title: Mary McAleese

text: In past media interviews, prior to the Queen's visit, President McAleese had stated on several occasions that the highlight of her presidency to date was the opening ceremony of the 2003 Special Olympics World Games, which she describes as "a time when Ireland was at its superb best". While opening the National Ploughing Championships in County Kildare in September 2011, she spoke of her sadness that she would soon no longer be president, saying: "I'm going to miss it terribly … I'll miss the people and the engagement with them".


title: Mary McAleese

text: Mary McAleese made her final overseas visit as head of state to Lebanon in October 2011, the location of her very first official overseas visit in 1997. While there she met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. Before her trip to Lebanon she visited Derry, on one of her last official engagements to Northern Ireland, becoming the inaugural speaker at the first Conversations Across Walls and Borders event in First Derry Presbyterian Church. She voluntarily donated more than 60 gifts given to her over the 14 years, and worth about €100,000, to the Irish state.


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese left office on 10 November 2011; she was succeeded by Michael D. Higgins, who had been elected in the presidential election held on 27 October 2011.


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 10 November 2011, her last day in office, she thanked Ireland for her two terms in an article in "The Irish Times". She performed her last official public engagement at a hostel for homeless men in Dublin in the morning and spent the afternoon moving out of Áras an Uachtaráin.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In May 2012, the "Irish Times" reported that she had voluntarily returned more than €500,000 in unused Presidential Allowance funds, accrued over the 14 years of her term of office as well as gifting the overwhelming majority of the gifts received during her term to the state and Gaisce.


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese was awarded a doctorate in Canon Law in 2018 (JCD) at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2013, she said that she obtained a master's degree and licentiate in canon law and her interest grew because of her concern about what has been happening in the Church – the sexual abuse scandal, among other things. When McAleese looked at the scandal, she said "I was struck by what investigators said about canon law and canon lawyers. It was a scathing indictment: In not one single incidence of sexual abuse had canon law been able to do anything on the victim's side, nothing useful or helpful."


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2012, McAleese was announced as the Chair of the European Commission High Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education in the European Union. Her work on the Commission earned her the Universitas21 2016 Gilbert Award.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In March 2013, McAleese was named as the Burns Scholar at Boston College, USA. In 2014, McAleese was appointed Distinguished Professor in Irish Studies at St Mary's University, Twickenham In 2015, McAleese was visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame, USA. In 2018 McAleese was awarded a doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In October 2017, McAleese was appointed a Canon of the Church of Ireland's Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and is a regular homilist at services there.


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 1 October 2018, McAleese was appointed Professor of Children, Law and Religion at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, a joint appointment between the university's College of Arts and College of Social Sciences.


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese is an executive fellow of the Notre Dame School of Global Affairs and Chair of the Institute for Global Religions.


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese is an alumna of the Pontifical Gregorian University where she obtained her licentiate of canon law in 2014 and a doctorate of canon law in 2018. On 22 September 2018, McAleese publicly defended her thesis on "Children's Rights and Obligations in Canon Law" at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The defence was conducted in Italian. McAleese was questioned by Professor Robert J Geisinger S.J. and Professor Ulrich Rhode S.J. The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, the Rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome and the Irish Ambassadors to Italy and the Holy See attended the defence. McAleese also holds a Masters in Canon Law (2010) from the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy. McAleese delivered the Valedictorian Address at her graduation.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2012, McAleese published "Quo Vadis? Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law" (Columba Press). The book was launched in Rome at the Irish Franciscan College of St. Isidore's and in Dublin at the Redemptorists Centre at Marianella by the Former Chief Justice of Ireland, Ronan Keane


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2019, McAleese published "Children's Rights & Obligations in Canon Law: The Christening Contracts" (Brill Publishers).


title: Mary McAleese

text: In March 2018, McAleese asked "If you are going to exclude women in perpetuity from priesthood and if all decision-making, discernment and policy-making in the Church is going to continue to be filtered through the male priesthood, tell me how in justice and charity, but most importantly in equality, are you going to include the voices of women in the formation of the Catholic faith? What radical, innovative, strategic ideas do you have for their inclusion while being excluded for priesthood? And that's the question they have not answered".


title: Mary McAleese

text: On the ordination of women, McAleese said "I believe that women should be ordained, I believe the theology on which that is based is pure codology. I'm not even going to be bothered arguing it. Sooner or later it'll fall apart, fall asunder under its own dead weight."


title: Mary McAleese

text: On International's Women Day, McAleese described the Catholic Church as "an empire of misogyny". She said "This regrettable situation arises because the Catholic Church has long since been a primary global carrier of the toxic virus of misogyny…Its leadership has never sought a cure for that virus although the cure is freely available. Its name is equality."


title: Mary McAleese

text: In response to her speech, the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said "Her challenge to the internal culture of the Church today was brutally stark. Some may find it unpleasant or unwelcome. I must accept the challenge with the humility of one who recognises her alienation."


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese was due to speak on a panel at a Voices of Faith conference in the Vatican on International Women's Day in 2018 on Women in the Church. The conference had been held for the previous four years at the Vatican. Irish born Cardinal Kevin Farrell and Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life banned McAleese from speaking in the Vatican. The organizers had not been given any reason for the decision. In response, conference organisers invited McAleese to deliver the keynote speech at the conference and relocated it to a Jesuit conference centre just outside the Vatican.


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese initiated a canonical complaint against Kevin Farrell. The complaint was made to the Cardinal's superior – Pope Francis. The Nuncio to Ireland Jude Thaddeus Okolo personally collected the complaint from McAleese's home and delivered it to the Vatican. According to McAleese, she was advised that there was a process for handling such complaints. In November 2019 she said that she had received neither an acknowledgement or reply to her complaint.


title: Mary McAleese

text: Speaking before the opening of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2015, McAleese ridiculed the concept of 300 elderly celibates coming together to discuss family questions. Addressing a meeting of the Global Network of Rainbow (LGBT) Catholics on the eve of the Vatican's Synod on the Family, former president McAleese said: "In the days when I was president, we had workshops on various issues and if I wanted to look at an issue, I would consult the experts... But look at the Synod, I have to ask the question: If I wanted expertise on the family, I honestly cannot say that the first thing that would come into my mind would be to call together 300 celibate males who, as far we know, have never raised a child...Let me repeat a question I asked last year when I saw the Vatican's lengthy pre-Synod questionnaire, namely how many of these men have ever changed a child's nappy? For me that is a very important question because it is one thing to say that we all grew up in families, we had mothers, we had fathers but it is a very different thing to raise a gay child, a very different thing to live daily in a relationship and to police the relationships between children and the world." Acknowledging that the Synod will doubtless be considering the Catholic Church's pastoral approach to homosexuals, McAleese described herself as "cynical" about the outcome of the forthcoming three-week consultation.


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 18 August 2018, McAleese speaking in the aftermath of the US Grand Jury Report on children abused by Catholic Priests in Pennsylvania said the cover up of this abuse "is not only systemic, it was directed from central command and control which is the Vatican … It strikes me as impossible to believe that all bishops acted equally negligently by coincidence, that's the problem."


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese said in relation to the World Meeting of Families (held in Dublin in 2018), "It's always been essentially a right wing rally… and it was designed for that purpose, to rally people to get them motivated to fight against the tide of same-sex marriage, rights for gays, abortion rights, contraceptive rights".


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 23 August 2019, McAleese was announced as the winner of the Alfons Auer Ethics Award, from Tübingen University in Germany for her political dedication in building bridges across divisions in society especially in the conflict in Northern Ireland, her commitment to reforming the Catholic Church after the sexual abuse scandals, her theological and ethical advocacy for the rights of children, for the complete equality of women in church ministries and for the acceptance of diversity.


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 5 November 2019, McAleese delivered the annual Edmund Burke lecture at Trinity College Dublin. McAleese's lecture was entitled "The Future of Ireland: Human Rights and Children's Rights". In her address McAleese called for "a clear acknowledgment from the Catholic Church that the canon laws which constrict children's rights have now been overtaken by the (UN) Convention and our Constitution"


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese has written to Pope Francis threatening to quit the Catholic Church if it comes to light the Vatican "failed to act to protect members of the L'Arche community" from the organization's founder Jean Vanier. He founded L'Arche in 1964 to work with the intellectually disabled. On 22 February 2020, L'Arche announced that it had received credible complaints that Vanier had sexually abused at least six women.


title: Mary McAleese

text: McAleese has strongly promoted closer ties between Ireland and the People's Republic of China, meeting frequently with officials from that country's ruling Chinese Communist Party, including Xi Jinping and former President Hu Jintao. As President of Trinity College, McAleese refused to allow the board to bestow an honorary degree upon the Dalai Lama, noting the Chinese student presence at the University and stating that "honouring the Tibetan monk would undoubtedly cause “serious” problems and consequences with the Chinese ambassador, and added that the Chinese would interpret the award as looking for trouble, as China regarded him as a religious-political leader.”. According to the "Sunday Independent", Chinese universities "provided the fourth highest amount of non-EU collaborations with Trinity over the previous 10 years, with 581 co-publications."


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 1975, McAleese and David Norris founded the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform. McAleese was its legal advisor from 1975 until 1979 when she joined RTÉ as a current affairs journalist.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In a 2008 biography McAleese explained that she first became aware of the plight of gay people as a student in San Francisco in the early 1970s. She was 21 and studying law at Queen's University Belfast. Her job involved preparing food for airlines; a supervisor, "a charming, lovely man", told her he was gay. They had become friends. He was wounded at being rejected by his family. She recalled, "at school or university I was never aware of ever meeting a gay person, such were the taboos at the time. As a heterosexual I had wondered what it must be like for those who are outside the mainstream, the self-discovery, when you can reveal it to no one." That man was her introduction to the reality. "When I came back to Ireland I made it my business to do something about it," she said.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2008, McAleese addressed a gay youth forum in Galway and encouraged people to confront those who make anti-gay remarks. McAleese said that being gay was "not a choice but a discovery".


