22 June 1814.


title: Lord's

text: A tavern was built for Lord in 1813–14, followed by a wooden pavilion in 1814. First-class cricket was first played on the present ground in July 1814, with the MCC playing St John's Wood Cricket Club. The first century to be scored at the ground in first-class cricket was made by Frederick Woodbridge (107) for Epsom against Middlesex, with Epsom's Felix Ladbroke (116) recording the second century in the same match. The annual Eton v Harrow match, which was first played on the Old Ground in 1805, returned to the present ground on 29 July 1818. From 1822, the fixture has been almost an annual event at Lord's. Lord's witnessed the first double-century to be made in first-class cricket when William Ward scored 278 for the MCC against Norfolk in 1820. The original pavilion, which had recently been renovated at great expense, was destroyed by fire following the first Winchester v Harrow match on 23 July 1823, which destroyed nearly all of the original records of the MCC and the wider game. The pavilion was promptly rebuilt by Lord. In 1825, the future of the ground was placed in jeopardy when Lord proposed developing the ground with housing at a time when St John's Wood was seeing rapid development. This was prevented by William Ward, who purchased the ground from Lord for £5,000. His purchase was celebrated in the following anonymous poem:


title: Lord's

text: The first University Match between Oxford and Cambridge was held at Lord's in 1827, at the instigation of Charles Wordsworth, establishing what would be the oldest first-class fixture in the world until 2020. The ground remained under the ownership of Ward until 1835, after which it was handed over to James Dark. The pavilion was refurbished in 1838, with the addition of gas lighting. Around this time Lord's could still be considered a country ground, with open countryside to the north and west. Lord's was described by Lord Cottesloe in 1845 as being a primitive venue, with low benches put in a circle around the ground at a good distance providing seating for spectators. Improvements to the ground were gradually made, with the introduction of a telegraph scoreboard in 1846. A small room was built on the north side of the pavilion in 1848 for professionals, providing them with a separate entrance to the field. In the same year scorecards were introduced for the first time, from a portable press, and drainage was installed in 1849–50.


title: Lord's

text: The Australian Aboriginal cricket team toured England in 1868, with Lord's hosting one of their matches to a mixed response, with "The Times" describing the tourists as "a travestie upon cricketing at Lord's" and "the conquered natives of a convict colony". Dark proposed to part with his interest in the ground in 1863, for the fee of £15,000 for the remaining 29 and a half years of his lease. An agreement was reached in 1864, with Dark, who was seriously ill, selling his interests at Lord's for £11,000. The landlord of the ground, Isaac Moses, offered to sell it outright for £21,000 in 1865, which was reduced to £18,150. William Nicholson, who was a member of the MCC committee at the time advanced the money on a mortgage, with his proposal for the MCC to buy the ground being unanimously passed at a special general meeting on 2 May 1866. Following the purchase, a number of developments took place. These included the addition of cricket nets for players to practise and the construction of a grandstand designed by the architect Arthur Allom, which was built in the winter of 1867–68 and also provided accommodation for the press. This was funded by a private syndicate of MCC members, from whom the MCC purchased the stand from in 1869. The condition of the Lord's wicket was heavily criticised in the 1860s due to its poor condition, with Frederick Gale suggesting nine cricket grounds out of ten within 20 miles of London would have a better wicket; the condition was deemed so poor as to be dangerous that Sussex refused to play there in 1864.


title: Lord's

text: By the 1860s and 1870s, the great social occasions of the season were the public schools match between Eton and Harrow, the University Match between Oxford and Cambridge, and the Gentlemen v Players, with all three matches attracting great crowds. Crowds became so large that they encroached on the playing area, which necessitated the introduction of the boundary system in 1866. Further crowd control measures were initiated in 1871, with the introduction of turnstiles. The pavilion was expanded in the mid 1860s and shortly thereafter it was decided to replace the original tavern with a new construction commencing in December 1867. At this time a nascent county game was beginning to take shape. With Lord's hosting more county matches, the pitches subsequently improved with the umpires being responsible for their preparation. Middlesex County Cricket Club, which had been founded in 1864, began playing their home games at Lord's in 1877 after vacating their ground in Chelsea, which had been considered a serious rival to Lord's given its noblemen backers. In 1873–74, a embankment was constructed which would could accommodate 4,000 spectators in four rows of seats. Four years later a new lodge and was constructed to replace an older lodge, along with a new workshop, stables and a store room at a cost of £1,000. To meet the ever increasing demand to accommodate more spectators, a temporary stand was constructed on the eastern side of the ground. After many years of complaints regarding the poor condition of the Lord's pitch, the MCC took action by installing Percy Pearce as Ground Superintendent in 1874. Pearce had previously held the same position at the County Ground, Hove. His appointment vastly improved the condition of the wicket, with "The Standard" describing them as "faultless".


title: Lord's

text: The Australian cricket team captained by Dave Gregory first visited Lord's on 27 May 1878, defeating their MCC hosts by 9 wickets. This was considered a shock result and established not only the fame of the Australian team, but also the rivalry between England and Australia. Lord's hosted its first Test match during the 1884 Ashes, becoming the third venue in England to host Test cricket after The Oval and Old Trafford. The match was won by England by an innings and 5 runs, with England's A. G. Steel and Edmund Peate recording the first Test century and five wicket haul at Lord's respectively. As part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations for Queen Victoria in 1887, the Kings of Belgium, Denmark, Saxony, and Portugal attended Lord's. It was noted that none of them had any grasp of cricket. In the same year Lord's hosted the MCC's hundredth anniversary celebrations, with the MCC playing a celebratory match against England. With only a two-tiered covered grandstand and both increasing membership and spectator numbers, it was decided to build a new pavilion at a cost of £21,000. Construction on this pavilion, which was designed by Thomas Verity, took place in 1889–90. The pavilion it replaced was relocated and painstakingly rebuilt on an estate in Sussex, where it lived out its days as a glorified garden shed. Soon after this, the MCC purchased the land to the east, known today as the Nursery Ground; this had previously been a market garden known as Henderson's Nursery which had grown pineapples and tulips. The ground was subsequently threatened by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's attempts to purchase the area for their line into Marylebone station. After considering the company's offer, the MCC relinquished a strip of land bordering Wellington Road and was given in exchange the Clergy Orphan School to the south. In order to build the railway into Marylebone station, the Nursery Ground had to be dug up to allow tunnels to be constructed between 1894 and 1898 using the cut-and-cover method. Once completed the railway company laid a new pitch.


title: Lord's

text: It was rumoured that subsequent tunnelling under Wellington Road provided the banking for the Mound Stand, which was constructed in 1898/99 on an area previously occupied by tennis and rackets courts. The rapid development of Lord's was not well met by some, with critics suggesting Thomas Lord would 'turn in his grave' at Lord's expansion. 1899 saw Albert Trott hit a six over the pavilion while playing for the MCC against the touring Australians, remaining as of the only batsman to do so. The Imperial Cricket Conference was founded by England, Australia and South Africa in 1909, with Lord's serving as its headquarters. Lord's hosted three of the nine Test matches in the ill-fated 1912 Triangular Tournament which was organised by the South African millionaire Sir Abe Bailey. The ground's centenary was commemorated in June 1914 with a match between MCC, whose team was selected from the touring party from the recent tour of South Africa, and a Rest of England team. The Rest of England won the three-day match by an innings and 189 runs. Lord's was requisitioned by the army during the First World War, accommodating the Territorial Army, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and Royal Army Service Corps. Both cooking and wireless instruction classes were held at the ground for military personnel. Once the RAMC departed, the War Office used the Nursery Ground and other buildings as a training centre for Royal Artillery cadets. The pavilion and its long room were used throughout the war for the manufacture of hay nets for horses on the Western Front. Though requisitioned, Lord's held several charity cricket matches during the war, featuring military teams from the various territories of the British Empire. These matches were well attended and one such match in 1918 between England and the Dominions was attended by George V and the Duke of Connaught.


title: Lord's

text: First-class cricket returned to Lord's in 1919, with a series of two-day matches in the County Championship. 1923 saw the installation of the Grace Gates, a tribute to W. G. Grace who had died in 1915. They were inaugurated by Sir Stanley Jackson, who had suggested the inclusion of the words in the dedication. These gates replaced an earlier, less decorative, entrance to the ground. With attendances growing in number, it was suggested that Lord's aim to accommodate crowds of up to 40,000 for Test matches; however, the stands at the ground were considered inadequate with the grandstand described as "hopelessly out of date". To accommodate these crowds, the old grandstand was demolished and a new one was built in its place in 1926, designed by the architect Sir Herbert Baker. Completion of the stand was delayed due to the 1926 General Strike. Upon its completion, Baker presented Lord's with a weather vane "Father Time" removing the bails from a wicket, which was placed on top of the grandstand. The full weathervane is tall, with the figure of "Father Time" standing at . Baker further contributed to the landscape of Lord's by designing the Q Stand next to the pavilion in 1934, while at the Nursery End stands were also erected. Careful consideration was taken to preserve the treeline dividing the main ground from the Nursery Ground. The West Indies under the captaincy of Karl Nunes played their first Test match at Lord's in 1928. The ground later hosted the first televised Test match during the Second Test of the 1938 Ashes series.