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2010, McAleese addressed the LGBT Diversity National Conference in Dublin. She said "The toxic attitudes which were heard in homes, streets, workplaces even in schools and churches caused untold suffering and nothing is surer than the fact that those attitudes can have and will have no place in the Ireland we are building, for they belong in the same toxic waste dump along with sexism, racism, sectarianism and all those other contrary forces which would diminish the innate dignity, freedom and nature of the human person, reduce their life chances and opportunities and consign them to half-lived lives.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2011, McAleese declined an invitation to be the New York City St Patrick's Day parade Grand Marshall. LGBT people were banned from marching in the parade under LGBT banners.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In a radio interview discussing her book "Quo Vadis? Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law" on 28 September 2012, said she was concerned at the growing number of young men, and in particular young gay men, who take their own lives in Ireland. She said that when the research is broken down, it shows that young gay men are one of the most risk-prone groups in Ireland. McAleese said many of these young men will have gone to Catholic schools and they will have heard there their church's attitude to homosexuality. "They will have heard words like 'disorder', they may even have heard the word 'evil' used in relation to homosexual practice," she said. She went on to say "And when they make the discovery, and it is a discovery and not a decision, when they make the discovery, that they are gay, when they are 14, 15 or 16, an internal conflict of absolutely appalling proportions opens up". She said many young gay men are driven into a place that is "dark and bleak". McAleese said she met the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Charles John Brown, shortly after Easter to raise with him her concern about the growing number of suicides among young men in Ireland.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In May 2015, in advance of the marriage equality referendum, McAleese described same-sex marriage as a "human rights issue" as she and her husband Martin called for a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum. In her first public comments on the issue, McAleese said the vote next month is "about Ireland's children, gay children" and said passing the referendum would help dismantle the "architecture of homophobia". She also highlighted the problems in Ireland of suicide among young males. "We now know from the evidence that one of the risk groups within that age cohort of 15–25 is the young male homosexual. We owe those children a huge debt as adults who have opportunities to make choices that impact their lives, to make the right choices, choices that will allow their lives grow organically and to give them the joy of being full citizens in their own country."


title: Mary McAleese

text: In June 2018, McAleese attended Dublin Pride for the first time along with her husband, son Justin and his husband Fionán Donohoe. This theme was 'We Are Family', and was a reference to Pope Francis' 2018 visit to Ireland for the Catholic World Meeting of Families. Speaking at the parade she said: "Homophobia is evil. It ruins people's lives, it has ruined families' lives, it has caused people to commit suicide, it has caused people to live in dark shadows, so unsure of themselves," she said.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2011, McAleese received the GALA Political Figure Award. In 2016, McAleese received the "Ally of the year" award from GALA's.


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2016, McAleese received The Northern Ireland Tolerantia Award for "her commitment to equal treatment and the dignity of LGB&T people for over four decades".


title: Mary McAleese

text: In June 2016, McAleese urged the British to vote to remain in the EU. McAleese warned that Britain's departure could result in the return of border controls on the island of Ireland and a cause a "potential drift" in the peace process. McAleese said the "chances of customs controls being reconstituted are probably greater as they had been eliminated by EU laws, not Anglo-Irish efforts". McAleese challenged claims by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who frequently repeated claims that the position on the island of Ireland would not change. McAleese said, "I don't know that to be (true) and they do not know that".


title: Mary McAleese

text: In 2017, McAleese described Brexit as like "pulling a tooth with 10,000 roots". She said that Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK that will share a land border with an EU state post-Brexit and she feared that checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would be an inevitable consequence of the UK leaving EU. McAleese said "the lawyer in me says our migration controls are very different, and they are going to be if Britain is no longer part of the EU, and if they tighten the migration controls it won't be enough that I'm entitled to use the Common Travel Area…how are they going to differentiate between me, the person who is entitled to plead the Common Travel Areas, and the person say from France or Germany or Poland who's going to cross the road at Newry, or Derry? My view is that sooner or later the pressure will come to make it an ID card phenomenon…I don't see, in the long run, how we'd get around that".Taoiseach Leo Varadkar responded to McAleese's concerns saying "I understand her concerns but it is one area that I am very sure about that's that there won't be a requirement to produce a passport to travel to Northern Ireland".


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 29 March 2019, McAleese addressed the Brexit Institute at DCU. She said "The process of Brexit has been like watching a political form of necrotising fasciitis as it has devoured time, effort, good will, patience, reputations, relationships, engendering huge volumes of work, of anxiety and again, no obvious end in sight. We know that it has rendered the word 'meaningful' completely meaningless. She said "I am heart sorry to see the UK go, to leave the EU, things will not be the same. The future experience will not be the one we envisaged. I harboured a hope that somehow, the United Kingdom would step back from the brink and recommit to the ideal of the European Union, in my view the greatest and the noblest political undertaking ever envisaged and realised in human history. That's a description that is unlikely to ever be attached to Brexit."


title: Mary McAleese

text: On 8 June 2013, a ceremony was held to rename a bridge on the M1 motorway near Drogheda as the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge to honour McAleese's contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process.


title: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

text: Uramichi Omota, a 31-year-old former professional gymnast, works as the leader of the exercise segment of the children's show "Together with Maman" (a parody of "Okaasan to Issho"). Despite keeping an upbeat personality on the show, he can't help but reveal his jaded, worn-out personality.


title: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

text: "Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan" is written and illustrated by Gaku Kuze. It has been serialized online in Ichijinsha's "Comic POOL" digital manga magazine since May 12, 2017. Chapters have been collected in seven "tankōbon" volumes. During their Anime NYC 2019 panel, Kodansha USA announced that they had licensed the series.


title: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

text: An anime adaptation was announced in a promotional video of the fourth volume of the manga on October 25, 2019. The television series is animated by Studio Blanc and directed by Nobuyoshi Nagayama, with Touko Machida handling series composition, Mizuki Takahashi and Yusuke Shibata designing the characters, and Kei Haneoka composing the series' music. It was scheduled to premiere in 2020, but was delayed to 2021 due to "production issues". The series aired from July 6 to September 28, 2021, on TV Tokyo and other channels. Mamoru Miyano and Nana Mizuki performed the opening theme song, "ABC Taisō" (ABC Exercises) as their respective characters, while Miyano also performed the ending theme song "Dream on". Funimation licensed the series. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.


title: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

text: In 2017, the manga won the Next Manga Award in the web manga category. Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network published a positive review of the two omnibus editions of the manga in 2021. She wrote that: "Simply put, "Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan" works because it melds absurdity with a dash of realism while reminding readers of their own experiences with children's programming. It does take a while to get going, but by the end of the second book, it has achieved just the right mix of humor and cynicism."


title: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

text: The anime adaptation's first episode garnered mixed reviews from Anime News Network's staff during the Summer 2021 season previews. Richard Eisenbeis praised the portrayal of Uramichi being more "depressed and disillusioned than [as] an asshole" and the treatment of the other characters' predicament being "equal parts funny and sad", saying that fans of "Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei" will enjoy this series. Caitlin Moore was critical of the inappropriate humor said towards young children and the comic timing being "a little bit off" and diminishing the impact of the jokes. James Beckett felt the show didn't "play[s] up the absurdity of its central joke enough" to offset the lack of other jokes throughout the runtime, despite giving praise to the "understated" delivery and Mamoru Miyano giving a "naturalistic" performance as Iketeru. Lynzee Loveridge wrote that the series will appeal to people who enjoy its brand of dark humor, saying that: "If you find this funny, it also probably says something about you and your personal life experiences, your outlook on the world at large." Silverman found the early parts of the episode unfunny because of the focus on Uramichi's bleak outlook but was hopeful of his supporting cast balancing the humor, concluding that: "[T]he contrasts between the colors of the show and Uramichi's dark moments are good, and I like the vocal cast's delivery, but I'm having a hard time getting behind this episode in general. It does get better, but getting there could be a schlep." Nicholas Dupree said that despite a few gags landing its spot, he felt the premiere was hampered by its structure of shorter segments undercutting Uramichi's comments and lacking in quality punchlines, concluding that: "It's a pity, because this past year has had me in the mood for darker humor more than ever, but so far "Uramichi Oniisan" just hasn't delivered."


title: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

text: Silverman reviewed the complete anime series in 2022 and gave it a B– grade. While finding fault in the "limited animation", the portrayals of Derekida and Capellini, and the limited appeal of its central premise, she praised Uramichi and "Together with Maman"s programming for making up "a winning combination" for one of the series' best jokes, the "solid vocal performances" from the cast and the subtle details in the characters' past and background jokes, concluding that: "I do think it may work a bit better in its original manga form, but no matter how you experience it, this is probably a love-it-or-hate-it kind of show." The series was nominated for Best Comedy at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, but lost to "Komi Can't Communicate".