title: Lord's

text: The 1935 season saw the Lord's pitches badly affected by crane fly larvae, known as leatherjackets. The larvae caused bald patches to appear on the playing surface and had to be removed by the ground staff, although spin bowlers did gain some benefit from the bare patches.


title: Lord's

text: In contrast to the First World War, Lord's was not requisitioned by the military during the Second World War. Lord's hosted matches throughout the war for the London Counties cricket team, amongst others, which attracted large crowds. The ground was spared major damage from The Blitz. An oil bomb landed in the Nursery Ground in 1940, with a high-explosive bomb also narrowly missing the Nursery End stands in December of the same year. The grandstand and the pavilion were hit by incendiary bombs, damaging their roofs. The in-house Lord's firefighters reacted quickly and limited the damage. As the war progressed, the threat came not from the Luftwaffe but the newly developed V-1 flying bomb. Lord's had several near misses from these weapons in 1944, with one bomb landing short of the ground near to Regents Park. The Nursery Ground had been requisitioned by the Royal Air Force and converted into a barrage balloon site. The most high profile damage during the war was that to "Father Time", which was damaged by a one such balloon which had broken loose and drifted toward the grandstand, catching "Father Time" and depositing it into the seating at the front of the stand. International cricket resumed at the end of the war, with Lord's hosting one of the Victory Tests (though the matches did not actually have Test status) between the Australian Services cricket team and England.


title: Lord's

text: Following the end of the war attendances at cricket matches grew. The gross attendance of 132,000 and the gate receipts of £43,000 for the Second Test of the 1948 Ashes series was a record for a Test match in England at that time. This demand necessitated further expansion of the ground, with the construction of the Warner Stand in 1958, which included snack bars and a press box. This stand was the work of the architect Kenneth Peacock and replaced an area of raised ground lined with trees from where it was traditionally possible to watch a match from the comfort of ones own carriage. Prior to the construction of the Warner Stand, all stands at the ground were identified by letters of the alphabet. The record numbers of spectators who attended Test and County Championship matches began to decline by the end of the 1950s and cricket in England found itself from a position of 2.2 million paid County Championship spectators in 1947, dropping to 719,661 in 1963. To arrest this decline, List A one-day cricket was introduced in 1963, with Lord's hosting its first List A match in the 1963 Gillette Cup between Middlesex and Northamptonshire and later hosted the final of the competition between Sussex and Worcestershire in front of a sell-out 24,000 crowd. It was the first such final held anywhere in the world. The tavern and its adjoining buildings were demolished in 1968 to make way for the construction of the Tavern Stand, again designed by Peacock. The tavern was subsequently re-sited next to the Grace Gates and was complemented with a banqueting hall. Lord's hosted its first One Day International (ODI) in 1972, with Australia defeating England by 5 wickets. Three years later Lord's hosted the final of the inaugural World Cup, with the West Indies triumphing over Australia. Four years later, Lord's held the final of the 1979 World Cup, with the West Indies once against triumphing, this time against England.


title: Lord's

text: The first women's cricket match at Lord's took place in August 1976 when England and Australia played a 60-over ODI which England won by eight wickets. The opportunity to play a women's match at Lord's resulted from a campaign by Rachael Heyhoe Flint, and was given extra impetus by England's victory in the 1973 Women's Cricket World Cup. England had to wait another 11 years to play their second match at Lord's. The ground hosted the final of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in 1993 with England beating New Zealand to win the World Cup. The ground was not fully opened for the game and only 5,000 spectators were able to attend.