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Taking place in a fictional open-world environment, the story of "Blue Dragon" focuses on five friends (Shu, Jiro, Kluke, Zola, and Marumaro) as they travel across the world to confront Nene, the evil ruler of the Grand Kingdom. The setting inspired separate animation and comic adaptations, although these follow the story to different degrees and feature a different cast of characters. The game follows a traditional role-playing design, based around exploration and turn-based combat.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: "Blue Dragon" was the first Xbox 360 title to make use of multiple discs, spanning three discs in total. The game was released in Japan in December 2006, where it was sold both as a standalone title and as part of a bundle with the Xbox 360. Other regions received only the game itself, with a release in August 2007. Overall, the game received a generally positive reception, being both applauded and criticized for its adaptation of the traditional elements of role-playing games.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: The gameplay of "Blue Dragon" uses turn-based gameplay elements seen in older Japanese role-playing video games. The game world contains two major types of areas: towns, in which the player can rest and purchase items, and dungeon-like areas, with numerous foes to be defeated.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Players are initially able to walk between locations on the overworld, and later gain the ability to teleport to previously visited locations. The player controls a party of characters, but only one is shown when exploring the overworld. The player is able to cast magic outside of combat situations based on each character's respective abilities. When combat begins, the entire party appears for battle. Enemies are visible to the player while exploring the game world, and can be avoided. At the same time, players can choose to engage enemies by luring them close and them activating a circle which will allow players to fight multiple monsters at a time. In some cases, specific foes will block a path or desired treasure chest and must be defeated to proceed. Other foes will pursue the player's character once the player is spotted, but players can elude them if they flee far enough. Frequently, a single enemy or monster displayed on the screen actually represents a number of different foes of potentially different types.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Combat begins differently depending on how the player avatar makes contact with the monster. If the avatar strikes an enemy from behind, they take the advantage in battle with a "Back Attack". Similarly, if the avatar is struck from behind, the enemy takes the advantage in a "Surprise Attack". Players can also choose to fight several groups of monsters at once, with each combat taking place immediately after the previous one. A player who successfully employs this tactic is rewarded with bonuses. Players may use "field skills" to aid in controlling enemy encounters, such as using bombs to paralyze enemies. In rare cases, two groups of monsters may be of rival species, in which case a "Monster Fight" will occur, with both monster groups appearing at once and focusing on each other before attacking the player.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: The core mechanic in "Blue Dragon" is the use of magical "shadows", with each playable character having a distinct shadow modeled after either a dragon, a phoenix, a bat, a minotaur, or a saber-toothed tiger. Each shadow can be assigned to a single character class (from a number of such classes) at a time, taking on the attributes and abilities of that class. Only the active class may earn Class levels or "ranks", but players are free to change classes at any time except in combat, allowing the group's shadows to be customized in order to achieve the desired combination of skills.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: As shadows increase in rank in a given class, they learn new skills, which can then be assigned to a limited number of skill slots to be used in combat. Shadows can be assigned previously learned skills regardless of their current class. For example, if a shadow is currently set to be an "Generalist", but has previously learned the ability to cast "Barrier Magic" while acting as a member of the Barrier Magic class, the Barrier Magic skill can be set as an active skill. This allows mixing or hybridization, with the player able to pick and choose from among the skills learned by a given shadow.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Although combat in the game follows a strictly turn-based formula, the turn sequence of the characters you have are calculated based on the speed statistic of the character, and in some cases characters are allowed to strike before enemies can act if they possess sufficient speed. Different attacks can take varied periods of time to execute.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Another combat timing mechanic featured in the game is the "Charge Meter", which allows players to increase the power of spells or attacks by spending additional time preparing them. This meter is always used for spell casting, as well as when using the "Charge Attack" skill used by the "Monk" class. Although players can choose to act immediately, an ability will become more powerful the longer that the player charges the attack. However, the greater the amount of time one charges attacks, the longer the charging character must wait before the next turn. As a result of this, players can choose to charge up an ability so that the ability triggers shortly before an enemy acts, or can instead aim for the "sweet spot", a special red area on the charging bar, indicating a charge that allows for less time until the next attack, as well as a smaller mana cost. Overall, deciding on the correct amount of charge and letting go of the button at precisely that time can greatly influence the effectiveness of each character's attacks during combat.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: "Blue Dragon" takes place in a fictional open-world environment where every year for the past ten years, purple clouds have mysteriously appeared in the sky, signaling misfortune and disaster for people across the world. For years, a terrifying beast dubbed the "Land Shark", and other lost technologies, such as the "sea cube" came with the purple clouds, killing thousands of people and destroying a number of villages. The world is split up into climate regions, each containing multiple kingdoms and villages, a few of which are not on the main path, but hold small stories, such as the giants, and the sheep, as well as hidden dungeons. Around the environment are multiple sources of treasure.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: On an unnamed world, the legendary purple clouds arrive in Talta Village which is the home of Shu, Kluke, and Jiro. While the other villagers seek shelter, Shu and Jiro slow down the Land Shark. After encountering troubles, Kluke saves them. Together, the three trap the Land Shark in a net, but the Land Shark breaks free and rushes away, with Shu, Jiro, and Kluke dangling from its back. The Land Shark stops in an ancient ruin that the three friends explore. They discover the Land Shark is really a machine—a "Mechat". Without warning, the mechat comes to life, only this time sailing into the sky, again carrying the three with it.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: The party arrives at a giant Mechat base in the clouds and are tossed into the throne room of Nene, the apparent leader. Nene explains to them how he enjoys hearing the screams of the dying victims of the Land Shark. The party battles Nene, but are easily defeated. They are thrown out of the base and start to fall to their deaths, but a beam of light from the base catches them, and brings them back to the base. The party find three small floating spheres in the middle of the room; a mysterious voice commands them to swallow the spheres. The party refuses, and instead hold onto the spheres for safekeeping. As they try to reach another Mechat to escape the base, they are forced to fight a large army of Nene's robots. When the battle seems it will never end, and with the unseen voice promising them knowledge of how to pilot the Mechat, the party members eat the spheres. As they consume the spheres, a strange transformation occurs to each, changing the forms of their shadows into powerful beings that are able to destroy the robot army. The party escapes the base and crash in a desert.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: After becoming familiar with their new shadows, the party travels to Talta village, befriending Marumaro on the way, who also possesses a magical shadow. Finding that the villagers from Talta have started to head towards the capital city of Jibral, the party takes off after them. Just outside Jibral, the party finds the villagers attacked by Steel-Eating Tigers. They are saved by the arrival of King Jibral and his forces, including Zola. Once the villagers are brought to Jibral, the King decides to implement a plan to destroy one of Nene's bases near Jibral using Shu and his friends along with Zola. Together, the party works with the warriors of Talta Village the Jibral Kingdom to besiege Nene's Mechat base. After the base is destroyed, the party heads north in search of Nene. Nene captures Kluke, and places a collar around her neck which Nene alleges will explode. After reaching Nene, Zola separates from the party to buy them time to attack Nene. When the party attempts to remove Kluke's collar, Nene absorbs the party's shadows by placing collars on all of them. After taking their powers and placing them in himself, he removes their collars and attempts to kill them before they recover. Shu, despite being drained of magical ability, unconsciously teleports the party to the distant Devour village.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: In Devour Village, they find themselves unable to escape the village without their magic, because the community is surrounded by evil trees. Shu has an epiphany and finds himself able to summon his dragon shadow without his sphere. Shu destroys the Eat Yeet in Devour Village, and the party is finally able to leave. Eventually all the party are able to summon their shadows again.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: At that point, the party reunites with Zola, who supplies a Mechat for them to pursue Nene. As the party goes after Nene in the Mechat, Nene initiates an ancient machine that splits the world into two hemispheres, with thousands of isolated cubes floating between the halves. The party follows Nene to the Primitive Cube at the core of the transformation. The party journeys through the cube eventually defeating General Szabo and ultimately engaging Nene. As the party weakens Nene, it is revealed that Zola was working for Nene all along, and she was the voice that told the others to swallow the spheres. When Zola was too weak to defend herself, Nene had given her a shadow and sent her to Jibral as a spy. Zola betrays and kills Nene choosing her friends over him.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Deathroy, the small creature that has been on Nene's shoulder removes himself from his master's body and absorbs Nene's remaining life force. Deathroy is revealed to be Destroy, the biomechanical weapon that destroyed the legendary ancients that once tried to bring peace to the world. The party defeats Destroy, melting him in lava. The party then quickly escapes from the melting cube to rejoin their families.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: "Blue Dragon" was first revealed on February 24, 2005, as one of two unnamed role-playing games in development by Mistwalker Studios for the console which later came to be known as the Xbox 360. In an IGN interview following the unveiling, Peter Moore stressed the importance to Microsoft of having Japanese games available on the system, commenting "... It's a main priority for me in the next 12–18 months to ensure Japanese developers are our partners". Contributors to "Blue Dragon" include a number of well known Japanese figures in the gaming industry. The title's original story was written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the game director of the first five "Final Fantasy" video games. It also features art from Akira Toriyama, the creator of "Dragon Ball" and visual character and monster designer and illustrator of both the "Dragon Quest" series and "Chrono Trigger". In 2014, Sakaguchi recalled that it was initially a challenge to work with Toriyama because he was not in tune with the latest technology. For example, the Photoshop software Toriyama had on his computer was version 1 or 2, making it difficult to convey ideas. Despite the minor setback, Sakaguchi praised his creativity, saying he had great ideas constantly popping in his head.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Much of the actual software development work on the game was done at Artoon, with Takuya Matsumoto serving as director and Manabu Kusonoki responsible for the game's world view. Matsumoto previously worked as a designer on "", while Kusonoki is known for his work at Sega, including the world of "Panzer Dragoon". Near the end of November 2005, roughly a year before the title was released in Japan, Artoon's Naoto Ohshima indicated that the game was around 40% complete. He also pointed out that Artoon had previously been known primarily for action titles, so that responsibility for "Blue Dragon" was originally somewhat frightening. Following this, a relative lack of media information for most of 2006 resulted in speculation that the title would be delayed until 2007, but Microsoft's Takashi Sensui confirmed in August 2006 that the game would indeed see a year-end 2006 release. "Blue Dragon" was eventually released on three full DVD discs, making it the first Xbox 360 game to span multiple discs.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: In a November 2006 interview with IGN, Sakaguchi confirmed that the sequel, "Blue Dragon 2", was in the planning stages, and would presumably start development shortly thereafter. Later in an issue of "Weekly Shōnen Jump", "Blue Dragon Plus" was in the works for the Nintendo DS. It is a real-time simulation RPG, featuring 2D sprite graphics, and was released on September 4, 2008 in Japan and on February 19, 2009 in North America. In 2009, a second "Blue Dragon" title was released for the DS, "". The latter is more action oriented, and follows a player-created character, rather than Shu.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: "Blue Dragon"s score was composed and produced by Nobuo Uematsu, who is better known for composing much of the music in the popular "Final Fantasy" series. One of the boss themes, "Eternity", was composed by Uematsu, with lyrics by Hironobu Sakaguchi himself, and includes vocals by English singer Ian Gillan. "Blue Dragon Original Soundtrack" was released on December 13, 2006, and was arranged by Satoshi Henmi and Hiroyuki Nakayama. Music from "Blue Dragon" was performed live at the Play! A Video Game Symphony concerts in 2006. IGN praised the track "Cave" as one of the "Top 10 Nobuo Uematsu Musical Moments". Enter Shikari also made an instrumental song, "Enter Shikari vs. Blue Dragon" for the original soundtrack.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Pre-orders of "Blue Dragon" bundled with a limited edition Xbox 360 Core system were sold out in Japan well before the December 7, 2006, release date. Microsoft and Mistwalker initially hoped to sell over 200,000 copies, which would break their record for sales of an Xbox 360 game in Japan. The game did manage the goal, with almost exactly 200,000 copies sold as of December 27, 2007. Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was pleased the game sold as well as it did.


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: Reviews for "Blue Dragon" were generally favorable. On the review aggregator GameRankings, the game had an average score of 77% based on 65 reviews. While many reviewers praised the game for its traditional approach, a few reviewers criticized it for that very reason, with one reviewer remarking: "In fact, there is very little you can point to in "Blue Dragon" that hasn't been done multiple times over before". The story also came under scrutiny from some reviewers for being too generic and too similar to existing Japanese RPGs, with slow pacing during the beginning of the game. Eurogamer stated that the apparent lack of effort put into the facial animations for each character resulted in a limited ability to express emotion. They also noted that the mouth movements are well timed, but that the rest of the characters' facial movements are "static".


title: Blue Dragon (video game)

text: "Game Informer" commented that "Blue Dragon" lacked "jaw dropping" moments and was missing a nebulous "key element" to make it perfect. 1UP.com also picked up on this, adding that "Blue Dragon" was missing "strong characters, gripping storytelling, and excellent pacing". "X-Play" said that the game was very visually pleasing, but indicated that it was like any other role-playing game. Though most of the reviewers criticized the game in one way or another, they all complimented it for its excellent graphics and music. Specifically, Game Informer remarked that "the characters look like sculpted figurines wandering around a world built to scale". GameSpy complimented the title's music and graphics saying the game had "phenomenal music and magnificently rendered cutscenes".


title: Annie Proulx

text: Edna Ann Proulx (; born August 22, 1935) is an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx.


title: Annie Proulx

text: She won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, "Postcards". Her second novel, "The Shipping News" (1993), won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was adapted as a 2001 film of the same name. Her short story "Brokeback Mountain" was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning motion picture released in 2005.


title: Annie Proulx

text: Proulx was born Edna Ann Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut, to Lois Nellie ( Gill) and Georges-Napoléon Proulx. Her first name honored one of her mother's aunts. She is of English and French-Canadian ancestry. Her maternal forebears came to America in 1635, 15 years after the "Mayflower" arrived.


title: Annie Proulx

text: She graduated from Deering High School in Portland, Maine, then attended Colby College "for a short period in the 1950s", where she met her first husband, H. Ridgely Bullock, Jr. She later returned to college, studying at the University of Vermont from 1966 to 1969, and graduated "cum laude" and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in history in 1969. She earned her M.A. from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) in Montreal, Quebec in 1973 and pursued, but did not complete, a Ph.D. In 1999, Concordia awarded her an honorary doctorate.


title: Annie Proulx

text: Proulx lived for more than 30 years in Vermont, has married and divorced three times, and has three sons and a daughter (Jonathan, Gillis, Morgan, and Sylvia). In 1994, she moved to Saratoga, Wyoming, spending part of the year in northern Newfoundland on a small cove adjacent to L'Anse aux Meadows. As of 2019, Proulx lived in Port Townsend, Washington.


title: Annie Proulx

text: Starting as a journalist, her first published work of fiction is ""The Customs Lounge"", a science fiction story published in the September 1963 issue of "If", under the byline "E.A. Proulx".


title: Annie Proulx

text: A year later, her science fiction story ""All the Pretty Little Horses"" appeared in the teen magazine "Seventeen" in June 1964. She subsequently published stories in "Esquire" magazine and "Gray's Sporting Journal" in the late 1970s, eventually publishing her first collection in 1988 and her first novel in 1992. She was awarded a NEA fellowship in 1992 and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1993.


title: Annie Proulx

text: In 1997, Proulx was awarded the Dos Passos Prize, a mid-career award for American writers. Proulx has twice won the O. Henry Prize for the year's best short story. In 1998, she won for "Brokeback Mountain", which had appeared in "The New Yorker" on October 13, 1997. Proulx won again the following year for "The Mud Below", which appeared in "The New Yorker" June 22 and 29, 1999. Both appear in her 1999 collection of short stories, "". The lead story in this collection, entitled "The Half-Skinned Steer", was selected by author Garrison Keillor for inclusion in "The Best American Short Stories 1998," (Proulx herself edited the 1997 edition of this series) and later by novelist John Updike for inclusion in "The Best American Short Stories of the Century" (1999).


title: Annie Proulx

text: In 2007, the composer Charles Wuorinen approached Proulx with the idea of turning her short story "Brokeback Mountain" into an opera. The opera of the same name with a libretto by Proulx herself premiered January 28, 2014, at the Teatro Real in Madrid. It was praised as an often brilliant adaptation that clearly conveyed the text of the libretto with music that is rich in imagination and variety. In 2017, she received the Fitzgerald Award for that year for Achievement in American Literature.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years appeared in 50 weeks of the year.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle was born in Hackney, east London, on 12 April 1948. His father, a Fleet Street sports reporter, abandoned Jeremy's mother, Marji (9 July 1921 – 9 July 2002), when he learned that she was pregnant. Before Jeremy reached the age of two he was frequently hospitalised and had undergone surgery for Poland syndrome, a rare disorder that stunted growth in his right hand.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: His mother worked as a secretary to help pay to raise him, including a stint for the boxing promoter Jack Solomons. Beadle did not enjoy school and was frequently in trouble. He was eventually expelled from his secondary school, Orpington County Secondary Boys' School. A teacher remarked, "Beadle, you waffle like a champion but know nothing."


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: After his expulsion, he travelled and worked in Europe. He had a number of jobs, at one point taking photographs of topless models, and worked as a sky-diving instructor, lavatory attendant and tour guide. He even briefly worked as a tour guide at the York dungeons. He often said that he gave the best London tour because he realised that what people wanted was stories of blood, sex and death.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle was chosen in 1970 by Tony Elliott, the founder of "Time Out", to set up a Manchester edition of the magazine, a venture that was short-lived, though he subsequently maintained a connection with the publication in London. In 1972, North West Arts Association asked him to organise the Bickershaw Festival, and he worked on further musical events over the next couple of years.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: In 1973, as an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale, he was elected to their National Executive and secured the campaign's first television or radio coverage in a one-hour programme on BBC Radio London, which he hosted. It was during this period that his talent for practical jokes became evident, although occasionally this rebounded on him, such as when colleagues left him naked in front of 400 women arriving for their shift. He then started writing for radio and television, going on to provide material for stars such as Sir Terry Wogan, Michael Aspel, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle began supplying odd facts and questions to radio and television game shows, such as "Celebrity Squares". He sent a number of questions to Bob Monkhouse, the host, without the answers and Monkhouse was so impressed he rang Jeremy to ask him to work on the show. His presenting style on the phone-in programme "Nightline" on LBC in London, which he hosted between September 1979 and 22 June 1980 (when he was sacked), led to a cult following. He introduced himself as Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadlebum: "Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle is my name and a bum is what I am," he explained. He teased his producer as 'Butch' Bavin Cook (b. 12 June).