title: Lord's

text: A new indoor cricket school was completed in 1973 at the Nursery End, funded by £75,000 from Sir Jack Hayward and additional funds raised by the Lord's Taverners and The Sports Council. The West Indies appeared in their third successive World Cup final in 1983, but were defeated by 43 runs by India. The Mound Stand was demolished in 1985 to make way for a new stand designed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, which opened in time for the MCC's bicentenary in 1987. That bicentenary was celebrated with a five-day match between MCC and a Rest of the World team in August 1987, which ended in a draw after the final day was rained off. Graham Gooch made the first Test match triple-century at Lord's, scoring 333 against India in 1990. The final decade of the 20th–century saw rapid redevelopment of Lord's. The Compton and Edrich stands were completed in 1991, having run over time and budget. The indoor school closed in 1994, owing to the construction of a new state-of-the-art indoor cricket centre which opened in 1995. The old grandstand was demolished in 1996, with a replacement designed by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners being completed in 1998. Since 1997, Lord's has been home to the European Cricket Council (ECC), which administers cricket outside of the European full-member nations. With Lord's hosting three matches in the 1999 World Cup, including the final, the MCC set about improving press facilities by constructing the Media Centre at the Nursery End between the Compton and Edrich stands, offering commanding views towards the pavilion from over the bowlers arm. The Media Centre was opened in April 1999 by then MCC President Tony Lewis.


title: Lord's

text: Lord's hosted its one-hundredth Test match in June 2000, with England defeating the West Indies by two wickets; the match was also notable for the 21 wickets which fell on the second day, the most to fall in a day in a Test at Lord's since 1888. The ground also hosted The University Match over three days for the last time in 2000, after which the match alternated between Fenner's at Cambridge and University Parks at Oxford. The fixture has continued at Lord's since 2001 as a one-day limited overs match. At the start of the 21st–century, the Lord's slope which provides a benefit to both seam bowlers and swing bowlers from the Pavilion and Nursery Ends respectively, was under threat of being levelled due to the advent of drop-in pitches. However, the MCC resisted these calls as levelling the pitch would require the rebuilding of Lord's and would mean Test cricket would not be able to be played there for five years. The outfield was notorious for becoming waterlogged due to the clay soil, which resulted in considerable lost match time. The entire outfield was relaid in the winter of 2002 with the clay soil being replaced with sand, which has improved drainage. Lord's hosted its first Twenty20 match in the second edition of the Twenty20 Cup in 2004. In 2005 the International Cricket Council (formerly the Imperial Cricket Conference) headquarters, which had been located at Lord's since its foundation in 1909, were closed and moved to the Dubai Sports City in the United Arab Emirates.


title: Lord's

text: Temporary floodlights were installed at the ground in 2007, but were removed in 2008 after complaints of light pollution from local residents. In January 2009, Westminster City Council approved the use of new 48 metre high retractable floodlights designed to minimise light spillage into nearby homes. Conditions of the approval included a five-year trial period during which up to 12 matches and 4 practice matches could be played under the lights from April to September. The lights must be dimmed to half-strength at 9.50 pm and be switched off by 11 pm. The floodlights were first used successfully on 27 May 2009 during the Twenty20 Cup match between Middlesex and Kent. Two weeks after the first use of the floodlights, Lord's hosted its first Twenty20 International in the World Twenty20 between England and the Netherlands, which resulted in a shock last-ball win for the associate nation. Lord's held the final of the competition between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won by 8 wickets.


title: Lord's

text: In 2008 plans were drawn up by the MCC committee to fund the future £250 million development of the ground by constructing residential apartments and a luxury hotel along the Wellington Road and Grove End Road.


title: Lord's

text: The Lord's Masterplan was unveiled in 2013, which is a twenty year plan to redevelop the ground and improve its facilities. The first phase of the masterplan involved the demolition and replacement of the Warner Stand with a new stand, which was built between 2015 and 2017. The new stand has improved facilities for match officials and reduced the number of restricted view spectator seats from 600 to 100. Phase two of the masterplan involved the demolition of the Compton and Edrich Stands in 2019, with their replacements being completed in 2021; these provided an extra 2,000 seats and for the first time were linked by a walkway bridge.


title: Lord's

text: Lord's celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of its current ground in 2014. To mark the occasion, an MCC XI captained by Sachin Tendulkar played a Rest of the World XI led by Shane Warne in a 50-over match.


title: Lord's

text: Two matches of note were played at the ground in July 2019. The first of these was 2019 World Cup Final between England and New Zealand, which ended as a tie with both sides making 241 runs from their 50 overs. The final was then decided by a Super Over, which also ended in a tie. Therefore the winner was decided on the number of boundaries scored in the Super Over, with England scoring two boundaries to New Zealand's one; this was England's first World Cup triumph. A second match of note followed four days later when Ireland played their first Test match at Lord's, where they bowled England out for 85 on the first morning of the match wiith Tim Murtagh taking 5 for 13. Despite this, in their second innings Ireland were dismissed for 38, the lowest Test total at Lord's and lost the match by 143 runs.