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: On 31 May 1980, he began co-presenting the children's television show "Fun Factory" with his LBC co-star Thérèse Birch, Kevin Day and Billy Boyle. On Capital Radio Beadle presented "Beadle's Odditarium", a music show concentrating on strange, bizarre and rare recordings all taken from the archives of producer Phil Swern. From 5 October 1986, Beadle presented "Beadle's Brainbusters" on the independent local radio network, with questions written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley. He also became renowned for his off-air pranks and intellectually challenging quizzes. He wrote, devised and presented many television pilots for the highly successful game show company Action Time, then run by Jeremy Fox, the son of Paul Fox. Beadle wrote and presented "The Deceivers", a BBC2 television series recounting the history of swindlers and hoaxers. The success of this led to using the same format for "Eureka", which told the background behind everyday inventions.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle then went on to become nationally famous as one of the presenters of LWT's "Game for a Laugh", the first programme made by ITV to beat the BBC's shows in the Saturday night ratings battle. This was followed by a hidden-camera style practical joke show, "Beadle's About" (1986–1996), which became the world's longest continuously running hidden-camera show.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: From 1990 to 1997, Beadle presented "You've Been Framed!", a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. An offshoot of this was "Beadle's Hotshots", featuring viewers' intentionally funny parodies and sketches, some of which were re-edited and even reshot by a young Edgar Wright in his first industry job; other sketches and scripts were produced by writer/director Chris Barfoot). In total, Beadle hit the UK Number One ratings slot four times.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: In 1995, reflecting his days on LBC, he presented a relatively short-lived but popular Sunday late-evening show on the newly launched Talk Radio UK. As well as his considerable television output as writer, presenter and producer, he appeared in numerous pantomimes and acted as ringmaster for many circuses, notably for Gerry Cottle's. He also worked as a consultant for many television companies, wrote books, and presented quizzes both commercially and for charity. As a radio presenter, he chaired a brief revival of "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?" on BBC Radio 4. In 2007 he started to work on the Bickershaw Festival 40th Anniversary Boxed set project for 2012 in conjunction with Chris Hewitt, who had worked with Beadle on the original event in 1972. (Chris Hewitt continued to work on the project after Beadle died.)


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle was living in Highgate, north London, when he was the subject of "This Is Your Life" on 26 January 1994. He was surprised by Michael Aspel during a school carol concert at a church in nearby Hampstead on 8 December 1993.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle wanted to be the British Robert L. Ripley – coincidentally, both had newspaper strips, both became millionaires and both died at 59. A love of trivia was born when his mother bought him "The Guinness Book of Records" for Christmas when he was a small boy. This led him to write "Today's the Day" (published in the UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the United States two years later), researched in his own library of 27,000 volumes. The book recounts – for any given day of the year – around half a dozen notable births, deaths or events that occurred on that date, linked to odd or amusing facts. Beadle briefly performed a similar duty on television's TV-am, informing each morning's viewers of prominent events on this date in past years. The scripts were written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley. The format was briefly revived when GMTV replaced TV-am as the ITV breakfast franchise in 1993.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: For more than two years Beadle wrote a daily cartoon series of "Today's the Day" for the "Daily Express". He worked alongside Irving Wallace and his son David Wallechinsky and daughter Amy Wallace as the biggest contributor to the sex and death chapters of "The Book of Lists" and was the London editor of "The People's Almanac 2". The Wallaces' book "The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People" (Dell (US) Hutchinson (UK), 1981) was researched in part in Beadle's library, which contained an extensive collection of erotic literature.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: In autumn 2007, three new books by Beadle were published: "Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Crime", "Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Military" (both co-authored by the celebrated writer Ian Harrison) and "Beadle's Miscellany", the first hundred quizzes from his weekly puzzlers in "The Independent". He guest-edited the January 2008 edition of "True Detective", which featured contributions from his friends who are crime experts including James Morton, Paul Donnelley, Andrew Rose and Matthew Spicer.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: In 1995, Beadle wrote the foreword to "Who Was Jack the Ripper?", a collection of theories and observations about the Victorian serial murderer, published by the veteran true crime book dealer Camille Woolf. It included contributions from experts such as Martin Fido, Colin Wilson, Donald Rumbelow, Colin Kendell and Richard Whittington-Egan. In his foreword, Beadle coined the collective noun to describe those interested in the subject "a speculation of Ripperologists".


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Renowned for his general knowledge, Beadle was host of "Win Beadle's Money" (based on the US format "Win Ben Stein's Money"). Beadle lost his money only eight times in 52 shows. He wrote and presented a notoriously difficult quiz at London's The Atlantic Grill restaurant then owned by Oliver Peyton, often attended by celebrities and members of the press. He also wrote a quiz for "The Independent" every Saturday. He occasionally appeared as a panellist on Radio 4's "Quote... Unquote" and in dictionary corner for Channel 4's "Countdown".


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle was also a winner on the game show 19 Keys, presented by Richard Bacon, defeating Nick Weir, Nicholas Parsons, and fellow Game for a Laugh presenter Henry Kelly (who also presented Going for Gold).


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: In the 2001 New Year Honours Beadle was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to charity. He was a keen supporter of the charity Children With Leukaemia, a disease he suffered from himself in 2005. He spent much time raising money for many different charities with Plastermind his 'outrageous quiz for those who don't like quizzes', as well as a school video venture called CamClass.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle was a patron of The Philip Green Memorial Trust, and he hosted an annual quiz party to raise money for disadvantaged children. Beadle was also the patron of Reach, an organisation providing support and advice for children in the UK with hand or arm deficiencies, and their parents.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: He was a Freemason, initiated in the Westminster City Council Lodge No. 2882, under the United Grand Lodge of England. Although he did not join until after his television heyday was over, he quickly became involved with all aspects of English Freemasonry, and particularly its charitable work, often using his celebrity status to assist in raising funds for Masonic charities.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: Beadle had Poland syndrome, which manifested itself as a disproportionately small right hand. In 2004, Beadle was diagnosed with kidney cancer and underwent a successful operation to remove it. In April 2005, a blood test during a routine post-op medical check-up led to his being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Beadle was successfully treated for this, though two serious illnesses in such a short space of time were detrimental to his general state of health.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: On 25 January 2008, it was reported that Beadle had been admitted to a North London hospital, and was subsequently placed in a critical care unit with pneumonia. He died on 30 January 2008 at the age of 59. His body was subsequently cremated at Marylebone Crematorium on 14 February 2008, and the ashes were buried in a grave at Highgate Cemetery, the distinctive headstone reflecting his bibliophile inclination with a stack of sculpted stone tomes, with the inscription: "Writer, Presenter, Curator of Oddities".


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: On 2 February 2008, ITV dedicated that day's episode of "You've Been Framed" to Beadle and promoted a tribute webpage to him over the show's credits. The channel's official tribute to Jeremy Beadle was broadcast on 4 February 2008 where various celebrity friends including Lord Sugar paid tribute.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: A further tribute was aired on Friday 16 May, "An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle", hosted by Chris Tarrant and with contributions from Lord Sugar, Henry Kelly, Ken Campbell, Anneka Rice and others.


title: Jeremy Beadle

text: His obituary in "The Daily Telegraph" claimed that he "was the most avidly watched presenter on television". On 15 August 2010 he was the subject of an ITV documentary, "The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle".


title: Illan Meslier

text: Illan Stéphane Meslier (born 2 March 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Leeds United.


title: Illan Meslier

text: Meslier began playing football with his local club Merlevenez at the age of 6, and after a successful match against FC Lorient joined their academy. On 1 February 2018, he signed his first professional contract with Lorient. In July 2018, Lorient rejected a €10 million bid from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco for Meslier. He also received interest from English Premier League side Chelsea.


title: Illan Meslier

text: He stayed at Lorient, and shortly made his professional debut under then manager Mickaël Landreau for Lorient in a 1–0 Coupe de la Ligue win over Valenciennes FC on 14 August 2018. He kept a clean sheet consecutively in his first five games as a professional, conceding his first ever goal in his 6th game against Paris FC. He saved an injury time penalty from Clermont player Manuel Perez in Lorient's 1–0 win against Clermont. He solidified his place as the club's number 1 keeper during the 2018–19 season, playing 30 times in all competitions, keeping 11 clean sheets. With his form helping Lorient finish in 6th in 2018–19 Ligue 2 but narrowly missing out on the playoffs due to goal difference compared with RC Lens.


title: Illan Meslier

text: On 8 August 2019, Meslier was signed on a season-long loan by English Championship team Leeds United, with Leeds also having the option to buy Meslier on a permanent deal. He started the season as second choice goalkeeper behind Kiko Casilla and competing with Kamil Miazek for a place on the bench, Meslier gained a reputation as a penalty saving expert after saving three separate penalties for Leeds United under-23's by December.


title: Illan Meslier

text: On 4 January 2020, head coach Marcelo Bielsa announced that Meslier would make his debut on 6 January in Leeds' FA Cup tie against Premier League side Arsenal. With Meslier putting in an impressive performance against the Premier League side in a 1–0 defeat on his debut, he was praised for his distribution and his saves during the match. On 29 February 2020, he made his league debut for Leeds in a 4–0 victory away at Hull City.


title: Illan Meslier

text: Meslier finished the season as first choice at Leeds after an eight-game suspension to fellow goalkeeper Kiko Casilla, with Meslier keeping seven clean sheets in his 10 league games to help Leeds become Champions and win promotion to the Premier League.


title: Illan Meslier

text: On 23 July 2020, Meslier joined Leeds permanently following their promotion to the Premier League, for a reported £5m transfer fee, signing a three-year contract. Meslier made his 2020–21 Premier League debut in the first match of the season against Liverpool on 12 September 2020, starting in the 3–4 defeat at Anfield to the reigning champions. On 28 September, Meslier was named man of the match in the Yorkshire derby 1–0 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, after making a string of fine saves including a point blank reflex save at 0–0.


title: Illan Meslier

text: On 23 February 2021, Meslier became the first goalkeeper under the age of 21 to record 11 clean sheets in a single Premier League season, eventually finishing the season with 11.


title: Illan Meslier

text: Meslier’s performance against Liverpool on 29 October 2022, in which he made nine saves to give his side a 2-1 away win and take them out of the relegation zone, saw him awarded the Premier League Man of the Match award.


title: Illan Meslier

text: Meslier has been capped at international level by France, all the way up to France U21s. He was also part of the France U20 squad for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup playing as the first choice goalkeeper in May 2019.


title: Illan Meslier

text: In November 2019, Meslier was called up the France U21 squad and was named as an unused substitute in a 3–1 defeat against Switzerland U21's on 19 November 2019. He was called up again to the France U21 squad in August 2020 for fixtures against Georgia U21 and Azerbaijan U21. He made his debut for the under-21 team playing in the quarter final against the Netherlands on 31 May 2021.


title: Illan Meslier

text: Due to his appearance and physical stature, Meslier's goalkeeping style has been compared to that of Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.


title: Bologna Process

text: The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications. The process has created the European Higher Education Area under the Lisbon Recognition Convention. It is named after the University of Bologna, where the Bologna declaration was signed by education ministers from 29 European countries in 1999. The process was opened to other countries in the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, and governmental meetings have been held in Prague (2001), Berlin (2003), Bergen (2005), London (2007), Leuven (2009), Budapest-Vienna (2010), Bucharest (2012), Yerevan (2015), Paris (2018), and Rome (2020).


title: Bologna Process

text: Before the signing of the Bologna declaration, the Magna Charta Universitatum was issued at a meeting of university rectors celebrating the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna (and European universities) in 1988. One year before the declaration, education ministers Claude Allègre (France), Jürgen Rüttgers (Germany), Luigi Berlinguer (Italy) and Baroness Blackstone (UK) signed the Sorbonne declaration in Paris in 1998, committing themselves to "harmonising the architecture of the European Higher Education system". The Bologna Process has 49 participating countries.


title: Bologna Process

text: All member states of the EU are participating in the process, with the European Commission also a signatory. Monaco and San Marino are the only members of the Council of Europe which did not adopt the process.


title: Bologna Process

text: The ESU, EUA, EURASHE, EI, ENQA, UNICE, the Council of Europe and UNESCO are part of the process' follow-up. Other groups at this level are ENIC, NARIC and EURODOC.


title: Bologna Process

text: Four countries, Israel, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan and the unrecognized Northern Cyprus, applied to join but did not meet the membership criteria.


title: Bologna Process

text: Israel is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, although it has observer status. Although Israel is not geographically part of Europe, it is part of the UNESCO European Region, (however not a UNESCO member). Israel has also ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention but, under the criteria of the 2003 Berlin Communiqué, it is ineligible for the Bologna Process.


title: Bologna Process

text: Kosovo is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe. Although Serbia is a party, Kosovo declared independence from it and has theoretically been a part of the Bologna Process since the 1999 war. It was suggested that Kosovo could be associated with the process in a category appropriate to its situation, such as guest or special-observer status.


title: Bologna Process

text: Kyrgyzstan is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, although has also ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention.


title: Bologna Process

text: Northern Cyprus is not a party to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe and not recognized as an independent political entity by any member of the Bologna Process except Turkey.


title: Bologna Process

text: The basic framework is three cycles of higher-education qualifications. The framework adopted by the ministers at their meeting in Bergen in 2005 defines the qualifications in terms of learning outcomes: statements of what students know and can do on completing their degrees. In describing the cycles, the framework uses the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS):


title: Bologna Process

text: In most cases, it would take three to four years to earn a bachelor's degree and another one or two years for a master's degree. Doctoral degrees usually require another two to four years of specialization, primarily individual research under a mentor. Degree names may vary by country. One academic year normally corresponds to 60 ECTS credits, equivalent to 1,500–1,800 hours of study.


title: Bologna Process

text: The process, an intergovernmental agreement between EU and non-EU countries, does not have the status of EU legislation. Since the Bologna Declaration is not a treaty or convention, there are no legal obligations for the signatory states; participation and cooperation are voluntary.


title: Bologna Process

text: Although the declaration was created without a formal affiliation with EU institutions, the European Commission (which has supported European projects such as the Tuning and TEEP projects) plays an important role in implementing the process. Most countries do not fit the framework, using their traditional systems. The process, which will result in bilateral agreements between countries and institutions which recognise each other's degrees, is moving from strict convergence in time spent on qualifications towards a competency-based system which will have an undergraduate and postgraduate division (with a bachelor's degree in the former and a master's and doctorate in the latter).


title: Bologna Process

text: In mainland Europe, five-year-plus first degrees are common. Many do not complete their studies, and many countries are introducing bachelor-level qualifications. The situation is evolving as the Bologna Process is implemented.


title: Bologna Process

text: Some countries introduced the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and discussed their degree structures, qualifications, financing and management of higher education and mobility programmes. At the institutional level, the reform involved higher-education institutions, their faculties or departments, student and staff representatives and other factors. Priorities varied by country and institution.


title: Bologna Process

text: In Andorra, degrees are awarded by the state in all three cycles (bachelor's, master's and doctoral). The University of Andorra has adapted its classroom studies to the European Higher Education Area in accordance with the Bologna Agreement. The degree workload is counted in European credits, with a European equivalent of 180 credits (three years) for bachelor's degrees and 120 credits (two years) for master's degrees.


title: Bologna Process

text: Austria's situation is similar to Germany's, with the lowest undergraduate degrees the Magister (FH) and Diplom (FH) (designed to take three or four years). The lowest graduate degrees are Magister and Diplom, which typically fulfill a thesis requirement (including final examination and thesis defence) and can be obtained after four to six years of study. In 2000 many curricula began to be converted into bachelor's degrees ("Bakkalaureat"; the term was replaced by "bachelor's" in most curricula by 2007) and master's ("Magisterstudium") programmes, with nominal durations of six semesters (three years) and three to four semesters (18 months to two years) respectively.


title: Bologna Process

text: Enrollment in a doctoral programme generally requires a master's degree in a related field. Although the nominal duration of doctoral programmes is two or three years, the time to graduate varies considerably and is generally longer.


title: Bologna Process

text: Belarus became a member of the European Higher Education Area at a conference in Yerevan, Armenia, in May 2015.


title: Bologna Process

text: "Diploma" degree became "baccalaureate" (bachelor's degree, ), and the programmes were shortened from four to about three years. "Magisterij" (master's degree) is achieved after two additional years of post-graduate study. The "doktorat" degree (doctorate) may be received after three more years (eight years total).


title: Bologna Process

text: The typical length of study is three years for a bachelor's degree ("baccalaureus"), two years for a master's degree ("magistar") and three years for a doctor of science ("doktor znanosti"). A local distinction is made between vocational and academic degrees at the baccalaureate level, and between engineering and other programs at levels below the doctoral.


title: Bologna Process

text: There are several exceptions. The first degree in economics still takes four years, and the master's degree is obtained after an additional year at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Economics and Zagreb School of Economics and Management. The four-plus-one-year system also applies to fine arts and music. Medical and related studies replace the bachelor's degree with six-year first professional degrees and graduate Doctor of Medicine ("doktor medicine") degrees.


title: Bologna Process

text: In May 2008, about 5,000 students protested weak funding, imprecisely defined new rules and the poor results of the Bologna reform.


title: Bologna Process

text: Denmark introduced the 3+2+3 system in 1971 with an education-management working group of the Society of Danish Engineers and a 1984–85 group of the Federation of Danish Industries, both headed by Hans Bruno Lund. Before the adoption of international standards, the lowest degree normally awarded at universities in Denmark was equivalent to a master's degree (Kandidat/cand.mag). Although bachelor's degrees have been obtained after three years of study, most students continue the additional two years required for a master's degree. Mid-length (two-to four-year) professional degrees have been adapted as professional bachelor's degrees ( years).


title: Bologna Process

text: In the Finnish pre-Bologna system, higher education was divided between universities and polytechnics. In universities, degrees were divided in most fields into a three-year bachelor's degree ("kandidaatti") and a two-year master's degree ("maisteri"). In these fields, the Bologna Process resulted in no change.


title: Bologna Process

text: In engineering, universities only offered a -year master's program ("diplomi-insinööri"). This has been replaced by a three-year bachelor's degree ("tekniikan kandidaatti") and a two-year master's degree ("diplomi-insinööri"), for which the English names are Bachelor of Science (Technology) and Master of Science (Technology). A corresponding change has been made in military higher education, where the officer's degree was divided between bachelor's and master's programmes. Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences, which have offered bachelor's-equivalent engineering programmes, began offering master's-degree programs in 2005. Some Master of Engineering ("insinööri (ylempi AMK)") programmes are taught in English.


title: Bologna Process

text: Only medicine and dentistry retain their non-standard degree structure, where the Licentiate (higher than a master's degree, but less extensive than Doctor of Medicine or Dentistry degrees) is the basic degree. A six-year program of at least 360 ECTS credits leads to the Licentiate of Medicine ("lääketieteen lisensiaatti") degree. There is an intermediate title (but not an academic degree) of "lääketieteen kandidaatti", and no master's degree.


title: Bologna Process

text: Polytechnic degrees are considered bachelor's degrees in international use. In domestic use, bachelors transferring from polytechnics to universities may be required to amass a maximum of 60 ECTS credits of additional studies before beginning master's-level studies. In conjunction with the Bologna Process, polytechnics have the right to award master's degrees.


title: Bologna Process

text: In France the "baccalauréat", awarded at the end of secondary education, allows students to enter university. Before the LMD reform which implemented the Bologna Process, it was followed by a two-year "Diplôme d'études universitaires générales" (DEUG) and a third-year Licence (the equivalent of a UK bachelor's degree).