title: Lord's

text: In August 2022 the ground's East Gate was renamed the Heyhoe Flint Gate in honour of Rachael Heyhoe Flint.


title: Lord's

text: Many of the stands were rebuilt in the late 20th century. In 1987 the new Mound Stand, designed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, was opened, followed by the Grand Stand, designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, in 1996. The Media Centre, opposite the Pavilion between the Compton and Edrich Stands, was added in 1999. Designed by Future Systems, it won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize for 1999. The redevelopment of the Compton Stand and Edrich Stands was completed in 2021, adding 2,600 seats and bringing the ground capacity to 31,100 spectators. The two ends of the pitch are the Pavilion End (south-west), where the main members' pavilion is located, and the Nursery End (north-east), dominated by the Media Centre.


title: Lord's

text: The current Grand Stand replaced the one built in 1926 by Sir Herbert Baker. Although the stand was described as "truly a thing of beauty, loved by all who gazed upon it", it did have limitations for spectators. 43% of the seats had an obstructed views of the playing area and the structure itself was becoming rotten.


title: Lord's

text: The current pavilion at Lord's is the third pavilion to stand at the ground and is main survivor from the Victorian era, having been built in 1889–90. It has been listed as a Grade II* listed building since September 1982. The pavilion was constructed using brick with ornate terracotta facing, which includes terracotta gargoyles, such as 'The Patriarch' which is thought to represent Lord Harris. The building consists of a long, two storey centre section with covered seating between two end towers which are capped with pyramidal roofs which have ornate wrought and cast iron lanterns. Running the full length of the rear of the second floor is the pavilion roof terrace, which provides views of the entire ground. It underwent an £8 million refurbishment programme in 2004–05. The pavilion is primarily for members of the MCC, who may use its amenities, which include seats for viewing the cricket, the Long Room and its Bar, the Bowlers Bar, and a members' shop. At Middlesex matches the pavilion is open to members of the Middlesex County Cricket Club. The Pavilion also contains the dressing rooms where players change, each of which has a small balcony for players to watch the play.


title: Lord's

text: The Long Room is found on the ground floor of the pavilion and has been described by Lawrence Booth as "the most evocative four walls in world cricket". Players walk through the Long Room on their way from the dressing rooms to the cricket field; this walk is notoriously long and complex at Lord's. On his Test debut in 1975, David Steele got lost on his way out to bat "and ended up in the pavilion's basement toilets". Once a player reaches the Long Room is approximately 30 paces from the swing door at the rear of the room to the steps which lead onto the playing field. The Long Room is decorated with paintings of famous cricketers and administrators from the 18th to the 21st century, predominantly English players. For an overseas player to have their portrait placed in the Long Room is a considerable honour. Amongst overseas players to have a portrait in the Long Room are four Australians: Don Bradman, Keith Miller, Victor Trumper and Shane Warne.


title: Lord's

text: Found in the players dressing rooms are the honours boards for commemorating centuries, five wicket hauls and ten wicket hauls in a match. Two honours boards for batting and bowling commemorate England players in the home dressing room, while the batting and bowling boards commemorating players from other nationalities are found in the away dressing room. Originally only these achievements in Test matches were commemorated, but since 2019 an honours board for ODIs has been introduced. As of 167 players have made 240 Test centuries at Lord's and 130 players have taken 186 five wicket hauls. In ODI's 30 players have made 30 Test centuries at Lord's and 14 players have taken a five wicket haul. A separate "neutral" honours board was created in 2010 to coincide with Lord's hosting a Test match between Australia and Pakistan. The Australians Warren Bardsley and Charlie Kelleway were the first two names added to this board, commemorating their centuries against South Africa in 1912. They were joined by the Australians Shane Watson and Marcus North, who both took five wicket hauls against Pakistan.


title: Lord's

text: The dress code in the pavilion is notoriously strict. Men are required to wear "ties and tailored coats and acceptable trousers with appropriate shoes" and women are required to wear "dresses; or skirts or trousers worn with blouses, and appropriate shoes". Until 1999 women – except Queen Elizabeth II – were not permitted to enter the pavilion as members during play, due to the gender-based membership policy of the MCC. The 1998 decision to allow female MCC members represented a historic modernisation of the pavilion and its clubs.