title: Bologna Process

text: Students could then pursue a Maîtrise, a one-year research degree which could be followed by a one-year vocational degree (the "Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées" or DESS) or research degree (the "Diplôme d'études approfondies", or DEA).


title: Bologna Process

text: The DEA, preparation for a doctorate, was equivalent to the M. Phil. Students could then pursue a "doctorat" (PhD), which took at least three years.


title: Bologna Process

text: The DESS was created in 1975 for students who completed four-year degrees. Intended as a doctorate with a more practical approach than research, it included the production of a 120-page paper which was defended to a jury of three international specialists in the field. The mini-thesis was kept in the libraries of the university issuing the DESS, unlike a PhD dissertation (distributed by its author to every French university library).


title: Bologna Process

text: Higher education in France is also provided by non-university institutions dedicated to specific subjects. The "Diplôme d'ingénieur" (engineering diploma) is awarded to students after five years of study in state-recognized "Écoles d'ingénieurs", particularly the Grandes Écoles such as Mines, Centrale and ENAC.


title: Bologna Process

text: Although the "baccalauréat" and "doctorat" are unchanged in the Bologna system (known in France as LMD reform), the DEUG and "licence" have been merged into a three-year Licence. The Maîtrise, DESS and DEA have been combined into a two-year master's degree, which can be work- ("master professionnel") or research-oriented ("master recherche"). The "Diplôme d'ingénieur" degree is still separate from a university degree, but holders may legally claim a master's degree as well.


title: Bologna Process

text: Strikes occurred in 2002 and 2003 and 2007 protesting LMD reform, focusing more on under-funding of French universities since May 1968 than on the Bologna Process. Although the two major student organisations object to some aspects of its application to the French system, they generally welcome the European process.


title: Bologna Process

text: Although Georgia joined the Bologna Process in 2005 at the Bergen summit, steps towards the establishment of the European Higher Education Area were completed earlier. Since the end of the 1990s, many Georgian universities (mostly private) have introduced limited educational programs allowing students to graduate with a bachelor's degree (four years) and earn a master's degree (one to two years) while preserving the old five-to-six-year scheme. During the Soviet era, the only degree was the discontinued Specialist.


title: Bologna Process

text: Cycles of higher education are divided into first (bachelor's degree with 240 credits), second (master's degree, 120 credits) and third (doctorate, 180 credits). Human and veterinary medicine and dentistry (300–360 credits) are integrated programs with a qualification equal to a master's degree.


title: Bologna Process

text: Greece joined the Bologna Process in 1999. Since 2007, more-intensive steps towards the establishment of the European Higher Education Area were completed.


title: Bologna Process

text: In Hungary, the Bologna system applies to those who began their university education in or after September 2006. One hundred and eight majors were available for selection (compared with over 400 in 2005), of which six are exempt from the bachelor's-master's division: law, human and veterinary medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and architecture.


title: Bologna Process

text: According to an online poll by the National Tertiary Education Information Centre, 65 percent of respondents thought it unnecessary to adopt the system. The new system provides less of a guarantee that students will obtain a master's degree, because many will complete their education after the three-year bachelor's degree. Students are expected to study more unrelated subjects during the first three years, due to the smaller number of majors.


title: Bologna Process

text: In Iceland, bachelor's degrees are usually three years in duration; master's degrees are two years, and doctoral degrees range from three to six years.


title: Bologna Process

text: In Ireland, bachelor's degrees are commonly three to four years in duration; master's and doctoral degrees are basically similar to those in the UK. Bachelor's degrees are first-cycle qualifications. Except for the MA at the University of Dublin, a master's degree is always a postgraduate degree (teaching or research). The generic outcomes for Irish degrees are laid out in the 2003 National Framework of Qualifications. In 2006, Ireland was the first country to verify the compatibility of its national framework with that of the EHEA.


title: Bologna Process

text: Italy fits the framework since its 1999 adoption of the 3+2 system. The first degree is the "Laurea triennale", which may be obtained after three years of study. Selected students may then complete their studies with two additional years of specialization leading to the "Laurea Magistrale".


title: Bologna Process

text: The Laurea corresponds to a bachelor's degree; the Laurea Magistrale, corresponding to a master's degree, grants access to third-cycle programmes (post-MA degrees, doctorates or specialized schools) lasting two to five years (completing a PhD usually takes three years). A five-year degree, Laurea Magistrale a Ciclo Unico (Single-cycle Master's Degree) is awarded in law (Giurisprudenza), in medicine (Medicina) and dentistry (Odontoiatria), in Pharmacy (Farmacia) and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Chimica e Tecnologia Farmaceutiche), as well as in visual arts (Accademia di Belle Arti) and music (Conservatorio di Musica). The title for BA and BS undergraduate students is "Dottore" and for MA, MFA, MSc, MD and MEd graduate students "Dottore magistrale" (abbreviated "Dott.", "Dott.ssa" or "Dr."). This should not be confused with PhD and post-MA graduates, whose title is "Dottore di Ricerca" (Research Doctor).


title: Bologna Process

text: The Italian system has two types of postgraduate degree (called "Master", not to be confused with the master's degree). "Laurea Magistrale" (120 ECTS) allows access to third-cycle programmes, and "Master universitario" (at least 60 ECTS) may be divided into first- (second cycle) and second-level master's degrees (third cycle).


title: Bologna Process

text: A first-level master's degree is accessible by a first-cycle degree and "does not allow access to PhD and to 3rd cycle programmes, since this type of course does not belong to the general requirements established at national level, but it is offered under the autonomous responsibility of each university".


title: Bologna Process

text: Kazakhstan has been a full member of the Bologna Process and European Higher Education Area since 2010.


title: Bologna Process

text: The Netherlands differentiates between HBO (higher professional or polytechnic education) and WO (scientific education or research universities). WO and HBO have adopted the bachelor's-master's system. It generally requires three (WO) or four (HBO) years of education to obtain a bachelor's degree; graduates may then apply for a master's program at a university, which generally require one to two years to complete. An HBO bachelor graduate may have to pass one year of pre-master's education to bridge the gap between their HBO study and (research-oriented) WO study to be admitted to a WO Master's programme, which may grant degrees such as MA, MSc and LLM. There are also HBO master's studies, and HBOs are the only institutions offering associate degrees.


title: Bologna Process

text: Due to the Bologna Process, in 2005 new "licenciatura" (licentiate) degrees were organized at university and polytechnic institutions of Portugal. Previously a four- to six-year programme, equivalent to 300 ECTS, it is now a three-year first cycle and the only requirement for the two-year second cycle which awards a master's degree. Some Bologna courses are integrated five- or six-year programmes awarding a joint master's degree, a common practice in medicine. In engineering, despite the use of two cycles, an engineer may be licensed only after obtaining a master's degree. Master's degrees attained after five or six years of study correspond to the old undergraduate degrees known as "licenciatura". The new "licenciatura", obtained after three years of study, corresponds to the discontinued "bacharelato" awarded by polytechnics from the 1970s to the early 2000s (roughly equivalent to an extended associate degree). Old and new master's degrees are the first graduate degree before a doctorate, and the old and new "licenciatura" are undergraduate degrees.


title: Bologna Process

text: The "licenciatura" degree (a four- to six-year course) was required for applicants who wished to undertake the old master's and doctoral programmes, but admission was reserved for those with a "licenciatura" degree with a grade above 14 (out of 20). After the changes introduced by the Bologna Process, the master's degree is conferred at the end of a programme roughly equivalent in time to many old "licenciatura" programmes. The process was developed to improve the education system to one based on the development of competency rather than the transmission of knowledge. Its goal was the development of a system of easily comparable degrees to simplify the comparison of qualifications across Europe. Its flexibility and transparency is intended to enable wider recognition of student qualifications, facilitating movement around a European Higher Education Area based on two main cycles (undergraduate and graduate) and providing third-cycle degrees for doctoral candidates.


title: Bologna Process

text: The Russian higher education framework was basically incompatible with the process. The generic, lowest degree in all universities since the Soviet era is the "Specialist", which can be obtained after five to six years of study. Since the mid-1990s, many universities have introduced limited programmes allowing students to graduate with a bachelor's degree in four years and a master's degree in an additional one to two years while preserving the old system.


title: Bologna Process

text: After accession to the Bologna process happened in 2003, in October 2007, Russia moved to two-tier education in line with the Bologna Process. Universities inserted a BSc diploma in the middle of their standard specialist programmes, but the transition to MS qualification has not been completed.


title: Bologna Process

text: Although Specialists and masters are eligible for doctoral programmes ("Aspirantura"), bachelors are not; the Specialist degree is being discontinued. In most universities bachelor's- and master's-degree education is free of charge, although some state and private universities charge for one or both. The labour market does not yet understand BSc diplomas, but some universities made the program similar to classical education and the MS stage remains mandatory for most graduates.


title: Bologna Process

text: A bill proposing new regulations in the field of Higher Education was presented to Parliament in 2005, and the new system came into force in July 2007. The new system of degrees will have two degrees, of different lengths, in each cycle.


title: Bologna Process

text: Students may not always be offered all the combinations above to obtain a degree. The "högskoleexamen" is usually not offered, and many schools require students to obtain the "kandidatexamen" before obtaining a "magisterexamen" or "masterexamen". Most third-cycle programmes require at least a "magisterexamen", although the legal minimal requirement is either a degree from the second cycle or four years of finished courses, where at least one year is second cycle.


title: Bologna Process

text: In July 2007 a new system of credits, compatible with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, was introduced in which one credit ("högskolepoäng") in the new system corresponds to one ECTS credit and two-thirds of a credit in the old system ("poäng").


title: Bologna Process

text: Some Swedish universities have introduced the ECTS standard grading scale for all students, and others will use it only for international students. Since criterion-referenced grading is used instead of relative grading in the Swedish educational system, the 10-, 25-, 30-, 25- and 10-percent distribution of students among A, B, C, D and E will not be done. Some universities only give Fail or Pass grades (F or P) for certain courses (such as internship and thesis projects) or assignments, such as laboratory exercises.


title: Bologna Process

text: Several Bologna Process seminars have been held. The first devoted to a single academic discipline, Chemistry Studies in the European Higher Education Area (which approved Eurobachelor), was held in June 2004 in Dresden.


title: Provinces of South Korea

text: Provinces are one of the first-level divisions within South Korea. There are 9 provinces in South Korea: North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong, Gangwon, Gyeonggi, North Gyeongsang, South Gyeongsang, North Jeolla, South Jeolla, and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.


title: Provinces of South Korea

text: Although the details of local administration have changed dramatically over time, the basic outline of the current three-tiered system was implemented under the reign of Gojong in 1895. A similar system also remains in use in North Korea.


title: Provinces of South Korea

text: Provinces (, ) are the highest-ranked administrative divisions in South Korea, which follows the East Asian tradition name Circuit (administrative division). Along with the common provinces, there are four types of special administrative divisions with equal status: special self-governing province, special city, metropolitan city, and special self-governing city.


title: Provinces of South Korea

text: A special self-governing province (, ) is a province with more autonomy over its economy and more powers are given to the provincial government. Jeju is the only special self-governing province, while Seoul is the only special city and Sejong is the only special self-governing city.


title: Provinces of South Korea

text: Governors for the provinces and mayors for the special/metropolitan cities are elected every four years. Current governors and mayors are listed at List of governors of South Korea.


title: Provinces of South Korea

text: South Korea claims five provinces on the territory controlled by North Korea. These claimed provinces are managed by the Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces (). These provinces are based on the divisions of the Japanese era and are different from the present North Korean provinces.


title: Konon Molody

text: Konon Trofimovich Molody (; 17 January 1922 – 9 September 1970) was a Soviet intelligence officer, known in the West as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale. Posing as a Canadian businessman during the Cold War he was a non-official (illegal) KGB intelligence agent and the mastermind of the Portland Spy Ring, which operated in Britain from the late 1950s until 1961.


title: Konon Molody

text: A person by the name of Gordon Arnold Lonsdale was born on 27 August 1924 in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada. His father Emmanuel Jack Lonsdale was a miner. His mother Olga Elina Bousa had emigrated from Finland. The Lonsdales separated in 1931. A year later, Olga took her 8-year-old son with her back to her native Finland. He is believed to have died c. 1943 and the Soviets obtained his papers for use by their agents. The actual Gordon Lonsdale was recorded as having been circumcised; the impostor was not.


title: Konon Molody

text: Konon Molody was born in Moscow in 1922, the son of a scientist and his wife. His father died when he was a child. According to Konon's son, Trofim Molody, who wrote a book about his father, Soviet intelligence already had their eyes on the young boy. In 1934 the NKVD chief Genrikh Yagoda helped Konon's mother get a foreign passport for him to leave for the US to study in California and live there with his aunt, dance teacher Tatiana Piankova. Between 1936 and 1938 he was enrolled at the A to Z junior high school in Berkeley (According to his official SVR biography, he left the USSR in 1932).


title: Konon Molody

text: Molody returned to the Soviet Union in 1938, having learned English and gained familiarity with American culture. In October 1940, he became a Red Army conscript, serving as a reconnaissance and military intelligence officer during World War II. Demobilised after the end of the war, from 1946 Molody enrolled as a war veteran into the Trade Law Department of the prestigious Institute of Foreign Trade, where he mastered the Chinese language.


title: Konon Molody

text: In 1951 Molody was recruited by the MGB First Chief Directorate (Political intelligence wing) and trained as a MGB "illegal agent" (NOC) on foreign soil. During his intelligence training he married and had two children. In 1953, Molody travelled to Canada on a Soviet merchant ship, posing as a Canadian national named "Gordon Lonsdale" (the true Lonsdale having died in Finland in the early 1940s). The MGB foreign branch had taken possession of Finnish public records after the war and had frequently used them to establish new spy identities. From Canada, "Gordon Lonsdale" illegally travelled without a visa to the US, where he started his operations as an aid to atomic spy Rudolph Abel. He also first met the American communist couple Morris and Lona Cohen (UK cover names Peter and Helen Kroger).


title: Konon Molody

text: In 1954, Konon Molody moved to London, where as a Canadian citizen he enrolled at the London University School of Oriental and African Studies and again studied Chinese. He had numerous female friends in London and Europe. Using business as a cover, Molody headed a London KGB front company manufacturing and trading in jukeboxes, bubble-gum and gambling machines. He may have recruited other agents and set up dead letter boxes while on his business trips to West Europe. Once a year he would spend time in Prague or Warsaw with his Russian wife Galina. She was led by the KGB to believe Konon was posted in Beijing as a member of the Soviet trade mission.


title: Konon Molody

text: In 1959, Molody began receiving British military secrets from Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment clerk Harry Houghton. Lonsdale clandestinely liaised with the Krogers in London as well during his European trips and ran other spies, including Melita Norwood. The Krogers acted as his technical support; he communicated with Moscow via their hidden radio transmitter.


title: Konon Molody

text: Lonsdale came under suspicion from MI5 in 1959 after a meeting with Houghton. At the request of MI5, the Treasury gave permission to search a private safe box at the Midland Bank on Great Portland Street. Concealed within a lighter was a London map for places to conceal or collect information.


title: Konon Molody

text: On 7 January 1961, Metropolitan Police Special Branch team of Detective Superintendent George Gordon Smith arrested five people, all members of the Portland Spy Ring. Gordon Lonsdale was arrested on the Waterloo Bridge the same moment he had received classified material from Harry Houghton. At Scotland Yard, he told Smith he would not disclose his real name or address or any other information. MI5, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigators' team had to resort to extensive enquiries. They were able to pinpoint his Russian origin, naval background, and use of false Canadian papers.


title: Konon Molody

text: On 13 March 1961 at the Old Bailey, Lonsdale was charged with spying, along with associates Harry Houghton, Ethel Gee and Morris and Lona Cohen (Peter and Helen Kroger). At the time of the trial, British authorities were still unsure of his true identity. In March 1961, the defendants were found guilty, and Lonsdale received a 25-year sentence. He was to start his sentence at Winson Green Prison, Birmingham. From his single cell, he fraternised with some of the Great Train Robbers. In due course, the British and American security services managed to establish his true identity as Russian citizen Konon Molody.


title: Konon Molody

text: On 22 April 1964, he was exchanged in a spy-swap for Greville Wynne, a British businessman apprehended and convicted in Moscow for his contacts with Oleg Penkovsky. The prisoners were swapped at the Heerstraße Checkpoint in Berlin.


title: Konon Molody

text: A year after his return to the Soviet Union he published a book "Spy: Memoirs of Gordon Lonsdale" with the author still maintaining he was born in Canada. Issued with the approval of the Soviet authorities, he also claimed Peter and Helen Kroger, convicted as members of the Portland Ring, were innocent.


title: Konon Molody

text: Molody died from a stroke on a mushroom picking expedition in a suburban forest in October 1970; at the age of 48. Konon's youth friend and retired KGB intelligence agent Leonid Kolosov co-wrote "The Dead Season: End of the Legend". He maintained that Konon was healthy upon his return from the UK but began complaining about KGB doctors giving him injections against high blood pressure. Konon had headaches he never had before but the doctors said he should expect to "feel worse before he felt better".


title: Konon Molody

text: He is buried at the Donskoy Cemetery in Moscow next to Vilyam Genrikovich Fisher (aka Colonel Rudolf Abel). A 1968 film "Dead Season" was based on Molody's mission in the UK. where he personally advised Donatas Banionis who played him, and believed that resemblance between him and the actor was significant.


title: Trichonephila clavata

text: Trichonephila clavata, also known as the , is a member of the "Trichonephila" genus. The spider can be found throughout Japan (except Hokkaidō), Korea, Taiwan, China, and since 2020, much of northeastern Georgia and northwestern South Carolina in the United States. Due to its large size and the bright, unique colors of the female "Trichonephila", the spider is well-favored in Japan.


title: Trichonephila clavata

text: In 2019, this species was moved from the genus "Nephila" to "Trichonephila". "T. clavata"'s congener "Trichonephila plumipes" is commonly found in Australia. It also was moved from "Nephila" to "Trichonephila", along with 10 other species.


title: Trichonephila clavata

text: "Trichonephila clavata" pass winter as eggs and scatter as tiny juveniles in the spring. The adult female's body size is 17–25 mm, while the male's is 7–10 mm.


title: Trichonephila clavata

text: The web of females may reach several meters in length. In sunlight, the yellow threads appear to be a rich gold color. The structure of the web seen in cross-section is unusual for an orb web; it has three layers: the central orb, plus two irregular layers in front and behind the orb.


title: Trichonephila clavata

text: The adult female individual has stripes of yellow and dark blue, with red toward the rear of the abdomen. In autumn, smaller males may be seen in the webs of the females for copulating. After mating, the female spins an egg sack on a tree, laying 400 to 1500 eggs in one sack. Her lifecycle ends by late autumn or early winter with the death of the spider. The next generation emerges in spring.


title: Trichonephila clavata

text: Although the spider is not aggressive, they will bite to protect themselves. The bite is considered painful, but not life-threatening.